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This is our last day together of looking at 2 Corinthians chapter 6, day 5.
We're going to look at verses 16 to 18 today, and as we look at these verses,
we're going to look at the opposite side of what we looked at yesterday.
Yesterday we talked about the danger of being unequally yoked.

Today we talk about the blessing of walking with God. At the beginning of
yesterday we talked about the fact that impurity leads to an erosion of purpose,
but the opposite is true. Purity leads to an explosion of purpose in your life.

Listen to what Paul has to say in the last half of verse 16 to verse 18. "For we
are the temple of the living God. As God has said, 'I will live with them and
walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people.

Therefore come out from them and be separate,' says the Lord, 'touch no unclean
thing and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons
and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty. " These are powerful truths about the
blessings of walking with God.

Before we look at the blessings of walking with God here, I want to focus on
three words in verse 16. The words, "God has said. God has said, 'I will live
with them and walk among them and be their God.

'" God has said. We don't talk about this probably enough in drive time
devotions. As you look through the scriptures, everything that we're looking at,
everything that we're reading is inspired by God's Spirit.

It's not just Paul saying this. God has said it in the Old Testament when he
spoke it out loud, but also God has said it through Paul when he spoke it into
his heart and Paul wrote it down. One of the interesting things about scripture
is that the Bible uses the terms "God says" and "the Bible says" synonymously.

When God says it, it's said in the Bible. When the Bible says it, it's something
that is said by God. For instance, you have, "The scripture says to Pharaoh," in
one place in the Bible, "I raised you up for this purpose.

" Well, the scripture doesn't say it. God says it, but the Bible sees them as
synonymous, the Bible and scripture and God, because it's God's voice. It's
God's word to us.

Why is this important? Sometimes when I want to disagree with the Bible, I see
the Bible somehow as separate from God. I don't like what the Bible says, and I
think in my mind, you might say it this way, I don't like the Bible's position
on, and you fill in the blank.

I don't like the Bible's position on the issue of sexual sin. I don't like the
Bible's position on the issue of my own sinfulness. I don't like the Bible's
position on the issue of family.

You fill in the blank. The truth is, when you do that, you're minimizing God's
word. I should always say it like this.

If I'm honest with myself, what I'm saying is I don't like God's position on the
issue of sexual sin. I don't like what God says. Let's just be honest.

That's what we're saying. And when I'm honest like that, then I can honestly
deal with it, and God and I can talk about it. God, I don't like this, and I can
hear from him.

Don't minimize God's word by acting like it's something different from God's
word. Having said that, let's get back to the subject for today. Purity leads to
an explosion of purpose.

And here in these verses, Paul talks about the fact that one thing purity means
is separation from the world. Come out from them and be separate. If you're
going to understand purity, you have to understand what that word means.

The early Christians certainly understood what this meant. To come out from the
world and be separate meant you might have to give up your trade, your work.
Maybe you were a stonemason and your major job was making idols.

Maybe you'd have to give that job up just because you became a believer. Or
maybe you were a soldier and you were required as part of your job to bow at
Caesar's shrine and worship him as Lord. You would lose your job.

You might even lose your life in that case in certain situations. They also knew
that to come out and be separate meant many times to give up a social life that
you'd had before. Much of the social life of that world that day revolved around
the Greek and Roman temples.

There was a lot of sinfulness in what was happening there, but there was also a
lot of idolatry in what was happening there. Idolatry led to the sinfulness and
the sinfulness led to the idolatry. So you had to no longer go to places that
you'd gone with your friends.

You gave up a part of your social life. You came out and you were separate. It
didn't mean you didn't want to be with those same friends and share Christ with
them.

There were just certain situations you couldn't be in anymore because now you're
a believer. For many in that day, it meant giving up their family ties. They
came from a Jewish background and they came to Christ and their family said, "We
reject you because of that.

" The early Christians knew what this meant. Unfortunately, today we too often
miss the point. I like what Warren Wiersbe says about this.

He says, "Some sincerely zealous Christians have turned separation into
isolation until their fellowship has become so narrow that they cannot even get
along with themselves. Sometimes we react and we want to tear down all of the
walls. I can love and accept everyone, but I cannot fellowship with everyone.

" He talks about separation here. You need to realize that separation is not
just a negative act of departure from something. It's also a positive act of
dedication to something because you're dedicated to something new.

You're going in a different direction of life and that's what creates the
separation. You're in a different kind of life. That's not always easy.

The world around us wants to pull us in. The world around us wants to make us
feel like we're somehow being judgmental just because we're living the life that
Christ has given us. You're not being judgmental for living the life that Jesus
gave you, but it makes people feel that way because they're under conviction.

They see your life and they realize, "I could have that life too, but I don't
want it. I want to keep it going on in my sin. " So they feel judged when the
truth of the matter is you're just living the life Jesus gave you.

In a world where sometimes it's hard to come out and be separate, where it's
just easier to go along to get along with the world, there are three motivations
for separation in these verses. Motivation number one, you're a temple of the
living God. It's the motivation of who you are.

God's Spirit lives in your life. So this isn't just a matter of you walking
through life as someone who knows about Jesus, who knows about God's Spirit. You
are the temple of God walking through this world.

That's a motivation to live in a different way. A second motivation to live in a
different way. God lives with us and he walks with us.

God's Spirit is in you. You're a temple of God's Spirit, but also God is living
with you and he's walking through the day with you. If you ever have a sense of,
"Okay, I'm going to, you know, maybe just sort of put my Christianity on hold
here for a few minutes, and God, could you like, could you go over there in a
corner for a few minutes?

Just sort of hang out over there, like, yeah, yeah, right behind, maybe in that
alleyway back there. I'm going to go in here and I'll be back in like an hour. "
You can't cause that to happen.

Once you come to know Christ, everywhere you go, God is walking with you. That's
a motivation to be separate. Some people would see that as a negative
motivation, afraid of the fact that God is with you, but God walks with you.

God's a part of your life every day of your life. That motivates me to live in a
different kind of way. I'm never alone.

I'm never without the strength that he can give me. He walks with me. And then a
third motivation in these verses is God is a father to you.

The relationship that you have with him, it's like a relationship you have with
nobody else. And I know the world can promise you certain things, certain
satisfaction, certain joy, certain excitement. I know that friends can promise
you certain things, but the only one who truly comes through eternally is God
our Father.

The only one who's going to love you through every circumstance all the way into
eternity is God your Father. He is a father to you. So in those circumstances of
life where you're tempted to live like the world, you sense the arms of your
father around you.

You sense the comfort. And sometimes comfort is the answer and strength of God
in your life. You see what's happening here.

God invites you. The Lord invites you to a new purity through his grace, through
the fact of what he's made of you. You're a temple.

The fact of who he is for you. You walk with him. He is your father.

As we think about this, how about your life right now? Come out and be separate.
We all struggle with sin.

We're going to struggle with it the rest of our lives. We need to grow through
it, change through it. What practical, what specific area of life for you right
now do you need to bring to him and say, "God, help me to live more separate
from the world rather than like the world in this area of life.

" Maybe it has to do with your thought life. Maybe it has to do with your words.
Maybe it has to do with your relationships.

Maybe it has to do with your entertainments. Maybe it has to do with your
successes in business. I want to live more like you, Jesus, in that area,
separate in that area.

Jesus, thank you for giving yourself for us. And thank you for giving yourself
to us throughout this life. Help me, help us today to live in a new way because
of who you are.

Lord, we know one day when we see you in heaven, we're going to be perfect.
That's not going to happen until then. But we know in the meantime, you are
perfecting us.

You're growing us. Why do you want to grow us today? How could you change us
today, Jesus?

What area of life do you want us to be living more as separate people, loved by
you wholly rather than people who are immersed in the sin of this world? Lord,
help us to see that because we're a temple, because you walk with us, because
you're our Father, you can change us in that area. Help us to put our faith in
you today rather than in this world.

We ask this in your name, Jesus. Amen. Next week we're in chapter 7, and I think
of all the things we have to survive as servants.

Paul talks about one of the toughest in this chapter. He talks about how do you
survive difficult and hurtful relationships.