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

In 2 Corinthians chapter 6, the part that I'd like to focus on is there at the end where the Bible talks about separation. When the Bible talks about being not unequally yoked together with unbelievers or the unrighteous, and he says, come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. I'm not going to come back to that, but if you would, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. And I want to preach this morning about separation. While you're turning there, let me read for you a verse from John 17 to help clarify what separation means. This is Jesus Christ speaking in his last days upon this earth. And he says in John 17, 15, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And so the Bible tells us in John 17 that separation is not where we leave the world. It's not a physical removal of ourselves out of this world as if we were to go live somewhere far away from society and go get our own plantations somewhere, our own compounds somewhere, where we could physically separate ourselves from anything that's wrong in this world. No, the Bible says that we should be spiritually separated from this world. Not that we would be taken out of the world, but that we would be kept from the evil. And the Bible talks a lot about separation, and everything that I'm going to be preaching out of today is from the New Testament. And the Bible talks a lot in the New Testament about how we as Christians need to be separated from that which is not right. Now look what you would at 1 Corinthians 5. It's a very important chapter in the Bible. Let's begin reading verse number 1. We're going to go through the whole chapter because it's so important. This is where I'm going to spend a lot of my sermon. It says in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 1, and please take the children out if they're making noise. 1 Corinthians 5 verse 1, it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And he are puffed up, and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glory is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Now here's what's interesting. Paul here is judging this situation, and saying look, there's fornication going on, and in fact it's a type of fornication that's so extreme that even the world would be appalled by it. Even the Gentiles would be shocked by what's going on, and it's happening in your church, and he's saying, I've already judged, even though I'm not there, it's commonly reported, everybody knows it's going on, and I'm passing judgment right now that this guy needs to be delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Now what's interesting is that when you pass judgment as a Christian, a lot of times people will accuse you of being prideful. You know, when you start to point out and say, hey, that is wrong, that is a sin, that is ungodly, that is wicked, that does not belong in church, then people will say, oh, you're prideful, you're puffed up, you're arrogant. But look what Paul says. Paul says that the people who tolerate it are the ones who are puffed up. Look if you would. He says in verse 2, And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. And then he says the same thing down in verse 6, Your glorying is not good, know ye not, that the little leavened at the whole lump. Let me tell you something, there are people who pride themselves on being tolerant of sin and wickedness, and they're puffed up about it. And they think that they're so loving and that they're so caring and that they're so compassionate because they're willing to tolerate filthy fornication and sin in church, that somehow makes them better than other people. That's pride. That's arrogance. That's being puffed up. And Paul's not the one who's being puffed up here. Paul's the one who's preaching the truth and he's saying, you're the one who's puffed up when you think that that is righteous to be so tolerant of this kind of sin and iniquity. Let's keep reading because the Bible gets even clearer here on how to deal with this type of thing. He alludes to it in verse 7 when he says you need to purge out the old leaven. He says a little leavened leavens the whole lump. Get it out. He gets explicit on what that means in the latter part of the chapter. Look at verse 9. It says, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters, for then must ye need to go out of the world. Now this goes back to what we saw in John 17 where Jesus says, I don't want you to be taken out of the world. I just want you to be kept from evil. And what Paul is saying here is that if I were to tell you never to be around anybody who's a fornicator, I'd be telling you pretty much to leave the world because the world's filled with fornication. He says, then must ye need to go out of the world. And that's not what God wants us to do because God has left us here to be the salt of the earth and to give the gospel to the unsaved and to reach the world with the gospel. He doesn't want us to be removed from the world. But he clarifies here what he means when he says not to company with fornicators. He says in verse 11, but now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator. You see, that is the deciding factor here. It says a man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such and one know not to eat. For what am I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without, God judge it. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Now the Bible couldn't be any more explicit here. The Bible's clear. The Bible says, look, unsaved people, of course they're going to do a lot of really bad things. Of course the unsaved world is going to abound with fornication. Of course it's going to abound with drunkenness. Of course it's going to abound with idolatry. That's what you'd expect from the world. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us, hereby knowing the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. You expect the world to be like the world. But he says here that if somebody is called a brother, if somebody is claiming to be a Christian and somebody is coming to church and they're considered a part of the church, they're considered one of the brothers in Christ or sisters in Christ, and they're committing fornication, he's clear. He says put away from among yourselves that wicked person. He said purge out that leaven. And I'm here to tell you this morning that I firmly believe in something that many churches have stopped believing in, and that is throwing people out of the church that are committing these type of sins if they're called a brother. And a lot of you, I've heard it preached that we should never kick anyone out and everybody's welcome. And the church is a spiritual hospital for sinners. And they say, oh it's not a country club, it's not a museum to put them on display. It's a hospital for sinners. Look, if people are not saved, okay let's reach them, let's win them to Christ. But somebody who's already saved, and even if they're not saved, but they're claiming to be saved, and they're trying to fit in amongst us as if they're saved, the Bible says that if they're called a brother and they're a fornicator, you're not even supposed to eat with that person. That's what the Bible says. I mean the Bible says that I'd be in sin to go out to eat with my Christian friend who is a fornicator. With my Christian friend who's a drunk. And this is hard preaching but it's very biblical that we need to get separated in our lives because a little leaven leavens the whole lump. That's why we've got to purge out that kind of leaven. That's why we need to understand that it is detrimental to our church to have people coming to our church that are brothers in Christ that are committing fornication. That spirit will spread amongst the brethren. That will leaven the whole lump. Imagine if my children grew up in a church where they see people living together that aren't married. They see men and women living together that aren't married. You know what, they're going to think that that's normal. They're going to think that that's okay. And they're going to say things like, well it's a sin but everybody's a sinner. You know, nobody's perfect. And so maybe I'll just live with my girlfriend too. God says no. Everybody may not be perfect. In fact, nobody's perfect. But just because you're not perfect doesn't make you a fornicator. He didn't list every sin here. He said here's some specific sins where if you're a Christian or claiming to be a Christian because we don't always know who's saved, right? We can't always see inside the heart and know whether they're saved or not. If they're called a brother, if they're either truly saved or claiming to be saved, and they are participating in these sins, the Bible's clear that we need to cast them out of the church and to put away from them ourselves that wicked person. Otherwise, that leaven of sin will spread amongst the rank of our church. And you see, it's a lot easier to pull people down than to bring someone up. Let me show you an example. Come on up here, brother Jerry. You're going to be my example. Come on up here, brother Jerry. Go ahead and stand on that chair, okay? And I want you to bring me up to your level, okay? Go ahead and bring me up to your level. Pick me up. Come on, bring me up there. Pretty hard, right? Okay, come on down. Now, let's see if he can bring me down to his level. Come on, try as hard as you can. See how much easier it is? There's this thing called gravity. And it's a lot easier to pull somebody down than you say, Well, you know, we've got to hang around with these people in order to be a good influence on them. But that's not what the Bible says. The Bible doesn't say hang around with worldly Christians to be a good example on them. The Bible doesn't say hang around with drunken Christians in order to somehow help them not to be such a drunk. The Bible doesn't say hang around with fornicating Christians. No, what's going to happen is they're going to leaven you. They're going to rub off on you. Yeah, you've got to go out amongst the unsaved and preach the gospel to them and give them the gospel. Of course they're going to be a fornicator. Of course they're going to be a drunk. What do you expect? But when you're dealing with people who grew up in church or people who've been saved for years or people who've been saved and had a chance, they've heard the preaching, and they are refusing to stop this kind of a lifestyle, there is no point in them being in church. They need to be removed. Now, we're not saying anyone who's sinning. We all sin. But we're not all fornicators. You say, well, all sins eat. Well, that's not what the Bible says. We're not all fornicators. We're not all drunks. We're not all idolaters. We're not all these extortioners, the things that it lists here. God's clear here that there are some people that need to be cast out. Now, go to 2 Corinthians 2. Now, in 2 Corinthians, this problem has already been dealt with. We were back in 1 Corinthians, and we saw Paul railing on the Corinthians for tolerating fornication, tolerating sin, putting up with it, and being puffed up about it, like, oh, well, we're just more loving. We're just more accepting of people. That's why we have this. And he says, no, your glory is not good. You need to get that guy out of there. You need to be mourning. You need to stop glory and start crying because of the horrible thing that's going on in your church. And if you need to cast this guy out of the church, you need to put away from him among yourselves that wicked person, and with such a one, know not to eat. Don't even eat with them. Now, in 2 Corinthians, I don't have time to take you through the whole book of 2 Corinthians, but that situation in 1 Corinthians 5 is referred to in several chapters in 2 Corinthians. He alludes to it and goes back to it. Now, let me say this, by the way. Hypocrisy here is I've seen churches that instead of putting away from among themselves that wicked person, the Pharisaical approach that they take is basically in an office somewhere there's a list of so-called members. And what they do is they go into that office somewhere and they cross that person's name out and say, well, that person's not a member anymore. But yet they're there Sunday morning. Sitting amongst the crowd, they're in shirts. God's not looking for us to just look for some loophole. Well, I crossed out their name, so I'm in obedience. No, you're not. Or they do communion once a year, once every six months, and it's like, oh, no cracker for you because you're an open fornicator. That's not what God said to do. He said to purge them out, cast them out, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. He didn't say to cross their name out on some piece of paper or to deny them the Lord's Supper. That's not what the Bible teaches at all. But let me just show you one thing from 2nd Corinthians 2. Because you see, they punished this guy. They threw him out of the church, and he was punished. And you know what that led to? That led to this guy getting right with God. Now notice, everybody wants to be so tolerant and so compassionate, but really what this guy needed was a swift kick in the pants. Because once he got that, he got on track. He got right with God. And you know, sometimes when you mollycoddle people, you're not doing them any favors. When you just tolerate their sin and act like it's normal that they're fornicating, act like it's normal that they're drunk, you're not helping them. Because look at 2nd Corinthians 2. He says in verse number 4, For out of much affliction and anguish to part, I wrote unto you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part, that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So this guy has been punished. If we read later in the book of 2nd Corinthians, it talks about how he got right with God after he was punished. He says in verse 7, And comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write that I might know the proof of you, whether you be obedient in all things. To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also. For if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it for your sakes, forgave I it in the person of Christ. He's saying here, I'm not saying not to forgive the guy, but first he needs to get right with God. And see, a lot of people, they want to get the forgiveness before the punishment. They want to get the forgiveness before the repentance. And this guy, if he's living in sin, if he's living in fornication, well, let's just forgive him while he's doing it. Let's just have compassion on him and comfort him while he's doing it. Oh, you poor guy, you're living in fornication, you sad little victim, you. No, that's not biblical. They're supposed to throw out, and by the way, how are they supposed to throw out? Publicly. Publicly. You don't have to turn back here, I'll go back to 1 Corinthians 5. Here's how Paul said to handle it. 1 Corinthians 5, verse 4. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my Spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh and the spirit may be saved in the name of the Lord Jesus. That's publicly. He says, gather everybody together and throw this guy out of the church and say, we're not going to tolerate this kind of sin and filth in God's house. Get out of here! And that punishment was inflicted at many. That was a wake-up call to this guy. When this guy got thrown out of the church, it woke him up. He said, wait a minute, this is really bad what I'm doing. I've just lost the opportunity to be a part of the church. This is a major sin that I'm committing. And it caused him to be sorry for it and to get right with God. And he got back in church and Paul said, hey, if he's doing right now, if he's out of that fornication, if he wants to turn over a new lead, forgive him, comfort him, love him, let it go. And honestly, I'm a strong believer in letting things go. Let people live things down. But you can't let them live it down while they're still doing it. That doesn't make any sense. Even if somebody's been a complete fornicator, a complete drunk, when they decide, hey, I'm going to make a change here, I'm through with that, I want to live for God now, then we're here with open arms. Come on in. We'll forget all about it. No problem. But what we want to do in today's world is just accept people in their wicked sin. And I'm not talking about the unsaved. I'm talking about people who are called a brother. I'll give you an example. In the early days of our church, when we first started the church, just a little over five and a half years ago, and there was a couple in our church that was living in fornication. They got saved here. One of them got saved here. One of them had just got saved a few days before. We won the other one to the Lord. Baptized, they started coming to church. And what I did was I preached about it. I preached to try to help them learn. These are just new believers. They're not ones who are called a brother. They're just the new people that we just reached. And so I preached about it, and I preached about it, and I preached about it, and I tried to help them grow. And they were growing in certain areas, but it came to a time after about a month or so, that month and a half of that, where I went to them and said, look, you've been saved now for a month and a half, you've heard this preached, now I'm going to explain it to you one on one here, and I showed them for a while very kindly and lovingly, and I said, look, you have three options. You either need to get married, stop living together, or don't come back to church. Because I said, I can't have this around my family, I can't have this in our church. This is not right. That is biblical. You can't just sit there and put up with fornication. And it's a stumbling block to other people. I knew someone who was trying to get right with God. They went to a church, and they joined the singles department, and then they had a barbecue at the singles department at a couple's home who was living in fornication, and they hosted the church barbecue. That is just the church putting the stamp of approval, saying that it's fine. And that is what's wrong today in our church, is when we just have rampant, open sin that's just commonly reported, and nobody has the guts to confront it. Nobody has the guts to stand up because they don't want to be judgmental. Well, the Bible says you need to judge this. He said judgment must begin at the house of God. And it needs to be judged. And the one who's prideful and arrogant and pumped up is the one who says that they're so compassionate that they're actually more compassionate than God is. And when you're more loving than, you know, so-called in your own mind and more compassionate than God is, you might just be a little too compassionate because God is love. And if this is his remedy, it must be loving. And Paul said that he loved him, and Paul said that he loved the church. He said that's why I rebuke you to show that I love you because I'm telling you the truth, and that's what love is. And so we see clearly in 2 Corinthians 2 that we should forgive those who've been thrown out when they get right with God, but not to just turn a blind eye to sin in the church. Go if you went to Matthew 18. Matthew 18. There is another example where the Bible tells us about casting people out of church. We saw it in 1 Corinthians 5. He gave us a list. Forticators, idolaters, drunkards, extortioners, covetous, railers. He listed certain things that are just too poisonous. They need to be gotten out of the church. And today's world just says everybody's welcome. Well, that looks great on the sign, but it's not difficult. But look at Matthew 18, verse 15. It says, Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee two or three more, than in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. And so the Bible, this is a little bit of a different scenario. In 1 Corinthians 5, we saw a list of sins. If somebody's doing these sins, throw them out. Whole church, throw them out. This is something where one person is sinning against another person in the church or tormenting them or persecuting them or ripping them off or doing them dirty in some way, shape, or form. He just says, If thy brother shall trespass against thee. And he says, First, try to just work it out with that person. And obviously, this isn't just, he didn't shake my hand or something. This could be something where maybe somebody ripped somebody off for a large amount of money. And that's why it's good not to have those feelings with people at church, by the way. But, you know, somebody might... I don't know. I mean, you could think of a lot of examples, probably, where somebody could trespass against you, do something very bad or harmful to you, and you're upset about it. You know, you've been harmed, you've been injured, and you go to that person, and God says, First, you should just settle it between you and them alone, not make a big deal out of it. Just try to get retribution from them alone. Okay? He says, If they neglect to hear thee, then take two or three more just so that you have some witnesses, to make sure that everything is on the up and up. And you bring a few witnesses, and you say, Look, you know, you need to fix this. There's a problem here. We need to take care of this. And he said, If that doesn't work, and this is Jesus speaking about the church, he says, then take it to the whole church and say, Look, this guy will not repent here. He will not make this right. And if he will not make it right, he needs to be thrown out of the church. Now, you see, the Bible's very clear, and I don't have time to turn to all the passages because I want to get to other things this morning. But the Bible's clear in 1 Corinthians 6 that it is a sin for us to sue our brother in Christ at the law. He said we should not go to law before the unjust. He said it would be better to just allow yourself to be defrauded. You know, if somebody owed you money, and they're in the church, and they're a brother in Christ, and they won't pay you back, he said you'd be better off just suffering yourself to be defrauded because taking that to the ungodly court system would be a wicked sin, he says in 1 Corinthians 6. He said you're going to law before the unbelievers. They're a bunch of effeminate, abused-other-self-mankind, covetous, wicked, you know. He lists all the things that they are. He says don't have the world judge you. He said you need to judge yourself. And again, look it up in 1 Corinthians 6. I'm not going to go through it just for sake of time. But definitely, if you don't know what I'm talking about, read 1 Corinthians 6, and he spells that out. He says don't go to law before the unjust. He said set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church than to let them judge you out in the world. So you should never sue or go to law against your brother in Christ. That's why if there is an injury or something, it needs to be handled within the church. And if a person will not submit to someone saying, look, you've stolen this money, or you've done this wrong, you have to pay for that, and they just say, no, I won't do it, then it's get out of here. Then you're cast out. We'll consider you like a heathen and a publican. You're not welcome here. See ya. And so throwing people out is very biblical. Jesus talked about it. The apostle Paul talked about it in 1 Corinthians 5 and 6. Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. Because remember, I'm preaching about separation today. Separation. Right now, we're talking about being separated from those that are saved, who are living in sin, and who will not get it right. Now, I've heard a lot of people say this. Well, we should be separated from the unsaved, but they say, we're going to be with these people for all eternity in heaven. We should all be united upon this earth as well. Wrong. The Bible tells us no, not if they're a drunk. And you say, well, no, you know, no saved person's ever a drunk. Well, what about Noah? He was saved, he got drunk. If no one who's saved ever gets drunk, then why is it that God commands Christians be not drunk with wine if they were just automatically not going to? No, they're Christians who are drunk. They're Christians who fornicate. They're Christians who commit adultery. They're big Christians who commit a murder. And there are people who fall into sin, and God is warning us not to hang. Just because somebody is a Christian or claims to be a Christian doesn't mean that should be who we hang around with and who we have in our church. Look at 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 6. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother. So are we talking about saved or unsaved? Saved. He says that you withdraw yourself from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we behave not ourselves disorderly among you, neither did we eat any man's bread for naught, but wrought with labor and travel night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you, not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. And that's an important verse right there. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now, them that are such, we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. Watch verse 14. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Now, are we talking about a saved or an unsaved person? Look at verse 15. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. So we're talking about somebody who's a brother in Christ. We're talking about somebody who's saved. He says, look, if somebody just refuses to obey God's word here, and they want to sit around and do nothing, they won't work, they will not take care of themselves, they're lazy, whatever the case may be, they're disorderly as it's described in this chapter, he says, if they won't obey our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. I mean, don't you think that guy in 1 Corinthians 5 was ashamed when they called the whole church together and said, see ya, he was ashamed. And they said, don't count him as an enemy. He's not your enemy. He is your brother in Christ. You still love him. But it's tough love that says, you know what, if you're not going to obey these most basic things, these most basic commands of our Lord Jesus Christ, nobody's expecting you to be perfect, but people seem to have a hard time differentiating between not being perfect and I'm living with my girlfriend. Those are two very different things. And we've been brainwashed our whole lives, oh, all shits equal, all shits equal, God's all right, no such thing as a big sin, no such thing as a big sin. Yes, there is such thing as a big sin. It's called fornication. It's called being drunk. It's called being an extortioner. It's called blatantly disobeying God's word. And those sins are commanded that you'll be thrown out for those things. You're not going to get thrown out for every little thing, but living with your girlfriend is not a little thing. Getting pregnant out of wedlock is not a little thing. That's a big thing. And it's not biblical to just turn a blind eye to it and call yourself compassion. You're puffed up, and your glory is not good. He says, they're not your enemy. They're your brother. But you know what? You need to show them some tough love by having no company with them. That means, hey, you want to go out to lunch? No. And by the way, you're not welcome here until you straighten it up. Straighten it up and fly around. And when they straighten it up, then we're here for them with open arms to receive them once again, but not before that time. Look at Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter 16. I mean, there's so much scripture on this. I mean, we're seeing example after example. Romans chapter 16. It's an important subject. Romans 16. You know, and honestly, if you're in a church where the preaching's right, this will be rare. I mean, this is really rare. I mean, in the last five and a half years, this has been very rare, because if you're preaching right, people who are doing this kind of stuff, they're not going to be coming to church anyway, because they're not going to like the conviction. They're not going to like hearing the preaching. It's going to send them out. And, you know, a lot of times, the preaching will just kind of self-correct its problem. But although it's rare, it does happen, where someone will just be blatantly, openly, brazenly in sin, and they will not get it right, and they want to still be buddy-buddy and part of the church, and everything's fine, and I'm here to tell you it's not fine. And it's never going to be tolerated in this church. I did not pass through this church for the last five and a half years, so it could just be a sin fest. You know, so it could just be a cesspool of iniquity, where everyone is just, you know, living in all this rampant sin, and we all just kind of, oh, okay, uh-huh. No. I won't put up with it, and I hope you won't put up with it either. And again, we're not talking about being nitpicky here. Nobody's perfect. Everybody's got their faults. This isn't saying, you know, you found a rock music CD in somebody's car or something. You know what I mean? And I'm not condoning on that. We're talking about some real big things. I mean, fornication's a big deal. You know, we're talking about big... I mean, extortioner? Dude, that's like the mafia, you know? Okay, we don't want that part of church. You know, these are big sins. And by the way, drunkenness is in that category. That's a big sin. Beware of that. A lot of people downplay that. But, uh, did I turn to Romans 16? Look at verse 17. It says, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Now, this whole sermon's not about kicking people out of church. Kicking people out of church was about 1 Corinthians 5, Matthew 18, and so forth. A lot of this is just in your personal life now, just what to watch out for, who to be separated from as a person. He's warning us to watch out for people that cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine we've learned. And the Bible says that we should mark those people and avoid them. What does that mean, to mark them and avoid them? Well, I think a good thing to compare it to is Philippians chapter 3. You don't have to turn there, but Philippians 3, 17 says this, Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example. For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. And Paul said, I have often warned you of people that are enemies of the cross of Christ. I have pointed them out to you and I've warned you about them. And you know, Paul named the names, by the way. If you look at Paul's epistles, he named off Hermogenes, Philetus, Phagellus, Alexander. Diotropy was mentioned by John. But you see them constantly mentioning these people and he explains what their false doctrine is. They're preaching that the resurrection's passed already and overthrow the faith of some. We don't even know who those people are today. Why did God give us these names of people that we have no clue who they were? Phagellus? Hermogenes? You know, I don't think I've ever met anybody who said, well, I follow Hermogenes. That's my favorite Bible teacher. Philetus. No, you don't want to do it. But you know what? God put those names in there to show us that we need to name the names and say, you know what? We have the Hermogeneses of our day, we have our Philetus, we have our Phagellus, and they need to be pointed out and warned about. He said, I've told you of them and warned you of them. Every once in a while? No, he said, often. I've often warned you of the false prophets. I've often warned you of people who are causing divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine that you've learned. He said, they'll deceive people. They'll deceive the simple with their fair speeches. Avoid them. Stay away from them. So what do we need to be separated from? Let's do a quick review. Number one, we separate ourselves from those who need to be thrown out of the church, that group of people that are fornicating, drunks, and that type of thing. We saw that list. Who else do we separate ourselves from? Number two, we separate, and those are all saved people that are doing those things. Who else do we need to separate? We need to stay away from and separate ourselves from people who are promoting and peddling false doctrine. Stay away, he said, avoid them. Stay away from them. Don't be around those kind of people. But who else should we separate ourselves from? Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Now, what's interesting is this. A lot of people get this exactly backwards. If somebody's a Christian and they're a drunken fornicator, then we'll hang out with them because, hey, they're a Christian. No, that's who we should be staying the most away from. And then an unsaved person that's a drunken fornicator, they'll run screaming from in the other direction. That is the opposite of the case. Now, I'm not saying that you should be good friends or close buddies with the unsaved. But I am saying this. There is a stronger degree of separation from the Christian who's living in sin than the unbeliever who's living in sin. Because the Christian who's living in sin, and we're talking about big sins here that are listed, the Christian who's living in sin, we're not even supposed to eat with them. We're supposed to totally avoid them. They are not welcome in our church. They are a cancer and a leaven that will spoil our whole church and our whole life. Now, when it comes to the unsaved, God doesn't want us to completely not company with them. Because He said, if I told you to not company with all the unsaved people who are fornicators and drunkards, you'd pretty much have to go out of the world. But look what He says in 2 Corinthians 6. He says in verse 14, Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God been idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. So when we're talking about Christians, our degree of separation is a lot stronger. Don't even eat with them. Do not company with them. They are not allowed in church. When it comes to the unsaved, we are allowed to eat with them and company with them. Jesus ate with publicans and sinners. And a lot of people try to apply that to Christians. No! He was eating with publicans and sinners who were not saved. That he might get them saved. That is different than hanging around with publicans and sinners who have been saved for years, but they just want to continue living a life of sin. Two different things. And so when it comes to the saved, we have a much stronger degree of separation. If some Christian is living a backslidden, drunken, fornicating, idolatrous life, totally withdraw ourselves from them. Total not eat with them. When it comes to the unsaved, we can eat with them, we can company with them. Jesus did it. He left us an example that we should follow his steps. But we should not be yoked together with them. We should not be yoked together with them. What does that mean when it says we should not have fellowship with them? Fellowship means you're having something in common with them. And he's basically saying, what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? What does righteousness and unrighteousness have in common? He's saying, what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with Nipita? We shouldn't be buddy-buddy is what this is saying. We shouldn't be closely associated with and buddy-buddy with the unsaved. We can be around them and eat with them in order to get them saved, in order to shine the light of the glorious Gospel, but we should not be there. Here's my best friend, and she's Mormon. Here's my best friend, and he's a Jehovah's Witness. Here's my best friend, and he's Catholic. Why is your best friend in the world not saved? How do you have so much in common with them? How do you have so much fellowship with them? How do you have so much communion in concord with someone who doesn't have the thing with you in common that should be the main thing in your life? Which is the things of God. I mean, if my life is consumed with God's Word, and I'm meditating in God's Word day and night, and I love church, and I love reading the Bible, and I love prayer, and I love winning souls to Christ, how can I be that close with somebody who has no interest or no understanding of those things? And if you can have that much in common with somebody who's not saved, it's time for you to grow spiritually. Because when you grow spiritually, you're going to notice you're going to have a lot less in common with unsaved people. All the stuff they're into is going to be different than what you're into. It's going to be tough to find common ground. It ought to be tough to find common ground. And people say, well, we've got to be like them to win them. But wait a minute. Wait a minute now. We get a lot of people saved around here just by knocking on doors. That doesn't mean we're married to these people. That doesn't mean that they're our best friend. We don't have to sit there and develop some lifelong buddy-buddy relationship with them to give them the Gospel. I mean, you could preach the Gospel to somebody you barely know or don't even know and still get them saved. And, you know, you've got unsaved friends at work. Hey, buy them lunch. Get them the Gospel. You've got unsaved friends at work. Reach out to them. Love them. Care for them. But that should not be your best friend. You know who should be your best friend? People in church or people that are in other churches that are like-minded that believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That ought to be your close friends. That's who you're going to find the right common ground with. And, you know, being unequally yoked together, what could be more unequally yoked than marriage? I mean, we're talking about your closest friend in your life, the closest possible bond on this earth. And you're going to go into that with an unbeliever. And that's why you should never date an unbeliever. Because dating should be for the purpose of getting married. And why are you even playing with fire if this person's not saved and you're dating them? You know, you're unequally yoked there with that person and you have way too much in common with that person. You need to get right with God. And we have people getting married to someone who's an unbeliever. That's unequally yoked. By any definition. By any explanation. You say, well, what if they're saved? Well, if they're saved, then they shouldn't be doing the stuff on that bad list either. Because you shouldn't be yoked up with those kind of people either. And so when it talks about being unequally yoked and being really close with people that are unsafe, you know, we need to be aware of that because unsafe people can be a very bad influence too. And you know, I find this, that if you get around unsafe people and you just keep giving them the gospel, they're either going to get saved or they're probably going to stop hanging out. Isn't that the truth? I mean, if you just keep hitting them with the gospel, you keep pulling out your Bible, hey, let me show you something else in the Bible you haven't seen yet. Pretty soon, they're going to find different friends. Or else they're going to get saved. That would be the best thing that would happen is that they would get saved. And you know, if you love your friends, get them saved. You say, well, I just have this really good friend and I don't want to give up my friend and we're so close, but they're not safe. You need to get that person saved. And you need to confront them with the gospel and love them and try to get them saved. And you've got to be aware because honestly, some people, they want to help others so much and they're so compassionate that they end up getting dragged down by other people's sins. And they end up getting dragged into drunkenness themselves. Next thing you know, they're fornicating. Next thing you know, they are learning the ways of the people that they're hanging around. Be very careful who you're friends with. Your friends should be your brothers and sisters in Christ who love God. It should not be the worst, you know, kind of people that are doing the worst kind of things. And that's the only word for it. Let's borrow this network prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, dear God, and please just help us to be very careful of this thing of who we hang around with. Help our church to be aware of this and not to just turn a blind eye to sin and just tolerate rampant, commonly reported sin and just pretend that there's some glory in allowing it in our church. God, we live in a day where homosexuals are allowed to come to church. You know, let alone if a normal fornicator is to be thrown out, how much more those who go after strange flesh help them never to be welcomed within the walls of faithful work Baptist church and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.