(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now, verse three is a very famous verse here in the Bible. I'm not really covering that tonight. I've covered sermons and talked about that. But the main context of this chapter is really focusing on spiritual separation. It starts in verse number one, where God tells Abraham to separate from your country, separate from your kindred, separate from your father's house onto a land that I will show you. He's saying, I want you to leave everything behind, and he's commanding him to do that. Well, when you read verse number four, it says, so Abram departed as the Lord had spoken on you. Now, if you're just reading Genesis 12 right here, these four verses, it sounds like God said something to Abraham, he immediately obeys, and then, you know, just immediately follows God's will. That's not actually what's taking place. Abraham does obey what God says, but he does not do this immediately, okay? Now, let me prove that to you here. But at the end of verse four, I want you to notice, and Abram was 75 years old when he departed out of Aaron, okay? When he departed out of Aaron. Now, keep your finger here in Genesis. We're gonna be back in Genesis later on. But go to Acts chapter seven. Go to your New Testament. Acts seven, Acts chapter seven. You know, this is gonna be an example of how the New Testament's gonna shed light on the Old Testament, and it shows you that these people were moved by the Holy Ghost when they wrote the word of God, and oftentimes, the New Testament's gonna give you some kind of extra information where you're reading the stories in the Old Testament, and you don't see certain things. I mean, the Bible's not explicitly clear. But notice what it says in Acts seven, verse one. Then said the high priest, are these things so? And he said, men, brethren, and fathers, pardon, the God of glory appeared unto our father, Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelled in Aaron, which is Aaron. It's just spelled a little bit differently. But remember, Abraham obeyed God when he departed out of Aaron. But see, God appeared to him before he was in Aaron, telling him, separate from your country, separate from your kindred, separate from your father's house. He told him that when he appeared to him in Mesopotamia, and Abraham does not listen to that. And so it says before he dwelled in Aaron, okay? Now notice what it says in verse three. It said onto him, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee. So in Mesopotamia, he told him, get out of the country, from your kindred, go into the land that I will show thee, okay? Then came thee out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelled in Aaron. And from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land wherein he now dwell. So basically what's taking place is that Abraham, here's from God, God talks to Abraham. He appears in Mesopotamia. He says, I want you to separate from your country, from your kindred, and from your father's house, and go to a land that I will show thee. Well, Aaron was not the land that he was talking about. But before he obeys God as well, he actually goes with, goes to Aaron, okay? And what it said is, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land wherein he now dwell. Remember, he was supposed to separate from his father's house. Well, he doesn't do that until his father dies, right? That's what we see here in Acts 7.4. Now go back to Genesis 11, and the end of Genesis 11 is gonna kind of shed some light on this as well. Genesis 11. Genesis 11. And it says in Genesis 11, verse 31, And Terah took Abram his son, and lot the son of Aaron his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law his son Abram's wife, and they went forth with them a verb that called him to go into the land of Canaan, and they came on to Aaron and dwelled there. And what you're seeing at the beginning of verse 31 is Abraham's father basically takes Abram and says, we're gonna move to Aaron, right? Now God appeared to Abraham and said, I want you to go to the land that I will show thee. Separate from your kindred, separate from your father's house. But Abraham's father brings the family to Aaron, okay? And it says in verse 32, And the days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Aaron. So Terah, Abraham's father, dies in Aaron. God appears to Abraham in Mesopotamia. His father brings him to Aaron. When his father dies, that's when he obeys God's will, okay? It was not something that was done actually immediately. He actually disobeys what God says at the beginning, and so we see more light shed on this from Acts 7 and Genesis chapter 11. Well, why would God ask him to separate from his father's house, okay? Well, go to Joshua 24. Joshua 24. Joshua 24. Now, when we're talking about separation, what does it mean by separation or spiritual separation? Well, it's kind of a term that's used in Japanese churches and it's a concept taught in the Bible. The fact that in certain areas of our life, we need to have some sort of separation from other people, okay? Now, when it comes to this idea of separation, this is not a two plus three equals five thing, okay? I can't give you a definite position of how much to separate. You know, it's not necessarily gonna be the same for every single one of us in this room. I mean, let's say for example, if your father was a Satan worshiper, you know what, I would say just completely separate, right? And I don't think there's anybody in this room that's in that situation, but I'm saying if that was a situation you were in, let's say, you know, your father was an open home, then I would say, yeah, you know what, completely separate. Now, that's not the situation I'm in though, right? So what I'm saying is, and I'm using an extreme example, what I'm trying to illustrate is this, that when it comes to separating from certain people, acquaintances, friends, and family, we're not all in the same situation. It's not the exact same for every single one of us. So this is kind of a topic where you have to just look at what the Bible says, use some wisdom, and then figure out for yourself how far you think you should or will separate in various different situations, okay? I'm not saying it's the exact same for all of us. I'm not here making your decisions for you tonight. I'm just showing you that in our lives, we do need to have some sort of separation in certain areas. Now, when it comes to separating, number one, we should have some separation from the unsaved. We should have some separation from the unsaved. And see, the big problem with Abraham's father is he was worshiping false idols, okay? Joshua 24, verse one. Joshua 24, verse one. And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel, Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers. They presented themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your father swelled on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nacor, and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood and led him throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac. And see, the Bible says that Terah served other gods. And it seems to indicate that Abraham's father might have been a religious guy, right? I mean, it doesn't say that he's like a non-religious guy. He's serving other gods. And so he's serving other gods, but not the true God. Now, of course, there's many cultures that are very idolatrous. Now, can you imagine if, you know, you just kind of walk into your living room and then, you know, your dad's like bowing down before she or something like that? I don't know the exact picture that we're seeing, but we're seeing that Abraham's father was an unbeliever and he seems to be like he's religious and he's serving other gods. Well, that would certainly be vexing your soul every single day if you're always seeing these false idols and things such as that. That's obviously, you know, a big problem. And see, when it comes to separating from his father, one of the big reasons is because obviously his father was not a believer. Now, we also can kind of see this idea that if his father was basically kind of bringing them to Aaron, it seems like Abraham was just kind of doing the wishes of his father, like his father was making the choices for the family. And that's a big problem as well, okay? But one area of separation we need is separation from the unsaved. Now, turn in your Bible to 2 Corinthians 6. 2 Corinthians 6. 2 Corinthians 6. Now, I'm not saying that if you've got unsafe family that you should never see them. As I said, I'm not giving you an idea of how far to separate. I can say that when it comes to here in the Philippines, my wife has a lot of Catholic family members and we really don't spend that much time with them. And some of them are very nice people and everything, but it's just like we're just headed in very different directions. We believe very different things. And probably for most of us in the room, we have a lot of Catholic relatives. And you just believe different things, right? And when it comes to separation, one area of separation is the problem. Be unsafe. Look, your best friends should not be unsafe people. Your best friends should not be unsafe people. Notice what it says in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness. Now, an obvious application here is with marriage. There's no question about that. Don't yoke up together with someone that's an unbeliever. And it seems like very obvious advice. And yet throughout the centuries and millenniums, saved people married up, unsafe people all the time. This happens all the time. Now, sometimes those have a happy ending where the unsafe person gets saved. But look, if you can't get them saved before you're married, what makes you think you're gonna get them saved after they're married, right? And it's just like, if you're a person who's saved, you know what, you should be looking for someone who is saved if you're looking for someone to marry, not an unbeliever, okay? The Bible says do not yoke up together with unbelievers. Now, why is it a bad decision to yoke up with unbelievers? What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? I mean, you're gonna come with these situations if you're married to an unbeliever where you got mom that wants to do holy communion at the Catholic church, and then dad's like, well, you know, we're Baptist, but if that makes you happy, honey, we'll do it, right? And it's just like, this is reality. This takes place. And it's just like, you're gonna have so many disagreements and so many areas of problems if one person's saved and the other person's not saved. You're gonna end up just disagreeing on everything. And what communion hath light with darkness? And what the Bible's showing you is there oughta be a separation from the righteous and the unrighteous from light and darkness, okay? But another application would not just be who you're married to, but if you're spending a lot of time with unsaved people, you're yoking up together with unbelievers. And the problem is you're gonna believe different things. You're gonna have different opinions. You're gonna have problems because you just don't see things in the same way. That's just the way it works, right? I mean, I wish that you could just be around other people that were unsaved, and they wouldn't bring you down, but that's just not the way it works, right? And God uses the physical to explain the spiritual, and I'm not gonna climb up on this pulpit here. I don't wanna risk getting hurt or whatever. But if I was standing on the top of this pulpit and I was trying to pull things up to the top of this pulpit, I wouldn't be able to do it. But yeah, you could probably just drag me down really easily and say, why? Well, just basic gravity, you know, just basic common sense and logic. It's just the way it works. And see, the same thing is true in a spiritual way as well. You're not gonna be able to bring people up to your level. They will bring you down to their level, right? I mean, they always talk about, I don't remember the exact phrase, but basically just like in a room full of people, it always goes to the lowest common denominator or whatever. We talk about a group of friends. The one who's the most sinful or whatever, and everyone kind of goes down to that level. That's just the way it works, right? The Bible says you should have not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Verse 15, and what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For here the temple of the living God, as God had 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 ye separate. So we're seeing this idea of separation, being separate, sayeth the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. Right, if you're a safe person, hopefully the music you like are the songs and hymns and spiritual songs. Hopefully you like godly things. The reality, an unsaved person doesn't want to sing dwelling in Beulah land. An unsaved person doesn't want to sing Jesus saves. Right, they're just not going to find any interest in those songs. An unsaved person is probably not going to sit down and listen to a pastor and minister. Right, that's just the way it works. Now look, by all means, you can bring unsaved people to our church, and you know, many unsaved people, it's unique to them, and they like it sometimes, but of course we need to get in the gospel and get them saved, okay? Because an unsaved person is just not going to understand things, they're going to see things differently, it's just the way it works. Now kind of an example from my life is that in the past, you know, when I lived in West Virginia, me and my friends would invite unsaved people to play basketball with us, and our kind of our idea was just that, well, you know, we can give them the gospel and everything, and I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad idea, because we didn't give the gospel to people, but pretty soon all of a sudden you're hearing people use the Lord's name in vain, you're hearing cuss words every second, and it's like, man, we just want to play a basketball game and have fun, we brought a couple unsaved people, you know, to play with us, because they're people that were acquaintances, we give them the gospel, but they're using cuss words and things like that, and it's just like, then you know your soul is vexed, because I don't want to be around them, I'm trying to separate from those things, and unfortunately with unsaved people, you know, most of them have a lot of those things in their lives. Now the truth is, if you have an unsaved person that doesn't have bad character, they're probably someone who could actually get saved if you give them the gospel. But then by all means, you know, give them the gospel, and then if they don't get saved, then it's not going to be the person that you want to be best friends with. Now by all means, give the gospel to coworkers. Invite your coworker out to eat, give them the gospel, invite acquaintances and give them the gospel, and people you know, I'm not saying you shouldn't try to get them saved, but I'm saying they shouldn't be your best friends if they're unbelievers. Now turn to Titus chapter two, Titus two, Titus two. Now how much you choose to separate from certain people that are unsaved people, well that's going to be the judgment call that you need to make. I mean, you can go to extremes to this where it gets ridiculous, like, well I'm never going to go to Robinson's grocery store because there's some unsaved people in that store. Okay, well good luck, right, I'm not going to go to the blanket because, you know, there's unsaved people. Well, you know, we walk around town and there's people that dress wrong, there's people that say the wrong things, it just is what it is, you know. We're not going to be able to only be around saved people. We're not going to buy this private island of just, you know, Baptists to just hang out together, okay. We're going to be around unsaved people, that's just the way it works, okay. But you're going to have to make that decision, how much am I going to separate? Well we need to understand, the Bible says separate from them to some degree. It says be separate, sayeth the Lord. You need to figure out, you know, these areas. What you need to be able to figure out with yourself is be mature enough to ask yourself, are people influencing me in a bad way? And the truth is that if we're around unsaved people all the time, we're going to be influenced in a bad way. That's just the way it works. Now, one group of people we should separate to some level of degree is the unsaved. But it's not just unbelievers that we should have some separation from. Another group of people that we should have some separation from are saved people that are worldly. We're saved people that are not like us at all, right? There's many Baptists here in Pampanga, right? And look, there's plenty of Baptists that are saved. You know, I don't stand up here and say every Baptist is saved. There's plenty of people at Baptist churches. I mean, at your old churches, I'm sure there's many people that were saved in those churches. But it doesn't necessarily mean that all of those people really want to serve God, right? Notice what it says in Titus 2. Titus 2, verse 11, Titus 2, verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, okay? And so the Bible tells us in Titus 2, 11 that Jesus Christ died for everybody. The grace is available to anybody. He died for the sins of the whole world, the Bible says. He died for everybody, all men, okay? It doesn't mean that we all get saved, but it means that we all have an opportunity to be saved because the salvation appears to all men, the Bible says. But then it says this in verse 12, teaching us, teaching us. See, there's a distinction there. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. All men, saved, unsaved, Jesus died for everybody. But it says teaching us, well, who is the us? Well, the us is referring to saved people, right? The grace has appeared to all men, but it teaches us. And he's making a distinction between all men where Jesus died for everybody and everybody has a chance to be saved. But then he says this, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. And what Paul says is this, that as a saved person, God's grace actually teaches us that we should live soberly, that we should live righteously, that we should live godly. It says we should deny ungodly, this worldly lust. Now, don't misunderstand me. Just because you're saved does not mean you're gonna change your life. But at the same time, getting saved does actually teach us certain things and not just about how to go to heaven. The Bible, she says in verse 12, that being saved teaches us that we should live soberly. We should live righteously, we should live godly. Now, it doesn't mean that you're going to, but the idea is this, let's say somebody gets saved. I'll give you an example of my life. Before I was saved, my favorite movie was Pulp Fiction. Now, Pulp Fiction is a horrible movie. When I say horrible, they use the Lord's name in vain like 150 times or something like that. And it's like, I thought it was a really funny movie before I was saved, and then it was just, well, I watched that movie one time after I got saved. Anyway, I felt guilty throughout the entire movie. Anyway, I watched that a bunch before I was saved, never thought anything of it. But after being saved and hearing the Lord's name be used in vain over and over again, and I hadn't even started going to church yet, but I just started to feel really guilty. Anyway, some people say this, people that are unsafe were kind of mock us and say, well, you're saying we can just go out and do whatever we want. And it's like, yeah, that is what we're saying, that you can do whatever you want and go to heaven. But they have this attitude that if we believe like you did, and I've heard people say this, if I believe like you, I would just go out and become a drug dealer and just sleep around. It's like, what's wrong with you, right? It's like, why would you want to be a drug dealer? It's like, you know, they say that by having our belief that salvation is by faith alone, that we're not gonna live a godly life. That's what they say, which is ludicrous because when you just compare the unsaved to the saved, there is a bit of a difference, right? Not always, but you can certainly see that, you know what, some saved people are related to them in separated lives, and I'm saved or not, okay? But here's the thing about this, it's actually the opposite because when you get saved, God's grace actually teaches us that are saved, that we should live soberly. We should live righteous and we should live godly. You say, why is that? Because when you recognize what Jesus Christ did for you and he died and paid for your sins, and you understand that, that is a life-changing moment. And you know what, I remember thinking after I got saved, I finally understand what life is about. I realized my purpose is to help get other people to heaven. Now, I didn't know what that meant at the time. I didn't know about soul winning or what to do, but I just knew certain things now that I was saved. I understood, I mean, I had a different worldview now. But I realized what Jesus Christ did, and I realized I need to do something for God. I need to help people get to heaven. What can I do, right? Being saved actually does teach you certain things. Now, of course, once you start reading the Bible and going to church, you really start learning, I mean, to live soberly and righteously and godly. But simply being saved actually teaches you something, okay? Verse 13, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself of peculiar people, zealous of good works. So the Bible says, God wants his people to be peculiar. What does that mean? It means difference. It means we should be different than the unsaved. It means that when unsaved people look at us, their attitude ought to be that, you know, those guys are a little bit different, and I don't know why they're, you know, they shouldn't think that, I'm not saying we shouldn't try to fit in, but they should look at our lives saying, you know, why do they always go to church? Why are they going to soul winning? They should not understand why we're doing the things we do. Why do you read the Bible every day? Why don't you watch these movies with us? They look at us and they're going to think that we're peculiar, or they should. Now, if they don't notice anything different about you, I mean, if you listen to the exact same music and watch the exact same movies, well, there's a problem. God says he wants us to be different than the unsaved. But here's my point. We're supposed to be peculiar. We're supposed to be different. Well, what if you have a saved person who is living just like the unsaved? They talk about the exact same things. They watch the exact same things. Their whole life is the exact same as all the unsaved people that did it. Well, it really becomes the same thing. You should separate from them because if they're living and believing just like the world and all these things in the areas of their life, we got to have that separation because we're supposed to be peculiar. We're supposed to be here, the unsaved are here, but when the saved are acting like this, it's kind of like, well, what do we have in common with them? Right? Hey, you know, did you see this new K-pop band? You know, you got to check it out. It's like, I'm sorry, man, I'm over here, right? And so there ought to be a difference in seeing when saved people are just living their lives exactly like the unsaved. Well, if you're hanging out with those worldly, unsaved people or worldly, saved people, you know what, it's going to prevent you from serving God. You know, we're meant to be peculiar. We're meant to be a separation from the unsaved. If the saved act like the unsaved, well, unfortunately, you got to separate from them too. Go to Ezra chapter nine, Ezra nine, Ezra nine. Now, of course, at church, you know, especially as the church grows, there's going to be different kinds of people, right? I mean, if you got a church that, you know, it's like we just had our anniversary in Manila, you know, on Sunday, and we had a lot of people there, you know, we had a lot of first time visitors. And of course, people are new and they're visitors. Maybe they're dressed differently. Maybe they talk about different things. And of course, you know, if you're spiritual in this room, then obviously we need to be long suffering with new people that are coming along. But the goal is that we're setting a culture in this church that when new people come along, they're going to get interested in the things of God as well if they stick around in our church, right? Hello, I've been to churches before and growing up in West Virginia and really in the United States, churches, I mean, everybody really likes American football, and especially in Baptist churches. And so every time you come into church and immediately people just start talking to you about American football. Now I'm not saying there's anything inherently simple about a football game or sports or anything like that, but it's just like every single time at church, just all the men are talking about football for an hour and a half. That's all they talk about. That's all they talk about. It's just football, football, football, football, football. All right, now I'm not sure about a year Baptist church at the top of any Pacquiao fights or what they do. And look, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with talking about various things in our lives, but I just, when I went to church, and look, when I was in college, I was still worldly. I had a lot of things I needed to change, but it always kind of just bugged me because I'm like, man, I'm trying to escape, you know, college for a little while where this is what everybody talks about. And then I'm coming to church and then everyone's doing the exact same thing. Right, there's many Baptist churches in the U.S. where basically you have the service in the morning, 10 a.m., 11, 30, when it takes place, everybody goes home except a bunch of men just kind of hang out and they just turn on the TV and watch football for six hours. Oh, we got church in 20 minutes, all right. Time to have, I mean, this is the truth. And look, I've been to plenty of Baptist churches and this is the way it is. You're visiting a church for the first time. It's like, hey, man, did you watch that Cowboys game last night? It's just like, and that's what they want to talk about. Anyway, for me especially, because I love sports. I was addicted to sports growing up. For me especially, I was like, man, I really want to separate from this because I'm trying to get it out and this gets really hard when everyone at church is talking about the things that you're trying to get rid of. And look, I'm not saying that we can never talk about any other thing. I mean, there's all kinds of things we can talk about but what I'm saying is there should be a culture that we love God, right? And it shouldn't just be about the things of the world that everybody else would be interested in, okay? Esther chapter nine, verse 10. And now, oh, our God, what shall we say after this, for we have forsaken thy commandments, which thou hast demanded by thy servants, the prophet, saying, the land on which ye go to possess it is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. Now therefore, give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take your daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth forever, that ye may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever. So what is it saying here? Do not let your daughters marry the unsaved men out there. Don't let your sons marry the unsaved women. That's what it's saying. You say, why? Because you're gonna learn the ways of the heathen, is what God was saying. And if the Savior bearing the unsaved, you're gonna learn these things, okay? Verse 13, and after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass, seeing that thou, our God, has punished us less than our iniquities deserve and has given us such deliverance as this, should we again break thy commandments and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? Wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? And so what happens is, the Savior and the unsaved, they join in affinity, they learn those abominations, and then you've got saved people that are living just like the unsaved, right? They're doing all these abominations, doing all these sins, living their lives the exact same. What ends up taking place? Well, if they're living just like the unsaved, you want there oughta be a separation from them as well, because they are living the exact same lives, talking about the exact same things, and there should be some separation from them as well. Turn in your Bible to Matthew 10. Matthew 10. Matthew 10. You know, just kind of some ideas about this and some examples is like, you know, if you work at an office setting, and I worked at a big office, you know, at my old job, and you know what, especially in America, most people are Christians, but they really don't care about the Bible. They don't really claim to care. Very few people actually have any sort of, like, Christianity at all in them. And so I worked at an office, and there's like, you know, 40 people, and there's like this small little like network of Christians, and so when I joined, they quickly realized I was, you know, one of them, which, you know, what I mean by that is I actually would talk about the Bible. I would actually be interested in the Bible. So there's kind of like four of us, but the problem is four or five of us. The problem is the others weren't exactly fundamental Baptists. You got a Pentecostal. Okay, well, that's not someone I'm gonna have a lot in common with. You know, you have a Church of Christ, and I'm not saying the IEC. I'm talking with the American friend, you know, Church of Christ, and you have a couple others, and they just believe different things, and so what happened is they sent out like this chain, you know, with the Christians, like, hey, you know, here's this Bible trivia or whatever, and you know what, the thing was, you know, and these people were nice to me when I tried to be respectful of work, but I just realized, you know what, they just believe different things in me, and it's just like, you know what, it's just not good to yoke up with people that believe completely different things because I don't wanna act at work like this Pentecostal guy's my best friend because everybody else is like, you know, into all these sins. It's like, I don't believe this person's saved, right? So what I'm saying is this. I'm just saying, you know, we need to have some separation, and maybe even have saved coworkers that believe different things. What's a great example? Well, a lot of these Baptists in the Philippines, right? I mean, a lot of Baptists in the Philippines are saved people, a lot of churches. It might be right in the gospel, but there's a lot of things that they're usually wrong about as well, and unfortunately, there's just really not a lot of people in today's world that wanna serve God. I wish that weren't the case, but the reality is this type of preaching, you know, an all-day sowing event, this is just not stuff that's popular in 2021, right? Now, we like it at this church, and you know what, we hope that more people come here and join and be a part of it and love it and everything, but the reality is, most of your saved Baptists from your old church probably wouldn't like this church. They just wouldn't. Now, there's plenty of people, though, that, you know, love God, and we're gonna grow as a church, and we had, I think, like 78 people on Sunday in Manila. I mean, our church has grown. We had a lot of people, and our church here has grown, but it's gonna be a slow and steady growth. We're not gonna be running 100 people a year from now, so it's not gonna happen. I'd be shocked if that actually happened, because, you know what, finding people that love the Lord and wanna serve God, you know what, it takes time. It's just the way it is. But, you know, our church, we're getting lots of people saved, you know, we're serving God, we're doing right. I'm just saying, you know what, unfortunately, we're not just gonna yoke up with all kinds of other saved people to do our evangelism when they believe different things. And see, this is kind of the idea from, like, the Billy Grahams and these, like, where they have this Christian music playing, and they have one person preaching this generic sermon, and all these churches are working together, and they're gonna reach the world with the gospel. It doesn't work. It's never worked. Actually, separation is an important thing. Number one, there should be some separation from the unsaved. Number two, there should be some separation from the saved that are worldly, or unsaved Christians that are out there, whatever. But number three is separation from family. Separation from family. Notice what it says in Matthew 10, verse 34. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I came, for I am come to set a man at bearings against his father, and the daughter against her mother, the daughter against her mother-in-law, and a man's host shall be they of his own household. Now, when Jesus is stating here, he didn't come to bring peace, but a sword, he's not stating that he intentionally wants, you know, a son to fight with his father, or a daughter to fight with her mother, or a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. He's just stating that the word of God has a way of separating things, and separating people. And when the word of God is preached, people get divided on their opinions. And I think all of us have seen this to some level, if you agree with family, that, you know what, the word of God just divides. Right, the word of God just divides when people have different opinions. And it says in verse 37, he that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and qualified for me is not worthy of me. The idea is that you have to put God before your own personal family. And, you know, it's a tough truth for a lot of people. The Bible says you ought to value your spiritual family more than your physical family. Turn to Matthew 12, Matthew 12, Matthew 12, Matthew 12. Matthew 12. And here's the thing, you know what, if your physical family does not, you know, cause you, does not prevent you from serving God, then there's nothing wrong with that, okay? When I talk about separation, I said everybody's gotta look at their own situation and figure out what level of separation that there needs to be. I personally, when it comes to my parents, I talk to my parents every single week. You know, obviously there's a huge physical separation, but I'm not like where I never talked to my parents. Anyway, there's topics where my parents and I disagree, but for me personally, I've decided that I want to talk to them every week. And I don't believe that there's a necessity of having this massive separation where I never talk to them, but people are in different situations. You know what? It could be different for your situation. It could be in a situation for you where there needs to be more of a separation or less of a separation. And of course, everybody's got to make that decision for themselves. Matthew 12, verse 46, while he talked to the people, and this is Jesus basically preaching a sermon, Matthew 12, verse 46, while he had talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desire to speak with them. So basically Jesus is preaching a sermon and then his mom and his brothers are not listening to the sermon, but they just kind of knock on the door and it's like, hey, we want to talk to Jesus. While he's teaching a lesson, while he's preaching a sermon, and then the family's outside basically, you know, saying, hey, we need to talk to you. Then one said on him, behold, my mother and my brethren stand without desire to speak with me. But he answered and said unto him, that told him, who is my mother and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hands toward his disciples and said, behold, my mother and my brethren, for whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven, the same as my brother and sister and mother. You know, what Jesus says is this, you know, my mom and my brothers are not here in church, they're not here listening to the message, who is my mother? Who are my brethren? It's those that want to do God's will. It's those that are serving God. It's those that love God. Now, of course we know that Mary was one of the godliest people in the Bible, not just among women, but I believe also among men as well. But obviously, here's an area where she was obviously wrong in this. It's like, well, you should have been listening to Jesus. Right, and Jesus says, you know what, I've got something more important to do right now. I'm teaching the Word of God. Right, I mean, if you try to bring an actual example of this, I mean, imagine if my parents, you know, just knocked on the door, and then I'm preaching and I see my parents outside, and somebody goes out to the bottom and say, hey, you know, we need to talk to our son. It's kind of like, okay, you know, we're in the middle of church service, you know, better be very important, right? And we don't know what his mom and his brethren exactly wanted, but what he's saying is, it's not as important, okay? Anyway, the reality is, oftentimes, your family will try to get you to skip church. Oftentimes, it's just like, well, we got this family function, can't you just skip church this one time, right? They try to get you not to serve God. Well, then you've got a major problem. And look, this takes place in today's world all the time, where family will try to prevent you from serving God and being a part of the things of God. Now, turn to Matthew 19, Matthew 19, Matthew 19. Now, I personally think that if you have the ability to have your family as part of your life, I think that's great. I think that is a great thing, if that's possible. And you know what, for probably most of us, there may be some family that you can have a bit of a relationship with, and then maybe others that you can't, right? You know, when it comes to my wife's family, you know, there's a lot of cousins here, and everyone pretty much lives in Hong Kong, and there's some that are just like, oh, they're a nice person, you know, I enjoy talking to others. It's just like, I just don't like being around them that much just because their interests and everything are just completely different. And it's just like, you know what, there just needs to be a separation. I mean, just because it's bloodline family doesn't mean that they're gonna be, you know, my best friends, right? I mean, the truth is, I enjoy hanging out with people that are serving God. We enjoy going to opening, we enjoy teaching the Word of God. I enjoy fellowshiping with people of God. And you say, why? Because, you know, we just have similar world views, we have similar beliefs, and even if there's certain things we disagree on, most of the stuff, we agree on. We can talk about it and have a good conversation. You know, just at lunch, you know, Brother Dante's family and me and Brother Roger are just talking about various things that are going on in the world, and you know what, we have very similar views. But, you know, if we had those same sorts of conversations, you know, with other people, there'd be a lot of differences, right? This is the way it is with the way that the things work and the things we believe. You're gonna have more in common with others that are saved, okay? Matthew 19, verse five. And said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. And see, the Bible says, you know, it also talks about this in Genesis and other places, that when you get married, you basically, you know, leave father and mother and cleave to your wife and you become one flesh. And one thing that often happens when people get married is the parents of the people that are newly married, the parents try to make the decisions for those kids. They're basically saying, well, this is how you should raise your kids. This is how you should do this. And look, I'm not saying that, you know, the advice is always bad because sometimes there's very good advice. And what I don't think that we should be so stubborn is to reject all advice just because we're trying to prove a point. Well, that'd be foolish, right? And I've learned a lot of great lessons from my parents. But the idea is this, that a husband and wife need to make the final decisions for themselves of what direction they're headed in life because of the fact that it could be different than what other people might think. And we're seeing that there's some sort of separations being mentioned here, where basically you become one flesh. And the number one most important relationship when you get married is your spouse. That is the number one most important relationship. Now, that doesn't mean that you can't have relationships with other people, of course. You know what, if you're able to stay friends with family and then other people at church that you can talk to and fellowship with, but your number one relationship ought to be your spouse. And that sounds very obvious and very easy, but the reality is that's not always the case. And, you know, you can look at characters in the Bible like, you know, David, and he talked about, you know, like Jonathan, that the love was the greatest. He had a passing love of women. It's like, well, yeah, you have a problem with having your proper relationship with your spouse, right? And it's just like, you know, your number one relationship and the person you're closest to ought to be the person that you're married to. And look, this is even true above, you know, your kids, your close relationship with your spouse because you're one flesh, five with sex. They go to Matthew 15, Matthew 15, Matthew 15. One level of separation is from the unsaved. One, another level of separation is from the worldly that are saved, or you could also look at it as, you know, Christians that are not actually saved, but are just, you know, they not actually saved or people that are, you know, saved or worldly. Number three area of separation is from family. Number four area of separation is from culture, from your culture. Matthew 15, verse one, Then came to Jesus, scribes and Pharisees, which are of Jerusalem, saying, why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? They wash off their hands when they eat bread. And they're criticizing Jesus and they're saying, you know, why are you not washing your hands before you eat bread? Why are your disciples not doing that? Now look, I think it's a good idea to wash your hands before you eat this. I don't do that every single time I eat either, okay? I should, but I'll be honest, sometimes I'm lazy and I don't feel like washing my hands and I'm just like, whatever, right? Natural immunity, I'll be okay. But it's like they're trying to find something to catch Jesus and they're like, oh, we caught them not washing their hands. It's like, well, that's not a sin though. It's not like they did some grievous sin. It's not like they killed someone. It's not like they robbed a bank. They just didn't wash their hands. And they said, well, the reason why you should do this is the tradition, right? Well, the reason why we should do things is because that's what God says. Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with traditions. What I'm saying is people oftentimes elevate customs and traditions above God's word. And if you don't do it just like our tradition is, well, then you're going to be criticized even if God said the exact opposite thing in the Bible, okay? It says in verse three, but he answered and said to them, why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded and said, honor thy father and mother and he that cursed the father and mother will die by the death. But he said, whosoever shall save his father or his mother, it is a gift by whatsoever that mightest be profited by me and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. What Jesus says is, people that are so obsessed with these traditions, they'll elevate this above God's word while they're committing sins and they think nothing of it because they're following traditions. Now look, when it comes to every country and every culture, there are certain traditions that that culture country has. Some of them, there's nothing wrong with them. Some of them, there's nothing wrong at all. Probably most of them, there's nothing wrong. But I would say that with every country and with every culture, there are traditions that are not correct and not what the Bible says. Now, I'll give you a tradition that I think is actually a good tradition that's here in the Philippines and it's something that we did. And now with our son, in America, you have your first name, you have your middle name, and you have your last name. The middle name is basically a second first name. My middle name is Ryan. My mom's maiden name is not Ryan because in America, you basically give yourself two first names and then you keep the last name of the father. That's the tradition that's passed down. So basically, the middle name is like a second first name where sometimes people say, I prefer to go about my middle name. So they would say, no, I'm not happy, call me Ryan. So it's like a second strong name. It's like a second first name. And so of course, here in the Philippines, the middle name is basically the maiden name of the wife. With our son, our son's middle name is Kapilong because my wife's maiden name is Kapilong. I think that's a good tradition. I don't see anything wrong with having that tradition because the last name is obviously Stuckey. The middle name is Kapilong. First name's Efennaya. But I don't see anything wrong with that tradition. What I'm showing you is countries have kind of different ways they do things. And growing up, we don't think anything of it. You just date your kid with a second middle name. There's nothing wrong with that either. It's just a tradition of the country. What I'm saying though is countries do things differently sometimes. And sometimes there's nothing wrong with it. It's just kind of a different way things are done. And what I would say to something like that is kind of wherever you live, just kind of fit in with the culture of what they do. You don't have to be different from the same being different. Sometimes there can be traditions that are just a lot different. I remember before we got married, it's like obviously we got married in the US, but the way American weddings are done are a little bit different than weddings in the Philippines, various traditions. And I looked at some of the basic traditions in the typical Filipino wedding, and certain ones that said, that's just too Catholic for me, right? Where it's just like, I don't want that as part of my wedding. Or here's another example. I went to a lot of Baptist churches. They don't baptize babies, but they do baby meditation. Well, that is very Catholic. It's like, I wonder where you learn that from. And I'll tell you what, honestly, that's something where, it's a very controversial thing in Baptist church. Baptist churches usually do baby dedications because they don't want any sort of controversy or problems. And we've had people, not at this church, we've had people at our church in Manila who were very nice people, well-intentioned people, good people, but they're kind of used to that tradition. They had a child, and they asked us if we could do a baby dedication. Of course, I was respectful, but I said, you know, I'm sorry, you know, that's not something we do here because, and I explain it in as nice of a way as possible. Of course, you know, feelings can sometimes be heard or whatever when you're, you know, but the reason why we don't do that is because of the fact, you know, it's too Catholic, right? And it's just, it's not something in the Bible. I'm not necessarily saying it's wrong or it's a sin. It's just not what we would do though, because to me, it just looks too much to be Catholic Church, and I don't want to have that appearance. Even if every Baptist Church does it, it's just not what we're gonna do at our church, okay? And so sometimes traditions can be different. Or another thing in the Philippines, which is kind of a common tradition, is that, you know, when it comes to money, it's kind of like you got this massive nuclear family that are kind of in it together when it comes to money, which includes every cousin and every aunt and every uncle, and it's just like, that's not the concept taught in the Bible, right? And so what the Bible says is that as parents, you should lay up for your children, and you should do your best to provide for your children and lay up as much as possible, and it's like that's the standard that we have in the Bible. That's the standard that we have in the Word of God, right? And so in the U.S., you know, there's traditions that are, you know, different from what the Bible says and things that I wouldn't do. All I'm saying is, you know what, sometimes we have to, you know, separate from various traditions, various things from the culture. Many things in the culture might not be wrong, but many things might be as well. It says in verse seven, "'Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draw up nigh of me with their mouth and honor of me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." And this is often the case where people will have an opinion or they'll have a tradition, and they teach it like it's a commandment, where if you do not do this, you're committing this major sin. And oftentimes people take their opinions more strongly than they take doctrine. They want to, like, prove a point where it's like, this is what you must do. And it's like, well, give me a clear Bible first, if that's what you're going to say, and then I'll agree with you. Right, I mean, we can all agree murder is wrong. You say, why? That's what the Bible says, right? But then sometimes people come up with a tradition or an opinion, and then it's just like, they take it very seriously. Like, half the things, it's like, it's actually okay for people to believe different things on various topics, okay? Now turn to Genesis 12. Genesis 12. Genesis 12. Genesis chapter 12. There's a lot of traditions in Baptist churches that are things we're not going to do. I mean, we don't have Sunday school, and you know, the first thing people would probably say is, why not? I mean, every other Baptist church does it. It's like, but what does the Bible say? Well, why don't you have an altar call? I mean, every other church does it. I mean, just be like all the other churches, right? That's the tradition we have as Baptists. I don't care about what the tradition is. I care about what does the Bible say? And there are just certain, and certain things are optional. Certain things, people can have different opinions, but certain things are not optional, right? Why don't you read the chapter before you do the sermon? Well, that's just something we do. It's when they get it very, I like the tradition, we keep it. But you know, if we didn't do that, it's not a big deal. Right? It's just, I mean, on days when the sermons are really long, there's been times where I said, you know, we're not going to read the whole chapter, or we cut out one of the songs because I'm like, we already got back-to-back services. We're already eating at like 1 p.m. It's like, we're not going to make it, you know. But what I'm saying is certain things, you know, it's not a big deal, in your opinion, is the certain things, cultural traditions, that are passed down, are things where, you know what? It's just like, you got to separate. You got to make changes in certain areas. Let's finish the rest of this chapter real quickly. And many of these verses we're going to focus on next week, because there's this big shift midway through the chapter, where basically Abraham moves down to Egypt and everything. We're going to see the end result of that next week. So we're going to tie it all together. Let's quickly go through these verses. Genesis 12, verse five. And Abraham took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their sons as they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten inherent, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came. They were passed through the land of the place of Sisom, under the plain of Morah, and the Canaanite was in in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, unto thy seed, why giveth this land? And there build it, be an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto them. And he removed from thence, unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Heiad on the east. And there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. Now, obviously calling upon the Lord is a term that's given in the Bible for people to get saved, but it's also a terminology for people that are already saved, okay? Now, when it comes to when exactly Abraham got saved, I would say this is certainly an indication that at the very least he's saved at this point, because he can't call upon the Lord if you're not actually saved, the Bible says. I don't necessarily think this is the moment he got saved, though, to be honest, because I think that God was speaking to him, and telling him to separate, because I think he was probably already saved, to be honest. Now, obviously Abraham is used as an example of believing in the Lord is counted to him for righteousness, and of course, in Genesis 15, there's a very famous verse that, of course, we'll cover in several weeks and everything, and it's a picture of salvation, but it doesn't necessarily mean that's the exact moment that he got saved, and so he's calling upon the Lord, and this is an indication of him already being saved, or at the very least, he didn't save at this moment. Now, of course, even though it doesn't mention who gave Abraham the gospel, of course, he had to hear the gospel from somewhere, because of the fact, you know, nobody gets saved just by, you know, one day they wake up, and yeah, I think I believe in the Lord. The Bible says, you know, that how shall they hear, you know, except for being a preacher, and so people heard the gospel in the Old Testament as well. I personally believe he probably heard it before he was already saved. That's why God's telling him what he should separate, because around unsaved people, well, we see the indication he's certainly saved now because he's calling upon the Lord. Verse nine, and Abram journeyed going on still toward the south, and there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt and said, you're there, for the famine was grievous in the land. And so what do we see? Well, we see there's a famine, and what does Abraham do? He goes into Egypt, okay? I think Abram needed to hear my sermon on separation, because this chapter is about separation, separate from the unsaved, and I mean, God just told him to separate, right? That's why we talk about separate from the family, separate from the unsaved. There's a reason why he told you to do that, and then he does that, and now all of a sudden he's going down to Egypt, and we're gonna see the problems with that next week, but he basically goes right back into the world. Verse 11, and it came to pass when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now I know that thou art a fair one for the will upon. Therefore shall come to pass, for the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife, and they will kill me, and they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee. Now, this is obviously crazy, but we're gonna see this a couple more times in the Bible where Abraham told Sarai everywhere they went to just say no brother and sister, and we're gonna see this sin gets passed on to his son doing the same exact thing, but basically just say no brother and sister because he's worried about his life, okay? And it says here in verse 14, and it came to pass that when Abraham was coming to Egypt, the Egyptians beheld a woman, that she was very fair. Now, the Bible told us that he was 75 years old, and Sarai is, or Sarah, is 10 years younger than Abraham, so she's 65, and so, but the Bible does say she was a fair woman. She was a beautiful woman, and so she's 65, but men found her, I guess, very attractive, and so obviously they lived a little bit longer. There was the Abraham letter. 175, I think if I remember correctly. It's just kind of unique to me that she's 65 years old and Abraham's like really worried, but the Bible says that she was a fair woman. She was, you know, obviously, I think they're a little bit different because they lived longer, but it's kind of interesting to me. Verse 15, the princes also of Pharaoh saw her and commended her before Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house, and he had treated Abram well for her sake, and he had sheep and oxen and pea acids and men's servants and maid servants, and she has his in camels. And so basically, Pharaoh gives him a lot of stuff, okay? He gives him oxen and sheep. He gets rich. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh in his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife, and Pharaoh called Abram and said, what is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didest thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why saidest thou, she is my sister? So I might have taken her and made a wife, now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had. Now, we'll talk about this more next week, but what you notice is that Abram goes into Egypt because there's a camp. He does the exact opposite of separated, okay? Now, I'm not saying it's wrong to move, but if your primary reason to move is because of money, you're probably making the wrong choice, and we know he's making the wrong choice because he's going from a godly area to an ungodly area, okay? And when he goes there, he gets rich. He gets sheep and oxen and pea acids and men's servants and maid servants and she-asses and camels. He gets rich, okay? And then we see in verse 20, and Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away, and his wife, and notice this, and all that he had. That includes everything that Pharaoh gave him. And so he went into Egypt, and he got rich. Now, this is strange to me because somebody told us, I preached on this a long time ago in Manila, like two years ago, probably before this church started, and then a couple of men told me, man, that's really interesting. I've always heard of priests differently in Baptist churches. I was like, how did they preach it? And he said, well, they preached that Abraham got rich in Egypt because God was blessing him, and he was blessed in Egypt because, you know what? He was serving God. I was like, he committed a major sin, right? And we're gonna see next week, the money's not a blessing, it's a curse. That's where hay bear comes from. That's why a lot has to go to Sodom and Gomorrah because they have too much stuff. I mean, having a lot of money is not necessarily a blessing. Now, I'm not saying it's automatically wrong. I'm saying, but I'm saying it's not necessarily a blessing. And you know what? He committed a major sin, and you see him sinning when he's in Egypt, certainly not doing right. And then he ends up getting rich, and you know what, here's the sad reality. When we choose to sin and do wrong, sometimes God allows us to get what we want. And unfortunately, that can destroy our lives. You know what? He does destroy the life of a man, but he especially destroys the life of a lot, though, because he actually got rich.