Yes, I don't know. I think that's the first time I've ever sung that song, but I enjoyed it. That was good. Good song. I like that. I want to try and remember it, but the problem is my memory is so poor. Well, we are in 1 John. I want to give you some good news that we'll just share with you. And I hope Bob and Carol don't mind. I'm sure they're watching. But I text them to ask if they mind if I shared the good news. But on the prayer sheet, we had Carol asking requests for opportunity to witness to her aunt Katie, Kitty, and we had the privilege of driving up, she's in a facility up in York, and she's not, she's on the beginning stages of dementia, so she has good days and bad days, and sometimes struggling a little bit there, and she's in early hospice care, so don't know how much longer she's gonna be with us, Carol was not 100% sure about her salvation. And so Bob and Carol and I drove up there and were able to spend some time with her. I think it was yesterday morning, this week's been pretty full, but I think it was yesterday morning that we went up and she was very alert. She had a very good morning, she was already out of her room and up and around and doing well and she was very alert and we got to sit and have a conversation and you know, Carol watered many times. Carol had shared the truth of the gospel with her, she had given her many tracts over the years, she had printed out and handed her the plan of salvation, all typed out, and just kind of as a letter from Carol, had witnessed through her on numerous occasions. But Katie had never made a response or made a decision for Christ, and yesterday, Carol said, you know, I've talked to you about this many times, but I was wondering if you would allow my pastor to sit and talk with you for just a minute. And anyway, she graciously said yes. And, you know, for the next few minutes, we gave her God's simple plan of salvation and went through that together. and she bowed her head and trusted Christ yesterday morning. So we praise God for the decision that she made and just a real victory and answer to prayer in so many ways that Katie was having a good day and she was there and alert and was following along, was definitely conscious of what decision she was making. I have no question about that, no doubt about it. On the way home in the car, I told Bob and Carol, I said, you know, I know you couldn't see it, but Katie was, Katie, I keep calling her Katie, Katie was crying when I was talking to her about the fact that her sins could be forgiven and she could be assured of a home in heaven because of what Jesus did for her. And Bob says, you know, I thought I could hear that in her voice. He said, I thought I could hear that like how she was talking, but I wasn't sure. And then Carol said, I've never seen a heart response from her. And all the times that I've talked to her about it, there's never been a heart response. And I said, well, she definitely had one today. And we praise God that, you know, she understood and trusted Christ before it was eternally too late. I know she's grateful for those that were praying and that's a tremendous victory. And again, I had the privilege of bringing increase, but really I want to be sure you understand it's because of. Carol's ongoing testimony with her and her ongoing planting that seed and planting that seed and her desire to see her aunt come to the saving knowledge of Christ is what brought that to fruition. So we are in 1 John chapter three tonight. Hopefully you can get in the word of God and turn to those pages. We've been studying 1 John just by simple way of review. I literally had no idea how this was gonna transpire and I'm still not sure that we're going to be able to continue this. I just don't know as I dig into a passage of scripture. And as I began studying, just right away, you know, it came to me the very first lesson, you know, that he wrote this, that your joy may be full. And I thought, well, this is a joyful life that God wants the Christians to have. And so I titled our first lesson in this series in 1 John, The Joyful Life. No idea what the next. We studied the joyful life, that's chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, and then we looked at the honest life in chapters 1, verses 5 through 10, the satisfied life in chapters 2, 1 and 2, the consistent life in chapters 2, 3 through 6, the shared life in chapter 2, verses 7 through 11, the sanctified life, verses 12 through 14, the rejected life, verses 15 through 17, and the troubled life, 18 through 29. And, you know, this just, it's neat to see how the Lord has put this together. And this evening, we're gonna look at the first three verses, really focusing on the first two, but I'm tying that third verse in, you'll see at the conclusion for why I'm tying that in. But the third verse is also gonna be included in next week's lesson. But want to be sure that you see tonight, we're looking at the privileged life. the privileged life. He says here in chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, verses 1 and 2, the privileged life. And we see, 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. Werner Wiersbe says about this passage of scripture that as we move into the second half of the letter written by John, he is now dealing with sonship. Emphasizing the fact that we are born of God. Tying this passage together with John chapter three and emphasizing the theme that God is love. He gives us here five motivations for obedience. and I thought I would hand these to you. Again, these are from Warren Wiersbe, but in this chapter, we see five motivations for obedience. I don't suspect I'm gonna be dealing with these specifically, but I want you to see them. The first is God's love, that's verse number one. God's return, he's coming again, amen. God's return, verses two and three. God's sacrifice, verses four through five. God's gift of a new nature, verses nine through 18. and then God's gift of a new spirit, verses 19 through 24. And he divides this chapter up that way, looking at it as motivation for obedience to God. But what I want you to see this evening as we look at this idea of a privileged life is that we as God's people have access to and are blessed because of the position that we have in Christ. because of the fact that we are given a new family. We see here, first of all, that we have a new family. He says, behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. that we should be called the sons of God. First of all, I want to look at that little phrase, what manner of love, and we could spend the entirety of the lesson tonight. Some years ago, a couple years ago, I preached a message specifically on the love of God. I preach the entire message just dealing with the fact that we're loved by God and and that God loves and cares for his own and seeing the love of God as it's expressed in the word and as it is seen in our own lives and and it's lived out. And ultimately, I concluded that message. Well, what is the motivation here? OK, we see this great love that we have from God. But what do we get from that? And we're hopefully tonight going to see that a little bit. But he says here, what manner of love is this? Beloved, I wonder, could the scope and the breadth of this love be described? And if so, could we in our finite minds really be able to understand it? Or maybe we are like John and just kind of saying, well, what manner of love is this? I mean, the depth and the breadth of this love that Christ has for us and how could we literally describe it? Is there a list of things that we could give? And I believe through the pages of scripture, we could grab a hold of some things, but I mean, we could not, you know, the songwriter said, hey, You couldn't, you would exhaust the oceans dry. If every ocean was a quill, you know, or a ink, it would all be gone, describing, talking about the love of God. It is an indescribable and immeasurable love. But beloved, the greater the love, the greater the motivation for you and I. The greater the motivation. And what a privilege it is to be adopted into the family of God. What a privilege that has been bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. I mean, from a practical standpoint, we look at in this world and sometimes there are people of esteem or people of recognition and, you know, they will adopt some, you know, this is not very, This is probably very poor typecasting, and I certainly don't mean anything by it, but you know how in our home, we have a lot of the young people, they hang around us, and you know, the Anderson boys, and different people, you know, the young people of the church, they hang out at our house, and a lot of them end up calling, you know, us their adopted parents. We, Brad, Maramba, you know, Mary is his American mom, because he has a Filipino mom, but he's like, she's my American mom, you know. And, you know, there is that, like, to be part of our family. And we're honored that they would want to be part of our family. But sometimes there is that idea that, man, what a blessing to be part of this family or to be recognized by this person or to be accepted by this group. I mean, that's a privilege. Not everybody gets accepted in that group, but what a privilege is it for us to be adopted by the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, to be in the family of God. Romans 8, verses 14 through 17. Talk about this idea. He said, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father. He says, listen, we don't have a spirit of fear before an almighty God. We know that God is a just and a holy God, and he will judge wickedness, but he said that's not the spirit, that's not our motivation, that's not what stirs us. What's the spirit that's inside of us is that we've been adopted into God's family, where we cry Abba, Father, where he is our father, and we recognize that position that we have in Jesus Christ, and he says what a privilege that is. He says the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. What an amazing thing to be joint heirs with Christ. I mean, I'm a finite being. I am flesh and bones. I am, you know, just, I mean, nothing special at all, but how is it that I could be made a joint heir with Christ? That's an amazing gift that God gives us to be adopted into the family. We're adopted through Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter one and verse number five says, having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. Adopted by Jesus Christ to himself. You know, he gives us power to become the sons of God. Yesterday, as I was sharing the gospel with Kitty, I explained to her that, you know, not everybody that's born is a child of God. they have to become a child of God. And God says, to as many as receive him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. It's not just because you went to church or because you carried a Bible or because you've always known about God that you're a child of God. And I said, I have my wedding ring on here. You know, I asked her, I said, am I married just because I put this ring on? Is that what makes me married? And she says, no. And I said, no, I could wear a ring as a teenager. That doesn't make me married, does it? I mean, there's a lot of men that aren't married, right? She's like, yeah. And I said, but there was a day, there was a time where I made the decision to become married. And by my decision, I accepted what God put together and recognized that and publicly before people, I acknowledged it and I became a married man. And now this ring is just a testimony of that fact that I did that, but there was a day that it happened. And the same is true with our decision for Christ. There has to be a day, there has to be a time when you put your faith and trust in Christ, when you became a child of God. Do you understand that? And she said, yeah, that makes sense. You have to become a child of God. But what we're dealing with tonight is the fact that we have the privilege of being adopted into the family. What a privilege to have that relationship. It's a privilege that shouldn't be forgotten or taken for granted. You have a family, Christian, a Christian family, the family that's there with you and for you. We know that by nature we are created by God, but it's only through his grace that we become a child of God. We've passed from death unto life. We've passed from a child of wrath to a child of obedience because of Christ, because of us making that decision. 2 and 3 through 5, he says, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and whereby nature, the child of wrath. He says there was a time when You did the things, the lust of your flesh, the things that you wanted to do, and you were by nature, that is, by the bloodline from Adam until now, you were by nature a child of wrath. He says, even as others, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sin, he quickened us together with Christ, By grace are you saved. By grace are you saved. That's what Christ did for us. We see that we have this new family. Are you thankful for the new family? I'm so glad I'm a part of, amen? The family of God. Amen. Well, not only do we have a new family, but we see that we have a new fellowship. He tells us here, he says, behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God And here's the transition of our fellowship. He says, therefore, the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. I looked at this and pondered this for a little bit and I thought, you know what? It's pretty nice. I mean, I think we're in pretty good company. I mean, if somebody looked at me and wanted to insult me and they looked at me and said, you're just like your father. Be like, amen, thank you. I'm okay with that. That sounds good. So when we were kids, you know, I've told you this before, but we had some neighborhood gangs and they would come by the house and give us a hard time because we were Christians and they used to ride their bikes by the house and they would say, Jesus freaks. And they would yell that out at us, you know. And I remember my brother David looking back and going, thank you. I mean, to be called a Christian, Man, you're Christ-like. Oh, okay, thank you. That's all right. I mean, that puts us in pretty good company. What he's saying is you used to have a fellowship with the world. You used to go after the lust of the flesh. You used to desire those things. There was nothing inside of you that motivated you to pursue after God, but now you have a new fellowship. Now you're partnered with Christ, and now you would rather be with him than out in the world. Boy, they didn't know him, and they don't know you. That's pretty good fellowship, pretty good person to be with. The fact of the matter is, as Christians, we should be like a fish out of water when we get out into the world. There ought to be places that in your heart and mind you just say, whoa, wait, I don't belong here. I accidentally wandered into this place and this is not where I'm supposed to be. You know, sometimes we've had, I know Brother Hunt's familiar with this, but pretty aggressive candy sales. where my dad had a Christian school grow, you know, I went to my dad's Christian school my whole life and we had candy sale. We do it in the spring and in the fall to help cover the cost of the school. You know, the Christian school, they don't charge hardly anything and you got to pay your teachers and all that. So we had these candy sales. And, you know, you're kind of, you're walking down the strip mall and you're just going into one, you know, you're going into Hobby Lobby and then you go to the next store and you walk into the pet store or something like that and you sell what you can, selling chocolate, and you go down a little further and you walk in one and you find out it's a bar. You know, like, whoop, I didn't realize. I mean, you're not looking at the names, you're just opening the doors and walking in. You walk in and like, oh, and I've walked into a couple of places that I'm like, oh my goodness, this is not where children are supposed to be. You know, it's like a fish out of water. Christians don't belong in those places. I mean, there's places like that. I praise God, I've never been in my life, certainly not on purpose. And we shouldn't be comfortable in places like that. We don't have fellowship with those things anymore. We're not gonna take time to look at it, but you remember in chapter two, that rejected life, that's the life of the fellowship with the world, we don't have that anymore. Because we've been given a new fellowship with the Father and with the Son. The world doesn't know what to do with the believer. They'll mock your faith and they'll mock how you follow him. But beloved, they mocked him first. You and I will never have to go through all that Christ went through. But whatever we do go through, we can know that Christ went through it first. He has already been through it. It is an understanding of this new family, this new relationship that motivates us in this new fellowship. You know, there are many men that have fathered a child. You would say they are their parent by nature. That is, that they could take a paternity test and prove that that child is that man's son or daughter. But sadly, it's even more and more prevalent in society today that men are not assuming the role of fatherhood. And what I'm saying is they have not taken that position that they are indeed the parent of the child, but they have not assumed that position that you say father, that term means something altogether more. Not just the parent, but the father, a father, my father, is somebody that loves and cares and leads and protects all that a father is supposed to do. And we have this new fellowship with our heavenly father who does love and care and protect. What a privilege to be called a child, a child of God. That's why Romans 12 one says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service because of what he has done for us. Not only do we have a new family and have a new fellowship, but I want you to see as we move on to verse number two that we have a new future. He says, beloved, Now are we the sons of God, now that you've made that decision, now that you know that you've become the child of God and you've been adopted into the family of God, he says, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, or we shall see him as he is, man. He starts verse number two here, having established already the fact that we're loved by God, and he calls them beloved. You guys know I like that term. I use that term, beloved. It is an expression of care and concern. John has a heart of compassion when he teaches, even if he needs to rebuke You will see in John's tone, it is given in love. It is a rebuke, it is an admonition maybe, but it is presented with compassion. And you see that all through John's writing and he wishes to encourage and exhort, but at the same time, he does so in love. Beloved, he says, and we would do well to follow his example. Beloved, the future of the lost, The future of those that do not know Christ. He says here, he says, now that we are the sons of God. So that by implication tells us there are some that are not the sons of God, that do not have this new future. And if you have been around church very much or spent much time studying the book, you are understanding the fact that the future for the lost is an eternity without Christ. Not just eternally separated from Christ, but eternally separated from Christ in a place called hell. What terrible news for the lost world. For their future, I mean, you know, the psalmist says, hey, don't worry about the prosperity of the wicked. He says, sometimes you look at them and you think, man, they're so bad, but why in the world are they prospering and I'm struggling? The psalmist says, hey, all they have is right now. The day's gonna come when they die, the future that they have to look forward to is not what anybody would want. Beloved, we have a new future. You know, you remember the story of the rich man in Luke chapter 16? Let me read those verses to you. I know you know it already, but he says in Luke chapter 16, and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried and in hell, he lifted up his eyes being in torment. And seeth Abraham far off, and Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried, and he said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and said, Lazarus, that he may dip the tongue, the tip of his finger in water, he may cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, But now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And besides all this between us and you, there is a great goal fixed. So they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence." I mean, you read that story and who would you rather be? He says, Lazarus in his life received evil things. I mean, he had a hard time. He struggled. I mean, he wasn't living high on the hog. He was eating the scraps. And the dogs come and lick his wounds. And people in the world say, boy, I would never want that. But when you get a glimpse of the life after with what comes next, Would you rather be a rich man who for 70, 80, maybe 90 years lived prosperous, but ended up in a place called hell? No. But Christian, you have a new future. You and I, we don't have to go there because we are a child of God. We have a future where we've been forgiven. And he says, it doth not yet appear. You know, we don't know everything that there is to know about heaven. We don't know everything exactly how we're going to be and exactly what God's going to, you know, doesn't yet appear. I mean, we are trying to be like Christ. We hopefully are dealing with some of our shortcomings and making some changes and growing in the Lord. But he's still working on me. I'm not what I ought to be, but I thank the Lord I'm not what I used to be. And we're still taking steps. God gives us a glimpse and he says, we shall be like him. You know, initially in Genesis 1 26, God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. And of course, sin entered into the world and men fell. So death by sin passed upon all men for all have sinned and we are not all that God created us to be because of sin. One day that sin's gonna be removed and we should be like him. Not like him in the fact that he is God. And as some people would teach that we are gonna be gods. Yeah, the Bible says we're gonna be like him and he's God, right? So we're gonna be maybe little gods. You know that was really the problem with Eve and what happened with Eve and why she ended up falling. Satan says, hey, you could be like him. You could know what he knows. God has kept this knowledge from you. So I don't believe that we will be like him as in God, but we'll be all that God wants us to be. in every way that he originally planned for us to be. So you say, well, what does it mean that we're gonna be like him? I can't tell you exactly, but I can tell you that it will be satisfying, because I have scripture on that. You may wanna write in the margin of your Bible, Psalm 17, verse 15, next to that verse there. He says, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. He said, I shall be satisfied when I wake with thy likeness. So one day we're gonna wake up and we're gonna truly be like him. Right now we're just trying, amen? We're just working hard to be like Christ. You know, the whole, what would Jesus do? Sometimes you're like, yeah, but that's not really what I wanna do right now. I wanna give this guy a piece of my mind, that's what I wanna do. So we struggle with that battle between what Jesus would do and what we wanna do and we strive to be like Christ and hopefully people see Jesus in us. But one day, the psalmist says, hey, we're gonna be satisfied when we awake and we're in his likeness. We have a new future. And so, beloved, we are blessed with these truths, this privileged life, a privileged life that we have a new family, that we have a new fellowship with the Father, and we have a new future that's promised to us. These are all great and magnificent truths, but what does that mean for us? What do we do with that truth? Outside of just rejoicing it, outside of it makes us feel good, outside of we celebrate the fact that we're loved by God, amen, but there should be some result. And so I want you to see in verse number three that we have a new focus. We have a new focus. He says in verse number three, and every man that hath this hope in him, Every man that knows God, every man that has that hope of, that confident expectation that they are a child of God, that God will one day either rapture them out of here or they're gonna, to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord, we know that we're gonna be there and that one day we will be like Him. We have that expectation. He says, every man that hath that purifies himself even as he is pure. I'm not gonna spend long here because this is really the foundation of next week's lesson as we talk about the purified life. And there's a number of verses that kind of tie together. This is just the introductory verse. As you look at this idea of a purified life that we are supposed to be pursuing. But just as a matter of connecting with these verses of privilege, we have this great privilege, so it motivates us to have a different pursuit, the pursuit of purification. As one who has full enjoyment of this great privilege, there comes a great responsibility. It is amazing to ponder and think about the position we have in Christ and to dwell upon the love that he has given us and all that we've received because we are children of God. Just the fact that we can be made a child of God is amazing. But that is not an end in and of itself. It is the love of Christ that constraineth me, that motivates me, Often, I deal with young people, and I'll tell them, I know your parents aren't perfect. And as a young teenager, but still in those youthful years, you like to grab a hold of and pick mom and dad apart for their shortcomings. They failed you here, and they didn't follow through there, and they said they were going to do this, and they didn't do it. But what you need to remember is all that they have done. They loved you. They changed you. They cared for you when you were sick. They babied you when you needed a shoulder to cry on. They fed you every day of your life. They clothed you and they put a roof over your head. No, they weren't perfect, but they showed their love in so many ways and in their limited ability, but they expressed that. And you should have some compassion or some level of concern and respect for mom and dad because of what they did do for you. And beloved, we have a heavenly father that is perfect, who does show his love consistently and faithfully to us and never fall short. Is that not motivation enough for us to have a new pursuit? To say, man, we need to be all that God would have us be for all that he's done for us. What is the primary motivation for your obedience to God? It's not supposed to be fear. Although fear is a motivator. And I think that we're to fear God. He is a holy and just God and he says he'll chase in those whom he loves. You can't run from God and him not come after you. There ought to be a holy fear for God but that beloved is not to be our main motivation. Our main motivation is to be love. You know love is a far greater motivator It really is. You know, there's people, I think about somebody, and I'm not gonna give any names, but there'll be some in here who know what I'm talking about. There's somebody that as a church we've tried to minister to for a long time and really could not do much. But they met a girl. And all of a sudden, change started to take place. There was some motivation there. Oh, yeah, I need to go to church. Oh, yeah, I need to make some changes in my behavior. I need to make some changes in my dress. I need to make some changes in my life. You know, I could have preached until I was blue in the face, and that would have made no change. but he's got love. Love is a very strong motivator. Love will cause a guy to do things that he would never do if he was in his right mind. Love, that's a great motivator. And that's the thing is what Christ has done for us should motivate us. to have a new focus in our life and to pursue those things that would bring honor and glory to God most of all. You know, this is probably not a very good illustration, but maybe we're a little bit like my dog, Odie. He loves his freedom. And, you know, we had one of those little shock collars you put on dogs that, you know, give them boundaries around the house. And he had 150 feet around the house that he could go all around the house. He could go to the pool, he could go to the backyard, he could go to the front yard, he could go to the road, he could chase the mailman to the edge of this road. I mean, he had a lot of freedom. He could do all this stuff. But he decided that, you know what, I know it causes me a little bit of pain. What I'm saying is there's some fear there. But fear wasn't a strong enough motivation for him to stay inside the boundaries. He decided that a little bit of a shock was worth getting to run all over the neighborhood. And he would run through that shocker, right? You get a certain distance past the shocker and it doesn't shock anymore. So he just decided, well, I can take it. And he would just, he would take off. We would come home or the neighbors would call and they would say, hey, your dog's out here in our yard, you know, or he's in the neighbor's trash or your dog's doing this and, you know, and we would be out a couple times at like midnight or one in the morning. My kids are walking through the neighborhood, oh, you know, and calling him, trying to get him to come home, looking through the woods. He loved chasing deer. I mean, he'll chase deer through the woods and he's gone. What I'm saying is that fear of that little shock wasn't enough to keep him in line. I'm not sure how to articulate any love because we didn't give him that option, we just chained him up. Now he lost all of his freedom. What I'm saying is Christians sometimes, I think maybe our fear of God is not enough to keep us from doing wrong. We decide, hey, a little bit of judgment or a little bit of pain or this thing is worth to do this, this whatever we want to do. But love will stop you before it happens. You guys know that my daughter Alicia is very tenderhearted to me as a father. And she always has been. To this day, if I just look at her like I'm disappointed in her, she'll start to cry. It doesn't take much discipline. I don't have to do much discipline because her heart wants to please her father so much that if any way she feels like dad's disappointed, she'll start crying. And she'll call mom. She'll say, dad's not happy with me. Dad's disappointed in me. But why don't we have that for our heavenly father? that the fact that we might disappoint Him would move us so much to say, I can't do this. I can't pursue that. I can't take that step. I must do this because I want to please my Heavenly Father. We've got a new focus because of all of what Christ has done for us. That's the privilege life that we have. Would you stand to your feet with your heads bowed and your eyes closed? I want to give you a moment to ponder and think about these things and we'll have a pianist come and play a moment of invitation. Actually, we don't have a pianist, not our pianist is gone. So we just have a short time of quietness here and you talk to the Lord. Acknowledge and recognize the privileged life that we have in Christ. He's so good to us.