Untitled Sermon
ARE YOU A BELONGER OR BE-ER?
INTRODUCTION: Belonging is not being! A profession of faith in Jesus may be either genuine or counterfeit. Jesus plainly and forcefully declared this fact in the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt. 13:24–30). There are genuine Christians and counterfeits. A counterfeit is so similar to the genuine article that only the expert can detect it. In apostolic times the Christians, relatively few in numbers, affected their world so much that people referred to them as the ones “who have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). Today there are multiplied millions of Christians! As a whole they are far from being as effective as the early church.
Consider the experience that produces true Christians.
I. Repentance.
A. Its content.
1. Comprehending God’s viewpoint toward sin and sinfulness.
2. Forsaking and renouncing sins!
B. Its cause: the Holy Spirit’s revelation of Jesus Christ, the Savior and Lord in whom we believe!
C. Its result: we are made partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
II. Rebirth.
A. “We know that we have passed out of death into life” (1 John 3:14).
B. “No one born of God commits sin!” (1 John 3:9). A good translation would be: “No one born of God practices sin.” I sin, but I don’t practice sins. Illustration—Physicians practice medicine; I take medicine.
C. “Whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4).
CONCLUSION: To be a true Christian is to be radically different from the unbelieving world. Christians are Christ-ones. Jesus said, “He that has seen me, has seen the Father.” Only he who can say, “He who sees me, sees Jesus,” is a Christian.