2020-06-28 – Revival (Part 6) – Revival Through Separation
Well we’re there in Ezra chapter number nine. And on Sunday mornings we’ve been studying this idea of revival. We’ve been going through the passages in Scripture that either teach us about revival or we’ve been looking at the great revivals in the Bible. And if you remember, we’ve learned about different things that are going to be needed for revival, things that we need to incorporate into our lives. We’ve talked about dying to self. We talked about revival through the house of God and through the Word of God and through prayer. And this morning I want to speak to you on the subject of revival through separation, revival through separation. Now the subject of separation and the doctrine of separation is something you’re not going to hear a lot about today in most churches you go to. But as we’ll see this morning, it’s something that the Bible talks a lot about.
And I want to begin this morning, by talking about what is separation. What separation is. Now you’re there in Ezra chapter 9. I’d like you to look down at verse number. The Bible says this “Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites,”. Notice these words “have not separated themselves from the people of the lands,”. Here we have Ezra the leader who is bringing the restoration, he is leading, and he’s one of the leaders of the restoration of the nation of Israel.”. Of course, you have Ezra and Nehemiah. These two books are contemporary books. These are leaders that came back from the captivity and they are bringing biblical religion back to the land of Israel. Ezra is the spiritual leader rebuilding the temple. And Nehemiah is the political leader rebuilding the wall. And Ezra gets news from these people that he is leading.
And I want you to notice again there in the midst of verse 1, they tell him that the people have not separated themselves from the people of the land. So, he’s being told that the people of God, the people that he’s leading, they’re coming back to God. They have not separated themselves from the people of the lands. And if you’re writing things down, especially if this idea of separation is new to you, I want you to understand what the Bible teaches about separation. And the first thing that I would encourage you to kind of memorize or write down is this, when we talk about separation, it is separation from the world. He says they have not separated themselves from the people of the lands. He’s talking about the people of this world. The people that are around them. He says “doing according to their abominations,”. He says that nations around us are heathen. “have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
Verse 2 “2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons:”. Now here he’s specifically talking about the fact that they’re actually marrying. The Bible teaches this concept that we as believers should not marry unbelievers. The Bible says to be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And he’s talking about the fact that they’ve married. They’ve intermingled in marriage with unbelievers. That’s specifically what’s being done here, what’s he’s talking about. Well we could apply this to the fact that they’re just mixing themselves with the world. Notice verse 2 again. “2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy”. You see that word holy there? The word holy means separated, set apart, sanctified. He says “so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.”. And it’s interesting to me, that as the people have failed to separate themselves from the world, here Ezra is telling us that the hands of the princes and rulers have been chief in this trespass.
You know the Bible teaches this concept. The Bible doesn’t say these words but it teaches this concept, that everything rises and falls on leadership. Everything rises and falls on leadership. And here he’s saying it is the princes and the rulers who are to blame for the fact that the people have mingled themselves together. And look, when it comes to separation, it is those of us that are in leadership that are responsible for teaching those that follow us the concept and the idea of separation. Keep your place there in Ezra 9. That’s our text for this morning. But go with me if you would to 2 Corinthians 6.
When we’re talking about separation, we’re talking about separation from the world, separation from the nations among us. Look, the truth is this, for us as New Testament believers it is no different than Ezra as Old Testament Saints. The people around us are heathen. I don’t know if you know that. The people around us are committing abominations. The lands around us, the people’s lives are not pleasing to the Lord. Whose lives are not honoring to God. Whose lives in many ways are an abomination unto the Lord. And God tells us that we should be separated. We should live separated from the world. 2 Corinthians 6:14 “14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:”. He’s saying look, you ought not be yoking yourself up. You ought not be partnering up with an unbeliever. You say, why is that? Because of the fact that is an unequal yoke.
Notice he says, “for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?”. That means to have a friendship or to exercise friendship or to exercise a relationship with another individual. And he says look, what fellowship, what friendship can righteousness and unrighteousness have together. And this is a rhetorical question but the answer is obvious. He says righteousness and unrighteousness cannot fellowship together. Then he says this, “and what communion hath light with darkness?”. Communion is again fellowshipping. He says what communion hath light with darkness.
And here’s the question he’s asking. How much can you mix light with darkness? The answer is obvious. You cannot mix light and darkness. You either have light or you have darkness. But as soon as you turn on a light, the darkness goes away. As soon as you put out the light, the darkness appears. He says look, what communion hath light with darkness. Then he says this in verse 15, “15 And what concord”. That word means agreement or harmony. “hath Christ with Belial?”. Now Belial is a New Testament word that basically means the devil. He says what agreement or harmony does Jesus have with the devil? “or what part”. And he’s saying there, how much of these 2 things can take part together. “hath he that believeth with an infidel?”. And what he’s saying is this, he’s saying look, if you’re going to be a Christian that is going to live for the Lord, you’re going to have to learn to live separated from the world.
Notice verse 16, “16 And what agreement” The word agreement means to be in harmony or in accordance. “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”. We’re going to come back to that in a minute. Notice verse 17. He says “17 Wherefore”. I want you to notice the word wherefore. The word wherefore means for this reason. And you might ask what for what reason? Well, for the reasons that he just gave. Because he says “for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?”.
And the answer would be a resounding none to all of those questions. These things cannot mix. Christ and the devil cannot mix. Light and darkness cannot mix. The temple of God and the temple of idols cannot mix. And here’s what Paul would say in verse 17, he says “17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”. See, when the Bible teaches the concept, when we talk about the concept of separation, if you come to Verity Baptist Church for any length of time, you’ll hear me talk about separation from time to time. And when we’re talking about separation, I want you to understand that it is separation from the world. We are to come out from among them and be ye separate.
I want you to understand this. And I think this is where a big failure that happens when we teach and preach about separation, especially as fundamental Baptist, is. That we fail to completely help people understand the concept of separation. Because it is true when we talk about separation from the world. That’s a pretty easy concept to understand. People get it. We’re not supposed to be like the world. We’re supposed to come out from among them and be separate saith the Lord. But I want you to understand that is really only one aspect of separation. To really understand separation, you need to understand that yes, it is separation from the world, but it is for the purpose of separation unto God.
Titus 2:14 “14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,”. See, when God saved you, he saved you from all your sins, from all iniquity. But that’s not the only reason he saved you. He saved you that you might not go to hell. But it says that he might redeem us from all iniquity. And notice, “and purify”. What does the word purify mean? It means to make pure. It means to cleanse. It means to clean up. It means to sanctify. Notice, “and purify unto himself a peculiar people,”. What does peculiar mean? It means unusual, special, different, set apart. See, when God saved you, he saved you from your sins. But he also saved you with the purpose that you might be separated. Yes, from the world, unto Him. The Bible says then purify. When we talk about separation, what do we mean? It’s separated from the world and unto God.
I want you to notice what are our motivations for separation. There are really 2 motives for separation. One is negative and one is positive. We’ll start with the negative one. Because that’s the one we usually think about when we think about separation. What are our motives for separation? Separation is motivated by and should be motivated by God’s judgment. Notice verse number 3, “3 And when I heard this thing,” So Ezra is just leading and all of a sudden he gets the news that a bunch of people from the nation of Israel, people that he brought with him to help restore the temple, people that he brought with him, people that agreed and said yes Ezra we want to help you bring biblical religion back to the nation of Israel, we’re going to work with you to create a land and to create a people that is called out unto the Lord. And now he gets the news that these same people who said yes, we’ll sign up, yes, we’ll help you, yes, we’ll separate ourselves under God, these people have been intermingling and actually marrying and forming relationships with the abominable world. And I want you to notice Ezra’s response in verse three.
Ezra 9:3 “3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle,”. He ripped his clothes off. And if you read the Old Testament, you know this was often done during times of humility and grieving. It says “I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.”. That’s an old word for the word astonished.
Notice verse 4 “4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel,”. See, the truth is this, when you actually believe the Bible, you will practice separation. Because when you actually believe the Bible, then you actually believe that there is a God that judges, that you will reap what you’ve sown. So here Ezra, he’s reading the bible. He understands the Bible. The Bible says that he was a ready scribe. And when he heard about this, he knew the consequences so he “rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.” Or astonished. “4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.”.
Verse 5 “5 And at the evening sacrifice I arose up” Notice the words “from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God,”. And by the way, in the Bible, the only time you see people spreading up their hands to God is during private prayer. This whole worship time, getting your hands up, you only see raising their hands up is in a time of grief like this, when they’re calling out to God as their father. He says “I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, 6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee,”. And here we see the heart of Ezra as a leader. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Ezra right here is broken. Now I’ll tell you, I’ve never led a nation but I’ve led a church. And I will tell you that sometimes you watch people make decisions and make mistakes and begin to go down a road. And those of us who tremble at the words of the God of Israel know where that will lead. And it weighs on you. It’s heavy.
He said I arose from my heaviness. He said “I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. 7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.”. Notice in verse 14, “14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations?”. The word affinity means to join in partnership, to create an alliance. He said “14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?”.
I want you to notice and please understand this. He said what should motivate me to live a separated life from the world unto God. You know the first thing that ought to motivate you is the fact that God is a God of judgment. I mean if we were to draw close to God, if you were to be alone with God and lift up your eyes to God and lift up your hands to God and actually say “God, is my life pleasing to you?”. You might find yourself ashamed and blush to even lift up your face unto God. See, the motivation for separation ought to be judgment, ought to be the judgment of God. Listen dad. When you watch your children making wrong decisions and going down the wrong road, there ought to be a heaviness on you that drives you to your knees in prayer and saying “God, I’m ashamed. I lift up my eyes to you”. Like job would sacrifice for his children. Hey as a pastor, sometimes the sins of the church weigh on me. Most of the problems we have in a church like this are due to Carnal Christianity. And it can be heavy. The Bible says
“17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”.
And here we see Ezra having to give an account for those that are following him. He’s not doing it with joy. He’s doing it with grief because he realizes that these decisions…Please listen to me. Choices have consequences. You don’t get to just live for yourself and do what you want and “I’m going to do this. I’m going to do that and go there. And I’m going to just get involved in this sin and that sin”. Look, your decisions will have consequences. You say what should motivate us to live godly as Christians and have a separated life? Well what ought to motivate you or scare you is the judgment of God, the fear of the Lord. The Bible says “The beginning of knowledge”. Separation should be motivated by the judgment of God. That’s the negative. Let me give you a positive thought.
Not only should separation be motivated by God’s judgment, separation should be motivated by God’s love. Notice verse 8. And I love these words when it comes to revival. And this passage on revival, Ezra chapter 9, is probably one of my favorite passages when it comes to the idea of revival. “8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God,”. I don’t know about you but aren’t you thankful that God for a little space has showed grace to you and grace to me. “8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes,”. The idea there is to give hope to our eyes. Is given a chance to our eyes. Notice these words in verse 8 “and give us a little reviving in our bondage.”.
You say, you guys are so negative. You want me to serve God because God’s going to punish me and God’s going to judge me and there’s going to be consequences and God’s going to come down hard on me. And look, you ought to serve God for all those reasons. But if you don’t like the negative, how about this? Why don’t you serve God? Because you love God. Why don’t you serve God? Because for a little space grace have been showed to you. Because God has allowed an opportunity for a little reviving in our bondage. Notice verse 9 “9 For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us” Aren’t you thankful that God doesn’t forsake . “God hath not forsaken us in our bondage,” But notice these words “but hath extended mercy unto us”. God has given a little reviving. “but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. 10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,”. He’s saying God, when you have been so good to me and to us, how could we but separate ourselves. Yes, from the world. But you know, even more than that, unto God.
Look at verse 11 “11 Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.”. Look at verse 13 “13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;”. You know every single one of us can say God has punished us less than our iniquities deserve. God has shown a little grace, a little space of grace unto us. We were in bondage and God has given the opportunity for a little reviving. And God has punished us less than our iniquities deserve. And you say, why does that matter? Look, when you realize that God has punished you less than you deserve, maybe that would motivate you to live for him.
See, there is a motivation for separation. God’s going to come down on you. God’s going to correct you. God will chastise you. You will reap what you sow. There are consequences for the choices we make. And that’s real and that’s true and we don’t want to minimize that. But even more than that, God loves you. God sent his Son to die on the cross for you. That you deserve to die and go to hell. And look, if God had allowed all of us to die and go to hell, he would have been justified. And yet he has showed a little grace, a little space of grace. He has not forsaken us. He has given us a little reviving. We ought to live for God, we ought to live separated lives just as a result of the love of God.
Titus 2:11 “11 For the grace of God”. Usually when we talk about the grace of God, we talk about salvation. That’s what he says. “11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,”. What’s the grace of God? The theological term for the word grace is unmerited favor. Favor that you did not merit, that you did not deserve, that you did not earn. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works,”. Not earned. Not merited. He says in Titus 2:11 “11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,”. Notice verse 12 “12 Teaching us”. What is he teaching us? The grace of God, the grace that brought down salvation, the grace that brought down forgiveness, the grace that brought down mercy to us. That same grace that saved you ought to teach us “that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;”. You say why should I live soberly? Why should I live righteously? Why should I live godly? Because of the grace of God.
You teenagers say, I don’t like all these rules. Hey, how about you forget the rules and just realize that God has allowed you to be raised in a home where you have a mom and dad who love you. God is allowing you to be raised in a home. You say well, my home has problems. Your home may have problems and here’s what I know, there are a whole lot of kids in this world that wish they were in a home that would bring them to a place like this. God has given you a little space of grace and God has given you a little time of reviving. You say well, I don’t like our little room. Ok. Well how about you just keep the rules because you love God. For the grace of God bringeth salvation and the grace of God is what teaches us that we have to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly.
Sometimes we struggle. I mean Jesus said if you love me keep my Commandments. I mean the Bible says that the first command, the greatest commandment, is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all soul, with all thy might. And the second is like unto it, to love thy neighbor as thyself. And you say “Well, I struggle with this idea of loving God. I mean do I really love God? I’m not motivated to love God”. And this is because we begin sometimes with the concept of love in the wrong place. See, when you begin with the concept of your love for God, you’ve already lost because that’s not how it works. The truth is this in 1 John 4:19. The Bible says “19 We love him, because he first loved us.”. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
You say, I don’t have a motivation to love the Lord. Well maybe you ought to focus on the fact that God loved you. Dwell on the idea that God sent down his Son for you, that God has shown a little reviving to you, that God has not punished you as badly as he should have or could have. He has punished us less than our iniquities deserve. When we begin with the thought of God’s love toward us, then hey, “We love Him because He first loved us”. Paul said this, the love of Christ constraineth us. The concept of separation from the world unto God, yeah maybe initially or temporarily by the judgment of God. But in the long run, it ought to be motivated by the love of God.
It’s like marriage. A young man gets married a young lady. They walk on an altar. They make vows. In that process, they are committing themselves to each other. For better or worse, richer or poorer. Till death do us part. But what they’re also doing is separating themselves from everyone else. There is a separation for a young man. I’m separating myself from every other young lady out there and I’m separating myself unto this young lady. That I am committing my life to a young lady. I’m separating myself from every other young woman out there and I am committing myself unto this woman. And look, you ought not to live your marriage the entire time like “Oh, so many rules and bondage”. You ought to be motivated by love. A husband ought to be motivated by the love of his wife, by the fact that he loves his wife. The fact that his wife ought to be motivated by the fact that she loves him. To maintain separation from others.
We would use the analogy of a parent. I mean this is the analogy that God uses. He calls himself the father. Look, please understand this, and we’re raising our children and they are young. There is initially a motivation of judgment called spankings. If you’re not doing it, you need to start. Because look, this is how God motivates us. The punishment motivates us. But eventually there should come a point, and this doesn’t always happen, but there should come a point in child-rearing where there is a transfer that’s done. Where kids go from listening to mom and dad because of the judgment, because they’re going to spank them. But now they are listening just because they actually love them and respect them. Because they don’t want to hurt them. There should come a point in the relationship of a child where you transition.
“I actually just love your parents. I don’t want to hurt my parents. If I do this, if I partake in this sin, it’s going to hurt them. I want to be like Ezra lifting up hands to God in shame. I wish not to do that”. Now I’m not preaching about this this morning, but let me just go ahead and say this to you kids out there. Let that motivate you to do right. That your sin will hurt your parents, that your sin will break their hearts. Let that be a motivation. We love Him. And by the way, you say I love my parents. You know why? Because they first loved you. We love Him because He first loved us.
We talked about what separation is. What is separation? Separation is from the world unto God. It is motivated by judgment initially but it ought to look in the maturing Christians life, it ought to go from the judgment of God to being motivated by the love of God. The love of Christ constraineth us. Look, please understand me. I’m not trying to demotivate you. I realize sometimes when I talked this frankly with people, it’s demotivating, and I don’t really understand why, and I’m praying the Holy Spirit helps me. But if getting up and going soulwinning on Saturday morning is just a huge “Oh I hate it so much. If I don’t do it Pastor will make me feel bad.”. Please do me a favor and just stay home. Why do you go soul-winning? You ought to go soulwinning because you love the Lord. You ought to get up on a Saturday morning and say “Someone took the time to give me the gospel. Someone took the time to share with me the plan of salvation. I was on my way to hell and someone took the time to invest in me and the love of Christ constraineth me. God has punished me less than my iniquities deserve. God has given me a little space of grace. God has given me a little reviving”.
And that love ought to motivate you. You say, if I don’t show up to Sunday night church then Pastor won’t let me be an usher, won’t let me play in the orchestra. You ought to show up to Sunday church because you love God. You ought to get up and read your Bible because you love the Lord. And if you’re doing it out of just keeping rules, you’re never going to make it in the Christian life. Because the judgment and the punishment can only motivate you for a while. Look, that only ought to motivate you when you’re 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10-year-old. By the time you’re 19 or 20, you ought to just listen to your parents because you love them, you respect them. And look, in the Christian life, you “I better do it because Pastor said”. You’re showing us your immaturity as a Christian. Because eventually the love of Christ ought to constrain us. The grace of God that bringeth salvation ought to teach us to deny ungodliness, worldly lusts, that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly.
We talked about what separation is. Let’s talk about what separation does. Look at Isaiah chapter 9. There’s two things separation does. And maybe you can write this down. Number one, separation cuts ties with the world. Separation from the world. Separation cuts ties with the world. Isaiah 9:12, Ezra just got done with his great prayer on revival. He prays and pours out his heart to God. Now he gives us his action plan. He says this in verse 12, “12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever:”. You cannot love the Lord and love the Lord’s enemies. What Concord, what agreement, what part has light with darkness. Righteousness with unrighteousness. Christ with Belial. He says, “nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.”. Look at verse 13, “13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;”. He’s saying look, we need to cut ties with the world, from the world.
Go back to James. Why do I have to cut ties from the world? Here’s why, because you cannot live in agreement with the world and in agreement with God. It’s impossible for light and darkness. They cannot mix. James 4:4 “4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?”. It’s interesting to me because he uses this terminology adulterer and adulteress. He is talking about marriage. Look, please understand something, when you’re married, you’re a man and you’re married to a lady. You’re a lady and you’re married to a man. Developing a friendship with another woman puts me at enmity with my wife. Well I saw what the world teaches, that’s not what Facebook teaches. I don’t care what Facebook teaches. That’s the truth. If you’re a lady married to this man then look, as soon as you get married you can’t have any other male friends. Men, soon as you get married you can’t have any other female friends. You say “Show me that in the Bible”. Okay. Ye adulterers and adulteresses. We’re the Bride of Christ. We’re married to Christ. The friendship of the world is enmity. When enmity means puts you at odds with God. “whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”.
See, you cannot be a friend of the world and be a friend of God. It doesn’t work that way. If you’re a friend of the world, you’re the enemy of God. There’s no neutral, there’s no middle ground, there’s no dead man zone. You’re either an enemy of God and a friend of the world or an enemy of the world and a friend of God. You can’t have it both ways. This is why the Bible says “2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,”. 1 John 2:15 “15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.”. Here’s what separation is, separation is from the world unto God. Here’s what separation does, it cuts ties with the world. “15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”.
Verse 16 “16 For all that is in the world,”. That means everything. It doesn’t say for some or a few things, it says for all. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”. He says look, if you’re going to live a separated life, you have to learn to cut ties with the world because you cannot be a friend of the world, it puts you at enmity with God. Go back to the book of Ezra.
Separation cuts ties with the world. “For all that is in the world”. Look, you got to look at your life and decide what is in my life that is from the world. You say “I don’t know what that means”. Okay, that is conformed. Romans 12:2 “2 And be not conformed to this world:”. The word conformed is patterned after. That looks like the world, that acts like the world, that smells like the world, that sounds like the world. What is in your life that is patterned after the world? Because Paul said hey, be not conformed to this world. This is why you walk into Verity Baptist Church. It doesn’t look like a rock concert in here. You say, most churches you walk into nowadays, the lights are off. They’ve got some strobe lights and lasers and fog machines. Why do they do it? Because they’re conformed to the world. Because people like rock concerts. They’re trying to make their church seem like a rock concert.
We’re not trying to make this church like anything that resembles the world. Be not conformed to this world. What does separation do? It cuts ties with the world. Here’s number 2, separation craves a relationship with God. Notice verse 14. “14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? 15 O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.”. Ezra says, we cannot stand before thee while not practicing separation. We cannot have fellowship with you while having fellowship with the world. What does separation do? It cuts ties with the world and it craves a relationship with God.
Go back to 2 Corinthians 6. These are probably the quintessential verses on separation in the Bible. If you had one verse to kind of explain separation or one passage to explain separation to someone, this is probably where you should take them. We already looked at it today but let’s look at it again. “16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said,”. Now he just got done telling us in the previous verse, hey, there’s no concord, there’s no a partnership, there’s no mixing of light and darkness. Evil and good. Christ and Belial. Now he says this, “16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said,”. Notice these words “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;” Notice the last part of verse 17. “and I will receive you.”.
See, it’s separation from the world, which cuts ties with the world. And its separation unto God, which craves a relationship with God. What separation does is allows you to walk with God. What separation does is that it allows you to live in agreement with God. Amos 3:3 “3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”. There’s a concept taught in Scripture that you cannot walk and fellowship with someone and not be in agreement with that individual. You cannot walk with God and not be in agreement with God. This is why friendship with the world is enmity with God. “Can two walk together except they be agreed”.
We have a YouTube channel here that the Lord has blessed. And it’s a blessing to lots of people. And people listen to it, all over the country, all over the world. From time to time, good people, well-meaning people, and we’re not mad at them of course, from time to time people will send us stuff all from all over the country, all the world. Clips and videos and things and say maybe you can use this in one of your videos. Or you can use this in one of your documentaries. You could use this and that. And sometimes I look at these things and I think to myself, man this is great content but I can’t use this. The music is too worldly. I can’t use this, just the way they’re acting, the way they’re interacting, it’s just too worldly. Look, it is important that we maintain separation from the world. Why? Because you cannot walk with God while in fellowship with the world. God says love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, it’s not of the Father, it’s of the world. In your life and in my life, we have to consider this idea of separation.
Go back to Ezra 9. While you turn there, let me say this, separation should not dominate the Christian life. I think the reason that people shy away from the concept of separation, the reason that churches like these that teach separation are much less popular than the church that says – Come as you are and don’t change anything, Come on in all worldly and lustful and drunk, just come on in no problem. You know the reason that those churches in my opinion are so popular is because we have this idea that separation dominates. With a church like Verity Baptist Church, the lie is that it’s going to dominate me, it’s going to put me in bonds, all these rules and my hairs got to be this long, and my skirt better be this long or whatever. You know you have all these rules.
Please get this. If you think that way, if we’ve done anything to make you think that or feel that way about separation, I’m sorry. We failed to communicate separation. Because separation in the Christian life is not something that should dominate you, put you in bondage. Separation should not dominate. But I will say this, separation should permeate the Christian life. It should not dominate but it should permeate. What does that mean? It means that it should be taken into every area of your life. In a sermon like this, the tendency is to go through a big long list of things that you ought to live separated. And I don’t think anything is wrong with that. And I might do that from time to time. But honestly, I’d rather let the Holy Spirit do it. I can say this though, in the Christian life, separation ought to permeate every area of your life.
Look, when you get up and get dressed in the morning, you got to ask yourself “Am I being separated in my dress from the world and unto God? Am I dressing like the world? Is this something God would find honoring”. When it comes to your music, you got to ask yourself, is this separate from the world and unto God? When it comes to what you consume, what you drink, what you put in your body, is this honoring to God? Is this separate from the world? When it comes to what you watch, what you read. Sometimes you say, are you trying to dominate? Separation shouldn’t dominate but it should permeate your Christian life.
What do you allow your kids to read? Is it separate from the world and unto God? What kind of entertainment do you allow in your home? Is it separate from the world and unto God? Little kids watching videos with worldly music, don’t be surprised when they’re listening to a bunch of worldly music as teenagers. Is it separate from the world unto God? Look, the love of Christ constraineth us. Separation doesn’t dominate you. It doesn’t dominate my life, doesn’t dominate my wife’s life, doesn’t dominate our home, but it should permeate everything we do. Everything we do should be pleasing to the Lord. Is this something that I can do in agreement with God? Is this separate from the world? Not for the sake of just separation from the world. Look, some people think separation is just for the sake of separation. You start going down that road, you’re going to become Amish. I mean that’s the truth. “We can’t use technology”. Well look, is God against you using a phone? It’s not separation for the sake of separation. It is the purpose of separation from the world unto God.
Look at verse 15 again, “15 O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.”. Please get this. Is there something in your life cutting off fellowship between you and God? If there is, you got to cut the tie, crave a relationship to God. And allow separation, the concept, the idea, to permeate your life. Because here’s the thing, you say how does this connect to revival? Can two walk together except they be agreed? We learned in the first week what is revival. It is to know God and to make God known. How can you know God, how can you walk with God when you’re living at enmity with God?
Let’s pray.