Hindrances to Holiness — Shane Idleman

The Practical Meaning of Holiness

I want to talk to you tonight about probably one of the most difficult topics among Christians. And I don't say that flippantly. It's one of those topics where when you talk about holiness, the holiness of God, they say preach it.

But when you show what it looks like in application, they label you a Pharisee or legalistic or narrow-minded or a fundamentalist. Because it's okay to talk about holiness, but when we get to the practicality of it, you will be labeled.

I will be labeled. But let me remind everyone in this room that the power of the Spirit-filled life doesn't lie necessarily in our words. It lies in our actions. It lies in the condition of the heart.

And that's why Isaac Watts, the famous hymn writer from centuries ago, said true Christianity, where it reigns in the heart, will make itself appear in the purity of life. Let me say that again because it's profound.

True Christianity. I'm talking about genuine Christianity, not somebody who clicks Christian on Facebook. I'm talking about genuine Christianity. Holiness is a by-product of a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.

Holiness and Separation From the World

Holiness. The holiness of God. Talking about who He is, what He stands for. As we talked about last week, I'm gonna make some points that I made last week because I've gotta set the stage. There's some new faces out there, number one.

Number two is we need to hear it again in many cases. Because as our culture is submerging itself into a cesspool of perversion, they are taking the church with them. I can't even look at the news anymore with all the perversion that's out there, the debauchery, if I may use that old term.

One of the fastest growing businesses in our nation is clinics for those who are sexually addicted. The Christian community is putting these programs that I said last week were a stench in the nostrils of righteous, holy, pure God.

The Christian community is putting these at the top, the number one ratings, box office hits, best shows, all these different things. The Christian community. And I think it is a time for us to come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord.

And what I said last week still pertains this week, that the lukewarm condition of the church hates conviction. They will not like this type of message. They probably won't come again. Because what it does is it challenges the idols of the heart.

When we love the things of the world, and we begin to follow those things, the Bible refers to that as idolatry. And the nation of Israel set apart for God would often be led astray by what? The pull of the world.

It's not that God let them down. It's not that his word was untrue, but that strong pull of the world. And that will be your constant battle here in this life. Because as Elisha said, calling the people back as they begin to worship Baal and the prophets of Baal, he said, people, how long will you waver?

How long will you falter between two opinions? If God is God, follow him. See, there's no mediocre Christianity. There's no lukewarm Christianity. There's no Saturday or Sunday only Christianity. It is a fully surrendered life or no life at all.

Now I need a big fat disclaimer in there because I'm not talking about perfection. We're not gonna be perfect and do everything right, but there should be a heart broken. And looking at the condition of our family, looking at the condition of what's going on.

And I said last week, we watched Leave It to Beaver for the first time in a long time. And it's almost like you don't even live in the nation anymore. The respect and this. And look how far society has declined in 50 years.

Not 500. 50 years. The perversion now that's filling the internet and it's Christians. Half of men attending a promise keepers convention said were interviewed or they got statistics that half of them were looking at pornography in the bedrooms at a promise keepers convention.

The need to come out from among them and be separate has never been greater. That's why Isaac Watts can say true Christianity where it reigns in the heart will make itself appear in the purity of life.

A genuine conversion. When somebody's genuinely converted, there's a heart after the things of God. And what happens is when we talk about holiness, and I see it all the time at conventions or conferences or talking with people and oh yes, the holiness of God.

Yes, preach it, brother, preach it. But when we talk about obedience to the word of God, that's when you're labeled. See, it's okay to talk about it, but what does holiness look like? See, I don't wanna talk about it.

I wanna see what it looks like. I need practical application. I need to know if my heart's falling wholeheartedly after Christ. And what happens is a lot of times, you know how I like to do the pendulum swing and getting out of balance, and a lot of times we get on this side and we say it's all about us doing this and doing this and not watching this and not watching that and not watching this and doing here.

I can't go there. I gotta do, do, do, do, do, do, do. That's holy, not necessarily. Because you can do a lot of things and you'll be religious, but not holy and set apart for God. Because the Pharisees did a lot of things.

So it's not about doing, doing, doing. Now granted, a broken, surrendered, humbled life seeking heart after God is going to make a lot of choices that resemble certain things. But then we have the other side over here that says, you don't have to do anything, brother.

Just sit at home. Let God's spirit change you. It's that sanctification. It's God's job. He'll change you. And that's true. But you've gotta surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit by obeying the word of God.

I mean, if we could sit here for an hour, and I could probably take more than an hour and go over every scripture dealing with obedience to the word of God. And I've talked to counselors before, marriage, family, therapists, all these different, and ask them, what is the major crisis?

What's going on? One thing, obedience to the word of God. You would eradicate 90 of all counseling appointments if there was obedience to the word of God. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.

You would kill half of them right there. You wouldn't need to call the pastor. You wouldn't need to make a counseling appointment. Your marriage would be transformed. Wives, show your husbands the due respect.

Honor him, too, and cherish him. You'd eradicate some more. See, it's about obeying the word of God, but I don't wanna get caught up on this legalistic, you gotta do this, you gotta do this. You don't have to do anything, but one of the signs, and hopefully I can go into this at some point of a life that's been truly reborn, is a hungering and a thirsting for the things of God.

Blessed is the man who hungers and thirsts for righteousness for he shall be filled. There's gotta be a hunger and a thirst and a desire and a wanting to obey the word of God. If there's no desire to obey God's word, you have to wonder, have I truly been converted?

Because that is a sign. There's no way around that. Genuine conversion comes out in the purity of life, seeking hard after God. Now, I wanna read a few scriptures on this issue of holiness. If you don't think obedience is required, listen to this.

First Corinthians 620, you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. That tells me I have a responsibility to glorify God in my body. I mean, I didn't translate the Greek today and I didn't try to understand the nuances there, but that's pretty clear.

Therefore, glorify God in your body. First John, all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. We purify ourselves, making ourselves holy. Present your bodies, Paul would say in Romans, as slaves to righteousness, which produces sanctification.

See, when you present your bodies as living sacrifices, saying, God, have my life, take it, do what you will with it. When you do that, that leads to righteousness. That leads to holiness. And let me be clear here.

I'm not talking about holiness, about wearing a big gown and a hat, and we see halos in some of these pictures, and aren't they so holy? And he's this, and he's a bishop of this, he's the most reverend of this.

Many of those people are not holy as the way the Bible defines it. Holiness is being set apart for God, come out from among them and be separate. Holiness stands above all the other attributes of God, even more so than God is love.

Holiness stands out more than any other attribute. The angels fell down in the holy presence of God. Leaders, kings, priests, prophets, fell down in the holy presence of God. John had a vision and said, oh, he fell down, and he stood John up and said, get up, because the holy presence of God.

Isaiah said, I saw him high and lifted up, the train of his robe filled the entire temple, and I realized I was unclean, and I was dwelling amidst the people with unclean lips. Lord, sanctify me, Lord, rejuvenate me, Lord, change me.

This holiness of God, there's a holy standard that can't be compromised, it can't be debated, it can't be missed, it can't be, and that's what's happening in the church. The problem isn't that we raise our standard and miss it, it's that we lower it and we hit it.

Let me say that again, we do not raise our standard of holiness and we miss it, we lower it and we hit it. Don't worry, I'll be teaching on the love of God next week. Let me get this out, it's burning.

His word is in my heart like a burning fire, it's shut up in my bones, I am weary of holding it back, and I cannot, this message of holiness. I believe God is calling the church to a place of holiness, not weirdness, holiness.

The Prophetic Call to Repentance

He often called his people, that was the whole role of the prophet, do you realize that? The whole role of the prophet, of course to prophesy, foretell, all these different things, but was to go and call the people back to God.

Jeremiah, God says before I even formed you in the womb, Jeremiah, I called you and I sanctified you to be a prophet among my people. He said, oh, but I am too young. God said, you're not too young, Jeremiah, you will go to who I send you, you will preach what I tell you to preach, you will do what I command you to do, and the Bible records that God touched the mouth of Jeremiah and he said, you will pull down, you will root out, you will destroy the unfruitful works of darkness, Jeremiah, that's your job, to convict the people, because without conviction, there's no turning to God.

He was called to do that, he was created to do that, yet in our modern, comfortable churches today, in our society, we don't need that anymore, we're good, no, we're not good, we need that more now than ever before, and halfway through Jeremiah's ministry, he's pushing forward and God says, listen, Jeremiah, go tell the people that they are listening to prophets who are prophesying of their own vision, of their own heart, don't even listen to them, they're telling the people, peace, peace, when there is no peace, there's no safety, tell the people, don't listen to these guys, because what are they doing?

They're causing the people to walk according to the dictates of their own heart, and God says, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran, I have not prophesied to them, yet they spoke, but had they truly stood in my counsel, had these teachers truly stood in my counsel, they would have turned the entire nation back to God, is not my word like a fire, like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

He told Jeremiah, tell my people, they have perverted the words of the living God by not warning and instructing and encouraging and calling the people back. Did I get the point across? That was the role of that prophetic element in the Old Testament, is to call the people back, and sadly, we read in 2 Chronicles that God said, I sent my messengers, God said, I sent my messengers, rising them up early and sending them, because why, I had compassion on my people, that's why I sent these difficult messages.

See, it's not that God's angry, he's calling a church back to him. It's not anger, it's love, you better check your definition. An angry God would say, you're done, all of you are toast. But he called, he said, I sent messengers to my people, what happened, did they listen?

No, he said, they mocked my messengers, despised at my word, and scoffed at my prophets until the anger of the Lord arose against his own people until there was no remedy. What do you do when God says, you want it, you got it?

See, he calls a church back, he calls us out of the world. Be not in the world, or you're in the world, but be not of the world. Come out from among them, church, and be separate. But the great cry today is, that's legalism, Shane.

No, it's wisdom, that's Bible. Now, if we start to live like the Bible tells us to live, now we're labeled as fanatical, way out there, Jesus freak, extreme. Well, that was Bible 2 ,000 years ago. That's what a disciple of Jesus Christ was.

Holy, set apart for God. Now we're allowing all this junk into our minds, into our homes, there's no difference, there's no distinction. And those of you who weren't here last week, go online, get part one of this message from last week.

I gave an analogy of what that looks like. How can we be in the world? We live in the world, we're here, we work in the world. How are we supposed to come out from among them? Well, 1 John says, love not the world, nor the things in the world.

For he who loves the world does not even have the love of the Father in him. You might say, what is he talking about? That word world there is cosmos. It means the world's mindset, the direction of the world.

A Christian is swimming upstream. You're always on battleground. Life is a battleground, not a playground. Life is a battleground, not a playground. A .W. Tozer said 50 years ago, in every generation, the number of the righteous is small.

Make sure that you're among them. See, there's this remnant that's called out. Church, come out from among them, be separate. And you will not know the Spirit-filled life until holiness becomes a part of your life.

Because when you begin to separate yourself and remove sinfulness and these sinful activities, when you begin to remove those, God's Spirit overflows you. And that's what Pentecostals refer to as the Spirit-filled life.

The life surrendered to God, exchange life. You can call it Spirit-filled, you can call it baptism of Spirit, you can call it unction, you can call it whatever you want, but you better have it. See, I would rather miss the theological term and have the power of the Spirit than miss the power of the Spirit and get the theological term just right and impress PhDs down at Master's College.

I would, I would. I'd rather have the, I don't know what you wanna call it. You gotta have the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. And the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon a broken, humble heart who's holy and set apart for God, period.

God does not negotiate. He doesn't say, try this, consider this. He says, here it is, I lay it out, obey or not. That's it. And young adults especially, oh, that's so hard. No, as I've said many times before, and I'll keep saying it from here on out, God's principles are guardrails through the canyons of life.

They're guardrails. They don't prevent you from having fun. They prevent you from falling off the cliff. If holiness is so needed, desperately needed, what's the problem? The problem is, and I just allude to it, is the love of this world.

The Cost of Worldly Influence

See, I've noticed that people often don't walk away because Christ fails them. They don't walk away because God's word fails them. They walk away because the pull of the world, the world pulls them. Jesus talked about this many times.

One example was when he said, good, there's good seed, it falls on good soil. 25 of the time. But other times it falls on hard soil. The enemy comes and gets it. Other times it falls on rocky soil, so there's no root.

So when trials and tribulations come, it withers away. But one of the most dangerous parables is this parable about the seed that falls in and weeds grow up with it, and it chokes the good harvest. Why does it choke it?

Jesus said, because the cares of this world. We live in such a blessed nation that the cares of this world just pull our flesh. The flesh says more, the spirit says no. The flesh says, I want more. The spirit says, you better get back to putting God first.

The flesh and the spirit are not friends. The Bible says that the flesh is at enmity with God. It is at war with God, and that's alarming because you know who I'm afraid of more than anything else? The potential that's inside.

That's why Paul can say, Paul, the writer of most of the New Testament, oh wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this body of sin and death? For with the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh I serve the law of sin.

It is a battle, it's a constant battle. What happens is the love of the world comes in, loving the things of the world, caring for the things of the world, and we just get sucked right in because say, it's no big deal.

Everybody's doing it, right? It's no big deal, everybody's doing it. As I was preparing for this sermon up a few months ago, actually I was working on this series, I came across a story of a governor back in the deep south, probably 100 years ago now, and certain trends were coming and being popular with the young women, and he told his daughter, you're not gonna wear that.

You're not gonna start dressing like that. And she said, but daddy, everybody's doing it. It's the thing, it's in style. Daddy, it's in style. He looked at her daughter and he said, young lady, you do not follow the styles, you set the styles.

May I present the same argument here with the church? You do not follow the pattern of the world, you come out from among them and be different, be distinct. I'm not talking about a Pharisee where everybody hates us, but I'm talking about somebody who there's a difference there, there's a distinction.

He has set apart for God. The problem is, oh, let me get to that next, I don't wanna jump ahead. That's gonna be a good point. Oh, actually, I'm there right now. It will cost you, holiness will cost you.

I'm here to tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, holiness will cost you. Do you wanna hunger and thirst for righteousness? Do you wanna know God more? It will cost you. It will cost you, it will cost you many things.

But as I often used to tell people losing weight in the fitness industry, whenever you subtract something, say from your diet, you better add something beneficial. What happens in this area, you can't begin subtracting all these things and become a recluse and never add anything.

If you're going to remove the opinions of men, you better add the opinions of God. If you're gonna begin to remove worldly pleasures, you better add godly pleasures to your life. Because you're subtracting all these things out, you better start feeding on the word of God.

Because if you sweep your house clean, and seven demons come back, it says the last state of that man is worse than his first state. Now, contextually, that's not dealing with holiness. I got it, I understand it.

But the principle still applies. That when you remove things from your life, you've gotta start adding the word of God. You've gotta start adding godly relationships and godly choices, because you've gotta fill that void.

The Cost of the Opinions of Men

And it will cost you, and the first thing I wanna talk about, we talked about this briefly last week, is it'll cost you the opinions of men. Let me say that boldly, let me say that loudly, let me say that clearly.

No sleeping on this point. It will cost you the opinions of men. It will. And we don't realize how hard this is. But it's very hard. Oh, we don't want people to think I'm fanatical, or this, or extreme.

And me and my wife, we sometimes laugh about this, and it's really not funny, but it is funny. I mean, so many people, and you guys are so gracious, and we get emails that we, you know, people say we love the messages, keep preaching the truth, brother.

Church has gotta hear this, we gotta do this. But nobody wants to post on Facebook. I'll go listen, but I don't want people to know I'm identified with that radical guy. See, there's 20 friends that might like that message, Shane, but I'm worried about the 400 who won't.

No, we see it all the time, nobody wants to post anything. Why? I've been guilty of it myself. The opinions of men, what will people think? Then I'll be labeled a radical, a Jesus freak. I'll be labeled all these things narrow-minded.

Now, I'm not expecting a surplus of this message to go on Facebook, okay, I understand. But the point is, you know exactly what I'm saying. We're worried about the opinions of men way too much, and that's why Jesus said, "'Woe be to you when all men speak well of you.'".

When you seek holiness and seek hard after God, there will be friendships that will not stand. They cannot stand. I saw this 1999, 2000, I must have lost a dozen friendships, and it wasn't, you know, and they're like, oh, you're so much better than us, and you're so much better, and you got, no, I'm not so much better.

I want to follow hard after God, and I don't care what it costs me. It's because I'm not much better. It's because I see my need for him, my need to follow hardly after him. These relationships keep bringing me down.

And it's not that you're better, it's not that you're uppity, it's not that you're arrogant, it's not that any of that, it's that I cannot engage in that lifestyle anymore. I need to come out from among them and be separate.

And it's usually Christians who aren't following wholeheartedly after Christ that are gonna have a problem with it. Oh, you've changed, you went and got spiritual, you went and matured, huh? No, I'm just, I'm seeking holiness, and this is not gonna work anymore.

I mean, it was 1999, I told a friend of mine, after a trip to Lafayette on jet skis and lots of Corona, I said, I cannot keep doing this, this is ridiculous. He called me a super Christian Jesus freak, and I don't think we've maybe said hi a couple times since.

I can't do that anymore, guys. That's what I would say, I can't, you can call me whatever you want. You can call me whatever you want, I've gotta follow God. And it looks funny to the world. It'll look funny to many Christian friends.

Now, I'm not going out there and saying, blow all your relationships, cut all ties, I'm just saying, when you begin to follow Christ and say, I'm not gonna watch that, I'm not gonna view that, I'm not gonna keep getting drunk, I don't wanna keep getting hungover, I don't wanna keep having those conversations, I don't wanna keep going to those places, I don't wanna keep spending my money there, I don't wanna keep wasting all my time doing this because I gotta spend time in the word of God, you will be labeled, and we don't wanna be labeled.

We don't, we don't, you think I like to be labeled? No, people ran to me and say, you're that guy that preaches for an hour. Like, okay, I guess that's, that's all right, right? I mean, gosh, like, I should go back and listen to the Puritans and read those hour and a half, two hour sermons, come on.

The Cost of Worldly Passions

Takes me 20 minutes just to get through the introduction. But it'll cost you the opinions of men. Number two, it'll cost you worldly passions. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, where they, where they, oh, I'm sorry, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

You've got a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and I'm gonna walk a very tight rope here on this topic, because when I talk about worldly passions, there are some things that are good. So I'm not coming after all the, there's some things that are good, but let me remind everybody in this room that the enemy often destroys the best with the good.

That's one reason I don't want my kids in soccer and baseball and hockey and basketball and 4-H and this club and that club, and busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. We're all so busy, we have no time to seek the face of the Father.

He ruins the best with the good. Some of these things are absolutely great. Of course, we do them. But he gets us so busy and busy and doing all these different things in our community, in our culture today.

And there used to be a saying, back again, I'll mention the Puritans. It was in their chapters of their books, it was in their sermons. They used to always say, and I love this phrase, others may, you cannot.

What does that mean? Others may do something, but you cannot. They might be able to live this glamorous lifestyle and be doing all these different things and busy and working overtime, working undertime, doing all these different things.

And isn't that so great? And now Facebook really helps us, doesn't it? Because now we know what everybody's doing and they paint this picture of really who they want people to believe they are. And it will cost you some of those worldly passions.

Some things need to be given up to fully surrender and go after holiness. But you have to go in your own heart and ask what these things are. For me, I know many times I've been made of fun of going to bed early sometimes so I can get up at four, 4 .30 a .m. and spend time with God.

Yeah, you can ridicule me and do whatever you want, but I cherish that time. I wouldn't give up anything for that time. Men play golf, that's wonderful, but if you're playing 18 holes four times a day, your kids never see you, you have no time for the word of God.

There's a problem there. We're so busy with our worldly passions and our culture today. We want the broad road, I'm sorry, we want the narrow road to be broad. We want the cross to be light. We don't wanna carry any burdens.

We don't wanna make any distinctions. We wanna live in the world. We love the world. But God says, come out from among them, be holy, be set apart for I am the Lord thy God. And again, I'm walking a fine line here because a lot of these things are good, there's nothing wrong with it, but I'm saying if you truly want to have holiness in your life and seek after God, there's some things that you need to go through your lifestyle and remove.

Easy, very easy. Is this helping me? Is this helping my relationship with Christ, with my family, or is it pulling me down? Because he can get, once God has you, the enemy wants to keep you so busy that you're not effective, you're not filled with the Spirit, you're stressed out, you're doing all these things and there's no time for him, no time for fellowship, no time for the word of God.

You have, worldly pleasures have to go. The ones that are pulling you down, again, big disclaimer there, because some of those things are good and God-given and we need to be entertained and relax and go out and shop or vacate.

I understand all those things, thank God for those things. I'm looking forward to a few of those. I'll be fly fishing out with the kids up in the lakes at some point. The wife, of course, she'll be there.

So I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with these things, but it's when we get so busy and I hear that, I think I hear that more than anything. Shane, I try, I wish I could, but I'm just, you must have a lot more time than I do.

But I'm so busy, they say, I'm so busy. And you've got to eradicate those areas that are causing a distraction in your life. He'll come in and he'll get you with those little things, those little distractions.

Holiness Requires Repentance

The next point, it will cost you. I don't even know if I want to give this point right now. But it has to be said, it will cost you genuine holiness, seeking hard after God, it will cost you your sins.

You can hear a pin drop. You all know the verse, if my people are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face. But wait a minute, that's where many churches stop, that's a big divide right now in the churches in America.

We all talk about humility, isn't it great to be humble? The postmodern church says we're so humble because we don't really know the truth. Aren't we so humble? And then other churches say we're humble because we're serving God, and that's true.

And then they all say pray, yes, we have to pray, all religions pray, right? We're not necessarily praying to the same God, but all religions pray. And then all, most places and religions and churches say, seek God, he's there, brother, just find him.

You know, as long as you're sincere, you'll find him, just seek God. But it's this fourth point that gets us in trouble. If my people are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways.

See, that's the kicker. God, get mad at him, I just read the Bible verse. If my people turn from their wicked ways, and we hear that word wicked, we're like, whoa, I can't, I'm not wicked. Wicked is just anything that opposes the wills, ways, and nature of God.

That's wicked, wickedness, sin in our lives, myself included. There are areas in our lives that we've gotta turn from to truly seek holiness in the Spirit-filled life, in the surrendered life, and to have a passion for the things of God.

Let me read what J .C. Ryle wrote on holiness a hundred and some years ago. Holiness will cost a man his sins. He must be willing to give up every habit and practice which is wrong in God's sight. There must be no separate truths with any special sin he loves.

Our sins are often as dear to us as our children. We love them, we hug them, we cleave on them, we delight in them, to part way with them is as hard as cutting off a right hand or plucking out a right eye, but it must be done.

The parting must come. There are areas in our lives that prevent holiness. Guys that are hooked on porn think it's no big deal. They are seriously misled. If we're not treating our spouses right with anger, if we're not treating others right with jealousy and envy and backbiting and gossip, if we've got all these little secret sins we love, it's just the way I was raised, it's just how I was born, it's just my nature.

I'm German and Irish so I can get upset now. We have all these excuses. We wanna hold on to these little sins. God says you must eradicate them, you must remove those hindrances to holiness. Now I know this type of message is gonna ruffle some feathers, but that's the purpose is we've gotta start looking at our lives and saying, Lord, is there areas in my life that are not pleasing to you?

Separation as a Means of Influence

Now for the title of the message, Hindrances to Holiness, separation must occur. I know I've made this point across, but now we're gonna get into the stepping on toes part of this message that I'll be glad when this is over.

Don't email me for a few days, let me just rest at home. Separation must occur. Come out from among them, be separate. See, what we don't realize is when you separate from the world, that's when you influence the world.

That's when you impact the world because now you step out, you're separate, you're holy, you're set apart for God. Now he can use you. If there's no distinction, there's no difference, we look just like the world.

Jesus said you're lukewarm, I'll vomit you out of my mouth. There's separation must occur to truly influence. I'm gonna read 2 Corinthians 6, 14 through 18. Now listen up, this is vitally important. No cell phones, no talking.

We're gonna get to the meat of it. Do not, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now we use that often in marriage counseling, of course. But, look what he's saying here. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or Baal, however you wanna pronounce that. Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. And God has said, I will dwell with them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people.

Because of this, therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a father to you and you shall be my sons and my daughters, says the Lord God Almighty.