The Search for Holiness | Sermon Series | #2 | Separated by Love

Praise the Lord. So good to be in the house of the Lord, uh, tonight with everybody. Looking forward to what God is going to do. So thankful for all He's been doing, uh, in this revival, people getting the Holy Ghost and receiving life changes, and we're excited about it. And so we know that it's the word, uh, that will sustain us. And so, uh, if you'll allow me to forgo a lot of opening comments, I want to jump right into the word.

The purpose of this is that we can take people who are coming into the church, and we want to stabilize you with the foundation of the word. It's only the word that will keep us, uh, and show us the way. We want to make sure that we are staying within and operating according to the confines of the word of God. And so we are, uh, doing this series on holiness, uh, with the understanding that number one, holiness is a requirement. It said, "Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." And understanding number two, that holiness is all-inclusive. It's everything about our life that in every way, uh, we are to be holy before Him.

And so we're going to examine through the course of this series all manner of inner holiness, which is first and primary. There's no point in trying to be holy on the outside if you've not let God deal with the inside. The inside is the foundation. And so we want to let God clean and purify and strengthen the inner man, that we might walk in inner holiness before Him. And then outer holiness and holiness of lifestyle is simply a byproduct of what God has done on the inside. It's the product of a right relationship with God. That there are things that we do not because we can earn salvation. For no man is worthy or can earn a salvation, but there are some things that those who are saved should do as a result of the grace that God has shown in their life.

And so I want to take you, uh, immediately to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter number 6. And in these first two lessons, last week and this week, there are a lot of foundational questions about why we do what we do that are being answered by the word of the Lord. So I'll ask you to really, I intend to keep it more, uh, much more teaching than preaching tonight. So, I really want you to lean in if you've had questions, you know, about your walk, why, why there are certain things, why is it this way, why is it that way? Uh, Lord willing, this is going to answer some questions, uh, questions for you by the word of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 6:17, the word of the Lord says this, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you." And here we see that there is a call to holiness, and it's founded upon relationship. It's said in the next verse, "I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." So, we can't be holy without Him. We can never be holy on our own. And we can't be holy apart from relationship with Him. You can't just grab a big checklist of things you see the church doing, other people doing, and start going by that checklist without having a holy heart and a relationship with Him, because you'll never be able to sustain that type of action or lifestyle apart from true holiness on the inside.

2 Timothy 2:19, quickly, you can go there with me on the screen, says, "Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal." Last week we closed by talking about a seal or a mark, an inner seal and an outer seal, uh, that we are marked by the Shepherd. And here again, we see that concept. There's a seal that the Lord knoweth them that are His. That when the Lord looks down on the earth, He sees that all is His creation. All people are His creations, but all are not His children. He said, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." And so when you belong to Him, there's a seal that allows the Lord to know who you are. There's another group. He said they'll arrive. They'll say, "We did all these works in Your name." And He'll say, "Depart from me. I never knew you." And He said this, "Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." There's a lot of people that talk about accepting Him, knowing His name, etc. But unless they've departed from iniquity, they don't belong to Him. So, if you're going to name His name, there has to be a journey where He calls you out and you separate yourself from what you were and separate yourself to Him alone. This is the call to holiness that we can't be living in iniquity and claiming to be a holy people, but we've got to be holy. All, every part of us, has got to be separated unto Him and holy unto Him.

So, if the Lord will help me, this series, lesson two, and the search for holiness, we're going to call it "Separated by Love." Separated by Love. Would you lift your hands and would you pray with me? Lord, I need You so desperately tonight. God, I'm praying You would hide me behind the cliff of the Rock. Let Your Spirit cover me, Lord. God, cover my spirit. Let my spirit be right. Let my words be right. Let my words be bathed in heaven, Lord. God, according to the authority balanced by the love of Your word, God, I need You tonight. Help me, Lord. Anoint my lips, God, that I might speak effectively for You, God. We thank You. We give You the glory. Would you give God a handclap of praise?

[Music]

God bless you. You may be seated. Some of you will recognize this lesson. Uh, probably not as many as I would hope. Uh, but this is something we've taught before. And I wanted to open, uh, by using an illustration and thinking about a trip. Uh, in 2011, I was blessed to travel to the country of Brazil with my father and my brother Caleb. And the thing I was most excited about in Brazil was seeing the Amazon River, the Amazon rainforest. And so we started our trip in southwest Brazil, or southeast Brazil, rather, far away from that part of the country. But near the end of the journey, we flew into Manaus, Brazil, which is in the northwest section of Brazil, uh, where the Amazon River is. And so as the plane was preparing to come in for a landing, I looked out the river and you could, or I looked out the window, rather, and you could see two main rivers that were flowing. And as they flowed, they gradually approached closer and closer and closer, mile by mile, until finally there was only a very thin strip of land separating the two rivers. And as we continued to fly, uh, we saw that finally that last bit of land disappeared and the rivers were joined together. Uh, but in the place where the two rivers met, something happened that I'd never seen before. And brother Lena, if you'd show that picture on the screen for me, we saw a place called, uh, the Meeting of the Waters. If you can see, there's still the land strip in the middle. This is where it disappears. That's the Rio Negro on the left, and that's the Amazon River on the right. And so these rivers finally meet. They touch each other, but they continue to flow on, uh, with no more land in between. And yet their waters don't mix. You can see, uh, the coloring staying the same as they go along the bend.

And so the, uh, later we would be on that river, and on the river, the river guide told us that the phenomenon, despite what many of the locals would say, is not caused by magic, uh, but it's caused by what science would term to be irreconcilable differences in the water properties between these two rivers. Now, the Rio Negro on the left is a very pure river. It picks up, uh, only a small amount of sediment as it flows down from the jungles of Colombia. And it's also a very warm river. Now, when it meets the Amazon, the waters don't mix because the Amazon is one of the dirtiest and most impure rivers in the world. It's also about 20 degrees cooler than the Rio Negro. So because of the differences in these rivers, even when the rivers finally meet and the waters touch each other, they don't mingle, but they flow side by side, staying separate for about four miles. Four miles later, around the corner, what you cannot see, the rivers run into some obstacles called eddies. And though the rivers are different, and though their properties are different, when they meet the eddies, there is a churning of the waters. And those eddies churn the rivers together. They mix the pure with the impure. They mix the hot with the cold. And these two rivers from this point on forever flow as one.

So the principle here is that when there is no separation, when you touch something that is far different from you, when you got the Holy Ghost and you touch a principle, a habit, a lifestyle that perhaps in a past life was part of who you were but no longer is. When you touch that thing, because of the power of the Holy Ghost, you'll flow a while just the way you were flowing before. You'll think everything's okay. There's no problems. But when you reach turbulence in your life, there is a mixing process that will occur, and you'll be mixed back, and the dirty will be mixed in with the cleanliness that God has given you. And so when you lose separation, it's inevitable that obstacles in life will cause you to lose your identity. It's separation that will save your purity.

An example would be for the alcoholic who has been delivered. He is called to separate himself completely from that former lifestyle. If he leaves a bottle of liquor sitting on the table, by the virtue of the Holy Ghost that he's received, he can likely continue to pass up that bottle of liquor. He can have that thing touching his life still. It can be in the house with him, and he can pray. He can fast. He can make up his mind, and everything's going to be okay until he runs into some turbulence in his life. And when there's trouble, there's a mixing process that occurs. And so this is why it's so important what and who you allow to be part of your life. The habits that you choose to partake in, the associations that you choose to keep. Everything may be okay as long as you're strong and you're you're staying strong in the Lord, but trouble's going to come, 'cause trouble comes upon us all. And if there's no separation in your life, then you're going to end up being mixed in with the things of the world. And so separation preserves purity.

The principle of separation says there are some things that the child of God should not even touch. Not only do we not partake in them, but we don't touch them. Now, this is a principle that is woven throughout the word of God. It goes back to the very beginning in the Garden of Eden, where Adam is placed in a garden. He has full access to nearly everything inside the garden except for this one tree. And around this one tree, God draws a boundary line, and He draws a line of separation. He says, "Adam, you, you can go anywhere else you want in the garden, but don't you eat of this tree, or you're going to die." Uh, God doesn't say, "Adam, you know, you do what you want to do, but it might be better if you didn't touch this tree." Oh, no. He draws a line and He says, "Don't touch this tree, or you're going to die." It's not a suggestion, but separation is a command.

Now, it's important that you recognize that in the flow of the story, it is after God has drawn this line that He then creates Eve. This is important because it was not God's responsibility then to tell Eve about the boundary, but He expected Adam, as the head, to reinforce the importance of the boundary line to his new wife. So along comes the serpent. He speaks to Eve. He says, "Did the Lord say, did the Lord say that you were allowed to eat from every tree of the garden?" And so read Eve's answer. She says, "The woman said unto the gu unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." Now, here's an important point. God didn't say that. God told Adam, "Don't eat of it." But when Adam talked to Eve, he said, "Don't eat of it and don't touch it, or we're going to die." Now, we infer from the text that Adam drew the first boundary line or principle or standard in the Bible for his family. Now, Adam heard the words of the Lord when He said, "If you eat of it, you're going to die." And that didn't sound like a great solution or outcome to him. And so, he drew another line. He took a step back and said, "Because if we eat of it, we're going to touch it. Then, we don't, or because we eat of it, we'll die. Then, we don't even want to touch it, because touching it will likely lead to eating it." And as we see in the word, touching did indeed lead to eating that fruit and dying. And so when you understand the importance of separation, you won't always be trying to push the envelope and see exactly how much impurity you can allow into your life and still stay pure yourself. You, you won't try to see how many unholy things you can touch and remain holy yourself. But you'll say, "Hey, I, I'm not going to push the envelope and see what I can get away with, but I'm going to step away and separate myself from some things." And so, what we allow to touch our life influences us. Who we listen to influences us. This is why we don't receive a word from everybody if we don't know their fruit. We don't, I don't just hop on YouTube and listen to any random preacher if I don't know their fruit. But, but what they say will influence me if I, if I allow it to become part of my life. So it's important to place boundary lines of separation in our lives to protect us. Adam took a step back. He built another fence. Even with that additional fence, Eve was still beguiled by the serpent, and sin took what was pure and made it impure. After the boundary of separation was crossed, God kept His word, as He always does. Sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned, as the apostle Paul would write.

Now, the question is, how is this relevant for us? Understand, the book has a spirit. There are things that if you'll understand His nature, His spirit, it becomes easy to walk through the word in consistency and in revelation. And the same God that required, not suggested, but required separation then, requires separation now. Why? Because we know God doesn't change. Hebrews 13 and 8 says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." Malachi 3:6, He'd say, "I am the Lord, and I change not." And so God has a nature. God has a personality. God has things that He likes and things that He hates. God is a God of order and a God of specifics. And so the God of the Bible, as a God of order, has irreconcilable differences with the God, or the imaginary God, of the modern church world, much of whom say that they can do anything they want to do and still be okay. But He said, "If you name My name, then you've got to depart from iniquity." Now, He's a God that says what He means. He means what He says. He deals in specifics. And I want to go through some passages quickly, and let's just see what we can learn about God's desires. If these verses were the only things you had to know the nature of God by, I want you to just listen and and see what you can learn about His nature.

He said, "Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them, according to all that I show thee, or exactly like I tell you, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." So, this is speaking of the tabernacle, the house of the Lord, uh, where the presence of the Lord would dwell. And He says, "Hey, there's some exact things that this is how I want you to do it. I, I don't want you to just throw it up any old way, but, but God has some things that He desired." And so, let's just listen. This is, this is just the Ark of the Covenant. This is how the Lord. Now, now reconcile this. This is His nature. He changes not. This is the order He desired. He said, "When you make my ark, make it out of gopher wood. Make it two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, one and a half cubits high. I want you to overlay the wood with pure gold. I want you to put a crown of gold on the top. I want you to take four rings of gold, put one ring on each corner of the ark. I want you to then make wooden rods that fit the rings exactly. Take the wooden rods, overlay them with gold. Slide the rods through the rings. That's how you're always to carry it. Don't carry it any other way, or you'll die. Don't ever take the rods out of the rings, or you'll die. Always leave them there. I'll be giving you a testimony to place inside the ark."

Now, the narrative then moves through extremely specific details about the mercy seat, the table of showbread, the golden candlesticks. I'd encourage everyone to just read it through yourself to see the nature of this God of order. And so, you could say, well, these are all pretty important instruments of the tabernacle. Surely being this hyperspecific and demanding would be a rarity for God. But, but how about something as simple as the curtains? Surely curtains are no big deal. I mean, curtains are curtains. Ask any man in the building. Just don't ask their wife. Now, for these tabernacle curtains, He said, "Hey, I want you to have 10 of them exactly. Make them of fine linen. They're to be three colors: blue, purple, and scarlet. Each color means something specific. By the way, each curtain is to be 28 cubits long." Exactly. It's to be four cubits wide. Exactly. It's to weigh one measure. Exactly. I want you to take five curtains on the left, tie them together. Put the other five to the right, tie them together. Hey, I want you to take blue loops, not, not purple, not red, not yellow, but blue loops. Make them down the edges of every single curtain. Make them correspond to each other so they can be tied together. I want 50 blue loops on one curtain, 50 blue loops on the next curtain that correspond to those. Also, I want 50 golden hooks, not brass, not, not any other metal, but I want them to be gold. I want you to use them to attach to the curtains and hold them together."

Now, all of this about curtains, the narrative continues. Hyperspecific details about the goat hair curtains, the ram skin curtains, the way they were to be laid in order upon each other, the veil, the altar, the hanging of the door, and then extremely specific details about exactly the dimensions of the court and how to set it up. And then details about the lamp and the exact type of oil that God wanted in the lamp and how exactly to prepare that oil and what ingredients to put into it. And, and then how about a whole chapter about how God wanted him to dress? Now, that's too far. Surely God doesn't care about the way we dress. Except there's a whole chapter where He said, "Make holy garments. Make a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, an embroidered coat, a miter, a girdle. Wear these colors: gold, blue, purple, scarlet. Make an ephod of the same four colors. I want you to make the ephod out of linen. I want two shoulder pieces. I want you to join them together. I want another ephod with two onyx stones. Take the names of the tribes of Israel. Engrave them on the stones. Six on one stone, six on the other. Make sure they're in the order of their birth. I want you to wear an all-blue robe. I want you to wear white breeches underneath. I want you to take the breeches and and tie them below your knee, lest you expose the nakedness of your thigh and you die." God says, "Make it all this way. Wear it all this way. Do it exactly as I tell you to do it, or you're going to die." God goes into a whole lot more detail, but for time's sake, I'll move on. Suffice it to say, it matters. Every part of us matters. What we do, what we wear, how we present ourselves, it matters.

Now, remember, all of this is detail about what it's about. The tabernacle, the Old Testament tabernacle. Now, He said, "I am the Lord. I change not." Now, who knows what the tabernacle or the dwelling place of God is? Now, anybody knows? >> It's us. Have we heard the phrase, "We are the church. The building's not a church. We're the church." Well, that, that comes because we are the temple. He said, "What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." That it's, it's every part of you, inner, outer. Make sure that you glorify God. And so, we are the tabernacle. And we see the order that God demanded in the original tabernacle. How could we see that order and then think that now this was the tabernacle God was always planning on? How could we think God would care so much about order and appearance and specifics in this tabernacle and then get to the one that He really cares about, and that now it just be, well, anything you want to do is fine with me. Any way you want to present yourself is fine with me. Any activity you want to partake in is, is fine with me. Just do whatever you want, however you want, whenever you want.

[Applause]

Understand, this is, this is part of God's nature. His nature does not change. And so this is not just the tabernacle plan. Need I remind you of an ark that had to be made of gopher wood that had to be pitched within and without with pitch. 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, 30 cubits high, one window, one door, three stories inside. What about endless pages of who begat who? We know the genealogies are there for a reason. One, for history. Two, to show us how much God cares about order. He shows us who, who this person's father was and their grandfather and how many generations are, are from here to there. It's not an accident, but it's insight into God's personality that He cares about order. You read the book of Numbers, you'll read, "This is the number of the male Levites. This is the number of the firstborn males. These are the numbers of the sons of Kohath, arranged by the orders of their families on their father's side." You can read on the 11th day of the 12 days of offerings, Pagiel, the prince of Asher, offered one silver charger that weighed 130 shekels, one silver bowl that weighed 70 shekels. Both were full of flour and of oil, one golden spoon weighing 10 shekels that was full of incense, one bullock, one ram, one lamb that was one year old. We could go on and on and on. Here's the point. The God that had that nature that, that paid attention to every single detail and wanted things done exactly a certain way, He let us know my nature doesn't change, and now you're my tabernacle. How could we think that order does not matter to Him now, and that it doesn't matter what His tabernacle is doing? That, that it doesn't matter what we're allowing to pollute His tabernacle? But God cares about everything we are, everything we do. The sloppy, anything goes approach to God is against His nature. God cares what you say, what you do, what you wear. We are to be separated from the world around us.

And so I can hear the rebuttals now. That's just the God of the Old Testament. Jesus was, was just peace and just love. You're not understanding that His love is balanced by His judgment. The word teaches this very clearly that He is the same yesterday and today and forever, and His desires never change, but the way we fulfill those desires does change. That He doesn't require animal sacrifice now, but He requires the sacrifice of a human heart. So how can you think that, that when He said, "I want you to put your hand on the head of the animal, I want you to cut it this way, put this piece of, piece of meat there, put this piece of meat over here, and, and do it exactly this certain way," how could we think that when He made those demands, that for this tabernacle, well, everything's just okay. However you want to do it. Whatever, whatever you want to bring in the tabernacle, it's all good with me. But you see, His desires have never changed. It's only the way in which we fulfill those desires.

So, I've got a sweet tooth. I've used this analogy before. I've got a sweet tooth that can be a problem for me at times. And, and tonight, I might want some peanut M&Ms. And tomorrow, I might want some ice cream or some cheesecake. You see, I have, I have a desire. The way I fulfill that desire may vary from day to day, but the desire has not changed. Now, maybe, Lord willing, one day that desire will change, but the, the way I fulfill that desire can change. And so God desired sacrifice then, and God desires it now, demands it now. God demanded separation then, and God demands separation now. God believed in boundary lines then, and God believes in boundary lines now. God is serious about separation for His people.

And so we know that God is gracious. And I'm thankful for the goodness and the grace of God. I don't deserve His grace. I'm unworthy of His grace. But don't get it twisted. God is gracious, but His grace is not your doormat to do whatever you want and to live whatever way you want. When you do that, you have perverted His grace. And the scripture says you have taken the gift of God's grace and you have used it as a license to fulfill your own carnal desires. The moment you think you can trample on God's grace, you're in trouble. The moment you think you can live in iniquity because Jesus paid it all, friend, you are in trouble. 'Cause God is unyielding when it comes to His desire for separation and for a holy lifestyle. He didn't change from the Old Testament to the New. And He has not changed from the New Testament to now.

But, but Romans 1:18, I want you to hear this. Says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." Now, understand, that's not talking about the people in the world, though God's wrath will certainly fall upon them. That's not talking about the people in the world who don't know the name of Jesus, don't know that God desires for them to live separated and holy. That's talking about people who know the truth of the word of God, and they use excuses or false teaching and false preaching to create a narrative that says it's okay for me to do whatever I want as long as I say I'm Christian and as long as I come to church, everything's okay. God's wrath is revealed from heaven. It's going to fall upon those people 'cause they're holding the truth in unrighteousness, and they are refusing to yield themselves as sacrifice unto God. They're trying to say they love Him and still please their flesh. They're trying to serve two masters. And so the same God that judged with fire and brimstone in the Old Testament, He's still alive today. In some ways, His methods have changed. But don't think that you can cross boundaries and trample on His grace, and everything's going to turn out okay on the end of the day, or at the end of the day.

I take you to this side of Calvary where Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for lying to the Holy Ghost. In just an instant, a holy God struck them dead for lying in His house. And the word says that great fear came upon all the church. Well, you better believe it did. How afraid would you be if you saw someone hold the truth in unrighteousness and cross a principle of God's word, and God struck them dead on the spot? Well, we'd all be afraid. I want you to know God means business when He draws a line. And God also means business when His man or His authority that He has set up draws a line. Now, I thank God for the lines that my pastor, the Bishop, drew for this church. I thank God for them. I don't, I don't resent them, but I'm thankful for those fences that were built to separate us from sin and to teach us how to live holy. And I understand the spirit of our age that says, "Well, I, I just don't think a man of God should be drawing lines. I don't think I need a pastor." Well, I take you to Exodus 19, where God tells Moses, and please don't, don't shut me out. Even if you disagree, let's just look at the word together. God tells Moses, "In three days, I'm coming. I'm coming with power. I'm coming with authority. I want you to tell the people to sanctify themselves." Now, His warning makes all His children want to get right before He gets there. I'd ask you this: If you knew that you had three more days and you were going to stand before God, how much would your lifestyle change? Not 'cause I told you, but, but if you knew that God was coming, how much, just on your own, would your lifestyle change? Think, think specifically. What would you take out of your lifestyle if you knew you were going to stand before the judgment seat in three days? Would these issues of separation from the world and standards, would they be such an issue for you if you knew that the Lord was going to judge you in three days? Would you say, "Do I really have to do this? Will this send me straight to hell if I do this?" If you knew He was coming in three days, if you knew He was coming right now, I believe you'd check the music on your playlist. You'd check the clothes in your closet. You'd check your daily activities. You'd check every area of your life. You'd make sure you were praying and reading the word. You'd make sure you weren't skipping church, but you'd be so faithful to the house of God. You'd check every area of your life. God tells them, "Hey, I want you to also tell them to wash and sanctify their clothes, because what you, what you wear does say something about you, and it does have to do with what you wear."

Now, I just want to ask you, if you, in your heart, if you know in three days, if you were to die and be judged, that, if you had that warning, that you would change some things about your life, then what you are doing every day is you are taking your eternal soul and you're rolling the dice because you know what you should change, and you're gambling that you're going to live long enough to change it, 'cause right now you're unwilling to yield yourself completely to Him. Now, you just think about that. The thing that popped into your mind, that's the thing you need to get rid of. And if the Lord were to come, if that popped into your mind as a sin or as a hindrance, I'd be hard-pressed to say that you could be saved with that thing as part of your life. Especially not when God brings that thought to your mind at the judgment and says, "Hey, I reminded you, and you gambled with your soul. You continued to allow that thing to be a part of your life because you just figured that you'd live long enough to make the change, and everything would be okay." I would remind you, the word says that no man is promised tomorrow. I'm not promised that I'll walk out of this building. I could be carried out in a body bag, and I better make sure my life is in strict accordance with the word of God. I, I don't want to depend on tomorrow to get my life clean. I want to sanctify myself and get my life right now. And so self-honest self-examination will keep you from ever getting mad when a standard's preached over this pulpit. If you'll look at yourself honestly, understanding the value of your soul, and that you'll spend somewhere for eternity, you'll spend eternity somewhere, rather in heaven or hell, then there's no reason for us to fuss, because we're all trying to go to heaven. We're, we're trying to be safe and draw lines that will help us be saved.

And so God tells Moses, "The people need to sanctify themselves. And then I want you to take a line. I want you to draw a boundary line all the way around the mountain. And I want you to tell the people, I'm not going to tell them, Moses. I'm going to tell you, and you're going to go tell them that if they touch the mountain, if they cross the boundary line that you draw, they are going to die." God said, "When I put my foot on that mountain, if anybody else is touching it, they're dead on the spot." Now, even if it's just their, their, their index finger, even if it's just a toe over the line, if they're touching it, they're going to die, because I told them to separate themselves.

Now, we got a whole group of quizzers right now that, even as we preach right now, they are in the mountains of Pigeon Forge. And if you've ever driven to Pigeon Forge, you know that you begin to drive, and you look off in the distance, and you see these mountains that are, that are looming over you, and, and you approach, and you continue to drive, and before you know it, almost imperceptibly, the, the elevation begins to change, and, and you begin to climb higher and higher, and before you know it, you're high in the Smoky Mountains. But here's the question. If you had to choose a starting point, where exactly did the mountain begin? If you knew that you couldn't even touch the border of the mountain, or you would die, how far away from that mountain would you stay? >> Would you try to get up and say, "Well, Lord, the elevation's just risen a little bit. I, I'm not on top of the mountain. I, I don't even know, Lord, if I'm on the mountain." Oh, no. If you knew you'd die if you touched the border, you wouldn't ever see hide nor hair of the Smoky Mountains again. You, you'd make sure you were living in the flatlands. You wouldn't want to be anywhere around the mountain, 'cause you'd say, "Hey, I, I want to make it." And so the size of a mountain makes it impossible to tell exactly where the mountain starts. And so I would present that the mountain of sin in our society is so massive that if you focus just on the pinnacle of sin, or on the pinnacle of the mountain, you'll feel, "I'm, I'm so far away. Lord, look at how wicked the world is. Look at what they're doing out there. Lord, I'm only three-quarters of the way up the mountain, and they're all the way, or I'm only halfway up the mountain, and they're, they're all the way." If you just focus on the top of the mountain and you never look at where your feet are standing, you have no way to tell if you're safe or not. But you got to release yourself from what everybody else is doing. And you got to say, "Hey, I've got to look at my life through the lens of God's word. And I've got to make sure that I am living in complete accordance, in every way, with what God desires. I can't just say, 'Well, most people are doing this, or everybody else is doing this, so it's got to be okay.' But, but I've got to have some boundaries that keep me safe." We're not to look at the, the worst sinners of the world and say, "Well, Lord, I'm holy in comparison to them." The Bible doesn't say be holy in comparison to the world. The Bible says, "Be holy as He is holy." I'd ask you, are you holy as He is holy? Maybe you look good compared to your neighbor on the pew, but are you holy in the way that God is holy? 'Cause God's not going to judge you according to your neighbor. God's going to judge you in according to His word and in according to His holiness.

>> And so to understand this principle, we must know what does God consider to be a mountain? What is part of the mountain of sin? Where is the boundary? What is safe? What is not safe? Where is the border? Who decides where the border goes? Well, here's your answer. God speaks to Moses, and God commands Moses to use the words that God has spoken unto him to interpret and define the boundary for the people. God didn't come down and draw that line. God created the mountain, but God didn't draw that line. He gave the word to Moses. He said, "Moses, you interpret what I've told you, and you get down there and you draw the line." Now, here it is. Every pastor is will answer to God for the boundaries that they choose to draw and the boundaries they choose to not draw. Every boundary must be drawn not with the intention of gaining control, or God will judge that man, God will judge that leader. But the line has to be drawn with the intention of keeping God's people safe, and helping them live holy.

Now, I've seen people, they get angry as the Bishop would would preach, and he'd hammer down a fence post in the ground to keep them safe. They want to know, is that necessary? Do, where's the scripture that says if I do that, I'll go straight to hell? But I thank God I had a pastor that loved me enough to spend some time drawing boundary lines and saying, "Hey, this is sin, and this can lead to sin." And because of that, we're going to step back, and we're going to have some fences to keep God's people safe.

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>> And so God told Moses to set a boundary line, but that wasn't Moses' entire calling or ministry. Thank God he didn't have to live his whole life just setting boundaries. He led for 40 years. He didn't spend 40 years building fences. 'Cause eventually, you have to get an attitude of holiness where the pastor doesn't have to draw a line in every aspect of your life, but you learn how to discern between the unclean and the clean. And you got total holiness inside and out. And, and nobody has to hold your hand or tell you everything that has to be done. But, but you'll just, by nature, stay back from those fences and say, "Hey, I want to live holy and separated unto God." Now, I would ask you, why? Why didn't God just tell Moses, "I'm coming in three days. Tell the people stay away from the mountain. If they're touching the mountain, when I get there, they're going to die." Why didn't He just do that? Because in our humanity, we just have a proclivity to push the envelope in every area. And if there are not some lines established, then we'll run, run rampant all over God's principles and God's holiness. There are not some lines established by nature of our flesh. We will do everything that we think we can get away with and still make it. And so many times in the word, there are lines that are drawn. Lines, specific lines of separation that are interpretations of God's principles and God's word. Again, when Moses drew the line, God didn't tell him exactly where, but he had to interpret God's nature, God's principle, God's word, and he had to draw a line in the place that seemed best for the safety of God's people. We don't read anywhere where God told Moses, "This is where the mountain starts." But He told Moses, "You build the fence, and I'm giving you the authority and responsibility to interpret and apply my word. And if you apply my word, then I'm going to back what you do." And so Moses was mandated by God to apply God's commandment based on what he saw in front of him. Moses had been praying and communing and seeking God. And Moses was led to build a fence right where he thought God would back him up. And so when any pastor or leader is operating according to an interpretation of an edict of God, as long as they stay within the principles of God's word, then God Himself backs their stance. This doesn't mean they can say or do anything they want. If they get outside of the authority of the word, they have no authority. But if they are applying principles of God's word, God's Spirit backs the lines that they are drawing. And so God led to set lines in this church. God led the Bishop to establish some lines. And I say the lines, like the psalmist said, "Have fallen unto me in pleasant places." In Proverbs, it says, "Remove not the ancient landmarks which thy fathers hath set." And so it's not my right nor my desire to go re-examine every line and go ripping up the fence, but it's my job to drive another fence post and strengthen what has already been established and to say, "Hey, we're going to live pure and holy and separated unto God." Come on. Does anybody believe this tonight? Bear with me. I'm trying to get done.

>> And so again, a pastor is responsible to God for every line he draws and every line that he does not draw. Now, I have to give an account. If you, if you are submitted to me as your pastor, the word says one day I'll have to give an account for your soul. And I want to do it with joy and not with grief, because the word says that is unprofitable for you. Well, I would say it's unprofitable for me if I were to just step back and to be afraid and say, "Well, you know, they really pay a lot of tithe. I don't want to, I don't want to interfere. They, I just want to leave them to figure that out. I, I don't want them to get offended." When I see something that's sin or leading to sin in your life, it's my God-given responsibility to say, "Hey, I got to sound an alarm. You got to step back and put a fence there to keep you safe. You're in danger of falling over the edge." I've used this analogy before, but a few years ago, my wife and I went to the Grand Canyon, and there was a certain part of the Grand Canyon where there's a glass overlook and walkway, and, and people walk out onto that glass, but there's a, there was a long line to get there on the day we were there. And so, uh, in my brilliance, I decided to go to an area to the right of the walkway that had no fences, guard rails, which there are many areas like that, the Grand Canyon. Uh, but I began to walk towards the edge, and there was an almost imperceptible slope, not a steep slope. I could see exactly where the edge was, but there was just a little slope. No problem. No problem for me. You know, I'm young. I was in my 20s at that point. No problem. Just a little slope, if I can keep my balance. Except when I got a little closer, there were some pebbles at the edge that I didn't see. And before I knew it, I was flat on my back and just sliding a little bit. I didn't slide off the edge. Obviously, my feet didn't go off the edge, but it was close enough to scare me and get my attention. You see, I just hadn't understood the circumstances. I, I knew where the edge was, but I didn't understand how precarious my position would get as I got close to the edge. Now, this is the way of standards. Why would we in every way want to just get to the very edge of being lost and saved?

And say, "Well, this is where this is where I want to live my life. Right here on the edge of this cliff, where all it takes is one little slip of the ground giving way beneath your feet and you fall into the abyss of sin or over the edge into the bottomless pit. Why would you live your life that way? But but I would say that we should stay back from the edge and have some fences in our life."

Now, at that very same place, one year after we were there, a man fell over the edge to his death. And guess what's there now? There's a fence there. They figured somebody, and I and I I I don't say that callously for the poor man who lost his life, but I hate that it took someone losing their life for them to say, "Hey, maybe we ought to put a fence in this era." Because some people like myself just don't have enough sense to stay a ways away from the edge of the cliff. And so, we're not trying to see how close we can get to being lost and still be saved.

You're not accountable for where a pastor sets the line. As long as he's within the edicts of God, you're not the one who answers for the line. You're just responsible to stay on the right side of the fence. And so the children of Israel, they had to know that God meant business about that line that Moses drew around the mountain. Those first few days, there was no problem. Everything was business as usual. And I have to believe no one as ornory and contankerous as the Israelites were, they started to think, well, wasn't that stupid? We we ought to be able to go on that mountain. Who's he to tell us we can't go climb that mountain? I know there's a lot of other ones, but I want to climb that one. But you see, after 3 days, the fence may have not made sense before, but when the thunder and the lightning hit and that that mountain began to quake, the fence all of a sudden made sense to those Israelites. And they said, "Thank God that God allowed someone to establish a line for us." When the trumpet sounds, you're going to say, "Thank God for the fence." If you're on the right side, you'll thank God that we care enough for your soul to preach the word of God as it is given and to apply it to your life.

There is nobody that'll be in heaven saying, "I wish I just hadn't done so much. I I wish I just not I hadn't been quite that careful with my soul. I I wish I'd been a a little more careless. I think I could have got away with a little more and still made it through the pearly gates." Nobody's going to be in heaven thinking that. They'll all be saying, "Thank God for those boundaries of holiness. Thank God that I kept myself pure and unspotted from the world."

And so offense is to separate us from the world unto God. Separation, make sure you get this. Separation is where you build the fence. Holiness is what you do behind the fence. Okay? So you can be following all the rules and you can be staying behind that fence so far as anybody can see. But if your nature, your inner man is not holy, you're on the wrong side of the fence. You just don't realize where you're at. You don't you don't realize the ground on which you're standing. You can fall within the lines on standards just out of obedience and still not have a holy nature. This is why we can have people in the church who don't exhibit the fruits of the spirit because they're they're coming to church. They're obeying some of the the rules. They're they're behind the fence so far as anybody can see, but their nature is not holy. And so holiness is within. If you have a holy nature, you'll automatically be behind the fence because the fence is meant to keep us holy and to keep us away from things that lead to an unholy lifestyle. So if your nature is holy, you'll naturally fall on the right side of any guidelines for separation. In fact, when you've got true inner holiness, then a pastor don't have to spend all this time drawing lines and then and then going and playing the police officer to see who's staying behind the lines or behind the fence. I I don't have time to be a police officer. I'm called to be a pastor. And so I draw some fences, some lines, and then I expect those who want to be holy to stay behind the fence.

And so activity, every activity does not determine your nature, but your nature determines your activity. And what that means is some of your activities can be right without having a nature of holiness. But if you have a nature of holiness, then all of your activities will be right. Someone can do a good deed with an impure heart and it's not changed their heart. They have to let God deal with their heart. But if someone has a pure heart, they'll they'll be holy. They'll do good deeds. They'll show the fruits of the spirit. They'll live at peace with men. If you've got an inward nature of holiness, then the fruits of your life will show what's on the inside. And guess what? If you've got an inward nature of unholiness, the fruits of your life are still going to show what's on the inside. If that inward nature is right and holy, then the outward nature will follow. The outward holiness will follow. People will be able to look at you and tell that you're different and tell that you're a child of God because God always works from the inside out. Don't don't ever get this twisted and think that we exalt outer holiness above inner. God works from the inside out. God establishes his way from the inside out. The inside is exalted and it brings the outside along with it as it becomes holy before God. This is always God's plan.

In the tabernacle, God told them, "Take the ark. The ark is set in place first and then they build the building around the ark." Now, that's totally in opposition to the way anyone would build in the modern day world, but this is an upside down kingdom. God said, "My presence goes first and then you build everything else around my presence." because he works from the inside out. But the devil works from the outside in. James would write that a man sins when he's drawn away of his own lust and he is enticed. He's drawn away. There's something that's drawn out from his nature. The enemy uses something on the outside to appeal to your inside. He He wants to violate your inside so he can take possession of the outside. And so lust connects with what's in you. Lust brings forth sin which is visible in your life. And when sin is finished, it brings forth death. And so when we understand God works from the inside out and the adversary works from the outside in, then we can see again the importance of standards and fences that hey, he's trying to come from the outside. I I want to have something to keep me safe. I I want to have something to keep me separated. I I don't want to be right on the edge, but I want some boundaries and some walls and and some guidelines to keep me living holy. And so, it's not about control. It's about us going to heaven together. Every line that is drawn, it must be drawn with the intention of keeping your soul safe from the enemy.

Now, am I saying that every pastor that's ever drawn a line has done it without intention? Absolutely not. There are carnal and wicked pastors just like there are carnal and wicked saints and just like there are carnal and wicked people outside the kingdom of God. So we understand that. But you got to go to a place if you can't trust me as your pastor. You need to find a church where you can trust your pastor. Don't don't put your soul in danger by being in a church where you can't trust the leadership. But but if you don't if you don't trust, then you need to find somewhere you can trust. But my greatest desire is that everybody would be saved. That we would have the right lines of separation that are not so harsh that they can't be born. But but they're so safe that they they keep us away from weights and sins. Weights that would lead to sin. And so boundaries are necessary to make it to heaven.

And so we've got some edicts of God, some some principles of God that they're not to be argued with. God established them clearly. No man has the authority to alter them. I I don't have the authority to tell you you don't have to obey something that God said clearly. The these principles are timeless principles. They don't change based on culture. But God's word is timeless and and they're not negotiable. You can't argue with God and say, "Well, I'll do this as long as I don't have to do that." If if it's laid out clearly in God's word, it's a foundational layer that nobody can mess with. I don't have the right to mess with Acts 2:38, which says that we must repent of our sins. We must be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of those sins, and we must receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I don't have the right. That's a foundational principle. But that's certainly not the only one. There's things like, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. There are commands like come out from among them and be you separate and touch not the unclean things, saith the Lord, and I will receive you. There are prayers according to principles like David said when he said, "Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a righteous and renew a righteous spirit or a clean mind within me." It's don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It's these six things the Lord hates, gave seven are an abomination unto him. A proud look, a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, understand that applies spiritually and naturally. And heart that deviseth wicked imaginations. Feet that are swift and running to mischief. My Lord, the gossip better be careful here because if your feet are swift and run to mischief, you are violating a foundational principle of God's word. When you open your mouth and destroy people that are trying to be saved just because they've fallen or made a mistake, you're violating a foundational principle of God's word, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren. Now, I don't have the authority to say that you've been sowing discord, but because you've been coming to church and paying your tithe, you know, you're trying in some other areas. I'll just remove that rock for you. Everything's going to be okay. Oh, no. I'll be in trouble for that. And I'm not going to get in trouble for trying to remove something God established. We've got to obey every one of God's timeless, eternal principles.

And so this is the first layer, the scriptural explicit principles of God's word. Scriptural standards that are very clear, but in some cases there are very broad sweeping principles. We understand God could not, if he named every single thing that we should do and not do, then the world couldn't hold the pages. We have to understand the principles and operate according to the principles. And so this is the foundational layer. Everything has to be built on this layer. This is God's explicit commanded word. It's timeless.

But you see, there are other layers. Now, here is the layer where a pastor is called to take the timeless principle of God's word and to apply that principle in time. We have to know how do we apply it in our life. And so, we begin to preach and to stack stones. Now these these stones are not as powerful as this. They don't have the power to remove the layer beneath. They the moment a pastor tries to place a stone out here, there's no foundation of authority for that stone. But as long as he is interpreting a principle of God's word and applying it, then we're responsible to obey what is preached. And so it's the pastor's job to take a timeless principle and to apply that principle in time. And plea please bear with me. Don't don't zone out on me here. And so these are timely applications for timeless principles. This is where the pastor has to rightly divide the word of God and apply it to your life.

And so so here's a pr here's a foundational principle. God's people are to be kind to the poor. They're to help the poor. They're they're to care about the poor. Here's an application. We're doing a drive with the Barfields where where we want everyone to participate in helping to pour out our love. and and there's already a system that's established where we can get it to a man who's already working with the poor. Does anybody have a problem with that application? Well, the process was that we took a principle that says care about the poor, love the poor, and we applied it that timeless principle. We applied it in time.

Now, here's here's another is this is why we rightly divide the word. A very popular scripture says, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. Through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walst through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." Now, how many have been walking through a fire lately? Not spiritually. I'm talking about a real fire. Anybody? What about walking through a real river? That's what That's what it says. That's the explicit principle, right? It's an Old Testament principle. Now, people like the Old Testament when it gives verses like that, not so much some of the other verses. The application is that well, spiritually, no matter how bad your life gets, if you obey God, he's going to be with you. When you get in the worst darkness and trial of your life, that thing's not going to come in over your head, but God is going to take care of you. Now, does anybody have a problem with that application?

Now that again is taking a clear scriptural principle and applying it. Now there is no verse that tells me that if your boss cusses at you at work that that you've got the right, you know, to to leave your job or that or that tells me that if your boss is kind is unkind to you at work that that God's going to strengthen and establish your mind. But when we apply that timeless principle in time, then we see that God is going to take care of you and God is going to give you peace. When God when the word tells us that that kindness is is one of the fruits of the spirit that we're to be kind, we're commanded to be kind. Well, we can interpret that timeless principle and say, "Well, if I help an elderly lady across the street, if I if I feed a homeless cat, if I if I'm kind to someone, those are applications." Does anybody have a problem with applying that principle? No problem with it. Right? Because we're we're taking something. There's not a verse that says I need to help an elderly lady across the street. There's not a verse that says I can't kick her down in the middle of the street. But we understand by applying the principles I'd be sinning if I if I acted against her and that I'd be performing a work of kindness and of grace were I to help her. Though there's no explicit scripture that says that, we have to apply the scripture to understand it.

So why is it that when we use the same process for things that touch our identity, all of the sudden that it's like rubbing a cat's hair the wrong way? All of a sudden everything changes. And now it's become legalism. And now who in the world do you think you are to tell me what I ought to be doing and and what I ought to be saying and what I ought to be how I ought to be dressing? But you see, when the when the scripture says we should dress in modest apparel, which it says explicitly, and we apply that and say that in no way should the Christian's attire draw the eyeball to them. They shouldn't show enough skin that the eyeballs are drawn to them. They shouldn't have enough bling on them, the eyeballs are drawn to them. they they shouldn't have enough uh luxury name brands on them that the eyeballs are drawn to them. But but the Christian is to be modest. It gets a little tighter when we start touching identity than it was before. But but understand the process is the same. If we have no problem with applying the other explicit principles, why is it when we get to identity, the attitude becomes, I'm not going to do one single thing if the scripture does not explicitly say that I have to or that I can't. Why can't we apply those principles in the same way?

Here's another example. Psalm 101:3, "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave unto me." Here's an application. We don't need Hollywood pumping their filth into our minds or the minds of our children. We don't need baby murdering, sex trafficking, god-hating people infiltrating our minds and telling us how to think and how to believe and how to behave. [Applause] This is why we draw a line against television and against Hollywood in this church. Do I believe it would be impossible to have a television and only watch the right thing? Of course, I don't believe that. But do I believe that most people need a line that just says, "Hey, we don't need this to be part of our life because it feeds carnality into our mind." I believe that with every core of my being, whether you watch it on a television, on your phone, at the movie theater, you're participating in the work of people who hate God. And so the whole argument, and I'm already past the time limit I set for myself, just bear with me a little longer. And so when the whole argument for allowing it is, well, everything on there is not bad. Do you not think that there's a little hint that there's a problem?

Now, if I invited you out for a steak dinner at my house and you on the way I said, "Hey, I got to pull in pull in behind this uh grocery store over here." and I dove in the dumpster and started pulling out filet minans. You wouldn't say, "Well, man, everything in that dumpster went bad. Look at that. A filet minan." I think you probably make an excuse for why you wouldn't come into my house for dinner. So, why is it that that we you want to use these little exclusions and constantly try to find ways to redeem something that really is unredeemable because of the filth that it brings into your home? Why would you want that? As many actors and actresses as as won't let their children have a TV or watch movies, they know something a lot of people in Pentecost don't know. It's it's perversion. It's the work of people who are in perversion. And so the scripture teaches the scripture teaches it's not only a sin to be a pervert, it's a sin to take pleasure in the work of someone who is a pervert. It says they take pleasure in those that do them. That when you watch someone else performing an immoral act, it's as if you're taking taking place in it yourself, taking part in it yourself. How can you watch the the filth and and sexual immorality and violence and promiscuity and watch people and allow that to entertain you and think that God's okay with what you're allowing inside his temple. It's not okay. And so we draw a line. We apply. We're not going to set wickedness before our eyes. We're going to stay away from it. Whether it's the movie, the television, whe whether it's on your iPhone, whether it's on YouTube, if it's evil, we're going to stay away from it. We're going to draw a line. We're not going to look for a a loophole and say, "Well, if I watch it in 8 minute segments, it's okay." No, it's it's still filth. It's still immorality. And if you'd be honest, you know that it is. And so God hates this wickedness. And because God hates it, I'm obligated to draw a line to protect God's people.

Now, if that's a line that you feel like you cannot trust me as I draw that line, then you need to find somewhere that you can trust. I don't say that ugly. I don't want anybody to leave this church, but I do h I am obligated to draw lines. No matter who gets upset or leaves, we've got to have lines of safety for God's people. We're trying to go to heaven together.

And so there are some things that we have to name. Adam in the garden is a keeper. He's the forerunner of the office of a shepherd or of a pastor. And God tells Adam, I want you to name every animal. And Adam, I'm not going to tell you what to name them, but what you name them, that's what they'll be. I'm going to stand behind you. But there's some plants here. I've already established them. I've already put them in place. And so I don't need you to name these plants. I just need you to keep the plants that I have already established in the earth. And so there are some things that God plants and there are some things that we have to name. There are some explicit principles and there are some things that God gives a mandate that we're going to name them and draw a line against them. We're going to keep some things and we're going to name some others. We're going to keep God's principles and we are going to name some things to which his principles apply.

Galatians 5 says, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envings, murders, drunkenness, reings, and such like. of the which I tell you before as I have told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." So I would ask you who decides what is the application for and such like? Well, it's the same person who is called to put the boundary line around the mountain and you've got to trust that it's being applied in a way that keeps your soul safe. Uncleanness is a pretty broad term. There are many things in this day and age that will make a child of God unclean. Technology in many ways has outstripped our ability to try to legislate righteousness, but we're still biblically obligated to draw as many clear lines as are necessary to keep God's people safe. And so, nobody thinks we need a specific verse for why we don't do crack cocaine in the church. Why do we need a specific verse to understand the effectiveness of dating standards for our young people? Wouldn't you rather draw some lines to keep their purity safe instead of just saying, "Hey, y'all do whatever you want. Hope you figure it out. Hope nothing bad happens." [Applause] What about the wisdom of a chaffron that we teach to keep our young people safe instead of just throwing them in the midst of raging hormones and not completely developed brains and saying, "Y'all just figure it out and see what happens." No, we're not going to do that. We're going to draw some lines. We're going to draw some curfew lines for our young people. If we're being honest, do you think that running around all hours of day and night for a young person, do you think it's conducive to holy living? Do we have to name everything or can we interpret the principles of God's word? He said, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour." If you understood the lion was trying to tear you apart, would you want to be behind a fence or would you want to be on the same side where the lion's at? Right? We wouldn't be We don't complain about a boundary line at the zoo that keeps us safe. But your soul is a whole lot more important than your body. And yet you'll leave your soul unprotected because you don't want anybody infringing on your right to do what you want to do and be everything you want to be. I don't I don't mean that perhaps as as cocky as it sounded. I apologize if it did. But the truth is, we need lines that keep us safe. I'm mandated to draw lines to keep God's people safe.

We have a clear biblical standard as our foundation. The edicts of God. We have the pastoral standard. And the final layer that I'm not going to extrapolate tonight because I've gone too long already is the personal standard. Every one of you ought to have personal standards in your life that are they're extra. They're on top of what's preached because for you, you know, you've got a weakness in this certain area. And so, you need to draw an extra line to keep your soul safe. Now, here's the thing. No personal standard has the right to remove a pastoral standard, and no pastoral standard has the right to remove an edict of God. They they are all contingent on the layer beneath. And so, you can't rip out the foundation beneath you. Adding a personal standard doesn't give you the authority to ignore a pastoral standard of the church. It's only for you. And so an example is I knew a man who spent many years as an alcoholic. And so he refused to go to Applebee's cuz Applebee's has a bar in the main area of the restaurant. The same man also refuses to walk down the alcohol aisle at the grocery store. Now, now there's no verse that says he has to do that and there's no pastoral principle that says he has to do that. But because he's careful with his soul, he said, "For me, hey, other people might be okay. I'm not going to judge someone else that they walk through that aisle to get to the front of the grocery store, but for me, I'm not going to put my soul in danger." And so, he knows it's effective in his life. or things like we don't have a pastoral standard against video games, but anybody with any sense ought to understand it's not healthy for your marriage or your relationship with God to spend hours on a video game every day as a grown man. This is applying the principles of God's word.

You can stand if you would. Musicians, you can come. I've gone too long. 2 Corinthians 6 says, "Be ye not," please bring your minds in. "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?" Examine this this word of God by the whole attitude that says the saint ought to be able to just do whatever they want and live however they want and everything will be okay. He said, "What fellowship does righteousness have with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what agreement does the Lord have with the devil? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God." Everybody point your finger at yourself. That is the temple of the living God. Don't you think that every part of that temple matters? He said, "You are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk with them and I will be their God and they shall be my people." Remember, this is all contingent upon relationship, which is what we talked about last night. It can only be followed when you have a strong relationship with God. We're meant to be his bride. We're in covenant with him. And so I would ask you, what would happen if every day of your life as a married man or woman, you woke up and you said, "My goal today is to push the envelope in every way as far as I can without ending up in divorce court." How long would your marriage last? This is what you're doing when you have a spirit of pushing against the fence. Show Show me the scripture where I have to do it exactly that way. Show show me the scripture that says I I'll go to hell if I wear this or do that. That's the spirit you have when you constantly push against the fence. If it's all if every question is, is this a heaven or hell issue? What you're saying is, can I remove this out of my covenant and still stay married? Can I strip this down to the exact bare minimum and not miss it in one area and still stay in covenant relationship with God? [Music] Does anybody think a covenant will last that way? Does anybody think a marriage would last that way? And so, how can we think that we could stay in covenant with God Almighty who knows our heart and live with an attitude that says if if there's not a scripture that says exactly that I have to do it or can't do it, then I'm going to do it. You see, when you have that attitude, sin comes into your life. And where you were meant to be separated unto God, you become divided away from God. Because this is what sin does. It divides. And so you got to decide if your relationship is worth enough to you to separate yourself unto God by love, by relationship. Not cuz what somebody else is doing. Not because of the lines of the church, but because you love him. And if you love him, the lines won't be a problem. cuz you've received a call to relationship where he said, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you." This altar's open to some people who want to be received by God. If you're not looking to do the bare minimum, but you're looking to be in relationship with God, I want you to find a place to pray and say, "Lord, speak to me. Convict my heart. Any area where I've fallen short, any area where I've placed myself in danger, Lord, I want you to speak to me. I want you to lead me. I want you to guide me." Friend, when your heart's sincere, you won't try to do the bare minimum, but you'll try to make it to heaven no matter what it takes. Come on, everybody. Would you find a place to pray? Either in the altar, in the pew somewhere, find a place to pray and talk to God. God's calling some people into deeper relationship, deeper covenant relationship.