Separation: Positive Aspect

Good afternoon, I would like you to read with me, please, in the book of 2nd Corinthians and chapter number 6. I want to speak mainly to younger believers on the subject we'll consider together, the positive aspect of the truth of separation. The positive aspect of the truth of separation. Let's read from verse 1 of 2nd Corinthians 6. We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

Verse 11. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straightened in us, but ye are straightened in your own bowels.

Or you are not hindered by us, but you are hindered in your own affections. Now for a recompense in the same I speak as unto my children, be ye also enlarged. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord or what harmony hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel, an unbeliever? 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, 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. 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.

Receive us. We have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man. I speak not this to condemn you, for I have said before that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.

Notice the opening words of verse 2 of chapter 7. Receive us. Think about what is written back in 11 to 13 of chapter 6 as he pleads with them to open their hearts and be reconciled. Just before we get right into the meat of this ever-popular topic of separation, I just want to spend a few moments to consider the setting of this exhortation to separation with you, because if you were reading through 2 Corinthians, maybe a bit more than just a surface reading, but not necessarily an in-depth study, if you were just reading through 2 Corinthians, it would be quite reasonable if you were to wonder a little bit at how this exhortation to separation, these six verses, how it fits in with what goes around it.

I tried to point out the connection from verses 11 to 13 with the expression in chapter 7, verse number 2. He is pleading with them to be reconciled to him and to receive the Apostle Paul, and it seems that he picks up this subject of separation so abruptly, and he seems to drop it just as abruptly. The question is, how does it fit in together? If he is pleading for reconciliation, if he is longing for the Corinthians to be restored and the enjoyment of fellowship with the Apostle, why is there this sudden, powerful, and emotional appeal to separation from an unbelieving world? Part of the answer, I think, is found back in verse 1 of chapter 6. That's why we read there. He says, we don't want you to receive the grace of God in vain.

Now, I know that there are multiple brethren here that can relate to Paul's relationship with the Corinthians in a way that I cannot. There are brothers here that have seen assemblies planted and that bond that would exist between them and the church that they saw planted. That seems to be what Paul is getting at, though.

It's as if he is saying, I brought the gospel to Corinth, and I spoke to people, I preached, I taught, and people were saved, and you were baptized, and a church of God was established. I saw you receive the grace of God. But there's more.

Don't stop there. Don't let it be in vain. Don't stop short of God's will for you.

There is more truth to be practiced. There is greater heights to be reached. There is a closer walk with God to be enjoyed.

Don't receive His grace in vain. And Paul is hinting at the fact that part of being a New Testament assembly in God's ideal is being a separated people. Separated from wrong teaching.

Separated from false religion around us. Separated from an idolatry that pervades our society. Don't receive God's grace in vain.

You read through chapter 6. He says, I have suffered, I have sacrificed to bring you truth from God. Don't stop short of practicing the position that God has set you in. Don't receive His grace in vain.

But there is a second idea as well. For in verses 11 to 13, he is explicitly pleading with them to be reconciled to him. To open their hearts to him.

It's as if Paul is saying, for that fellowship to be enjoyed closely, there needs to be on the part of the Corinthians a separation from others. Now, I know you and I don't actually interact with the Apostle Paul, do we? He has gone to glory. We don't see him here.

But we do interact with his writings. And remember that when we are interacting with the writings of the Apostle Paul that have been left for us, it isn't just the writings of a man, of course. It's the writings of God's Spirit.

And in coming to the Scriptures, we are interacting with the Spirit of God. It's as if we are having a conversation with God. God is doing the talking.

And we are to do the listening. And for these Corinthian believers to be lined up and enjoying fellowship with Paul, there needed to be separation. For you and I to be lined up closely with God and to enjoy that fellowship that he wants us to enjoy, there does need to be a separation.

We need to have open hearts. You see, here's the relevance of the passage. The appeal from Paul to the Corinthians to be reconciled is like an appeal from God to us to be brought close to God.

He speaks about an enlarged heart in verse 11. And he pleads with them to have an enlarged heart in verse number 13. He's saying, we have made room in our hearts for you.

Won't you do the same for us? We want to take it from God today. You and I, we want, God wants us to open our hearts to him. That's the question we need to ask.

Is our heart really enlarged and open towards our God? I think there is a fascinating link to Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse number 16. Paul's mind maybe goes back to it. In our English version, this is what it says.

Take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived. Turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. In other words, he says, don't let your hearts be deceived.

And you get swallowed up in idolatry. What's amazing is that that word for deceived in the Greek Old Testament, it is the same word as the word translated enlarged in 2 Corinthians 6. Paul is reading it and maybe his mind goes to Israel and he sees, yes, Israel's heart was deceived. It was open but it wasn't open to God as it should be.

It was open to idolatry. And Paul witnessed the same danger potentially in Corinth. And God may see the same potential danger in us.

As Paul is appealing to them to open their hearts, he is reminded of why their heart may be closed to him. It could be open to an unbelieving world. And what may hinder you and I, What may be hindering you and I from an open heart to God, from accepting truth that he would have for us, is that we may be forming yokes with an unbelieving world.

And our hearts would be open to its idols. God is in essence saying to us, I want you, dear child, I want you to walk closely with me, to be reconciled to my truth, but you'll need to be committed to being separated from an unbelieving world and its idolatry. So that's why it's here in 2 Corinthians 6. Don't receive God's grace in vain.

You're a young believer. God bless you. It's good that you're here.

Fulfill God's will for you and be separated. Do you want to be reconciled to God, close to God, enjoying that father-son relationship? Then separation from the world and its idolatry is a fundamental part to enjoying close fellowship with God. And that's why the doctrine of separation is a positive doctrine.

I know a natural reaction to it, like you could sit there with a lovely smiling face right now, but I know in behind, you see, it's hard on the flesh. And your teeth, you could be gritting your teeth. And in your spirits, moaning and groaning, thinking, I didn't come to a conference to hear about separation.

But I don't want you to look at it as a harsh or a repellent thing, something that is absent of love. That's not the Bible doctrine of separation. It doesn't make life bleak and barren.

Separation is a condition of the heart that opens our heart to the love of God and His truth and He fills that enlarged heart with a joy in obedience. Separation is a positive doctrine. Consider then, firstly with me, a partnership that is forbidden.

He says, be not unequally yoked, verse 14, with unbelievers. Now we will jump often to apply this specifically to a business relationship or a marriage relationship. Those are certainly, certainly proper examples of the principle.

But the principle is broader than that. It seems to me that in Corinth, the particular issue that Paul was dealing with was this problem of pagan religion and the idol's temples and maybe false teachers that were giving them liberty to participate in that idolatry. Paul's main point, God's main point is that any bond, any yoke, any connection that leads to an idolatry and prevents, hinders fellowship with God is a problem.

Whether it is religious or moral or social or political, all of those potential yokes could hinder us in our enjoyment of fellowship with God. He says, don't be yoked with unbelievers. Be separated.

And I know that you and I sometimes struggle with the truth of separation and the problem of isolation. We have a hard time being balanced often. You know, it doesn't seem to me that the Apostle Paul struggled, but we do struggle.

And we can get very proud of our perceived separation and then wonder why it is we have no contact with anyone to invite them to a meeting. Or on the other hand, we could allow ourselves to dabble in the idolatry of the world, deceiving ourselves into the idea that we're building bridges. When the reality may be it's just to satisfy our flesh or carnal desires.

You see, a lot of it comes back to the motive. You think of Samson and his interaction with a Philistine woman. He says, get her for me, she pleases me well.

Well, it was about his pleasure. And you think about the Lord Jesus and his interactions with the Samaritan woman at the well. And it was all about reaching her with the blessing of the gospel and giving her everlasting life.

A far different interaction. My fear is, my fear is that in an effort not to appear too strange for the sake of the gospel, we could lose our separation. Please get this.

If there is no separation, if there is no difference in values and priorities and of focus, if there is no difference between us and the world, well then an unbelieving world is justified in asking, why should I bother to become a Christian? And older brethren are right when they have reminded us that there is a strength that lies in separation. Paul came to town. People saw that he was an ambassador for God.

God has made this distinction. God has accomplished the separation between you and the world, between the believer and the unbeliever. That's why when Mr. John Nelson Darby comments on this passage, he says it's an exhortation to continue in the place in which God has set you.

God has accomplished the separation and our salvation. That's a very good thing. We would not want to exchange shoes with an unbeliever for a moment.

In that moment we would be one step from hell. In that moment we'd be alienated from God. Who would want to be blinded by Satan in darkness again? God has brought you into light.

And he has given you his spirit. He has made you different. He has separated you.

That's why the yoke is called unequal. You are not the same. The likely background is in Deuteronomy chapter 22, with the picture of a donkey and an ox plowing together.

And he says they can't plow together. They could not pull together for the same objective. Neither of their natures would change.

The yoke of Christ that you bear cannot fit the unbeliever. The inward change that God accomplished at the moment of your salvation was so massive and was so dramatic that he has separated you from an unbelieving world by a canyon that is humanly impossible to bridge. Raised you up with Christ in the heavenlies.

Completely separated you with one exception. You're still physically here to be an ambassador for God. So let us maintain the separation that God has accomplished.

We will work with them. We will go to school with them. We will live beside them.

We may have dinner with them. And the social interaction has this focus being a testimony for God, pleasing God and winning them for Christ. Oh, let us build bridges indeed.

You think of the words of 1 Corinthians 9 and 22. He says, I have made all things to all men that by all means I might save some. But let us not plow with them in service for their master.

Let us not be linked with them in the worship of idols in their life. Let us not pursue their pleasures with them. Be separate.

God has changed you. Be clear that the unequal yoke is between a believer and an unbeliever. I'm not encouraging division between Christians or between assemblies.

The unequal yoke is the believer and the unbeliever. And to emphasize this inequality, this change, he asks five questions with very obvious answers. What fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? Diametrically opposed principles of life.

And what communion has light with darkness? Diametrically opposed elements. He says, children of God, they are sons of light, not sons of darkness. What concord, what harmony has Christ with Belial? That is the name of Satan, the god of this age.

What concord, what harmony do they have? There can be no musical medley made out of a spiritual song. The music of Britney Spears or Metallica, he says, they're diametrically opposed melodies. What part has the believer with the unbeliever? Diametrically opposed faiths.

And then he says, what part, what agreement has the temple of God with idols? Diametrically opposed systems. Be not yoked together with unbelievers. That word unbeliever, infidel, is a very accurate word.

Just over a year ago, Richard Dawkins, an atheist, was debating with our brother in Christ, John Lennox, in the University of Alabama. And in Mr. Dawkins' introduction, he openly acknowledged, he said, when you see a beautiful garden, there is something within you that makes you want to worship. But he says, I won't allow myself to worship.

Unbeliever. Romans 1, they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. But I think it reaches a climax in that fifth question, the temple of God and idols.

He is contrasting God's temple with idolatry, a partnership that is forbidden. Secondly, the peril or the pitfall of idolatry. I think this is the apostle's chief concern.

The spirit's chief concern. That a yoke with unbelievers will lead to robbing God of worship. He is saying at the end of verse number 16, that God has a right to our worship.

We are the temple of God. And he says, he dwells among us. You see, separation is a positive truth.

God dwells among us. A people that he has separated unto himself. And we are blessed with the honor and the privilege of enjoying and worshiping our God.

So he says in verse number 17, don't touch the unclean thing. The background is likely Isaiah chapter 52. Isaiah's final call to the people to leave Babylon.

And he says, when you leave Babylon and its idols, leave its idols behind. Don't bring them with you. Don't even touch them.

You see, that happened when Israel left Egypt. They brought the idols. I was honestly quite surprised when reading in Joshua 24 a little while ago, that Joshua needs to warn the people of Israel.

He says, put away the strange gods that are among you, that your father served in Egypt. That's amazing. Idols from Egypt? After God had brought them out in the Passover? And God of heaven had taken them across the Red Sea and across Jordan and had given them conquest in the land? After all that, they had idols? Of course, Christians can have idols.

Despite all God has done for us. I'll be personal with you for a moment. What causes me to hesitate to even address the subject is because I admit I don't speak to you as someone that is perfectly separated.

I'm sorry. I would love to. It is a personal challenge to me.

It's spoken to me. In one small sense, maybe, in the smallest of senses, I could be like the Apostle Paul because I notice he says in chapter 7, verse 1, let us cleanse ourselves. He is not being a naive perfectionist with a hypocritical rebuke.

He is entreating them to do what he seeks to do, to grow in holiness. And I'm just going to leave it with you, between you and God, for you to consider if there is any idol in your life that would need to be put away. An idol is not necessarily a little piece of stone or a block of wood.

It is something that stands between you and God. There's the relevance of the passage again. Idolatry is very commonplace in our society.

And it captures your heart, your focus, your mind, your attention, your energy, and it robs God of His worship. And in this mystery of iniquity that is at work, somehow, somehow in the world's pagan religion, its idols don't seem to clash with one another. They all just merge together in one great big pantheon of anti-God sentiment.

You see it in Athens. All those multiplicity of gods, they welcome them all. And an unbelieving world around us welcomes all these idols, and what they want to do is suck you and I into its idolatry with them, to make you like them.

And he says, what agreement has God's temple with idols? It isn't a question of whether I can find a balance between going into a gospel hall and also dabbling in a little bit of this idolatry. He says, we are the temple of God, not a building, not just when we go there. We are the temple of God, the church.

And the issue is, can idolatry be accepted and tolerated and approved in any part of my life? And God gives the answer. He says, no. Come out.

Be separate. Don't touch the unclean thing. And if there's a young believer that takes it seriously and takes it to heart, and you really ponder what's being said, and you read these scriptures carefully, you might think, you might say right now, this would be a challenge for me to implement.

This could kind of be a hindrance to my social life. If I were to sever my yokes with unbelievers and try and purge idolatry from my life, I'm afraid I'd feel a little bit stranded and empty and in solitude. Well, you're right.

Just for a moment. Notice the end of verse number 17. You see, God anticipated that feeling.

He says, I will receive you. I will welcome you. I think that's beautiful.

He charges us with being separated. And he says, you come out and you be separated. And he says, I'll give you the strength and the support that you need.

Separation is a positive doctrine. He says, you come on out and I will gladly receive you. And I will welcome you.

Consider then the promises of God for a separated people. A partnership forbidden. The pitfall of idolatry.

The promises of God for a separated people. It starts at the end of verse 17. I will receive you.

Continues through verse 18. If your Bible is open, notice the end of verse 18. Saith the Lord Almighty.

This is an implicit testimony to the inspiration of Scripture. Paul is quoting Old Testament men. Words that were written by Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Samuel, maybe Jeremiah.

He masterfully brings these different Scriptures together to emphasize his point. But he says, these promises written by men, he says, they were spoken by the Lord Almighty. That makes a difference.

Reliable promises. Mr. Rogers spoke this morning about God is our rock. He is unshakable.

And thus his promises are. There's no promise that he's given us that he hasn't kept. No separation is not easy.

But God is telling us he has given us promises to assure us it will be a positive and a blessed experience. And I love these words. Verse 18.

I will be a father to you. Second Samuel 7 is possibly the background. When Nathan the prophet comes to David and he speaks these words really in reference to David's son Solomon.

But Hebrews 1 teaches us that the words actually are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. I will be a father to him, Samuel said. Reference to Solomon.

Reference to Christ. And Paul, with liberty from the Spirit, changes the words. He doesn't say I will be a father to him.

He says, I will be a father to you. Plural. Yes, Nathan spoke words that God said were fulfilled in the one unique son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And Paul, guided by the Spirit, he says, I will be a father to you. All Christians. And yet, notice that he makes it a condition.

You notice that. If you come out and be separate, I will be a father to you. You say, wait a minute.

I thought they told me that the moment I trusted Christ, God became my father. From that moment, I could pray our Father. It's true.

I suggest that what he is telling us here is that there is a special enjoyment of that relationship. A special portion for the separated believer. Separation is a positive truth.

And not to compromise the doctrine of sonship. All men and women that are Christians are called sons of God. Yet, isn't it interesting that he says sons and daughters, bringing in Isaiah 43.

And it's just a reminder, perhaps, that brothers and sisters are spiritual equals. All children of God. Brothers and sisters are spiritual equals.

We are all children of God. And yet, he says there is this unique portion. This blessed portion for the separated believer that enjoys in a special way the father-child relationship.

It's wonderful. I will be a father to you. You see, it's the enjoyment of this close fellowship with God.

That's God's eternal desire for men and women. That's the way it was in the Garden of Eden. In Revelation 21, that was just referred to.

That eternal state, he says, the tabernacle of God is with men. He will dwell with them. They will be his people.

And God himself will be with them and will be their God. There's no fear of an unbelieving world to influence us in its idolatry. God says, though, that he wants that joy and closeness to be experienced today.

He says we need to be separated. It's a positive truth. Enjoying close fellowship with our father.

If you will allow the personal reference, I am a young father. I have a small family back home that, in the goodwill of God, I will see in approximately 107 hours. But who's counting? But I have a wife and we have a son who's almost two, expecting our second child.

A little while ago, I was out working outside around our yard, cleaning up some garbage and taking away some rotten wood. I borrowed a friend's truck to take it to a waste removal site. I am not a big fan, really, of outdoor work.

I know some of you would just love to be outdoors at any time, doing anything. And that's not really my makeup. I could think of many things I'd rather do first.

But it had to be done. Some cleanup had to be done. And I'm loading rotten wood and some other garbage into the back of this truck.

And our son Carson was out with me. And just for a few minutes, he left his toys and he came over to the truck. And he just wanted to help me.

You see, he's kind of going through a stage. It kind of strokes my ego, but it kind of frightens me as well. He just wants to mimic his father.

And all he wanted to do for these few minutes was just do what I'm doing. He wanted me to show him how to do it. And with his little arms, try and lift up these pieces of wood.

And just for a moment, I thoroughly enjoyed that work. I know that Christianity is far more than just emotions and feelings. But I'll tell you, for a moment, it just felt great.

Because here's my son, and all he wants to do is help me and be like me and be with me. Imagine how our father in heaven feels. That's what he wants.

He wants us just to be focused on him, to seek to be like the Lord Jesus, and just to be working together with him. And couldn't you imagine, young believer, the blessing? If those moments of close fellowship with God that you have experienced, imagine if they could become the manner of your life. What a blessing.

What a power we could be to others. He says, I'll be a father to you. A promise from the Lord Almighty.

You know, in the Greek language, there is a liberty with word order that we don't have in English. The structure of our sentences, to make sense, they are very dependent upon the order of words. If I change the word order, the sentence is meaningless.

In Greek, they have a little bit of liberty. And sometimes to emphasize a word, they put it at the very beginning of a sentence. So in chapter 7, verse number 1, the first word in the original language is these.

Referring back to these promises. These. I want you to consider these promises from an unchangeable, faithful, reliable God on account of these promises.

Let us be a separated people. A partnership forbidden, a pitfall of idolatry, promises of God to a separated people. I close with these words from chapter 7, verse 1. The perfecting of holiness.

He says, having these promises, dearly beloved. It's very nice. He's very clear with them in his exhortation.

The apostle knew how to be stern, but it seems to me that he isn't hard. I hope I'm not hard. Forgive me if I have been.

He's been very clear now that he loves them. Dearly beloved. He doesn't just expect them to figure it out.

He takes time to tell them. Having these promises, dearly beloved. Cleansed in flesh and spirit.

In other words, cleansed from physical impurity or cleansed from an impurity of thought or motive or worship. Cleansed from immorality. Cleansed from idolatry.

The two are often associated in scripture. He says, then let us perfect holiness. It's the idea of bringing to completion this holiness.

God has separated us from a world of unbelief at conversion. He says, now continue in that sanctification that God is accomplishing in you. Don't stop short.

Don't receive his grace in vain. Don't stop short of fulfilling God's will for you. And if there are yokes or idols in our lives, let us come out and be separate and enjoy the closeness of this father-son relationship that he promises us.

And let us experience the positive aspect of the truth of being a separated people unto God for his glory.