What Kind of Love is This?
And this morning we would like to turn again to look at 1 John, but would like to concentrate on chapter 3 this morning. And looking at this very short section of Scripture, but also very, very well-known section of Scripture and just reminding ourselves this morning of some of the truths--- a few of the truths that we see here. I’d like to look at 1 John chapter 3, and we’re just going to read verses 1-3.
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
I would like to make basically six---just look at six observations from this very familiar portion of Scripture. The first is just real general, is---immediately John here, calls our attention to the love of God. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us.” The eternal God has loved us and were so familiar with this truth that I think we sometimes find ourselves thinking--- “Of course, of course He loves us.” And perhaps the reason is just that the very verses that Nathan read in 1 John 4:7. “We know that love is from God.” And the following verse, “God is love.” And so, knowing the character of God, we are tempted to think that way. And I'm speaking right now, initially, of His general love for mankind. I believe that Scripture clearly testifies to that fact, that God loves all men, women and children. You recall in Matthew 5, that Christ tells us that we've heard, that you should love your enemy, I’m sorry, that you should love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But He says, “But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” He loves His enemies, He loves the righteous and the unrighteous. And so, in this and other passages---God's love, his general love for man, I think is testified to. But, even when speaking of the general love of God for men, it is not something that is due man. It is not an inherent right of people, of men---of men, women and children, is not an inherent right we have to be loved of God. Even the general love of God for men is due only to the purity and beauty---beauty of God's own character of His nature. There's nothing in us that demands that God loves us. There's nothing lovable in us. So, the answer to the question, “why does He love men?” can really only be found in His glorious goodness, and the perfection of his very nature, so that even if this statement before us, even if it were a statement of God's love in reference to just His general love for men, it would still be fitting for John to say, “what a marvelous love!” “See how great a love the Father has bestowed.” But the statement before us is not a statement of God's general love for men, the statement before us is of something much more significant because it's a declaration of the very particular love that God has for his people. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us.” And all through this passage John is writing to little children, those who belong to God. So, he says here, he calls us to consider that this is a love far beyond the bounds of human understanding. It’s love of a nature that defies all attempts to, to comprehend. It’s something foreign, something very peculiar. You recall in Romans chapter 5, Paul---Paul says there, “For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.” But then he says, “But God commendeth His love toward us.” and if you put the emphasis on, His love, you see what Paul is saying. The love that God has committed towards a something of entirely different kind and it's the same---that's the same thought I think, that we have here. We might, you might even read this passage this way as a question, just---just what kind of love is this, that God should call us His children? You might read it that way because I think that's the---that's the meaning here, that John says, “See, look, consider what kind of love that the Father, that God has bestowed upon us, that He's conferred upon us, that He's given to us.
Now the second thing we notice is, what prompts John in this case, what prompts him to make this statement. Why does he say, “Consider this--- what kind of love is this?” And you notice that what prompts him is the statement, “that we should be called children of God.” That's what prompts John to write this. Now, first of all, just considering the “we”, here---mere men and all of our smallness and weakness of so limited in knowledge and understanding, so frail and fragile, so susceptible to disease and sickness, so mortal and transitory, “that we should be called children of God.” And furthermore, “we,” who come from a long line of arrogant, stubborn rebels. Really in many ways creatures of the basest sort. Of created, it's true, of glory, and the very image of God, in original perfection, but having become totally depraved. So, when he says, “we,” that “we” should be called children of God, he’s not referring to, “we” who come from a long line of those who have lived noble lives. He's talking about, “we” who have come from a line of people, mankind, that have lived in the lust of the flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And as Paul says, we come from a long line of people who were “foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, hateful, hating one another.” So, it's not just that---it is not just that we all have had the unfortunate experience of being born into such a family that has that kind of a history, but the fact is that each of us personally and individually is guilty of the same. And so, when John writes, “See how great of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we”, that such as, “we should be called the children of God.”
Notice, that we should actually be called children. This is this is what stirs John to write this. God considers we, such as we, to be His children. He reckons us as part of His family, part of His household. On a human plane, I thought about this just a little bit, on a human plane---I think sometimes about how many times my own parents because of my speech and my behavior, how many times they were bad reflection on the family, so to speak. And they must've been a cause for embarrassment a number times you know my parents almost not wanting to own me. The only---the only comfort I get, by the way, when I think about it, is that Terry and Ted were just as bad as I was. But from a human plane, if you stop and think about it, you can think of the times when you just, you're almost ashamed, thinking about how foolish you were, and in that we disgraced, as it were, our family at times. And, you know, thoughtful parents, even when somewhat disgraced by their children's behavior, they’re able to forgive, able to love, because they’re mindful of their own failure and sin. And so, when our children do things that embarrass us, if we stop---once we cool down, we’re able to remember that we are just the same. But this is something entirely different. The eternal God, absolutely perfect in love and purity, in goodness and faithfulness, in kindness and righteousness, in holiness and beauty, that He should consider us---call us His children---this inspires John to say, “how great a love.” What kind of love is this that He would do this?
But you know John goes farther in this passage, that’s the third observation---it’s part of second observation yet, as far as what's prompting him, he goes further because he says not only that we should be called children of God, he says, “and such we are.” This is not just something that God calls us that He reckons us to be. God has actually made us His children. He's actually made us His children, and this really forms the core, as I understand---of John's argument in this section of the letter. Notice back up in verse 29 is almost where this section starts in a sense, he says, “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him,” is begotten of Him, is the is the way we can understand that. Notice chapter 3 verse nine, “No one who is born of God,” no one who is begotten of God, “practices sin,” habitually practices sin, why, “because His seed abides in him.” Again, we’re talking about deep things, things that we can't fully comprehend. But the point is, “such we are.” It’s not just that God considers us, and calls us His children, He has made us His children is the truth that we have here. John---the apostle John, when he wrote his gospel, at the very start of that gospel in chapter 1, he said, “But as many as received Him, to then He gave the right to become children of God, even to those that 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.” They were begotten of God, they have become children of God. Of course, in John chapter 3, when Christ is talking to Nicodemus, the same concept when He says, “You must be born again.” You see that same truth there. In Titus chapter 3 when---when Paul is speaking of the fact that we've been saved, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.” The word new is right in the middle there. We’ve been made new. That's the teaching of Scripture, not just John here, that we are made new, we actually have been made into be the children of God. Ephesians 2:10. “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.” 2 Corinthians chapter 5, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature,” a new creation. So, this isn't---the point is, this is not just a consideration or something God calls us, this is a reality. God has made us His children, He has made us new even if we can't fully grab---grasp all of that. I think most of us we think about the term or the reality of justification, I remember when we were younger, they would explain it to us, just as if I'd never sinned. You remember that. And---but when we think about this, one of the major concepts about justification, is that God, in justice, declares people who are not righteous to be righteous. You follow me? He reckons us to be righteous and He does it justly, lawfully. But we’re talking about here is something just a step further, because it is not just that He declares us to be His children, He has made us to become His children. And this is what's causing John to say, “What kind of love is this, that He should take such as who we were, who we are, what we did, and make us, cause us to become His children, not just call us His children. And again, if you look like, we refer to John to the third chapter verse nine, his point is that a person who is really a child of God, he cannot practice, he cannot keep living in that realm. Why? Because he's been begotten of God, and His seed abides, God's seed abides in the true child of God. Peter puts it this way in the second, his second epistle, in the first couple verses of the first chapter, he says, “partakers of the divine nature.” God, when God makes somebody His child, He makes them a partaker of His nature, they become His child. That's why there's this new birth that takes place. it’s not just a matter of what He calls as it's---He has made us children, His children, even if we can’t understand it.
Now it's this reality, that's the basis of what John writes next, but right before we go to that that next thing. Just one more quick observation and notice that the way John writes, is, “See how great a love that God has bestowed upon us.” Notice that it doesn't say that, it says, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us.” When God makes us to be His children, He calls us into an intimate relationship with Himself, and even as Ted prayed this morning. He said, “Abba, Father,” from Romans 8:15. Remember that. Remember what Christ said to Mary right after He’d risen from the dead, and she was clinging to Him and He said, “Stop clinging to Me,” He goes, “Go tell My brethren that I ascend to My Father and your Father.” Something’s taken place there. God the Father, the living, eternal God has become our Father. And so, there's an intimacy of relationship. And, of course John has referred to that earlier in this---in this letter, where he talks about---in verse three of chapter 1, he says, “Indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son.” It talks about that intimate relationship. So, this is just another aspect of the fact---of the fact---of the reality that He's made us His children.
But now the third---the third thing I like to just quickly mentioned here, is what the last part of verse one says, it says, see what kind of love this is, how marvelous is this love, that God the father has bestowed on us, that we should become, that we should be called His children, and we are His children. We become His children. And he goes on now to say this, “For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him,” looking at the last part of that verse. You recall and again in John's Gospel and in the first chapter it says, “He came into the world. The world was made by Him and the world did not know Him,” and this is that the reality of what we’re seeing here. In first Corinthians chapter 2 verse 8 Paul said, that if the rulers of this world had understood the wisdom of God, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Remember that passage? They didn't understand, they did not recognize Him for who He really was, is the is the concept there. I’d like to read to you, a passage when Paul was preaching in Antioch, and he's preaching to Jews, here’s what he said, “For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him,” “recognizing neither Him.” The world did not know Him, by and large, they didn't recognize Him, they certainly did not acknowledge Him. John said again in his first chapter of his epistle, He said, “We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” But as a whole, the world didn't. The world didn't recognize His glory, though they should have. Nicodemus did, he says, “Rabbi, we know that You’ve come from God as a teacher, for no man can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” So, Nicodemus recognized it. The blind man in chapter 9 of John, who was healed, he recognized Christ for who He was. Do you remember he, he actually has to instruct the Jewish leaders. He's an unlearned and blind from his birth, from birth, an unlearned man, and he says “This is a marvelous thing. He's open my eyes and you don't know what that means.” So, he perceived, you know, but by and large the world has not known Christ. Christ’s goodness and power were seen but they weren’t comprehended in their significance. People didn't seek Him because they saw the signs, which confirmed and revealed His person. If you recall Christ said that after feeding the 5000, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. And, of course, many others, they saw Him. Why, for physical healing. But by and large the world did not seek Him because they recognized what this meant. They saw His righteousness, and they resented it. They did not recognize it as a demonstration of the uncompromising righteousness of God in conflict with the hypocrisy and pretensions and false righteousness of men. They didn’t recognize that. So, the world didn't know Him. The world, dead in sins, is blind to spiritual truth and blinded by the God of this world, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians. And he goes on to say in that passage that God is the one who shines in the heart, you see, to give us the light of “knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ,” and apart from that the world doesn't know Him, doesn't see Him.
But, according to John’s statement, the world doesn't know us either for the same reason. They didn’t know Him, He was God's Son, and they don't know us, they don't recognize us as being God's children. They don't recognize that. The children of God experience the common calamities, the sufferings of all men. There’s nothing different about us on that count. Okay, when people look at our lives, our lives---we suffer the same things they suffer. But the world needed, as the world perceived, that the God of heaven has placed His everlasting love on us. They can't perceive that, they don't see that. They don't understand our privileges, our enjoyment, the confidence that we have in knowing God. They can’t--- they can't fathom that. We can't make them see that. We can tell them about it, but they can't perceive that. They don't grasp what makes a true child of God “tick,” so speak. They can't understand the way we think. They don't see us for who we really are. Presently very, very, imperfect, that's who we are, and yet our thoughts and values are a clear indication of our true nature and parentage. The true child of God, the way a child of God thinks, the things a child of God values, in all that imperfection, there’s still a clear indication, this one is child of God. And that's a simple--- an obvious indication of this person's parentage, if we can put it that way. Rather, the world sees us as all kinds of things; fanatics, old-fashioned, intolerant, nowadays- on the wrong side of history, and so forth. In some cases, they even acknowledge they---they see God's children, and they shake their heads and acknowledge that they’re good people, but they still don't perceive it as the life of God in our souls that the Divine nature, however, imperfect, has been put within this person. They don't---they don't grasp that, that we've been born anew and that we have the very character of God. So that's the third thing is the reason the war that we notice the world doesn't know us, because I did know Him.
Now, real quickly, the fourth observation is that; verse 2, we are---“now we are children of God,” and here's the fourth observation, “It has not appeared as yet what we shall be,” And again, notice the statement in verse 2, how he starts that out, “Now we are,” right now, “we are children of God.” and that's a fact. Just reinforcing the, “such we are” of verse one. But the main observation we want to make here is that, “it hasn't appeared as yet what we shall be,” even though right now we are children of God. In Hebrews 2, we’re told, that God is bringing many sons to glory to Christ. He's bringing, were not yet brought to glory. This is not yet a past tense thing. It’s as good as accomplished in one sense, but it’s still in progress, it’s not yet taken place. You remember what Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8, that “the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly,” for what, “the revealing of the sons of God.” It hasn't appeared as yet what we shall be. But even creation is waiting for that time when the sons of God are going to be revealed as actually being the very children of God. Creation is waiting for that time, Paul tells us. We are too. He goes on in that same passage, he says, “Not only this, but even we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” So, it’s the same---it’s the same concept. It hasn't yet appeared, and we know it. Any true child of God feels it, he knows that he is not what he ought to be, what he is supposed to be, what he is going to be. But he groans within himself, waiting for that, anticipating that. And in Ephesians 1, Paul tells us, tells the Ephesian believers, he says that, we've been given the Spirit as a pledge of our inheritance. In other words, we've been made new, His work has begun in the heart of every true believer, but it doesn't look at all yet like what it will look like, this work that He's begun in me or you as His child. He’s begun this work. He's given me his nature. I've actually been made somebody new, I’ve been made, His child, but it doesn't at all appear yet what I really shall be.
Then notice the next observation, and that is, that “when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.” Notice he says, “we know,” this is confidence here in John’s statement. We know that this would be true. Notice that---when’s this going to take place? When He appears. And the concept there is, “to render apparent,” “to reveal” At the time when Christ is revealed for who He really is, and you can stop and just remember to member know how many times New Testament were told that that were to be looking forward to that time when Christ will be revealed to the revelation of Christ, we find that wording a number of times New Testament---Peter wrote about it, Paul wrote about it. And this is one of the reasons why we’re looking forward to that time when Christ is revealed. And notice what it says, at that time, at that time---first of all, when He appears, when Christ appears in all His glory, when it becomes crystal clear without any question to anybody who Christ is, when He comes on the clouds of heaven, and every eye sees Him they will know exactly Who it is and they will know exactly who He is, and those who have rejected---and that's why they will mourn we’re told in Revelation chapter 1. But when He comes in they see Him for who He is, at that time, it says---what is it that were going to be? We’re going to be like Him, it says in the passage. It hasn't appeared as yet what we shall be. What is it we shall be? We shall be like Him, is what John writes here, because we shall see Him just as He is.
In this regard, thinking of a couple passages, I’ll just read them to you. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his first letter he says, “You're not lacking in any gift,” “you’re not lacking in any gift awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians, Paul wrote to the Philippians, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory.” When is that going to take place? When He appears, we’re told. Paul told the Colossians, chapter 3 verse four, “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed from heaven, you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” What did Paul say in Romans 8? The whole creation is waiting for that time of the children of God are revealed for who they are. And Paul says to the Colossians, “When Christ Himself is revealed from heaven, we also will be revealed with Him in glory.” And at that time, we will be made like Him, is what we’re told here. He told the Corinthians in the 15th chapter, remember that? He says, “And we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye,” we read in that passage, Jude says that we will---“He will cause us to stand in His presence blameless and with great joy.” All, I think references to the same---to the same thing. And you notice here it says, that, “we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.” I’m not sure I understand---understand all of that. I think of a couple passages, you recall Peter wrote in his first letter, he goes, “and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.” So, the point is that we haven't yet seen Him, Peter says. But he also says in his second letter he says, “Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.” And he says this, “through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence,” or “to His own glory and excellence.” So, there's something about a true and complete knowledge of Christ Himself, that were talking about here. Perhaps the most interesting passage on that is in 1Corinthians chapter---excuse me, it’s 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18, I’ll read this to you, it says, “But we all, with unveiled face,” right now in this present body, “are beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.” And as we behold His glory, we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. Now think about that. Right now, we’re beholding His image as in a mirror, very dimly. And were being changed as we behold His image. But at that time, we will see Him face to face and to the very sight of Him to some measure will be the cause of our final---of this final work of us being made entirely like Him, not in deity but in purity. I don't quite understand all those passages but it’s significant. When we see Him, right now we’re just beholding Him as darkly as in a mirror and we’re still being changed from glory to glory, to His glory, even now. “But when we see Him we shall be like Him because we will see Him just as He is.” Also, thinking about that, you recall in the---when Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in the first chapter, and he's talking about that time when Christ comes in is revealed in fire---in flaming fire with his holy angels. He talks about the judgment He’s going to render, at the same---in the same context he says, “when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day,” and it says this, “and to be marveled at among all who have believed.” When we see Him. Now---now it's in a mirror dimly, but when we see Him we will marvel, is what we’re told, and something about that, we don't have to understand it perfectly, but there's something about that, that is part of this fact that at that instant, we will be changed and we will be made like Him. And remember, that's God's purpose. Romans 8:29, “For whom He foreknew He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” That’s God’s purpose and that's when it’s going to take place.
Now the last thing, going back to our passage, real quickly, the last observation here is the statement in verse three, he says, “everyone who has this hope,” what hope, the hope we’re talking about, everyone who has their hope fixed on Christ, because they're looking in their longing for that day when they will finally and fully be made like Him, when they will really be pure, when they will really be fully a son of God, a child of God, made perfect, made complete, they’re a child of God now, but still incomplete.
So, everybody who has that hope fixed on Him, on Christ, what do they do, it says they purify themselves. He, “purifies himself, just as He is pure.” Do you remember what Paul said to the Philippians in chapter 3 again, he says, I haven't laid hold of it yet, that is a haven't already become perfect, “but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to it lies ahead,” what do I do, I press on toward the high for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, we talk about the high calling, the upward call of God. What's Paul doing? He's pressing on. He's purifying himself is what he's telling us in that passage. If we are really children of God, and now we come to something very important, if we’re really children of God, our new nature, the divine nature put within us, inclines us to do this. If you're really a child of God, if I'm really child of God, that new nature within me inclines me to purify myself. It inclines me to look ahead, to look forward to what I'm going to be. Because this is a statement---it’s not just a statement of exhortation, it’s a statement of fact, everyone who has this hope on Him, who has reason to really have this hope, they’re a child of God, they’re waiting for that time when they are going to be made like Him, they purify themselves. Their new nature inclines them to do this. It’s the same---it’s the same reason why, he tells a few verses later, no one who is born of God practices sin, keeps living in that realm. They can't. They’ve been made different. His seed abides in them. A new nature desires purity. That's why Paul said in the verse we looked at earlier, “and even we ourselves have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly.” That's the mark of a child of God. And if that's what I'm looking forward to, I'm working at it now, is what Paul says, excuse me, it’s what John says here. And I’m putting forth effort. That's what Paul says to the Philippians, “Just as you have obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you,” is his argument. Someone wrote something like this, and it is not an exact quote, but it went like this, “The hope of hypocrites makes allowance for the gratification of fleshly lusts,” do you understand that? He’s talking about hope here, and this person was making the contrast between the hope of genuine child of God and the hope of the hypocrite and he says this, “The hope of hypocrites makes allowance for the gratification of fleshly lusts.” In other words, the hypocrite and he makes room in his life to gratify fleshly lusts. He makes allowance for that. “But the hope of the children of God, longing to be like Him, seeks to put away all that is evil and impure.” I think that's accurate. That’s what John says here. The one who is a hypocrite, they don't have a problem---they make room in their life to gratify some of that fleshly lusts. But the hope of a true child of God does not do that, not very often, not on any consistent basis, because they’re longing to be like Him. The hope of heaven is not primarily a relief that we will not experience eternal fire. The hope of heaven is not primarily a relief that we won’t have to experience eternal fire, rather, the hope of heaven is to be finally brought to glorious completion and be fit to be in His presence. That's the hope of heaven, and a person who has that hope purifies themselves, right now, is what John tells us.
So, in conclusion, I think it's important we’ve talked about this before, but it's important to remember that we are not just called---if I really know Him---we're not just called the children of God, we are children of God. We have been made partakers of His divine nature, even though it’s very, very imperfect right now.
The second thing is that--- may that reminder of, who we have been made and what we are looking forward to, may that reminder stir us to pursue anew the apprehension, we’re pursuing the apprehension of that to which we’ve been called, this high calling to be like Him---to be pure.
And one last thing, do you, this morning, do you have this inclination? Do you recognize that inclination in your heart? Granted there are some times, when it unfortunately fades a little bit, we get distracted. But if you do not have, if you do not recognize in your own heart an inclination, the kind inclination we’re talking about here, to be pure to be like Him. This should cause you to stop and think, because becoming a child of God is a lot more than just knowing all the right things, knowing the gospel, knowing all about Christ, knowing all about God. Becoming a child of God is a work that God the Spirit does in one's heart, and if you don't have, generally, an inclination that’s purifying yourself as you’re looking forward to seeing Him, then you need to examine yourself and you need to go before Him and asked for this for this birth, for this privilege of becoming. Go to Christ and ask Him to make you a child of God. Because without this inclination, you have no reason to assume that you’re a child of God. Everyone who has this inclination has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself. That's what John tells us. So, may this be a reminder to us all because we obviously all fail at this many times, but may this be reminder to us all t renew this pursuit, and to also to really examine ourselves as to whether or not this is so in our lives.
And this morning we would like to turn again to look at 1 John, but would like to concentrate on chapter 3 this morning. And looking at this very short section of Scripture, but also very, very well-known section of Scripture and just reminding ourselves this morning of some of the truths--- a few of the truths that we see here. I’d like to look at 1 John chapter 3, and we’re just going to read verses 1-3.
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
I would like to make basically six---just look at six observations from this very familiar portion of Scripture. The first is just real general, is---immediately John here, calls our attention to the love of God. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us.” The eternal God has loved us and were so familiar with this truth that I think we sometimes find ourselves thinking--- “Of course, of course He loves us.” And perhaps the reason is just that the very verses that Nathan read in 1 John 4:7. “We know that love is from God.” And the following verse, “God is love.” And so, knowing the character of God, we are tempted to think that way. And I'm speaking right now, initially, of His general love for mankind. I believe that Scripture clearly testifies to that fact, that God loves all men, women and children. You recall in Matthew 5, that Christ tells us that we've heard, that you should love your enemy, I’m sorry, that you should love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But He says, “But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” He loves His enemies, He loves the righteous and the unrighteous. And so, in this and other passages---God's love, his general love for man, I think is testified to. But, even when speaking of the general love of God for men, it is not something that is due man. It is not an inherent right of people, of men---of men, women and children, is not an inherent right we have to be loved of God. Even the general love of God for men is due only to the purity and beauty---beauty of God's own character of His nature. There's nothing in us that demands that God loves us. There's nothing lovable in us. So, the answer to the question, “why does He love men?” can really only be found in His glorious goodness, and the perfection of his very nature, so that even if this statement before us, even if it were a statement of God's love in reference to just His general love for men, it would still be fitting for John to say, “what a marvelous love!” “See how great a love the Father has bestowed.” But the statement before us is not a statement of God's general love for men, the statement before us is of something much more significant because it's a declaration of the very particular love that God has for his people. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us.” And all through this passage John is writing to little children, those who belong to God. So, he says here, he calls us to consider that this is a love far beyond the bounds of human understanding. It’s love of a nature that defies all attempts to, to comprehend. It’s something foreign, something very peculiar. You recall in Romans chapter 5, Paul---Paul says there, “For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.” But then he says, “But God commendeth His love toward us.” and if you put the emphasis on, His love, you see what Paul is saying. The love that God has committed towards a something of entirely different kind and it's the same---that's the same thought I think, that we have here. We might, you might even read this passage this way as a question, just---just what kind of love is this, that God should call us His children? You might read it that way because I think that's the---that's the meaning here, that John says, “See, look, consider what kind of love that the Father, that God has bestowed upon us, that He's conferred upon us, that He's given to us.
Now the second thing we notice is, what prompts John in this case, what prompts him to make this statement. Why does he say, “Consider this--- what kind of love is this?” And you notice that what prompts him is the statement, “that we should be called children of God.” That's what prompts John to write this. Now, first of all, just considering the “we”, here---mere men and all of our smallness and weakness of so limited in knowledge and understanding, so frail and fragile, so susceptible to disease and sickness, so mortal and transitory, “that we should be called children of God.” And furthermore, “we,” who come from a long line of arrogant, stubborn rebels. Really in many ways creatures of the basest sort. Of created, it's true, of glory, and the very image of God, in original perfection, but having become totally depraved. So, when he says, “we,” that “we” should be called children of God, he’s not referring to, “we” who come from a long line of those who have lived noble lives. He's talking about, “we” who have come from a line of people, mankind, that have lived in the lust of the flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And as Paul says, we come from a long line of people who were “foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, hateful, hating one another.” So, it's not just that---it is not just that we all have had the unfortunate experience of being born into such a family that has that kind of a history, but the fact is that each of us personally and individually is guilty of the same. And so, when John writes, “See how great of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we”, that such as, “we should be called the children of God.”
Notice, that we should actually be called children. This is this is what stirs John to write this. God considers we, such as we, to be His children. He reckons us as part of His family, part of His household. On a human plane, I thought about this just a little bit, on a human plane---I think sometimes about how many times my own parents because of my speech and my behavior, how many times they were bad reflection on the family, so to speak. And they must've been a cause for embarrassment a number times you know my parents almost not wanting to own me. The only---the only comfort I get, by the way, when I think about it, is that Terry and Ted were just as bad as I was. But from a human plane, if you stop and think about it, you can think of the times when you just, you're almost ashamed, thinking about how foolish you were, and in that we disgraced, as it were, our family at times. And, you know, thoughtful parents, even when somewhat disgraced by their children's behavior, they’re able to forgive, able to love, because they’re mindful of their own failure and sin. And so, when our children do things that embarrass us, if we stop---once we cool down, we’re able to remember that we are just the same. But this is something entirely different. The eternal God, absolutely perfect in love and purity, in goodness and faithfulness, in kindness and righteousness, in holiness and beauty, that He should consider us---call us His children---this inspires John to say, “how great a love.” What kind of love is this that He would do this?
But you know John goes farther in this passage, that’s the third observation---it’s part of second observation yet, as far as what's prompting him, he goes further because he says not only that we should be called children of God, he says, “and such we are.” This is not just something that God calls us that He reckons us to be. God has actually made us His children. He's actually made us His children, and this really forms the core, as I understand---of John's argument in this section of the letter. Notice back up in verse 29 is almost where this section starts in a sense, he says, “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him,” is begotten of Him, is the is the way we can understand that. Notice chapter 3 verse nine, “No one who is born of God,” no one who is begotten of God, “practices sin,” habitually practices sin, why, “because His seed abides in him.” Again, we’re talking about deep things, things that we can't fully comprehend. But the point is, “such we are.” It’s not just that God considers us, and calls us His children, He has made us His children is the truth that we have here. John---the apostle John, when he wrote his gospel, at the very start of that gospel in chapter 1, he said, “But as many as received Him, to then He gave the right to become children of God, even to those that 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.” They were begotten of God, they have become children of God. Of course, in John chapter 3, when Christ is talking to Nicodemus, the same concept when He says, “You must be born again.” You see that same truth there. In Titus chapter 3 when---when Paul is speaking of the fact that we've been saved, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.” The word new is right in the middle there. We’ve been made new. That's the teaching of Scripture, not just John here, that we are made new, we actually have been made into be the children of God. Ephesians 2:10. “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.” 2 Corinthians chapter 5, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature,” a new creation. So, this isn't---the point is, this is not just a consideration or something God calls us, this is a reality. God has made us His children, He has made us new even if we can't fully grab---grasp all of that. I think most of us we think about the term or the reality of justification, I remember when we were younger, they would explain it to us, just as if I'd never sinned. You remember that. And---but when we think about this, one of the major concepts about justification, is that God, in justice, declares people who are not righteous to be righteous. You follow me? He reckons us to be righteous and He does it justly, lawfully. But we’re talking about here is something just a step further, because it is not just that He declares us to be His children, He has made us to become His children. And this is what's causing John to say, “What kind of love is this, that He should take such as who we were, who we are, what we did, and make us, cause us to become His children, not just call us His children. And again, if you look like, we refer to John to the third chapter verse nine, his point is that a person who is really a child of God, he cannot practice, he cannot keep living in that realm. Why? Because he's been begotten of God, and His seed abides, God's seed abides in the true child of God. Peter puts it this way in the second, his second epistle, in the first couple verses of the first chapter, he says, “partakers of the divine nature.” God, when God makes somebody His child, He makes them a partaker of His nature, they become His child. That's why there's this new birth that takes place. it’s not just a matter of what He calls as it's---He has made us children, His children, even if we can’t understand it.
Now it's this reality, that's the basis of what John writes next, but right before we go to that that next thing. Just one more quick observation and notice that the way John writes, is, “See how great a love that God has bestowed upon us.” Notice that it doesn't say that, it says, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us.” When God makes us to be His children, He calls us into an intimate relationship with Himself, and even as Ted prayed this morning. He said, “Abba, Father,” from Romans 8:15. Remember that. Remember what Christ said to Mary right after He’d risen from the dead, and she was clinging to Him and He said, “Stop clinging to Me,” He goes, “Go tell My brethren that I ascend to My Father and your Father.” Something’s taken place there. God the Father, the living, eternal God has become our Father. And so, there's an intimacy of relationship. And, of course John has referred to that earlier in this---in this letter, where he talks about---in verse three of chapter 1, he says, “Indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son.” It talks about that intimate relationship. So, this is just another aspect of the fact---of the fact---of the reality that He's made us His children.
But now the third---the third thing I like to just quickly mentioned here, is what the last part of verse one says, it says, see what kind of love this is, how marvelous is this love, that God the father has bestowed on us, that we should become, that we should be called His children, and we are His children. We become His children. And he goes on now to say this, “For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him,” looking at the last part of that verse. You recall and again in John's Gospel and in the first chapter it says, “He came into the world. The world was made by Him and the world did not know Him,” and this is that the reality of what we’re seeing here. In first Corinthians chapter 2 verse 8 Paul said, that if the rulers of this world had understood the wisdom of God, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Remember that passage? They didn't understand, they did not recognize Him for who He really was, is the is the concept there. I’d like to read to you, a passage when Paul was preaching in Antioch, and he's preaching to Jews, here’s what he said, “For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him,” “recognizing neither Him.” The world did not know Him, by and large, they didn't recognize Him, they certainly did not acknowledge Him. John said again in his first chapter of his epistle, He said, “We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” But as a whole, the world didn't. The world didn't recognize His glory, though they should have. Nicodemus did, he says, “Rabbi, we know that You’ve come from God as a teacher, for no man can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” So, Nicodemus recognized it. The blind man in chapter 9 of John, who was healed, he recognized Christ for who He was. Do you remember he, he actually has to instruct the Jewish leaders. He's an unlearned and blind from his birth, from birth, an unlearned man, and he says “This is a marvelous thing. He's open my eyes and you don't know what that means.” So, he perceived, you know, but by and large the world has not known Christ. Christ’s goodness and power were seen but they weren’t comprehended in their significance. People didn't seek Him because they saw the signs, which confirmed and revealed His person. If you recall Christ said that after feeding the 5000, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. And, of course, many others, they saw Him. Why, for physical healing. But by and large the world did not seek Him because they recognized what this meant. They saw His righteousness, and they resented it. They did not recognize it as a demonstration of the uncompromising righteousness of God in conflict with the hypocrisy and pretensions and false righteousness of men. They didn’t recognize that. So, the world didn't know Him. The world, dead in sins, is blind to spiritual truth and blinded by the God of this world, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians. And he goes on to say in that passage that God is the one who shines in the heart, you see, to give us the light of “knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ,” and apart from that the world doesn't know Him, doesn't see Him.
But, according to John’s statement, the world doesn't know us either for the same reason. They didn’t know Him, He was God's Son, and they don't know us, they don't recognize us as being God's children. They don't recognize that. The children of God experience the common calamities, the sufferings of all men. There’s nothing different about us on that count. Okay, when people look at our lives, our lives---we suffer the same things they suffer. But the world needed, as the world perceived, that the God of heaven has placed His everlasting love on us. They can't perceive that, they don't see that. They don't understand our privileges, our enjoyment, the confidence that we have in knowing God. They can’t--- they can't fathom that. We can't make them see that. We can tell them about it, but they can't perceive that. They don't grasp what makes a true child of God “tick,” so speak. They can't understand the way we think. They don't see us for who we really are. Presently very, very, imperfect, that's who we are, and yet our thoughts and values are a clear indication of our true nature and parentage. The true child of God, the way a child of God thinks, the things a child of God values, in all that imperfection, there’s still a clear indication, this one is child of God. And that's a simple--- an obvious indication of this person's parentage, if we can put it that way. Rather, the world sees us as all kinds of things; fanatics, old-fashioned, intolerant, nowadays- on the wrong side of history, and so forth. In some cases, they even acknowledge they---they see God's children, and they shake their heads and acknowledge that they’re good people, but they still don't perceive it as the life of God in our souls that the Divine nature, however, imperfect, has been put within this person. They don't---they don't grasp that, that we've been born anew and that we have the very character of God. So that's the third thing is the reason the war that we notice the world doesn't know us, because I did know Him.
Now, real quickly, the fourth observation is that; verse 2, we are---“now we are children of God,” and here's the fourth observation, “It has not appeared as yet what we shall be,” And again, notice the statement in verse 2, how he starts that out, “Now we are,” right now, “we are children of God.” and that's a fact. Just reinforcing the, “such we are” of verse one. But the main observation we want to make here is that, “it hasn't appeared as yet what we shall be,” even though right now we are children of God. In Hebrews 2, we’re told, that God is bringing many sons to glory to Christ. He's bringing, were not yet brought to glory. This is not yet a past tense thing. It’s as good as accomplished in one sense, but it’s still in progress, it’s not yet taken place. You remember what Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8, that “the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly,” for what, “the revealing of the sons of God.” It hasn't appeared as yet what we shall be. But even creation is waiting for that time when the sons of God are going to be revealed as actually being the very children of God. Creation is waiting for that time, Paul tells us. We are too. He goes on in that same passage, he says, “Not only this, but even we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” So, it’s the same---it’s the same concept. It hasn't yet appeared, and we know it. Any true child of God feels it, he knows that he is not what he ought to be, what he is supposed to be, what he is going to be. But he groans within himself, waiting for that, anticipating that. And in Ephesians 1, Paul tells us, tells the Ephesian believers, he says that, we've been given the Spirit as a pledge of our inheritance. In other words, we've been made new, His work has begun in the heart of every true believer, but it doesn't look at all yet like what it will look like, this work that He's begun in me or you as His child. He’s begun this work. He's given me his nature. I've actually been made somebody new, I’ve been made, His child, but it doesn't at all appear yet what I really shall be.
Then notice the next observation, and that is, that “when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.” Notice he says, “we know,” this is confidence here in John’s statement. We know that this would be true. Notice that---when’s this going to take place? When He appears. And the concept there is, “to render apparent,” “to reveal” At the time when Christ is revealed for who He really is, and you can stop and just remember to member know how many times New Testament were told that that were to be looking forward to that time when Christ will be revealed to the revelation of Christ, we find that wording a number of times New Testament---Peter wrote about it, Paul wrote about it. And this is one of the reasons why we’re looking forward to that time when Christ is revealed. And notice what it says, at that time, at that time---first of all, when He appears, when Christ appears in all His glory, when it becomes crystal clear without any question to anybody who Christ is, when He comes on the clouds of heaven, and every eye sees Him they will know exactly Who it is and they will know exactly who He is, and those who have rejected---and that's why they will mourn we’re told in Revelation chapter 1. But when He comes in they see Him for who He is, at that time, it says---what is it that were going to be? We’re going to be like Him, it says in the passage. It hasn't appeared as yet what we shall be. What is it we shall be? We shall be like Him, is what John writes here, because we shall see Him just as He is.
In this regard, thinking of a couple passages, I’ll just read them to you. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his first letter he says, “You're not lacking in any gift,” “you’re not lacking in any gift awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians, Paul wrote to the Philippians, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory.” When is that going to take place? When He appears, we’re told. Paul told the Colossians, chapter 3 verse four, “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed from heaven, you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” What did Paul say in Romans 8? The whole creation is waiting for that time of the children of God are revealed for who they are. And Paul says to the Colossians, “When Christ Himself is revealed from heaven, we also will be revealed with Him in glory.” And at that time, we will be made like Him, is what we’re told here. He told the Corinthians in the 15th chapter, remember that? He says, “And we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye,” we read in that passage, Jude says that we will---“He will cause us to stand in His presence blameless and with great joy.” All, I think references to the same---to the same thing. And you notice here it says, that, “we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.” I’m not sure I understand---understand all of that. I think of a couple passages, you recall Peter wrote in his first letter, he goes, “and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.” So, the point is that we haven't yet seen Him, Peter says. But he also says in his second letter he says, “Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.” And he says this, “through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence,” or “to His own glory and excellence.” So, there's something about a true and complete knowledge of Christ Himself, that were talking about here. Perhaps the most interesting passage on that is in 1Corinthians chapter---excuse me, it’s 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18, I’ll read this to you, it says, “But we all, with unveiled face,” right now in this present body, “are beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.” And as we behold His glory, we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. Now think about that. Right now, we’re beholding His image as in a mirror, very dimly. And were being changed as we behold His image. But at that time, we will see Him face to face and to the very sight of Him to some measure will be the cause of our final---of this final work of us being made entirely like Him, not in deity but in purity. I don't quite understand all those passages but it’s significant. When we see Him, right now we’re just beholding Him as darkly as in a mirror and we’re still being changed from glory to glory, to His glory, even now. “But when we see Him we shall be like Him because we will see Him just as He is.” Also, thinking about that, you recall in the---when Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in the first chapter, and he's talking about that time when Christ comes in is revealed in fire---in flaming fire with his holy angels. He talks about the judgment He’s going to render, at the same---in the same context he says, “when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day,” and it says this, “and to be marveled at among all who have believed.” When we see Him. Now---now it's in a mirror dimly, but when we see Him we will marvel, is what we’re told, and something about that, we don't have to understand it perfectly, but there's something about that, that is part of this fact that at that instant, we will be changed and we will be made like Him. And remember, that's God's purpose. Romans 8:29, “For whom He foreknew He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” That’s God’s purpose and that's when it’s going to take place.
Now the last thing, going back to our passage, real quickly, the last observation here is the statement in verse three, he says, “everyone who has this hope,” what hope, the hope we’re talking about, everyone who has their hope fixed on Christ, because they're looking in their longing for that day when they will finally and fully be made like Him, when they will really be pure, when they will really be fully a son of God, a child of God, made perfect, made complete, they’re a child of God now, but still incomplete.
So, everybody who has that hope fixed on Him, on Christ, what do they do, it says they purify themselves. He, “purifies himself, just as He is pure.” Do you remember what Paul said to the Philippians in chapter 3 again, he says, I haven't laid hold of it yet, that is a haven't already become perfect, “but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to it lies ahead,” what do I do, I press on toward the high for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, we talk about the high calling, the upward call of God. What's Paul doing? He's pressing on. He's purifying himself is what he's telling us in that passage. If we are really children of God, and now we come to something very important, if we’re really children of God, our new nature, the divine nature put within us, inclines us to do this. If you're really a child of God, if I'm really child of God, that new nature within me inclines me to purify myself. It inclines me to look ahead, to look forward to what I'm going to be. Because this is a statement---it’s not just a statement of exhortation, it’s a statement of fact, everyone who has this hope on Him, who has reason to really have this hope, they’re a child of God, they’re waiting for that time when they are going to be made like Him, they purify themselves. Their new nature inclines them to do this. It’s the same---it’s the same reason why, he tells a few verses later, no one who is born of God practices sin, keeps living in that realm. They can't. They’ve been made different. His seed abides in them. A new nature desires purity. That's why Paul said in the verse we looked at earlier, “and even we ourselves have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly.” That's the mark of a child of God. And if that's what I'm looking forward to, I'm working at it now, is what Paul says, excuse me, it’s what John says here. And I’m putting forth effort. That's what Paul says to the Philippians, “Just as you have obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you,” is his argument. Someone wrote something like this, and it is not an exact quote, but it went like this, “The hope of hypocrites makes allowance for the gratification of fleshly lusts,” do you understand that? He’s talking about hope here, and this person was making the contrast between the hope of genuine child of God and the hope of the hypocrite and he says this, “The hope of hypocrites makes allowance for the gratification of fleshly lusts.” In other words, the hypocrite and he makes room in his life to gratify fleshly lusts. He makes allowance for that. “But the hope of the children of God, longing to be like Him, seeks to put away all that is evil and impure.” I think that's accurate. That’s what John says here. The one who is a hypocrite, they don't have a problem---they make room in their life to gratify some of that fleshly lusts. But the hope of a true child of God does not do that, not very often, not on any consistent basis, because they’re longing to be like Him. The hope of heaven is not primarily a relief that we will not experience eternal fire. The hope of heaven is not primarily a relief that we won’t have to experience eternal fire, rather, the hope of heaven is to be finally brought to glorious completion and be fit to be in His presence. That's the hope of heaven, and a person who has that hope purifies themselves, right now, is what John tells us.
So, in conclusion, I think it's important we’ve talked about this before, but it's important to remember that we are not just called---if I really know Him---we're not just called the children of God, we are children of God. We have been made partakers of His divine nature, even though it’s very, very imperfect right now.
The second thing is that--- may that reminder of, who we have been made and what we are looking forward to, may that reminder stir us to pursue anew the apprehension, we’re pursuing the apprehension of that to which we’ve been called, this high calling to be like Him---to be pure.
And one last thing, do you, this morning, do you have this inclination? Do you recognize that inclination in your heart? Granted there are some times, when it unfortunately fades a little bit, we get distracted. But if you do not have, if you do not recognize in your own heart an inclination, the kind inclination we’re talking about here, to be pure to be like Him. This should cause you to stop and think, because becoming a child of God is a lot more than just knowing all the right things, knowing the gospel, knowing all about Christ, knowing all about God. Becoming a child of God is a work that God the Spirit does in one's heart, and if you don't have, generally, an inclination that’s purifying yourself as you’re looking forward to seeing Him, then you need to examine yourself and you need to go before Him and asked for this for this birth, for this privilege of becoming. Go to Christ and ask Him to make you a child of God. Because without this inclination, you have no reason to assume that you’re a child of God. Everyone who has this inclination has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself. That's what John tells us. So, may this be a reminder to us all because we obviously all fail at this many times, but may this be reminder to us all t renew this pursuit, and to also to really examine ourselves as to whether or not this is so in our lives.