Revelation 18:4
“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
After the great destruction of Babylon in the Great Tribulation, God revealed their sins. God said this nation was filled with perversion, idolatry and drunkenness. God then stopped and sent a messenger to His people to say, “Come out of her, my people…” Why was it so imperative for the people of God to come out of her? God wanted them out because He did not want them to be “partakers of her sins.” God knew very well that if His people lived in the world, then they would become partakers of their sin.
This is part of the reason that Heaven is so wonderful. God says in Revelation 21:27, “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” God knows that the only way that Heaven can stay sinless is not to allow anything that is sinful in it. Only those who are saved are allowed there. Just like God wanted His people out of Babylon so they wouldn’t partake of her sins, He also will not allow sin into Heaven so that it will stay sinless.
A very important lesson is taught in these verses for any Christian who desires to live for God. You will never have victory over sin by living in the world. The only way you will obtain victory over the world is to get out of the world and to control the influences that will cause you to live like the world. It is the coming out of the world that helps you to gain victory over the world.
Every year in January, I have preached for a good friend in Reno, Nevada. It always shocks me as I step off the airplane into the terminal to see the slot machines lined up in the airport. I mentioned this to the pastor and the church, and to them it had become common place. The shock of the slot machines no longer affected them the same way it affected me. This is no knock against their Christianity, but this only reveals how we can become inoculated with sin. Because they are around it all the time, their senses had gotten use to seeing the slot machines; thus, they were not as shocked about those slot machines as I was.
Friend, that is exactly what the Devil tries to do to you. He simply wants you to accept the presence of sin about you. He knows that if you will be around it long enough that the shock of sin will no longer be there. He knows that if he can take that shock away that he has a better chance of getting you to partake of those sins.
This is why God wants you to come out of the world. God knows that if you live in the world, then you will eventually partake of the world. Yes, you have to live in the world, but you don’t have to be partakers of the world. Coming out of the world is very important to the health of your Christian life.
Let this devotional encourage you to take a look at the influences in your life. Are the influences in your life going to cause you to partake of sin or live a holy life? If you are going to let your life be a taste of Heaven on this Earth, then you are going to have to remove the influences of sin from your life so that the holiness of God can be seen through you. Coming out of the world is the only way you will accomplish this.