Sermon Title: Do you know who your father is?
Text: 1 John 2:28 – 3:3

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 1 John 2:28-29

Point 0: The children of God are to abide in relationship with Jesus.

And now, little children, abide in him… 1 John 2:28

Abide in me, and I in you. John 15:4

Point 1: Our Heavenly Father is a loving God.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, 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. 2 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. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3

God is love. 1 John 4:8b

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10

Point 2: The love of the Father is like no other love you’ve ever experienced. It’s real, personal, sacrificial, unconditional, and forever.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8:38-39

Point 3: Before we came to Jesus, we were not children of God.

Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Mal. 2:10

But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Isa. 59:2

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:10

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Rom. 8:10

Point 4: To become a child of God, we need to be born again.

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12

Point 5: There should be clear evidence that we are in fact children of God.

A. The Holy Spirit indwells us.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Rom. 8:9

B. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit.

For 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!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Rom. 8:15-17

C. The Holy Spirit sets our minds on the things of God.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Rom. 8:5

D. The Holy Spirit opens the Word of God to us.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor. 2:14

E. The Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives = Sanctification

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Gal. 5:22-23

F. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts – to build up the church

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 1 Cor. 12:7

G. The Holy Spirit empowers us.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Point 6: As children of God, we enjoy rich and abundant benefits and privileges.

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, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Eph. 1:11-12

Application: Confident in the knowledge and experience of being the chosen and precious children of the King, we can live our lives in the joy, peace, and righteousness of the Holy Spirit as we glorify God.

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Pet. 2:4-5

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Pet. 2:9-10

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 1:4