THE LORD'S PRAYER: SEPARATION

🕊️ The Lord’s Prayer: Separation

Text: John 17:9–16
Theme: The importance and biblical approach to separation

🔹 Introduction

This one prayer encapsulates the whole life of Jesus Christ.
We see in the Lord’s prayer His role as Son, Servant, and Sacrifice. That is our pattern: to live as sons of God, servants of God, and living sacrifices unto God.
Last week we saw Jesus’ submission to God’s will, work, and word.
This week, we see His separation—and four things to remember about it.

I. 📖 Separation is a Bible Doctrine — 2 Corinthians 6:17

“If you are a Christian, be a Christian; if you belong to the world, live as the world lives. But if you are Christ’s, come out and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing. There can be no communion between the temple of God and idols.” — Charles Spurgeon

  • Jesus was separate from sinners (Hebrews 7:26).
    There must be a visible difference between the saved and the lost, the church and the world.

  • O.T. priests were separated and consecrated to God. The Church is now that priesthood (1 Peter 2).

  • Henry Varley once said to D.L. Moody:

    “The world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to Him.”
    One life wholly separated to God can impact eternity.

II. 📜 Separation is Found Throughout the Bible — Genesis 13:9 (first mention)

From Eden to Eternity, Genesis to Revelation, and Adam to Christ, God separates:

  • Adam & Eve from the garden because of sin

  • Noah & family from wickedness and destruction

  • Abraham from his homeland

  • Israel from Egypt

  • Moses & Aaron from the other Levites

  • Judah for the lineage of Christ

  • The Church from the world

  • The soul from the body at salvation

  • The sheep from the goats

  • The damned from the redeemed

“Where there isn’t separation there is compromise; where there is compromise there is corruption; and where there is corruption there are consequences.”

Numbers 16:21 — “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.”

III. 💠 Separation is Not Just From Something — But Unto Something

  • From Satan → unto the Savior (Ephesians 2)

  • From slave → unto servant

  • From sinner → unto saint

  • From sin → unto righteousness (Romans 6)

  • From sorrow → unto salvation (1 Thess. 4)

“The Christian is a man who has been separated from the world by the grace of God.
He no longer loves what he once loved, nor seeks what he once sought.
His treasure is in heaven, and his heart is there also.
The Christian is known by his separation from the world.
His tastes, his habits, his principles, his daily conduct, are all so many witnesses that he is not of the world.” — J.C. Ryle

IV. ⚖️ Separation is Not Isolation, It’s Insulation

Isolation → complete withdrawal
Insulation → connection without contamination

“To be separate from the world is not to withdraw from its work, but from its spirit.
The cross lifts us above its vanities and vile affections.” — Horatius Bonar

Illustration:
A lily grows from muddy water, yet remains pure and white above the surface.

Analogy:

  • Electrical wires are insulated — current flows, but safely.

  • The Christian is in the world but kept from evil (John 17:15–16).

  • Holiness is not freedom from temptation, but power to overcome temptation. — G. Campbell Morgan

🕊️ Closing Thought & Call to Action

As evil grows worse (2 Tim. 3:13), believers must draw closer together (Heb. 10:25).
Faithful preaching and fellowship are God’s remedy for an evil age (1 Tim. 4:13).

“The world seeks to draw the Christian back into its fellowship.
Only by abiding in Christ can we maintain the separation which God has made.
Our power to overcome the world lies in our union with Him.” — Andrew Murray

Jeffrey smith