Separated Unto God

I. The very goodness of God leads us into covenant with Him.
Romans 2:4 “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
A. God’s blessing is so great that He doesn’t threaten us in order to get us to serve Him.
B. God’s relationship with us is not based on our concept of love but upon His love demonstrated at the cross.
C. One of the greatest blessings we can receive is the revelation of the love of God.
I John 4:16-19 “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.”
D. God’s original intention was to have a people that lived under His blessings.
Genesis 1:28 “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

II. The God of blessing begins covenant with Abraham based on blessing.
Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
A. God called Abraham by His own initiative. All God needed was someone who would say yes.
B. Notice all the “I wills”.
C. Everything about Abraham’s relationship with God was about blessing.
D. The call of Abraham separated him from the world and unto God.
E. We are separated from the world and brought into a covenant of blessing with God.
Colossians 1:12-14 “giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
F. Abraham’s blessings are mine.
Galatians 3:26-29 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

III. The blessing of separation is a matter of deliverance and a great cause for worship.
Exodus 15:1-7 “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: "I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! 2 The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; my father's God, and I will exalt Him. 3 The Lord is a man of war; The Lord is His name. 4 Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. 5 The depths have covered them; they sank to the bottom like a stone. 6 "Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces. 7 And in the greatness of Your excellence You have overthrown those who rose against You;”
A. When God separates a people, He moves against everything that opposes them.
B. It was easy to praise god after the deliverance, but before the deliverance there was a lot of complaining going on.
C. If we realize we are in covenant with God, we will know that God has everything under control even when it doesn’t look like it.
D. The enemies of God’s people are the enemies of God. (You have overthrown those who rose against You)
E. Let’s begin to praise God in the face of the enemy before we see the answer.

IV. Separation unto God allows us to become a testimony of His grace and care to the world.
Psalm 137:1-4 “By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. 2 We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. 3 for there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" 4 How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?”
A. Those in the world really do want to see someone who has hope in hopeless situations.
B. That inspires them to believe and have hope as well. We can point them to Christ.
C. Who will rise up to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and the city set on the hill?
D. Captivity or desperate situations should not hold back our praise.
E. Are we any different than anyone else? Yes, we’re blessed – therefore we have a song.
F. We have a song because of the blessing of perfect peace in our covenant with God.
Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”