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You can turn to 1 John 2 when 
you get there in verse 24. Our focus will actually be just 
a portion of verse 1 of John 3, but we want to read some context 
to set that portion of verse 1 properly. Just one note, my 
voice is kind of going a little bit, and if it raises and crackles, 
not unlike a maturing 13-year-old, Please, please save your smiles 
and your laughter for later. This is, after all, the exercise 
of the preaching of God's Word, so I'll try not to do that because 
I don't want to unwholesomely distract anyone. As you're there 
already, 1 John 2.24, we'll pick up reading there and we'll read 
to 1 John 3.3. So this is 1 John 2.24, once 
again, the word of the living and true God. Therefore, let 
that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you 
heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in 
the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that 
He has promised us, eternal life. These things I have written to 
you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing 
which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do 
not need that anyone teach you. But as the same anointing teaches 
you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and 
just as it has taught you, you will abide in him. 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, let 
us go to the Lord again in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you 
now for this time of worship, the preaching of your word. We 
would pray yet again that you would help preacher, that you 
would help here, that we would all be engaged rightly in this 
exercise and that it might be for the profit of your saints, 
that it might be unto the salvation of sinners. And Lord God, most 
certainly that it might be unto the glory of your most high name. And it's in Christ's name that 
we pray. Amen. One of the things that is very 
often repeated by the apostles in the New Testament is this 
blessed truth for every Christian, that we are the sons and daughters 
of God, that we are the children of God. In fact, this sonship 
and daughterhood is connected to the cross intimately in more 
than one place. You often hear Jim and I in our 
prayers rightly and in our preaching rightly quoting Galatians 4, 
4. When the fullness of the times had come, God sent forth his 
son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem 
those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption 
as sons, being the sons and daughters of God. What a high honor. What 
a glorious thing to dwell upon. to roll around in our minds, 
to rejoice in. And we have here in 1 John 3, 
in the center portion, if you will, of the text that we read, 
this blessed verse. Behold what manner of love the 
Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children 
of God. A glorious declaration. What 
a glorious entreaty by the Apostle John. And the stuff that is packed 
within that Half of a verse is absolutely wonderful. So we'll 
unfold a little bit of a little bit of it this morning. And this 
comes, brethren, this verse, this entreaty. for Christians 
to behold their God and specifically His love in making them His children. This is set before us in the 
context and actually for the purpose of arousing our obedience 
in this lower world, that we might purify ourselves, that 
we might put sin off and live unto righteousness, that we might 
put sin to death and live unto righteousness, that we might 
grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus the 
Lord. So we want to look at verse one 
of 1st John 3. Behold, what manner of love the 
Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children 
of God under three headings. And those three are simply this, 
the the call to marvel, the content of the marveling and the intent 
behind the call to marvel. There's a lot of marvel in there. 
But that's a word that is rightly used in this context, because 
what is marveling but wondering with astonishment, but dwelling 
on and concentrating on and considering with wonder and astonishment, 
in this case, the glory of God and his love visited upon us. 
It's an absolutely wonderful thing that we have before us 
in 1 John 3.1. So first off, the call to marvel, 
and it's simply one word, in this case, behold. You've heard 
this before from the pulpit, and hopefully it never gets old 
in explaining this, because this one word, and this one word employed 
in this context, is glorious. John writes, behold. It's used 
in many other places in scripture, sometimes just simply for the 
purpose of see or look, not necessarily with the weight and severity 
here, but this, you know, behold, see or look at any particular 
thing that we may read in the scriptures where that word is 
used. But you see, very often, like here, it's used in order 
to steal away the Christian's focus from whatever he's focusing 
on and to plant it upon things high and heavy and glorious. 
You see, we can be stolen away by so many other things, and 
our focus needs to be brought back by beholds, so that we might, 
to use a Spurgeonism, exercise the demons of base ingratitude 
and remember and focus upon the saving mercies and the glories 
of our God in Christ Jesus the Lord. You may remember, as used 
in John 1, 29, the same author, when he writes of John the Baptist, 
behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. You 
see, there we don't simply have a look. You know, there he is. 
Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, as 
if John was sitting upon a rock with his legs crossed, just saying 
behold. No. He's saying behold. This Christ, this promised one, 
behold, take your eyes off of whatever you're looking at and 
look to the son of glory. Look to this one promised. Look 
to this one promised in eternity, purposed in eternity, but promised 
in time and in history in the garden. The hero born of woman 
who would crush the serpent with his head has now arrived. Behold, 
that's what John the Baptist is doing. John 129, when he uses 
this word, which can simply be used as see and look, but he 
does it to call the Christian, to call anyone around him, to 
gaze with an intent consideration upon the glorious Messiah, the 
glorious Christ. An interesting fact with regards 
to John 129, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins 
of the world, perhaps you Spurgeon fans out there have read this, 
but he was testing the He was testing the acoustics of a hall 
that he had to preach in while the Metropolitan Tabernacle was 
having something done to it, built or whatever. So he was 
practicing preaching and he was testing the acoustics of this 
grand agricultural hall. Well, he belts out these words, 
behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And 
a janitor working in the agricultural hall, just a worker, hears this. 
and believes the gospel and is saved, is converted unto Christ. 
You see, people can be saved in a farm hall by a preacher 
testing acoustics. And the verse that he uses starts 
with, Behold. You see, God in his word uses 
this word because it's so important. It is to grab you this morning, 
if you're a believer this morning. You're hearing me preach about, 
behold, what manner of love. That word is to steal you away 
from any other thoughts and to bring them into focus upon such 
a God, such a Christ, such a love and such a gospel. And it's used 
by God in his word in such a same way to gather the focus, to gather 
the attention, to gather the minds of those who are reading, 
who are hearing it preached, whatever, that they might focus 
with intent, with attention, that they might put aside all 
things and listen only to what follows. This verse, behold, 
is also used in 2 Corinthians 6 too. Notice the importance 
of the word here in this context. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. You see when The Apostle in that 
case, when the Apostle Paul. You see, other phrases that don't 
start with behold are in the Scriptures and they're no less 
inspired. They're no less infallible. They're 
no less inerrant. They're all just as important. 
The genealogies of 2 Chronicles are just as inspired as behold 
the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. But you 
see, it is employed by the authors to say pay attention. See, look, 
not just with the eyes, but with the mind. Understand, focus, 
and consider. Wonder, marvel. Remember, it's 
the call to marvel. Behold, now is the accepted time. 
Behold, now is the day of salvation. In other words, listen to what 
I'm about to say. Now is the accepted time. You 
see, he's trying to gather the attention of anyone who isn't 
considering their eternal destiny. who isn't considering their eternal 
soul, who is all carried off about thinking how their next 
sin is going to go, how their next suppression of the truth 
is going to go, and he says, behold, now is the accepted time. You see, if you're here this 
morning, it's, now is the accepted time, behold, now is the accepted 
time. You've put off Christianity, 
you said, no, you're here, you're sitting in the pews, Sometimes 
you might be looking at the preacher, but it's with a dead gaze, just 
so I think that you're paying attention. Sometimes the eyes 
are wandering somewhere else. I'm not sure why. Sometimes they're 
kinked back, looking at the clock. You want this to end. Now is 
the accepted time. There is a God in high heaven 
who has created all things, who upholds all things by the word 
of His power, who is infinite, eternal, unchangeable in all 
of His excellencies and perfections, who looks down upon the children, 
the sons of men, and he sees iniquity. He sees sin. He sees 
transgression. You know that you have sinned 
and that you have violated the laws of a holy God. You know 
in your conscience, you know in your hearts that you have 
daily transgressed, that you have hourly transgressed minute 
after minute, violated the righteous precepts of this God. And yet 
there is a Savior that has been set forth to you in the scriptures. 
There is a Savior that you've heard from this pulpit. There's 
a Savior from wherever you've been made known of this Christ. 
You have heard of this Christ and this salvation. And yet you 
still don't believe. Behold comes to you. It steals 
your attention. And it says now is the accepted 
time. Now is the day of salvation. 
Jeremiah 31 31. This word is used. in that blessed promise of the 
new covenant. Behold the days are coming says the Lord. What 
follows This new covenant that will be unbreakable, not because 
men are so good in keeping it, but men can't keep it. There's 
one that does. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ 
who ratifies the new covenant in his shed blood. He secures 
the forgiveness of sins. He secures the Christians knowledge 
of God, glorying in him and the mercy of the father. We are called 
by Jeremiah in that text to behold the blessed new covenant promise 
of Yahweh. Matthew 28, 20. The word behold 
isn't there it is, the word behold isn't translated as behold, although 
the word in Greek isn't behold, of course, but the English behold 
isn't used to translate the Greek word for see, look, behold. But 
rather, what do we find? Matthew 28, 20, teaching them 
to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo, I am with 
you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. The word low here 
is behold. Teaching them to observe all 
things that I have commanded you and behold, I am with you 
always, even to the end of the age. You see what would happen 
to the disciples? Christ promised them that persecution 
would come upon them. When he's indicting the scribes 
and the Pharisees, what does he say to them? I send you wise 
men, prophets and scribes. Some of them you will crucify. 
Some of them you will kill. You will persecute them from 
city to city so that on you all the righteous blood shed on the 
earth will be brought upon you. And so what we have here is in 
the face of the coming persecution, in the face of everything that's 
going to come upon the church, Christ is saying, behold, don't 
Don't be taken away or don't fall into despair because what 
is coming upon you. Behold, lo, I am with you always, 
even to the end of the age. You see, the use of the word 
behold is such that it is to emphasize, it is to underline, 
it is to bolden the reality of what follows. It is to say, Listen, 
understand, consider. It is to arouse our astonishment 
at the fact or the statement that follows. And here in our 
context, what do we find? We're going to get to the content 
of the marveling later, but notice how behold is used here. Behold 
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should 
be called children of God. You see, the Christian needs 
to, we all need to have these beholds. trumpeted to us 75 times 
a day, and that's undershooting. Why? Because we are so prone 
to wander, so prone to leave the God that we love. We need 
to be brought back to remembrance. We need to be brought back to 
recollection. We need to be brought back unto 
a wholesome and a wondrous marveling at the Christ of the Bible, at 
the God of our salvation. The revelation of our God concerning 
redemption by such a Savior. We need to be brought back. We 
need to be reminded. That's why we have the Lord's 
Supper, isn't it? Again, as Spurgeon said, the 
Lord's Supper is such that it does help us to cast away the 
demons of base ingratitude. What does that mean, kids? What's 
this guy talking about? Cast away, exercise the demons 
of base ingratitude. What does that mean? Well, you 
see, we can be marked by an ingratitude, a thanklessness, can't we? We 
go about our days and we might not be thankful at all, or if 
we are thankful, it's thankful about, you know, stuff that we 
have in our lives and that sort of thing, but the thanks isn't 
necessarily God-word. It might just be this general 
and agnostic and atheistic thanks. We are called in the Bible. We are called in preaching. We 
are called in the ordinances of Christ unto a remembrance, 
unto a beholding. of the mercies of God through 
Christ Jesus the Lord. This is what Spurgeon says on 
this word, behold. It is a note of admiration, of 
wonderment, of exclamation. When John says, behold the Lamb 
of God, he means more than wondering or considering. Looking is used 
in scripture for faith. Look unto me and be ye saved. Therefore we sing, there is life 
for a look at the crucified one. There is life at this moment 
for thee. Beholding is a steady kind of 
looking. Believe then in Christ with a 
solid abiding confidence. Come ye sinners come and trust 
your savior. Not for tonight only but forever. 
Believe that he is able and willing to save you and trust him to 
do so. You see, the behold here is what 
He says it is. It is an intent considering. A beholding is a steady kind 
of looking. We are to look with a faith-filled 
gaze. We are to behold with a faith-filled 
gaze upon the glories of our God and the riches and the excellencies 
of Christ. So the call to marvel, simply 
one word, behold. This call to marvel comes to 
those who really ought to need no reminder, doesn't it? Well, we know we need reminder, 
but we really ought to need no reminder. You think about where 
we were before God visited us with amazing and victorious grace, 
dead in our trespasses and in our sins. We were children of 
our father the devil doing his desires. That's Christ's indictment. When we get later to children 
of God, There is this spiritually ambiguous and nonsensical spiritualism 
out there that we're all children of God. I'm not talking to Christians. Every man and woman, boy and 
girl, we're all just children of God. We all just need to get 
along and, you know, dance in the meadow with, you know, flower 
headbands and stuff. No. Christ indicts His audience. He says to the unbelieving Jews, 
you are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father. 
You want to do. You see, the marveling comes 
in part because we were children of the devil. We were doing the 
desires of our father, the devil. We woke up in the morning devising 
wickedness, just like the psalmist says about the wicked. We woke 
up in the morning planning our day of sin. We live throughout 
the day moving from sin to sin. And yet, this reality comes upon 
us, that Christ comes in the fullness of the times, He's born 
of a woman, He's born under the law, to redeem those who are 
under the law, so that we might receive the adoption of Son's 
God, the risen Christ, the exalted Christ, sends His Spirit, the 
Spirit of adoption into our hearts, crying out, Abba Father. What 
a glorious thing. The behold is given because it 
is absolutely astonishing that anyone can be called a child 
of God. Anyone. And we have that blessed, that 
blessed reality by virtue of the amazing grace of God and 
the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men generally ought 
to daily marvel at God, shouldn't they? You see, behold, again, 
it comes to those who really ought to need no reminder. That's a hard sentence to say. 
We are faced every day with the reality of God. Not in a sense. Truly, creation cries out, behold. Providence cries out, behold 
your God. The heavens declare the glory 
of God. The psalmist writes, the firmament 
shows his handiwork, not just Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 
but day after day, night after night, the righteousness and 
the glory of God is disclosed by virtue of creation. You only 
have to look at the, at the stars in the expanse to realize that 
there is a God and he will judge the wicked. We look up to the 
heavens, and as Christians, we cry out, praise God. Just imagine 
it, star upon star, galaxy upon galaxy, rolling in their orbit, 
all created by God, all upheld by the word of His power. This earth that we live on, what 
an amazing thing. Walk outside in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, 
you look to the mountains, you look to the beauty of creation. Hopefully God comes immediately. Hopefully those mountains preach 
sermons to you saying, behold your God, beauty of his created 
world. We look at a baby, look at a 
human child. Oh, the dastardly, The dastardly reality of abortion. Abomination of abominations. 
The beauty of God's creation destroyed, chopped up and torn 
away. Babies, millions of babies cry 
out with sermonic power, behold your God. And yet the murderers 
suppress that truth in unrighteousness. You see, day after day, night 
after night, God's creation and providence cries out, behold. 
Men generally ought to marvel at God's account of redemption 
in the scriptures, shouldn't they? The Bible is an amazing thing. 
If you're here this morning and you think, ah, you know, it's 
a good book. But it's sort of just an antiquated 
tome of old truths. No. Heresy of heresies. The Bible comes to us, 66 books 
of the Old and New Testaments, God's revelation to men, and 
it screams, behold. It screams, behold, the heavenliness 
of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of 
the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole, 
which is to give all glory to God. The discovery it makes of 
the only way of salvation through Christ Jesus, the Lord, and the 
many other incomparable excellencies. Confession says, chapter one, 
paragraph five. A glorious revelation to men. 
This screams, behold, the gospel screams, behold, that's why John 
the Baptist, that's why John, that's why Paul, that's why they 
all write, behold, because it is. to preach to us the glories 
of Christ, the riches of God and the excellencies of such 
a gospel and such a salvation. Certainly Christian men, though, 
you see, if men generally ought to daily marvel at God because 
of his creation and his providence, they don't remember dead in trespasses 
and sins, suppressing that truth and unrighteousness. The atheist 
has a full time job suppressing the truth and unrighteousness. 
Full-time job. I think that's James White's 
thing. They have a full-time job. It's hard to be an atheist. 
It's hard. Why? Because every minute that 
you're conscious, you're suppressing the glory of God in unrighteousness. The glory of God. Remember, in 
the expanse above us, Spurgeon says, God flies his starry flag 
to show the king is at home. The king is at home. Atheist 
looks up at that, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. 
And he spins wild, fanciful fairy tales nothing exploding and creating 
everything. So if men look up to creation, 
if men ought to daily marvel at God by virtue of creation, 
if men ought to marvel at the revelation of men in the scriptures, 
they don't, because again, they suppress the truth here specially 
revealed by God in the Bible in unrighteousness, then certainly 
Christian men ought we not specifically, when I say that, it's to Christians 
generally speaking, but Christians ought specifically to be such 
that constantly marvel at God. Do you marvel at God? Christian, 
you should. No, I'm going to rephrase that. 
You're not Christian if you don't. Do you marvel at God? Are you 
astonished by God? I'm not saying as a Christian, 
every time you think about your God and your Christ, you need 
to fall off the couch or fall off the kitchen table. That could 
be dangerous. But you need to be astonished. 
You are to behold, you are to look, you are to marvel. If this 
phrase is so often repeated by apostolic entreaty, then Christians 
are to be marked by this. We're to behold our God, we're 
to behold our Christ, we're to behold such a glorious salvation 
and rejoice in it. We're to read, we're to open 
up, well, first, we're to general revelation, we're to look at 
the stars as Christians in complete contrariness. I'm gonna throw 
that word out there. To the atheist, we say, Amen 
and praise God. Created that and he upholds those 
by the word of his power, we come to special revelation. We 
read of the blood of Christ shed and we own with Spurgeon that 
we would wish to put tongues upon every drop of the blood 
of Christ that they may preach sermons and arouse a constant 
remembrance of such a savior. We ought to marvel, we ought 
to behold Our blessed God, our blessed Christ, and so glorious 
a salvation. Secondly, we want to note then, 
moving beyond a single word, behold, to the content of marveling. What is the content of marveling? 
Well, we have it clearly before us, don't we? Because it follows 
behold. Notice, behold, what manner of 
love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called 
children of God. This is what we are to marvel 
in. Behold, the entreaty comes, behold. The apostolic command 
comes, behold. And this is what we are to behold. 
And we want to note three things very simply. Divine love, divine 
grace, and divine fatherhood. Divine love, divine grace, and 
divine fatherhood. Notice what we find first off. 
Divine love, behold, what manner of love? The love of God. Brethren, what an amazing thing 
the love of God is. What a thing that the thing that 
we are to know, the thing that we are to rejoice in, is something 
that at the same time is absolutely incomprehensible. The love of 
God. And I'm not just talking about 
incomprehensible in the sense that we're such vile sinners, 
how could a God love us? That's comprehensible. I'm talking 
about the love of God is incomprehensible because it is infinite. It's 
eternal. It's unchangeable. We don't know 
what unchangeable love is, do we, in this lower world? The 
love of men and women ebbs and flows, doesn't it? It ebbs and 
it flows. It's marked by vicissitudes. 
There's another word for you kids. It's marked by an ebbing 
and a flowing. We only know that sort of love 
where we love for a time, it grows in intensity, and then 
because of our sinful hearts and our waywardness and everything 
else, it can wane, it can drop, it falls, it comes back up again. You throw in an unwholesome anger 
in there and it scatters it for a while. We recollect it and 
we exercise it again. It goes away. It comes back. 
We're horrible at love. Graciously, God has given us 
love in this lower world, the love of husband to wife, wife 
to husband, the love of father to child, child to father, etc., 
various kinds of love. But we don't know what it is. 
We don't know. We can't know. We can't fully 
comprehend a love that's infinite. A love that's eternal, a love 
that's unchangeable. We can't know this love that 
Pink sets forth in the following way. God's love is uninfluenced. God's love is eternal. God's 
love is sovereign. God's love is infinite. God's 
love is immutable. And God's love is gracious. All of those things mark God's 
love towards his people. What an amazing thing. You see, 
God's love is uninfluenced. When we read here, behold, what 
manner of love the father has bestowed on us, that love is 
uninfluenced. What does that mean? It means 
that he didn't move from not having love towards us to now 
being aroused and influenced by something in us in order to 
exercise love. It's uninfluenced. God is infinite, 
eternal and unchangeable in all those things that he is in his 
essence and in his being includes his love. It's uninfluenced, 
it's eternal. It didn't start at a point. It 
won't end in a point. It doesn't start, end, restart, 
start again. It's the same thing. But you 
know what I mean? It's eternal. We don't know what eternal is. 
We read what eternal is. We can't comprehend what it is. 
We can only worship where things are incomprehensible. His love 
is beyond measure. It's sovereign, infinite, immutable. It's unchangeable, brethren. 
You're, you know, we are going to disappoint each other. Husband's 
going to disappoint a wife, a wife's going to disappoint a husband, 
father, child, child, father, every other sort of relationship 
where wholesome love, we're going to disappoint each other. We're 
going to change in our love. We are mutable. But the infinite 
and eternal one is immutable in his love. Isn't that glorious? He will never love you more or 
less than he does right now because that's impossible because he's 
immutable. He will only ever and always love you the same 
because he is perfect and absolute in his love. We don't know what 
that is, but we can only fall on our knees inwardly or outwardly 
and worship the God who is love. It is God who loves us. Romans 8 39 nor height nor depth 
nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the 
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's it's a little 
bit hot in here. Chilliwack is mysteriously covered 
in this haze of I guess it's forest fire smoke. And you know 
maybe you're getting tired and hungry but brethren. Neither height nor depth nor 
any other created thing. shall be able to separate us 
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus the Lord. I don't get grumpy stares when 
you're a Christian. When we rehearse these truths, 
it's a beautiful thing. The preacher is fallible in a 
cracked pot. wherein gospel treasures are 
hidden to be proclaimed so that the excellence of the glory might 
be of God and not of us. But hopefully, even in spite 
of this cracked pot up here with these words tossed out towards 
you, the love of God through Christ Jesus the Lord, have your 
mouth crescent if you can. I'm not going to judge any hearts 
if it's not crescenting and if you're grumpy stare, if that's 
how you rejoice, praise God. Praise God. But rejoice in our 
God. behold, because it is us whom 
God loves. Isn't that an amazing thing? 
If you know your own heart, that's astonishing. That is astonishing. If you know your own heart, and 
don't say, well, I know other people's hearts, and yeah, that's 
astonishing that God loves them. No. You know yourself. You look inside this ribcage. Well, the heart's probably up 
here, but you know what I mean. You look at your own heart and 
you behold the God of love. You'd be astonished at the God 
of love. Whether a grumpy face or a crescenting mouth, behold 
the God of love and rejoice in Him. It is us whom God loves. 
Henry says this, Matthew Henry in his commentary, it is wonderful 
condescending love of the eternal Father that such as we should 
be made and called His sons, that such as we should be made 
and called his sons. We who by nature are heirs of 
sin and guilt and the curse of God. We who by practice are children 
of corruption, disobedience and ingratitude. Unless you're unless 
you're self-righteous and we all have that, but unless you're 
really self-righteous, hopefully you see yourself there and you 
say, praise my God. You say, Amen. Rejoicing in the 
gospel of free and sovereign grace. Behold, what manner of 
love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called 
the children of God. We who are heirs of sin and guilt. We who 
deserve eternal condemnation in the lake of fire reserved 
for the devil and his angels. We who day after day are like 
the, are like the, you know, as sinners, we're like that child 
in his father's hands who smacks the father in the face. We were 
like that to a God who's infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in 
His holiness, justice, goodness, truth, all those excellencies 
and perfections. And yet He condescends to make 
us His own, to adopt us, and to bring us into the household 
of God. Words fail the preacher. Words fail the preacher. To bring 
the love of God, to dangle it before your ears, and to say, 
behold, The love of God, it passes knowledge. It's absolutely amazing. We multiply adjectives and verbs 
and nouns in a sensible way, and it still will not exhaust 
the amazing and glorious truth of God's love towards us and 
making us his children. Brethren, throughout the week, 
pick up the Bible. Pick up a good book, pick up 
something, pick up Pink's Attributes of God and read his small little 
six-page chapter on the love of God. Glorious stuff. Pink says this, in fact, on the 
love of God, connecting it to the cross. Christ died in order 
to make God, excuse me, Christ died not in order to make God 
love us, but because He did love His people. Calvary is the supreme 
demonstration of divine love. Whenever you are tempted to doubt 
the love of God, Christian reader, go back to Calvary. Go back to 
Calvary. Not Calgary, the city in Alberta, 
kids, but Calvary, where Christ was crucified. Golgotha. Go to 
the place of the skull. see him hanging on the tree, 
stricken, smitten, and afflicted. We don't as Christians look to 
that in despair, certainly not in mockery like those who mocked 
him at the cross. We look to that crucified Messiah 
with eyes of faith. I'm not pointing to a cross or 
anything back there. We don't have one. Why? The cross 
is to be preached. We look at that Christ with eyes 
of faith and we behold the love of God. Every drop, as Spurgeon 
says, that drops from the blood of the Savior has lips upon them 
that proclaim the love of God. Calvary is the supreme demonstration 
of divine love. God's love when we read behold 
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should 
be called the children of God. We are brethren to go to the 
cross. We are to go to the cross. This verse grabs us by the scruff 
of the neck. No, it's kinder than that. It 
grabs us by the hand. In divine love and kindness and 
says, behold. You see, when we read This, brethren, 
we are to go to the cross. Every perfection of God is there 
at the cross. Do we have the wrath of God? 
Sure we do. What do we read in the scriptures? 
But that God the Father bruises, crushes the son of his love. The wrath of God is put upon 
Christ Jesus, the Lord on the cross in the stead of all those 
who believe. We have the God of infinite, 
eternal, and unchangeable holiness, visiting wrath upon Christ in 
our place, believer. But there, too, we have the perfect 
and supreme demonstration of His love. Behold what manner 
of love. When we read what manner, we 
are to think what type, what sort. Behold what sort or what 
type of love. And I think we can traffic in 
types of love. There was a time where I'd really 
loved ketchup chips. I thought they tasted great. 
But you see, that's a low and that's a base love. I don't like 
them anymore because they're not healthy. I like celery now. Love celery now, celery and carrots. But you see, we can traffic in 
different types of love, this sort of base and low love. There's 
a scale of love, but you see, God's love Brethren, it's not 
located on any scale. It's not located on any scale. 
Pink writes with regards to God and love, speaking of God as 
spirit, light and love. He says God is spirit. In the 
Greek, God is spirit, John 4, 24. In the Greek, there is no 
indefinite article. And to say God is a spirit is 
most objectionable. for it places him in a class 
with others. God is love, 1 John 4, 8. It is not simply that God loves, 
but that he is love itself. Love, not merely one of his attributes, 
but his very nature. You see, that's again where we 
arrive at the reality of incomprehensibility. God doesn't have love as one 
of his attributes. We speak of him in that way because 
it's the only way that we can speak of A God who is infinite, 
eternal, and unchangeable in all of his attributes. To say 
God is love is to say that the love with which God loves us 
is identical to his being in nature. Oh, why get so theological 
with us? Because it's the stuff of doxology. It's the stuff of worship and 
praise to God. You see, when the Apostle Paul 
writes in his doxology in 1 Timothy, in first Timothy 15, which he 
will manifest in his own time. He who is the blessed and only 
potentate, the king of kings and lord of lords who alone has 
immortality dwelling in unapproachable light. You see, worship, brethren, 
Christian worship is never this mindless, ambiguous repeating 
of silly words in tune with a synthesizer. It's not what Christian worship 
is. Christian worship is filled with theology proper, with the 
doctrine of God, He who is the blessed and only potentate, the 
King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality. But 
wait, you've heard this before, but wait, don't we have immortal 
souls? Yes, we do. Well, it says He 
alone has immortality. Wait a minute, don't the angels 
have immortality? You know, the souls of Christians, 
do not they go into everlasting life at the end of days, when 
we part this world in death? Don't our immortal souls, you 
read the Bible and we know the doctrine of of heaven, the doctrine 
of everlasting life. Don't we have immortal souls? 
Don't the angels live forever? Yes, they do. Then how can the 
writer, how can Paul write, who alone hath immortality? Because 
God alone has it, as Gil says, originally, essentially, and 
non-derivatively. Wow, a bunch of big words again. 
No, glorious words. Only God has love. Essentially. Only God has love originally. And only God has love non-derivatively. He doesn't add it to himself. 
He doesn't derive it from outside of himself. Love isn't this abstract 
principle that God, you know, takes on in eternity. No, God 
is love. Brethren, wrap your heads around 
that. You can't. But know that he loves you. Know, 
brethren, that God has in such a glorious manner loved you in 
such a way that he demonstrated that love at the cross and that 
he has made you by his Spirit, children of God, by regeneration 
and by effectual calling. We know the love of God. We can't 
comprehend it fully, but we know it. It's so glorious, it's not 
unknowable, it's incomprehensible, but we can know it because the 
Bible declares it, it discloses it, and we should fall in worship 
at such a glorious truth. Fall in worship at such a glorious 
reality. Divine grace as well is held 
before us here. Going back to 1 John 3, behold 
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should 
be called children of God. That language there, speaking 
of divine grace, bestowed on us. Bestowed on us. We spent a little bit of time 
this morning on the word granted and the doctrine of repentance. 
Remember, God grants us repentance. We don't have it natively. We 
don't have it naturally. God grants it to us in his divine 
condescending and amazing grace. The word granted. is a word that 
speaks of divine grace. God graciously gives. Well, this language is the same 
bestowed. Behold, what manner of love the 
Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children 
of God. You see, we are confronted here again, and hopefully this 
is a wholesome confrontation confronted with the glorious 
truth of the sovereignty of God and the salvation of sinners. 
You see, we don't make ourselves children of God. We don't merit 
our sonship and our daughterhood. We don't do and act and perform 
in such a way that God bestows the grace of redemption on us. 
That's a wrong use of bestowal because it's always a gracious 
gift. But you know what I mean? We don't do and act and perform 
so that God rewards us with our sonship. No. God bestows upon 
those who are of their father, the devil, doing the desires 
of their father. He comes down and he conquers 
their hearts. He removes their hearts of stone, 
replaces them with hearts of flesh. He makes them his own. 
He makes them his children. What a glorious truth. The doctrine 
of adoption, brethren. Mike Kirkpatrick preached on 
that from Ephesians 1 a number of Sundays ago. Raymond says 
with regards to the book of Ephesians, if Romans was Paul's treatise 
on justification. Then Ephesians is Paul's treatise 
on adoption. We were dead in our trespasses 
and in our sins. We were walking according to 
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of 
the air who now works in the sons of disobedience. We were 
children of wrath, just as the others. There's that word, children. 
Not all children of God in that hippie, tree-hugging way. Children 
of wrath, Paul writes. Children of wrath. But in his 
kindness and in his grace, he comes down and condescends. He 
makes us his children. Brethren, what a glorious truth. 
We're going to move tonight because I'm I'm taking too long on this 
stuff. I apologize. Divine grace, divine 
fatherhood under the content of marveling tonight. And then 
thirdly, the intent behind the call to marvel. What is the purpose 
of it? We'll look at that tonight. But brethren, as we close here 
in a few moments, there's some things that we need to talk about. Behold your God. Yeah, you know, this, It comes 
to your ears and you're like, well, we know that. We know that. We're Christians. 
We behold our God. We need to be reminded. You know, 
you come to the scriptures and you read certain things and you 
say to yourselves, well, why did they need to write that? Why did they need to say that? 
Well, you need to check your own heart and understand that 
you are there as well. Verse five of Jude. But I want 
to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, etc., 
etc. We see this coming up often. 
We see Paul having to use phrases like, these are the things that 
I'm trying to write to you. Why? Because we need reminder. We need repetition. Sometimes 
there's unwholesome repetition. Like if I was to preach the same 
sermon to you, identical sermon to you every time I preach, probably 
be unwholesome repetition. You'd have to take me aside afterwards 
and say, could you please preach something else? But there's wholesome 
repetition, brethren. And that comes right now. Behold 
your God. Reflect on your God. Arouse your 
own Christian astonishment at such a truth that such a God 
would take such a sinner and make him child of God. Think 
of yourselves, Christian, knowing that hole of the pit from which 
you were digged and that stone whence you were hewn. Remembering 
where you were You as Spurgeon says now peruse the diary of 
your memories For there the witnesses of your guilt have faithfully 
recorded their names But Christian behold your God 
behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that 
we should be called the children of God Every day because brethren 
we And I say this a lot, we can be carried off onto reflections 
and recollections and remembrances of so many things that have no 
eternal merit, no eternal value. Some of them are great things. Remembering when our kids, you 
know, were younger and when they behaved or remembering when they 
were younger and they didn't behave, that's not a great thing 
to remember. But remembering fond things, family vacations, 
you know, whatever else. But you see, if we remember whether 
base things, hopefully not, but we remember good things that 
happen in this lower world, brethren, don't focus on other things, 
remember other things, and behold other things to the point where 
you choke out the one thing that should be beholded, that should 
be beheld, that should be astonishing, that should be marveled in. Don't 
have your minds wander so much in a day upon so many fruitless 
or even lawful things, fruitful things, to the point where you 
squeeze away any focusing or beholding upon the God of love 
and the Christ of redemption and the gospel of saving grace. 
Behold your God. Behold, look, see, consider, 
be astonished, be found in wonderment. Glory in the fact that such a 
God would save such a sinner by such a Christ, put you into 
the kingdom of the Son of His love. And unbeliever, you, creation, 
daily cries out to you, behold, there is a God. You know it. Oh, you might work full time 
trying to suppress that truth and unrighteousness. You know 
that there is a God and that He is holy and just to judge 
those who break His law, and you break His law daily. All 
have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. Oh, but 
I'm a child of God. No. No, you're not. If you're an unbeliever, you're 
not a child of God. But do you want to continue to be a child 
of wrath? Is that the place to be? Remember, 
behold, today is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. You can't be a child of wrath 
for a little while longer. You can't be a child of the devil. No. Behold, creation, providence 
cries out to you. Behold, there is a God. The scriptures 
scream from the pages in wholesome proclamation. There is a God. 
You are a sinner. But Christ has come to save guilty 
sinners. As much as we trumpet free and 
sovereign grace, this is not opposed to the reality that the 
entreaty and command comes, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and 
you will be saved. Sovereignty doesn't rail against 
the proclamation, come, taste, eat. Come by without money and 
without price. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you will be saved. No, sovereignty. The reality 
that God is the unbridled master of all things, His creation, 
providence, redemption is the foundation for the proclamation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you will be saved. And you can say with everyone, 
behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that 
we should be called the children of God rather than beholding 
the pleasures of your sin, rather than beholding and reflecting 
upon it. day dwelt and reveling and all manner of iniquity Believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved you will glory 
in him and This will be true of you that because of this truth 
You will seek to purify yourself just as he is pure you see tonight. We'll focus on that that's the 
purpose of beholding the manner of love that God has bestowed 
on us that we should be called the children of God. It is so 
that in light of that truth, we might live lives of holiness 
unto our great Father, our great God. John sets before his audience 
this truth so that we might not break God's law, but obey it. Not in order to be saved, we're 
saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus alone. But the 
saved by grace, the saved by faith, the saved by grace through 
faith in Christ alone do joyfully the deeds of God's law because 
they are our meat. We want to honor our God. We 
want to adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Well, brethren, 
let's pray. Let's Focus this week as we pray 
the rest of this day, beholding our God, beholding his love, 
his grace, his fatherhood, the glorious truth that by Christ 
Jesus and by his spirit, we're made to know sonship and daughterhood 
under our blessed God. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, 
we rejoice in your scriptures. We thank you for what we see. 
And in only half a verse, behold, what manner of love the Father 
has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God. 
We thank you, Lord God, that by your grace and for your glory, 
you have brought many of us sinners into a saving connection with 
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that you've brought us into saving 
faith, you've granted us repentance, that you've given us minds whereby 
we may behold with great joy the things of our God, the things 
of our Christ. And we do pray that you'd help 
us now as we pray now, as we have a time of prayer shortly, 
and as we go about the rest of this day, seeking to live it 
and carry it out in honor to your commandments. We do pray 
that you would help us to behold our God, to rejoice in our Christ, 
to reflect on salvation, and to meditate with great joy upon 
the fact that you, by your grace, have made us the children of 
God. We pray in Christ's precious name. Amen.