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Sermon from Dec. 11, 2011
Brother Joseph Barr
1 Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
I want to talk on a subject this morning that I think is needful at this time. The subject is about the church. I’m particularly concerned about the church of Christ. I want to express to you that I’m going to be speaking from the Bible. We that are in the body of Christ are different. There is good differences and bad differences. There are some people that look at us and say we’re bad different. But I’m not concerned about what they say. I’m concerned about what God says. And if God is pleased, then we’re good different. As long as we do what we do according to the Bible way. We are a called out people. In Matthew 16:18, the Bible says, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The Greek word for church is “ecclesia.” It literally means “the called out ones, into an assembly.” That’s why in some texts, you see the word ‘assembly’, instead of church. 1 Peter 2:9 says, “9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” Notice this word: ‘called.’ I like the word peculiar best. We know that the world is in darkness so we are called from darkness into light.
In 2 Corinthians 6:15-17, the Bible says, “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” That’s why we are different – because we’ve come out. Somebody asked me once, “Why don’t you fellowship with other denominations?” It’s because we’re NOT a denomination. No disrespect meant, but we have come out from them. God’s people have turned their backs on sin. We are a holy nation. We have been called out of darkness into the light. Now I’m going to show you how God called us:
1 Thessalonians 2:12 “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.”
We also know that the kingdom is the church. Col. 1:14 says, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” 2 Thess. 2:14 says, “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The gospel is the mechanism by which he called us out. What is the gospel call? 1 Cor. 15:1-4, “I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ.”
3,000 people on the Day of Pentecost, heard the gospel call, believed it, repented of their sins and we’re baptized into Christ. Romans 6:3-4 says, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
99% of Christian denominations say you don’t have to be baptized to be saved. Did you ever hear Billy Graham preach? They said the other day that he has preached to over a billion people. And I said to myself, “And not one of those people were saved.” All he preached was Baptist doctrine. Who do you want to believe – Peter or Billy Graham? Now, I don’t marvel that people don’t know us. They didn’t know Jesus. In 1 John 3:1 the Bible says, “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.” See, that’s what makes us different, church…we know God. We have obeyed God. That’s how we know Him. The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. The world calls us all kinds of things but don’t worry about the world. They don’t know us because they don’t know God. We know our father & our father knows us.
We are different but I want us Christians to hear this: different doesn’t mean difficult. God is Holy. In 1 Peter 1:15-16, the Bible says, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” Holy means ‘separate’ or ‘set-apart.’ God took the blood of Christ and He washed us down. And as long as we walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:7), he continues to wash us down.
There are some of us who don’t want to be different. We want to get with our friends and do drugs, and cuss and drink and instead of lifting them up, you’re letting them drag you down. You know there’s a judgment day coming.
Yeah, we’re different, but we’re not difficult. Some of us have become so proud of being different that nobody can get along with you. All you want to do is argue about the scriptures. In 2 Timothy 2:24, the Bible says, “24And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient.”
Humble yourself to people. Are you going t win everybody? No. But don’t teach with a position of superiority. We have to have an attitude of meekness. We’re trying to win people to Christ – not whip ‘em! This is the devil’s last battle and he wants to take as many people as he can to hell. We have to bring people to Christ with love.
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