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Watch 2022-2023 online sermons » Derek Prince » Derek Prince - We Do Not Belong To This World

Derek Prince - We Do Not Belong To This World

Derek Prince - We Do Not Belong To This World
TOPICS: Why Should We Be Longing?


There’s much in the New Testament about our attitude toward the return of the Lord Jesus Christ in His glory. I want to just put side by side with what I’ve read, a couple of other Scriptures. In Titus 2:11-13: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men — or that brings salvation to all men has appeared. You can translate it either way. Teaching us – did you know that grace teaches? I think a lot of people think grace is just something you receive and that’s it. I want to tell you, grace is free. You receive it freely, you cannot earn it. But once you’ve received it, it imposes obligations on you. So, it’s not cheap. There’s a lot of difference between being free and being cheap. The grace has appeared teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in the present age. So grace teaches us how we should live. We should not live like the people of this world. We should live lives that are totally different. And I’m not sure that most of God’s people in America are doing that.

Some little while back somebody handed me a survey by a marketing survey firm, totally secular, not in any way spiritually motivated. But the object of this survey, which was conducted nationwide, was to determine how to sell to born again Christians. Because the popular estimate is today there are 50 million born again Christians in the United States, which is about one fifth of the population. So it’s a major market. So these secular business enterprises wanted to know what do you have to say, what do you have to do, to sell to born again Christians. It was a very penetrating analysis. Being a born again Christian, I could see how accurate it was moving amongst born again Christians. But, the bottom line was rather disturbing. Do you know what it was? There’s no difference between them and the others. They’re motivated in the same way. They respond to the same enticements and impulses. Their standards are basically the same. That’s not grace. Grace makes people different.

Now we come to what I believe is the real motivation for this. That we should live in a certain way. Now in verse 13: Looking for the blessed hope, and glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ. So what is the ultimate motivation for the way we live? It’s anticipation of the coming of the Lord. That’s what motivates us to live differently. I think if you analyze the New Testament, you will discover that nearly all of the appeals to holy living in the New Testament are related to the anticipation of the Lord’s return. I want to suggest to you that where the Church is not living in that anticipation, its standards of holiness will always be below those of the New Testament. It says: The blessed hope. I feel tonight there are quite a number of rather hopeless people here. I want to suggest to you that maybe you're hopeless because you’re only looking at the things of time. You may be suffering economic problems. You may be suffering family problems.

As you look out horizontally across life, you don't see much to hope for. Your problem is you're looking in the wrong directions. The outlook is dark, the uplook is bright. No Christian should be hopeless. Only the unconverted should be hopeless. But if our eyes are in the wrong direction and if we’re living like the world, we’ll suffer the problems of the world. And hopelessness is one of the main problems of our generation today. You notice that Paul there calls Jesus the great God and our Savior. That’s important. Jesus is God. If you are not willing to call Him God, I question whether you have the right to call Him Savior. Because Isaiah said, God has become my salvation.

I want to tell you that nothing less than God can save you. The church can’t save you, the law can’t save you, morality can’t save you. It takes God in the person of Jesus to save you. Then we look briefly in Hebrews 9:27–28. Hebrews 9:27–28, the last two verses of the chapter. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. And remember, those are two appointments you’re going to keep. You may break every appointment you make on earth, but there’s two you’re going to keep. Number one, dying. And, number two, appearing before the judgment of God. So you better live in the light of those two appointments. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; to those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. To whom will He appear? To those who what? Eagerly await for Him. Are you in that category? You have to make your mind up about that.
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