Hey, guys, if I haven't met you before, my name is Michael. I get the privilege of being one of the pastors here, and I've got a Bible open up with me to First John chapter three. We have been marching through this, uh, book. We're going to continue doing it. And, uh, let me just catch you up. If you haven't been here, let me kind of tell you where we were last week. Uh, this is where we ended in first John chapter two, verse twenty nine. It says this if you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. So there's this call for the people of God that are have been born of him. Now, this is key to this passage. You need to know like you've been born of him. You are a genuine believer whose life has been, like, Generated by the work of the Spirit by Jesus Christ. And so, as those who have been born of him, we are to practice righteousness. Now, if we skip down to the end of our text this morning in verse three of chapter three, it says this. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. So there's this call for those of us who have genuine faith in Christ to practice righteousness and purify ourselves. What does it mean to purify ourselves? That we would be free from moral stain, that we want to cleanse ourselves morally, to morally separate ourselves from the world and for God? So what John is doing in this text today is he's going to call genuine believers to presently and actively separate themselves from the world and for God. And the way that they're going to do it is through holy living. Again, I want you to hear he's talking about people born of him. Because as we talk about holy living, we often think like, oh, I've gotta earn God's righteousness. That's not what we're doing. We're practicing the righteousness that we already have in Christ. So that's the key to the understanding this. But we're going to put something into practice. Now, this is not something new for the people of God. There has always been a call for the people of God to be holy like their God. Now that's a high calling, isn't it? To be holy like God? Is that a high calling? Yes, it absolutely is a high calling and a difficult calling. It's a difficult calling one because like man, God, God's holy, like he's perfect, right? Like, how am I going to get to that? And then in the midst of this high calling, the world is going to throw a ton of things at us To distract us from being who God's called us to be. When I think of being distracted, I think about my first car wreck that I ever had. So I've had three car wrecks in my life. They all three happened within a two week period. The last two happened in the same day and neither were my fault. The first one was though two weeks before it was my fault. I pull up to a red light and it's kind of like, imagine like East Coast Road and Highway one hundred. There's a turning lane. So, um, the car in front of me goes, I look to the side to see if anybody's coming. Nothing's coming. I hit the gas and the car in front of me had stopped. And so I just plow into the person right in front of me. Why? Because I wasn't looking where I should have been looking before I hit the gas. Right? I was distracted because I was looking to the side, and I hit the car right in front of me because that's where my eyes should have been, right? And I think it's such a great illustration to what John's going to address this morning, like what needs to grab our attention to prevent us from wrecking our purity. What is it in our lives as we practice righteousness? What needs to grab our attention? What do we need to set our gaze on to prevent us from wrecking our purity? Let's see what John says. Chapter three, verse one. He says this. See? Oh, surprise, surprise. Right. See what kind of love the father has given to us. That word see means to behold. It's like there's a flashing light saying, stop right here. Like you need to pause and you need to notice a truth. As you seek to practice righteousness in your life, just stop for a second. As you seek this holy living. Pause. There's something that you need to know. There's a truth that you need to behold. And what is it that we need to see? See what kind of love the father has given to us. Now, that word kind there can be translated like kind as in quality. Or it could also mean great as in magnitude. So I want you to see the high quality of the love that the father has for you. And this great magnitude of love that the father has for you. This is a love that's been lavished upon those born of him. I wish I had time to go through a ton of texts to just tell you about the love of the father. Let me just give you a few statements here. How do we know this kind of love, this great love that the father has for us? Well, you know, John three sixteen For God. So what? Love the world. What did he do? He gave his only son. So what kind of love does the father have for you that was born of him? Oh, he gave you his son. But he didn't just give you his son. But while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Like. Yes. That's how he demonstrates his love for us. Romans five eight. How does he demonstrate his love? He didn't just give his son. He gave his son to die for you. And not only did he give his son to die for you, he gave his son to die for you, to satisfy his own wrath. Like, can you grasp that? Like we deserve the wrath of God because we fail to glorify him because of our sin. That's what we deserve. But what kind of love? How great is this love that's been lavished upon us by the father? And he would give his son. He would give his son to die for, but not just any death. He would pour his wrath upon his own son so that we might have eternal life. That's love. And in your pursuit of purity in your life, don't lose sight of that kind of love. Don't lose sight of it, guys. But there's there's kind of an ultimate expression of love that John is about to show us here. So look back at verse one. See what kind of love the father has given to us that we should be called children of God. And so we are. So what is the result of this great love that God has for us? That we should be called children of God? Now J.I. Packer in his book Knowing God says this. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child and having God as His father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. Like this is incredible news guys, that God the Father would love you with the kind of love to say, you're my child. You're my child. What does this mean though? John described it in his Gospel in John chapter one this way. John one twelve through thirteen but to all who did receive him, Jesus who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So what is John saying about being a child of God? That you have been given a privileged declaration upon your life an immense privilege because God has chosen you to be a part of his family. God Almighty, creator of the universe, has chosen you. That's how much he loves you. Not because of how good you were. Not because you desired it. Not because you planned for it all. Because he said, I choose you. I love you. What are we to behold as we seek to practice righteousness? The love of the father that is of such high quality and vast magnitude that it gave us tremendous privileges of being God's child, not because of anything we did. And it's so incredible That it often doesn't even make sense, right? In fact, that word kind that I said could mean kind and quality or in magnitude. And the original language is it meant from what country are you like? What does that have to do with anything? Right. Here's what he's trying. John's trying to get across the type of love that the father has from you. Seems like a foreign concept. How could this even be like, what country could this kind of love come from? Like nobody loves like this in the world. That's what kind of love the father has for his children. And that's the type of love that doesn't make sense to the world. Which is why I believe John follows in verse one. He says this, 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. So he goes, wait, you're loved. You're a child of God and the world doesn't know it. The world doesn't know you. Now, when John talks about the world, he uses this word world in a lot of different ways. In his writings, we've talked about one in chapter two where he says, don't love the world. And that idea of world was worldliness. Don't love this worldly system that the world has. He also uses it to talk about like the physical earth don't love. He's not saying that here, right? He's saying not that the physical Earth doesn't know you or that worldliness doesn't know you. The what he's talking about here for the world is the unbelieving world. Okay? The majority of people on this earth, those opposed to God and opposed to those who believe in his son, he's like lost people in this world, unbelieving people. They're not going to recognize you when you're a child of God. The majority of the world doesn't know, recognize, or accept you. Even though you have the highest privilege of being a love child of God, the world's not going to get it. But isn't the world's attention one of the most enticing things? And it's also one of the things that will wreck your purity the quickest. There isn't much greater in this world that will cause you to lose sight of God's love than the distraction of the world's acceptance. We're going to talk about a couple distractions this morning. That's the first one. The distraction of the world's acceptance. It's so enticing because we can see it. We can feel it, and we can experience it, and we experience it when we get extra attention. When somebody gives an extra glance or away, somebody gives you a high five or a like, or a comment or a subscribe or a shout out. And when that happens, this earthly desire for the world's acceptance feeds our flesh, and it feeds our sinful nature, and it feeds our self-centeredness. And for some of you in this room, that's your highest desire in life, that your boss would recognize you, that your coworkers would know you, that the boy would notice you, that the friend group would include you, that the coach would see you and you live your life. Oh, can I just have that? I need that, I want that, and you start to make statements and thoughts of like, I wish they just know knew the real me. I wish they just understood me. I wish I could just fit in. But guys, here's the really cool thing about the world's acceptance. It will cut you out just as quickly as it brought you in. It will overlook you just as quickly as it took notice of you. Why? Because the world doesn't love you. The world doesn't love you. And this is why seeing ourselves as a love child of the father leads to such a radically different way of living. When the world is stuck in this never ending like constant content creating world. You're exhausted by like, oh, here's the new clothes and the new tricks to gain influence, to gain recognition. You, those born of him. You are a child of God, loved by the creator. You don't have to be known by the created. You don't. You don't have to be impressive to an unbelieving world. They're not going to be impressed with you very long anyway. But you have a God, the God of the universe that says, I love you. You're my child, and I'm impressed with you. Not based on your status, not based on anything that you could pull off. I'm impressed with you because of what my son did for you. And that's where we can rest in the fact that we don't have to be known, and we can rest in that fact because it says the world does not know us. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Now, who's the him here? Is it talking about the father? Is it talking about Jesus? Could it refer to Jesus here? I mean, could it refer to the father? Yes. That wouldn't be heretical. The world doesn't know God, right? We've just made that clear. There's an unbelieving world that doesn't know God. But I think he's talking about Jesus here. Because remember this whole letter John is trying to kind of fight against a false teaching that had come into the church called Gnosticism. And this whole letter is kind of countering and causing people to say like, okay, this is who Jesus actually was because they were questioning, Is Jesus truly God? Is he truly man? Is he a body? Is he a spirit? So there's all these questions about Jesus, but John saying, look, no, I saw him. I touched him like I experienced him, but this unbelieving world couldn't grasp the truth about Jesus. John would say it this way in his gospel, John one ten, he was in the world, and the world was made through him. Yet the world what did not know him. So this isn't the first time that John has addressed the fact that the world didn't know Jesus. They didn't understand him like he lived among the people and they didn't know who he really was. And what John is trying to say is that don't be surprised when the world doesn't recognize you either. It didn't recognize your Savior God saying, I get it. I completely get it. As a believer, your lost coworkers, your lost neighbors, your lost peers. Your non-believing family members will think you are incredibly weird by the lifestyle that you live as a follower of Jesus. Your thoughts and your speech and your actions, your decisions will gain you no respect in an unbelieving world. So, church. Quit trying to work impressively for the praise of man just to get the promotion. You're loved. Work impressively at your job because you're loved. Work for the glory of God, not the praise of man. Christians should be the best workers at your job not to earn the promotion, but because they're loved by God. Christian, quit waking up in the morning and saying, what should I wear today that gets me noticed? What should I wear today to draw the attention of other people. You're loved by the father. Why are you worried about what they think of you? Quit living and subsequently posting your life for the views and the likes and the subscribes. Someone's life will always be more interesting than yours. Someone's life will always be more impressive than yours. And guys, as soon as the algorithm changes, you're going to quickly realize how unimpressive your life is. When you do those things. You forget that you're loved. Let me give you a really practical example here. So Some of you are in a relationship that may be headed for marriage, but you're not married yet and you are living with that person and you're trying to practice righteousness, but you're failing in your purity sexually. And if you move out. Guess what the world's going to do? It's going to ridicule you, and it's going to say, what are you doing? Like, why would you do that? That doesn't make financial sense. Like, where are you from? Like, who does that kind of thing? But maybe something in you goes like, no, this is what the Lord is calling me to. He's calling me to purity. He's calling me to purity. But the world's going to think I'm crazy if I do this. Here's the truth. They will. But who are you living for? Their attention. Their recognition. Are you going? Oh, I've. I'm loved by the father. I'm his child. Why do I need their acceptance and their recognition? I don't you don't need it. You are loved and you are chosen by the God of the universe. And despite your foreign lifestyle, you have the greatest father in the history of the world. And he says, you're mine. But it's not just something he calls you. If you go back to verse one, it says, and we should be called children of God. And so we are. This is not just something God calls you. This is your present reality, that you are his child. I met my best friend when he was when we were in pre-K. We were four years old. We were just texting last night. So forty years later, I'm still friends with this guy. It's an absolute blessing. I know that everybody doesn't have that, but we grew up around each other. We did everything together. And, uh, his name is Hagen. And Hagen's parents would often say, man, Michael's like one of my kids, and my parents would say the same thing about Hagen. Hagen is one of my, like, one of my kids. Now, it's one thing to say, oh, you're like one of mine. It's another thing to have to feed that person all the time, right? And to provide shelter for that person and to intimately know that person. Right. There's a big difference. Like, now, would my parents have taken care of Hagen? Sure they would have. But his parents have taken care of me if I needed it. Sure they would have. But what I'm trying to get you to see is that you aren't just called a children of God. That's your identity. That is who you are. You are a deeply loved child of God, not based on your impressiveness, your clothes, your shoes, your pedigree, your charisma, your hard work, your socioeconomic status, or your reach and influence. God chose you based on his love shown through Jesus Christ. And if you want to practice righteousness, you want to purify yourself. You need to embrace that you're different. You need to stop being distracted by the world's attention, and start fixing your gaze on the love of the father that calls you his child. But what John's about to do is say, I don't want you to simply fix your attention on the here and now. You need to fix your attention on something else as well. Look at verse two. 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. So John doubles down. He goes, you're beloved. You're you're a child of God. But then he's going to expand where our attention needs to be, not just on who we are now, but on who we will be someday. Because who we are as genuine followers of Christ is different than who we will be, who we are now, and who we will be. One way don't completely match yet, right? They don't completely match. I want you to hear this. Is it incredible news that you are a love child of God. Okay, we will try that again. Is it incredible news that you are a love child of God? Yes, but it gets better. It gets better than you're just loved and you're a child of God. There is something even far greater than that. Some people refer this to this as the already, but not yet. There are already. There are promises that you already have. There's an identity that you already have, but you don't yet realize how great it's going to be. And John is saying you're going to practice righteousness in this world. You need to know who you are and who you will be. So when is this going to be fully visible? When is this going to be realized? He says, what we will be has not yet appeared. Now what's he talking about? When? When he appears. Right when he appears. Now, it could be in other like early manuscripts. It should be. It could be he or it when it appears saying like, okay, when you have this new realization of who you are, like when? Or it could be when he appears when Jesus comes back. Both are actually true. When Jesus comes back, you're going to realize who you actually are. Both of these things are true right here. And it says when he appears, not if he appears. There is a confidence that you can have an eager expectation. Jesus is coming back, and this is going to be a great day because we shall be like him. There are eternal consequences to seeing Jesus as He is, because when we see Jesus as He truly is, we will become pure like him. We will completely be who we will be for eternity. Now what in the world will that entail? We don't have time to go through all the scriptures, but let me let me tell you just a few things. We know that when Jesus appears, our lowly body will be transformed into a glorious body in the image of Christ. Can I get an Amen for that? Be a great day, right? When Jesus appears, we will become partakers in the divine nature. That's amazing. When Christ appears, we will become like the image of Christ from heaven. We do know we will become like Jesus, but we don't even know all that it will entail. It actually gets so much better. What we're ignorant of now will be incredible when Jesus returns. Paul said it this way in first Corinthians thirteen. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. You want the world to know you. Why? Why are you living for that? One day you're going to be fully known when you see Jesus face to face. So the full revelation isn't clear yet, but the order is pretty clear. When he appears, we shall see him as he is, and then we shall be like him. So what do you need to see in this fight for purity in your life? You need to see the love of the father and the return of the son. But, guys, there's a there's kind of a disheartening reality. Jesus hasn't come back, and we're still here. Which is another major distraction. Distraction number two, in this fight for purity, one was the world's acceptance of us. The next one is the world's affliction. Paul would say it this way Romans chapter eight, verse eighteen. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time, where we are now, are not worth comparing with the glory who we will be one day that is to be revealed to us. So what's happening in the present is suffering and pain. It won't always be that way. And then in second Corinthians chapter four, he says, for this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Now the affliction that you may be experiencing in this world, I know, doesn't always seem, or rarely seems light and momentary. But compared to glory. There is no comparison. There is no comparison. But if you want to lose sight and wreck your purity, put your attention all on the pain happening in your world right now. On your health issues and your rebellious children. And evil and international conflicts and rumors of wars and the sins of others and your own sinful desires. How quickly we are distracted from practicing righteousness when our attention is drawn more quickly and more prominently to the pain in this world. I'm not saying the pain is not legitimate. I'm saying it's very legitimate. But it's not the end. It's not the end. But I'm guessing that every pastor in our church could stand up here. Every elder in our church could stand up here and tell you stories of how we have watched people's holy living be wrecked because of pain and affliction. We have seen hard marriages lead to adultery and health issues lead to substance abuse and political strife lead to gossip and slander, and past traumatic experience. Experiences lead to hating others and deep bitterness and unforgiveness and even wounding others. Like all those things have happened, many of those happening right now as we speak. Why? Because we've taken our eyes off Jesus, and we think this world is all we're living for. And when the situation is bleak because we have to look up and we have to look ahead. But when it's painful, we just go. This is where we're at. We're just looking here. We can't see the hope of Christ's return. Yet so much of today's Christian counseling just says, let's just look at the problem. Let's look at the past. Let's look at the trauma. Rather than lifting your eyes onto something better. And when that happens and it happens incessantly, over time, self-centeredness grows and God's centeredness wanes. Oh, it's all about us, us us, us us. Oh, we've forgotten to look up. We've forgotten to look ahead. Because this is why we must see who we are now and who we will be when Christ returns. Because one day we're going to see him in person and it's going to be better. We don't simply see the father's love, but we hope in the son's return, and we hope with eager expectation because it will happen. But I don't want you to just see this today as like, oh, this is great theology. Like, oh, I understand my spiritual adoption and the return of Christ and my final state one day. Like, if we just see it as like, oh, we grew in our theology. Okay. But I think what Paul's or John's trying to say is like, it shouldn't just grow your theology, it should affect the practice of your life. Look at verse three, and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. John is connecting our present holiness to our future hope in Jesus Christ, because there is power and hope. There is power and the hope of Christ's return. When you are stressed in this life and you want the temporary comfort and pleasure or of pornography. There's power and hope when you are stressed in this life and you want the temporary comfort and pleasure of buying a new outfit. And eating more food. And a Netflix binge. And a night of doomscrolling. Because what we as the people of God say, oh, I'm waiting for something so much better than this temporary pleasure. I'm waiting for something so much better than YouTube and ice cream and new shoes or a phone. I'm waiting for something so much better. Hope allows us to choose permanent satisfaction over the fleeting pleasures of the world today. Hope allows us to recognize that the stress and pain of this world won't last forever. The hope of Christ's return allows us to endure without collapsing. But without hope, you're just going to want to quit. And it reminds me of a story some of you probably have heard before. It's a story of a lady named Florence Chadwick. Florence Chadwick in nineteen fifty two decided she was going to swim from Catalina Island to the coast of California, over twenty miles. She was going to make this swim. Now she's already swam the English Channel. At this point, back and forth, she's going to swim over twenty miles to the coast of California. She gets in the water. It's really cold that day, and it's super foggy. In fact, all the boats around her, she could barely see her mom's in one of those boats. Well, she's exhausted, she's tired. She had been swimming for fifteen hours. I couldn't swim for fifteen minutes. Okay? She had swam for fifteen hours, And she wanted to quit. And her mom goes, don't quit. You're not far away. Don't quit. But after physical and emotional exhaustion, she stopped swimming and they pull her out of the water into the boat. And it wasn't until she was in the boat that she realized she was less than half a mile away from California. And in a news conference the next day, this is what she said. All I could see was the fog. I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it overcome and distracted by cold and exhaustion and fog. She lost sight. And many of you in this room are losing sight of your purity. Because you've been distracted and you've lost hope. You've forgotten what's to come. Your attention has been fixated on being known by the world, trying to gain its love, and how terrible this life on earth is. But what John's trying to say to his audience is, hey, if you're a genuine believer in pursuit of pure living, remember that your loved is God's children. And remember that your ultimate reality, you're going to find it. You're going to know it when Jesus comes back. So, church, this is what I would say to you. Pursue purity by focusing on the father's love and the son's return. Pursue purity by focusing on the father's love and the son's return. But some of us in this life, we struggle with practicing righteousness. We struggle with purity because we think we have a different problem than a focus problem. We think we have a a boundary problem. Oh, if I just set up more guardrails in my life, that's what I need to be more holy. And the more guardrails I set up, then the more then I can be more holy. But what happens when you focus on a million different guardrails? What are you going to run into a guardrail? Because you're looking at the wrong thing. Some of you struggle to practice righteousness because you think you have a personality problem. Well, I'm just easily distracted. I have an obsessive problem, and you might. But I would say the reason you sin is because you desire something else more than Jesus. Some of you go, well, my problem is like, I've been really hurt in my past. And many of you in this room, you have been horrifically hurt in your past. And you go, but, Michael, you don't know what I've been through. I don't. But what happened in your past didn't force you to sin today. And I'm not denying what's happened in your past. I'm just saying the focus of your heart must be that your love now by the father and that he's coming back. And what happened in your past will not define you. It doesn't define you now. And it sure won't define you for eternity. The focus of your heart is the problem. You're choosing sin because this world and this life are more important to you than God. And if you're living for the world's acceptance. A lack of the world's acceptance will wreck your life. And if this life is all you're living for, then the pain and suffering in this life will wreck you. So, church, what are you setting your gaze on? What has captured your attention? The next time you're distracted by the world's acceptance. And I'm guessing that's going to happen. Maybe even before you leave this room today. Next time you're distracted and you're tempted to sin, remember and say, oh, I'm loved by the father. I don't need their acceptance. The next time. You're distracted by the pain in this world. Remember and say, oh, I'm hopeful for the son. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. But I'm going to tell you guys, if you try to fight this fight on your own, it's going to be nearly impossible. And this is the beauty of a church family that can say, hey, I think you're looking in the wrong place right now. let me draw your attention back to where your attention should be. Like we all need brothers and sisters in our lives that say, hey, I know you're looking down right now. Let me tell you. Look up, look forward. And guys, I'm so thankful for men in this church who will look me in the eye and say, Michael, you're looking down. Look up, look up. The life that you're living isn't the end. You're loved. You're loved now. And Jesus is coming back. Guys, let's be a church that looks at each other often and says, hey, you're loved. Don't forget Jesus is coming back. And guys, the only way that we have access to the love of God and the only way that we can be confident in the return of Christ is because of what Christ did on our behalf. And so, as we get ready to take communion, guys, I want you to let this be a reminder of man. I'm loved by the father. He shed his blood and his body was broken for me. And not only that, because of Jesus death on the cross and his resurrection, I can't wait for him to come back. Amen. Let's pray. God, thank you for today. Thank you for your word. Thank you that we are loved. And God, thank you that this life is not all that we're living for. Would you help us as a church set our attention on that kind of love and the hope of Christ's return? We need each other, God. But more than that, we need you. Help us, God. In Jesus name, Amen.