1 John Series Children Born of God

1 John 4:4

(story) A man is late for a church meeting because he said that he got hit my a semi-truck going 70 miles per hour… Is he a lunatic or a liar? Why?

Because the evidence is clear. If you got touched… had an encounter… with this type of truck, going 70 miles as hour… It is going to make an impact on you.

But what is more powerful… this truck or God?

When we speak of being Christian… Something has happened to us. Something has happened inside of us. We are saying that something supernatural has occured inside. We are saying that God has made contact with our hearts. He has changed our hearts. And we are new creatures.

I am a Christian equals God is in me… Christ is in me… the Holy Spirit is in me… Its not just me.

The Old Testament spoke of this coming:

Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33; and Hebrews 8:10 quotes this as well.

God says that he will give them one heart… a new heart… a new spirit; He will remove the heart of stone and will give them a heart of flesh. This is the covenant that God will make… and He will put His law within them… and He will be their God and they will be His people.

Ezekiel 37 gives us a picture: The man of God prophesies, speaks Gods word… and the valley of dry bones came together and God made them alive...

How is this possible? God does this. Only God can do this. This is not man made.

The Doctrine of Regeneration - “God imparts new… spiritual life.”

“Well, doesn’t everyone have a spirit?” Yes. Everyone has the material and the immaterial, but not everyone has a spirit that is alive to the things of God. Therefore… we need to become born again.

John 3:3-8 - Be born again… again. Unless you are born again… you will not see the Kingdom.

1 Peter 1:3 - He has caused us to be born again… to a living hope...

“Why do we need to be born again?”

Ephesians 2:1-3 - You are dead in your sins and trespasses… We are children of wrath because of this. This is how we are born: In sin.

Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?

Romans 3:10-18 - There is no one who is righteous, no one is good, no one seeks God...

“Don’t they need just some counseling? Don’t they need to just try harder, listen better?”

No. They cannot hear from God as they are because 1 Cor. 2:14 says that in the natural person, they do not accept the things from the Spirit of God...

Colossians 2:13 - You were dead in transgressions… God made you alive together with Him.

The flesh, the old man… does not respond to God.

John 6:44 - No one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws that person...

“How is a person drawn to God?” The Father and the Holy Spirit works in that person.

Christianity is not natural. Man cannot make this happen. Christianity is supernatural. It is not man-made or man-invented.

There are evangelists and there have been movements that push emotion, manipulation, and human effort to make Christians Christian.

While, people must respond to the Gospel, repent of their sin and follow Christ… We understand by the Word of God… that Christianity is a supernatural work that will not exist without regeneration.

John 12:24 - Jesus said that if the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Christ, the Seed of a woman… comes to the earth, dies, and goes into the ground… and what does this Seed produce? Spiritual life to all who will believe in Him through faith.

1 Peter 1:23 - You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable...

And not the imperishable can be raised imperishable… by the eternal life within.

As we were born of flesh and blood… We did not have anything to do with this. We were not a life, not a creation... and then we were.

Eternal life was given… by our Eternal God who came to us,

James 1:17 - In the exercise of God’s will, He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

Flesh and blood, born in sin… That life is born under Adam.

Romans 5 and 1 Cor. 15:45-49 - Under Adam is sin and death. He is the head of the fallen human race. Through Adam… all of his seed would experience sin and death.

The last Adam, Jesus, became a life giving spirit.

Through Adam there is transgression and condemnation.

Through Jesus, there is righteousness, justification and life.

The head of the human race is Adam. The Head of the Holy Race is Jesus.

Now… Let us stop and confront something:

Many will not make a distinction between people in this world. We will hear that “all of us are the children of God… He is the Father of us all.”

This sounds like Acts 17:28 - The Greek poets speak of this, that all are God’s children.

In a creation sense… ok. He is Creator and Father over all creation/mankind.

But don’t we see the difference between what Christians are and what everyone else is?

One has God inside of them, eternal life, the Holy Spirit, their hearts are changed to love and serve God… and the other do not.

Christians have a Heavenly Father’s love. They will be treated like His children, and loved like His children. He will discipline them, answer prayer, provide for them, and they will experience the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ in a personal way.

How does God see everyone else? They are dead in their sins and trespasses. They are sons of disobedience. They are objects of divine wrath and judgment. God is under no obligation to answer their prayers… and if they do not repent and believe… they will go to hell.

They may receive a general/common love and grace. The Lord may provide for their needs. The Lord will let the rains come to them and they will enjoy the blessings of life, even thought they will not give God the praise and the glory for it.

And we can say broadly… That they can see from the Gospel… That Christ has died for sinners, and has shown His love to sinners.

But their is a love that can exist between the Father and His children only when sin is dealt with.

Christians have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit’s love. And nothing can rob them of that love. They will be kept forever. The promises of God are yes and amen. Jesus will come back to get them one day… And what we are in Christ on that day will be seen and we will have a glory like that of Jesus.

For the unbeliever… They will not have that glory. But… I wonder… Will what they are, what they really are, be seen on that day. Will that corrupt nature, that demonic, sinful nature… be seen?

Children of God:

All who are in Christ… All who believe in Christ… God has caused this, God is in you, God began this, God will finish this. On the day of Christ, what you really are will be seen, and those who are in Christ will be like Him...

1 John 4:4 - You are from God, little children… Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

John 1:12 - To all who receive Him, who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God… who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Galatians 3:26 - For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

2 Cor. 5:17 - If anyone is in Christ… he is a new creation.

Now is a baby… still a baby? Yes.

There are immature, baby Christians, that have desires for Jesus and are still struggling with carnal things as a practice.

1 Cor. 3- There are these infants in Christ… and they need to grow up and at this time, they should have been more mature in the faith, but they weren’t.

But Paul is still treating them as Christian babies...

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As Christians, and as Baptists who hold to the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message...

We believe in Regeneration, Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification.

Regeneration - We are Born Again by the Spirit of God. We have new Spiritual Life. We have new hearts, a change of heart. We are New Creatures. We turn from sin, we repent, turn to God through faith in Jesus and we live for Him.

How many times are we born again? How many time are we baptized in the Spirit?

John 3 - Be born again… Born from above… 2 Cor. 5:17 - New Creation. Ephesians 2:1 - God has made you alive. Titus 3:5 - He saved us… 1 Peter 1:3 - He has caused us to be born again… and we are protected by the power of God through faith...

Ephesians 4:5 - One Lord, one faith and one baptism.

Justification - When we become children of God, born again… We go from “guilty” to “not guilty.” God declares that you are not longer under judgement or penalty, under the Law of God. You are declared “right” before the Judge. There is no condemnation.

Isaiah 61:10 - God has clothed me or covered me with the robe of righteousness...

This is immediate and it comes through faith alone in Christ alone.

Can we add anything, or must we add anything to place us in a right standing before God?

Romans 3:23-24 - We are justified by God’s grace, it is a gift. Romans 5 - Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through Christ.Romans 1:17 ; Galatians 3; Hebrews 10:38- The just shall live by faith. The righteous shall live by faith.

Romans Catholics, LDS Church, JW Church… and every other religion in the world will say that justification will not come by faith in Christ alone, and in grace alone.

Every religious person desires to have the right standing before God, and it comes down to this: It is by works, it is by grace, or some will say it is a combination of both.

As Baptists, as Southern Baptists, we are part of a group of Christians who are known as Protestants. This group emerged out of the Protestant Reformation, started by Martin Luther in the 1500’s. Luther protested against what the Roman Catholic Church was teaching, and he posted 95 Theses, protesting against these Catholic teachings.

But would do we protest today, as Protestants? We would protest against the pope or anyone else who would claim to have authority over or outside the Bible. We would protest against tradition, if our traditions were not in line with Scripture.

We would protest against anything added to Jesus work on the Cross. We protest against the idea of adding works to grace.

The “Five Solas” or the “Five Only’s” that came out of the Reformation that we would hold to to this day are these: Scripture alone. Faith alone. Grace alone. Christ alone. To the glory of God alone.

This doctrine, or teaching of Justification has been deemed as the central teaching of the Christian faith.

Martin Luther’s freedom was found here. As a German monk, he understood this. God was holy and that he was not. He would confess sin 5-6 hours a day. He would fast until skin hung off his bones. He would practice self-flagellation. All because he wanted to have a right standing before God, but he knew that this was an impossibility...

It was this verse, “The just shall live by faith...” that God used to save him.

Adoption - We are His children… in that moment of regeneration, without works. (Romans 8:14-17) The Spirit that God has given us testifies within that we are His and He is ours.

Are we not all God’s children? No, Jesus and 1 John make it clear that there are children of Satan and there are children of God.

Romans 8:15 - You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Ephesians 1: 5 - He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.

Sanctification - This is immediate and on going. We are set apart for God’s purposes. We are given divine power and has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

2 Thessalonians 2:13 - God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

1 Thess. 4:3 - For this is the will of God, your sanctification...

Our Sanctification is also progressive. It is on going. For although we are children of God… Children are to grow in Christ-likeness.

1 Thess. 5:23 - Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit, soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 6 - We are dead to sin and alive to God… and we are also told to not let sin reign in us and that we must not yield to it. We are to lay aside that which keeps us from running well. We must cut off that which hinders. We are to strive for holiness.

This will be ongoing until death or until the Lord returns. Then the perfect will come.

We may not always know why we go through what we go through… but this we know, it is the will of God that we look more and more like Jesus. So, this is always a part of the answer.

Can you think of ways the Lord sanctifies you today?

John 17:17 - Jesus prayed that the Father would sanctify us by His truth… His word is truth. Jesus also prays here for His followers to see His glory.

Jude 24 - He is able to keep us from stumbling and to make us stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy...

Glorification - This is the final blessed and abiding state of all redeemed people. All sin will be removed and He who is within us will transform us and we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:52) and we will be raised imperishable, with God’s glory, honor and likeness.

Romans 8:18 - For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:30 - Those He justified… He also glorified.

2 Cor. 4:17 - For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison...

Revelation visions: And the people are clothed in white garments. All things will be made new. There will be no more curse, no more sin, no pain or death. It will be filled with light and life.

The Lord will do this. This is coming.

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