What Do You Know?
I Know that I’m a Child of God!
1 John 3:1-10
May 6, 2001
Intro:
A. [How God’s Children Change, Citation: Craig Barnes, author and pastor of National Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.; from sermon "The Blessed Trinity" (5-30-99)]
When I was a child, my minister father brought home a 12-year-old boy named Roger, whose parents had died from a drug overdose.
There was no one to care for Roger, so my folks decided they’d just raise him as if he were one of their own sons.
At first it was quite difficult for Roger to adjust to his new home—an environment free of heroine-addicted adults!
Every day, several times a day, I heard my parents saying to Roger:
"No, no. That’s not how we behave in this family."
"No, no. You don’t have to scream or fight or hurt other people to get what you want."
"No, no, Roger, we expect you to show respect in this family."
And in time Roger began to change.
Now, did Roger have to make all those changes in order to become a part of the family?
No. He was made a part of the family simply by the grace of my father.
But did he then have to do a lot of hard work because he was in the family?
You bet he did.
It was tough for him to change, and he had to work at it.
But he was motivated by gratitude for the incredible love he had received.
Do you have a lot of hard work to do now that the Spirit has adopted you into God’s family?
Certainly. But not in order to become a son or a daughter of the heavenly Father.
No, you make those changes because you are a son or daughter.
And every time you start to revert back to the old addictions to sin, the Holy Spirit will say to you, "No, no. That’s not how we act in this family."
B. Today as we continue our study of 1 John, we come to chapter 3 where we will see what John has to say about being a child of God.
1. Pastor Barnes is exactly right in saying that we do not have to change in order to be a part of the family of God—we change because we are grateful for being adapted into God’s family.
2. We are studying in first John things that we can know.
3. Today we want to see what John has to say about how we know if we are a child of God.
4. I’d like to point out 10 ways that we can know that we are a child of God.
5. First, I know that I am a child of God because…
I. I realize how much God loves me
1 John 3:1, How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
A. John says that the love the Father has for us is lavish!
1. When you think about the love God has for you, does it just absolutely overwhelm you?
2. If you truly understand how lavish the Father’s love is for you, you can just break down in tears at the thought of it.
3. I know that when I come home from work, my children get really excited and want hugs from me and they want me to hold them.
4. Jill is the same way.
5. Why is that? Its because they know how much I love them.
6. And that’s the way it is for the children of God.
7. We understand what the word "so" means!
8. When our big brother says, "For God SO loved the world," we understand how big that word "so" really is!
9. We are children of God and God has LAVISHED His love on us!
10. For God SO loved Todd that He sent His one and only Son to die on the cross for my sins, that if I would just believe in Him, I will not perish, but have eternal life!
B. And God SO loved me that He loved me while I was yet a sinner!
1. Romans 5:5-8, And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
2. God didn’t not tell me to get my life straightened out before Jesus would die for me!
3. God didn’t tell me to get all the sin out of my life before I could be saved!
4. God didn’t tell me that I had to start telling the truth all the time before He would save me!
5. God didn’t tell me that I had to get all the sexual immorality out of me before He would save me!
6. God didn’t tell me that I had to get all the gossip out of me before I could have a relationship with Him.
7. God didn’t tell me that I had to get all the hatred and revenge out of me before I could get eternal life.
8. God didn’t even tell me that I had to be baptized before I could be saved.
9. God loved me while I was still a sinner!
10. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
11. God loved me before I even thought about the bad things in my life!
12. And God still loves me even if I sin today!
13. God will not love me less if I sin today because He already loves me SO much!
14. He has poured out His love on me!
15. He has lavished so much love on me that He calls me His child!
16. I know I’m a child of God because I realize How much God loves me! And..
II. I realize that I am under construction
1 John 3:2, Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
A. John says that what will be has not yet been made known.
1. We don’t know the final story.
2. We don’t know what God will do in the lives of those around us.
3. We don’t even know what God will do in our own life.
4. All we do know is that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him.
5. All we know is that when Christ appears, we shall see Him as He is.
6. We don’t know what will happen to us between now and then, but we do know that we will see Him as He is and we shall be like Him.
7. Until then, I am a work in progress.
B. So friends, when we realize what this really means, we will not worry so much about ourselves.
1. Let me explain…
2. If we have truly realized how much the Father loves us, then we will love ourselves.
3. God accepts me just as I am.
4. God accepts the good things about me.
5. God accepts the good things that I do.
6. And God accepts the bad things about me.
7. And God accepts the bad things I do.
8. He doesn’t like the bad things, but he still accepts me just as I am!
9. God loved me before I even thought about trying to live for Him.
10. The Bible says that God loves people while their committing sexual immorality.
11. That doesn’t mean that He likes sexual immorality, but He loves us anyway.
12. Why? John tells us: Dear friends, now we are children of God
13. Now when your children commit sexual immorality, do you stop loving them?
14. When your children lie to you, do you stop loving them?
15. When your children do things that embarrass you, do you stop loving them?
16. When your children do things that you would never do, do you stop loving them?
17. So why would we think that if we did something wrong, God would stop loving us?
18. "But preacher, you just don’t understand, what kind of bad things I’ve done. You don’t really mean to tell me that God can still love someone like me."
19. Yes I do!
20. The apostle Paul persecuted the Church!
21. The apostle Paul imprisoned Christians!
22. The apostle Paul murdered Christians!
23. The apostle Paul persecuted God’s people and God forgave him and used Paul to write over half the NT.
24. There is only one sin that God will not forgive: that is blasphemy against the HS and I’m sure that none of you here have done that!
25. And so my point is that God accepted you just the way you are before you’re saved.
26. And even after you’re saved, God still loves you even if you do go off the path again.
27. God does not love you less if you sin.
28. God loves and accepts you just as you are and therefore so should you!
29. You are not perfect and God accepts you anyway through His Son!
30. You are a work in progress!
31. What God wants is for us to continue to make progress.
32. What God wants is for us to learn to let more and more of Jesus to shine through us and less and less of ourselves to shine through.
33. God just want to continue to work in us and shape into what He wants us to be.
34. Sometimes we mess up His plan, but He loves us anyway and we get back up and try again!
35. I realize that I am a child and I am growing up and maturing and so are those around me.
36. God loves me just as I am and I love myself just as I am and I love those around me just as they are.
37. I am a child of God because I realize that I am under construction. And…
III. I realize that I need to be purified
1 John 3:3, Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
A. When I am a child of God, I realize my impurities.
1. I realize the things in my life that are not right, the things that are impure.
2. How do I know? Because they’re not like my Father or my Brother.
3. I compare myself to my Father and to Jesus my Brother.
4. And when I do that I can see the impurities in my life.
5. I can’t compare myself to others because they have impurities as well.
6. The question is not whether I gossip less that Sister Smith, but whether my speech is a reflection of my Brother Jesus.
7. When we compare ourselves to Sister Smith we think we are doing pretty good, but when we compare ourselves to Jesus, we can really see the impurities.
B. And because I am a child of God, I ask Jesus to take over those areas of my life and purify me.
1. I don’t really purify myself, because I can’t do that.
2. The only part that I have in it is asking Jesus to take over those areas; but He’s really the one that does the purifying because He doesn’t like to live in a filthy house.
3. Because I am a child of God I realize that I have impurities.
4. And because of the love that the Father has LAVISHED on me, I want to be purified! And…
IV. I realize what sin is
1 John 3:4, Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
A. John says that sin is lawlessness. [I have to be careful here because we have some long-time members whose last name is Lawless.]
1. No one wants to be known as criminal.
2. No one want to be known as an outlaw.
3. But the truth is that we all have broken God’s laws, and are therefore sinners.
4. All of us are sinners except for our Brother Jesus.
B. We may or may not have broken the laws of this world, but we have all broken the laws of God and no one wants to continue to do that.
1. When we realize that sin is lawlessness, we want to sin less.
2. We know that God still loves us, but because of the love the Father has lavished on us, we really want to please Him as much as we can and therefore want to sin less.
3. Because I realize what sin is, I am a child of God. And…
V. I realize what Calvary means to me
1 John 3:5, But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
A. Since I realize what sin is, I want to do something about it…
1. Everything in me wants to do something to pay back for the sins that I have committed.
2. Everything in me wants to do something to pay back what Christ did for me on Calvary.
3. In fact everything in me wants to actually earn my own salvation, so that Christ wouldn’t have to suffer for the bad things that I have done.
B. But the Bible says that salvation is not by works.
1. There is no way to earn our salvation.
2. There is no way to do enough good deeds to balance out the bad things we have done.
3. The Bible says that all of us have sinned and therefore deserve to go to hell.
4. The reason is that God cannot allow sin in His presence.
5. The Bible teaches that sin = death.
6. God cannot allow death in His presence.
7. When we sin, we spiritually die.
8. If we are spiritually dead, God cannot allow us to go to heaven.
9. Therefore, what do dead people need? LIFE!
10. Where can we get life?
11. Can we do enough good deeds to create life?
12. Can we do some great thing and thereby generate our own life?
13. No. The only way we can get new life is to be born again!
14. The only way to get life is from the one who conquered death!
15. The only way to get new life is receive it from the only one who made it through this life still spiritually alive.
16. Jesus said in John 10:10, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
17. Jesus conquered Calvary, death, and the grave that we might have LIFE!
18. When we sin, we spiritually die and the only way to get new life is to receive it from Jesus.
19. And there are no amount of good deeds that we can do to earn it.
20. We cannot get new life by trying to be a good person.
21. No, the only way that we can get new life is by accepting it as a hand-out from our older brother who died in order to give us life!
22. When it comes to eternal life, we are all beggars in need of a hand-out of grace!
23. Because I realize what Calvary means to me, I am a child of God! And…
VI. I realize that I cannot continue to sin
1 John 3:6, No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
A. John says that if Christ lives in us, we cannot continue to sin.
1. If Christ lives in us, we cannot continue to sin.
2. The reason is because Christ will not be comfortable with sin.
3. Let’s say I accept the hand-out of grace and I am a habitual liar.
4. When Christ comes to live in my heart, Christ is very uncomfortable with lying because He is truth.
5. So when I lie, Jesus is very uncomfortable and will let me know through the HS or my conscience or my Bible.
6. Jesus will speak to me when I lie through the HS or my conscience or my Bible.
7. And since I am a child of God, I realize how much love my Father has lavished on me, I realize that He wants to continue to change me, I realize that I need to be purified from this sin, I realize that sin is lawlessness against Him, so therefore I ask my Big Brother to teach me to allow Him to take control of my speech.
8. I may not happen instantaneously.
9. It may not even happen in a year.
10. But because I am a child of God, and Christ lives in me, I cannot continue to lie like I used to.
11. I make progress, I don’t just continue to lie like I always did in the past.
12. I make progress, by either stopping cold turkey or by lying less and less and less.
13. But I do not just continue to lie like I did before Christ came into my life.
B. Because if Christ is truly alive in my heart, He will not want to live in a body that lies.
1. If Christ is in my heart, I will change; I will make progress because my Brother will change me.
2. Since I realize that I cannot continue to sin, I am a child of God. And…
VII. I realize that Christ’s righteousness is my righteousness
1 John 3:7, Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
A. When Christ comes to live in my life, God sees me through the lens of Jesus.
1. If I put on my rose-colored sun-glasses, what color does the world appear?
2. If I put on my brown-colored sun-glasses, what color does the world appear?
3. If I put on some blue-colored sun-glasses, what color does the world appear?
4. If God puts on His Jesus-colored glasses, what color do I appear? Pure! Spot-less! Sinless! White as snow!
5. Because I am a child of God, God looks at me through the lens of Jesus, our big Brother.
B. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:9, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
1. None of us are righteous in and of ourselves.
2. But because we are children of God we are as righteous as Jesus!
3. Turn to your neighbor and say, "I am as righteous as Jesus!"
4. John says He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
5. Christ’s righteousness is my righteous.
6. I am righteous just as Christ is righteous.
7. Its not my good deeds that are righteous.
8. Isaiah 64:6, All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
9. But when Christ comes to dwell in us, His righteousness will be displayed in our lives and therefore our righteousness is His righteousness.
10. I am as righteous as Jesus because His righteousness is the only righteousness that I have.
11. Since I realize Christ’s righteousness is my righteousness, I am a child of God. And…
VIII. I realize that Christ will destroy the work of the devil
1 John 3:8, He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
A. Christ came to destroy the work of the devil in the world.
1. Christ dealt the decisive blow in the work of the devil when He rose from the dead.
2. And Christ will deal the final blow to the work of the devil when Satan is cast into the lake of fire.
B. But Christ also came to destroy the work of the devil in my life.
1. Christ came into my life to destroy the work of the devil in my life.
2. Christ came into my life to destroy everything destructive in my life.
3. Christ came into my life to destroy everything lawless in my life.
4. Christ came into my life to destroy everything that is addictive in my life.
5. Christ came into my life to bring life.
6. Christ came into my life to bring satisfaction.
7. Christ came into my life to bring fulfillment.
8. Christ came into my life to bring victory.
9. Because I realize that Christ came to destroy the work of the devil, I am a child of God. And…
IX. I realize that God’s seed is in me
1 John 3:9, No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
A. John repeats the fact that we cannot continue to sin. This time he says that the reason is because God’s seed remains in us.
1. Seeds are reproductive. Plants have seeds, humans have seeds.
2. And John says God has seeds.
3. When we sin, we die and we need new life.
4. When we are born again, we receive God’s seed.
5. God’s seed is life-giving because it is perfect, white, sinless.
B. And John says that since this seed of God is in us, we cannot continue to sin.
1. We will not just continue in the sin that we were committing before we were born again because we have God’s seed in us.
2. We will still sin, but not like we used to; we will sin less and less and less and we will not continue to sin like we used to.
3. Since I realize that God’s seed is in me, I am a child of God. And…
X. I realize that I must love others
1 John 3:10, This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
A. John says this is how we know we are the children of God.
1. John says that children of God love their brothers and sisters.
2. John says that children of God realize the love that God has lavished on us.
3. John says that children of God realize we are under construction.
4. John says that children of God realize that we need to be purified.
5. John says that children of God realize what sin is.
6. John says that children of God realize that we cannot continue to sin.
7. John says that children of God realize that Christ’s righteousness is our righteousness.
8. He says that children of God realize that Christ came to destroy the work of the devil.
9. John says that children of God realize that God’s seed is in us.
10. And John says that children of God realize that we must love our brothers and sisters.
11. If we realize all of these other things, how can we not love our brothers and sisters?
12. If we realize what God has done and is doing in our lives, how can we not accept and love others?
B. Jesus told us to love God and love people.
1. That is the mission of Somerset Church.
2. Somerset Church is passionate about Christ and compassionate about people.
3. That is the mission statement of Somerset Church.
4. It comes directly from the great commandments that Jesus gave us: Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.
C. John says that loving others is how we know who the children of God are.
1. Now again, we need to define love.
2. That means that we are patient with others.
3. It means that we are kind toward others.
4. It means that we are not envious of others.
5. It means that we do not boast to others.
6. It means that we are arrogant around others.
7. It means that we are not rude towards others.
8. It means that we do not put our selfish wants ahead of others.
9. It means that we are not easily angered by others.
D. I think we all need to do some private soul-searching in this area!
1. Are we truly loving others as we should?
2. Are we getting upset about our own personal preferences?
3. Are we getting upset about what we want as opposed to what someone else wants?
4. Are we really loving our neighbor as our self?
5. Are we changing in order to meet the needs of others?
6. Are we really willing to leave the 99 in order to seek and safe the one that is lost?
7. Or are we more like the older brother who got upset when the Father threw a party for the prodigal son?
8. Are we willing to sacrifice our own personal wants, comforts, and opinions in order to give others what that need and want?
9. Or are we only willing to help them when it fits into the framework of our own comfort and opinions and preferences?
10. Are we really allowing Jesus to love others through us?
11. Children of God are so excited about being in this new family, and we know how hard it was for us to get used to being in this new family, that we will do everything we can to get others to come into God’s family as well!
Conclusion:
A. [He’s a Little Disappointed, Citation: Juanita Slater, West Chester, OH. Christian Reader, "Lite Fare."]
When I was staying with a neighbor’s five- and seven-year-olds I heard a squeal coming from the next room--then Becky’s voice, "Mike, God doesn’t love you when you do things like that."
A second voice, "Yes, he does love me. He’s ... he’s just disappointed in me."
1. And I’m here today to tell you that that is absolutely correct!
2. The statement that God doesn’t love children when they are bad is absolutely not true—and we should NEVER tell our children that!
3. Because there are too many adults that have believed it for so long that it is difficult for them to accept God’s love when they have done such bad things in their lives.
4. But, my friends, the truth is that God loves you just as you are—that’s how it is in God’s family!
5. He is disappointed with us at times, just like any other parent—but he doesn’t stop loving us!
6. God loves His children LAVISHLY so we need to live like we’re a part of His family!
B. How do you need to respond to his LAVISH love for you today?
C. Song of commitment: "Change My Heart, Oh God"
