Christ: the Great Separator! John 7:40:43

Text:  “Think not that I (Christ Jesus) am come to send (bring) peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword (of separation).”

Matthew 10:34.

Good morning, Spiritually separated Christian!  When the Lord Jesus, by His good grace and gift of saving faith, Redeemed us by His sinless Blood Sacrifice - He took us out of the power of darkness and translated us into His Kingdom of light.  By doing so, Christ separated us from the world, the flesh, and the Devil.

We are now children of God, through faith in God’s Son, Christ Jesus.  We are Eternally SEPARATED from God’s wrath against sin, and unto Eternal life with Him.  Praise God it is so, we are a separated and most peculiar people.  Thanks be to the Lord God!     (1 Peter 2:9-10)

We who where once worldly ‘goats’ are now Christ’s ‘sheep‘!

“But as many as received Him (Christ Jesus), to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe (trust) on His Name; which were born, not of blood (natural human blood), nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”           (John 1:12-13)

Christ, and Christ alone could determine and achieve this Eternal separation for us.  Christ Jesus is, therefore, ‘the Great Separator’.  Glory to His Name.

“As Thou (God the Father) hath given Him (God the Son) power over all flesh, that He (God the Son) should give Eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.  And this is life Eternal, that they (sinners) might know Thee (God the Father) the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.”   (John 17:1-3)

The Eternal purpose of God the Father was, is, and shall be, perfectly fulfilled by His only begotten Son, Christ Jesus.  Christ was sent to save all those that the Father had determined to save ‘…from before the foundation of the world…’.  Christ came, in obedience to His Father’s Eternal will, to save all those whom God the Father had ordained to receive Salvation - and that is what He continues to do today.  Christ causes this Eternal separation.

“I pray for them (God’s elect children); I pray not for the world (those that will not be saved), but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine.  And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them.  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee (in Heaven).  Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be ONE, as We are.”  (John 17:9-11)

Today’s selected verses from John’s Gospel that we are seeking to expound, show clearly this concept - this Christian doctrine of Separation - at work among the gathered multitude.  Christ’s Presence brought immediate social and Spiritual divisions among the people that encountered Him!

“So there was a division among the people because of Him.”  (V.43)

Preach the Gospel of Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ Jesus and His Cross alone, and to His glory alone - and you WILL cause instant division; instant opposition; immediate social and Spiritual conflict!

People will throw Christian Gospel tracts back in your face when you seek to freely give them out on a street corner.  Christ-rejecters will threaten, oppose, and condemn you when once you and I bring Jesus into a conversation.  Family members will even turn on us when once Christ saves us from our sins and separates us from the world, the flesh, and the Devil.  FACT.

“For I (Christ Jesus) am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”  (Matthew 10:35-36)

These are realistic and practical promises from God for you and for me!  If you are a true Christian, you already KNOW these things!  Yet, our love for Christ encourages us to suffer all this and more for Him.

“He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he/she that receiveth Me receiveth Him (God the Father) that sent Me.”  (Matthew 10:40)

The ‘…division…’ Christ causes in this world and between ourselves and those whom we meet day to day in this life, is a Spiritual division that affects all social aspects of our lives - IF we are trying to live the Christian life!  Yet, the apparent division also encourages us that we are indeed the children of God.  ‘…Ye shall be hated of all men for My Name’s sake..’ - ENDURE!

Thought: What a privilege to suffer such petty sufferings for One Who suffered so much for us upon that cruel Cross!  Bless the Lord!