Address—Tim Roach
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Afternoon. We can begin our meeting this afternoon by seeing #234.
And continuing the theme of the meeting today and as we've seen some of the verses of this hymn to notice the difference between.
The believer and the world and so.
Listing #234 Verse one, two and five.
We're not of the world.
With Strangers on Earth.
And in heaven.
I've been happy, dangerous.
I don't know why your eyes were hanging in the heart. Journey in the heart and thrilled.
And soon shall we endeavor our own prominent land.
Rover.
Fire, Song Man, Glory and.
And I have a very troubled.
A lot of children. I'm glad I'm sitting in the Lord. It's hard to remember the beginning.
So I want to talk about Christians in this present world and we Christians we live in a sin corrupted world.
And this world has so much to attract the Christian and at the same time the world's drawing our hearts away from the Lord Jesus.
This present world offers us some things that like we heard in the meeting earlier. They're not bad in themselves, but we might allow these things to to entertain us and to amuse us and so that we forget about living for Jesus.
And then we'll become we become distracted by this present world, but we also live in a present evil world which includes perhaps pride, jealousy, ***********.
Maybe you think *********** is not a sin. Maybe you think everybody does it. But.
The children of Israel, they were told to destroy the pictures.
What kind of pictures do you think they were told to destroy?
Well, maybe this present world has a boyfriend or a girlfriend. That's not a bad thing if the boy is old enough to work and to support a wife.
But the problem is that the present world offers you a boy or a girl who wants an emotional attachment from you, and then after that, emotional attachment.
Then comes the body.
And because romance is a progression after you touch the body, the next step in the progression is sex without marriage.
And in qualities.
But they don't want the Christ.
They like they they they like they. They want the Christian qualities, especially an employer. But they don't want Christ. And you will eventually be forced to make a choice between Christ or your friend. And so the present evil world offers you sex without marriage it all. It offers murder, disobedience to parents, and other bad things that Christians do before they're saved.
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We Christians, we're called to live a holy life in separation from this world. Let's go to John 15.
John 15 and we'll read verse 9.
If you are of the world, the world would love his own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
We are born into this world.
And we live in this world with all the wickedness and the temptation around us.
And we are influenced. We are influenced by by entertainment and amusement and and pleasures of this world.
And yes, we are in this world, but we don't belong to this world.
And so we need to understand that as a believer, you are different from the unbelievers.
Because we are special to God.
Were the children of God? Were the heirs of God? Were joint heirs with Christ? We are more precious to God than the world.
And so the Lord has separated us from the world.
And so we are peculiar.
To the Lord Jesus, that means we're his special possession. And so the world. The world is in no way equal.
To the people of God, so in John 18.
Verse 36.
Jesus answered. My Kingdom is not of this world.
If my Kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews? But now is my Kingdom not from hence? In other words, Jesus is saying don't lower yourselves to the equality of this world. He doesn't want us to be equal with this present world. Because we're not equal by faith. We have a higher purpose for the Lord Jesus.
We can share the gospel.
We can live for Jesus. We give glory to the Lord Jesus. We're the light of the world to shine for Jesus. Not only that, we have a heavenly position. We are the bride of Christ and we will be married to Jesus and we have a home, a home that's in heaven, and that's where our future is. Our future is not here in this world. We're not here. We're not put here to clean up this old world and to get it ready for Jesus to come so that he can reign here on this earth.
That's not why we're here. We believers are above that.
We believers are above the worldlings in importance to God and the Lord. Jesus emphasized this in John 17. Let's look at some verses in John 17.
And verse 14.
'Cause I have given them thy word, and the world has hated.
World, but that you should keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
You see, we we believers, we are in a more privileged position, a privileged place more than the world. And therefore the world hates you because.
Christ has put you into a special place and He's given you a special privilege and he values you and the world will hate you. Because if you live like Christ, if you live like a Christian and you represent Christ, the world is going to hate you.
Look in verse 22.
And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them.
See, the Lord Jesus gave glory to you. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have been given the glory which thou gave us. Me. I have given them. He hasn't given any such glory to the world.
But He's given it to them, the believers in the Lord Jesus, that they may be one, even as we are one, I and them and thou and me, that they may be made perfect in one. And that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as Thou hast loved me. See God. God wants the world to know that He loves you, that He loves me.
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Verse 24.
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
Jesus wants us to be with him where he is.
You see, the Lord Jesus doesn't want the worldlings in heaven with him. He doesn't want them in the Father's house. He wants you to be with him in the Father's house. He wants us believers. And that's that's why, because we believers, we are peculiar to God. We are His special possession because we belong to Jesus.
So we know that God is not a God of equality.
Everybody demands equal rights, and we we, uh, we often hear.
A lot of people demanding their rights, they want to be equal in Malawi, in Africa, often if we give a little food to one person.
Everybody. You have to give it to everybody else too. Everybody has to receive the same amount. It has to be equal or it's not fair.
And so in communism and socialism, they try to keep the common people at the same level.
Not too long ago, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, she was saying she wants to put a a six cent tax on every soda pop that was sold in the country and she wants to do that in order to create and support a universal daycare for the little children.
She wants to take the little children outside of the sphere of the parent's authority.
And so that they can begin to indoctrinate the children at an earlier age so the government can control the children.
You know, governments do not like home schoolers, and I'm not trying to promote home schooling, but it's just a fact. They prefer to institutionalized the children and to teach them all the same way, teach them all the same thing. And the government system is controlling what the children are learning. And in this way, the government is able to control what the world is becoming.
And so the governments of this world are attempting to equalize man.
So they can form A1 world government.
The the the Western powers, they are in part using global warming and climate change and the green revolution and sexual identity to bring all nations into conformity so that all nations have one goal. Even in in you hear this a lot in Malawi, that in in Kenya and some of the other countries, Uganda.
The Western powers are demanding that they that these countries accept homosexuality and the gay lifestyle and if they don't accept it then they don't get any funding, they don't get any sponsorship and so they're blackmailing, if you will, these third world countries and so.
It's, uh, these nations want to have one goal. It's another another thing that they're doing.
President of Malawi.
With all the people, they're starving, they're hungry and the president says to them, don't worry about the little things like hunger and foods and food supply. You need to think about the real important things like global warming and climate control.
That's how he cares for his people and that's being forced on them by the by the Western powers. Well.
To have all nations have one goal requires taking God out of society.
And as Mrs. Hillary Clinton says, she says, we need to redefine religion.
And it scares me what that might mean.
Then Mr. Obama, he says about America. We are not a Christian country.
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You see, this world has become a degraded, immoral and a godless society.
And so all of this I believe is just just a precursor to the one world system that's gonna be uh uh, satanically energized by by the beast. And the beast is gonna be aided by the Antichrist. And so Satan knows that Jesus is going to have the perfect one world government and.
He's going to have a a good system of government. And so Satan is quickly trying to get his own system into place in order to override the future of Christians and Jews. And so Satan, as we were told in Genesis 3, Satan is bruising the heel of Jesus, the seed of the woman. You know, if the government can eliminate Christianity in schools and universities.
They can bring students into an equality that they can control. Let's go to Ephesians Chapter 6.
All of this Antichrist and anti Christian control of the children puts a big strain on the Christian family.
And in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse four, says, Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.
Fathers, we are required by God to raise our children as Saints.
Because they are Saints if they know the Lord as their savior.
If they are not saved, we're told to raise our children as Christians anyway.
That's what our verse tells us here, he says. God tells us to bring your children up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.
You know.
Women fought for equal rights so they could work like a man and so that they could go to war.
Now men are fighting for equal rights to be gay and so that they can use the woman's restroom.
Why? Because equality is an attempt to deny the reality of sin.
And they want to eliminate God from society. And so everybody, everybody, must feel that everything is equal, equal rights or it's not fair. But it's not so with God. God has special plans and blessings reserved for certain people that he's chosen to spend the time of eternity with. He's not a God of equality. He wants to bring you into blessing. He has brought you into blessing.
You are not, and he sets you in a separate.
Place that is safe and secure.
And so he wants you and I to be with him in the Father's house. And these special people are the ones who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
If you want to become one of these special people, if you want to become special to God in this way, you need to have, we're told in Acts chapter 20, you need to have repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. And in Acts 301631 Says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And then you can be part of the family of God. You can be part of this special class of people who are going to be with Christ.
In heaven? Well, Jesus has made all these preparations in order to deliver believers from this present world. And let's look in Galatians chapter one and we'll read a verse about this Galatians chapter one.
Talking about.
The Lord Jesus says who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father.
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So with all the preparations that God has made for us, a believer cannot remain the same.
He cannot remain the same spiritually. Either He will either progress or he will regress. He will go forward or he will go backward. You, as a believer will either live for Christ.
For you will live for yourself and this present world.
A believer.
In this world, a believer needs to be prepared to live as a Christian in this present world, our.
Are you ready? Are you prepared to live for Christ?
I want to talk a little bit about baptism. Baptism prepares a person for the Christian life.
Whether a person is saved or not, the meaning of baptism is the same. It means that from this day forward, this person is now going to live like a Christian in this present world.
And that is why some heads of some households in the Bible, they baptized everybody in their household. It was their way of saying if you live in my house, you're going to act like a Christian in this present world.
In this present world where UH authority is not respected.
We often find that heads of households, they don't take responsibility for those people who live in their house and they don't insist that they live and act like a Christian.
If you want to have a Christian home, the people living in the home must act like Christians.
Or else the name of the Lord Jesus will be dishonored.
And that is why someone like Lydia in Acts Chapter 16, she made sure that everybody in her household was baptized. So there was a mother-in-law or a servant if you're going to live in her house, whether you are saved or not.
You will be baptized as a Christian because from now on you're going to begin to live and to act like a Christian, and that was the privilege that the head of the household has, and Lydia was the head of her household at that time.
Now this isn't this is even more critical for a person who has been saved.
To be sure that he is baptized in preparation for his life that is about to begin here in this present world.
Let's look at Romans chapter 6.
One verse here in Romans chapter 6.
Verse four 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.
This verse shows us that baptism has more meaning for a true believer.
Accepting to be baptized.
Is like like you acknowledging that you are special to God.
You're like the one Pearl of great price in Matthew chapter 13, for which the merchant man, he sold all that he had to buy you for himself.
Baptism says.
That you no longer belong to this present world, you belong to Jesus Christ, and that you are ready now to walk in the newness of eternal life.
Baptism looks forward to the change that will take place in your life.
As you live like a Christian in this present world.
Let's go to second Timothy chapter 4.
Second Timothy Chapter 4.
If we're going to be baptized.
It is wise for us to be true to our baptism.
And that we would live a devoted life to that would give honor to the Lord Jesus.
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And so let's look in second Timothy 4 verse 10.
Dimas hath forsaken me.
Having loved this present world, and is departed.
Dimas was not true. He was not faithful to his baptism.
Demas deserted Paul. He preferred the easy life without the stigma of Christianity.
It's like a Christian in school who has unbelievers for friends.
He conforms in some way to the world so he can be accepted by those friends. It's just a natural thing that we have. We want to be accepted and but we need to be careful of that because if we want to be accepted by the world, we have to do worldly things in order to be accepted. And So what was chasing in this world?
We don't know what he was chasing exactly. Might have been a girlfriend.
Living food.
Maybe it was success.
Maybe you was looking for a luxury. He wanted to be rich.
Maybe he just wanted a fast chariot.
I don't know, Maybe he went down to the Roman Coliseum to watch the Olympic Games on Sunday afternoon instead of going to the fellowship meeting.
Or maybe Dimas was looking for a more dynamic and more exciting church.
Whatever it was.
Demus he forsook Paul. He didn't want the teachings of the apostle Paul for some reason.
At that time. And so there's a reproach to live as a Christian.
And Demas felt the reproach of being gathered to the Lord's name only.
There is a cost. If you're going to live as a Christian, you may need to miss the Sunday afternoon football game or the hockey game in order for you to be assembling together with your fellow believers.
Let's go to Luke chapter 14.
Luke, Chapter 14.
And thinking again of demons.
Demas turned his back on the Lord Jesus and he deserted Paul.
Perhaps. Perhaps Amos was afraid of persecution.
And so he turned to the world for his comfort and his protection.
Whatever his reasons were, Dimas denied the name of Christ.
He wanted Christianity with off the cost.
He wanted Christianity without the law and without the reproach. Let's look at Luke chapter 14.
And verse 27.
It says here, whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Bear the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That means that you're going to suffer in this world for the name of Christ. The Lord Jesus suffered here, and he suffered on the cross for our sins. And if you're going to be a follower of Jesus Christ and you pick up the cross of Christ, you're going to suffer for him. But if you don't want to bear that cross, you can't be a disciple of Jesus.
Other Christians?
Can become easily disheartened and discouraged.
When a Christian who turns his back.
On Christ and goes to the world like a dog that returns to his own vomit.
It can discourage other Christians.
And Demas, I'm sure, was discouragement to his family and to his friends. And we know he was a discouragement to Paul.
Let's look in Proverbs chapter one.
Proverbs, Chapter One.
Verse 10.
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My son of sinners entice thee.
Consent thou not?
Verse 11 If they say come with us.
Verse 15 If they say, Come with us, my son, walk not thou in the way with them, refrain thy foot from their path.
For their feet run to evil.
Don't allow others to change, to twist, to control your life for Christ.
Another bad consequence of a Christian running with the world is that a much light, a much needed light in the sin darkened world is put under a bushel. The sun is hidden.
Like that children's song that we sing? Hide it under a bushel? No.
It's the light of mine. I'm going to let it shine.
When Demas started running with the world.
He deprived the world of a testimony to the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now when Dimas, when Dimas had been baptized, he had put on Christ.
Once Christ has been put on you, you can't take Christ off baptism, or Christ is put on you through baptism. And once you've been baptized, Christ is on you and you can't take it off.
You can't undo your baptism.
And so.
You and Demas are still responsible to live like a Christian in this present world.
And sadly, Dimas was not true to his baptism. Let's go to Galatians 3.
Galatians 3 and verse 27.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have.
Put on Christ.
So if you've been baptized, that means you have put on Christ. And if I if I have put on Christ, I should look like Christ.
And I should act like a Christian. And so when I have been baptized, I'm accepting. I am accepting the responsibility to live like a Christian.
And by my fruits you will know that is by my actions.
You will know. You should know, that I am a Christian.
And so.
Christianity or baptism makes me a professor, a professor. And so I am professing the fact that I'm going to follow Christ. And so baptism also looks forward to a godly life.
And both morally and doctrinally, baptism looks forward to a godly life. And so.
Not every Christian, though, needs to be back first.
You know, you're gonna shake your head and say, well, why doesn't every Christian need to be baptized? Well, let me tell you a story. I may have heard this before, but there was in, during the war, one of the wars. There was one of the soldiers. He was down in the trench and they were shooting at the other, other at the enemy, and he got shot and he was dying there, bleeding to death. And so he calls to the next man in the trench. He says, I'm dying.
I want to know how I can be saved, how I want to get right with God. And then his friend. He didn't know, so he asked the next man. That man didn't know, so he asked the next man and it went on down to 15 or 16 people before they found one man who had a New Testament in his pocket and he took out his New Testament and he opened.
The Bible to a verse and he put his finger on the verse and says show him this verse. And so they said the Bible back down through all the 16 men to the dying man. His friend read it to him. John 316.
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.
The man said. I believe, I believe.
Then he died.
That soldier did not need to be baptized. Why? Because he wasn't going to live here on Earth.
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Baptism doesn't save you. Baptism expresses the fact that you want to live the Christian life, but if you're not going to live here in this world, he did not need to be baptized. He went straight to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus. Just like the thief on the cross, the thief on the cross didn't need to be baptized.
The Lord Jesus said to him, today you will be with me in paradise, and so that thief on the cross went straight to heaven. And so Christian baptism is for people who are going to be living here.
In this world, living in this present world. And so let's go to Titus chapter 2.
Chapter 2 and verse 12.
And gives us both the negative aspects and the positive aspects of living a godly life in holiness in Titus 2 verse 12, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts at the negative side, denying ungodliness and worldly not lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.
And so that's the positive. Live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, so soberly that would be dealing with ourselves.
Righteously would be dealing with other people, and godly would be interacting with God.
And so we should live soberly.
One thing.
As we deal with ourselves, one thing is to keep ourselves pure.
This is a difficult time in life to live.
In the world it's very impure, but the Lord tells Timothy. And and also it's for us too, says keep yourself pure.
Then another thing, he says.
Keep yourselves in the love of God. And so that's part of our our.
Our living soberly in this world. It's our dealing with ourselves. And so we should live in the power of love and of a sound mind. And there's a verse in Philippians 4/8 that it would also go along with living soberly.
Philippians 4.
In verse 8.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest. Whatsoever things are just. Whatsoever things are pure. Whatsoever things are lovely. Whatsoever things are of good report. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.
And so we see. These are things we can think about feeling soberly.
Deals with ourselves. And so it affects my spirit, my soul and my body. And so we are we can think on these things if our mind, if our mind is right, and thinking about things that that are of virtue, it's going to have a keeping effect.
On our daily Christian life, we mentioned some of these verses about keeping ourselves. There's some others about keep yourselves from idols, keep yourselves from things strangled, keep yourself from from fornication. And so there's things that we keep ourselves from. And so that's part of living soberly in this life. That's man's responsibility. God's sovereignty says we are kept by the power of God.
And so we can't keep our salvation in Christ. The Lord Jesus is the one who keeps that for us. Well, the second point is that we should live righteously, and living righteously is interacting with others. Doing and let's look in into Galatians 6.
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So as we interact with others.
We do good to all men.
That would be our neighbors.
Galatians 6 verse 10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Examples of perhaps doing good to all men would be loving your neighbor as yourself.
There's that, that beggar in the street. Do you avoid him, walk across the street and and ignore him or do you say, Oh well, if I if I give some money to him, he's just going to buy some more alcohol and get drunk again. And so we we ignore him.
And the Bible says do good to all men because it's the goodness of God that leads to repentance. And it may be that that little act of kindness will be what the Spirit of God uses to blow the wind.
The blows were we don't know where it's coming from or where it's going, but the wind is blowing.
And it may be that that act of kindness will touch the heart of that drunkard, whether he buys alcohol with your money or not.
Do good to all men, then we can bear one another's burdens.
We can give sympathy to those who are struggling, empathy to those.
Who are experiencing the same difficulties that we've experienced comfort to those who need comfort. Then we can be hospitable in our homes, do good to all men. We can invite people to our homes, be kind to them, umm, And then we can maybe help someone stranded on the side of the road. There's so many things that we do that are good to all men. We don't do these good things just to get a little pat on the back or or or.
Acknowledgement from our fellow man, but these good things are things that are done.
Because we have the new life, we have the spirit of God, and it's an overflow of the love of God flowing through us and out to others. But then the verse says especially to the to them who are of the household of faith, that means other believers. And so we can be good, do good to other believers, not just the ones in this room. It says to all men the household of faith. The household of faith includes all believers.
And extends to all other Christians. And so we have this common bond. Christ is the common bond that we have.
With other believers. And so the Third Point is that in our verses that we should live godly, and this is interacting with God. And so we can give love, we can give reverence towards God.
We interact with God and so live godly, so we can live as if we are always in the presence of God. If you knew the Lord Jesus was with you every day when you go to your bedroom, when you go to your school, when you go to your job.
In the Lord, Jesus is walking there with you and he's working at this station right next to your job.
Live as if he's with your in your presence all the time, because spiritually He is with you. You can't see him, but Jesus is with you. He's here in this room today. He He knows what you're thinking. He knows how these things are being processed in your mind.
He knows how you're going to respond to the word of God and so.
Live as if you're always in the presence of God.
So we live godly, and then we live with the conscience of who he is. Who is Jesus? He is the Almighty. He's everlasting. He's the Creator to whom belongs all the glory and the honor and the.
Power and the and the love and respect. And we worship him, and we praise Him because of who he is. And so then another point is that the results of godly living will be a life of obedience.
We have love and reverence towards God.
And we can live godly, and we can reverence God or at school while we're at work.
In our words, it's evident by our friends.
And then finally, we can give reverence to God when we come into His presence at the meeting. I know sometimes there's circumstances.
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But we can get to a meeting.
Be quiet, not whispering.
And we train our children to know that when we come to the assembly meetings that there needs to be reference towards God. But they don't learn that when they come to meeting they may, but that they really learn the reverence towards God.
At home. And so we need to instill a reverence in a godly fear, a godly living in the home, and so that when we come to the into the presence of the Lord in the assembly meeting, we will know how to behave ourselves and.
So another point of of godly living is to give place in our life to Jesus as Lord and so we can ask the Lord Jesus.
Lord Jesus, what do you want me to do? What would you have me to do today?
And be ready for the answer. It may be something that would surprise you. It might be something you don't really want to do. But if you're obedient and you do what the Lord has put into your pathway for you to do.
There can be blessing in your life, and so as Christians we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.
Let's sing hymn number.
316.
We are by Christ redeemed.
The cost is precious blood. The Lord Jesus paid a great amount in order that you and I would belong to Him, so that he would keep us separate from the world, and so that He would put us into a peculiar place of His. Where we are, we are in it. We are valued in a special to God. We are, by Christ. Reading #316. Somebody start that, please.
Provide your eyes. Great day in the day. I'm alive. I'm a lot of life. I'm all right now. I'm all right. I'm all I'm all right. I'm not saying that I'm sitting right. I'm all right. I'm glad. I'm not sure. I'll show you. All right. I'll show you.
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Great Children's Glory together.
They can be lost. No way. It's very hard.
About the wind, the blood flow, the blood flow.
Information to run the half of the day.
The relation to that we shall see you in the end of the day, and pray stood your brain.
The way I'm saying.
Let's pray our God and Father we have.