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.
Introduction: Context in 1 John
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
The Amazing Gift of God's Love
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.
The Call to Consider: Behold
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
God Loved Us Before Creation
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.
God Loved Us in History
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.
God Will Love Us Through Eternity
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,
God Sovereignly Bestows This Love
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
The Blessed Result: Children of God
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.
Birth and Adoption: John and Paul
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
The Attendant Conflict with the World
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.
Study the Love of God
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.
Paul's Prayer in Ephesians 3
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.
Closing Prayer
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.