Behold
1 John 2:28-3:3
1 John 2:28-3:3
28
And now, dear children, continue in him, so
that when he appears we may be confident
and unashamed before him at his coming.
29
If you know that he is righteous, you know
that everyone who does what is right has been
born of him.
3 How great is the love the Father has lavished
on us, that we should be called children of
God! And that is what we are! The reason the
world does not know us is that it did not know
him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of
God, and what we will be has not yet been
made known. But we know that when he
appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see
him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in
him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
Have you known someone who has gotten older
and wiser in Christ? You can grow old as a
Christian and not really get much wiser and
deeper in Christ. But when a Christian grows
older and wiser in Christ, he’s like John: an old
man or old woman whose greatest concern is:
knowing God. John says, if I may paraphrase,
“I’m old. I’ve seen how life can be hard and
troublesome and sometimes mysterious and I
want you to know I’ve found out how to have
complete joy no matter what: knowing God.
Everything else will let you down or elude you.”
Have you ever watched a dog chase a car and
wondered, “What would he do if he caught it?”
You know what he’d do. Nothing. He’d just walk
away and go chasing after another car. It’s
tempting to go through life like that: chasing
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after things, experiences or people and either
they elude us or they don’t satisfy us. John says,
here’s another way: know God.
Vs. 29, You know that everyone who does
what is right has been born of him. Every word
here is placed just as it should be. He doesn’t
say “Everyone who is born of him does what is
right,” but “Everyone who does what is right
has been born of him.” There’s a difference.
Let’s let the Spirit teach us through it.
1) It’s impossible to do what is right (live a
righteous life) unless you’ve been born again.
Knowing God or doing what is right isn’t a
matter of going through certain motions. Cain
and Abel both did the same thing; but one did it
from his heart. Knowing and being like God can
only happen from the inside out. The Bible calls
the new life, new birth, born of him or born
again. It’s what it takes to do what is right.
Wait a minute, aren’t there good people who
do good in every religion and even with no
religion? CS Lewis in the back of “The Abolition
of Man,” demonstrates how all the major
religions tend to agree with the 10
commandments. But John is saying nobody can
live a righteous life, in the fullest sense of the
word, unless you’re born again.
Here’s why. Take Jesus’ sermon on the mount
(Matthew 5-7). He teaches us to turn the other
cheek, forgive and make peace. You read it and
you say, “That’s how to live. I want to live in a
house where people live like that.” You can’t
read it and not be drawn to it. But if you
understand it and what it demands of you, you
will drop to your knees and see the need for
new birth. Why? Because you can’t do it.
When Jesus says, “give to the needy,” he adds,
“don’t let your right hand know what your left
hand is doing.” In other words, no self-
congratulation, no humble brag on social media
about how blessed I am to serve others. Not a
single bit of it.
When Jesus says, “Don’t kill,” he adds, “Don’t
get angry.” Hmmm, getting harder. Then he
adds, “Don’t say to your brother Raca (you fool,
you nobody).” In other words, don’t resent
anyone. Don’t feel superior to anyone. Don’t
treat anyone with indifference.
My goodness, how can I? We read the Sermon
on the Mount and says, “I could never do it
unless you work in me.” That’s the new birth.
You have a kind of supernatural righteousness
in you that you could never get on your own.
New birth.
1) It’s impossible to do what is right (live a
righteous life) unless you’ve been born again
and…
2. Doing what is right is
a result of the new birth.
Whatever book of the Bible we go into (we
finished Esther last winter, Acts before that,
Psalms before that) we get to this subject:
“born again.” Some Christian denominations
have sort of claimed that as their thing and
falsely taught that you’re only born again if you
decided to give your heart to Jesus or can name
the time you were born again. But those false
teachings, aside, if someone asks you, “Are you
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born again Christian?” You can give the biblical
answer: that’s the only kind there is.
What does it mean? I like how it’s put in 2 Peter
1:4, “we participate (partake) of the divine
nature.” In your baptism, God planted
something of himself into you. I don’t know
what all that means. It’s mysterious enough.
But I know it means we can look a little bit like
him.
Not always. In fact, does it ever bother you that
you don’t resemble your Father more? You fall
back into the same sin and wonder, “Am I a
Christian? Am I born again?” 1) The fact that
you wonder about it is a sign that you are. Who
else would even care? But 2) if you do keep
going back to the same sin, problem or habit
and you’re saying, “I cannot change,” you’re
insulting the God who now lives in you.
Everyone who does what is right has been
born of him. You have the nature of God in you.
Don’t say, “I’m a Christian, born again, but I
can’t get rid of that sin.” Say, “I’m a Christian,
born again, and because of it I can do what is
right.”
Jesus invites, “Get up from your mud puddle, I
have an ocean for you. Get up from your ant
hill, I have mountains for you.” You can change
anything because of what’s in you. You’re born
of him.
1) Doing right is impossible without the new
birth, 2) doing right is a result of the new birth
and
3. The new birth is a result of God’s love.
Immediately after he says we’re born of God he
says, 3:1, How great is the love the Father has
lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God! And that is what we are!
Have you ever used the cliché, “all God’s
children,” to refer to someone you don’t
understand? I have. But Jesus didn’t say
everyone is God’s child. The Bible says not
everyone is a child of God. Jesus turned to some
religious leaders and said, “You are not children
of God. You’re children of your father the devil
and I see his resemblance in you.” (paraphrase
of John 8:44) According to the Bible, two kinds
of spiritual DNA exist: everyone is either
through faith in Christ a child of God or a child
of the forces of darkness.
What’s the difference between the DNA of
Satan and the DNA of God? In Isaiah 14, Satan
says, “I will ascend and make myself like God.”
In Philippians 2 Jesus, the Son of God, says, “I
will descend to earth and give up equality with
God to serve you.” There it is.
The spiritual DNA of darkness: “I am my own
and nobody tells me what to do. I’m going to
live the way I want to live. I’m going to do what
I want to do.” Some people with that DNA are
pleasant and nice and others become the kind
of person you’re afraid of. But both have the
same DNA of darkness.
The spiritual DNA of light, of heaven and of God
himself: “I will serve. I will descend. I’ll put you
first.” That’s what Jesus did.
Not everyone is a child of God but everyone has
an immortal soul. Everybody you ever lay eyes
on will still be in existence a billion years from
now. The only question is in what kind of state:
light or dark, heaven or hell.
Your DNA will eventually out. The DNA at the
center of your heart, which really motivates you
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to do what you do, will out. Foul DNA will
create foul people; fair DNA will create fair
people. Your sins will find you out. You’ll reap
what you sow. God is not mocked (Galatians 6).
But the new birth isn’t the same as “getting
religion.” Sometimes a person starts on a path
toward being a better person, reforms, shakes
bad habit or two, starts coming to church and
even a little condescending toward others who
aren’t doing what they’re doing. That’s not the
same as being born again.
You know you’re born again when you look up
and you start to feel like this: How great is the
love the Father has lavished on us, that we
should be called children of God! And that is
what we are!
The old KJV got it better, “Behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us.” That first word of vs 1 is important,
“Look!” It’s even more than that, it’s “Behold.
Gaze. Focus. See the love the Father has
lavished on us. Where do you see God lavishing
his love on you? You know where he’s going.
He’s taking you to the cross. It took nothing
less than the death of God’s own son for you to
be called a child of God … and that is what we
are.
Vs. 1 concludes, “that is what we are.” Didn’t
he just say that? Some of you are writers. You
know this is an unnecessary phrase. It needs to
be edited out. When Hemingway completed
“The Old Man and the Sea,” he wrote to his
brother he had revised and honed the draft so
thoroughly he didn’t think there was a single
wasted word in it. John just wrote, “How great
is the love the Father has lavished on us that
we should be called children of God. Why add,
“And that is what we are?” They’re needless
words; he just said that. See what’s going on?
He can’t get over it. I think he’d have written a
third time if the Spirit had let him. He’s amazed
by the love of God.
Go to the cross. See the price Jesus paid for
your sin and be amazed by the love of God, feel
you’re awash in it, feel you’re a miracle of God’s
grace. That is what you are.
I can’t apply this to everyone. I can’t give 19
examples of common problems people have
because they’re not beholding. But you can
apply it to your life. All I can say is what God
gives us here, “Behold.” Feel this. (Yes,
Lutherans talking about feelings.) You’re born
again. It’s ok to feel it.
We’ll continue this next week.

4. Beholding solves every problem in your life.

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath

bestowed upon us.”

How many problems in your life do you think

come because you’re not beholding that God
has made you a child of his?

• Are you upset right now because someone

doesn’t see things your way? You’re
beholding that instead of this.

• Are you worried because you feel like God’s

not letting your life go the way you
determined it should go? You’re beholding
that instead of this.

Why do you think he says, “Behold?” All our

problems come because we’re not beholding.
The more clearly we behold the lavishness of
God’s adoptive love, the better we’ll handle
criticism, worry and everything that happens.

Walk out of here today saying, “I’m a child of

God by faith in Christ. Behold the love that did
that for me.” And ask yourself where have I
been replacing that with something else? How
am I trying to replace the love of God with
something else? Where am I not beholding?
How can I apply this to my life?

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