Separation From the World (Part 2) — Dale Gish

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The Burden of Ministering to Hurting Youth

Well, we greet you again today in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. May we always come under that umbrella. Blessed Redeemer, I will tell you that I am feeling somewhat of a burden today. That I did not feel so clearly when I came here.

I had not yet seen all of you together on the risers. All the way from the floor to the ceiling, from one wall to the other. It was an overwhelming scene and I was taken back some when I saw all of you together in one place.

I was told that there are over 600 of you here. And I was just thinking, whenever you have over 600 youth together in one place, it's almost guaranteed that there are hurting hearts that are here. There are hearts that must surely be rejoicing.

There is every level here of desire to serve God from excited about it to not sure if I can do it. But, there's got to be some confusion here and possibly some despair. For some reason today, my heart is hurting with you.

I'm feeling some of your burden. Our desire today is that the Lord Jesus Christ, beautiful Savior, understanding Savior, would come alongside each one of you right where you are at. And minister grace into your heart right where you are.

God will do that. God does that. But I was praying, what do I say to make that happen? The Lord Jesus is such a gentle Savior. A bruised reed He will not break. Smoking flats He will not quench. He won't.

And I don't want to do that either. And I know that today, I'm going to challenge you. I might make you mad. I don't think I will because I have confidence that you will bring these things before God.

That you will consider them with your authority. And there is some security in that. But my desire is to encourage you in the Lord. May God have His way that way. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Father, You know that I'm shaking in my boots, Father.

But I also know there's youth here that are hurting. There's every possible emotion that man feels right here in this building. Father, I pray that You would minister grace to each one of us, that we would be faithful.

Lord, I feel like there's things that You've laid upon my heart today that are not going to be easy to share. They won't even apply to some people. But they will apply to others. And I marvel, Father, how You can be.

Your Word can be a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. But it can also be a pillow for a wounded heart. God, I just pray that You would be whatever we need to each one of us. Fathers, we bring these things.

I know these folks are not going to understand what's in my heart. If it's just me trying to explain it to them. I pray, Father, that You would have Your way. That You would be here. And bring Holy Ghost discernment into each heart.

I pray that You would hinder the work of the enemy in the lives of these youth. I pray that You would drive him backwards. I pray that You would reveal his tactics to these youth, so they would not be ignorant of his devices, Father.

I pray that they would take on the whole armor of God. And rise up in faith and courage and strength. And take a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, have Your way. It's our prayer in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, I don't know what to do, but just to press on. Well, here we go. You know, God says, man says that you are strong when you have power. When you have money. When you have position. When you're independent.

When you have force. But to the Christian, those things all belong to God. The Christian is always made strong through passive words. Yield. Submit. Believe. Break. Obey. When I am weak, then I am strong.

You look in your Bible and you'll find it written in red. Words of the Lord Jesus. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. May we never forget that. Paul had to learn that. Paul was arguing with God.

He wanted that thorn in his flesh out. And he wanted it out bad. And he wasn't going to take no for an answer. He kept coming back to God about that thing. And God spoke to him very clearly. Paul, my strength is made perfect in your weakness.

What Lord? My strength is made perfect when you are weak. And when that thing registered. When that thing stuck in his mind. When he got a hold of that. He immediately quit arguing with God. He said nothing more about his thorn in the flesh.

And he drew a life changing conclusion. He did. Before God. All of a sudden Paul said, Most gladly. Well, that sounds like a different tune, doesn't it? Most gladly. Then I'll suffer. And glory in my infirmities.

That the power of Christ. My strength. The power of heaven. Might rest upon me. For when I am weak. Then. And only then. Am I strong. The strength of the living God. Is made perfect in your weakness. Then I wonder, has that stuck with you yet?

Has it brought you to the place where you make a life changing decision? So that the power of Christ may rest upon you. And I want to say something about the power of Christ. We need it. We'll never be able to do these things that we've been talking about in our own strength.

And I just want to tell you that I'm intrigued by mathematics. There's something in that subject that God is in it. It goes beyond what man can comprehend. You can take a little number like 2. And you can raise it to a higher power.

You can raise it to the third power. You can raise 2 to the 30th power. You can raise 2 to the 300th power. And these numbers get real big, real fast. Even though they're just, you know, a little old 2.

And there was a youth in our church a while back who was sharing that with us one Sunday. So I'm going to give you something here that comes right out of your crowd. He said, man has concluded that the largest number he will ever need, the biggest number that he could even possibly use, has 100 zeros.

I can't imagine what man would ever use that number for, but 100 zeros. That's it. That number stops the computers. They can't go beyond that one. And he was saying that to the 232nd power has 100 zeros.

And that impressed me. I thought, little old 2, how can it have 100 zeros? And this youth was telling us it's because it's been raised to a higher power. And what he was saying is that when little old you has been raised to the power of Christ, that's when he is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all that you can ask or think.

We need to believe that. And it's according to the power that worketh in us. Hallelujah for that. Well, with that in mind, I would like to continue on with our subject of separation from the world. It's not always easy.

Man can't do it in his own strength. He'll always give up and just join them. But when the power of Christ rests upon you, there's Holy Ghost discernment there. And when that thing rests upon us, I tell you today, we will not be challenged.

We will be changed. We spoke some yesterday about the broadness of a general commandment and the revealing of hearts in a specific commandment. And I believe that God has prompted me to mention some specific things for us to consider.

I believe that's what the other brothers are doing here this week. And we may mention some of the same things. But that's okay. You know, the Word of God does that. It mentions the same things several times by several different authors from different backgrounds, from different perspectives to make the point clear.

Clothing, Obedience, and Separation From Worldly Fashion

So may God have His way today. And I want to do this very carefully. I do. I'm going to mention some things about the clothes that you wear. You know, some of those things do make a difference in the Kingdom of God.

I remember, this has been years ago now, I was sitting in the living room and there was a young brother, a youth, sitting there with me and he was wanting some counsel. He was telling me that he thought he was spiritual.

He believed he was walking with God, but he didn't feel spiritual. How do I get the feeling? And I don't usually even notice things like this, but that time I noticed that he had a t-shirt on. And it had an advertisement for a rock group right there.

I think it was the Grateful Dead. And he was sitting there. I just don't feel spiritual. And you know, I was thinking, well, if you want to feel spiritual, change your t-shirt. You know, sometimes we're so afraid of being legalistic that we can't even state the obvious.

That's not good when we're there. You know, the message of faith has gone out in Christendom. You know, faith alone. But James doesn't have faith alone. And neither does Romans. You know what Romans says about faith?

It talks, I believe in the last chapter there, about the obedience of faith. That's as scriptural as you can get. And the obedience of faith is not legalism. So, I'm going to mention something to you about your clothes.

And I may look very picky at first, but I'd like to take the mask off of the enemy.

That's our desire today.

And I'm just going to plead with you when we get into those areas. Stay with me. I'm going to plead to you as a father. Be ye also enlarged. I'm going to encourage you to take these things to the altar of God and consider them.

And pray about them. And check them with your authority. I want to encourage that relationship in your life. I don't want to come in between you and your authority. Well, I would like to get specific today by heading straight into battle.

That's where we need to go to get the message. When you're in battle, and the battle is hot, and the machine guns are rattling, and the bullets are flying, and the enemy is out to kill you, and you know it, and you feel the heat of his hatred, and you are in the trenches with your comrades, fighting for your life.

I don't know if any of you have ever been in that position before, in battle like that. But I don't think it's too likely, at that point, that any one of you are going to want to look like the enemy. I don't think you're going to be too open to take commandments and suggestions from him.

And we are in a battle. Especially when one of your comrades goes down, or your child gets hit. I'm just going to tell you today that if you want to look like the enemy, and you're willing to receive influence from the enemy, you're probably not fighting the enemy.

You are giving him ground. And this is a battle that we are in. And I know that the battle is ours. I don't want to paint the wrong picture here. There is victory in Jesus Christ. The battle is not ours.

The battle is the Lord's. But we don't let the Lord fight the battle while we play games with the enemy. God forbid that we would do that. But, isn't that what we're doing? When the clothes that we wear begin to fit the flow of the fads and the fashions of the world around us?

I'm not saying that we dress just like they do. The devil's not going to tempt you that way. He knows that you're more spiritual than that. But just a little moving in that direction. Mix a little of their styles in with how you dress.

You can do that. Just receive a little influence from them. And when we do that, we are not fighting the enemy. We are giving him ground. We are not in the trenches being watchful, using the armor of God.

We are not perfecting holiness in the fear of God. We are playing games with the enemy. Now, I want to mention some things here very carefully, but very specifically. Sisters, when you change from a looser fitting jumper or from a double covering type dress to a skirt and blouse.

And then that skirt gets a little tighter. And then a little too tight. So that it conforms to your body some. And you find liberty to put a little slit up the side so that you can walk normally. I say, wait a minute.

Where is our Holy Ghost discernment? Have we disconnected our heart from our appearance? Is the power of Christ going to rest upon you that way? Or is there a hindrance there? That is when we are playing games with the enemy while our Lord fights the battle.

Where did that influence come from? Where is it going? Will it stop? And the answer is no. It will not stop. It never has stopped. That is part of the tactics of the enemy. When you stop wearing the double covering type dress and the single covering starts getting a little tighter.

What is your motive? I want you to know that that was a conscious decision that you made when you made that decision to make that change. And there was a motive that was in your heart whether you know it or not.

That influenced that decision. And you need to know what that motive is. The Holy Ghost discernment will reveal it to you. If there is a reaction in the flesh today, you will never get a hold of it. But if you can bring that thing before God, sometimes heaven just opens up and all of a sudden you see things.

That happens. I remember the servants of Elijah. He thought they were in trouble. There was no hope. They were surrounded by the enemy. And he said, Alas, Master, how shall we do? And Elijah prayed, Lord, open his eye.

And his eyes were opened. And he saw horses and chariots of fire all around Elijah in the mountain. And Elijah said, David before us are greater than David be against us. May God open our eyes in these things.

And I'm going to tell you today, the answer is not to wear jumpers. Modesty is not established only by the dress that you wear. It's also how you walk in it. It's how you stand in it. It's how you use your eyes when you're wearing it.

It's what you're thinking when you wear it. It's also how you comb your hair. You can wear the most modest dress in the world and still be immodest. Separation from the world is kind of an elusive thing.

That is why rules and regulations will not work. You can't make enough rules and regulations to establish modesty. The flesh will be able to keep every one of them and still find a way to fulfill its lust.

Modesty is a condition of the heart. And brothers, you know, you are the ones who are supposed to lead out in battle. That's not the sister's job. You are supposed to be protecting them and making sure that you're not doing anything that's going to lead them astray.

You need to have that burden, that mentality in your heart. And if you're off playing games with the enemy, it makes them even more vulnerable yet. Our girls need to be modest, brothers. Are you encouraging them to wear a double covering dress when all you wear is a t-shirt?

There is something that I had to come to grips with in my own life because personally I'm more comfortable casual in a t-shirt. But God convicted me of something. It just seemed like God was saying, Dale, you have got to learn how to live beyond yourself.

You might be able to handle that t-shirt, but your children might not. I'm just going to share something here. You know, I've never really liked it when girls wear a top with writing across right here.

That's not a good thing. All that does is gives men liberty to fix their eyes right there and keep them there for a while. While they read that thing. That thing is not pure. That thing is not of God.

I don't care if it's a scripture that you have written there. Because men have an ability to do more than one thing at once. And while they're reading that thing, that's what they're doing. We need to understand that.

And brothers, if it's wrong for the girls to do that, is it fine for you? Are you helping them not do it? When you do it, you are the ones who should be leading out in battle. Are you protecting them?

Are you protecting yourselves when you encourage them to do that? I don't know if you ever noticed this, but most tops that boys or girls wear that have writing across right here are t-shirts. You don't see many button-up shirts that are that way.

It's harder to do that on them. And there is something in that that I would like to show you. I would like to have some teaching here, if you can receive this, on the tactics of the enemy. The devil is always willing to back up a step or two.

However far he needs to back up, he's willing to do it to wherever it is that he can get his foot in the door. And I want to tell you something about the devil. If you give him an inch, he will become the ruler.

And he is willing to back up to wherever you're willing to give him an inch. Wherever he can get his foot in the door. And when our sisters are wearing a double covering, brothers, the devil will never tempt them to put some writing across it right here.

You almost never see that. So he backs up a ways. He just tempts them with a very modest single covering. And there are some. No question. And then a nice thick t-shirt. But I want to tell you today, he has something in mind.

You're still modest. Totally. But he is going somewhere with this thing. Because you give that thing a little time, and then it's just a t-shirt, and then the writing is on it. And it doesn't stop there.

If you think it stops there, then you are ignorant of his devices. He is going somewhere with this thing, and he's not near there yet. And if he can't get the sisters to budge, if they don't give him an inch, then what he does is he comes to the brothers, and he tries to get them to do it.

And you know, it's so much more reasonable when we do it. First the t-shirts, and then the writings, and then when the men are completely comfortable with it, to the point that they almost scoff at anyone who would even question it.

I mean, come on, let's get spiritual. You've heard all that. As soon as he's got that foundation laid, then he goes back to the girls. He just starts that process all over again. You give him an inch, and he will become the ruler.

And if someone rises up and throws a flag on that thing, what the devil tries to do, is he tries to turn that thing into a battleground, and turn our focus on it, and get our eyes off of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I tell you, that's not good. I'm going to tell you this morning, that we are not going to do that. I'm not going to take my eyes off of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to fix my gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

But, I'm not going to let Him in that door into my life either. Jesus Christ said, the devil has no place in me. Not the front door. Not the back door. Not the side window. Away with him! He's the adversary of our souls.

And we're not ignorant of his devices. And you need to know that the battle is always at the line. We've heard that. And I don't know where the line is for you. Maybe these things that we're talking about here are completely out to lunch with you.

I don't know. Maybe the battle for you is just girls wearing trousers. Maybe that's where the line is. Maybe the line for you is having homosexuality in the church. But wherever the line is, that is the tactics that the enemy will use to move you in his direction.

The battle is always at the line. But we are not ignorant of his devices. But let's not wait until then to rise up. I would like for you to consider with me for a moment the temptation of Christ. In Matthew chapter 4.

We're not going to turn there. But I just want to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ for a little while here and see how He dealt with the voice of the enemy. First of all, He was prayed up. He had prayed.

He had fasted. His communion with His Father was unbroken. That's step one. If we're not there, we don't have any right to justify anything that we do. We'd better get there first. And when Jesus was in the wilderness, He heard a voice.

And it was the voice of the enemy. And the enemy said, If thou be the Son of God, command these stones to be made bread. And I'm going to challenge you today. I challenge you to tell me what is wrong with that.

Jesus went straight up over the thing. But I don't. I can't figure out for the life of me what is wrong with that. He had brought water out of a rock. He had turned water into wine. His fast was over.

What's wrong with turning stones into bread when you're hungry? Jesus. But Jesus sensed a foreign authority. A foreign voice. And He rejected that thing with Scripture. Not because turning stones into bread was wrong.

Not because wearing a t-shirt is wrong. But because He knew the enemy. And He knew that the enemy had something in mind. And He knew that He was headed somewhere with this thing. And He wasn't about to go.

And He wasn't going to receive influence from the enemy. And He rejected that thing with Scripture. Get thee behind Me, Satan. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

I listen to My Father only. I'm peculiar unto Him. I don't receive influence from you. That is the example that the Lord gave us in dealing with the voice of the enemy. But the old devil kept tempting, didn't he?

And pretty soon the truth came out. Come on, Jesus. Just fall down and worship. And brothers and sisters, that is what the devil had in mind all the time. That's where he's headed with this thing. We don't always know where he's going.

But he tries to deceive us so he can get us to the place where we will fall down and worship him. And you can say, well, I'd never do that. I'd never fall down and worship him. And I believe you. I wouldn't either.

But how about receive just a little influence from Him? Would you do that? Would you be willing to do that? And just mix a little in there. No major changes. Just hear His voice. Step by step by tiny step.

You know what that's called? Drift. That's what it is. Drift is never a rising up of rebellion and just slandering everything and going the other way. It's just going the same direction. It's just laying your armor down and reaching out a hand to the enemy.

When you do that, you are not fighting the enemy. You are giving him ground. Step one. Just hear His voice. Nothing wrong with the temptation. Just hear His voice. And do what you'll never be able to go to the Scriptures and prove to Him is wrong.

No specific commandment there. Just hear His voice. So now let's get practical again. Brothers and sisters, whose voice are you hearing? When your hairstyles follow the fads and the fashions of this world, there is nothing wrong with those hairstyles.

But whose voice are you hearing? You are making an expression with your hair. Did you know that? You know, it was interesting to me. When I was coming here, I was driving through a town and there was this hair salon and I noticed the title of the place.

It just said, Outward Expressions. Well, that caught my eye. That's interesting. The world sure knows you're expressing yourself by your hair. I wonder when the Christians are going to figure that out.

You know what I mean, boys. You know that ring that shows up around here. You know the moose hair. Girls, you know what I mean. That dyed look. That little string hanging down here. Where did you get that idea?

I want you to know there's nothing wrong with that hairstyle. There is nothing wrong with that hairstyle. You're not going to find a direct Scripture against it. I tell you, it is not there. But where is your Holy Ghost discernment that Jesus had when He was in the wilderness?

There was no Scripture against turning stones into bread either. But Jesus went straight up over that thing. And He rejected it with Scripture. Where is our Holy Ghost discernment in all of this? If it's the voice of the flesh, if it's the voice of the world, if it's the voice of the enemy, then reject that thing with Scripture.

Because it will not stop there. It never stops there. It always goes on to bigger things. And as I was thinking about this, there are so many things that I wanted to share with you on this subject. But right now, I would like to consider something that we need to understand.

Sowing and Reaping, Historical Drift, and Delayed Consequences

God has some laws. He does. And they are in full effect today. I don't care if this is the age of grace. God has some laws that are in effect. And one of them is the law of sowing and reaping. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

That's as New Testament Scripture as you can get. You are not going to sow to the flesh. Motivated by the flesh, let the flesh in to some area of your life and then reap spiritually. It's not going to happen, because that's one of the laws of God.

And you're not going to be an exception to it and say, well, that won't happen to me. Because that is a law of God. Are you familiar with the law of sowing and reaping? It has three points to it. The first one is that you do reap what you sow.

You plant a bean to harvest the bean. You don't harvest potatoes. You sow to the flesh. You're not going to reap spiritually. You are going to reap carnally. You reap what you sow. The second thing in the law of sowing and reaping is that you reap more than you sow.

And that is a sobering thought. You reap more than you sow. And we tend to forget that when we let a little bit of flesh in to our lives. You don't plant a bean to harvest the bean. You harvest a whole bunch of beans.

You don't plant a tomato to harvest a tomato. You harvest a whole bunch of tomatoes all summer long. And you don't cater to the flesh in one area of your life and it just stops there. It never stops there.

It always comes out in a whole bunch of ways. Oh God, would you let that soak in? And the third part of the law of sowing and reaping is that you reap later than you sow. You don't plant a bean tonight and harvest beans tomorrow morning.

And brothers and sisters, that is where the enemy really deceives people. Drift takes time. Before it takes toll. That's where the enemy lullabies people into believing that something isn't so. And then they don't see what's coming.

I mean, son, if you're not careful, you're going to have an accident if you don't slow down. And he doesn't slow down. And a year later, he hasn't had an accident. Dad was wrong. He could tell all of his friends.

Dad's wrong. But rarely is a prophecy fulfilled right away. Look out down the road. Son, if you comb your hair that way, you're going to end up buying a television. Crazy, isn't it? It is crazy. It's completely crazy.

It's so crazy, it's almost laughable. As I thought about that. And then I thought, or is it? Something's crazy. But maybe it's not the words of the Father. Maybe it's us. You know, before you laugh too hard on that one.

Remember that proverb? The righteous studieth to answer. I would like to turn to something here. And you can just listen. But in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 15 is an interesting verse to me. It says, That which hath been is now.

And I don't know what all that means, but that just sounds to me like history is repeating itself. That which hath been is now. And that which is to be hath already been. And I don't know what all that means, but it just sounds to me like history is going to repeat itself again.

That which hath been is now. And that which is to be hath already been. And God requireth that which is past. And I don't know again what all that means, but it just sounds to me like God requires of us that we learn something from history.

God requireth that which is past. History has repeated itself over and over so many times. You reap later than you sow. People forget that. It repeats itself again. You reap later than you sow. Don't ever forget that.

You sow to the flesh today, you're not going to pay right away. You reject everything at Bible school, you'll go home Sunday, Monday, just as spiritual as you came. It doesn't show up right away. You reap later than you sow.

But if you reject everything that's here, you are sowing to the flesh. And you will not reap spiritually. You will drift spiritually. I want to consider Adam and Eve on this point for just a moment, because this is such a crucial point for us to understand if we don't want to be deceived.

You know, God told Adam and Eve that in the day that you eat the fruit of this tree, you will surely die. Now, let me tell you how I believe Adam and Eve heard God say that. I believe that their mind was carnal enough, and they were taking God literal enough that this is the way they heard that.

Adam and Eve, in the day that you eat this fruit, you will drop dead. But you know what? They ate, and they did not drop dead. They were just as young and healthy as they were the day they were created.

When they paid the price for their sin, and they were driven from the garden because of disobedience, they were just as young and healthy as they were the day they were created. At least, by all appearance, I would say that that's how it was.

I think they would have felt that way. And I think the Bible says that they lived for around 900 years. And for 900 years, Adam could have said, God is good. God is true. But on that one point, God was wrong.

God said, in the day that we ate thereof, we would surely die. 900 years! He could have shared truth with others. But I'm going to tell you today that the promises of God come true. You don't mess with the law of sowing and reaping.

And I'm afraid that there are people here today who are hearing me exactly the same as Adam and Eve heard God. There are people here who could be hearing me say today that in the day that you moose your hair, you will lose faith in God.

And that's not the way it works. It's more subtle than that. Those things are just seeds. And when you let them into your life, they come up. And they produce a whole bunch of things just like them. That's part of the law of sowing and reaping.

And it's a very sobering part. They just have a whole bunch of such like that are connected to it. And down the road, later than you sow, you'll have more than you can handle. You will. But until that time comes, you can preach truth.

How those men at Bible school were wrong. But I'm telling you today, be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. God gives us no liberty to be deceived. Did you know that?

God gives us no liberty whatever to be deceived. In salvation, in theology, or in everyday life. That's pretty sobering, but it's very, very scriptural. And one area where the scripture warns us very clearly against deception is in the area of our physical body.

The Body as the Temple of God

Did you know that? In purity, in modesty, and in all the areas that we've been talking about here this week. Clothes, music, entertainment. I want to think about the temple of God for just a minute today.

And I know that I've said this before, but I'm going to mention it again, because I've noticed that the Word of God does that. So I'll take that liberty too. You study the Old Testament, and you will find that the temple of God was holy.

Very holy. God wanted to dwell with man. And that is where God chose to dwell, in the temple. That was His dwelling place. And God was in His holy temple, in the Ark of the Covenant. And that's what made it holy, that the presence of God was there.

That is where the Ark of God was kept. That's where the mercy seat was. That's where the veil of the temple was. And the holiest of holies, with the cherubims and seraphims, it was in the temple. And that is where God revealed His glory.