Behold the Love of God

1 John 3:1 Behold the Love of God Introduction: In the middle of John’s teaching on the two incentives to holiness (Christ return and his purpose in his first coming) we find a call to behold the Love of God. So that’s exactly what I want us to do this morning. It is so good for us to often stop and ponder the great love of God. I believe this will produce great fruit in our lives. It astonishes, amazes, and creates wonder within those who properly reflect on it. 1. The Manner of Love. a. When we think of the Love of God we can often be overwhelmed. Which is right. It is vast. And the Love of God is seen in so many ways. i. Think of God’s love as Creator. He creates the world for man’s enjoyment and that man might be in loving relationship with him. ii. Think of the rain that falls, the sun that shines, the seed that grows, governments, laws, the moral conscience, prosperity, health, wisdom, love, etc. All of these and more are aspects of God’s common grace which comes from his love for his creation. iii. Obviously the main place we go to behold the love of God is the cross of Jesus Christ. 1. John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” 2. Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 3. Ephesians 2:4 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” 4. 1 John 4:9-10 “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” a. Charles Wesley put it like this, “ And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Savior’s blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain—For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love!How can it be, That Thou, my God, should die for me?” i. In our natural sinful state we had no claim on the love of God; God was under no obligation to save us, he did it because of his own love and grace, and not because of anything in us. 1. “God loves the sinner, not because he is drawn to him by his lovableness, but because, in spite of man’s unloveliness, God sets his mind and will on seeking man’s highest good. This is what is amazing about God’s love.” - Burdick ii. Furthermore God did not have to go as far as he did. He might have rescued us, sacrificed for us, forgiven us, and not gone any further. But instead he showed us another kind of love(a deeper love)—he took us into his family. He made us to be called children of God. And this is the love that John wants us to focus upon and to behold - the Love of God in adopting us as his own children. This was accomplished at the cross. 1. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” -Galatians 4:4-7 b. Called the sons of God i. Adoption. 1. (Gk. huiothesia, meaning placing as a son ) is not so much a word of relationship as of position. In regeneration a Christian receives the nature of a child of God; in adoption he receives the position of a son of God. Heir of God. a. John 1:12 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” i. What kind of king would take his enemies, those who have joined in rebelling against his goodness (his common grace), destroying his peaceful creation that he made for them, have mocked him, cursed him, and murdered his son... Then he takes those enemies, forgives them, gives them his righteousness and exalts them to the status of son and daughter, joint heir with Christ, re-made after his image?? And what is Christ inheritance..everything! - he is the heir of all things. 1. We do not deserve that. ii. You will appreciate how great the love of God is only when you realize how wicked and unattractive you are. 1. “The gospel of justifying faith means that while Christians are, in themselves still sinful and sinning, yet in Christ, in God’s sight, they are accepted and righteous. So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope — at the very same time. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. It means that the more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you.” Tim Keller iii. See why John says, Behold what manner of Love?! 1. In the original language, John literally says, “of what country?”, it is as if the Fathers love is so unearthly, so foreign to this world, that John wonders from what country it may come. This term always implies astonishment. 2. It is said that when one of the learned heathens was translating this, he stopped and said, "No; it cannot be; let it be written 'Subjects,' not 'Sons,' for it is impossible we should be called 'the sons of God.' " - Spurgeon ii. Privileges of God’s Children. 1. In this, we gain something in Jesus Christ greater than Adam ever possessed. We never once read of Adam being called one of the children of God in the sense John means here. He was never adopted as a son of God in the way believers are. We err when we think of redemption as merely a restoration of what was lost with Adam; we are granted more in Jesus than Adam ever had. 2. Similarity. a. The child exhibits the parent’s character because he shares the parent’s nature. b. Likewise spiritually. We take on the nature and characteristics of our heavenly Father. i. Luke 6:36 “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” ii. Ephesians 5:1 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” 3. Special objects of God’s love. a. I love children, but none so much as my own. They’re recipients of my love in a special way. So with God - the very hairs of your head are numbered. b. The Father plans for the child with the child’s interest and future in mind. i. God orders our steps in light of eternity. ‘I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a hope and a future’. Jeremiah 29:11 ii. Discipline - “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” Hebrews 12:5-6 iii. Provision - ‘Do not worry about your life, what you’ll eat, drink.......your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Matthew 6 iv. Protection - ‘ The angel of the Lord encamps round about those who fear the Lord’. v. Access with confidence - “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 vi. Inheritance -“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” - Matthew 25:34 1. 1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 2. “All things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.” 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 Conclusion: “What a high relationship is that of a son to his father! What privileges a son has from his father! What liberties a son may take with his father! and oh! what obedience the son owes to his father, and what love the father feels towards the son! But all that, and more than that, we now have through Christ. "Behold!" ye angels! stop, ye seraphs! here is a thing more wonderful than heaven with its walls of jasper. Behold, universe! open thine eyes, O world. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” -Spurgeon 1. If we are not absolutely astonished at the Love of God towards in creating us, redeeming us and adopting us, either we do not have a right view of ourselves or we do not have a right understanding of what God has done! 2. If you want a vibrant Christian life, make it your aim to always meditate on the love of God. You want possessions? You get everything God owns... Thats yours by inheritance? You want love? You have the most powerful love in all the universe directed towards you! You want self worth? You are a son or daughter of the King of the universe!!! You want security? The almighty God is your father who knows the hairs of your head, he will not allow anything to happen to you that could possibly separate you from his perfect love. He has the cattle on a thousand hills, the earth is his and all of its fullness... What do you lack? He has promised us all things for life and Godliness.