Oh Boy, There They Go Again — Greg Locke

Separation from the World Through Obedience

Chapter 6, stand with me if you would, please, just for a moment. A very familiar portion of Scripture. I wish somebody would have taught me and preached to me what I'm about to teach and preach to you from the Bible when I was your age.

I never had really much of a privilege to go to a lot of Christian camps. You know, I told you I saved when I was 16. But I believe these things will help you. And certainly it's nothing that is new, but I believe these are some great truths in the Bible that will help us this morning.

2 Corinthians 6, look at verse 14, would you? 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14, Paul is writing. He says, And I will receive you and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

And I look pleased at chapter 7 and verse 1. 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.

Today we deal with a very interesting subject. Oh boy, there they go again. Thank you very much. You may be seated. Let's pray. Let's ask the Lord to bless our time together just for a few moments, all right?

Lord, thank You so much for Your many blessings. We thank You for the Bible, for what it means to us, and how important it is in our daily growth. And so now, Lord, I pray that You would help these guys and girls as they listen to the Bible, help me as I preach.

And Lord, we thank You for all of our hearts have heard this week, but certainly we need You now. And so I pray that You would bless them a wonderful way in Jesus' name. Amen. And people, as you read the New Testament, as you look at the writings of the Apostle Paul, you find out as we talked the other day when we preached about the book of James, the general epistle, that the Apostle Paul, under inspiration, was a little bit more specific.

Corinthian Carnality and Spiritual Immaturity

And he was writing generally to the church at Galatia, the church at Thessalonica, and this, that, and the other. But whenever we get to 1 and 2 Corinthians, we have the most carnally minded group of people that the Apostle Paul had to deal with in his New Testament ministry.

I mean, as an evangelist, as a pastor, as a missionary, as an author of the New Testament, this man had many problems to deal with in 1 and 2 Corinthians. Matter of fact, that's why we have the 1st book of Corinthians and the 2nd book of Corinthians, because there were so many problems that he took two books to fix them all.

The 1st book was 16 chapters long. Nothing but problem after problem after problem. Matter of fact, in the first few chapters of 1 Corinthians, we find out that these people were so baby-minded, so carnally minded, that some of them would get together over coffee and they'd say, hey, you know what?

The Apostle Paul led me in the sinner's prayer. And the other one said, hey, that's nothing. Old Cephas duked me under the water when I got saved and I joined the church. The other one said, hey, that's no big deal.

He said, man, Apollos signed my Bible. And Paul came in and said, man, are you not carnal in your thinking? He said, some plants, some water, some sow. He said, but it's God that giveth the increase. He said, I'm so glad I didn't come to you with ecstasy of man's wisdom and this great worldly speech.

He said, but in demonstration of the power and the Spirit of God. Then in chapter number 5, he dealt with fornication. If you can imagine that, he was a young man who was living in open immorality with his own stepmother.

And Paul didn't come in there and say, well, you can still be a good, tithing, baptized member of our church. No, no, he said, turn such and one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

And Paul held no punches back from these people. I mean, he jumped in the ring and he said, you people have picked a fight with God. He said, when you should be eating T-bone steaks for the glory of God, he said, you're wearing diapers, sucking on a pacifier and playing around in the sandbox.

He said, you people need to grow up and get right with God. That's what the word carnally minded means. They were babies in their mind. They were very big babies and had to be entreated by God just like that brother of the prodigal son that needed to be entreated by his father yesterday that we heard from Brother Schwenke.

So here's some babies. They were suing one another, taking each other to court. You know, call the CLA and David Gibbs and the rest of that crowd and say, listen, here, these people are upsetting me. They're mad.

They took my seat in the Baptist church. And so they got mad and sued one another. And Paul said, you people are babies, babies, babies. They had problems understanding who they belonged to. And that's why Paul told them in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19 and 20, what know ye not?

That your body is the temple of God. If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy. For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit with your God. The problems continued in the chapter or the second book.

The New Creature in Christ

When we get to the second book though, I suppose the biggest problem these people had was understanding that when you get saved, you are not the same person, but you are a new creature in Christ. He addressed that in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17.

He said, therefore, if any man be in Christ, not in camp, not in church, not in the waters of baptism, but be in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he or she is a new creature. Old things are passed away.

Behold, all things become new. And Paul was trying to drill that into the heart and mind of these baby Christians, trying to get them to understand that you have no right to live your life any way you want to because it's not your life.

It's not your time. It's not your body. You belong to God. Then, we fussed that with 2 Corinthians 6. I want you to look, if you would please, at verse number 14. And notice what Paul begins to do. He begins to draw some very obvious contrasts from the Scriptures.

And look what he says. He says, Be ye not, that is a command, unequally yoked together with unbelievers. He's using the idea here of Samoxon. They have the great yoke. They put them two together. They're under the same burden.

They're going the same way. And so he says, listen, don't you be yoked together with lost people. Don't be yoked together with unbelievers, with Bible deniers, with Christ rejecters. And then look at these obvious contrasts that he begins to make.

He says, for what fellowship have righteousness with unrighteousness? You know, you could take a pen and after each one of these questions, you could simply write the word N-O-N-E, none each time. What fellowship have righteousness with unrighteousness?

None, none whatsoever. Then he goes on and says this, and he draws another logical conclusion. He says, in what communion, just a big fancy word for fellowship, intimate fellowship, what communion have light with darkness?

None whatsoever. Righteousness, unrighteousness. No fellowship. Dark and light. No communion. No intimate fellowship whatsoever. Now look at verse number 15, and what concord, the word concord almost has the idea that you sit down and sign your John Hancock to an agreement.

He says, what great concord have Christ with Belial? The word Belial meaning the wicked one or the devil. We obviously know that everything God tries to do, the devil tries to count back. God always does things great, and the devil always messes things up.

God's not the author of confusion, and the devil is. And so here's just some obvious contrast that Paul is giving these people. He's trying to open their mind to see the difference between what you used to be and what you should be now for the glory of God.

Keep reading in your Bible. He goes on to say, and what agreement, excuse me, back to verse 15, or what part has he that believeth with an infidel or with somebody that doesn't even believe the Bible or rejects the Word of God?

Verse 16, and what agreement has the temple of God with idols? Notice this, 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.

Holiness as a Separated Life

What is the apostle Paul trying to do? He's trying to show these people the great importance of living a separated life. He's trying to show them the great importance. I mean, from the kiddos all the way to the older gentlemen and the ladies, the middle-aged people, the teenagers.

He's trying to drill into their head and into their heart that when you get saved, you have no right, and you have no business living in the lusts and in the pleasures that you used to enjoy, that you used to live in.

For you're now a new creature. And he said, listen, you used to be in darkness, now you're in light. You used to be sons of the devil, John 8, 44, but you've been delivered into the kingdom of God's dear Son, Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13.

So he's drawing these conclusions. Now, let me tell you what happens when a lot of preachers preach on 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verses like this. Whenever we preach on the idea of holiness, whenever many times we preach on the idea of separation, that we should live differently and dress differently and act differently and look differently, and I believe as the task force workers here, I believe you're mature enough to understand and be able to handle such a subject as separation.

But you know, here's what happens. A lot of times the antennas go up and people start saying, you know, the old fancy phrase, speak to the hand because the ears aren't listening. And here's what they say, oh boy, there they go again.

That's all those preachers can do is get up there and preach on the Bible and tell me how I should live and tell me how as a young lady, how long my skirt ought to be or as a young man, how I should dress or how I should walk or what I should listen to and what I should watch and where I should go and who I should hang around.

And a lot of people, I'll be honest with you, even adults in local churches, they have the idea, oh boy, there they go again. That's all they can preach on. That's all they know, separation, separation.

But I got news for you. Although sometimes it rubs us the wrong way, separation is a vital issue in the Word of God. We are to live differently when we get saved. Now, let me give you three simple, factual, Bible, undeniable reasons why you ought to be separated as a young person.

Three undeniable arguments. I mean, you can't argue against this. It's a right from the Word of God, three things that will prove to us and show us that God not only not requires obedience or requires separation, but He wants us to live separated.

He wants us to be holy and He wants us to be different from the rest of the world. Remember what Peter said? He said, you're a peculiar people, a chosen generation. A lot of people have the idea, they say, well, preacher, you know, if I'm going to be peculiar, that means I've got to walk around with bobby socks to pull all the way up to my kneecap and I've got to have my pants or my shorts to pull all the way up near to my chest and I've got to wear thick Coke bottle glasses and carry around a great big family-sized Bible and say, glory to God, peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

No, he said, be different, not stupid, and there's a fine line between the two. And it doesn't mean that you've got to walk around and look ridiculous. It doesn't mean, fellas, that you've got to wear a striped shirt with polka dot pants and pink socks and blue shoes.

It doesn't mean that. It just means that you are different, that you are peculiar from the world. Because just as Brother Duffy preached last night, if you are saved, the world is never going to accept you.

Because my Bible tells me, ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore is a friend of the world is what? The enemy of God, James chapter 4 and verse 4.

So let me give you three reasons that you ought to obey this command. Three reasons that you shouldn't say, oh boy, here they go again, but you should appreciate the issue of separation. As a young man, as a young lady, as a Christian who wants to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, let me give you three reasons why you ought to do it.

Obedience to God's Command

Number one, the first reason I live a separated life is not so I can walk around with my nose up in the air and say I'm better than you. The first reason I live a separated life is first and foremost because of obedience.

Because of obedience. Look in your Bibles, would you? It's right here in the Word of God. Just right here, look. Look in verse number 17, would you? Wherefore, because of all this, because God and the devil are different, we're on two different levels of playing field in life.

He says, wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate. Sayeth the preacher? No, no. Sayeth the church? Sayeth the camp? Sayeth the college? No, no. Sayeth the Lord. And touch not the unclean things, and I will receive you.

The first reason I live a separated life, the first reason I should read my Bible and pray and want to live right and want to dress right and want to act right is number one, because of obedience. You know, if you come to a camp like this, Camp Shittek, or you go to the average camp, or you just go to the average youth group, and you say, okay, let's take a quick poll.

How many of you young people love Jesus Christ with all of your heart? How many of you young people actually love the Bible, you love God, and you know you're saved, you know you're on your way to heaven, and you love God?

You know, that's a very generic question, and you're going to get a very generic response, because most of the auditorium, most of the crowd, the teenagers, the guys and girls, they'll throw their hands up and they say, I love Jesus Christ with all of my heart.

Now, it's all good, jolly, and well to say that, but let's see what the Bible said about your love for Jesus Christ. Jesus looked at His disciples, and certainly if He required His disciples then, He requires it now.

Jesus said, if ye love Me, keep my commandments. So here's a young person that says, oh, preacher, I love God. I love God with all of my heart, yet they never read their Bible. Yet they never pray. They have a bad attitude towards authority, and you know, they might do what they're supposed to on the outside, but on the inside, they're mad, and they're upset, and they're crooked, and they're devious, and they're bitter, and they've got that heat-seeking anger within their heart, as we heard yesterday.

And a lot of young people, they do what they're supposed to do, but yet it's with a bad attitude. Let me ask you this. What is your obedience level to the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you really love Him? I mean, if you really love Him, does it not stand to reason that you would want to obey what His Word says?

If you really love your parents, does it not stand to reason that when they say, clean your room, you'd clean your room? If you really love somebody that you call a friend, if they ask you to do something, if they're in a bind, if they're in a pickle, if they're in a jam, if they do have a terrible load that the other teenagers heard Brother Schwenke preach on this morning, do you want to help them?

Why would you do something for somebody? Because you love them. And the first reason I live a separated life, the first reason I don't want to look like the world and smell like the world and act like the world and live like the world is because my Bible tells me that my God looks down from heaven and says, Gregory DeWayne Locke, come out from among them and be ye separate.

And if I love Him, I will be obedient to what He has called me to do. So it really doesn't mean a whole lot when somebody says, I love Jesus Christ with all of my heart. You can say that with your lips, but you prove that with your life.

You see, the great litmus test of love, young person, is always your obedience to the Word of God. Are you obedient? Now, by the way, this command in the Word of God, come out from among them and be ye separate.

That is just as much as a command in the Word of God as John chapter three and verse number seven when Jesus said, ye must be born again. I mean, not an option. It's not an obligation, not a suggestion, but an obligation to Almighty God, to His people.

He says, listen, I want you to come out. I want you to separate. The word separate is an interesting word. It means to cut. God literally says, listen, when you get saved, I want you to take the scissors, the sharp two-edged sword of the Word of God, and I want you to be cut out of the mold of the world.

I want you to cut off the world and separate yourself from the old lifestyle, from the way that you used to live, from the people that you used to hang around. For does not the Bible say in Amos 3 .3?

Can two walk together except they be agreed? I preached in Mexico about five times. They taught me a little phrase. No way, Jose. You cannot be going in the same direction with somebody if you do not agree.

Somewhere down the road, you're going to hit the bumps on the highway and you're going to mess up your life. And so God says, listen, if you really love Me, then be obedient to Me. If God says, come out from among them and be a separate.

That simply means, young person, that means, fellas, that means, ladies, that I am supposed to come out from the world and be separate. That means I'm supposed to be not just a Bible, quote, believer, but I'm supposed to be a doer of the Word, not a hearer only, James 1, verses 20 -22.

And young people, we have a lot of people who pay lip service to Jesus Christ in camps and schools and colleges and churches all around the world, but very few people who actually pay life service to Jesus Christ and that is the proof in the pudding.

So why do I live separated? Number one, because of obedience. Now, let me give you the second one and this is probably very, very important. I want you to get it, okay? We'll make some illustration. Number one, I live a separated life because of obedience, but number two, I live a separated life because of identification.

Identification with God's People

Because of identification. Let me show you what I mean. Go back to 2 Corinthians 6, please, and look again at verse 17. Now, although we're talking to carnal Christians, these aren't lost people. I mean, these are not the devil's crowd.

These are not people on their way to hell. These are saved, blood-bought, born-again children of the living God. Verse 17, Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate. Go away, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, notice verse 18, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

God says, number one, young person, you separate. You live holy. You pray. You read. You memorize. You study. You walk right. And you do what is right. Not with a heart of being a Pharisee. He says, but you do it, number one, so that you are obedient, proving your love to me and to my word.

He says, but you do it, number two, so everybody will know to whom you belong to. Let's think about something just for a moment. How many of you like to go to a shopping mall? Put your hand in the air.

You like to go to a shopping mall a lot. Most of the girls. None of the guys raise their hand except for one, okay? And I'll be honest with you. I don't like shopping malls. I'm still looking for the store.

I am still looking for the store that God used in the book of Exodus for 40 years when most people never had to buy any clothes and never had to buy any shoes. My wife loves Walmart. Matter of fact, I believe I'm going to buy myself a grave plot in the basement of Walmart so my wife will visit me about 32 times a week.

She loves Walmart. There's a place down south called Goody. There's nothing good about that place. It is bad, it is wicked, it is devious, and I can't stand it. But my wife is a bargain shopper. When I go to a shopping mall, I do two things.

I take my Bible and a cup of coffee. I sit down and I read the book of Proverbs. And you know what happens? Whenever I go to a shopping mall with the book of Proverbs, I find out that the book of Proverbs comes alive to me.

You go to a shopping mall, you will see more foolish people, more unlearned people, more unwise people, more simpletons. You will see more people in the book of Proverbs in a shopping mall than any other place on the face of God's earth.

And so I sit down. I watch people. I read T-shirts. And my wife shops. And I'm praying and begging the Lord that my credit card bill doesn't run through the ceiling, amen, because they're going to make a trailer payment.

But nonetheless, I don't like shopping. Never have and never will, probably until I get to the millennial kingdom. Call it unspiritual. Call it what you want to. I just don't like it at all. But go to a shopping mall sometime and watch the clicks.

Watch the groups. Here's what happens. You got these people come walking in, you know, they're kind of the clowns that I used to run around with. They come in, boy, they either got their blue jeans on backwards, you know, or they got these great big old baggy pants that you could fit about 52 kids in or you could jump out of an airplane and go parachuting with them on.

And they come in and they got their hats on backwards and they got three or four earrings and they got all this weird looking hairdo. And most of the time it's kind of shaved back, you know, and they got these lines and it says thug across the back.

And they get these big old tattoos. And they got this gold and they got this ring. And they talk funny. Talk out of the side of their mouth like this. And they do all this kind of stuff in the Lipshaw hangout, you know.

And they walk real funny. And they strut when they walk. And they walk around, you know, they kind of do like kids. Say, what's up, baby? And they answer the phone. Instead of saying hello, they say, who this?

You know, that kind of stuff. And that's the way they walk all the time. They talk like that and they act like that and they walk like that. And you see them walking around, you know. And they got Snoop Doggy Dog and all this bunch of mess all over their shirt.

They got these big marijuana leaves around their neck. And so you're sitting there and you're talking to your friend and you see about six of them walk by and you say, I bet they like country music. I bet they're from Nashville.

You got enough sense to know they're not from Nashville. You got enough sense to know they're not a bunch of stinking rednecks. You know exactly what, that's the rapper crowd. How did you know that? Their clothes identified who they were.

The people they walked with identified who they were. And so all of a sudden, you're sitting here at Camp Shitech and all of a sudden you hear and some guy comes pulling in here and he's got this little truck and the thing's shaking all over the place and he gets out and you say, oh, man, I bet he's from Bob Jones University.

He likes symphony orchestra music. Oh, no, you know, immediately this guy likes rap music, okay? And why? Because you identified him by what he wore, you identified him by what he drove and you identified him quickly by what he listened to.

Now, here's another example. I'm from Nashville. You talk about hips. I call myself a high-tech redneck, okay? Now, there's a lot of hips in Tennessee. Now, I did get, I was, got on to a little while ago by Brother Swanky by wearing my cowboy boots which you notice that I don't have on which my brother here in the front does.

Praise the Lord for you. God bless you, son. But anyhow, I like cowboy boots but there are some people that go a little bit too far. If you go where I am, I mean, they have 10-gallon hats, buddy. I mean, they got these big old hats that kind of whip out like this and if it rains, buddy, I mean, it holds the water, 50 gallons, it must.

And they got these big, huge hats and they got these big straws and they got a belt buckle. I'm talking about a belt buckle that looks like a saucer plate or a spare tire. I mean, it's like this big, you know?

And the guy always has to walk. You know why cowboys put their hands in their pants like this and walk? Because if they didn't, they'd fall over because they're thinking belt buckle would pull them to the ground.

And so he's walking around like this, you know? He got his big cowboy boots on. And he's got that big 10-gallon hat. Got about 57 gallons of water in it. And he's walking around, you know? And he's got a shirt on that says that God's brooks are clipped back.

And so somebody looks at him and says, you know what? I bet he's wrapped up in Marilyn Manson's Something Terrible. You know that he's not wrapped up in Marilyn Manson's Something Terrible? Why? Because what he wore, how he acted, identified who he was.

And so then you go to Walmart. These people come walking in and they've got the whitest makeup on their face that you've ever seen in your life. I'm talking about white people that are white, if you can imagine.

I mean, white people that are snow white, buddy. And I mean, they got this white stuff all over them. And they got the darkest black lipstick that you've ever seen. They got this matte factor eyelash bitch and it's all over their face.

They got these big long eyelashes. I mean, they're dark and black. And their hair, if dyed, just jet black. And I mean, you know, it comes all the way down and here they are. And they got this big nose ring here and it's attached to a chain that comes to their ear.

And then the chain comes around here and it's attached to their ribs here. And then it attaches to the bottom of their chin. And then they open up their mouth and they look like they've got a 55 pound barbell in the middle of their tongue.

And they can't hardly talk. And they got it in their lips. Hey, this is the gospel truth. I had a Harley Davidson guy come to one of my revival meetings about six months ago. And he had a diamond shoved between the gout in his top tooth.

He had his teeth pierced. You ever heard of that? Kind of like Brother Schwenke said the other day, you ought to name that AT &T. He's ringing all over. He's got rings everywhere, all over his body, all over his face.

He had a diamond shoved right between the middle of his teeth. I've never seen that in my life. And so these kids are walking around and they got these boots. I mean, they got heels on them that are that high.

I mean, that went out with the dark ages long, long ago. And it seems like everything that went out in the 60s and 70s is all coming back now in the 90s and everybody, or in 2000. And everybody's doing, you know, got these great big old high platform shoes on.

Got these big dragons that stick out on the front of them. I mean, ugly stuff. Golly. I mean, girls wear these pants, you know. They're like real straight right here and then all of a sudden, whoa, right at the bottom.

Right at the bottom. They just open up like a big mushroom. And you've seen them. And they're all black. And then this guy, you know, he's got this lipstick all over him and he's got makeup on. His pants are black.

His socks are black. His gloves are black. His fingernails are black. He's got pentagrams all over him. He's got these tattoos all over his body. And you know what? Immediately, who do you identify him with?

You know, when he walks into the bookstore, he's going to watch, he's going to get Marilyn Manson. You know, he's going to be one of these cronies, one of these nuts that carries a big old gun inside of his coat.

Somebody like Columbine and watch some wicked rated Arciano Reeves movie and goes and blows people away called The Matrix. And you know immediately by what he wears, by what he does, by what he listens to and by who he hangs around, who he identifies with, you know exactly who he belongs to.

That's exactly why you ought to dress right. That's exactly why you young ladies ought to be made to dress right. Hey, it doesn't bother me as a preacher to be able to get up and say, hey, young lady, you ought to dress right.

And it doesn't bother me to say, hey, young man, if a lady's got to be modest, you ought to be modest too. You see, we are living in a day when modesty is something that everybody says, oh, modesty's overrated.

No, modesty's underrated. And that's why we've got so much fornication, adultery, immorality and a bunch of pedophiles all over America. Because we've got young ladies that don't know how to dress. We've got young men that don't know how to dress.

We do not have modesty. And how you dress, what you listen to, will identify who you are no matter how much you say, I love God. You can raise both of your hands and you can pop and spit and holler, cross your arms and puff like the maggot dragon and you can tell everybody in the world, I love Jesus Christ.

But how you dress, what you listen to, who you hang around, how you talk and what you watch will identify who you really belong to. If the world can figure it out, why can't God's people figure it out?

You know, these teenagers, they come to me and they get all mad and they're all upset and they say, well, you're not preaching about this. I should be able to wear exactly what I want to. Nope, you should be able to wear anything you want to as long as you can just back it up within the confines of the Word of God.

As long as you're not being immodest, as long as you're not immoral, as long as you're not being an ungodly young person, there are some limits. I'm not going to get up here and say, okay, you can wear this and you can wear this and you can wear that.

But if we'd get our noses out of the newspaper and put them into the Bible, we would find out a lot of the things that we do are not scriptural. We'd find out a lot of the things we do, we do it because so-and-so says.

And for a while, so-and-so says works. But after a while, when you grow up and you get out from under so-and-so's authority, you're going to need your own standards and your own convictions from the Word of God.

And so learn how to dress. I had a young lady come to me not long ago in Georgia. And I preached. And I preached in the school every morning and in the church every night. We do that sometimes when we have our meetings when the church has a Christian school.

And I preached. And I preached along these lines. Well, the same message. And I said some things. I was a little more specific about some clothing. The pastor wanted me to address some issues. You know, as an evangelist, I don't sit down and say, okay, preacher, I want you to tell me all the problems of your church so I can preach on you.

If the Spirit of God can't tell an evangelist what to preach, he's in the wrong business anyhow. Okay, so I don't have to sit down. But he sat me down. He said, if you don't mind, would you preach along some of these issues?

So I got up and I said, listen, I've been praying with your pastor, been talking with your pastor, and he would like me to address these issues. And so I'm going to. I talked about some of the dress standards and some of the things that he was really trying to elevate.

And I appreciated his ministry. You know, he kind of took a bomb of a work. And man, they were just taking a nosedive. And so he said, listen, I know you can't fix things in one sermon, he said, but would you just do your best to help?