Not of this world

A Christian is as essentially different from a worldling as a dove is from a raven, or a lamb from a lion. He is not of the world even in his nature. You could not make him a worldling. You might do what you liked; you might cause him to fall into some temporary sin; but you could not make him a worldling. You might cause him to backslide; but you could not make him a sinner, as he used to be He is not of the world by his nature. He is a twice-born man; in his veins run the blood of the royal family of the universe. He is a nobleman; he is a heaven-born child. His freedom is not merely a bought one, but he hath his liberty by his new-born nature. He is begotten again unto a lively hope. He is not of the world by his nature; he is essentially and entirely different from the world.



There are persons in this chapel now who are more totally distinct from one another than you can even conceive. I have some here who are intelligent, and some who are ignorant; some who are rich, and some who are poor; but I do not allude to those distinctions: they all melt away into nothing in that great distinction — dead or alive, spiritual or carnal, Christian or worldling. And oh! If ye are God’s people, then ye are not of the world in your nature; for ye are “not of the world, even as Christ was not of the world.”

From a sermon entitled "The Character of Christ's People," delivered November 22, 1855.

Photo by spiralz; some rights reserved.