Separation

Let's turn please to the book of Numbers together. The book of Numbers chapter 25. We'll be Numbers 25.

We'll begin reading at verse number 1. Numbers 25 verse 1, And Israel abode in Shittim. And the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people onto the sacrifices of their gods.

And the people did eat and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself onto Baal Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye everyone his men that were joined onto Baal Peor. And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

And when Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand. And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.

Now to the New Testament, 2nd Corinthians, please. 2nd Corinthians, chapter 6. 2nd Corinthians 6 and verse number 11. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.

Ye are not straightened in us, but ye are straightened in your own bowels. Now for a recompense in the same I speak as unto my children. Be ye also enlarged.

Be ye 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 within infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with 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.

Wherefore, come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Now, I am motivated to speak on this, because yesterday I feel that the themes that I was touching, I really was, I spent an inadequate amount of time, and I didn't do a very good job of giving you the teaching from the New Testament about separation, and the value of separation in the life of a believer.

Now, what I intend to do today is not expound for you anything from the New Testament, although that is very valuable, and there may be brethren who will get up and do that, but I intend to take the New Testament teaching that we find in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6, and illustrate it from the events that took place in Shittim, where Israel was joined onto Baal Peor. I intend to take a little bit of time so that we become very familiar with the principles that we are given in this passage. I think it's invaluable, young brethren and young sisters, that we all spend time reading the Old Testament of our Bible.

I believe we learn many things from the Old Testament, and New Testament truth is strengthened and illustrated as we find it in the Old Testament. Now, there are some things that I'm going to go over that I've spoken on before, so that you really get the picture of why it is important to read your Old Testament. There are three different scriptures in the New Testament which point us back.

If you go to 1st Corinthians chapter 10, you will find that the things that were written about the children of Israel in the Old Testament are written so that they would be examples for us, that we shouldn't lust after things as they lusted, but that they would be examples for us for our admonition. So, the reading of the Old Testament, and in the context, the children of Israel and their journey, is really for our instruction. It is to correct us and instruct us in this day in which we live.

If you were to go to Romans chapter 13, you will find another purpose for the reading of the Old Testament scriptures, because it says there that the things which were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, may have hope. So, not only is the reading of the Old Testament for our instruction, but it is to give us comfort, and it is to give us hope as we read through and we find what God has for us. The third one is really the sweetest one to me, and here it is.

If you get this early in your Christian experience, you will enjoy the Bible so much more. The Lord Jesus, when he was on the road to Emmaus with those two, those two who were sad, those two who were discouraged, those two who were fearful, he began at Moses and the prophets and all the scriptures, he expounds onto them the things concerning himself. Now, I want you to see that, because I believe that is the highest plane of Bible study, that we find the person of Christ in all the scriptures, that we begin in Genesis, and just in our private reading, we can read and we can see pictures of Christ, we can see prophecies about Christ, we can see promises of the coming Christ, and we can find him in all the scriptures.

Now, that should lay a foundation for you to look in the Old Testament and do it. But what we read today is really a serious situation where these people are going to be an example to us of something that we should not do. These people are going to be an example for us, or an example to give us instruction in things that we should avoid, because God had expected of his people from the beginning that they would be a people that were separate from the nations around them, a people that were separate even when they were in Egypt, they were to be distinct from the people of Egypt.

Now, if you were here yesterday, we did prove from the scriptures that Egypt was a picture of the world, perhaps the world in its pleasure, the world in its politics, but definitely a picture of the world system, and God expects that his people would be separated and distinct from that system. Now, I want you to think with me, I'm going to challenge your mind just for a couple of seconds. You'll remember when Joseph first brought his brethren and his father down into the land of Israel, you'll remember there was a specific place in Israel that they took up residence.

It was the land of Goshen, but do you remember the reason that was given for them having the land of Goshen? The reason I can think of, and at least one reason, is that shepherds were abomination to the Egyptians, so the fact that these men were shepherds made the Egyptians want them away, right? And to me, it's very simple. Their value system was different. Because their value system was different, they were going to dwell separate from all of the people of Egypt, and I think that is lesson number one in the separation of those Old Testament people that we can learn today.

Brethren and sisters, there are conservative people who live in your community who are not believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, but just because we agree on some moral issues does not mean that we share the same value system. Let's be careful. The people who value sport and drive after it, and that's their life, that's not our value system, I hope.

The people who value politics and it consumes them, they go in for it and they become a part of it, that's not our value system, brethren and sisters. It's not. The people who gratify self at every turn, who look for ways to please themselves all the time, they do not share our value system.

And we pointed out that the reason they don't share our value system is because they don't share our Savior. Now we stop. I'm taking my time here because I want to be absolutely clear, and I don't want to be heard.

Sometimes I say hard things while I'm smiling. That doesn't make them any less hard. They don't share our value system.

We are not to be associated with them, but I hope you know that we are supposed to reach out to them. Don't let this teaching from the Scripture stop you from making relationships with people in the world. Don't allow this teaching to stop you from seeking the welfare of your neighbors and reaching out and helping him when he needs help.

And please don't let this being an excuse for you to not be looking for opportunity to bring them the gospel. But we are not sharing the same value system and we should not become a part of what they value. But there are other instances in their experience where they were separate, right? I want you to think of the separation that was marked by God's protection.

When the plagues came down on the people of Israel in the land of Egypt, the first three plagues were kind of indiscriminate. There was no difference between Israel and between Egypt in the first three plagues. But there was a certain point in the giving of the plagues of judgment on the nation of Israel that there is a distinction.

I think it begins with the plague of the flies where there will be a distinction. God says, I will sever in that day the land of Goshen from the rest of the land of Egypt. That word is a special word and I want you to remember it, please.

It's a word that doesn't only mean that he would make a distinction, but he would. But it carries with it the idea of treating differently. It actually means to treat excellently.

And while God was about to bring the judgment down upon Egypt, he was going to treat his people differently. He was going to protect them through this plague. And you see it in some of the different plagues as well where there is a distinction between Israel and Egypt.

So the first distinction is by his protection. The next one I want you to notice during the plagues is there was a distinction based on light. Because when the plague of darkness came on the land of Egypt, I just realized I say Egypt and Israel a lot during this, but we get it.

When the plague of darkness came down upon the land, that was really an attack on one of the gods that Egypt worshipped, the sun god. And it was something that disturbed everyone in the land of Egypt. And it was something that should have caused fear in their hearts.

And it did. But you remember there was light in the dwellings of every one of the houses in Goshen. Every one of the houses connected with Israel, there was light.

So not only was there a distinction because of his protection, but there was a distinction based on light. And now we can apply that to our own situation. Because we should be people that are marked by light.

Our brother gave out that hymn, Light of the World. The Lord Jesus said, while I am in the world, I am the light of the world. But he also said that we are lights.

We are to shine as lights in the world. So it is our responsibility to be living in such a way so that we are shining the light of Christ in our community. But also we remember that the Word of God is spoken of as a light.

And I think we would do well to very practically consider that not only should our lives be right in the eyes of the community, but our homes should be marked by the teaching and practice of the Word of God. That is a distinction in their experience and that should mark a distinction between my home and the home of the ungodly. Now I hope you're with me.

Some of you are falling asleep. Don't do that. I'm not trying to be hard.

I'm smiling here. Do you read the Word of God? That sounds elementary, but I am afraid, brethren and sisters, that some of us are missing it. I know you're busy and I know preachers do nothing.

I don't have anything to do until 10 to 7 at night. I come to meeting, I smile, I give out a hymn, I speak for 20 minutes, and then I have nothing to do till the next night so I can read the Bible all day, right? We all need to make time to read the Scriptures. Our children need to know the Scriptures.

I'll tell you, different people have different schedules and different times of day when it's convenient. For us, in our home, it was always in the evening before we would go to bed. That's when we would get together, we would read the Scriptures, and we would pray.

But I encourage you, that is what should mark a difference between the Lord's people and the world. So you see some little things that mark the difference. I think the one that thrills me the most is the redemption, because in chapter 8 and verse number 23, there's a word there that is used for a difference, but it's the same word that's used for redemption.

So combine that with chapter 11 and chapter 12, and we will find that the difference for these people was actually in the redemption. A redeemed people by nature, that's not a good word, but a redeemed people essentially are going to be different than those who are not redeemed. So we have the protection, we have the light, we have the redemption, but another one that's very sweet to me is that they were different or separated because of his presence.

Now you're going to come with me and you're going to go past the Red Sea. We're going to go into the wilderness and we're going to come to a point where Moses now is communing with God. And in Exodus chapter 33, God says, I will go with you, my presence will go with you.

And Moses said, since thou, or if thou goest with us, shall that not be the reason that we will be as separated people. Now get a hold of this young person, an older person, the presence of God with them made a separation between them and the nations around them. And we, we heard yesterday from the word of God, and I believe that it's absolutely true from that scripture that was quoted, Matthew 18 and 20.

I believe we could prove from Matthew and his context. I believe we can prove it from Matthew and his discourses. I believe you can prove it from the tenses in the words in Matthew 18 and 20, that where two or three are gathered together onto my name, there am I in the midst of them and in a local assembly, the presence of God is.

You almost thought I was going to say is felt, but whether you feel it or not, it is. The Lord Jesus and his presence, his very presence should mark a distinction. So you see, we have established now, based on the character of God and the expectations of God, that his people were to be a separated people.

That separation was not only going to maintain their nearness to God, but that nearness to God achieved by separation was going to be their power moving forward. And if there's anything we want, I hope we as the people of God want power. If you just want formality and you just want something that is religious and ritualistic, that's not the purpose for which God saved you.

God saved you so that you can have communion with him and the separation onto him, you might find power to live a Christian life effectively. So that's where we come to now in chapter 25 of Numbers. We have come as a people who knew this and we have a man who comes to pronounce a curse on them.

I hope you're familiar with some of the things about Balaam. Balaam had come as a result of the calling of Balak to curse the people of God. But there are some things that he said when he came and he looked at the nation of Israel that are really telling about their separation.

They say you've been on this for 12 minutes, maybe longer. I'm going to spend a little more time on it because I think a thorough consideration of this topic is necessary if these young brethren and sisters are going to be in assembly fellowship next year. And he comes and he looks and you'll remember Numbers 23.

He says, from the top of the rocks I see him and from the hills I behold him. Lo, the people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations. We understand, of course, that God was actually speaking through Balaam and he said the people shall dwell alone.

They were a unique people. They were a redeemed people and they were to remain a unique people, separated from the nations. That's what Balaam said.

The next thing that's interesting is that he says Jehovah or the Lord God is with them. That's also in Numbers chapter 23. So it's not only that there are unique people, but their closeness to God was the key to their effectiveness.

Their nearness to Jehovah was the key to their power and Balaam knew this just by looking and seeing what was going on. Then he says about the Lord, I believe it's about the Lord. I could go through that verse.

It's verse number 22, but it says he hath, as it were, the strength of a unicorn. It's the idea that God is close to them, God is with them, and God is for them the strength as of the horns of a wild ox. The idea is that the horns speak of strength.

So their strength and their power come from God when they are close and near to God. And then Balaam says there is something that has happened with this nation, but it is what God has wrought. So you're getting the theme here.

It is all connected with their relationship and their separation onto God. But here it is, the one that I find the most interesting. It's chapter 24, begins in verse 2. When he looks and he sees Israel abiding in his tents.

Now I smiled a little bit when I enjoyed it. He looks from the top of the mountain and you know what he saw? He saw Israel was divided up. Their companies were encamped in exactly the way that the Lord had commanded them to.

God's order was being followed in the camp. And when God's order was being followed and God's pattern was being observed, this man Balaam looks down and for seven verses from the word of God, he takes up the topic of the future of these people. It involves power, it involves effectiveness, it involves victory, it involves triumph because he looks and he sees a people who are carrying on with God's order are a people who can be used by God.

Now I hope there's no brother here or sister who thinks that this is proud talk. It's not. But it is the simplest of concepts.

A simple, humble people, not a great nation number wise, not great because of themselves, but because God has removed them from Egypt. God has redeemed them and they are simply willing to follow God's order. God can use them.

Now, I'm looking at people who have been redeemed. Redeemed by the blood, redeemed by the power of God. I'm looking at people and the fact is on our own, we could have church.

If we decided to do some organizing, we could have a church organization with many different good things. I was at the sing song last night. There were some good singers there.

We could have a church band and a church choir and we could go around from town to town doing performances for everybody. That would be marvelous, wouldn't it? Keep singing. We could get together on our own and organize church services.

But only when the pattern that God has given us is followed. Only when we are willing to submit to God's direction and God's ways do we have actual power in our gatherings. I find that to be marvelous.

Here he is, a man who now has looked upon them. And he's trying to come up with a way to take these separated people and defeat them. He's trying to come up with a way, either be it militarily or spiritually, to make them less effective.

So that the nations around won't be afraid of them. So that the nations around won't have to fear their power and effectiveness. And he comes up with a way.

According to Revelation chapter 2, and I believe it's Numbers chapter 31, you will find that Balaam, he gave instruction. He instructed Balak. He said, you can almost picture them getting together in a tent, right? And talking.

Now listen, I know I haven't been able to get your money by cursing the people. That's not gonna work. But how about this? All you gotta do is get the women of Moab and the daughters of Midian and go out and see if you can entice the men of Israel.

To marry. Balak might say, what's that gonna do for it? You just wait. You just wait.

If you can get them to marry your daughters, it won't be long until you can get them to worship your gods. So Balak says, let's try it. Let's try it.

So they did it. And that's where we pick up chapter 25 and verse 1. Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. It began with relationships.

The relationship would have been natural, right? It would have been sensual. They would have seen the daughters of Midian and the daughters of Moab. Can you remember to bookmark this place so that if I forget, we'll start again? It was sensual and it was natural.

But consider the character of Moab. Moab was born to Lot and to his eldest daughter. Lot was a compromising believer.

And Moab was born by deception. So immediately you see in the daughters of Moab, there's going to be compromise and deceit. Midian was the son of Keturah, Abraham's concubine, it is said in the scriptures.

Midian, his very name, means strife. So what's going to happen when they bring these people into the camp is that they're going to be allowing compromise to come in, deception to come in, and strife to come in. And they're going to play around with this because it seems right in their own eyes.

And they're going to be allowing something into the camp that is going to ruin their separation and take away their power. But it seemed right. And maybe there's a young man today and you're looking out at a girl in your school.

And she's nice. There are a lot of nice people. And she's pretty.

I said yesterday, there's a lot of pretty people here. I also said, I'm going to look at the ceiling when I say this. I said, we're not all pretty, but there's a lot of pretty people here.

But she's nice, and she's pretty, and she's attractive, and she shares some of the same interests that you share. You both like fishing. You both like hunting.

She'll like that until you get married, I'm sure, and then she'll. But there's something that's attractive there. And you know, the world says that that's what it's about.

You got to find someone and there's a spark, right? And then you start to think, well, she might even be a believer. And I think I'm going to pursue this relationship. You go after her.

And you know what you'll find? I'm going to tell you something that sounds a little bit strange, but it's true. You often get what you go after. And you form a relationship and you become married.

And she has no time for the Lord. Or maybe she is a believer on the Lord Jesus, but she has no time for what you believe and you don't share the same values. And then you have children and now you've got to decide.

And this is hard stuff, brethren. I understand it. It's not easy.

It's not easy to stand up here and to look at a group this size and say these things. But I hope that I am being faithful in accordance with what we heard yesterday. But you're going to have children and then you're going to have to decide.

Do I want my children to know the truth? Or do I want to compromise here and allow my children to go and hear error? And the moment you compromise in your life partner, you're heading down a road of compromise when it comes to your convictions from the scriptures. And if I've seen anything in my short time as a believer, I've seen this ruin young people. And I say it because I don't want you to be ruined.

They should never have done that. They would have been preserved for what's going to happen next. And we find that not only did they go after the daughters, but they called the people to the sacrifices of their God.

So just come to our service. I'm not asking you to join. I'm just asking you to come to our service, the sacrifices to our gods.

But it's not long. In fact, it's the very next sentence where it says, and Israel joined himself to Baal Peor. There's your connection to the unequal yoke of 2 Corinthians 6, because the word for joined himself is really the word for harnessed himself.

He becomes hitched, as in a yoke together for the purpose of pulling. He is now connected with Baal Peor, and the unequal yoke has come to its logical end. He's no longer worshiping Jehovah God.

He is now worshiping Baal. And it is a tragic thing in the lives of these men. 24,000 or 23,000, it's hard for me to decide which one is right.

But there is a number there where people have been lost because of this event. And now a man comes. Now I want you to understand what's really happening here when this man comes in verse number six.

Look at it with me, please. The old one of the children of Israel came and brought on to his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. This is not just that they were going in the tent.

This could have the idea, the word could mean that inside that tent, there was a special area that was set aside for the worship of her God. So it has a religious connotation. It is something that is very serious in the eyes of God when this young man decides that right in the very midst of the Lord's people that had been marked by separation and had been marked by God's order, there is now going to be idolatry brought right into the camp and right into the tent there was going to be the worship of Baal.

And it was in the sight of Moses and it was in the sight of all of the congregation. And part of the reason why I talked about Moses yesterday is because it sets this up. Moses was now responsible to deal with this issue in the camp.

Moses was going to have to stand for what he believes in. Moses was going to have to execute discipline, but Moses would have had no moral authority to do so if Moses had not first been a separated man unto his God. And now just for a second, I would like to encourage the overseers who are here among us, this is not a rebuke, it is an encouragement.

You have a tremendous responsibility to preserve the flock or to seek to preserve the sheep. You have the responsibility, I'm convinced, from the New Testament to ensure that God's word is carried out in the local church. That is a primary responsibility of overseership, that God's word gets carried out at the level for which you are responsible.

And sometimes there are going to be things that happen that you're going to have to deal with. There are types of discipline in the New Testament that are very serious, but they are necessary. There is the public rebuke for certain types of behavior.

And while we don't hear much about the public rebuke, brethren, it's in the Bible, and it needs to be considered and observed. And there's a discipline that is connected with 1 Corinthians chapter 5. For the moral issues inside the assembly, we need brethren who are not only knowledgeable in the scriptures, but are willing to stand. And be responsible for carrying out the necessary discipline.

I went first today because I'm hoping there are people who have happier messages for you. But brethren, the only thing I'm concerned about today is that the assembly is preserved. It's important.

We see that Phinehas, he took the javelin, he was a faithful man. And in being faithful, he was able to save the rest from the error. He was able to preserve the rest of that gathering, of that camp, from the error that had infiltrated.

And you know, that's our prayer, brethren, isn't it? I have a few more points, but I want to end on this one. We pray for the overseers in the assembly. I hope you do too.

I hope, young brother, you don't think that you know more than the overseers in your assembly. I've seen brethren on that road too, and they're not in the assembly anymore. It's your responsibility to bow to their leadership and submit to what they choose to do.

Pray for the overseers. Pray that they will have wisdom. Pray that they will be encouraged.

But pray that in times like these, that these same brethren will be given strength. They'll be given courage to stand to ensure that the separation of God's people is maintained.