“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”Therefore “‘Come out from among them, and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you.Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,Wherefore Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you,
5 sermons cite this verse
… I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Unequally yoked. People who are believers getting deeply involved, emotionally involved, maybe even falling in love with a non-believer. And then one of the cover-ups says, oh, I just, but I love them. And, you know, we just advanced to this situation. I'm going to pray that God saves them. That's noble, but just know this. God warns you, unbeliever and a believer, they can't mix like oil and water. It doesn't work. Listen, when you have two believers married together, it's still going to be a challenge. When you get an unbeliever and a believer together in marriage, it's so, so unnecessarily difficult. And then to add drama to dynamic when children come. I want to take them to Sunday school. My kids are not going to Sunday school. You know, all that kind of stuff. Watch out who you hang out with because you'll be like them. …
… What's the salvation status of this person you are considering marrying? Now I'll read 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 14 through 18. is the passage. I'm going to read that because this is, again, a very significant passage. Do not be unequally yoked, verse 14, with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness and what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Bilal? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols. For you are the temple of the living God and God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. That's a powerful passage because it's saying don't get entangled, don't be hanging out, don't be coupled, don't be joined to a person that doesn't believe like you believe. …
… on sinful people who deserve that judgment. God told His people in the past, come out from among them and be separate. In verse 16, God is saying, I'm going to be your God, and it's messianic, it's kingdom kind of language. Come out from among them and be separate. I have settled the issue of your future. Don't touch what is unclean." That's from Isaiah 52. You can read it yourself. We're kind of running out of time. It's a call here, really a call to separation based on the reality of the coming kingdom, the reality of the coming kingdom. And when we do this, we will be received with full acceptance and full honor. You don't need to make alliances, verse 17, just be separate. You don't need to touch what is unclean. I will welcome you. I'll be a father to you. You'll all be sons and daughters to Me. That is a fulfillment really of the expanding of the Davidic covenant that promised a Son of David, and in that Son of David a whole humanity. …
… from their friends. I haven't finished. But listen to what he says. You see, he knows us so well. This is why he said this. Verse 17, therefore come out from among the midst of them and separate yourself and don't touch unclean things. He said the most powerful thing he could say, the most needed thing God could possibly have said, he said it right then. He said, and I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord God. Now, here's what he's saying. If you walk faithfully before me, and you live a clean life, you may have to walk away from some friends. You may have to walk away from some people who want you to indulge in, who want you to go with them, so and so, and if you don't, what do they do? They turn away. That's why he said this. This is so precious. Listen, he said, I'll welcome you. So remember this, whoever turns away from you, listen, you're walking one direction and you have to turn away from them. When you turn around, you know what you're going to do? You're going to walk right into the arms of Jesus. He's the best friend you'll ever have. He'll meet every single needs you'll ever possibly have. He's that kind of God. So sometimes it means you have to walk away. What he's stating here is this. Here's the general principle. The general principle is …
… and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among their midst and be separate, says the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean. And I will welcome you and I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. Chapter seven, verse one. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Now, the question is, how do we live clean in a dirty world? And I don't have to tell you and wouldn't spend time talking about how dirty it is. We all know that. But how do we live godly? How do we live holy? How do we live clean in a dirty world? Well, Paul gives us, I believe, three steps here, three principles, three things that are so very, very important. And I want you to jot them down. I'm going to ask you about them in a few moments. But the first one is this. When we ask the question, how do we live clean in a dirty world? The basic foundation truth is this, and that is that we as believers must recognize that our true nature is different from that of the world. We don't have the same nature that the world has. That is the society in which we live. It's different. When you're not trusted, Jesus Christ is our personal savior. Christ came …