Let's open tonight's service
with number 36 from the Spiral Gospel Hymns Hymnbook, number
36. Let's all stand together. Behold, my soul, the love of
God, behold, how grace flows free! He, for all the world's
His purpose stood, His heart was fixed on me. Elected by eternal
love, the covenant firm and sure, the triune God agreed in love,
salvation to secure. My soul was given to the Son,
He promised to redeem. By blood and righteousness His
own, He would my soul reclaim. In the due time, He met me, came
to live and die for me. He lives today and bears my name. Christ is my surety. In love He sent His Spirit down,
who gave me life and grace. He drew me and I followed on,
my Savior to embrace. I rejoice in covenant love, amazing
grace I see. I now am conquered by his love. My Savior is my King. Please be seated. Good evening. Let's open our
Bibles together to Psalm 121. Psalm 121. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills. From whence cometh my help. My
help cometh from the Lord. Which made heaven. and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night." The way I understand that is
the sun is the experiences of troubles and trials in this life
and the moon is a picture of emotional and mental distress
and so The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The
Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this
time forth and even forevermore. Today is Sarah's due date. Mark
tells me she's not ready yet, but we wanna pray for Sarah. Let's pray together. Our heavenly
father, thank you for the precious promises that you've made us
in thy word. Thank you for the accomplished
work of thy dear son. who himself has made all of your
promises sure, true, accomplished. Yay and amen in Christ. Lord,
we ask tonight that you would send your spirit in power, that
you would turn our hearts and Lord, we get so troubled by the
heat of the sun and the circumstances without, and the conflicts from
within, Lord, that you've promised to deliver us. And what hope
and comfort we have in knowing, Lord, that you've purposed all
things for your glory and for our good. And we pray that you
would comfort our hearts now as we wait on thee. We pray for
Sarah, ask Lord for you to give a healthy baby and birth and Lord
that Sarah and her family would rejoice together and we would
be rejoicing in the gift of life and Lord that she would cause
us to trust thee now as we wait. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 414 in the hardback timber
for 14. Let's stand together again. Am I a soldier of the cross,
a follower of the Lamb? And shall I fear to own His cross,
or blush to speak His name? Must I be carried to the skies
on flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize
and sailed through bloody seas? Are there no foes for me to face? Lost I, not stemmed afloat, In
this foul world a friend to grace, To help me unto God. ? Sure I must fight if I would
reign ? ? Increase my courage, Lord ? ? I'll bear the toil,
endure the pain ? ? Supported by thy word ? Please be seated. If you'd like to open your Bibles
to 1 Peter chapter four, I will read together verse 16. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. I've titled this message, What
is a Christian? What is a Christian? More importantly,
am I a Christian? I understand that 2.2 billion
people in this world identify themselves as Christians. Most of the time when someone
comes up to me and says, I'm a Christian, I think in my heart,
I hope so, but I doubt it. Believers don't often refer to themselves
as Christians because of the meaning that that word has been
given in the world. People call America a Christian
nation. We know it's not. We're thankful
that our founding fathers had some wisdom given to them by
God to see the need for some biblical principles, but they
weren't Christians and this has never been a Christian nation. Three times in God's word, we find the word Christian three
times. In contrast to that, the Lord
identifies his people as saints a hundred times. He identifies
them as the elect over 30 times and he identifies them as brethren
hundreds of times. So Christian is the least often
used word in the Bible to describe God's people, but we just read
one of those places where it's found. And I hope in answering this
question, what is a Christian, that we will come to this text
on our third point. I want to take them in order,
the three times that the Lord uses in his word, this word Christian. This is the third of the three
times. We know that Satan is a liar. And we know that the way in which
he tells a lie oftentimes is to just change the meaning of
a word. Is that not what he did in the
very first lie that he told when He came to Eve and said, did
God say? If he can change the meaning
of a word, then the whole truth of that word has been changed. I have found that most of those
2.2 billion people that identify themselves as Christian If you
ask them, well, what does Christian mean? Well, it means a follower
of Christ. And what does Christ mean? And to the vast majority
of them, Christ is nothing more than a surname for Jesus. They
have no idea what Christ means. Christian is a follower of Christ. And in order for us to have any
understanding as to what a Christian is and whether or not we're Christians,
we need to have a biblical understanding of Christ, the Messiah, the anointed
one, the one sent of God to accomplish the salvation of his people,
the sovereign, all powerful, omnipotent, successful, immutable
savior. That's what Christ means. So
when we see that the Lord uses in his word, this word Christian,
he's talking about being a follower of the Christ. When the word Christian is used in the scripture, it is a derogatory term given by the world to the followers
of Christ. It was a mocking term when those
early first-generation people referred to these Christians,
here's what they were saying. Here's what they were saying.
You know that Jewish carpenter that caused such a stir over
there in Israel? The one that Pilate crucified? You know these people actually
believe that he is the Christ and that he raised from the dead
and that he successfully saved his people. You know, they actually
believe that. And they call them Christians, followers of Christ. A Christian is one who believes
in and follows Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ, the Son of God. To believe that Jesus Christ
is in any way dependent upon us in order for him to accomplish
his purpose is to deny the very meaning of Christ. And yet most
people who call themselves Christians believe that Jesus Christ is
needing them to do something in order for him to be able to
save them. Whatever it is, how many hundreds of groups of different
denominations there are in the world that call themselves Christians
and each one of them differ from the other based on what you have
to do in order for him to be able to save you. That is a total
denial of the very meaning of our Lord's title. It's not his
surname, it's not his last name, it is his title. The Christ,
the anointed one, the one sent of God to save his people. Turn with me to John chapter
four. John chapter four. What is a Christian? According
to the unchanged definition of God's
word, not what the world thinks of as a Christian, but what does
God say a Christian is? a believer in and a follower
of the Christ. Now in John chapter four, we
have the story of the woman at the well. And the woman at the
well was a Samaritan and the Samaritans only had the first
five books of the Bible. But they had enough in those
first five books of the Bible to know what she said to our
Lord. when she said to him, we know,
we know that when Messiah comes, when the Christ comes, he's gonna
settle all these differences between the Jews and the Samaritans,
and he's gonna set all things in order. And she knew that. She knew that there was no possibility
that when Messiah came, that he would be anything less than
a complete successful savior of all of Israel, all of God's
people. That's the very meaning of the
name, of the title. And the Lord looked at her and
he said, I am speaketh unto thee. I am the Christ. And she ran
back down into Sychar and said to the men of that city, he said,
come meet a man that told me everything I ever did. Is this
not the Christ? Is this not the Christ? And then
when the men came, look at verse 40. So when the
Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would
tarry with them and he abode there two days. and many more
believed because of his own word and said unto the woman, now
we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him
ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior
of the world. So these Samaritans understood
what Christ meant Turn with me to John chapter
six, just over a few pages to John chapter six. And look with
me at verse 66. Verse 66 of John chapter six. And from that time, many of his
disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus
unto the 12, will you go away? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. We've been
persuaded that you are the Christ. We've got no place else to go
and no one else to go to. Turn with me to John chapter
20. And look at verse 31. Verse 30, and many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book, but these are written that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing
you might have life through his name. What is a Christian? Am I a Christian? Are you a Christian? Do I believe that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Christ, the one sent of God to accomplish all by himself
the salvation of his people, not dependent upon me for anything? That's what Christ means. Turn
with me to 1 Corinthians 1. at verse 23. Verse 22 says, for the Jews require
a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jew, the religious, a stumbling block. Why? Because he robs the religious
of their righteousness. The Jews are looking to their
law-keeping as the hope of their salvation, and the preaching
of the Christ strips the religious of his righteousness. And unto
the Greeks, foolishness. Where the irreligious, We're
too concerned about the temporal matters of this life and of this
world to be concerned about being saved before God. It's just foolishness
to have to listen to someone talk about the Christ. Look at chapter two of this same
book, 1 Corinthians. And I brethren, verse one, when
I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom
declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determined, I made
this determination, not to know anything among you." The Apostle
Paul, obviously very, very well-educated, knowledgeable man about many
things, a lot of things. He said, but I determined. not
to know anything among you save Jesus the Christ and him crucified. What is a Christian? A believer in and follower of
Jesus, the Christ of God, the savior of his people. Now, Three times in the text
we read in 1 Peter chapter four, as I said earlier, is the third
time. Three times the word Christian
is used in the Bible. The first one is found in Acts
chapter 11, when the scripture says that the believers were
first called Christians in Antioch. And from the entire context of
that passage, I want us to see that a Christian is one who has
a common faith with all other Christians. All Christians believe
the same thing. Now that is contrary to what
most people in the world think. But I want you to see from God's
word that it's true. The second time that the word
Christian is used is found in Acts chapter 26, when Agrippa
says to the apostle Paul, almost thou persuadest me to become
a Christian. Paul wasn't interested in him
being persuaded by Paul, because Paul went on to say, I wish that
not only you, but everyone here where just as I am, Paul had
been taught of God, and so it is with all Christians. All Christians
have a common faith with all other Christians, and all Christians
learn the gospel from God. They're taught of God. Thirdly,
the word Christian is used here in our text in 1 Peter 4, where
the Lord tells us, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed. And in the context of everything
the Lord's telling us in first Peter, I understand that to mean
that being a Christian means that you are at enmity with this
world. And I hope that you'll stay with
me until we get to that third point, because there's some important
things that need to be that need to be seen there. Turn with me
to Acts chapter 11, Acts chapter 11. What is a Christian? Let's not change the definition
of Christ. A Christian is a follower and
a believer in. the Christ, the omnipotent sovereign
son of God, who was sent of God for the purpose of accomplishing
the salvation of his people, and he was successful in what
he did. And that's always been, that's
always been the definition of Messiah, the anointed one, the
Christ. Acts chapter 11. In Acts chapter
10, the Lord sends Peter to Cornelius's house. Cornelius is a Gentile. And the Lord sends his spirit
and manifest his presence there in Cornelius's house. Peter,
you remember, was in Joppa, and the Lord had to give him a vision
in order for him to know that it was okay to go into a Gentile's
house. Prior to this, all the believers
were Jews. They were all Jews. And the Lord
sent those unclean animals down in a vision from heaven, and
the Lord said, take and eat, and Peter said, oh no, These
lips have never, nothing other than that which is clean, that
which is kosher, that which is according to the laws, ever pass
these lips. And the Lord said, don't make,
don't call that unclean, which I have made clean, speaking of
Cornelius. So when Peter comes back to Jerusalem
and he tells them what happened, he has to defend himself against
the very apostles The apostles said, you didn't go into a Gentile's
house. This is after the ascension of the Lord. The apostles are
still thinking that the gospel is only for the Jews. And so
Peter has to defend himself to the other apostles and tell them
what the Lord had done in sending his spirit. And then in chapter 11, Verse 19, now they, which were
scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled
as far as Phenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word
to none but unto the Jews only. Just preaching the gospel to
the Jews. And some of them, were men of
Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake
unto the Grecians preaching the Lord Jesus." So this is the first
time now, right? They understood from what the
Lord did for Cornelius in chapter 10, that
this gospel was not just for the Jews, for the Gentiles as
well. Now, prior to this, the believers,
the Christians, were not called Christians. They were called
the sect of the Nazarene, which was also a derogatory term given
to them by the Jews. They were called those who had
perverted the law of Moses. They were called the way, and
that too was a term of mocking. They think they have the way.
In other words, all of the believers were still within Judaism. And they were given these names
to rebuff what they believed. Now Gentiles are coming into
the church. First time Gentiles are coming
into the church. So now the world can't call these
believers members of the way or the sect of the Nazarene or
the perverters of the law of Moses. Now they've got to come
up with a new term. And so in verse 26, and when
he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. This is Barnabas
taking Saul and bringing him to Antioch. where these Grecian
believers now are intermingling with the Jewish church. And it
came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with
the church and taught much people and the disciples were called
Christians first in Antioch. This was not a term that they
used to refer to one another. This was a derogatory term that
the world was using. They had to come up with a new
word because now these aren't just Jews only. These are Jews
and Gentiles mixed together. And we have no idea, by our experience,
the prejudice and the hatred that existed between the Jews
and the Gentiles. And now they're coming together.
Remember the disciples didn't want to go through Samaria? And
the Lord said, no, the Samaritans were half Jews. And the Lord
said, I must go through, I must needs go through Samaria. I have
some of my elect there. Now the Gentiles are coming into
the church. And so the world calls them Christians. They actually, these Jews, here's
what the world's saying. These Jews, And these Gentiles
have banded themselves together and they actually believe that
Jesus of Nazareth, that carpenter over there in Israel, that he's
the Christ. They knew what Christ meant.
They actually believe that he raised from the dead. You remember
the one pilot, the one that pilot crucified on a Roman cross, they
think that he raised from the dead. They think that he's the
savior of Israel. They think that he's ascended
into heaven. They think that he's the Christ. And they were first called Christians
in Antioch. What did we learn from this? All the... cultural and social
differences that existed between these Grecians and these Gentiles
and these Samaritans and these Jews was all put aside. Why? Because they all believed
the same thing. Nothing else could have united
such a socially diverse group of people. But now they come
together under the, and the whole world's calling them Christians. Christians. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
three, Colossians chapter three. What is a Christian? A Christian is one who shares
a common faith with all other Christians. I make no apology
for that. We're not talking about Christians
as it's defined by the world. They deny the very meaning of
Christ when they call themselves Christians. But Christians, according
to the definition of God's word, all believe the same thing about
Christ. They all believe that he is the
Christ. They believe that he's the sovereign savior of sinners.
They believe themselves to have no righteousness whatsoever.
They believe that the Lord Jesus was successful, that he finished
the work of redemption, that when he ascended back into glory,
he took with him the names of those for whom he lived and died
so that the word of God did not return void, but it accomplished
the purpose for which God sent it. They all believe that, and
all Christians this day believe that. No Christian No Christian
believes that a sinner has a free will and that he can decide to
be saved when he wants to. No Christian believes that. No
Christian believes that God depends upon them to do something in
order for him to be able to save them. None of them believe that.
I'm talking about right now. We're not talking about 2000
years ago. I'm talking about right now in this world, no Christian
believes in a work salvation. They believe that salvation is
all of God, it's all of grace, that Christ is all and that he's
in all. And that's what brought these
Gentiles and Jews together. This is what God says a Christian
is. They all believed the same thing. How contrary that is to what
we see in the world today. There's so much diversity. among
so-called Christians and one believes this and another believes
that. I am saying on the authority
of God's Word without any apology, all Christians believe the same
thing about Christ, about themselves, about God, about salvation. They
all believe the same thing, always have. always will. That's how I know I'm a Christian
because I'm in perfect agreement with every other Christian that
I ever meet and I can go as I have to places where I don't even
speak their language, they don't speak my language and we translate
together through a translator and we rejoice together and embrace
each other because we believe the same thing, the same thing. You have your Bibles open to
Colossians chapter three. Look with me at verse 10. And have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in
all. Now, as I said earlier, We live
in a very tolerant culture. There's some prejudice, I'm sure,
but we live in a very embracing society. These groups that are
just identified here hated each other, openly, unapologetically. They would never have anything
to do with one another. It wasn't politically, they didn't
have to worry about politically correct language. They fought
one another and hated one another. And what the Lord telling us
now, all these different groups came together. Why? Because they
all believed that Christ was all and in all. Turn with me to Titus. Titus chapter one. Look at verse four. To Titus,
mine own son, after the common faith, after the common faith, grace,
mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
our Savior. All believers have the same faith.
It's common among all of us. It's not common in that it's easily found, but it is
common in that they all, it's the common faith. Turn with me
to Jude, right before the book of
Revelation, Jude. At verse three, beloved, When
I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation,
it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that
you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints." All Christians believe the same
thing. They rest all their hope in the
same Christ. debate, they don't argue, they
don't contend with one another over the gospel. Oh, we're fleshly
men, we may have some conflicts in other areas, but when it comes
to the gospel, we're united. We're united. They were first
called Christians when the Jews and the Grecians and the Gentiles
and the Samaritans, all of a sudden for the first time, they're all
found together. And the world called them Christians. Second, how do I know that I'm
a Christian? Because I believe what every
other Christian believes. I'm in complete agreement about
who God is, about who I am, and about how it is that God saves
sinners, about who Christ is and what he accomplished and
who he is and what he did. And I'm resting all my hope on
him. The second time we find Christian
in the Bible is in Acts chapter 26, when Paul is brought before
Agrippa. Agrippa is the grandson of Herod
the Great, Herod the Great is the one who tried to have the
Lord Jesus killed when he found out a king had been born. And
now Herod Agrippa, the last of the Herodian Empire, and this
is important because the Herods come from a lineage of Judaism. They knew the scriptures. They had some understanding of
what God had taught in his word about the Christ. And so in Acts chapter 26, at
verse 20, "'then Agrippa said unto Paul,
"'Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.'" Look at verse
26. This is Paul speaking to Agrippa. "'For the king knoweth of these
things before, "'whom I also speak freely, "'for I am persuaded
that none of these things "'are hidden from him, For this thing
is not done in a corner, King Agrippa. Believest thou the prophets? I know that you believe them.
Paul's saying, I know Agrippa that you are familiar with what
happened in Israel and the crucifixion of the one who declared himself
to be the Christ. I know that you know the scriptures. I know that you believe that
they are the word of God. And Agrippa said, almost thou
persuadest me to be a Christian, to become a Christian. Well,
we can tell from the Apostle Paul's response that Paul wasn't
interested in him becoming a Christian because he was persuaded by Paul.
Anybody that can persuade us to become a Christian, someone
else persuade us to not become a Christian. Look what Paul said
in verse 29. And Paul said, I would to God
that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, we're
both almost and all together, such as I am, except these bonds. How was Paul persuaded? How was
Paul persuaded? He was knocked off his high horse
and the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to his heart and said, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? Paul had a one-on-one encounter
with God. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
Father, I thank thee that thou hast hid these things from the
wise and the prudent, and you have revealed them unto babes. They shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned from the Father cometh unto me. The second thing I see here in
the reference to Christian in God's word is that all Christians
are taught of God. Agrippa wasn't persuaded because
he had not been taught of God. Paul said, I'm not ashamed. I
know whom I have believed. I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. God
taught me. God taught me the gospel. Yes,
he may have used the audible voice of a man and he may have
used the printed word of his scripture, but the spirit of
God taught me. He made it effectual to my heart.
And what God teaches you, no one can teach you out of. This
is what's common among all Christians. They have been taught of God.
If we learn what we learn from a man, And the more I preach the gospel
and the more I have an opportunity to preach it, particularly to
people who call themselves Christians, who you know are not Christians,
because they don't attend a place where Christ is lifted up. They're
part of a false religion or they're not religious at all. And they'll
hear a message And inevitably some of them will come to me
afterwards and say, boy, that was a blessing. I just, you know,
that was, that was good. And thank you. And, and I'm reminded
that the verse most often quoted from the old Testament to the
new Testament is found in Isaiah chapter six, where the Lord said,
they will have ears, but they will not hear eyes. They will
have, but they will not see. When God teaches you, the seeing
eye and the hearing ear are from the Lord. And when God caused
you to see Christ and he caused you to hear the voice of God,
as he did Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. That's what
Saul was saying to Agrippa. Oh, I pray to God that you'd
be just like me. That you'd be taught of God. that the Lord would take his
word and would take the audible voice and would make it so real
to your heart that there's no way that you could turn from
it or deny it. You've been taught of God and
all Christians are taught of God. All Christians believe the
same thing and all Christians are taught of God. That's why the Lord Twice in
Hebrews chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 10 is quotes from Jeremiah
31. A new covenant will I make with
my people. It won't be like the old covenant
I made with Israel. No longer will it be necessary
for a man to say to another man, you need to know the Lord, for
they shall all know me from the least of them even unto the greatest.
When God You know, that's why baptism is not a continuation
of circumcision. Circumcision, babies were circumcised. Baptism is for believers. Why? Because they've been taught of
God. Scripture says that Moses was
fully persuaded that what God had promised he would also perform. Fully persuaded, he'd been taught
of God. Paul said in Romans chapter eight, verse 38, he said, I am
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate me
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. I've been taught
of God. And I'm persuaded, he's convinced me. So, Christian. Acts chapter 11, they were first
called Christians in Antioch because they had a common faith,
even though they were different in so many ways. Second, Acts chapter 26, when, When Paul said to Agrippa, I
wish that you could be taught of God like I was taught of God.
Because if he teaches you, then you're gonna become a Christian.
And you won't almost be persuaded, you'll be altogether persuaded.
And thirdly, is the text that we opened with in 1 Peter chapter
four. Turn with me there. 1 Peter chapter
four. Verse 16, yet if any man suffer
as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify
God on this behalf. Christians, all Christians, just
like all Christians have a common faith and a common salvation,
just like all Christians have been taught of God, all Christians,
all Christians are at enmity with this world, all Christians. Now, I said I wanted to clarify
that. We're not at enmity with man. We love our families. We love our brethren. We enjoy
being around them. We're not at enmity with the
created world, the natural world. We love seeing God's creation
and having some time away and going on vacation. So being at
enmity with the world doesn't mean that you're always depressed
and always in conflict and always have a death threat, a death
wish. That's not what I'm talking about.
That's not... Ecclesiastes chapter 3 says that
it's of God. Let a man enjoy the fruit of
his labor. It's a gift of God. We're not
in intimacy with that. What are we at enmity with? Well, John tells us what this
word world means. When he said, the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. all that
is in the world. This is what we're at enmity
with and the world promotes it and I'm not talking about standing
on your soapbox and looking down your self-righteous nose. at
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride
of life and other men, I'm talking about how the world promotes
that in your heart. And you hate it. You hate it,
don't you? You're in constant enmity with
the nature of this world, the values of this world, the evil
of this world. You're in constant conflict with
it. Your flesh is attracted to the
things of the world and your spirit resists the things of
the world and you're a contradiction to yourself. And so the Lord
says, if you suffer as a Christian, now these Christians were being
arrested and being put to death. The sufferings that we have in
this world are the sufferings within ourselves and with our
own sin. The world supports and promotes
our sin and we hate it. We're at enmity with the religion
of this world. The religion of this world robs
Christ of his glory as the Christ and puts man on the throne of
God and we're at enmity with that. We're at enmity with it in the
world and we're at enmity with it in our own heart because what
happens every day, that self-righteous Pharisee rears his ugly head
and you find yourself at enmity with a false gospel. with the
accusations of the accuser of the brethren who would have you
to look at your performance and your behavior for your acceptance
before God. And you're tempted in that. And
so you're at enmity with this world. You suffer in this world. The unbeliever does nothing about
these things. This world is their home. They're
comfortable in this world. They're investing everything
in this world. Your home is not this world.
This world is a constant conflict to you. If we stand for the truth, the world will hate us. The Lord Jesus makes that clear.
He said, they hated me, they hated the master, they're gonna
hate the servant. The cause of our enmity with
this world. Let me show it to you, John chapter
seven, turn with me there and we'll close, John chapter seven. Look at verse seven. The world
cannot hate you, but me it hated because I testified
of it that the works thereof are evil. That's what the gospel
does. The gospel identifies the works
of this world as the evil before God. The gospel identifies our
righteousness as the filthy rags. The Lord told Nicodemus in John
chapter three, he said, this is the condemnation. Light has
come into the world, but men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds are evil. The irreligious, that won't come
to Christ because he exposes their lifestyle as being evil. The religious won't come to Christ
because he exposes their righteousness as being evil. This is the conflict
that men have with Christ. And this is the very reason why
we come to him. What is a Christian according
to God's Word? One that believes in, looks to
and follows after Jesus as the Christ. Christian was first used in Antioch
because all these believers from so many different walks of life
had a common faith. They all believed the same thing. Christian was used when Agrippa
said, almost thou persuadeth me become a Christian because
all Christians are persuaded and taught of God, all Christians. And thirdly, all Christians are
at enmity with this world, which we live. One of the hopes of
our, you know, Talk to a man and say, well, don't talk about,
you know, the end of life. Don't rob me of my hope. That's
our, you know, we're. Our heavenly father, thank you
for your word. Blessed to our hearts. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. 186. Let's stand together. The church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by water
and the Word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With His own blood He bought
her, And for her might He died. Elect from every nation, Yet
one for all the earth, Her charter of salvation, One Lord, one faith,
one birth. One holy name she blesses, Partakes
one holy food, And to one hope she presses, With every grace
and good. Mid toil and tribulation, And
to Malta her own, ? He waits the consummation of peace forevermore
? ? Till with the vision glorious ? ? Her longing eyes are blessed
? ? And the great church victorious shall be the church evermore
? Yet she on earth hath union With
God the three in one, And mystic sweet communion With those whose
rest is won. O happy ones and holy, Lord give
us grace that we Like them, the meek and the humble.