I John 3:1 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. 2 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. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
God needed to remind us once again of His love for man. Keep in mind, this letter is written to saints. Saints know that God loves them. Yet they need to be reminded. It is because of His love that we can be called saints. God’s love is an active love. It steps into the path of man to offer him forgiveness and salvation. God’s love does not force itself upon man, but it makes it abundantly clear that His way is the One right way. Many people fight that obvious fact until their death. They lose out in this life and they lose out after death. Those who are saved need to be reminded that it is because of the love of God that we are called sons of God. The saved person is passed from death unto life. He does not become a “little god”, as the Mormons and other false religions suggest. Paul wrote that we are adopted into God’s family at salvation. In verse 1 of our text we are reminded that this love of God that is bestowed upon those who are saved, causes the world to reject the true child of God. They do not know us. The world cannot understand what makes a Christian tick. I have been asked by different people if I drink alcohol. My answer is no. Some of them are surprised and suggest I must drink beer or some wine. My answer is still no. True saints do not drink alcohol. They know it is wrong and the love of God within them guides them not to drink. There are many other things that true Christians do not do as well. There are also things that true Christians do that the world finds strange. I remember the first church I pastored. I did not know it when I took that calling, but after we arrived there, and as summer was approaching, I was told that they did not have Sunday School during the summer and they did not have Bible Study either. I was surprised and I asked them if Satan took time off during the summer. Of course the answer is no, and so we had Sunday School and Bible Study during the summer. Some of the people did not think it would work, but it worked. It is God’s will to be active in His Work year round. John was directed to remind us that the reason the world does not know us is because they did not know Jesus.
John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
His own people, who were looking for a Messiah, rejected Jesus Christ. He did not meet their imaginary standard for the Messiah. He fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies regarding the first coming of the Messiah. However, the Jews had their own interpretation of what they expected from the Messiah they wanted. Sadly, even Peter denied Jesus Christ at His trial. He knew better but he was weak and he was afraid to identify with Jesus.
Luke 22:57 And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.
The good news in that failure is that after Jesus looked at him and through that look reminded Peter of what He had told him earlier that day, Peter went out and wept bitterly. He knew he had done wrong and he wanted to be forgiven. We know that Jesus forgave him and restored him to a right fellowship. That is a clear picture of a true child of God. It grieves their heart to sin against the Lord. Lost people will make light of that because it is not a serious matter to them. In verse 2 we are reminded that “now are we the sons of God”. At the moment of salvation, the person is adopted into God’s family. At that moment he is passed from death unto life. Being made a son of God does not mean all is completed. The true child of God now needs to learn how to walk faithfully as a son of God. It is an interesting and rewarding walk to be a son of God. When a person gets saved, they do not know where that will lead them. God knows His plan for the saved person, but the saved person needs to grow into that plan after salvation. A person does not grow into salvation. He grows as a true child of God. Remember verse 1 comes before verse 2. Even the beginning of verse 2 reminds us that we are the sons of God. It is not a matter of growing into becoming sons of God. At the moment of salvation, we are the sons of God. We look forward to the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. At that moment we shall be like Him. The reason for this is that we shall see Him as He is. Paul wrote:
I Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
There are things we can know by faith through believing what God has declared. However, when we actually see Jesus it will be a different story. Our faith will become sight. We trust God and as we grow in Him we trust Him more but there is that blessedness of being with Him. In verse 3 we see the motivation for purifying ourselves. The true child of God does not grumble and complain and wish that he did not have to follow God all the time. The true child of God appreciates that he is a child of God and because of that he purifies himself. The example to follow is Jesus Christ. It is not some human tradition. It is not some man-made rules. We take God’s Word as the truth and we do not allow the seducers to draw us away from the truth. This is what God’s Word says. We do not see that much in the modern “church world.” We see a lot of compromise. We see a lot of revisionism taking place. If we are honest, every true child of God will be tempted to be careless with the Word of God. We will want to be lazy Christians at times. The good news is that the indwelling Holy Spirit will encourage the true saint to snap out of that lethargy and get going in following God closer. The true child of God will appreciate that challenge both from the Holy Spirit within and from faithful saints who trust God and teach God’s Word faithfully. We have seen from Hebrews 10:24 that we are to provoke one another to love and good works. No true child of God can sit back and claim to have arrived and just wish others would catch up to where they are at. Every true child of God needs to be purifying himself as Jesus is pure. In verse 4 we are also reminded that committing sin is the transgression of the law. The true son of God is not saved by law keeping. He is called to purify himself after salvation.. The law is righteous. The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It is also our reminder after we are saved, of the righteous standard that God expects from His child. We can know when we sin. It is no guess work. In today’s religious world, there is a smorgasbord of ideas of what holiness looks like. The devil has an innumerable flavour of spiritual “ice cream” that you can choose from. God does not have a smorgasbord. He teaches the truth and He is truth. The true child of God lives to please God and his righteousness is found in Christ. Jesus Christ knew no sin. He never committed sin. That is the standard and that is the goal for the true child of God. In verse 5 John was directed to write that “we know that He was manifested to take away our sins.” Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came to meet the needs of the spiritually sick. As we have already noted, Jesus Christ had no sin. He is not a hypocrite. He demands that His followers be like Him and that means He expects His followers to press towards holiness. Again that holiness is not some man-made corruption of holiness. It is God’s holiness that we look to, if we are saved. When the true child of God is discouraged, the Holy Spirit within and the Word of God without will draw that person out of that slump and into further growth in the Lord. In verse 6 we see further that when a saint abides in Him, his life is changed. The Greek word translated as “sinneth”, carries the meaning of continual, habitual sin. The true child of God cannot hold on to sin. It grieves the Holy Spirit Who dwells in the true child of God. There is no sin that is so powerful that the true child of God cannot have victory over it. The true child of God takes a proactive approach to dealing with sin. He does not sit back and suggest that ‘if God does not want me to do a certain thing, then He will stop me.’ It is true that God will chasten His child. However, the person who takes the careless approach just mentioned, is in trouble. As we see in verse 6, he has not seen Christ and he does not know Him. He is an unsaved person. We will not see a literal vision of Jesus. However, through His Word we will see Who Jesus is in our hearts and the true child of God seeks to be like Him. As we noted from verse 2, we are looking forward to that actual moment when we will see Him, but in the meantime we can get a very clear spiritual picture of Who He is. He does not have long hair. He is not cool and hip as the New Evangelical crowd suggests. He is not ever changing. He is without sin and He is the same yesterday, today and for ever. Pastor Bartel
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