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You can turn back in your Bibles
to 1 John 2. Reminder that we're continuing
our look at half, only half of verse 1 of chapter 3 of 1 John. Behold what manner of love. We
want to read again the context because we will on our last point
tonight be focusing on the purpose or the intent behind the call
to marvel. We see that set forth in the
context. Let's read then 1 John 2, 24
to 1 John 3, 3. 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's
again go to God in prayer for the preaching of the word. Heavenly
Father, we rejoice now in this act of worship, again, the preaching
of your word. We would ask yet again, Father, that you would
help us in this act of worship, that you would be glorified in
it, that you would give us supplies of the spirit, that preacher
might have that aid that he requires, not resting upon his own strength,
but upon yours. to preach your word, and Lord
God, that you would be here with the ministry of the Holy Spirit,
strengthening, edifying, and lifting up your people gathered
here. And for the end, Lord God, of the salvation of sinners,
we pray that anyone outside of Christ here would be by you born
again, that you would cause them to come from deadness to life,
and to own our Savior, and to rejoice in your name. Yet again,
Father, might everything that this church does tonight be done
unto the praise of your most glorious name. And it is in Christ's
name that we again pray. Amen. Well, a reminder, just
a brief reminder of what we were looking at this morning, we're
focusing in on 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. We noted this morning that we
want to look at, and we have been looking at, and we will
look at, the call to marvel, which is simply seen in the word
behold. That is the call, the apostolic entreaty, to behold,
to look at, to see, to understand, to arouse ourselves unto an astonishing
exhilaration of what he would then write, which is simply the
love of God manifested to Christians in making them sons of God, through
Christ Jesus the Lord. So we noted the call to marvel
and the weight and the packaged meaning that we have in that
word behold. We started to look secondly then
at the content of the marveling. So in this beholding, in this
marveling, in this arousing ourselves or prayerfully calling upon God
by supplies of the Spirit to help us to be aroused unto an
astonishing gaze at the love of God in making us children
of God through Christ, what is the content of that marveling? We noted first off that it is
divine love. What manner of love? the Father
has bestowed on us. Remember what we are saying or
what that means. There are many understandings
to the word manner, but hopefully you see here that it carries
the meaning of sort of or type of. So what sort or what type
of love the Father has bestowed on us? We noted this morning
that we can, in our human minds, understand a gradation of love We can say, perhaps sometimes
foolishly, that we love certain things. We can legitimately and
wholesomely say, though, that we love particular things, and
we might even put them on a scale of the degree of love that we
have towards these things. But you see, when the apostle
is setting before us the love of God, when he is saying, behold
what manner of love, he wants us to understand that this love
and view, while knowable, is incomprehensible because it is
God's love. Because it is the love that flows
from the fountain of one who is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable
in his love. whose love is not something that
needs to be conjured up as he casts his eyes upon the goings-on
of the world, but rather his love is always perfect, is always
absolute, it is unchangeable, it is eternal, it is sovereign,
it is holy. All of those things that Pink
brings out, the love of God is uninfluenced, eternal, sovereign,
infinite, immutable, holy, gracious. And so, what manner, that is,
what sort of, what type of love is this that we are to behold?
Well, it is the love of God. We know the love of men and women
to us, and our love to others. But we know the love of God. While incomprehensible, we can
know it because He has given us the Spirit of God in our hearts
by which we cry out, Abba, Father. And we can know it because by
His Spirit we have been made to know and to glory in the truths
revealed in the Holy Scriptures, many of those truths containing
those things of God's divine love towards fallen creatures,
towards His people, towards sinners. So divine love is that first
content, one of the first constituent elements of the marveling that
we are to undertake as Christians and that the Apostle calls upon
His recipients to engage in. So what is the second? We just
introduced it this morning very briefly before we closed. The
second aspect of the content of marveling is divine grace.
We noted, remember, we see that in this phrase, what manner of
love the Father has bestowed on us. You see, our sonship and
our daughterhood The fact that we can be children of God, that
is a divine gift. Hopefully that truth comes to
welcome ears, because this is a non-negotiable of Christianity,
that the salvific benefits of God come to us as gifts. We do
not earn them. We do not merit them. Not of
works, lest anyone should boast. Our sonship and our daughterhood
is not a result of what we have done to earn God's favor, but
rather a God who is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in
His love, in His loving kindness and graciousness towards men,
towards sinners, towards His elect. According to that and
according to His good pleasure, God gifted us with this blessed
reality that we can be called the children of God. It's a gift. He bestowed it upon us. That
language, brethren, ought to come to the hearts, ought to
come to your souls, and it ought to warm them. It ought to cause
them to rise up in mutiny against that cold languor and unthankfulness
that can so often arise up in our hearts, to jettison thanklessness
into oblivion. And we ought to be stirred up
unto high thoughts of such a God who would gift us. with sonship
and daughtership in the household of God. What a blessed truth.
This is something that we find all throughout the scriptures,
isn't it? And particularly in view is the doctrine of adoption
here. Remember what we noted this morning,
the doctrine of adoption is connected to the crosswork of Christ. Isn't
every doctrine of salvation connected to the crosswork of Christ? We
have that text in 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 were under the law,
that Paul follows that up with. that we might receive the adoption
as sons, because we are not by nature the sons of God, are we? We are not by nature the sons
and the daughters of God. We are not by our own nature
the children of God. We are, as the Bible sets forth,
children of wrath when we're outside of Christ. You are of
your father, the devil, Christ says, and the desires of your
father you want to do. Ah, but you see, amazing grace
comes. And by God's grace, we're brought into his household and
we're made children of God. This verse cries out to us and
it says, rejoice in, praise God for his condescending grace.
Rejoice in this God. Where else do we see this in
the scriptures? Turn with me because these passages
are vital for our understanding of the gift nature of here of
sonship, but also elsewhere of faith, repentance in all of these
blessings of salvation. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
one. Philippians chapter one to understand
the gift nature of salvation in view in John in first John
three, the doctrine of adoption here in Philippians one faith. That aspect of our Christianity,
the faith we have, our believing. It's a gift from God. Notice
Philippians 1 verse 27. Only let your conduct be worthy
of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or
am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast
in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith
of the gospel. and not in any way terrified
by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition,
but to you of salvation and that from God. For to you it has been
granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but
also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which
you saw in me and now hear is in me." We noted this in our
confession study in the morning at the point of repentance as
a gift from God. equating it here with this text,
belief or faith as a gift from God. Notice here the primary
point of the Apostle Paul is to stress that to the Philippian
Christians God has granted the reality of suffering for Christ
Jesus the Lord. And as a parallel, as another
gift to sort of emphasize that reality, he says, or he writes,
for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only
to believe in Him. So you see, believing, our faith,
is not something conjured up in the native and natural oven
of our own free will, but rather it is something that God from
on high gifts to guilty sinners, His elect, His chosen ones, His
people. He gives us, He grants us is
the word. We ought to see in this word
grant, and in the word bestowed, we ought to see gracious gifting. In in those two words, God has
graciously gifted us with childhood, with sonship and daughtership.
What a blessed thing. What a blessed thing, knowing
that we were once disobedient, that we were once children of
wrath, just as the others, that we were once sons of our father,
the devil doing his desires, that now we can be those who
are the children of God. You see, John is absolutely right. Not that the truth would lose
any weight, not that the truth would lose any power if he didn't
throw behold in there, but he puts behold in there. God superintending
John's writing, an insertion of the word behold there, puts
it there. So that we might, with that faith-filled
gaze, look. with astonishment and exhilaration
at such a glorious truth that we can be made the children of
God. It is a gift from on high. It's a gift. Notice Ephesians
2. If you turn to Ephesians 2, now this is an address of scripture,
brothers and sisters, that ought to be very well known to you,
if not memorized. There is no doctrine of demanding
the congregation memorize texts. But if there was, this would
be one of those texts that you need to memorize. Because what
does it encapsulate? It encapsulates the amazing,
condescending, and victorious grace of God and the gift nature
of our salvation, which includes adoption, being made the children
of God. Notice in Ephesians 2 at verse
8, having already talked about the grace of God in salvation,
we read, These blessed words for by grace you have been saved
through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of
God, not of works, lest anyone should boast for we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand
that we should walk in them. It's at the same time a glorious
verse that comes to the heart of the Christian and causes him
to sing Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. And it's also a nail
in the coffin of any theology that would seek to exalt man
in an economy of salvation. For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is what? The gift
of God. He has bestowed on us. He has
graciously gifted us, graciously given us the reality to be called
the children of God. Ephesians 2, 8 to 10, brethren,
memorize that verse if you can. You see, turn with me to John
chapter 3. Actually, first off, John chapter
1. Notice what we find in John 1 with regards to now. honing
in on or narrowing our focus to childhood in God's household,
being made the children of God. Remember, of course, this is
John, the author of 1 John, the passage that we're focusing on
this evening. But notice in John 1, beginning
in verse 10, speaking of Christ, he was in the world and the world
was made through him and the world did not know him. He came
to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 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." You see this blessed reality. First off, God gives us the right
to become children of God. Wrapped up in that, brethren,
is the language of a legal bestowal. Those who previously could not
and did not avail of the benefits of the householder now do by
virtue of a right granted to them. The doctrine of adoption
is in view. Those who once were not sons
and daughters are now sons and daughters, and they have all
rights and all titles to the blessed inheritances of the household
owner. We have been made to become children
of God. We have been given the right
to become children of God. And notice wherein lies the power,
wherein lies the efficacy, who were born not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. You see, it's amazing grace,
brethren. It's amazing grace. You're preaching to the choir,
preacher. I know, but we need to hear this constantly. It's
amazing grace. By grace are we saved, through
faith in that not of ourselves. You see, we are to constantly
rehearse these truths so that we might behold what manner of
love the Father has bestowed on us, that we can be called
the children of God, a blessed reality. And in John 3, and this
connects to our verse, because it has the language of love and
it has the language of giving as well. Now, this verse certainly
ought to be memorized, shouldn't it? John 3, 16. John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. You know, we ought not
to just skip past he gave there. Because what do we have in view
there again? We have a gracious gifting, we have a granting,
we have a bestowal. God gifted the Son of His love. God gave His only begotten Son
so that all those who believe might not perish but have everlasting
life. There are some who would come
to this passage and See something in verse 16 that touches upon
the manner of love that we have in 1 John 3.1. Notice, for God
so loved the world. We know that that isn't because
the world was so lovable. You know, God looks down upon
the children of men and he sees that they are only disobedient
continually. Wickedness is in their hearts.
Hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? See, God didn't give His Son because we were
so lovable, but after this manner, in this manner, God loved the
world. It's demonstrated in the giving
of His Son, some would read this text. In what manner did God
so love the world? He gave His Son, so that all
the believing ones might not perish, but have everlasting
life. We see that same thrust in 1 John 3, 1. Behold what manner
of love, God so loved the world. How? What manner of love the
Father has bestowed on us that we can be called the children
of God? Again, it's connected to this. It's connected to the
giving of the Son. It's connected to His dying,
His doing and His dying, and His rising again. By the efficacy,
the power and perfection of the saving work of Christ, we can
be called the children of God, and it is a blessed, divine,
and gracious bestowal. Remember this. I'm going to remind
you of this long verse from Spurgeon. You've heard it before, but it
touches upon this because we are to behold not the magnificence
of our own doing and making ourselves children of God, but we are to
behold the love, the grace of our God in making us children
of God. This is Spurgeon. You'll remember
this one or hopefully you do Spurgeon preaching on Luke 2,
14. Remember what's going on there.
The angels come and they announce the birth of the Savior. There
is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is
Christ the Lord. And they start to sing what Spurgeon
calls the first Christmas carol, the first hymn of the incarnation. Glory to God in the highest,
peace on earth, goodwill toward men at the birth of the Savior.
Singing praises to God for this Redeemer who was born, Spurgeon
writing and commenting on this, says, the angels were no Arminians. They sang glory to God in the
highest. You see? They believe in no doctrine
which uncrowns Christ and puts the crown upon the heads of mortals.
They believe in no system of faith which makes salvation dependent
upon the creature, and which really gives the creature the
praise. For what is it less than for a man to save himself if
the whole dependence of salvation rests upon his own free will?
No, my brethren, they may be some preachers that delight to
preach a doctrine, that magnifies man, but in their gospel angels
have no delight. The only glad tidings that made
the angels sing are those that put God first, God last, God
midst, and God without end in the salvation of his creatures,
and put the crown, holy and alone, upon the head of him that saves
without a helper. Glory to God in the highest was
the angels' song. You see how that touches upon
our verse this evening? What manner of love the Father
has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God.
He's bestowed it upon us. Any religion that can come to
that verse and envision some sort of strange reality where
the scepter of sovereignty is not in the hand of the Redeemer,
but it's in the hand of man. that man wields the scepter of
his own destiny, that man wields the scepter of his own salvation,
such notions need to be cast into oblivion, replaced with
the reality that it is Christ who holds the scepter. It is
Christ who has the diadem upon his head, the crown. It is Christ
who is king, and in the matter of salvation, it is our God who
makes us, our Christ who makes us sons and daughters. Glorious. It is divine grace. What is the content of marveling?
Divine love first, divine grace second, then thirdly, divine
fatherhood. Moving back to 1 John 3, we have
the content of marveling seen in divine love, divine grace,
and of course, divine fatherhood. Because what do we read there?
We read, What manner of love the Father has bestowed on us
that we should be called children of God. We have God as our father. God is our father, as Jim has
so often said when touching upon the fatherhood of God. You know,
some of us may not have good earthly fathers. That tends to
happen. I have a wonderful father, the
best man that I know. You see, some don't have a good
father. And yet, as a Christian, we have our Heavenly Father.
He never fails us, never leaves us. He's immutable. He's unchangeable. He's infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. In all those glorious perfections,
we have a Father. Brothers and sisters, in Heaven,
who has made us His children. those who were heirs of sin and
death, those who were heirs of the guilt and the condemnation
of sin, and yet He pulled us from out of the hole of the pit,
and He thrusted us from out of that stone, made us His children.
What a glorious thing. Brethren, you're a Christian
here tonight, you were dead in your trespasses and in your sins,
wholly abandoned to iniquity. wholly abandoned to sinful lifestyle,
wholly abandoned to everything contrary to God. He had no interest
in this glorious one, and yet that glorious one came upon the
wings of amazing grace, made you his child. What a glorious
thing. Brethren, behold what manner
of love the Father has bestowed on us. We can be called the children
of God. The astonishment comes. The amazement comes, the marveling
comes at two points. First, because we are not children
by nature. You see, behold what manner of
love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called
the children of God. That is to astonish and exhilarate us
because of the fact that we are not by nature his children. You
know, there is a text in, I believe, Acts 17. that can be misunderstood
with regards to the fatherhood of God. Bear with me one moment. It's
where it speaks of, quoting a heathen actually, it speaks that we are
all his offspring, verse 28. For in him we live and move and
have our being, as also some of your own poets have said,
for we are also his offspring. Some see in that some sort of
idea that every man and woman, boy and girl by nature, are the
children of God. Well, this text is to be seen
in its context where Paul is trying to exhort them that they
have a knowledge of God by virtue of general revelation. Therefore,
the one whom you worship without knowing him I proclaim to you.
They were worshiping in vain. Yet there is this idea among
them with regards to one, the unknown God, who has mastery,
who has ownership of creation, of whom we are all his offspring.
But you see, not in that redemptive sense. There is this sense where
we can speak of the fatherhood of God, the Bible though rarely
does, where he is the father of all his creation. He is the
originator of all those who are his image bearers. In that sense,
we are His offspring. But you see, when it comes to
the fatherhood of God and the sonship and the daughterhood
of His people, it's always and only at the point of that very
thing, His people. It is only those who have been
saved by amazing grace who are the children of God. Because,
and again, we are by nature children of wrath, children of our Father
the Devil, yet God in His grace, God in His mercy, and God in
His love has condescended to pull us from out of the madness
of our sin, out of the madness of our childhood to wrath and
the devil, has made us household members, made us members of the
household of God. Turn to the book of Ephesians
with me, if you will. Again, Raymond has said that
Ephesians is Paul's treatise on the doctrine of adoption. And what we have here is a wonderful
reality, a wonderful package of verses speaking to the fact
that we are members of the household of God. Notice Ephesians 2 verse
19, now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners. but fellow citizens with the
saints and members of the household of God." What does this follow
on the heels of, but that which we had already read? For by grace
you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. He
talks about Jew and Gentile being made one new man in Christ Jesus. And then he says, you are no
longer strangers and foreigners, but citizens. You see, we're
citizens of heaven. We were once strangers and foreigners,
but we've now been brought in by the grace of God. And then
he gets to adoption, to fatherhood, and our sonship and daughterhood
to our father when he writes that we are members of the household
of God. What a glorious reality. And
brethren, you see, we need to see a blessed contrast here. The benefits that we have is
the children of God versus the inheritance that those who are
the children of wrath and the children of the devil will gain
in that great and final day. What is the lot? What is the
lot of those who are not members of the household of God, but
rather are the children of wrath? Their lot, their inheritance
is to be cast into the lake of fire reserved for the devil and
his angels. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There will be nothing but loss
and darkness and torment. What a horrible thing to be a
child of wrath. Why would you want to pursue
after that household that has that inheritance? By grace, brothers and sisters,
we're members of the household of God and the inheritances that
we have, the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ Jesus,
we only need visit. Ephesians 1, to see what we have. The electing grace of the Father,
the redeeming power of the Son, and the sealing and the guaranteeing
efficacy of the Holy Spirit, and all of those blessed benefits.
Romans 8, 28 to 30. Those whom he called, these he
also justified. Those whom he justified, these
he also glorified. All of those blessings of salvation. What an inheritance we have.
in Christ Jesus, in being members of the household of God. A great
list of those benefits is given in 1 Peter. In 1 Peter, in something
of a text that is very close to the Apostle Paul's doxology,
in Ephesians 1, we read in 1 Peter 1.3, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy
has begotten us again to a living hope. through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven
for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Glorious reality
that we have as members of the household of God. What a wonderful
thing. You see, how mad and how false
is the notion that we need to be about the inheritances of
physical things. You know, we like to heap up
to ourselves corruptible things and things which are defiled.
Gold and silver are corruptible things. But the precious blood
of Jesus Christ takes away the sins of His people. It's blessed. Notice what we have later in
1 Peter 1. 17, and if you call on the Father who without partiality
judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout
the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not
redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your
aimless conduct, received by tradition from your Father's,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before
the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times
for you, a blessed thing. You see, if you're here today
and you're not a Christian, there is nothing in earthly inheritance. That doesn't mean to, you know,
turn your nose and to shun if your father and your mother rightly
and wholesomely leave you some dough, some loot, some property. It doesn't mean, you know, throw
it away and give it away and go live on the streets. But you
see, if we're all about gaining physical pleasures, if we're
all about following after earthly pleasures, if our pursuit of
earthly things chokes away, again, the only thing that is worthy
of infinite and eternal value, the precious blood of Christ
and the inheritance given us by God, given to his people by
God. What a colossal folly of a pursuit
is seeking after earthly things when we can have those blessed
things of eternal value, the inheritance given to us by our
Father. Divine love, divine grace, divine fatherhood. We are brought
into the household of God. Lastly and finally then, we've
noted the call to marvel seen and behold. We've noted the content
of the marveling seen in what manner of love the Father has
bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God.
And lastly, the intent behind the call to marvel, what is it?
What is the intent behind this call to marvel? Well, let's turn
back to 1 John 3 to notice what it is. We want to look at two things
in the intent behind the call to marvel. The intent behind
the call to marvel is for the simple purposes of a general
call to marvel. Right? The apostle calls upon
his audience to behold so that they might do what? So that they
might behold. Generally and largely, brothers
and sisters, the apostles set before us such verses so that
we will take our minds off of other things and again be wholly
and alone focused, solely and alone focused upon the blessings
of God delivered to us graciously through Christ Jesus, our Lord.
The intent behind the call to marvel is first so that Christians
would marvel. Brethren, brothers and sisters,
so that we would be aroused unto an astonishment, an astonishing,
a wondering after the things of God so graciously given to
us. You see, the stuff of the Bible,
if you're, you know, when you read the newspaper and you're
sitting in a chair and, you know, you got your leg crossed there,
you got your green tea or your, you know, chamomile tea or whatever
you have next to you and you're, you know, You're just kind of,
you're chilling there and you're casually sipping your coffee
and you're reading some stuff in the news. When you come to
a reading of your Bibles, when you come to a consideration of
our glorious triune God, our blessed savior, the riches and
the excellencies of his saving and redeeming work, these are
not the things of newspaper reading. We should never really marvel
and be astonished in the same way ever, even remotely, after
the things of this lower world. Current events aren't to arouse
in us this Christian astonishment, but rather the revelation of
such a God, of such a Christ, and of such a salvation is to
cause us to uncross the legs, to put down the teeth, and to
fall on our faces as dead men before such a glorious God and
such a glorious truth. We are to be astonished. Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should
be called the children of God comes as a simple and general
call to marvel after your God, to behold your God. Hopefully the preacher helps
with that on Sunday in a small and in a fallible and in a cracked
pot way. Facilitates your Christian marveling
after such a God and such a Christ. But pick up your Bible as well
right throughout the week. Page after page, chapter after
chapter, sets forth the Christ crucified upon Calvary's tree
for the salvation of his people. Open up your Bibles and marvel
after. Behold your God. Behold his Christ
and behold his salvation. Rejoice. Turn that frown into
a crescenting smile. Rejoice in your God. Sing the
praises of amazing and victorious grace. Second, however. The intent
behind the call to marvel is to arouse steadfastness in our
Christian walk. It is to arouse a steadfastness
and earnest marching in our Christian walk. Notice what proceeds. Behold, what manner of love?
We already read it in 1 John 2, 24. 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. Now notice
it comes to more of a focal point with regards to the intent behind
this call to marvel. 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. Now, this verse is actually quite
helpful to dispel any notions and bad interpretations of another
verse in 1 John. Notice in verse 1 of 1 John 5,
whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, there are opponents of Calvinism,
opponents of Reformed theology, opponents of the doctrines of
grace who will say, Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. You see, one must believe the
gospel before God can bring them forth from above, before God
can birth them from above. One must believe to be made by
God, a child of God. Well, we come and we have the
same language in 1 John 2.29. If you know that he is righteous,
you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him. So if you want to say that our
believing merits you God's gracious bestowal of childhood, of sonship,
then you have to say that good works merit salvation because
it says right here. Everyone who practices righteousness
is born of Him. What's the idea then? Because
that's nonsense. What's the idea then? Everyone
who is born of God believes that Jesus is the Christ. So when
we read whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God, that's simply to say those who are born of God demonstrate
that reality in that they believe that Jesus is the Christ, that
He really did come in the flesh. If there are those who are Antichrist,
who deny that Jesus has come in the flesh, then they're not
born of Him. And so we get back to 1 John 2.29, and we read,
if you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices
righteousness is born of Him. What does this mean then? It
means, brethren, as children of God, we are to practice righteousness. Isn't it? The born again of God don't continue
in sin. The born again of God do not
abide in iniquity. The born again of God, though
they will have remaining corruption that we need to put to death,
living unto righteousness. But nevertheless, those who are
born of God will practice righteousness. We will no longer abide in the
committing of sin and in iniquity. We will stumble, we will fall,
we will sin. But it is not our common course
now because we have been made anew. by the power and the grace
of God to walk after newness of life, to endeavor after obedience. We are to endeavor after obedience,
brethren. The doctrine of justification
by faith alone, the doctrine that we are not saved by works,
but solely and alone by the grace and the faith of God does not
militate against the doing of good works. Notice what we have
after. Verse 1 of 1 John 3, 1. Of 1
John 3. 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 himself purifies him, or excuse me, and everyone who has this
hope, not in himself, and everyone who has this hope in him, Purifies
himself just as he is pure. So you see this call to marvel
comes as an exhortation unto practical godliness The children
of God are to act as members of the household of God We have
this brought forth again in Ephesians that book that is If we believe
Raymond and it's okay to do so at this point a treatise on the
doctrine of adoption We have this language in in Ephesians
5 therefore be imitators of God as Dear children and walk in
love as Christ also has loved us and given himself For us and
offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma We're
to be imitators of God. We can't be God we can never
be and we never will be infinite eternal and unchangeable and
all of his perfections and But we are to be imitators of him
after his righteousness, after his holiness, and after his justice. We are to be doers of good. We
are to be, as Paul writes to Titus, zealous for good works,
brethren. Zealous for good works. You see,
the Protestant Christian is not what Rome says we are, the deniers
of the necessity of good works. Heaven forbid. We maintain most
certainly against those Romish errors of justification, that
justification is solely and alone by the grace of God,
wherein He makes us, wherein He imputes us, imputes the righteousness
of Christ to us. We receive it by faith alone.
We're justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ
alone. Our righteousness is not our own, it is Christ's given
to us, imputed to us, received by faith. But what do we do?
We endeavor after, in newness of life, obedience and good works
so that we might adorn the gospel, so that we might decorate the
gospel ornamented so that we might not have heathens, pagans,
unbelievers blaspheme the word of God and speak ill of the gospel
when we do all manner of sin in this lower world. Christians,
we are to love the gospel and love the law of God. That's the
report in the book of Revelation. John repeats, who are Christians
or how are Christians identified? Those who love the gospel of
Christ and who do the commandments of God. We do not do the commandments
of God in order to merit salvation. We've already noted that for
by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of
yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone
should boast. But brethren, conduct yourselves
in a manner worthy of the gospel is what Paul says in first in
Philippians 127. We are to. be cheerfully obedient unto the
law of God in the doing of our good works. The law of God comes
to us, and it no longer comes to us with the thunderings of
Sinai, but it comes to us with the grace and the mercy and the
love of Calvary. It comes to us with this blessed
reality that we do it in a cheerful compliance, because we love our
God, we love His Christ, and we have beheld what manner of
love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called
the children of God. We are too. This call to marvel
is to arouse steadfastness in our Christian walk. Calvin on
this. For it was not common honor,
he says, that the heavenly Father bestowed on us when he adopted
us as his children. This being so great a favor,
the desire for purity ought to be kindled in us. so as to be
conformed to his image. Nor indeed can it be otherwise,
but that he who acknowledges himself to be one of God's children
should purify himself. And to make this exhortation
more forcible, he amplifies the favor of God for when he says
that love has been bestowed, he means that it is from mere
bounty and benevolence that God makes us his children. So you
see, this behold comes, brethren, and it's to arouse us unto the
doing of good works for the honor of God, for the glory of the
gospel, and to adorn that saving work of Christ, which such things
as are acceptable in the sight of God. So brethren, when we
pray in our time of prayer, God, give us your spirit that we might
conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel, we mean
that. You are to be nodding and affirming
when we pray that. You don't have to do it physically,
but hopefully you're with us when we pray that. Conduct yourselves
in a manner worthy of the gospel. Paul says, whether I am with
you or am absent, that I may hear of your affairs, that you
stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving for the faith
of the gospel. When we have this given to us, this behold what
manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, when it is seen
as in its intent to arouse steadfastness in the Christian walk, we might
even say that that is twofold. Not we might even say, we need
to say that that is twofold. That we are to have proper doctrine
and that we are to have proper practice. Because in view are
these who are anti-Christ, who are denying that Christ had come
in the flesh. We are to abide in Him after
the doctrine of Christ, that He truly has come and taken to
Himself man's nature, with all the essential properties and
common infirmities thereof, yet without sin. He is not a specter,
He is not a phantom, for if He was, so is His salvation. No,
He came in the flesh. He truly did come. We are to
have proper doctrine. We are to know our God, we are
to know his Christ, we are to know what the Bible says with
regards to those blessed, hand-gripping doctrines that we must not let
go, but we must hold with apologetic vigor, joyful in Christian strength. You see, we are to as well walk
in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. We are to know and
we are to do. Neither of these in order to
be saved, but because we have been saved. We are to endeavor
after a full and unabridged knowledge of our God and of his Christ.
And we are to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.
We are to follow after his commandments in cheerful compliance, knowing
again, brethren, that that brings honor and glory to God and it
adorns the gospel. Well, finally, brethren, we already
noted these things this morning. It's the first time I've gone
through a glass of water. I don't need another one, that's okay.
We're almost finished. Noted this morning, a Christian,
behold your God. Won't need to spend as much time
saying that again, but hopefully that's clear. Behold, marvel
after your God, brothers and sisters, because what a God we
have. What a God we have. We don't have the God of the
pagans who have to be lifted up and nailed down with nails
so that they won't topple over. We have a God who is spirit.
infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in all of his excellencies and
perfections, who is uninfluenced, eternal, sovereign, infinite,
immutable, holy, and gracious in his love. We have a God who
sent such a Christ into this lower world, sinners to save.
We have such a gospel. Behold your God, brethren. Marvel,
be astonished, be exhilarated. So one man has said with regards
to the doctrine of God, We're not to embrace or endeavor after
a theology proper in some cold and detached way. Doctrine of
God is to exhilarate us. Open up our Bibles and we learn
of this God and we're to be exhilarated. What a God and what a Christ
and what a gospel. And brethren, we are to be such
who seek after steadfastness in the Christian walk. prayerfully,
how do we do this? How do we do this? How do we
be steadfast in the Christian walk? We do what God has ordained
for our own good, for our growth as Christians. There's a couple
of good places in our confession that summarize the biblical data.
Chapter 14, paragraph one, for example, the doctrine of worship,
the doctrine of the sacraments. There are those means that God
has ordained for our good, and our growth as Christians so that
we might facilitate by supplies of the spirit a steadfastness
in our Christian walk, the worship of God in his gathered church.
We come to church so that we might behold our God and so that
we might grow after the manner of endeavoring in obedience in
our Christian walk. We are to pray. We are to read
the scriptures. We are to be baptized. We are
to take the Lord's Supper. And other means ordained by God
for our growth in faith. You know, it's not, as we've
noted before, it really isn't brain science. Well, how do I
do this whole Christian thing? How do I, how do I grow? It's
been said before, if someone was to come to their personal
trainer, you know, a trainer has been, you know, training
someone to lose weight, exercise, gain strength, be healthy, that
sort of thing. The person that he's been training
comes to them and says, you know what, man, I'm just, it's just
not working. I just, you know, I'm not seeing
any changes. I'm not seeing any, I'm still
unhealthy. And the trainer said, well, you
know, have you been eating good? No, not really. Have you been,
have you been exercising? Have you been picking up those
weights and doing what I taught? No. Yeah, I'm really struggling. Have you been doing it? No. Have
you been doing this? No. Brethren, Come to church, read your Bibles,
pray. If you've been baptized, take
the Lord's Supper. If you haven't been baptized
and you're a believer, come talk to us and get baptized. Brethren,
avail of those means that God has ordained to grow in your
Christian walk and prayerfully seek to conduct yourselves in
a manner worthy of the gospel. Kids, what does it look like
to be a Christian? Brothers and sisters, what does it look like
to be a Christian? You believe in Christ and you have the doctrine
of Christ. You seek with newness of life
to endeavor after obedience, growing in the grace and in the
knowledge of Christ Jesus, the Lord. You conduct yourselves
in a manner worthy of that gospel that you have and do believe,
that you have believed and that you do believe. If you don't
know Christ tonight, you're an unbeliever. If you haven't come to know our
blessed Savior, Remember, you might not have been here this
morning, but remember those words, behold, today is the acceptable
time. Behold, today is the day of salvation. Don't tarry, don't wait, don't
dangle, don't put off. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you will be saved. We said earlier, the inheritance,
the lot of those who do not believe in the Savior is an eternity
of torment. It's not unconscious. It's a
conscious eternity of torment. The lake of fire reserved for
the devil and his angels. And that is just. And that is
holy. Because our God is just. Eternally
so. And holy. Eternally so. You see, you need to come to
grips by the grace of God with the reality of what sin deserves.
And that by that same grace you would flee to the cross and to
our Christ and find in him salvation. and an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for
you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for your word. We rejoice in this simple half
of a verse that we focused on this morning and this evening,
1 John 3.1. We pray that you would help us
to behold you. We pray that you would help us
to marvel in our Christ. We pray that you would help us
to be astonished after the Spirit applying the benefits of Christ's
cross work, that we would rejoice in the gospel, Lord God, and
that you would help us to avail of those means that you have
ordained for our good and for your glory, that you would instill
in us and maintain in us a church-attending ethic. We would seek to come
in here with joyful hearts to worship with our fellow brothers
and sisters. bring you honor, bring you praise,
that we would come to you in prayer, that we would read your
word and avail of it, that we would avail of those other means,
baptism in the Lord's Supper, and all those other means ordained
by you that we might grow in our faith. Help us in this, and
we do pray that you would help us to walk in obedience in this
lower world. We know that we are not saved
by our obedience, but having been saved by grace through faith
in Christ, we do pray that you would help us by your spirit
to walk in newness of life, that we would walk after obedience,
that we would be in cheerful compliance after your law. We
would seek to do those things that are holy in your sight.
Go with us now, Lord. Help us help all those who are
unable to join us. Be with them. Be with those traveling.
We pray that you would watch over your saints, not only from
our church, but around the world, strengthening them daily, and
that you would add new saints, by amazing grace, to your earthly
fold. And we pray in Christ's precious
name. Amen.
