25-0126a Transcript

Preacher: Mike Mathis

(1:29) Good morning, everyone. Those who are here physically present in the building and those who may be on the conference line, we welcome you. (1:47) It falls upon me in the rotation to deliver the message this morning.

And as the scripture readings, if you pay attention to the readings, they tell us that if we’re friendly with the world, (2:21) that we’re not friendly with God. We make ourselves his enemy. I appreciate the reading of Wyatt and John read.

And the title of my lesson is separate from the world. (2:52) We ought to be holy. And it comes from a word that means to be separate, to be apart from.

And what we should be apart from is the world. (3:18) First Peter 1.15 says, Be ye holy. And this is quoting Leviticus 11.44 where God tells the children of Israel that they were to be holy as he is holy.

(3:43) And Jesus prayed that his disciples be not of the world. But he prayed not that his disciples be taken out of the world. But they be not of the world.

(4:04) We will discuss that while we, his followers, are in the world, how we are not of the world. (4:20) First of all, I want to look at John 17. John 17 records Jesus' prayer.

This is actually the Lord’s prayer, not the model prayer that is given when his disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. (4:51) That prayer is commonly called the Lord’s prayer, but it’s the model prayer. This prayer in John 17 is actually the Lord’s prayer.

(5:10) And beginning in verse 11, he says as he is praying to his Father, Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world. (5:30) And I come to you, Holy Father. Keep to your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are.

First of all, he says I am no longer in the world. (5:51) At this point, shortly, in just a few hours, Jesus is going to be taken. After he’s going to be tried, he will be crucified, and he will die upon that cross, be buried, and he will arise on the third day.

(6:19) He will show himself to his disciples with many infallible proofs, and then he will ascend into heaven to take his place on the right hand of God. (6:40) That’s what it means that he will be no longer in the world. And he’s going to leave his disciples behind.

Now he encourages his disciples when he tells them that he is going to go away. (7:03) But he said, I will not leave your comforter. I will send a comforter.

And that comforter is the Holy Spirit. And he is referred to as the Spirit of truth. (7:22) And they’re not going to be left alone.

But he’s praying to his Father of them, and he says, keep to your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one in us. (7:48) Now I’m going to drop down to verse 15, and read through verse 18. (8:01) I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one, that they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

(8:22) Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

(8:39) So he’s saying that he’s not praying that his disciples will be taken out of the world, which would probably be an ideal situation. (8:56) But he knows that they’re going to face things that is going to be in the way of persecution and such. (9:11) But he wants them to be kept from the evil one.

And he wants them, his Father, to protect them from the evil one. (9:35) He said they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (9:42) Jesus came into this world, and he lived a perfect life.

And he did no sin. But he died as if he was the worst sinner upon this earth. (9:59) He was the best one.

And he gave us an example that we can overcome temptation when it comes our way, that we can live in this world but not be of it. (10:24) Now in verse 20, he said, (10:29) But I do not pray for these alone, that is, his disciples, those that are there with him, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, (10:47) that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. (11:10) Unity is something that the Lord prayed for.

We have in the religious world division, but the Lord prayed for unity, that they would be one. (11:32) We can be one when we are united upon the word. We can be united when we have the same mind and the same judgment.

(11:47) As Paul told the Corinthians in the first chapter of Corinthians, beginning by verse 10, (11:58) But it is so if we are united, and we are one just as Jesus and his Father are one, and also the Holy Spirit being one, that the world may believe that you sent me. (12:25) That is the foremost problem that they had in the first century, convincing the people there then that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is truly the Son of God. (12:45) Those that did not believe, they would not believe, and they were afraid because of their teaching that Jesus was equal with God, that he is God.

(13:09) So they were bringing in another God, and that is what made solid choices, to persecute the church at first, until on the way to Damascus, Jesus stopped him. (13:38) And told him that he would be a chosen vessel to take the gospel for those that were even in leadership, such as kings, that he would be one to take the gospel. (13:57) He knew that he would suffer as he was making the Christians suffer those that were of the way.

(14:09) He would suffer for Christ. (14:13) By now, we want to turn to 2 Corinthians 6, beginning with verse 14, going through 18. (14:48) And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with me? (14:59) For what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with ours? (15:09) For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said.

(15:17) I will dwell in them, and walk among them. I will be thy God, and they shall be my people. (15:28) Therefore, come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord.

(15:35) Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. (15:52) Now, within these scriptures, this reading, it comes from several different scriptures from the Old Testament, where God is talking to his people.

(16:15) And it is to the Corinthians, the Christians, who are God’s people, that the apostle Paul is writing to. (16:29) So he’s telling them that they should not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, because what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? (16:49) Unbelievers do not live according to God’s law. They are reckless in their living.

(17:02) And he says, what communion then has light with darkness? (17:06) Jesus came to give light in the darkness of the world, that sin brings darkness. (17:19) Light has no communion with darkness. We turn the lights on, and the darkness flees.

(17:31) For what accord has Christ with Baal? (17:35) Now, I looked this up in Jung’s Analytical Concordance, and it says, even though we find this word capitalized, said it shouldn’t be capitalized. (17:56) Because the word simply means any man or son of a man, children, that it really means worthless, a worthless person. (18:19) Christ doesn’t have accord with someone that is worthless.

(18:29) For what part has a believer with an unbeliever? There’s no accord. (18:41) Believers believe the Bible, God’s Word, that God exists. (18:47) There are those in the world that are unbelievers, atheists, that don’t believe that God exists.

(18:59) So if we believe God exists, and there’s an unbeliever that does not believe in God, we can’t be together. (19:13) We may talk, but we just can’t agree. (19:22) And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? (19:28) Oh, God is a living God, and these idols have no breath in them.

(19:37) They don’t have any feelings. (19:40) They may have an image that has a face, has ears, eyes, mouth, arms, but they’re just no feelings, or they have no life. (19:54) Because they have no life in them.

(19:59) For you are the temple of the living God. (20:04) As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. (20:11) I will be their God, and they will be my people.

(20:16) And he has to tell his people, down through history, to come out from among them. (20:31) That is, those that are worshiping idols, those that are doing things that do not please him. (20:42) He tells them, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.

(20:50) Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. (20:56) He promises to be a father to those that will come to him, and you shall be my sons and my daughters, says the Lord Almighty. (21:16) That’s for being separate from the world.

(21:23) The next passage I want to deal with is the reading that Wyatt read in your hearing, and that’s from 1 John 2, verses 15-17. (21:50) God writes to these brethren, and he tells them, do not love the world or the things in the world. (22:03) If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

(22:11) So if we have love for the world, the Father’s love is not in us. (22:21) We’re loving those things that will displease God. (22:30) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

(22:46) The lust of the flesh, satisfying the desires of our body, and really going after what satisfies us, our flesh. (23:08) And that is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes. (23:14) Oh, we look upon things, and the longer we look, the more lust fills us.

(23:27) Oh, how I’ve just got to have that, or I’ve got to have her or him. (23:39) We just can’t, when we see each other, we’ve just got to be near each other. (23:50) The lust of the eyes, we don’t care what we do.

(23:57) The pride of life, that is the pride that we do these things, we think we are powerful, or we’ve got some kind of power. (24:20) Nobody else has. It’s all for me.

(24:28) But the more I get, the more that I want, because of just lust after it. (24:41) But these things are not of the Father, but is of the world. (24:47) There’s a difference between being in the world, and being of the world.

(24:56) And John says to these brethren, the world is passing away. (25:06) And the lust of it, if it’s the lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes, if it’s the pride of life, these things are going to pass away. (25:21) But he who does the will of God, abides forever.

(25:26) And one of the things that we can do, that do the will of God, is to love, love a brother. (25:49) John says, in 1 John 4, beginning with verse 17, (25:56) Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. (26:12) There is no fear in love.

(26:17) But perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. (26:26) But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. (26:34) We love him, because he first loved us.

(26:42) God loved us, he gave up his only begotten son. (26:53) And when we were told about Abraham giving up his son Isaac, that he was ready, he had his hand up with a knife and was ready to come down on his son. (27:18) And he was ready to slay his son to sacrifice to God.

(27:22) To do what God told him. (27:29) Why did he do that? (27:32) Because I’ve heard many even confess, it would take an awful lot out of me to do that to my child. (27:48) But Abraham had faith in God.

(27:51) God promised Isaac to be the one to whom the promise would be given. (28:02) It would be through Isaac. (28:05) And he believed that God would bring him back to life.

(28:15) That’s what kept him going. (28:17) He was gone three days from Mount Moriah. (28:23) Long enough for him to start rationalizing as often we do.

(28:32) We come to a decision, I just can’t do that. (28:38) But not Abraham. (28:41) He kept right on.

(28:44) It was that faith. (28:46) He believed that God would bring Isaac back to life. (28:54) And as we saw though, God did not want Isaac as a sacrifice.

(29:01) He tested Abraham to see if Abraham would do what he asked him. (29:09) And in a sense he did receive Isaac back to life. (29:18) And truly the Lord provided a sacrifice.

(29:24) We find that God loves us. (29:36) His son Jesus loves us. (29:41) Because he willingly laid his life down for us.

(29:46) He willingly went to the cross. (29:49) And he died there on that cross. (29:55) We love him because he loved us.

(29:59) But then in verse 20 it says, (30:03) If someone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. (30:10) For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, (30:15) how can he love God whom he has not seen? (30:21) And the commandment we have from him, (30:24) that he who loves God must love his brother also. (30:36) You see, hate is not the way to go.

(30:41) As the world shows hatred. (30:48) We’ve been looking at the truth series on Wednesday night. (31:00) We’re trying to see the world with a biblical world view.

(31:09) Not as the world views. (31:15) The world has hate and we should not. (31:21) But then in James 4 he says, (31:28) Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? (31:38) Do we really want to be enemies with God? (31:43) It’s not good.

(31:48) Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world, (31:52) makes himself an enemy of God. (31:56) Do you know that fear that was talked about in 1 John 4, 17-19? (32:06) That comes when we are friends with the world and not friends of God. (32:14) We fear because we know, we can know or realize, (32:22) that there is punishment ahead, consequences ahead.

(32:31) So we need or should make friends with God (32:38) by separating ourselves from the world. (32:46) That will mean that we will be holy as God is holy. (32:55) Let us then be holy as God is holy.

(33:00) That means we’ll be separated from the world. (33:05) That is different from the world. (33:09) The world may look at us as strange (33:13) because we don’t participate in what they do.

(33:20) I know I’ve been told I ought to go out and party. (33:26) But I know what the party means. (33:31) Getting drunk.

(33:33) Whooping it up and just having a big old time. (33:37) That’s not. That’s the world.

(33:41) And when we are not as the world, we are sanctified holy. (33:51) If you want to be friends with God, if you have not made friends with God, (33:59) why not do so? (34:01) Why not come out from among the world? (34:08) Be united with God. (34:13) Put Christ on if you have not put Him on.

(34:21) Christ gives us life, eternal life. (34:27) He gives us hope. He is our hope.

(34:33) And why not do so? (34:36) Why not come believing? (34:39) Turning away from sin. (34:44) And making it known that you believe that Jesus is the Son of God. (34:51) And putting Him on in baptism.

(34:56) And if there is any other that are in here who have done that and gone astray, (35:05) you can come back to God and be restored. (35:10) You can come back and make it known and the church will pray for you. (35:15) That God will take you back.

(35:18) If there is any need in any way that you are subject to the gospel invitation, (35:25) why not come now while we stand and while we sing?