In his sermon titled 'Behold, What Manner of Love,' Scott Brown explores the profound love God has for His children as depicted in 1 John 3. The sermon emphasizes the transformative nature of God's love, which adopts believers as His children, offering them a new identity and separating them from the world. Brown highlights the unique, otherworldly nature of this love, urging believers to deeply contemplate its width, length, depth, and height. He discusses the privileges and responsibilities of being a child of God, including the assurance of God's protection and guidance. The sermon also addresses the opposition believers may face from the world, which does not recognize them as it did not recognize Christ. Brown explains that this separation is an act of love, aiming to purify and transform believers into the likeness of Christ. The sermon concludes with the call to behold and ponder the love of God continually, emphasizing the importance of having hope in Christ, which leads to purification and a deeper understanding of God’s love.

We're going to be reading from 1 John 3. We're going to start in verse 1. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be.

But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. Let's pray. Oh Lord, you've given us a wonderful passage reminding us that you call us your children. Lord, I thank you.

Lord, I pray that we would hear the words that you have for us, Lord, I pray that we would apply it to our lives, Lord. Amen. John wants his church there in Ephesus to remember that they are children of God with all the privileges of a child, a child who has a father. He wants here in this passage, us as a church, to stop and marvel at the love of God for his children. It's very clear to me that it was it was the love of God and the growing sense of it in my heart when I was a very very young man that saved me.

It was his love that saved me. I had a sense that he loved me and that everything that he did and said was for love and it was the most helpful and captivating thing that happened to me as a young man was to realize that. Now John has a great concern for the love of God and even in the book of Revelation John reminds the Ephesians again about remembering the love of God. And he tells them in Revelation, you've left your first love. You know, the Apostle Paul appeals to the church in Ephesus to love and to know the love of God.

John appeals to them and then finally at the very end in the book of Revelation, John observes that they had left their first love. And so it was a church that needed to acknowledge the love of God. They received many appeals to understand the love of God that was in Jesus Christ. And remember, you know, there was a great controversy in the church and some of the people left who did not embrace the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. And now John makes a number of very positive statements about the love of God, and he's assuring them of his great love.

And he's saying that to be a child of God is to have a loving father who loves you. It's to be adopted. It's to be separated from the world. It's to be made like him. It's to be purified.

This is the love of God in Jesus Christ. And so he's explaining the glory of being a child of a loving father. And this is the very first matter that he speaks of and that I have identified on this outline that we have a loving Father. Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the children of God. Now, it's such a marvelous thing to be a child.

It's a world of wonder, especially when you're really young. Every day is a new day of wonder. And if you've thought about what it would be like to be transported back as a six-year-old or an eight-year-old little boy or girl. Everything is so wondrous. Everything is new.

And parents have this marvelous treasure in their life to be able to introduce children into this wondrous life that God has given. But when you're a child, everything is provided for you. You live in a house that you did not build, that you did not finance, and it protects you from the rain at night. And your father provided that house for you and food is delivered to you. It's literally handed to you on a platter every day of your young life and your parents then they go out and they buy clothing and and you destroy them and miraculously another pair appears and If you get sick, they don't just let you die.

They they pray for you. They care for you they they They cry out to God for every form of cure that might be brought to you to help you. They pray for you. They do spiritual battle. They might even bring the elders of the church to come to lay hands upon you and to anoint you with oil.

And they will, at least in modern days, they'll search the internet to try to find a remedy for your cure. And they want to make you happy and they take you places. And they show you the world and its beauty. They might drive you hundreds or thousands of miles and they'll point out the window and say, look at that, look at this, look at that. And you marvel along with them about the beauty of the world that you have been placed in.

And when you're very little, you know, they work hard often to make you laugh. They'll tickle you. And they'll make funny faces at you. Sometimes, you know, for hours on end, they'll sit right in front of you and make funny faces at you to get you to smile and When you smile that first time they're completely undone and they They marvel at the at the most rudimentary things. If you say the word Dada, they rejoice, they scream for joy, they can't take the glory of it.

And when you take your first step, every camera comes out and they follow you around and they just are astonished at what remarkable things their child has done. Even the most rudimentary, banal things they rejoice at. Even, well I hate to mention some of the more biological things that parents, particularly mothers, rejoice in when they're accomplished. But here's what happens to you. When you are a child, you are loved, and there are so many manifestations of that love.

They hold you tight, they kiss you, they hurt for you, they pray for you, they discipline you, they do everything that manifests love in your life. And so to be a child of God is to have a loving father. And that's why he says, behold, Behold what manner of love the father has given unto us and of course John's entire letter is designed to communicate what it means to be a child of God and what it looks like when you're not a child but you think you are. And he explains what it means to believe, what it means to have a father, what it means to be born of God, what it means to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of your life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. He's explaining how you know that and he gives various warnings to those who think they are born again born of God but they're not born of God at all.

Perhaps Perhaps the whole idea of being born again has been Trivialized in all eras of history because if you go back and look at any revival in history The revivals always hinge on are you born again? Have you truly been born again Has your life been changed is is Jesus just a concept to you or? Does he live in you and do you love him and you gravitate toward him and you desire his light you love his commandments You you do you do need the grace of God in your failures, in all of your attempts to walk in the light and to obey his commandments. But you know in your heart that you do love him. John is developing the whole doctrine of regeneration and what it really means to be born again.

And he's very concerned that we know the love of God. And so in this letter he not only gives various distinctions between those who do love him and do not love him, he itemizes many many ways that God is love, and he's been explaining what it means to know the love of God, And he's been explaining what it means to know the love of God. And he's been explaining what it means to be a Christian. And he has just in the previous section spoken of this great conflict that took place in their church where as Antichrist rose up within and they departed and now John is comforting them and he is he is itemized many ways that that God has already protected them. He protected them by giving them an anointing of the Holy Spirit.

He protected them in His love by giving them His Word. He protected them in the fact of their salvation that they abide in him. He's been telling them that he is loving them by protecting them even through the many antichrists that exist in the world. And there's so many, even John refers to many who had appeared in just the first 60 years of the history of the church. How many more are there now?

But God is telling his children here that he will protect them. He will hold them fast. He loves them so, and he will hold them fast because they abide in him because they have an anointing from the spirit and because they have the word of truth that holds them in the truth and so so he's been making this case of the love of God and he has been speaking primarily in the previous chapter about abiding in Christ and how his abiding is a security of preserving his love in you. Now he turns to a different image. It's the image of children and particularly of adoption.

He doesn't use the word adoption in chapter 3, but he's really picturing the whole matter of a child who has been adopted. And So he is speaking of this whole matter of what it means to be a child of God. And when you're a child of God, you have a loving father. And he adopts you and he separates you from the world. And he makes you like him and he purifies you.

Behold, behold the love of God. And he says that we are children of God. This is the second item that I'd like to have us ponder, we are adopted children. This is the second part of the first verse, that we should be called the children of God. Now, John has already spoken of how our love for others proves our love for God, and he has already spoken about how our love for the world proves that we are not children of God.

Now, he changes and he speaks of God's love for us. And this is his exclusive focus here, is God's love for us. There is one command in this section of verses, behold the love of God. That's it. He makes several very positive statements about the believer.

And the first is that we have a loving Father. And the second is that we are children and he wants us to ponder it deeply. He does not want us to miss the significance of it. He does not want us to miss the significance of it. He does not want us to miss the width of it.

He would like for us to contemplate the width of the love of God. And he doesn't want us to miss the length of it. He wants us to see just how far it goes out into the horizon. He wants us to see how deep it is, just how bottomless the love of God is, and how high it is. It's as high as the heavens.

He wants us to behold it. That's what behold means. It means to look as far wide as you can at it and itemize it, to look as far out into the distance, to look as deep as it is and to look as high as it is, to behold it, to look at it from every different angle, and to look with care, to ponder, to pause, to contemplate it. That's what I pray we'll do today. And perhaps all day today, This would be the mark of the day.

This would be the legacy of this day that we pondered the love of God. We beheld the love of God that He has for us. You know, this word, behold, what manner, what manner of love, What manner of love is this? In other words, what kind of love is this? By the way, this exact phrase is used in some very astonishing contexts that really tell us, give us a sense of how it's used here.

This is the same word that Jesus used when he said, behold my hands and my feet. It's the same word that the Samaritan woman who said, come and see the man. Behold the man who told me everything I ever did. You know, it had been 60 years since John met Jesus. And even though he's been walking with Jesus for 60 years, he can't get enough of the love of God.

And he wants all of his children around him to go wider, to go longer, to go deeper, to go higher than they are in their understanding of the love of God. He's urging the church to pursue the knowledge of his love, to investigate it, to meditate deeply on the love of God. And this is a critical matter for our church as well. Is this the kind of church we are? Do we have such a heart within us to inspect, to mine the love of God as deep as it goes, to fly as high as it goes, and to run as wide as it is or to plunge as deep as the love of God is.

You know, when you read the scriptures to your family, this should be one of the great things that you always bring out. How does this show us the love of God that's in Christ Jesus? Well, we know that every law of God is the law of love, so that should be easy. But every narrative in the Bible is a narrative that displays some element of the love of God in Christ Jesus. And so it's a very practical admonition for us to listen to the way that John is addressing the church in Ephesus.

You know, before John wrote 1 John, the Apostle Paul prayed for this Ephesian church. John was the pastor of the church of Ephesus that Paul was writing to in Ephesians. And he prays that they would be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. So this was a critical matter from the very beginning of the Ephesian Church into its days of maturity. This was a church that always needed to plunge more deeply into the love of God and to go higher in it.

And I just want to suggest that every church is like that. Every true church should have such a great sense of the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ. It should be their greatest contemplation because the greatest event in all of history was an event of grace toward man. Notice he says, given unto us, behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us. Us.

People like us. Sinners. Unsuitable for adoption. Who would want to bring a sinner into their home? And this is exactly what God has done, is that He has brought us into His home.

You know, adoption agencies try to match children for compatibility, you know, their status, their environment. You know, parents will reject some adopting families because of their values or their practices. And of course, you know, this is common in our world today. But imagine God. Imagine who God will bring into his house.

You think about that for a minute. He brought you into his house. Oh, what were you like? What were some of the things that you trafficked in? Why would he bring someone like you into his house?

It's because of his mercy, because God is willing to adopt sinners. And it's like no other kind of love. What manner, what manner of love. This phrase is found in various places in the New Testament. When Jesus calmed the storm, Peter said, Behold, what manner of man is this?

What kind of man is this? You know, when the woman poured perfume on Jesus' feet, they said, what kind of woman is this? And the whole idea has to do with something otherworldly. What manner? He's really saying this is love from another planet.

This is not like anything you've ever seen or experienced or known in the world. It comes from another country. It's so it's a love like no other love behold What manner in other words what country does this love come from? It doesn't come from the heart of man. It doesn't come from America.

It doesn't come from Europe it comes from one place it comes from heaven what country And John is saying that this love is from a different country. You know, I think that's why we sing, you know, that song. What wondrous love is this, O my soul? What wondrous love is this, O my soul? What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of Bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul?

For my soul. To bear the dreadful curse for my soul." And then the hymn writer says, "'When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down, When I was sinking down, sinking down, when I was sinking down beneath God's righteous frown, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul. What manner, what kind of love is this? We were dead in our trespasses and sins. But it's also the love of a father.

Not only is it a love from another country, it's like no other kind of love. It is the love of a father. And it's really an explanation of John 3.16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And this is the love of a father.

Now, the Bible makes it very clear that God the Father loves the Son and the Son loves His children in the same way that God loved Him. And that's why Jesus said in John 17, I have loved them as you have loved me. And this love is the love of God the Father. And you know, not only are Christians friends, not only are they fellow heirs, not only are they disciples, but they are children. Children.

John likes to use this word children. He is, he's a grandfatherly type of man and he's teaching his little children And he wants his little children to know the greatest thing in the world, and that is the love of God. And because they, he understands that unto God, His children are a special treasure. That's what Deuteronomy 7.6 says. In Malachi 3.16, the people of God are His jewels.

In 1 Peter 2.9, They are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people. And here God calls them children. And then notice also it's love that's bestowed on us. Behold, what manner of love the Father has given or rather bestowed upon us. The NIV translates it lavished.

There are different synonyms of this word bestowed that we could use. You could say that he has invested his love. You could say he has put his love into you. He's imputed his love. Behold what manner of love the Father has injected into you.

He injects you with his love and it begins to grow. It's like a mustard seed that continues to grow large. It's like leaven that expands. His love is the same way. It's bestowed, it's injected, it's imputed into the heart of a Christian.

He puts his new nature into his children. His nature is grounded in love. And so, as is true with biological children who look like their parents, so it is that when the love of God is injected into a child of God, it's something that grows, and it's magnified as time goes on. And this love grows in two different directions. It grows first toward God.

The love of God is poured out and and we're told in a couple of places in scripture That we because of that we cry out Abba father. He puts a spirit in us and the spirit within us It's the spirit within us that cries out. He puts something in us. It's the Holy Spirit it's a spirit of love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and that spirit cries out it cries out Abba Father and secondly toward all men because as we will hear from John in his letter everyone who is born of God loves everyone who loves is born of God. And John speaks of this more elaborately in John 1st John 4 9 & 10.

In this the love of God was manifested toward us that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him, and this is love. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And so this is about the love of God that was bestowed upon us. Notice also, it's a love that changes your status. This is so critical.

And Maybe there's somebody here who really needs this today to recognize what God has done. It's easy to lose touch with it in your experience in the troubles of this life. But recognize what God has done. He has changed your status. Children of God, of God.

It's a legal declaration of a change in status. This is exactly what adoption is. It is a legal transformation of your status and you become a child of a new father. This is what adoption is and every Christian has been adopted. Their father was the devil and they got a new father such a kind father such a wise father like no other father and when your status is changed then there are two things that change about you.

And the first thing that changes is who you are. You are children with privileges. This is a position that you hold. And there are two positions in John, children of God and children of the devil. And the Children of God are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

So when you become a child, who you are changes. You take on a different name. The book of Revelation speaks of this fact of you receiving a new name. But it's not only who you are that changes, but what you are also changes. Also changes.

Because when you become a child of God, he shares his nature with you. And This was initiated by your father in heaven. Adoption is always initiated by parents, never by children. We were once known as children of the devil, but now we know who we are. We are children of God.

John says that we are called children of God. In other words, we are referred to differently. We are called children of God, particularly by Him. We are called children of God. That means that there has been a change in what you are.

You can say, I am His, and he is mine. I am his child. I am his daughter. I am his son. So this change takes place in the life of a believer.

And a Christian is a person who is loved by God. But there's another reality that John wants us to understand, that though he is loved by God, he's not always loved by the world. And that takes us to the next phrase, therefore the world does not know us. We will be separated from the world. This is also an act of love.

It might sound disappointing, but it actually is a great and marvelous act of love to separate you from the world, to make you not known by the world. This is what true Christianity does. It makes you not known by the world. And we should not be surprised when we're rejected by the people of this world. And we often have this false notion that once the love of God has been bestowed upon us, then everything is sweetness and light and it will be more popular, will be more wonderful, will be just so supernaturally sweet and fantastic and everybody will just see how fantastic a Christian is.

And many people actually, they try to do that. They try to show people what a Christian is I want to show what a Christian is I want to have I'm going to show people that I can have fun I want to show the people just what a Christian is but the problem is is that a true Christian doesn't please the world all that much. That's the reality. And, you know, if we think of Christianity as something that will make us more popular or more successful, we've really missed the whole point of the entire message of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ wants to separate you from the world, in the sense to separate you from its pollutions.

And so if we think of the blessing of the love of God as a trouble-free existence, then we've misunderstood the instruction of God toward us Because the love of God actually sees you through the difficulties that you are caused as a result of your rejecting the world and embracing Jesus Christ. Because I mean, if the love of God only operates, if the love of God is only felt when really good things are happening to you, then what will happen to you when something difficult happens to you? Will you say the love of God has fled? Is that what you'll say? Or will you say that the love of God is sustaining me through my trouble?

Well, those are two very, very different kinds of situations. Martin Luther said, The world cannot understand that a man accustomed to his sins and born in them has nevertheless been received by God into grace so that he both is called a child of God. The flesh does not grasp this and the world does not accept it. He's talking about this separating force that happens in a Christian's life. When you acknowledge your sins, the worldlings around you don't like that because it condemns them when you turn away from your sins they hate you because they love their sin that's the problem that John is speaking of the world does not know you And the truth is that when the love of God is poured out within your heart, not only does it accomplish so many blessings, It will make you so different that you will not be accepted.

You will not fit in. You'll have a desire for other things. You'll have an awareness of sin that other people do not want to have. Your ears will be opened to God. But the unbeliever does not want to hear.

The unbeliever does not want to see it. The unbeliever does not want to know the love of God. Their ears want to be full of so many other things. You know, recently I was swimming in the ocean with Debra and Claudia. It was this beautiful, calm day, crystal clear water, perfect temperature.

About 10 feet away from me, Claudia was floating. She was floating like she was asleep, like she was taking a nap. And I saw this wave coming, and I called out to her and she didn't hear me, and I called out louder, and then I yelled and she couldn't hear me, and the wave just washed right over her. And her ears were underwater, she couldn't hear. All she could hear was the rolling of the waves.

And of course, you know, I'm sure she was hearing the, you know, the, the singing of the whales and all these other things, but she could not hear anything else. She could not hear me cry out because she had so many other things going on in her ears that she couldn't hear the sound. This is exactly what happens to an unbeliever. The unbeliever is plugging his ears with every imaginable sound and plugging his life up with so many experiences so as not to hear the love of God and to hear the warnings that are there. This is the problem with the world.

They cannot hear, they do not want to hear, And they're submerged in the world and they've drowned out the very voice of God. But this is what the people of the world want. And they want many things to drown out the voice of God. And so they keep themselves very active in things so they would not be reminded of God. And so they go places and they listen to things and they watch things in order to make them happy.

And The reason this is happening is because they have not been separated from the world. They are still walking in the appreciation of the world. And so John, he gives the answer to why the world does not know us and The reason is because it did not know him. Do you see that in the text? They don't know us because they don't know him.

The world won't be able to relate with us because it cannot relate with Jesus. You know, he came into his own and his own did not receive him. You know, this is how a person becomes a child of God. The Lord Jesus Christ said in John 1 verse 10, He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him.

But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God. Those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the flesh, but of God." So this is what it means to be born of God. You turn away from the world and you turn toward God. Now, the world does not acknowledge Christianity. I mean, this was so apparent and so striking to me, particularly this last week in watching parts of the Republican National Convention.

And, you know, when you distance yourself from the world you're simultaneously distancing yourself from the people of this world we live in a divided world those those who know Christians and those who cannot relate to them. Those are the two kinds of people. If you love the people of God, you're a child of God. But if you don't know them, if you can't relate to them, if you can't relate to the things that they believe that are true from scripture, then it shows you who you really are. And in today's world, if you don't acknowledge the 58 genders you can choose from on Facebook, the world will not know you.

And it was remarkable to me to watch what was on the television this last week in this convention where we saw the very first gay person address the convention. And this was the founder of the transaction company PayPal and he got up there and was praising the Republican nominee And then after coming out in support, he told the crowd that he was gay. And what happened? The entire assembly rose up and gave him a standing ovation. And I thought, I don't know that world.

This world does not know me. Because when you believe the things that God has said, the world will not know you. And because your view of the nature of man is different. Your view of personhood is different. Your view of creation and the whole created order is different, your view of sexuality is different, your view of time is different, your view of money is different.

And in so many ways I think that the pressures of not, of being in the world but not of this world are certainly rising. I was thinking this week, we kind of live right now in what I'm just going to call a post-Obergfell world. There really has been a very sharp dividing line that's been developing, but that line has become so, so stark in modern times. You have those who have embraced the Obergefell worldview. They live in a totally different world and you cannot, and they cannot relate to you because you do not advance this new world and now the world order really is the advancement of this this whole world of the rejection of God The world will not know you if you turn to Jesus Christ.

It will think you have lost your mind. It will think that you need therapy in order to change your twisted brain. Because you actually believe what God said about creation and sexuality and the nature of man and any other thing. But the world has taken a very, very sharp turn. And the Lord Jesus Christ promised that the children of God would be hated.

In John 15, 19, he says, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. We have to recognize what Christianity will do to you. It will separate you from the world, and the world will hate you.

And if you can't embrace the hatred of the world, you may not have actually embraced Jesus Christ. If this desire to fit in is so strong That you want the people of this world to know you, to appreciate you, and you spend your life trying to get them to appreciate you, you may have found yourself on the wrong side. Peter made it very clear that a Christian would be set apart. James said that to be a friend of God would be an enemy. A friend of God would make you an enemy of the world in James 4.

Jesus said that the children of God will be a people hated by nations. In Matthew chapter 10, 22, Nations will hate you. Now that's a little bit intimidating when you have the power of the state at work to hate you and to hate your values. And particularly as you find yourself on the other side of the dividing line of a post-Obergfell world that we live in right now. And people will most likely suffer suffer significantly in a post-Obergfell world, in corporations and and various things like that.

Jesus said that the children of God would be persecuted. He said, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake because they do not know Him who sent me." This whole matter of knowing God and you being known because you know God is the critical matter of your status in the world. So while you are a child of God and He takes care of you and He holds you fast and He puts a roof over your head and He gives you clothing and food and He sustains you, though God does that the world will not appreciate you and you'll receive the hatred of the world.

That's why John says in first John three 13, do not be surprised if the world hates you. And Jesus said, Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be as wise as serpents and harmless of doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.

But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak, for it will be given you in that hour what you should speak, for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you, because you are a child and you have a Father, and He shows you what to say in the hardest time of your life when you're standing before kings and governors. But the child of God has a loving father, a child of God is adopted, child of God is separated from the world. And then after speaking of this reality of being separated from the world, he speaks about the reality of your transformation because in his love he transforms you. In verses 2 and 3, beloved, now we are children of God And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." So in the love of God, we become like him. Now notice just very quickly in this verse how John refers to the church in Ephesus, beloved, beloved.

It's one of his favorite words to use for the Church, beloved, because he loves them. And John loves the people in the Church who are being sanctified. And then he speaks of this doctrine of glorification when he is revealed. When is that? This is the second coming of Jesus Christ.

When he comes, all things will be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. He will be revealed and what will happen will be a fulfillment of Romans 8 29. We will be conformed into the image of his son. Now We are being conformed, we are being transformed, we are being sanctified according to the image of his son. But he's talking about that time at the second coming of Jesus Christ when you will be completely transformed.

And we were predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many, in other words, The Lord Jesus Christ's life is a mirror of our life in glorification. He came to earth, He took on sinful flesh, He suffered, and He was raised, and we were raised up with Him. We follow him in both his humiliation and in his glorification. But what will happen, what we will be in being like him is something that we can't even understand. That's why he says, it has not yet been revealed what we shall be.

In other words, it's beyond imagination. Well, we do know several things. Every tear will be wiped away from your eyes. You'll receive a new body. There are all kinds of things that we know about this time, but we don't know everything.

It's astonishing what really will happen. And that's why in 1 Corinthians 2, 9, the apostle Paul says, I has not seen nor ear heard Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. There are some things that have been revealed, but there are some things that we just can't even conceive. Our brains can't even contain the thought of it.

And so it's a glorification that is remarkable. This is God's delight in His children. He gives you a new name. He protects you. He redeems you.

He forgives you. He sanctifies you. And in his everlasting delight in his children, he makes his children like Christ. It's such an act of love. To be delivered from yourself is the greatest act of love that anyone can do for you.

And this is what Jesus Christ has done in his death and his resurrection. You know, the Apostle Paul said in 1st Corinthians 13, we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. That's what he's talking about here. By beholding his face will be transformed into the image of his glory, as Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, into the image of the heavenly man. Our resurrection will make us like the heavenly man as Paul argues in 1st Corinthians 15 verse 42.

He says your body is sown a natural body and it's raised up a spiritual body. And so to be a child of God is to have a father, to have all the privileges of a father, to be a different person than you were, and to know that He will make you like make you like Him, finally. You know, how much do you wish He would transform you more? Well this will all be fulfilled, and this is the love of God, that He would make you like Him. And then we will be purified like Christ is pure, another manifestation of His love.

You know, just in this text, you know, His love is manifested that you have a Father who loves you. You have a new name through your adoption. He separates you from this world and the things that would destroy you. He makes you like him. And if that were not enough, then he does something in this life.

He purifies you. He purifies you, just as He is pure. And so John now is speaking of the purifying power of the heart that has set its hope in Christ. Do you notice that word, everyone who has this hope? Hope.

That's the central matter of this verse. You have your hope in him. It's another way of saying that you treasure him. It's another way of saying that you think he's the most beautiful thing in the world. It's another way of saying that he's the wisest, the best, the most powerful, and He is good.

He is so good. And because of that you have hope. You only have hope in things that are good. That's the way that this verse is constructed. Everyone who has this hope, This hope of glorification, this hope of being absolutely transformed.

You believe that He is going to transform you. When you really believe that, you purify yourself just as He is pure. And so this purification happens because of one thing, because you hope in Him. Because you hope in him. There's a difference, there's a vast difference in being purified or pornified.

And The difference in those who are pornifying themselves and those who are purifying themselves rests on one word, hope. Where you place your hope, what you treasure is the difference between how pornified or how purified you'll be in the society You don't you don't accountability your partner your your own accountability partner yourself into purity The way The way that you make yourself pure is by hoping in Him. In other words, by knowing that He is all good, He is all love, He is all happiness, that holiness is happiness. That's how you purify yourself. It's by fixing your eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of your faith.

Nobody ever was made pure by some internet blocking software. It's the software of your heart. Soft toward God, hardened toward the world, dead to the world and alive toward God. That's what makes the difference. If your hope is in Him, then you will purify yourself by turning away.

So the Only hope for escape from pornification is to have your hope in Him. It's a purifying hope. And it's the mark of a Christian to be purified. Because if you're being pornified, You're not becoming like Him. You're becoming twisted and mangled into a whole another image because Jesus Christ changes His children And those who hope in Christ purify themselves.

You cannot be a Christian and not be changed. And unless you're being changed, you should doubt whether you're a Christian. But it all rests on what you truly hope in deep within your heart. What does your heart desire? Do you have affection for Him?

Or do you have affection for this world? And that will make all the difference. Now this is not self-purification by the way. This does not mean that Christians create their own sanctification by their own power. John the Baptist already said a man can receive nothing unless it's given him from heaven.

He is saying that purification comes by one's affection for Jesus Christ, hoping in him, following him, obeying him, walking in the light, walking in obedience. And so John here, of course, has been appealing to this church that they would know the love of God. And he has itemized many indications of that love. In the last two weeks, particularly, we've just seen one manifestation of God's love after another by the sending of the Holy Spirit to anoint you, the giving of the word of truth, by causing you to abide, by giving you a father, by adopting you, by separating you from the world. He's piling up all these manifestations of His love for you.

And John is writing to a church that has struggled with the love of God. I'm pretty confident. Because when the apostles speak to this church, they always bring this up. And at the very last, as John speaks the words of Jesus Christ to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2. He says, to the angel of the church of Ephesus, write these things.

He who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and you have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works, the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent." And so John is making this appeal to a real church in space and time and in history probably existing around 90 AD and He's calling them back to the love of God. He wants them to see how wide it is and to itemize all the different ways of its width and how long it is and to see it out in the horizon, to see how deep it is, to somehow plumb the depths, to dig up more and more of the love of God and to see how high it is. It's higher than the heavens. He wants them to be immersed in the love of God. He wants them to see how much He loves them.

He wants them to see what a kind father He is. He wants them to see what it's like to be adopted. He wants them to see the goodness of being separated from the world. He wants them to know that he's going to purify them. He's going to change them.

He's going to glorify them. This is what John desires for the church. And I think it's right to say that He desires that for us, that we would know the love of God more than any other time in our lives. And even today, a day set aside to glory in the goodness of Jesus Christ, We have the opportunity today to speak of the various manifestations of the love of God that is in Jesus Christ. You know, I was thinking about this last night when I was going to bed And Deborah and I were in bed and I opened up to her Psalm 23 because it was July 23rd and it was the the night to read Psalm 23 And it's It's a psalm above the love of God.

And the psalm ends with what it means to be a child, where you have a home, where you're fed, where you're clothed, where you're safely home in the house of the Lord. And it's not temporary. But it struck me that this would be the psalm for the night, when the next day my whole job in life would be to declare the love of God to a little church in North Carolina. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, and yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." And then this last phrase, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and this is why John says Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called children of God. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the many ways you love us.

We are sorry for the many ways that we ignore your love and do not praise you for it. I pray you would raise that praise today in this place. Anyone, oh Lord, who does not know your love, I pray that you would move their hearts today to love you. And if you are moving in their hearts, that they would see it, and they would turn and believe and be saved to be a child, to have a new name, and to rest in your house forever. Amen.