Shall we turn today to the third chapter of this epistle of John? Just a very brief review of what God has given to us in the precious book of this epistle, bringing before us the great and the precious subject of God the Father and his family. We have divided the whole epistle into two sections, presenting in the first two chapters God the Father with his family and that family in fellowship with him. The second section which we commence today begins in chapter three to the end of the book and particularly touches upon God the Father and his family with its responsibility while in the world. The Father is very concerned regarding the family. While we are in this present earthly scene. One thing is very certain. We are not yet at home in the Father's house. We do thank God for that blessed hope. That the Lord Jesus said if I go away I will come again. And receive you unto myself. That where I am. There ye may be also. Referring to that blessed scene. My Father's house. It will be a great joy when we shall be at home. But may we take to our hearts and to our consciences the great responsibility we have while in this present world on the way home to the Father's house. As we come into the third chapter, we begin to consider throughout the whole chapter what is the very truth of the closing verse of chapter two. which I would like to read to you. For the divisions of our Bible in their chapters and verses we know are not inspired. And many times the divisions by chapter may not be perhaps just exactly right. For the last verse of chapter two is connected with the truth that follows. Here are the words. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. And as we commence the study that follows within chapter three, I would like to title it with this caption. Practical righteousness and its motives. Now we all know, I'm sure, the distinction between imputed righteousness the righteousness of God that we have positionally imputed to us because of our faith in the Lord Jesus and His finished work. But what John and the Holy Spirit is concerned with in the chapter before us, and even the rest of the epistle, is the practical righteousness, the practical living of God's children while within this world. and it is a great joy to recognize as the chapter develops the spirit of God lays before us definite motives to produce that righteousness to produce that practical expression as the twenty ninth verse of chapter two declares that every one every child that knows him and that has been born of God practices and doeth righteousness. May I read the first eight verses of our chapter for our morning consideration. John beginning to say, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons or the children of God? Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now Are we the sons or the children of God? And they do not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committed, perhaps better rendered would be the words, whosoever practices sin transgresses or is lawless which is the proper meaning of the original text for sin is lawlessness now may I qualify the reason for the change in the reading sin existed before the law was given sin was practiced before the law of Moses was ever instituted And the proper rending in the text in the original is, sin is lawlessness, disobedience, and rebellion against God, and his truth and his words. So may I read the verse again. Whosoever practiceth lawlessness, sins, for sin is lawlessness. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, and here John is writing and speaking to the whole family, children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commiteth, and again, he that practises sin is of the devil. for the devil sinner from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Now we have before us in the section that we have read three compelling and wonderful motives to imply the necessity of a practical life of righteousness. to the glory and to the honor of our Father and it is blessed to realize that God not only expects this but he encourages it by stating the motives that should motivate our heart and our conscience in respect of the responsibility first of all in verse one the first motive that God by the Spirit gives through his servant John is this it is the motive of the Father's love for us the Father's love and what a love that is please note the words carefully behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God now may we make it very clear it is the Father's love tis not the love of God though that be included. But it is particularly the Father's love who has made us his children. God could have loved us without making us his children if he so desired. I wonder sometimes if we who are believers in the Lord Jesus in this present age value with proper appreciation the relationship of God's children to him in this age of grace as we stated at the commencement of our Bible study in this epistle you do not have in the Old Testament dispensations the relationship of intimacy where the saints of old could call God and did call God Father in the intimacy of relationship that belongs to us. And what John is emphasizing is not merely the love of God, but the love of that Blessed One in the relationship He is our Father. And John is presenting first of all the Father's love for each one of us as an impelling motive to do righteous, to live righteously, and thus do the things that are pleasing in his sight. John is very much concerned, as we have already seen, that we may yet see again that sin should not be dominant and manifested as a practice in the life of God's children. Oh, may I repeat, John deals with the problem of sin in the life of the children of God very clearly and recognizes and admonishes us that we should indeed, as we find in chapter two and verse one, my little children, these things write unto you that you sin not. And here is a motive for righteous living. My father loves me. He has made me his child. And then notice you read in the very following verses. But that father's love, which is more wonderful than the love of God, and has brought us into the family, into relationship with us, brings us near to his heart, and brings us certainly near to him. And John goes on to say, that relationship is unintelligible, not understood by the world. Therefore the world knoweth us not. because it knew him not. That relationship that we have with the Father is completely unintelligible to the world around us. The world is ignorant of Christ. The world is ignorant of the believer. And thus we may recognize and we should recognize that we who are the children of God we share in that ignorance the world shows toward Christ. It knows him not. But we have been brought, and may I repeat it again, to the Father himself. Well, did the Lord Jesus say in John, sixteen, twenty-seven, I believe, the Father himself loved you. Because he had believed that I came out from God. My fellow believer, you and I have no idea how much the Father loves us. Would to God we enjoy the truth of them. May I quote the lovely words of a hymn we all know well, I'm sure, most others at least. So near, so very near to God, that nearer I cannot be. For in the person of the Son, I am as near as he. so dear so very dear to God dearer I cannot be more dear I cannot be the love with which he loves the Son such is his love to me and may I just make the application as John has given us the heading of the chapter at the end of verse and verse twenty nine in chapter two If ye know that he is righteous, whether you refer to God or Christ matters not, tis true of them both, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him, and the evidence that we are his children is manifested by the actions and the deeds of our life. And thus we may realize one great motive is this. When I face the issue, the testing of sin in my life, my Father loves me. And the love of the Father should be a great restraint as well as an impelling motive in respect to my obedience to the Father in this world of sin. But then there's another motive. Oh, thank God for the scriptures that give us the motives that we can see within our souls and make real in our lives. And you have it in verses two and three. It is the blessed hope. Beloved. And oh, the joy that John uses such a word. Beloved. That blessed name of intimacy that is ours as members of the family. Beloved. Now are we the sons or the children of God? And it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know when he shall appear we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. There's not only the Father's love to be the impelling motive that my life may be a life, a practical living. To the glory of my Father and the glory of my Savior. But there's a future prospect. Not what I am now. What I shall be later. For what John touches upon in verse two. Is what I am now. We are now the children of God. And then. What we shall yet be. That blessed hope. Which in the future is the prospect. for every child of God. We know John saying in this second verse, we do not at the moment, at the present time we cannot comprehend it. As you know him saying, but please may I re-emphasize once more before passing further. He reminds us what we are now. Now are we the children of God. let us not lose sight of the connection not only are we the object of the father's love but we are in relationship to him even now his dear children you know John uses the expression when he addresses I believe in the original text when he expresses and addresses the family as a whole he uses this literal expression my dear children all my beloved children and in verse two he commences it with that same expression beloved now are we the sons of God he carries my mind back many years ago to a beloved brother that lived in the area of New York City some of you may have known him in the past our brother Harvey Wadham and I ever remember never will I forget that every time he met a fellow believer he called them beloved. I never was called beloved so much as I was by that brother. And it was a scriptural expression. Oh, that we could realize how beloved we are. And may I remark how precious to know the intimacy of it in its meaning. As you think of Ephesians chapter one, when Paul declared, we are accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to his grace. I'm humbled in heart to realize that Spirit of God uses that same intimate expression of affection for the children of God. Beloved. Beloved. Paul used it in Romans one when he wrote to the believers in Rome, Beloved of God. And now precious to recognize the intimacy of its expression, the very name that the Father calls his Son, this is my beloved son may I suggest for my own heart as well as yours wouldn't it be wonderful that if I'm in our daily testimony God could say of us that's my beloved child being able to thus comment on the conduct and the character of its children here below now We're His beloved children. And what we are going to be, we have not yet been able, and we cannot be able yet to comprehend. It does not yet appear what we shall be. The future prospects. What we are going to be. And beloved, it's a wonderful thing to set your heart upon what we shall be. when he comes that precious old hymn that we often sing then I shall be what I should be then I shall be we shall be what we would be then we shall be where we would be that which is not now nor could be soon shall be our own and what I'm going to be the Spirit of God sets before me with this blessed hope what I shall be when he comes and it will be as the Apostle writes we know that when he shall appear the time of it when I shall be manifested as in that future day of glory the full prospect of my redemptive glory will be manifested with Christ may I point out very carefully there is no question of doubt there are two suggestions that we can see in the apostles words the coming of the Lord for us and second the coming of the Lord with us with us he's coming for us we know he's coming with us and remember Paul in Colossians three and verse four said when Christ who is our life shall appear meaning is public manifestation in power and glory, then shall ye also appear with it. But I'm sure that we can include both the coming of the Lord for us, together with the coming of the Lord with us, to realize we shall thus be like him. For there is no question that in that moment, in that twinkling of an eye, when the dead in Christ shall rise first, when we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, then we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. I think of the lovely words of J.N. Darby and that precious old hymn. And is it so that I shall be like thy son? Is this the grace which he for me has won? Father of glory, thought beyond all thought, in glory to his own blessed likeness brought. What a joy to know. Someday I shall be like him. we shall be like him please may i state this is the blessed home that we shall see him that we shall be with him we shall be like him my beloved believer may I try to lead your mind and my own mind and heart away from the glory that will surround us to the glory that will be in us we shall be like him in all the moral perfection of his person when in the redemptive glory of our spirit souls and bodies we shall thus be transformed to be ever like him in eternal perfection. For we shall see him as, not as he was, as he is. What a transformation is going to be yours and is going to be mine. Now what we shall be must have and should have a present purifying effect as we well know. be a purifying motive for our living. No, verse three. Every man that hath this hope in him or upon him purifies himself, even if he is pure. What a blessed Bodin. He's coming. Can I give you the story? You may have heard it. I'm not sure if it was our brother. T. Ernest Wilson who told this story many, many years ago. But I recall the story was told of a man that had to leave home for one week or a part of the week he thought at least on business. And on Monday morning when he left the family he gathered the wife and the children together and prayed with them, committed them to the Lord, and then he told the children. He said, now, Daddy doesn't know when he will return. I may be able to get home tomorrow or the next day, or it may possibly be even toward the end of the week. But he said, Children, I want every one of you to be down at the railway station and meet me when the train comes in at night. And so the children said, Obediently they would. And so every day when the It came time for the evening train to come back. They cleaned up. They washed up. They went down to the railway station and waited to see if their daddy would be coming from the train. Monday went by. Tuesday went by. Wednesday went by. Thursday went by. And faithfully, they went to meet him. But it wasn't until the last day Friday. They saw him come off that train. And of course, naturally, he greeted them lovingly. They embraced him and welcomed him. And then when they had welcomed each other, one of the youngsters said, Daddy, why didn't you come earlier in the week? Why did you let us get cleaned up every night and come down here and wait for you? He looked at the youngsters and he said, I just wanted to make sure that I could keep you clean. That hope is singing him at the end of the week. Oh my beloved, that blessed hope is the purifying hope that you and I may practice till he comes. Righteous living. What a responsibility. But what a motive. First the Father's love. Second, the blessed hope. Someday I shall be like him. This glorious promise he gave to me. Go with me to verse four and through verse eight, if you please. And look the third motive that we have before us in the section that follows down through verse eight. The third great motive, and they are presented to you in this particular way. I believe in the heart of it, it is this. The death of Christ. For you may notice in this wonderful book, the death of Christ manifested. Christ manifested is an important subject. May I link with you first of all? Just four particular scriptures. Reasons that John gives why Christ was manifested. Why ye came in the flesh. Go with me to chapter one. Let me read with you verses two and three. For the life was manifested. And we have seen it and bear witness. And show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father when was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. Now why? That ye also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. He was manifested to reveal the Father to us and to bring us into fellowship with the Father. Thank God that he came in that blessed human, blessed body of him, that he might in his manifestation incarnate bring us to the Father to be in fellowship with him. Go to chapter three where we have been reading. Let me read with you the fifth verse. Ye know that he was manifested. What for? To take away our sins. Beloved, let us remember. There perhaps is nothing deeper and greater that can reach the heart and the conscience of a child of God than the blessed remembrance of the death of Christ. His death upon the cross. To take away our sins. What a story this is. As we realize it. But then let me point out a second thing in verse eight of this same chapter. The end of verse eight. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested. That he might destroy or annul the works of the devil. Which we may speak a little bit later. More in more detail. manifested to destroy the words or a no, make inoperative the works of the devil. Chapter four, if you please, in verse nine, just very briefly, to point out the references that John gives regarding the reason for the manifestation of the life of Christ. In this was manifested the love of God toward us. because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might have life through him. Manifested to reveal God's love as well as to bring to us and bestow upon us God's life. It is a wonderful thing to realize as we ought to do why he came, why he was manifested and upon the cross. Let's look at this section in chapter three before us. Let's see the centrality of the death of Christ upon the cross. Do ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins? Beloved, may we say that it was sin. It was sin that made Christ suffer, that made him die for us. And the very fact that Christ had to die and did die for our sin is reason enough for us to hate sin and to flee from it and to practice righteousness see I make this statement and comment that's been very precious to me the seriousness of sin oh how many times I wonder if we realize the seriousness of sin. I remember many years ago reading this very brief expression concerning the seriousness of sin which I add value. The writer said there are three great oceans to explore. If one could understand and would endeavor to understand the seriousness of sin, The first great ocean he suggested was this. The sorrow, the grief, the pain, the trouble, and all that through human history, from the beginning of time to the end of time, if you could explore the ocean of sin, suffering in the human family from the beginning to the end, could you determine the greatness of it? Visit the hospitals, visit the penitentiaries, visit the homes of sickness, the homes of grief, the homes of sorrow, the lives that have been torn apart. And all the disruption that sin has caused, put it all together in all the human history of the ages of humanity. What a notion. Can you measure it? The greatness. How serious. it began with one act of disobedience what an ocean it is coming to and become would to God we realize that seriousness of sin the second great ocean the writer suggested is the death of Christ upon the cross who can measure the suffering for sin the penalty of sin the judgment of sin the greatness of that sacrifice when he himself became the sacrifice for all sin God has laid on him the iniquity of his law one is well written that lovely hymn mystery of mysteries of life, of death, the tree, center of two eternities, which look with rapture-dawring eyes, onward and back to thee. O cross of Christ, where all his pain and death is our eternal gain. Oh, my beloved, the death of Christ to take away our sin, you and I sing with joy and gratitude my sin oh the bliss of this glorious thought my sin not in part but the whole is named to his cross and I bear it no more praise the Lord praise the Lord oh my soul well as John said he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin. Is not that a great motive? That you and I should live for him and righteously live in this world? The third grade ocean? If you and I could measure the ocean of suffering, that will be the eternal portion of every soul in hell. you'd be able to measure the seriousness of sin. Beloved, I say humbly, and I say, advisedly to my own soul, John, let sin be a very serious matter. It necessitated the sinless one, in whom was no sin to be made sin. that we through him might be made the righteousness of God in him. And as you look at the opening of verse four, John is saying it's lawlessness. Not transgression of the law. That would become under Judaism. But it's lawlessness whether before Judaism as well as after. Lawlessness is sin. And sin is lawlessness. And beloved, the believer should not be in disobedience and lawless to the Lord. for the purpose of the death of Christ was to take away our sin. Now look at verse six please. Whosoever abideth in him, and there you can see the beloved believer, the child of God, who will abide in Christ. Sineth not, meaning he does not. Please let me qualify it. We've already noted John is not pleading nor teaching the doctrine or the error of sinless perfection while in the body but what John is declaring in the original text suggested whosoever abideth in him does not habitually sin does not habitually sin and my beloved may I put it in this in this aspect if you and I value if you and I appreciate the death of Christ for our sins surely we will not deliberately we will not repeatedly defy God's precious words and disobey him beloved the death of Christ that take away our sin how can I add why should I add to the sufferings of my Savior and thus in disobedience wound the heart of my Father, the heart of my Savior, and practice sinning. No, to abide in him, the believer will not practice sin. But in verse seven, you have the apostle saying, or at the end of verse six, rather, the one that is not in him, whosoever sinneth or practices sin hath not seen him, neither known him. giving definite proof of not knowing him. But in verse seven, you have the test of the reality. Little children, and again I say, it's to the whole family, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is sin. Here again, we have the practical expression of the reality of being born again and the child of God. He doeth righteousness. It's not what He says. It's what He does. And the one that abides in Him will not practice sin. And John is saying, children, don't let anyone lead you astray. Would you test the reality of the profession? The one that's doing righteousness gives the evidence of it. I remember a little story that comes to my mind. It may seem trifling, but I think what was in it will give the important lesson that is suggested here. There was a little girl in the Sunday school of a certain assembly, took the Savior as her own. And the Christians of the Sunday school teachers, they watched her and wondered as to her reality. One day, one of them asked her brother, saying, do you think that your sister is really saved? He thought for a moment. And then he looked up, he said, yes, he says, I really think she is. They said, why? Well, he says, I know there's something at home. she doesn't sweeten the dirt under the carbon anymore like she used them well you get the inference there's a change one old hymn writer has written those lovely words what a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since Jesus came into my heart and there is a change the changes in the life the change is under the in the knowledge that I'm now his and I will live for him and what joy to recognize. This is how we need not be led astray when we see what a man does, what a woman does, what a child of God is doing. And my beloved, let's take it to our heart and conscience personally. It's not what I say I am, it's what I do. That is the testimony of my Christian life to the glory of God. And then in verse eight, Note that John goes on to say, the evidence of the unreality goes on further in verse Saint, the first half of the verse. He that practices sin is of the devil. For the devil sin is from the beginning. Oh my beloved, what a contrast from the beginning of our chapter. Beloved, now are we the sons of God or the children of God. What manner of love the Father had bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God? There are the children of the devil. And beloved one can certainly recognize as John so clearly makes a contrast. It is within the children of the devil you find a constant habitual practice of things which should never be found and will not be found in a child of God as an habitual thing. Then he consummates them, preciously. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested. Why? That he might destroy, that he might annul the works of the devil. Now there's one thing you will notice, and we will tonight further on too. John, when he touches upon the annulling of sin in the life of the believer. He does not enter into the subject as Paul does in Romans six, in detail, and in seven. But John plainly declares that the purpose of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was not only to take away our sins, but to annul, to make inoperative in our lives what was once true of us, the works of the devil. And that manifestation, as you well know from Paul's writing, was the death of Christ upon the cross. Thy his death, his burial, and his resurrection. And our identification with him in his death, in his burial, and in his resurrection has brought us into newness of life, which issues into the next subject that we shall follow later. But here are three moldings. And may we close by repeating them. Motives for practical righteousness. Now please let me repeat. Not for thinking that we are righteous, but for doing righteous things. The motive of the Father's love. My Father loves me. May I ever do those things. I think of the Savior's words. I do always those things which please my father and you and I have the same responsibility second the motive of the blessed hope though I'm conscious of human failure shortcomings scenes of omission and perhaps commission nevertheless someday I shall be like his son that blessed hope which may even be consummated today, is a purifying hope to entail me to live for the glory of my Father. And then when I think, and what reflection, when I meditate upon the death of Christ for my sins, may I say as the poet wrote, Love so amazing, so divine, demands my heart, my life. by all. Shall we pray? Blessed Father, we thank thee for thy divine instructions. Father, thou hast made careful instructions how the children of thy family should live. We would ask thee, Father, to make us hearers of the word, But beyond that, doers of the word. And what we have learned today, may we prove it by what we do. While in this world, representing the Father and the Son, we ask it with thanksgiving for thy gracious help in our Savior's precious name. Amen. Thank you.