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I wanted to say a few things
about Father's Day before we get into First John. Last year, I had the privilege
to assist someone who was needing medical help in a hard situation. It was late at night, and all
ended well, thank the Lord. Afterwards, they shared with
me, and they said this, in that moment, you were the father that
I never had. Those were humbling words, but
also sad words. The father that I never had,
that stuck with me all year. So like Mother's Day and Father's
Day, this day can be too filled with emotions. Some will have
thankful hearts this day for their fathers. Others may not. But you know, before the beginning
of time, God had a plan. And what was that plan? It was
a good plan. He created man and woman and
marriage and family. And that is good. And the gospel
is designed to go forth where? In the family, through the family. So the gospel either does or
it does not go through the family. So I thank you all here at CE,
you dads on this day who purposeful, to bring the gospel through the
family. It's not easy, but it's what I call a joyful, hard privilege. It's a joyful, hard privilege. You know, it's interesting that
marriage, all four of those are under attack, right? Marriage,
husband, wife, and family, they're all being attacked. So I ask
you to persevere. You know, believing parents,
your reward will be in heaven. You will not be praised on this
earth for what you're trying to do to try and raise your family.
I shared this before, but it's very applicable. Steve Lawson,
the speaker you've probably heard, when he goes to hospital visits
and he's visiting sick patients who are believers, This is what
is most heavy on their heart. Do you know what believing sick
patients are heavy burdened with? Their children not walking with
the Lord. That dominates the conversations when he's visiting
in the hospitals. So if you have a good relationship
with your dad today, thank the Lord. I ask you, call him. Tell him one thing, one aspect
that he taught you, one aspect that he taught you, and thank
him. And while you're doing that, talk to your mother. Throw her
off guard. Tell her one thing that she taught
you about how to be a young man or a young woman. And if you're
in a strange spot today, I just give you a few words, and I say,
for this, there is Jesus. For this, there is Jesus. And
the reverse can be true. You might be a dad and have struggled
with your kids. And for that, there is Jesus. So let me pray as we get started. Lord, you know that we bow and
we want to extol you this hour. And we are about the kingdom
of God this morning. And we long for the kingdom of
God and the glory of God to be spread, and it's spread through
families. And so we come humbly, I do, as a dad who has made mistakes,
and we ask, Lord, that you will work grace through that. And
I ask that for my brothers and sisters here, that you would
work grace through the family this day. You are the good shepherd,
you lead moms and dads, and that leading is to the cross of Jesus. And there is life, and so for
your namesake, we ask that you will do that. And as we look
at this passage, Lord, we pray that we would see the love of
the Father, the work of the Son, and the wonder of being a child
of God. So may you take these broken words from a broken man
and glorify Jesus. In your name we pray, amen. J.I. Packer wrote a famous book called
Knowing God. I hope you all have read that. And he says this, he says, if
you want to judge, how well a person understands Christianity, find
out how much she makes of being a child of God, and how much
she makes about being, excuse me, about having God as his father. He says this, if this does not
prompt and control your worship, your prayer, and your whole outlook
of life, it means that you may not understand Christianity very
well at all. Is he right? That's a penetrating
question. Is he right? Later on in his
book, he outlines six truths. And he says this, he says, say
these truths over and over to yourself. Think of them every
morning, late at night, and anytime your mind is free. You know,
we've talked about that before. When your mind is free, what
do you think about? And number one truth that he
says, In this book, he says, I am a child of God. That's his
number one truth. So to reword today's goal for
me, I'll reword Packer's statement. My goal today is simply, does
being a child of God control your worship, your prayer, and
your whole outlook of life? So we're going to look at this
in three ways. We'll look at, first, the fatherhood of God.
Second, we'll look at the child of God And then third, we will
look at living as a child of God, living as a child of God. So right here from the start,
here's your takeaway. So particularly dads and men,
here's your takeaway. If you want to know what life's
purpose is all about, if you want to know what it is to be
a man, what it is to be a father, what it is to have manhood, study
God the Father and look at his son Jesus. You will see it. That is it. Doctrines are helpful,
but look at their lives, look at their words, look at their
motives. You will see what it is to be a man there. Sinclair
Ferguson said this, If someone asked you, how would
you describe your relationship with God? So someone said, how
would you describe your relationship with God? What would you say?
So someone asked him that question at a job interview early on in
his career, and he went away for days thinking about that.
And this is what he came back with. He said, it dawned on me
in this little book here, let me, Children of the Living God. I read this when my mother was
in the hospital. It's in its fifth edition. Good book. Children of the Living God. He
said, it dawned on me with a new sense of wonder that I am a child
of God. Being a child of God is at the
heart of living the Christian life. Being a child of God is
at the heart of living the Christian life. And he said this verse,
Verse one of chapter three, 1 John, he calls was life transformational
to Sinclair Ferguson. It was life transformational.
So when I asked that question, how would you describe your relationship
with God? Where did your mind go? Did it
go to doctrines? Did it go to rules? Or did it
go to a relationship? relationship. That's what we're
talking about today. So we're going to look at those
first three verses, but let me preface that by saying the context
here. So chapter 1, chapter 2 of 1
John, he has established this idea that because of the work
of God, okay, and because of his righteousness, I can then
be rightly related to God. That's a big word. That's a big
idea, rightly related to God. When you're doing evangelism,
that's a great question. How do I, are you rightly related
to God? That's a vital question. So 1
John, those first two chapters, Overview that. But now he goes
to verse 29. So look back and look in verse
29, chapter 2. And he says, not only are you
rightly related to God, but he's now going to extend that further.
And he uses this term, a new term in this book for him, and
he calls it born of him. Born of him. seven more times
in the rest of this book, he's gonna use that phrase, or born
of God. All right, so this is a new idea
for John here that he's building upon. So why is this so important?
Why is it so important that we understand what this is, being
born of God? Well, see if this follows it.
If we're born of God, then we are a child of God, okay? If we are a child of God, then
we have a new father, and a new purpose, and a new way to live,
and a new outflowing, new fruits come if we are born of God. Very, very important. See, the
child of God must be different than the world, and we'll see
that in a few minutes. We cannot be the same in this world if
we are born of God. There must be a difference. So
if you look down to verse four, John's gonna then take this idea
and he's just gonna run with it. This whole idea, you must
be different, you will be different. But these three verses, he pauses. He pauses in these three verses
here. and he lifts up, he opens up this idea of what it is to
be a child of God. Martin Lloyd-Jones says, in this book, which I did not
read while my mother was in the hospital, he said, these three
verses are the most moving verses to him in the entire book of
1 John. These three verses that we just
read. So verse one, it starts with where? Who is the driving
force there? Who is the one granting anything? The father. Thank you, Rob. The father. So dads, have you
ever considered granting the right for someone to call you
father that is not a biological offspring? That's probably pretty
rare. How about granting the right
of your enemy to call you father. That's inconceivable. That's
what Jesus did. Did he not? He grants us through
his blood to call God father. Amazing, amazing. So we know
the life and the work of Jesus was a turning point in history.
So I found this out in ancient Judaism. I read that there were
appropriate names and titles and ways and words that the Jewish
people addressed God. And one name and title was not
in that, and that is Father, in ancient Judaism. The German
theologian, Urmanus, discovered that the name Father was not
part of the Jewish liturgy. In fact, he wrote, the first
Jewish rabbi to directly call God Father was whom? Jesus of
Nazareth. Isn't that interesting? Doesn't
that just kind of open up some things in our minds? And so then
how did Jesus pray? If you look up Jesus' recorded
prayers, almost every prayer he addresses God as Father. So to the Son, the Father was
fundamental. There was this intimacy. There
was this connection, if you will. He knew the purposes of his father. He walked in the purposes of
his father. Any guess, if you had to guess,
how many times the New Testament records God as father in that
word? How many? 50, 80? over 200 references to God as
Father just in the New Testament. Just that alone is significant.
And what's even more, how did then Jesus teach you to pray?
Teach me to pray. Did he say, oh, pray this way. Great, unapproachable, potentate,
we hurl big words and meaningless ideas to the cosmos from a distance. Is that what he says to pray?
He says, father. That's what he says to pray.
So God has given us, his children, the right and the privilege,
right, to come into his holy presence and address him as father. We see this in the Old Testament,
right? You have a father that will never fail you. Psalm 3
says God is a shield about you. Psalm 32, God is a hiding place
for you. And in Zephaniah three, sometimes
it's been called the Psalm of joy. It says, he sings over you. I don't know how that, I don't
know what that means, but he sings over you and me. But I want to be clear on something
here, very clear to everyone. God is the father of whom? God
is the father of whom? Is it universal? Because there
are schools of thought that he is universally the father of
everyone. Well, only in the sense that
God is the origin of man, if you will. He's the maker of man.
So in that sense, but the rest of scripture, you look at the
context of where father is used, it is not in the context of a
universal, it is the father of his people. So to whom did the Father give
this right? To whom did the Father give this
right? Well, John wrote back in John
1, you know this verse, but I will read it. But to all who received
him, who believed on his name, he gave the right to what? Become
children of God, who were born, not born of blood, but of God. So it very clearly states that
we must become children of God. That's a great reference for
us, for people, that you must become a child of God. So if you struggle about God
being your Heavenly Father, study these passages. Make a notebook.
What if all the men in here, all the dads in here, started
a notebook about all these passages about God the Father? What a
great picture of what we should ascribe to be that kind of a
father. So that's outline point number
one. Number two is the child of God, the child of God. So
how do we become this child of God? How do we become this child
of God? In one sense, that's That's a
hard question. I mean, seminaries are full of
answering, how did we become a child of God? PhDs are written,
how did you become a child of God? Well, Paul gives us a great
help here. And where do you need to go when
you're asking this question? You have to go back to the beginning,
right? You have to go back to the beginning,
Ephesians 1. Listen to some key words here
that I emphasize. Even as he chose us in him before
the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before
him, in what? In love. He predestined us and adopted
us as sons, as sons. So right there from the beginning,
right there at the foundation for eternity, if you will, we
are called sons. That is wonderful. That's amazing. And see, certainly a different
word would have been used here if this God-man relationship
was just transactional, right? If it's a transaction like a
rubber stamp, like getting your passport checked, a different
word would be used. How many people have traveled
overseas? Probably lots. When you hand your passport to
that person who is allowing you into their country, has a relationship
ever been established with that person? Never. So this, we're not talking about
just a transactional relationship that God is letting you into
his country, if you will. There's a relationship here,
a father, a son relationship, and that's what, sorry, that's
what John wants us to look at. So let's look at some key words
in verse one here that John wants us to see. The first word is
behold. Your translation may say something
else. So church, please, John wants
us to behold something here. What is he wanting us to behold? We behold lots of things every
day, all the day. When was the last time we beheld
the manner of love? That's what he's wanting us to
see. Stop and behold the manner of love. Once again, this love
is not transactional to where You know, we all know that we
have a debt to pay, and so we're standing in this debtor's line,
and the transaction is stamped, and we're done. That's not what
we're beholding here. Something unimaginable, someone
unimaginable is entering here. And frankly, I was pretty convicted
this week And here's what I wrote. If I am too busy to pray, if
I am too busy to be at prayer meeting, to read my Bible, or
to serve someone and not behold God, something is way off. Something
is way off because I'm not beholding this God and it's not moving
me. So the next phrase here is what
manner of. So the Greek word here is patapos. And this can be translated what
size, or it also can be translated from what country. And I love
that. So what John is saying, he's
saying, behold, what country, what universe does this love
come from? And that's the idea, this love
is external. There is no love that you will
ever see in this world like this love. It's from another country. I love that Greek translation.
Oh, may we see this love from eternity. That's where it's from. And then the next word here to
look at is bestowed. Your translation might say poured
out or give. So notice what John did not say
here. He did not say, look over there,
squint if you must to see this love. That's not what he said
here. What did he say? See, God did show his love. And absolutely, his love was
shown. But John's saying it's more than
just showing love. What happened here? His love
was bestowed. You see the difference? His love
is given, is poured out to us. I was talking to a friend recently.
They were the recipients of some acts of love. And that love bestowed
upon them moved them. And it was kind of emotional
for them. Why? Why was this act of love emotional? They could see it, but it was
poured where? Into them, and it moved them. So this love is not just at a
distance, and God's love is infinitely more. Romans 5 says this, Mike
referred to it this morning, that the love of God was poured
into our hearts through how? Romans 5, 5, through the Holy
Spirit. So Jesus's death is not just
a transactional payment that the Father required for us, that's
our point here. It's not something external to
us that was done over there. It's very experiential, it's
very internal to us. Jesus died that the third person,
that God himself could be poured into us. What an act of grace, what an
act of mercy. It's hard to kind of get a grip
on that, really, if you stop and think that the almighty sovereign
God of the universe poured himself into us. So John wants us to be astonished
at this love, but he also wants us to be astonished at something
else. So the second idea in this point is that it was given to
us, us, me, and you. So if I said, let's line up two
lines. On this side, sorry, on this
side, we're gonna have those deserving God's love. This side,
we have those undeserving God's love. Which line? And what is your
posture in that line? What is your attitudes in that
line? It's like, God, I'm busy. You
know, I gotta go. Can I get through the line and get my ticket stamped?
What is your posture in that line? I would call that cheap grace.
That's cheap grace. When we posture up to the Holy
God, I'm trying to get through your line. When the prodigal son I'm going
to tear up here. When the prodigal son sees his
father at a distance come charging at him, running, and the arms
go wrap around him, do you think he had a taste of 1 John 3, 1? Behold what manner of love. He said, Dad, I am so undeserving
of this love. I'm unworthy of this love. That's,
I think, what he felt, what I'm trying to explain in broken words
to you. Because prior to that, what did
the prodigal son calculate? He weighed out life. He weighed out measures. And
he said, my undeserving line pile is too full. I'm not worthy. But the gospel is, what did he
forget? What did he not calculate? What
did he not take into account? The love of the Father, forgiveness,
grace, mercy, repentance even. He lost sight of that. So do
I. I humbly ask you, have you lost
sight of loving God? Is the pile of your troubles
very legitimate? Hardships, I know you all well.
The pile of your troubles. Have you lost sight of God's
deep, deep love, as we just sang? Or could it be sin? Maybe there's
repeated sin in your life. That will sure block you from
understanding God's love. So I ask you, Behold the manner
of love, if that is you. So we've been talking about this
father and his great love and becoming a child of God. So you
may be thinking, or maybe a friend has said to you, I've just assumed
I'm a child of God, right? That's happened to me. Well,
I thought of this. So line up a bunch of five-year-olds
and you line up a bunch of parents. assumptions are immediately made. If I drop the child off at your
house, does that make you their parent? No. If someone drops himself off
in a church, does that make them a child of God? No. The child of God will have markers. 1 John is all about that. Read
1 John, you'll see markers everywhere. But here is what Martin Lowy
Jones says to the question, how do I know if I'm a child of God?
It's a big question. He gives three, and I think they're
really good. He says first. So to the question,
how do I know if I'm a child of God, here's the first thing
to ask. Do I grieve over my sin? Not just the consequence of sin.
Do I grieve over, oh, wretched man, am I? Number two, he says,
do you desire to know and grow in the Lord? We all stumble,
but do you have a trajectory that you're desiring to know
and grow in the Lord? And if you struggle with this,
first, I'd say pray. Pray that God would give you
that desire. Then second, I would say associate with people who
have that desire, and guess what'll happen? It gets flamed, it gets
fanned, it grows. Hang around Debbie. Debbie, I
just love you. You have this desire. You really,
really do. And it just comes out. Third,
do you love and serve the people of God? That's very clear indications. Do you love and you serve the
people of God? See, so being a child of God is just not about
becoming a better person or about rules or about trying to get
your life together, quote unquote. You are born from above. So I say, if someone in here
is not a child of God, Confess, repent, call on the name of Jesus,
and you will be saved. He says that. The scripture says
that. You will be saved. All right,
last point, number three, is called living as a child of
God. So this is kind of the so what.
Living as a child of God. I've got four little sub points.
I'll go fast. So 3A, if you're keeping score,
is living as a child of God, you will be an image bearer,
image bearer. We see that in verse one, the
phrase, and so we are. So I've asked the question, well,
what am I? It says, so we are. Well, I am
to be a child that bears an image, right? In the ancient world,
to be a son, you were bearing the image of whom? Your father. That is how those cultures grew
up. Jesus, God incarnate, is described
as being the perfect image bearer of whom? The father. So if you're a child of God this
morning, you are a new creation. and there will be very practical
things, very image-bearing things that should be in your life. To what extent? To what extent
should Eric's life be an image-bearer? Well, verse one tells us that
the world will what? Not know you. That's a pretty
high bar. But he didn't know Jesus, right?
So my life, did this thing flip down again? My life is to be
to the extent that the world doesn't know me. So maybe it's
the Beatitudes, maybe it's the fruit of the spirit, maybe it's
acts of service. Whatever it happens to be, let's
be about that. But you're going to say, someone
is going to say, but yes, I'm still a sinner and I still struggle
with certain things. Well, yes, that is true. Ferguson
compares the redeemed sinners to this. I've never heard of
this comparison. He says, the redeemed sinner
is like the ruins of a great castle. the ruins of a great
castle. That's an interesting visual
image, isn't it? We've all seen these ruins, right?
They're still there. Some of them, hopefully, they're
being restored, maybe repaired. That's what we are. We are being
restored. That's what the gospel does.
The gospel comes into our lives and restores us back to be a
full image bearer. But right now, they're ruins.
They're ruins in my life. Romans 8.29 clearly says this,
for those he foreknew, he predestined to be what? Conformed to the
image of the likeness of his son. Our image will fully be
restored. But what about now? What about
right now? What about yesterday and today
and tomorrow? Are we bearing this image? So I ask you a hard question. Do you want your life now to
be restored worthy of the king coming into your ruined castle?
Do you want your life now to be restored worthy of this king
that we claim to be king? So those who are tender towards
God, those who are abiding with God, those who are repentant, who are walking with the Lord
over time, those hearts will want what I'm talking about.
Those hearts will want to be more conformed day over day to
the image of God. And so I boldly say, and forgive
me, but I try to gently say, If you and I are perfectly happy
with the ruined castle that I'm in right now, if we don't desire
to be more conformed over time, it's a struggle, I get that,
but if we're perfectly happy with the castle ruins that we
are right now, out of love, I would say this, you don't hate your
sin enough. You don't hate your sin enough. But thank God I know many of
you here are wanting to see more of Christ in you. You're wanting
to grow. I praise God for you. Great is his faithfulness. So
that's number one, image bearer. Number two, adopted into his
family. Number two, adopted into his
family. You know, grandparents and parents
love to tell stories about their family, the background of the
family, how they became a family. Well, look at the family that
God has put you in. Look in verse 1 and verse 2,
all the plural words, us, children, plural, we, plural, children,
we, we, we, we, the whole first three verses till the very end
is we, us. This is a family. This is a family
of God. You know, John and the New Testament,
frequently we see the word brothers and brethren, okay? Well, the
Greek for that, another interesting Greek word, is adelphos. Adelphos. A means from. Adelphos. Any Greek scholars here? That
means of the clan or of the womb. What a great idea that we are
of the womb the Father. We, what a great uniting idea,
we are bonded under this union with Christ that's inexplicable,
this family of God. You travel to a new city or you
move, who do you want to go find? The Adelphists. You want to be
connected to the brothers and sisters in Christ that's in us. We're a new creature. See, so
this spans cultures and languages and the rich and the poor. It
spans all of that, this family of God that we're talking about,
to be a child. Romans 12, be devoted one to
another in what? Brotherly, get it, brotherly
love, same word. But I know, as in my family,
sometimes We let each other down and we hurt each other. So what
do we do in those situations? Well, Martin Lloyd-Jones has
some words on that as well. He says, because of this great
family of God, he says this, there should be no place for
quarrels and divisions among you. There shouldn't be. We are a family of God. So let's
work together. Let's prefer one another, as
scripture says. All right, number three, destined
for glory. Number three, destined for glory.
And we see this in verse two. We're destined for glory. Let
me read the verse here. Beloved, we are God's children
now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know
that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall
see him as he is. So first let's realize, notice
the word now. Beloved, you are God's children
when? Now. You will never be more of God's
children. Does that make sense? We are
gonna be glorified and we will be sanctified, but we're never
more of a child of God than the moment of belief, all right? The prodigal son was still what? A child to the father in the
mud pit. He was, he was still a child.
So even in our struggles, Remember that you are a child of God now. Because John did not vaguely
say here, he did not vaguely say, well, you're a child now,
but I really don't know the next piece. I'm not sure what's going
to happen. We'll meet up at the crossroads
and we'll all figure it out together. He was very clear what is going
to happen coming. He was very clear. Our destiny
is heaven and this is not our home. Amen. Amen. This is not our home. We long
for that day that this will not be our home. I need to pause here on verse
2b and I kind of need to step aside with a few comments. So this says, we shall be like
him because we shall see him as he is. A lot has been written about
this verse. A lot, even songs have been sung about this verse. I have struggled, I have cried
over this verse for three days in a row. Forgive me. We who have and will stand behind
this pulpit take the word of God seriously. This is not a
casual thing that we do here. I want to rightly divide this
phrase. And this is a struggle. So here's
where I am. When we stand and we think of
the glory of God, and we think of his holiness, and we think
that somehow we will be like him, Somehow we're gonna see
him face to face as he is. And then we think of ourself
and our Christian journey, our walk of faith, our struggles,
the joys. And then I think of my sin and
the pile of my sin. And then somehow if I can think
that I'm gonna get a exposure to the cross that I've never
seen before, and somehow I'm gonna see the depth of this verse,
verse one. I'm that prodigal son. I am,
and I'm on my knees in that undeserving line. I want, to look at Jesus and
the radiance of his face and just worship. I don't wanna see the golden
streets. I don't wanna see the surroundings. My friend, Chris
Mercer, who I walked with for seven years through cancer, he
has laid an impression on me on this verse. He imagined before he died, he
said, people are gonna come up to me And they're gonna say,
oh, Chris, Chris, good to see you. And he's gonna push him
aside, he says, Eric. And I'm gonna say, but look at
Jesus. That's what he told me before he passed away. Martin Lloyd Jones wrote this
about this verse. Excuse me. He says, I have chosen
never to preach this text. He's preached 1600 texts, 230
sermons on the book of Ephesians, and he's chosen not to preach
this text. He says, I've wanted to, but
there's certain great words in scripture that of which, frankly,
in a sense, I'm frightened of as a preacher. He says, any man who preaches
upon such a text must have an unusual, an unusual conscious of his own
smallness and inadequacy. And with humility I say I felt
very small this week. One day we're gonna see him face
to face and it's gonna be glory. So my words, I say, are inadequate
for that. So last point, and then we'll
be done. Last point, number four, is from
verse three, to purify himself. You see that we purify himself. Most translations have the word
and starting in verse three. You see that? And. John, why is the word and, is
this just a mechanism to get two ideas put together to transition
here? You know, we love to hear sermons
about verse two, right? About seeing Jesus face to face
and being glorified. We don't love as many sermons
about verse three, about purify yourself, do we? So John is saying that these
ideas are connected. He almost states it's so matter-of-fact,
right? So John, you've just given me
this unexplainable picture of glory, of God in heaven, that
one day we're gonna see him as he is. And now I'm supposed to
connect this with purify myself? It's like take me to a mountain
Right? And now do what? Give me the... yuck. Is that what John wants? Oh, yeah. Right. Absolutely. John says these two ideas are
in harmony. They're not opposing. They're
not contradictory. Again, Martin Lung Jones says,
if you disconnect these two, he says, quote, you are abusing
Scripture. when you do not have these two
ideas together. This is what Mike preached in
2 Peter last week, remember? At the second coming, then I
forget the verse, Mike, forgive me, verse 11, what sort of people
ought you to be in holiness and godliness? Same idea, the second
coming, it has to affect who you are. So as we sum up here,
if I am really a child of God, And if I believe He is coming
again and that I will be glorified and I will somehow be blameless
before Him and I will see His glory, verse 3 follows easily. It's not a push. Because we have this vision of
eternity, and this is an obvious outworking of that, right? It's
an outworking of this that John has just laid before us. But
there's one hurdle, and it's a big hurdle. Maybe you're thinking
about the same hurdle that I did. What about my own sin? What about
my own selfishness, really, Eric? What do we do with that? When you read that verse, does
the word purity bring a positive or a negative idea to your life,
to your thinking? When it says purify yourself,
positive or negative? Smiles and grins? Well, how about
for comparison, let me read you another verse. 1 John 1, 9, John
wrote this. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful, what? To forgive us and cleanse us
from unrighteousness. Do we like that word? We absolutely
love that word. I mean, we quote that verse all
the time, do we not? When's the last time we quoted
this verse? Purify yourself. We don't quote
this verse. But they go together. They fit
perfectly together. So how does one purify yourself?
Well, it's the work of the Holy Spirit, right? And that's another
sermon. But my warning to myself is,
as I push aside the Holy Spirit, when he is wanting to work in
me to purify me, I'm not going to get purified, because that
is what the Holy Spirit does. He brings the gospel to the forefront. But if I say, gone with you,
which if we're honest, we have, we will not get purified. James
4.8 says this, and it brings in both of these aspects. It
says, draw near to God, he will draw near to you. What's the
next word? Cleanse your hearts, you sinners. purify your heart. So you have
these two ideas, again, perfect harmony. We're drawing near to
God. We're seeing who He is. We're beholding Him. Because
the tarnish of sin, James says, has left us what? Double-minded. We walk in two minds. We walk
in the worthy line and we It better be in the unworthy line,
because we are. So application, real quick, and
then we're done. Number one, run to the Father. Run to the Father when you're
overwhelmed, when you're attacked by Satan, that you're unworthy.
Run to Him in praise. Run to Him to pray for others.
I love to hear texts, praying for you. I'm praying right now
for you. Wow, what a joy. Someone is running
to the father on my behalf. Number two, be the family of
God. Be the family of God, especially
for singles and widows. Abraham brought this out at small
group. Thank you, Abraham. Be the family of God. I talked
to a Christian international student and their nearest relative
is 8,000 miles away and they have no Christians in their family. Can we be the family of God to
that? Absolutely, be the family of God. And last, from verse
three, identify one worldly struggle that you need to purify. One
struggle that you need to purify. So as we behold the love of God,
we are moved. Let me pray. Lord, thank you
for Christ. Thank you for the Holy Scripture. Thank you that you call us children
of God. Lord, I ask your forgiveness
because my heart drifts from seeing this great salvation,
as Hebrew says. And I behold other things that
are unworthy. They're nowhere even close to
being worthy. And may the ruined castle in
my heart become more Christ-honoring. In Jesus we say, amen.
Behold What Manner!
| Sermon ID | 616241612367173 |
| Duration | 50:53 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 1 John 3:1-3 |
| Language | English |
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