1 John 3:1-3 - The Kind Of Love Only God Can Give - 8.30.2026

So, today's message is the kind of love that

only God can give. We will read three verses.

I was going to do more, but honestly, to do justice

and rightness to the Word of God, these three

verses. should impact us in a very deep way.

And so we're going to focus on these three verses,

and then we'll pick up in verse 4 through 10

next week, and then we'll deal with verses 11

through the end of the chapter the week after

that. So we're going to take a little bit longer

in chapter 3, only because of this one verse.

So let us read chapter 3, verse 1, 1 John. It

says, 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. 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. And everyone who thus hopes.

In him purifies himself as he is pure. May the

Lord bless the reading of his word. So this is

going to be a topic I think we have a tendency

to look at. But we really, we read this verse

and it's like one of those verses you want to

put on your computer as a wallpaper. Or on your

phone as part of your screen. Because it's one

of those Bible verses everybody loves. But do

they understand why? Why is... Verse 1, so important.

And so we're going to be talking about that now.

Because I want us to walk away understanding

how the love of God should move us to live rightly.

So in order to do that, we need to understand

the manner, the means, the matter, and the method

of God's love, which is his son. Because of his

work of salvation, those who believe are given

the right to be called children of God. Because

of Christ, you've been given the right through

adoption to be called children. It's a right

given to you. It's not something you can earn.

It's not something that you have because you're

in the right line of the right bloodline. It

is specifically given by God to his people. I

want you to think about that. In John chapter

John 1:12–13

1, verse 12 through 13, this is what he says.

did receive him 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. I want

us to grasp that. This is something that no man

can give. It is God alone and he has bestowed

upon you the right as his child. So in 1 John

3, 1, we see this bestowment of the reality of

us being children of God and his love for us.

See what kind of love the Father has given, what

means of love, what manner in some translations.

But the means of his love is, this word means,

as we're going to learn in a minute, means something

much more deeper than... Figuring out, is it

gentle and is it kind and is it humble? It's

more than that. So much more than that. See what

kind of love the means the Father has given the

manner to us. So that we should be called children

of God. The matter, the direct result of his

means and his manner of his love. And so we are.

Now, I like that statement that John puts here.

He emphasizes what you are now, not where you're

going to be when you get to heaven. It's what

you are now, a child of God, a son and daughter.

The reason why the world does not know us, it

did not know him. It's absolutely true. How can

the world know us if it does not know him? Who

is the creator of all things? They don't want

to know him. They don't want to know about him.

It doesn't matter if they have an inkling of

that there must be a God. The question is, do

you know him? Do you personally know him like

we know him? No, you don't. And so if they don't

know him, how are they going to know us? To us,

we are aliens. We are strangers. We are strange.

We are different. We are weird. What in the world

would cause a government, a state government,

to keep people from praying outside of a clinic?

They're not burning any clinics like they just

did in Stroudsburg. We're not a bunch of teenage

mobs burning and destroying things. You know

why? Because they don't know us. That is a hatred

toward God. They don't know us because they don't

know him. So what kind of love? It's not a question

used to make us think of what God's love is like.

It's actually a question that is telling us the

quality of God's love. What is the quality of

God's love? Think about that. So when we read

what kind of love the Father has given, to us.

It's the quality of love the father has given

to us. Have you thought about that? Like the

quality, like it's the purest of love. If you

were to take a diamond and the purest of diamonds,

like with almost zero speck of coal or black

inside of the diamond, that kind of purity, it's

like no mistakes. So what's the quality of God's

love? The manner, the means, the matter, and

the method of his love, which is Christ, the

complete and perfect expression of the Father's

love. He is the quality of his love. And we're

going to learn today what the manner, the means,

the matter, and the method are. In Hebrews 1

.3, he says it this way. How do we know the perfect

quality of God's love? Expressed in his son,

he is the radiance of the glory of God in the

exact imprint of his nature. He is love. And

he upholds the universe by the words of his power.

Oh, what kind of love the Father has given to

us. The manner of God's love. The manner, the

way, the style, or the method in which something

is done or happens. Think about that. How do

we know the manner of God's love? But God showed

his love for us in that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us. That's the manner. He has

openly shown his love by killing his son. And

not only that, the scripture says that Jesus

says, no one takes my life from me, but I lay

it down of my own will. Why? If the father offers

the son, the son is the exact imprint of the

father. He willingly dies because he knows the

quality of his love. What a beautiful thing.

The means of God's love. The means, a method

or instrument or process used to achieve a goal.

We know what the goal was. To save a people for

his own. John 3, 16. For God so loved the world

that he gave. There's the method. One and only

son. There's the instrument. And that whoever

believes. There's the process. In him shall not

perish but have eternal life. That is the end

result. And then we have the matter of God's

love. Matter. A situation or subject. A level

of importance. It's an interesting word. It's

an idiom. And I'll show you that in a minute.

But for example. In Romans 5 .19. For as by one

man's disobedience. The many were made sinners,

so by one man's obedience, the many will be made

righteous. So what is the situation? A subject,

a problem, or an event of concern. What is the

event of concern? One man's disobedience. That's

the problem. What's the subject? Here's the idiom.

It's not what is matter. We know what matter

is. Anything you see, this is what is the matter.

What's the problem here? Because of one man's

disobedience, what happened? All were made sinners.

And what's the importance of this massive global

event to be of significance or value? One man's

obedience made many righteous. One man's obedience

to many will be made righteous. What's that?

Salvation. So we know what the importance is.

The reality of Christ's sacrifice, his obedience

was that we are now his children. What's the

method of God's love? What is the planned, logical,

and systematic way of doing God's love? How did

he do it? In 1 Corinthians 3, 4, 15, 3 through

4. 1 Corinthians 15, 3 through 4. For I have

delivered to you as of first importance. Do you

hear that? Listen, out of all that God has ever

given to us, next to Christ, which the first

importance is Jesus, because that's what he says

here, I've delivered to you as of first importance,

the most important thing that any preacher in

a pulpit, any teacher of the scripture, any evangelist

could give, the very thing that the apostles

have laid before our feet and the prophets have

spoken of of old, is the gospel. The first importance,

what I also received, that Christ died for our

sins in accordance with the scripture, and he

was buried, and he was raised on the third day

in accordance with the scriptures. There is your

answer. That is the importance. See, God must

come in the flesh, which he promised before the

foundation of the world. How do we know that

this grand plan of God was before anything was

created? Because he tells us that. That Christ

was crucified before the foundation of the world.

For who? For his people. How do we know that?

Because your name is written in the Lamb's book

of life before the foundation of the world. You

may not like election. Election is not the issue

here. It's your rejection of the truth of God's

word. He has picked you, chosen you, provided

for you salvation. And when you go, I don't want

it if it's not my own choice. You're avoiding

hell because God is graceful and loving and kind.

But what do we know? That this grand plan was

before the foundation of the world. He made a

promise. And we know he made a promise because

when Eve was deceived and Adam disobeyed, what

did he say to the serpent? I will put an enmity

between you and the woman, between your seeds

and her seed. He will crush you, but you will

bruise him. God had made a way before the way

was needed. He is the way maker. What else do

we know about this promised one before the foundation

of the world? He lived a perfect life which we

cannot live. Willing to pay the penalty of death

due to our sin which we could not pay. Received

upon himself the wrath of God as the object of

God's wrath on our behalf. Was buried and resurrected

from the dead on the third day fulfilling what

he promised. Displaying his By doing this, displaying

he has authority and victory over sin, death,

and the grave, that all who are in Christ will

live in newness of life and live eternally with

him by the resurrection from the dead. That's

a perfect plan. It's interesting how perfect

it was. Not only did he ensure that the plan

would be successful, he then fulfills the plan

and does something for us. Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

1. You can turn there. Turn to Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

1 if you would. What's interesting about this

amazing manner means matter and method of God's

love is it is expressed succinctly in Ephesians

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. The Father set the plan. Go to verse

9 first. I know I put 11. 11 was the end of what

I was trying to say. It was supposed to be 9

through 11. Look what it says. Making known to

us the mystery of his will according to his purpose

which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the

fullness of time to unite all things in him.

Things in heaven and things on earth. There's

the authority. In him we have obtained an inheritance

having been predestined according to the purpose

of him who works all things according to the

counsel of his will. Very important. So we know

that God the Father has set the plan. We also

know that God the Son has fulfilled the plan,

Ephesians 1, 7 through 10. In him we have redemption

through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.

according to the riches of his grace, which he

lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making

known to us the mysteries of his will, according

to his purpose, which he had set forth in Christ

as a plan. So we know because Jesus fulfilled

the plan, which he set forth in Christ. Verse

13a. In him you also, when you heard the word

of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed

in him. It's interesting, isn't it? So we see

that the Son has fulfilled the plan. And now

we see the God, the Spirit seals the plan. The

rest of verse 13, look what it says. You, those

who believed in him, were sealed with the promised

Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance

until we acquire possession of it to the praise

of his glory. God the Father set the plan. God

the Son fulfilled the plan. God the Holy Spirit

seals and guarantees the plan. Why is this important?

Because without the triune God, salvation is

an impossibility. All these things must be in

place. And the capstone, the complete work hinged

on Christ and Christ alone. See, if God the Father

set a plan and God the Son didn't come to fulfill

it, then there is no guarantee or any seal of

the plan. Without Jesus, there is no plan. But

because Jesus fulfilled it and is the plan, God

the Father set it beforehand to accomplish it

for us now. So as a result of becoming children

of God, we shall be like him. If we hope in him,

we do not practice sin, but purify ourselves

as Christ is pure. How should you live knowing?

The manner, the means, the matter, and the method

of God's love for you. And this is the perfect

plan of God. How should you live now? Leviticus

20, 26. He says in the Old Testament of his people.

Forget about the W before four. I forgot to delete

that. It's not woofer. You shall be holy to me.

For I, the Lord, am holy and have separated you

from the peoples that you. should be mine. Even

though he's talking to Israel here, it is the

same for those who are in the church. God has

set you apart for himself that you will be his.

That's why you're children of God. In 1 Thessalonians

4, 7, for God has not called us for impurity,

but in holiness. And if he has set us aside for

himself because he's holy, we too should be holy

in all we do. Look what it says in 1 John 3,

2 -3. Beloved, we are. Again, you know what he

says in the first part of that, in John 3, 1.

Which you are. Do you see? Again, John reminds

us. And so we are. And he says it again in verse

2. Beloved, we are God's children now. We're

not going to be God's children when we get to

heaven. You're a child of the living God now,

not tomorrow. And what we will be has not yet

appeared. What you're going to be like, what

you live with today, the body you walk with today

is not even in comparison to what you will be

like when he appears. It is so gloriously beautiful

and so vastly different that Mary didn't even

recognize him when he was resurrected. She thought

he was the gardener. Imagine with me for a minute.

What will that be like? And what we will be has

not yet appeared, meaning him. But we know that

when he appears, when he appears, not if, he

is coming. We shall be like him. Why? Because

we shall see him as he is. When we see him, you'll

know what you're going to be like. A glorified,

resurrected body. And everyone who thus hopes

in him purifies himself as he is pure. So why

does John give us these three verses here? Because

he's building a very important drive for the

people. He is driving them to an attitude and

a heart of abiding in him by living rightly.

That if you abide in him, you will live holy.

If you abide in him, you will reflect him in

all you do. That's what he's trying to build

here. And he's trying to get you to understand

the quality of the love of God, which he's given

to us, and the reality of our being like him

when he comes, should drive us to live lives

that reflect him in every way possible. Knowing

you are a child of God now, how must you live

now? What do others see and experience with you?

How do people, when you're around them, how do

they experience you? How do you act? What is

your reflection of Christ to them? And most importantly,

do you remind yourselves that Christ sees and

knows everything about you? In other words, if

I'm going to be around people and I'm reflecting

Christ to people, what happens when I'm not?

Or what happens if I don't do this at all and

I still think that I'm a believer? I live a life

in disobedience, but still think I'm a believer.

I live a life of sin, still think I'm a believer.

Remember, Christ sees everything and he knows

everything. You can't hide a single thing. You

can't even hide the intentions of your heart.

He knows that too. And we know that because even

when he was on the earth, he says he knew what

was in their heart. The scripture says, what

you know of and about God will determine how

you live in public and private. What you know

of and about God will determine how you live

in public and in private. You want to change?

Change here. Let the word of God do its work

in your heart and mind. Do not be conformed to

the pattern of this world, but be transformed

by the renewing of your mind so you can test

and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing,

and perfect will. Romans 12 .2. So what we do,

what we know about God is going to be seen. in

our public and private life. If we know very

little, people will know. You can't hide. What

is the importance? How do we maintain? How do

we keep ourselves in the mindset or as some would

say, on the narrow road? How do we set our minds

and keep ourselves from being tossed and thrown

by every wind of doctrine or by emotions and

all the other things that go with our sinful

nature? reminding yourself of the matter, the

means, the matter, and the method of God's work,

mighty work of salvation, and is a means to help

you live in purity. The reminder, and that's

exactly what John's doing here, don't forget

in the quality of God's love for you, the means

by which God has provided your salvation to you,

the matter in which God has remedied the issue

of your... rejection and your sin and the method

by which God has given his son. As Jesus stated

concerning the woman with the alabaster jar in

Luke 7 47. This is he was invited to go to a

Pharisee's house and he's sitting down and eating.

This woman comes in with an alabaster jar and

anoints him. And they're like why are you doing

that? She's a sinner. And this is what he says

to them. Therefore I tell you Her sins, which

are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But

he who is forgiven little loves little. If you

think you don't have issues, you can't love God

fully. If you think I'm okay, the minute you're

not okay. But look what he says to her after

they say what they say, and he says what he has

to say to them. And the reason why he says to

them, those who are forgiven little love littles,

because they don't think they have any issues.

And there's a lot of people in Christian churches

today think, I'm good. I grew up in the church.

I'm okay. No, you're not. Well, none of us are.

Look what he says to her. He tells her, your

sins are forgiven. And you know what they said?

Only God can forgive sins. How dare you? Then

look what he says, what I say here. Are you living?

as ones whose sins have been forgiven. Are you

living your life for Christ knowing that you

are forgiven? Knowing that all he has done for

you through his gospel? Or are you living as

if he doesn't matter and Sunday is just a day

to do your religious duty? Being and living as

a Christian, a child of God, is every day, not

just a weekend duty. Are you doing it every day?

We're not talking about perfectly. We're talking

about consistently. Why? Because the quality

of God's love is perfect. And he calls us to

be perfect as he's perfect or pure as he's pure.

That we should be walking and continually to

renew our minds every day. That we would live

rightly before him because we want to please

our father. We want to serve our father and we

want to give to him all that we have to give.

Continually. remind yourself of the cost of Christ,

that which he paid for you and the life he has

given through his resurrection. That's what we're

talking about here. That's the reality of the

manner, the means, the matter, and the method

of God's love. How should we live?