A Daily Walk

John Randall: How many people do you love that you've never seen before? But think about it. Most people that you love or have a loving relationship with, you have seen. We're here this morning reading of someone's love for us who we have never seen.

I wasn't there at the cross. I wasn't there at the empty tomb. I've never seen Him personally yet. But the Bible says I will. And though I haven't seen Him, I love Him. Why? Because I realize how much He loves me.

Host (Male): Join the journey through the Bible here on A Daily Walk with Pastor John Randall. We're in 1 John chapter 3, marveling at the amazing love of God. In the first three verses, the apostle John helps us understand who we are right now, see the promise of who we will be in the future, and then instructs us on how to live as we wait. Here's Pastor John to take it from there.

John Randall: The Bible tells us concerning this love. Listen to what it says in Romans 8. It says, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

This is the love that He has. This is the love that He doesn't take away, that He continues to pour out. John says, "Just behold it. Just look at it for a second. Stop what you're doing and just consider the greatness of God's love for you."

I do believe this morning that some have a difficult time receiving the love of God. And there are several reasons for this. For some, it's because of their past pain. People who have experienced abuse, neglect, rejection, especially from parents or authority figures.

Some people have a hard time thinking about God as their Father because of the relationship they had with their father. And so even using the term, it's difficult for them to comprehend or think about receiving love in that way.

If love was conditional or you grew up and it was manipulative, then it can be challenging to trust that God's love is truly unconditional. But listen, God doesn't love like mankind. It's different. It's different. For some, it's pain. They just have a hard time receiving it.

For others, it's the feeling of unworthiness and shame. Some struggle with guilt over past sins or ongoing weakness. And even though Christianity teaches that God is gracious and that God is forgiving and that God restores, they have this sense of feeling, "I need to earn this. Somehow I've got to be worthy of it."

Friend, do you know that God doesn't love us because we are worthy of it? He loves us because He's good. God doesn't love you because of all that you have to offer Him. What could I give to somebody who needs nothing? That is what makes the love of God so amazing and beyond comprehension.

And then there are others who suffer great spiritual attack and believe because of doubt and discouragement and fear. These are the tools that sometimes the enemy will use to separate people from the presence of God. One of these things or a combination of these things can prevent people from receiving this love of God.

The love of God, so powerful and beyond comprehension that we're amazed. You know what it reminds me of this morning? I was reflecting on this as I was preparing, and the Lord reminded me of that hymn by Charles Wesley. He wrote hundreds of hymns, but probably one of my personal favorites was "And Can It Be." Let me just recount to you for a moment the lyrics, as he writes in the form of a question.

"And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me? Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. And my chains fell off, and my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, would die for me? No condemnation now I dread. Jesus and all in Him is mine. Alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine. Bold I approach the eternal throne and claim the crown through Christ my own. Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me?"

Don't you just find yourself asking that question? Lord, how can it be that You would love someone like me, knowing what You know? It's amazing love. That is all that you can say.

The apostle John reveals that the love God has given us has now brought us into unique fellowship with Him. And with this love, we have been granted a gracious privilege of being children of God. Who are we? If you're in Christ, you are a child of God. "We should be called children of God," John says. And we are children of God. Therefore, the world doesn't know us because it did not know Him.

How does a person become a child of God? By faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. That is how you become a child of God. You are, as Jesus said, born again. Every person here today, obviously, no surprise, you've been born physically, or you wouldn't be here. Obvious. Thank you for that.

But maybe not everyone is born spiritually. You have to be born again. There is a physical birth, but the Bible says to be saved, to be a child of God, there has to be another birth. Born again, born of the Spirit, Jesus said in John chapter 3. So a person becomes a child of God by faith.

Galatians chapter 3, verse 26 says, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." You're a child of God because of His love for you. And now as a child of God, you've been adopted into the family. You've been born again, and now you are, the Bible says, adopted.

Romans chapter 8, verse 15 tells us this when it says, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry out, 'Abba, Father.'" We enter God's family through regeneration, being born again, but we enjoy being part of God's family through adoption. And being part of God's family, being a child of God, affects us not only now but also in the future.

But John tells us something interesting here concerning those who are truly children of God. And this might come as a surprise to you. Here's what he says. He said in verse 2, "Therefore, because you're a child of God, the world doesn't know you because it didn't know Him."

One of the effects of being a true child of God, a follower of Jesus in this world, is that the world system doesn't understand. They don't get it. They don't know you because, well, they don't know the heavenly Father. They don't know Jesus. They have not experienced a saving relationship with Christ.

And since the people of the world have nothing in common with the children of God, it's hard to have fellowship in the truest sense with them. In fact, Paul writes about this in Corinthians when he tells us in the sixth chapter, he says, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers."

And he asks the question, "For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?" The answer: none. "What communion has light and darkness?" Again: none. "What accord has Christ with Belial?" None. "What part has a believer with the unbeliever?" None. "And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?" None.

You are the temple of the living God. He's making the point. When you're a child of God, the fellowship, you can't find it in the system of this world because they don't get it. They don't know you. They don't know Jesus. So I shouldn't feel comfortable in the system of this world if I'm a child of God. I feel a little uncomfortable in this surrounding because I'm a different person.

Jesus said it this way to His disciples. It might have come as a surprise to them. But He said in John chapter 15 and verse 18, He said, "If the world hates 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're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

Don't be surprised, Jesus said to His disciples, if the world isn't excited about your testimony. If they're not thrilled about your relationship with God. The world rejected Jesus. Did you know that? And not because He was spiteful or mean or hateful, but because He was light in darkness, and light exposed darkness.

Sometimes we forget, and it's good to be reminded, that Christianity is completely counter-cultural. Did you know that? It's completely counter-cultural. Christianity challenges, stands in the face of the core values of the world system. The world says, "Follow your heart." Jesus said, "Deny yourself." Well, that's opposite.

The world promotes self-glory. Jesus teaches humility and being a servant. The world embraces moral relativism. Jesus claims exclusive truth. Those are on opposite ends. The difference that is between the world system and the child of God creates naturally friction.

The gospel is the good news, but it also confronts sin. It calls for repentance and undermines pride, and that doesn't make the world comfortable. And sometimes we crave acceptance more than we realize. Even as believers, sometimes we idolize being liked.

We want to be seen as loving, kind, reasonable, and we should be. However, we can mistakenly believe that if we're nice enough, that the world will love us too. That is not always the case. Jesus was perfectly loving. Guess what they did to Him? They crucified Him. There was no one more loving, more kind, more gracious, more merciful than Jesus, and they nailed Him to a cross.

Folks, this is who we are. We are children of God. We are loved. We are forgiven. We are chosen, adopted, righteous, and secure, and at times rejected. However, the future blessings outweigh the current struggles. For in verse 2, look at what it says. "Beloved, now we are children of God." We've read that.

Look at this: "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." Think about that passage for a moment. John declares, "This is who we are right now. We are children of God." That's a fact. If you have a relationship with Christ, you are a child of God if you've been born again.

But now John tells us what we will ultimately be in the future. He says, "We shall be like Jesus. We're going to see Him, and we're going to be like Him." Now all of us here this morning, obviously, we're aware of the fact that we're not completely like Jesus yet. Anybody perfect today? Just stand up. We'd love to applaud you and then—no, there's none perfect. No, not one. There's none righteous. We have all failed.

Thankfully, although we're not yet what we want to be, we can praise God that we're not what we used to be. There's a change. There's something happening in us through the work of the Spirit. It's a process of sanctification, the Bible calls it. A good work has been started, and the Lord promises that He will complete the good work that He began in us.

Here's how the Bible describes it in 2 Corinthians 3:18. Paul says, "But we all with unveiled face are beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord." And he goes on to say, "are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

In other words, right now, there is a process undergoing every single person's life here today who's a Christian, seeking to make us more like Jesus. And so the Lord allows things to come into our life or the Lord takes us through certain things to make us more like Him. To be loving, He brings people into our life that are difficult to love. To be a servant, He gives us opportunity to serve. I mean, all of these things God uses.

The psalmist was aware of the fact that there was a process that he was going through, and in Psalm 17 and verse 15, he says this, "As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness." That's when I'm going to be satisfied. When the work is done. When You present me faultless before Your throne of grace, the Bible tells me in the book of Jude. Until then, under construction, man.

1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 49 gives us a wonderful promise. It says this, "As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man." Right now, we bear the image of the man of dust, the first Adam, the Bible calls him.

But one day we're going to bear a different image. The image of the heavenly man, Jesus. We're going to see Him and be like Him. And what's going to happen in that transformation? Oh, Paul tells us. Philippians 3:21. Here's what he says. He said this, "Who will transform this lowly body that it might be conformed to a glorious body, according to the working by which He is able to subdue all things to Himself."

There's going to be a change. A metamorphosis, really, the Bible describes it. We're going to be like Him. It's hard to imagine, isn't it? To be like Jesus. Everything that you see in this book that describes Jesus, the Bible says you're going to be just like Him. No more sin, no more flesh, no more struggles, but be like Jesus, seeing Him face to face.

Have you thought about that? Have you ever thought about what it's going to be like to actually see Jesus face to face? I mean, see Him face to face. And what comes into your mind? Typically, we have that one picture that we grew up with a kid, "Oh, I know what He looks like. He's going to look just like that picture I have in my office." Probably not. Probably not going to look like that.

But you'll recognize Him. He'll have the scars, so you'll see Him. You'll know who He is. And He knows you. But actually seeing Him face to face. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13, "For we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."

Revelation 22, verse 4, oh, think of this. It says, "They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads." Can you imagine what it would be like, if you can for a moment in the finite position that we're in, to consider the infinite this morning, but to pass through the gates of heaven and to see Jesus? I mean, just to see Him and just feel that embrace, and all of the things of this world, they're just—they're just gone.

They're just gone. I mean, it's like you just you walk through the door, a doorway of death into eternal life, and it's just—it's Him. And it's—you know, the Bible describes this for us in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 8. It says, "Whom having not seen, you love." How many people do you love that you've never seen before?

I mean, think about it. Most people that you love or have a loving relationship with, you have seen. We're here this morning reading of someone's love for us who we have never seen. I wasn't there at the cross. I wasn't there at the empty tomb. I've never seen Him personally yet. But the Bible says I will. And though I haven't seen Him, I love Him. Why? Because I realize how much He loves me.

Although you haven't seen Him yet, notice this: "believing." Again, 1 Peter 1:8, "yet believing you rejoice." By faith, believing you rejoice with inexpressible joy and full of glory. In light of who we are, children of God, in light of what we will be, like Jesus, in light of the response of the world to who we are and what we will be, what am I to do now?

Ah, John answers it. Verse 3, "Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure." What hope? The hope of seeing Him face to face. If you've got that hope, if you know you're a child of God, if you know you're going to see Him and be like Him and that is your future, if you have that hope, that produces present results. In other words, that what I know to be in the future affects how I live in the moment.

Because you are loved by God, a child of God, going to see Jesus to be like Him, this knowledge of the future produces a present result. When you know that it's just a matter of time before Jesus comes again or takes you home to be with Him, you seek to live rightly before Him. You want to lead a life worthy, the Bible says, of the calling with which you have received. The Bible says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Several years ago before his death, the Swiss theologian, his name was Karl Barth, he's an amazing writer. But he came to the United States for a series of lectures. And during his lectures, after just this impressive lecture that he had given, he opened it up for a question and answer session to his students.

And as he opened it up for the question and answer, one of the students said, "Dr. Barth, what is the greatest thought that has ever passed through your mind?" Whoa, that's deep. Like, let me think about that. The greatest thought that's ever passed through your mind. And the aging professor, he paused for a long time as he thought about his answer. And then he said with great simplicity, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." The greatest thought.

Host (Male): We've been in 1 John chapter 3 today on A Daily Walk, reflecting on amazing love. Pastor John Randall will be right back. We're going through the entire Bible right now, start to finish. You can listen to this message online at adailywalk.org or wherever you get your podcasts. We also have a free app. Just search for Calvary South OC in the App Store.

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You know, pastoral ministry isn't easy, to put it mildly. Yes, there are good times, but also pressures and personal costs as well. Much of that goes unseen by the congregation. In his new book, "The Other Side of Sunday," Pastor John shares candidly what he has learned so far in pastoral ministry with the hopes of encouraging other pastors and leaders. Whether you are a pastor, a church leader, or a member of a congregation, this book will deepen your understanding of the heart of a shepherd and point you to the one who sustains us all.

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John Randall: The Lord invites you this morning to engage with more than just a theological fact to understand intellectually of His love. He invites you into something intimate and personal regarding His love for you.

Sometimes when we think about "God so loved the world," we just think of the world and we forget He's talking to you. He's talking to me personally. You are not who the world says you are. You are not even who your past says that you are. You are who God says that you are. You're His child. You are loved, you are chosen, you're adopted, you're redeemed and becoming more like Jesus.

And if you have placed your faith in Christ and He is your Savior and He is your King, then you belong to the family of God now. You're being transformed daily, and you will be like Jesus, the Bible says, eternally. So let me ask you, are you beholding His love or just glancing at it today? I mean, really, are you in awe of this height, depth, length, breadth, the love of God, which surpasses knowledge?

Host (Male): Next time on A Daily Walk, we'll focus on the seriousness of sin as our study of 1 John resumes with Pastor John Randall. See you then.