WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:08.339 If you're using a church Bible, we're going to read chapter 2 verse 28 to chapter 3 verse 3. 00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:15.919 So we're carrying on thinking about Christian identity and what is true of us if we have faith 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:24.400 in the Lord Jesus. And here once again we're going to focus on this reality that as Christians we are 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:30.919 children of God. So let's hear God's Word again. 1 John 2 and at verse 28, 00:00:30.919 --> 00:00:40.799 And now, dear children, continue in Him, in Jesus, so that when He appears we may be confident and 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:48.119 unashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who 00:00:48.119 --> 00:00:56.119 does what is right has been born of Him. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, 00:00:56.780 --> 00:01:03.820 that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are. The reason the world does not know 00:01:03.820 --> 00:01:12.299 us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God and what we will be has not 00:01:12.299 --> 00:01:20.319 yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:30.959 Him as He is. All who have this hope in Him purify themselves just as He is pure. So that's our text 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:40.599 for this evening. We are children of God. Let's begin by thinking about family values for a moment or two. 00:01:40.599 --> 00:01:48.019 So in the October holidays, we did a house swap with a family that we'd never met before. But within 00:01:48.019 --> 00:01:55.140 probably five minutes, we had a pretty good picture of some of the things that they valued most. 00:01:55.799 --> 00:02:04.280 There was train memorabilia everywhere. Very important. Open a cupboard. And there was a whole 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:11.860 array of wonderful teas for us to choose from. There were family photos everywhere. And there were 00:02:11.860 --> 00:02:18.639 little inscriptions and Bible verses everywhere. Didn't know them, but within a few minutes we got 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:25.979 a sense of what they valued. Every family, I think, will have a set of shared values. Sometimes those are 00:02:25.979 --> 00:02:32.520 written down. You know, in this house we do. You've maybe seen those. Often they are unwritten. But those 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:38.660 values that we share serve to shape us and the way that we operate as a family. 00:02:39.880 --> 00:02:46.200 Now the story is told of the Apostle John who wrote this letter when he was a very old man, 00:02:46.300 --> 00:02:52.820 unable really to walk by himself, that he would be carried on some form of a stretcher between house 00:02:52.820 --> 00:02:58.960 churches where he lived. And the only sermon he was able to deliver, maybe the only sermon he wanted 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:06.320 to deliver was, little children love one another. Because he understood very well that in God's family 00:03:06.320 --> 00:03:12.719 we are to value love. That love is the dominant family value. So if you were to read this letter, 00:03:12.780 --> 00:03:18.260 let me encourage you to read this letter later, you'll see the dominant theme that comes again and again 00:03:18.259 --> 00:03:25.780 is love. There is a lot about ethics. How should the family of God live? And again, those ethics center 00:03:25.780 --> 00:03:35.079 on the significance of love. So Christians come to experience God's love in the gospel. And we discover 00:03:35.079 --> 00:03:40.439 this wonderful truth that God loved us so much that he sent his son Jesus to die in our place for our sin, 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:48.039 to forgive us, and to bring us into his family. Christians then profess their love for God, 00:03:48.039 --> 00:03:55.039 and for Jesus his son, that we seek to live that out in the way that we live. We express that love 00:03:55.039 --> 00:04:02.639 in the way that we treat one another, and in the way we seek to show obedience to God and his words. 00:04:02.959 --> 00:04:11.019 And you'll find that in this letter. But our focus is really a return to where Bob had us in week one, 00:04:11.079 --> 00:04:15.359 but maybe with a slight twist. In week one, if you were here in Christian Identity, we thought 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:20.740 personally, I am a child of God. That's a wonderful, significant truth. Now we're going to think 00:04:20.740 --> 00:04:26.439 about it from a corporate point of view, that we are children of God, because that's the emphasis 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:33.460 as it falls here in John's letter. So the first thing for us to recognize, and it's right in the 00:04:33.460 --> 00:04:40.960 center of our text, is that children of God are loved by God, that we who know and love Jesus, 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:46.759 we are loved by God. It's there in chapter 3 and verse 1. Let me read that again. 00:04:47.379 --> 00:04:53.779 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God, 00:04:54.180 --> 00:05:00.459 and that is what we are. So right at the center of this section, right at the center of our faith, 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:07.259 right at the center of the life of the people of God, is this truth that God graciously chooses 00:05:07.259 --> 00:05:13.579 to pour His love on rebel sinners, transforming us into children of God? 00:05:14.579 --> 00:05:19.300 If we were reading this from the King James Version, we would hear familiar words from many, 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:25.819 behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us. And that's actually helpful here. 00:05:26.699 --> 00:05:33.039 The question, you know, what manner of love is this? The idea that this is a love that is foreign, 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:38.300 this is not a love that we typically are going to see around us. It comes from somewhere different. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:44.980 So when we go on a foreign holiday, we see new things. Things are different. Sometimes they stop 00:05:44.980 --> 00:05:53.080 us in our tracks and they make us go, wow. John is reminding us that God's love is out of this world. 00:05:53.580 --> 00:06:01.900 There is nothing like it, nothing compares to it. And that love is intended to stop us in our tracks, 00:06:01.899 --> 00:06:10.239 so that we would behold, so that we would contemplate. John understands that God's love 00:06:10.239 --> 00:06:20.319 is so powerful and so beautiful, it is a masterpiece worth gazing on, not just something we glance at and 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:28.659 walk on by. And so the Apostle John wants God's children to be amazed over and over by the love of 00:06:28.660 --> 00:06:33.840 God. A couple of particular aspects to draw our attention to when we think about God's love here. 00:06:35.080 --> 00:06:41.820 Let's think about the truth that God's love is a gracious love. Okay, so John, who wrote this letter, 00:06:41.900 --> 00:06:49.740 also wrote the Gospel of John. And in John chapter 1, verse 12 and 13, we're reminded that to all who did 00:06:49.740 --> 00:06:55.580 receive Jesus, many people reject Jesus, but to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, 00:06:55.579 --> 00:07:03.099 He gave the right to become children of God, children born of God, or those familiar words 00:07:03.099 --> 00:07:10.879 from John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:16.579 Him shall not perish but have eternal life. What does that reveal to us about God and His love? 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:22.879 Those verses remind us that it's God who acts. It's God who takes the initiative. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:30.519 It's God who gives His Son to be the Savior the world needs. It's God who gives the gift of faith to His people 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:38.560 that they might believe. It is God through His Son who gives eternal life. It is God who gives this new status 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:45.199 that the people who believe in Jesus are adopted children of God. It's not just in His Gospel, 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:53.159 it's here in His letter also. If we were in chapter 4 of 1 John in verse 10, we read there, 00:07:53.300 --> 00:08:01.000 this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:09.800 for our sins. That language of atoning sacrifice is the idea of propitiation, a very big word, 00:08:10.279 --> 00:08:18.160 the idea being that we are by nature and by choice rebels and enemies against our God. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:26.000 We are guilty sinners who break God's law, and the God who is holy and who is righteous 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:35.460 is righteously angry at our sin. And the truth from God's Word is that the punishment that should fall 00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:45.879 from God should fall on us as lawbreakers. But by God's grace, there is a sacrifice provided so that 00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:51.940 God's holy anger, instead of falling on the people who deserve it, it falls somewhere else. 00:08:51.940 --> 00:08:59.980 There is a diversion that takes place. When traffic is diverted, you expect to go on this route, 00:09:00.040 --> 00:09:07.900 but it takes another route. God's just anger is diverted so it doesn't fall on us, it falls instead 00:09:07.900 --> 00:09:18.920 on Jesus, His Son, who is graciously provided as that sacrifice that deals with the holy anger of God. 00:09:18.919 --> 00:09:27.779 So that God's justice is satisfied, and at the same time, His gracious love and mercy is put on display, 00:09:28.019 --> 00:09:36.199 that through the death of Jesus, peace is established through faith. And sinful people can become 00:09:36.199 --> 00:09:45.059 children of God, because we deserve it, but because of God's grace and His having provided His Son, Jesus. 00:09:45.059 --> 00:09:52.859 This letter puts it another way, 1 John 3 verse 16. This is how we know what love is. 00:09:53.599 --> 00:09:58.399 Lots of people have different ideas about love. Here's how John defines it for us biblically. 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:03.000 This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. 00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:13.139 The love that comes from God is gracious and sacrificial. It involves the perfect holy Son of God 00:10:13.139 --> 00:10:21.659 bearing our sin, facing the wrath of God. Such is His love. And it's that act, and the results that flow 00:10:21.659 --> 00:10:29.559 from that act that make us children of God. So it's no wonder then that John invites us to stop and to 00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:38.279 admire and to say, see, behold, what great love. We were down in Bristol, the Bristol area for our 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:42.959 house swap. And when you go down to Bristol, many people will visit this bridge that's on our screen, 00:10:43.079 --> 00:10:49.839 Brunel's famous Clifton suspension bridge. You can pay money. There's a visitor center. You can walk 00:10:49.839 --> 00:10:59.379 across it. You can drive across it. It is an architectural wonder. There is a far greater wonder 00:10:59.379 --> 00:11:06.519 here in 1 John chapter 3 verse 1. It's the wonder of the gospel. You know, look at that bridge and you 00:11:06.519 --> 00:11:12.539 recognize there's a gulf that's being bridged. In the gospel, we discover there is a huge gulf, 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:19.899 a huge gap that exists between a perfectly holy God and us as sinful people. And yet the God of grace 00:11:19.899 --> 00:11:30.799 has bridged that gap through the cross of the Lord Jesus. And as we understand the gospel, we're led to 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:36.859 recognize that we do admire the gospel. We admire the love of God, but we don't stop there. We need to, 00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:44.120 as it were, walk across so that we might receive, so that we might enjoy, that we might enter into the 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:51.579 joy of being children of God because of God's gracious love. And so John wants us to stop and 00:11:51.580 --> 00:11:58.980 to admire and to reflect and to consider God's grace, but also to recognize that God's love 00:11:58.980 --> 00:12:04.759 has a transforming effect. To go back to verse 1, he says, 00:12:04.860 --> 00:12:08.680 see what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God, 00:12:09.100 --> 00:12:17.660 and that is what we are. And there's this wonderful reality built into this verse that says to us, 00:12:17.659 --> 00:12:28.339 we are children of God by fact and not by feeling. God's love does something, brings a definite 00:12:28.339 --> 00:12:39.679 change, makes us children of God, gives us this new identity. That God's love transforms our legal 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:46.559 status before God is changed. Our passport is now changed, so it reads we are citizens of heaven. 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:55.459 Now we function differently in this world because we have a new identity. We become a pilgrim people. 00:12:55.599 --> 00:13:04.399 We become exiles. This world is not our true home. Verse 1 continues, the reason the world does not 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:11.059 know us is that it did not know him. Jesus came into this world that he made. He came to his own people, 00:13:11.059 --> 00:13:19.419 but his own people didn't receive him, didn't recognize him. And in a similar way, as the people 00:13:19.419 --> 00:13:24.939 of God, as we're given this new identity, we become distinctly different. We're a set-apart people. 00:13:25.059 --> 00:13:33.639 We're a holy people. We're in the world, but not of the world. And as we thought about this morning, 00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:40.759 sometimes that will lead to opposition and difficulty because of this new identity that we have. So we 00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:47.480 have this Christian privilege that God has loved us, that he has changed us, that he's put his name 00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:56.399 on us, and he's given us this identity that is fixed and permanent. And through knowing the Lord Jesus 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:05.600 Christ, we have this invitation to enjoy, not just to watch, but to enjoy the out-of-this-world love of 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:14.459 God as we trust in Jesus and what he did on the cross. And what becomes clear in John's thinking is it's 00:14:14.459 --> 00:14:22.419 God's love for his people that is the foundation of our shared faith. It's this reality that we are 00:14:22.419 --> 00:14:30.419 brothers and sisters in Christ, eternally known and loved and chosen and saved. And we share this joy, 00:14:31.139 --> 00:14:37.719 this joy of God lavishing his love on us. You hear that word lavish under what you think of. 00:14:38.319 --> 00:14:44.839 Perhaps like me, you think of a great meal, a great feast. The Christian family are invited to feast 00:14:44.839 --> 00:14:52.059 together on God's amazing grace and love shown towards us in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the 00:14:52.059 --> 00:14:59.939 foundation of our faith, and it's also the foundation of our shared fellowship. We should be called 00:14:59.939 --> 00:15:04.619 children of God. That is what we are. This isn't just a personal, a private thing. It's a corporate 00:15:04.619 --> 00:15:12.219 thing. Again, it's a reminder that the church isn't built like every other social club. It doesn't come 00:15:12.219 --> 00:15:20.439 into existence because we share a certain culture. Rather, it's built on this spiritual fellowship. 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:25.620 It's built on the reality of union with Christ, shared communion with the Lord Jesus. 00:15:27.760 --> 00:15:36.880 I wonder as we look around a church gathering like this, how do we see one another? What do we see as 00:15:36.880 --> 00:15:44.160 we look around? And what John would have us to do is he would have us to put on gospel glasses 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:53.179 to see one another as we are in Christ, to understand that we are children of God, loved by God. 00:15:55.259 --> 00:16:03.240 So that's the first thing. Children of God are loved by God. The second thing, and this is so important 00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:09.159 for our identity also, is that the children of God share a glorious future hope. 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:19.560 Again, got me thinking about family life. Family life often brings with it that sense of happy 00:16:19.560 --> 00:16:25.740 anticipation. You know, we think about whether it's from your childhood or just now. Often, 00:16:26.100 --> 00:16:31.899 our families, we're looking forward. Maybe we're looking forward to the next holiday, or the next time we can 00:16:31.899 --> 00:16:37.500 gather together all in one place. Maybe it's just looking forward to having time to share a meal 00:16:37.500 --> 00:16:44.600 together. But there's always a sense of anticipation. It's always been true of families. There are hard 00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:51.240 times, but there are good times that we anticipate. And the same is wonderfully true in the family of God. 00:16:51.240 --> 00:17:00.679 And John wants to remind us of this future happy anticipation as a truth that would be so amazing to us 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:07.259 that it would keep us persevering in following Jesus. And it would create a longing for what is 00:17:07.259 --> 00:17:12.720 still to come. So John's writing to a group of people, and some of their leaders have left. They've 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:19.240 decided to stop following Jesus. And they're preaching another message. And the church has been rattled by 00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:24.240 that and shaken by that. And so John wants to reassure them in the present, you're loved by God, 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:31.940 but to give them this great future hope as well. Two aspects that we can draw to our attention. In 00:17:31.940 --> 00:17:37.900 verse 28, here's one aspect of this glorious hope, that for those who are trusting in Jesus, 00:17:37.900 --> 00:17:47.740 we can have confidence at Christ's coming. And now, dear children, continue in Him, 00:17:47.740 --> 00:17:55.740 so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming. 00:17:58.120 --> 00:18:01.599 You'll maybe notice there's four C's in there. I have four different words we can see. That's 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:05.880 quite helpful for us. So notice that this is addressed to dear children. So he's going to 00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:11.059 talk about hope, but this is a specific hope. This isn't just a general hope. This is a hope 00:18:11.059 --> 00:18:17.019 for those who belong to God, those who are trusting in Jesus, who become children of God, 00:18:17.740 --> 00:18:24.539 and what does He say to those children? He says, continue in Him. John loves that language of 00:18:24.539 --> 00:18:31.039 continue in Him, abide in Him, remain in Him. We heard it, didn't we, in John chapter 15. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:37.680 I am the vine, you are the branches. And the church then, as Jesus was speaking, 00:18:37.779 --> 00:18:43.920 were invited to remain in Christ. Our faith must be rooted and established in Christ. We must remain 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:54.160 in Christ's words, trusting and obeying the truth of God's Word, the truth of the gospel. And so we must 00:18:54.160 --> 00:19:02.400 continue in our union with Christ, remain in Him as we look to enjoy this hope. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:15.100 John also reminds them that there is a definite point in view, so that when He appears, is mentioned, 00:19:16.100 --> 00:19:23.900 and it says, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming. So there's this reality 00:19:23.900 --> 00:19:34.200 that Jesus will appear one day. He came once in humility, born in a stable. He will come again 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:42.259 in glory, and everybody will see Him, and everybody will stand before Him on the judgment day. And 00:19:42.259 --> 00:19:49.220 that's what's in view in verse 28, and there's two different responses on that day. And so even as we 00:19:49.220 --> 00:19:52.900 think about the confidence that we can have as Christians, there's a reminder of the importance 00:19:52.900 --> 00:19:59.300 of being right with Jesus today. If we want to have confidence for our future, if we want to meet 00:19:59.300 --> 00:20:04.540 Jesus with confidence rather than shrinking back in shame because of unbelief, we need to put our trust 00:20:04.540 --> 00:20:17.560 in Jesus today, that His coming would be joy for us and not shame. But Jesus is writing to dear 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:24.839 children. He's writing to believers. And so He's saying that coming of Christ, which could bring fear 00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:31.960 if you didn't have faith, will lead you to be confident because you do trust in Christ. He wants 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:39.559 to reassure believers. If you know, if you're living in God's love for us in Christ, if you love Him, 00:20:39.559 --> 00:20:48.599 you can have bold confidence to meet Him. That the return of Jesus will be like the joy of homecoming, 00:20:48.599 --> 00:20:59.319 as we're welcomed into our eternal home for all eternity. So there's that great hope and confidence 00:20:59.319 --> 00:21:09.960 that we can have at Christ's coming. And connected to that in chapter 3 and verse 2, there is this great 00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:18.519 hope that when Christ appears, we will be conformed to Christ's image. A fancy way of saying we shall be 00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:25.799 made like Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be is not yet been made known, 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:32.759 but we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 00:21:35.480 --> 00:21:40.039 Just to think more broadly about this letter, John, in his Gospel and in this letter, he loves 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:43.720 opposites. So he'll speak about light, and he'll speak about dark, and he'll speak about love, and he'll 00:21:43.720 --> 00:21:49.720 speak about hate. And as we hear these statements, 00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:58.360 sometimes as Christians, it makes us very aware of our own feelings. So for example, in chapter 1 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:06.200 and verse 6, we hear this, if we claim to have fellowship with Him, and yet walk in the darkness, 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:15.400 we lie. But the reality is, even as Christians, all too often we find ourselves choosing the darkness of 00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:21.800 sin. We know we belong to Him, but still often we make wrong choices and we choose darkness instead 00:22:21.800 --> 00:22:28.280 of light. Chapter 3, verse 11, this is the message you heard from the beginning, we should love one 00:22:28.280 --> 00:22:33.800 another. It's really clear how we should treat one another, but too often instead of showing love, 00:22:33.800 --> 00:22:40.040 we'll find ourselves grumbling, perhaps we'll find ourselves gossiping, perhaps even we'll find ourselves 00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:47.960 hating others whom God loves and whom Jesus died for. And that's simply to say that there is this 00:22:47.960 --> 00:22:54.839 tension that exists within us, that we can at one and the same time know that we are God's children 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:02.519 and be aware that we are at the same time works in progress. That we have been made in the image of 00:23:02.519 --> 00:23:08.039 God, but that image has been defaced by sin. Remember we thought about that? God is at work in restoring and 00:23:08.039 --> 00:23:14.279 renovating, but that work is not complete. And so often we feel that tension in the way that we live. 00:23:14.279 --> 00:23:20.519 But here's the great hope that is a day coming when Christ appears, when that renovating work of the 00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:30.359 Holy Spirit will be complete. Again, to go back a couple of weeks, remember we used this illustration, 00:23:30.359 --> 00:23:37.799 the Just Stop Oil protesters throwing soup on Van Gogh's masterpiece, The Sunflowers. We saw 00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:44.200 the masterpiece that was spoiled and that was damaged, but that masterpiece was then restored 00:23:44.200 --> 00:23:51.639 by the experts and returned to its original glory. And that's a helpful picture of the work that God 00:23:51.639 --> 00:24:01.559 does in each of us. And on that day, the day when Christ appears, that's the day John gives us hope 00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:11.799 that when our trust is in Jesus, we will be conformed. We will be made like the risen Christ. The image of God 00:24:11.799 --> 00:24:18.359 will be perfectly restored. Notice that John says there's an element of mystery about what's still to 00:24:18.359 --> 00:24:26.200 come for the people of God. What we will be has not yet been made known. There are things that are simply 00:24:26.200 --> 00:24:34.120 too much for us to take in, too wonderful for us to be able to grasp, but here are things we do know. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:43.799 We know, end of verse 2, that when Christ appears, so His appearing is definite, we shall be like Him 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:48.039 and we shall see Him as He is. 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:51.960 We shall be like Him as He is. 00:24:51.960 --> 00:24:59.960 What amazing love that would work in us to the extent that there is a day coming when you and I, 00:24:59.960 --> 00:25:13.000 if our faith is in Jesus, will be morally perfect. When we will be unable to sin. When we will be perfected 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:21.720 in our love towards God and towards one another. There is a day coming for the Christian when we will be 00:25:21.720 --> 00:25:31.640 as beautiful in character as the Jesus we meet in the Gospels. That's a loving transformation. 00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:39.240 That should make us stop and behold and worship. Back to family anticipation. 00:25:39.240 --> 00:25:44.759 You can probably think about this. Think about a family gathering that you've really looked forward to. 00:25:45.319 --> 00:25:52.120 Think about a holiday that you've really anticipated. The reality that often is met 00:25:53.079 --> 00:25:59.799 is that something or someone can spoil it. It could be something as simple as traffic. It could be 00:25:59.799 --> 00:26:05.079 something as simple as an argument over a board game. It could be a discussion that turns in a really 00:26:05.079 --> 00:26:12.679 negative way. Often we find that that great expectation is then tainted because of something 00:26:12.679 --> 00:26:21.159 that happens because we are not perfect. And here's why I bring that up. When we hear the reality, 00:26:21.159 --> 00:26:28.679 you and I will spend eternity together. For John that's intended to make us worship with joy, 00:26:28.680 --> 00:26:38.279 it might make us groan on the inside. It might even make us fearful. Because sometimes we really struggle 00:26:38.279 --> 00:26:46.440 with one another in the Christian family. It can be hard living life together because we are saints and 00:26:46.440 --> 00:26:54.840 we are sinners. And what John would say to us again is that we need to learn to see ourselves and our future 00:26:54.839 --> 00:27:00.679 differently and see one another differently. We again need to put on those gospel glasses because 00:27:00.679 --> 00:27:05.959 heaven is going to be different. The new creation is going to be different. Why? Because it's a world 00:27:05.959 --> 00:27:11.959 of perfect love. It's a world where there is no sin. So we will positively cross the room to greet one 00:27:11.959 --> 00:27:16.519 another rather than cross the room to avoid one another as we might find ourselves doing sometimes. 00:27:16.519 --> 00:27:28.279 And at the centre of our joy, at the centre of our glorious future, we see Jesus. We get to worship 00:27:28.279 --> 00:27:36.440 our glorious, loving Saviour. And that is something worth thinking about and that is something worth 00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:43.160 talking about because this is a shared future hope. Think about it in our families. You've got a holiday to 00:27:43.160 --> 00:27:48.279 look forward to. Typically you're going to be talking about it as you get ready, as you're waiting. 00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:56.120 We should be talking together about this wonderful future that we have together. So I remember when I was 00:27:57.640 --> 00:28:02.600 eight, nine, ten, there was an old lady in our church called Morang Makai. I remember two things 00:28:02.600 --> 00:28:10.920 about Morang Makai. One, she made the best double-decker pancakes on the planet. But she also spoke to us 00:28:10.920 --> 00:28:18.039 eight, nine, ten-year-olds often encouraging us to think about the fact that Jesus was coming again. 00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:24.039 At that point, I wasn't even a Christian, but I got that sense that she was wonderfully excited 00:28:24.039 --> 00:28:31.960 about this shared hope for all the people of God. I still remember the pancakes, but I remember that hope. 00:28:31.960 --> 00:28:39.319 It seemed so surprising and so wonderful and so fresh in her imagination. May that be true for 00:28:40.039 --> 00:28:44.440 all of us as we understand this hope that's for us, but it's a hope that we share. 00:28:46.039 --> 00:28:54.039 One last thing to recognize in this text that's really brief. The children of God, we share his family values. 00:28:54.920 --> 00:29:01.319 John's logic as he talks to the church of the Lord Jesus. He says, this is who you are, your children of God. 00:29:01.799 --> 00:29:10.279 He says, this is your glorious future. But then he takes it one step further. He says, so here is how you and I should live 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:15.159 today. God's family is to look and to feel a certain way. 00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:27.640 God's family is to look and to see, this is what the family of God values. Just as it didn't take me too 00:29:27.640 --> 00:29:34.920 long with a house swap to understand, this is some of what this family values. It should be apparent 00:29:34.920 --> 00:29:47.480 what the family of God values. And also just as children take on the likeness of a parent or parents, 00:29:48.600 --> 00:29:53.720 there is this reality that John points to, that children loved by God, children who are saved by 00:29:53.720 --> 00:29:58.600 grace, children who are filled with the Spirit, we will more and more take on the likeness of our Father 00:29:58.599 --> 00:30:08.119 and of Jesus our elder brother. So look at chapter 2 in verse 29. This is in reference to Jesus. If you 00:30:08.119 --> 00:30:15.159 know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. 00:30:16.039 --> 00:30:23.159 So there is Jesus who lived in perfect righteousness, the Son of God who always lived in line with God's 00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:31.560 standards, lived in perfect obedience, lived with perfect love. And one of the tests to show here 00:30:31.560 --> 00:30:39.560 as a child of God is that we are practicing righteousness by the grace of God, with the help 00:30:39.560 --> 00:30:45.800 of the Spirit, seeking to be more and more like our elder brother. Righteous because he is righteous. 00:30:45.800 --> 00:30:53.080 And then verse 3, notice the connection, all who have this hope, this hope at Christ's appearing, 00:30:53.079 --> 00:31:01.399 all who have this hope in him, purify themselves just as he is pure. So the idea that we find in the 00:31:01.399 --> 00:31:12.199 Old Testament of purity, of being ceremonially pure and clean and fit for God's presence, Jesus is the 00:31:12.199 --> 00:31:22.919 perfectly pure one, utterly blameless and spotless, morally, spiritually perfect. But there is this wonderful 00:31:22.920 --> 00:31:32.279 truth that God that God is making his children pure, that we are called to participate again with the help of 00:31:32.279 --> 00:31:40.759 the Spirit in seeking to purify ourselves and seeking to put off the old and to put on the new. And we do 00:31:40.759 --> 00:31:49.079 that of course with a wonderful promise that we will be like Jesus one day, that one day we too will be 00:31:49.079 --> 00:32:00.759 pure and righteous when we are with Jesus, made like Jesus. In John 15, John spoke about those who abide in 00:32:00.759 --> 00:32:06.119 Christ, those who remain in Christ, those who remain in Christ, will bear fruit. You can think about bearing 00:32:06.119 --> 00:32:17.640 the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5, 22 and 23. As the Spirit is at work in us, making us more like Jesus, 00:32:18.839 --> 00:32:27.559 we will be displaying this love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness, and goodness, and faithfulness, 00:32:27.559 --> 00:32:34.200 and gentleness, and self-control. That's a perfect description of Jesus, perfect character. 00:32:35.240 --> 00:32:43.319 That's what God is looking to establish in his believing people. We're not made perfect yet, 00:32:44.599 --> 00:32:53.399 but we're called to pursue righteousness and purity, knowing that one day we will be. We aim for holiness 00:32:53.400 --> 00:33:00.759 today because we know that that's what eternity is going to be like. We will be righteous and pure 00:33:01.480 --> 00:33:08.280 in heaven and in the new heavens and the new earth. We want to avoid culture shock. We want to live as 00:33:08.280 --> 00:33:19.560 closely to that reality as we can today. Because we are deeply loved children of God, 00:33:19.559 --> 00:33:27.720 God. And because we share this glorious hope, together we want to bear this family likeness 00:33:28.839 --> 00:33:44.839 in our church for his glory and for the sake of his kingdom. Let's pray about that together.