Sermon Central
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Separate Yourself
Contributed by Timothy Brewington Ii on Sep 9, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: We must separate ourselves from whatever is not like God. We must also separate ourselves unto God. This means that we most make ourselves only available to God. God uses people that have mad themselves available to him.
"Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord...”
God has always required His people to separate. He told Israel, “be ye holy, for I am Holy.”
God knows that we become like, whoever and whatever we spend the most time with. God wants us to be like Him, notlike the world. In order for that to happen, we must separate ourselves from the world.
Separation in the Scripture has two meanings:
1. separate from whatever is contrary to the mind of God
2. separate unto God Himself
We must separate ourselves from whatever is not like God. We must also separate ourselves unto God. This means that we most make ourselves only available to God. God uses people that have mad themselves
available to him.
It is impossible for God to fully bless and use believers who compromise with evil.
This doesn’t mean that we are not saved, but we will block the blessing and move of God in our lives. Some believers live the entire lives and never reach there full potential in God.
We must separate ourselves from evil desire, motive, and behavior.
We must also separate ourselves from false teachers :
We must not fellowship with those that pervert the Gospel of Christ, or use the gospel for there on benefit.
This separation is not to limit our contact with evil, but that we not conform to this evil.
Jesus said in John 17:15 “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”
God called us to be in the world, but not of it. We cannot avoid evil. Evil is everywhere. But we must never compromise with this evil. We must not
cannot agree with it, support it, or participate in it.
We must move from being workers of evil, to tools of righteousness.
There are rewards of separation
We rewarded when we separate ourselves from the world.
1. “... I will receive you.”
“I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries in which ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the nations.”
When God receives or accepts us,
He opens the door for us to have fellowship with Him.
We graduate from being just a praise to now becoming a
worshiper
Praise becomes worship, when there is a change in the lifestyle of the
believer.
2. The second reward is fruitful ministry.
“If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. “
If we want the ministry to grow, we must let it go.
Here Paul was talking about “youthful lust.”
Youthful lust are things that immature people seek after. It is a reckless, does not consider consequences. Whatever feels good, do it.
“Having, therefore, these promises”
(God will accept us, He will be our father, He will use us)
“let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit”
There are things that we do, or get involved in that contaminate our flesh and spirit.
What we do, does not only affect our flesh, but it affect our spirit.
What is done in the flesh, effects the spirit, and what is done in the sprit effects the flesh.
Look in Matt 25: 25-26
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion
and excess.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter,that the outside of them may be clean also."
Christains are good at cleaning the outside, be we have problems cleaning the inside.
No matter how clean the outside is, in the insider is dirty the whole thing is dirty.
Clean the inside, and the outside will be clean also.
The outside is a reflection of what is going on , in the inside!
Because of the promise of God, cleans your self.
because you are accepted by God, cleans your self
because God is your father, cleans yourself
so that God can use you, cleans yourself
The promises of God are strong reasons for us to follow after holiness;
We must cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit.
If we hope in God as our Father,
we must seek to be holy as he is holy, and perfect as our Father in heaven.
His grace, by the influences of his Spirit, alone can purify,
but holiness must be practiced and it must be sought after in prayer.
We must separate ourselves unto God.
We must make ourselves available for His use. Whatever we give up for
the sake of Christ, God will replace!
Separate yourself, and allow God to be all that He said he will be.
