Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD. Don't touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. {2Co 6:17 NLT}
The problem within the Church, is we refuse to separate ourselves from the world and the sin it offers. Sadly, righteousness and holiness preaching is almost extinct because a preacher is considered “judgmental” if they speak such things. Thus, the sin condition within the Church continues.
But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? {Romans 10:14} The same is true for other things as well, such as the knowledge of sin and the call to refrain from it as well as to be holy for God is holy.
In 2 Corinthians Paul told the believers to separate themselves and to not even touch their “filthy things.” Sadly, most Christians don’t know what filthy things are and there’s a perception in the Church that Jesus’ grace not only covers a multitude of sin but it actually condones it! That’s right folks, you heard it here. People think that once they “accept Jesus as their Savior” it’s game over; they get a comfy cloud in Heaven, and get to keep their comfy sins here on earth at the same time. Simply put, that’s a lie.
Filthy Things
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. {1Co 6:9-11 NKJV}
These are the results of born again believers touching filthy things. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God and have sinned in these ways and others but we are called to leave this way of life and walk by the Spirit in order to not fulfill the lust of the flesh. This is not just a sexual thing, it’s a flesh thing. Our flesh desires sin, it was born into sin and quite possibly born out of sin. If we feed a thing it will live, if we starve it, it will die. It’s not rocket science, it’s obedience.
The devil is the father of disobedience and his desire is to get God’s kids to be his kids. Sons of disobedience. He does this by enticing us with the things of the world, making us think we are missing out on something. He did this with Eve in the garden and he is still using the same tricks today.
We often say we would not have fallen for such a thing if we were Eve because she had it so good, well so do we. We have it good when we don’t have to live with the effects of sin, yet we still sin. Man desires a way that is not God’s. The only way to conquer that desire is to starve it. Resist the devil and he will flee from you, but first you must submit to God, (James 4:7).
Meat is Not for the Faint of Heart
Christian often sin because they refuse to grow up.
Ever seen a 50-year-old man with a sideways ball cap, baggy pants and listening to rap or the same man playing an air guitar! Paul said, When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. {1Co 13:11}. You can’t put away childish things if you think they are acceptable and good. We must learn what is God’s perfect and acceptable will in order to live it.
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. {Heb 5:12-14 NKJV}
Sadly, most Christians are suffering from severe ignorance of who their Savior really is as well as living under a severe drought of His word. This drought is not God’s doing, however, it’s mans. Believe it or not new Christians really can handle the “meat” of the Scriptures. Foundational truths are extremely important,
truths established by God and not by man. This means it is perfectly acceptable to teach “baby” Christians to come out from the world and separate. As a matter of fact, it is “another gospel” to teach them anything different. Today much of the Church has welcomed the world and the things of it into the church in an effort to be relevant to the world instead of heeding the words of Jesus that stated "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. {Jhn 17:16}
We are called to live a life that is uniquely different from the way the world lives according to Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
In the ministry of deliverance, we see people grow most quickly when they submit themselves to discipleship in the word of God. We see the word begin to quicken in them and breathe life into their malnourished spirits. Then when they are taught their authority in Jesus Christ and how to use that authority to command the devil and his cohorts to get thee behind them they start to feel empowered and believe that there is power in the gospel. Important to note also that when they are given revelation over what God says about sin, there is also a quickening that takes place and it leads them to repentance.
Don’t Conform
Not conforming to this world means to not fashion ourselves after the way the world does. For example, we are not to blend into the world whereby we bury our light and live as those in darkness live. When we fashion our lives after the world we try to Christianize things like tattoos, body piercing, fornication, living together out of wedlock, gay marriage, adultery, drunkenness and the likes. This is the world’s way, not Gods. God said to come out from among the world and called His children a royal priesthood, chosen, holy and special so we can proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light! {1Pe 2:9}
Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew 5 that we are the light of the world and are not to hide that light. He said glorify God by doing good works, letting our lights shine before men. He also made it very clear that He absolutely did NOT come to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. {Mat 5:17 NKJV}
Jesus also said the eye is the lamp, when it is good the whole body is also good, full of light. In other words, we need to be careful what we allow our bodies to take in through the eye because things can contaminate our entire body. Pornography is a great example of this, as well as all sorts of media and entertainment.
I hear people, including pastors and other leaders in the body of Christ condone tattoos. I am always amazed at this stance because to me it represents a need to be relevant to this generation. I have heard many leaders preach it’s ok to have a “Christian” tattoo as well as do “holy Yoga.” Ludicrous! When we know the roots to these things we cannot approve of them.
Can you imagine asking Jesus what He would like you to permanently cut into His temple (your body)? Which, by the way, is not yours if you belong to Him. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? {1Co 6:19 NKJV}
Would you take Jesus Christ to a tattoo parlor and think for a moment He would sit in such contamination and put His eyes upon such blatant disregard for His word? No Jesus would not go with you and His response would be “And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire. {Mat 18:9 NKJV}.
The eyes look upon things of this world and covet them which in turn, fills the body with a lust for the things we see, leading to us being filled with darkness. Think about what Jesus would say about coveting and lust.
34 "The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 "Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. 36 "If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light." {Luk 11:34-36 NKJV}
The eye judges, and if we haven’t been eating the meat of the word and training our senses to discern truth from error and right from wrong, we simply won’t know what is okay in the world and what is not for us. Jesus expressed how what the eye sees or judges will take life within the whole body. If the mind is clearly enlightened by the word and Spirit of God, that light will diffuse and spread itself into the soul. In turn, all the inward faculties of a person’s thinking will be enlightened and will direct all the outward actions.
We will see a holy revolution when we see a generation lift up the word of God and purpose it over the words of the world.