Audio Access Available Above
“We Are
Different!” • 5.10.20 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday
Morning Service (Covid-19 #11)
Intro.
- John has warned his spiritual children against
the dangers of loving the world and has revealed to them the defense perimeter
that God has set around them to guard against deception.
- They had been given advance awareness of
apostasy, an anointing from the Holy Spirit, an abiding relationship to the
truth and an anticipation of their Lord's arrival! (I John 2:18-29)
- Aside from what the Lord has done to protect
them, these people need to be reminded of just how distinct they are from the
people that they share this planet with.
- God has done a work to shelter them, but He
has also done a work in them that alienates them from their non-believing
counterparts. Why is this the case and what will it mean for them?
- Let's look on as John begins to answer these
questions for them and for us. He begins by reminding them that they come from
a "Different Family."
Verse 1.
Text
• I John 3:1 : "Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore
the world does not know us, because it did not know Him." : "Behold." Stop what you are doing and consider this
thoughtfully. Contemplate this thoroughly! "Behold what manner of
love!" Of what sort is this?
- How wonderful and magnificent is this love
that the Father has bestowed upon us!
- Where else do you find this love? Who else
has it to dispense? What other entity has a claim to it? It's a completely
unique and pure love that the Father has for us, His children!
- According to John 1:12, God has given those that believe upon Jesus Christ the right
to be called "children of God!" By virtue of your faith in Christ,
you are a part of His eternal family!
- God loves the world, but His best love is
reserved for those that are His by the new birth!
- If there are good themes to hang onto in
times as difficult as this, this is one: God's love for His children in
unmatched in the universe and far more glorious than any of us could ever
imagine!
- I'm reminded of King David's word when he
thought to build God a house. God wouldn't let him, but made him a lofty
promise of preserving his royal line forever, culminating in the Messiah!
- When the prophet Nathan delivered this news
to David, the King just sat on the floor with his mouth open in amazement. He
managed to utter these words.
• II Samuel
7:18,19 : "Then King David went in and sat before the Lord; and he said: 'Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that You
have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O Lord God; and You have also spoken of Your
servant’s house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord God?" : This is our God, who doesn't act in the manner that we do, nor
does He act in the manner of other supposed gods!
- Our God is love and that is what He
"bestows" upon His children! Before we consider that word
particularly, consider the general point!
- Christianity, properly understood, is not a
religion that boasts of what can be done for the deity. Every other religion is
built upon the worth of what the adherant brings to or does for the deity!
- Christianity alone boasts of a God who acts
unilaterally, graciously and lovingly toward His people whether they deserve
that treatment or not!
- Our actions deserve the exact opposite, but it
is His love that moves Him to act toward us without us acting toward Him! It is
certainly not the manner that we are accustomed to in this world!
- This love, that is an essential part of His
nature and being, He has bestowed upon us!
- He has granted, delivered, appointed it for
us! Because it is a present tense verb, He is granting, delivering and
appointing it to us!
- Because it is indicative, He is repeatedly
granting us His love, over and over again! The NIV has my favorite translation
of this verse: "See what great love
the Father has lavished on us!"
- We are loved like His very own children and
we ARE by virtue of being in Jesus Christ! This is one of the reasons why we
are such foreigners to this world.
- How could the world understand or truly know
us, when they have utterly failed to understand Him? We are beyond their
ability to comprehend.
- Like any family, we understand the ways of
our Father. The world doesn't because until they are in Christ, they are a part
of a different family. John turns to our second distinctive. Verse 2.
• I John
3:2 : "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been
revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." :
We are a part of "Different Family"
who are being prepared for a "Different
Destiny!" What a joy it is for John to proclaim this truth!
- The Ephesians are his greatly loved children
and he is one with them! "We are children of God!" It hasn't been
lost on John, even after all of these years, that He is included in that
company!
- This church, as they are, right at that
moment, were already children of God! They are not ascending into becoming
children of God. They will not arrive one day to that goal.
- In their human skin, caught in the annals of
time, they belong to the family of God already!
- The Gnostics presented some form of
ascendancy, as every other religion teaches. "You are at level one. If you
want to get to level two..." People pay millions for what we get for free!
- Please remember that while it's been made
available to us for free, it cost God everything!
- When you believed upon Christ, you were granted
access into the very throne room of God and told to kick off your shoes and
check the refrigerator! This is our confidence with our Father!
- Believers are the supernaturally produced
children of God the Father, born again by His Holy Spirit, regenerated unto new
life by their belief upon the Son, Jesus Christ!
- Can you see how this takes the teeth right
out of the Gnostic's argumentation!? They sought to tear this congregation away
from the basis of their joy.
- They were selling something that this group
had no need to buy! What could be better than being a certified child of God?
"Oh, but just wait until you see what you will become!"
- The Gnostics were desperate to capitalize on
potential discontment. "Jesus said He would come back but He hasn't!"
"The teachers tell me that He promises joy, but this world is taking
it!"
- The Gnostics sold the answer. "Come to a
higher plane of existence and see what you can become!" To that ridiculous
line of advertisement, John says, "You have no idea how great it will
be!"
- To be a child of God on this planet is
wonderful by itself! All the peace, all the joy and all the blessing, even in
this joy sucking environment, is worth the price of admission!
- Think of what it will be like when our bodies
are fit for eternity! That part hasn't been revealed and what we shall be is
far greater than the best of what we can be now!!
- What we will be has not yet been made visible
to us. We cannot yet see it. It has not yet been exposed to our eyes or to
those that have written on His behalf.
- Why would anyone trust a group of people that
claimed to reveal something that only God could? The people that God appointed
to write to us didn't know!
- Should we dislodge from our position
theologically because of something that we don't know? Not at all! John teaches
us what to do when we are confronted by what we don't know.
- We must return to what we do know! And what
we do know, what we have come to understand is that when He becomes visible to
us, we will see Him!
- That will be the moment when we will be able
to see Him ourselves because our mortal will have put on immortality! We will
be as He is!
- Our eyes in our new body will be capable of
seeing Him without a shroud of mystery. We are not talking about having to
interpret what our eyes are seeing.
- He will stand before us and we will be able
to behold Him clearly, with no need for interpretation or help. What should
that effect in you and I? It leads to purity! Verse 3.
• I John 3:3 : "And
everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." : Christians come from a different "Different Family." They have a "Different Destiny." John begins to speak to them about their
"Different Ethical Reality."
- "Everyone who has this hope in
him." The tenses of the words should be read this way: "Everyone who
is hoping is continually purifying themselves!
- This phrase suffers in the English from that
word "hope," not because of the original word, but because of what
that word has become in our language.
- "Hope" is often a substitute for
wishful thinking. In our language, it is a desire that we want to come to pass,
but that we are resigned to understanding if it does not.
- That is not at all what John communicates
here. This word reflects a confident expectation. As Christians, it is meant to
be a joyful, confident expectation!
- If the hope of seeing Him and being like Him
is the expectation of our hearts, how should that affect our lives practically
in this moment of time? John tells us that there is a natural effect.
- Pay attention here because this is the
precise point which the Gnostics sought to utilize. "You have been keeping
yourself from so many pleasures. Do you think matter 'matters' to God!?"
- John is not writing what a person
"should" do that has this hope in them. He is expressing what a
person actually does because he has this hope in him!
- This purifying on oneself is the natural
response to the hope that is within them! They do not force this or make themselves
do this. This is what they do because of how real that hope is to them!
- The word "purify" speaks to something
that is holy or sacred. He prepares all of himself, as one would prepare
something for a ceremony of worship.
- In every part of his life, there is a sense
of ordering himself against a standard that he receives as he studies the
person of Jesus! Otherwise, how could he be pure as His Lord is pure!
- This person does what it takes to be cleansed
in the same way as Christ is clean. He takes on the persona that he seeks to
worship!
- He is able to withdraw from things that
distract Him from His walk with the Lord. On the positive side, this person
invests themselves in what causes their hearts to yearn for the Lord!
- What a far cry this was to the type of false
religion that the Gnostics presented! Do you see why it is critical to know the
true historical Jesus and to love Him with your whole being?
- What if you believed in a Jesus who didn't
actually have a physical form and who only approved or disapproved of someone
who had reached a certain spiritual plateau?
- That would be a foreign and false Jesus,
whose life would not be worth emulating! The Christian person takes on a view
of ethics that is closely related to Christ's.
- This behavioral divide is one of the most
striking differences because of it's visibility. Verse 4.
• I John
3:4-6 : "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is
lawlessness. And
you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no
sin. Whoever
abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him." : John explains that our basis for ethical reality works out
practically in the realm of tolerance for sin. "Whoever is committing sin."
This person has made this a practice!
-
They are acting without regard to the law of God. That is what sin is! It's
lawlessness!
- How can you claim to love the Lord who loved
the righteousness of God's law and then act in a way that violates everything
that He stood for? That is is entirely incoherant.
- Think of this group of people and just how
informed they were of what was and was not proper according to scripture. Most
of the New Testament was available to them.
- There was no confusion as to what was
considered sin and what was considered righteous behavior. With the gospels as
their guide, they were able to discern what their Master lived like.
- Jesus appeared in time, physically, living a
life of sinless perfection. Why? In order to take away our sins! This is such a
beautiful concept. The old covenant was only able to "cover" our
sins.
- The spot from our sin was still there upon
Israel's soul, but for a time, it was out of God's view. The blood of a
sacrificial lamb atoned for that sin temporarily.
- But then, as the blood of the animal began to
fade, the stain began to show through again, reminding both the sinner and the
Lord of righteousness, that the offense remained.
- Jesus came offering His own blood, which was
sufficient not only to cover, but to "lift off" the stain from the
individual! That is the word used here!
- Jesus took the stain of sin and carried it
away. He bore it away from the person who has beileved upon Him to free us from
it, not to give us a way to justify it!
- He was able to bear away this guilt in His
own body because He was found to be sinless! On the day of His death, there was
not a single voice that could legitimately level a charge!
- In Him there is no sin! There is no room for
a lifestyle or commitment to sin! The person that finds their home in Jesus
does not sin as a matter of practice. This is a statement of fact.
- People who know Christ, who value Christ and
have found life in Christ aren't tempted to look to a life of sin for
fulfillment. They have other desires and goals.
- When they sin, and they will, it's an
aberration. It's a cause for conviction and it is quickly turned away from and
made a part of their past.
- Only one conclusion remains for a person who
lives a life of sin without any desire to repent: That person has neither seen
Him or known Him!
- We have seen other words that are translated
"seen." Words that refer to the eye for example and that reflect a
visual experience. That isn't this word here. It would be ridiculous to think
so!
- None of us have physically "seen"
the Lord. To say that would be foolish and disconcerting!
- This word that John employs comes from a word
family which speaks of staring at something in order to understand it! I'm
staring at what is known of Jesus, trying to clearly comprehend Him.
- This goes hand in hand with the knowledge
that is gained through experience.
- As you walk with the Lord, study His word,
become acquainted with His ways, you begin to know Him personally.
- A person who thinks of sin in a light or
unaffected way cannot claim to have looked at or known Jesus at all! Verse 7.
• I John
3:7-9 : " Little children, let no one deceive
you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for
the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does
not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been
born of God." : Born ones, don't let anyone
cause you to wander! You make sure that nobody influences you away!
- Practicing righteousness reveals a truth
about you, both to the world and to the Lord. It reveals an imbedded relationship
with a righteous God!
- Your actions on earth reveal your citizenship
in heaven! The Gnostics taught differently. To their adherants, only secret knowledge
brought a person into heavenly contact.
- As a result, these Gnostics practiced
lifestyles that cast caution to the wind! They defended these actions with a
logic that wasn't sustained by biblical revelation.
- Think about: "I love a righteous God,
but I act in all sorts of unrighteous ways!" What biblical character can
you point to as an example of this? There aren't any in 6,000 years of
revelation!
- If a righteous person is defined as one who
practices righteousness, what can be said about those that practice sin? How
can they be defined? John answers the question.
- That person reveals that his Father is the
Devil because the Devil has always sinned!
- There is no amount of enlightenment which
justifies sin or causes it to be enjoyable long term for the believer. Only a
child of the Devil can revel in such a belief!
- The person who is given to sin has bought
into a lie, from the Father of lies! This is why Jesus had to come into this
world!
- Nobody revealed the power to destroy the
works of the Devil. Before Jesus, the whole world was under His sway! His works
had to be destroyed or else men would always be his slaves!
- Jesus came to "loose" or
"dissolve" his works, so that the only power he would have over
another person, would be by their own choosing it!
- Let me be clear: If a believer sins, it's
because he has made a choice to do so!
- Your choices began with your first response
to sin's presence. What you chose from that point forward dictated your
reality. The Devil has no power to affect that in a believer!
- Our flesh is strong enough from desire and
habit to cause sin to retain it's potency!
- The reality is that Jesus stripped the Devil
of any real power and that is proven by what takes place when a person receives
the new birth!
- That person that was once a slave to sin is
now a slave to righteousness! He sins, but not as a practice and not without
conviction from the Holy Spirit! Why? Because His seed remains in Him!
- Our word "sperm" comes from this
word translated "seed." The idea is that the key element needed for
holy growth remains in the one that is born of God.
- The presence of God's seed in a person
necessarily means that this person will continue to grow in a godly direction!
- While that godliness grows in a born again
believer, it causes that person to be unable to sustain a life of sin. That
drive in us becomes less with every year!
- We can't do it because the life that God
gives to a believer doesn't function that way! It's not your life within you,
it's His life working through you!
- Don't worry: You will still sin every day
until you die! John's point is that the overwhelming trajectory of a believer's
life will trend toward righteous behavior.
Conclusion
- What God has done in you is a miracle! In Jesus Christ, He has brought you into a "Different Family" in fact, His very own family! We are blood relatives through Jesus Christ!
- What God has done in you is a miracle! In Jesus Christ, He has brought you into a "Different Family" in fact, His very own family! We are blood relatives through Jesus Christ!
- He has given us a "Different Destiny!" We will see Jesus with our eyes and what our
bodies will be like will be unlike anything that we could have ever thought or
imagined possible!
- Consequently, because the seed of His life is
growing in us, we have a "Different
Ethical Reality." We can't sin as a matter of practice. We no longer have
the stomach for it!
- Jesus has overlaid a new engine in our lives
which caters to our spirits, not our flesh! In short, Jesus Christ has
destroyed the works of the Devil and begun to build the work of God in our
lives!
- May the Lord give us grateful hearts for the
distinctions that prove we are His!