Sermon Central
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Be Ye Seperate
Contributed by Thomas Donelan on Sep 14, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: Sanctification is a forgotten concept in much of the modern church. Salvation is preached much and is needed. Deliverance is preached in some circles as well, but the thought of have a standard of separated, holy living for God is just as important.
I. Introduction
The Lord is looking for a people who will love Him and serve Him and be His. When God created Adam and Eve in the garden it was with the thought that they and their descendants would love and worship God but they failed Him.
Then God destroyed the world with a flood and that Noah would father a race to love him, but that did not work out either, so He chose one man, Abram, and have His descendants follow Him, but they could not do it either. So He chose one tribe, the Levites, to be faithful servants but neither were they up to the task. It makes sense in a way because “by the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 3:11)
So Jesus the Son of God came and made a way for God and man to be reconciled but one thing has not changed: He is seeking people to serve God, and we must take care to do things God’s way.
We speak much of salvation and so we should for without it we are without hope, and we speak of deliverance, but we seem to forget the thought of sanctification.
SANCTIFICATION, SANCTIFY
hagiasmos NT:38, "sanctification," is used of (a) separation to God, 1 Cor 1:30; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; (b) the course of life befitting those so separated, 1 Thess 4:3,4,7; Rom 6:19,22; 1 Tim 2:15; Heb 12:14. "Sanctification is that relationship with God into which men enter by faith in Christ, Acts 26:18; 1 Cor 6:11, and to which their sole title is the death of Christ, Eph 5:25,26; Col 1:22; Heb 10:10,29; 13:12.
"Sanctification is also used in NT of the separation of the believer from evil things and ways. This sanctification is God’s will for the believer, and His purpose in calling him by the gospel; it must be learned from God, as He teaches it by His Word, and it must be pursued by the believer, earnestly and undeviatingly. For the holy character, hagiosune, is not vicarious, i. e., it cannot be transferred or imputed, it is an individual possession, built up, little by little, as the result of obedience to the Word of God, and of following the example of Christ.[i]
II. Break The Yokes
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: 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?
-This is one of the most abused verses in the Bible and has been use falsely to try to justify many things, including bigotry but these do not fit (not kidding they tried to use this as a verse against interracial relationships!)
-The simple plain truth is that we need to be not yoked together with non-believers.
Unequally Yoked is NT:2086 heterozugeo (het-er-od-zoog-eh’-o); from a compound of NT:2087 and NT:2218; to yoke up differently, i.e. (figuratively) to associate discordantly: KJV - unequally yoke together with.[ii]
-This is a condemnation of all intimate relationships with non-believers. We are not to be bound by marriage, business partnerships, or close friendships. The negative impact will always bring the higher down to the lower. If that woman is living a life of sin now you will not bring her up with your relationship, she will bring you down. You will not change the unethical business partner, but he will soil your reputation. The same is true for close friendships; they will drag you down into the sewer with them.
-This does not mean we avoid them at all cost, we have to love them and care for them and let the light of Christ shine abroad in our hearts. To help to lead them to Jesus.
III. Touch Not The Unclean Thing
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. 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, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
In times past God dwelt in tabernacles and temples built by the hands of men but now God dwells in the hearts of men. The saved are His temple now:
1 Cor 6:19-20
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
