How Great is the Love of the Father?
We are Children of God
1 John 3:1—10
INTRODUCTION
Why should we strive to live lives according to God’s will? There is a reason, the reason is: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16—17)
There is a way to know who the children of God are there is a test.
Do you know how the U. S. Secret Service trains agents to recognize counterfeit bills? It is not by studying counterfeits, there are too many various kinds. They train by studying the real thing. Once they know the intricate details of the real thing then the flaws of the counterfeit leap off the face of the bill.
Here in our text John doesn’t go into a long discussion about recognizing false Christians, rather he tells us how to recognize true Christians. The things he says to look for are:
MAIN BODY
I. The Love of the Father.
A. Our Position is we are children of God.
1. The Unbelievable love of the father is that he loved you enough to give his Son to die for you.
2. Our Position is Undeserved. Rom. 3:10—12
B. Our Potential is that one day we are going to be made perfect.
C. Our Practice should be guided by our Position and Potential.
1. There is the guarantee of a Second Coming.
2. Therefore, we all should purify ourselves.
II. The Appearance of the Son.
A. Jesus appeared to remove sin.
1. John 1:29
2. John 8:34
3. 1 John 1:7
B. Jesus appeared to destroy the devil’s work. Heb. 2:14—18
III. The Gift of the Spirit.
A. Children of God have "God’s Seed" in them. Acts 2:38—39
B. The word of God plants in us a "new" seed. 1 Peter 1:22—25
Sermon inspired from a sermon by Tom Wood on SermonCentral.com
Mitchell Skelton, Minister, Midway church of Christ
http://www.TheLordsWay.com/Midway
