1 John 3:1-2 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. 2 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.

On May 12, 2022 the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University led by veteran researcher George Barna released the results from a nationwide survey called “The American Worldview Inventory 2022”. In that survey it was found that only 37% of Pastors held a Biblical worldview. I find that disturbing – maybe you don’t.

What Is A “Biblical Worldview”?

A “worldview” is a set of basic beliefs, assumptions, and values that arise from a narrative about the world. The worldview produces individual and group external action. “Truths” are defined based on your worldview.

A “Biblical worldview” is a worldview dependent on God’s Word, the Bible. Not all professing Christians believe the Bible is the Word of God. For instance, Andy Stanley, the son of Charles Stanley and pastor of North Point Ministries has said:

“The Christian faith does not rise and fall on the accuracy of 66 ancient documents. It rises and falls on the identity of a single individual: Jesus of Nazareth.”

At first glance that might sound fine. The reality is, all we know about Jesus of Nazareth is tied to the Scripture. Is Jesus the One and Only Messiah? It is the Bible that declares this. We read in:

1 John 2:22-23 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

It is the Bible that tells us “Jesus is the Christ”. The word “CHRIST” is NOT Jesus’ last name, but the Greek Christos which means “Messiah” or “The One Sent from God”. There is but ONE Messiah, and the Bible declares it is Jesus.

People say, “There are many ways to God”. The Scripture says, “You are a LIAR if you believe this! There is only ONE WAY to the Fatherhood of God.”

Word Study: “Whosoever DENIETH the Son”. That word “DENIETH” is the Greek arneomai, which means “to refuse that which is offered, to disavow”. If you REFUSE Jesus, then God is NOT your Father. This is the clear sense of the text. One of the greatest passages on salvation is:

John 3:16 For GOD so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believeth in Him should not perish, but HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.

God is the CREATOR of all, but He is not the FATHER of all. God remains “God” until you receive His Son as Lord and Savior. The Scripture goes on to say:

John 3:17-18 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on {Jesus as Christ} is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Word Study: If you DENY the Son {arneomai}, God is NOT your Father, and you are NOT God’s son. If you acknowledge {Greek homologeō, to say the same thing about the Son that the Scripture says}the Son then you HAVE THE FATHER.

The Father says – through the Scripture – “If you receive My Son as your Savior and Lord, I receive YOU as my Child. When I receive you as My Child, you get all the blessings that come with this high state of being.

HOW do we know Jesus is the One and Only Messiah. Because the BIBLE says so. It is the BIBLE that tells us He is the fulfillment of prophecy. For instance,

Matthew 1:22 {Mary will bring forth Jesus} THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED what was written by the Prophet {Isaiah 7:14}

Matthew 2:15 {Joseph took his family to Egypt} until the death of Herod, THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED the Word of the Lord by the Prophet {Hosea 11:1}

Matthew 2:23 {Joseph took his family and} dwelt in a city called Nazareth, THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED the Word of God spoken by the PROPHETS, {Messiah} shall be called a Nazarene.

Matthew 4:13 {Jesus departed into Galilee, and} dwelt in Capernaum … THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED the Word of God spoken by the Prophet {Isaiah 9:1-2}

Matthew 8:16-17 … {Jesus} cast out spirits with His Word, and healed all that were sick, THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet {Isaiah 53:4}

Matthew 12:16-17 {Jesus} told them to tell no one {that He was Messiah}, THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED that which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet {Isaiah 42:1-4}

I could continue along this vein all day – but I won’t. The fact that Jesus is indeed the One and Only Messiah is that His ministry fulfilled every Scriptural prophecy that foretold His coming and manifestation. One of my commentaries notes:

“One scholar, J. Barton Payne, has found as many as 574 verses in the Old Testament that somehow point to or describe or reference the coming Messiah. Alfred Edersheim found 456 Old Testament verses referring to the Messiah or His times. Conservatively, Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies in His earthly ministry.”

God Gave Us His Spirit To Teach Us The Bible

If you are saved and a child of God, this is only possible because you have believed what the Bible has said. It is the writings of the Bible that are the FOUNDATION of the Church. We are told in:

Ephesians 2:19-20 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone…

The writings of the Apostles and Prophets, that which we call the Holy Bible, is the foundation of the Church that our Lord Jesus died for. We are saved by faith in what we have presented to us from the Bible. We live our lives by what the Scripture has said. We read:

John 2:24-27 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. 26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. 27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Are you saved? We are told “IF”. We read, “If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father”. I was saved by the preaching of the Word of God, the Bible. I dare not walk away from that Word. IF that Word by which I was called “shall remain in” me, then I “shall continue in the Son, and in the Father”. What is this saying? I believe it’s saying this:

You cannot CHERRY PICK what you want to believe out of this Bible. You believe it as God’s Word, or you believe it as something else.

A lot of people today come in – like the serpent in Eden – and say “has God really said”? The proper response to the serpent is, “it is WRITTEN”. The Apostle speaks of the Son of God, the Christian, saying:

the anointing which ye have received
of him abideth in you

What is this “anointing” John is speaking of? The “anointing” is God the Holy Spirit. The day that you received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to you, just as He promised. Jesus said:

John 16:7, 13-15 (ESV) 7 I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you … 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

When you call on the name of Jesus for salvation, the Holy Spirit comes and causes you to be “born again” (John 3:3, 7; 1 Peter 1:3). You become a “Child of God by faith in Christ”,

1 John 3:1 … Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God …

It is the Holy Spirit that causes your “new birth”. But this Same Spirit comes to live within the framework of your life. Jesus told His disciples, “The Spirit lives WITH you, and WILL BE IN YOU” (John 14:17). If you are a Child of God, your very Body “is the TEMPLE of the Holy Spirit Who lives in you” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The Holy Spirit indwells you so that He can teach you the Word of God, the Holy Scripture. The Bible says of itself:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

It is the WORD of God that shows us the WILL of God, and teaches us how to do the WORK of God.

When the Chief Apostle spoke of the Old Testament Scripture, he wrote:

2 Peter 1:20-21 (ESV) knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit wrote the Scripture through holy men dedicated to God. The Spirit gives us understanding of the Scripture, so that we can understand the mind of Christ. The Spirit indwells us, and draws us closer and closer to the image of Christ in our own lives.

The devil hates that.
The world hates that.
The false preacher hates that.

While you are alive, dear one, Satan and the world will do all it can to draw you away from the image of Christ. The Bible warns us:

Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The world will demand your conformity, but God the Holy Spirit will demand you be a Child of God.

The Spirit Through The Scripture Makes Us
More Like The Son Of God

People are fond today of appropriating Christianity, and then twisting it into their own image. The devil has done this from the beginning.

The Christian – a Child of God by faith in Jesus, a born again Child of God by the empowerment of the Spirit – is called to ABIDE. We ABIDE in the Scripture.

When someone comes to me with some “alternate theory” as opposed to what the Bible says, the Spirit whispers … ABIDE. We are to ABIDE in His Word. When God spoke of creation, we read these truths:

Genesis 3:1-3 (ESV) In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

It was GOD Who CREATED all things. It was the SPIRIT OF GOD Who worked order from chaos. Each day of creation was a 24 hour day, as is clearly presented in the Scripture. “The evening and the morning was a day” (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). Who was it that made all things “very good” (Genesis 1:31)? It was GOD, not man. It was GOD, not the angels. What did MAN contribute to the Creation? The Bible says:

Romans 5:12 (ESV) … as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned …

We messed it up – but God fixed it in Christ. We as humans are always trying to mess it up. But praise God, our God is MERCIFUL. Again we read:

1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us

Word Study: God in Love with His fallen creation BESTOWED something on us. The word BESTOWED is the Greek didōmi, which means “to grant, to give as a present, to pass over to stewardship of something to another”. What did God BESTOW on us? Jesus. Jesus went to that Cross to die for our sins. The Scripture says:

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus did not die on the Cross of Calvary to save us from our sins so that we might continue to sin. Children of God follow after righteousness. We are told:

1 John 2:29 If ye know that He (God) is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

You cannot be a Child of God and DO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. Sin and the Child of God are incompatible. The Christian does not pursue after sin. We pursue the will of God. We pursue the image of Christ. Let me use big word: oxymoron. Do you know what an oxymoron is?

Sin Loving Christian

If you are a Child of God, you are to DO RIGHTEOUSNESS. Now, what is “righteousness”? It is what God has said is righteous in His Word. It is what God has clearly defined as right. If you are saved, we read:

1 John 3:2-3 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. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

As “now … sons of God” we work along with the Scripture and the Spirit to “put off” the old man, and “put on” the new man. We are told in:

Ephesians 4:22-25 put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

What does this mean? When you are saved, you put away everything that God says is abnormal and put on everything that God says is acceptable. You heed the scripture, the Word of God. You “cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12). You “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make NO PROVISION FOR THE FLESH, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14).

In short, if the Bible condemns it, you walk away from it because you are a Child of God. Salvation is by Grace, through faith in Christ. But once saved, you are to be like Jesus.

You cannot be a Christian, and practice racism.
You cannot be a Christian, and practice sexual sin.
You cannot be a Christian, and deny the Word of God.

So are you a Christian? If you are, the Spirit of God indwells you, and guides you to God’s Word to determine how to live your life so as to please the Father. You live to please the Father. You live to glorify the Son. You live not for yourself, but for Him Who …

2 Corinthians 5:15 … died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

May God the Holy Spirit move through this Word, and draw many to Him this very day. Amen and amen.