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I'll just pick up reading actually 
in Chapter 2 at verse 28 and we'll read through Chapter 3 
at verse 3. And now little children abide 
in him that when he appears, we may have confidence and not 
be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is 
righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is 
born of him. Behold, what manner of love the 
father has bestowed on us. that we should be called children 
of God. Therefore, the world does not 
know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children 
of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But 
we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we 
shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope 
in him purifies himself just as he is pure. Amen. Well, John highlights the marks 
of the children of God in chapter 2, verses 29 to chapter 3, verse 
3. And he says that believers practice 
righteousness. Notice in verse 29, if you know 
that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness 
is born of him. We practice righteousness because 
we have been born of him. We don't practice righteousness 
and then we are born of him. We have been born of him. This 
happened before this practice of righteousness. That is the 
progression. Regeneration precedes saving 
faith and repentance and the active engagement in the Christian 
life. If God does not cause us to be 
born again, there will not be any practice of righteousness 
whatsoever. In chapter three, at verse one, 
he calls attention to our present blessedness. And he does so in 
wonderful language. He says, Behold, what manner 
of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called 
children of God. And then in verse two, he declares 
our future glory. He says, Not only are we children 
of God, but in verse two, he says, Beloved, now we are children 
of God and it is not yet been revealed what we shall be. But 
we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we 
shall see him as he is as wonderful as it is now currently to be 
a child of God. There is great things in our 
future, even the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, the revelation 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we shall see him as he is. And 
then in verse three, he describes our constant pursuit or what 
should be our constant pursuit. Notice in verse three, and everyone 
who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. The name or the word eschatology 
refers to the study of or the doctrine of the last things. What's going to happen in the 
future when Jesus comes again? Well, from this passage, I believe 
that eschatology ought to promote holiness. Eschatology ought to 
promote hopefulness. Eschatology ought to promote 
joy and thanksgiving and happiness and zeal and delight. As we understand 
that Jesus is going to return again, we ought to be strengthened 
by that reality, and we ought to pursue holiness for everyone 
who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. Eschatology should not lead to 
fanciful and and outlandish claims and thoughts and all these things. 
It should promote within the believer a hopefulness and a 
holiness. And that's the context in which 
John is writing. He then goes on to describe the 
differences between the children of God and the children of the 
devil. But our chief concern here this 
evening is on verse one, the amazing gift of God's love. The amazing gift of God's love 
and the first thing to observe is his call to consider this. Behold, he says, so that he himself 
takes his pen and he thinks about what it is he's writing. Not 
that he wasn't thinking about what he was writing before, but 
he stops for a moment to celebrate. He stops for a moment to engage 
in doxology and what doxology means is to ascribe praise and 
worship and adoration to our God. And he calls on us as well 
to behold this. One man is sad. Behold, or see, 
as the word is translated, calls upon the readers to take a heart 
moving look at the amazing love which gave them membership in 
God's family. It's a great statement, one I 
hope that will ponder. Behold, calls upon the readers 
to take a heart-moving look at the amazing love which gave them 
membership in God's family. We get very busy with our lives. We get very busy with our commitments. We get very busy with the various 
things that occupy us. In fact, we study our Bibles. 
We pray. We do all these things. Well, 
every now and then we need to be whole. We need to just stop 
and we need to see. We need to gaze upon. We need 
to consider and ponder God's great love for us. And what better 
time than at the Lord's Supper when we remember the death of 
Jesus Christ? This is the grand demonstration 
of God's love for us. One of the brothers and I this 
morning were talking about how it's easy, after the sermon, 
when we're talking about those various elements that should 
be present in the Christian life, how it's easy to love the lovely, 
but it's not as easy to love the ugly. It's not as easy to 
love those who promote friction and tension and all those things. 
And one of the texts we remembered was Romans 5a. God demonstrates 
his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ 
died for us. Now, we understand all that is 
wrapped up in that word sinner. It means ugly. It means bad. It means detestable. It means 
abominable. While we were yet those things, 
God sent his Son to save us from our sins. That's why John says, 
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed or has given 
us. Notice, secondly, that's the 
object in view. He wants you to look. He wants 
you to behold. He wants you to start to consider 
this glorious truth. What manner? And this usually 
the word that is used, the adverb usually describes that which 
is surprising or admirable. And I submit this is both surprising 
and admirable that God would love us. He says that we ought 
to behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. 
And when we think about the love of God, there's certain truths 
in the Bible that we find out about that love. Again, God is 
love, according to 1 John 4. But God has shown us this love 
in a whole manner of ways. in a whole bunch of different 
ways. And the first I want to submit 
is that He loved us before the foundation of the world. Turn 
to Romans 8, verse 29. Romans 8, verse 29. To show us or to see that God 
loved us before the foundation of the world. Romans 8, 29. For whom He foreknew. He also 
predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he 
might be the firstborn among many brethren. Paul is looking 
back, as it were, before the foundation of the world. The 
foreknowing here is a term of intimacy. It doesn't mean that 
God knew certain things that we would accomplish when we left. 
The foreknowledge spoken of here is that knowledge that is used 
by the prophet Jeremiah. That the wise man ought not to 
boast in his wisdom. The rich man ought not to boast 
in his riches. But let the man who knows his 
God boast in that reality. The knowledge is one of intimacy. God knew us before time. It speaks 
of his love. It speaks of his affection. It 
speaks of his heart for us. And then we saw another text 
this morning in Ephesians 1. When did God the Father set his 
love upon us? It wasn't in 1985. It was before 
the foundation of the world. This is why I believe John wants 
us to stop and appreciate as we behold what manner of love 
the Father has bestowed on us. Verse four of Ephesians one, 
just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, 
that we should be holy and without blame before him. in love, having 
predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself. If you ever engage in any conversation 
with people about predestination, about the decree of God, about 
foreordination, you might hear the charge that we sound like 
Muslim fatalists, that we are fatalists, that we believe everything 
is determined and it's some impersonal force that is engaged in this. 
No, it's a loving God. It's a gracious God. It is a 
good and kind Father. that has decreed everything that 
is working everything out for his own glory and for the good 
of his people in love, having predestined us to adoption as 
sons. So God loved us before the foundation 
of the world. Secondly, God loved us in history. And what I mean by that is that 
we've left the foundation of the world. We have come into 
redemptive history. And one of the most familiar 
passages in all of Scripture is John 3, 16. God so loved the 
world that he gave his only begotten son. We've already alluded to 
Romans 5, 8. God commends his own love toward 
us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
So not only from before the foundation of the world, but in history. 
One man is well said that the cross did not purchase love. The cross did not procure love. Rather, the cross is the outflowing 
of God's love. That is the grand demonstration 
in history that our father loves us. Again, he didn't come. Jesus 
didn't die on that cross to make the father love us. The father 
loved us and sent his son to die on the cross on our behalf. The cross did not procure the 
love of God. The cross rather is the expression 
of God's love. Thirdly, God will love us throughout 
eternity. This is good news. God will love 
us throughout eternity. He will not cast us off. He will 
not be finished with us. He will not forget about us, 
but he will love us. John 13 in verse 1. John 13 in 
verse 1. Now, before the feast of the 
Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should 
depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own 
who were in the world, he loved them to the end. There's a whole 
world of comfort in that statement. He loved them to the end. God will love us throughout. 
eternity. First John 3, 2 has that promise 
of future glory, has that promise of a blessed future for all of 
God's people. He says in verse 2, Beloved, 
now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed 
what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, 
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. This 
does not mean that we will become deity, that we will become God. We will be like Jesus in terms 
of sinlessness. We will be like Jesus in terms 
of being in the presence of the Father, having the curse lifted, 
having God's name written on our foreheads, according to the 
book of Revelation, so that we may minister as priests to Him 
throughout all eternity. He loved us before the foundation 
of the world. He loved us in history. He will 
love us throughout eternity. And fourthly, He has wonderfully 
demonstrated this love. We've already referenced John 
3, 16, the grand demonstration, Romans 5, 8, but also look here 
in 1 John 3 at verse 16. 1 John 3 at verse 16. By this we know love because 
he laid down his life for us. That's the showstopper right 
there. How do we know God loved us? 
Because Jesus laid down his life for us. The cross demonstrates 
this to us. The cross magnifies the grace, 
the love, the mercy and the kindness of God to his people. You want 
to learn about love? Study the cross. You want to 
learn about love. Study the atonement. You want 
to learn about love. Study the life, the death and 
the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, because it publishes 
that truth that he loves us. And then fifthly, he sovereignly 
bestows this love. That's the language of first 
John three one. Behold, what manner of love the 
father has bestowed on us. This highlights the gracious 
character of this love. And the tense used, the perfect 
tense, indicates that we have received this and it is permanent 
and abiding. He's not going to take it away. 
Arminianism is wrong. Pelagianism is wrong. You cannot 
lose your salvation if you have been truly saved by grace alone, 
through faith alone, in Christ alone. There is nothing that 
can hinder you from achieving bliss and glory and everlasting 
life in the presence of God Most High. He bestows this on us, 
and no one can pluck us out of His hand. So we've seen the call 
to consider, behold the object in view, and then notice thirdly 
the blessed result, that we should be called children of God. That's 
great. We all once walked according 
to the prince of the power who works in the sons of disobedience. 
We all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh and 
of the mind. We all were contrary to the Lord 
God, but he has saved us and he has called us into his own 
family and he has called us children of God. Just when you behold 
this love and it says that we should be called children of 
God, don't forget the we in this passage. You're part of that 
we. This is sinners. This isn't great 
people who have performed well. This isn't the chosen ones that 
because of their own holiness and righteousness, The we here 
are sinners who justly deserve the wrath of God. That's why 
I believe John is saying, behold, what manner of love this is, 
that God would take sinners who justly deserve his wrath and 
bestow on them this family, bestow on them this status of being 
children of God. And I want you to notice something 
that John does. John speaks of being born of 
God. John speaks of being born again. John calls us children of God, 
where Paul calls us sons and treats the subject from the angle 
of adoption. In fact, in our study of the 
confession a couple of weeks ago, we saw that that Paul uses 
the language of adoption. And when the question was asked, 
what is adoption? Someone said it is a legal transaction, 
a legal declaration. This one who was not a son has 
been adopted as a son and given all of the privileges, all of 
the legal rights, all of the entitlements and all of the airship 
of the one who has brought him into his family. I love that 
these two brothers look at the same truth from a bit of a different 
angle. John from the language of being 
born into this family and being children or even little children 
of God. This is the apostles language 
where Paul treats the same subject from the angle of adoption. We 
have been legally given all of the benefits that are intrinsic 
and being members of God's family. B.B. Warfield comments on this. He says there is a corresponding 
difference in the use by Paul and John of the conception of 
child ship or sonship to God in accordance with his juridical 
point of view. Juridical simply means a legal 
or a judicial point of view. Paul speaks of sonship conferred 
by adoption and thinks of our acquisition of the rights and 
the inheritance of sons. In accordance with his essential 
point of view, John speaks of childship as conveyed through 
birth and thinks of growing up into the likeness of God. Accordingly, 
Paul prefers the term sons, where adults received by God's grace 
into the number of his sons. And John prefers the term children 
or even little children. We are born into the family of 
God as the infants of his household. He says the difference in the 
use of the conception of child ship is not a difference of doctrine. It's only a difference in the 
illustrative use of the conception of child ship in the setting 
forth of the doctrine. Now, I know that was probably 
too long to get a good mind wrapped around it. but it's blessed. Just making that point that these 
two brothers are looking at this blessed transaction from differing 
vantage points to shine the light on how glorious and how wondrous 
this is. Paul can speak of us as being 
adopted as sons by Jesus Christ. John uses that language of being 
born of him in John 1, 12, and 13, that familiar passage highlighting 
the sovereignty of God's grace and the saving of sinners. He 
says, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right 
to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. 
who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor 
of the will of man, but of God. So, these brothers are not different. They teach the same doctrine, 
but they do so in a manner that illustrates it so much fuller. Gain an appreciation of this 
idea of having been brought into God's family by His grace and 
through the cross-bearing work of our Lord Jesus. So, the call 
to consider the object in view, the blessed result, and finally 
the attendant conflict. Behold, what manner of love the 
Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children 
of God. Therefore, the world does not 
know us because it did not know him. I looked at MacArthur study 
notes on this. He said extraterrestrials aren't 
aliens in the world. Christians are. That was pretty 
cool. Christians are aliens. The world does not know us because 
it did not know him. Remember that God-imposed antithesis 
specified in Genesis 3.15? God says, I will put enmity between 
the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. That enmity 
has not been lifted. In fact, John is going to deal 
with that enmity in the remainder of John chapter three. Those 
who commit sin and lawlessness and engage in wickedness. Those 
aren't children of God. They persecute the children of 
God. The way Cain persecuted Abel. This is a reality, brethren. You ought not to be surprised 
when that conflict is evident in your life. If you are living 
consistently, if you are living as God would have you, if you 
really take Colossians 3 seriously, and you seek those things which 
are above, and you put off sexual sin, and you put off the sins 
of the tongue, and you put on those virtues that are consistent 
with Christ, Do not be alarmed and do not be surprised if the 
world doesn't know you. You're different. You should 
be different. There should be a marked antithesis. It should not be the case that 
the world approves of us and says, wow, you're just like one 
of us. No. He says, therefore, the world 
does not know us because it did not know him. Jesus highlights 
this in the upper room in John 15 verses 18 to 25. You are partaker of a blessed 
reality, but that blessed reality has attended conflict, and that 
conflict will oftentimes be experienced as you traverse this lower world. 
When you don't get job promotions, or you get passed by, or people 
scoff at you, or they mock at you, that is consistent Christianity. That is the difference between 
the child of God and the child of the devil. Cain will always 
hate Abel. Cain will always raise the rock 
up and try to bash his head in. The devil has been defeated, 
but he still continues to roam about like a roaring lion, seeking 
whom he may devour. He is the prince of the spirit 
that works in the sons of disobedience. And we need to realize this. 
We ought not to run and hide. We ought not to go join monasteries. We ought not to be ascetic communists. 
We ought to be faithful men and women living our Christian lives, 
mindful of the fact that there will be trouble. There will be 
trial. There will be difficulty. But 
we can be of good cheer because Jesus has overcome the world. 
And the kingdoms of this world have become our God and his Christ 
and he rules and reigns over all things for us. Rather, in 
this text tells us we ought to study the love of God. One other 
passage that is consistent with this thought and then we'll close. 
Ephesians 3. Turn to Ephesians chapter 3. Have you ever wondered what it 
would have been like to have the Apostle Paul stay at your house. I thought 
that what if he was a traveling preacher and he happened to come 
to Free Grace Baptist Church and he stayed in my house. That'd 
be cool. Get to know Paul and you know that he was praying 
and in the room that he's staying in and you're walking down the 
hall and you might just stop for a second just to kind of 
hear what he prays for. I mean wouldn't it be great to 
hear Paul pray. You may be not as carnal as I 
am, but I'd really like to hear Paul pray. But we can hear Paul 
pray. We can hear what Paul prays. 
So just imagine you're walking down the hall, you're going to 
the bathroom and you hear the mutterings of the Apostle Paul. 
You stop and here's what you hear. For this reason, I bow 
my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom 
the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Verse 16, that 
he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to 
be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. 
Paul prays for spiritual strength. It is good for us, brethren, 
to pray for one another in our physical needs. That is a blessed 
thing. It is good for us, brothers and 
sisters, to pray when someone needs a job or pray for someone 
who has some calamities going on in their lives. But let us 
not neglect to pray for spiritual strength. I hope that when you 
pray for me, you pray that I'll be spiritually strong. I mean, 
sure, I wouldn't mind having this throat heal. That's fine. 
But I want to be spiritually strong. That's how I pray for 
you. I mean, I care about your wounds and your hearts and all 
those particular days, but the bottom line, my calling, I think, 
is to pray that you'll be spiritually strong. Spiritual strengthening 
is what Paul prays. Notice, he goes on, verse 17, 
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you 
being rooted and grounded in love. may be able to comprehend 
with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and 
height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. So the 
second thing Paul prays for is that you would be spiritually 
educated. That you would be knowledgeable. That you'd use that thing that 
sits on your shoulders. That you'd use your mind You 
know, the Bible doesn't make a big dichotomy between your 
mind and your heart. You know that the Bible combines 
and uses those words interchangeably. You realize that it's not biblical 
to say, oh, I just have passion in my heart for God, but I'm 
not going to use my mind to study. The Bible doesn't recognize that 
falling. The Bible says that the heart 
or the mind is how we understand who God is. And as we understand, 
it should flesh itself out in our lives. So Paul prays that 
you would be spiritually educated. And what in particular does he 
want you to know that you may be able, verse 18, to comprehend 
with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and 
height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. He doesn't 
want you to be educated in how much you love Jesus. He doesn't 
want you to be constantly thinking, do I love Jesus enough? Do I 
have enough Jesus love? What do you say is I want you 
to be educated in how much Jesus loves you? That's what Paul wants, 
that you would be spiritually strong and you would be a scholar 
in the school of Christ love. Now you can hang degrees on your 
wall about how much you know Christ's love. Because, brethren, 
that's what gets us through trials. It's not my grasp of Christ. It's Christ's grasp of me. It's not my subjective feeling 
and relation to Jesus, but the objective truth that he died, 
that he rose again and that he ever lives to make intercession 
for me. It is spiritual education of 
the first degree that we must seek. Notice how he describes 
this. He goes on to say, or says in 
verse 19, to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. What's that mean? That means 
you cannot join a four year degree program and exhaust this. It 
doesn't mean that you just do it in six months. There's enough 
love that Christ has for you that it passes knowledge. That's 
hard to even exegete, but what I think it means is that he has 
so much love for you, you'll never be able to fully exhaust 
the thought of it. But keep trying. Keep seeking, 
keep studying, keep being educated, keep learning, show up at his 
feet. Bask in the sun of righteousness. You see what Paul wants? For 
you to be strong, for you to be educated. And the last thing 
he prays for there is what I call spiritual saturation. Notice 
in verse 19, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge 
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Spiritually 
saturated with God. Again, that's tough to exegete. 
I don't really think I understand this. I do think this is a great 
working definition of what we call revival, being filled with 
all the fullness of God, knowing more of his presence, knowing 
more of his power, knowing more of his influence, knowing more 
intimately the presence of the Holy Spirit, the one who convicts 
us, the one who guides us, the one who leads us, the one who 
approves us, the one who directs us and illumines us. He wants 
us to be educated, to be strengthened, educated and saturated. That's 
how Paul prays. That's what we would hear. And 
hopefully we will pray likewise for ourselves and for one another. Behold, what manner of love the 
Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children 
of God. Other translations and probably 
the majority of the manuscripts add, and we are. and we are. He makes that definitive declarative 
statement. Behold what manner of love this 
is, and we are never doubted. Never entertain a thought that 
it isn't the case. We are. We have passed from death 
unto life, and we are his children. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we give You thanks and praise and glory and adoration. We give 
You thanks that You have loved us with such a great and wondrous 
love. God, even as we just sketch a 
few thoughts from Holy Scripture, we are humbled before Your Majesty, 
and we just pray You would help us to take seriously the admonition, 
the encouragement that we find in 1 John 3.1, to behold the 
love of God. And what we find there in Ephesians 
3 and to think on and to learn of the great love that Jesus 
Christ has for his church. God, we just praise you and we 
bless you. And we are reminded that the 
cross is the grand demonstration of the love of God. And even 
now, as we take this bread and we drink this wine, that we would 
remember the death of Christ and we would remember the love 
and the mercy and the grace that is mingled up with that event. 
And we pray through Christ our Lord, Amen.