Sunday, June 15, 2025

Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

Good morning. We're glad to be able to gather for worship this morning, the Sunday before BBS. We're going to go ahead and go to God in prayer, and then we'll spend some time in the Word of God and in worship and prayer, gathering around the table and opening and studying His Word. Let's pray. Father in Heaven, I just ask that You would bless our time together this morning, that You would show us Your truth clearly through Your Word and through the testimony of Your people, through the songs that we sing. May You help us to see Your goodness and Your grace and Your love, and that You would help us to see that You are a good Father who loves His children. Help us to be able to glimpse a little bit of the depth and the width and the breadth of that life.

So be with us this morning as we worship. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And in just a moment, we're going to read from the 13th Psalm, a psalm that directs us to God's steadfast love. And that's kind of the direction that we are taking through our service this morning on Father's Day is to be reminded of the great love of our Heavenly Father. And the 13th Psalm is interesting because most of the psalm is a bit of a struggle. The psalmist is relating the fact that he feels like he's been struggling for a long time. He's been praying for a long time, and he's waiting for God to answer him, and it seems like his troubles are mounting. His enemies are surrounding him. And then in the last two verses, he essentially just says this. This is how I make it through the struggles and the silence and the difficulty.

And those are the verses we're going to begin to read this morning as we worship. So let's go ahead and stand, and we'll read these last two verses. But I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he is doubtful with me. This is God's Word. And before we sing our first Song this morning, "Who You Say I Am," I want to read a little bit from the eighth chapter of Romans. And so Paul writes this, "You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father." The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we also may be glorified with him."

Let's sing "Who You Say I Am." "Who am I that the highest King would welcome me? I was lost, but he brought me in. Oh, his love for me. Oh, his love for me. Oh, the sun sets free. Oh, it's free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. At last he has ransomed me. His grace runs deep. While I was a slave to sin, Jesus died for me. Yes, he died for me. Oh, the sun sets free. Oh, it's free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. In my Father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. I am who you say I am. I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. I am who you say I am. I am who you say I am.

I am who the sun sets free. Oh, we're free indeed. I am a child of God. Yes, I am. In my Father's house, there's a place for me. I am a child of God. I am a child of God. Yes, I am.

It's so good. I almost can't believe it. Far beyond what hearts could ever dream. The God who said the galaxies in motion would descend to give His life for me. For what could make perfection bleed for sinners? What leads a king to pay so great a cost? All my life, my heart will sing the answer. Only the love of God. Oh, how great is the love of God. He paid our debt on that rugged cross. For all our days, we will sing our Savior's praise. How great is the love of God.

It's so kind, it leads us to repentance. It's so bright, the darkness has to flee. Hallelujah, it cleared my guilty sentence. For I was bound, but now I stand redeemed. For what could break the chains of any prison? What force could rob the power from the grave? What would trade my racks for heaven's riches? Only the love of God. Singing, oh, how great is the love of God. He paid our debt on that rugged cross. For all our days, we will sing our Savior's praise. How great is the love of God.

Though I try, my mind can't comprehend it. It's so high, too marvelous for words. I could sing a million songs about it, and barely scratch the surface of your word. This all my life, the banner I'll be waving. My anthem cry, no matter what may come. And when I rise to walk the streets of heaven, I'll still be singing this song. For everything that you've done. How great the love of God. Singing, "Oh, how great is the love of God." He paid our debt on that rugged cross. For all our days, we will sing our Savior's praise. How great is the love of God. How great is the love of God. For more information, visit www.fema.gov.au www.fema.gov.au www.fema.gov.au www.fema.gov.au www.fema.gov For more information, visit www.fema.gov www.fema.gov www.fema.gov www.fema.gov

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . how deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure, that He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure. How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns His face away, as wounds which mother chosen one, bring many sons to glory. Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders. Ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there. Until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished. I will not boast in anything. No gifts, no power, no wisdom. But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know it on my heart.

With all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart. His wounds have paid my ransom. Love is a pretty common topic, and for us this morning, it's going to become even more common in just a few minutes. In 1 John 3, as we think about the kind of love that the Father has given to us. And it's very easy, I think, in our world to make love simply about saying the right thing at the right time, or simply having maybe the right words or the right feelings. But what we find is that love, and when we talk about God's love, the true source and picture and reality of love, it's so much more than that.

In 1 John 4, it says this, "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into this world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation or to pay the price for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." And when we come to this table, we are reminded that God's love for us is not just an idea. It's not just some sort of wishful thinking. It's not a hope that may in some reality be possible, but it is a concrete reality made manifest through His Son and through the fact that God's Son paid the price for our sins.

And one of the ways that we are reminded of the concrete reality of the love of God and the grace of God and the mercy of God is through these little emblems. This bread and this cup, while seeming so small sometimes and so simple, represents something so great and so wonderful that, as we sang earlier, that words often can't describe it. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Let's pray. As we come to the table this morning with this bread and this cup, may You remind us of the concrete reality that stands behind this. The broken body of Your Son, the blood that was given in our place. May we not partake lightly, but may we also partake with a deep and abiding peace and joy,

knowing that through Your love and the sacrifice of Your Son, that we who are wretches can be brought into the family of God. That we can be Your children through the sacrifice of Jesus. So I ask that You bless this bread and this cup. May You encourage our hearts. May You strengthen our resolve. May You forgive our sins. And may You help us to focus our eyes on what is truly important. It's in Your Son's name we pray. Amen. If you would take this bread and remember with me the broken body of Jesus. And if you would take the cup and remember the blood of Jesus given for our sins.

And as we eat and we drink, we also proclaim God's goodness and God's love and ultimately our hope in the return of Jesus. So just a little sort of preview of where we're going. We're going to be in 1 John 3 this morning. In these three verses, we're just going to sort of take them piece by piece here in just a minute after we pray. Next Sunday, at the end of VBS, what we are going to do is we'll be from the Psalms, Psalm 34, Magnify. We're going to be talking about the Psalm that our VBS is based on. We're also encouraging the kids that come to VBS who maybe don't have a church home or who aren't part of a church to come and bring their families next Sunday. And so we want to sort of summarize and show them a little bit of what happened at VBS,

but also to proclaim this wonderful message that we'll be teaching through this week. Following that, the following Sunday, and for the rest of the summer, we're going to be in Isaiah, the 40th chapter. There's a little bit of a graphic and a little note in your bulletins if you want to take a look at that, but Isaiah, in its construction, is very, very remarkable. In fact, in many ways, Isaiah is sort of a mini picture of the Bible. Isaiah has 66 chapters, and there's 39 that are very much focused on justice and judgment, very similar to as if you read through God's judgment and justice and goodness and righteousness throughout the Old Testament. The next 27 chapters declare God's hope. And so chapter 40 is right there at the turning point. In the very first words of Isaiah 40 are, "Comfort my people."

And the way that God comforts His people is not through sort of nice sort of platitudes. Everything's going to be okay. Keep a stiff upper lip. Turn that frown upside down. But rather God comes through and says, "Comfort my people." And then the entire chapter is filled with the attributes of God, the great pictures of who He is. That He is eternal. That He is sovereign. That He is the one who creates all things. He's the one who saves. He's the shepherd that loves His sheep. And it takes those big attributes and it puts them into actions. And then those actions transform our hope and our fears and our struggles and our difficulties. One example, in the very beginning, it talks about how God is eternal. The implication of that, it will say, is that the grass withers and flowers fade, but the Word of God goes forever.

That God is eternal, which means His words last forever. And for example, for us, the implication there would be in a world where everything can change in an instant, where it seems like there's nothing to be dependent upon. There is someone and something to be dependent upon, and that's God and His Word. So we'll spend, I think, about seven weeks going through Isaiah, just the 40th chapter, taking a look at God's greatness, how it is actionable in creation, and what that means for His people. And so I'm very much looking forward to that over the coming weeks. So I'm going to pray, and then I'm going to read 1 John 3:1-3, and we're just going to dive right into it. Father in heaven, be with us. Be with us as we plan for the future, that you would guide us,

that we would not simply invite you to rubber stamp our plans, but rather that we would seek to follow your will to do things in the way that you would lead us to do them. We just ask that you be with our Vacation Bible School over the next five days. May you encourage our teachers, may you encourage the worship leaders, may you encourage those who help and who teach and who assist and who make and who serve. May you bring safety and peace to these children, and may you help them to see the goodness of your grace in their lives. Be with us as we gather next Sunday. May we be able to proclaim your goodness to a bigger group, a group of people who desperately need to hear about your salvation. Be with us as we move through this study

in the next seven or eight weeks about your greatness and how that is a reality, not just in ideas, but in our lives. So, turn our eyes toward you this morning. May we see that it is a good thing to be your children. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So, 1 John 3:1-3, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the 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."

And so, I want to just begin with 1 John 3:1, this very, very first words where John says this, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us." Now, some of your translations, and some of you may have grown up hearing this a little bit differently. I remember this because there was a song we used to sing when I was growing up, and it said, "Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us." And we would sing it in our church, they would divide you in half, half would start singing it, the other half would follow along, and you would come in on the chorus, that we may be called the children of God. And so when I hear this, my temptation is to say, "Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us."

And so I apologize this morning a little bit if that's where I go, because that's how I've learned this verse. And what John is saying as he begins is simply, "Behold, or see, or look." And one of the things that I love about how this chapter begins is that for John, the love of God does not get old. If we have something constantly, over and over again, for example, maybe if we eat the same kind of sandwich every day for lunch after a few times, even if it maybe is our favorite sandwich in the whole world, there might be a time where we say, "Maybe instead of turkey, I could have ham this week." And for many of us, repetition over time tends to lead us looking for something new or something fresh, even if we love that thing very, very deeply.

And one of the things I love about this text is that John is showing us that that is not true of the love of God. The love of God doesn't get old. And you might say, "Well, how does the love of God not get old?" Well, you find that the love of God is continually producing wonder in the lives of God's people if they are willing to see or willing to behold. And one of the ways that we see this is how John is talking about the love of God. And so John is the only apostle of Jesus who does not die as a martyr. He's the only one who dies of old age. Now, that does not mean that his life is in any way easy, but it is likely as he is writing this letter to the church in 1 John 3 that he is probably around 90 years old or maybe even a little older.

And we don't know when he is born, but it's likely he was born around the same time as Jesus, about the same age as Jesus. And so he has probably been a Christian or a follower of Jesus for at least 60 years, for two-thirds of his adult life. He's followed God probably for his whole life, but he has followed Jesus for the last 60 years. And when John comes to the love of God, it's not like, "Oh, peanut butter and jelly again." But the way that he writes this in the original language, when he says, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us," in part it's a command, but more than that, it's an exclamation. This phrasing is used like seven times in the New Testament, and in every one of those, it's like an exclamation of joy.

Yes, underneath it there is a little bit of command that "Look and see and behold," but more than that, John, 60 years of hearing about the love of God, and he's still not tired of shouting about it. And so John will say, "Behold or see the love of God." And so we want to talk a little bit about what kind of love or what manner of love has John so excited. And one of the things that we see is John, as he talks about the manner or the kind of love, is that the picture that's underneath this is that this love is great. Or another way of saying this is that the love of God is not stingy. And so one of my favorite things about being a dad is that I get to teach my kids

that when they get snacks, especially snacks that I like, that I am legally and constitutionally allowed to tax those snacks, right? That's the rule, right? Dad gets a cut, always. And then my kids are like, "Taxation is theft." And it's a whole thing, right? So when you ask your kids for a snack, especially a snack that they love, do they provide that snack in abundance? No. It's like, "Hey, can I have some M&M's?" And it's like, "Well, I don't really like the red ones." Here's one red one, Dad, for you, right? Now God, when He comes to us in love, is not stingy with His love. And this idea of the manner or the kind of love has a picture of abundance that God's not coming. You're saying, "Hey God, you know, I'm broken and I'm hurting." And God goes, "Well, here's just a little bit of love to hopefully get you by."

The other thing we see is that this love is a gift. That the love of God has been given to us. And so John here is celebrating the love of God, but he's also commanding us to see the love of God. He's saying, "Look, lift your eyes, take a look, behold God's love." And it's important for us to understand that this is not just an exclamation of joy at the magnitude and the gift of God's love, but it's also a reminder for God's people that we must be continually looking to God's love. Because what happens over time is that some of us can lose our wonder at the love of God. We sort of become accustomed to it. And I remember when I first moved to Winchester, and I moved from Vermont, and the area in which we lived was pretty quiet.

There wasn't a lot of major traffic near us. And I remember in the parking lot standing here, and you could hear 81, and sometimes you could hear 50, and there's all kinds of sirens because the fire station's right over here. And I remember going to sleep those first couple months, and you just hear the traffic noise, right? Just going by, and then you hear the sirens. And then guess what? After a few months, guess who doesn't hear the traffic anymore, right? But then I'm reminded of this because my parents come down to visit and go, "How do you sleep with all this traffic noise? We're going to be in the basement," right? And what happens is, over time, we become accustomed to things that at once stood out for us. And one of the reasons why we must be continually seeing or beholding the love of God, and that's why John is telling us this,

is because it is easy for us to sort of fall into this place where we take it for granted. We can also, I think, become proud and sort of feel deserving of the love of God, right? There's that moment in Star Wars, right? Han Solo is about to be lowered into the vat of carbonite, to be frozen and returned to the bounty hunter. And Princess Leia looks at him, and she goes, "Han, I love you." And he just goes, "I know," right? Like, there's a tendency sometimes to look at our lives, and God, we hear about the love of God, and we go, "As he should," right? I know. I deserve this. It may not be sort of a puffed-out chest, nose-in-the-air kind of pride, but there is a picture and sort of an attitude that we can develop that says,

"Yeah, I've done pretty well. I do deserve the love of God." Now, the other side of that is that sometimes we feel so broken, and we say, "How can I ever be loved by God?" Just as the pride is a deep belief in our own goodness, the brokenness is also a deep belief, but it's a deep belief that my brokenness goes too deep that God would love us. And Jesus wants us to make sure that we understand that this kind of love for both the proud who think they deserve it and the broken who think that there's no way they can earn it, that there is a Father who loves them. And if you remember this, this is a very familiar story to us in Luke chapter 15. As Jesus speaks both to the proud, those who thought they deserved salvation, and in the background there's a bunch of sinners who have no hope of salvation, and they're listening well.

And he tells the story of a father who has two sons. And the younger son essentially rebels against his father, tells him he wishes he was dead, takes his father's money, goes to a far off land, and lives in absolute rebellion against everything the father has spent his life doing. That son ends up with no money in the midst of a famine, taking care of pigs, which would be horrendously humiliating for a Jewish person. And he looks at the pigs' food and he's so hungry, he goes, "Man, if I could only eat some of that food." And then he decides to go home. And he comes up with a plan to try to earn back his place in the father's house. And before he can get there, his father sees him coming from a long way off.

And in the most undignified way, especially in a culture that emphasizes dignity and solemnity, the father pulls up his robes and runs and wraps his arms around his pig-smelling son and brings him in and cleans him up and gives him a new robe. And as the son tries to blurt out, "I'm unworthy. Can I earn my way back?" The father showers him with love. But then there's another brother, the brother who thinks he has earned it all and deserved it all. And so in the midst of the celebration, he's standing outside bitterly. And the father, what does he do? He goes to the proud son. And he encourages him and he entreats him. And he says, "All that I have is yours." You see, there's a son in his pride who thinks he deserves everything.

There's a son in his brokenness who thinks that he has no place at the father's table. And both of them need to see the love of the father. And so John is saying, "See! Behold! Look!" Don't take it for granted. Don't let pride overcome you. Don't let despair push you away. See the love of the father. And then take a look at this. He says, "Let's take a look at the greatness of God's love." See what kind of love the father has given to us that we should be called the children of God, and so we are. Right? This is earth-shattering news that we should be called the children of God. And so over our time, since I've married Rachel, we have caught a lot of dogs that have escaped from backyards in our neighborhood.

Some of them are repeat offenders. But what happens, you see a dog running, so we head out with treats and we grab a leash. Sometimes we borrow a leash from our neighbors across the street. We capture the dog. We put out a little message on the lost dog pages and eventually the dog finds its way home. And some of these dogs are amazing. Some of these dogs are real annoying. There was one little dog that I finally caught, and I was like, "Man, I don't know what to do with him. We can't bring him in the house because Kaiser doesn't like dogs. We don't have a crate. I'm not going to chain him in the front yard." So I put him in the big room downstairs. I said, "It's all cement. Nothing he can do about it." Locked the door. We went to take pictures and put it online

so somebody could find him. Next minute I'm sitting there in the house looking out, and this dog just comes walking out the basement door. And I'm like, "What?" And what he had done is somehow got a running start, and this is like the size of a large squirrel, leaped through the window into the kitchen, down the hall, smashed into the crash bar, and headed out the door. I was like, "Get the logging chain because until he goes home, we're going to make sure this guy isn't running away." And as a dog, we finally found his owner. I was very, very glad to return him. So I was very glad to help the dogs, but in 99% of the cases, I don't want to adopt any of them, right? Do you see what's happening here? God could have simply pulled us out of our sin.

He simply could have rescued us. He could have forgiven us. He could have helped us. He could have set us back on our feet, but that is not what he does. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. God doesn't just help us. He doesn't just clean us up. He doesn't just try to find us a safe place. But what he does is he brings us into his family. Do you ever consider the fact that God could have just done that? He could have simply saved you. He didn't have to bring our dirty, sin-laden carcasses into his house and make us his children. And he does so because of his love. And so, when John says, "Behold the love that the Father has given to us,"

it is so great that he didn't just save us, but that he brought us into his family. What's interesting about this is this love is a little bit strange. Maybe a better way to say it is sort of unfamiliar to the world in which we live. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God, and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Every family is very, very different. And I remember, and this memory has sort of burned into my mind, I went to stay with my friend in Vermont when I was probably Evelyn's age, and they had a dairy farm, and so it was very, very different. Like, we didn't wake up at like 7:30 or 8, right? It was like 0 dark 30. It was probably like 4:30 or 5.

We're out, and there's no breakfast, right? It's just straight to the barn, and we're milking cows. We finally get done milking cows at like 8:30 or 9, and we go inside, and then we eat breakfast, and we have a cup of coffee, and we go out, and we do a bunch more chores, and like one, we come in, and we eat lunch, and we go back out. About 4:30, we're milking cows again, and at 7:30, like, I'm ready to cash in for the day, right? It's like, we're going to watch the Farm Report on TV, and then we're just going to just pass out and go to bed. And it was so different from how it was at home, right? The food was different. The wake-up time was different. The chores were very, very different, right? And it was very, very strange to me.

But if you're around that, it becomes familiar, right? We're familiar with our families. We may not be familiar with other families. And what John is saying here at the end of this verse, the reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him, is that the love of God is strange to those who have not experienced it. And part of the reason that the love of God is strange is because we've become accustomed to love that is shallow and weak, and God's love is so much deeper that it overflows into the lives of His people, and they overflow in love toward each other, and they overflow in love toward the world. And the picture of what John is saying here is, "Look at this love. It's huge." But it's going to be strange, because people haven't experienced the love of the Father like you have.

They didn't recognize Him when He was here. Don't expect them to recognize you when you're here as well. This brings us to the assurance of God's love. In 1 John 3:2, it just says this, "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." This sounds a little strange, doesn't it? We're God's children now, but what we will be has not yet appeared, and He's going to appear, and we're going to be like Him, and we're going to see Him as it is, which means that maybe right now we're not seeing Him quite as He is. The other night, I was sitting outside. It had been really, really hot all day. It was probably like 8:30 or so.

The sun had kind of started to go down. I was sitting in the shade, and there was a nice breeze, and I'm sitting there going, "Man, it is really, really nice out here." And the reason it was nice, and the reason it was comfortable, was because the heat that had been so oppressive was gone. Because I'm sitting there in one lawn chair, and Ranger is sitting there in the other lawn chair, and we're grumbling about traffic just like me and Grandpa used to do. The only thing that would make it better, right, is I don't know if you guys have this right now, but we have like a million mosquitoes everywhere. It is so bad, I'm sitting there slapping mosquitoes everywhere. The thing that would make this good is not adding something to it, but taking something away from it, right? Some things are wonderful, not because they show up,

but they're wonderful because they leave, right? And you may say, "Well, I know some people like that." One of the things about this verse is that it shows us that in His love and in His assurance, there are things that God removes from us that bring to us a great benefit. The first thing that He shows us He removes is uncertainty. So I want you to look at the beginning of this verse on the screen here behind me, and I want you just to sort of fill in the blank as I read it. There's only one word that you need. I'm just going to start at the beginning. We're just going to read a couple of words and then respond. We don't do a lot of responsive kind of questions, but we're going to give it a try.

So I'm going to read it, and then when I stop reading, say the next word. Beloved, we are God's children now. Like tomorrow? Next week? Maybe sometime in the future. Do you hear what we just said? Beloved, we are God's children now. Isn't that wonderful? Not someday, but now. The second thing that this removes from us is discouragement. So look at the second part of this verse, "And what we will be has not yet appeared." But that we know when it does appear we will be like Him. There's times where we're tired and we're broken and we're feeling our failures. Maybe we've failed, maybe we've sinned, maybe we've hurt others, and we just feel broken. But listen to the promise of hope that is here for us in our discouragement is that God will take that away.

What we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him. And so on one hand God is giving us certainty that we are His children now, and what we are right now will not be what we are in the future. And then He just says this: that the distance that sometimes we feel is so great in this moment God removes, because then, when we know, we shall see Him as He is. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, he says it this way: "We see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. For now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." First century mirrors were not great. We have high definition mirrors in comparison. We can see all the details, all the blemishes.

You get a piece of hammered or polished metal, and you can sort of see a general idea, and you're trying to look and you're trying to see, and you can't see very well. And Paul says there's a day coming when we will see clearly, as if, face to face. What I want you to understand, the reality is that God is not distant. It just feels like that. Because we can't see as clearly. The other day I was sitting outside with Ranger. In fact, it was like last night, we're sitting out with Ranger. And I look around, and I don't see him anywhere. And so I'm calling him, "Ranger, come!" I'm beeping his caller so he knows it's time to come home. And I'm looking around, I look behind me, I look next to me, and I'm just yelling for him, "Where is he?" And I'm getting ready to go search for him.

And I look down, and right underneath the edge of the picnic table where I was sitting, two little paws just sitting there underneath. Couldn't see him, but he was right there. And for many of us in this moment and in this life, right, we see in a mirror dimly, see some outlines, we can see some shapes. The reality is that one day we will see the reality that God is not distant, but he is here and near and with us. And what John is doing in this moment, he's trying to remove our uncertainty that we are God's children now. That God is at work to grow us and to sanctify us, and what you are and your disappointment now will not be what you will be. And there will be a coming a day where we shall see clearly.

So John has said that we are to look. He's expounded to us the greatness of God's love, the strangeness of God's love that doesn't always make sense to the world around us. He's pointed us to the wonder of the future. And now he tells us this, that God's love transforms. He's told us to behold, to see the greatness. It's different than anything you've ever known. It's a future without mosquitoes, one of nearness and completeness. And there is certainty that you are God's children now. And now he says this, "And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." Right? Notice that there is a transformation for those who know the love of the Father. There's a transformation in our family that we become children of God. There's a transformation in the brokenness of life.

There is a transformation in our holiness. And notice the source of this transformation, "Everyone who thus hopes." And notice John doesn't say, "This transformation is for those who hope in their own goodness or their own strength or their own accomplishments." He says, "Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure." To the extent that you see God and His love will be to the extent that your life is transformed. So I've talked a lot about Ranger this morning, and he is a cattle dog. Both his parents were cattle dogs of different breeds, but he just loves to chase and to herd. Children he sees as wobbly sheep. But there is a remarkable habit that he has picked up. And I remember the first day we took him out of the front yard, and I'm walking him, and all of a sudden he stops.

And if you've ever watched a bird dog, they put that front paw up, and they point, and their tail goes out, and he sees a robin in the front yard, and he points exactly like a bird dog. So I take a picture and send it to my friend Shane, and I say, "What kind of dog did we get from you?" He's supposed to be herding the birds, not trying to flush the birds. And the funny thing about our dog is that his mom, the red healer, the other dog that lives in the house is a full-blooded bird dog, who does exactly that all the time. And so this little dog who's made to herd and to chase and to move animals, because he's been around, another dog who likes to flush and chase and point at birds, he's developed those same kinds of habits.

You see, we become like what we follow. We hope in those things that we surround ourselves with. And for some of us, that may mean that we need to remove some things from our lives. That we're not hoping in Him, we're hoping in something else. But for others of us, it might mean that we need to add some things. We might need to reinforce that hope through His Word, through His people, through prayer, through repentance. And so the question for us as we look at the love the Father has for us is simply this: Are you putting your hope in Him? As everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure, John is saying, Where are you putting your hope? Is it in Him, or is it in all of these many different things that are vying for your attention?

Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank You for Jesus. Thank You for grace. I thank You that there is hope. Help us to see the love that You have poured out into into our lives, that You have adopted us as Your children, that we would look and we would see and we would be reminded that it would not become familiar, that our pride would not stand in the way, that our discouragement would not cause us to run and hide, but that You would give us assurance and closeness. Most of all, would You transform and change us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand, and we're going to sing "I Set My Hope on Jesus."

When the questions come and doubts remain, I set my hope on Jesus. For the deepest wounds the time won't heal. There's a joy that runs still deeper. There's a truth that's more than all I feel. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My rock, my only trust. Who set his heart upon me first? I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. When I feel the fight and sink within, I set my hope on Jesus. Though the shame would drown me in its sea, and I dread the wave of justice, I will cast my life on Calvary. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My God, my only trust. You set His heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus.

Though the world call me to leave my Lord, I set my hope on Jesus. Though it offer all its vain rewards, I set my hope on Jesus. Though the world call me to leave my Lord, I set my hope on Jesus. Though it offer all its vain rewards, I set my hope on Jesus. Though this heart of mine is prone to stray, give me grace enough to fill in. I set my hope on Jesus. Though this heart of mine is prone to stray, give me grace enough to finish, till I worship on that final day. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My rock, my only trust. Who set his heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My rock, my only trust. Who set his heart upon me first.

I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. We are so thankful that you are here. VBS starts tomorrow morning. We want to encourage you to pray for that. We are very thankful for everybody who has worked so hard to this point. If you are a VBS volunteer, just a reminder, we've got some name tags for you. They identify you as an official volunteer. That's one of the procedures and precautions we're taking this week. If you haven't gotten one yet, I don't think anybody has. They're downstairs in the big room. Grab one. Write your name on it. Make sure we're wearing it during the week. You can grab it in the morning as well, or you can do it here after church. I can help you find those. We just want to make sure that we're all identified so we know who is the official volunteers during this week.

I would just encourage you to be in prayer. If you have neighborhood kids you want to invite, they can register online. They can show up, and we'll try to register. I think we have some forms outside as well. As well, there won't be any Wednesday night Bible study this Wednesday because we're going to be very tired from BBS in the mornings. Also, next week, this doesn't necessarily affect us in a big way as a church, but there is a camp coming, a Christian camp, that spends their time, their camp week, going around throughout the community, helping people fix and repair their homes. So they're going to be staying at Shenandoah. They're going to be going out doing their mission work during the day, and then in the evening, starting next Sunday evening through, I think, Thursday evening, they're going to be at the church.

They'll have dinner at the church, and then they're going to have a worship service here, and then they're going to go back to their dorms and then get up the next morning and do it all over again. So I would just encourage you to be in prayer for that work camp that is coming into town. We're going to go ahead and have a word of prayer, and then I'll read from the end of 1 John, and then we will sing the doxology and be dismissed. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word and your church, your people. Be with the endeavors that we have undertaken. May we glorify you in all things. May your word be proclaimed to the children in the area and to their families. May they see the good news of the gospel. Just take care of us. Watch over us. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on you.

It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. John ends his letter like this, "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." Little children, keep yourself from idols. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Lord, Son, Holy Ghost. Lord, Son, Holy Ghost. Lord, Son, Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Son, Holy Ghost. Son, Holy Ghost. Son, Holy Ghost.