1 John 2:28-3:10
Notes
Transcript
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Fathers and Children
Fathers and Children
1 John 3:10 (ESV)
By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil
Serious way to categorize people, not the only place.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
John 8:44 (ESV)
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.
What is the difference in these 2 groups, these 2 children?
Imitation of Right or Wrong
Imitation of Right or Wrong
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.
The primary characteristic that allows you to identify who is what is by the path they are walking.
If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
1 John 3:6–8 (ESV)
No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him...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.
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.
Children imitate their parents. They want to dress like their parents, pull for the same team as their parents, do the same job as their parents.
Country Song, little boy saying a bad word, and then praying to God, and both times when the dad asks why he says - “I been watching you dad aint that cool, I’m your buckaroo, I want to be like you”
Generally sons imitate their dads, daughters imitate their moms.
Perfectly? Of course not.
Mowing Lawn - Toy Mower (Far less effective, tired of it quicker..)
Naomi and Dance (Falls a lot more, isn’t nearly as pretty or graceful - but she watches her mom . . . )
Who are your eyes fixed on? Who are you trying to follow, to imitate?
Psalm 119:15 (ESV)
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
Hebrews 12:2
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
Practices Righteousness - I love the word Practice
Dad “Practice doesnt make perfect, it makes progress”
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
One of the Christian’s Goal - Not Sinning.
Is that your goal? Is that your desire, to not sin? If it isn’t, you are probably not a Christian. If it is, then you are, even if and when you fail to meet the goal.
The question for your assurance isn’t do you achieve the goal, you never will, it is do you honestly have that goal?
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.
The Chief of these fruits and evidences is the way that you love others.
Response of Confidence or Shame
Response of Confidence or Shame
1 John 2:28 (ESV)
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.
There is a confidence that indwells a child when his parents are with him, that is often absent when they are not. A child can’t walk into school on his own on the first day . . . A child walks up to the plate to bat and scans the crowd . . . A child needs to find where his parents are sitting before he walks out on stage . . . why? The parent isnt going to school FOR them, isn’t going to bat FOR them, isn’t going to act or sing FOR them . . .
1 John 2:28 (ESV)
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.
The main message here isn’t let us do the right things so we may have confidence, but let us know him, continue in relationship with him, be in koinonia with him, so we will have confidence. Our confidence doesn’t come primarily because we do good things, it comes because that’s Dad right there. It’s Dad that is coming.
Do you remember when you were in elementary school, and your parents were your hero, the best people in the world, and you’d just be going about your day, and then all of a sudden you’d see your mom or your dad in the hallway at school . . . (maybe you first start thinking, what did I do), but there’s an odd and hard to describe elation that came with it. They’re not part of this world, and yet, THERE THEY ARE! And if you were allowed to you’d run up and give them a hug! As you longed for the love and approval of your friends and teachers at school, and always were working for it, the one whose love you never doubted at all had showed up, the one whom you are most intimately connected with. I love the chance to do this for my younger kids, and just see their eyes in shock and lit up like woah there’s dad!!
Or how bout, even better, when you knew your mom or dad was going to come to lunch with you that day. Man you couldn’t wait for lunch, all your friends would get to see and meet your mom, your dad, who is just awesome. So all day, while you did your work, while you dealt with frustrations, when you got tired, you kept saying, “Dad is coming.” Finally lunch would come, you would save a seat right beside you, you’d tell everyone . . . and your eyes would stay fixed on the door waiting for him to come around the corner. And then he would, and you would light up, and you’d sit with him and tell him all about your lunchroom and friends and brag to all your friends about how awesome and unbreakable He is. You’re the star of the lunchroom that day.
If you aren’t God’s child, then it isn’t your Dad that is coming, it is the Holy Creator whom you have denied, it is the wrathful Judge whom you have wronged, it is the Alpha, the Omega, the one who formed you in your mother’s womb and whom you turned your back on.
Your feeling when he comes will not be confidence, because it says in verse 6 you don’t know this God like we do, it will be the shame of your sins coming to light, it will be the fear of guilt in the courtroom, it will be the realization that you are not what you thought you were.
Israel - IS JESUS ABOUT TO RETURN!?!?!?
Look at me, look at my eyes . . . Maybe
Thief in the Night - Meant It . . . but as Saints have said for millenia - Maranatha - Come Lord Jesus
If you found out Jesus was coming tonight, and you don’t feel that way, you either need to spend this evening on your knees in repentance, or you have a very poor theology of heaven
John Wesley was once asked what he would do if he found out Christ was returning at midnight. He opened his planner, and read his plans for the rest of the day. At 4 o clock I would have some tea, at 6 I would visit Mrs Brown in the hospital, at 7:30 I would conduct the mid-week prayer service. At 10 I would go to bed and wake up in glory.
Martin Luther said I would go out and plant a tree.
C.S. Lewis, during WW2 when everyone was thinking the world was about to end, said, “If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things: praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs.”
Children of God
Greatly Loved (3:1)
1 John 3:1 (ESV)
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are
Know God (6)
Have Confidence (2:28) (Dad is coming)
Have Spirit in Them! (9) (God who works in you both to…)
Are Despised by the World (3:1) (Following Jesus, why shocked)
Will be Glorious like Christ (3:2-3) (Every evil undone, every flaw..)
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Are Promised Victory (3:8) (Christ’s victory - David Goliath)
Called to Imitate Christ (If you do, you prove you are his . . . )
SEE WHAT KIND OF LOVE!!! THAT WE!!!!!
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.
Accomplished by Jesus
But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
John 6:40, 8:19, 49, 54, 10:18, 25, 29, 37, 14:2, 7, 20, 21, 23, 15:8, 10, 15, 23, 24.
Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”
The Devil’s offspring go along with Him
2 Fathers - You dont have to stay with this Father, who shames you, whom you follow with head dropped low, without hope, without joy, without purpose, whom you follow into sin and don’t even really know why, who abuses you . . .
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,