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They turn in your Bibles to 1
John, chapter 3. 1 John, chapter 3, we're going
to consider this evening the amazing love of God or the privileged
status of the believers, specifically 1 John, chapter 3, verse 1. That wonderful statement where
John declares, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed
on us that we should be called children of God. I'll just pick
up reading in chapter 2 at verse 28. Here, John is introducing,
or John is describing, the marks of, or the characteristics of,
the children of God. So, beginning in 1 John 2, verse
28, And now little children abide in him, that when he appears
we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him that is
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. Whoever commits
sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins, and in him there is no sin. Whoever
abides in him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen
him nor known him. Little children, let no one deceive
you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil,
for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose,
the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Whoever has been born of God
does not sin, for his seed remains in him. And he cannot sin, because
he has been born of God. In this, the children of God
and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not
practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not
love his brother. For this is the message that
you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother.
And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and
his brothers righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if
the world hates you. We know that we have passed from
death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not
love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is
a murderer. And you know that no murderer
has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love because
he laid down his life for us. We also ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's
goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from
him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children,
let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are
of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. For if
our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows
all things. Beloved, if our heart does not
condemn us, we have confidence toward God. Whatever we ask,
we receive from him. And because we keep his commandments
and do those things that are pleasing in his sight, And this
is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son,
Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now,
He who keeps His commandment abides in Him, and He in Him.
And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He
has given us. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, thank You for 1 John.
Thank You for the fact that all scripture is given by inspiration
of God, it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness. And we pray even now that you
would thoroughly furnish us with every good work, that we would
marvel, Lord, at your great love for us, that we would just stand
amazed at what you have done in our lives, that again as we
reflect upon the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord, our hearts would
be drawn out in worship, in praise, and in adoration unto you. And
we ask this in Jesus' holy name. Amen. Well, as I said, the entire
section here is a description or marks of the child of God. John says that believers practice
righteousness, according to chapter 2, verse 29, because they have
been born of God. We have been born of God. completed
action with current abiding results. Because of that, we practice
righteousness. In chapter 3, verse 1, he calls
attention to our present blessedness. And again, that's where our focus
will be this evening. But it's interesting how he moves
from the present to the future and then calls us to engage right
now. Verse two, he says, Beloved,
now we are children of God and it is not yet been revealed what
we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed,
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. So we
are presently the children of God. There is a great hope laid
out for us in the future. And based on that hope, we are
to purify ourselves just as He is pure. So that's kind of what's
going on here in 1 John 3. Now we're going to just take
verse 1 and hold it up and seek to understand what John is calling
us to consider. Notice the amazing gift of God's
love. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed on us. There is first this call to consider. And it's unfortunate that we
have to remind ourselves to focus on such things. John says, Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. It's as
if he stops for a moment to consider this very glorious truth. The
fact that he is describing the characteristics or the marks
of God's children causes him to reflect on the fact that we
are God's children. He's not just describing what
we are or what we ought to be, but he stops for a moment and
calls us to consider and ponder the very fact that we are this. It's an amazing reality. That's
why he says, behold, we need to stop for a moment. We need
to focus on this. We need to give attention to
this. John Gill says, see, take notice,
consider, look by faith with wonder and astonishment and observe
how great a favor, what an instance of matchless love, what a wonderful
blessing of grace. We need to do this from time
to time. Yes, search first, John, for
the marks of the child of God. Yes, search first, John, to see
that a child of God loves God and seeks to keep his commandments.
Search first, John, to realize that a mark of the Christian
is that we now love other people. Prior to our conversion, we probably
hated, we probably despised, we probably tried to keep away
from people. But in Christ, this is a mark
of how we know we've passed from death to life, that we love the
brethren, that we have affection for them. But don't just consider
those marks or descriptions of the Christian without stopping
to reflect on the fact that I'm a child of God. We're children
of the living God. We are sons and daughters of
God. That's what he is calling attention
to. Another commentator says behold
or see calls upon the readers to take a heart moving look at
the amazing love which gave them membership in God's family. So it's really quite a first
step before you consider the marks of reflect on the glorious
privilege that is yours. Reflect on the fact that at one
time you were a child of the devil. You were serving your
own flesh. You were serving your own carnal
lusts. You were children of the wrath, just as the rest. But
now God has brought you savingly into his family. The Apostle
Paul calls his audience to reflect upon this as well in the book
of Ephesians. You may turn there. Ephesians
chapter three. Just so we can see that we ought
to take time, we ought to stop and reflect, we ought to behold,
yes, what our duties are as God's children, but what we are in
our privileged status as God's children. Notice in Ephesians
chapter 3, Paul is making a bit of a transition. He has set forth
the doctrine of God's saving gospel in chapters 1 and 2. He'll get into practical Christianity
in chapters 4 through 6. He will exhort the believers
there how they ought to conduct themselves. So, chapter 3, he
records his place in redemptive history. His particular calling
to be an apostle and to preach the gospel. And then in the latter
part of chapter three, he calls attention to the way that he
prays for the people of God in Ephesus. He doesn't do this like,
hey, this is how I pray. I'm a great prayer. No, he's
just reporting to them the things that take up space in his prayer
closet with reference to the Ephesian Christians. He says
in verse 14, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches
of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his Spirit
in the inner man. It's a good way to pray for your
brothers and sisters. God would grant you the Spirit,
that God would strengthen you with might in the inner man.
so that Christ may, in fact, dwell powerfully in your heart
through faith. That's the first petition, spiritual
strengthening. The second petition is found
in verse 17, after that Christ may dwell in your hearts through
faith. Now he says that you, being rooted and grounded in
love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ,
which passes knowledge. You see, Paul wants the Ephesian
Christians not to focus on their love for Christ, but he wants
them to focus on Christ's love for them. He wants them to be
scholars in Christ's school of love. He wants them to be educated. He wants them to be knowledgeable.
And the beautiful way that he describes Christ's love here
is just breathtaking. You having been rooted and grounded
in love, I want you to be able to comprehend with all the saints
what is the width and length and depth and height to know
the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. He wants them to be
spiritually educated, to understand something of Christ's powerful
love for them. And then just so we finish the
section, he also wants them to be spiritually saturated. As he says there at the end of
verse 18, verse 19, he says, that you may be filled with all
the fullness of God. So when Paul prays for the Ephesians,
there are three particulars that he wants. Spiritual strengthening,
spiritual education, and spiritual saturation. But it's that education
that I want to draw our attention to. We need to focus on this.
We need to ponder this. We need to behold what manner
of love the Father has given to us. We need to consider how
great the love of God is on our behalf. That is precisely what
the Apostle John is doing here in 1 John chapter 3 verse 1. So there is first a call to consider. Secondly, the object in view,
he says, behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed
on us that we should be called children of God. The object in
view is God's great love, God's amazing love. Again, John Gill
says, this blessing comes not by nature, nor by merit, but
by grace. The grace of adoption, which
is a person's unto an inheritance that have no legal right unto.
The spring of it is the everlasting and unchangeable love of God.
Isn't that beautiful? Does that encourage you that
God is unchanging? Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
and today and forever. That means he doesn't save you
and then discard you. He doesn't save you and then
cast you off. It means that the new covenant
is, in fact, unbreakable. I will make a covenant with them
in those days, not like the one I made before, which their fathers
broke. Our blessed Savior holds us in
the grip of his hand. Gil says there was no need on
the adopter's side. He having an only begotten and
beloved son and no worth and loveliness in the adopted, they
being by nature children of wrath. It is a privilege that exceeds
all others and is attended with many. So that it is no wonder
the apostle breaks out in this touching manner and calls upon
the saints to view it with admiration and thankfulness. That's what
John wants tonight. That's what John would have for
us to do. And if we consider this love
of God, I just want to set forth quickly five things with reference
to God's love. He loved us, first of all, before
the foundation of the world. Well, I think John says, behold,
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. Doesn't the
Scripture teach us that? God loved us before time. Ephesians
1-4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the
world. Romans 8-29, for whom He foreknew The foreknowledge in Romans 8,
29 is not God's looking down the tunnel of time and seeing
you and I deciding for Jesus, and then he elects us unto salvation. That is not foreknowledge in
the Scripture. It doesn't say for what he foreknew,
our act of faith or our act of repentance, but whom he foreknew. The language is language of intimacy.
He foreknew us, he loved us, he set us apart as vessels of
mercy from before the foundation of the world. Behold what manner
of love the Father has bestowed on us. He loved us before the
foundation of the world. A second observation on this
love is that he loves us in history. He loves us in history. That
means that it breaks forth in time, in space and manifests
itself. John 3, 16, For God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son. When we look at
the cross, we ought to think of the righteousness of God,
the justice of God, the sin-hating character and wrath of God, but
we ought to focus on his love as well. God commends his own
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. The cross publishes, the cross
is a pulpit to demonstrate and to proclaim the great love of
God. Behold, what manner of love the
Father has bestowed on us. For a third observation on this
love, he will love us throughout eternity. And this love is too
good to be true. I just read a quote recently
said, if you're preaching doesn't sound too good to be true, you're
not preaching the Bible. Right. He loved us before the
foundation of the world. He breaks into time and space
through the person of His Son to demonstrate this love. And
He will love us through eternity. He's not going to have cabin
fever. You know what cabin fever is, right? You go away on a vacation
and you're with your family and it's raining, raining, raining,
raining. And this is the people that you love the most. These
are the people that are nearest and dearest to your heart. You
find yourself longing for that sun, so we can get out, we can
get away. Not forever, just get some space. God's not going to have cabin
fever with us. John 13, verse 1. Jesus in the upper room. Now, before the feast of the
Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should
depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own
who were in the world, he loved them to the end. It is a relentless
love. It is an unstoppable love. It
is an immutable love that will carry on throughout eternity. First John 3 2. We saw that beloved. Now we are children of God. It
is not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that
when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see
him as he is. We'll be like Jesus, not deity. not God, but we will be like
him by virtue of our union with him. We will be brought out of
this sinful state into that glorious state. And as the father loves
his son, so he will love us unto all eternity. Behold, what manner
of love the father has bestowed on us. A fourth observation. God has wonderfully demonstrated
this love. I've already mentioned John 3,
16. God so loved the world that he gave. Husbands, if you're
only ever telling your wives you love them and you don't demonstrate
it, it'll be suspect. Same thing, wives. You may say,
I love you, honey. I love you, honey. I love you,
honey. But love is concrete. Love is active. Love is an action
word. And God demonstrates that love
and that while we were yet sinners. But even in the passage that
we read, notice in 1 John 3, 16, it says by this we know love
because he laid down his life for us. You ever wonder about
the love of Christ? He laid down his life for us. It is demonstrable, it is concrete,
it is rock solid, it has been wonderfully demonstrated. He
didn't just announce it, but he comes and he lays down his
life on behalf of the people of God. 1 John 4, verse 7, Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone
who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love
does not know God, for God is love. In this, the love of God
was manifested toward us that God has sent his only begotten
Son into the world that we might live through him. It is before
the foundation of the world. It is revealed in history. It
will continue throughout eternity. It's wonderfully demonstrated.
And a fifth observation on this love is that it's sovereignly
bestowed. Behold what manner of love The
Father has bestowed on us. We didn't deserve it. We were
unlovely. We didn't earn it because we're
wicked. We didn't merit it because we're
lawbreakers. God displays this love. God bestows this love according
to His good pleasure. It is sovereign grace. That's
why we sang Hymn number 96. "'Tis not that I did choose thee,
for, Lord, that could not be." Just turn there. "'This heart
would still refuse thee, hadst thou not chosen me. Thou, from
the sin that stained me, hast cleansed and set me free. Of
old thou hast ordained me, that I should live to thee. To a sovereign
mercy called me and taught my opening mind. The world had else
enthralled me, to heavenly glories blind. My heart owns none before
thee, for thy rich grace I thirst. This knowing, if I love thee,
thou must have loved me first. It is bestowed by sovereign grace
alone." Does it make you scratch your head when people have a
problem with God's sovereignty? Apart from God's sovereignty,
we all go to hell. Apart from predestination and
election and God's choice of us in Him before the foundation
of the world, there is no hope. There is no reflecting like John
does here. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed on us, has bestowed, highlights the gracious
character of this love. The present tense, or the perfect
tense, indicates that what we have received is permanent and
abiding. Go back to 1 John chapter 4,
verse 9. In this, the love of God was
manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son
into the world, that we might live through Him." Now, notice
verse 10. In this is love. Not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. You see what John says? The thing
to be amazed about isn't that we love God. We should love God. It's a no-brainer. Everybody
ought to love God. The native sin of man is that
they hate God, they reject God, they defy God, they revolt against
God. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. When by God's grace we pass from
death to life, we do love him because he first loved us. It is a sovereign bestowal of
this love. Hopefully now you'll see why
John with his pen says, Behold what manner of love the Father
has bestowed on us. Notice thirdly, we've looked
at a call to consider the object in view. Notice thirdly, the
blessed result, that we should be called children of God. Some
manuscripts add, and we are. That's what we are. He's not
just describing. He's not just giving a theological
list of marks that characterize the children of God. No, it is
that. You cannot take that away from it. But it is a reflection
upon the fact that we are children of God. We've been brought from
death to life. We have passed from darkness
into light. We went from children of wrath to children of God.
It's not what Paul says in Ephesians chapter two. That's how he describes
us. We were by nature children of
wrath, just as the others. A child of wrath passes by the
grace of God into being a child of God most high. Remember who
it is. We're sinners. We justly deserve
his condemnation. We justly deserve his wrath.
We justly deserve his fury. I mean, we would never say, behold,
what manner of anger the Father has rightly portrayed upon us
or poured out upon us because we're sinners. That's not a marvelous
thought. That's not an amazing reality.
That's not something that we go, wow. You know, when we read
in Romans 6, the wages of sin is death, that's the way it is
in a moral universe. The glory is that the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's what
the amazing part of the scripture is. It shouldn't surprise us
that God is angry with the wicked every day. It shouldn't surprise
us that God has prepared hell for those who reject him. It
shouldn't surprise us that God will indeed condemn those who
reject his son into the lake of fire. That is just recompense
for sin. What ought to surprise us, what
ought to cause us to side with John, what ought to cause us
to stand in amazement is behold, what manner of love the father
has bestowed on us. Sinners, wretches, children of
Adam, those who rebelled, those who rejected, those who despised.
He's not writing to an audience that were upright, perfect, moral
human beings. They were sinners saved by grace.
That's why Jesus was the propitiation for their sins. As he's writing
to us, he's not saying, behold, what manner of love the Father
has bestowed on us because we deserved it, because we earned
it. Because we're lovely? No, we're
unlovely. There's one in the moral universe
that is altogether lovely, and it ain't us. It's Jesus. This
is an amazing reality. B.B. Warfield notices something
that I think is very perceptive. John refers to us as having been
begotten. John refers to us as being born
again, doesn't he? John refers to us as being children
of God. Paul treats us as adopted sons
and daughters. Not that he's saying we're less
or dissimilar or anything like that. It's the same truth. Adopted
sons and daughters of God. Children of God. It's the same
thing, but it's sort of looked at from a bit of a different
perspective. Warfield notes this. There is a corresponding difference
in the use by Paul and John of the conception of childship or
sonship to God. In accordance with his juridical
or legal point of view, Paul speaks of sonship conferred by
adoption and thinks of our acquisition of the rights and inheritance
of sons, doesn't he? Just as he chose us in him before
the foundation of the world, in love, having predestinated
us unto adoption as sons by Jesus Christ. Romans 8, 17, he says
we are joint heirs with Christ. There's that legal element, there's
that legal viewpoint that the apostle approaches this with.
And now what Warfield says concerning John, in accordance with his
essential point of view, John speaks of childship as conveyed
through birth and thinks of growing up into the likeness of God. Accordingly, Paul prefers the
term sons. We are adults received by God's
grace into the number of his sons. John prefers the term children
or even little children. It's not different. It's not
like it's two different categories. It's just being looked at, like
you pick up a jewel or a gem. You look at it in various angles
to see the shimmer and to see the luster. Well, gospel doctrines
are like that. You take salvation. You look
at it from the angle of redemption. We've been purchased. We've been
bought back from our slavery and sin. You look at the angle
of propitiation, where God has laid upon the Son the wrath that
was due for our sins. You look at it from the angle
of reconciliation. where an angry God and hateful
sinners are brought together through a great peacemaker, the
Lord Jesus. It's not different. It's a particular
facet. It's an emphasis that these brothers
highlight for our our our amazement. He says, accordingly, Paul prefers
the term sons, where adults received by God's grace into the number
of his sons. John prefers the term children or even little
children. We are born into the family of
God as the infants of his household. This difference in the use of
the conception of childship is not a difference of doctrine.
It is only a difference in the illustrative use of the conception
of childship in the setting forth of doctrine. John says that in
John 1, the gospel of John written by this same dear brother in
John 1 verses 12 and 13, a familiar passage of scripture to all of
us. It says that as many as received
him to them, he gave the right to become what? Children of God. Many has received him. He gave
the right. He conferred upon them that right
to be called children of God. Those 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. This is the blessed
result in view of this amazing love. John says, Behold, what
manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that We should
be called the sons of God or the children of God. Those, hopefully,
are some thoughts to stir us up, to encourage our hearts,
to strengthen us as we enter into another week. Now, the temptation
is there, brethren, when you're tried and you're discouraged
and there's difficulties to look at yourself. I'm not saying that's
always wrong. Scripture says we need to examine
ourselves from time to time. But the Christian, first and
foremost, is extraspective, not introspective. Our life hangs
upon another, not our own. We look to Jesus. We look to
Christ. We relish Him. We focus on Him. We listen to the Apostle Paul,
who tells us, I want you to understand. I want you to comprehend. I want
you to get your noses in the book to learn something about
the love of God. Again, it's not rocket science,
it's not magic, it's not hocus-pocus. Where do we learn about the love
of Christ? Where do we learn about the love of God? Through
Scripture. Very often our struggles and
our trials are intimately connected to our lack of searching the
book. We've got everything here for us. I want you to understand
what is incomprehensible, basically, is what Paul says, that love
that surpasses knowledge. Isn't that an interesting play
on words? I want you to comprehend what is incomprehensible. I want
you to wrap your mind around this. It's like pouring the ocean
into a glass cup. I want you to work on it. I want
you to focus. I want you to think. I want you to study. I want you
to get your nose in the book. You need to fill yourself with
the promises of scripture. You need to look at the cross.
You need to study the gospel. You need to look at the Old Testament.
You need to see how that promise is being opened up until the
fullness of the time when God sends forth his son, born of
a woman, born under the law. You go back to eternity past,
just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.
Instead of being afraid of the doctrine of predestination, you
embrace it and you praise God for it. You bless him for election. You bless him for sovereignty.
You bless him that he has in his grace and mercy included
you so that you can say with John, behold, what manner of
love the father has bestowed on us. that we should be called
the children of God. We need to study the love of
God. We need to understand this blessed
truth. Yes, we need to love one another.
Yes, we need to do good things. Yes, we need to engage in good
works. The Bible says all of that to be sure. But the tendency
is, for most of us, is to go out and do instead of stop for
a moment and reflect. Much of our Christian health,
much of our Christian comfort, much of our Christian encouragement
is involved in knowing the truth. That's why Jesus prayed in this
high priestly prayer, sanctify them by what? By good works. Make them go out and do many
things. Cause them to go out and help old ladies across the
street. Cause them to give all their money to the poor. Cause
them to have fellowship lunches where they put everybody first.
No, sanctify them by thy truth. There's an intimate connection
between what we know and how we live. The Scripture envisages
that. The Scripture calls us to consider
that. That's why many of Paul's epistles are set out that way.
Doctrine and then application. We need to reflect on this manner
of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called
children of God. Perhaps when we reflect on it,
perhaps when we feel the import of it, perhaps when we are dazzled
by it, then we'll go out and love our brothers. Then we'll
go out and give our money to other people. We'll go out and
do those things that God has called us to do. Not because
we think we're going to get from God, but because we've already
received from God everything. We can't help but go out and
be like Christ at this point. So, brethren, focus, think, concentrate. Use your melon just for more
than holding up your glasses. Use your head for more than just,
you know, putting a hat on. Use your head in Christianity
so that your heart is filled with the knowledge of the love
of God that will see you through the various difficulties and
the various trials that no doubt plague God's people. Well, let
us pray. Father, we thank you for this
wonderful statement of the Apostle John. We say with him, behold,
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should
be called children of God, how we thank you for sovereign grace,
how we thank you for that adoption as sons in Christ, how we thank
you that you have begotten us by the power of your Holy Spirit
through your great and glorious truth. And I pray that this would
be a means of encouragement for each one here tonight to strengthen
us, that you would watch over us. For any and all who do not
know Christ as Lord and Savior, we pray that you'd open their
hearts to respond to the truth. in faith, believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ for the salvation of their souls. And we ask this
in his most blessed name. Amen.
