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Out of This World: A Call to Biblical Separation
This sermon from Pastor Josh Massaro at Middletown Baptist Church emphasizes the importance of biblical separation from the world. He discusses how believers are called to avoid being unequally yoked with unbelievers, which extends beyond marriage to various aspects of life, including friendships and influences. Pastor Josh highlights that our associations significantly impact our thoughts, beliefs, and actions, urging Christians to be mindful of what they allow into their lives. He reinforces the idea that true transformation comes from renewing our minds through the Word of God and living a life that reflects Christ's character. The message ultimately calls for a commitment to holiness and a deeper relationship with God, encouraging listeners to seek His guidance in their daily lives.
Pastor Josh Massaro delivers a compelling sermon at the Middletown Baptist Church, focusing on the theme of separation from worldly influences as a pivotal aspect of the Christian faith. Drawing from 2 Corinthians 6, he emphasizes the importance of not being unequally yoked with unbelievers, highlighting the dangers of allowing worldly affections to cloud one’s relationship with God. He articulates the concept of being ‘in the world but not of the world,’ encouraging listeners to assess their associations and the potential influence these relationships might have on their spiritual lives. The message is a call to action, urging Christians to prioritize their faith and maintain a distinct identity that reflects God’s holiness, while also engaging with the world in a manner that does not compromise their beliefs.
Throughout the sermon, Pastor Josh elaborates on various biblical passages, including Romans 12:1-2, which serves as a foundational text for understanding the transformative power of renewing one’s mind in Christ. He passionately argues that true love for God manifests in a lifestyle that honors Him and rejects the empty pursuits of the world. The sermon is rich with practical applications, urging congregants to evaluate their media consumption, friendships, and overarching life choices through the lens of their commitment to Christ. In essence, Pastor Josh challenges the church to reflect on their spiritual walk, advocating for a life that is distinctly set apart for God’s purposes, thereby fulfilling their identity as His children.
The message culminates in a heartfelt invitation for personal reflection and renewal, encouraging individuals to confront any areas of compromise in their lives. Pastor Josh reassures the congregation that God stands ready to embrace those who come to Him in humility and repentance, reinforcing the idea that true freedom and fulfillment are found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. This sermon not only serves as a reminder of the call to holiness but also as a practical guide for navigating the complexities of modern life, making it a pivotal teaching for anyone seeking to deepen their faith and understanding of what it means to live as a follower of Christ.
Takeaways:
- Pastor Josh emphasizes the importance of being separate from worldly influences in our lives.
- The message encourages believers to renew their minds through Scripture for transformation.
- Christians are warned against being unequally yoked with unbelievers in various associations.
- A strong relationship with God helps believers resist the temptation of the world.
- The sermon discusses how our actions reveal our true beliefs and influences.
- Believers are called to actively seek a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.
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Transcript
Hello, and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
Pastor Josh:My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.
Pastor Josh:I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.
Pastor Josh:Now, come along.
Pastor Josh:Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.
Pastor Josh:What we're going to talk about here today is the understanding of how the Corinthian Church.
Pastor Josh:Okay, remember, these are the people that Paul is directly talking to here in Second Corinthians.
Pastor Josh:They loved themselves and the world too much.
Pastor Josh:If you remember, last week, we talked about how Paul says, hey, you.
Pastor Josh:You guys are constrained.
Pastor Josh:You guys are held together.
Pastor Josh:You guys are tightened in your love.
Pastor Josh:You are limited in your love because of your love for yourself and the love for the world.
Pastor Josh:You're not able to love the Lord.
Pastor Josh:You're not able to love others because you are tightened together.
Pastor Josh:You are, as it says here, straightened in the King James.
Pastor Josh:But constricted is the word we would use.
Pastor Josh:You're constricted in your love for God and the world because of your inappropriate affections.
Pastor Josh:And so now he's going to address one of those inappropriate affections, and that is the love for this world, the love for sin, the love for that worldly influence in our life.
Pastor Josh:And so we looked at how the church in Corinth had misappropriated their love.
Pastor Josh:Instead of loving God with all their hearts, as the Bible calls us to do, they allowed that love that was supposed to be for God to flow out to other things.
Pastor Josh:They were set in their own affections.
Pastor Josh:Well, what were these affections?
Pastor Josh:Well, the love for themselves.
Pastor Josh:And specifically, in the context of these next few verses, a love for the world.
Pastor Josh:Because of their love for this world, their lives were being influenced by the world.
Pastor Josh:So what you love, what you set your affections on will influence you.
Pastor Josh:And so what Paul is going to talk about here is that the fact that these individuals love the world so much, they were associated with the world so much that the world began to influence them.
Pastor Josh:And so they were being influenced to think, believe, and act like the world.
Pastor Josh:As Christians, it's important for us to think biblically.
Pastor Josh:It's important for us to believe in the truths of God, and it's important for us to act upon those truths in our lives as focused Christians on the truth of God.
Pastor Josh:But what we see here is that they started to think about the things of this world.
Pastor Josh:Their affections were set on the things of this world.
Pastor Josh:They Began to believe in the things of this world, and your thinking and your belief dictates your actions.
Pastor Josh:So they had worldly outcomes, worldly lifestyles.
Pastor Josh:And so they were, as the scripture says, not being transformed by the power of God, but they were being conformed to the image of this world.
Pastor Josh:God has a lot to say about a believer's relationship with the world.
Pastor Josh:The most popular passage of scripture that we could probably go to is the passage that I started out a sermon with a service with this morning.
Pastor Josh:Romans, chapter 12.
Pastor Josh:Romans, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
Pastor Josh:Paul says, I beseech you, I beg you, brethren, by the mercies of God.
Pastor Josh:This is because of the mercies of God that ye present your bodies, a living sacrifice.
Pastor Josh:Present everything to God, not just Sunday mornings, not just your free time.
Pastor Josh:He says, present your bodies.
Pastor Josh:He's talking about everything.
Pastor Josh:Your spiritual side, your physical side.
Pastor Josh:And, you know, there were people back at this timeframe that would have said, and people today that say that it's not about what you do, it's more about what you believe.
Pastor Josh:It's theoretical.
Pastor Josh:It's a very spiritual matter, which, yes, it starts with the spiritual.
Pastor Josh:But God does care about what we do with our bodies.
Pastor Josh:He cares about who we associate with.
Pastor Josh:He cares about what we do.
Pastor Josh:And so he says here in Romans, chapter 12, present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Pastor Josh:That word holy is going to be a theme here today.
Pastor Josh:A lot of times when we say the word holy, we think about sinlessness.
Pastor Josh:And with God, that's what it is.
Pastor Josh:God is perfectly holy.
Pastor Josh:But in scripture, the Bible calls us to be holy.
Pastor Josh:Now, does God expect us to be sinless?
Pastor Josh:Well, that's the expectation.
Pastor Josh:But of course, he knows that we won't be perfectly holy.
Pastor Josh:That word holy means to be separated, to be sanctified, to be set aside for a specific use.
Pastor Josh:You know, sometimes when we're at our house and we don't want to do dishes, what do we do?
Pastor Josh:We do paper plates.
Pastor Josh:I don't know if any of you guys have ever done that in your life.
Pastor Josh:Maybe you guys are just so.
Pastor Josh:So refined that you would never do that.
Pastor Josh:But sometimes we're like, oh, paper plates and throw it in the trash, right?
Pastor Josh:But if we had a dignitary coming over to our house, someone really special, we wouldn't go, all right, let's pull out the paper plates.
Pastor Josh:We're going to get out the best that we have.
Pastor Josh:We.
Pastor Josh:We have things set aside for a specific use.
Pastor Josh:And as a Christian, what we are called to Be is a people that are set aside.
Pastor Josh:God calls us to be set aside for a specific use.
Pastor Josh:What is that use?
Pastor Josh:To be messengers of the Gospel, to glorify him.
Pastor Josh:And so he says there, be holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world.
Pastor Josh:The idea here is being molded into an image.
Pastor Josh:Sometimes, like our kids make cookies, and you have the little cookie cutter presses and you press something in.
Pastor Josh:That's what the idea is.
Pastor Josh:The world has this image, this mold, and they want to jam us into that mold and make us look just like them, just like the ways of the world, just like the enemy, just like that fleshly, sinful nature.
Pastor Josh:But he says, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed.
Pastor Josh:That word transformed comes from a Greek word that's similar to our English word, metamorphosis, a transformation.
Pastor Josh:Micah likes animals, and one of the things that we like to do is study them, obviously, together.
Pastor Josh:And one thing that a caterpillar will do is a caterpillar will be on the ground, and eventually that caterpillar climbs up on a branch and makes a chrysalis and over a period of time, transforms into a butterfly.
Pastor Josh:Right?
Pastor Josh:It's that metamorphosis, that change.
Pastor Josh:As a Christian, we are called to be different from what we used to be before we were saved.
Pastor Josh:We're called to be different from the world.
Pastor Josh:And so what Paul says is, be different by what?
Pastor Josh:By renewing of your mind.
Pastor Josh:He says the way that we can understand what it means to be different, the way that we can be renewed and strengthened, is to think biblically, to think clearly, to think about the things of God, not the things of this world that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Pastor Josh:You want to follow the will of God, renew your mind so that you can live that transformed life, so that you can live separately from the world, so that you can live away from the association and the influence and the impact of the sinful ways of this world.
Pastor Josh:And so this passage of Scripture here in Second Corinthians, chapter six, deals with that very issue.
Pastor Josh:And so let's look at our text here this morning.
Pastor Josh:Romans, chapter 12 was just a context passage, but we're going to now look at Second Corinthians, chapter six, and we're going to start in verse number 14.
Pastor Josh:Paul is going to teach the Corinthian church what it means to be separate, to be different.
Pastor Josh:He says, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
Pastor Josh:Now, you might have heard that phrase before, and we're going to get into the depths of that phrase here this morning.
Pastor Josh:But he says, don't be yoked up with unbelievers.
Pastor Josh:The yoke would have been something that would have been used for putting on two different animals and associating them together.
Pastor Josh:He says, don't join up with unbelievers.
Pastor Josh:For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
Pastor Josh:And what communion hath light with darkness?
Pastor Josh:And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
Pastor Josh:Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel or an unbeliever?
Pastor Josh:In what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
Pastor Josh:And 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, wherefore come out from among them and be 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.
Pastor Josh:The name of the sermon this morning, the title is out of this World.
Pastor Josh:Let's go ahead and pray.
Pastor Josh:And then we're going to jump right into our main thoughts here this morning.
Pastor Josh:Lord, I pray that you be with us as we look into your word.
Pastor Josh:I pray that we can understand what your teaching is here when it comes to this idea of being separated from the world would help us to understand the importance of living the transformed life as a believer, to live differently, to live separate, to live sanctified.
Pastor Josh:Lord, help us to understand that you have called us to be different, that you have called us to be a testimony, that you've called us to live pure and holy lives so that folks can see that life and so that folks can understand the goodness of salvation.
Pastor Josh:To know the goodness of walking with a God who loves them.
Pastor Josh:And so, Lord, I pray that you help us, challenge us, encourage us in this walk.
Pastor Josh:Lord, I pray that there's anyone here today that does not know you as Savior, that today can be the day in which we can understand positionally that we can be different, that there's hope in Jesus.
Pastor Josh:So, Lord, we thank you and we love you.
Pastor Josh:In Jesus name we pray.
Pastor Josh:Amen.
Pastor Josh:I want you to see point number one here this morning.
Pastor Josh:God calls us to not have association with the world.
Pastor Josh:Number one is the association God is concerned with who we are associating with.
Pastor Josh:Verse 14.
Pastor Josh:Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
Pastor Josh:Paul speaks of the association of believers and unbelievers.
Pastor Josh:And he uses an analogy.
Pastor Josh:He uses the analogy of being unequally yoked.
Pastor Josh:Paul is speaking to the overly broad affections of the Corinthian Christians.
Pastor Josh:Who are you loving?
Pastor Josh:Who are you associating with?
Pastor Josh:What are you associating with?
Pastor Josh:You know, so many times in our life we are challenged with this and we think, well, what am I supposed to be?
Pastor Josh:A person who goes and lives in a monastery and never addresses people?
Pastor Josh:No, that's not what he's talking about here.
Pastor Josh:He's not talking about being in the world.
Pastor Josh:In another passage of Scripture in First Corinthians, Paul says, you can't separate yourself from the world completely.
Pastor Josh:You got to be there.
Pastor Josh:You got to be in the world.
Pastor Josh:But maybe this is a phrase that you've heard before.
Pastor Josh:You're in the world, but you're not of the world.
Pastor Josh:Right?
Pastor Josh:And so as a Christian, we gotta go to work.
Pastor Josh:We.
Pastor Josh:We gotta go to the grocery store.
Pastor Josh:We gotta see people that are not believers.
Pastor Josh:That's understood.
Pastor Josh:He's not talking about that.
Pastor Josh:He's not talking about us moving to an island and creating a Christian utopia and only having Christians there.
Pastor Josh:That's not what he's talking about.
Pastor Josh:He's talking about being associated with unbelievers.
Pastor Josh:And he says a believer should not be linked to an unbeliever when it comes to association.
Pastor Josh:You know, in this case, he's talking about Christians who join themselves with unbelievers.
Pastor Josh:And this is difficult because for many of us, we might say, what does that specifically mean?
Pastor Josh:Does that mean that I can't talk to an unbeliever?
Pastor Josh:That's not what he's talking about here.
Pastor Josh:It's the joining of two things that should not go together.
Pastor Josh:It's the celebration of the things of this world.
Pastor Josh:It's associating with an unbeliever and hoping that that unbeliever will act like a believer.
Pastor Josh:And the Bible says that should not be so.
Pastor Josh:Now, in many cases, in most cases, we see this preached when it comes to the institution of marriage, in which it does apply, by the way, I believe that God is warning us, as Christians, do not have unbelievers marrying believers.
Pastor Josh:Believers should not be associating in the closest biblical relationship in marriage.
Pastor Josh:Right?
Pastor Josh:What does the Bible say about marriage?
Pastor Josh:The Bible says when we're married, it's one flesh husband, wife become one.
Pastor Josh:Bible says an unsaved person and a saved person should not be associated.
Pastor Josh:Therefore, we can take by way of context, being unequally yoked would be that one unsaved person is marrying a saved person.
Pastor Josh:And we warn against that.
Pastor Josh:We caution against that.
Pastor Josh:Jesus says, don't do that.
Pastor Josh:But what we also have to understand as Christians is that that means so much more.
Pastor Josh:It means so much more than just marriage.
Pastor Josh:Because a lot of times we might think, well, I'm married to a believer, so I don't have to worry about Second Corinthians, chapter six.
Pastor Josh:That's not the full scope of it.
Pastor Josh:That's one element of it.
Pastor Josh:But Paul means so much more here than only marrying an unbeliever.
Pastor Josh:It really applies to the environment where we let the world influence our thinking.
Pastor Josh:Because if we let the world influence our thinking, what happens?
Pastor Josh:Well, then it changes what we begin to believe, and then it changes how we act.
Pastor Josh:And so if we want to protect ourselves from acting like the world, we need to go back about thinking like the world and say, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I'm allowing these associations, these partnerships to infiltrate my mind and allow myself to think about the things of this world and not think biblically.
Pastor Josh:And when we're being conformed to this world and we're not being transformed by the renewing of our mind, we join together with unbelievers in an ungodly way.
Pastor Josh:And I've heard it said many times, well, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I'm going to influence this unbeliever.
Pastor Josh:The truth is, is that scripture tells us that when we associate with an unbeliever, when we associate with the things of this world, when we associate with this way of thinking, eventually that will bleed into what we do in our own lives.
Pastor Josh:And so what we can see here is that God warns us over and over again about the dangers of joining in with this world.
Pastor Josh:I want you to see another passage of scripture in James, chapter four.
Pastor Josh:If you don't think that God is serious about this, I want you to see a couple passages of scripture where he deals with this understanding of being too friendly, too loving with the things of this world.
Pastor Josh:Now, I've said world a lot today.
Pastor Josh:What am I meaning by the world?
Pastor Josh:I'm not talking about the physical world out there.
Pastor Josh:I'm talking about the ways of the world, the systems of the world.
Pastor Josh:Ultimately, it's the enemy system, right?
Pastor Josh:You have Satan who attacks Christians, but Satan has set in motion a way of the world.
Pastor Josh:And so we're talking about sinful ways.
Pastor Josh:The ways of the world is like, hey, get what you can.
Pastor Josh:It's all about fleshly feeling good about yourself.
Pastor Josh:It's all about lifting yourself up.
Pastor Josh:It's all about stepping on another person.
Pastor Josh:It's all about putting yourself first.
Pastor Josh:From the very beginning, in the garden, what was the original lie?
Pastor Josh:Put yourself first.
Pastor Josh:Be God.
Pastor Josh:You're your own God.
Pastor Josh:Put yourself up.
Pastor Josh:Humanism.
Pastor Josh:And that's what the ways of the world is.
Pastor Josh:It's humanism.
Pastor Josh:The way of the world is humanism.
Pastor Josh:So what, what we can see here in James, chapter four, we see God telling us a very important thing here in this passage.
Pastor Josh:He says, ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God.
Pastor Josh:Meaning, if you're friends with this world, you're enemies of God.
Pastor Josh:If you love this world, if you cling to this world, you're not clinging to God.
Pastor Josh:Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Pastor Josh:I don't know how much more clear he can be.
Pastor Josh:The more we love the world, the less we love the Lord.
Pastor Josh:And the more we attach ourselves to the things of this world, the more we lose grip on what God wants for us.
Pastor Josh:Go back to What Romans, chapter 12, verse 2 says, you want to follow that good, perfect will of God in your life.
Pastor Josh:Cling after him, go after him, search after him, love him.
Pastor Josh:If you want to know the ways of the world and be conformed to this world, love that, go after that.
Pastor Josh:Over and over again, we're told that we should not love the world.
Pastor Josh:First John, chapter two.
Pastor Josh:First John, chapter two, verses 15 through 17.
Pastor Josh:First John, chapter two is talking all about Jesus being the propitiation of our sins and how we should love him and how we should walk in his truth and how we should obey Him.
Pastor Josh:And then he goes on to say in verse number 15, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
Pastor Josh:So lest you think that, hey, I don't love the world, he says, don't love the world.
Pastor Josh:Or the things that are in the world, that the products of the world.
Pastor Josh:Now, I've heard a lot of sermons where pastors get up and start picking and choosing what they don't like and telling you that you shouldn't like that either.
Pastor Josh:Okay?
Pastor Josh:That's not my job here today.
Pastor Josh:My job is not to get up here and give you your biblical preferences and convictions.
Pastor Josh:All I'm saying is that when things are very clearly from the world, we should not love those.
Pastor Josh:We should not chase after those.
Pastor Josh:He says here, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
Pastor Josh:If any man love the world.
Pastor Josh:Okay, this is not Pastor Josh.
Pastor Josh:This is.
Pastor Josh:This is scripture.
Pastor Josh:If any man love the world.
Pastor Josh:The love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world.
Pastor Josh:And here, here's what he says.
Pastor Josh:This is.
Pastor Josh:If you could summarize the world, this is it.
Pastor Josh:Okay.
Pastor Josh:So.
Pastor Josh:So.
Pastor Josh:So if you were thinking, well, I don't know if what I love is, is worldly, well, here it is.
Pastor Josh:He gives you the definition of what it means to love the world.
Pastor Josh:He says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh.
Pastor Josh:So, so what your flesh wants feel good, right?
Pastor Josh:What feels good?
Pastor Josh:The lust of the eyes, what looks good, what's going to bring you pleasure, what's going to bring you success.
Pastor Josh:And the pride of life.
Pastor Josh:Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life.
Pastor Josh:Those things it says is not of the Father, but of this world, but is of this world.
Pastor Josh:And then he gives us the reason why we shouldn't love the world.
Pastor Josh:And the world passeth away in the lust thereof.
Pastor Josh:But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
Pastor Josh:The things of this world are empty.
Pastor Josh:The things of this world are temporary.
Pastor Josh:The things of this world are going to vanish.
Pastor Josh:What he says is the only thing that is going to last is our relationship with the Lord.
Pastor Josh:So love him.
Pastor Josh:And so Paul means so much more than just a believer.
Pastor Josh:And marrying an unbeliever, that is one of the greatest examples of being unequally yoked.
Pastor Josh:But we can be unequally yoked in many different ways in our life, whether it be in personal relationships outside of marriage, whether it be through, maybe even some cases, business relationships.
Pastor Josh:Maybe, maybe it just could be my affections of what I entertain myself with, what, what we've, what we stream into our households do matter.
Pastor Josh:Folks, I'm going to tell you this morning, it matters what we take in through entertainment.
Pastor Josh:A lot of times you're going to be taught, hey, you know what?
Pastor Josh:Just do whatever you want to do because that's fun.
Pastor Josh:And then go to church and you just cleanse your mind.
Pastor Josh:That's.
Pastor Josh:That's not the case.
Pastor Josh:The world has a system of propaganda that is trying to get into your minds and get you to think a certain way, whether you know it or not.
Pastor Josh:That makes it good propaganda.
Pastor Josh:You don't know that it's coming to you.
Pastor Josh:It's not overt.
Pastor Josh:It's not in your face.
Pastor Josh:It's under the guise of, hey, this is just fun.
Pastor Josh:The problem is that can come in and plague our minds, plague our families.
Pastor Josh:And the Bible says that's being unequally yoked with the world.
Pastor Josh:Would you Bring in.
Pastor Josh:I'm just going to.
Pastor Josh:I already knew this morning I'm going to step on toes and I love you.
Pastor Josh:So just understand that.
Pastor Josh:Because I'm preaching to myself this morning.
Pastor Josh:Would I bring in some worldly person who had a filthy mouth who celebrated immorality and say, hey, come on to my house and just live out your life in front of my family?
Pastor Josh:I hope not.
Pastor Josh:Hope you'd say, get out of my house.
Pastor Josh:This is our sanctuary.
Pastor Josh:This is our comfort.
Pastor Josh:This is our peace in Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh:But what happens sometimes is we're not willing to enter through our front door, but we're allowing them to come in through our televisions.
Pastor Josh:We're allowing them to come in through what we take in our cell phones.
Pastor Josh:Folks, I'm the first guy to tell you that in and of itself, the iPhone isn't a bad thing, right?
Pastor Josh:You can do a lot of great things with it.
Pastor Josh:But just as much as you can do a lot of great things with this thing, you can do a lot of bad things that are destructive to yourself, to your minds, to your families.
Pastor Josh:And I'm going to tell you, being unequally yoked with the world would be, hey, I'm taking in content from the world, and that is where I'm feeding my hunger.
Pastor Josh:That is where I'm feeding my pleasure.
Pastor Josh:I'm going to tell you folks, there's danger with that.
Pastor Josh:There's danger with that.
Pastor Josh:It's a slippery slope because the more that I take in from the world and the more I set my affections on the things of this world, the more that's going to affect what I believe, and it's going to affect what I believe.
Pastor Josh:It's actually going to then affect what I do because I'm going to live the way that I believe.
Pastor Josh:You know, if I'm going to ask you what you believe, you can tell me whatever you want.
Pastor Josh:You can tell me whatever you want.
Pastor Josh:But what you believe is how you act.
Pastor Josh:Really.
Pastor Josh:That's, at the end of the day, what's all about what you believe.
Pastor Josh:So if you believe that this is something that's good, eventually that's something that's going to bleed into your life.
Pastor Josh:We cannot compartmentalize these things.
Pastor Josh:And so what we can see here in this case is that Jesus says, don't be yoked with this world.
Pastor Josh:Where should we be yoked?
Pastor Josh:Well, Matthew chapter 11 tells us where our yoke should be.
Pastor Josh:Matthew, chapter 11 tells us that our yoke should not be with this world, but it should be with Jesus Christ yoke.
Pastor Josh:Up with him a lot of times.
Pastor Josh:I was always taught growing up, just stop doing bad things.
Pastor Josh:Turn off the TV.
Pastor Josh:Maybe you've seen this guy on YouTube, he got an ax out and he smashed the TV on stage.
Pastor Josh:Right?
Pastor Josh:Folks, we all know that we can try to stop doing things, but that's not what the Bible says is the complete model of living a godly holy life.
Pastor Josh:You can cut out a bunch of bad stuff in your life, but ultimately that bad stuff is just gonna come back in different forms.
Pastor Josh:And so there's a replacement for the bad.
Pastor Josh:Matthew, chapter 11, verse 28.
Pastor Josh:Jesus says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Pastor Josh:Take my yoke.
Pastor Josh:So we don't yoke up with the world, what do we do?
Pastor Josh:We yoke up with Christ.
Pastor Josh:Take my yoke upon you and learn of me.
Pastor Josh:So it's that Christ like attitude, it's that humility, it's that sacrifice, it's that grace, it's that mercy.
Pastor Josh:He says, take up my yoke.
Pastor Josh:Let me tell you, when you yoke up with Jesus Christ, it's not lust of the eyes, it's not lust of the flesh, it's not pride of life, it's the complete opposite.
Pastor Josh:He says, for I am meek and lowly, completely different.
Pastor Josh:For I am meek and lowly in heart.
Pastor Josh:And ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Pastor Josh:For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Pastor Josh:Jesus says, come, you know, you know what's a real big burden is being yoked up with this world and trying to keep up with all that.
Pastor Josh:Because ultimately it all falls on us.
Pastor Josh:And it all falls on our strength.
Pastor Josh:And we are flawed human beings that will fall.
Pastor Josh:But what we see here is that Jesus says, yoke up with me instead of the world.
Pastor Josh:And so we see that there's this idea of association.
Pastor Josh:And that association comes to point number two, influence.
Pastor Josh:We're going to go back to second Corinthians, chapter six.
Pastor Josh:So go back there with me.
Pastor Josh:We'll spend some time in 2 Corinthians, chapter 6.
Pastor Josh:Now, Paul says, be careful of your associations, because your associations will influence you.
Pastor Josh:They will influence the way that you act, the way that you think, the way that you believe.
Pastor Josh:Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
Pastor Josh:For what fellowship we see that word fellowship?
Pastor Josh:For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
Pastor Josh:These are true questions.
Pastor Josh:He wants you to think about this.
Pastor Josh:What association does righteousness have with unrighteousness?
Pastor Josh:And what communion hath light with darkness?
Pastor Josh:These are all thoughts that we have to think about.
Pastor Josh:Cause sometimes when we frame it this way, it makes more sense when we frame it for what it really is.
Pastor Josh:Dark and light, righteousness, unrighteousness.
Pastor Josh:So many times we try to blur the lines.
Pastor Josh:And that's what the world tries to do, blur the lines, make definitions unclear.
Pastor Josh:God is not the author of confusion.
Pastor Josh:God is clear in how he deals with things.
Pastor Josh:But what we see here in this case is that sometimes we can allow the influence to come into our lives when we blur the lines.
Pastor Josh:And so what Paul is doing here is he's saying, look, it's really this fellowship with righteousness or unrighteousness, fellowship with darkness or light, communion.
Pastor Josh:He's talking about that walk that we have.
Pastor Josh:And so this passage here speaks especially to the issue of influence.
Pastor Josh:Paul is not suggesting that Christians should never associate with unbelievers, because there's a.
Pastor Josh:There's a point to associate with unbelievers.
Pastor Josh:Like the gospel.
Pastor Josh:Be salt and light.
Pastor Josh:We should reach out to those that are around us.
Pastor Josh:We should influence those that are around us.
Pastor Josh:So instead of us being influenced by the world, we should influence the world for the cause of the gospel.
Pastor Josh:And so there's a difference there.
Pastor Josh:It's in the world, but not of the world.
Pastor Josh:And he makes it very clear in First Corinthians, chapter 5.
Pastor Josh:We don't have the time to go there.
Pastor Josh:But Paul says, you can't just leave this world.
Pastor Josh:You got to be around other people that are unbelievers, but it's how you associate with them.
Pastor Josh:And so the principle is that we are to be in the world, but not of the world.
Pastor Josh:It's like this.
Pastor Josh:I heard a commentator say it this way.
Pastor Josh:Like a ship should be in the water, but the water shouldn't be in the ship.
Pastor Josh:Right?
Pastor Josh:Right.
Pastor Josh:So when we're in a boat, we expect there's water outside.
Pastor Josh:We're in that water.
Pastor Josh:But when that water starts coming in, hopefully that water starts coming into the boat, into the ship.
Pastor Josh:There's a big problem.
Pastor Josh:That's the problem.
Pastor Josh:It's the influence of that outside into our own family, our own life, our own hearts.
Pastor Josh:And so we're there.
Pastor Josh:But the problem is, if the world is influencing us, it's clear that we are unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
Pastor Josh:So where's the test?
Pastor Josh:The test is this.
Pastor Josh:Is my life mirroring Christ and Christ likeness?
Pastor Josh:Or is my life looking more and more like the world?
Pastor Josh:If you could take me and put me up to a person who has no faith.
Pastor Josh:And if my life looks the same as his, except I go to church on Sunday mornings and I give to the church.
Pastor Josh:There's a big issue there.
Pastor Josh:Right?
Pastor Josh:Let's think about that.
Pastor Josh:You know reality shows, right?
Pastor Josh:They have reality shows and they follow people around.
Pastor Josh:Some of you might like those.
Pastor Josh:Some of you might like.
Pastor Josh:You ever seen that?
Pastor Josh:Undercover Boss?
Pastor Josh:That's interesting, right?
Pastor Josh:Those guys come in and these guys are yelling at them, and like, you know, I'm the CEO of the company, and they end up firing them, and they give a million dollars to this guy who was nice.
Pastor Josh:It's all.
Pastor Josh:I don't know how much of it scripted or not, probably most of it's scripted, but either way, it's entertaining, right?
Pastor Josh:Speaking of that, we got to be careful about our entertainment, but I think that's okay to watch sometimes.
Pastor Josh:So the idea would be this.
Pastor Josh:If we followed around, you know, Middletown Baptist Joe here, okay, he's going out into the world and he's gonna.
Pastor Josh:We're gonna follow him.
Pastor Josh:And then we go follow an atheist guy who doesn't believe in Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh:And we follow him everywhere he goes.
Pastor Josh:And if we didn't show what he did on Sunday morning, and we didn't show what he did when he had his ministry that Saturday, but now we just show what he does in his life all those other times, and the life of the unsaved person and the life of the saved person looks exactly the same.
Pastor Josh:There's a big issue there, because what's happened is we know that an atheist is not going to live like Christ.
Pastor Josh:We know that that unsaved person is going to live the way that unsaved people do.
Pastor Josh:But then if the saved person doesn't live like a saved person, he's influenced by the world.
Pastor Josh:And so there's that understanding that that influence matters.
Pastor Josh:And so that's the test.
Pastor Josh:The test is, who am I living like?
Pastor Josh:Whose yoke is driving me forward?
Pastor Josh:And so we have this understanding of influence in your life.
Pastor Josh:Who is influencing you?
Pastor Josh:What are you taking in?
Pastor Josh:What content are you taking in on your daily walk?
Pastor Josh:John 15.
Pastor Josh:John 15, verse 19.
Pastor Josh:We see this.
Pastor Josh:I believe, as you know, I don't like proof texting.
Pastor Josh:Proof texting is.
Pastor Josh:I'm going to come up with one verse to try to prove a thought.
Pastor Josh:But if you were to say, okay, where do you get that phrase in the world, but not of the world, I think this would be a great passage of scripture to take somebody in.
Pastor Josh:John 15, you got to know context, right?
Pastor Josh:What has Jesus been doing he's been teaching his disciples what it means to abide in him, to live in Him.
Pastor Josh:You know, he says, you are not the vine.
Pastor Josh:Okay, I am the vine, you are the branches.
Pastor Josh:You can't live without me.
Pastor Josh:You're nothing without me.
Pastor Josh:And then in John 15, verse 19, he says, if ye were of the world, the world would love his own.
Pastor Josh:But because ye are not of the world.
Pastor Josh:So there's a good phrase.
Pastor Josh:You're not of the world because you're not of the world.
Pastor Josh:But I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Pastor Josh:Remember the word that I said unto you.
Pastor Josh:The servant is not greater than his Lord.
Pastor Josh:If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
Pastor Josh:If they have kept.
Pastor Josh:If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
Pastor Josh:What does Jesus say?
Pastor Josh:He says, you're not of this world.
Pastor Josh:You should be away from this world.
Pastor Josh:You should not be associated, and you should not allow it to influence you.
Pastor Josh:Another passage of Scripture that talks about this is in John 17.
Pastor Josh:John 17, he reads.
Pastor Josh:He's.
Pastor Josh:He's.
Pastor Josh:He's praying.
Pastor Josh:Here.
Pastor Josh:In this case, Jesus is.
Pastor Josh:This is his high priestly prayer.
Pastor Josh:In John 17, verse 16, he says, they are not of the world, talking to His Father about us, talking to His Father about those that follow Him.
Pastor Josh:And he says, they are not of this world, even as I am not of this world.
Pastor Josh:Sanctify them through thy truth.
Pastor Josh:Thy word is truth.
Pastor Josh:Are you starting to see that there is a theme here?
Pastor Josh:The theme is, if we want to live separate from the world, we must be grounded in the truth of the word.
Pastor Josh:Can't go off of our feelings now.
Pastor Josh:Feelings do matter, and we don't discredit feelings.
Pastor Josh:But what we do say is this.
Pastor Josh:Jesus says, hey, they're not of this world.
Pastor Josh:Believers, Christians, followers of me are not of this world, even as I am not of this world.
Pastor Josh:So therefore, sanctify them through thy truth.
Pastor Josh:Thy word is truth.
Pastor Josh:And so the Bible tells us over and over again the importance of grounding ourselves in the word of God so that when things come at us, we can decide and discern according to the Spirit what is truth and what is not truth.
Pastor Josh:All the more reason today to be a discerning Christian when we get bombarded with content.
Pastor Josh:What's a lie and what's not a lie?
Pastor Josh:That's what the world is.
Pastor Josh:You know, we don't know what to believe anymore.
Pastor Josh:My parents.
Pastor Josh:Well, I should be careful.
Pastor Josh:I don't want to use myself here.
Pastor Josh:Okay.
Pastor Josh:Maybe some people in this room used to Tell your children, don't believe what you read on the Internet.
Pastor Josh:You ever heard that?
Pastor Josh:When you were some people that are in my age group, they said, son, don't believe that person on the Internet.
Pastor Josh:You can't trust that.
Pastor Josh:I had teachers that told me, you can't go to the Internet for resources.
Pastor Josh:You got to go to an encyclopedia.
Pastor Josh:And now the same people that were saying that read his article on Facebook, that was forged.
Pastor Josh:And they go, do you know that they're doing this?
Pastor Josh:And it's like, do you understand, guys, that the lines have been so blurred for a reason?
Pastor Josh:So that none of us can really know what the truth is in this world?
Pastor Josh:That's what the whole agenda is from this world, to blur the lines, to make us think that something is true or not true.
Pastor Josh:We don't know.
Pastor Josh:Guess who does that?
Pastor Josh:The author of confusion, the father of lies, the deceiver.
Pastor Josh:The deceiver wants us all to be deceived.
Pastor Josh:That's his character.
Pastor Josh:That's Satan's character, the accuser of the brethren.
Pastor Josh:And so the opposite of that is clarity.
Pastor Josh:The opposite of that is knowing a standard, objective truth.
Pastor Josh:Now you say, what's that standard, objective truth?
Pastor Josh:Well, God is the God of all truth, the God of all.
Pastor Josh:And therefore, you know what?
Pastor Josh:It's this amazing thing that he gave us.
Pastor Josh:And that's his word.
Pastor Josh:And he says, hey, this is what I give you to know, to be sanctified by thy truth.
Pastor Josh:Thy word is truth, meaning this God's word is truth.
Pastor Josh:And so we check it to this.
Pastor Josh:If it isn't in this, it doesn't matter.
Pastor Josh:And that's what we have to see in our own lives.
Pastor Josh:And so Second Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 14.
Pastor Josh:He says light and darkness.
Pastor Josh:And then he says something very interesting.
Pastor Josh:And what concord hath Christ with Belial, you might say, what is he talking about here?
Pastor Josh:He's talking about compromise.
Pastor Josh:And so, so far we've seen association, influence, compromise.
Pastor Josh:That's the spiral of digression that happens.
Pastor Josh:We associate with the world, we're influenced by the world, and then we're compromised by the world.
Pastor Josh:Compromise means I give up my values for something else that I think is more important.
Pastor Josh:I've now compromised.
Pastor Josh:Now it's okay to compromise when it comes to certain things in business, right?
Pastor Josh:You're negotiating on a car and, you know, you compromise on the middle ground, that's totally fine.
Pastor Josh:But one thing that we cannot compromise on is the truth of the word of God.
Pastor Josh:And so the Corinthian Christians were so much love they were loving the world so much and they were so affectionate in the sense that they thought that it was accepting of them to allow lawlessness with unrighteousness, to accept darkness and light, to associate, to admit to following Christ along with, as it says here, belial.
Pastor Josh:Now what is belial?
Pastor Josh:That's a word that we don't use quite frequently.
Pastor Josh:It's the Hebrew word meaning worthlessness or wickedness.
Pastor Josh:But here it's used as a synonym for Satan.
Pastor Josh:So he says, what is he doing here?
Pastor Josh:He's saying, how can you associate with Jesus and Satan?
Pastor Josh:How?
Pastor Josh:You can't.
Pastor Josh:How can you associate with good and evil?
Pastor Josh:You can't.
Pastor Josh:It's a rhetorical question.
Pastor Josh:We know the answer.
Pastor Josh:You can't, you shouldn't.
Pastor Josh:And the book of James mentions this double minded man.
Pastor Josh:Double minded man is unstable in all of his ways.
Pastor Josh:This is, I believe that this is a definition of many people in this world today that are in church in America today and sitting in a good Bible believing church in America today.
Pastor Josh:You know what?
Pastor Josh:I want a little bit of Jesus, but then I want a little.
Pastor Josh:And they might not say Satan, but they want a little bit of this world.
Pastor Josh:They want a taste of that forbidden fruit.
Pastor Josh:They want to have a little bit of that foot in the world because hey, this is my little bit of a backup plan here.
Pastor Josh:It makes sense every time we saw that in scripture, every type of compromise found in scripture comes to a place of destruction, light and darkness, good and evil, Jesus for Satan.
Pastor Josh:That's what it is.
Pastor Josh:And he says, and what part hath he that believeth with an unbeliever, an infidel?
Pastor Josh:He just, he ties that all back together.
Pastor Josh:And so the true question that Paul is asking here is what are we going to allow to fill our hearts?
Pastor Josh:And what are we going to allow to fill our minds?
Pastor Josh:Essentially it's the challenge of are we going to follow Jesus?
Pastor Josh:Are we going to follow the ways of this world?
Pastor Josh:So we have the association, who are we associated with?
Pastor Josh:We have the influence.
Pastor Josh:Who are we influenced by?
Pastor Josh:We have the compromise.
Pastor Josh:Are we going to compromise?
Pastor Josh:But there is hope.
Pastor Josh:There is hope.
Pastor Josh:There is something called biblical separation.
Pastor Josh:Now I gotta take a few moments to explain this because if you came from a background that I came from, biblical separation means something totally different than what biblical separation really is.
Pastor Josh:Biblical separation in some cases, in some churches, looks like this.
Pastor Josh:If that church doesn't look exactly like us, talk exactly like us, you know, listen to the exact same music as us, go to the same colleges we go to, we can't talk with them.
Pastor Josh:They're just as bad as an unbeliever.
Pastor Josh:Problem with that is that's not what biblical separation is.
Pastor Josh:Biblical separation makes a clear distinction between sin and not sinning, good versus evil.
Pastor Josh:We have to separate ourselves from the ways of this world.
Pastor Josh:We do have to separate ourselves from false teaching.
Pastor Josh:I gave an example in my Sunday school class this morning.
Pastor Josh:You know, if there's a church across town that meets at a different time or does a different music or maybe, you know, has a different way of meeting, I'm not going to preach against that.
Pastor Josh:That's not my problem.
Pastor Josh:And that's the way that they worship, and we have to respect that.
Pastor Josh:But there is a church across town that preaches that there's a different way to get to heaven.
Pastor Josh:If there is a church across town that's preaching a different scripture, that's when we can say, yeah, that is a time and a place for biblical separation.
Pastor Josh:We don't treat them like one of our own.
Pastor Josh:We don't treat them like someone who's walking in the same stride as we are.
Pastor Josh:That's confusing, because if someone sees that as Christianity and they see what we preach as Christianity, and they see what other person over here preaches as Christianity, all three different messages, well, who's really true?
Pastor Josh:Right?
Pastor Josh:That's what Satan's trying to do, blur the lines.
Pastor Josh:And so there is so.
Pastor Josh:So go with me to Second Corinthians, chapter six.
Pastor Josh:There is this idea of biblical separation.
Pastor Josh:And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
Pastor Josh:Now, at this point in time, okay, the temple is not the building that's standing in Jerusalem.
Pastor Josh:He's talking about.
Pastor Josh:If you guys know this in context, he's talking about you.
Pastor Josh:We are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
Pastor Josh:And so he says, what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
Pastor Josh:For ye are the temple of the living God.
Pastor Josh:As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
Pastor Josh:He says, think about it from the biblical perspective.
Pastor Josh:You are the temple of the living God.
Pastor Josh:Now, now, that doesn't.
Pastor Josh:That doesn't mean that I get inflated and I go, wow, look at me.
Pastor Josh:I'm a temple.
Pastor Josh:Look at me.
Pastor Josh:No, that's not what it's talking about.
Pastor Josh:It's talking about you having the responsibility to live a life separate from the ways of this world.
Pastor Josh:He says there in verse 17, this is that biblical separation wherefore come out from among them.
Pastor Josh:This is where I got that phrase out of this World, come out of the world, leave your associations, leave the influence, leave the compromise.
Pastor Josh:He says, come out from among them and be ye separate, be holy, be different, be distinct, don't be different for the sake of being different, okay?
Pastor Josh:Some people just like to do that.
Pastor Josh:They're like, you know, okay, we don't have to dress like puritans to be separate from this world, okay?
Pastor Josh:God's not asking us to be weird, he's asking us to be like him so that it will look weird to the world.
Pastor Josh:You understand that, right?
Pastor Josh:There are some Christians that say, like, how obscure can we be so that we can just fulfill this.
Pastor Josh:No, he's not saying that.
Pastor Josh:He says, be able to reach the people in your community.
Pastor Josh:Right?
Pastor Josh:He's not calling us to live out and not, you know, if you say, well, it's my conviction not to have technology in my house, that's okay, but you're not sinning if you have technology, okay?
Pastor Josh:God has given us tools to reach people for Christ.
Pastor Josh:That's not what he's talking about.
Pastor Josh:He's talking about separating from the influence of this world.
Pastor Josh:So we redeem the things that we have in this world for the cause of the gospel and we don't join in with the way that the world uses those things.
Pastor Josh:Whether therefore, you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all the glory of God.
Pastor Josh:So the way that I read that is this.
Pastor Josh:I can eat and drink to the glory of myself.
Pastor Josh:I can do anything to the glory of myself, or I could do something for the glory of God.
Pastor Josh:And so in this case here we see that there is a command to be biblically separate, he says, and touch not the unclean thing.
Pastor Josh:And I will receive you and will be a father unto you.
Pastor Josh:Meaning you want to be my child, act like my child and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Pastor Josh:Do we love him?
Pastor Josh:Do we love him enough to say, I want to honor you, Abba Father, I want to honor you.
Pastor Josh:And therefore, if you're asking me to stay away from this, I'm going to stay away from this.
Pastor Josh:If you're asking me to separate, See, there's some people that will say, well, I don't care what God says, I'm not giving that up in my life.
Pastor Josh:Folks, that is a dangerous place to be.
Pastor Josh:That's hard hearted pride that we have to get taken care of right now.
Pastor Josh:If God comes and tells us to get rid of something, step away from something, we need to say, that is something that I have to separate from, that I have to cut out of my life because my association with him matters more than any other association that I have in my life.
Pastor Josh:Oh, God is never going to call you to do something according, or I should say opposite of his scripture.
Pastor Josh:He's always going to call you to do something according to scripture.
Pastor Josh:So someone says, well, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I feel like my spouse is really a bad influence on me right now, so I'm just going to cut them off.
Pastor Josh:God does not want you to do that, okay?
Pastor Josh:I don't think that that's what God wants you to do.
Pastor Josh:He wants you to strive.
Pastor Josh:Now you say, well, are there times and places for different things like that?
Pastor Josh:That's another conversation.
Pastor Josh:But what I will say is this.
Pastor Josh:God is.
Pastor Josh:Cause I've heard a lot of people argue the fact that, well, you know what?
Pastor Josh:God told me to just lose my cool with that person, okay?
Pastor Josh:He wouldn't have made me feel that way if he didn't want me to go out and just tear up into that person and just yell at them and scream at them.
Pastor Josh:You know what?
Pastor Josh:It's not God's will that we lose our cool.
Pastor Josh:It's not God's cool that we get angry in our own flesh.
Pastor Josh:There is a time and a place to be angry and sin not.
Pastor Josh:But the Bible doesn't say that we have justification to do whatever we feel because God's allowed that.
Pastor Josh:No, the Bible says that everything that God wants us to do, he's going to align that with his Word.
Pastor Josh:And so it's that true Test.
Pastor Josh:Is it lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and dare I say, the pride of life, that's the one that gets us sometimes.
Pastor Josh:It's that pride.
Pastor Josh:It's that pride to say, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I'm not willing to separate.
Pastor Josh:I'm not willing to get rid of that in my life because it's fun.
Pastor Josh:What's the harm in this?
Pastor Josh:And I can tell you, as Christians, if you come on our Sunday night services, for the last few weeks, we've been talking about that there are certain things that we can differ on and we can be okay with, right?
Pastor Josh:There's biblical preferences that are not essential doctrines that we can say, okay, you have liberty.
Pastor Josh:But ultimately, at the end of the day, as a believer, I have to really inspect the why.
Pastor Josh:The major word that I want you to think about here this morning before we close is this.
Pastor Josh:Why?
Pastor Josh:Why am I associated with this?
Pastor Josh:What is this bringing to my life in the way of influence is this.
Pastor Josh:Paul talks about this.
Pastor Josh:He says, all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient and not all things are edifying decisions that we make in our life.
Pastor Josh:We have to say, is this building my faith, is this growing my faith, or is this influencing me to start thinking more and more like the world?
Pastor Josh:There's things that we have to do within our own home that I say, you know what, I can't necessarily take you to chapter and verse and say, thou shalt not have this in your house.
Pastor Josh:But I can tell you that that is influencing my family to the way of the world.
Pastor Josh:And I say, guys, we gotta stop this.
Pastor Josh:Unless you think that my children are just angels sitting there going, okay, Father, perfect.
Pastor Josh:My children press back on me too, okay, can we be transparent?
Pastor Josh:This morning my kids go, dad, why can't we do that?
Pastor Josh:And I have a point to tell them, because dad doesn't want you to do that.
Pastor Josh:And that makes me mad.
Pastor Josh:No, it says, you know what?
Pastor Josh:As a Christian, we have to say that this is something that is not pulling us more and more close to the Lord.
Pastor Josh:It's pulling us away from God and making us more and more like the world.
Pastor Josh:And we're called to be.
Pastor Josh:If you're going to air, be on err on the side of being distinct from this world, okay, be safe, be safe.
Pastor Josh:Now you would say, well, come on, you're going to be legalistic.
Pastor Josh:Have you heard me be legalistic this morning?
Pastor Josh:I've not sat down and said, do this, do this.
Pastor Josh:But what I am saying is be so very cautious about what you are pulling into your life because what you pull into your life matters.
Pastor Josh:And that's what Paul is saying here.
Pastor Josh:Do not love the world.
Pastor Josh:Because the more that you love the world, the more your affections are stolen from God.
Pastor Josh:And so what we can see is this, okay, so what's the remedy?
Pastor Josh:Doesn't mean no contact.
Pastor Josh:It's the balance of the gospel testimony and ridding ourselves of the sinful influence of the world.
Pastor Josh:We'll never be sinless on this side of heaven.
Pastor Josh:But what the Bible does say is that we should strive to sin space less.
Pastor Josh:Okay, so we can't be sinless, but we can strive to sin less in our lives.
Pastor Josh:And this is not a message to say that, hey, this Christian is better than this Christian because they sin less than this Christian.
Pastor Josh:It's the heart of the matter.
Pastor Josh:It's the why behind it.
Pastor Josh:So what I would tell you here this morning is this.
Pastor Josh:It's not about separating yourselves and saying, okay, we're against this, so we're going to stop this we're against this, and we're going to stop this, because at the end of the day, you're going to end up being against everything, and then you're not going to be for anything.
Pastor Josh:And so the remedy is what we talked about at the very beginning.
Pastor Josh:Don't yoke up with the world.
Pastor Josh:But who do you yoke up with?
Pastor Josh:You yoke up with Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh:And the more that you know him and the more that you grow in his love, and the more that you understand him, the more you will say, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I'm not missing out by cutting out, because this is natural inclination of a Christian.
Pastor Josh:The more I love him, the less I will love this world.
Pastor Josh:The more I cling to him, the less I will cling to the things of this world.
Pastor Josh:And so what I would say for you here today, it's not about missing out.
Pastor Josh:I used to think and still sometimes struggle with, the more I love God, and the more I serve God, the less I do things in this world.
Pastor Josh:Maybe sometimes, just maybe, I'll miss out on what the world has to offer.
Pastor Josh:Folks, the world has nothing to offer.
Pastor Josh:Some of you can give testimonies to say, it is not worth it, and I would encourage you to do so.
Pastor Josh:Okay, this.
Pastor Josh:Okay, I'm not on script here, but if you lived a life and you.
Pastor Josh:And you lived through things and you said, man, that was not worth it.
Pastor Josh:God got a hold of my life.
Pastor Josh:I know sometimes the temptation is to say, well, I don't want anyone to know about that, but biblically speaking, I think it would be wise for you not to proclaim it against the whole masses, but to take time and opportunity to give testimonies of why you could explain that this is not worth it.
Pastor Josh:I wish we could all say that we were all, you know, free from the harm of sin and evil in our life.
Pastor Josh:But I guarantee you, if we started talking about your story, you could say, man, I can tell you that this was a pitfall in my life and it was not worth it.
Pastor Josh:And you know what?
Pastor Josh:There might be a young Christian or another Christian in this room that needs to hear that from somebody else.
Pastor Josh:Because a lot of times if you hear the message from a pastor, you go, well, of course a pastor is going to say that he grew up in a sheltered home.
Pastor Josh:He grew up here.
Pastor Josh:He never, you know, he went to Bible school.
Pastor Josh:He never did anything.
Pastor Josh:Okay, I concede that to you, if that's the place you want to take.
Pastor Josh:But there are people in this room that can tell you story after story about the blessings of following Jesus Christ and the peace of following Jesus Christ and the dangers and the pain and the suffering of following the ways of this world.
Pastor Josh:And so I'm going to tell you here this morning, Jesus does not want us to go through that pain.
Pastor Josh:He wants us to submit to him.
Pastor Josh:He wants us to follow Him.
Pastor Josh:He wants us to be different.
Pastor Josh:He wants us to be distinct.
Pastor Josh:And so we conclude that passage there with this.
Pastor Josh:He says, and I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Pastor Josh:Folks, it ends with that beautiful relationship of walking in fellowship with our Heavenly Father.
Pastor Josh:True test this morning is this.
Pastor Josh:Are you walking in the truth of Jesus Christ?
Pastor Josh:Are you walking in a relationship with Jesus Christ?
Pastor Josh:Where are your associations?
Pastor Josh:Where's your yoke?
Pastor Josh:Are you yoked to the world?
Pastor Josh:Are you yoked to Jesus Christ?
Pastor Josh:Are you allowing your associations if they are negative associations with the world?
Pastor Josh:First of all, you got to recognize that that's kind of the first step of understanding this change is where are my associations?
Pastor Josh:But number two, how much has it influenced me already?
Pastor Josh:How much has it influenced my family life?
Pastor Josh:How much has it influenced my marriage?
Pastor Josh:How much has it influenced my children?
Pastor Josh:How much has it influenced my workplace?
Pastor Josh:How much has it influenced the church?
Pastor Josh:Folks worldly ways have influenced the church so much today and we don't even see it.
Pastor Josh:How do we find that standard, standard of truth, standard of His Word.
Pastor Josh:And so the influence, but then the compromise, you could be influenced but still kind of be on the fence.
Pastor Josh:But there is that point where we say, you know what, I'm just going to compromise to the ways of this world.
Pastor Josh:The Bible says, don't do that.
Pastor Josh:The Bible says in First Peter, hey, be separate, be holy, for I am holy.
Pastor Josh:God says, be like me, follow me.
Pastor Josh:And it's the balance of the gospel.
Pastor Josh:And so ultimately, after the compromise, there is hope.
Pastor Josh:And that hope is to separate yourself from this world.
Pastor Josh:Cling to Christ, follow him.
Pastor Josh:And he is your heavenly Father.
Pastor Josh:He will protect you.
Pastor Josh:He will guide you.
Pastor Josh:He will walk you through that path of danger in this world.
Pastor Josh:Psalm 23.
Pastor Josh:Yea, though I walk to the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
Pastor Josh:Why?
Pastor Josh:Because God is with me.
Pastor Josh:He's comforting me.
Pastor Josh:He's protecting me, he's providing for me.
Pastor Josh:So here this morning, hey, you know what?
Pastor Josh:You might say, I've been a Christian for a long time, but I have allowed the ways of the world to seep into my life here and there.
Pastor Josh:Hey, folks, it just takes one time for that seed to get planted.
Pastor Josh:And as that seed's planted, that can lead us to a place of danger in our lives.
Pastor Josh:But then you might say, hey, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I don't even have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh:I've been trying my own thing.
Pastor Josh:The Bible says that you can never try enough.
Pastor Josh:You're never gonna be good enough.
Pastor Josh:You're never gonna be holy enough.
Pastor Josh:Can I tell you this morning, in and of yourself, you and I can never be holy enough.
Pastor Josh:Because God is perfectly holy.
Pastor Josh:His defining character attribute is his holiness.
Pastor Josh:He's perfect in every way.
Pastor Josh:And that is the only way that we could obtain heaven.
Pastor Josh:But the Bible says that even in our failure and in his holiness, he offered us a way.
Pastor Josh:And that is the message of the gospel.
Pastor Josh:Jesus died on the cross for your sins.
Pastor Josh:And his death on the cross means something because he sinned.
Pastor Josh:Nothing.
Pastor Josh:Zero.
Pastor Josh:He sinned in no way.
Pastor Josh:He fulfilled the law.
Pastor Josh:And because of his love for you, he says, my sacrifice is in your place.
Pastor Josh:And when you trust in me and through your faith in me, you will have everlasting life.
Pastor Josh:Now, how could he offer us everlasting life?
Pastor Josh:Because three days later, he conquered death through resurrection.
Pastor Josh:He's the only one that did that, and he's the only one that can offer that.
Pastor Josh:So I would encourage you here this morning if you want to get on that path of knowing him and yoking with him and being together with him and having him walk.
Pastor Josh:Because he says, my yoke is easy, My burden is light.
Pastor Josh:You want to know that freedom.
Pastor Josh:You want to know that victory?
Pastor Josh:Trust in Jesus Christ today.
Pastor Josh:Put your faith in him and him alone for your salvation.
Pastor Josh:And that's just the beginning, the beginning of a walk with Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh:I'm going to ask everyone to stand with me this morning.
Pastor Josh:If everyone can bow their heads, close their eyes as the music plays this morning, there's no pressure in this.
Pastor Josh:It's just a time of inspection.
Pastor Josh:For us, at least.
Pastor Josh:For me, it's a time of inspection.
Pastor Josh:And if I'm honest, I will be honest with you today.
Pastor Josh:Sometimes it's difficult to be honest when you're standing up in front of people.
Pastor Josh:But I'm going to be honest with you.
Pastor Josh:There have been times in my life where the worldly associations have taken over, not necessarily in an egregious way where I'm rebelling against God.
Pastor Josh:But that seed of influence has gotten into my mind and gotten into my heart.
Pastor Josh:And I haven't renewed my mind and I haven't renewed that walk with Christ today.
Pastor Josh:And I haven't stuck in his word and I haven't followed his word, and therefore I'm allowing myself just to act like a person who has no hope.
Pastor Josh:And therefore I would challenge you this morning to inspect your life.
Pastor Josh:It's possible, I would even say that it's probable that many of us in this room have allowed the associations and the influence lead us to compromise and lead us away from biblical separation and lead us to a worldly association that we have to be cautious of in our life.
Pastor Josh:And so I would encourage you this morning, if you need to get things right with the Lord, if you need to come back and say, lord, I've associated with the wrong things.
Pastor Josh:I've.
Pastor Josh:I've been influenced by the wrong things.
Pastor Josh:I've been.
Pastor Josh:I've been compromising in my life.
Pastor Josh:Come forward, give that over to him.
Pastor Josh:He's a loving, forgiving father that will accept you and say, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I hear you and I hear your repentance.
Pastor Josh:God gives grace to the humble.
Pastor Josh:He resists the proud.
Pastor Josh:He resists the pride of life.
Pastor Josh:But he gives grace and forgiveness to those who humble themselves before him.
Pastor Josh:So I challenge you this morning to humble yourselves before Christ.
Pastor Josh:Think of the contrast.
Pastor Josh:Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life.
Pastor Josh:What did Jesus say?
Pastor Josh:Meek, lowly, humble, Love, sacrifice.
Pastor Josh:That's the difference.
Pastor Josh:And so this morning, if you need to respond to that this morning, if you need to commit yourself to him in humility, do so.
Pastor Josh:But if you need Jesus Christ as your Savior, we've got some folks standing up here that can show you in the word of God what it means to trust in Jesus as your Savior, to be on that path of walking that different, transformed life.
Pastor Josh:Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working hearts and lives.
Pastor Josh:Pray that you challenge our hearts, convict us, and comfort us in ways that only you can do.
Pastor Josh:In Jesus name, Amen.
Pastor Josh:As the music plays, follow as the Lord leads here this morning.
Pastor Josh:Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.
Pastor Josh:I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
Pastor Josh:If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
Pastor Josh:You can also email me directly at joshmasaroiddletownbaptistchurch dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates.
Pastor Josh:Thank you so much.
Pastor Josh:God bless.
Pastor Josh:Have a wonderful day.
