2 Corinthians chapter 6. 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 hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath they temple of God with idols, for ye are the temple of the living God. As God has 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. And God will bless the reading of His own infallible truth. The verse 17 is the verse that I want to focus on, although I will be looking at the entire passage today with the Lord's help. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. From the very beginning of our denomination's life and witness, It has sought to pursue the path of separation unto Christ, believing it to be the will and the command of the Lord for His people. It must always be kept in mind that the separatist position with regard to spiritual things is but the outworking of God's great eternal purpose for His own dear people. Separation is not a philosophy that was invented and pursued by certain groups within the professing Church of Jesus Christ. Rather, separation is the inevitable outcome or consequence of the Lord's eternal decree to have a people for Himself, among whom He will dwell and whom He will bless eternally. Ephesians 1 and 4 is a magnificent summary of that fact that I have just stated, because in that verse we read of God having a people. He says there, if you look at that verse with me, Ephesians 1, verse 4, he says, According as he hath chosen us and him before the foundation of the world, listen carefully to this, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Notice here that the Lord has chosen a people whom he purposes to make a holy people. The original Greek word for holy, in our English translation here, comes from a root, that is a root verb. Way back in the study of language, it comes from a root word that actually means no earth. It's a very interesting word. And from that you get the word holy, as we have it here in our English Bible. And of course, the word holy basically means to set apart. And when you think about the origin of the word, the etymology of the word, the point that's being made is that in the final analysis, the Lord's people will be a people who are going to be completely purged from everything that is earthly, from everything that is according to this world. which is essentially to say that they will be a separated people. That is God's purpose. And let me tell you that God will accomplish that great purpose and will do so infallibly. And the day will come when all of His people from all time are going to be seen to be a separated people, a holy people, a people completely delivered and cleansed from every earthly, worldly, carnal, sinful stain. That is God's purpose. And we should never forget that. That means that the doctrine of separation is a positive truth, because it really is a doctrine that tells us that God is fulfilling His own eternal purpose and His covenant purposes in the lives of His people. Separation occurs, you see, in every genuine believer. Because separation is essentially sanctification. Whatever feature of separation we consider, whether at a personal level or in terms of the believer separating from fellowship and from association that is not in keeping with God's mind and will, we must make it clear that separation is the believer effectively experiencing the work of sanctification. In Scripture, I have already indicated that the verb to sanctify means to set apart or to separate. And therefore, since sanctification is the will of God for His people, and it is, that means that He is going to sanctify every one of His children. Without fail, without any doubt about it, He is going to sanctify every one of them and cleanse them completely. from all that is not according to his own will and his own mind. And therefore it is the Lord's will that his people pursue the path of separation at the level of fellowship and spiritual association. That of course also includes everything else that we need to separate from in our own personal lives, our own personal situation, walk with God. There's always to be separation. In fact, it's an ongoing daily experience, and we need to understand that. And I would certainly say to ourselves, as we who are within a separatist denomination with regard to ecclesiastical matters, or we endeavor to maintain that separatist position, we must not think that it stops there. It includes our daily lives. And it's much more than ecclesiastical separation, coming away from ecumenism or amalgamation with bodies and churches that are apostate and so on. It's much, much more than that. It's the will of God that in every area of life we separate ourselves unto Jesus Christ. And these words here in verse 17, come out from among them and be you separate, are words that cover every area of life or may be applied to every area of life. The word separate here is a very strong word. Turn over to Acts chapter 19 and look with me at verse 9, Acts 19 verse 9. And here we read of the Apostle Paul and his ministry. In Ephesus, and notice what he did, Acts 19 verse 9, but when divers were hardened and believed not, but spake evil of that way, that is, they spake evil of the gospel. That's what the term means, that way, the gospel, Christ. So they were unbelievers and they were hardened and they spake evil of the gospel. And what did Paul do? He departed from them and separated the disciples. disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And the rest of the chapter goes on to show that the Apostle Paul here in Ephesus having taken this initial step where he brought out these converts from the synagogue, where there was a hardness against the gospel, an unbelief, and then more than that, outright apostasy with regard to the gospel, outright rejection of it. Paul had no alternative but to bring God's people out of there and separate them and form what was, of course, the beginnings of the New Testament church in the city of Ephesus. And the word for separate, as I have said, is a very strong word. It means to mark off by bounds. Boundaries need to be drawn, lines need to be drawn for the Christian with regard to this issue of separation. We need to know where we stand and who we are and what we believe and what we should be doing. That's true personally, but today I'm coming to deal with this situation in the ecclesiastical realm. Turning back here to 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 17, Paul's presenting to the Corinthians their need to come away from any association with false and pagan religion. Now while that's the setting, Yet the principle is laid down, a principle that God's people need to recognize and pursue in every generation, that is, the separatist stand that we are to take. That's the principle of this verse. Come out from among them and be ye separate. Now that is very simple, plain language. And no one could misunderstand it. It's a call to a church. to come out from among them and be separate and stand in this position that is identified for us. By the Lord's grace and mercy, that is the stand that our own witness took at the very beginning of its existence, the Free Presbyterian Church, knowing that Scripture calls on God's people to come out and be separate. This was the issue that was so uppermost in the minds of our founding fathers, who took very seriously their stand, and against tremendous odds, in the midst of great difficulties, they were willing to come out from liberalism and ecumenism and form a witness that was completely separate from those movements. And I say to you today that that separatist position, that separatist stand must be maintained. Let me say it to you this way. If it were necessary in 1951, and it certainly was, it is even more necessary today because ecumenism has advanced. Liberalism has gone much, much farther than it was when those men of God, those elders in Crossgar, County Down, who were the actual men, not Ian Paisley, to form the free church. We must take that same stand and be willing to come out from whatever entanglement it might be and stand for Jesus Christ. I've been speaking to you over the past months on this main topic of the Lord's headship over His church and various issues that devolve from that, going through them one by one and seeking to just highlight to your own minds our own church's position in various areas. And I come to another one today. as we have it set before us in this particular chapter and in this particular verse. That is, Christ's people a separated people. I want to deal first of all with the argument, and that will comprise a lot of our study today, the argument that's in this verse. And notice what the argument is. That is the argument for separation. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not. The unclean thing. Now, who are those words? Touch not the unclean thing. They are borrowed, or they are quoted from Isaiah 52 verse 11, where it says, Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from Thames. Touch no unclean thing. Go out of the midst of her. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. As I Thirty-Two Eleven, the reference is to the call that God made to His ancient people to come out of Babylon and break all association with the unclean, that is, with the heathen and the idolatrous religion of the whole Babylonian system. That's the origin, that's the source of the words here that the Apostle Paul uses as he makes this call again in the New Testament era to the New Testament church. It is taken from that verse in Isaiah 52, the verse number 11. And the same call, therefore, comes to God's people to break all contact with false religion. As is in view, we go back to verse 14 where it says, "...be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." Now you must connect those words with the call in verse 17, "...come out from among them, be separate, don't touch the unclean thing." Here's what he's saying, "...be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." Notice that term, unequally yoked, in the verse number 14. And as you can see, it has to do with being yoked together with someone or some situation of a completely different kind. That is, different from the believer's faith, different from his stance, different from what the will of the Lord is for him. That's what's in view. When it speaks of the unequal yoke in verse 14, I know that these words are applicable in various realms. But we must see that right here, the apostle is taking them and talking the whole way through this passage about the realm of fellowship and association with regard to worship or those areas. He is dealing with that specifically. And he talks here about the unequal yoke. Now again, that language is borrowed from the Old Testament, and I am sure that Some of you are already aware of that fact, that what Paul has in mind here, as he says, be not uneatenly yoked together with unbelievers, is the law of God. For example, in Deuteronomy 22, verse 10, where the Lord said, Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. The Lord had His own way, you know, of teaching His ancient people that there could be no compatibility between people of various or different natures. And therefore he set up the situation where he forbade his people literally not to plow with the ox and the ass together pulling the plow. He said, don't do that. But there was a spiritual lesson in that. You see, say an Israelite disobeyed the Lord. And there's an Israelite on the spade, and he's got the plough hitched up, and in the yoke he has got an ox and an ass. And another Israelite comes along by, and he sees this scene, and he's immediately reminded of the law. And he realizes that this other Israelite is disobeying the law. And the message comes home to his heart, that it's the man who's watching on. And the message is this. God doesn't want me to be in the yoke with a person or a situation that is entirely opposite to my own thinking and my own nature. That is the essence. of what Paul is showing us here as he makes his call for separation and presents his argument. And therefore he is showing that there cannot be a true spiritual union between true religion and false religion because they are opposites in nature. That's the point. They are opposites in nature. They are entirely different. False religion, true religion, they are not the same in nature at all. And therefore, Paul here presents the argument for our own day and generation as to why God's people are to separate from liberal, from ecumenical religion, from compromised church situations, from all these matters that are against his mind and his will. Here is the argument. And my friend, we must notice this and we must understand this. Union between those who follow Christ and those who do not follow Christ is impossible because it would be the union of those who are of totally diverse natures. Spiritually speaking, believers who love and who follow Christ, in contrast with those who pursue a religion that is a rejection of the Gospel and a rejection of Jesus Christ. There cannot be any union there, any true fellowship there. This is what Paul is arguing here, and he uses this interesting way of setting up his argument. Now on down through the passage, he develops that argument for separation by showing the contrast then between false and true religion. I've already indicated that. He tells us right away, here's the nature of false religion, here's the nature of true religion. The two cannot be yoked together, they're different in nature. Then he starts to develop that, and he proves with a series of arguments that the two are spiritually incompatible. There's no agreement between them. There can't be any agreement. And as he does this, as he develops his argument, he asks a series of questions. There are actually five questions right down these verses where the Apostle Paul is setting forth his great argument for separation. And you notice that as he presents his questions, he does so in such a way as to show the contrast that there is between true and false religion. As we look at each question, we notice that there's a certain feature in view in every case. It's not endless repetition. It's not the apostle saying these things over and over again just to make himself heard, as it were, or to impress his readers. He very carefully, and of course guided by the Holy Spirit, he brings in five separate questions that set forth five separate features of this contrast between false religion and true religion. And therefore he makes his argument absolutely clear. Notice with me, there is a contrast of principles, verse 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now here's the first question. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? Notice there that Paul does not speak of the righteous or the unrighteous, but he speaks of the qualities of righteousness and unrighteousness, or I should say, the principles of righteousness and unrighteousness. And what is this? Well, the believer has the principle of righteousness in his soul, whereas the unbeliever has the principle of unrighteousness in his soul. That means that there are two opposing principles in view here. Righteousness and unrighteousness. And Paul's question is, well, what fellowship is there between them? What possible agreement can there be between righteousness, that principle, and unrighteousness? And of course his answer is, there can't be any at all. You pay heed to this very closely. Because this, my friend, is what we need to understand in our own day and generation. This is how you analyze situations. This is how you make up your mind as to where you stand and where you belong and with whom you are going to associate. Is it going to bring you into a situation where you, as a Christian, having the principle of righteousness in your soul, are going to be in association somewhere or other with another person or another situation where the principle of unrighteousness holds dominance. That's the issue here. That's the thrust of this particular question. And notice how he says, What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? The word fellowship denotes the matter of partnership. What partnership? Can there be between these two opposing principles? That's the strength of the word. Between these two classes in whom these principles are found, the righteous and the unrighteous, the believer and the unbeliever, but the principles are there. And his question therefore is, what can there be by way of any partnership there? And of course, his question answers itself, there isn't any. And there mustn't be any attempt made to form any partnership between that which represents the principle of righteousness and that which represents the principle of unrighteousness. Acts 13, verse 10 provides a very vivid illustration that there cannot be any agreement, any partnership. Turn to Acts 13, please, and look with me. At these verses, Paul and Barnabas, or Saul and Barnabas, as it still is at this point, have gone to Cyprus. They have preached the gospel. The gospel is being resisted by a certain man, this man who is Alamos the sorcerer, verse 8. And it says, there he withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Now there is a man who had the principle of unrighteousness controlling him. It is the dominating factor in his life. He is a false prophet. He is an apostate. He hates Christ. He hates the gospel. The principle of unrighteousness is there. But the principle of righteousness is in Saul the apostle. And notice how it comes out. If you go on down with me in these verses and look at verse 10, here's what Paul or Saul says, O fool of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, and there it's coming out. Paul identifies the principle that controls that man. He's an enemy of righteousness, all righteousness. which means that in himself he is a lover of unrighteousness and a promoter of it. The enemy of all righteousness. Won't thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord, the principles in him? Unrighteousness. Therefore, he acts according to the principle. He seeks to oppose the gospel. And that illustrates, as I say, the thrust of Paul's first question, what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? It's a contrast of principles. Please go back to 2 Corinthians 6 and let's work our way through this. We come to the second question as we look at Paul's argument. And as a contrast of properties, verse 14 again, at the end of the verse, the question now is, the second question is this, what communion hath light with darkness? Now there are two properties, light and darkness. And you see, light is the spiritual property that dwells in the child of God. The Bible makes that clear. Light is a scriptural emblem of knowledge and holiness and blessedness and knowing the Lord and having your heart illuminated. We find this over and over again. For example, Paul says to the Thessalonians, ye are all the children of the light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. The believer has got light. But you see, the unbeliever has no light. It is the property of darkness that's in the person who isn't saved. Now listen, men and women, that is the language of the Spirit of God. In the unbeliever, in general, there is no light, there is darkness. And you take this whole ecclesiastical realm, with the call to come together and worship together and all of this ecumenical jargon What is being proposed is that there should be a coming together of light and darkness, because there are those who are professing believers who not only are caught up in this ecumenical matter or system, but there are professing believers who will promote it. And I tell you right now, there's something very much amiss. For one thing, It's against this particular facet of Paul's argument. Because Paul says, what communion hath light with darkness? Now, the word communion there is a word that means having something in common. Having something in common. So listen to the question again. What does light have in common with darkness? Absolutely nothing. That's true physically. My friend, for our purposes today, and as this passage is teaching, that is true spiritually. There is no connection. There's nothing in common. So we have a contrast of properties here. Light and darkness don't mix. Then move on quickly to the next question in verse 15. And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Now, the word Belial signifies wickedness. And it's used here, actually, as a title for the devil himself. And therefore, when it speaks here of Belial, it's speaking of Satan. So it is Christ and Satan. And what we have here is this, a contrast of personalities. Remember that in this world, in the world of spiritual things, there are two dominating personalities. One is Christ and the other is Satan. The Bible teaches that everywhere. You have men following one or the other. You have Christ, God manifest in the flesh, the only mediator between God and men. On the other hand, you have the devil, the prince of darkness. Now, we need to know which personality controls our lives and dominates our thinking. Because Paul tells us right here that there is no concord between Christ and Satan. Every word that he uses in these questions, and I've noticed how he uses the word fellowship, and then the word communion, and now the word concord. And once more, he's not repeating himself. He's using words very deliberately that have got an awful lot of meaning attached to them. And this word concord actually means harmony of voice. What harmony of voice? Is there between the devil and the Lord Jesus Christ? Between these two personalities? And what he's really saying is this, that the Lord Jesus Christ presents a message, a voice, a sound, but so also does the devil. The devil has his message. The Bible speaks of the false gospel. It speaks of another gospel. It tells us, you see, that the devil is the liar. He is lying personified. John 8 verse 44, he's a liar from the beginning and he's the father of all lies. And in a moment, that takes in the whole spiritual realm where there is such deception and lying and falsehood. The father of it all is Satan. And the message that goes out, therefore, from his kingdom and through his voice is the message of confusion and the message of compromise, along with deceit, along with deliberate falsehood. It's all mixed in and muddled up. And the message that comes from Christ, and the message that will come from a church that stands for Christ, is the message of truth. 1 John 2, verse 21, it says there, John says, I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. No lie is of the truth. Men and women, the Lord Jesus Christ does not deceive people. He does not lie. Rather, He is the truth in His own person, and therefore the message that He proclaims is the message of truth. And between that and the lie, there is no harmony of voice. Go to the next question. We're just dealing with the questions, explaining them. And then the application will come a little later. Verse 15 again, here is the fourth question as a contrast of profession. What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And the word infidel means an unbeliever. What part hath he that believeth with an unbeliever? The one who believes is one who professes faith in Jesus Christ. who therefore embraces Christ and knows that Christ alone is the Saviour, and he casts himself on Christ. That's what the Bible means by the one who believes. He that believeth. But then you see, you notice here the unbeliever, the infidel, and he makes no such profession. Now get this clear. Paul is speaking here of those who, though they may claim certain things, are seen to be outright unbelievers and therefore rejecters of the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer is a person who moves in an entirely different realm or sphere compared or contrasted with the one who does not profess Christ. The believer moves in the realm of knowing God. loving God, desiring God, wanting to honor His cause and His truth and His own dear Son. But the unbeliever is identified because he has none of that desire. And actively he does not demonstrate anything of a desire to exalt Christ, promote Christ, honor Christ, and so on. And therefore Paul's question is, what part? And the word part there actually signifies union. What union? has an unbeliever with a believer, or the other way around, wherever you want to look at it. What union is there? In other words, can there be any union? That's really the gist of the question here. In other words, he's looking at this contrast of profession. One discredits Christ and rejects Christ, and the other person believes in Christ and takes Him as Saviour, and there can be no union between the two. Then go to the fifth question, in verse 16. What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? The temple of God, of course, is the church, the company of true redeemed people. But Satan's temple is comprised of the company of the lost. So when the question says here, what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. God's people are His temple where He dwells and where He walks. On this earth, that is where the Lord truly dwells, in the hearts of His people, in the lives of His people, being their Savior and their Guide and their Leader and their Friend and so on. But you see, the unbeliever knows nothing of that. The unbeliever is actually under the dominion of Satan. The unbeliever is the temple of Satan. Ephesians 2 tells us of the evil spirit, the spirit of Satan and Antichrist dwelling in those who are not saved, controlling them. We must understand this. And you who are not saved, may I say in passing, you need to recognize today that if you have not, or since you have not the Holy Spirit in you, then you are under the power of the prince of darkness in this world. And that's a very solemn, serious situation which to be found. This, of course, is why no young Christian should ever entertain the idea of marrying an unbeliever, because then you are proposing the idea that there is this agreement between those who are opposites in nature and opposites in all these different ways, and it just cannot be. There can't be any agreement. Now, the word agreement, again, is a very interesting word. It literally signifies to vote for. Turn over to Luke 23, and you'll see the word illustrated there. In the case of Joseph of Arimathea, Luke chapter 23 and verse 50, And behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counselor, and he was a good man and a just. The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them." Do you see the word consented in that verse, Luke 23 and verse 51? It is the word that's used here for agreement. What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? And you see how it has this literal significance of to vote for. It says, the same Joseph had not consented. Joseph hadn't voted for the death of Christ. Joseph was a just man, as it tells us, a good man. Now, he was a member of the Sanhedrin. But when the crunch came, Joseph didn't vote to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, there was something in Joseph that wouldn't allow him to do it. He had all that I've already mentioned here in him. He had a nature in him that was contrary to the nature of the rest of the Sanhedrin. And therefore, he could not bring himself to vote for the death of Christ. And that's the word that Paul uses here. What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? How can the temple of God vote? Do you want to put it that way, just as literally as that? How can the temple of God vote or give consent with regard to that? which is in opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ, that which will crucify Him again, is to use the language of Hebrews. And, of course, the answer is that the church of Christ cannot do that. Now, here, brothers and sisters, is Paul's argument for separation. Remember the basic thought? There are two different natures in view. And he makes this absolutely clear as he goes down through this series of questions that I have sought to explain to you as quickly as I could. And believe me, I was doing my best to get through it quickly. But then there is here the alignment. There's the argument, verse 17, touching up the unclean thing. But here now is the alignment. It says, come out from among them, be ye separate, saith the Lord, touch not the unclean thing. Now listen, and I will receive you. And what is here in the sense of alignment is very obvious, it's very, very clear. As Paul has presented his argument and has really expounded that argument for separation, then he calls on God's people to align themselves with God. And the words are these, I will receive you. Come out and I'll receive you. Now, what does that tell you? That tells you that the Lord Himself is not in there. He's outside. And He calls on His people to come out and to align themselves with Him and with Christ and with the cause of truth and righteousness. And the important point that we see here in the light of this particular thought of the alignment, that is, we come out and we align ourselves alongside the Lord, is that the primary purpose of separation is to have believers stand with God and with Christ. Separation is primarily, it's first and foremost, unto the Lord. You let that sink in. Separation is not unto a man. Separation is not unto a denomination. Separation is unto Christ. Separation is not an end in itself. And I want to say from this pulpit that very often many free Presbyterians think that way. And they say, we're not part of the World Council or the ecumenical movement. And that's true. But my dear friend, that's not the purpose of separation. It's to align ourselves with Christ and to keep our eyes on Christ. and stand with Him whatever that may mean, whatever that may cost, wherever that may leak, wherever that may take us in days to come. That's what it means. Now turn to Hebrews 13. Look with me at verses 12 and 13. Hebrews 13, verse 12. Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach." Notice here that the reason for going without the camp is that we might align ourselves with Christ and his once and for all sacrifice. Now there is the test of knowing where you should be in fellowship, of knowing what church you should be identified with. It is to look in the light of this statement and look for a place or a situation where Christ and the blessed gospel are central and are upheld. That's the test. And that's this whole issue of aligning ourselves with the Lord. and with his own blessed son. Now, in our last reference, I want you to go to Joshua 5, Joshua chapter 5, because it's good to let the Bible illustrate these things. Joshua chapter 5, verse 13, And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lift up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him, with a sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Now listen to Joshua's question. Art thou for us or for our adversaries?" And what Joshua's question essentially was, is this, whose side are you on? That was his question. Whose side are you on? What was the response? Of course, the man here whom Joshua saw with the sword drawn is Christ in one of his pre-incarnation appearances. But look at the Lord's response, and it says in verse 14, "'Nay.'" Do you know what that means? Joshua, I'm not on anybody's side. I'm not on anybody's side. Then he says this, "'As captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.'" And what he's saying there is very obvious and very clear. Joshua, it's not a matter of the Lord being on this group's side and not on that side. The matter is this, whose side are you on? Of course, Joshua quickly showed it. He got down on his face and he worshipped the Lord. But that's the issue. Here we have an illustration of this point, that we align ourselves with Christ. And of course, if we align ourselves with Christ and all that Christ represents, it will mean that we cannot align ourselves with other people who are not aligned with Christ. It's very obvious, isn't it? That's the practical outcome of all this. And therefore today, as I speak to you, and I've taken most of the message today to expound the Scriptures, Because we must understand the whole basis and the whole argument for separation, and then we see the call that it makes to align ourselves with the Lord, and we are to take that position and we are to remain there alongside Christ. Whatever that may mean by way of cost or sacrifice or disassociation or whatever you want to mention, we must stand alongside our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you, brethren and sisters, there are matters today that are crystal clear. Absolutely so. Although you wouldn't think it if you listened to the news. You'd better not listen to the news. Read the Bible and forget about the newspapers. See where God stands and Christ stands and say, by God's grace, that's where I'm going to stand. I want no truck with all of these matters that Paul has so carefully argued out for us, showing the contrast the whole way through, and all the different features that this involves, and saying to ourselves, well, it's clear, it's clean, and this is my guide, this is my compass, this is my chart. And my dear friends, as I say, things are crystal clear when you read the Bible. And you know then what to do and what not to do. It means you don't go to Mass. It's as simple as that. There's no problem with that situation for the true child of God. Because the Mass is everything else here, or all the other things here, that the Apostle Paul says Christ and His people aren't. The Mass, my friend, is unbelief, unrighteousness, darkness, infidelity, idolatry, how appropriate these terms are. And therefore, when it comes to that matter, the true child of God cannot sit and countenance the Mass. Because he's countenancing the blaspheming of his Savior. He cannot do that. And whatever it means, a way of cost and sacrifice, he must take a stand for Christ. And furthermore, the true believer must not align himself with those who will compromise. with darkness and Romanism. I must confess, I am really amazed. I just said there, you shouldn't read the paper, but I read it yesterday. And I saw on the church page a huge photograph of the present moderator of the Presbyterian Church, standing in a group with Eames and the Methodist president and whoever else, I can't remember exactly now, but Sean Brady. This is a man who a few weeks ago wouldn't go to an ecumenical service of some kind down in Dunganan. Then this past week at the Church of Ireland Synod, when Dr. Edens resigned and brought all his friends along, Dr. Uprichard is standing there in the middle of them. in a spiritual context. I don't know what happened. I don't really tell you, but he was there. He was in that situation. He was therefore compromising everything that he says he believes. And he said that when he would be moderator, he would make it a year of promoting the Word of God and the truth. And this isn't the first photograph I have seen in the papers where he's standing alongside Brady and his ilk. Let me tell you something. I don't care what the issue is, if it's social even. If you stand alongside a Roman Catholic priest, he's always there representing his church and what he believes. He never sets it aside. Therefore, you cannot align yourself with a Roman Catholic blaspheming priest on any issue, whether it's abortion or anything else you want to mention. You cannot do it, because once you stand alongside him, you've accepted him as a compatriot in that matter. As I said, you're accepting Him and what He believes because He never sets aside what He believes. Stogmas. Brethren and sisters, this is the day in which we live. I just use very relevant illustrations to get the point across to you that as a church, we must continue to take the separatist position. Come what may, cost us what it will. Because God is clear. God's Word is plain. There's no ambiguity. You young folk growing up in this generation face tremendous pressures. But I trust today that God's Word will guide you, and that you will take your stand for Christ in your day by His grace. Let's bow together before the Lord.