Jerry was a Christian pastor who loved serving his flock. Joy surrounded his life with one big exception; Jerry and his wife couldn’t conceive. They waited 15 years for a child that never came the natural way. They prayed and cried and prayed for the Lord to give them a baby. One day they were approached with a lead of a newborn up for adoption and God blessed them with being the selected parents. On the day of the adoption proceedings, Jerry nervously and anxiously stood before the judge. Suddenly, the judge pointed his finger and asked Jerry, “Is anyone coercing (forcing) you to adopt this little boy?” After Jerry and his wife had assured the judge they were doing this out of love for the boy, he made this statement. “From today on, he is your son. He may disappoint you, even grieve you but he is your son. Everything you own one day will be his and he will bear your name.”

That Sunday, Jerry told his congregation, “It was then I truly realized the extent of my Heavenly Father’s love—so much that, without coercion, He loved me and gave His all to me. I am His.”

You bear God’s Name engraved on your heart. Most of us became children of God on the day of our baptisms. On that great day, our parents carried us up to the baptismal font which was full of God’s precious water of life. As the earthly element of water was applied with the powerful Word of God, our sins flowed away. We were instantly adopted by our loving Father in heaven. I’ve got to tell you: it is the coolest and most humbling thing to stand before this font, follow God’s command of water with Word and be an up close eye witness to the miracle of faith being created. I love it! I can’t count the number of times a tiny, newborn infant has a beautiful smile sweep across his or her face as I speak the blessing of God’s grace in baptism: “The Almighty God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—has forgiven all your sins. By your baptism, you are born again and made a dear child of your Father in heaven. May God strengthen you in your baptismal grace all the days of your life. Peace be with you.” A precious miracle before my eyes and yours! A child becoming a forgiven, believing Child of God!

My heart is moved to joy beyond joy each time we celebrate the sacrament of Baptism. Oh…and then there’s the special, unique joy of an adult baptism. It touches my heart so deeply when adults stand before the congregation, confess their deep spiritual unworthiness, lower their head over the baptismal font and are baptized. God gives me the honor of announcing to this grown, mature adult, “You are a child of God.” Wow!

In these short ten verses from chapter three of Saint John’s first letter, he calls you and me a child of God. If you read his whole letter, you will find that it is saturated with references to us being children of God. John’s purpose is to help us remember who we are and to move us to cherish the relationship we have not just with our Heavenly Father but also with Jesus, our Savior and God the Holy Spirit, who brought us to faith.

But first, John focuses our hearts on our relationship with God the Father. You can hear the passion in John’s voice as he spoke, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1) That is what you are! You are children of the heavenly Father. The adoption papers were signed with the blood of Jesus making you Jesus’ brother and the Father’s adopted child.

But realize the devil is trying to set those adoption papers on fire by leading you into sinfulness. With match in hand, the devil is continually striving to destroy your faith by guiding you towards the fires of hell. Don’t let him! Don’t follow the devil! Guard your adoption papers (in other words, guard your faith) because it is your eternal life in heaven that is at stake.

John gives us within our sermon lesson a test to examine ourselves by. “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.” (1 John 3:8) This can be rather confusing and could lead you to despair. “Oh no, pastor! That’s me. I sin. I do wrong. I must have let my adoption papers get burned up! It sounds like I’m now of the devil and not a believing child of God.” Not so fast. That’s not what John was saying here. 99.9% of the time, the NIV (New International Version) translation is spot on. This translation could use a small tweaking to make it exactly match the original words inspired by the Lord and written down by John. The verb tense John used in these verses is a present tense verb, which gives the verb a continuing, ongoing action. So let’s retranslate this verse and hear again John’s warning: “The one who continues to do what is sinful is of the devil.” Do you see the difference? Even as true, faithful believers in Jesus, we will slip from time to time into sin. John warns us not to become comfortable sinning. We are never to allow ourselves to continually practice sin. If you do, if you choose to continually live in a sin (sexual sins, hateful sins, greedy sins, sins of laziness) without remorse and repentance, it shows you are straying from the straight and narrow pathway to paradise in heaven. You’ve entered instead the wide, smooth, downward sloping expressway to hell. Take the next exit before you arrive at its end destination! Repent! Yank the course of your life off that pathway and get out of continual sinful living! Get out and get out now!

Here’s the crazy part. You can’t make that exit yourself. You can’t turn yourself off the pathway to destruction. This past Sunday, Debbi and I drove to Postcard Cabins in Kettle River, Minnesota. Do you know what happened? Our lazy car didn’t make one single turn. I had to make every turn! Can you believe that? Worthless car! The car can’t and won’t make a single turn without me manually turning the wheel. We can’t turn off the expressway to hell without God spiritually turning our hearts. And that’s what God the Holy Spirit does for us! Not only does the Spirit bring us to faith but He moves our hearts to repentance keeping us in the faith.

In Ezekiel 33, God was crying out to the Israelites who were continually sinning and heading away from God, “Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11) The original Hebrew text here is in the passive voice. That means the Israelites would actually be passive when it comes to turning. The action is on God. So God was really yelling out to them, “Be turned! Be turned from your evil ways!” That’s bad English grammar but it’s good doctrine and the truth of God’s World. God is the only One who could turn them. God is the only one who can turn us from the pathway of destruction.

God will do just that. So what is it for you? What well-worn pathway of sin are you on that you need deliverance from? Pray for forgiveness. Pray for peace. Pray for trust. And God the Holy Spirit will yank you off the expressway to destruction so fast, your soul will spin! That is His work. The Holy Spirit brings us to faith and keeps us growing in our faith.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing that you could confess to Him is too much sin. Why? The perfect blood of Jesus Christ has washed away every sin, ever wrong, every evil…forever!

A medieval monk announced he would be preaching next Sunday evening on “The Love of God.” As the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lit a single candle and carried it to the crucifix. First of all, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say.

There is nothing more to say about your Triune God’s love for you His children than to point to the cross. There your adoption was planned by the Father. There your adoption papers were signed, sealed and delivered by the Son. There your confidence and unwavering trust in God’s forgiveness was built by God the Spirit. If God was willing to give His most precious Son for your spiritual safety, He is willing and able and ready to protect you from any harm and any danger. Just call upon His Name continually in prayer. “Our Father in heaven.” He will protect you and provide for you. It doesn’t matter if you are a new Christian just starting to grow in your faith or have known the Lord for decades on top of decades, when you and I call upon the Name of the Lord and when we hear His strong voice in His holy Word, it brings us comfort even in times of distress.

When our daughter, Maggie, was in the NICU after being born, she was crying uncontrollably because of the bath she was receiving. I happened to arrive at the same time. As I walked up I said calmly, “Maggie, it’s okay. Daddy’s here.” Instantly she stopped crying. Instantly. She had only been born nine hours earlier but when she heard her father’s voice, she knew she was safe. She heard my voice for months before in the womb. When you pray to your Father in heaven, you know you are safe. He hears your prayers and answers you in His Word and in your heart.

Diane, a young Christian university student, was home for the summer.  She went to visit some friends one evening and the time passed quickly as each shared their various experiences of the past year. She ended up staying longer than she had planned and had to walk home alone. But she wasn’t afraid because it was a small town and she lived only a few blocks away.

As she walked along under the tall elm trees, Diane prayed to God asking Him to keep her safe. When she reached the alley, which was a shortcut to her house, she decided to take it. However, halfway down the alley she noticed a man standing at the end as though he were waiting for her. She became uneasy and began to pray over and over, “God, my Father, please keep me safe. Please keep me safe. I know you can. Heavenly Father, please, please keep me safe.” After that prayer, she instantly had a comforting feeling of quietness and security wrap around her. Maybe you’ve had a similar feeling after praying. It just felt as though someone was walking with her. When she reached the end of the alley, she walked right past the man and arrived home safely.

The following day, she read in the paper that a young girl had be raped in the same alley, just twenty minutes after she had been there. Feeling overwhelmed by this tragedy and the fact that it could have been her, she began to weep thanking the Lord for keeping her safety. Diane dried her tears and decided to go to the police station hoping to help the victim by making a positive ID on the man. After she told the police her story, they had her look at a lineup. When the man was told he had been identified, he immediately broke down and confessed.

The officer thanked Diane for her bravery and asked if there was anything they could do for her. She asked if they would ask the man why he had not attacked her. When the policeman asked him, he answered, “Because she wasn’t alone. She had two tall men walking on either side of her.”

When Diane heard what he had answered, she knew that God truly had answered her prayers. Dear children of the heavenly Father, God answers your prayers. Trust in him. Pray to Him. And He will keep you safely upon the narrow pathway to heaven. Amen.