The Sons of God

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." (1 John 3:1)

The ability to "be called the sons of God" is bestowed on those who have repented of their sins and been forgiven, who believe on God our Father, who believe on His Son Yeshua as the Son of God and as the Savior who died for their sins.

John 1:1-4, 9-13
"1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men."
"9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Our Father loves us so much that He gave us His Son to die on the cross in our place for our sins so that, through Yeshua’s Sacrifice, we can be called "the sons of God". Since God loves us this much, to send His Son to die for our sins, to call us His sons, then why don't we love Him enough to act, do, worship, and serve God like His Son? Ask yourself 'What did Yeshua do?', 'How did Yeshua act?', 'How did Yeshua worship and serve His Father?'. If we are given the ability to be called "sons of God", then why don't we try to be as close to who Yeshua is as we can humanly be?

1 John 2:1-2
"1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2).

We don't yet know what we shall be, but we do know that we will be like Him (Yeshua). We don't know exactly everything about Him yet, but we do know a lot of things that He did and a lot about who He is:

We know Yeshua is the Word of God (God’s Torah, God in the flesh):
“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1).

We know Yeshua is the Word of God (God's Torah). We know Yeshua is God. We know Yeshua was with God in the beginning before God made all of creation, in fact nothing was made that was made without Yeshua:
John 1:2-3
“2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

We know Yeshua is Light:
1 John 1:5
"5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

We know how to know Him, through keeping His commandments, and His commandments are His Father’s commandments:
1 John 2:3
"3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.”

We know that if we do not keep His commandments we do not know Him:
1 John 3:4
“4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

We know that Yeshua is the Light of the world and that if we believe on Him we should not abide in darkness. If we hear His words and don’t believe them we are not judged by Him, but are judged by the Word that Yeshua speaks. The Word Yeshua speaks is not of Himself, but is the commandment which the Father gave Him to speak. God’s commandment is life everlasting:
John 12:46-50
46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.”

We know that those who keep (read, study, learn, do and teach) His Word then the love of God is perfected, in fact this is how we know we are in Him. If we are in Him we should walk as He walked. The commandment God gave Yeshua to speak to us is not a new commandment, but is in fact the old commandment that we had from the beginning… the Torah of God. Knowing that we have the hope of being the sons of God we ought to purify ourselves even as He is pure:
1 John 3:5
“5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning."
"And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3:3).

Yeshua and His disciple John, make it simple - if we hope to be the "sons of God", then we should make ourselves pure because God is pure, because God's Son, Yeshua, is pure.

1 Corinthians 6:12
"12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."

If you say, “For me, everything is permitted” (lawful according to the law of the land), well, that may be so, but not everything is helpful (expedient). "Everything is permitted”? Maybe, but as the sons of God, we should not let anything gain control over us. We should choose to abstain from anything that could be considered wrong or sinful to God, even in the smallest (least) way.

Yeshua tells us that we should not even break one of the least of these commandments in the Torah, nor teach others to break them:
Matthew 5:19
"19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

Considering Yeshua came down from Heaven to be born on this earth as one of us, He walked the Torah of God to be our example, He healed us in so many different ways while He was here on earth, He suffered through ridicule, blasphemy, threats to His life, those who hated Him for telling them His Father’s Truths, was beaten, scourged, whipped, had a crown of huge thorns pressed into His head, was nailed to the cross through His hands and feet, was spat upon and had things thrown at Him… all these things He went through and NEVER did anything wrong, He NEVER sinned. He did this willingly so that we wouldn’t have to die for our sins, even though it was our just punishment. Considering ALL of this, and that He rose from the grave on the 3rd day and ascended on Shavuot to go to Heaven to prepare a place for us… after EVERYTHING He has done and is doing for us, why would you not keep the Torah when He and His Father tell us to, forever, through every generation?

James 4:7-10
"7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."

“Humble yourselves”… do not think that you are better than our Savior Yeshua HaMeshiach, who walked in Father’s Ways and followed His commandments. Humble yourselves and He will lift you up.

If you have repented of your sins, what sins have you repented from? How did you know this was sin? What does God say sin is?

John goes on to describe what sin is:
"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."  (1 John 3:4).

You cannot be pure of your sin by transgressing the law of God.

James 4:4-5, 17
"4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?"
"17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

To sin against God (to transgress the law of God/God's Torah) is to commit adultery against God (fornication against God - because you are doing things that are of the devil - you are in essence doing things (sinning) with the devil - you are fornicating with the devil).

1 John 1:1-3
"1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."

"And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin." (1 John 3:5).

1 John 3:5 gives us the perfect example: we are to follow Jesus' perfect example -  "... in him (Jesus) is no sin". If Jesus died to take away our sins (pay OUR debt of OUR death for OUR sins so we don't have to die because of OUR sins), then we should follow Him (Jesus) and not sin. Jesus died so we could be "sons of God", why wouldn't you want to follow His example? After all, He IS the Son of God.

"Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him." (1 John 3:6).

John puts it simply - if we abide in Jesus, we don't sin. This doesn't mean we can never be accused of sinning anymore, even though we are sinning. This means we will choose to consciously make the decision to not sin, we won't commit any sin. If we continue to sin we have not truly seen Jesus or even truly known Him, and who He is, at all (vs.6).

" Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." (1 John 3:7).

Verse 7 says that, if we are truly saved by Jesus, we will do what is righteous "even as He is righteous". The law of God (Torah) is righteous. So no one who remains united with him continues sinning...
Psalm 119:160
"Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever."

"He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8).

We have no excuse. Verse 8 tells us that if we continue to sin (transgress the law of God) then we are of the devil. If we continue to sin, we are cheating on God and fornicating against God.

It is the person that keeps on doing what is right who is righteous, just as God is righteous. The person who keeps on sinning is from the Adversary, because from the very beginning the Adversary has kept on sinning. It was for this very reason that the Son of God appeared, to destroy these doings of the Adversary.

1 Corinthians 6:16-18
"16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body."

I am not saying that we will never fail. I am saying that we make a conscience, deliberate, willful effort to strive to do what God tells us to do and to not do what He says for us not to do... and when we fail, and we realize we have failed, that we repent and get back on track to striving not to fail again, we consciously, willfully, deliberately make a strong effort not to fail again. And we may fail again, we are only human. But that's where God's favor and mercy come into our situations. God gives us His favor when He sees we are trying our humanly best to follow Him and His Ways, to follow His Son and be as much like Him as we humanly can be.

God has mercy on us because He knows we are as fragile as the flowers that grow in the field. He provides the flower's sunlight, food, water, and nutrients because the flower is stationary and cannot move on its own. We are stationary here on earth and we cannot move, on our own, in our lives, without His moving us first (He gives us a heart for Him and His Ways). We cannot provide our own spiritual food and water, but must rely on Him to give it to us (His Written Word/Torah). We cannot provide our own spiritual nutrients, but must rely on Him to provide it for us (the Holy Spirit). We cannot produce our own Son-Light, but must rely on Him to provide it for us, and He did in His Son Yeshua.

" Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." (1 John 3:9).

Verse 9 is NOT telling us that if we are saved, born of God through Jesus, that we cannot sin, nor is it saying that if we sin we are not guilty of that sin since we are saved. What this verse is truly saying is that, if we truly are born of God, sons of God, we cannot sin because the Holy Spirit is living in us and telling us, reminding us, what sin is. Sometimes we sin accidentally, but when we are made aware of that sin we need to repent of it and try not to do it again. We are to be continually renewed by the transforming of our minds by reading and studying God's Word and praying asking for understanding, knowledge, wisdom, etc.

This is why it is so important to read the Word of God daily, especially the Torah which tells us what sin is. When these Scriptures are fresh in our minds, and refreshed in our minds by continually reading His Word and having our minds stayed on Him and His Ways continually, those same Scriptures will be easily recalled in our minds by the Holy Spirit when we are tempted to sin. Knowing ALL that Jesus did for us and is still doing for us, why would you want to willingly sin knowing it continues to put Jesus on the cross as our Sacrifice?

Verse 9 is also saying that we have the Holy Spirit (the "seed" of Yeshua) remaining in us. Yeshua cannot sin because He is born of God. Therefore, if we truly do have His Seed remaining in us, we will fight hard to not deliberately sin because we know that our bodies are the temple of Yeshua, the temple of God, and we are to keep our temples pure.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
"19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

1 Peter 1:13-16
"13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."

"In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." (1 John 3:10).

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." (1 John 3:1)

This is why the world does not know us... we do not truly show Yeshua to others because we do not act like Him, talk like Him, follow the Torah like He did, etc. The world will never know Him if we do not be as close to Him as we can possibly be. We can talk to them about who Yeshua is and all He has done for us, but if we do not truly walk as He did so others can see as well as hear about Him, how can we expect them to believe on Him as we do?

1 Corinthians 2:11-16
“11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.”