1 John 3:1- 3
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world doesn’t know us, because it did not know him. NKJV
The Holy Spirit would have us pay particular attention to ‘behold’.
The apostle himself, though evidently filled with God, and walking in the fullness of his light, does not attempt to describe it; he calls on the world and the Church to behold it, to look upon it, to contemplate it, and wonder at it.
Something worthy of attention buried beneath these words
Our hope is in the fact our salvation was initiated by God’s love for us.
Changing rooms slide 1
Dental make over slide 2
Alan Titchmarsh Ground Force transforming gardens slide 3
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."
"The sons of God." Or children, offspring. GK te’k-non
That is easy to read; but it is not so easy to feel.
Consider:
1. Who we were
2. Who we are now
3. What we shall be.
Normally things start off young then get older, ending up in decay that’s the order of life.
Who we were:
We were dead in sin
When we read the bible we couldn’t understand it or hear it
We sinned and felt no real guilt
We were in darkness
Our father was the devil
Our inheritance was separation from God
But in Christ, we are transformed to perfection, becoming new.
It’s the opposite way around.
Ps 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Ez 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Diseased heart and the healthy heart slide 4
Seems the wrong way around to us.
When Phil had heart op, it was because the heart needed attention
A bad heart effects circulation
God through the cross is in the open-heart surgery business.
Life can beat us down:
Ø Wear and tear on our body
Ø Crushed in spirit
Ø Weight
Ø Sin (unforgiveness, hatred, jealousy, greed etc)
A house may need renovation, the furniture shabby.
Garden may need landscaping
The body may need attention physically
It’s hard to strip away at things
We are a people of habit and don’t always like change
It may involve others to help
There comes a point in life when we have to make changes, but only God can change our heart
The worse thing is if your heart is diseased through sin. (Gospel message)
There’s always a cost it cost Jesus His life
Who we are now!
But NOW we are sons of God.
What does that mean?
Rom 5:9 having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Rom 6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him
Rom 7:6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
1 Cor 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
We are salt Matt 5:13
We are light Matt 5:14
We have power of evil to cast out demons Mark 16:17
We have authority Luke 10:9
We are not so much like him now, because we have more refining to undergo.
The goal for believers is to become increasingly Christ like.
Continual beholding generates likeness
2 Cor 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever–increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
What we shall be
The time of revelation of the sons of God in their proper state and glory is determined and will come to pass.
Very little is mentioned about our new bodies as to appearance, or capacities.
We may wait in faith, hope, and earnest desire, for the revelation of the Lord Jesus; as even creation itself waits for our perfection, and the public manifestation of the sons of God, Rom. 8:19.
As sons of God we will be known and be made manifest by our likeness to our head, Jesus. Present and future tense
We shall be like him—like him in honour, and power, and glory.
Our vile bodies shall be made like his glorious body; we shall be filled with life, light, and ecstasy from him.
Sown in dishonor, raised in glory; Sown in weakness, raised in power.
Sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.
As we have borne the image of the earthly so shall we bear the image of the heavenly.
When he, who is their life, shall appear, they also shall appear with him in glory, Col. 3:4.
That leads us to:” WE KNOW THAT WHEN HE SHALL APPEAR, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM FOR WE SHALL SEE HIM AS HE IS."
Phil 3:21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Rev 22:4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
After our natural birth, there’s the new birth into the life of grace, which is to be followed by the new birth into the life of glory or “the regeneration”.
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John states that a true child of God will prove his spiritual birth by being obedient to God’s Word.
God does not destroy or eradicate the old nature but He implants a new nature that gives the believer a desire for spiritual things. Verse 9 should say,
“Whosoever is born of God does not habitually, deliberately sin; for he has the seed of the new nature within.”
This new nature cannot sin. Of course, believers who yield to the old nature will stumble and fall. Gal. 6:1-2.
John contrasts the children of God and the children of the devil, using Cain and Abel as examples. Abel had faith and was accepted;
Cain tried to be saved by works but was not accepted Gen. 4.
Cain was a liar and a murderer, like the devil John 8:44; he murdered his brother, and then lied about it to God.
Genesis 3:15 states that Satan’s seed (children) will oppose God’s seed.
Matt. 3:7 and 23:33. This will finally culminate in Christ’s battle with the Antichrist in the last days.
Note that Satan’s children are “religious.”
Cain worshiped at an altar, and the Pharisees were the most religious people of their day.
It’s not religion, but a true love for God and God’s children that is the test of our devotion to God.
True Christians do not hate and murder; instead, they show love and try to help others.
The new nature that is implanted at new birth and is responsible for this change.
Again we are looking for the day of His appearing.
"BELOVED, NOW ARE WE THE SONS OF GOD."
Meditate on that a moment.
Say it, "I am a child of God."
Think about what you have just said, "I am a child of the awesome, eternal God who created and sustains this whole universe.
He has adopted me as His child, giving me all of the rights and privileges of being His child."
Jesus, Himself sought to press home this truth in the sermon on the mount, no less than seven times Jesus spoke of God being our Father.
The sons of God must walk by faith, and live by hope having a new heart, then a new body. Amen
