Following God’s pattern.

Following God’s pattern.

Genesis  1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Right from the very outset, God has always separated the light from darkness.

While God wants us to follow peace with all men, He also wants His saints to separate themselves from sinners.

The reason for this is because, God does not want His saints to learn the ways of sinners.

Jeremiah  10:1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:  10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

Both in the old and new testaments, the scriptures affirm the believers to be separated from unbelievers.

Isaiah  52:11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.

Romans  16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.  16:18 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.

1 Corinthians  5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:  5:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.  5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any 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 an one no not to eat.

1 Corinthians  10:20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.  10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.  10:22 Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?

2 Corinthians  6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,  6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Ephesians  5:10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.  5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.  5:12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

2 Thessalonians  3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.  3:7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;

Revelation  18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.  18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Remember the saints walk on the narrow road while sinners walk on the broad road.

Matthew  7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Ultimately, at the end of time, while saints will live eternally with God, sinners will live far away from Him in everlasting punishment.

Matthew  25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

So as God separated light from darkness from the outset,  be ye separated from sinners till Christ comes.

Genesis  1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Let us pray.