What Does It Mean To Be Separate From The World?


God has called his people to be a separate people. Separate from sin, separate from the lusts of the world. We are to be led by God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, not the fashions and trends of the world. It is not necessarily a very popular doctrine, separation, but I believe it is a topic that is all through the scripture from cover to cover.

The church is the bride of Christ. Our affections are to be towards him. When the church chases after the world, when we love the things of our secular society more than we love Jesus, we are in a sense committing socail adultury. It’s a powerful influence. I feel like the world and the social influence and social pressures of our day are hitting us like a tsunami. They hitting us like a flood and we reel and stare at some of the things that we sense and feel and experience.

I typed in “the dangers of social networking” on Google and looked at the total. There are about 339,000 results for that search. Certainly, the majority of them are secular. Many of them are revealing the dangers of identity, fraud and crime and, all the things that are going on out there. I need to share this message that burdens my heart in the dangers that I see and the things that I feel we are facing. And I’m not going to go into a lot of detail and give a lot of practical applications, but I want demonstrate that this is a very real fight in a very real battle.

I would say it is beyond anything I have ever seen in the past. In the past Christians have been told to get rid of your television. Don’t go to the movies and don’t visit the dancehall and don’t play cards. Don’t go to the bars to get your food, go to a restaurant that doesn’t serve alcohol. Those are the kinds of things that have been preached and taught in separated churches for years upon years. Pastors taught the need for Christians to separate themselves in that way and it was relatively easy to do.

As Christians, we have tried to stay out of the red light districts of the major cities of America other than to preach the gospel at the edge, which I’ve done a few times. We have drawn a clear line of separation. But I tell you, this day in which we live, it is very, very different. All of the things that I talked about and worse are only a click away in our bedrooms and our living rooms. Today, you are able to cruise the most sin cursed world we could have ever imagined in the of your own home. God help us and deliver us.

James 4:4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

Did you read that? This is not just our common scripture that we’ve heard a thousand times and it goes to one in one ear and out the other. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not? Don’t you know, don’t you? Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand? Is it not common knowledge to you, that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?

Absolute enmity and “whosoever, therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” Now that in itself is staggering verse and statement for anybody and the gravity of it and the weight of it. I don’t know if we can even closely comprehend in our time in our day. We’re living in this world, butGod says we are to be in the world but not of the world.

God has made provision, by his grace for us to walk through this world and not be a part of the world and not be overtaken by the world. But this is talking about social adultury. We know what adultery is. When we look at that word, we understand that is an unfaithfulness in the marriage. Well, when a man or a woman reaches outside of the bonds of marriage and sleeps with another partner that is what is normally considered adultery. And we are looking at a social adultery.

We see that men are reaching outside of Christ and the confines of the Christian Church. Outside of Christian fellowship and are committing adultery with our world, with the sin and corruption in the world. Under God’s law, adultery is illegal and they’re doing that which is illegal to do.

We see the same warning in 1 John 2:15-16 “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. 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.”

John says the same thing as James. “If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him.” So many Christians want to have one foot in the church or one foot in God and one foot in the world, but the Bible is telling us in both these passages and many others that that is an impossibility.

If you are a friend of the world and you love the world you are in enmity to God and the love of the Father is not in you. In other words, you cannot be a Christian.

Do not let the world draw you away from God

We all know the flood that is against us and the temptations that we face. They are very real. You cannot leave your house without the world enticing you.Billboards advertise the most wicked of places that men can go. Women and men only half dress, drawing your eyes to their bodies. T-Shirts proclaim filth and degenracy. Store windows advertise ungodly fashions. We cannot help but be exposed to the filth of the sinful world.

That’s not what I am talking about. I am talking about our response to this wickedness. About the love of the world, when we go outside of the confines of the commitment of Christ and, and embrace the things of the world that draw us away from Christ. Even worse, that we allow these things in our homes through the internet and television. The internet is a useful tool, but it is dangerous.

James 4:4 refers to those who are unfaithful to their covenant with God by neglecting their duty to him and giving themselves to the indulgence of their own lusts and passions. The idea is you have in effect broken your marriage covenant with God by loving the world more than him and by the indulgence of your carnal inclinations to get it. You have violated those obligations to self mortification and self denial to which you are bound by your Christian engagement. To convince them of the evil of this, the apostle shows them what is the true nature of the friendship.

The term world here is to be understood not as the physical world that God made. We’re not talking about the mountains. We’re not talking about the lakes, the rivers and the fields and the green grass and all of that. We’re talking about a world system, a world spirit, and that which the devil is the author of. Under the control of the prince of the power of the air. That spirit that works in the children of disobedience.

Satan said to Jesus, “all this will I give you.” He showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said, “all of these, will I give you if you will just bow down and worship me.” Today, we see the promises of the world. The advertising that promises us fulfillment, happiness, if we will only forsake God and go after the things of the devil.

According John, the friendship of the world is a love of that world. The maxims which govern it, the principles which reign there, the amusements and gratifications which characterize it distinguishes from the things of God. The world insists on setting our hearts on those things and conforming to them and making them be object of our pursuit. It’s the same things which are sought by those who make no pretensions to religion. The world is set against God. It neither obeys his laws, submits to his claims, nor seeks to honor him. To love that world sets us against God and the spirit that would lead us to this, in fact, is a spirit of hostility to God.

“Whosoever, therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” It doesn’t matter who it is. There is no security from that if you choose to do it
and go that way. Whoever he may be, whether in the church or out of it. The fact of being a member of a church makes little difference in this respect for it is as easy to be a friend of the world in the church. The phrase, “whosoever will” implies purpose, intention, design. It’s supposes the heart is set on it and that there is a deliberate purpose to seek the friendship of the world.

It refers to that strong desire which often exists even among professing Christians to secure the friendship of a world, to copy it’s fashions and vanities. To enjoy its pleasures and share it’s pastimes and it’s friendships. Those that purpose to find their chosen friends and associates in the world, rather than among the Christians. Whenever that happens, wherever there is a greater desire to enjoy the company of a sinful world, than there is to enjoy the smiles and the joy and the comfort of God’s people, that is the love of the world.

When this happens, we are in trouble. We have neglected our duties, our Saviour and lost the enjoyment of true religion. We have become the enemy of God. This is the most solemn declaration the scripture makes. And it applies to many who are members of the church. You cannot be a true Christian if you’re going to be in love with that world out there.

We have churches that are full of what we consider worldly and carnal professing Christians, but God’s word calls that whole situation into doubt and into question. The Bible tells us that it’s an impossibility for us to live in that way.

I do not believe in separation just for separation’s sake. We’ve seen a lot of that in ultra conservative and traditional churches. They’d just say separation, separation, separation. You can’t do this. You can’t do that. You can’t dress this way or that way. That can be pretty dead and lead to a formalism that is also not life giving. But we need to be separated from world lusts and separated to God. Separated unto the truth, holiness and purity.

There is joy there. There is a peace that the world cannot give. The world is a hectic place. Full of activities, constantly seeking fulfillment through entertainment, physical relationships and alcohol. With God, just walking with him, spending time with Christians, stepping away from the world’s noise and business, fills Christians with joy unspeakable.

It is very important that in seeking friendship that we find our friends and our associations in our social life with the Christians. That can be difficult. Many Christians live where there are not other people who share their convictions. They get lonely. College students find themselves drawn into worldly activities, just to have the company of people. Single people can be lonely and seek companionship where the world gathers. I believe God’s grace is sufficient there.

It is important though, to seek out those of like precious faith and join them and unite with them, in order to have fellowship one with another in the things of God.

One other problem we have with spiritual or social adultery is when we prefer the amusements of the world to the activities where spiritually minded Christians find their chief happiness. This is some of the flood that I feel coming in upon us now. Going to a game, or taking a vacation will give us a reason to miss church. Parents will place nonessential, worldly activities for their children aove spiritual things. They will miss church meetings or ministry opportunities to take their child to a soccer game. Somehow the whole thing of missing a service and forsaking the assembling of yourselves together is less important than personal pleasure and activity.

Many Christians lament the that young people are leaving the church as soon as they leave home, yet fail to see that they have failed to show the importance, and the joy, of church life over secular activity. We teach our children to love the world and then wonder why they do not love God.

We must examine ourselves with the deepest seriousness to determine whether we are a friend of the world or whether we’re not. It’s going to take a little bit of a prayer and reading and study and perhaps some fasting and hearing from other Christians to find our way through the maze of this whole matter. But I believe that God is interested the showing you where your heart is and directing us out of it and helping us find our way.

Genesis 3:1-3, “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

Starting back in Genesis, there was a tree in the midst of the garden that Adam and Eve were told they shouldn’t eat from or even touch. We often wonder why did God put that tree in the middle of the garden? Why did he do such a thing? And it’s very clear. You need to understand that God wants creatures of choice to spend eternity with him, to be his bride. He does not want a bunch of robots who have no choice of anything.

The woman gave unto the man and he did eat.

God has planted that tree in the midst of every one of your gardens. Likewise, and you are taught by God’s word and by his Spirit and should be by your parents, that there are some things you can touch and eat of it and other things that you cannot touch and not eat of it. And that is a decision. And that’s what God wants of everyone. He wants our hearts and our devotion just as a man or woman want that from their spouse. Not out of obligation, but out of love.

Romans 8:13 “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”

God started that at the beginning and all down through the ages it is clearly repeated over and over again, “in the day that you eat or touch that thing, you’re going to die.” God has reiterated again in the New Testament. So clearly, “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die.” But he that lives to the Spirit. you’re going to live and have life everlasting. And that is a choice that everyone has to make. And if you come to that and draw the line and make the right choices, then God wants to have you as his bride and spend eternity with you.

James 2:26 “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

Our works do not save us. Salvation comes only through the finished work of Jesus Christ and trusting in him, recieving him. But, “faith without works is dead,” James 2:20 and James 2:26. Our works, the decision we make to love God and forsake the lusts of this fallen world, show our faith is true. Let not one think he can love the world and also love God.

So I think that is very, very important that we understand that there’s a tree in every one of our gardens that way.

Numbers 33:50-53,55-56 “And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it. But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them.”

The Lord is speaking to Moses and tells him that in this land of Canaan you will destroy the molten images, meaning the idols, and the high places, those places they worshipped their gods. Moses is to drive the people out of the land, that God’s people not intermingle with them. God’s people were not to have freindship with the people of Canaan or their gods. If they did, there would be terrible consequences.

God made it clear to Moses, that if the Israelites were to have friendship with the world, if they allowed the gods of Canaan, the idols and images to be in their midst, then God would not accept them, but would do unto them as he would do unto the heathen.

God made it clear to Adam and Eve, there were some things they were not to eat. he made it clear to Moses, there were things in the land they were to have no part of. And God makes it clear to us, that we are to be separated from the lusts of the world. We cannot have love for the world and love for God. We cannot worship the things the lost worship, treasure the things they treasure, if those things are in opposition to or in place of God.

The world can be very attractive and appealing. There is some fun out there and there are some things to be enjoyed, but in the end it’ll bite you like a serpent and bring destruction to your soul. It looked good, seemed good to eat, but it destroyed Adam. That’s the thing we need to know and understand. We need to make the right choices as we go through life.

Now I’d like to go to the life of Solomon. He was a godly man and he had a long reign and he chose wisdom instead of a lot of other things he could have asked for. God honored him for that and gave it to him and gave him the mightiest kingdom and the history of the world. We have never heard of any time in history where a man had a kingdom like this man.

But I want you to notice something in 1 Kings 3:1-2, “And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord, until those days.”

Now here is where I believe that King Solomon went wrong. He made affinity and I want you to get that word. That word is a marriage word. It is talking about a marriage covenant, a between a man and a woman. That’s what the way that a word is used in the Hebrew. And so we notice here that Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh with a heathen king. Now he was told clearly by the law of God never to do that, and that he should have nothing to do with a heathen like that. He shouldn’t go there. He shouldn’t have anything to do with them. And he shouldn’t take a wife from them. There were supposed to be a clear line of separation between the heathen and God’s people or Israel.

But he made an affinity, a covenant with them. He got too close and the next thing you know, he took Pharaoh’s daughter, which was strictly forbidden for him. He should have never touched her. He should have never looked at her other than seeing her for what she was, just a worldly girl. He should have kept his hands off and left her go. That’s where King Solomon, I believe, started going wrong, yet for a timee is still blessed. Solomon asked for wisdom in this very chapter, chapter three. God gave it to him and blessed him and he had it in abundance and he prospered and was blessed.

Sometimes, we will perceive that we are being blessed, even in our disobedience. We will do what we know is wrong, yet things seem to be going right for you. Or we see a church member going against God’s express commands, yet prospering. We begin to think that God’s love does not demand obedience. We start slipping into the world, thinking it is okay.

But over in 1 Kings 11 we noticed something else happened. But King Solomon loved many women and they turned him to worshipping other gods.

“But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father.
Then did Solomon build
an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the Lord commanded,” 1 Kings 11:1-10

King Solomon loves strange women in direct violation to the scripture. He disobeyed and he had 700 wives, princesses and 300 concubines. When he was old, his wives began to work on him. They had no connection to the temple and they weren’t Jews. Solomon was old and wanted to please his wives. God had blessed him despite his disobedience. He lost the conviction to do right in the eyes of God. He may have thought, as so many do today, that God loves me and will not judge my sin.

I want you to notice something, too. He did it on the hill outside of Jerusalem. There was the most glorious temple that man had ever built and the great glory of God had come down. Things were going well for Solomon. He prospered and the kings and the queens from around the world came to see of the wisdom and wealth of Solomon.

Then at the request of his wives, Solomon went to a hill and built places of worship for other gods. On that hill outside of Jerusalem, in plain sight of the worship of God. Here the Jews were going in and out. And by that time, you know, children were born and, there was intermingling and the rules began to break down. And the clear line that they had of the God they were supposed to serve began to weaken. It was that the Jews could come down the path and make a choice whether they wanted to go to the high places of the false gods or go all the way to go to the temple to worship and the offer sacrifices for their sins. Confusion set in on top of that, it’s very evident that this thing began to corrupt. It began to take root in the minds of the people and corrupt their worship.

And from then on, for 300 years, they had those temples, they had those those high places. It was not until Josiah came along that they started hacking those things to pieces and breaking them down and to pull on the bones of the false prophets out of the tombs and burning them and destroying them and grinding them to powder.

All those kinds of things for 300 years stood there and king after king after king let them stand. Solomon made affinity with Pharoah. He married many women and had many more. He gave into his wives desires and turned from God. We can look at Solomn’s live, how God gave him such wondrous blessings and wonder how he could walk after strange women and strange gods. But look at the belssings God has bestowed upon us. The great wealth of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Yet, like Solomon, we’re making affinities with carnal and worldly people and our hearts are drawn away and drawn out after these carnal and worldly things. And so the church and it’s people are being ensnared and drawn down and pull in by family gatherings, by reunions, by carnal cousins, by beer drinkers and the cigarette smokers. And we can’t say a word, it’s family, it’s friends, it’s work associates. We start letting little things of the world creep in. We make excuses for the things we allow. We will go places and do things that we would never do with our church family. We expose our children to the pleasures of the world and wonder why they end up forsaking the faith.

1 Corinthians 15:33 “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.”

Solomon made a terrible mistake here. He built those temples and built those altars. And those high places were there for 300 years before God raised up a man called Josiah. Josiah tore down those high places. Josiah was a man that loved God. But for 300 years those things were a snare. Solomon not only caused himself much harm, but his actions split a nation and caused many to leave God.

When we love the world we are enemies of God. Enemies becauseour actions are not only between us and God, but because they can cause so many others to stumble and fall. When we turn our hearts from God, we can cause others to turn from God also.

1 Corinthians 10:14 “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.”
1 John 5:21 “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Keep yourselves from idols. Solomon turned to idols. Today, we have many idols. Our young people have sports idols and music idols. Even so-called Christian singers are caught up in many shameful sins and indescreet fashion. And our young people emulate them. They see these people that are apparently beingblessed by God, with wealth and popularity. The message being sent, and received, is that God doesn’t judge the “little things.” That God will over look sin, if we just claim to be Christian.

Our people, good Christian people, are picking up slang language. Just pitiful slang language. I have seen Christian friends post memes on Facebook with cuss words. When I ask them about it, they defend sharing it because the message is good. The language is bad, but the message is good. That is how they defend it. If the messenger uses wicked words, how can we trust the message?

Ephesians 5:4-7, “Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.”

Don’t have anything to do with them. The Bible is clear on this, yet too many Christians will not heed this command. “Oh, they’re my friends. I mean, I didn’t mean nothing by it, you know? No problem.”

We meet friends or family and we partake of the things they love. We watch sports games on television, with half naked cheerleaders and commercials promoting alcohol with them. Our children see us loving the same things the lost do. Then we wonder why our children cannot discern right and wrong. We wonder why our children, like Solomon, are lead away from God by the world.

There is a lie that many Christians cling to. The idea that in order to win the world, we must be like the world. If we separate ourselves from unGodly activities, then we won’t be able to witness to the lost. I’ve heard Christian men, even pastors, justify their love of professional sports. They say they go to the events to “be a witness.” Christian parents sending their children to government run schools, with unsaved teachers, teaching ungodly things, and defending it by saying they want their child to be a light in that world. But really, who’s winning who?

Another thing I see is what social networking is doing. It’s breaking down the doors and breaking down the reserve of boys and girls. Unconverted boys are with converted girls and converted boys are with unconverted girls, chit-chatting around and, and joking and laughing.

If you keep doing that, if you break those things down in your life, it will cause you to have affinity with the things of the world. You will be doing things that you will not want to do. You will be going places you will not want to go. You will be giving an amen to a life that you will not want to give an amen to. These associations are eroding the convictions that we have been brought up with.

Isaiah 59:14-15 “And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.”

You know what the favorite scripture is in the Bible? It’s not John 3:16. It’s don’t judge, don’t judge. And they’ve shut our mouth and we can’t judge anymore. Even in the church, we can’t hardly judge without getting in trouble with each other. There is certainly a judgment that is harsh and wrong and out of place, but quoting the scripture to the situation and standing upon the belief in the practice of it, that’s what we want to see.

Psalm 1:1 “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”

Meditate upon that. Don’t you walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Don’t you stand though with a bunch of sinners and spend hours and hours and hours socializing with them. I know in our workplace we often have to do that and hopefully, we have our guards up. We can survive in that, but don’t do it in your social free time. Build your affinities with godly people. With somebody who encourages you and will build your conviction and add something to you, not somebody who continually tears you down or you’ll lose out.

Psalm 1:5 “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” They’re not supposed to be in the church. Do you believe that? We have churches trying to fill the pews with the lost, yet God says, sinners should not stand in the congregation of the righteous. We are to take the Gospel to the lost. Let them come to faith first, then bring them into the congregation.

2 Thessalonians 3:14 “And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.”

“If any man obey, not our word by this epistle.” Don’t you ever let anybody tell you that Paul was a bit extreme. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:37 “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.”

Separate from sin

If you find anybody who is not willing to obeythe word by this epistle, note that man and separate yourself, don’t have come new in that crowd.

I have met many young people while ministering in juvenile detention centers. So many of them say they went wrong because of an older brother or sister, or friends, enticing them into unlawful activities. When a group of people are together, somehow the thoughts of what to do escalates in a wrong way, just naturally happens. When a bunch of children are together without supervision, what happens? One suggest the other one do something and the other one tries to out do that and so on.

1 Corinthians 5:11 “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.”

“I wrote unto you in an Epistle,” Paul says, “not to company with fornicators.” And so many people just think, there’s no way I can help him. If you want to help them, like Jesus helped him, that’s fine. Take Your New Testament in your hand, call for an appointment or knock on their door or go to see your cousins and sit down and share your heart with them and help them to see that the path they’re on is the wrong path. That way you can go all you want, but that’s so different from the social adultery that I’m talking about.

Incidentally, I don’t believe in sports evangelism either. I don’t believe in social events as evangelism. Events where you spend all your time doing what they want to do in their sinful ways, (and the sports may not be so sinful), and then at the end, just a little bit of a word about the Lord Jesus. First of all, it’s not in the Bible. Stick by the scripture and do it God’s way. And that is to go and preach the Gospel, to sit down and share the Lord Jesus Christ with them out of the scriptures and help them to see their need of a saviour and how they can have victory over sin and share your own testimony. You can do it in a nice loving way, but do it with that in mind and with that purpose. If you do it just as a secondary thought, it just doesn’t work. I don’t believe it does. I’m not saying nobody ever got converted in that way. I will not say that, but I do not believe it’s biblical evangelism.

Separation from the world is a huge subject throughout the Bible. We are on the verge of collapse in many areas and we are making affinity with the world. We are buying into the world and we are embracing it in the name of love and all of these things. And it is eroding our convictions. It is eroding our stance for Christ. It is eroding our upright moral life. And in many, many ways the churches are being broken down by these things.

I’m here to say this is a trap that is lying your door and at my door. Where you will you draw line? Will you speak up about these things, will you share your convictions with other Christians? Will you put away the things that do not bring glory to God? Come back to the tried and true proven ways of God that God’s Church has had for 2000 years and not go down the modern roads. Are you done listening to the lies of the devil?

That’s my plea. I want to stand for God and I don’t care what my neighbors and my cousins and my farmer friends will think of me. I’m going to be kind and gentle, but I’m going to say no to these things. I’m going to give some gentle reproof and I’m going to say, I don’t agree with what you’re doing and I don’t think that looks good. And I think you ought to get rid of that dress that you have that is revealing.

And if there is something wrong in my life, I want to know. Each of us can become blind to the things that are tearing us away from God. We can become complacent.

“Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” And as this flood comes into your church and then into your home and into your personal life and into your business place, will you stand up and dress right and act right and talk right and seek after righteousness and truth and holiness again?

Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”

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