So let's take our Bibles again. If you were here last week, it's again. If you weren't, please take our Bibles and turn anyways to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. And we're going to look at verses 1 through 3. 1 John chapter 3, verses 1 through 3. What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God? Therefore the world knows 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 has this hope in him purifies himself even as he, Jesus Christ, is pure. May God bless these words to us today. We were instructed to behold, to behold the manner of love that the Father has given to us. Now, last week we spent our time beholding. to see with a little bit of detail. I gave you the whole shot, all the notes here. Now, I'm just going to qualify. If you had the notes last week, as far as I care, you can get rid of those. I fixed my typos, and this would be last week's and this week's notes. But if you wrote all kinds of great things on it, that's a good exercise. Write them again. But we'd like to fix them up and make them as good as we can. We put them online. We hope others will use them. But let's just review a couple thoughts. Well, not a couple. There's these statements here. What manner of love? Okay, in that first intended paragraph, we consider God as holy. And that can mean so many things. Basically, when we say God is holy, we mean he's like from somewhere else, not from anywhere here, not anything created, not anything you can see or hear or smell or taste or touch or even imagine. God is separate. He is other. than everything in this world. So he sets the stage with many wonderful character qualities, but among them has to be his love. It has to be his love. We're told God is love. And if you have this love, you are dwelling in God and God is dwelling in you because he is an environment of love. And it's not like the love that the world portrays, but love is his essence. And God's love initiated our relationship with him. As we've said already, we love him because he first loved us. The next thought is that the world cannot manufacture this love. Jesus came to demonstrate, manifest the love of God, because people's imitations will not do. And so often, religious or otherwise, people have some form of love, and some better than others, but nonetheless, the love we need in this world is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, and as our cups run over, everybody else gets splattered. Okay? We're not to imitate love, we're to receive it. And then we are, again, Warren Worsby put it this way, we are not manufacturers, we are distributors, okay? Thirdly, the love of God is characterized by selfless giving. It is sacrificial. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and so we should lay down our lives for the brethren. So it's a love that needs to be seen, acted upon, demonstrated, revealed, not just by words but by action. The next thing we looked at, God's love sanctifies us. It has the power to change us. His love is why we are not what we used to be and we're not maybe all that we should be yet but what we're going to be. Now, I'm sneaking ahead there, but in the text we read, we're going to be like Him. We're going to be like Him. It says there that we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. Now, I dare say that if you saw Him as He is and you were not a Christian, it would kill you to see Him. It would devastate you. but because he's already in us. And in that one precious moment when we are transformed in the twinkling of an eye, we're going to be like him and we're going to know just who he is. He won't have to have a name tag saying, hi, my name is Jesus. I'm pleased to meet you. We're going to know exactly who he is because that within us that's been dwelling in us and sealed us to the day of redemption is going to bond. It's going to be like contact cement. And there we are. So step by step, little by little, from glory to glory, 2 Corinthians 3, 18, we are being transformed into the image of Him. And it's a long process. Sometimes it seems terribly long. It'll all be wrapped up in a moment, though, and we get a body to go with it, a new heavens, a new earth, a new body, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. But in the meantime, what keeps me going? It's not my sheer willpower. It's not my motivation because of all great treasure in heaven that I hope to have. It's motivated by this love. I literally fall back on it. Underneath are the everlasting arms holding me up by this love. If I had to work it out myself, if God only had made the down payment with Jesus and I had to figure out the installments, I'd give up. If I didn't give up, I'd poop out anyways and it just wouldn't work. but we are kept by this love, preserved by this powerful, transforming love. Now, it is in this paragraph that I wanna correct something. I said something off the top of my head last week, and I made a reference to Jeremiah, and I said 23 verse nine and 10, and then somebody questioned me afterwards, and I repeated it for them, and then I went home and said, now, what did I just say? And you know, I'm a little dyslexic, It wasn't Jeremiah 23, 9, it was Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24. So that is in this set of notes. I just, I wanted to qualify it. If anybody was listening to these messages online and caught me in my error last week, well, I confess. Okay, but here it is, that we are not to boast in the things like our wealth or our wisdom or our power, whatever that may be. We're to glory in one thing. that we know the Lord. And the descriptions of the Lord, if you read there in Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24, portray him as fully devoted to loving kindness and deliverance. These are the things in which he delights. And when Paul quotes us in 1 Corinthians 1, he says all of that is what he made Jesus to be for us. So again, I preached that last week probably. So let me move on. The last statement on this page is that love is our primary debt to God. That's the primary thing. Some people look at the 10 commandments and some people look at the golden rule and some people look at 600 and some commandments that you can pile up in the Bible. But the chief thing is this, to love God with all your heart and your soul and your strength and your might. And Jesus added the word mind and then to love your neighbors yourself. All the laws fulfilled through true love, which the Spirit has produced through the Word of God. As I'm fond of saying, our cup runs over and other people get splattered. But first, We love him because he first loved us. Then secondly, we love anybody else the correct way because he first loved us. And if he first loved us, he still loves us and he will love us. So in fulfilling the debt of love to God, one of the things we do as unto the Lord is to love our fellow man. And that requires us to give them the gospel. Because how can you love somebody and not tell them the truth that would save their soul for all eternity? How can you just feed them and clothe them and educate them and get them better sanitation and get them a job or whatever else, and then you let them go to hell? Are we here just to warm people up before hell? No. We're not here just to give them a slightly better life. We're here to give them eternal life. Now, we should give the things needful to the body as we can. We should take care of those needs, yes. 1 John 3, 16 through 18, we'll talk all about that. But right now, understand this, that without the gospel, we don't really have any lasting power, any lasting influence on what we're doing as we seek to love others. Loving others doesn't mean just make them feel good. Help them to become good by the grace of God. Okay, now we get on to the next thing. Our scripture reading. We only dealt with one part of a sentence last week. Behold what manner of love the Father bestowed upon us or given unto us. So we did our beholding. Now we want to consider three effects of God's love. Number one, God's love separates us from the world. Number two, God's love blesses us now and forever. And number three, God's love gives us a purifying hope. Okay, number one, God's love separates us from the world. Verse one being read, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knows us not because it knew him not. Now you have to know the vernacular here of what we're talking about. Things haven't changed over the centuries actually because We still say things like this, like if you do something and you embarrass somebody, oh, I don't know, would it be your spouse? Would it be your teenage children? Would it be some dad so excited he gets up on the picnic table at the family reunion and starts dancing? And somebody is gonna say, I don't know him. Well, they know who he is. They don't wanna be identified with him. And that's what the world's saying. We don't want to be identified with him. We don't want what he's got. We want some other Messiah, not this one. He's too meek. He's too lowly. He keeps talking about dying on a cross or things like that. And he isn't rousing us up to conquer the Roman Empire and become this sovereign nation again. But it isn't just the Jews that didn't love him. The whole world doesn't love him. Now they can't get their hands on him like they did once. They can't grab him, a physical body, and lay him down and nail him down and then crucify him and mock him and run him through with a spear and all that. They can't do that. So the next best thing is you and me. If we remind them of him, then we get identified with him, then we get treated like him. Jesus warned us over and over about that. God's love separates us from the world. God's love changes us so much that the world will label us. Now, from the world, this is not a term of endearment. Oh, look at those children of God. No, no. It's a label of derision. So when they call us sons or children of God, this label Christian, and again, if you care about last week's notes, I had a typo here. It's Acts 11.26. I had something else. Acts 11.26, they first called the disciples Christians at Antioch. And this wasn't by a fan club. This is by people who did not like them. They were deriding them. They were mocking them, trying to make note of them so we could avoid them or even persecute them. The word Christian only used three times in the scriptures, but it means belonging to the party of Christ. Sounds kind of political, but The world does that. They do put people into pigeonholes and name-calling and stuff. I don't have to say anything more about that, because you have election year, and you're hearing all kinds of this labeling, smearing, mud-throwing business. But belonging to the party of Christ. I'm not a Catholic, but I love The Society of Jesus is what it means, the Jesuits. I just, I love that term, the Society of Jesus. You know, it's a shame when somebody else gets a good name like that. I'm not going to comment further, but that we will be recognized as belonging to Him, accused of being a Christian and found guilty is what we want to be. But it is an evidence of God's love to us that we can identify with Him. As I've said before, we are strangers together with Him in this world. So, I want to take a little time in Acts chapter 11. I want to consider verses 19 through 26 and just see some of the things, some clues you might say, as to how God's love working in us and through us causes us to earn the title Christian. Acts chapter 11, starting with verse 19. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that rose about Stephen traveled as far as Thenes and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. It's going to get out to the Gentiles as well, but we're starting at this point saying that if you want to be identified as a Christian, if you want to let the love of the Father be flowing through you and affect your relationship with the world, you will be preaching the Word. Paul would say in another place, in season out of season. Now, you may say, well, I'm not called to preach. Well, I want to question that. I want to question that because preach just doesn't mean be a pastor or an evangelist, have a special ministry that's full-time and supported. No, preaching is something in which we all declare. Every time we have the Lord's table and it says there that when you drink, you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come, the word show there is the word for preach. We're enacting it. We're demonstrating it. Our fellowship, our worship. Sometimes when we don't even know it, we're just sharing our love for the Lord. We're responding differently than the way the world responds to situations. I mean, even an off-color story that the guys at work might say, and your response could be a way of preaching the Word. So, I can't go heavy on just this one point, but we all are to show and tell. And the next verse, verse 20 says, and some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. Okay, we're getting a little more specific here. We don't just preach about God who's in the generic box, black and white, black and yellow, whatever generic looks like these days. We're not just here generally talking about God. It's God who is the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That eliminates all the competition and any confusion. You know, when I was a youngster, I remember talking to my mom and in her understanding and my understanding, I was saying, well, you know, those Muslim people, they believe in the same God we believe in because they believe in one God. It seemed right, but it's not right. And they'll let you know quickly that you don't believe in the same God because when you say he's the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, they generally get upset. Okay, and that's a long story why I can't elaborate, but all I know is we can't just have the generic God in a box. We've got to have the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that we're talking about. You know, they say we're so exclusive, but who else came to die for our sins? Who else came who could die for our sins? Who else gave their life and came back from the dead because they were triumphant over our sins? I don't see anybody else in the lobby waiting to do that. And he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. So, verse 21. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. Okay, when you cause people to believe in Christ to the point that they will turn from sin and start following the Lord, Now we're talking about disciples, not just people who are believing something in their head. Changed lives. People can argue words all day, but how do they argue against changed lives? But here and in other countries, more so in other countries, if you make converts, you're going to be sought after and prosecuted. either imprisoned and killed or deported or whatever, but to make a convert? They're trying to make laws right now that we cannot convert people from their behaviors that they want to defend with all their laws. You know, I heard somebody say this recently to someone. He said, you're worried about legal and illegal. I'm worried about right and wrong. Man's got these labels about legal, but that doesn't mean it's right. So we need to follow the Lord. And when you cause people to follow the Lord, you've just quit preaching, gone to meddling. Now you're trying to change somebody because now you're saying, I'm wrong too. Or you really want me to change. No, God does. God now commands all men everywhere to repent. And so our gospel, it's from the word of God. Our gospel is of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our gospel calls people to repent. and follow Jesus. Now we look at verses 22 and 23. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch, who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. Now, I don't know, some of your newer Bibles probably just say cling or embrace or something, but you get the idea, is that this is a long-term, no, it's forever-term relationship. And, you know, we're going to be doing this by the grace of God every day that we live. It's not just for, you ever, somebody say, oh, I do that religiously? Well, if you do something religiously, it's about two times a year, Christmas and Easter, right? Well, there's different levels of what people think, what do I have to do? How much do I have to go to church? How much do I have to do this? It's how much may I? How much can I? We have opportunities here. Why slam the door in God's face and limit ourselves, and so we cleave to the Lord. This is personal relationship. This isn't just doing obeisance. This isn't just putting in our dues. This isn't just doing minimal efforts of requirements. This is a relationship. Now, you've heard sometimes people say that a marriage means a husband and a wife are doing 50-50. That's not true. It's not 50-50. It's 100-100. Both people need to be participating 100%, and now you got something. We know the Lord's gonna participate 100%. Now how about us? And that entails many things, but they were told to keep on keeping on. Cling to the Lord. You'll get your eyes on people, they'll disappoint you. They'll cause you to perhaps get disgruntled, disillusioned, or dis-something, but keep your eyes on Jesus, and Hebrews 12 says you won't faint. You won't give up, you won't quit. Well, we go to verse 24. Verse 24 of Acts 11, for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith and much people was added unto the Lord. Okay, the qualities we see in this man, that good works, spirituality and faith. Think about those things. We're not saved by faith, plus works were saved by faith, that works. This man was demonstrating his faith by his works, as James would say. And so he had an aura about him that he's marching to the sound of a different drummer. He isn't motivated by some denominational headquarters or a certain exclusive teacher. The Jews were often divided amongst themselves over which rabbi they thought was the right one, and they would argue all these different rabbinical teachings. And, you know, we have the benefit of many teachers, and sometimes they disagree on things. And we have, you know, it's good for us to study and compare. Bottom line, what does God say? What does God say? And if you can defend what you believe by Scripture, then who's going to be your judge? Okay, well, must keep moving. Verses 25 and 26. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. This is so important. Believers had responded to the gospel. They need to be gathered, they need to be taught, they need to be encouraged, they need to be built up, they need to be equipped. They're disciples, they're not just academics. learning stuff. They're learning not just what to know, but what to do with what they know, and make sure they know whom they have believed and are persuaded that he is able to keep that which they've committed unto him against that day. So, as disciples, they were committed to obedience to that teaching. And this is a key thing over there in Acts chapter 2, when Peter preached the gospel on the day of Pentecost. Some people get sidetracked as to what's really important here. What was the effect of that day? And then we're told in verse 40 of Acts 2, and with many other words, did he, Peter, testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from this untoward generation. That means the crooked generation. Deliver yourselves. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls, and they continuing steadfastly. They continually devoted themselves to the apostles' doctrine, to the fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in the prayers. I won't give the long explanation here, but they were now committed to the truth as it is in Jesus, being taught by the apostles whom Jesus had sent, and they are going to be committed to the fellowship, not just the act of fellowship, but the fellowship, the church. People have been added. They're committed. And there's going to be more added because of their commitment. They're going to replicate this. We're going to pass on. We're going to do our part to see this be an ongoing thing. In their case, God was adding daily to the church. We're not having that experience right now, but the idea, the process is still there. Jesus had said when he was ready to leave this earth, he took his disciples after he had taught them a number of days, and he said, all authority is given unto me in heaven and on earth. You go and make disciples of all nations. You get followers by teaching the gospel. from all nations, and baptize them, get them initiated, get them brought in, get them identified with me, and then teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I'm with you all the way, even unto the end of the world, end of the age. Okay, so God's love called us out of the world, and the world seconds the motion by pushing us away. Yeah, you guys, you say you're out of this world, we'd like that. If you would, just literally do that. So they second the motion, not like they're cooperating with God, but they are reacting. And so they second the motion, they push us away, and God's love exposes us to His grace, and at the same time, exposes us to the world's wrath. God's love will preserve us through all the persecutions of this world. May I take you to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. You know, I one time said this and one of our church people actually decided to memorize the whole chapter of Romans 8 because I told them if I were going to be put on a desert island and I was allowed to have only one chapter of the Bible, it'd be this one. Romans chapter 8. Now mind you, I need the knowledge of the rest of the Bible to make it so great, but this is a powerful moment in Scripture. of who you are in Christ, and who's keeping you, and what your expectations can be, and what is the basis of your faith, and your sense of hope that you can always be looking forward to something no matter what the world's doing to you. Well, just this last little bit, you may well know it, and I hope you do. If not, get started. Romans 8.35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Yeah, thank you. I needed that good amen right then. Did you see how many times love was in that little the intense passage, the love that bought us is the love that keeps us, is the love that will put us to use and give us purpose, is the love that will bring us ultimately to fulfillment, and all the heaven and earth shall pass away, but we that do the will of God, which is to love Jesus and trust Jesus, we will abide forever. Wow. I know I ought to just pronounce a benediction after something that great, but I do have a little more. I didn't want to make this a 27-part series. Just about 20. So we go to 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2. Beloved, and get used to it. John's a relationship kind of person. I think he preaches tough love in the book of 1 John, but he's about relationship, and he's well-known for this subject of love. Beloved, he knows who he's talking to. He's talking to people that God loves, and he's talking in that context. It's not just that he loves them. He is connected to the fact that God loves them, and if God loves somebody, you better get on the page with that. Beloved, see I just take one word and go on and on, don't I? Beloved, now are we the sons of God. Now are we the sons of God. Some people don't think you can know that you're a Christian today, that you'll have to just find out later at the end. I picture these people that, you know, God saw you do some good things, so he gives you a few points. Ching-ching. Old-fashioned adding machine here. I'm sorry, I'm not using a calculator because I can't make enough noise. Oh, you did some good things. Plus. Uh-oh, you were naughty. Take a few away. Negative. Plus. Negative. Negative. Negative. Plus. Plus. Plus. Negative. Plus. Negative. Negative. And at the end, you die. In the name of the Lord, he hits the total button. If you're in the black, welcome to heaven. If you're in the red, go to hell. That's not the way this is. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. I can know that not boasting in my works, I'm boasting in him who loved me and gave himself for me. The one who said, my sheep know my voice and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father who gave them to me is greater than all and nobody can pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. I'm not bragging about my works, I'm just saying I belong to the shepherd. And I have other promises that if I stray, he uses the other end of that crook for good reason. Gets me back in line. Now are we the sons of God, and it does 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." I kind of talked about this a little bit. But let me just say here, through faith in Christ, we can know that we belong to him now. And we look forward. We have the joy and assurance that we will belong to him forever. And we read that in Romans 8, 35 to 39. But we look forward to a glorious future filled with God's love. Oh boy, do I have some goodies here. Can't study them all with you, but I would like to go to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. starting with verse 1, and you hath he quickened. Now some of you, your Bibles will say made alive. You hath he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. You know who that is? The spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. among whom also we all had our conversation, our manner of living in times past, and the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Okay, there was no E stamped on our forehead for being God's elect. We looked like everybody else. We weren't better than them, smarter than them. God didn't even just simply foresee that we'd be better, and he made a choice. And he made a choice from dead people, okay? You had to be made alive. You had to be born again. Now, I hate zombie movies. I'm just being honest with you. I hate zombie movies. Ungodly, unchristian message. And I won't elaborate right now, but you know, when people talk about walking dead, they're just talking about all of us before we know Christ. We're all walking dead people. And we're about as nice as those zombies in the movies. We're about as useful and about as powerful as them, but we can make things worse, but we can't make things really better no matter how hard we try. Here's the blessed word, but, in verse 4. but God who is rich in mercy. And some of my references, folks, if you go study them, you'll have love, you'll have loving kindness, you'll have mercy, and so forth. Put them all in the same category here. We're talking about the love of God making the difference, but God who is rich in mercy, in loving kindness, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, We weren't coming along. We weren't slightly improving. We were dead in our sins. He hath quickened us, made us alive. And it says, together with Christ. There's something about the togetherness that he talks about in Ephesians 2. We aren't called to be independent mavericks. You know, a lot of my illustrations are too old-fashioned. You know, the Marlboro man. You know, those motorcycle guys, the single hero people. In our country, we're so independent thinking. Jesus wants us to think like a body of believers that are bound together. He wants us to think as a unit. We're not just together with Him, we're together, us, in Christ. And he'll say later in 1 John 5, if you love the one who begot you, you'll love the other ones that he begot also. Which is just a fancier way of saying, you love God as your father, then love God's children. And parents are forever trying to tell their children to get along. OK, back to it. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us, made us alive together with Christ. For by grace are you saved. And he's raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. I'll never forget the day I was in a little prayer group and one fellow said, Lord, our bodies are here, but our heads are in heaven. And I thought that was a great way to put it. We've got to get that reality. Like we said earlier today in the song service, the prayers of the saints rise up like incense and create a beautiful aroma in that heavenly scene where men and angels are face-to-face worshiping God, our prayers. Go up and add to that. We need to understand this togetherness, this thing that he says in Ephesians 3.14, that we are members of the family of God, both in heaven and in earth. We need to know it's bigger than just our little group right here, or some other slightly bigger group there, or some other smaller group there. He doesn't see us as groups, he sees us as those who are his. And I realize sometimes in the named church, not everybody is His. Even in Laodicea, Jesus could be standing at the door, knocking to get in, and they don't even notice. If they lost their electricity, they wouldn't notice, but they didn't notice Jesus isn't present with them, and they didn't realize it, they didn't care. And so we are together in Christ. And he would devote himself a lot to that theme in the book of Ephesians, but I must move on to the next verse. It says, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. The ages to come, folks, as it says in another place, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Whatever they threaten me with, whatever they plan to do, whatever they do, I always have something to look forward to. Because God is going to outlast all of the attempts of man to defy the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Just read Psalm 2 if you don't believe me. He that sitteth in heaven shall laugh when they say, let's cast off his bonds from us. Ha! You wait. He's going to make all the nations lay down at his feet like a footstool. And that's why the warning goes, a gospel warning in the Psalms. Psalm 2, kiss the son lest he be angry. Blessed are they that put their trust in him. Being taught to love and trust the Son of God even in Psalm 2, folks, We didn't make this up. This is not a cleverly devised fable. Forever and ever and ever in the ages to come, He'll still be revealing how much grace He had on us and how much we're going to benefit, how much we're going to praise Him and worship Him and rejoice in the Lord. God's love blesses us now and forever. That's our point in verse 2. Now 1 John 3, verse 3. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he, the Lord Jesus, is pure." Okay, it's a purifying hope. It's not the lazy boy chair hope. where we sit back on our blessed assurance and drink iced tea and just wait till this is all over. No, we are in a participating plan in which we get involved, and the excitement of being with Jesus and being with the saints makes us want to work even faster, mend our pace, and become like Him. I mean, if I say I want to be like Him, why don't I try to be like Him? Especially when He promises me He'll help me. actually commands me to become like Him. Why would I avoid that? If I say heaven's going to be so great and all the saints will be there, then why don't I start liking the saints now? Okay, I haven't done it in a while, so bear with me. Chuck Swindoll's poem, to dwell above with saints we love, oh, that will be glory. To dwell below with saints we know, hmm, that's another story. Okay, the purifying hope, this hope of a glorious future, of being with Christ and of being like Christ, not only encourages us to look forward to something, but it sanctifies us, it sets us apart. If our future is holiness, should we not then start now and strive to be like Him? Here in this life, let us encourage each other to look forward to a glorious future and to work towards the goal of glorifying Christ now in our lives, in our worship, in our church. And you know, I know I'm bouncing you around, but can you go back to Ephesians? Okay, Ephesians 1.12, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Chapter 2, verse 10, after it says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Verse 10 says, for we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. And then chapter three, verse 21, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Let's try that again. To him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. All right. I believe you now. 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 9 to 12. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar or purchased people that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Having your manner of living, there's that old King James conversation again, having your manner of living honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, man, I was Christians, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. little curiosity about what is the day of visitation. It's used in several ways. But basically when God seems to just come down and it sometimes is in judgment or it's in deliverance. He'll talk about them as special visitations. And what we hope people will do is that they will see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven now so that they can do the turnaround and join us. But you know what's going to happen if they don't? There's going to be a visitation in which every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess. And Peter tells us they'll be ashamed in that day. They spoke such evil of the Lord's people, and then they'll see the Lord and they'll say they were right and we were wrong, but it's too late to repent. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. 2 Peter 3. That's 2 Peter 3. This purifying hope. As Peter's talking about what's so grand about our future, he asks a searching question. 2 Peter 3, verses 10-14. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy manner of living?" There's that word conversation again, in all holy manner of living and godliness. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, We, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless." The purifying hope. It's the blessed hope. It's the purifying hope. It's the only hope that won't leave you hopeless. You do not add good works to your hope. You need to hope in such a way that your faith is working because He, Jesus, is the author and finisher of it. You want to be not just identified with Him by other people's words. You want to identify with Him because you are cleaving to the Lord. You're clinging to the Lord. And it is He who works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. It is He who, if we be otherwise minded, shall show us that. It is He who will complete the work in us until the day of redemption. Faithful is he who calls you who also will do it. I do not leave you with a system of works to add to your faith. I'm teaching you the faith that works, how it works, what you may expect and what you should also strive towards. Now that last page, don't let it scare you. It's scary, but don't let it scare you. Because I've done what I do often is I made a list at the end, homework you can take home and you can study, but it does raise some questions. We've talked about how does the love of God affect you? And we've described it, we've beheld it, and we've looked at these three statements out of 1 John 3, 1 through 3. God's love separates us from the world. God's love blesses us now and forever. God's love gives us a purifying hope. If God's love is this great, this powerful, well, why doesn't everybody love God? It seems so clear now, doesn't it? If God's love is so powerful, why do Christians have to struggle with loving Him supremely? Why doesn't God's love dominate the dealings that Christians have with each other and with all people in the world? You know these are problems. We talk about this wonderful love, this powerful love, this all-encompassing love, and yet there seems to be clogging in the arteries, the blockage of the flow, of this love of God that has been invested in us and is to pour out to others. Now, we could write a lengthy book, a lengthy series trying to answer the questions, and I'm really saying, no, this better be homework. Maybe you should just ask the Lord personally before the Lord. Ask yourself these questions and let this unfold in your mind because it seems to me that the love of God is calling us to do some things maybe differently than what we've done. Now if we're going to question this before the Lord to ourselves, let's just look at a couple basic thoughts here. Number one, people don't understand the love of God as they should. They don't love God because they don't understand His love. And it's a little worse than that. They not only don't understand it, they don't like it. If they hear the truth about it, they don't like it. When we try to make it acceptable to them, we aren't necessarily telling them the full story about the love of God. And so, human nature, which has fallen in sin, doesn't grasp nor love the things of God. It requires the work of God's Spirit. through Scripture to reveal the true God and create love for him. We love him because he first loved us. And the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are spiritually discerned, neither can he understand them. So we're dealing with ignorance and, I dare say, willful ignorance in so many cases. And adding to that, our nature isn't naturally receptive. Then add false teaching to that. It can be religious teaching or secular teaching. It could even be so-called Christian teaching. And we cover up and we disguise the love of God. We dilute it. We distract people from it with legalism, ceremonialism, and a whole bunch of other isms. We're off on our tangents. And the love of God is not that radiating thing. My wife had a grandpa, and I loved him. And in his older years, we were talking once. He wasn't necessarily a real religious man, but he talked about a grandmother he had, and he looked at me with a knowing look, he says, she knew the Lord. Now he may have not grasped it all personally, I just don't know. But he caught something from his grandma, and if I could make a good educated guess, it wasn't just that she could shoot out Bible verses like I do. It's that she showed the love of God. She showed she was under the influence of the love of God, and the love of God was passing through her, and the law of kindness was in her mouth. I'm just able to say that that's many times what people see, not just what we know. They don't care so much about what we know. They care about whether we care. I didn't say it right. They don't care what we know. I can't use my cliche today, but people don't care what we know. They want to know that we care. All right, that'll do. But false teaching of all kinds misdirects people, camouflages, distracts, deflects people from the real personhood of God. I haven't used that phrase ever. The personhood of God. You know, God is this picture on the Sistine Chapel. And he reaches out and he touches and zaps somebody into life. And God's coming and his throne is in the clouds. He's got lightning bolts ready to attack people and destroy them because they're sinners. And we got all these two-dimensional concepts of God. And he's not this wonderful, loving being that, well, it's there in Scripture, but boy, does it help when you see it enfleshed. That's what God thought when he sent his son. Jesus said, if you've seen me, you have seen the Father. And you can see how that love worked. The second point is we who know the Lord and love him, we know him, we love him, we've been born again, but we don't stay focused on God's love as we should. We get distracted and deflected by issues, problems, responsibilities, needs, desires, pleasures, and we get disrupted and our priorities fall apart. So that's how you can start answering the questions that are in bold on this page. And you see a list, and boy would I like to tear into it right now. Boy, I love to discuss it. But that's an assignment. Since we don't have Sunday school, since we don't have a lot of other things, I'm going to ask you to contemplate those. And if I get you thoroughly mixed up wondering why did you put that in there, call me up. I'll tell you. But I will end on this note in 1 John chapter 5. Now, I'm not going to have you turn to it, but I'm just going to mention while you're turning to 1 John chapter 5, John says, love not the world. Now, John 3.16, for God so loved the world. Does that mess your head up a little? For God so loved the world is talking about people. Love not the world is talking about false systems, whether it be spiritual, political, economic, whatever, but the ungodly kingdom of darkness that Satan is ruling, don't love that. Don't fall for it. You need to perceive when it's this world talking so you can reject it soundly. and not be so affected by it. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, it's of the world, and the world is passing away. And the lust thereof, all those lusts, everything that people were ready to sell their soul for is not going to last. It's all going to the dump. It's all going to be burned up with the fervent heat. And our passions for those things will be destroyed and dissolved when all this world is dissolved. But he that does the will of God abides forever." And what is the will of God? Back to the simple thing, that you believe on Him whom we have sent, that you receive His Son and the remission of sins, and receive His Spirit and His Word directing your life. That's the will of God. You'll live forever, folks. Now, 1 John 5, verses 19 through 21, and we conclude, and we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness. Now, some of you, your Bible says the wicked one, and I like to get the best of two worlds here. I'm going to tell you, the whole world lies in the wickedness of the wicked one. That settles it. That's what the world is lying in. I remember the time years ago, I dropped my cell phone as I got out of the car. It went into a gutter that was full of water. And that thing was just sunk to the bottom, completely immersed in water. And I panicked. I pulled it out. And amazingly, it rang. But I said, what do I do with a phone that's been immersed in water? Because water had gotten in. And I was told how you put rice in it, and that dehydrates and all. But I had to get what was on the outside got on the inside. I had to take what was on the inside and get it back outside. Now, in a sense, we're like a boat. A boat can float in 10 foot of water. 50 feet of water, 600 feet of water, as long as the water's on the outside, the boat floats. You're okay. But when you let that water in, you're down. You're sunk. So we're told in Romans 12, 21, don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. And now back to our statement. And we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true. And we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life." And you know, many a time I've stopped a message and stopped there because I thought, well, the last verse, you know, we don't need it. That was wrong. So I make sure I declare this, after we've looked at how awful the world is, how great the grace of God is, and His Son, Jesus Christ, and we have true eternal life through Him, the last thing John wants to say here is, keep yourselves from idols. Because what idols do is take your eyes off the living God and back on to religious faldera. Don't hear that word every day. religious phony business, philosophical phony business, materialistic phony business. The eye of idolatry. I put myself first. Eye is the center of the word pride. Keep yourselves from idols. They may not be wood or stone, but whatever they are, if they come before God, you're failing, you're going to lose out. So after he said all that he said about knowing the true God, he says, don't get snagged with idolatry. and ask God to give you discernment about what that actually can look like in your life, in my life. Father, I've said all I can say and maybe just a little bit more than that, but I ask you please to bless these words to our hearts. Give us questions, Lord, that we will stand before you and look for answers. How we can appreciate the love of God. How we can comprehend the breadth and the depth and the length and to know the love of Christ that passes all understanding. Oh God, that we can do this together as your people. And oh, that we can do it before the world and keep holding up this love. Though they show hatred, may we show the love of Christ. May we be like Stephen, whose face looked like the face of an angel as they poured out their wrath on him. So separate us by your love that we're good for nothing else except Jesus Christ's purposes. And I ask, Lord, that you'll give faith where it's needed. In Jesus' name, amen.