Series: 1 John
Title: God’s Purifying Love
Text: 1 John 3:1-3
Date: November 8, 2018
Place: SGBC, NJ
1 John 3: 1: Behold, what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2: Beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as
he is. 3: And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,
even as he is pure.
After
all the miracles John witnessed as he walked with Christ, he was most
astonished at “what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!” Our
Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to rejoice in the same.
Luke
10: 17: the seventy [the disciples Christ sent forth to preach] returned again
with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
18: And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 19: Behold,
I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20: Notwithstanding
in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice,
because your names are written in heaven. 21: In that hour Jesus rejoiced in
spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto
babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.
Brethren, the most astonishing thing is
“what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.”
Subject: God’s Purifying Love
The world believes the lie
that God loves everyone and is trying to save everyone. They exalt sinners teaching that the problem
is that sinners will not cooperate and let God save them. That is false. It is opposite the truth of the scriptures.
Proposition: God loves his children in a manner so as to purifying
each one within, making his children know we are his sons and shall be saved by
his great love so that we repent from lies and persevere unto the end in the
truth.
THE NEW BIRTH THROUGH
REDEMPTION
1 John 2: 29: If ye know
that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born
of him.
Always read scripture in
context. John is declaring the
difference between God’s children and those who are anti-christ who went out
from us. The difference is made by the Holy Spirit sent from Christ and the Father. John spoke of those who once professed to
believe Christ but “went out from us” “that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” Then writing to children of God, John
says, “But ye have an unction from the
Holy One, and ye know all things.” (1 Jn 2: 19-20) By the Holy Spirit we are born-again and made to believe
the truth. It is then that we experience the adoption of children learning
that God is our Father and we his children.
God
loved his people freely, without a cause in us, in eternity before he made the
world. (Eph 1: 3-6) The Father “predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.” This
great love of adoption is given us through the redemption God’s Son accomplished,
making God’s children righteous.
Galatians 4: 4: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth
his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5: To redeem [to make righteous] them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6: And because ye are sons, God hath sent
forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7: Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but
a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
So as John is speaking about the unction given to his people, he says “If ye know that [Christ] is righteous, ye
know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.” (1 Jn 2: 29) He is saying that if you know that Christ
redeemed his people and made us righteous that we might be born again and
receive the adoption of children then you
know everyone who believes on Christ is born of him. Notice in one verse John says “doing
righteousness” and loving brethren then in another instead of “doing
righteousness” he speaks of believing on Christ. Doing righteousness is believing on
Christ. In each verse, he gives the reason
for faith in Christ and love of brethren to be because we are born of God, as
he does in 1 John 2: 29.
1 John 3: 10: In this the children of God are manifest, and the children
of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth
not his brother.
1 John 3: 23: And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the
name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24:
And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him…
1 John 5: 1: Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God:
and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of
him.
So as John declares that we have the unction of the Holy Spirit so that
we have experienced the adoption of children through the righteousness of
Christ, he marvels, “Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of
God?”
BEHOLD GOD’S LOVE
MANIFEST IN SENDING HIS SON
God our Father loved us from
eternity and because he loved us he sent his only begotten Son to redeem us
from the curse of the law.
1
John 4:9: In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God
sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10: Herein is love, not that we loved God,
but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
God so loved his children
that he sent his only begotten Son and he sent his only begotten Son into this
sin-cursed world when we did not love him.
God did so “that we might live
through him.” That meant God’s only
begotten Son would have to lay down his
life. He had to bear our sin and guilt—bearing
in his conscience the shame as he owned our sin and guilt to be his own before
the Father he loved. Then he had to bear
our curse under the fierce wrath of justice, separated from the Father he loved
who turned his face from him. Christ had
to do so “to be propitiation for our sins”, that is, to make satisfaction to God’s holy law for the sins of his people.
I tried to imagine sending
my son into the vilest place I could think of like the underground sewer in New
York City. It is a dirty, disease
ridden, rat infested sewer pit. And I
tried to imagine sending my son into such a place to save someone who did not
love me. But that comparison falls
short. There is nothing to compare to the
love of God for his people manifested in him sending his only begotten Son into
this world to lay down his life for us. Oh that God would grant us to “be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth,
and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye
might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Eph 3: 18-19)
BEHOLD GOD’S LOVE IN
GIVING US THE HOLY SPIRIT
When it says that we “might” live through him it does not mean
“maybe.” Christ accomplished propitiating
God for his people.
Isaiah
38: 17: Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my
soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my
sins behind thy back.
Therefore, each of God’s
children must be given eternal life. But we came into this world with Adam’s corrupt
nature, dead in trespasses and in sins.
God said of his people, “How shall
I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage
of the hosts of nations?” (Jer 3: 19)
Out of all the multitudes of sinners, God said, “How shall I make thee
my children, my heirs? How shall I give
thee a pleasant land and my goodly inheritance?” Listen to the answer, “And I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away
from me.”
This is John’s whole point
throughout his epistle. God makes his child never turn away from him. John says “Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin”—he does not turn away from Christ—“for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot
sin”—God’s incorruptible seed remains in his born-again child and the
believer cannot turn away in apostacy—"because
he is born of God.”
Jeremiah
32: 37: Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven
them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them
again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38: And they
shall be my people, and I will be their God: 39: And I will give them one heart
[one faith, by one Spirit], and one Way [Christ the Way], THAT THEY MAY FEAR ME
FOREVER, for the good of them, and of their children after them: 40: And I will
make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to
do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they SHALL NOT DEPART
FROM ME. 41: Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant
them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. 42: For
thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this
people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.
So Christ sends the gospel and
finds us dead, unwilling and unable to believe on Christ. “But
God, who is rich in mercy, FOR HIS GREAT LOVE WHEREWITH HE LOVED US, Even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are
saved;)” (Eph 2: 4-5)
THE
WORLD KNOWETH US NOT
John says because we are
born of God’s Spirit through the righteousness of Christ by the love of God “therefore the world knoweth us not,
because it knew him not.” (1 John 3:
1)
John
1: 10: He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not. 11: He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12: But as
many as received him, to them GAVE HE power to become the sons of God, [he gave
us the privilege and faith to experience the adoption of children] even
to them that believe on his name: 13: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The only reason we are holy
and righteous is due to God’s love in begetting us again of the Holy Spirit and
making us righteous by Christ. When we declare this to the world, they do not
know us and even hate us, why?—"because
it knew him not.” Christ said,
John
15: 18: If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19: If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are
not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hateth you…22 If I had not come and
spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin…
24 If I had not done among them the
works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both
seen and hated both me and my Father.
Brethren, when we declare the
gospel to our lost friends and loved ones, this is why the world does not know
us and even hates us, it is because the world does not know our Lord Jesus Christ
nor God our Father. Our gospel pricks their conscience that they are sinners, that
salvation is not by their works, but by Christ’s works.
GOD’S PURIFYING LOVE
1 John 3: 2: Beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as
he is. 3: And every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Some think this means a
believer makes himself pure in heart. But
we cannot make ourselves pure in heart, much less, even as Christ is pure. We just
saw in scripture that we are made pure by the work of the Holy Spirit through
Christ’s redemptive work. The apostle
Peter said this the same way as John said it. But Peter shows us a little more clearly that
it is the work of God that purifies us.
1
Peter 1: 21: Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead,
and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
By Christ accomplishing the
redemption of God’s elect, God raised Christ from the dead and gave him the glory
to be Head over the church to send the Holy Spirit to give us life. Then Peter says this,
1
Peter 1 22: Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the
Spirit
It attributes this to us
simply because God effectually brings his child to believe on Christ our Lord
for Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption. But Peter declares
that this purity is by Christ, through the Spirit.
1
Peter 2: 23: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever…25:…And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Purification of our souls
cannot be by a sinner because we sinful flesh.
But by Christ, by the Spirit, by the washing of regeneration, by the
incorruptible see of the word, God creates a pure heart within, giving us a new
spirit so that we are purified, even as
Christ is pure. When he has done this
work in us, he says,
Hebrews
10:22: Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure
water.
So why does Peter and John
say we purify ourselves? It is because when
God gives us the unction, the Spirit makes us to know the truth. For the first time we “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God.” Then we know “now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see
him as he is.” Go through John’s
epistle and notice how many times he says “we
know”, “ye know”, etc. It is because every believer to whom God has
given one heart by one Spirit “have an
unction and ye know all things.” We
know Christ is All!
It is because “Christ, the hope of glory,” is formed in
us in the pure heart. Every man that has
this hope in him, God effectually grants
repentance to come out from darkness, out from lies, so that we walk no more
with them. God gives us faith to come to
Christ the Light, to believe the Truth, to walk in the Light by continuing in
the light, in the truth, believing on Christ. We cannot stop doing so because his seed
remaineth in us. God gives us an “unfeigned”—unhypocritcal, unfake—"love of our brethren” so that we love
others who are begotten of him, who believe on Christ and we cannot forsake
assembling with them under the truth!
Paul spoke of the lies of a
false gospel as darkness and he spoke of light as truth.
2
Corinthians 6: 14: Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion
hath light with darkness? 15: And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what
part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16: And what agreement hath the
temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath
said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. 17: Wherefore come
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18: And will be a Father unto you, and
ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 1: Having therefore
these promises, dearly beloved, LET US CLEANSE OURSELVES FROM all filthiness of
the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Throughout John’s epistle he
speaks of anti-christ who went out from us and their lies as darkness and truth
as light, the same way, Paul did.
1
John 1: 5: This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare
unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6: If we say
that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the
truth: 7: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin.
Here is my point. John saw a problem in the church to whom
he wrote with deceivers. He said, “These
things have I written unto concerning them that seduce you.” But John assures his brethren that those
born of God shall abide in truth by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. “But the anoiniting which ye have received
of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same
anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as
it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” (1 Jn 2: 26-27)
Then he reminds us how we
can discern liars from true believers—"If
you know Christ is righteous, ye know that everyone that ‘believeth on him’ is
born of him.”
Then in our text, John gives
us this assurance of God’s purifying love, “Every
man who hath this hope in him”—every man on whom God has bestowed his love,
every man God has purified to know we
are sons of God, to know when he shall appear then we shall be like him—does
what God’s effectual grace makes him do—“purifieth himself, even as he pure”—he
forsakes the darkness of lies and believes on the Light, even as Christ is his
purity.
John is assuring us by God’s
great love that we have been born of God and experienced the adoption of
children because Christ has made us righteous and pure so that we know we shall
see Christ and be like him when he returns. By the purifying love of God every man who has
this hope cannot assemble with antichrist but comes out from them and continues
in Christ with our brethren because Christ’s seed remains in us and we cannot
do otherwise! This is why John broke out
in astonishment at God’s great love for us who have experienced the adoption of
children. So we are astonished and
assured of our security in Christ due to God’s great love in calling us his sons.
Psalm
36:7: How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. 8: They shall be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river
of thy pleasures. 9: For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall
we see light.
Amen!