Brother Bill Cornelison Sunday Morning 9/15/13

Brother Bill Cornelison Sunday Morning 9/15/13

Psa 135:1  Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him, O ye servants of the LORD.
Psa 135:2  Ye that stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God,
Psa 135:3  Praise the LORD; for the LORD is good: sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.

I thought as the younger ones were singing here, what that does for them not only now but for the future.  It was such a thrill to me to see them there.

Psa 135:4  For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.

The title to our thoughts this morning is “God’s peculiar people.”  Sometimes the word peculiar paints a picture in our mind that is not always accurate.  God is accurate all the time.  God has chosen Jacob.

In the Old Testament there were five different ways ‘peculiar’ is used:  To shut up, wealth, jewel, peculiar treasure, prosper, good, special.

In first thought of the word ‘peculiar’ we think a little differently than they did back there.

In Amos God spoke to the Israelites saying, “You only have I known of all the families out of the earth.”  This is God through Amos speaking to the children of Israel.

In Deut 7:6 He says, thou art an holy people unto the Lord, special people unto himself and above all the people on the face of the earth.

Ps 50:5 gather my saints, these that have made a covenant by sacrifice

Ps 105:13 the idols of the heathen are silver and gold…they that make them are like them.

We are not talking about the working of men’s hands this morning we are talking of the working of God’s hands.

Exo 19:1  In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.
Exo 19:2  For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
Exo 19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

You shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all the people.  God is God, I’m sure thankful for that.  There are some in our world today that think that they are God (they wouldn’t say it but they act it.) 

God is God.  When He makes a statement then you can have all the confidence in the world that it is right.   God saved Israel many times.  They went back on Him and He spared them over and over.

In Egypt of all the religious stuff that went on, you have to think that even though God delivered them, most of that stuff stuck with the people.  God and the leaders that knew God in the right way helped the people to see that they needed to come out from under that.

‘Peculiar’ means separate or different people.  Most people don’t want to be different and don’t like it when there is a separation there.  It isn’t my thought to dwell on separation but it is my thought to dwell on peculiar. 

God has said, “You are my people.”  I would as well as God would that everyone be saved.  Not everyone wants to be saved.  He will save us from our sin and keep us out of our sin if we will come to Him.

I would like to look at the words in verse 4 “ye have seen” and in verse 5 “if”:  If ye have seen.  These people had seen and now they must obey and keep His covenant to be God’s peculiar people. 

What God says will not change.  People try to dance around what God says in his word.  They try to pass over it, but God doesn’t change His word.

This people had seen and now they must obey His voice.  They had seen what God had done for them and now they must obey His covenant to be His peculiar people. 

God is peculiar, Jesus is peculiar.  We can only join God and Jesus by doing the same thing required by the Israelites.  God said to come and be my peculiar, chosen people.

Friends and the rest of the people around Jesus didn’t want to be seen with Him.  They wanted Him as their champion, as soon as they would get out of His sight it was a different picture they no longer wanted to stand by the guy that did the miracle.

If we truly love God we will not find it hard to keep His commandments. 

You are the children of your God ye shall not...  Right there is where people draw the line when they say, “You are not going to instruct me or take my children and put this measure on them”, etc. 

God has some rules of His people, “I don’t want to follow rules, I can make up my own mind, I don’t want to be the Lord’s peculiar child.” 

The lord has chosen us to be different than the world.  We keep His commands and prove our love to Him is above all the things of the world.  We are different in our dress; we are different in how we entertain ourselves.  We are not glorying in our difference; we are glorying only in Christ and the change He has made in our life.

Serving God makes our lives different.  That is what makes us different.  It is not what we say or what we do but it is serving God.  Our life is far different than that of serving self or the devil.  Our life of serving God is satisfying.

Deu 26:16  This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

Deu 26:17  Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:

Deu 26:18  And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;

Deu 26:19  And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.

The statutes he has already laid out for us.  The judgments the Lord has commanded.  “Thou hast acknowledged the lord this day to be thy God to walk in His ways, keep his commandments…”

Holy people as He has spoken.  It seems obvious that for whatever reasons people have a different slant on terminology and words, but we need to have an experience with Christ we need to be saved to have an understanding that He gives to us to understand. 

Do you find it hard to keep God’s commandments?  It is a blessing to me to be in a position that I can.  It is not a position that I stepped into.  It is that I knelt at an altar and He took the sin out of my heart.  It is not that God said, “You are different”; I felt different. 

Psa 135:4  For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.

This is what the Lord has done.

In the New Testament ‘peculiar’ is used:  a person being beyond usual, not like another group, God’s people in this day of grace are referred to as being beyond usual, special, one’s own, peculiar.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

We are to be a people that are beyond the usual, a special people.  He gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity.  Thank God that we are not in sin anymore.  He has redeemed us.

God knows what He is doing and knows how to guide and what He wants out of us.  God wants us to be separate because He doesn’t want us mingling with sin. 

God knows who is and who isn’t of His peculiar people.  It is Him that does the separating.  It is Him that gave His son, His life for a people that could and would stand separated from the hellish viles of sin in this world.  God doesn’t want us mingling with corruption. 

Speaking of being unusual, separate, and different: think of Noah and think of Abraham.

Gen 11 Terah took his family from Ur to the land of Canaan.  The Chaldeans were Babylonians they had a reputation that Terah was familiar with and didn’t want his family among.  He wanted them to be separate. 

If we are caught up in Babylon, God wants us to come out.  You ask, “Isn’t all religion good?”  Salvation is not religion, it is deliverance from sin.  That is what God’s word says.  Song: “I have washed my robes in the cleansing fountain; I am a child of God”

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were different.  They wouldn’t bend, bow, or burn.  They knew what was out there.  It was a peculiar thing for them to do.  People around said or thought, “Man you are going to die.”  It was real, not just words, they were going to die.  They were peculiar, they were God’s people.

Job was peculiar.  Job wouldn’t curse God and still didn’t die until God took him.

Jesus was peculiar; he scorned religious politicians.  All of these examples were standouts but they didn’t ask to be standouts.  They just wanted to be true to what they believed. 

God wants us to be holy.  There are many religious sinners but none of them will enter the portals.  God’s peculiarity for His children is not the same as the world’s peculiarity to God.  The world and worldly religions are peculiar to God.

We are peculiar because we follow Jesus.  The world rejected Him and his followers.  They don’t realize that the way they have chosen rejects God and His people.

God says that this earth and all that is on it is His.  The majority of the world has forgotten that.  People don’t want to believe this.  Those that don’t want to believe it won’t.

Thank God there are those that do and will stand up and not only stand but have a desire that others that have not seen it will see it and understand that God wants that soul to serve him.

We are not just thinking of the word ‘peculiar’ in a funny or mixed up sense.  The earth is His.  From the beginning man has tried to convince themselves and God that things cannot be as God says they are.  Even today men are still arguing that God wouldn’t require our best.  “God wouldn’t say that this is necessary.”

God made a separation from those that took his way or chose their own.  We don’t with any happiness speak on these terms.  I don’t want to see any die lost.  I don’t preach this in the thought of leaving someone in a bad position but in the thought of what God will do if we truly confess and leave our sins.

God has always had a people that would follow Him.  We are peculiar in the thought that we like to be with each other when it comes time for service.  In other places it is considered a hardship and a burden. 

I was transacting some business with a man some weeks ago.  We were in revival and I told him what dates and times service would be.  When I told him all of the evenings and mornings that we would be in service, he took it by surprise. 

A lot of the world thinks of religion as a once a year or month visit to a congregation somewhere.  I spoke of revival services every evening of the week and some mornings.  He didn’t know what to think.  He had the thought that all he could have taken was a day of services. 

There is a reason why my wife and I came up here.  I like to be with the saints of God.  I love those that are not saints too, but we are peculiar. 

What would it be so important that we let it keep us out of being right with God?  Why do we as God’s people spend so much time, (six or seven hours in a week), attending services?  We give money to the church.  Why?  Because God comes first in our lives. 

Unless He comes first He will not be here.  Our service to Him is not a burden but the greatest pleasure we have on earth.  We do what we do because we love Him and want to make it.  We do because His yoke is easy and His burden is light. 

Here we shed the burden of sin.  How many can remember what happened on the service that you got saved in?  What song struck your heart and what was said in the service that you got saved?  This is where we shed the burden of sin.  The heaviness of sin is lifted. 

This is the best thing that you can have in the world.  This is good company.  I don’t have to worry about you taking advantage of me.  Since we got here the other day, Brother Bill and His good wife have been busy all the time.  They are doing what they are doing for God.  It is a blessing. 

Ours is not just a religion but an experience with God himself.  It cannot be measured by anything at anytime with what you can find on earth.  No promise that may be offered by sin and sinful world and people can compare with this experience with God. 

Without having to carry the burden of sin all the time, life is much sweeter.  Some think that we are burdened with responsibilities and rules that take our time and it leaves us with no time to enjoy the pleasures of the world.  When we have the best, why look down? 

Song: “I’m not looking back, I’m just trusting God, I’m not looking back to the sinful world again.  He changed my life completely when He saved my soul, I’m not looking back anymore.”

The world thinks that we are peculiar when we don’t have a TV.  We don’t see the advertisements that have nudity and this and that going on. 

Historically men and women have been crucified by such things as simply saying, “We are not going to do that, we are not going to participate on in that.” Recently I was reading of the past and you really had to come under some things in the world or you lost your life. 

Whatever the world may say, I’m glad that He sees and knows.

It should be easy to see why God looks and how He does for those that have no consideration to what He tells us that He wants in His Word.  This world is out of line with God’s plan.

Here is God’s plan right down the road and there is the world’s plan.  We have decision to make.  This what makes us peculiar in the way God looks at his people: God has chosen us because we have chosen Him.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 6 it shows that we are peculiar because we don’t mix worship with unbelievers of the truth.  People may say, “I feel that I can go anywhere and worship.”  Go to 2 Corinthians 6^th chapter and read it sometime on your own time.

People refer to us as being high minded and put-offish.  This is not true.  If there is anyone that loves us and wants to see us saved it is the people that are saved.