Is your life separated unto God?
Romans 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove (discern) what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
1Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
1Corinthians 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19 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.
For those whose lives are governed by the word of God, separation and nonconformity will be embraced out of a heart of obedience to God and His Word.
There are many who will stumble with this topic because they may see it as “restrictions” and they are willing(to sell their birthright)(remember that our identity comes from birth, “the new birth”) to make provisions for the flesh over living a life surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
John 17:14 I have given them thy word; (the disciples) and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
2Corinthians 6:14 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?
16 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.
Titus 2:11 ¶ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
James 1:19 ¶ Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
James 4:1 ¶ From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
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.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
1John 2:15 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.
16 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.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Why is separation from the world, important to God?
2. The friendship with the world is enmity with against God.
3. It is wrong and sinful for the people of God to conform to the sinful, fleshly practices of the world.
4. The people of God have been called to holiness, righteousness, purity, faith, and have been commissioned to win the world to God rather than to confirm the world in its wickedness by partaking of its ungodly practices.
5. God uses people that are living their lives for Him, to be a light to this dark and sinful world.
6. “Pure Religion” requires a complete separation from the world, on the part of those who have truly experience the transforming power of Jesus Christ in the lives.
What is the world?
Romans 12:2a And be not conformed to this world:
-An age
-A course
-A period
In order to better understand what the world is, we need to know who is the head of the world and what the deeds of this world are.
Who is the head of the world?
-Satan and all the fallen angels.
Ephesians 2:1 ¶ And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
2Corinthians 4:2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Those who are following the leadership of this world are not only conformed to this world, but are drifting with the world (and the sin of this world) into the depths of iniquity.
Worldliness only goes one direction,
-Away from God.
It is foolishness to think that we can follow after the world and live in harmony with God.
Worldliness, fashion domination, discontentment, fear, deception, and suchlike are all results of Satan leadership.
When you look at the fashion industry and those that are in slavery to the latest fashions, what do you find?
-Do you find contentment?
-Do you find that which is God honoring?
…….no a thousand times!!!!
You will always find discontentment and slavery to the god of this world.
So many today prefer slavery to the god of this world over freedom in Jesus Christ.
Liberalism has become fashionable. (creation is no longer accepted)
Marriage has been redefined to where gay marriage is acceptable.
Divorce has become the accepted way of resolving conflict.
Nudity is more and more acceptable because fashion demands it.
…..and the list can go on.
Some people are not as engulfed in this sin-polluted stream as others are, but the current still flows the same way.
1John 2:15 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.
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
2 Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Luke 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
The only safe course is to renounce Satan-leadership entirely.
The dividing line between the Christian and those of the world is the choice between walking after the Spirit of God or walking after the flesh and the desires of the flesh.
There are times when the Christian and those of the world act from motives that are purely human and will even follow many of the same customs.
They may even have the same or a similar appearance at the work place where service dictates their appearance and not pride and vain display.
In a similar way there may be little difference in our houses, in house furnishings, the vehicles we drive, the equipment or tools we use, so long as necessity and service dictate what we should or should not be using, and not vanity and pride.
The moment that pride, lust, vanity, and egotism enter to influence our decisions is where you reach the line that separates the person of this world who walks after the flesh, from the Christian who walks after the Spirit.
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.
Because the leadership of this world is directly against God, for this reason it out of the question for any child of God to forsake the ways of God and to conform to the sinful ways of the world.
The world has nothing good to offer the Christian.
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
John 8:12 ¶ Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.