In this sermon, the preacher discusses the contrast between the heavenly family and the unseen world. He emphasizes the importance of not living a sinful life and breaking God's law. The preacher also acknowledges that as Christians, we may be misunderstood by others, just as Jesus was. He encourages believers to show love and kindness through their actions, rather than just through words. The sermon concludes by highlighting the themes of life and love found in the epistle being discussed.

The verse of chapter two, we're going to chapter three. Behold what man that we should be called, therefore the world knoweth. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not get us. But we know that when we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committed sin transgresseth also the law, sin is to transgress. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abided in him sinned not. Whosoever sinned had not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committed sin is of the devil, for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose a son of God was manifested. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his sin remaineth in him. And he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest. And a children whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that witch, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brother. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hated his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world good, and seen his brother have need, and shut up his vows of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him. My little children, let us not love in word, need in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are the truth, for for heart condemn us not, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if for heart condemn us not, then we have confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of the Son, of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandments. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abided in us by the spirit which he hath given us. May the Lord bless to us the reading from his holy word. Now we come in you may say to the second part of this epistle, about love. Brother McKay was saying some time back, he was writing an article for Moody's Moseley, some articles on this epistle, and he found the key to the epistle, the first two chapters being light, the next two love, and the last, and that's certainly very suggestive, and we notice others have come up with that same key too. Very, very suggestive here, that you do have that light we've been dealing with in the first, and then in the last, and it's three wonderful words. I think in this section we have, if we know that he is righteous, and the word know there, intuition know, so here you have the, he's righteous. The character of his children, should be practical righteousness. That's how we should know the children of God, that they are, they are not just like the average middle one of the people in the world. Christians ought to stand out as people that are, people of integrity, people that have standards, people that, people that are really above, you can count on them, so we should be, so should we be, in everyday living, and associations, and dealings, or business transactions, that which would bring reproach to the name. When we come in to this father's family likeness, do we have something about the father? What manner of, what manner of, is there something that indicates, when you think of the, it really would make this Lord wonderful, isn't it? To think he can love the like of us. Behold what manner of love, what manner of love did he, I loved you with an everlasting love. What sacrificial love, he gave his son. God so loved the world, that he gave, here in his love, this young boy, it was a voluntary love. A love that came from the father, and that's the only reason, was something like that old scrub woman that got saved, you know? She was a, a monster before she was saved, she was just a wicked, violent, tempered woman, with a tongue that was just, so terrible. And after she was saved, there was such a, such a tremendous transformation, such a, people there could hardly believe it. And they thought the thing would weigh on them. And after some time, some of her old colleagues got her, you know. And they were, love-like character that she used to be. And they just tormented her, they did everything to her. And at last, the one that had the, the wicked tongue, she, you're just a whore. Sure is, isn't it? The whole, what manner, what a, what a something, way of admiration, the whole, that we, we, think of it, should be called the children of God, the like of us, sinners of Adam's, therefore. Now I understand, in the original, looking it up in, Vine's book, the thought is here, that we should be called the children of God, for such, we are. For such, we are, is part of the original. Isn't that grand? Those of us that are saved by the grace of God, such, that's, wonderful. Where the Father's bestowed him, meanwhile, he's bestowed his love upon him. God gave heaven's best. What infinite grace and love, and what, how, what an infinite privilege, that we are, right now, the children of God. What infinite, grace. And then, this consciousness. Now we have a family consciousness here, a family likeness, our family conscience, we are. You know, that should give dignity to the believer. When you're walking through this world, if you, if we remind ourselves, we are, the children of God. Did you think that a king's son, has to act a little different, than another boy leading? When he's dealt with more, expected of him? That's why it's even so hard, to preach his children sometimes, people expect more. Well, we're here, we are the children of God. And once we profess this, to the world, they expect, we need to have this consciousness. We're heaven's blue blood. But it takes privilege, brings responsibility. What man of love, is bestowed that we, we are the sons of God. Such we are. We need to be conscious of this, constantly. And walk in the light of it. And then it brings out, the family of consequences, and said for this cause, should read there, the world, knowing us not, because it knew him not. We need to be conscious of this, the more we are like the Lord Jesus, the more the world, someone said there's three standings, right here in these verses. First is all misunderstanding, the world knows us not. Then you have the other, all standing in verse two, now we, now are we the sons of God, for we shall see him, as he is. I think those are three wonderful standings, right here, in these verses. So we have this, the consequence of being a Christian, you'll many times be misunderstood. People don't understand you, they didn't understand the Lord Jesus. And they can't understand us. I want to say a word about these glasses here, you know I used to, we saw a moody film, said teachers, teachers, when you have the family of consequences, we're misunderstood. Now look, to love it again, to love it. Now are we, the sons of God? And it doth not yet appear, here you have, a present position, we are. Then we have a prospect, the first unrevealed, it doth not yet appear. It doth not yet appear what it shall be. We can't enter in right now, to what we, we just haven't got the facilities, while we are here in these bodies, with all pleasant limitations, to understand of the person of Christ, and of the glory associated with him. We have no idea, we can't enter into it. It's beyond all wildest imagination, but it's wonderful. I have not seen, he has not heard, about the, we haven't fully entered into it, but he has revealed unto us, by his Spirit, this is certainly, wonderful spirit, but there's a wonderful prospect, that is revealed, and that, yet, he said there, but, we know, oh I like to lend that to you, which is know, we know there's a certainty, about the ring here, we know that when he, shall appear. There's no uncertainty, about the Lord's coming. We saw that in verse 28, I didn't get time to, touch on that. When he shall appear, didn't say if he shall appear, no, he says when he shall appear. We know when he shall appear, he says again in chapter 2 verse, chapter 3 verse 2. That the certainty of the ring, is John's teaching. We know he's going to appear. Is that a good thing, to have no soul, Christianity. We know, we have passed from dead, unto life. We know, in whom we have to leave. We know, that he shall appear. In this world, people are not sure, of anything. The uncertainty, of the future, there's uncertainty. You sound, awful sure yourself, I wouldn't leave things, unto you, that you may know. And we know, we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. What are you going to be like, in heaven? Going to be like him. Not good enough, isn't it? Going to be like him. I won't have wavy hair, anymore when I get up there. It's all waved goodbye, nearly. there'll be no wrinkles, no false teeth, no arthritic pains. We'll be like him. Perfect. And he says, we're going to see him. Something else we know. He said, there's some definite prospects, certain things. Here you have something, that's very, very definite. They're revealed. We know, that we shall see him. We know, we're going to be like him. We shall see him, as he is. What the glorious crown, of the believer. Then you have the, not only prospect revealed, but you have here, purity's incentive. An incentive to purity. In verse three, every man that hath this hope in him, purifying himself, even as he is pure. Here you have the coming, of the Lord brought out, fully, along with these other verses. Every man that hath this hope, when he shall appear. The consciousness offered, is in hope in him. Every man that hath this hope, in him. Now he said, he's going to come again. I will come again, he promised. He that cannot lie, hath promised, I will come again. So we have this hope, in him. He is true. He cannot lie. We have this hope, in him. When he said something, it was goodest of all. Then he justified, then he offered. As in glory. As far as the believer is concerned, he said he was coming, even as he is pure. If you knew the Lord was coming tomorrow, really living for God. Living, daily, momentarily. So we must go on, verses four to eleven, we have the heavenly family, in contrast with the, unsaved. We've said that before, this book, it has seven main contracts. Whosoever committed sin, transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And we know that he was manifested, to take away of sin, in him, is no sin. And if the standard set, if anyone, who breaks, the law, and the word of God, he's lawless. Do a sin, a practice of sin. If there, if not just one sinful act, but if a person continues, he doesn't have the, characteristics of the father. He's not like his father. He's not living with that hope in him, whereby he's being purified, that purifying hope. He's living, a life, of lawlessness. Disobedience. When you have the, Savior's coming, mentioned in verse, five, verse eight, and verse sixteen, we'll just mention that, very briefly here. First he was, he was manifested, verse five, and ye know, here's another know, that he, the Lord Jesus, was manifested, number one, to take, away, our, sins. In him, is no sin. He came, he put away, says the writer, to the Hebrews, sin, by the sacrifice himself. In the Old Testament, the sacrifice is only, covered sin. For the Lord Jesus, has put, he came to take away sin. Taken away. I'll remove it. Gone. I'll remember it no more. Far fetches from the west. I'll remember them against you, no more. My, what a, powerful verse, for assurance here. He was manifested, to take it away. Don't let your sins, bother your friends. He's taken them away. They're completely, taken away, as far, as the east, is from the west. He says, I'll remember them, against you, no more. What wonderful, words of assurance. Then in verse eight, he, that committed sins, of the devil, for the devil. He was manifested, he was manifested, to take away sin. He was manifested, to destroy. Verse sixteen, there's one of these lovely, three sixteen verses, that you have, in the word of God. Hereby, perceive, we the love of God, because, he laid down his life, for us. And we ought to lay down, all lives, for the brethren. The Lord Jesus, was also manifested, to lay down, his, life, for us. Now he says, to the practical application of this, so we ought to lay down, all lives, for the brethren. The good shepherd, in John chapter seven, he said, I'm the good shepherd, that's given his life, for the sheep. John says, even as the Lord Jesus, gave his life, for us. We ought to lay down, all lives, for the brethren. This is a very, very practical, thing, this Christianity, this love. And this what you get, then in the next section, some of the family trademarks, if you like from, as we're saying, when we're speaking, the time just, flies away. But here's some of the, family trademarks. One thing that marks, the trademark of the believer, is righteousness. As you get, in these verses, as we saw in verse twenty-nine, of the previous chapter, as you see, running down through, verse fourteen, we know that we are passed, from dead unto life, righteousness in action. Then you have the, sacrifice in action, and the Lord Jesus, the pattern that we just saw, in verse sixteen, hereby we, love, perceive we the love of God, because he laid down, his life for us, what do we ever do, to really show that we love, the brethren of Christ, when he's being misunderstood, when he's being maligned, how do we show, our love to the brethren, this is how that we know, by showing him, that love, in, action, love in sacrifice, sacrifice in action, if you like, and then the verse, and with this I'm going to close, seventeen and eighteen, that you have kindness, in action, who shall have this world's good, and see this brother have mean, and shut it up his bowels of compassion, my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but this kindness, should come out in action, this love, should be manifesting itself, to all neighbors, to all friends, and to people out of door, what's the best way, to get rid of an enemy, destroy him, some say boy I like that, tell me how to get rid of him, yes sir, make friends with him, love him, get rid of him, as the enemy make a friend of himself, is that possible, this is the best way, to get rid of your enemies, and then, I might just say this in closing, from verse nineteen down, you have something about assurance here, the heavenly family's assurance, hereby we know again, that we are of the truth, here you have assurance, running down through there, some practical things, of assurance, how is assurance, described here, well when you have assurance, you know you're of the truth, you're confident in the presence of God, you have a clear conscience, you have a freedom of speech with the Lord, and you get answers to your prayers, verse twenty two, whatsoever we ask, we shall receive of him, what our hearts are like before God, we have sinned, we'll get more about that in chapter three, just keep it here one hour, maybe brother McKee,