As He Is So Are We In This World Get the audio
1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. Revelation 2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. Well, what do you have in Christ? I’ve got nine things that I came up here with and if you come up with anything else, I wish you would let me know because I would like to add to this and get just as many things as we can find in the word of God and I want to put this on the web page so that everyone can see what it is that we are and who we are in Christ. Is Christ the light of the world in John 8:12? John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Now, how does this apply to us? Matthew 5:14-16 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Next Christ tells us that he is the bread of life in John 6:35. John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. This ought to have some application to us. 1 Corinthians 10:17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. If you are bread, what is it that you are doing? You are feeding people, you are giving people the words of Christ, because Christ is the bread of life. The church in the time of Christ was just like the church today. They had their mind on stuff instead of spirit. There’s another thing that Christ says he has, he says he has living waters.
Revelation 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. Does this apply to those in Christ too? John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. The water and the bread are really the same thing, it’s the word of life. The words that I have spoken to you, they are spirit and they are life. They come out of us, out of the elect, just like they came out of Christ. John 10:7-14 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. If you have Christ in you, are you going to flee when the wolf comes? What is the wolf? The wolf is the enemy, the false doctrines that come up against you and would have you think that you think you are somebody special. The Bible tells us clearly that you are free from sin. Sin doesn’t have dominion over you. If you say it, you will be hated. Christ says he is the door and he says he is the shepherd and if he is really there, he is not going to back down. If it’s a lion or bear or wolf, he’s going to stand up and face the challenge. Don’t think there won’t be challenges. Let’s look at what it says about us. John 10:1-5 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. Now, we are Christ’s sheep and we also enter by Christ into the sheepfold and we are Christ’s shepherds. We are both, just like Christ was both a son of God and he’s the wife through which God brought everything into the world. We are the same way, we serve many functions. The scriptures have many types to bring those functions out. In Luke 4, Christ says that he was sent of God.
Luke 4:43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. Now listen to this concerning us. John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. What did God send Christ as? He sent Christ as the shepherd of the sheep. He sent Christ to set an example. He sent Christ to lead the way, to be the bread and the water and, as the next example shows, to be rejected. Christ was not received by those to whom God sent him because He sent him to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and they didn’t receive him. John 1:9-11 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. That’s what it’s talking about in all 3 verses, 9, 10, and 11 are all talking about ‘his own.’ John 8:26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. John 8:23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. How’s that going to play out with us? John 14:16-18 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. John 15:20-21 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. Christ, of course, was a witness. That’s our seventh item here. Christ came as a witness. John 3:10-11 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. John 15:26: But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: We are supposed to have the spirit of truth. But what makes what we say any truer than what the world says? What is it? What is it that makes what we say any different from what the world says? There’s only one thing that can make a difference and that is Christ in you. If Christ is in you, you are not going to waiver when he says to do things that are impossible for the flesh. The world cannot receive those words. We’ve got to be willing to witness to that because Christ was a witness and ‘when the comforter is come, whom I will send to you, even the spirit of truth, which proceeds out from the Father, he will testify of me and you will also bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.’ Did the world hate Christ and will it hate us? Of course, the answer is yes. John 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. John 15:23-25 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Where did Christ choose his disciples from? His apostles, the ones he is talking to here just before he dies in John 15? Where did he choose them from? Luke 6:12-13 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; These are the ones he’s talking to in John 15:19 when he says I chose you out of the world. Matthew 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen. 1 Corinthians 15:17-20 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.This is Christ being called the first fruits and I think it is very significant that he is called first fruits because he is not the only fruit. Christ isn’t the only fruit, first fruit isn’t the only fruit.
Yet, that’s exactly what the whole Christian world teaches! If you don’t take advantage of Christ and his sacrifice right now, it’s too late, this life only. That would be like saying that we have nothing to do after we are saved because God has a lot of work for us to do. We are not called to be first fruits just for our own salvation, there’s a job to do as a first fruit. What does it say about us? James 1:18: Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. You see, God’s word makes a difference. If it’s in us, it makes a difference. We don’t fit into the church world. So, in everything that you read about Christ, you are going to have to identify with him. Now, there’s a couple more things that apply there, that most of us don’t want to think about. There was someone who turned on Christ, sold him out to the church world and you need to be aware, you need to know that what happened with Christ and Judas applies to you and to me just as much as it applied to Christ. If that’s not true, then we really aren’t like him. So we do have a Judas in our lives. We all, just like Paul, he says (talking to Timothy): 2 Timothy 1:15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. They just left him. He was over there in prison, all by himself, nobody had any use for him. They had all gone somewhere else because Paul was in prison, he wasn’t helping anybody. We come to the day when it seems like we are of no value to anybody and no one has any use for us because we don’t have anything to offer them. That’s where Christ was. Psalm 55:12-14 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.