I would invite you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. We're going to be reading verses 14 through chapter 1 and verse 7. Looking at the biblical doctrine of separation. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement hath the 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 I will be a father unto you, and you 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. I have several things that are set apart in my home. I have a pair of hair-cutting scissors that we use on the children that we don't particularly like to be used for cutting paper, for art projects, or science projects at home. If you are going to be going through a surgical procedure in the hospital, you would be most appreciative, I'm sure, if your surgeon had set apart the surgical scalpel that he plans on using. Just for you! And that it's properly, hygienically cleaned. If you go to a dentist, one of the first questions in your mind ought to be, do you autoclave your utensils? Do you keep them cleansed? Do you keep them fit? for the invasive procedure that they may be doing on your person. A hypodermic needle likewise needs to be properly maintained and cleansed. I have in my left hand a wedding ring that has been set apart for special significance as a sign of matrimonial faithfulness to my wife. And likewise, she has hers. So we do have things that are set apart for special significance. Now, I want us to look at erroneous concepts in biblical separation, for there are many. There are many that practice biblical separation in the body of Christ that perhaps accompany false concepts in their motives for doing so. All of you are acquainted in 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse 14 with the story of Elijah. After his Mount Carmel experience, after he saw the hand of God blessing in victory and in special sign miracles and power, the Word of God tells us he ran from the presence of a woman. And in verse 14, you're familiar with the phrase. He says, I, even I only, am left and they seek my life to take it away. As it were, Elijah is saying, Lord, where are the fundamentalists? Where are those that will stand for the truth? It seems like I'm all by myself. No one is standing for the truth of God's Word. This is one of the reasons why it's so helpful for pastors and Christian workers to get away to a Fundamentalist Bible Conference time, where they can get together with other preachers of like, precious faith. It keeps them from getting the Elijah Complex, that there are no other Fundamentalists around! None other that are standing for the Word of God except our church. Well, we know better than that. You look down to verse 18. The Lord says, listen, I have 7,000 that haven't bowed down the knee to Baal. You're just one of them. Get out of your pity party. There's a work to be done in the work of the Lord. Then you have some that practice biblical separation. out of the error of what we call proud pharisaism you're familiar in Luke chapter 18 with the parable which the Lord gave depicting the pride of the Pharisees and notice in verse 11 of Luke 18 the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself God, I thank you that I'm not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, even as this publican over here. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. God, doesn't that impress you? And there are many that say, look at me. I'm the only one. I'm Mr. Fundamentalist. No one stands for the truth like I do. And very often times, you'll see people like this in the church tabloids. Roasting everyone. Save themselves, of course, because they are the judge, jury, and executioner of everyone's stand before the eyes of the Lord. In Matthew chapter 5, in verse 14, you have the third erroneous concept of biblical separation. Matthew 5 and verse 14 presents the concept of monasticism. Monasticism. The monastic concept is simply this. In order to be holy, you've got to live in a hole. Like Simon Styletus of old, who erected a large, tall flagpole and lived up there all by himself and had all of his needs shuttled vertically, Upward and downward, His solution towards holiness was to be totally separated from all of the other sinners. And you know the way that story goes. It's we four and no more. And then after a while we have a split within the four and it's me and thee. And then there's another split and it's me and thee and I wonder about thee. the monastic concept. History is replete with the errors of the monastic movement and the hidden iniquities that involved the concept of hiding the Word of God rather than displaying it. Matthew 5 and verse 14 reminds us, "...Ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill, cannot be hidden. And I might add, was not intended to be hidden. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it gives light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify you by calling you Rabbi, Rabbi. Is that what it says? No, no. it says that they may glorify your father which is in heaven now i want you to turn to a passage that i have not given in your study notes you might want to jot it down at the appropriate places the spirit may lead you but i'd like for you to turn to the book of psalms chapter twenty nine there's a concept that many have failed to understand we're going to be bringing this very clearly in our part one message on biblical separation. So often we look at the concept of separation negatively. May I remind you, by means of bringing you back to my introduction, that the fact that your dentist autoclaves his equipment before drilling into your jaw, I would like to think that that's a positive concept. You do not want contaminant to enter into your bloodstream and perhaps affect your heart or other vital organs because you have been affected by hepatitis C or some other agency that can threaten your health or your life. Separation, cleanliness is a positive concept. Notice it's a beautiful concept. In Psalm 29, notice verse 2. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Now the word holiness there, the Hebrew word kadesh, means to be separated, to be set apart, to be holy. set apart for God's use. And we are to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. God wants sincere hearts that are truly set apart and seeking the glory of God. Too often we think of separation from, and we make it a negative concept. On the contrary, Take a look at Romans chapter 1 and verse 1. Another verse for you to include in your notes. Romans chapter 1 and verse 1. Paul writing to the believers at Rome says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be supplied by the King James translators, called an apostle, Separated, notice, unto the Gospel of God. Too often we use the term separated from, and we make it sound negative. How about viewing it this way? We are separated unto the Lord. We are to be separated, folks, unto the truth of the Word of God. That is the beauty of biblical separation. We are to worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness. I'm set apart in faithfulness to my wife. When we were at the altar, we made a commitment before God that we were to be separated unto one another, not from one another. separated unto one another. That's positive. That's not negative. It's a positive concept. It's a beautiful concept. It's a unique concept. And it might be a dying concept in our world today, but the Word of God says we are separated from all others in the sense of matrimony, in the sense of relationship, And we are separated unto one another among the millions of brothers and sisters in Christ and the billions of unbelievers that are in the world. We are separated unto one another in a unique position, in a unique relationship. And if you think that's a negative concept, you better check your Bible. You better check your concept of marriage, because that's not negative. And when we are separated unto God and the beauty of His truth and the beauty of holiness, that is not a divisive doctrine. It is not a doctrine that is negative. On the contrary, it is a beautiful doctrine. It is a doctrine that elevates fidelity and a desire for God's truth to be known and heard. We're going to be looking at the biblical doctrine of separation, therefore. And we're going to be looking at the eight principles that are involved. We're not going to have time to cover them all, but we're going to go as far as we can within our time reference. And for those of you that may be listening to this message through the internet ministry, or perhaps through some other means of our tape ministry, and you would like to get a copy of the note the outline that we have prepared, just contact us at strengthfortoday.info and we will get that information to you. Principle number one. Turn to the book of Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 3. Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 3. Oh, what a beautiful doctrine we have here. Isaiah's vision, his transforming vision, his three-dimensional view of the Savior. I want you to notice in verse 3, the Word of God says, I might as well read verses 1-3 and we'll get the whole flow of the passage of Scripture. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. By the way, If you're given towards reading the Gospel of John, as I hope you are, as we've been looking at our series, it was Jesus Christ that Isaiah saw, according to John 12, verse 41, when he saw His glory. Here we have the concept. His train filled the temple. Then it says, above it stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face. With twain he covered his feet. With twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Kadesh, Kadesh, Kadesh. Separated, separated, separated is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. Our Lord Himself, Point number one. Principle number one. If we're going to even begin to touch the hem of the garment as to why God calls us unto biblical separation, we must understand that the basis of separation is first found in the very nature and character of God Himself. He is by nature separated from all that is untrue. He is separated from all that is ungodly. He is separated from all that is created or finite. He is the eternal, holy, impeccable, sinless God. And that is His nature. And we are called to have a right perspective of who He is. And this is why in current Christendom today, the person and nature of God. And our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is being dragged down. And today we see churches humanizing God and deifying man. Then we're casting fans into the air and then wondering, where is God? I can't see Him. We have created a false concept of God. In many churches today, we have become idolaters. In our preaching, in our entertainment services, we have made man the image and the measure of all things. We're more concerned about what people want than what God wants in our preaching, and in our music, and in everything that we're doing in the church today. And I understand, and I hope you do too, that I'm speaking in broad terms of current Christendom today. And oh, how we need to ask ourselves, what is my view of God? How do I view my Lord? And I might add, as a dad and a father of six boys, that it's real scary when I realize that a child's first view of what God is, is what he sees in his earthly father. And if a child has a father, an earthly father that's cold and distant and absent and insensitive and unfeeling, sad to say that's going to be a stumbling block that that child is going to have to overcome. And I might add, that those will have to give account for causing little children to stumble. Separated, separated, separated. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. Now, we could preach for weeks on this passage, but we're not going to make this a 20-part series. We're going to go to principle number two very quickly. All true believers, in Christ are separated positionally. You know, that's part of the wonderful work of redemption that the Lord accomplished in our lives. And you know, there's an absence today in the current church on positional truth. It seems that theology is a dirty word. We'd rather go on need-centered preaching. Isn't it interesting in the Pauline style of writing how oftentimes Paul presents in his epistles positional truth in the early chapters of his epistles and then having presented who we are and what we are in the Lord then he gives the so what then he talks about practical outworking of how it ought to be exemplified in shoe leather now notice the positional truth turn in your Bible to the book of Romans chapter 1 and verse 7 now we're going to be moving quickly lifting up phrases because as you can see we have our work cut out for us in our outline here but in Romans 1 7 the Word of God says we as believers are called what Saints we are called Saints that's the Greek word Hagia which means sanctified or set apart God says, in My plan, in My purpose, I have set you apart. I have a unique plan for you. I don't want you to blend in with the world. I don't want you to see how close you can get to the unregenerate lifestyle and the unregenerate philosophy. I have called you to be separate and distinct and separated from this world as much as light is from darkness. Called saints. Jude verse 1 reminds us that we are set apart, sanctified by God the Father. The Lord has set us apart. We are righteous. Holy in Christ Jesus. We are dressed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ that has been imputed to us on the merits of His Son. And because we have received Christ as Savior, God looks at us through the righteousness of His Son. We are justified. And we are to be a phenomenon in a wicked and adulterous a scoliated society, a crooked generation. Philippians describes it as. And yet, what do we see in the churches today? We see the world dictating the agenda of the church. We see Christians trying to chameleonize themselves, to distort the distinction that god intended to be very evident in our lives and quite frankly the world is laughing the world looks at the feudal attempts of the church to simulate the world you go to the average christian music I should call it music store. And I use the term music with quotations and in italics and underlined in every way to show you that it's a caricature of what real music is. But you'll see today, even with the websites put out by Christian music publishers, and I use that term loosely, that if you want to find someone that sounds like Elton John, here he is in the Christian music realm. If you want to find someone that sounds like Ringo Starr, here he is, over here. And they're using the world as a template to describe Christian music. And here we have the world holding the agenda for the church today. Principle number three. All of these principles now are building to the crescendo of what God would have His people be. Since the basis of God's nature and character is to be set apart and distinct, and since we are set apart positionally with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and we are seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, I think that ought to affect and answer the question, how shall we then live, like Francis Schaeffer said. Principle number three. Our Christian walk is to be equal or commensurate with our position in Christ. Now you'll notice I gave you three scriptures. I'd like to take scripture number three first. turning your Bible to the book of Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 1 the clock is unmerciful unrelenting turn the clock back if even for one will break for coffee and don't have to come back for another hour if even for one will do it like they do in the seminars okay Paul having presented Positional truth. Notice what he says in chapter 4 and verse 1. I therefore... Positional truth has an impact. And it's there for a reason. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Some of you might say, well, that's great, Pastor John. I'm a barber. Or I'm a mechanic. Is that my vocation? No. The word vocation has the idea of your standing. That which characterizes you. That positional truth that has been given in the Word of God in chapters 1-3. And the word worthy, walk worthy, the word worthy is the word ago, which means to bring to balance. Picture, if you will, a balance. Here I'm raising up my hands up to my head. Picture me as a balance. And I have 10 pound weight on my left hand. What would it take to bring the balance to my right hand? A 10 pound weight. Now on the left, The Lord has given us positional truth. We are holy and righteous in Christ Jesus. We are seated in the heavenlies. We are accepted in the Beloved. All of this is just a small part of the positional truth that Paul presents in chapters 1-3. And then all of a sudden he says, now, in your day-to-day life, your practical life ought to balance out. with that positional truth. And it's not that we can ever live a perfect life, folks, but we should always keep our eyes on our positional truth to determine our practical walk. And since we are holy, how can we then live in immorality? If we are set apart unto God, how can we then live in immorality and in the filthiness of speech and in the ingestion of narcotics and drugs and all types of contaminants that will destroy us and those that are looking to us. You see, bring to balance. That is what Ephesians 4 and verse 1 is saying. And our Christian walk is to be balanced, it's to be commensurate with our position in Christ. Now look at 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 15. 1 Peter 1 and verse 15. Here, the Lord is using the same word translated saints that we saw in Romans 1-7 when He says in 1 Peter 1-15, "...but as He which has called you..." Who called us? God called us. "...as He who called you is Haggaioth, set apart, sanctified, separate from evil and all sin, as He who called you is Haggaios, set apart, so be ye set apart in all manner of conversation. And the word translated conversation has the idea of your entire walk, the circumference of your life, Everything that characterizes you, not one single part, not one single particle of our life can be said, hey Lord, this is my turf. Lord, my social life is mine. I'll give you everything else. Lord, my boyfriend, that's my turf. I'm going to choose that Lord. Lord, my lifestyle, my preference, the Lord says here, Every area is to be characterized by hagyas. Set apart. By the way, that is not negative. It is not negative. Remember the dentist's autoclaving. Remember the husband's faithfulness to his wife and the wife's faithfulness to her husband. That is not negative. It is positive. It is needful. To have a society that violates these things will bring destruction to a society, and we are seeing it in America today, and in our churches today. And we are seeing even the harmful destruction to bodies today, wracked with all types of sexually transmitted diseases. Well, God says, I've called you to be separated. Be ye holy. It continues. Why? And notice, he brings us back to point one. Be ye holy. Why? Principle number one. For I am holy. My nature and my character is to be set apart. There is an absence today of family time of devotion and prayer and meditation upon who God is. And folks, The average Christian family today is dropping the ball. The Sunday school teacher, God bless every one of them. Here at Central Florida Bible Church and in every other Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church, they were never intended to take the place of mom and dad at home, being the communicators of God's truth and even the nature of God. how vital today and how sobering it is. As I mentioned earlier, we as men must assume the position that God would have us to if we're going to raise children that have a proper concept of God. This is why some of you Sunday school teachers, some of you junior church children, you have your job cut out for you. Because you see, as Central Florida Bible Church, And the members of Central Florida Bible Church reach out to neighbors. What are we doing? We're reaching out into dysfunctional families where stealing is the norm. Four letter words to even ask for the mashed potatoes to be passed at the table is the norm. And what do we have to do? Our concept and our purpose is through female and male role modeling. to demonstrate to them in every way possible what God's Word teaches and how so many of our children that we reach out to cling to us for that. It's very sobering, isn't it? How tremendous a responsibility. That's one of the reasons why I love to see husband-wife teams in Sunday school classes. When it's possible, it's ideal because children need to see a man and a woman that love each other, that are working together, balancing the image of a loving relationship in the family and home that is so absent today. Let's look at another Scripture. Time is rapidly, unmercifully proceeding. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. You want to know the will of God for your life? So often we say, Lord, I want to know who You want me to marry. I want You to know what job You want me to take. I want You to tell me which choice to make. One job's in Seattle, Washington, and the other one's in Washington, D.C. And Lord, what do You want me to do? What decision do You want me to make? Well, the Word of God tells us the will of God begins with this. Chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 3. This is the will of God. Even your haggias, your holiness, your set-apartness, that's where it begins. Do you want God to steer your life? Let Him get behind the wheel. God does not steer your vehicle by remote control. He has to be the pilot. I don't even like the concept of co-pilot that I see. God's my co-pilot. I say to you, if God is your co-pilot, move over! Let Him get behind the wheel. Let Him be the pilot. And it says here, this is the will of God, even your haggios. The same word translated saint. Same word translated holy. The word, your holiness. is where God's will is centered and fixed. And if we will set apart ourselves so that we're autoclaved and cleansed, and so that we are not playing whoredom with God, we're going to go to God and say, Lord, I'll be Your bride, and I'll be faithful to You. and I'll seek to walk with you and be dedicated to you and set apart and not play the harlot with the things of this world. If God's blessing is going to be upon our churches in America today, we have to stop playing footsie with the devil and with falsehood in doctrine and in walk and in practice. The church, I think of the movement today in America, promise keepers. The promise keepers movement. I put the word C-O-M before promise there. Compromise keepers. Because in seeking to instruct others to be faithful to their wives, they as the church have played the harlot in unfaithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, faithfulness and the exhortation towards faithfulness in our homes and in our marriages begins by our hearts being in the truth and in right relationship with God. And God is concerned about His bride being unfaithful. And here in Promise Keepers, we have Roman Catholicism involved, and Mormonism, and Seventh-day Adventists, and all kinds of false doctrines are entering in, and we're all yelling, Faithfulness to our wives and husbands! And here's the church playing the harlot against Christ. I think we need to be concerned about what God calls separation, cleansing, so that God can then renew his blessing upon the church and thereby then upon our homes. It's interesting that never before in the history of America have we had so many books on the home, videos on the home, DVDs on the home, All types of writings and the internet is replete and yet never has the divorce rate been higher in the church. Never has the divorce rate been higher in society and among Christian professing believers. And the reason why is that the church is playing the harlot. And we ourselves are so prone towards failing to practice a right view of god and who he is he deserves we need to place the lord in the right place this is the will of god even your hockey off now notice that's positional we're holy in christ jesus but notice Here's the shoe leather, here's the so what, that you should abstain from fornication. Did you know that God's Word teaches that we are to abstain from premarital and extramarital sex? Did you know that the number of people shacking together and living together is equal per capita in the world as in the professing church today? There's something wrong, folks. I believe that we have forgotten what God calls us unto. You see, we are called unto holiness. And it says in verse 4 that every one of you should know how to possess His vessel in hagios, in sanctification, set apart. God wants us to maintain our bodies. That's the word skios, vessel. He wants us to maintain our vessels in a separated way, just as God has called us apart. from the Sodom and Gomorrah of this world. And He has said that this world is going to get nothing other than fire and eternal judgment and hellfire. God has called us to get out. He has called us to stand aside and to live a life that is haggios, separated, holy, set apart. And the Word of God says we need to possess our bodies that way. In set-apartness, Sanctification and honor. The word tiamese has the honor, has the idea of being precious, highly esteemed, something that's dedicated and set apart. Some of you ladies have fine china. Just this afternoon, Melody's mom was having lunch with us, and I surprised her. I took out two beautiful bone china cups. and i made my special arabica coffee thank you brother jim makes a perfect cup every time brewed that up and i poured it for her in that china cup i even gave her some special cookies that i had purchased uh... at the supermarket pepperidge farm none of this cheap stuff i'll have you know and i gave it to her because she's special And I brought out that special, special cup for her. And I poured it out there, and boy, she just drank that. And you know, I always say that coffee tastes better in a fine, delicate cup of fine China. That's right. Some of you have, you know, that old coffee mug in the car with about 17 layers of skin? They call that Navy coffee. And you say that it tastes better. Well, I'll take my... But battery acid, right, yes. That's right. You know, after you're done, if there's a little left, you clean the inside of the shotgun barrel with it, right? Beats the hops. Cleaner, right? Yeah, well, you know, the Word of God says, Our vessels are set apart and they're holy. They're delicate. They're a treasure unto the Lord. Not in the lusts of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles that know not God. God wants a difference between those that know God and those that don't. What kind of an opinion are we giving the world about God when our music in our churches are just like those that know not God? When our message... I mean, here we are running after Dr. Phil. I know of pastors that are taking notes on Dr. Phil and preaching his messages. And listen to Oprah. And now, I understand that every once in a while they give some good stuff. A broken clock without a battery is right twice in the day. Did you know that? That doesn't mean I'm going to be running to it. How would you like it if I took the battery out of the clock and kept on preaching? No, you want that clock to be right, don't you? Which tells me I better be quitting. But I'll say this, and we've only covered not even the hem of the garment. We're going to be building on this material. Hang on to it. But folks, what I want to emphasize today, separation is not a negative doctrine. It's a positive doctrine. Your kids need you to be separated in your home. Your children need to have the right opinion of God. Your church is dependent upon your walk with God. Every one of us. have people that are looking to us, that need to see the truth of God's Word. This community needs Central Florida Bible Church. And I'm going to show you as we go through here that actually the ones that are divisive are the ones that are falling into liberalism. The ones that are being divisive are those that are failing to separate from God's Word and God's truth. Folks, let's call it the way it is. I'm tired of being called negative. I believe that we need to see that God is a positive God, and He's positive about what He wants us to do and what He wants us to be. And we want to present not a caricature of God's Word in our church or in our home, But we want to rightly divide the Word of Truth. And when God speaks, we need to obey. We need to be gracious when God's Word does not speak. But when God's Word speaks, let God be true and every man a liar. But we must give a right opinion of God, not only to an unbelieving world, but to young people that someday are going to hold positions of leadership in the church of Christ from our perspective should the Lord carry. Let's bow our heads together. Father, we thank You for Your Word. And Lord, we pray that You would bless this study and help us, Father, to realize how vital a truth this is and, Lord, how it touches every area. Lord, when You called Abraham, You separated him from a pagan background. And Father, You called him to be the father of a nation that would, Lord, be a showcase to a lost and paganized world. And, Lord, we are likewise to adorn the doctrine of God. Father, help us not to present a caricature. And, Lord, where the Holy Spirit has spoken to us, Lord, may we say yes and may we confess sin in our lives and be willing to conform in obedience to Your Word. While our heads are bowed and eyes are closed, I just want to ask you this question. I would expect that most everyone here knows Jesus Christ as personal Savior. But you know as well as I do that we can profess to know Christ and indeed we may be saved. But how is your walk? Is it pleasing unto the Lord? Is that difference evident? Are you in a place where God can speak to you? Where God will speak to you? Because you're abiding under the shadow of the Almighty. Are there things in your life that you know right now? Not because Pastor John may have touched on it, because there's no way I could name every sin in the world. You know that. I wouldn't even try. That's the work of the Spirit. But if the Spirit of God is lighting upon some attitude or some area in your life that's been displeasing to the Lord, won't you confess that before Him? And then, make provision to make it right. Make provision to make it right. Don't be a hearer of the Word. Be a doer. Don't look upon the mirror of the Word and then forget what manner of man we are. Walk out these doors and forget what we've heard and who God is. Is there anyone here that can say, Pastor John, there's some needs in my life, and if you would include me in a general way, just pray for me. There's some areas in my life that I need to bring conformed to the image of Christ. Let me see your hand. Just lift it right up. Yes. Yes. Several hands. Folks, if we're really honest with ourselves, every one of us would have to say that, wouldn't we? God's still working on us. He's still working on us. May we say yes to the Lord. Father in Heaven, bless our closing hymn, an affirmation of our desire to follow You. And bless us as we continue in the second portion of our message this coming Lord's Day. that we'd be faithful in the house of the Lord to hear all that You have for us here. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.