Sermon Overview Scripture Passage: Genesis 13:10-19:29 Pastor, author, and teacher Adrian Rogers said, “We hear a lot about the separation of church and state; we need to hear more about the separation of church and world.” Separation from the world is the first duty of any believer in Jesus. If you are a child of God, you’re going to find yourself in conflict with this world. When we say “world,” we’re not talking about the actual planet or the people who inhabit it. The planet is God’s creation, and the people are what He loves the most. We are talking about an ungodly system, philosophy, or order. The world has its charming persuasions. The world will offer many things to gain our affiliation, but charm is deceitful. The world has its controlling power. It will squeeze you into a mold very subtly, in your sense of direction, and then your decisions. It further controls you through its deception until finally you are destroyed. The world has its corrupting pollution. Those who play with fire—or even play in close proximity to the fire—will be burned. We talk about the world with its empty philosophies, but we must never forget this is a dirty, dirty world. Also, the world has a costly price to pay. We look in Scripture at the example of Sodom: a city of the world, an abomination in the eyes of God. Lot, despite his love for God, loved Sodom as well. God delivered Lot from the city before raining fire upon it. But Lot did not leave unscathed. Lot’s decision to love Sodom cost him his faith. He eliminated his fellowship with God. It cost him his family. He lost his doubtful wife, his twisted daughters, and his scornful sons-in-law, and it cost him his fortune. It all went up in smoke with the city he gave half his heart to. What we learn from Lot is to be pure and undivided at heart, eyes completely fixed on Jesus and His instruction given to us in Scripture. Apply it to your life The Serpent doesn’t wait for us to come out to the garden anymore. He strikes us at the playgrounds. Stay alert. Keep your focus in the Bible and put on the armor of God. We have to be ready to crush the Serpent’s head, even if it bruises our heels.
