Behold What Love!

The pastor talks about the love that God has for us and how we are called children of God. He emphasizes the privilege and blessing of being God's sons and joint heirs with Christ. He encourages believers to live lives of thankfulness, preferring others over themselves and fighting against sin. He also discusses the concept of hope and how it is based on the finished work of Jesus Christ. The pastor highlights that our hope is not in our own abilities, but in the purifying power of Christ's blood. He reminds us that it was love for His people that held Jesus on the cross, and encourages us to behold the kind of love the Father has given us. The following message is brought to you by the people of Redeemer Church of Piketon, Ohio. For more information, please visit RedeemerPiketon.org. And now here's Pastor Jason Booth with the message. So with our Bible's turn to the third chapter of 1 John, we're going to consider a few verses and talk a little bit about the love the Father has given us. And I think we'll just call this message, Behold What Love, Behold What Love. If you've had the opportunity to read this week's newsletter, this week's edition or issue rather of Redeemer Weekly, we put an article in there from Henry Mahan and he wrote on this very passage. And before I read any of his commentary, which I think is helpful, let's go ahead and read the word of the Lord together. And we trust the Lord will bless the public reading of his infallible word found in 1 John 3, beginning in verse 1, the word of the living God. 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. Beloved, we are God's children now, and we will be, 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. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. And we trust the Lord to add his own blessing to the public reading of this word today for our good and for his glory. Amen. Amen. Behold, what love! Behold, what love! Brother Mahan says this, Take notice with wonder and astonishment, what matchless, amazing, and wonderful love the Father has given freely and graciously to us, that we should be called sons of God. He goes on to say, This is a privilege and blessing that exceeds all others, because our Lord loved us and gave himself for us. Children of wrath are now children of love. Rebels and traitors are now sons. Enemies are now sons of God and joint heirs with Christ. And to think about that, we who were afar off have been drawn near, the Bible says, by the blood. What love, beloved, he has shown us. The old hymn, and it's getting, I guess they're all getting older, aren't they? Eventually every hymn will be called the old hymn. But as it is, Oh, how he loves you and me. Oh, how he loves you and me. He gave his life. What more could he give? And the answer to that question is simply this, and I believe it's demonstrably so. He could give nothing greater, than Jesus Christ on that old cross. There was nothing in heaven greater, than God the Son. The pearl of greatest price. And here, we find the apostle, in amazement, of God's love and grace, when he writes, What kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called the children of God. Now, if you go on into this passage, the passage is dealing with very real life things, like how to fight and struggle against sin. And I don't want you to think, that the apostle here is just writing to you, some theological flowery things, to make your heart flutter, and then leave us all stranded, on the day-to-day practical application of these things. The Lord has gifted us and empowered us, to live lives of thankfulness, to live lives of gratefulness, to live lives where we prefer our brother over ourselves, to live lives where we're struggling against sin, and fighting that good fight of faith. In fact, in our very scripture lesson, the scripture says in verse 3, And everyone who thus hopes in him, purifies himself, as he is pure. And so, how is it that we put our hope in Him? By the Spirit's power, and by God's grace, we are made to believe Christ, for all that He is, and for all that He has done. We look to Christ. The Bible says, We do not yet, we do not know yet, what we will be. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him. So, we are seeing through this glass, as it were, dimly. Have you ever sat in a very cold automobile, and the windows of the vehicle were glossed over with frost or condensation? Perhaps they were just a little foggy, but maybe it was thick ice that had formed on the outside of the window. And now you're sitting there, you can still see, you can still apprehend the light of the sun. You know several things about your environment by peering through even those blocked windows. You can see the sun, you can see the glare, you know it's daylight. And yet, what can you see? What can you make sense of with your eyes through those iced over windows? Not a lot, right? Well, beloved Paul, in his own writings, says that we now see through a glass dimly. He's speaking of that exact experience, how it is that we have been given just a foretaste of glory divine. We don't have all of the answers. I know it's very popular in evangelical circles to go around and tell everyone that we have every single thing, every single jot and tittle figured out. And because we have a faith that is based on the Word of God, we have a vast treasury of knowledge that we can go to. But there are still questions that men, great men, great women, battle with. We don't have all of the answers. We don't always understand every single circumstance. And it would probably behoove the Christian church to admit that from time to time. Because after all, if we aren't humble, what are we? Are we prideful in the fact that we know more Bible than someone else? Sometimes it's okay to look at a grieving mother who just lost her baby and say, my, my, I don't have words for you, but I'm going to be here for you. I don't have a pat answer for every tragedy that befalls man. Oh, I understand that in the end, all things will bring glory to God. I understand that all things are for my good. But when I'm in the thick of things, I don't always grasp that. Neither do you. So we're struggling. We're seeing through this glass dimly. We trust the Lord. But I'm telling you, you're not going to heaven because of your ability to trust God. You're not going to heaven because your faith never gets shaken. You're not going to be with Him for eternity because you did enough. Rather, the Scripture tells us, everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure. And so where does our hope come from? What's the object of said hope? You know, many times children hope that they don't get caught when they do something wrong. But that's not the kind of hope we're talking about. Or you hope that your homework just shows up. How many times... I taught school for many years and I remember students doing the same dog and pony show that some of my friends did in school and that is the teacher would ask for everyone to pass their homework up to the front. And students who you knew did not finish that assignment would frantically start looking through all of their notebooks and all of their textbooks, emptying them out, trying to shake out that homework that they just know they did last night. Right? They didn't do it. So they're hoping that maybe the teacher will just give them a pass and say, Well, I guess dogs... It is dogs ate my homework season again. Those dogs just have a taste for notebook, paper and ink, don't they? Yeah, the dog ate my homework. That kind of hope is empty. That kind of hope is what we call wishful thinking. But what I'm talking about here today is a hope that makes us not ashamed. A hope that is based on the solid promises of God in Christ. My hope doesn't save me because I'm hoping real good or that my hoper is hoping right. The hope I have is in the proper object of truth and that is Jesus Christ. His blood avails for His people. And the Bible declares, everyone, how many? Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure. Now, are we purifying ourselves? Is the writer here telling us that we make ourselves pure by hoping real good? No. The writer here is saying exactly the opposite. He's calling us to a true hope in the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is His work that purifies us. You're not purified because you hope. You hope because the blood of Christ has cleansed you from all unrighteousness. You hope because He has brought you those same good tidings that He brought to Joseph through the angel. That He brought to Mary through the angel. The same hope that caused John the Baptist to leap in his mother's belly. The joy of the Holy Spirit in empowering you and causing your dry bones to stand up and dance before the Lord. The power of the Holy Spirit in resurrection glory floods your old sinner soul and you become a new and living being spiritually as old things are passed away and all things become new. Beloved, the miracle of grace is why we hope in Him. And those who hope in that proper object, they are pure. So, what does this mean? Why does He do all these things for us? And I draw your attention right back around. Behold, what love! The same love that held Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree? Do you think it was the nails that held Him on that old cross? Do you think it was the might and judicial thunder of the Roman court system that held Him there? Do you think it was the might of the Roman military? Do you think God sweated any of that? Do you know what held Him there? Beloved, my sin held Him there. For He knew me. He knew me. He knew you if you know Him today and the full part of your sins that I can declare to you that you held Him on that cross. It was love for His people that held Him there. Behold, what kind of love the Father has given us. Do you think God doesn't have any skin in this game? How did He love you? Well, another verse in another book called John tells us, for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that the believing ones should never perish. How many? The believing ones of all those that believe? Yeah. How many will perish? None of them will perish but have everlasting life. How does He say it here? Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure. What love. What love. What love. Wonderful, merciful Savior. Thank the good Lord for His love and His mercy and His grace. It abounds. Grace abounds. And we have a Savior with healing in His wings who protects us in the time of storm, who leads us even through those dark paths of temptation and He brings us out the other end. Sometimes we don't know how we're going to escape this issue or that problem or this circumstance. We don't know how God is going to make a way, but He makes a way. Behold, what love. Behold, what love. This is the kind of love that the world doesn't understand. Even our passage tells us this. Behold, what manner of love that we should be called children of God? Listen on. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. The world doesn't understand this kind of love. People don't understand the Gospel. Henry Mahan in his note says, the reason the people of this world do not recognize and acknowledge us as the children of God is because they do not know God. He, Christ, was in the world and the world knew Him not. They don't know God, so they don't understand the love that He has for us. They don't know God and so they don't love God. And beloved, if they hated Christ, they will hate us too. Now most of them will leave us be if we hide behind our four walls and our little church buildings in the Western world and we go through the religious rituals and we say nothing more, we do nothing more, we just keep it all hidden away and cloistered up in our own little convents as it were. But the minute you share this Gospel message with someone out there, you're liable to elicit a violent response because they do not know Him. They do not know Him. And because of that, you will face tribulation for your faith. You will have people snark. You'll have people make comments. That's true. You'll have people attempt to mock your faith or maybe even in a not too distant future, persecute you for your faith. Some of our brothers and sisters who watch these messages around the world know all too well what it's like to be persecuted for the sake of the Gospel in a way that Western Christians have not experienced in many, many centuries. But know this, through all the struggle, through all the strife, through all of the turmoil, we might not know exactly how this whole thing is going to pan out. We don't know how we're going to be. Even the Scripture says this. We're God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared. So listen, this idea that you can live sinlessly in this life and you can be completely above sin and you're going to just be glorified before you're glorified is alien to Scripture. It says here, we're not yet what we're going to be. But we know this, we're going to be like Him. Hallelujah! We're going to struggle with sin no more. And in the meantime, the Bible in verse 4, and you can read this passage on your own, talks about how people that don't put their hope in God, these are those who make a practice of sinning. Now, what does it mean to practice sin? The only thing it can mean is that these are people who look to other things for their righteousness. After all, if this text means that anyone who sins is not of God, then, beloved, no one is of God. So, what is the context of verse 4? The love of God. He saves us. He calls us to hope in Him. Those who hope in Him are purified. Then the Bible gives us the distinction or the contra distinction, that is, everyone who makes a practice of sinning. Now, who are these people? They must be those who do not look to Him. Those who do not hope in Him are those who continue to practice sin. See, the sin we're talking about here is that ever pernicious sin of self-righteousness. That's the only way chapter 3 makes any sense whatsoever. For chapter 3 is calling us to a life of sinlessness. And yes, we ought to labor to do just that. But we also must confess that we fall short. So, the practice of sinning here must refer to those who do not place their hope and trust in Christ. They continue on in their own idolatrous ways, unchallenged and unchecked by the truth of the gospel. Verse 5 says, You know that He appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning. Well, how is that possible? Because you are now clothed in His righteous robes. Do you see those who continue to practice their sin? Apart from Christ, they've rejected the Lord. They've rejected His mercy. They say no thank you. Why do they say no thank you? Because they do not know Him. Remember, that was intimated in the first part of chapter 3. He gives His people great love. And those that are not His people do not experience this love because God is sovereign. God calls His people. He saves His people. And beloved, as sovereign Lord of this universe, God will judge the living and the dead. You will be judged in accordance with His law or you will be judged in accordance with His just mercy. But He is just and justifier. Hallelujah forevermore. All right. Though the world does not recognize us as sons of God, though our present condition is very short of God's glory, though our bodies, our flesh, and old age and death are before us, though we are subject to many miseries, temptations, and trials, though we are aware of the sin and evil which still dwells within us now at this present moment, we are the sons of God. I want to remind you of that. This passage tells us that we're still battling sin every day. You're still falling short of His grace and glory every day. You're falling short of the divine expectations of the Holy God every day in this old world. But you know what? You're still sons and daughters of God. We are already called children of God right now. You are the sons or daughters of God. Why is that? Because you're hoping in Him. Why are you hoping in Him? Because He's made you new and you're longing for that city whose builder and maker is God. It would be foolish to estimate what we shall be by what we are now. I like what Mahan says there. But we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Hallelujah forevermore. Are you hoping in Him today? Is your hope, is your only hope, in staying Jesus Christ the righteous? Oh, if it is. Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you. This is the work of God. Hallelujah forevermore. Behold what love, beloved, what love. Hallelujah. Praise His name forever. Let's sing in response to the word this morning. Amen. Amen. You have just heard a message from Pastor Jason Booth of Redeemer Church of Piketon, Ohio. To learn more about the good news of Jesus, please visit RedeemerPiketon.org.