THEY ARE NOT OF THE WORLD.

 

APRIL 17.
 
They are not of the world.
John 17:16
 

THE world and the church are essentially distinct, 

    and must remain so.
 
Believers and unbelievers can have no real fellowship.
They differ in nature;
   the one is spiritual,
     the other carnal.
They differ in the motives which rule their conduct;
   the one is influenced by the love of Christ,
     the other by self.
They differ in the grand object of pursuit;
   the one seeks God's glory,
    the other the glorification of his lust.
 
Christians are chosen out of the world;
  they are redeemed from among men;
  they are translated into the kingdom of God's dear son;
  they are consecrated to be the temples of the Holy Ghost,
  and are brought into vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
They are not of the world, and
  therefore must not expect to be loved by the world;
  but must come out and be separate,
  and when they do so,
  God promises to receive them
  and to be a father to them,
  treating them as his sons and daughters.
 
Beloved, are you of the world?
 
Do you love the world?
 
If so, the love of the Father is not in you.
 
If we are of the world,
  we must share the world's doom;
  if separate from it,
     we shall rise above it.
 

Lord, from this world call off my love,

Set my affections right;

Bid me aspire to joys above,

And walk no more by sight.

 
James Smith 1849