First John chapter number three, continue our study, big children's church. John is addressing children. He uses that phrase, either children or little children, multiple times throughout these epistles. And he wasn't necessarily talking to school-aged children, but he was talking to those who had been born into the family of God, young converts. that have been saved by the grace of God. I've read somewhere, and I want to say it's 60 A.D., or John was in his 60s when he wrote these epistles, and so you've got to think he's in that grandfather stage of life. He's now imparting wisdom on to this next generation that's coming up after him, this first generation of the church, really, that he's trying his best in the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. to encourage them and to teach them what they need to know concerning truth and concerning their walk with Christ. But 1 John chapter number three, and we'll look at three verses tonight. I was gonna try to cram all this in here this evening, but I think next week will be a lesson on the Christian and his sin. And I think it would do it justice to take the time and to go through those next few verses, because a lot of times those verses are taken out of context. But we won't be dealing with that tonight. We'll be dealing with a subject that I enjoy and that you enjoy, whether you realize it or not. But if you're saved by the grace of God, you absolutely love it, because it is the very essence of salvation tonight. But 1 John, chapter number three, verse number one, if you're there, say amen. All right, 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. 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. And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this evening. Thank you, Lord, just for the songs that were sung this evening. Thank you, God, for your grace and mercy in our life. Thank you for your word. Lord, as I've just enjoyed being in it, Lord, every day this past week, Lord, just digging in it, reading in it, Lord, letting it speak to me, and Lord, using it, Lord, to apply to my everyday life. Lord, I thank you, Lord, for the word of God. I thank you, Lord, for my Bible. Lord, I can't imagine life without it. Lord, help me never get away from it. Help my relationship with it to grow, not to get lax. Lord, help me, Lord, to get excited. Lord, stay excited to be in the word of God. Lord, what unsearchable truths, Lord, that we possess within our hands, Lord, between Genesis and Revelation. Lord, as it's been mentioned tonight, Lord, it's so simple, Lord, that even a child can understand. But, Lord, so deep, Lord, we'll spend the rest of our life searching it out. Lord, in this world, and Lord, we won't even come to the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, Lord. It's so knowledgeable and so full of truth and all of that stuff, and we're so grateful for it tonight. And I pray, Lord, you'd help us, Lord, to teach, to preach with clarity tonight. Lord, help us to rejoice in the love of God tonight. Lord, we're so grateful for the fact that you love us, or we love you because you first loved us. And help us, Lord, tonight, Lord, just to take this thought and to take this reality and this truth and Lord, let it sink deep down into our hearts tonight, Lord, that we are loved by a thrice holy God. And I pray, Lord, tonight, Lord, you just work in our hearts, Lord, help us to leave out of here different than the way we walked in. Lord, help us to leave out of here looking at a lost and dying world who's looking for love in all the wrong places. Help us, Lord, to broadcast and to share the love of Christ with them. Lord, we love you and we thank you for this evening. We'll give you all the glory and praise. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen, and amen. 1 John chapter number three, verse number one, is probably one of my favorite verses in the Bible. I know I say that about every time I preach, but I absolutely love 1 John chapter number three, verse number one. 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. But to be honest with you this evening, when we take that phrase, God is love, and I know that's what Corinthians tells us, Paul tells us in Corinthians, that God is love, and I don't disagree with that tonight at all, but I do believe that phrase has been misused and abused in our modern day society. It's been taken out of context. It's been used to do things that don't express the love of God. God is love, but that doesn't mean that he'll condone sin. That doesn't mean that he'll condone sin. I can do whatever I want because God loves me. We're living in a day and age where we're seeing this play out in front of us. There's churches here in America and around the world that are taking a stand that is contrary to the word of God. They're saying it's okay because God loves us. And we can do this because his love is greater than his holiness. And can I say this, they don't outweigh each other. They are equal one to another. God is love, but he's also righteous and he's also holy. And he has a law and he has these things for a reason and he's not gonna overlook sin out of love. It is because of the shed blood of Christ that our sin has been paid for. It's not just been swept under the rug, it's been paid for, it's been dealt with properly tonight. And so when we say God is love, he is, but he doesn't condone sin. He doesn't just step back and say, well, it's okay because I love you. Let me ask you tonight, what kind of parent would you be if you seen your child reaching for that red hot thing on the oven and you didn't stop him because, I mean, you love him. Right? You don't want to yell at them. You don't want to correct them. You don't want to stop them. Because you love them. We look and say, that's absolutely absurd tonight. Well, the same is true when it comes to God. He loves us enough that he's going to tell us right from wrong. He's going to instruct us in the right way. And he's not just going to say, oh, it's OK. I love you. I love you anyways. You do that to your kid, you're going to raise them up, and they're going to be a spoiled brat. And they'll be dangerous not just to everybody else, they'll be dangerous to themselves. They'll put themselves in predicaments that they ought not to put themselves in. So one, God is love, but he does not condone sin. God is also love, but he does not settle for complacency. He does not settle for complacency. We can look at the world and say how they're misusing that phrase, but I think sometimes it's misused by Christians. Ah, preacher, I can't do that. Preacher, there's no way that God could do that through me. Or preacher, I don't have to be that sold out. I don't have to be that in tune. I don't have to be that excited about the gospel and about my Christian walk and my relationship with Christ because God understands and God loves me. You have to realize tonight what God gave up for me and you to even be a Christian. He let his own son come to this earth, be beat, to be mocked, to be spit upon, to be crucified, to die, to shed all of his life's blood for me and you. And so we sit back and say, well, God understands, really, what God put into this. God desires that out of our life. That's why Romans says, let you present yourselves a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And so if I'm not giving wholly, then I'm probably not giving what I'm supposed to be giving. The Christian life isn't half in, half out. It's all in or nothing. It's everything I've got or it's nothing at all tonight. And so yes, God is love, but God doesn't settle for complacency. Yes, he loves us, but his desire is for me and you to get everything that he has for us. He doesn't want us to sell ourselves short and miss out on what he has for us. So God is love, but he does not condone sin. God is love, and he doesn't settle for complacency. God is love, but he will exhibit righteousness. He will execute righteousness tonight. It's not a popular message tonight, and Disney got it wrong. All dogs don't go to heaven, nor do all people go to heaven. Only those that have been saved by the grace of God, only those who have asked Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior, to come in their life, to change them, to save them, that's who's going to heaven tonight. That's not popular, to make that bold statement, but the Bible's clear on it tonight. And so here's the thing tonight, and here's what the world will throw at you. If God is love, then how can he send somebody to hell? I don't know if you've ever been asked that. I've been asked that myself, and I've seen that asked to other people. If God is love, then how can he send somebody to hell? There's a flaw with that statement. God doesn't send anybody to hell. Why? Because it's whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. Those that go to hell are those who have not accepted the free gift of salvation. Those who in their heart have rejected the gospel, pushed it away and said that's not for me, I'm okay without it. And some of those people aren't the people who are living over here that we would look at and say obviously they've rejected because what they stand for, how they believe, how they talk, how they live their life. There's good who me and you would call good people. They would give us a shirt off their back, they would help us out in any way possible, but they have not come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have not chose except the free gift. And here's the thing, yes, God is love, but God will execute righteousness. God will execute righteousness. There's a day coming where every man, every woman, every boy, every girl will stand before God. As a Christian, we'll stand before Christ and give an account. And I'm thankful that I'm going to that judgment, not the great white throne judgment, because that's for sinners. That's for those who have yet to accept the free gift of salvation. And so tonight, as we're looking at this thought of the love of God, I want you to understand, I believe we can better appreciate the love of God tonight by looking at the following aspects of it. We're gonna look at these three verses tonight and we're gonna kind of dissect the love of God tonight. And can I say tonight, Ms. Normie, you're exactly right, it's simple. I know that God is love, I know that he loves me, but I have not completely exhausted that thought out, that truth out tonight. I can't tell you everything that the love of God pertains to and contains this evening. I just enjoy what I know and look forward to what I don't know tonight. And I'm so glad it's that way because if I had a God that I can figure out, He's not much of a God. He's not much of a God tonight. If I knew, if I could figure everything out about him tonight, those mysteries of God are intriguing to me. But notice number one, we see the announcement of his love. Verse number one, 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. Tonight we see the announcement. of his love. John here is writing to these children and he must have known who his audience was because every now and again when you're dealing with children you got to call them back to attention. You got to try to get their attention back. If you've ever spent any time teaching kids, you know that sometimes their mind goes somewhere else and it goes there real fast. I think they said the average, especially nowadays time with TV and all that kind of stuff, and social media, the average attention span of somebody under the age of 12, I think, was one minute. one minute that you're fighting for their attention. If you don't keep their attention for a minute, they're gone somewhere else. And so we see here John. John's in this third chapter. John's writing this letter to them. In the middle of it, he says, behold. In essence, he's saying, hey, y'all, look at this. Listen up. Hey, look this way, is what he's doing. Now everybody's looking this way, it's like, the preacher, was he just saying that? Or was somebody not paying attention tonight? But John said, hey, behold! I've got something great and wonderful we're about to discuss. Not that what we've been talking about is any less, but he said, hey, we're fixing to get into something great tonight. The love of God. So John calls their attention, give all your attention to that word, behold, literally means to hold out in front of somebody and say, hey, look at this. I want you to notice this. Don't look at anything else. Don't don't don't don't get sidetracked. Don't worry about anything else. Let's put our focus on what I'm about to present to you. It's just like that young child who's so excited, they've either drawn something, they've made one of those macaroni noodle necklaces, and they're so excited about it. They don't want you to pay attention to anything else except what they're about to show you. And John was saying to them here, hey, behold, listen to me, look up, pay attention. If you've fallen asleep, wake up, because this is about to get real good. He says, behold. Then he goes on to say, what manner of love? What manner of love tonight, the quality of God's love. That word manner says what level or what type or how great it is. And John was saying what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. He said sit and just think about that for a while. How much love does God have? that he would send his own son to die for us, that we who are outside of the grace of God, we are outside, that we are sinners, we're sinners by choice, we're sinners by nature, we're sinners by birth, everything we've ever done, we went against God, our nature was against God, and yet God's love is so great that he's willing to bestow it upon us. that he's willing to give it to us. Lord, that word literally means given to us, and we can see tonight through the word of God that God not only showed us his love through word, we have it in the word of God, God is love, but we even have it in deed. A great example of that is John 3, 16. We see the word, for God so loved the world. that what, he showed us through his son, Jesus Christ, by sending him to this earth to die for sinful man. And so we see here tonight, John would say, hey, listen to this, we're gonna talk about the love of God in its manner we can't even comprehend tonight. There's a hymnal, and I'm gonna read it when I'm done, called The Love of God, a beautiful song. I'm not gonna sing it for you tonight, I'm sorry. My vocal cords are just a little messed up tonight. You don't wanna hear me sing. But he says that the announcement, the love of God, We can't even comprehend it completely. That's how great it is. That's how awesome it is. That's how wonderful it is. But here's the thing, not only is it a great love because of who it's coming from and who he's bestowing it to, but it's great because of what it does to us. That we should be called the sons of God. That we should be called the sons of God. Now you might think about yourself like, boy, I tell you what, when God got me, he got somebody. When the Lord saved me, I mean, he really didn't have to do much forgiving because I was pretty good. That ain't me tonight. That ain't me tonight. I was on the outside looking in. Sometimes I feel like Paul, that I'm the chief of sinners. He'd say, but preacher, you didn't do those things like that most people did. Preacher, you've never gone to the bar. You've never done drugs. You've never done those things. Can I say tonight, my pride was just as bad as all those. And I sat here saying, I'm all right, Lord. Yes, you're dealing with my heart, but you're wrong, Lord. And finally, one day, I finally broke down to it. And I'm grateful for that. But when I got saved by the grace of God, I was one. I was born into the family of God, but I was also adopted into the family of God. Which one are we? Both. That's why we can cry, Abba, Father, through the spirit of adoption, but at the same time, we're born of the family of God tonight. But he said, which hath bestowed upon us, given to us, that we should be called the sons of God. Completely changes. Now let me ask you, who does the Bible say we were sons of before we got saved? The devil. Jesus said it, you're sons of the devil. Because of our sin, because everything we did outside of salvation, before salvation, we did either for ourselves or for the devil. we fell into his traps, we followed his leadership, we listened to his lies and we believed it and we chose to do those things and we got saved by the grace of God and it just didn't kind of clean us up, it didn't kind of just turn over a new leaf in our life, it completely changed us. It changed whose family we're in. We're now in the family of God, we are now a son or if you're a lady, a daughter of God tonight because of the love of God. Had God not been loved, none of us would have any hope tonight. If God was only righteousness, if God was only holiness, none of us would stand a chance. Because our only hope would be to fulfill the law, which none of us could do. But tonight, because of the love of God, because it's been bestowed, because it's been given to us through the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work on Calvary, we can be called the sons of God. Can I say tonight, you may not look like it, I may not always feel like it tonight, but we're part of a royal family. I mean, he entertainments not knocking on my door. People magazine doesn't want to interviews with me. They haven't called us saying when when the next child is born, we'd like to take pictures to show to the whole world. Haven't called me. But I am part of I'm royalty tonight. Oh, pretty sure I seen where you live. royalty doesn't live in single wide trailer. My I do. Matter of fact, but here's the thing, you said, Preacher, I've seen all that you have, and there's no way your royalty, everything you have on this earth doesn't scream royalty because my home is not here. Preacher, what's your home look like? Well, I really haven't seen it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. But I can describe it to you, it's a mansion. Anything else you didn't know? And it's in a wonderful place where the streets are gold. And there's no sun there because the sun lighteth up heaven. The S-O-N lighteth up heaven tonight. But why? Why? Because God loves me. He loved me enough to die for me. The world, and he said that we should be called the sons of God. It completely changes us. And then John says, and the world knoweth us not. And the world knoweth us not. Have you ever dealt with somebody who you know is outside of the grace of God? You deal with them and you're trying your best to explain to them how good God's love is. Because to them, Christianity is something completely different. It's a set of rules and regulations. It's a whole bunch of thou shalt nots, and you can't have no fun. You can't enjoy life. And if you become a Christian, you have to just absolutely ruin your life. Can I say tonight, I was ruining my own life? Oh, I was trying my best, and you were trying your best to enjoy life, but we couldn't do it. Then I got saved by the grace of God, and my world can fall apart, and I'm still enjoying life. It's the craziest thing. My world can fall apart, problems can arise, and I've got peace that passes understanding. I've got joy that's unspeakable and full of glory. I've got his mercy that endures and is new every morning. I've got all of this, why? Because God loves me. And because God loves you tonight. And he brought us into his family through love. And the world, they can't comprehend it. What do you mean? What do you mean about all of that? And sometimes, like, you're trying your best to portray this and to show it to them, and they're like, I just don't get it. You know why they don't get it? Because they don't know Him. They don't know Him. Me and you, if we didn't know Christ, we wouldn't get it either. Even if you're raised in a church house or you're raised in a drug house, those outside of the grace of God, those outside of the love of God, so to speak, don't comprehend it tonight. And sometimes we can get frustrated, but sometimes we've just got to step back and realize they just don't know him. If they just knew him and the power of his resurrection, they'd understand. They would get it. They'd say, that makes sense now. Can I say sometimes as a pastor, sometimes it's going out and sharing the gospel, I wish I could just take the gospel, literally take the Bible and shove it into somebody's head. Because I thought that would solve the problem. But it wouldn't. I'd be going to jail for murder. Not premeditated. Well, it depends, I guess, how good of a lawyer he is. But you're just like, you know, if you would just get it. I got family members on both sides of the spectrum tonight. Ones, some who are way out here in left field. Boy, if they could just understand the love of God, it'd change their life. And I've got some that are tied up in religion. If they could just get it, the love of God, it would open up their world to things they never even knew. And they say, oh, no, Christianity is a bunch of rules and regulations. And I say, tonight, it's the exact opposite. I function under grace. I function under mercy tonight. Oh, yes, God has standards, and God has given me convictions tonight. But I wouldn't have those if he didn't love me. I wouldn't have those if he had not extended grace to me tonight. My rules and my regulations in my life aren't to rob me of joy. They're to help me keep my joy. Helping to keep me in a place where I'm supposed to be, where God wants me to be. The Christian life isn't boring. At least my Christian life isn't boring. My Christian life, it is taking me to some place, it's literally fixing to take me halfway around the world. I know a lot of people that don't ever get that experience or that opportunity, yet God's opened that door up. And the same is true in your life. And it's more than just opportunities. It's that joy that you have, that ability to go to bed at night, not worried about your eternal destination, not worried about the problems of your life because you've given them to God and God can take care of them. So we see the announcement of his love. John was saying, hey, listen up. We're about to talk about the love of God. He said, it's so great. There's nothing that compares to it. It's so wonderful because of what it does to us. And don't get upset when the world doesn't understand it. Think about 99% of the problems today in America would be solved with the love of God. People understood that. The racial problem that we have in America, more than, it's not a skin problem, it's a sin issue. It's pride. I'm simply better because of the lack of chemical in my skin. It's craziness. Jesus said to love thy neighbor as I love thyself. He didn't say only if they're white or black. He said to love your neighbor. Jesus dealt with his love issue, right? And John gets into this later on in this chapter about loving your brother, loving your neighbor tonight, but at first he's announcing this love, he's saying, listen up, we're gonna talk about the love of God, it's great, it's beyond compare. It's a manner by which we've never seen before, that we can't comprehend completely, but it's been given to us and it's changed us, but the world doesn't understand it. Can I say tonight, what we're doing here tonight, the world doesn't understand? It's Sunday night, most of y'all got to go back to work tomorrow. World saying you got to go home and get some sleep, you got to go home and rest, you got to go home and just kick back, let your hair down and just enjoy the next few days, next few hours before the work week begins. But can I say that I enjoy Sunday night services, my favorite service is probably Wednesday night. because it's a service that we all need. I mean, we need Sunday morning, we need Sunday night, but Wednesday night, especially those of you who have had to have been around your boss, been around coworkers, been around family members, been around this, that, and the other, been in the world for three days. Boy, I love Wednesday nights. I look at you and say, but you're gonna go there and stay there until nine o'clock? I remember one time we got home from a revival meeting at two o'clock in the morning, here. Now, the meeting didn't go that long. We stayed after and fellowshiped. I got up at four that same day, went to work at six, and boy, I was tired. You've heard those preachers say, if you stay, he'll give you supernatural strength to make it through the next day. I missed it. I was tired. It's funny, because here I am. I'm tired. My eyes are red. I'm sleepy. I'm just fumbling through my day. And there's a guy next to me who's going through the same thing. But he's hungover. And I remember looking at my boss, I said, it's crazy. I said, but I also understand what the Bible says, being drunk with the Holy Ghost. I've been in service all night. It was good. I fellowshiped afterwards, but I'm tired. Me and him are literally doing the same thing, but we're coming from a different source. And he's like, you're absolutely crazy, Tate. Absolutely crazy. I said, I am, but I'm enjoying it right now. And I'm going to enjoy it a whole lot when I get home and take a nap. But we see the announcement of his love. Behold what manner, how many are glad tonight that you've experienced the love of God? It's not just something that somebody said to you, it's not just a generic statement, but it is something personal in your life. You can't comprehend completely the manner of it, but what you've enjoyed so far has been well worth the journey tonight. So we see one, the announcement of his love. Then we see the anticipation of his love. Verse number two, beloved, so those who have received the love of Christ, the love of God, beloved, now are we the sons of God. Now notice that tonight. the wording of that now. We don't have to wait to heaven to become the sons of God, to become the family. We are now the family of God. I was reading one commentator and he said the Christian life is a now life. We are now saved by the grace of God. We are now seated in heavenly places. We are now part of the family of God. We are now the sons of God. We are now saved by the grace of God. It is not something we have to wait to anticipate to, I'm just suffering here now and then I'll get to enjoy all of God. You've heard it said, I get to enjoy all this in heaven too. I actually get to enjoy life because I'm a son of God. I'm saved by the grace of God. I've experienced the love of God tonight. But he goes on to say, Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when we shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. So yes, the Christian life is a now life. We enjoy it now, but it's also an anticipating life. We get to look forward to what the love of God is going to work for all eternity. That's the beauty of the Christian life is that we don't just have to live this life, but we get to experience eternal life. We have life and we have it more abundantly. We have something the world doesn't have and that is eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ tonight. So we see here that the anticipation of his love, his love isn't just good now, but it will be good for all eternity. Because he says, now we are, but then he goes on to say what we will be. His love contains the following promises. We don't know what it all contains. Look what he says right there in verse number two. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be. You know, I've heard people argue about what it's going to be like in heaven. I'm talking about the point where they got mad with each other. You guys are literally arguing about one of the greatest things that's ever going to happen to us. You're about to fight each other. It was over this, and I can still remember. They were upset, and they were almost at blows with each other. And I kind of wish they would have fist-fighted. It would have been exciting. But they were almost at blows with each other over this thought, will we still be married in heaven? And they were, I mean, they were at blows. I mean, they were going back and forth. And I got to thinking, I don't know the answer to that one per se. I'm just glad that I'm going. I'm glad I'm going to be there. It does not yet appear all that's going to take place there. Preacher, how's everything going to work in heaven? I don't know, but I'm going to enjoy every minute of it because I'm glad to be there. Because the other option's a whole lot worse. And I don't have to go there. I don't have to go to that place of eternal damnation. I'm gonna go to the place of eternal bliss, eternal happiness, eternal glory. And so, all that other stuff, yeah, the Lord's gonna work all that out. All the people, I'm gonna get to heaven, I'm gonna have some questions for the Lord. No, you're not. You might think you will, but you're not. You're just gonna find your place at His feet, worship Him for all eternity, because you know the half that ain't been told, He'll answer your question before you even get there. So tonight, we can anticipate. We don't know what it all contains. What I've enjoyed so far of the Christian life, what I've enjoyed so far of God's love, boy, I've enjoyed it, but I cannot wrap my mind around eternity. I just can't, I can't completely grasp the subject, but I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it tonight. I haven't been to a foreign country. I'm looking forward to that, but I haven't been to heaven, but I'm still looking forward to that as well. I'm a citizen of a country that I've never been to, but I'm looking forward to it tonight. One, he loves us enough, his love is so great that we can't comprehend it all. It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know, we don't know everything, but here's what we do know. He's coming back. He's coming back. That when he shall appear, he loves us enough to come back. He loves us enough to gather home his bride. He loves us enough to call us home tonight. I was reading a book, and the preacher said there's two messages the devil can't stand. Messages that preach the blood of Christ, and preach the return of Christ, the rapture of the church. He said, there's two messages that the devil can't stand because he can't stop either one of them. He can't stop the blood of Christ, nor can he stop the return of Christ. There's nothing he can do about it. God's going to win in the end. And so now, we know because of the fact that he loves us and he died for us, we go back to the book of Acts, where the apostles were looking up at the sky. Jesus had just ascended to the Father, and they're just looking up, staring at the sky. And the Bible says those two men show up and say, what in the world are y'all looking at? Y'all staring at it, and they're like, Jesus just left. They said, well, that same Jesus shall return in like manner. You know, Paul believed it so much that he thought it was going to happen in his time. You know, the disciples that were there that day thought literally by the end of the week, Christ was going to come back. They lived it, and they changed the world because of it. They turned the world upside down with the gospel. And can I say tonight, if we as Christians got up every day knowing that God loves us so much that at any moment, the hour that you think not, the Son of God shall come. Can I say tonight, the same is true in our life. We ought to get up every day and say, Lord, today could be the day. Today could be the day. I've said it before that I have a dream that when the rapture of the church happens, I want to be preaching a message. Right in the middle. I love to say he's coming back and then boom, be gone. Talk about a message. Talk about an illustration. Where'd the preacher go? He disappeared in the midst of it. But can I say now, if we got up today, or got up tomorrow, or went to bed tonight saying, you know what, tonight could be the night, we'd probably call those people that we need to call. We'd pray for those people that we know we need to pray for. We'd share the gospel with a fervency that we haven't shared it with before, because he could come back today. He could come back at this very moment. We know he's coming back because he loves us. And he's given us that promise, and he cannot break a promise. So he loves us one and enough to come back. We don't know everything that's going to be. We don't know exactly what we shall be, but we know that he's coming back. We know that he's coming back tonight. He loves us enough to completely change us. Look at verse number two right there, then it, for we shall see him, or excuse me, we shall be like him. We shall be like, let that soak in tonight. We shall be like him. It means no more sin. No more doubt. No more struggle. No more uncertainty. We shall be like him. No more pain. We shall be like Him, and we shall see Him as He is. How many of us tonight could say that we have seen the work of God in our life, or God working in our life? We've seen the effects of it. I have, but we haven't seen Him physically tonight. I can't tell you what Jesus looks like. I mean, I know there's paintings of Him, and I know there's sculptures of Him. I don't know if that's what He looked like or not tonight. But I know one day, I'm gonna see him like he is, and I'm gonna be like him. I'm gonna be like him, and you're gonna be like him, for we shall see him as he... See, right now, the Bible says we look through a glass darkly. We can see the types and the pictures, and we can see the work and the results of it, but one day, we're gonna see him face to face. It's interesting, when you look at Jesus when he's being crucified, those soldiers look up at him, and the one sits down, the Bible says, and sitting there, he watched him. He looked upon him. That's one glare, glaze, one gaze of this man at the Lord Jesus Christ when he's covered in blood, beaten and bruised. Changed his whole life. Could you imagine what the eternity when the first time you lock eyes with the Lord Jesus Christ? You're talking about the epitome of love, you're talking about the epitome of grace, mercy. When you look him eyeball to eyeball, and you see him for what he really is. Can I say tonight, there's sometimes here in this world where I get little glimpses of it. And it's more than I can handle. I was just walking around this week and I wasn't doing anything in particular. I wasn't being super spiritual. I was just going through life and I began to realize the blessings of God in my life. Just walking around the house, heard my kids laughing and talking with my wife and just realized how good God's been to me. and how good God has been to you. And I get glimpses of it every, but I can't imagine 24-7 all eternity getting to see Him for who He all completely is tonight. Why? Because He loves us. Because He loves us. One, we see the announcement, behold the love of God. We see the anticipation of here's what the love of God's gonna bring for eternity. And then we see the application of love. The application of love, verse number three. And every man that hath this hope in him, what hope? That Christ is gonna come back for us because he loves us. In him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Can I say tonight, the love of God, the promise of his return tonight is an excuse, it's an encouragement. Matter of fact, Paul said to the church of Thessalonica, with these words, comfort one another, wherefore comfort one another with these words, that Christ is coming back because he loves us. And so tonight, the love of God is not an excuse. It is not a license to sin. It is not a, I'm gonna live my life however I want to because it's okay because God loves me. His love is unconditional tonight. His love is beyond comprehension tonight, but His love shouldn't motivate me and you to sin. Matter of fact, it should do the opposite in our life. It should help me and you to purify ourselves. Notice what it says right there tonight, it says in verse number three, and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is purified. Now who saved us? Jesus does. Who did the work? Jesus did. Right? That work of salvation, that complete cleansing is done by Christ. I'm not saying here tonight that me and you can work for our salvation, but as a Christian, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin, right? There's that personal accountability that me and you have with Christ. Matter of fact, here tonight, we've been in the book of John, the first John already, and he's mentioned it here before. If you love me, keep my commandments. Now, like we said, that is not a, do and then I'll love you. We're not the dog, so to speak, that when we obey, he gives us the treat kind of thing. But it is when we take his word seriously, hide it in our heart, we dwell upon it, we meditate on it, and we allow that to change us. Can I say tonight, if you have an active Bible reading program, if you are consistently reading the word of God and studying it, and it doesn't change you, you need to stop and say, what in the world is going on here? Because this thing doesn't just deal with surface issues. You can read a verse in here and say, all right, I need to go get a haircut. That's great. That's wonderful. Or I can read this and say, I need to change the clothes that I'm wearing. That's great. That's wonderful. But the Bible deals a whole lot more with the heart than it does the surface. This thing can discern your thoughts. Well, you'll read it here and say, boy, I ought not to think about that no more. I haven't said anything about that person, boy, but I've been thinking about it. Word of God, that's how deep it is. That's how fine it is. That's how deep it can go into our life tonight. The Bible says to the marrow of the bone, to the joints in the marrow tonight, it can go deeper than that. Listen, you could read any other book in the world, and the most it can get to is your intellect. This thing can get to your heart. It can deal with you in ways that no other thing could ever deal with you. Can I say tonight I've read the great works of literature? I've read Crime and Punishment. I can't remember none of them now. I've read Crime and Punishment. I've read Jane Eyre. I've read all those. I had to read them all in high school. Didn't like a single one of them. Couldn't tell you anything. I've read Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men. I mean, I've read all of them. I had to for school tonight, but none of those changed my life. None of them whatsoever changed my life. I couldn't tell you a story from it. I couldn't tell you the plot line from it. I couldn't even tell you the characters from it. All I know is of mice and men, Lenny wanted to play with the rabbits. That's all I remember. But this thing right here, this thing has tore me up. This thing has straightened me out. This thing has comforted me. This thing has convicted me. This thing has challenged me. It's changed me. All of that through his word tonight. And that's an application of God's love. God's love isn't just given to us so we can sit there and say, look at me, I've got God's love. Isn't it pretty? No, it's so we can say, I've got the love of God, and He's working in me. He's changing me. He's challenging me. He's conforming me to His image tonight. Why? Because He loves us. He loves us tonight. And so the Lord wants to work in your life, and He's willing to work in your life, but sometimes you have to stop and say, yeah, all right, Lord. It's your turn. I'm letting go of this, Lord, and I'm letting you do what you're supposed to do tonight. So tonight, if you love me, keep my commandments. The love of God doesn't lead one to reckless and dangerous behavior. It should lead us to wise and honorable practices and decisions. You ever heard that phrase, the Lord is leading me? I felt led of the Lord. Can I say tonight? He's always leading you to himself. Oh, no preacher. I feel like Lord's leading me to this specific mission field, but he's leading you to himself. He's getting there so he can reveal himself to you more than he already has. He's always leading us to him tonight. You know, I always and I wrote this down in my notes. I didn't really have to do anything with the message. Have you ever heard that phrase? People say it all the time. The devil made me do it. The devil made me do it. One, that's not a true statement. But two, how come nobody ever says God made me do it? The Lord made me do it. He's a perfect gentleman. He just gives us the opportunity tonight. But he will lead us. He will lead us tonight. So if he's leading you tonight, if he's dealing with you, follow him. Follow him, why? He's leading you because he loves you tonight and he wants the best for you. The love of God promises himself, excuse me, the love of God promotes himself, but not our flesh. The love of God promotes God, not ourselves. So we have to ask ourselves, we are applying the love of God to our life. Oh, preacher, I know that he loves me. I know that he saved me. I know that he's changed me. All right, what are you doing with that? What are you doing with that? Are you just sitting on it? Is that just your cushion that you sit on? Or is that the thing that's working inside you? That's what Paul said when he said, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Take the love of God and let it work in your life. Apply it to your decisions. Apply it to your everyday choices. Apply it to your everyday Christian life. We see an announcement, behold, what manner of love? Tonight, I feel like I failed the love of God. Trying to explain it and depict it tonight and discuss it tonight, but it's beyond comparison tonight. It's manners beyond anything we've ever seen or even thought of. So we see the announcement of it, we see the anticipation of it. I'm glad because of the love of God where I'm headed to tonight. I can look forward to it. I can enjoy it now and where I'm headed to. And then I can apply it in my everyday life. As I'm here now, I can learn more about the love of God. by giving myself to the Lord, by purifying myself, giving myself to the Lord for Him to work in my life tonight. And so tonight I want to read the one verse out of this, and this is not the hymnal that I had, but it's 220 in your hymnal. It's a beautiful song. Tonight, And I want to read the third verse of the love of God. So could we with ink the ocean fill, and where the skies of parchment made, where every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry. nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. O love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong, it shall forever endure, evermore endure, the saints in angels' song. If everybody could write about the love of God, and we had the ocean to be ink, a songwriter said, we couldn't do it justice. We couldn't do it justice, and that's what me and you got in on when we got saved by the grace of God. the love of God tonight. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for your grace.