We Believe in Biblical Separation

Second Corinthians chapter six verse 14. Second Corinthians six fourteen. Verse 14. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?

What communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As he hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

Wherefore, come out from among them and be you separate, saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for this day. Thank you Lord for the clear teaching of your word. Lord, may it impress upon our hearts and minds today the need to be fully devoted to the one who gave his life for us.

Lord, that our thoughts and our actions would declare our faith that we are the children of God, that we have been set apart unto redemption in Christ Jesus to eternal life and to service to the king of kings and to the Lord of lords. May we truly be salt and light upon this earth and point others to Jesus Christ our savior Through all we say and do. In Jesus name, we do pray. Amen. Again, this morning, I'm preaching on the topic of biblical separation.

It is something we believe in. It's something maybe a lot of Christians say they believe in. It's something that's not preached on all that often in many cases today and something that sometimes I believe is lost upon many Christians today. This need to be biblically separated. Now, we're going to talk about what that means here in just a moment.

So, so hang on. I started with this passage today because it has the word separate in verse 17. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye what? Separate. Separate saith who?

The Lord. The Lord. So it is the Lord who says come out from among them and be ye separate. Okay? It is not I that says come out from among them and be ye separate.

It is the Lord who says this. He says it in the Old Testament and then it is alluded to again here in the New Testament to the church in the New Testament as well. So it is God's command that we be separate and that we not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers and that we learn to live a life holy unto our God as we will get to in a minute. Separation in the scriptures is a fundamental doctrine which often under looked, overlooked, and misunderstood. Yet, separation is mentioned in the first chapter of scripture.

Genesis chapter one verse four. What did God separate in Genesis one and verse four? Anybody know? The light from the darkness. The light he called day and the darkness he called what?

Called night. Throughout scripture, light and darkness are contrary the one to the other symbolically, spiritually. Light speaks of the truth of righteousness, goodness of God, and darkness is often used as a symbol of that which is evil. God has always been in the business of separating and setting things or people apart for his purpose. Okay?

To be separate separated as we will see in scriptures not just what are you are separated from but what you are set apart to. God doesn't set us apart from the world, alone. He sets us apart from the world and unto his purpose and into his service. It is not simply a negative concept. To many of us when we hear the word separate we think what?

We think negative. But it is not negative. It is a positive actually because we are setting a part unto something wonderful. In scripture we see God in Genesis one as I mentioned separated light from darkness. We see in Genesis one he separated the waters above the firmament from the waters below.

He separated some one tree in the garden from the rest. He separated Adam and Eve sadly from the garden when they what? When they sinned. He separated Noah's family from the rest of humanity that they might be saved during the flood. He separated Abram or Abraham from the Ur Of The Chaldees.

He separated Lot from Sodom though had to sort of drag him out. He separated Ishmael from Isaac. He separated Esau from Jacob. It says in Romans nine it is as it is written, Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated. He separated Israel from the rest of humanity.

They are God's what? Chosen people, a nation. Chosen by him. In Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He set apart the priests in Israel from the rest of the people to serve in the Tabernacle.

He set apart prophets and apostles, separated them from the others to be his messengers to the world and to the people of Israel. The church in its very name implies separation. The word church in Greek is ecclesia. It means called out assembly. Called out.

Called out from what? Called out from the world unto who? Unto Jesus Christ to be the children of God. As any man has received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. We have been set apart under the Lord.

We are a called out assembly. He separated Matthew 25 the sheep from the goats and the righteous from the unrighteous. So, we see a pattern in scripture of God setting one thing apart from another. What is separation not? Before I go into what separation is, let's take a moment and say what separation in scripture is not.

Separation in scripture is not isolation, okay? God does not want his people to be isolated from the world. He said, he prayed not that his father would take them out of the world but protect them from the evil in the world. It says in Mark 16, go you into what? All the world and preach the gospel.

You can't do that if you're isolated on a monastery on top of a mountain for thirty years, okay? You have to be amongst the people of the world in order to reach the people of the world and so that's not what separation does not mean isolation. It is not a means of salvation. Separation is something that God does in the life of his children. It is not something that you can earn favor with God by separating yourself from this group or that group or from this thing or that thing.

When I go up to Ohio to see my in laws, we go to Amish country up in Ohio. They have a it's called the Ashery. They have all kinds of spices and stuff and Kate likes to get that. They also have a lot of cheeses and a lot of other stuff and we go up there. They also have Layman's hardware store.

It's a huge store that has all of these old tools and stuff in it. Lanterns. I got a hurricane lantern hanging in my living room from from Layman's there in Ohio. It's a neat place to go visit. A lot of the people I have discovered that work in the ashery are not Amish.

They're actually Mennonite and many of those people are genuinely saved. They they know the Lord. Their doctrine is similar to ours though different in a couple ways. But many of the people that you speak particularly the ones riding in the buggies with the the black clothes and the drab clothes and the ladies wearing bonnets and the guy and you know and the guys with the beards and they are Amish and sadly, I'm afraid many of those believe with all their heart that by separating themselves, isolating themselves from the rest of the world that they are earning favor with God. They believe that by separating themselves from technology that they are earning favor with God and that's sad.

You cannot earn God's favor. You cannot earn his love. You cannot earn salvation. It's not by works of righteousness which we have done. That doctrine is legalism.

It is salvation by the works of the law and not by grace. So, you cannot be saved by separating yourself. It is a work of grace that God separates us as we'll see. More what that means in a moment. It is not merely an outward activity or behavior.

Biblical separation is not just an outward activity or behavior. It must be much more than that. It begins with a separation of the what? Of the heart and of the soul unto the Lord at salvation. It must be more than just an outward activity.

The Pharisees, Jesus said to the Pharisees, who by all means were the most separated of Jews in his day. He said of them, they were like whited sepulchres or graves or tombstones. They were painted pretty white on the outside but inside, they were full of decay and dead man's bones. That is the picture that Christ painted of the legalism of the Pharisees. It wasn't in their heart.

It did not come from God. It was an outward activity meant not only to garner God's attention but to garner the attention of men. Jesus condemned that. Not endorsed it. Being separation, being separate as biblically taught is not just being different.

It's not just being different. There are many ways in which you can be different. You know, I could put a tattoo right here on top of my head and I could be different than most of you but that's not biblical separation, alright? There are some people that have some funny ideas today about what it means to be separate and they wear some strange clothes and they they appear in some strange ways and they go to strange places and they think it means to be different but they don't understand what kind of different it means. This kind of different we're talking about is being like who?

Is being like Christ. Again something that begins where? In the heart. And it's not solely abstinence. Oh well I abstain from alcohol or I abstain from cigarettes or I abstain from dancing or I abstain from this or I abstain from that.

Being separate is not just abstinence from. The Bible says be ye what? Doers. Doers of the word and not hearers only. Okay.

It's not about what we don't do as much as it is about what we do do. About the things that we do. Not just about the things that we don't. And sadly there is many Christians I believe that measure them their spiritual condition or their growth simply by the things that they don't do. Well I don't go to these places and I don't say these words and I don't do these things and I am I am a wonderful Christian.

You may be missing out on what it really means to live the Christian life because living the Christian price implies living and has the things you were doing not just the things you don't do and so it it's not speaking solely of absence. Well, what what is then biblical separation? We understand biblical separation. Then, we under understand how it is laid out in scripture. The need for separation is based upon the holiness of who?

On the holiness of the God we serve. Biblical separation. Our need for separation is based upon the holiness of our God. The word holy in both Hebrew and Greek means to be separated from and set apart unto. It's also translated sanctified, consecrated, or dedicated, okay?

We are to be consecrated, to be dedicated, to be sanctified, set apart to our God and our God is what? Our God is holy. His holiness is the basis for the need of separation. God is set apart from all others in character. He is set apart from all others in nature and in power.

He is holy. He is separated from all others. He is unique. There is none like him. And he is pure.

Entirely without sin, flaw, or imperfection. That is our holy God. Some people I think in Christianity like to contrast God's holiness with his love. No, you are mistaken. God's love is part of his holiness.

The two are not contrary one to the other. God is holy and because God is holy, he is what? He is love. It is part of his nature and character. It should be part of the nature and character of his children.

Because God is holy, he commands both in scripture both Israel and the church to also be holy like him. Now, we are not we haven't always been as God has. We're not omnipresent or omnipotent as God is. There are clearly limitations to our likeness to the Lord but particularly in character, in morality. God desires that his children be what?

Holy like him and he says so in scripture. Let's see here. Leviticus chapter 20 and verse seven says, sanctify. The word sanctify means to separate or to set yourselves apart. Also can mean to cleanse, sanctify, set yourselves apart therefore and be you what?

And be you holy for I am the Lord your God. What are they to set up themselves apart from when he was speaking to Israel? From the idolatry and from the immorality that was tied to the idolatry and the land of Canaan which they were going into. God emphasized over and over again, you are mine. I, your God, am a holy God.

You are to be like me. You are not to be like them. Okay? And it's because our God is holy that he commands Israel to be holy and it is also true of the church. You say well that was Israel.

Yes. We're not Israel. Yes. I know we're not Israel. We are the church.

The two are distinct. However, guess what? In Peter God chooses to repeat this for the church. Okay? Here it is.

But as he which have called you is holy, so be you holy. In all manner of conversation. The word conversation means conduct, okay? Because it is written, be you holy for I am holy. Where is it written?

It's written in Leviticus chapter 20 and verse seven and actually several other passages in the Old Testament. But God brings that forward into the New Testament and also tells the church you are also to be what? Holy. In all of your behavior, in all your ways, you are to be also be holy. God also expects that of you.

The holiness of God's children is the result of their relationship with him. How do we get to be holy? Our holiness is dependent upon our relationship with God. Look, if you would, Leviticus chapter 20 verse eight, this is the verse following the one that was Leviticus 20 verse seven. Here God says to Israel, and you shall keep my statutes and do them, I am the Lord which what?

Which sanctify you. Now, God says to Israel, you do this. You be holy. You keep my statutes. You don't turn away and go the way they do things.

You don't turn after idols. You stay true to me because I want, because I sanctify you. I set you apart. I make you clean. The basis of Israel's holiness was linked to their relationship with who?

With God. Without a relationship, apart from relationship with a holy God, there is no hope in any way, shape, or form for us to be holy because we are what? We're sinners. It is only a holy God who can sanctify and make us clean. It is only a holy God that can change not just how we act but change who we are.

That then in turn comes out in how we and how we act. Our holiness is based on our relationship with God. First Thessalonians five and verse 23 in the New Testament says, and the very God of peace sanctify you holy. The word sanctify means again, make you holy. Set you apart and the very God of peace sanctify you holy and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is God that does this work. It is God that begins this work. It is God that makes this work possible in the heart of his children. It is because we have a relationship with God that God demands it and what God demands, he by grace gives ability to change. And God requires that we be holy.

That we be unique from the world around us. That we be set apart. We are called a peculiar treasure. Say, I don't like to be called peculiar. It's okay.

It's okay Because you are peculiar in the world because you're whose treasure. Because you're God's treasure. And that's a good kind of peculiar to be. We by nature are not holy. We are unholy.

We are unrighteous. Separated from God and totally bound in sin is the rest of humanity. The only way for us to be for us unholy people to be separated from sin and set apart unto God is through salvation. Isaiah one eighteen. Come now.

God says to Israel and says to us, come now. Let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be what? White as snow. Though they be red like clam crimson, they shall be as wool.

There's only one who can cleanse your heart. There's only one who can change your life. There's only one who can declare you holy and only one who can make you holy and that is Jesus Christ and when we come to him by faith, he justifies us. He declares us righteous and then by the power of his holy spirit, he begins to work in our heart and our life. To make us that which he has already declared us to be By his grace and his mercy The very purpose of salvation is that we should be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ, the son of God You say, I thought the purpose of salvation was to save me from hell That is what happens when you get saved That is God's desire that none should what?

Perish but that all should come to repentance but it's not the full extent of the reason that God saves people. God didn't die. Jesus didn't die to just save you from the punishment of hell. He saved you to change you into the image of his son. He saved you to take you to heaven He saved you to give you eternal life in him.

He saved you that you might glorify him on this earth and praise him forever in heaven. He he saved you to change you. Romans eight twenty nine, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be what? Conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Why did God save you?

He saved you so that you might become like his son, Jesus Christ. You need to become like his son because you are not like his son. We as unholy in our natural state as human beings, sinners are not like his son. But when God saves us through faith in Jesus Christ who died for us, he accepts us into the blood that he washes away our sins. He gives to us eternal life.

He gives to us his holy spirit. And he enables us by his grace to become more like Jesus Christ every day. To the extent that one day when we stand before God in heaven, our sin will be completely eradicated and we will be pure and blameless before him. Not because we have earned it but because our savior earned it for us. And the savior keeps his promises to us.

The very purpose of salvation is to change us, to conform us, to make us holy. When we accept Christ as savior, we are purchased by him and we are set apart from the rest of the world unto his service. We are set apart from the rest of the world unto his service. That's what happens when you're saved. We have been bought with a price.

Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are whose? God's. First Corinthians chapter six. We have been bought with the price. The price is a precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Shed for us on Calvary's Cross and we now belong to God. We now belong to him. The life Paul says which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. He said, I crucify with Christ. Nevertheless, yet I still what?

Live but this life is no longer whose. It's not mine to call the shots to do it the way I want to. God purchased it with his blood on the cross of Calvary. It now belongs to him. And I have been set apart in Christ Jesus.

Praise the Lord. I've been set apart from death and hell. Eternal eternal death, the second death. I have been set apart unto the service of the one who has given me life. I have said been set apart to praise and serve and worship him.

I have been set apart to an inheritance in heaven that is mine. That will be there. The day that I die. They this body dies. And my soul goes to be with him This is what Christ has done for me and this is what Christ wants to do in me and he has called me to be salt and to be light in this earth Turn if you would to Matthew chapter five.

Matthew Matthew chapter five and let's read verses 13 through 16. Jesus speaking to his disciples. He says, you are the salt of the earth but if the salt have lost his savior, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world.

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and give it light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine. Before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. Jesus said to his disciples, you are the light of the world.

Israel was to be the salt and the light of this world but Israel departed. Israel betrayed. They're said, they turned to idols. In Jesus's day, they had turned to self righteousness as a means to salvation and they rejected their savior Jesus said to his disciples, you are now You are the salt of the earth As they represent us today who are the church and believers in Christ Jesus. Who are also disciples, not apostles but we are disciples.

Followers of Christ as they. He said, you are the salt of the earth. What is salt? Salt is something that changes the flavor. Of what it is put on.

It is a preservative to preserve things from decay into corruption. We, the church, are to be salt. We are to affect the flavor of this world. For Jesus Christ. We are to change it.

We are to make it more palatable to our God. We are to affect the lives of others around us for Jesus Christ. We are to be a preserving agent in this world against corruption and sin. I'm afraid the church isn't doing a real good job of that, are they today? The church in many ways is indistinguishable from the rest of the world.

We've adopted so much of their lifestyle and culture in ways that it's hard to even see the difference between a Christian today and the rest of the world. But there must be a difference if we are to be salt. Salt cannot affect the world or what is put on in a in a distinguishable way unless it is distinctly different. That's why he said, when the salt has lost its savor, it's good for nothing to be tossed out on the street. You say, well, how does salt lose its flavor?

Well, in Jesus's day, salt wasn't refined to the extent that we refine it today and so salt when they got salt to use it contained a lot of impurities. It contained a lot of sand and minerals and stuff that wasn't salt mixed in And so over time particularly in a hot humid climate the salt would what? It would dissolve away and then you would just be left with something that looked like salt but had no what? Had no flavor. It was just the impurities.

When that happened, you threw it out and you went and you got some what? You got some new salt that tasted what? That tasted different. That's what happened to Israel. Israel was salt that lost its what?

Savor. It lost its flavor. God set it aside and God built his church that had flavor, savor. That they might be the salt of the earth. That they might shine into the darkness of a dark and evil world with where there is confusion and little hope to point the way of salvation.

You can't be that unless you're different. Different in being like who? And being like Jesus. Being set apart under his service. Being set apart in your morality, being set apart in your behavior, in your deportment, how you talk, and what you do.

Most importantly, in your heart and in your growing relationship with God. The world doesn't spend time in prayer on their knees. The world doesn't spend time in their Bibles. But Christians should. The world doesn't spend time in church from a sincere heart worshiping the Lord but we should.

The world doesn't concern themselves with morality today but we should. We are to be set apart under the Lord. We are to be holy We believe in biblical separation and so should every Christian and so God promises to bless greatly his children who strive to live a holy life But to chasten those who do not. Gonna end with this passage this morning. See this one here.

Get into it. There it is. Deuteronomy 11. It says, behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. A blessing if you obey the commandments of Lord your God which I command you this day and a curse if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord, your God but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other gods you have not known.

Now, God spoke those words to Israel, okay? And he said to them, if you follow me, if you are my peculiar treasure, if you are set apart unto me, I will what? Bless you. If you don't, I will curse you. In the New Testament, it says this, we won't go there in Hebrews 12.

Read it for yourselves but those whom God loves, he does what? He chastens and here is what the New Testament also says. If we are walking in the spirit and not fulfilling the lust of the flesh, if we are set apart unto our Lord and growing in the faith and growing in the love and growing in our testimony, God will bless us. Look at the beatitudes. Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteous.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit earth. Who is he defining? Who is he describing? He's describing the children of who? He's describing the true children of God and he will bless us.

But make no doubt, he will chasten us if we are disobedient children. He will chasten us if we do not see the need to be separated and set apart unto him. And into his service and I'm afraid there are more Christians. Yes, Christians out there today. That are under the chastening hand of God than under the blessing hand of God.

And sadly, so often, they don't even recognize and they come to me, why God is God allowing this to happen and that to happen and that to happen and that to happen. Well, there's many reasons by the way, not just one. But one of those reasons could be God's why? Chastening hand in our lives. What are we doing for God How are we set apart unto him Are we serving him day by day?

Are we growing in him? Are we seeking to honor and glorify him? And what we don't do and also in what we do. Are we biblically separated Christians as we bring this series this morning, I must ask have you been sanctified? Have you been set apart under God through faith in his son?

You may be here today and you may have never been saved You don't need to just quit smoking. You don't need just to quit drinking. You don't need to quit going this and doing that. What you need is to repent of your sin as a whole and turn to who? And turn to Jesus Christ in faith.

He will save you. He will begin a process in you that you cannot undertake yourself. But you must be willing to come to him in repentance and faith. Or you will be a slave of sin for how long? Forever.

If you are redeemed and sanctified in Christ, if you have a home in heaven prepared for you, how are you doing? The Bible says, we ought to judge not the person behind us or in front of us. We need to be judging who? Ourselves and maybe that we've let this go. Maybe there's an area that we know we have let go.

It may be that we have been complacent in our service for the Lord, in our dealings with sin. We've allowed ourselves to become entangled with the world, its philosophy, its morality, and maybe some of its people that are pulling us astray. We need to be set apart unto our God again Maybe God would have you to deal with that as we pray Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord today for your example You are holy You are set apart, Lord. You are set apart in your very nature, in your person. Lord, you were set apart in your ministry on this Earth.

You were not isolated from men. You spent your days mingling and preaching and teaching and doing wonderful things every day for people who needed you But Lord, you were set apart in your person, in your heart, and in your behavior. You were holy and you have commanded that we be holy you. Lord, forgive us if we've taken that for granted. Lord, make us holy like you we pray.

Lord, forgive us of our sins. Lord, give us discernment that we might know those whom we need to stay away from or places we need to stay free from or activities we need to stay away from. Lord, give us determination and strength to do the things you have called us to do, to be the salt in life that we ought to be. And Lord, to be more concerned about what pleases you than what pleases the world around us. Lord, refocus us today and Lord, if there's one here that's never trusted Christ as savior, I pray they this day will recognize that they need to be saved from sin and that they would come to you In Jesus name, we pray.

Amen.