We are the children of God

Sermon on Being a Child of God

Today our text will make clear to us that we are no longer just members of the “Jones family” the ___________ family, the _______________ family, but we are part of the family of God. We are the children of God.

Mpt-Our identity is rooted in the fact that we are children of God, which is an extraordinary act of love by God to adopt us into His family. This truth that we are the children of God affects our lives both now and for eternity.

1 John 3:1-3

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Children of God Sermon

“We are the children of God”

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us

*first question, what kind of love has the Father given to us?*

A love that forgives
- Hebrews 8:12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,

and I will remember their sins no more.”

Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

- Forgave and forgives, His mercy is new every morning
- This is the kind of Love the Father has given to us

A love that pursues
- Ephesians 2:4-5 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
- John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
  - This is the kind of Love the Father has given to us

A love that thinks about us
- Psalm 139:17-18 17How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!18If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

This is the kind of Love the Father has given to us

A love that chooses us
- Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
  - This is the kind of Love the Father has given to us
A love that bears with us
- Exodus 34:5-7 5The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7keeping steadfast love for thousands,
  - This is the kind of Love the Father has given to us

A love that gives us gifts
- James 1:17 every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
  - This is the kind of Love the Father has given to us

A love that listens to us
- Psalms 4:3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;

the Lord hears when I call to him.

- This is the kind of Love the Father has given to us

A love that provides for us
- Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
- Psalm 23 The lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
- This is the kind of Love the Father has given to us

- The love that is highlighted in our text today is a love that adopts us into His family

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

- - - God loves us so much that He has adopted us
    - Talk about the reality of this
    - We have a heavenly Father
    - We have an elder brother in Jesus
    - We have brothers and sisters in Christ, the family of God
    - We have a new identity
      - You have a new name
      - You have a perfect parent
      - You’ve got an everlasting love
  - “Parent phrases”
    - Stop all that crying before I give you something to cry about
    - Can we go to mcdonalds? You got mcdonalds money
    - When we get in this store, don’t touch nothin
    - Fix your face
    - Stop running in and out my house
    - I’m not heating the whole neighborhood
    - Stay out of grown folks business
    - I know you better than you know yourself
      - The same is true with God
      - He definitely knows you better than you know yourself
        
        He knows the number of hairs on your head

Psalm 139

139 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

- - - - Like a parent, even though we know all the faults, all the negative things about our children, we still love them
        
        Same with God, even though He knows our thoughts, our ways, our words, He still loves us!
        
        Our Father loves us even when we disobey, sin, don’t think about Him, act a fool, don’t read His word, don’t pray, don’t act like the children He has made us and equipped us to be, still loves us!
        
        Same thing with that list of the ways he loves us, we don’t deserve that kind of love, but thanks be to God our Father for loving His children!

**This doctrine of being the children of God is found throughout the scripture**
- What you’ll notice is that Jesus is the vehicle that presents us to the Father as sons, it is in Christ that we get this new identity
Galatians 3:26-27 26for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

John 1:12-13 12But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Galatians 4:4-7 4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Matthew 6:6-9 6But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

7“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name.

Back to the text (focus on second half of verse)

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

***We have established the fact that if you are in Christ, the Father has adopted you as a son or daughter, the second half of this verse intimates that all are not children of God***

The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

- There’s delineation, a dividing line here, those who know God and those who don’t Him
- What we will see is that you can either be a child of God or the child of Satan
- Keyword in this verse is “world”

The world does not know us

- We talked about this two sermons ago, ch. 2:15
- 1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
  - 1 John 5:19 we know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one
    - Referring to Satan, the God of this world
- When speaking with the scribes, pharisees, the religious leaders that would eventually have Jesus killed, Jesus described them as children of their father, Satan, or as He called him, the devil

John 8:31-44

Throughout this book of John we see a binary choice, an either or: light or dark, serve God or serve Satan
- Joshua puts it like this in Joshua 24:15 Choose this day whom you will serve…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord
  - I pray that is your heart today, at the end we will learn how to become children of God
  - Back to text

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

- What a promise! We shall see Him as He is
  - I can not wait to see Jesus
- ****This hope of seeing Jesus, of having eternal life, of being children of God drives us to become like Him****

3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Pure, purify

- - Hagnos–hagios—holy
  - This hope of being children of God causes us to take on His attribute of Holiness
- As Children of a Holy God, we are to pursue Holiness
  - Hebrews 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
    - Explain, He’s made us holy, and we are being made holy
    - iow-God’s part was making you holy in Christ by His sacrificial covering to present you as holy, our part is working by His spirit our personal holiness, aka sanctification
      - The verses below describe this (praise team)
  - 1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
  - Leviticus 20:26 You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

2 Timothy 2:20-21

20 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable,[d] he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

- This hope of salvation, this hope of being a child of God causes us to pursue holiness in our lives.
Like with our natural parents, the proximity of our parents causes us to take on their attributes
- Ie, the food we get used to eating, the sports we introduce to them, the entertainment we expose them to
- Talk about bears practice yesterday
- Talk about playind dominoes with them
- Just by being around me, they are exposed to my attributes that they will emulate and even aspire to
  - Same way with God, if we expose ourselves to His presence, if we expose ourselves to the truths found in His word, if we conversate with Him through prayer, His holiness will be an attribute that we emulate and aspire to

*****In conclusion, how do we become children of God?****

Recognize that you have sin that grieves God
- Separates us from God and leads us to eternal consequence
Believe that Jesus died and rose as substitute for our sins
If we believe this and follow God, we can be children of God
This is the free gift of joining the family of God
Verse 1 today said See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God
- Is there anyone here today that wants to be in God’s family?
- Maybe that has drifted from God’s family and wants to rededicate their life to Him?
- I promise you, the Father is waiting with open arms to receive you
- If that is anyone here, we would love to pray with you
- Or prayer for anything