Five Marks We Bear

WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH

PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN

SERMON TITLE: FIVE MARKS WE BEAR

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world: but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18

TEXT VERSE: GALATIANS 6:17 “FROM HENCEFORTH LET NO MAN TROUBLE ME: FOR I BEAR IN MY BODY THE MARKS OF THE LORD JESUS.”

I’ve heard preacher talk about the mark of the beast and the mark of the devil but praise God, I’m glad I’ve got the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body. You may not know where we’re going with this but it’s some interesting scripture. Follow along close with me because God’s got a blessing for you.

PHILIPPIANS 1:29 “FOR UNTO YOU IT IS GIVEN IN THE BEHALF OF CHRIST, NOT ONLY TO BELIEVE ON HIM, BUT ALSO TO SUFFER FOR HIS SAKE.”

Not only are we supposed to believe on Him but we’re also supposed to suffer for His sake. Did you catch that? We’re SUPPOSED to suffer for His sake. Don’t you think he suffered for us? Don’t you think he suffered for us when He went to the Cross of Calvary? He gave up everything He had down here and they took the sins of the whole world and placed them on His shoulders. He carried my sins and your sins and he carried them all the way to the cross. From the time He was born and went to Calvary’s hill, He suffered for us. And because we believe in Him, we’re supposed to suffer for His sake. There’s a lot of Christians in the world today that when they start suffering they want to quit. They want to give up. You get saved by the grace of God and there ain’t no going back. We’re supposed to suffer because He suffered. Paul considered that suffering herein verse 17 and he referred to it as being troubled by other men. That’s the kind of suffering he was talking about. He wasn’t talking about Christians disagreeing with each other. He wasn’t talking about one Christian having more knowledge than the other. If you’re a child of God you’re not supposed to get mad or flare up. We’re not supposed to talk about one another. We’re supposed to be new creatures in Christ and live separate than the world. I believe he was talking about the lost people. The world does not like Christians. He was in trouble but he said let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

I want to share these verses about trouble. PSALMS 138:7 “THOU I WALK IN THE MIDST OF TROUBLE, THOU WILT REVIVE ME.” When we walk in the middle of trouble, God is always there that He might revive us and that we might rejoice in Him. He said in His word that he would never leave us nor forsake us and I believe He means what He says.

In 2 CORINTHIANS 4:8 “WE ARE TROUBLED ON EVERY SIDE, YET NOT DISTRESSED.”

If you let the sufferings of Christ in your body turn into a curse for you, your not looking at it the right way. Paul said we’re troubled on every side, but we’re not distressed about it. Isn’t that what he meant? We’re not supposed to take our sufferings that we’re doing for Christ and feel bad. Paul said when I am weak, then am I strong. You know what gets more Christians out of Church? Trying to bear the marks of the Lord Jesus. It wasn’t a good thing when they took Christ to the Cross. He suffered. But it was the best thing that ever happened to me. He gave His life for me and I praise Him for it. I want to share with you five marks.

NUMBER ONE: The mark of PERSECUTION.

JOHN 15:20 Jesus said: “IF THEY HAVE PERSECUTED ME, THEY WILL ALSO PERSECUTE YOU.”

God is getting us ready for the new year to reach out to the lost and dying world. Whether you know it or not you’ve been growing this past year in the Lord Jesus. If you ain’t, God will take you out of here and put you somewhere where you can grow. I’m gonna say this, you want to go to a church somewhere where you can get some good Biblical sound doctrine of the word of God, then go to Westside Baptist Church and you’ll get it.