In this sermon, the preacher begins by expressing gratitude for the Bible and its significance in our daily growth. He emphasizes the importance of having a humble and obedient attitude towards God. The preacher highlights the transformation that occurs when one becomes a new creature in Christ, leaving behind their old sinful ways. He also discusses the concept of holiness and separation, emphasizing that it does not mean isolating oneself but rather living differently and reflecting the light of Christ.

Chapter 6, stand with me if you would, please, just for a moment. Very familiar portion of Scripture. I wish somebody would have taught me and preached to me what I'm about to teach and preach to you from the Bible when I was your age. Never had really much of a privilege to go to a lot of Christian camps. You know, I told you I saved when I was 16. But I believe these things will help you. And certainly it's nothing that is new, but I believe there's just some great truths in the Bible that'll help us this morning. 2 Corinthians 6, look at verse 14, would you? 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14, Paul is writing, he says, "...Do you not unequally yoke together with unbelievers? For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. As God hath said, I will dwell in them, and will walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore," verse 17, "...wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." And I look pleased at chapter 7 and verse 1. "...Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Today we deal with a very interesting subject. Oh boy, there they go again. Thank you very much. You may be seated. Let's pray. And let's ask the Lord to bless our time together just for a few moments, alright? Lord, thank You so much for Your many blessings. We thank You for the Bible, for what it means to us, and how important it is in our daily growth. And so now, Lord, I pray that You'd help these guys and girls as they listen to the Bible, help me as I preach. And Lord, we thank You for all of our hearts have heard this week, but certainly we need You now. And so I pray that You would bless them a wonderful way, in Jesus' name, amen. And people, as you read the New Testament, as you look at the writings of the Apostle Paul, you find out as we talked the other day when we preached about the book of James, the general epistle, that the Apostle Paul, under inspiration, was a little bit more specific. And he was writing generally to the church at Galatia, the church at Thessalonica, and this, that, and the other. But whenever we get to 1 and 2 Corinthians, we have the most carnally minded group of people that the Apostle Paul had to deal with in his New Testament ministry. I mean, as an evangelist, as a pastor, as a missionary, as an author of the New Testament, this man had many problems to deal with in 1 and 2 Corinthians. Matter of fact, that's why we have the 1st book of Corinthians and the 2nd book of Corinthians, because there were so many problems that he took two books to fix them all. The first book was 16 chapters long. Nothing but problem after problem after problem. Matter of fact, in the first few chapters of 1 Corinthians, we find out that these people were so baby-minded, so carnally minded, that some of them would get together over coffee and they'd say, hey, you know what? The Apostle Paul led me in the sinner's prayer. And the other one said, hey, that's nothing. Old Cephas dipped me under the water when I got saved and then I joined the church. The other one said, hey, that's no big deal. He said, man, Apollos signed my Bible. And Paul came in and said, man, are you not carnal in your thinking? He said, some plants, some water, some so. He said, but it's God that giveth the increase. He said, I'm so glad I didn't come to you with ecstasy of man's wisdom and this great worldly speech. He said, but in demonstration of the power and the Spirit of God. Then in chapter number 5, he dealt with fornication. If you can imagine that, he was a young man who was living in open immorality with his own stepmother. And Paul didn't come in there and say, well, you can still be a good tithing, baptized member of our church. No, no, he said, turn such and one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. And Paul held no punches back from these people. I mean, he jumped in the ring and he said, you people have picked a fight with God. He said, when you should be eating T-bone steaks for the glory of God, he said, you're wearing diapers, sucking on a pacifier and playing around in a sandbox. He said, you people need to grow up and get right with God. That's what the word carnally minded means. They were babies in their mind. They were very big babies and had to be entreated by God, just like that brother of the prodigal son that needed to be entreated by his father yesterday that we heard from Brother Schwenke. So here's some babies. They were suing one another, taking each other to court, you know, calling the CLA and David Gibbs and the rest of that crowd and say, listen, here, these people are upsetting me. They're mad. They took my seat in the Baptist Church. And so they got mad and sued one another. And Paul said, you people are babies, babies, babies. They had problems understanding who they belonged to. And that's why Paul told them in 1 Corinthians 6, 19-21, know ye not that your body is the temple of God? If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy. For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit with your God. The problems continued in the chapter of the 2nd book. When we get to the 2nd book though, I suppose the biggest problem these people had was understanding that when you get saved, you are not the same person, but you are a new creature in Christ. He addressed that in 2 Corinthians 5, 17. He said, therefore, if any man be in Christ, not in camp, not in church, not in the waters of baptism, but be in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he or she is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. And Paul was trying to drill that into the heart and mind of these baby Christians, trying to get them to understand that you have no right to live your life any way you want to because it's not your life. It's not your time. It's not your body. You belong to God. Then, we fought that with 2 Corinthians 6. I want you to look, if you would please, at verse number 14, and notice what Paul begins to do. He begins to draw some very obvious contrasts from the Scriptures, and look what he says. He says, Be ye not, that is a command, unequally yoked together with unbelievers. He's using the idea here of Samoxon. They have the great yoke. They put them two together. They're under the same burden. They're going the same way. And so he says, listen, don't you be yoked together with lost people. Don't be yoked together with unbelievers, with Bible deniers, with Christ rejecters. And then look at these obvious contrasts that he begins to make. He says, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? You know, you could take a pen and after each one of these questions, you could simply write the word, N-O-N-E, N-O-N-E, none each time. What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? None. None whatsoever. Then he goes on and says this, and he draws another logical conclusion. He says, in what communion, just a big fancy word for fellowship, intimate fellowship, what communion hath light with darkness? None whatsoever. Righteousness, unrighteousness. No fellowship. Dark and light. No communion. No intimate fellowship whatsoever. Now look at verse number 15. And what concord, the word concord almost has the idea that you sit down and sign your John Hentock to an agreement. He says, what great concord hath Christ with Belial? The word Belial meaning the wicked one or the devil. We obviously know that everything God tries to do, the devil tries to count back. God always does things great and the devil always messes things up. God's not the author of confusion and the devil is. And so here's just some obvious contrast that Paul is giving these people. He's trying to open their mind to see the difference between what you used to be and what you should be now for the glory of God. Keep reading in your Bible. He goes on to say, and what agreement, excuse me, back to verse 15, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel or with somebody that doesn't even believe the Bible or rejects the Word of God? Verse 16. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? Notice this. For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. What is the apostle Paul trying to do? He's trying to show these people the great importance of living a separated life. He's trying to show them the great importance. I mean, from the kiddos all the way to the older gentlemen and the ladies, the middle-aged people, the teenagers. He's trying to drill into their head and into their heart that when you get saved, you have no right and you have no business living in the lust and in the pleasures that you used to enjoy, that you used to live in, for you're now a new creature. And he said, listen, you used to be in darkness, now you're in light. You used to be son to the devil, John 8, 44, but you've been delivered into the kingdom of God's dear Son, Colossians 1, 13. So he's drawing these conclusions. Now, let me tell you what happens when a lot of preachers preach on 2 Corinthians 6 and verses like this. Whenever we preach on the idea of holiness, whenever many times we preach on the idea of separation, that we should live differently and dress differently and act differently and look differently. And I believe as the task force workers here, I believe you're mature enough to understand and be able to handle such a subject as separation. But you know, here's what happens. A lot of times the antennas go up and people start saying, you know, the old fancy phrase, speak to the hand because the ears aren't listening. And here's what they say, oh boy, there they go again. That's all those preachers can do is get up there and preach on the Bible and tell me how I should live and tell me how as a young lady, how long my skirt ought to be or as a young man, how I should dress or how I should walk or what I should listen to and what I should watch and where I should go and who I should hang around. And a lot of people, I'll be honest with you, even adults in local churches, they have the idea, oh boy, there they go again. That's all they can preach on. That's all they know. Separation, separation. But I got news for you. Although sometimes it rubs us the wrong way, separation is a vital issue in the Word of God. We are to live differently when we get saved. Now, let me give you three simple, factual, Bible, undeniable reasons why you ought to be separated as a young person. Three undeniable arguments. I mean, you can't argue against this. The writings on the Word of God, three things that will prove to us and show us that God not only not requires obedience or requires separation, but He wants us to live separated. He wants us to be holy and He wants us to be different from the rest of the world. Remember what Peter said? He said you're a peculiar people, a chosen generation. A lot of people have the idea, they say, well, preacher, you know, if I'm going to be peculiar, that means I've got to walk around with Bobby socks pulled all the way up to my kneecap and I've got to have my pants or my shorts pulled all the way up near to my chest and I've got to wear thick coke bottle glasses and carry around a great big family-sized Bible and say glory to God, peace on earth, goodwill toward men. No, he said be different, not stupid, and there's a fine line between the two. And that it doesn't mean that you've got to walk around and look ridiculous. It doesn't mean, fellas, that you've got to wear a striped shirt with polka dot pants and pink socks and blue shoes. It doesn't mean that. It just means that you are different, that you are peculiar from the world. Because just as Brother Duffy preached last night, if you are saved, the world is never going to accept you. As my Bible tells me, ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore is a friend of the world is what? The enemy of God, James chapter 4 and verse 4. So let me give you three reasons that you ought to obey this command. Three reasons that you shouldn't say, oh boy, here they go again, but you should appreciate the issue of separation. As a young man, as a young lady, as a Christian who wants to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, let me give you three reasons why you ought to do it. Number one, the first reason I live a separated life is not so I can walk around with my nose up in the air and say I'm better than you. The first reason I live a separated life is first and foremost because of obedience. Because of obedience. Look in your Bibles, would you? It's right here in the Word of God. Just right here, look. Look in verse number 17, would you? Wherefore, because of all this, because God and the devil are different, we're on two different levels of playing field in life. He says, wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate. Sayeth the preacher? No, no. Sayeth the church? Sayeth the camp? Sayeth the college? No, no. Sayeth the Lord. And touch not the unclean things, and I will receive you. The first reason I live a separated life, the first reason I should read my Bible and pray and want to live right and want to dress right and want to act right is number one, because of obedience. You know, if you come to a camp like this, Camp Shittek, or you go to the average camp, or you just go to the average youth group, and you say, okay, let's take a quick poll. How many of you young people love Jesus Christ with all of your heart? How many of you young people actually love the Bible, you love God, and you know you're saved, you know you're on your way to heaven, and you love God? You know, that's a very generic question, and you're going to get a very generic response. Because most of the auditorium, most of the crowd, the teenagers, the guys and girls, they'll throw their hands up, and they say, I love Jesus Christ with all of my heart. Now, it's all good, jolly, and well to say that, but let's see what the Bible said about your love for Jesus Christ. Jesus looked at his disciples, and certainly if he required his disciples then, he requires it now. Jesus said, if ye love me, keep my commandments. So here's a young person that says, oh, preacher, I love God. I love God with all of my heart. Yet, they never read their Bible. Yet, they never pray. They have a bad attitude towards authority, and they might do what they're supposed to on the outside, but on the inside, they're mad, and they're upset, and they're crooked, and they're devious, and they're bitter, and they've got that heat-seeking anger within their heart, as we heard yesterday. And a lot of young people, they do what they're supposed to do, but yet it's with a bad attitude. Let me ask you this. What is your obedience level to the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you really love him? I mean, if you really love him, does it not stand to reason that you would want to obey what his Word says? If you really love your parents, does it not stand to reason that when they say clean your room, you'd clean your room? If you really love somebody that you call a friend, if they ask you to do something, if they're in a bind, if they're in a pickle, if they're in a jam, if they do have a terrible load that the other teenagers heard from the swanky preacher on this morning, do you want to help them? Why would you do something for somebody? Because you love them. And the first reason, I live a separated life. The first reason I don't want to look like the world and smell like the world and act like the world and live like the world is because my Bible tells me that my God looks down from heaven and says, Gregory DeWayne Locke, come out from among them and be ye separate. And if I love him, I will be obedient to what he has called me to do. So it really doesn't mean a whole lot when somebody says, I love Jesus Christ with all of my heart. You can say that with your lips, but you prove that with your life. You see, the great litmus test of love, young person, is always your obedience to the word of God. Are you obedient? Now, by the way, this command in the word of God, come out from among them and be ye separate. That is just as much as a command in the word of God as John chapter three and verse number seven, when Jesus said, ye must be born again. I mean, not an option. It's not an obligation, not a suggestion, but an obligation to almighty God, to his people. He says, listen, I want you to come out. I want you to separate. The word separate is an interesting word. It means to cut. God literally says, when you get saved, I want you to take the scissors, the sharp two-edged sword of the word of God, and I want you to be cut out of the mold of the world. I want you to cut off the world and separate yourself from the old lifestyle, from the way that you used to live, from the people that you used to hang around. For does not the Bible say in Amos 3.3, can two walk together except they be agreed? I preached in Mexico about five times. They taught me the phrase. No way, Jose. You cannot be going in the same direction with somebody if you do not agree. Somewhere down the road, you're going to hit the bumps on the highway and you're going to mess up your life. And so God says, listen, if you really love me, then be obedient to me. If God says, come out from among them and be a separate. That simply means, young person, that means, fellas, that means, ladies, that I am supposed to come out from the world and be separate. That means I'm supposed to be not just a Bible quote believer, but I'm supposed to be a doer of the word, not a hearer only, James 1, verses 20-22. And young people, we have a lot of people who pay lip service to Jesus Christ in camps and schools and colleges and churches all around the world, but very few people who actually pay life service to Jesus Christ. And that is the proof in the pudding. So why do I live separated? Number one, because of obedience. Now, let me give you the second one. And this is probably very, very important. I want you to get it, okay? We'll make some illustrations. Number one, I live a separated life because of obedience. But number two, I live a separated life because of identification. Because of identification. Let me show you what I mean. Go back to 2 Corinthians 6, please, and look again at verse 17. Now, although we're talking to carnal Christians, these aren't lost people. I mean, these are not the devil's crowd. These are not people on their way to hell. These are saved, blood-bought, born-again children of the living God. Verse 17, "...Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate." Cut away. "...Sayeth the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you." Notice verse 18, "...And will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." God says, number one, young person, you separate. You live holy. You pray. You read. You memorize. You study. You walk right. And you do what is right. Not with a heart of being a Pharisee. He says, but you do it, number one, so that you are obedient, proving your love to Me and to My Word. He says, but you do it, number two, so everybody will know to whom you belong to. Let's think about something just for a moment. How many of you like to go to a shopping mall? Put your hand here. You like to go to a shopping mall a lot. Most of the girls. None of the guys raise their hand except for one, okay? And I'll be honest with you. I don't like shopping malls. I'm still looking for the store. I am still looking for the store that God used in the book of Exodus for 40 years when most people never had to buy any clothes and never had to buy any shoes. My wife loves Walmart. Matter of fact, I believe I'm going to buy myself a grave plot in the basement of Walmart so my wife will visit me about 32 times a week. She loves Walmart. There's a place down south called Goody's. There's nothing good about that place. It is bad. It is wicked. It is devious. And I can't stand it. But my wife is a bargain shopper. When I go to a shopping mall, I do two things. I take my Bible and a cup of coffee. I sit down and I read the book of Proverbs. And you know what happens? Whenever I go to a shopping mall with the book of Proverbs, I find out that the book of Proverbs comes alive to me. You go to a shopping mall, you will see more foolish people, more unlearned people, more unwise people, more simpletons. You will see more people in the book of Proverbs in a shopping mall than any other place on the face of God's earth. And so I sit down. I watch people. I read T-shirts. And my wife shops. And I'm praying and begging the Lord that my credit card bill doesn't run through the ceiling. Amen. Because I got to make a trailer payment. But nonetheless, I don't like shopping. Never have and never will. Probably till I get to the millennial kingdom. Call it unspiritual. Call it what you want to. I just don't like it at all. But go to a shopping mall sometime and watch the clicks. Watch the grooves. Here's what happens. You got these people come walking in, you know, they're kind of the crowd that I used to run around with. They come in or they either got their blue jeans on backwards, you know, or they got these great big old baggy pants that you could fit about 52 kids in or you could jump out of an airplane and go parachuting with them on. And they come in, they got their hats on backwards and they got three or four earrings and they got all this weird looking hairdo. Most of it's all kind of shaved back, you know, and they got these lines and it says thug across the back and they get these big old tattoos and they got this gold and they got this ring and they talk funny. Talk out of the side of their mouth like this. And they do all this kind of stuff and they lift all hands down, you know, and they walk real funny and they strut when they walk and they walk around, you know, they kind of do like this. Say, what's up, baby? That's the way they walk all the time. They talk like that and they act like that and they walk like that and you see them walking around, you know, and then they got Snoop Doggy dogs with a bunch of masks all over their shirt. They got these big marijuana leaves around their neck. And so you're sitting there and you're talking to your friend and you see about six of them walk by and you say, I bet they like country music. I bet they're from Nashville. You got enough sense to know they're not from Nashville. You got enough sense to know they're not a bunch of stinking rednecks. You know exactly what, that's the rapper crowd. How did you know that? Their clothes identified who they were. The people they walked with identified who they were. And so all of a sudden, you're sitting here at Camp Shitech and all of a sudden you hear and some guy comes pulling in here and he's got this little truck and the thing's shaking all over the place and he gets out and you say, oh man, I bet he's from Bob Jones University. He likes symphony orchestra music. No, no, you know immediately this guy likes rap music, okay? And why? Because you identified him by what he wore. You identified him by what he drove and you identified him quickly by what he listened to. Now, here's another example. I'm from Nashville. You talk about hits. I call myself a high tech redneck, okay? Now, there's a lot of hits in Tennessee. Now, I did get, I was got onto a little while ago by brother Swanky by wearing my cowboy boots, which you notice that I don't have on, which my brother here in the front does. Praise the Lord for you. God bless you, son. But anyhow, I like cowboy boots, but there are some people that go a little bit too far. If you go where I am, I mean, they have 10 gallon hats, buddy. I mean, they got these big old hats. They kind of whip out like this. And if it rains, buddy, I mean, it holds the water. 50 gallons, it must. And they got these big, huge hats and they got these big straws and they got a belt buckle. I'm talking about a belt buckle that looks like a saucer plate or a spare tire. I mean, it's like this big, you know. And the guy always has to walk. You know why cowboys put their hands in their pants like this and walk? Because if they didn't, they'd fall over because that stinking belt buckle would pull them to the ground. And so he's walking around like this, you know. He got his big cowboy boots on and he's got that big 10 gallon hat. Got about 57 gallons of water in it. And he's walking around, you know. And he's got a shirt on that says God's Brooks or Clint back. And so somebody looks at him and says, you know what? I bet he's wrapped up in Marilyn Manson, something terrible. You know that he's not wrapped up in Marilyn Manson, something terrible. Why? Because what he wore, how he acted, identified who he was. And so then you go to Walmart. These people come walking in and they've got the whitest makeup on their face that you've ever seen in your life. I'm talking about white people that are white, if you can imagine. I mean, white people that are snow white, buddy. And I mean, they got this white stuff all over them and they got the darkest black lipstick that you've ever seen. They got this matte factor eyelash business all over their face. They got these big long eyelash. I mean, they're dark and black and their hair, if dyed, just jet black. And I mean, you know, it comes all the way down and here they are and they got this big nose ring here and it's attached to a chain that comes to their ear. And then the chain comes around here and it's attached to the ribs here and then it attaches to the bottom of their chin. And then they open up their mouth and they look like they got a 55 pound barbell in the middle of their tongue. And they can't hardly talk and they got it in their lips. Hey, this is the gospel truth. Had a Harley Davidson guy come to one of my revival meetings about six months ago and he had a diamond shoved between the gout in his top tooth. Had his teeth pierced. You ever heard of that? Kind of like Brother Schwenke said the other day, you ought to name an AT&T. Ringing all over. Got rings everywhere, all over his body, all over his face. Had a diamond shoved right between the middle of his teeth. I've never seen that in my life. And so these kids are walking around and they got these boots. I mean, they got heels on them that are that high. I mean, that went out with the dark ages long, long ago. And it seems like everything that went out in the 60s and 70s is all coming back now in the 90s and everybody, or in 2000. And everybody's doing, you know, got these great big old high platform shoes on. Got these big dragons that stick out on the front of them. I mean, ugly stuff, golly. I mean, girls wear these pants, you know. They're like real straight right here and then all of a sudden, whoa, right at the bottom. Right at the bottom, they just open up like a big mushroom. And you've seen them and they're all black. And then this guy, you know, he's got this lipstick all over him and he's got makeup on. His pants are black. His socks are black. His gloves are black. His fingernails are black. He's got pentagrams all over him. He's got these tattoos all over his body. And you know what? Immediately, who do you identify him with? You know when he walks into the bookstore, he's going to watch, he's going to get Marilyn Manson. You know he's going to be one of these cronies, one of these nuts that carries a big old gun inside of his coat. Somebody like Columbine and watch some wicked rated Arteano Reeves movie and goes and blows people away called The Matrix. And you know immediately by what he wears, by what he does, by what he listens to and by who he hangs around, who he identifies with, you know exactly who he belongs to. And that's exactly why you ought to dress right. That's exactly why you young ladies ought to be made to dress right. Hey, it doesn't bother me as a preacher to be able to get up and say, hey, young lady, you ought to dress right. And it doesn't bother me to say, hey, young man, if a lady's got to be modest, you ought to be modest too. You see, we're living in a day when modesty is something that everybody says, modesty is overrated. No, modesty is underrated. And that's why we've got so much fornication, adultery and immorality and a bunch of pedophiles all over America. Because we got young ladies that don't know how to dress. We've got young men that don't know how to dress. We do not have modesty. And how you dress, what you listen to will identify who you are, no matter how much you say, I love God. You can raise both of your hands and you can pop and spit and holler, cross your arms and puff like the maggot dragon. And you can tell everybody in the world, I love Jesus Christ. But how you dress, what you listen to, who you hang around, how you talk and what you watch will identify who you really belong to. If the world can figure it out, why can't God's people figure it out? You know, these teenagers, they come to me and they get all mad and they're all upset and they say, well, you're not preaching about this. I should be able to wear exactly what I want to. No, you should be able to wear anything you want to as long as you can just back it up within the confines of the Word of God. As long as you're not being immodest, as long as you're not immoral, as long as you're not being ungodly, young person, there are some limits. I'm not going to get up here and say, OK, you can wear this and you can wear this and you can wear that. But if we'd get our noses out of the newspaper and put them into the Bible, we'd find out a lot of the things we do, we do it because so-and-so says. And for a while, so-and-so says works. But after a while, when you grow up and you get out from under so-and-so's authority, you're going to need your own standards and your own convictions from the Word of God. And so learn how to dress. I had a young lady come to me not long ago in Georgia. And I preached in the school every morning and in the church every night. We do that sometimes when we have our meetings when the church has a Christian school. And I preached along these lines. We're on the same message. And I said some things. I was a little more specific about some clothing. The pastor wanted me to address some issues. You know, as an evangelist, I don't sit down and say, okay, preacher, I want you to tell me all the problems of your church so I can preach on them. If the Spirit of God can't tell an evangelist what to preach, he's in the wrong business anyhow. Okay, so I don't have to sit down. But he sat me down. He said, if you don't mind, would you preach along some of these issues? So I got up and I said, listen, I've been praying with your pastor, I've been talking with your pastor and he would like me to address these issues. And so I talked about some of the dress standards and some of the things that he was really trying to elevate. And I appreciated his ministry. You know, he kind of took a bomb of a work. And man, they were just taking a nosedive. And so he said, listen, I know you can't fix things in one sermon, he said, but would you just do your best to help? And so I got up and I told him how much the pastor loved him and I tried to encourage them. And I thought this young lady came to me and she was upset. I mean, she was completely upset. You know, when guys are upset, they look at your straight face. You know that? A guy can be walking from one side of this auditorium to the other side and he will walk and look at you the whole time. His head will never move. His body will never shake. But you know when a girl's mad because her hair flies all over her head. It goes left to right, to front to back, up and down, north and south. And her head just is shaking back and forth. And I mean, this girl comes running up to me and gets right up in my face. And she said, brother Greg. And I said, yes, ma'am, what can I do? She said, I don't appreciate you telling me that I shouldn't be able to wear such and such clothes. She said, I don't appreciate you telling me that I'm not supposed to be able to watch. And she said herself, rated R movies. She said, I don't appreciate you coming in here and telling me and I don't even know who you are and you come in here and telling me that some of the things that I have in my room are some of the teeny bopper magazines, the 17s and the rest of that trash that I listen to and the things that I look at and watch. She said, I don't appreciate you coming in here and telling me what I could watch, what I should watch, what I can and what I can't watch. I said, listen, that's fine. I said, you don't have to respect me. I said, you don't know me from Adam's house, Kat. I said, I'll be out of here in a couple of days. And I said, you'll never have to see me again. I said, that's fine. I said, but you're not gonna stand before me one day. I said, you're gonna stand before God. And I said, you're gonna tell me and raise your hand and tell me that you love God and tell me that you love your parents and tell me you want to do what's right. And you thank God for this Christian school because earlier in the week, she was one of the ones that stood up and gave a testimony. Usually that works. And so then she came to me and she shook my hand. She was all mad and she was all upset. And she said, you mean to tell me this and you mean to tell me that. I said, no, no. But you're not gonna stand before me, young lady. I said, you're going to stand before God and you will give an account if you were obedient to God's word, proving your love for him and if you identified with him. And God said, listen, you have no business identifying with the world's crowd. You have no business identifying with the devil's crowd. He said, you are my son. He said, you are my daughters. Come out from among them and touch not the unclean thing. And God says, I will receive you. Now, he continues that thought right into the very next chapter. Look at chapter 7 and verse 1. Just very simple thoughts. Look what he says. Having therefore these promises. What promises? That if I come out, God will be pleased. God will accept me. Everybody will see my obedient love for God. They will know to say, I'm a child of God, not a child of the devil, not living for me, but I'm living for Him. They will see that. So having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Why do I live a separated life? Why do we preach on holiness, young person? Why do we try to instill that into you? And I know the issue of separation sometimes to us just goes as far as our clothes. And we say that sometimes. It just goes as far as what we see and what we hear. It's much deeper than that. It's a heart issue, young person. It is your love for God. It is your respect for the Word of God. Do you really love Him? Do you really want to be identified with the people of God? Do you want to be identified with the One that saved you? As Brother Schlenker was preaching this morning on baptism, that is an identification. So is how we live. So is what we do, how we portray ourselves. It's an identification. So he said, listen, I want you to be obedient. I want you to identify, but here's a very important issue of separation that we don't think of. Why do we preach on it? Why do we stress it? Why does God command it? Number three, for your protection. You know, a lot of people have the idea, well, I tell you, Brother Eckblad, the reason you preach the way you do and raise the kids the way you do is because you want your kids to be miserable. There are some things that parents should not let their kids do, no doubt about it. There are some things if a kid says, listen, I don't understand. It doesn't make any difference. There are some, hey, because I've said so answers in the Bible for a while. But you know, a lot of people have the idea, well, I tell you, the only reason these cat preachers get up here and they preach that I should abstain from immorality and I should wait until the one that God gives me. And the only reason they preach up here and tell me I should make these decisions and I should read my Bible and Brother Duffy gets up last night and preaches on Ezekiel 2230 and tells me how to give my life and stand in the gap because so many young people are falling by the wayside and the judgment of God is consuming the land. The only reason they preach like this, the only reason they tell me all these things and then Brother Schwenke gets in here and preaches from Luke chapter 15 and he strips me of my pride and strips me of my bitterness and strips me of my anger. I tell you, we just can't do anything. We just can't have any fun whatsoever. I just can't do anything. You ever heard that? Everybody's doing it, which is a lie. And I just can't do anything or I just can't do whatever I want is really what we say. And sometimes we have the idea the only reason that they cram this separation business down our throat is to hurt us, to keep us from enjoying life, to keep us from having a good time. But the real issue, young people, is the reason we preach separation is to protect you. Because like it or not, the devil's out to get you. If you think your flesh was eradicated when you got saved, no, no, no. You didn't look in the mirror, friend. Your flesh did not. Paul said he had trouble with it. I promise you Greg Locke's got trouble with it and so do you. And we preach on separation to show you that God has an umbrella of protection that He wants you to abide under. He wants you to stay nurtured under that umbrella because the torrential acid rains of the devil are going to fall all around you. The world's going to do its best to pull you back. It's going to sell you a boatload of lies, send you up the river and you're going to forget the paddle when you get there. And the devil's going to lie to you and your flesh is going to lie to you. I mean, your flesh will make every excuse in the world for why you shouldn't read your Bible and why you shouldn't live holy. Your flesh will do everything in the world why you shouldn't be a faithful member of a good church. Your flesh will do everything in the world to tell you why you ought to pretend like you're sick this summer because you don't want to work and you're tired of working and you want to go home and you're homesick and this, that. Your flesh will do anything and everything in its power to keep you from living for God. So the reason we preach on separation is to show you that, hey, your flesh is out to get you. The world is out to get you. The devil is out to get you. The enemies of God are out to get you and we preach on separation to protect you so that you'll remain underneath that umbrella. You see, as long as you're wanting to live right and wanting to live holy and wanting to live godly and you're trying to cut yourself away from the world and you are trying to identify with God and with His people, you know what? You're under that umbrella of protection. But just like Jonah. Jonah got mad in verse number 3 and the Bible says, but Jonah rose up to flee into Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He ran in the opposite direction, not only that God wanted him to go, but my Bible tells me he ran from God's presence. He got out from under that umbrella of protection because of a lack of obedience. A lot of young people, they get messed up. They ruin their life. They ruin their families and marriages to come. They ruin one day their college career, their schooling career. They ruin their ministry opportunities at camp. And I'll tell you, this is probably one of the first summers. I'm not saying we've not had any bad seed. This is probably one of the first summers in five years that I've been coming to Camp Shepherd that we've not had great casualties. I mean, we've had some terrible, terrible things. I mean, even among the task force. I mean, awful and horrible things. And we've not had that. And I praise the Lord for it. But you know what? I think it's going to be attributed to the fact that we've got some young people that want to live under the protection of God's presence. They want to be under that umbrella. And I'll be honest with you. You know, you get all these people all over television and they're weeping and they're squalling. And I believe you ought to fry a rapist or a pedophile just as quick as you'd fry somebody that blew somebody's brain out. I believe somebody takes a knife and slice somebody's throat. I believe they ought to go directly to the electric chair. And that's not what Greg said. That's what God said in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 11. I believe with all of my heart that a rapist, somebody like that, somebody that's mean and would go out and take somebody's body and take liberties that do not belong to them. Somebody that has such a wicked character. I believe that's ungodly. I believe that's wrong. And I believe that's wicked. This internet pornography, taking these little boys and girls that are anywhere from four to 10 years old and putting their bodies all over the internet and showing their body parts and all. I think that's wicked and I think that's ungodly, but I'm going to be honest with you. In America, a lot of these young ladies that throw up their hands and say, oh, I tell you what, he's looking at me. He did this and look what happened to me. I'll be honest with you. I've counseled with a whole boatload of them that put themselves in that situation to begin with by the people they identified with, by the clothing that they wore. You see, the problem with modesty is that girls don't understand the issue of modesty. All the preachers are out there talking about that just the other day. Girls do not understand the issue of modesty. To you, it may not be immodest, but to the boy, to the mind of a young man and the pitter-patter of a young man's heart, it may be very immodest. And you wouldn't want somebody to fall into sin in their mind or in their heart. We're protecting you. We're protecting you from your flesh. We're protecting you from the terrible things that can happen to you in the world. And I'm telling you, separations is not one of these issues that say, well, you just sit over in a corner and wear a dunce cap and suck your thumb until Jesus comes back and you'll be happy for the rest of your life. That's not the Christian life. I don't walk around every day. You know, I didn't wake up this morning. You know, I had a privilege to go out and play golf. It was good. I went out with Brother Bill. We played some golf and we tied, you know. And tying at golf is horrible. You know, as Brother Ducky said, he said, that's kind of like kissing your sister. You know, that's awful when you tie somebody in golf. But he's been ahead of me for a couple of times and so we tied. But you know what? I didn't wake up this morning and turn to my wife and say, honey, you know what? I'm sick of this whole evangelism business. I mean, look at this 40-foot travel trailer with two slide outs that God's given us. Can you believe this? I mean, this is a mess. I mean, look at this Ford F-350. And I encourage the word Ford, amen. I said, look at this F-350 that God's given us. And look at this stupid little poodle dog named Sheffy. Have you ever heard of a dog like that? I didn't look at my wife and say, man, you know, I'm sick of this marriage. I'm sick of this preaching business. And I said, I just can't do anything. I didn't wake up that way. If you think I wake up every day miserable, you got another thing coming. I wake up with a joy balance of God. Hey, I'm not always on cloud nine. I'm not always doing everything that I should be. I'm not some spiritual peripheral superman who jumps into his trailer and pulls off his suit. All of a sudden, he's got a big super ass on his chest. No, no, but I'll be honest with you. I'm not miserable. I don't have to wear a dunk cap and suck my thumb and walk around and say, whoa, it's me. I can't do anything. Oh, I can do a whole lot of things. I can do a lot of things within the will of God. Hey, I've got a whole lot more liberty now than I ever did when I was in bondage to sin. You see, there was a time I was in slavery to sin. And I was free, by the way. I was free from God. I was free from righteousness. I was free from salvation. I was free from all of it. April 17, 1992, 8.30 at night, Metropolitan Baptist Church. I got saved by the grace of God. I was released from the bondage and the slavery of sin. And then I became a servant to Jesus Christ, the glorious gospel which I've been saved by, to the Word of God. Young people, I can do a whole lot of things. I don't walk around and say, well, I'll tell you what, I'm not everything I could be or I'm not everything I should be or I'm not everything I want to be. Hey, I'll be honest with you, I'm not everything God wants me to be, but I'll tell you this right now, I'm not anything that I used to be. God changed my life. And because of obedience, because of identification, and because of the very careful wording of the word protection, that's why we ought to obey God. That's why you ought to want to live separately. That's why you ought to look at 2 Corinthians 6 and not say, oh boy, there they go again. Rye, rye, rye, run that mouth, 90 miles to nothing. Tell me how to live. Tell me what to listen to. Tell me who to obey. Tell me where to go. Tell me how to live my life. You don't have that attitude. If you have that attitude, I promise you one thing, you're not identifying with Jesus Christ and you're definitely not being loving to Him in your obedience if you have that type of a defiant, bitter attitude. But you should be able to say, you know, Lord, I certainly appreciate the fact that you saved me, that you pulled me out of the muck and mire of Psalm chapter 40, the first three verses. He said, I waited patiently, O Lord, and heard my cry. You brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my going. Put a new song, not the same song, put a new song in my heart. Even praising to our God, many shall sit in fear and shall trust the Lord. And we ought not say, you know, Lord, I just can't do this and I can't do that. We ought to be excited that God has saved us and placed us in His army to be His servants, to be His sons and daughters, to be His salt, and to be His soldiers in the army of God. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us not to be entangled in the things, in the web, in the net, if you will, of this world. Why? Why should I not hold to the things of this world that He may please Him who has called Him to be a soldier? Oh boy, there they go again. But regardless of what you think about it, being a separate, godly, holy teenager is a command in the Word of God. Obedience, identification. And young person, I promise you, you may not understand it now, but I promise you, you'll look back and you'll realize it was for your protection. Lord, thank You for what we can learn in just a few moments of Bible teaching and Bible preaching. We thank You, Lord, for 2 Corinthians 6 and just for these simple thoughts that we're able to have. And Lord, I pray that there not be a guy or girl here who would have that begrudging spirit or that begrudging attitude that it just seems like they can't do anything because they're a Christian. Lord, may they realize that we have so much liberty in Jesus Christ. Lord, we have the privilege, the liberty of living for You. Lord, we have the privilege of being holy. We have the privilege of being godly, of having the eternal Word of God at our very reach. And Lord, that is great liberty. That is great freedom. And for that, we're grateful. And so, Father, would You please speak to us? May we truly, if we're going to say we love You, may we be obedient. May we have a desire, a passion, and a heartbeat to identify with our Father in heaven. Then, dear Lord, would You help us to realize now and even later in our life as we look down life's long pilgrim highway that, Lord, You've protected us all the way underneath the umbrella of Your power and Your protection because we were willing to do what Your Word says come out. And so, I pray that You would bless us. In Jesus' name, amen.