Now the Word of the Lord. This is the inspired, infallible Word of God. And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us. that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 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. Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning. For God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, you have given us your word, the very words of life. We pray that you would teach us today, teach us your truth. That we may walk in your righteousness, walk in the righteousness of Christ and not a love for the world. Pray that we would know our identity that is in you. Thank you, Father, for teaching us. Pray this in Jesus name. Amen. This week, Margaret, Katrina and I's daughter, started saying the word daddy. This week, she started saying the word daddy. It was a joyous time as I heard it. Katrina heard it first, and then I heard it, and then she would say it in different ways and struggle to see it. You would see her mouth moving and trying to say the word. For those that are adopted though, they don't have this biological, the same connection. They have a unique and special connection. Those that have been adopted in the human sense have maybe not had this first experience. But as time goes on, they do say daddy and mommy. And the parents do say, son and daughter. That is a special occurrence for both biological and adopted children and parents. How much so with us to God? And as the Father says to us, you are children. We can say, daddy. In verse 1 of chapter 3, John with great joy. And you can just sense the exuberance that he has with saying this. The Apostle John, who lived and saw the Savior, he saw Jesus walk on the water. He saw him as he taught the people. He saw him say, children, children to his disciples and those that he was calling to himself. So John knew this very intimately and it was precious to him. So when John writes to us, to the people that he wrote in the first century, see what kind of love the father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. Behold, that's what John is saying, behold what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you are an adopted child, you have all the rights and benefits of heirs, of heirs of God. First, we see in verses 1 through 2 the point, the father loves his children. The father loves his children. This great love that John speaks of is only through the work of Christ. The work of Christ enables John to write that the father loves us. John knows of this gospel, and he says with great confidence that those who have this gospel are children of God. He wrote back in his gospel in the first chapter, a well-known passage, but to all who did receive him, that is Jesus, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. This is spiritual adoption, brothers and sisters, spiritual adoption that God, though we were enemies of God and our nature, we were sinful, not just befriended on Facebook, but we were enemies, fully in rebellion to God. That was our nature as we were born. But God had mercy on us. He's calling a people out for himself. He called the people out in the Old Testament. He called Abraham out of his original country to another country, to a future country. He called a people out for Himself in the Old Testament. And this adoption that we see in the Old Testament is also in the New Testament. The children of God that were adopted by Yahweh in the Old Testament was precious. But this wasn't because the people of Israel had any special character in and of themselves. They weren't a special nation or a unique people in that God would adopt them. It was because God loved them. And John knows that. He knows that adoption is connected with love. Just like an earthly parent would adopt a child, not because they hate the child, but because they love the child. They show all the love and affection. They give all the possessions that are theirs to this child. So the father loves his children. In Deuteronomy, Moses writes that it wasn't because of what Israel did that God adopted them, but because of the love God chose the people because of his love for them. And then we go into the New Testament, and this word adoption is only used five times in the New Testament. Paul uses it only four times in his writings, in his letters. And all throughout the Bible, this theme of adoption that was saturated in the text. Paul uses it in Romans in a later chapter than what we read earlier. He wrote of the people of Israel. They are a people. They are Israel. And to them belong adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen." The people of Israel were adopted by God. Though they at times rebelled, they did rebel in great ways. God still loved them as the people of God. The Heidelberg Catechism asks, so Jesus, though, has been begotten of the Father, Then why are we called children of God? And that's a legitimate question. Why are we called children of God? And also that the son, Jesus, is also the begotten son of God. What answers it? Because Christ alone is eternal, natural son of God. We, however, are children of God by adoption through grace for Christ's sake. Jesus has a special relationship with the Father, being the second person of the Trinity, while we are adopted in, not naturally sons of God. And often children, even in this world, we sometimes run away. I never ran away from my parents, but I know of other children that might have thought about it or actually decided to run away. And spiritually, sometimes we run away from our Father. Though we are adopted by the Father and called children, sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we sometimes stray. We run away. In the book of Psalms, in Psalm 119, you know that is the psalm about the law of God. The great law and commandments. The psalmist loves the law of God. At the very end, the last verse of that massive psalm, it reads, I have gone astray like a lost sheep. The psalmist cannot keep perfectly the law of God. He strays from being a child of God. He doesn't lose his status as a child, but he runs away from God with his affections and his practicing lawlessness. Peter also speaks about this, that we as believers sometimes are lost sheep. Remember in the Old Testament, the people of God. Hosea 3 speaks about the people running after sin, running after idols. But God in this story goes after them and uses the analogy of an unfaithful wife. But God goes after her, goes after his people. And Hosea does the same thing. God loves his children. You remember the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. The prodigal ran away from his father. He squandered his possessions, all of his wealth. He took it and threw it away. But then he came back to his father. And he repented. He came back because he was a son of his father. But then the older son complained and said, why are you receiving him back? The older son also ran away. And this parable of Jesus is speaking about other matters, about the Pharisees and about God calling His people. But also it speaks of wayward children, speaks of us today when we depart from the law of God. We have gone astray and the pride of our flesh, deceitfulness of the world draws us away. The father in this parable says to the oldest son, son, you are always with me and all that I that is mine is yours. I give it to you. So now, as sons of God, we are heirs of the promises of God. In our lives, do we ask our father for things that we need? Do we pray to our Father in Heaven with all of our heart, with all of our affections, knowing that as children, as adopted children of God, we have all the benefits, all the privileges to come to our Father in Heaven? Do we pray about all things? Matthew writes in his gospel, that would a father give a son a fish or a scorpion when he asks for bread? No, he gives his children good gifts when they ask for things. How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him? How much more? As children of God, John knows this as he writes his letter. He writes, and so we are. Definitively, we are the children of God. And some signs, some tests of knowing this is, he writes, the world does not know us. The world that we look at in chapter 1, verses 15 through 17, is all of the affections and desires of the world. The world loves that. But the children of God are commanded not to. And that is a distinction that children of God have with the world. And that's how we know we're the children of God. who are the children of the world. John says, Beloved, we are God's children now. That is a definitive statement. And we can call our Heavenly Father, Abba, Father. What a great privilege we have before God. And the world doesn't have this privilege. They are not of the Father. Those that haven't been called out, that haven't believed on Jesus' name. The hatred of the world toward the Father and toward the children of God has been seen throughout history. And that's a distinction that John writes about. A sign that we know who are the children of God and who are the children of the world. But then also John writes in verse 2, 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." And John is speaking of Christ appearing, His second coming, when Christ returns with all of His glory, that we in heaven will be like Him. We won't be the Son of God, we won't be deity, but we'll be like Him. For we are united to Him, and we abide in Him. And John says, you will be like Him in the mystery of our future state, our time in heaven, the future eternity that we have with the Godhead. John speaks of that joy. He speaks of that future state. And he says, because you are sons, because you are adopted children of God, you can look forward to heaven. the mystery, but also the glory and the beauty of heaven as beloved children of God. You can have assurance because God loves you. He loved you enough to send his son, his only begotten son of God. So in verses one through two, we see that God loves his children. We have all the rights and benefits of being children of God, with all the rich privileges that come to Him in prayer, every moment of the day. But also, we read in the next verses that the Father purifies His children. He just doesn't call them out and leave them to themselves. He calls us out and then purifies us. He calls us to purity and to righteousness. So in verses 3 through 8, we see the point, the Father purifies His children. He does purify us. In verses 3 we read, and whoever and everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure. And you might read this and say, well, that's a big task for me to do, to purify myself, to make myself holy, to make myself pleasing as a child to a Father. I have to work myself to death to be pure. And that's not what John is saying. He's saying, because you're a child, because you've been accepted by the Father, He will purify you. He gives you this hope, this belief in Jesus Christ, And thus, the Holy Spirit works purification in our lives. And we will be pure. Not fully in this life, but only in the life to come. But we will work toward purity. Though we stumble, though we trip at times, we are people that are going toward purity. And we have this hope that God God the Holy Spirit will work in our lives to give us this progressive holiness. The holiness that without that we will not see God. He gives it to us as a gift because we are children of God. In these verses, in verses 3 through 8, we see the great contrast between those that are of light and those that are darkness. Paul loves to do this, and John loves to do this too. He loves to weave light and darkness, truth and lies, children of God and children of the devil. This weaving of the contrast that we see all throughout this letter. The children of the devil. The children of the devil love sin, and John commands us not to sin. Do not sin. And he gives us a definition. A definition in verse 4. We read, everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. John is saying that when we sin, we break the holy law of God. We break God's commandments. When we sin, we are breaking God's Word. And though we desire not to sin, that is our natural state, and that's the natural state of the world, is lawlessness. And so, as we read these verses, we might scratch our head and wonder this question, what is John saying? What is John saying in these verses? He's commanding us not to sin. But if we go back in the letter, we see that he says in the first chapter, we will sin, and you have to confess your sin, and not live in sin, and don't love the world. So, is there a conflict in John's mind between sinning and not sinning? Is he speaking out of two sides of his mouth when he writes this letter? Well, if we look at this letter, if we look at the context of the letter, In verse 6, it does write, No one who abides in him sins. No one who sins has seen him or knows him. In the Greek, it is clear. In the NASB, that version of the Bible, it is that wooden translation. No one who sins has seen God or knows God. But if we look at the context, we see that it is abiding in sin, a practicing sin, a continual walking in sin that John is saying, those that are children of God do not do that. They do sin. We do sin in thought, word, and deed daily, even as believers, even as children of God. But what distinguishes us, what's the test to know that we abide in God, that we are children of God, is that we don't walk in sin. We don't practice sin. And that's why he presses this point. Even though we do sin, we don't live in that state. The world and those that are the children of the devil live in sin. But as believers, we don't live in sin. And that's the big point of these verses. To look at the context. Look at the context of the letter. To know the difference between those who walk in sin and those that walk in the light. That those are the children of God and those that are not. So John is not teaching a perfectionism. Perfectionism that we can work our way to holiness, or that God is to demand holiness from us. John is not saying you are to be perfect, and if you sin, you're not a child of God. But he is saying If you walk in sin, if you love sin with all of your affections, if you think about sin in all the ways, are you a child of God? This litmus test that He gives us, this contrast. So John is not speaking of perfectionism in these verses. But he is speaking of the requirement of righteousness. So in verse 7, he writes, little children, Let no one deceive you. These Antichrists that we have read about in this letter, these first century Antichrists and the Antichrist today, they do speak of a holiness, a perfectionism that believers are to have. And John is writing in a warning to the believers, a warning to us today not to listen to them. Don't be deceived by their crafty teaching. They muddle the waters between those that are the children of God and children of the world. Look at the example of Abraham. In Genesis 15, it says that he believed the Lord and it was counted to him as righteousness. That he walked in righteousness because God declared him righteous by the work of Christ. So these verses command us to live in righteousness, to live in a holy life as children of God. We are to put to death the sins of the flesh. As Paul wrote in Romans, we are to put to death the sins that are in our hearts, the sins that we are sometimes close to. We are to put them to death because we have the life of Christ within us. Paul writes in Romans 6 as we read, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. So God requires righteousness. But in and of ourselves, we don't have that righteousness. We don't have that righteousness and the power to do that. So only through the work of Christ and His righteousness put upon us are we called children of God. In the throne room of heaven, God declares us righteous because of Christ's righteousness. Because He fully obeyed the law. He was not a lawbreaker. He was perfect. He was holy. And because of Christ's righteousness, we as the children of God are declared righteous. Our state, our status before the father is righteous. And John is calling us to live that out, live out that righteousness that God has declared that you are. In our own lives, since God has given us the Holy Spirit, we are to live in righteousness. the right relationship with the Father, that we have been justified. And from out of that flows adoption and all the benefits and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. And John writes of that victory, the victory that we have in Christ Jesus. He writes in verse 8, Whoever makes a practice of sin is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. But Christ, in His victory, has overcome the devil, has overcome death and sin. And since we abide in God, we abide in Christ, as John writes about, we have this same victory. The devil has been sinning from the beginning. Go back in the garden. was the first one to sin. And from him, his spiritual children have been sinning, brought their world into sin and misery, into darkness. But we, as children of light, are to walk in holiness. For this reason, as children of God, desire to live in holiness. desire to be more like Christ as he's given us the ability and the power through his spirit to do that. We are to walk in righteousness. John is contrasting and giving this test for a reason that we as children of God, knowing that we are heirs of the Father, we too can walk in righteousness. Just as our Heavenly Father has commanded us to walk in righteousness, He will give us the ability to do that. But also, He gives His children assurance. In verses 9 through 10, He gives us this assurance. The Father assures His children. The third point, the Father assures His children. We see this in verses 9 and 10. John writes, we can know we are children of God. We just read the previous verses that to determine if you're the child of God or that of the devil, we see if you have righteousness, if you practice righteousness. So those that are children of God, are born of God, have this righteousness, have this status of being justified and brought in as adopted children of God to God's family. We can know this. John writes in verse 28. That we could have confidence in verse 29, you may be sure. That everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. When we have this righteousness, the righteousness of Christ by our faith in him and the working of the spirit, we can have confidence that we are children of God, that we are believers. John writes about this all throughout his letter. And we can have assurance and confidence that we are God's children, beloved children of God, with all the benefits. All the benefits of heirs of children of God. He writes in his Gospel, John 6, all that the Father gives me will come to you, Jesus writes to His disciples. And whoever comes to Me, I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should not lose nothing of all that He has given Me. but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day." So our assurance is in our belief in Christ, and God gives us this peace and this assurance through the Spirit. We have union with Christ, and we can know about this union. We can have this assurance. that we are children of God. We have this comfort as believers that we are secure in heaven, that we are predestined, that we were predestined as adopted children of God. And so we are. In heaven, we are children of God and on earth, we can know that God has chosen us. So today, let us flee from sin. Let us desire righteousness and pursue God. Since we are children of God, we are adopted sons and daughters of the King, let us go after righteousness, knowing that we have the confidence that we are children of God and all the benefits of being adopted children. the richness of being God's children. In knowing that Jesus Christ, our elder brother, paid for our sin, His work, the robes of righteousness have been placed on us. The Lord Jesus Christ being the Son of the Father paid for our sins, our penalty. Thus, we may be declared children of God. And what joy that brings, that we are not of the devil. We don't walk in darkness, but we love God. We abide in Him as children of God. And John goes on for more tests to declare that we are children of God and not of the world. These tests that say you are children of God if you have righteousness, if you have been born of God by faith in Jesus Christ. So live this out. That is the command today to live out God's law, not for a perfectionism or for work salvation, but because of our love. because of our status as children of God. So if you are adopted children today, you have all the rights and privileges of an heir, of a child of God. Because the Father loves you. He loves His children. And He purifies us through the work of the Spirit. And He gives us this peaceful and comforting assurance that we are children of God. John takes time in his letter to warn about the false teachers, but also to give us assurance as children of God. Peter writes of this in his letter. He writes, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have adopted us as your children and we can call you Abba Father and all the benefits of being children come to us. Thank you, Father, for giving us the love through Christ Jesus. Thank you, Father, for giving us assurance and giving us the purity only through your Son that you are making us day by day more and more into the image of Christ. We thank you for that, that you have given us your word and given us this gift as children of God. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.