Separation

[0:00] 2 Corinthians chapter 6 from verse 14. These are familiar verses to many, I'm sure.! But verses that could bear repeating.! Very important biblical truths here we're going to cover.

[0:12] ! Some things that I've said, similar things before. But nevertheless, a truth is here. It's a neglected truth. We're talking about separation. Separation. It's a doctrine that is missing.

[0:25] Missing, very often missing in churches these days. But an important biblical principle. So 2 Corinthians chapter 6 from verse 14. It reads, But be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

[0:39] For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with allel?

[0:50] Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God.

[1:01] 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. Wherefore, come out from among them.

[1:14] And be ye separate, saith the Lord. And touch not the unclean thing. And I will receive you. And will be a father unto you. And ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

[1:30] Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

[1:44] Separation. It's a neglected truth. And it's not a popular message. Largely ignored in many circles. But we need separation. To be God's people, obey God.

[1:57] To be a people with a sound testimony, we need to come out and be separate. Touch not the unclean thing. And Paul paints a picture here of this yoking.

[2:09] As we read, do not be yoked together with unbelievers. He's painting this picture of a team of animals whose necks are joined by a yoke. This wooden instrument.

[2:21] Animals that are linked together with a yoke will go together in the one direction and head in that one direction together. And this yoke was this wooden frame with loops at each end.

[2:33] It fitted around the necks of the two animals. It tied them together and forces them to work together as one. So we see the farmer would fit them to the yoke.

[2:45] They would run together. Running those furrows in the one direction as they worked together to move the plough. Paul says it's possible to be unequally yoked.

[2:58] Imagine two animals that are unequally yoked so they're not matched up right. And it speaks to us for us as believers. It says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

[3:14] So if you are linked, yoked up with an unbeliever, you will be affected by that person. Now we know it can happen. People can marry. They're married to an unbeliever.

[3:27] You've got to continue. Of course, in that marriage, God helping that you'll do the right thing, honour your marriage vows with that unbeliever that you have married.

[3:39] But God helping you, if you've yet to be married, don't even consider yoking together with an unbeliever. It's a very unwise decision indeed.

[3:50] So a child of God and an unbeliever, they're two different animals. They're two different creatures, aren't they? Unequally yoked. And to link up, to yoke up with an unbeliever, you're going to be badly affected.

[4:04] You cannot unite in a common purpose. You're not going in the same direction. So when we are not separated, it's going to hinder our fellowship and our worship. Of course, it can hinder you.

[4:15] As a believer, the unbeliever can hinder your fellowship. Sometimes it can be quite damaging. But as a believer who's already married to an unbeliever, you've got to encourage that other one.

[4:30] God helping you by your testimony, you might win them for Christ. You may never win them, but of course, in the marriage bond, you're together. So hold fast in that marriage bond.

[4:41] That is the honouring thing to God. God helping you, you can be a good testimony to your unsaved spouse. But of course, if you've yet to be married, don't even consider it. It's a very foolish thing to do.

[4:53] It's a very disobedient thing to do before God. Because we cannot be united in a common purpose with an unbeliever. When you think about it, what does a believer and an unbeliever have in common?

[5:05] Their standards are different. Their goals are different. They're not heading in the right direction. It's different, isn't it? Their loyalties are different. If you marry an unbeliever, if you have married one, it's too late for you to follow this, but God will give you the grace to help you through.

[5:24] But if you are not married, do not marry an unbeliever, but separate from them if you've yet to marry. So the separation that we're talking about here, it's important to understand what we mean by this term separation.

[5:37] Like years ago, in the, I guess the dark ages, they had some very strange practices. There was a monk in the 5th century that sat on a pole for 36 years.

[5:51] Imagine that. You had a pole in your backyard and you climbed it with a ladder and you had this platform. And this monk in the 5th century, they built such a pole and they lived on the top of this pole for 36 years, not coming down once.

[6:07] And they would haul up his food and his water to the top of the pole daily. He was intent on keeping himself separated from the world and its evil influences.

[6:19] But this isn't what it means here. This is not what the Bible teaches. Of course, that's an extreme application. So it's important that we consider the truth of separation as it applies to you and me today.

[6:36] And let's not think of others and their need of it. This is about you and me, isn't it? This is addressed to you and me. And we need to think for ourselves. Am I separated unto God?

[6:47] Am I separated from evil? Let's not think of others and their need of separation, but of ourselves and our need of it. What's my need of it? So consider separation.

[6:59] Firstly, it starts with our relationship with God. That's where it begins. Will we obey him? In 1 Peter 1 verse 16, he tells us, Be ye holy, for I am holy.

[7:13] Be ye. It's a command. God commands you, be holy. That's quite a mind-blowing concept, that we should be holy as he is holy. And so he commands us to live a separated life, to stand for what is right.

[7:29] It reads in Philippians 2 verse 5, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Think of that, that his very mind, the way that God would think, that Christ would think, his very mindset, that that should be our mindset.

[7:44] Our God deserves our affection, our devotion, our love, our will, our worship. It's a separation.

[7:57] As Christians, we want our lives to be on the altar of worship unto him. We want to please our God, to serve him, to not waste our time with other interests unduly.

[8:09] That this is our main goal in life, is to please our God and King, in how we live, how we act, to follow his plan for our lives. 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 6 tells of some believers, walking disorderly, disorderly.

[8:25] Now, this is a military term, that speaks of soldiers not keeping order. They're marching out of stead. When they say left, right, right, left, and they're doing it the wrong way around, or they're just marching all over the place, they're not keeping in line, not keeping in step, they're out of place.

[8:44] They're neglecting their duty, and their obligations. When you see these bands of soldiers, marching in unison, what a sight it is, isn't it? In some countries, they're just in such, there's such precision to that.

[8:58] And yet, that one soldier, that's marching out of line, they're walking disorderly. That's the kind of picture of it. And some believers are just like that. They're walking disorderly, and that's really a major issue, isn't it?

[9:10] We don't want to be that soldier that's out of place. We want to be marching lockstep, not neglecting our duty, our obligation to our Lord. We want to be honouring him like those soldiers that would march with such precision.

[9:23] It's just an amazing, wondrous sight, isn't it, to see such a marching unit. And that's what the church should be, that we're walking in the same accord. Because as believers, we're called to bow to God and his word, to his authority.

[9:40] No, the church should be submitted to Christ. As we read in Ephesians 5, verse 21, where it tells us, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

[9:52] So it's about our relationship, number one, our relationship with God. Will we obey him? Our relationship with God also, secondly, impacts our relationship with the world.

[10:06] We come out from among them. We're being separate. So it speaks of the world. Realise that the God of this world, small g, and the Lord Jesus are enemies. They're poles apart.

[10:17] The God of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of them that believe not. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4. He's holding people in chains, in bondage, in blindness. And whilst separate from the world, we aren't isolated from it.

[10:31] We know sin and the God of this world still has an effect, doesn't it? There's an influence. It impinges us at times. We know we've got to go out into the world.

[10:42] We're not living in caves or on top of a pole somehow. We're not isolated from the world. We've still got to go shopping. We've still got to make a living, go to a workplace, live in the community.

[11:01] And we should be. And while we're doing that, we'll be a witness for Christ, I trust. Because we must reach out to the lost. They need your message. They need your lips to tell them the gospel.

[11:14] And so for us that are saved, we love the sinner, but we hate the sin, don't we? In that sense that we know some are sadly in a yoke of bondage, not yoke to Christ, but yoke to the devil.

[11:28] And they've got a yoke of bondage and they need deliverance and freedom from their sin and their disobedience to God. And we are the ones that can help reach them for Christ.

[11:39] So real Christians are in the world, but not of it, as it says. So we don't go sitting around on poles above the world, but neither do we join with them in their sinful ways of living.

[11:52] So there's ways you can tactfully, politely decline something that you know is clearly sinful that they want you to join party with. In John 15, verse 19, it reads, our Lord says, ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

[12:08] Therefore the world hateth you. So don't be surprised if you stand for Christ, there'll be some opposition. Christ tells us that there will be opposition, that the world will hate you.

[12:20] And as believers, we don't follow the wisdom so-called of this world, the philosophies of this world, we follow the truth of God, God's truth, and his leading.

[12:32] God has made a difference for us in our lives and our lifestyle. Think of our relationship with the world. Think of sin.

[12:44] What is our sin? What is God convicting us of? Realise the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Sin is something that should be distasteful to us.

[12:58] We shouldn't want it. We shouldn't want that which would dishonour our great God and King. That sin is something that should disgust us.

[13:09] It should repel us. In Isaiah 58 verse 1, the prophet Isaiah tells, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.

[13:27] The word of God cries aloud to us. It shows us our sin. It's like that, as James calls it, doesn't he? That like a mirror and we can see, oh, see all the faults when you get the mirror out, can't you?

[13:40] And you notice all the imperfections that you see in your face. You look, as you look in the mirror and the Bible tells us that the Bible itself is like that mirror that we look into and we see, yes, it tells me about my sin.

[13:54] I feel that conviction because it shows me my sin. It tells me of my relationship with the world when it's something that's doubtful or wrong. In 1 John 2.15, that familiar one says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

[14:09] If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. So we urge to not love the world. We're told in Romans 12 not to conform to the world system. So we should be always mindful of our relationship with the world.

[14:23] How is it? Is it compromising? Are we doing something that's compromising? And that can happen in stages too, can't it? Where we could perhaps make some excuse or exception, make some allowance and then it becomes bigger and bigger, doesn't it, as it goes by.

[14:40] James 4.4 warns us about friendship with the world. We're warned against loving the world, the pleasure of sin for a season.

[14:52] This world is passing in its pleasures of being conformed to the world, going right along with it. And Romans 18.4, it reads of John, the revelator, hearing a voice from heaven crying, come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers, of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues.

[15:15] Speaking of Babylon, we can see it as signifying, illustrating sin of being party to sin of the Babylon, as it were, of the system of sin of the world and its ways, of the system of Satan to come out of her, my people.

[15:33] It's one day, Babylon's going to go down and so we don't want to be part of that. So our relationship with God impacts our relationship with the world.

[15:44] Thirdly, our relationship with God impacts on our relationship with God's truth. So when we think of separation, it also impacts what we believe, what our doctrine is.

[15:58] and as much as some churches would say otherwise, doctrine does matter. There is such a thing as false doctrine and there is such a thing as true doctrine.

[16:10] And God tells us, his people, to avoid false teachers and divisive doctrines, to follow right teaching. There was a time where there was a difference between a couple of people.

[16:24] One was a more godly one standing for Christ and the other was kind of just a careless, wishy-washy kind of, maybe a nominal Christian.

[16:37] And the godly one said to the other, just one letter of the alphabet makes all the difference between us now. You love the world and I love the word. Now, Cosby, I'm not sure that, you know, I've got to say that with the right heart but there is a sense where some would love the world and they don't love the word.

[16:58] They really don't love the word. It's one letter, isn't it? Makes all the difference. It tells us in 1 Timothy 6, 3 to 5, Paul tells Timothy, if any man teach otherwise as against sound doctrine and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he says, from such withdraw thyself.

[17:20] So if someone's clearly a party to false doctrine, we want to withdraw ourselves from that. We don't want to be damaged by that. So that can happen when we may come across some that they're obviously falling party to false doctrine.

[17:37] We should exhort them, we should urge them to come out of that false doctrine, to leave it, but if they continue belligerent, we should withdraw ourselves from such.

[17:50] Likewise, it says in Romans 16, 17 through 18, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine, there's that word again, contrary to the doctrine which ye have learnt, and avoid them.

[18:06] There's a healthy avoidance where someone's maybe joining party to some of this flaky stuff, this charismatic chaos that it is, the falsehoods of some of the false, largely some of the major TV preachers these days, they go on about faith, prosperity, health, wealth, and such gospel, where it's falsehood.

[18:31] They're getting completely off track, completely taking the scriptures out of context and out of their present application, and we are to avoid them. So we know that for our body to be healthy, cancer cells need to be removed.

[18:45] We know there's an occasion where we hear of such things, you've got personal experience of that some people here, where there's some cells that are cancerous. They have to be removed.

[18:56] They've got to be avoided. It needs to be taken out. And likewise, poison needs to be avoided. It's the same kind of thought, isn't it, that you don't want to toy with something if there's a doubt about it, don't toy with it.

[19:09] That's why when some people tell me, oh, I watch Joyce Myers or whatever it be, I think, no, no, no, no. It's dangerous stuff.

[19:19] There's danger there. It's thin ice. Don't go there. We should mark people. We should warn people. We should avoid such things. It's like cancer cells.

[19:32] And for our church to be strong and pure, for our testimony for Christ to be resolute and forthright in these dark and difficult days, we must, we must make a solid, uncompromising stand.

[19:47] Doctrine, in other words, teaching, doctrine we feed on needs to be sound and wholesome. It's interesting, the word sound, doctrine, it's got the same connotation as wholesome.

[20:00] So, when the man stretched forth his arm, it was made sound. It was made whole. He was made whole. There was a wholesomeness came. And there's this same, the same meaning to the word sound.

[20:14] It means healthy, healthy doctrine. There's a wholesomeness about the doctrine. So, in contrast to sound doctrine, there's unsound doctrine.

[20:25] So, it's not healthy, it's unhealthy, it's not wholesome, it's really, it's poisonous, it's cancerous, it's such that we should reject that and rather have an obedience to God.

[20:35] So, as believers, we want to obey our Lord and uphold the truth and oppose error. So, we'll separate from wrong teaching. Try to be discerning. Exercise the discernment to search the scriptures.

[20:48] Of course, there's, some would say this, that and the other are what goes on in the book of Acts. We've got to realise some of it was for a time and a season, for a purpose and a reason.

[21:01] There's some application here, some that may not have application here. We've got to be understanding of what the word of God says and understand what is the present application for us today.

[21:17] I know I've been talking with some, of course, as a church, we believe in healing in answer to believing prayer. We believe in healing as God wills it.

[21:28] But we're not a son that would say it's always God's will to heal. The Bible doesn't teach that. Definitely not. That's false doctrine. There's many more things we could say about such things but I guess the point is that we've got to be careful.

[21:45] We have to be exercising caution and be aware that there is poisonous doctrine out there and it's usually that which is popular. So we want to obey our Lord and not follow false practice and obviously plain error.

[22:01] So another thought about separation is that it's twofold. It's twofold. It's from sin. It's unto God. So there's a balance here in separation.

[22:12] Sin separates us from God. God separates us from sin. We are to separate from sin. Come out, he says, from among them.

[22:23] Be ye separate. Touch not the unclean thing. So let us be separate from all that would be unworthy of our Lord. All that is out of harmony with our Lord Jesus.

[22:34] If it's questionable, it's potentially dirty, isn't it? It's unclean. Don't even touch it if there's any doubt about it. And really, for me, that includes a lot of music these days, for example.

[22:50] Especially rap music, certain ones of such things. They're cursing the name of Jesus. They're using all kinds of crudity and vulgar language and questionable teachings and really fostering immorality in some of the songs that are popular these days.

[23:09] And the lewdness, the immodesty, the nakedness of the performers as they sing these songs. We know it's all fleshly and carnal. It's questionable. God's people, we should be aspiring to that which is godly and righteous and worthy of his name.

[23:24] And so, where there's a doubt, where it's unclean, don't even touch it. Don't have a bar of it. God wants us to be clean, washed, to be righteous, to be separated from sin.

[23:35] And then secondly, separated unto. It's a twofold thing. As we see, it reads, Leviticus 20, verse 26, Leviticus 20, 26, we're separated unto righteousness and truth.

[23:49] It reads, you shall be holy, in other words, set apart, separated, unto me. Separated unto me. And it reads on, For I, the Lord, am holy and have separated you from the other people that ye should be mine.

[24:03] The wonderful truth about separation too is that God wants you, he wants to say of you, you're mine, you're mine, that you are his in such a precious way.

[24:14] One thing that an old time preacher said about such an issue, he said this, Sin dwells in every believer, but sin reigns in the unbeliever.

[24:29] Now, of course, there's a sense where this is Moody, Dwight Moody. Sin dwells in every believer, but sin reigns in the unbeliever. So, the sense here is that we're not teaching what some, which is another false doctrine would teach, sinless perfection.

[24:46] That somehow you'll be so holy and righteous that you'll never ever do anything or think anything wrong, that there will be never any sin in you. But of course, the Bible tells us that we're not to say that I've got no sin.

[25:01] It's in every one of us there's a sense where we're fighting against sin all the time. Even in our thinking and our attitude, even if we think we're sinless, we could get prideful about our sinlessness.

[25:13] So, that pride of itself would be a sin. So, we know we've got that battle as Paul talks about, the struggle on the inside, the good that I would, I don't do, that which I shouldn't do, I do.

[25:25] There's that wrestling within. So, sin is in us. As Paul says, sin dwelleth in me. There's a sense where sin is in us, we've got that battle raging all the time inside of us, but for the unbeliever, it's like sin is reigning.

[25:38] It's like the king of the heart. That sin is on the throne of their lives. But for us, this separation unto God, it's got that sense of the closer I get to God, the further away I get from that which is contrary.

[25:51] So, the more we come unto him, the more we separate it unto him, the further away we are from the sin, if you like. The further away we are from the world and the things of the world, the fleshly things.

[26:05] So, it's always a good thought to consider for yourself, how am I spiritually? I know I had occasion to ask someone I very much love to say, how are you going spiritually?

[26:21] And that caused a bit of, he didn't like that. He got a bit, he reacted to that. But really, we've got to, that's a genuine question and I'm asking it out of love for someone who I very deeply care about, how are you going spiritually?

[26:35] But really, it's a question we've got to think about ourselves too, isn't it? How am I going spiritually? Is it healthy? Am I healthy in my walk with God? Is my walk with the Lord fruitful? Or am I weak and uncommitted and just really flaky?

[26:51] How am I spiritually? It's a good question. Take that question before the Lord for yourself. Honestly ask that question. Ask him to help you to be a stronger Christian. Separation means being a useful Christian.

[27:04] You're separated from the world and you're joined unto God. It's a blessed truth. It's not something that's irksome or heavy and hard.

[27:17] It's a joy to be more like your Lord, to be more like Christ, to be more like the Holy One. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5.22, abstain from all appearance of evil.

[27:28] If there's a doubt about it, don't go there. Don't be a part of that. So as a Christian, it's going to affect how we look. 1 Timothy 2 verse 9 talks about a dress.

[27:39] It doesn't mean you've got to walk around in a suit and tie or anything necessarily, but it's more about that there's a godliness. You're covered. You're decent.

[27:51] It affects how we think. It affects our moral choices. It affects our values, our relationships with others. It affects our choices about life's alternatives, choices about drink, about drugs, and such things.

[28:07] It impacts what we listen to, where we go, what we spend our time doing. Simply put, it boils down to two ways of living. Two ways of living.

[28:17] There's basically two. Two completely opposite paths. There's two spirits, the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Which path, which way will you choose?

[28:30] Now God helping you, you'll choose God's way. And just because you choose God's way doesn't mean you're suddenly going to get the sense, I've arrived. Because really, like Paul says, I'm still on the journey.

[28:43] How does he put it? I've yet to attain. He's still pressing towards the finishing line. He says, I'm still on that journey. I'm still running that race. I'm still growing.

[28:54] And that's for all of us. But the point is, which way are you going? Head the right way. What way are you going to choose? A fuller, closer relationship with your Lord? To develop a keener sense of what does he want from me?

[29:06] A keener sense of sin. Well, that might be displeasing to God to say such words, to do such things. That clearer sense of right and wrong and to steer a path of living to a way that would please him.

[29:19] Of course, you can't even start on that way unless you're saved. You know, some might perhaps hear a message like this and think, okay, I'm going to try to be, try, try, try to be holy and that might please God enough that I'll be on God's pathway.

[29:35] Now, you've first got to be saved. Let me make that clear. The pathway starts with salvation. You might say to me, preacher, I'm actually not really sure whether I'm a Christian. That's a good, it's a good place to come to that realisation.

[29:48] Yeah, I've had all kinds of religious learning and churches and backgrounds and I've got a lot of knowledge about things that are in the Bible but I've yet to really trust Jesus. I can't say that I've ever been born again.

[30:01] You can be born again tonight. You know, we can sit down with you, I can sit down with you, another trusted brother or sister can open the Bible and show you how you can be born again. That's how that new way of living starts.

[30:13] That's the, that's the starting line. You can try to be holy but if you're on the other side of the starting line, you're not going to win the race because you're not even in the race. You've got to get in the race. You've got to be saved and then grow.

[30:25] That's the sanctifying. That's the, being more like God. That's, that's the growing of that born again faith. That's the next stage as you grow in that, developing that fuller, that closer relationship with your Lord.

[30:43] And so, another truth about separation is that there's a promised blessing. We see 2 Corinthians 6 verse 16, it tells us, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?

[31:00] For ye are the temple of the living God. I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. So, it's telling us here there's blessings and benefits promised.

[31:11] For those who will be set apart unto the Lord. He tells you this, he says, and I will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. So, the intent is for us, the intent of separation comes from the heart of our perfect heavenly father.

[31:32] And he's the very best loving, caring father. Think of the very best that our father is to us. He's, he's better and above, isn't he? He will provide care and shelter.

[31:43] He'll meet the needs of his children. You think of the most loving, caring, decent, honourable father. He is so much, so much more even than that. And separation shows us who we belong to.

[31:55] It says, you will be my children. I will be your father. That's the heart of holiness, isn't it? That's the heart of separation. So, being holy doesn't mean being harsh or negative as someone paints it.

[32:07] Separation is a positive, uplifting, fulfilling, beautiful thing. It shows who your allegiance is to. You've got a loving, heavenly father who cares for you so much more than any human father can.

[32:23] And so, not only does he walk in us, but he dwells in us. He says, you are the temple of the living God. He actually resides in you. And that's wonderful too, isn't it?

[32:33] I love how Psalm 29, verse 2, tells us about the beauty of holiness. There's a beauty to it. It's not an ugly thing. It's not an irksome, something that you'd want to avoid.

[32:47] It's something you'd want to have. Something that's beauty. It's being set apart, being separated, separate. And our Lord is set apart from all that is defiled and earthly and sinful and impure.

[32:59] God's holy character is beyond description, isn't it? It's a thing of beauty, of awe. And God has set you that believe apart, apart unto himself.

[33:14] And it's a blessing, really. It's really a blessing. We're called to be holy people, a separated people. He's placed us in his son, as Galatians 3, 27.

[33:24] So, think of that, that you are in Christ. If you are in Christ, there's no more holy place that you can be. When you think of it, really in the truth of that statement that you are in Christ, there's no more holy place than being in Christ.

[33:41] And you're standing in his standing. You're made perfect in his sight. You're covered over with his righteousness. We stand complete in Christ, the most holy one.

[33:53] We're made saints of the most high God. Even he called the Corinthians saints, even though they were quite failing and fleshly sometimes. And, so there's a sense where you're in Christ, there's also a sense where it's progressive.

[34:07] So, sanctification, like being made holy, being separated, people being made separated, there's a progressive aspect. It's an ongoing work, isn't it?

[34:19] Sanctification. It's progressive in the sense that, as Paul prayed, Galatians 4, 19. And, we could think of this for ourselves too, that Christ be formed in you.

[34:30] Christ be formed in you. Galatians 4, verse 19. I think in a way, it's almost like, hopefully we become more like him as time goes by. That Christ is formed in us.

[34:41] So, that we'll be more and more made like him. Consider it for yourself as we close. Do you see who you are in Christ? Is Christ in you? Christ in you. That's what matters, isn't it?

[34:53] That you're saved for one thing, for the first and foremost and essential thing that you're saved. If you're not sure of that, please, don't leave this place without seeking prayer.

[35:04] Say, I want to know how to be a Christian. I want to be, I want to nail it down. I want to do business with God tonight. I want to be sure that I'm saved. And then knowing that, as you trust Christ, and it's simple faith, honestly, is that, that saves you.

[35:19] You are in Christ. And then, God helping you, you'll have that mindset. Yeah, I don't want to be yoked together with all of that that I was before. I don't want to be yoked together with that, that is doubtful or wrong or questionable.

[35:33] I want that fulfilment and purpose to honour my Lord to be separated unto him and to know and to please him and that Christ will be formed in me. That I'll be more like him.

[35:44] I'll be more honouring of him. Do you see who you are in Christ? Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that we can know that we are the saints of the Most High God.

[35:55] Lord, we can't think there's not any greater privilege, there's no greater place, no greater standing that anyone can have than to know that we are the saints of the Most High God. Help us to have that heart to be separated from that which would displease you, from that which would hinder our relationship with you.

[36:13] Lord, help us to recognise our relationship with the world needs to be guided by your word. Help us to realise how that promised blessing can be ours, that you will be a father unto us and we will be your children.

[36:28] Lord, help us to be children that you'll be blessed with, that we'll be children that won't bring dishonour or shame to you as our Heavenly Father. Lord, help us to have that heart to lift you up.

[36:40] And Lord, we pray for everyone here tonight, those that might be joining from afar, that they'll know what it is to be saved, number one, and then as saved people, they'll know your grace, to grow, to be made more like you, that Christ will be formed in us, that Christ is in us, Lord, through faith as we trust you and help us to live like it, Lord, that we won't bring any dishonour to you, that we will come out and be separate, we will be a people that will be a separated people, not in a way that would be having a holier-than-thou, kind of a self-righteousness thing, but that it will be entirely a Christ-righteousness thing, that it will be a God-worked work, it will be a God-wrought work in us, that you will work that work in us, Lord, by your Holy Spirit, that you would make us such that we'll give all the glory to you for any holiness that we might show or be, that any righteousness that we have, it's all to your glory and praise anyway, Lord, it's not of us, but it's unto you, unto you, you are worthy,

[37:41] O Lord, and it's unto you be all the glory and honour and praise, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.