1 John 3:1-3
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
The Love of God
The Love of God
Good morning my friends,
Well, you got an extra hour of sleep last night, so there shouldn’t be any yawning in church this morning...
LOL
I am kidding, but I hope you enjoyed that little bit more sleep.
And here we are the first Sunday in November and it is just 9 weeks till 2024, it surely doesn’t seem possible but it is my friends.
So it tells us, as time is passing us by, we must strive even more each day to allow people to see Jesus in us each day.
The hope is, they will be encouraged, and some will want to know why we are happy and at peace. Wouldn’t it be great if people came to faith in Christ because of the way we lived each day…
It’s possible, The Love of God can permeate into the lives of others if we will live it.
Today coming back to the 3rd chapter of 1 John and we are going to look at the Love of God as seen in the believers life. What does His love do to us?
Well I would tell you our the Love of God blesses us and others.... So lets go and look at our test today, the first 3 verses in Chapter 3
1 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. 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. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
1. Amazing Love....
Let me ask you a question, How often do you think of or upon God’s love? A few times a week? Or would it be once a week? or maybe a few times a month??
I am not trying to put you on the spot, but I think it is a humbling thought to consider, The Love of God is something that can be seen, known in a person’s life. And it should be.... the reason being is that given our natural state,we certainly didn’t deserve His love.
Yep regardless, He loves us… it is a continuing love, a faithful and steadfast love. Look at verse 1 again...
1 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.
That opening word “See” is important, or some translations might say “Behold… John is calling for God’s children to look at it, to observe this love, it is special.
So what makes this love amazing, what makes it special? John says “See what kind of love… or what manner of love that father has given to us...
John is calling for the children of God, believers, to see just how great that love is… You see when we come to terms with this love, we are truly astonished… We know our heart , our mind and yet God would still love me and you...
And the answer is always Yes! God loves us, and we know this because that love is extended to us is, making us, the children of God.
God has given this love to us, but the word “given” really isn’t the best word here, He poured out, abundantly made it known to us..
And the results of that love is significant. His love revealed to man at one point in time (The Cross) has future lasting results upon all mankind.
God made his love known in the person and work of Jesus who died once but that love is still saving, still changing and still molding His children in wonderful ways...
And this love gave us a home… we are known now as the children of God. No longer condemned by the judgement of the law, but set free in Jesus, - we can see this in Romans 8, verses 1-2.
And this makes us the children of God, if even by adoption we belong to God, we are his children Romans 8, verses 15-16. Romans 8:15-16
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
We are given a home, a place and a security since we are the children of the living God. God the father loves us with a love that sent His Son to atone for the sins of the world,
Do you know the love of God? It is truly amazing...
Now we move to our second thought for today,
2. We Will Be Like Him...
Now considering the love of God, one of the greatest considerations of this truth is the fact that His love will change us.
And that change will be spectacular…
Lets’s look at verse 2
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.
Now looking at this verse, John tells us some very important thoughts that we can fully consider this morning…
So lets look at this....
He starts off with referring to his audience, those he is writing too, he calls them “Beloved…” John loves those he is ministering too, just as a father loves a child as we talked about last week.
John says ...We are God’s children now.... Speaking of the present, and it reminds us of our past… We were in the past, separated from God. When we came to Him by faith. He received us and saved us. Thus, we are God’s children now....
John the apostle, and those who believed, like us are the children of God. We believed and we put our faith into practice, trusting Jesus as the Savior of the world.
But John looks to the future next, and He says what we will one day be, we have not experienced that yet,.... remember we are still in the present.
But when He appears we will be like him. And on that day we will see him as he truly is...
Now stop right there, when Jesus appears ( whether we see him at the time of our death or at the moment of His rapture. At that point of time, we will not only see Jesus, but we will be made like him. Perfect in every way...
So for today, we are his, we exist as His, saved and sealed until the day of our redemption.
And the Holy Spirit, Scriptures say is our guarantee of the good things yet to come. What is the good yet to come?
It is Jesus and being conformed into His image… that is what awaits us… Can you wait?
Listen to what the Apostle Paul says about life after death..
Well in one sense it is that we are conformed spiritually.. 2 Cor 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
So being changed spiritually is necessary for the outward man to be changed...
Paul says in Phil 3:20-21
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
And then probably the most well know verses about the second coming of our Lord..
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
When the Lord Jesus returns, He will come in the air and will do two things, 1.) The dead in Christ will be raised from the dead and their mortal bodies will restored and made perfect.
Those who are alive at his return will be caught up in the air and changed instantly and made perfect and he is perfect...
And even the angels have testified that the Lord himself will return… Acts 1:11
11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Now, Lets ask another question; Why does this have to happen, why does the mortal have to be replaced with immortality?
Namely, even though we are saved, the body we house currently are made of fallen flesh, flesh that is touched by sin, imperfect.
So it must be changed… who wants to have our current body through all eternity?/ No one.. So Paul would tells the church at Corinth
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
And all of this is made possible through the victory given to us by Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer as Paul tells us in 1 Cor 15, verse 57.
So just as Jesus is today, perfect and holy, we shall be made holy as well on that day.
Death is not the enemy my friends, sin and the Devil is! The Devil wants to keep people trapped in sin and if he can do that , keeping people from the forgiveness of knowing and walking with the Savior. He has one another soul to hell.
The reward, the blessing is knowing Jesus, knowing him in the free pardon of sin, having been forgiven we can walk with the the Lord each day until we see Him and are made like Him
I am looking forward to seeing Jesus and inhabiting a perfect body on that day.
Don’t you look forward to that as well! Yes, I know you do!
How sweet it is to know the Savior.
Now just one last thought this morning from verse 3,
3. Our Hope Is In Him...
This is a truth we know all to well, but we are going to elaborate on it more over the next few moments.
Lets go ahead and look at verse 3 here in our text, 1 John 3:3
3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Now how John starts this verse, And everyone who … it is not one group or one particular religion that come to faith in Jesus Christ and thus obtains heaven, No...
The prerequisite for heaven is anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. All one has to do is believe by faith and ask the Lord Jesus into their heart. And He saved them..
The Scriptures declare that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved… Rom 10:13.... Like the old preacher once said “....Jesus saved from the Utter most to the gutter most... “
It doesn matter who you are, background, status, family ties, wealth, poverty or anything else matters. All that matters is you come to Jesus...
So everyone “...who hopes in Him...” who put their faith or trust in Jesus Christ shall be saved…
Hope is the confident expectation of the future, trusting God’s provision for salvation…
What is our hope? I am confident that the one who saved me, the one who filled me with his Holy Spirit, the one who called me to His service is going to one day makes this mortal body new.
Now remember, as long as Jesus delays His coming, we know death will happen to us, it has too… these bodies will not live forever.
And at death we are with Him, remember Paul’s words, Paul said “...to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”
But that is not the whole story, He is coming again and he will deliver these mortal bodies from death that once took hold of them and will change them..
Think of Moses body, it was buried on the mountain right before they entered into Canaan. That body has been there a long time.. God can restore and bring if back.. the same he can do for all those saints in the cemeteries around us...
That is our hope… this will come about because …look at verse 3 again...
3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Our hope led to our purification and thus we are pure.
Remember now, our purification is not our work, it’s the work of Jesus… but we are living in a way that pleases the Father.
Let me explain… That phrase in particular “...Purifies himself...” carries the mean of a continual moral purification process...
Simply said, it is our opportunity as the Christian to pursue purity and holiness in our daily lives.
So each day we are choosing what blesses and glorifies the Lord in all that we do.
Peter says in 1 Peter 1:15
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
Our conduct every day is to chase after holiness, to walk and live as Jesus would have us to in this world. And some might say that is tough, yes it is but we can do with since He lives in us...
Paul tells us this in Gal 2, verse 20....
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
It is a daily process but it is made possible by the fact that we do not do it in our own flash and strength, we do it in His strength and the power of His might...
Paul gives a wonderful example of daily living in Romans 12:1-2
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
What does Paul tell the church? daily lay down your life, daily give up your will and give your life over to him. Give it to him as a living sacrifice.
Living in that we do it daily. You see my friends it is hard to live a life of sin when you are not in control.
If you daily give up control, leadership of your life and keep it in His hands.. you cannot be guilty of living by the flesh.
Do this daily, refusing to be conformed to the world, or its standards, instead we are to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
The Scriptures tell us this “... Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus...” Philippians 2, verse 5
it’s hard to live for yourself if you are constantly asking Jesus what would you have me do…?
You cannot please the flesh if your goal is to please the Savior
You cannot be selfish and sinful when you mind is to release everything into His hands...
You see if Jesus is first, foremost in our lives, the rest really isn’t a problem...
This way of living keep Paul on the journey, it kept John content on an Island by himself and it made no difference with death came their way.
They were blessed because they had Jesus...
Do you think what we have talked about today is possible?
I believe it is… but it is not natural to us. it takes effort, it takes practice, we will find days where the struggle is real and where we fail. But it’s the mindset of coming back to him and trying again until its automatic in our lives.
There in is joy and peace, Having Jesus at the center in all circumstances...
Do you struggle living for Him each day…?
Do you know what He has called you for?
Do you know, Jesus loves you..?
This morning come and pray, I invite you to the altar to pray for your needs or the needs of another.
Come and seek encouragement
Come
Lets pray...