This is going to be recorded. What do they say on those? This may be recorded for training purposes. Yeah, this may be recorded for training purposes. Well, I think the other one is this may be recorded for quality control or something like that, too. It's like, yeah, you're trying to get all my answers. Good morning. Pretty good this actually here is coming in the best and it's it's shaded most of the day Yeah This this is a shade partial partial Sun yeah part part bluegrass part I Yeah, I don't remember what the other mix was in it. So yeah, this, like I say, the shaded stuff is coming in faster than anything else. What's that? Up front here, and then along the slope right there. So this, I kind of got off my watering sequence, cycle, because we had three rains one week, and so I went out and got some really good rains that one week. So this last week, I didn't water as much as I should have, and so it didn't kill off anything, but it just stopped, well, it kind of went dormant as far as new grass coming in, you know, quickly, so. Yeah, so it sounds like we're gonna have some really good rain here the next few days, so. Yeah, so God's watering is a little better than the city's, I'm sure, so. For the day, would you wanna open our time of prayer here today? Pray, Father God, we come to you in the name of Jesus. Lord, thank you for the rain. Lord, thank you for the moisture we need. Let's pray for the grass, that you bless that, and Lord, we just pray for a great day in church today in your house, on your word. Challenge our hearts, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Well, Brother Glenn has gotten, you said, about three hours since Friday of sleep, so he's in bed today. So I don't know whether I have to talk to him about that. So go ahead and get your hymnal out. We'll sing a few of these here. In fact, there's one that I just thought about that's not one of the short ones. Should have looked at it earlier here. 169, let's go ahead and do that. I just like singing about power. All right, power in the blood. All right, let me see if I can start this out right here. Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you or evil a victory win? There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood. All right, on verse two, we're gonna double the power. All right, instead of saying power, power, we're gonna go power, power, power. All right, so four times, all right? So when we get to the sections, there's power, power, power, power, all right? So you can count on your fingers if you need to, all right? So, verse two. Would you be free from your passion and pride? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide. There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb. So we're going to do a quadruple on number four. All right, let's just do the double. Let's just do the double. It's kind of early in the morning for that, right? See if I can count to eight that early. Anyway, verse four. Would you do service for Jesus your King? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you live daily His praises to sing? There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, power, power, wonder-working power in the blood. of the land. There is power, power, power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the land. All right, I think the boys are getting taken, all right? Oh, I've got to get your keys. All right, let's go ahead and open up in prayer real quick. Father God, I do pray that you'd be with us now as we meet and learn about your word, learn about some teaching that you have for us, Father, and I pray that you'd help me just to deliver it effectively, Father, and just give me the words to speak and be with me now as we go forth. And we'll give you the glory and honor for it all now in Jesus' name, amen. We are eventually gonna be in Ephesians chapter five, so if you wanna start flipping there. I always like to correlate the relevance of the Bible, the timeless relevance of the Bible to things that are going on in modern day. So I've pulled this from David Cloud's Way of Life website. It's just one of the many aggregate news sources I use, but usually has some pretty good stuff in there. This is called Evidence of Systemic Racism in America. I'm not gonna read all of it, but I'm just gonna read a lot of it, because it's got some really interesting figures in there, and then it's also a good segue. I like to segue from what we got today into the Bible lesson, so pay attention. This is a good one. Black Lives Matters and others claim that there is systemic racism in America. Indeed, the evidence can be seen everywhere. Consider some examples. America liberated all black slaves in 1865, and the federal government, under a Republican majority, set out to empower blacks with the same civil rights enjoyed by others. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, passed with support of 100% of Republicans and 23% of Democrats. This shows that a large number of white people in America cared for the rights of black people and wanted to help them. In 1866, Republicans in Congress passed the 14th Amendment, granting citizenship to former slaves and equal protection under the law. In 1869, Congress passed the 15th Amendment granting the right to vote to all men regardless of race. In 1872, the first seven black members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives were seated. Between then and 1900, nearly 40 blacks would serve in the U.S. Congress, all of them Republicans. In 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued an executive order opening government jobs and defense contracts to all Americans regardless of race. In 1848, President Harry Truman issued an executive order ending segregation in the military. In 1957, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It removed the restrictions to voting rights which had been used against minorities. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. There have been, there's just so many statistics here and I just had to call out the ones that I wanted to just try to share with you. There have been 25 minority race governors and lieutenant governors. 162 blacks have served in Congress. In 2019, which was the 116th Congress, it was the most racially diverse in the nation's history with 116 non-white members. From 2009 to 2017, a black man held office as 44th President of the United States. Some would say he's still serving today. He was elected to two terms in office, though blacks formed only 13% of the population. So the majority of his votes must have came from white people. We now have a black vice president who happens to be female, another evidence of systemic racism. Well, I also think she's running the show more than this. Well, yeah, she's... Right. In 2021, U.S. Ambassadors to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield is a black woman. She recently told Al Sharpton's National Action Network that the original sin of slavery weaved white supremacy into our founding documents and principles. that a black woman could grow up in America and become an American ambassador is clear evidence of the nation's systemic racism. 30% of America's police nationwide are non-white. 30%. 30% of the police that they're protesting against, they want to defund. In a total population that makes up less than 15%, 30%, so they're over-represented in the police force. America has spent trillions of dollars in support of non-white minority communities. In 2018 alone, Baltimore received more than $5 billion in federal aid. And then they go on with all the statistics about Baltimore and how many kids can't even pass basic math classes. And I'm going to close this with a quote from Walter Williams. I don't know if any of you know who Walter Williams was. But he passed away in December of 2020. He was a brilliant economist. And when the Obama thing came around, they wanted to talk about, well, we need a black man to be president. And I said, well, let's nominate Walter Williams. But he was obviously too smart to ever run for office. So this is what Walter Williams has to say. I'm just going to kind of break this down a little bit. While it might not be popular to say in the wake of the recent social disorder, the true plight of black people has little or nothing to do with the police or what has been called systemic racism. Instead, we need to look at the responsibilities of those running our big cities. The most common characteristic of these cities is that for decades, all of them have been run by liberal Democrats. One of them is Buffalo, New York that I grew up in, by the way, and I don't ever remember a Republican. holding any major office there. Anyways, white liberals and black politicians focus most of their attention on what the police do, but how relevant is that to the overall tragedy? According to Statista, this year 172 whites and 88 blacks have died at the hands of police. To put police shootings in a bit of perspective, in Chicago alone in 2020, there have been 1,260 shootings and 256 homicides with blacks being the primary victims. That comes to one shooting victim every three hours and one homicide every 15 hours. Three people in Chicago have been killed by the police. If one is truly concerned about black deaths, shootings by police should figure way down on one's list, which is not to excuse bad behavior by some police officers. And again, that's from Walter Williams, who is a brilliant economist and a very good student So all this led me to thinking about the current government system that we exist under and how they're wanting to rule the country. And so this reminded me of apartheid. Everybody knows what apartheid was. It was the system of government in South Africa, basically where the white majority ruled. So as I studied this out, the word apartheid is an African's word that means separateness or the state of being apart. which leads me to today's Sunday school lesson. So quite a jump. I understand. But today we're going to talk about separation. So thank you for indulging me with that. So we're going to read Ephesians chapter five, verses one through 21. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. But fornication, and all uncleanliness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, and because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. excuse me, be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret, but all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. For whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore, he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. So again, we're gonna talk about biblical separation today. I hope to, you know, when you address an audience like this where everybody's pretty well churched, I hope to just maybe teach and reinforce some things that you've known in your past. I don't, you know, there's no new things under the sun. So this isn't going to be some great, magnificent presentation. It's just going to be a little talk about separation and how we can apply it to our lives. So Stagecoach Company in the early American West, and this is a shamelessly stolen from sermonillustrations.com or whatever it is. Stagecoach Company in the American West was advertising for drivers. Men came from everywhere to apply for the job. The boss asked each of the applicants the same question. How close to the edge of the cliff can you drive the stagecoach as you go around the corner? The first one replied, I believe I can drive the stagecoach within three feet of the edge of the cliff and still be in control of the horses. The boss said he'd think about it. The next man replied, I can drive within 18 inches of the cliff without losing control. And the boss said he would consider his application as well. The third man replied, I would drive as far from the edge of the cliff as I could. He got the job. So the obvious application is, here for us Christians, is that we want to stay as far away from that edge of the cliff, that separation. We want to stay as far away from the edge of the cliff as we can. We want to try not to ride that edge as close as possible, hoping not to go over, because typically we're going to fall. The biblical doctrine of separation is sometimes contentious doctrine. Sometimes it's misapplied. It's often neglected doctrine, especially by the mainstream Protestant pragmatic denominations or those community type churches that welcome all to come as they are and leave as they came. In the spirit of cooperation, many are willing to shelve or mask their beliefs. There are websites dedicated to debunking separation. They're quite comical in a sad sort of way. Actually, they'll make your eyes hurt. There's a lot of goofy stuff out there on the internet. Some of these break things down by degrees. They talk about first, second, and third degree of separation. The first degree is separating from unbelievers, then separating from believers that fellowship with unbelievers, and then separating from believers that fellowship with believers that fellowship with unbelievers. Got that? These are most of the attacks on the doctrine of separation, and that is not what the Bible teaches at all, as I will demonstrate. I will also show that separation, when applied correctly, as in biblically, can be beneficial to one's growth, one's Christian growth. So I will briefly touch on what separation is not, so we can then focus on what it really is. This may help dispel some myths and misconceptions. Separation is not the gospel or a means of getting saved. Separation is not moving to a monastery and locking yourself away from the rest of the world. As wonderful as that sounds, that is not separation. Separation is not forsaking modern technology or modern medicine. TV or radio in and of themselves are not inherently evil. but they can be used to convey evil things. They can also be a real positive if you need an up-to-date weather forecast during severe weather. Biblical separation has nothing to do with your appearance. A suit and tie does little to indicate a man's relationship with God. Yes, Christ wants us to look good on the outside, but this starts by cleaning up the inside. It is not arrogance or pride. If the Apostle Paul was the chief of sinners, how much less worthy are we of salvation. I always liken this to the thought of heaven, and if my works could get me there, heaven would not be an exceptionally good place. Separation is also not your pastor telling you who you may or may not fellowship with. This is dictatorial and manipulative, and if you are experiencing that, I feel for you, as I have been there and done that. Lastly, it is not what is commonly referred to as soft separation. While this topic has vast depth and breadth, I will sum it up by saying it falls short of sound biblical teaching on the topic, otherwise known as compromise. So now that we know what separation is not, I'm going to attempt to explain who needs to separate, what doctrine is, and then I will attempt to explain and define separation as the Bible teaches. So the first thing we need to understand is what is the Church? The Church is not this building, but the people inside of it. In the Greek of the New Testament, the word used for church is ekklesia. Don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Used to believe that this was solely used to describe the church, but it was actually a common word used to describe anything that was called out of something. So here we see that the Bible describes the church as something called out. By basic definition, we are called out or separated from something to someone. Keep your finger in Ephesians five, because we're going to go back and forth there, but go to Titus chapter two, please. Or don't keep your finger in Ephesians if you like to flip your pages. We go to look at Titus chapter 2 verses 11 through 14. The Bible says, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope in the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purity unto himself, a peculiar people zealous of good works. So, could lack of desire to separate from worldly things and separate yourself unto God be indicative of one's spiritual condition? No raising your hands, that was rhetorical. Doctrine is teaching, so let's learn about what doctrine is. Now that we know what church members are, talk about doctrine. Doctrine is pretty much any teaching. There's military doctrine that talks about military maneuvers. There's political doctrine that forms political identities. They're legal doctrines. So doctrine is not necessarily just biblical, but doctrine that is biblical must meet a standard. The standard is that it must be based on the word of God. And the standard for the word of God in English is the King James Bible. Any other version is a perversion. Thank you very much. I'll try that again. Any other version is a? Very good. Thank you. You got it. So then separation is a biblical doctrine or teaching as it is based upon the word of God. An example of this is clearly shown in Acts 2 42 and it says they and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. So the majority of my references today are going to come from what are commonly referred to as the Pauline epistles. And then most, if not the rest of them, will come from the writings of the other apostles. Ultimately, it's the Holy Ghost that authored all the Bible, and the men were mere instruments in recording the Holy Word. So there's my basis for the study. So here we go. So why should we separate? Well, the Bible commands it. So I'm done. That was easy. Let's have coffee. Seriously, we need to separate. We separate not to be saved, but we separate because we are saved. So to review, one of the requirements to be a church member is that you must be saved. And the church is made up of people who are called out of something unto someone. We separate because we have a new position. So as we saw earlier in Ephesians 5, verses 3 and 8, and we also see in John 8, 12, where Jesus said, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. So we see that from Jesus' teachings, we see that from the Apostle Paul's teachings, but, or from Luke, I guess, wrote that in Acts. Oh no, where did I get Acts from? It was in Ephesians, sorry. And we also separate because we have a new spirit, which we saw in Ephesians 5.9, and a new purpose, which we saw in Ephesians 5.10. So what does separation look like? Separation has two aspects to it. We are to separate from sin, evil, and worldliness. And we saw this in Ephesians 5, verses 3 through 8. We also see it in Ephesians 2, verses 11 through 13. So flip back a few pages if you would. says wherefore remember that he being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands that at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." So we are to separate unto God and all the goodness that he has for us. As we draw away from the things of this world, from our past lives of sin, we must naturally gravitate towards something or someone else. If we move away without moving towards something, we will only create a vacuum that will be easily filled by anything that grabs our attention. So I think pastor often references like Reformers Unanimous or AA, where they give up alcohol or drugs, but then they replace it with coffee and cigarettes or whatever. I don't think in UA they do, or RU they do, but AA they do. And yeah, so you're just replacing one addiction with another. And something's naturally just gonna take that place. So this is why we must purposefully move in the direction of God. Turn with me to Romans chapter 12. Verses one and two. Most of you can probably quote this. So go ahead. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Okay, so we know what the church is, we know what Bible doctrine is, and we know why we should separate, and we know how the separation should look, so let's look at the separation itself. In the Bible, I see three areas of separation, not three degrees, but three distinct areas. People call them different things, people break them down differently, I'm gonna stick with the three, because I'm simple and it's easier that way. The three that I see are moral separation, which is separating from sin and worldly living. Doctrinal separation, which is separating from any teaching or teachers that are contrary to God's word. And practical separation, which is separating from the influence of those who are living and acting contrary to God's word, especially those that claim salvation. So first off, we're going to look at the characteristics of moral separation. The first thing separation needs to be is it needs to be intentional. You've got to determine to do it. Look with me at 2 Corinthians 7.1, please. Second Corinthians 7.1 tells us, 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. That's personal responsibility, what that is talking about there. So we have to set out to do it, but it's gonna take work to combat the old nature. It's gonna take your efforts, but you can't do it alone and you don't have to do it alone. The second characteristic of moral separation is it must be done in power. All of our best intentions alone won't keep us separate. We must have the power of the Holy Ghost on our side. It is He that will give us the ability as seen in Ephesians 5.18, but we also see in Philippians 4.13. And again, most of you can probably quote that, but go ahead and turn there anyways. Philippians 4.13 tells us I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. Interestingly enough in the NIV, I think the, Bible reads, I can do all things through him who strengthened me. And I think if you work on sentence structure there, it just doesn't line up. But I don't know why they would remove Christ. It just doesn't make any sense for that. But that's the NIV, and they'll answer for that in time. So we've seen characteristics of intentionality. We've seen it has to be done in power. And we've seen how that needs to be done in love. If you flip it, Ephesians 5. Whoops, going the wrong way again. Ephesians 5, verses 1 and 2. It's going to say, Be ye therefore followers of God as to your children and walk in love. Walk in love as Christ has also half loved us and have given himself for an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. So it needs to be done in love. Separation involves love. It must be done in love. There are some people who take that separation and they make it an angry action and it's Prideful and it's it's boastful and it's it's not how it's meant to be And it's not going to accomplish anything. You're probably going to drive people farther away than you would draw them in So true Christian love is an action that must be thought about and willfully carried out. It is intentional It's not the worldly love that is pure emotion and has no substance. So when we look at, you know, say, oh, I love that person or whatever. I love my wife in both aspects of, I love her for who she is, but I also have to work very hard to show her that I love her. And I have to try to convince her that I love her by my actions. Just saying I love you has really no substance and it doesn't, can be unconvincing. So the next thing that moral or that moral separation has to have is a condemnation of sin. Ephesians 5.11, it says, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. So it says we are to reprove sinners, we are not to fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. We're not to hang out with them, we're not to go where they go, we're not to do what they do, but we also need to speak out, we need to reprove them, speak out and say something about it, say what we're seeing. They'll never learn if we just go along and hang out with them. And then it also needs to be different. So moral separation needs to be different. And this is where the peculiarity of Titus two that we read earlier comes in. It's not the peculiarity of strangeness or being odd, but of ownership. Peculiar is defined by Webster as appropriate belonging to a person and to him only and exclusive property that which belongs to a person in exclusion of others. So we belong exclusively to God now that we are saved. So we need to do things as God would have us to do them. So now that we are possessed of God, we should look like we are. We must avoid looking and acting like a sinner, and we'll do well to remember the words of Jesus in John 15, 19, if you'd flip there with me, please. John 15, 19, it says, if you were of the world, you would love, oh boy, I'm having difficulties today. If you were of the world, the world would love his own, but because you are not of the world, but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Okay, so we need to remember that we are called out of the world by Jesus, and he doesn't want us to be loved by the world, and the only way you're gonna be loved by the world is if you do what the world approves of, and we don't wanna do that. So there are some of the characteristics of moral separation that I've identified intentional. Do it in the power. You're not going to do it alone. You've got the Holy Spirit on your side, the Holy Ghost on your side. You can do it in love. You're going to do it in a loving manner. You're going to condemn sin. You're going to speak out and say something when you need to say something. And you're going to be different. You're going to look different. You're going to do different things. You're not going to go to the places you used to go. So that's moral separation. Let's talk about doctrinal separation. We already learned what doctrine was. We talked about doctrine being teaching. So we're referring to Bible doctrines. You'll see that some of the things that people use as doctrine are not found in the Bible, but through history or whatever, People just assume, you know, like God helps those who help themselves, right? Hezekiah 7, 12. That's in the Bible, but I don't think it says specifically those words in the Bible. It may somewhere, but it does. God wants us to help ourselves. He wants to do for us and he will help us along. So, in doctrinal separation, we are separating from something and unto another. In this instance, we are separating from any false doctrine and those that teach it and are separating onto biblical doctrine. Look at Romans 16, 17, please. So Romans 16 17 tells us now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them. So here the Apostle Paul is telling us to mark them. How can you mark them? If you don't identify them right marking something is identifying it if you're going to. Take cattle to the sale barn, and you want to buy you know that one or you want to assure that yours is sold to you You're going to market with your auction number whatever it might be so and then it also tells us to avoid them We need to avoid them so we need to stay away from So some people are going to try to break this down into different levels They're going to attempt to categorize doctrines into what they feel are important or essential or and then into lesser doctrines, and they're going to break them down further than that. So, I don't see that existing anywhere in the Bible. On the contrary, I see that the Bible tells us not to just obey the big stuff, but everything. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2.15. I don't see where we get to pick and choose. Now granted, there are some things that are larger, But I guess maybe dress or stuff like that wouldn't be an issue for separation. But look at 2 Thessalonians 2.15, it says, therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by our word or our epistle. So you can have the word, your teaching is in the word, or you can have teaching that's been handed down and it's called practice. So some doctrines are of major importance, and to me, personally, I would separate from a false teacher on these. I would separate from anybody who doesn't preach that God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are one and the same, that they're three persons. Look at 1 John 5-7, please. 1 John 5-7. This probably, I mean, anybody who would preach against this obviously didn't read this passage. 1 John 5, 7 tells us, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. There's three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and we know the Word is Jesus from John's gospel, but what are they? They're one, okay? And I understand that's a difficult concept, but if the Jehovah's Witnesses or somebody's gonna tell you, or the Mormons, they can tell you, you can become a God, or Jesus was not a God, or whatever. I would have to separate from that. Um, I also think that the church and the doctrine of the local church is a, is a precious and special doctrine. Um, the church is not universal, not yet. Also, para-church organizations are not churches, and as such are not biblical. God established the church, not your mission, not your soup kitchen, not your college. While all of these are philanthropic and potentially beneficial, they are not the church. They need to be ministries of the local church, managed or under the control of the pastor of a local church. And then they're fine, then they're great. If you put them on equal footing or in place of the local church, that is unsound. Now don't quote me on this, I typed this in the e-sword, but we got over 100 references in the New Testament that talk about the church. So please, again, don't come back and say, there were 104, Brother Carl, I saw that. So there's over 100, there's a lot, okay? I think it's important to go. We know if God mentions something in the Bible once, if he mentions it twice, you better pay attention. If he mentions it 100 plus times, obviously something he cares immensely about. And he also gave us the pastoral epistles to establish and define how the church is supposed to operate. Look at 1 Timothy 3.15. So first Timothy 315 tells us that, but if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth. So that tall is talking about order in the church and how we're going to run the church and the importance of the church. So I would separate from people who didn't preach on or didn't believe that the Holy or that the local church was ordained of God. I would also separate from those that preach against or fail to practice separation. But these are just some of the things that I would separate on. I think there's a lot of things that, you know, music would probably be one. I didn't add it to my list specifically, but if you're in a church that plays rock and roll music, that's not godly. So I didn't list everything. I just listed a few. So somebody didn't practice separation, that'd be another. I guess I don't, I'm gonna leave this up to the Baptist distinctive of individual soul liberty of the believer as to what teachings you feel you would need to separate on. Some people probably say I go way too far. I'd rather err on the side of caution than find out I was wrong. But again, you have to do, it's your soul liberty. I actually started out doing a message on Baptist history, and I turned over to this because whenever I do a message on Baptist history, I'll come up with, it would be a week-long course, probably a semester-long course, and I hate leaving stuff out. So this came up to me about your individual solibium. How can anybody not see that our First Amendment is a Baptist principle? Every religious group that came over to the new continent wanted to have freedom for their religion. The only ones that came were the Baptists and said, no, you've got to have freedom of religion for everybody whether you like it or not. And you're not going to like some people's way of having a religion or lack thereof. Um, but there's only one, you know, if you can coerce them and you can make them profess Christ is Lord, but that's not genuine and that's not what God's word teaches. So, um, so anyways, I'll get off of my history. So I just love history. I just love history. I just, I couldn't, I couldn't do it justice. I, pastor gave me six weeks to do this and I had this, just this huge pile of stuff and I'm like, no, no. So someday if we have like a month off or something, I'll put together a good course. So it'll be fun. PowerPoint slides and everything, pictures, it'll be great. So the last thing on separation we're talking about is practical separation. Here's a difficult form of separation to try to practice. This is where we are commanded to separate from brethren that are not following the teaching on the Bible. That's difficult because this guy's a believer, you've known him all your life, you know he is, but now he is not practicing a Bible teaching. Let's look at 2 Thessalonians chapter three, please. Just pay attention to the word brother here. Second Thessalonians chapter three and verses six through 15. Watch how Paul uses the word brother. 6-15 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us, for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you. Neither did we eat any man's bread for naught, but wrought with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you, not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." That's the great Bible doctrine on welfare or lack thereof. 4 For we hear that there are some which walk among you all disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 5 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. 6 But ye, brethren, be not weary. in well-doing. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." So obviously Paul's talking to believers about another believer. And this is difficult, this is hard. So at one time, they evidenced their salvation. They were doing what they were supposed to do. I mean, you could see their fruits. And yes, I'm judging, I judge according to this standard. But now for some reason they're not following a Bible teaching. This is not a cannot follow, this is that they can't do it, it's but they will not follow, they're willfully choosing not to do it. So it's their choice, that's what they choose to do. So again, this requires discretion on the part of the believer, it would require attempting restoration as shown in Matthew chapter 18, where Jesus talks to the church that existed before Paul. got saved. Just throw that in there. So this is that what you see in Matthew chapter 18, where Jesus tells you to go and tell them the error of their way one-on-one. And if that fails, then you bring two or three with the church with you. Again, if that fails, then you have to bring the matter up before the whole church. So this is an attempt to restore, not remove. We must always be attempting to restore. We don't want to turn somebody away unless it's obvious that they have no desire to be with us. And while in this passage 2 Thessalonians we just read is talking directly to working in idleness, the principle can be applied to any Bible teaching that a brother is not adhering to. So anything, not just work. And I think the Bible, I think some people like to pigeonhole the Bible and say, well, it's just talking about work there. It's just talking about pastors there, whatever. I think the Bible's applicable in a lot of areas. We just have to be able to open our minds to understand what the principle is and then apply that in different areas instead of just saying, oh, it's just work. He's lazy. So that's not that. So we're now gonna move on to benefits of separation. When done biblically, separation can be a great blessing to believers. It will aid your spiritual growth, as we saw in Ephesians 5.14. And let's look at Romans 13.11. Romans 13, 11 says, and that knowing the time that now it is high time to wake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. And I believe, if you look at Ephesians 14, if you still got your finger in there, 514, flip there real quick. I believe I wanted to talk about sleep, which brother Beck is hopefully doing, right? 514 Ephesians 514 says wherefore he sayeth awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light so As we talked about separation is intentional. We brought that out earlier. You must try to do it. You got to work at it You need to wake up. You can't sleepwalk your way through your Christian life. You just can't go bouncing bumbling along so This will help you to live your life to the utmost for God, as seen in Ephesians 5, 16 and 17, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And then go to Colossians 4, 5, please. Colossians 4, 5 also tells us, a walk in wisdom toward them are without redeeming the time. So as we saw in Ephesians, We're needing to redeem the time Colossians 4 5 also tells us that we need to Redeem the time speaks of making the most out of something you've got to get all you can out of it And if you're just going to bumble and stumble your way through your Christian life, you're never going to get anything out of it You're never going to grow So redeem your time use it wisely And then we also see that this will help us to receive the full rewards that God has promised to us. My last reference, I promise, is 2 John, verses 8 through 11. Chapter one, if you are curious. One more. Second John, verses eight through 11. Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. There come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds. So we see there that we want to receive the full rewards of living the Christian life. So to conclude, this was just a brief overview of the doctrine of separation. I hope it will help you if you endeavor to more fully understand this doctrine and employ it. We have seen what separation is not. It is not as evil as some have made it out to be, nor should it be. If it is, you're doing it wrong. To the contrary, it can be quite beneficial to the believer if practiced biblically. We have learned what doctrine is, we've learned what Bible doctrine is, and we've seen that separation is intended for the Church, and what comprises the Church compromises the Church. That's Freudian there. And why we should practice separation. We have looked at the three parts that I saw of separation, moral, doctrinal, and practical, and how they're defined. We have also seen how believers can benefit from separation if you do it biblically. So I hope this was as big a blessing to you hearing it as it was for me to prepare it. Thank you very much. Let's please close in prayer. Father God, I do thank you for this opportunity to present what you laid upon my heart. I pray that you'd be with the rest of the services now. I pray that you'd be with pastors as he comes forth and preaches. Father, put your hand about him and just give him liberty. Father, help us to be effective listeners as we are hearing your word put forth. And we'll just give you the glory and honor for all that's gonna transpire now. In Jesus' name we ask, amen.