Out Of This World
Foundation Statement: Come out of the world and
be separate from it-2 Corinthians 6:17
I.
Why would he need to
write this to believers? Apparently there were believers that were mixed with
and connected to the world
A. He’s writing this to
believers, but listen to the phrasing; Come
out from among them and be separate; I will be a Father unto you, you shall be
my sons and daughters
1.
Are
there believers who are still in the world and connected to it? Are their
believers who pick up the care and try to meet their own needs without
God? Are their believers who toil
and try to figure it out and come up with a solution and look to other things
to meet their needs and not God? Are their believers who while they pray to
God, they toil and try to take care of it themselves?
B. The world is man trying
to meet his own needs without God
1.
I
don’t mean just living a life of ugly sin, I mean the believer who relies on
their self-effort and who takes the care and who initiates action to solve the
problem without inquiring of the Lord; I’m talking about the believer who looks
to other things to meet their needs and not to God because that is the world’s
system; I’m talking about the one who relies on medicine for healing, relies on
the 401K to take care of them in retirement, the preacher who relies on his
congregation to meet his needs, the person who relies on self-effort and good
ideas to succeed in life, the person who wants to lose weight and looks for a
diet instead of looking to the Lord, the person who wants a better marriage and
looks to themselves to fix it, the person who has a problem and inquires of
their friends and the internet before they inquire of the Lord
C. 17,18-Apparently there
were believers that even though God was their father, he wasn’t able to BE a
Father to them
1.
God
wasn’t able to meet their needs the way a Father should and BE father unto them
a. A father takes care of
his kids and God has many kids who he is not able to take care of because of
their lack of faith, not His lack of grace
b. If you don’t look to God
and trust him and engage the Kingdom Process (Matthew 6:33, 1 Peter 5:6-7) even
though he wants to take care of you He cannot
c. If you are trying to take
care of yourself, then He can’t take care of you
2.
Luke
15-Even though He was the prodigal son’s Father he wasn’t able to be a Father
unto him as long as he was connected to the world
II.
If you aren’t supposed to
be hooked to the unbeliever, then you certainly aren’t supposed to be hooked
the system that unbelievers are hooked to-2 Corinthians 6:14
A. Unbelievers-Without Trust in God-That’s Babylon in a
nutshell; I don’t trust God to take care of me, I trust myself to take care of
me
1.
Everybody
is trusting in (looking to) somebody to take care of them
B. Unequally yoked
together-To come under an unequal or different yoke
1.
Jesus
has a yoke and that is being hooked to him, doing things his way; Satan has a
yoke and that is being hooked to him, to his way of doing things-Matthew 11:28
2.
Jesus’
yoke is light and easy; it’s grace working, it’s you resting; Satan’s yoke is
heavy and hard; it’s you working, toiling, taking care of it
C. Don’t come under the yoke
that unbelievers are under that is different than yours
1.
Be ye-Become, begin to be, Be
made-Don’t begin to be under a yoke different than yours a yoke without trust
in God (Which is Babylon)
D. A believer has no
business being in Babylon; Jesus What fellowship has right living with wrong
living?
1.
If
you are taking the care and trying to meet your own needs without God you are
living wrong, you are walking in darkness, you are agreeing with Satan; If you
are engaging the Kingdom you are living right, you are walking in the light,
you are agreeing with Jesus
2.
The
believer and the unbeliever should share nothing in common
E. When don’t have a
revelation of how to go to the Kingdom and get your needs met, then you’ll be
forced to go to Babylon
III.
Belial is the same spirit
as Babylon
A. Belial-Worthless or wicked (Two words (1) Without, (2) Vaule)-Means good for naught, useless
1.
Without
God is Babylon-Doing things without God is good for nothing, useless
2.
Belial
means without profit, gain, benefit
a. In Babylon man tries to
meet his own needs but can’t-Matthew 6:27
3.
It’s
without value, good for nothing, useless like the building of that tower was
a. Psalm 127-To do something
without God is worthless
B. It’s wicked or
twisted-It’s man trying to meet his own needs instead of God meeting his needs;
It’s man taking care instead of God taking care
C. Means hopeless ruin-A man
who tries to meet his own needs without God is destined for hopeless ruin
D. Belial comes from a
Hebrew word that means wearing out; In Babylon you take the care and you work
and you wear out
IV.
Wherefore-On account of
God saying he will be your God, come out from among them
A. “I will be their God”
– So you don’t need to be looking for another one
1.
Idol-A false God; You trying
to make something God that isn’t God; You looking to something other than God
to be your caretaker
a. When you become the care
taker you try to make yourself God
2.
Agreement-You should have no
approval for making any other thing “god” and responsible for meeting your
needs
B. Among-The middle-many believers are right slap dab in the middle
of the world’s way of doing things and the throw a prayer on the end of it and
call it Christianity
1.
Be
ye separate means don’t be connected
to; Marked off by boundaries; Any kind of separation of one thing from another
by which the union or fellowship of the two is destroyed
2.
Touch-Fasten oneself to,
adhere to, cling to, of having no fellowship with heathen practices
C. Almighty God-El Shaddai God who will meet your needs
1.
Receive you-Treat you with Favor
2.
Genesis
17:1-This is the first time that we see this word El Shaddai
a. El-Means
God and emphasizes His power and might and omnipotence as God
b. Shaddai-Shad-Breast, signifies
nourishment, supply, and satisfaction
3.
An
infant’s total source of supply is the breast and they get everything they need
from the mother’s breast; that’s what God is to us He is our complete source of
supply
a. When you understand this
you don’t look to anything else to be your supply; Everything you need is in God
V. Having those promises (I will be their God, I will be a
Father to them) cleanse yourself from the filthiness of the flesh; Pride,
taking care of it, self-effort is the filthiness of the flesh; It is a stench
in the nostrils of God