← Divine Savior Church-North Collin County
Divine Savior Church-North Collin County
Bearing Real Love | June 21, 2026 | Pastor Caleb King
00:16:27
Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:12]
A
God's word for our consideration this morning comes from our second reading. First John, chapter three, the first five verses. We bow our heads to pray. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, for you alone are our rock and our redeemer. Amen. In the name of Jesus, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Maybe she was entirely wrong about who she was. She had worked tirelessly to do the right thing. She worked tirelessly to oppose the evil and the deceit and the wickedness that she saw all around her all the time, and to do what was right. She stood up for. She defended people who were improperly targeted, and she helped people when they needed it the very most. And she always showed up for them. But every time she did, it ended up poor for her or for the person that she was trying to help. And so she began to think that if all these things that I'm doing that I think are good are actually ending up bad and aren't doing what I think they should be doing, well, then maybe the issue is with me, maybe I'm the problem. Maybe I'm not who I thought I was. And then she thought, well, if this is who I actually am, then I might as well play the part. I might as well stop doing those things that I think are good, which actually turned out to be all bad. John is writing to Christians that were struggling with their identity. He's writing to Christians that were struggling with what the Christian life looked like, just like we saw in the last couple of weeks. He was writing to Christians that were walking in the darkness, even though the light of Christ had shined on them. Christians who were loving the world and the things of the world, as opposed to loving the one who gave himself for them so that they could be freed to. To pursue God's will and God's action. They were, as John described them, being lawless and exuding lawlessness because they didn't think that they needed God's law or they didn't think that they needed to obey God's commands in any way. And so John reminds them exactly who they are. So John says, see, look. Behold. Don't miss this. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are because of the great love of the Father that He has lavished on us in Jesus to take our sins away, because of the great love of the Father that He has lavished on us through to give us the gift of saving faith which connects us to Christ's work. All because of the great love of the Father that He has lavished on us to send the Holy Spirit to work through that message of the gospel as it is proclaimed, as it is preached, as it is taught. You and I are called the children of God. In fact, it's far more than just being called children of God. You can be called lots of things in life and that doesn't necessarily mean it's true. Not only are you called the children of God, more than that, that is what you are. That's what you are Christians, because of what Christ has done for you and the blood that he has shed to make you belong to Him. What we sang about God's own child, I gladly say it. I have been baptized into Christ and you are a child of God. And children of God do children of God type of things. John describes it, the reason the world does not know us, does not know Christians, is that it did not know him, did not know Christ. Dear friends, now we are called, we are the children of God. And what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves just as he is pure. God's children, John says, are characterized by knowing Jesus. And knowing Jesus means knowing that he came, he lived, he died, and he rose for us. And that knowledge gives birth to this beautiful hope that we will one day realize, experience fully in the glory of heaven. And because we have that hope, God encourages us to put away the sinful, non God pleasing things of the world. To purify ourselves in God's word just as he is, is pure. Because everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, sin is lawlessness. That's how God characterizes those who are called children of God. Maybe you're hearing that and you're thinking, well, that sounds really great. Not sure that's me. I'm not sure. I always exude those characteristics, put those characteristics on display that John is describing. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Maybe, maybe God's wrong about who I am. And the reason that those thoughts come is exactly because of what John says. He says, now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known. The reality of who we will be in the glories of heaven as perfect children is something that we haven't yet realized. Why? Because we're not in heaven yet. We still live in this sinful world with a sinful nature that gets us to think that we're not the people that God has called us. In fact, frankly speaking, you and I have no business at all being called the children of God. Even if we are called children of God with our thoughts and our words and our actions, we don't prove ourselves to be children of God on a daily basis. Instead, we often, with our outward evidence of our lives, prove ourselves to be much more like the world that John describes as not knowing Jesus. And therefore it's easy for our conscience to condemn us and for thoughts to come that, well, maybe that's not me. That must not be me. I must not be a child of God because I sin. And sometimes I sin deliberately even though I know that it's wrong. And then when I try to stay away from sin, I can't do that either. Maybe, maybe God's wrong about who I am. If that's true, Christians, that God is wrong about who you are, then you have to determine for yourself who you are. And once you figure out who you are, you begin to act the part. Just like that girl who thought she was all wrong about who she was and therefore began to act the part because the evidence on the outside of her life seemed to prove otherwise. And if sin and lawlessness becomes the people that we believe ourselves to be, that that's really who we are, then all we do is continue to walk down the path of sin and sin more and sin more and sin more, because, well, if this is who I am, why fight against it? In fact, why don't I just embrace it? Why don't we all just embrace each other in our sin? Because, well, we finally know who we are after all. That's to ignore exactly what John says. John says this. Now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. Our future reality as perfect children of God is something that we don't experience fully, know fully because we still have this sinful nature that lives in this sinful world that is going to continue to struggle in sin. But instead of letting the fact that we are going to fall into sin, let us change our mind about who John effectively says, quit thinking that because you don't feel like you are a child of God that you're not a child of God. In other words, quit listening to yourself for a moment and listen to what God says. God calls you his child. John says, see, look. Behold, don't miss this. See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are. That's what we are. Because the sinful, lawless person that lives inside of us in our sinful nature has been washed away by the love of the Father that has been lavished upon us in the person of Jesus. The love of the Father to wash all of our sins away by punishing Christ in our place. And you know that he appeared why? So that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. Jesus appeared so that he would take that sin and that lawlessness that exists inside of us and get complete rid of it. That's why he was there on the cross. Not because of his own sin, because in him is no sin. But rather he took your sin away by placing them all on himself and paying for them in full at the cross. And he proved that they're gone by rising from the grave on Easter Sunday morning, defeating sin's greatest enemy of, or sin's greatest ally, our greatest enemy of death and the devil. And where death and the devil are defeated, then so is sin. That's your reality, Christians. And so John says this. Now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. We are going to continue to struggle with sin in this life because we are sinners with a sinful nature. But instead of letting that change your opinion about who you are, instead of letting that make you question your identity, John says, instead, let that fact that you are a child of God, redeemed and made so to be in the blood of Jesus, to dig in your heels and to purify yourself just as Jesus pure, which is simply to fight against sin. Say no to sin. Yes to God pleasing, living to run back to the blood of Jesus that John described in First John, chapter one. The blood of Jesus, his son, God's Son, that purifies us from all sin and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Because we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Sin and lawlessness is not who you are, Christians. Your hope is that you are going to be just like Jesus in glory, perfect, sinless, completely pure through and through. And that hope that you have, knowing who you one day will be, knowing where your future home is, knowing who God has made you to be, is what motivates you to see yourself the way that God sees you. What motivates you to view yourself in the same way that God views you, to then go and be the person that God has made you to be. Your identity is wrapped up not in what you think about yourself. It's not wrapped up in what you view in yourself. It's wrapped up in what God says about you. You may not view yourself as valuable. That doesn't mean you're not valuable. You may view yourself and not as a child of God, but that does not mean that you are not a child of God. Jesus died on a cross for your sins so that you in your afflicted conscience could look to this sure and certain word of God that you are with certainty exactly what God calls you. A dear, precious, blood bought child of God. A child of God that has a joyful future, a beautiful, incredible future. Unstained inheritance, unfading with the Lord Jesus. You don't yet wear the robe of glory of heaven, but that's exactly what's waiting for you. God characterizes you in Christ as a child of God. And so there is a difference. There is a difference between you and the world. Even though you walking around on the street outside may not look all that different from another human being walking around on the street. But there's a difference. John says it the reason the world does not know us, no Christians, is that it did not know Christ, but by a miracle of God's grace. Christians, you do know. You know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins and in him is no sin. And therefore by a miracle of God's grace, you are a child of of God. And that means that you're not the same as the world. What's the difference? You're not a sin practicer anymore. No, you are a child of God. And being a child of God means that your eyes are fixed on the one who died for you. That has now empowered you to say no to sin and yes to God pleasing living. Because in Christ you are characterized as a child of God. That is what you are. And a child of God fixes their entire hope and their entire attention on Christ with a sure and certainty that you are going to be just like Christ in glory, sinless, perfect, no sinful nature that is nagging and making you question whether or not you are a child of God. That's exactly what you are. See, look. Behold, don't miss this. See what great love that the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God. And you're not only called it, that's exactly what you are. A child of God is what you are. Thanks be to God for it. Never forget it, Christians. Amen.