Brother Jim, I pray that you
will outlast me wherever you preach. We'll be
here as long as the Lord wants to use this moment. I know everybody
asks me, say, how you doing? And as you see me walk, I'm not
drunk. I just got a condition called
arthritis. Y'all know anything about that?
Anyway, I'm getting some work done on me when I get back. Hopefully
they'll work, but we'll see. I'm doing fine, I really am.
The church in Albany, we're all doing fine. We're all just getting
older. But the Lord seems to continue to bless us, and we
keep you all in our prayers and in our thoughts as we continue
to minister as the Lord gives us opportunities. opens the doors
for us. And it's good to be back with
you, always to see family and friends and to get to talk with
you. As you know, we had a little
addition with us this time. And so we've got another addition
coming. So that's Nathan's daughter,
Lily, and got a son coming in September. So be in prayer for
them. Nathan and his wife's name is
Elise. So be in prayer for them as the
Lord brings it to mind. All right, I want us to look
at Romans chapter 12. I had Brother Ron Reed back in
Romans 11, which is what you might call a doxology, a praise
to God for all the glorious truths that the Holy Spirit had Revealed
to Paul and inspired him to write in this beautiful book of Romans
up to this point so much of God's sovereign grace and mercy in
the salvation of his people in and by the Lord Jesus Christ
and and it just seems like Paul just come to a point of in this
writing that he just had to kind of stop and just look up and
say, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge
of God. Think about that. That's worship,
isn't it? I mean, you can just imagine
the apostle sitting there writing this, or some say he had a secretary
write for him. It doesn't matter. It's the Holy
Spirit. This is the word of God. And that's all we need to be
concerned with. How unsearchable are his judgments, his ways past
finding out? You can't figure out God. All
we know of God is what he tells us, what he reveals to us. And
it is by revelation. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? Who hath been his counselor? Do you think you can advise God? I tell you what, there are a
lot of preachers who act like they can be his advisor. And,
oh no, or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed
unto him again. God doesn't bargain with us.
We can't stand before God and say, God, you owe me this. Oh
no, all we can do is just cast ourselves at his feet, face down,
Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. That's what this is about. And of him and through him and
to him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. And then he launches into an
exhortation. And he says, I beseech you, verse
one of chapter 12. I beseech you. You could say
I beg you. I plead with you. Therefore,
Brother Mahan said that was one of the biggest therefores you'll
find in scripture. Because it includes everything
that Paul had said from chapter 1 all the way up to the end of
chapter 11. Therefore. Therefore what? What's
it there for? Because of God's free, sovereign,
unearned, undeserved grace and mercy and love towards sinners
like us in and by the Lord Jesus Christ put us in such a Such
a state and a standing and a position that we are safe and secure in
the arms of Jesus Christ. And that can never change. Standing
before God, washed in His blood, clothed in His righteousness.
Oh, having been given life from above, life from the dead, a
new heart, a new mind, a new will, new knowledge, faith, Oh
my soul, you realize if you're really a believer, you're a walking,
talking miracle of God's grace? You're not a product of your
goodness, because you have none. You're not a product of your
own free will, because your will wasn't free. In fact, if left
to yourself, you would have, we would have rejected continually
and gone our merry way to hell. But a sinner saved by grace,
a believer, who's been brought to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works is a miracle of God's power and his goodness
and his grace in Christ. So therefore, brethren, I beseech
you by the mercies of God. There's the motive right there.
He doesn't say I beseech you by the law of God. He doesn't
say I beseech you by threatenings of hell. He doesn't say, I beseech
you by the threatening of loss of rewards in heaven. That's
a false gospel. I beseech you by the mercies
of God. Oh, the mercy of God. His mercies
endure forever. How many times is that written
in the Psalms? The Lord delights to show mercy.
And he says, I beseech you that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice. Now when he says your bodies,
he's not talking about just outward reform or physical, he's talking
about your whole self. Your heart, your mind, your affections,
your will. What you do, what you don't do.
Present yourself as a living sacrifice, holy. Now this is what I'm gonna talk
about tonight more than anything else. That word holy means separate. The title of this message is
The Grace of Separation. Present yourselves a living sacrifice
in service to God, holy, separate, acceptable to God. And the construction
here is this. It's don't present yourselves
in order to become acceptable, but present yourselves a living
sacrifice separate because you are accepted by God in Christ. accepted in the beloved. We're
not trying to earn God's favor. We're not trying to run up a
tab, so to speak, and pay it off and get God to love us and
to bless us. No. We are accepted in the beloved
Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteousness, by his merits alone. And he says
that's your reasonable service. It's unreasonable for a child
of God to do anything else. Think about it. God who's loved
you with an everlasting love, who's been so good to you, even
when you were an enemy, Christ died for you. And then he says
in verse two, and be not conformed to this world. Don't be conformed
to the world. Don't unite with the world. Don't
be in Cahoots with the world, you might say. The idea is to
be separate, nonconformity. You know what that means. It
means separation. The idea of holy, holiness. The
idea of holy and holiness is not human morality or human charity. Now, should we as believers be
moral and charitable? Of course we should. But that's
not our holiness. That's not what separates us.
That's what I'm talking about. Same idea as sanctify, sanctification. Be ye separate. That's what sanctification
is. Don't think, you know, these
people who talk about progressive sanctification, that's an awful
idea. In other words, you get better
and better and better because you're trying harder and harder
and harder, and you're sinning less and less and less. That
is not biblical. That is anti-gospel, folks. Now
should I try to be a better person today than I was yesterday? Of
course I should. Everybody should. Even unbelievers
should. But that's certainly not our
separation, it's not our holiness, it's not our sanctification.
So he says, and be not conformed to the world. That includes the
immoral world, the lawless world, the perverted world, and boy
don't we see it today. And it's all over the news. But
also do not be conformed to the religious world. That's right. I always think
about that verse of scripture, I believe it's in Matthew 23,
where Christ told the Pharisees, religious men, moral in the eyes
of men, the most dedicated, And he said, you'll spend a lot of
time and money and effort to get converts out of the Gentiles. And when you get them, you make
them two-fold more the child of hell than you are. You make
them religious. He says, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Here's the key. You know that's what you're doing
here tonight. The renewing of the mind, the preaching of the
gospel, the study of God's word, the fellowship of God's people. That's a renewing of our minds. Now that doesn't mean the heart
is not involved. I think some people are afraid
to use the word mind because they're afraid they're going
to indicate or sort of implicitly indicate that it's just an intellectual
thing. Oh, it's more than intellectual,
but don't remove the mind out of this thing. The heart, the Hebrews, they
didn't think of the heart without the mind. It's the mind, it's
the affections, it's the will, it's the conscience. It's everything
that you are within. And we have to be renewed because
we're in a warfare here in this earth between the flesh and the
spirit. And he says, by the renewing
of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect or complete will of God. Examples. Sinner saved by grace. So we're
talking about the grace of separation, holiness, sanctification, nonconformity. And let me start out this way.
It is all by God's grace and power, period. What is it that separates a true
believer, a sinner saved by grace, a child of God from the world?
What is it really? And you boil it all down. Well,
whatever separates us, I'll tell you this much, it's not by our
works. It's not by our efforts. It's by God's power and goodness
and grace in Christ. Christ is our wisdom, our sanctification,
our righteousness, and our redemption. He's made of God unto us, all
of that, so that he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. So
if I have any benefit or any evidence of being a child of
God, who am I going to glorify for that? Myself? No. I thank God. I thank God. When we think about being separate,
you know, this thing of being separate, this thing started
way before this world was ever created, didn't it? Sanctified
by the Father before the foundation of the world in his unconditional
love toward us, his electing grace, he chose us in Christ
before the world ever began. Separated us out, just like Jacob
was separated from Esau. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. And again, it was all by grace.
He didn't look down through a telescope of time and foresee what you
would do or not do. I heard a preacher say that the
other day. He was talking about Jacob and Esau. And he said,
I have to believe, this is what he said, I have to believe that
the reason God loved Jacob and hated Esau is because God knew
that Jacob would respond positively and Esau would not. Well, read
that whole passage in its context. Doesn't it say that before those
two ever done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand? If you're a child of God, you
were separated out before the world ever began and given to
Christ. All the responsibility of your
entire salvation was placed upon him, whom to know is life eternal. Read Ephesians chapter 1 sometime. It's a good commentary on it.
And we were separated in the Son by Christ on the cross when
he died for our sins. Our sins were charged to him.
He was made our surety. Our sins, the dead of our sins,
were imputed to him and he died on that cross. Romans chapter
6 speaks of that. Now that when he died, if you're
a child of God, if you're one of God's elect, you were redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. When he died, you died. When
he was buried, you were buried. When he arose again, you arose
again in him. And he's right now seated at
the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession
for us, separated in redemption, justified. What does it mean
to be justified? It means to be forgiven of all
my sins on a just ground. And what is the only just ground?
The blood of Jesus Christ. It's to be declared righteous
in God's sight. Is that real? Well, righteous
in whose sight? God's. You want to see reality,
see how God thinks and what God says and how God sees it as according
to His word. Not how we see it, but how God
sees it. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. You
don't justify, I don't justify, God justifies. And it's by the
blood of Christ and based upon his righteousness imputed that
we stand before God justified in him. And then we're separated
out by the spirit of God. In regeneration, conversion,
the new birth, that invincible calling. And that's where I want
us to look at. And think about it this way.
Think about the religious world, false religion. What do they
think separates them? And you can think about a lot
of things. I think about the Seventh Day Adventists. They
meet on Saturday. That separates them from everybody.
Think about the Amish. They have long beards and wear
bibbed overalls and drive buggies. That separates them. Think about
the Jehovah's Witnesses and what separates them. It all boils
down to this for the false religion. And Paul dealt with this in Colossians
chapter two. You can read about that. Taste
not, touch not, handle not. And Paul says, why are you doing
that? You're acting like the world. You're in conformity with
the world. That doesn't separate a child
of God. Well, does that mean, preacher, that we're to throw
caution to the wind and we can do anything we want to do or
anything that the flesh inspires us to? No, it doesn't mean that
at all. Are there things that I should
not taste and touch and handle? Yes, but that doesn't separate
me from the world. I think about this verse. Let
me just show you this. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. I
preached on this verse several times. I may have preached on
it here. Verse 14. This gives you an idea of where
I'm going with this. He says in verse 14, follow peace
with all, all being, and holiness, without which no man shall see
the Lord. What do you think he's talking
about there? Well, he's saying this, that as believers, as children
of God, we're to be peaceable people. We're not going around
looking for a fight or going to war, drawing swords or anything
like that. We want peace. But not only follow
peace and holiness. In other words, follow peace
with all men without denying or compromising that which separates
us from the world. In other words, don't compromise
in order to have peace. I think about our Lord when he
said, I didn't come to send peace, but a sword. In other words,
we're not to deny the truth in order to be peaceable with the
world, even with our families. And that's the holiness that
he's talking about. Most preachers will go there and say, well,
follow peace and try to be a good person, because if you don't,
you won't see the Lord. Listen, our acceptance with God
is not based upon our trying to be good people. Now, should
we try to be good people? Of course we should. We should
try to be conformed to Christ in all ways. But that's not how
we are accepted with God. So go back to, well, let's go
to Romans 1. I want to give you just a few
things about what really separates God's people, this grace of separation. And number one, mainly, is our
gospel, our message. Look at Romans chapter 1 and
verse 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God. He says, which he had promised
to four by his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his
son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power
according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the
dead. What separates us from the world? Our gospel, our message, the
good news of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Look over at verse
16. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, the Jew first, also to the Greek,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. I believe that means from knowledge
revealed, truth revealed, to truth received by God-given faith. As it is written, the just, the
justified shall live by faith. That means the justified live
by looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Our gospel separates us. We don't
preach salvation by the works or the wills of men. We preach
salvation by the work and the will of God through Christ. It's
all of grace, every bit of it. It doesn't tell sinners that
God loves them and Christ died for them indiscriminately, because
that's not the gospel. It tells them that God has a
people which he chose before the foundation of the world.
He given to Christ and placed all of the conditions, the requirements,
the stipulations of our salvation unto final glory, squarely upon
the shoulders of his son, who is both God and man in one person,
See, that's what the gospel concerns. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God,
manifest in the flesh. The Word made flesh. God, man. And what did He accomplish in
His obedience unto death on the cross? He saved His people from
their sins. He didn't make them savable.
He didn't make salvation a possibility if they would meet certain conditions,
depending upon which denomination you are in. No, He secured the
salvation of His people by putting away our sins, paying our debt
in full. He was made a propitiation. What
is that? That's a sin-bearing sacrifice
that brings what? Satisfaction. All for whom he
died shall be saved without a doubt. It's the revelation of the righteousness
of God, not the righteousness of man. Not any righteousness
that God enables man to do. but totally a righteousness that
Christ accomplished in his obedience unto death as our surety, our
substitute, and as our redeemer. And not only is he everything
in that realm, he's also our life giver, he's also our preserver,
and he'll bring us to glory. That's the gospel we pray. Our
gospel, it's a specific message. It's a message that God has devised. That's what Paul said. It's the
gospel of God, not of man. Somebody asked me one time, said,
do you think you have a perfect knowledge? And I said, no, but
I have a perfect gospel. Because it's the gospel of God.
And there's no flaw in it. If you come into a church where
they don't preach this gospel, you're not separated. Unless
you leave. Those who preach another gospel,
what did Paul say? If they come preaching any other
gospel than that which we appreciate, let them be anathema. Our message, and it's offensive
to the world. It's the light, the light of
Christ that the world hates because it exposes their deeds as being
evil. It separates us from the world. It is through this message and
the power of the Holy Spirit that God gives us faith in Christ. You know, just about everybody
that I know down in Albany says they believe in Jesus. Which
Jesus? I had a fellow tell me one time,
he said, what are you talking about, which Jesus? There's only one.
I said, well, let's find out. I took him to 2 Corinthians 11.
Those who come preaching another Jesus, another gospel, another
spirit, He looked at me, he said, I didn't know that was in the
Bible. I told him, I said, we ought to read it every now and
then. Our God-given faith, our faith
is the gift of God. It didn't come out of our innate
goodness. We don't have any. We fell an
atom into spiritual death and depravity. But God gives us the
gift of faith. For by grace are you saved. Through
faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works. any man should boast. The gift of repentance. It's
our gospel that shows us the reality of repentance by which
God the Holy Spirit brings us not just to change outwardly
or even to change doctrines, which we do, but to change gods. We come to see through this gospel
and empowered by the Spirit that that which is highly esteemed
among men which at one time was highly esteemed by us, is an
abomination to God. That separates us. That separates
us. Now I've got a few more things
and I'm going to go through them quickly. And the reason I'm doing
that is this. Everything that I'm going to
tell you that separates believers, children of God, You cannot see
it with the physical eye or hear it with the physical ear. It
has to be determined by that gospel that separates us. So here's the second thing, our
calling. Our calling separates us. In
2 Timothy 1 and verse 9, it's called a holy calling. In Hebrews
chapter 3, it's called a heavenly calling. It's the irresistible
calling, the invincible calling of the Holy Spirit. Not just
a religious experience. I don't know about you, but growing
up in false religion, I really heard some impressive testimonies,
or what I call now bragamonies, of how people were converted. I mean people brought from the
gutter to the pew, from the pew to the pulpit, drug ridden and
out of the trash cans into the church building, visions, dreams,
voices, stories, tearjerkers. I mean, I heard some awe-inspiring
testimonies, as they call it. What was missing? The gospel. That's right. The gospel was
missing. In fact, we didn't even know
the gospel back then. We had a false, see this, our
calling is not just religious experience. Look over at 2 Thessalonians
chapter two. If I can find it here. 2 Thessalonians chapter two. And
look at verse 13. Paul writes, but we are bound
to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, the Spirit setting
us apart, and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."
That's our calling. Not under a false gospel. I love
what Brother Jim preached Sunday night about the good tree and
the evil tree. This calling, you're not separated
out from the world by any sort of calling under a false gospel.
It takes the power of God unto salvation. That's what the gospel
is. In the hands and the works of the Holy Spirit to bring a
sinner, a lost sinner, to know Christ and Him crucified and
risen from the dead. So our calling is separate. Here's
the third thing. Our standard of judgment. When
we hear the gospel and the power of the Spirit, and we're called
out of the world in faith and repentance, our view of things
change. Let me show you that. Look at
Galatians chapter 6. And I could give you more scriptures
on this. You all know that. But look at
Galatians chapter 6. And look at verse 14. Paul writes, but God forbid that
I should glory, that I should boast, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. This man's heard the gospel,
hasn't he? I have one boast, Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. His blood, His righteousness.
And he says, By whom the world is crucified unto me, I now look
at the world as being cursed of God. If you don't have Christ,
if you're not washed in His blood, if you're not clothed in His
righteousness, what are you? You're cursed. And I unto the world, the world
looks at me as being cursed. And he says in verse 15, For
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but a new creation. How do you know the new creation,
the new creature? By the gospel. What gospel do
you believe? Somebody said, well, we can't
know everybody who's saved and everybody, no, but we can hear
what they say. And the Bible says out of the heart, out of
the mouth come the issues of the heart. Could somebody be
fooling us? Yes, but they can't fool God. But look at verse 16, he says,
and as many as walk according to this rule. Now what's the
rule? God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of Jesus Christ. Peace be on them. Mercy and upon
the Israel of God, spiritual Israel. This standard of the gospel is
everything to us. Why do you come to church at
13th Street Baptist Church and not down the street at the Free
Will Baptist Church? You know why? Because you've
made a judgment, haven't you? And the standard of your judgment
is the gospel, because your pastor here preaches the true gospel
and not a false gospel. I always put that in there because
I want to make people understand. You know, some people, when you
talk about a new standard of judgment, they say, oh, we don't
judge. Yes, you do. You lie. We judge everything. And we do. But the problem is,
is without the gospel, without the spirit of God, without the
revelation of God in Christ, our judgment is flawed, deadly. How many times have you heard
people say they go into a religious gathering and they come out and
they've had a big emotional experience and say, I just know the Spirit
of God was there. They've made a judgment. Well,
I can tell you this, if the gospel wasn't preached from the pulpit,
the Spirit of God was not there. I don't care how emotional, how
many tears were cried, how many laughed, how many sang, how many
hopped over the pew, whatever. If the gospel is not preached,
it's conformity with the world. That brings me to the fourth
point. Our worship separates us. Christ told the woman at
the well that God desires those who worship Him in spirit and
in truth. Look at Philippians chapter 3
with me. Our worship separates us. Philippians 3 and verse 3. He says, we are the circumcision.
Now he's talking about the new birth there. Spiritual circumcision
of the heart. Which worship God in the spirit. That's from the new heart. As
guided by the spirit of God. How do you know? We rejoice or
glory, same word as in Galatians 6.14, in Christ Jesus. That's
what separates us from the world in our worship. We're here to
worship Christ. We're here to brag on Christ.
We're here to talk about His person, His work, His glory,
His power, His success. We're not here to build up men
and women and brag on you. We want to hear Christ preached.
Isn't that right? Isn't that what you want to hear?
To hear Christ preached. So we rejoice in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh. That's our worship right
there. That separates us from the world. Here's the fifth thing.
Our fellowship. Turn to 2 John verse 9. 2 John. Our fellowship separates us from
the world. Be ye not conformed to the world,
he said. Well, what is our fellowship
founded upon? The grace of God and the truth
of the gospel of God's grace in Christ. Look at 2 John 9. Whosoever transgresses and abides
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. And that's the
doctrine of His person. That's the doctrine of His redemptive
work. What did He accomplish? Who is
He? What did he do? Why did he do it? Where is he
now? All the glorious truths of the person and work of Christ
is preached from this pulpit every time your pastor stands
here to preach. And every time I preach in Albany
or anywhere else where we preach. And if we abide not in that doctrine,
if we change it, go away from it, or go too far, you have not
God. That's serious business, isn't
it? He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father
and the Son. Remember how John said in 1 John
1, our fellowship is with the Father and the Son? That's why
our fellowship is with one another in the gospel. Verse 10, if there
come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, this teaching,
this gospel, receive him not into your house, neither bid
him God speak. That's talking about your house of worship. In other words, he's not your
brother, she's not your sister in Christ. For he that biddeth
him Godspeed is a partaker, a fellowshipper, a participant of his evil deeds. Our fellowship with one another
is in the truth of the gospel. You see how it all applies to
the gospel. And then, lastly, and this is something we can't
see, but I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 5. And I could
go all over the scriptures with this. I can give you a bunch
of them. Matthew chapter 5. Our motive and our works separate
us from the world. Our motive and our works, but
you can't see those outwardly. You do a good work, what we might
say a good work, I don't know your motive except as I know
the gospel you believe. And even then we have a struggle
within, don't we? The flesh and the spirit. Don't
we pray, oh Lord, let my motives be pure. But listen to what he said in
Matthew chapter 5 and verse 16. For example, let your light so
shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven. Now I used to hear that verse
preached. And people would use it in this way. They'd say, well,
I'd rather see a sermon than hear one. Or you're the only
Bible that some people read. And I'm going to tell you something.
If I'm the only Bible that some people read, they've got a pitiful
Bible. And there's no salvation there.
The light there is not the good works. The light there is Christ. He's
the light. It's the gospel light. And whenever
we do anything that's good, what does the Bible tell us about
that? It's God working in us to do His will and His pleasure,
Philippians 2.13. Ephesians 2.10, For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. And how
do we know that that's our motive? Our motive of grace and gratitude
and love and not law? It's by the light that shines
on the glory of Christ and shows that our goal is not to draw
attention to ourselves, not to glorify ourselves, but to glorify
our Father which is in heaven. That's what it's all about. It's not about Trying to, as that song says, this little
light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. It's not trying to
draw attention to me and show you how much of a good person
that I am or anything like that. And one thing I know that a true
believer wants people to understand. If you ever see me do anything
good, as what we would call good, charitable, whatever, The first,
one of the first things I want you to know, look, my works do
not save me. That is not my righteousness
before God. Christ is. God is glorified in
the glorious person and finished work of his son by which a sinner
like me is saved. And that, listen, I want you
to know this. Let's let the light shine. If
God were to ever judge any of us, based upon our best works
and efforts, we would all be damned. Do you believe that? What is our plea? It's not, Lord,
haven't we preached in your name, done many wonderful, no, Christ
died for me. Christ is my righteousness, and
I have no other. He's my only plea. Be merciful to me, a sinner. That separates a believer from
the world in every way. Okay.