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Published January 13, 2005 |
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Are you a Christian?
Can the world tell that your a Christian?
Do you fellowship the church or the world?
Which one do you look like?
Come out from among them,
and be ye separate
II Corinthians 6:14-18
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.
Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers. This is a military term: keep in your
own ranks; do not leave the Christian community to
join in that of the heathens. The meaning of this
signifies, to leave one's own rank, place, or order,
and go into another; and here it must signify not
only that they should not associate with the
Gentiles in their idolatrous feasts, but that they
should not apostatize from Christianity; and the
questions which follow show that there was a sort of
fellowship that some of the Christians had formed
with the heathens which was both wicked and absurd,
and if not speedily checked would infallibly lead to
final apostasy.
Some apply this exhortation to pious persons
marrying with those who are not decidedly religious,
and converted to God. That the exhortation may be
thus applied I grant; but it is certainly not the
meaning of the apostle in this place. Nevertheless,
common sense and true piety show the absurdity of
two such persons pretending to walk together in a
way in which they are not agreed. A very wise and
very holy man has given his judgment on this point:
"A man who is truly pious, marrying with an
unconverted woman, will either draw back to
perdition, or have a cross during life." The same
may be said of a pious woman marrying an unconverted
man. Such persons cannot say this petition of the
Lord's prayer, Lead us not into temptation. They
plunge into it of their own accord.
For what
fellowship, As righteousness cannot have communion
with unrighteousness, and light cannot dwell with
darkness; so Christ can have no concord with Belial,
nor can he that believeth have any with an infidel.
All these points were self-evident; how then could
they keep up the profession of Christianity, or
pretend to be under its influence, while they
associated with the unrighteous, had communion with
darkness, concord with Belial, and partook with
infidels?
The apostle closes this chapter with an
exhortation to avoid all intimacy with idolaters,
either in civil affairs, in marriages, or in
religious worship, lest they be brought into
communion with their idolatry; there being no more
agreement between a believer and an idolater, than
betwixt light and darkness, betwixt Christ and
Satan.
And, as we must not join with idolaters in
spiritual communion or religious worship, so should
we have no communion with them in marriages; that
having proved a dangerous snare to the souls of
many, our divines have justly pronounced such
marriages sinful.
Learn, that to associate with idolaters, or join
in affinity with them, but especially to communicate
with them in their idolatrous worship, is a
God-provoking and a wrath-procuring sin: Be ye not
unequally yoked with unbelievers. What you
fellowship you will most likely become. You will be
judged by those you hang around.
In these five questions that are asked in
verses 14-16,
there is no fellowship, there is no communion, there
is no unity. They are a direct contrast to each
other. This form of questions evidently implies the
absolute inconsistency between believers and
idolaters, and the danger from communion with them.
The apostle's calling believers the temple of the
living God, represents both their dignity and duty;
their dignity, in having the Spirit of God to dwell
in them, and walk in them; their duty, to be
purified and adorned for his habitation. Believers
are a spiritual temple, in which the Holy Ghost
dwells.
Come out from amongst them, as an holy people
separated to the Lord, and defile not yourselves
with any unclean thing; and while you are pure, and
cleave to God, he will own you for his sons and
daughters." This is a pressing exhortation to make a
full separation from unclean persons and things,
particularly from all idolatry and idolatrous
worship;
In most of Gods creation he made separation.
- He separated darkness from light.
- He separated land from the water.
- He separated the waters from the sea.
He also made separation when he made man.
- He separated Seth from the worldly race of
Cain.
- He separated Noah from the ungodly world.
- He separated Abraham from his idolatrous
family.
- He separated Israel from Egypt, Babylon, the
Philistines, the Jebusites, the Hittites, the
Amorites, the Hivites, etc...
The word church means called out or separated.
The word holy is mention in Leviticus 131 times.
It is also mentioned in 557 scriptures throughout
the bible.
The word clean or words that mean the same as
clean, are mentioned 186 times in Leviticus alone.
So based on these scriptures and what they mean
throughout the word of God, we teach that we should
be separated from the world. Separation must begin
as it is taught in the church.
We need to be particular in choosing our Deacons,
Sunday School teachers, Singers, Musicians, etc...
They need to dress in a modest and appropriate way
to be affiliated with the church not only when they
are at church. They should conduct themselves in a
Christian manner at all times. They are ministering
to the rest of the church. They are the examples for
everyone that comes in the church to see our
standard or our separation from the world.
This is why we preach Holiness in our churches
today. Inward and outward. It is necessary to be
Holy if we are a part of the church of the Living
God. Holiness is a vital part of our salvation. For
without Holiness no man shall see God.
God Bless each of you, and may we all become Holy
as our Father is Holy.
In His Service,
Pastor Donald Pierce |
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