Who We Were, Are And Shall Be

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.