"The thought that any individual has any dreams of afterlife in bliss is a pipe dream on the same level as these childhood aspirations."
[This message is part of a series through the book of 1 John, entitled "Salvific Assurance Through Testimony," preached by Pastor Senter].
We have recently discussed the ability we can have to stand before an awesome God, a God who has made allowance for our salvation. We have identified what it is that we can and should do to be able to gain this assurance. Now we get to an operative question. Besides the obvious (conviction and eternal life), what then does this continual, introspective attitude give to us? It seems to me that I am continually berating myself in my inequality with the perfect Savior. What then do I see here in this life for me? We could discuss the self centered, self-focused, un-Christian response that this represents. However, in this post we should look at a positive. What does it actually give you?
Please look at 1 John 3:1. I pray you have considered how you can now approach Christ with confidence when He returns. I pray you have taken some time to actually consider all the things you do, or that you do not do, that would lead to a shameful appearance before God. Considering our real righteousness and what we exhibit in our lives, how we count “faith” and “dependence” as compared to how Christ Himself counted it. This is a humbling experience. Then, to further compare that to Christ’s righteousness brings one to abasement. We should consider how our heart could respond to this perfection.
Not unique to scripture is the fact that sometimes we just have no experience to illustrate certain texts. This is one case. Others have attempted to sum these truths in poems and these are probably the best illustrations we have. Therefore, I have chosen some parts of a few hymns to use as illustrations. These poets knew the grace of God and toiled day and night to never forsake it, and to teach others the same.
Verse one is probably best represented by Isaac Watts’ poem and it goes something like this,
Behold what wondrous grace,
The Father hath bestowed,
On sinners of a mortal race,
To call them Sons of God.
How can someone give love? We know how to display it, we can demonstrate it, but this verse talks of giving it, further, giving it to hateful, rebellious, and imperfect people. This is pure grace.
On the second verse of this scripture passage, Charles Wesley, while recognizing the great mystery of our transformation upon Christ’s return wrote,
And if our fellowship below,
In Jesus be so sweet,
What weights of rapture shall we know,
When round His throne we meet.
Talk about a change – new scenery and a completely new place to live – as well as the perfection of heaven.
Finally, for the third verse we turn to scripture and find Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure of heart.” We also see the last phrase in Watt’s poem, which reads,
A hope so great, and so divine,
May trials well endure;
and purge the soul from sense and sin,
As Christ himself is pure.
You have to ask yourself, how can one possibly illustrate something without a reference. The only thing one looks for is a hope to achieve this title as children of God, a hope to achieve this transformation, or a hope to achieve this level of purity. We should consider looking at these three issues – Hope of a new name, hope of purification, and hope of transformation.
Today we will study “ Your hope testifies to inclusion in God’s family,” and consider “We strive for to have hope because we are Christians, but hope comes from God.“
I. Hope of a new name (verse 1)
There are essentially three ways to be brought into a family: birth or in a blood relationship, adoption or through a legal relationship, and marriage or through a love relationship. On page 89 of Phillips commentary, he expresses the biblical trifecta engineered by God through His son when he says, “To make triply sure that we are really and truly placed in His family, God employs all three principles.”
I believe I have shared with some of you how I do some of my in-depth studying. I have a Thompson Chain Reference Bible that I specifically have as my deep study Bible. When I am going through the scriptures, I highlight subjects, people, and things that are consistent. It takes some time, and it takes some reading but it is very useful to catch meanings in your scriptures. It also helps you think through things. I use different colored pencils to accomplish this and in the process, I can quickly see in my Bible the subject in each verse. The only way to do this is to read books straight through, in one sitting. It only takes about 45 minutes to get through Hebrews, and I am a slow reader. If you are interested in trying this, you have to identify a subject that is in the scripture and concentrate on it throughout the reading. This way, you re-read the book every time you identify a new subject and then considering that subject in your head, read it again. Talk about scriptural saturation. Try doing that to Isaiah or Jeremiah though. I have not done that yet. However, here in 1 John I have. I attempt to read through the book I am studying for you once a week. I do not always make it, but I have read 1 John through enough that I have identified four different subjects. In these three verses, the subject of our testimony is highlighted 8 times. This subject is an effect that God has on us, or that we exhibit in our lives, which testifies of Him. It especially testifies of our appreciation and hope in His great love for us.
Do you keep God contained in your heart? If you do, I submit to you that you never had Him to begin with. If you did have Him, you would never be able to contain Him.
A. We see His great love
If we look carefully, we first find the manner of His love. When we survey some good translations, we find the most have this word “manner” translated in this form – as a type or kind or way. The direct translations for the word indicate “what sort of” or “what kind of” love He has bestowed upon us. That is the question, what kind of love do we see here? What has been done in order for us to attain the title “children of God.” To what lengths has God gone to get you to see His great love? Have you ever contemplated that?
You younger folks, who have godly parents, consider that God gave you those parents. God first saved them, just so He could invite you into salvation. Take it a step further. What of those of you who have godly grandparents. Consider what God did in their lives in order to effect your parent’s salvation, and eventually to present Himself to you. Take one more step back. How many here had parents, grand parents, or great grandparents that immigrated from overseas? Many, in the 20th century, did so for work. Some, from oppressed nations, did so because of religion. This country was founded under these auspices–to be able to worship outside some nationally-determined church, the Anglican and Catholic churches. There is evidence of God taking, shaping, molding, and manipulating people, circumstances, and things of the world just to introduce Himself to you for your salvation. He does all these things for you, because He loves you.
You might ask about my own testimony. All right. I entered the Navy at 17 years old. Lost, rebellious, a High school drop out. Everywhere I went, God presented Himself. There was a Chaplain in boot camp. There were Chaplains quarters on the carrier where I was first stationed. There were Christian guys that asked me to go to church with them. Then I met my wife. At our first duty station together, a family asked us to attend the church on Guam. It is a ministry that every major fundamental Baptist church we have dealt with since salvation knows of, has heard of, or has supported. Our next duty station, there was a fundamental Baptist church in Sugar Grove West Virginia. A town of hundreds, not thousands. Our next duty station, on the USS Elliot there were men on the ship who continually wanted me to go to church with them, a few at a local Baptist church. In Pearl Harbor, there were people who attended a fundamental work there that asked me to attend with them. We continually put them off. Then, in Maryland, when we made our last move in the Navy, we had to put our children in private school to save them from the world. God, in His infinite love, continued to present Himself to me because He had chosen me and was not going to give up on me. He eventually used my most prized possession – my family, my children specifically, to bring me to Him.
Do you know someone who keeps after you? Some call it nagging. When it is for your salvation, or to give you something desperately needed, I call it love. God is after you to GIVE to you. He is not after you to take from you. His is a giving love, a love born for, created for, developed for, and altogether originated by His glory.
Do you know Him like this? Does He recognize you as one of His children? He has shown His infinite love for you in providing this opportunity to you right here in this church to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His vicarious death for you. He died in your place. Have you accepted this gift of salvation through His son? The gift that helps you attain this personal and specific relationship with Him as a child of God.
In recognition of this level of intimacy, then we receive a new title.
B. We are His children
One thing royalty does is to closely monitor those in their inner most circle. Important people cannot have multitudes of individuals demanding their time any more than you can. One individual just cannot handle 10,000 or more people taking up 15 minutes of their day every day. Not only is there not that much time in a day, there are other things that must be done. Our President has cabinet members, Kings have advisers, princes, and lords or other land managers to report to them and take care of other business. Managers at work have superintendents, or line foremen who report to them. This is called hierarchy, and there is a reason for it. The line foreman has no direct connection with the President, the CEO, or owner of the company. There should be no expectation to have such a relationship either. About the only instance is if there are only a few workers and it is a very small operation. However, here in this scripture we are talking about God and His eternal kingdom. He controls the world we live on. That is a mere 6,602,224,175 people, as of July 2007. I have done some minor number crunching and come up with the following. Estimates are that about 211,000 people are born every day. There are about 150,000 deaths each day around the world. That leaves about 61,000 people a day added to the world. This amounts to 27,023,000 people added to our world since the July estimate I mentioned earlier. Therefore, as of today there are an estimated 6,629,247,175 people in our world. God is responsible for that many people. He feeds them, clothes them, and cares for them. Not to mention the angels in His heavenly kingdom which, for all we know, there are tens thousands times tens of thousands of them.
Consider then what we see here, that we are called “children of God.” Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you that anyone of importance who has their family life properly balanced gives special time– above that which they give their managers, cabinet members, or other property owners–to their children. In the hierarchy of God, we are closest to the throne. We can, as some children have, run up to the one true King of kings, the God of the entire universe, and immediately capture His attention, no matter the circumstance. We hold this special place in His kingdom. Not subjects, but children with ready access to the biggest and busiest Leader in the universe.
In being called the “children of God” you have attained a coveted and special place. Have you called upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13) for salvation of your soul? Have you in fact laid all your sins at His feet for His superintendence? Until you do, you do not know this relationship.
When we do accept Christ, when we are then children of God, we are alien to this world.
C. We are unknown to the world
How are we encouraged in this book to know God? Is it through your heart, or is it through your mind? Through the mind. You might think that here John is attempting to make the point that the people of the world do not know us spiritually just as they do not know Christ spiritually. Do you remember the “oida” verses “ginosko” conversation we had before? Where you cannot know God in your mind until you know Him first in your spirit? Which form of “know” would you think John may be using in this verse? This is the “ginosko” form of knowing, the intellectual form of knowing. Both instances are forms of the intellectual knowledge. One must ask why the world cannot comprehend us spiritually. Plainly and firstly because quite simply they cannot be on the same plane as us. They are light years away from a believer in Christ with respect to a spiritual life. True believers in Christ live in and through their spirit, which is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. No one can get away from that. There is another reason, a more direct reason, and a more specific reason. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:1, 5, and Colossians 2:13 that we are dead in trespasses and sins, and Christ enlivens our souls. The scripture says:
- Eph. 2:1 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”
- Eph. 2:5 “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)”
- Col. 2:13 “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;”
Comparing the righteousness of Christ to anything we can do can be distressing. But for the love of God. Those are sweet words. We reprobates are adopted as family. The world does not know you, because they do not know Him. They can never fathom why our ladies are so gracious, never haughty, not demanding their rights or respect.
Whatever problems you are experiencing here, whatever things are troubling you, God loves you. He has not only made provision for you, but also has drawn you to Him so you can become a member of His family. The question is, do you have this comfort? Do you enjoy this perspective? If you do not, if you do not have this relationship with the Father, you should seek Christ’s salvation.
What will happen to us. What of this great transformation. Will I not change more?
II. Hope of purification (verse 2)
The form of the word “love” used in verse one and also in this verse is the selfless, completely giving love with no expectation of reciprocation. No one who loves this way expects anything back. Consider, Christ died on the cross for every single soul before and after His crucifixion. He already knew Pharaoh of Egypt was not going to be saved through His death. He already knew many of the kings of the Jews were never going to be in heaven with Him. He knew many people after Him would not take the gift. No, it is a selfless and, more often than not, a thankless love. Yet, here we are children of God. We have the hope of purification because we understand what great lengths God has gone to in order for our salvation to be complete. We hope for this, and we look for our bodies, our lives, and our beings to be purified. Yet, we still fall prey to temptation, each one of us. Still He loves us all the more.
We should consider this level of commitment – as children.
A. We are His Children
We do not know what we will be, because we do not know what the Father looks like. Yes, we know we were made in His image, but that image only goes so far. We know that scripture tells us we will have a completely different body, a completely different look about us. We will be changed into His image literally. You will be like the Father. Consider this. How many sons look like their father. Mine do. My wife grieves every time she considers this fact. Not really, my sons are handsome lads. Nevertheless, they look like me. One of our neighbors called Leigh, my youngest, tiny Tim. This was not a reference to The Christmas Carol. Literally, both of them look much as I do. We will be changed to look like the Father in body. We represent His image now; we will literally take upon ourselves His image, just as our children have after us, when He takes us to Him. We are His children.
Hearkening back to verse 28 of chapter 2, are you excited about that day? Is there anything here on the earth you will miss, you will not want to let go? Will you in fact regret being taken to be with Him? If there is anything about the world that you might in the remotest sense regret, you should consider then where you stand with God. You should always want to go to be with your heavenly Father.
In this next phase of your Christian life, you will change.
B. You will change
Once again we turn to Phillips, where he writes,
We are going to have a body “like unto his glorious body” (Phil. 3:21), and Paul tells us at some length what a wondrous body it will be (1 Cor. 15:35-58). It will be a spiritual body subject to higher laws and with greater powers than these natural bodies we have right now. It will be incorruptible, immortal, invincible, just like the resurrection body of the Lord.
Anyone who says they know what we will look like in the afterlife, has never been there to tell you have they? You will change into something about which you know nothing as of yet. We have brief descriptions in scripture, but the most direct testimony is in Christ’s ascension. In this way, as we understand it, the dead will rise first, they we will be taken into the clouds with Him. Further, this will all happen “in the twinkling of an eye”. Here on earth, where is our hope? We are changed into His image mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Romans 12:2 tells us specifically we are changed by “the renewing of your mind.” You will change here, so much so that people will not know you any more. Some will want to convict you and tell you that you are too stuck-up to hang with them any more. Your response should be gentle and loving, and you just tell them there is Someone more important to you in your life now. You are focused upon a different end. You know where you are going and are honoring the individual Who gave Himself so you could be with Him. Others will accept your change and see it as weakness. They believe religion and church are things weak people need. This is not a strengthening or a weakening, but a recognition of reality and the truth. People need God because He is their creator, Father, and Judge.
The pleasures of the things around you should no longer enthrall you; you in fact should contemplate how they might glorify God. If an activity does not glorify Him, get rid of it. Conversely, you also consider how your testimony for God is tarnished because of what you do.
At the end of all things, when you finally are transferred to heaven, either in the body or not, you will meet with Christ after changing to be like Him.
C. We will meet Christ
Here is a point we should be considering. We will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. Why is there a cause and effect relationship to this? Why do we have to transform into something we are not in order to see Him? Why are we denied the ability to see Him without this transformation? The truth lies in scripture. Exodus 33:20 gives us the answer. “And He (God) said (to Moses) thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me and live.” I submit to you, no man can see God and live. You are incapable of seeing His face truly revealed, and living through the experience. Jesus Christ is transformed already. He is in heaven at the right hand of God. He is God Himself. We, therefore, cannot see the full face of Jesus Christ as God revealed to us and live as man or woman. When you are to see Him “as he is,” as God, in His full revelation, in His kingdom, in all His glory, in His entire splendor, then you will know God. Then, and only then, can you say you have truly seen God.
The question is, Do you look forward to that changing, or are you tied up with remaining here? Do you know you will change physically? Are you changing your mind now and preparing for the day when He appears and you change physically? If you are not, you should have no confidence when you go before Him.
Because we hope to see God, because we hope to be changed, because we are God’s children, we hope for this transformation.
III. Hope of transformation (verse 3)
You were wondering when we might get into some specific word studies. This section of scripture is the most interesting for this purpose. I have taken the liberty to do a “Tim’s translation” in order to get a better look at what the words in this verse actually represent. “Tim’s translation” would read: “And everyone having this hope on Him, He is purifying himself as much as He is pure.” The object of the verse is purity. Purity modifies the actual subject of the verse. Some might take the pronoun “him” and distort the verse putting the action and emphasis on the individual person that is purifying himself, thus making “him” the subject. The pronoun “himself” would almost lend you to believe that, too. However, the object of the verse is actually the phrase “everyone having this hope” not the other pronouns that are attached to this verse. The word “having” is a pronoun with the article. This means it is a substantive “the ones having” or in this case, “everyone having.” The ones that have this hope are individuals who know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
The point therefore is two-fold. First, look at the purpose of the writing – to combat the heresy perpetrated by individuals touting themselves as intellectuals. We know therefore we are saved. The focus on purity is everyone – not a special group. Hiebert puts it this way:
(everyone) allows no exceptions for some elite group. … John insists that the purifying impact of this eschatological hope is operative in the life of every true believer.”
The word for hope therefore represents the objective the believer seeks to attain in their fulfillment. This hope transforms individuals, changes them, and it purifies them. Do you hope for the end to come, for Christ to return, for the eschatology or last things of this world and to move on to the next? If you do, you know this hope.
In order to identify with this end product, to identify with the One who will occupy our future focus, to be able to work within this environment in the future, we change.
A. We are changed
Some have said that we practice here on earth so that when we get to eternity it is not such a culture shock. Can you imagine the deathbed conversions – and the immediate shock they incur in realizing the depravity in which they had previously participated? Verse three is joined to the previous verses by the little word “Kai” which simply means “and.” We used to watch a show for the kids and I can still hear the jingle in my head, “Conjunction junction, what’s your function? Hooking up words and phrases and sentences like…” Do you remember that? This means we cannot discount the previous verses, the regeneration of the believer, the change that has taken place in the soul of the true believer in Christ. This change being what it is, instantly pushes the person to a consideration for eternity that was never before realized. This brings a living hope for an eternal future into a more clearly defined picture. Now, we can say an individual belongs in a position of eternal life therefore this person has hope.
Before the point of salvation, all hopes, all dreams, all the possibilities for life eternal are simply smoke screens, they are nothing but childlike dreams of future glory. How many of us guys here have dreamed of being Superman, Batman, Spiderman, or some super hero. These fictitious characters are impervious to pain, seem to live forever, and are supposedly inherently good. How many ladies have wanted to be Wonder Woman, the Six Million Dollar woman, or some other female icon of the day? The thought that any individual has any dreams of afterlife in bliss is a pipe dream on the same level as these childhood aspirations. The only difference is, when you were a child, you recognized these thoughts as childish. What we have to realize is that, we as God’s children, still think just as childishly and can have thoughts that are just as foolish and immature. They just seem more grown up because supposedly we are all grown up. However, spiritually we are not adults but children, we will remain children, and we should be glad to be children.
Are you changing, or are you still having those childlike thoughts that all the things you think are going to happen after you leave this earth, really are going to come true? Are you listening to some human, some historian, some doctor, or some supposedly intelligent individual tell you they know what is out there? How about listening to the only thing that can tell you about the afterlife, this: the Word of God. Not some cooked-up book by someone out for their own glory, but this book, brought together over 1,500 years, by over 40 authors, recording the same thing. Most did not even know one another. This book (our scriptures) was written by the only resident of heaven (the Holy Spirit) to ever pen His words for our consumption.
God is the only One who could have maintained this type of record, this type of testimony, or a historical document of this magnitude. And what it inspires, what is developed by those who read it, soak it in, take it into their minds, and let it change them is purity.
B. Christian hope inspires Christ-like purity
The word used here for “purity” is used only here in all of John’s epistles, and is only used in John 11:55 in his Gospel. It has references to a ceremonial purification. The reference also indicates that this change takes place over time. This time-lapsed change denotes therefore a more direct and inner purification, a moral change, and purification. The word is in the present tense therefore–it identifies with a current condition. The individual is in the process of being purified. The pronoun that modifies purity, “himself,” points to the conscious and deliberate act of purification. This individual is continually striving to purify himself because of the hope that he has in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. We could call this an inspirational purification. We find this noted in 2 Corinthians 7:1 as a progressive sanctification, or a continual purification. In 1 Peter 1:22 the word is used to note the newly converted Christian who has just been “purified” in salvation, having been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God. The truth is, the closer you are to God, the more pure your life becomes. The more you focus on His grace, His salvation, His sacrifice, His love, His selection, His humility of and for you. When you therefore receive these things from Him the more you are humbled, the more you love, the more you change, and the more you are purified for Him.
What is purity? Are you more pure today than yesterday? We can only compare to Christ–and His perfection certainly convicts us. Are you becoming more pure? Are you growing with Christ?
We focused upon a Christ-like hope in God’s children. We considered the hope of a new name in Christ. We see His great love and become His children; therefore, the world is unable to comprehend us. We looked at the hope of purification. We look forward, as children do, to growing up and becoming adults, we look forward to the changes in our life, and we look forward to meeting Christ Jesus personally. Finally, we considered the hope of the transformation. We wanted to be changed, we hoped for this change, and we are inspired to Christ-like purity in our continual and growing walk on this earth to accomplish this change here. We considered whether you are changing.
Are you seeking God in all the things you do? Do you consider Him first before you choose to do anything else? Will you learn to do this in your life? If not, you do not want that change then, do you? If you need help in finding answers to these questions, please–contact us.
