The Gospel Day; Or, the Light of Christianity

by Charles Ebert Orr

Chapter XII. The Course Of The World.

Unmistakably there exists a wide gulf of separation between the children of God and the children of the world. Christ is the only avenue of escape from the world. The wide, open door of salvation is the exit. He who would return from the blissful shores of Christianity to the beggarly elements of the world can do so only on the transporting barges of Satan. As a tree is known by its fruits, so is a true follower of Christ. The fruit borne by a Christian is directly opposite in its nature to the fruit borne by the worldling. It is not the profession merely that produces the separation, but it is the manner of life. The Son of God is the great exemplar of Christianity. Just what true Christian principles did in him will in the very nature of things do for all who possess like [pg 222] principles. We are forced to the conclusion that the professed follower of Christ is destitute of Christian principles when he delights himself in worldliness. Jesus said of himself, “I am not of this world.” John 8:23. He says of his followers, “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 15:19.

Paul bears testimony to his separation from the world by the grace of God. In Eph. 2:2, 3 he speaks of the time when he lived among those who were worldly. He says, “Wherein [in sin] in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind: and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” In the next two verses he testifies to the effects of saving grace: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ; by grace ye are saved.” It must be made obvious to all by these texts that salvation from sin by grace saves from walking according to the course of the world.

Again the apostle gives testimony: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our [pg 223] Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Gal. 6:14. How true! When man accepts Christ he is by him separated from the world. Jesus was not of the world. He was the light of the world. The world was in darkness. Light is the opposite of darkness. Had he been of the world and like the world he would not have been a light. Christians are said to be “the light of the world,” and are to shine as lights in the world. They are lights in the world because of the righteous principles they possess and manifest. They are like Jesus and in as direct contrast to the world as he. The Savior says, “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.” John 17:14-16.

It is impossible for the heart's affections to be centered upon opposing natures. For instance, it is impossible for man to admire honesty and dishonesty; to love temperance and intemperance; to enjoy peace and strife. It is equally impossible for man to both love and possess sin and righteousness. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye can not serve God and mammon.” Mat. 6:24. It is impossible to love [pg 224] God and the world: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” 1 John 2:15-17. “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Gal. 1:10. “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” Jas. 4:4.

These are plain declarative texts. It is not meant by them that Christians do not love sinners and can not be friends to them. Christ loved and died for sinners. He visited them in their homes while here on earth, but never did he approve of their sinful ways. He never participated with them in anything that was worldly. He was not influenced by the world into any spirit of worldly merriment. He loved the souls of men, but he did not love the world. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Heb. 7:26. Christians, like Christ, love mankind, and are friendly and treat with respect and kindness the sinner, but never participate with him, nor become influenced in sinful, worldly ways. The affections of the Christian are set on things above. Col. 3:1.

Persecutions.

In the early ministry of the Savior there is an intimation that the righteous shall be persecuted. It is found in these words: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.” Mat. 5:10, 11. From whence may the righteous expect these persecutions? We learned in the preceding subject that Christians were not of the world. We learn also by the Scriptures that they are hated by the world. Jesus was hated by the world because of the light of Christian virtue and righteousness that shone through him. Those that glorify God by reflecting the righteousness of Christ to the world will be regarded with the same feeling. “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” John 15:18. In every age of the world, from the days of Cain and Abel to the present, true Christians have been hated and persecuted by the wicked, and especially by false worshipers.

We will farther quote the language of the Savior: “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. Remember the word I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have [pg 226] 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.” John 15:19-21. When pretended worshipers of God are free from persecutions for Christ's sake it is because they are worshipers in form only, but in spirit they are worldly. In truth these people are usually foremost in persecuting the true children of God. Jesus was persecuted and hated by the very pretentious Pharisees and Sadducees. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” John 1:11. Those who professed to be children of Abraham sought to take the Savior's life. John 8:39, 40. Because Jesus by a pure, holy life rebuked sin, because he in burning words of Heaven's glorious truth exposed the hypocrisy of the proud Jews, because he told them of their sins, they gnashed upon him with their teeth; they told him he had a devil; they spit upon him; they smote him; they mocked him; they placed a crown of thorns upon his brow, and were the instigators of his death.