Separation

2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers? For what, now that's an appeal to your conscience and mine, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Baal? 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 walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Wherefore, notice this, 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. I think this is the Lord's appeal to separation.

And I'm speaking on a subject, and our brother just got done speaking on the same subject that is not vogue. In other words, it's not stylish. In our day of vanishing conscience.

That's the day that you and I are living in. The day of vanishing conscience. You know, we used to hear a lot about this, didn't we, in the older days? But nowadays, we hear very little about the subject of separation.

I think there are some that entertain the idea that it is negative. And that it is legalistic. If you speak on the subject of separation, then you're speaking on negative ministry.

And you're leaning towards legalism. Well, I have a little suggestion. If you're entertaining that thought in your mind this afternoon, you tell the Lord that.

You tell Him that His truth of separation is negative, and it's legalistic. So these verses that we read are God's Word. It's the Word of God.

I'm not reading out of the Post magazine. Okay? I'm reading out of the Word of God. I read it to you.

Exactly what God said. And God says what He means. And guess what? He means what He says.

And there's no gray areas here. I don't see anything gray about it. I see black and white.

It's plain and simple. It's certain. It's the Word of God.

You've got an argument with it, then your argument is with God. Not with me. So in dealing with this matter of separation, Paul divides it.

I take it by v. 13-16. And then v. 17-18. In v. 13-16, you have the principle of separation.

And when you come down to v. 17-18, you have the promise of separation. And that's two handles. You can get a hold of this.

And I can get a hold of it too. God gives us two handles. To get a hold of this truth of separation.

I want to think about the principle of separation. And that is a basic concept of life, as much as I can understand. Opposites really can't fellowship.

And the idea of a fellowship is a partnership. It's a companionship. So if I'm opposite with someone else, and my thinking is opposite of someone else's, and my appreciation for divine truth is opposite with someone else's, then it would be pretty hard for me to fellowship with them.

It would be pretty hard for me to be in a partnership with them. It would be pretty hard for me to be in a companionship with that individual. I take it that this goes way back to a principle that is found in Leviticus 19 and 19 and Deuteronomy 22 and verse 10.

You know, you and I change. People change, don't they? But God's Word never changes. God doesn't change.

So what He meant back there, I take it He means here today as well. He says that you can't plow with an ox and an ass together. Well, I wonder why? Because their stride is different.

Right? And they pull differently. So that's why He says you can't plow with an ox and an ass together. It's a little principle in the Word of God.

You know, the Corinthians were yoking themselves up with unbelievers. It created a problem for them. They were yoking themselves up with unbelievers in relation to marriage, in relation to business, in relation to other ways.

And in so doing, they were losing something that was important and that was their testimony. And when you and I do the same thing, guess what? We're going to do the same thing. We're going to lose something.

That's going to be our testimony. That's going to be our witness. You know, there's a number of contrasts that are seen here in these portions we read.

One of them is righteousness. What's the contrast to righteousness? What's the flip side to that? It's unrighteousness. Righteousness or unrighteousness.

And then you have this matter of light and you have a matter of darkness. And then you have a matter of Christ and you have this matter of Satan. And then you have this believer and then you have this unbeliever and then you have the temple of God and then you have something else and that's idols.

Those are all contrasts. You know why they're contrasts? Because God says they are. Plain and simple.

And He isn't mincing His words. And He's not beating around the bush like we do sometimes. You know, you and I as a people of God, we are not obligated to court the world.

We have absolutely no obligation that way. We are not obligated to please the world. God makes that crystal clear.

We're not a people that agree to disagree. You know, I've heard that from time to time. I don't agree with that one iota.

To agree? Oh, well, we'll just agree to disagree. No. You know, separation isn't isolation.

I'm not suggesting that at all. It's not retreating from the world. God doesn't expect you and I to isolate ourselves as a people of God and He doesn't expect you and I to retreat from the world.

It's just simply a means to keep, to guard ourselves. You're important to God. Believe it or not, I am too.

The only reason I know that is because of what the Word of God says. We're important to God and Christ has paid a tremendous price to set you and I free from the bondage of sin, from the plague of sin, the power of sin, the penalty of sin. And one day from the very presence of sin.

God has paid a tremendous price for you and me and thus you're very valuable. And He doesn't want you being hurt by the world. He doesn't want me being hurt by the world either.

And that's why He teaches us a principle of separation. To guard ourselves from the world's ways. What are the world's ways like? They're defiling.

They defile our minds. They can defile our walk. All the ways of the world, if you really stop and think about it, even the sounds that you hear, they're defiling.

You like going into a restaurant and sitting there and you think you're sitting by a boom box with some teenage kid with his cap on backwards and you're supposed to sit there and eat your bacon and eggs in the morning. Early in the morning. Who wants to hear that stuff? But the world wants to hear it.

And if you ask them, could you turn that down just a little bit? They think you're some kind of weirdo. It's defiling. It affects my eggs.

I like my eggs the way they are. Don't affect my eggs with this crazy music that they're playing in the restaurant. What I really like is when you pull up to the stop sign, right? The traffic light.

And I like kids. I think they're kind of cool. And they pull up alongside of you with this here car and they've got a boom box in that thing and that car's just jumping all over the street and he's got his cap on backwards and he's looking where he has been instead of where he's going.

And I'm thinking in my mind, how could you listen to that stuff all day long and go home and be kind to your wife or to your dog or your cat or anything? I don't know. They seem to manage it. But I think it's very defiling.

Those sounds. Those sights in the world today. Should I get into the sights? No, I'm not going to get into the sights that are seen in the world today.

You know what they are and I know what they are. And you also know what the sounds are and I know what the sounds are. You know, our relationship with the world directly affects our fellowship with God.

And God's people. And God's place. Where's God's place? It's God's assembly.

It's the only place I know of. It's a scripturally gathered assembly. That's God's place.

And then there's what else? There's God's principles. What's the principles found here in this lovely old book? The Word of God. We're separated from sin to God.

Isn't that right? And God never saved you in your sins and He never saved me in my sins. He saved us from our sins. And all this world has to offer us is sin.

One man said, I'm just sin covered with skin. I tell you, that's the principle of separation. Then there's this idea of promise.

Verse 17 and 18. You know that God promises to bless those that keep pure? How about our pure mind? Pure motives, pure manners. Just pure.

You know that worldliness is subtle? It doesn't just happen like that. It's very subtle. You know what else it is? It's very creepy.

It's subtle and it's very creepy. And it's very gradual. And it's very progressive.

And it begins with James 4. You say, what is that? Friendship with the world. That's where it begins. In 1 John 2, verses 15-17, what's that? Love for the world.

And then you come to Romans 12, verse 1 and what do you have there? Conformity to the world. That's where it begins. Isaiah 52, verse 11, God promises to bless those who separate themselves unto Him.

Unto Him. That's a promise in the Word of God. God promises to bless you and when God blesses you, He makes you happy.

Doesn't He? And God wants to make you happy and He wants to make me happy. And we separate ourselves unto Him. When you come to chapter 7, verse 1, I take it that should end chapter 6 and it's a summary of personal holiness.

And there are two motives there that I can see at least two for separation. Do you see them? There's love for God. That's one motive.

Do you love God? Do I love God? You know, love is an action word. It says, for God so loved the world that He gave. So love is an action word.

That's not just saying the word love, but there's action. There's movement behind that. And then there's another motive and that's fear of God.

Now, I'm not afraid that God's going to club me over the head with a 2x4. Or that He's going to remove the grate so that I drive along there and drop into the grate. I'm not afraid of that.

I know one time this lady, she's driving her car one morning. We're behind a schoolhouse. That's down in Mississippi.

They do things like that down in Mississippi, okay? And she drove that car around a schoolhouse down there in Mississippi and she dropped the front wheel down through a grate. Somebody had moved the grate. So there her old car sits with the front wheel down inside this grate.

A hole in the ground under the grate, of course. So she gets home and she told her husband, she says, you know, I drove around behind the school this morning and I dropped the front wheel down in a grate and he said to her, what you been doing? And I says, well, she's been misbehaving, of course. And God got up early this morning and removed the grate just so she'd drive over that hole and drop into it.

I forget what he said to me. I can't remember. I'm sure he had something to say.

Well, there are two motives as far as I can see in relation to separation. And one is love for God and one is the fear of God. I'm just really awestruck when I think about God and the wonderful things I've heard about Him this weekend that have been brought out of the Word of God and even the worship this morning.

Wonderful. And then you can notice in chapter 7 and verse 1, there's two responsibilities. Cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.

So there's sins of the flesh and sins of the spirit, I take it. And it says further on, perfect holiness. I used to wonder what is holiness.

I never could figure that out for a long time. But then I'm a bit slow. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

And so I'm trying to figure out what this matter of holiness is. And one day it kind of comes to me it's just wholesome living. Well, I don't know if you have a better explanation for holiness.

You probably do. But that's the best that I can come up with. And if you can help me with that, that'd be real fine.

I'd be real happy. Notice two kinds of sin. There's the sin of the flesh and the sin of the spirit.

So I take it the sin of the flesh are sins of acts and actions and that would probably set before you and me the prodigal son. His sin was sins of the flesh. He was out there in that far country.

I'll bet you he was just up to all kinds of things. What makes you say that? Because I was a young man once too. A prodigal son.

Out in the far country until I was 34 years of age. I never heard the Gospel. Never saw the inside of a Bible until I was 34.

Can you imagine that? I can. And then there's the sins of the spirit. Well, who would that be? I take it that's the elder's son.

He had an attitude problem. He was on an ego trip. That man.

There was somebody that was really important in his life and it spelled I. So he was on an ego trip. That's sins of the spirit. You know, you and I shouldn't expect God to remove things that we can remove.

If I can remove it, then remove it. Then I should remove it. Then if I'm going to paint the bathroom floor, I surely don't have to pray about it.

I just go get a bucket of paint and paint it. So there are things that you and I can remove. We don't need to expect God to remove them.

I think that's Matthew 6 and verse 30. If your hand is causing you to sin, cut it off. Ouch! I think what God is teaching us is if there's something hindering us, get it out of the way.

Remove it. Move it aside. Just quit.

You smoking? Anybody here in the room smoking? That's pretty blunt, isn't it? That's like killing a skeeter on your forehead with a sledgehammer. Anybody here smoke? Well, if you do, I feel sorry for you because I smoked for years. I'll tell you, I was dedicated.

I was a dyed-in-the-wool smoker. I could make that smoke fly. And I'd open up my third pack of cigarettes before the day was up.

Did you know I liked smoking so much that I hated to go to bed at night? You know why? Because I had to quit smoking. I couldn't smoke while I was in bed sleeping. You know, I'd burn the house down.

So I had to quit. And I didn't like to even go to bed at night because I had to quit smoking. You know, when the Lord saved me, some fellows say, boy, I just threw it all away.

No more beer. No more booze. No more wine.

No more women. No more smokes. No more nothing.

Just bang like that. Well, that wasn't me. I was on a leash for a while.

I had a leash between me and one of those soothers. Yeah. You know, I got down to one soother a day.

That's pretty good, eh? I got down to one a day and there was a little light come on in my brain at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. You know what it said on the light bulb? Marlboro time. Boy, I'd go hide and smoke that cigarette.

I didn't think God was watching me. I couldn't get rid of that cigarette for nothing. Finally, one day, I got down on my knees and I told the Lord, you know, I was ready to give up the leash.

I told the Lord, I can't get rid of these things. You're going to have to help me. If I'm ever to get rid of them, I haven't had a cigarette since.

Boy. You know, when I was smoking that old cigarette and make the sweat pop out of my forehead, it would probably knock me over cold as a fish now if I took one. You know how to quit smoking if you're smoking.

You know, that's a possibility. You know those mints don't cover it up all that good. No.

Peppermints. But I can tell you how to quit smoking. Because somebody asked me one time, how do you quit smoking? How did you quit smoking? I said, I quit buying them.

Nothing hard about that. I just quit buying them. Anybody here doing some hitting the hooch a little bit? A barley pop from time to time? I know it ain't going to hurt you none, but nevertheless.

Maybe you're drinking a little bit too much. If you're not and you keep drinking, you will. That just kind of happened for me.

You say, how do you know? I spent years at that. I thought it was great. I thought it was my friend.

I found out it was my enemy. It's yours too. So you know how to quit doing, quit drinking, quit smoking? Just quit buying it.

Let's go on to something else. You've been watching trash on the PC called a personal computer. Have you been watching trash? Somebody said, I heard somebody say something years ago.

I think it might have been Mr. McCullough's wife. Said that the devil had been trying to get the preachers to buy a radio and a TV for years and they wouldn't do it. So he gave them all a PC.

A lot of trash on a PC, isn't there? I've heard tell that. I've got one right here in my pocket. Look at there.

Full blown computer. A little bigger in a minute. Stick it right in your pocket and away you go.

Well, you know how to quit watching that stuff? Touch not the unclean thing. You say, what's the unclean thing? It's the mouse. A little mouse.

Let me click that mouse. You know, it's sad to say that some saints are separated from sin, and yet they've never really grown spiritually. Never really developed any spiritual fruit.

They've never really developed any warmth. Are you a warm Christian? You say, are you a preacher? I better be. Warm.

Are you warm towards your fellow believers? Are you warm towards your wife? When's the last time you put your arm around your wife and told her you loved her? Did you tell her today yet? Come on now. Ah, I see a wife looking at her husband. How about it, brother? You say, do you do that? I sure do, but I can't do it today because she's in Oklahoma.

I don't care for Oklahoma, but I sure do care for my wife. I can't wait to get back down there. And she meets me right out in the driveway.

I get the biggest old hug you could ever get. And it's wonderful. Are you warm and affectionate towards your wife, towards your children? Are you now, brother? Come on.

How about your fellow travelers to eternity? And how about the saints of God? We can be all separated and we can be all of those things and just getting on just as straight as a string and never grow spiritually and never really develop any spiritual fruit such as warmth and affection towards our fellow travelers to eternity. You know, the Pharisees tried to keep the man in order with rules and regulations. Anybody here in the room today and you're trying to keep the man or the woman in order and you make up these little rules and regulations that you're going to keep and that's going to keep you in order? And then all these people that are around you, you expect them to keep those rules and regulations too and they're over and above the teaching of the Word of God? Well, that's what the Pharisees did.

They were man-made rules. And you know there's something about man-made rules that's really strange. It never produces righteousness.

Well, you say, preacher, what's it produce? Produces harshness. The Lord bless these few thoughts.