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THE CALL TO COME OUT
Humans dislike being different from
their peers. Whatever group we identify with we tend to be in most every way
like them. We want to be accepted by them. But God calls upon His people to
come out. Second Corinthians 6:17-18 says:
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye
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.” The
“them” are those who do not serve God.
This passage is clear: the relationship of
God as a Father to His “sons and daughters” - His receiving of them – hinges
upon their coming out. Notice that in the Bible God either receives
individuals or He does not. Today people emphasize trying to get spiritually
dead sinners to “receive Christ” as if they have the ability to do so. Those
who received (welcomed) Christ when He was here on earth did so because
something had previously happened to them. John 1:12-13 explains it:
“But as many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God.” If men and women were
made willing and able to receive (welcome) Christ by the new birth when He
was present bodily upon the earth, how much more now that a relationship
with Him is a purely spiritual matter? Clearly the new birth is not brought
about by anything the creature does. His will is not the cause. It is God
who wills to birth sinners into His family.
Paul wrote to a congregation these words:
“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always
obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh
in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure,”
(Philippians 2:12-13). Some folk latch onto the first part of this passage
and do not realize that the only way a person's inner spiritual experience
bears outward fruit is because the Holy Spirit is working within the child
of God causing him to “will and to do” what God tells us to do.
And we are told to “come out from among
them and be ye separate.” We are not even to “touch” the unclean thing: that
which is sinful in God's eyes. After all, God is,
“...of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity...”
(Habakkuk 1:13). How can we then think that God will have anything to do
with those who do not “come out, but continue to walk in harmony with the
world? Jesus said: “My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me,”
(John 10:27). Are you following the Good Shepherd? |