A Child of God
Notes
Transcript
Handout
28 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.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
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.
4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
9 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.
As children, many times we want to play “make believe”. Maybe we want to play as one of our favorite occupations, doctor, nurse, police officer, firefighter, teacher, or carpenter. Maybe we play cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, or hide and seek. Maybe we want to play dress up and look just like Mama or Daddy.
According to research done at Montana State University, play is an essential and critical part of all children's development. Play starts in the child's infancy and ideally, continues throughout his or her life. Play is how children learn to socialize, to think, to solve problems, to mature and most importantly, to have fun. Play connects children with their imagination, their environment, their parents and family and the world. Parental involvement in a child's world of play is not only beneficial for the child but is extremely beneficial to the parent. Playing with children establishes and strengthens bonds that will last forever. Parent-child play opens doors for the sharing of values, increases communication, allows for teachable moments and assists in problem solving. Playtime provides opportunities for the parent and child to confront and resolve individual differences, as well as family related concerns and issues. Finally, it allows the parent to view the world through the eyes of a child once again.
Now, would a child want to mimic and have this type of play with a total stranger? In most cases, no. They carefully observe what their parents do as young infants, taking in every movement, sound, and action. They then learn to mimic what their parents do. They become little Mama’s and Daddies. Sometimes that can work to our disadvantage when they learn our weaknesses and see our anger. But, they soak up everything about us. Why? Because they spend time learning from us, studying us, and begin to act like us. John tells us, we are children of God, and because of that we shall be like Him. Why? Because we shall see Him as He is. We spend time with Him. We study Him. And, we should act like Him.
Warren Wiersbe made these comments on this passage:
The United States Treasury Department has a special group of men whose job it is to track down counterfeiters. Naturally, these men need to know a counterfeit bill when they see it.
How do they learn to identify fake bills?
Oddly enough, they are not trained by spending hours examining counterfeit money. Rather, they study the real thing. They become so familiar with authentic bills that they can spot a counterfeit by looking at it or, often, simply by feeling it.
As Christians, we are called to be like Christ. How is it we do this? By studying the real thing - the same as these counterfeit bill agents do. We should be so familiar with Christ that we even begin to look and act like Him. And, we should be able to spot a counterfeit simply because we are so knowledgeable of the real thing. How do we grow this close to God? By abiding in Him, experiencing god’s love for us, and by living a life so close to Christ that we are not deceived by the sins of this world.
Abiding in Him
Abiding in Him
28 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.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
John encourages us, as children of Christ, to abide in Him - just as our children watch, study, and mimic us. This word he uses for abide, meno, encourages us to persevere, to remain, to continue in a course of action, even in the face of difficulty or with little or no prospect of success.
I think this is important for us to realize. This sinful world that we live in will make us think that there is no way we could ever come out victorious. We get run down, we get beat down, and this old world at times just brings us down to a point where we may even question our Christianity, or even the impact God has on our lives. John realizes this.
John encourages us to endure to the end. Why? So that we may boldly stand before God when He appears and not be ashamed to be in His presence.
Oh, how many times have we come into a room where our children did not see us and catch them doing something they shouldn’t be doing? When they finally turn around and see us, or we say something to them, what is their reaction? Terror! They’ve been CAUGHT! The next thing we normally hear are excuses and explanations of what they were “really” doing, not what we saw them doing. When many children realize they’re caught, they’re embarrassed. Why? Mostly because they know they let their parents down.
Christian, how many times have we been in the middle of doing something and had the thought “I shouldn’t be doing this”? And how many times do we take time to pray “Lord, what is the real reason I am doing this”, only to hear His truth come through. Then comes the read dilemma…do I listen to Him, or do I do what I want to do?
If we are following God, we will hear and feel His gentle guidance, and as a believer, we should be so close to God that we want to mimic everything He does and avoid times of temptation.
But we have to put forth the effort - we have to stay close to Christ, we have to fellowship with Christ, we must welcome Christ to guide our lives, we must make Christ a home in our lives, and most importantly we must confess we all are short of God’s glory and ask forgiveness of our sins. This lifestyle will leave us with a clear conscience, and without embarrassment when confronted by God.
Notice it is a lifestyle, we must abide in Him, realizing the only righteous (sinless) person is Jesus Christ.
That is how we can confidently follow Him… He lived by example. He asks us to simply follow His example.
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Experiencing God’s Love for Us
Experiencing God’s Love for Us
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.
What else in this world is greater than the love of God?
Think about love - how do you describe it?
A dictionary might describe love as “an intense feeling of deep affection”, but what is affection? A gentle feeling of fondness or liking. But what is fondness? Affection or liking for someone or something. I mean, we can discuss all these different definitions, but none of them truly capture the full essence of love. Even though we may not be able to fully describe or define love, we know love when we experience it! We want to spend time with the ones we love, we can’t get enough of that person, we want to learn everything we can about them.
It is an active and engaging experience.
And even when we may be separated, they are continually on our minds.
This is the type relationship Jesus Christ wants to have with each and every one of us.
He is not so distant or unreachable that we cannot grow close to Him. He desires the opportunity to show us His love for us. But as with any relationship, if God loves us and has demonstrated His love to us, then He expects us to respond. He expects us to love Him in return. Without this mutual affection, without investing in our relationship with Christ, we will never experience the TRUE fullness of His love for us.
Just as in life, this does not mean that there will not be rough times in our lives. There will be all of the “normal” struggles of life. There are the possibilities of bad things happening to us or our families. But what is different, is in a functioning relationship we can rely on the other person to carry us through. The poem “Footprints in the Sand” come to mind:
One night I had a dream…
I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord, and
Across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; One belonged to me, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of my life flashed before us, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that many times along the path of my life, There was only one set of footprints.
I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest
and saddest times in my life
This really bothered me, and I questioned the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
You would walk with me all the way;
But I have noticed that during the
most troublesome times in my life,
There is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why in times when I
needed you the most, you should leave me.
The Lord replied, “My precious, precious
child. I love you, and I would never,
never leave you during your times of
trial and suffering.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.
This is the type of relationship God wants with us…but do we desire the same relationship? You see, there are only a few people who truly love the Lord. So who do they turn to when life turns on them WITHOUT God? You see, they have to face all the trials and temptations in life alone and with no help. They have to face suffering, sorrow, and death all alone. They have to confront death without knowing what awaits in their judgment. They have no hope beyond this life, and no hope of heaven. This is NOT the relationship God wants to have with His created beings, but instead, what they CHOOSE when they reject God.
John encourages the readers to have hope and take comfort in knowing that there is a way to restore our relationship with the Lord through salvation.
By confessing and asking forgiveness of our sins, by continuing to abide in Christ, we can have a relationship with God. Not some second cousin twice remove, but as a CHILD OF THE KING.
We can experience the love of God…if we choose to truly love Him.
Do Not Be Deceived by Sin
Do Not Be Deceived by Sin
4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
9 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.
If you have asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, I have one question for you. Did anything really change?
Have we turned away from our sins, or are we just feeling better about ourselves because we think we just bought “fire insurance”? In these verses, John reminds us of a test of whether we really love God.
If we continue to live a life of unrepented sin, we do not love God.
If we have been born again, then we want to be seen as a different being.
The fact is:
Mankind is sinful
Christ can take away our sins
We can be delivered from those sins
IF we turn away from sin
THEN we can truly be freed from a life of sin
We are sinful and NEED to be freed. Most people have gotten to the point today that they do not call sin “SIN”, they only see them as “mistakes”, a “shortcoming”, or maybe a “bad decision”…Can I tell you, if you are violating the law of God, doing your own thing and going your own way in life you are a sinner. By “doing your own thing”, you have rebelled against God, you have rejected God, and denied the power of salvation.
But here is an awesome thing to remember, we have all sinned. I’m not preaching to you today as someone who is faultless, I am nothing more than a forgiven sinner myself. Scripture says we ALL have fallen short of God’s perfection.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
But - the greatest three letter word in the world… But - through the love of God, Jesus was send to live a righteous (sinless) life, and to take away our sins. When Jesus died, His death was the perfect sacrifice for our sins and God was able to accept His death as the perfect sacrifice for sins. When we truly believe in Jesus Christ - we put our full faith in Him as the Son of God - God no longer sees our sins. Jesus took them away, removed them from us, when He died on the cross. If we have no sin, then God sees us as acceptable, we are born again.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
It is when we are “born again”, then we begin to abide in Christ. We watch Him, we study Him, we want to be like Him - and we do not continue in our sin. Now, this doesn’t mean we will live a fully sinless and righteous life, but we cannot continue to go on sinning and sinning without any guilt or shame. If we abide in Christ, then Christ abides in us (Holy Spirit), and we will not tolerate unrepentant sin on our lives. We must give up the old self.
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
We must follow Christ.
Salvation is much more than just reciting a prayer, being baptized, joining a church, attending services, reading the Bible, and even praying…we must desire to spend time with our Savior Jesus.
Simply put, you may be able to talk the talk, but do you walk the walk. If you continue to sin, John tells us that we are of the devil. We can never forget Satan is the root of sin - he started sin by disobeying and rebelling against God. When we continue in a life of sin, we too disobey and rebel against God.
John tells us that believers are delivered from that sin - not just a single sin, but the habit of sin. No person will be able to be sinless while on earth, but if we have truly been saved we cannot continue to go on sinning. How do we know if we have been forgiven of our sin? Well, honestly, if God convicts you of your sin…if you are embarrassed by what you have done, you won’t be able to stand it.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
But we still must make the right choice.
Closing
Closing
John chose to remind believers that God, our Heavenly Father loves us and desires to have a relationship with us. But here is one thing - it is a conditional love. Why do I say that? Though He may love us unconditionally, WE must choose to love Him back, follow Him, and restore our relationship with Him. Sin has separated us from God, and as a result our relationship is broken. But notice, God doesn’t set the condition, we do. We must choose Him. How do we do that? Through His Son Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus to die for our sin. Because Jesus lived a righteous and sinless life, He was the only one that could ever be seen worthy enough to pay the debt for our sin. So it is through believing in Jesus Christ as God’s Son, who lived a sinless life, and died on the cross to pay for “insert your name” sin, that we too can be seen as sinless through God’s eyes.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
But here is the problem. There are people today who will tell us “I live a good life”, “I don’t do any of the BIG sins”, “I’m a pretty good person”, but have never asked God to forgive them of their sins. What concerns me even more is, there are people who may have walked an aisle, may have said a prayer, and even may do all the “church” things, but never have ABIDED in Christ - no visible change has been made, and no change in lifestyle can be seen. John tells us:
6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Let me remind you of these things as I close:
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Do you know God loves you? Do we continue to abide in Him? Do you know Jesus came to die for your sins? Do you know salvation is as simple as calling on the Lord? God wants to restore His relationship with us, but the question is…do you? If you are looking for a renewed relationship with your Savior, today the altar is open. Won’t you come?