CCS Sermons
2 Corinthians 6:1-7:1
Second Corinthians chapter six, we're gonna pick up our text in verse three. It says, we give no offense in anything that our ministry may not be blamed. But in all things, we commend ourselves as ministers of God in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings, by purity, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, and by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying and behold, we live as chastened and yet not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. O Corinthians, we have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. Now in return, for the same I speak as to children, you also be open. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, and what communion has light with darkness, and what accord has Christ with belial, or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk among them, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord almighty. Therefore, verse one of chapter seven, having these promises, beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all filtiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Lord, we love you so much, and we just want to worship you, and tell you how much we love you. We want to give you thanks for the word that you have given to us. Lord, it truly is that light and a guide in our life that it has what we have need of in order to get through this life, and not just survive, Lord, but to thrive. We thank you for it. We pray that you would bless the teaching of it, as I give praise to you for these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. So, we pick up our book here in chapter six, verse one. And we're going to go through seven one. That's obvious. Paul starts out. He says, "We then as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain." Now, I think it's critical that we kind of go back to chapter five very quickly, because Paul is making reference that when he says, "We then as workers together with Him." He's talked about in chapter five about how we are ambassadors for Christ, how God has chosen us to represent Him in the world in which we live in. And as ambassadors, our job is to do the will of God and not our own will. And somehow or another, I think in the church today, has kind of got very convoluted. I think of the model prayer that Jesus gives us in the Gospel of Matthew. When the disciples ask them, "Teach us how to pray." He starts out and he says, "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And what we say, Lord, thy kingdom come, your will be done as long as it makes me happy. We don't say, "Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Because in heaven, there's no argument. There's no discussion. It's not a question. It is God's will, period, will be done. And eventually, it will be here, too, at least, I think, in the near future. And I believe for a thousand years, we will see the will of God being done within the government of the earth. And at the end of that time, then God will give us a new heaven and a new earth. And it will be perfect as God had intended it to be as we see in the book of Genesis. But our job as followers of Christ is that we look to him for his will to be done in us and through us, because as Paul has declared in chapter 5, he said, "We are ambassadors for Christ." In verse 20 of chapter 5, he says, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God." And I love this in verse 21, "For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him." A glorious hope. You know, I am not a religious person at all, not in the least little bit. And if Christianity was all about religion, I wouldn't be a part of it. But that's the glorious thing. It's not about religion. It's about relationship with God through Jesus Christ, his son, and the fact that he paid for my sins so that I have that opportunity to do that. Because if he hadn't had done that, we would all be separate from God without hope. But God has given to us this great hope that we can indeed have a relationship with him. I love it because, as a matter of fact, when we get to the end of our study today, we'll see the promise of God is that if we will follow him, then we will be his sons and daughters. We've had Father's Day a couple of weeks ago and talked about how wonderful it is to see God as our Father, to see him as the one who loves me perfectly. Without fault, God never makes a mistake. He doesn't create a mistake. He doesn't make a mistake. And he loves us with a perfect love. I get pretty excited about that, to be honest with you. I feel for those who are caught up in other religions. I think of Islam. Do you know that Muslims have no hope at all of ever seeing God? They Allah, that they worship, that they talk about, that they serve. There is absolutely no promise whatsoever that they will ever see him. We, as Christians, on the other hand, we have this glorious promise that one day we will see him face to face. And for those who know Christ, that is something that we get excited about. But for those who do not know Christ, it's a fearful thing. To stand before a holy God in all your imperfection and all your unholyness. You see, where it says here, he became sin for us, that we could become the righteousness of God. When I stand before God, it's not in my righteousness, but in his. And his righteousness is perfect. I don't have to worry about it. There's no little thing that he missed. It's all there. And I get excited when I consider these things. And we talked about this in the beginning of chapter 5, when Paul was telling us to be absent from the body, is to be in the presence of the Lord. And really, how? That should excite us. Instead of terrifying us. And God wants us in that relationship with him of love. And he's chosen us to be ambassadors, an ambassador when he sent to another country, he or she. They're not there to represent themselves, their own ideas, their own politics. Anything, they are there strictly to represent the country that has sent them there. And I can only imagine what that's like. I can only imagine what it would be like to be an ambassador to somewhere like Iran or Iraq. I have huge disagreements with their government and the things that they do. But if I was the American ambassador, I'm there not to get involved with their politics, not to try to change them, their religion or anything else. But I'm there to represent the United States what we stand for and what our government says that we're willing to do. Keep that in mind as you think about being an ambassador for Christ. You're here. This is why God saved you, right? I'm one of those that always likes to ask questions, right? When I got saved, it's like, why did you save me? Well, I mean, I understand those basic principles that he loves me. He desires to spend eternity with me. But there's got to be a whole lot more to it than that. Paul lines it out for us. They're in chapter five and here in chapter six as well. As we go through this, we need to keep in mind the idea of being an ambassador, because he says here, we then as workers together with him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God and being. I love this. The first thing that we have to take note of is this. It says, we then as workers with him, he's not a worker with us. We are workers with him to do his well, whatever that may be. It doesn't matter. God has created us for a purpose. He desires that we would worship him in spirit and in truth and that we would serve him. And we'd make ourselves available for his beck and call. There is a psalm that the psalmist declares that we're not to be like the horse that requires a bridle and a bit in order to get us where we want to go, where we need to go. But we want to be that one, that at the voice command of the Lord that we simply obey, whatever that is. I'm fascinated by the lipazon stallions. I don't know if you guys are familiar with what they are and who they are. But they are extremely well trained stallions. And if you've ever been around horses and stuff, you know that stallions are very difficult to work with. Very strong will, very hard to get to do what you want them to do. And especially if there's any females around that are come to that season. Those liposons are so trained that the riders never speak a word to the horse. Everything is simply done by a movement of the knees as to what they want the horse to do. They do it in unison, in unison. And it's such a beautiful thing. And I think of that when I think about how God wants us to be with him. He wants it to be a simple, simple process. Now, the only thing that ever gets in my way is me. That's it. The more I submit myself to him, the more that I follow him. The easier it becomes to do the will of God. I'm old enough now, walked with the Lord for over 68 years now. And I have learned that I want to be so in touch with God and His Holy Spirit that all he has to do is say a word. And I do what he wants me to do. And I have found great benefit in that. Now, in the beginning, I wasn't like that. I was one of those wild stallions that the Lord had to put a bit in the bridle in his mouth and had to break him. But as long as it's effective within our life, then it's got a great purpose. He says that we are workers together with him. And so Paul says, also, plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. That's an interesting statement. He says here that we're not to receive that grace in vain. Grace is a gift from God that cannot be earned. There's nothing we can do to earn the grace of God. It is the unmerited favor that God has towards those that are his. And as grace is constantly being poured out into a world, being offered up to them, to any who would receive, he's constantly offering that up. And how does he do that? Well, he does that through us. So what does it mean to receive it in vain then? Well, Paul was urging the Corinthians to take God's grace seriously, to live up to the gospel's demands. Salvation is free. Christ has provided it. Grace is given freely from God. But don't think there isn't an expectation as you receive that grace that you should live in such a fashion that reflects the gift that has been given to you. It should be always that when people look into our lives, that they can see how that grace has been applied to us, causing them to hunger and to thirst for the things of God. The one thing about walking with the Lord for so many years that if there's a negative side to it, it would be this. That when I first accepted Christ, it was really easy for people to see the effect of grace into my life. It was a radical transformation. And those who were close to me could see it. They knew it, and they marveled at the power of God to change my life as he had. Well, now when I meet somebody, they see me all cleaned up. That's why I don't shave that way. Nobody gets the wrong idea. I'm still just a little rotten guy. But anyways, it's just harder to see than what it used to be. And so when people see me, they don't see the old Bob. They see the new Bob. And that would be the only drawback. But believe me, I'm willing to suffer through that for the benefits of having Christ change my life. It just means I need to work a little harder at being able to convince them that they, too, need that grace. When I was young in the Lord, I used to have tattoos. And this is not about the goodness or the badness of tattoos. They don't worry about that. If you've got a tattoo, well, praise God. But I had some that were very unsightly. And as a matter of fact, I had one in my arm that was of a cartoon character who was giving the bird. And I had some things written over the top of the bottom that were very worldly and very nasty. And I used to have little kids all the time that would come up to me. And they say, hey, Pastor Bob, what is he doing? Is he eating a banana? And so it was really-- one of those things is like, OK, I don't want to lie to this child. But I certainly don't want to tell him the truth either, about what that was and what it meant. And God in his grace afforded me the opportunity to get it removed. And I'm grateful for that. But before I got those removed, it was for some a clear indication of who I had been in the world. They could see that as one man told me. He said, I wouldn't believe you were that person, except for I see the scars on your body. And I know it's true. Praise the Lord for his grace and his wonderful spirit that changes us from the inside out. But it doesn't mean that I stop telling people about Jesus and convincing them that they need what I received so many years ago. And the hope is that one day you too can be that person that people find it's hard to believe you were ever that way. But it's all about God and his love and the grace that he has given. Don't take it in vain. You know, it's a gift that God gives. And we should be out there sharing that with the world. That is going to hell in a hand basket right now. Verse 2, for he says, in an acceptable time, I have heard you. And in the day of salvation, I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. This is a quote from Isaiah 49 verses 8 through 12, a prediction that God would bring them out of the Babylonian captivity. But Paul understood Isaiah's prediction as also being fulfilled in his day. God had sent Jesus to the earth. It was the time of God's favor. Moreover, Jesus died on the cross to save all who believed in him. It was the day of salvation. So Paul, being God's messenger, just as Isaiah was, echoed Isaiah's message with even more urgency. Paul announced that what Isaiah was looking forward to had occurred. God offers salvation to all people. Many people put off making a decision to receive God's salvation, thinking that there will be a better time. But they could easily miss their opportunity altogether. There is no time, like the present, to receive God's forgiveness. Now is today. And it is the day when God has revealed his great plan of salvation to us. Don't put it off. Don't put it off. I have personal experiences where I've known folks that I've shared the gospel with who put it off and put it off. And the next thing I know, I heard they got killed. And the first thing I thought in my mind was, oh, man, I wonder will I see him in heaven? I'm taking up too much time. Otherwise, I share with you a great story of a young man that I worked with. See, there I go. I'm starting it already. Share the gospel with him many times. Find young man. Needed Jesus, just like everybody. And he got killed in a fight with some other fellas. They shot him and did not know whether or not accepted Christ in that time period when he was in and out of consciousness. While he was in the hospital, I have no clue for sure. But I do know this. What I've been sharing with him had an impact on him because he was taking that home to his wife and telling his wife about what we were talking about. And when he got killed, she called me. She said, you're the only religious person we know. What you do is memorial. So that tells me that what I was telling him-- and it wasn't just me. There were six other Christians in this shop where I worked and everybody had shared a gospel with him. But boy, sure would have been nice to know that he had accepted Christ. I have that hope because I know God loved him more than any of us. And I can tell you this, having had experiences in my own life where I was very near death, that that clarion voice of God is so powerful and so clear at that time when it's like you're leaving this world and going into his. And I trust that the Lord spoke to him and that he gave his life to Christ. But don't put it off. Don't put it off. You don't know what tomorrow brings. That's for sure. We don't even know what the next two hours bring in our life. Verse 3, he says, we give no offense in anything that our ministry may not be blamed. So Paul didn't want any of his actions to discredit God or the gospel. The last thing he wanted to do was to bring ridicule on God's glorious plan of salvation. All Christians should show this kind of care. As God's children, Christians should live like they belong to God. We have seen, as we've gone through first Corinthians, now we're going through second Corinthians, that one of the great emphasis that Paul brings about is to talk about him, self, and his ministry and the things that he did to make sure that they understood about his motives and his purpose, that they were not self-centered, that there was nothing that he was trying to get out of it for himself, that it was all about them, all about giving them the truth of God's word, and not only the truth of God's word, but how much God desired that they would walk and live in that truth. We're going to see here in a moment how he gives his big long list of all the things that they had gone through. Well, here's the thing that you have to understand. Paul, at this point in time with the Corinthians, is having to defend his apostleship. And one of the criticisms that people had was that Paul really was not a true apostle. And the evidence of that was all the things that he went through, the persecutions, the trials, that all the things that had happened that were virtually devastating to most. But Paul, he declares them openly that that is not the truth, that he had no ulterior motives. Everything was about God and them coming to know and to walk in the power of God. And he lists those things out for us here in just a moment so that they could see that this is who he went. He spoke openly. He didn't try to hide anything. He didn't try to make something look good when it wasn't. He was honest and open about all that was going on in him and that they needed to understand that. So that when those criticisms came, that they could say, oh no, that's not true. You know, there's one thing that's always wonderful is when you don't have to defend yourself because others do, because they know you well enough to know your lifestyle, that when somebody makes an accusation that you say, no, that's not true. I know it's not true because I know that person. And that's how Paul lived. And that's what he did with his ministry. And he wanted no offense to be for anyone. Verse four, but in all things, we commend ourselves as ministers of God in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses. Paul and his associates faced various trials without regard for themselves. But with God's help, they had great endurance. This was the sort of commendation that the Corinthians should have required for authenticating their ministers. Paul listed nine trials and three sets of three each in verses four and five. And then he mentioned nine inner qualities in verses six and seven, followed by nine pairs of paradoxes in verses eight through 10. First, he mentioned the general difficulties, troubles, hardships and distresses. Like I said, Paul in defending his apostleship was honest about all that was going on. And those that were saying, because he was going through hardships, distresses and troubles, then he couldn't possibly be an apostle. It's interesting, those kind of lies have not stopped even to this day. You'll find ministries that are out there that declare that if you're not healed, it's because you don't have the faith. If you're not rich, it's because you don't have the faith. Puts all of it upon us rather than upon God. Hey, I'm not rich by any sense of the word, monetarily, that's for sure. But that's God's design in my life. I'm all right with it. It keeps me in a place of seeking the Lord all the time for my needs. And I got it, I can tell you for sure if I was a rich man. If I were a rich man, yeah, I'd get it. You know, I would not be dependent upon God. I don't think I'd even ask him if it was okay if I spent his money. I'd just say, you know what, I think I'd like this. And so I'm gonna just do it, and I'm gonna even justify, oh, this would really be a good thing if I was to give this money to this or that or this person or that person. When in essence, truly, I could get in the way. God may be doing a work. And my doing that, I actually interfere with what God was trying to do. I'm like that. So he keeps me broke. And I would say humble, but then I'd lose all my humbleness. You lose humility the moment you say you're humble. So, you know, the Lord's got a way about doing things that are really, really great. And anytime somebody says that if your life's not blessed, if you're not healed, if you're not rich, if you're not whatever it may be, then you know that that's not from the Lord. That's not from God, because truly Paul, he could've had so much more in the life that he lived if he wanted to, but he tells us in another epistle, he says all those things that I found that I thought were gained in my life, they turned out to be a big pile of manure. All those things that I thought so much about really meant nothing. And he was willing to give it all up for the sake of the gospel. He even tells the Corinthians, he says, you know, I could've been like the rest of those guys that come around that you seem to like so much, and I could've demanded money from you just like they do. But I did not want you to think that I was in this for money. I was in it because I wanted to share the gospel freely, freely, I have received freely, freely, I give them. So I work all day long, making tense, and then minister the Word of God to you all night. He was willing to make those kinds of sacrifices. In verse five, he says, "In stripes and imprisonments in toll molds and labors "and sleeplessness and fastings." Paul listed three specific kinds of persecution he endured in his ministry, beatings and imprisonments and riots. He experienced all three of these in Philippi. We see that in Acts chapter 16. And the third group describes impositions. He accepted as a part of the demands of ministry. And he was not adverse to hard work at all, nor a stranger to sleepless nights or to hunger. You know, all this stuff recently that's been going on in my life, in particular, one of the difficulties I'm having in recovery from this procedure that I had is sleeplessness. And when you have a bad night and the next night you have a good night, you're okay. But when you have two, three, four of them in a row, man, I'm telling you, God is showing me just how weak I am, how strong my flesh is, and how weak I am. Because, man, my wife wouldn't tell you this, so I'll tell you, I get cranky. I get cranky when I don't get sleep. She will tell you, by the way. She rebukes me often. So, but the thing if it is, is Paul says that in these things that he not only endured, but he didn't just persevere, he triumphed in those things. As a matter of fact, we see in another placement, Paul talks about all that he went through the beatings of shipwrecks and all that kind of stuff. When he gets to the end of the list, he says, and here's the capstone to it all, the burden that I carry for the churches. And that burden of sleeplessness, prayer, and concern about others. Paul says, look, this is the mark of my apostleship. All these other guys, they're nowhere near that. Nowhere near that. By purity, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love. So, Paul balanced his nine kinds of trials in three triads. With nine internal qualities. By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. So, Paul's ministry advanced because of his spiritual resources. In truthful speech, he proclaimed the gospel. We saw that in chapter four, verse two. And he relied on the power of God in the person of the Holy Spirit to produce results. And we will see that when we get to chapter 10 and verse four, but also in first Corinthians chapter two, verses four and five. Relying on God, Paul was completely equipped with the weapons of righteousness to cope with the attacks of the adversary from any quarter, right or left, and to send him fleeing. That's how Paul operated in those things. Verse eight, he says, "My honor and dishonor, "by evil report, by good report, "as deceivers and yet true, "as unknown and yet well known, "as dying and behold we live, "as chastened and yet not killed. "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, "as poor, yet making many rich." Of course, when he says, "making many rich," he's talking about the richness that comes from knowing God through Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That's what is rich in our hearts and our lives. The idea of having even enough is foreign in many countries, and I'm not trying to be funny there. There are many places where people don't get to eat, but maybe once or twice a day, some even less than that. But yet, you'll see those same people who have given their life to Christ, how content they are with the life that God has given them, and they share the gospel with others, the hope. Because they understand, if we go all the way back to the beginning of chapter five, when Paul makes it very clear, it's not this world that we need to be attached to. It's the one that is to come. It is heaven, and for some people that live in certain countries, it is the hope of their life. Is that it's not here. Is that they know that when they die, that they will go to a place that God has promised, that is far greater than anything, this world could ever produce or mimic heaven as far grander than God's greatest part of his creation here. One, because it contains him. He's in the midst of it all, right? And that's what Paul is saying, is that this is what's really important in life. Is that? That's the richness. That's making others rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. O Corinthians, we have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. Paul had been completely straightforward with the Corinthians, his transparent honesty, is mentioned at numerous places in this letter in chapter one, and two different places, chapter two, chapter four and chapter five. Paul speaks of the fact that he has been completely honest with them, critics at Corinth were accusing Paul of some sort of deception. Paul hoped that the very fact that he was cataloging his own weaknesses and sufferings before the Corinthians would testify to his openness. Who would submit a list of failures to one's critics? Would you? No, I gotta tell you, I don't have too much trouble confessing my shortcomings before the church. But do you think I confess all my shortcomings to you? Probably not. There's some that are there in the recesses of my heart that are just between me and the Lord, you know? Paul, he says, "Hey, we were completely transparent with you." He lists out all these things, all those critics were saying that because of those things you list their Paul, that is the very thing that you say is the proof text that you're really not an apostle. And you know what? To be honest with you that anytime we're unwilling to confess our faults one to another, we present ourselves in a way that is not accurate at all. Because people could get the wrong idea about who we are. They could get the idea that in some way, somehow, we were perfect, that we really don't sin. But we say that we do because we know we need to, because nobody is sinless. So therefore, I'll confess a little of this and that in order to be able to prove my point. The truth is, is that we need to be open with one another, confessing our faults to one another, that we might encourage one another in our walk of faith. And beloved, I gotta tell you, the only way that that happens is when you develop relationships with one another that are more meaningful than a Sunday morning. Casual acquaintances do not get to hear about the real deep things of my life. Close friends do, though. I've got friends of mine that I know that I can just bear my heart and I know what they'll do. They'll give me counsel if I need it. They'll exhort me if I need it. They will always pray for me because they know I need it. But acquaintances, I don't do that way. So that's part of the purpose within the church itself is that those relationships develop as brothers and sisters and that we're able to confess to each other our faults to encourage one another. Now, sometimes we don't do that because we really don't want to change. If somebody knew what I was doing, they might tell me that I was, I was shouldn't be doing that because that's not right. Well, I don't want somebody telling me what to do. Me and the Lord, we're mates. We've got a thing going on. He knows me, he knows I'm not perfect, so I'm okay and he lets me get away with all the things I get away with. And there's truth to that because of grace. God, if he held us to the standard which is expected, then I think we all would be in deep trouble, to be honest with you. But as grace as such is that he tolerates us. He allows us to exercise that free will in order to get us to exercise our free will to obey. Because that's the whole idea behind it. You ever wonder about the whole thing about in Genesis? Right? Adam and Eve, he creates them. Perfect father, bad children. Go figure that one, right? So if you're beating yourself up for your kids, don't bother. You know, here's the thing, if I would have been God, when that woman took of that fruit, it would have been done. We're starting over. Either that or all the guys are gonna be celibates. One of the two, no fun in that though. So I used to think, why Lord, why would you do that? And it's so clear, for the same reason that he put the tree in the midst of the garden, it was because he desired that Adam and Eve would simply obey because they loved him, not because they had to. Even though God gave them a very stern warning, did he not? Hey, the moment you eat of that fruit, you will die. But yet, he didn't say, okay, that's it. I'm gonna do away with them, try again. 'Cause in order to get what he wants from us, his creation, he'd still be doing away with him, trying again, right? 'Cause he's given to us that choice, that choice to love him, to obey him and to do his will. In verse 12, Paul says, "You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. Now, in return for the same, I speak as to children, you also be open." In other words, Paul says, "Look, I've been truthful with you, I've been open with you, I've declared these things to you." Now, reciprocate that back. That's the relationship part of things that takes place, right? Is being able to share with one another our faults so that we can effectively pray and counsel one another in the things of God. Paul had revealed his true feelings for the Corinthian believers. He and his coworkers were not withholding their affection from them. The Corinthians, however, were reacting coldly to Paul. They criticized his preaching, his writings, and his demeanor among them. Although Paul, along with Silas and Timothy, had founded the Corinthian church, the church was rejecting his founder. And think into this, a mindful of Acts chapter 18, when you see, when Paul goes to Corinth. And while he is there, God speaks to him and he says, "Paul, fear not, for I have many in this town." It was rough. I think Paul wanted to go. I think he wanted to quit. I think he would have quit. But God said, "No, there are many in this community." And not only that, I want more in this community so that they would come to faith. And Paul was willing to endure all this stuff, all this stuff in order to have that opportunity, the criticisms, the lying, all the things that were going on in the Corinthian church, the divisions, everything about it, Paul didn't give up. He strove even harder in order to bring correction into their midst so that they could have a full and vibrant relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And you and I, of course, we should be extremely grateful that Paul was willing to do this for the Corinthians. For it doesn't take much at all to look around in church throughout history and even recent history like today, that the Corinthian church is still alive. But all of it sin and all the things that it was doing. And if we didn't have God's word to bring correction to us, man, how bad would we be? If it wasn't for the fact that the Lord says no, don't go there, don't do that because I want you to follow me and to love me. Verse 14, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness and what communion has light with darkness." So this is very emphatic when Paul says this here. He says, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers." It's not like it's an option. It's not like, well, you know, there's certain cases where this is true, certain cases where it's not. Paul makes it very clear and we'll see here in a moment as he will quote a section out of Leviticus when it talks about, excuse me, I'm sorry, it's right here. When he's talking about unequally yoked, they were forbidden to yoke like a mule and an oxen together because they couldn't pull together in unison and one would work and it could hurt the one and all that kind of stuff. So God made a law. He says, "Don't do that. Make sure you got oxen with oxen mules with mules, whatever horses, whatever you're gonna use but make sure they are the same." And in this same sense, when he says this here, "Don't be unequally yoked with an unbeliever." He's talking about that very thing and he'll give us some very logical, rhetorical questions that he asked when he says here. He said, "What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?" Well, if you've been a Christian for more than two days, you understand that. It has nothing in common. You can't have righteousness in lawlessness. They are diametrically opposed, diametrically opposite of one another. And what communion has light with darkness? Well, it's not possible. As a matter of fact, did a study on light one time but I just thoroughly enjoy it. Just the physics of it and also just the concept and the idea of it. And that is that light and darkness cannot inhabit the same place at the same time. Because light will always overtake darkness. Our sister Terry's here today. So I'll make mention of this. We have a candlelight service every year. And I tried to stop it and she threw such a fit, I couldn't. And so, but in our candlelight service, one of the things we do is it's all dark and then we light a candle and then one person lights that their neighbor's candle and so on and so forth. So we have a whole room of candles. And you can, if you're standing up here, you can easily see that the room just starts growing lighter and lighter and lighter and lighter and lighter. And you know that if you needed to, you could actually do okay with that light. But darkness can overtake you. And that's a beautiful picture of our glorious savior which he has declared to be the light of the world. John in his epistle, first John, declares that God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. There's no no cranny and there's no shadow. There's nothing, he's just pure light. And it overwhelms the darkness. And that's why we can see in this world today how darkness is trying to overtake the world. But in that same epistle, John says, greater is he that is in us than he who is in the world. The light that is in us will conquer the darkness that is in the world. That we know for sure. It may seem like they're gaining ground and they may be to some degree, but they'll never take the ground that we take by the light of Christ. If we hold it by that light, by that faith, then we can count on the fact that God will be victorious. We're not to be unequally yoked. I wanna read a little quote by Tozer. He says, "Men think of the world not as a battleground, but as a playground. We are not here to fight. We are here to frolic. We are not in a foreign land. We are at home. We are not getting ready to live. We are already living. And the best we can do is rid ourselves of our inhibitions and our frustrations and live this life to the full." I would say that is a good portion of the mindset of the church today. To live their life to the full. I started out with talking about how as ambassadors, we represent Christ and it's not our option to first of all misrepresent him or to live in such a way that it misrepresents him. We're not here to frolic. We are in a battle. Paul even makes mention of the fact that he put on that righteousness on the right hand and the left hand because he knows the battle that was there. He tells us here that we are not to be yoked together with unbelievers. There's two rhetorical questions that he gives us here. And the ethical difference between believers and unbelievers is given. The first question emphasizes that Christians as recipients of God's righteousness through Jesus are to live righteous lives here on earth. In contrast, unbelievers do not pay attention to God's law and are dedicated to wickedness. Obviously, they have nothing in common. The second question emphasizes that Christians are committed to the truth. The scripture, light often refers to God's truth in his gospel message, which has penetrated the darkness of this world. So here's the thing. When we look at this, the question has to come up. What does it mean that we are not to have fellowship then with unbelievers? Well, first of all, let's go to verse 15. It says, what accord has Christ with Belial? Belial is a transliteration of a Hebrew word that is used for Satan. That's what Belial is. What accord, what in common does Christ have with the devil? Now, if you're a Mormon, you believe that they're brothers. But that's not what the scriptures say. There is nothing in common that they have. Christ represents righteousness and truth. And Satan, of course, represents darkness and a lie. So what part has a believer with an unbeliever? Here, the word unbeliever, Paul means a disbeliever, not just an unconverted man who yet approves Christ. And I say that because when we were in first Corinthians, Paul made it very clear that when he's talking about separating yourselves from those who practice drunkenness or sexual immorality or any of those things, he says, now, I'm not telling you, separate yourself from those who are in the world. He said, but I am telling you, if there's somebody in the church that are practicing these things, separate yourself from him. And if you remember, in first Corinthians, there was a young man who was sleeping with a stiff mother, Paul makes it very clear. You need to kick this bum out of the church. Hey, don't give him that right hand of fellowship. That way, his body may perish, but his soul may be saved. I think I got that right, but I don't know. Anyways, the truth is this, that the guy would come to repentance. And in second Corinthians, we see at the beginning of the book he did, he came to repentance, so it had its effect. So Paul's not talking about being separated, moving into a Christian commune somewhere, separating yourself from the world and not letting anything of the world even come close to you or whatever. That's not what Paul's talking about. But he is talking about having communion and fellowship with those who are unconverted. You cannot-- I've shared this story many times, but it's the best one that I have, and that is my best friend. I accepted Christ, and he did not. And it wasn't long where I could not spend time with him. Because our fellowship centered around darkness, and so I was being drawn back into that darkness. I had to separate myself for a number of years until I had grown and became strong enough that I knew that I could stand and wouldn't be drawn in by the influence of him. And now, he's walking with the Lord, and it's wonderful what God has done. But there was a period of time. And when I got saved, there was a crowd that I was running with that run pretty hard and not real good lifestyle, and the Lord removed me out of that. And thank God, they wanted nothing to do with me after I became a Christian. That was taboo. And so God did me a favor there. But yet, at times, you see people where they think, well, I can marry a nonbeliever, and he'll come to faith if I marry him or her, whichever the case may be. And I can actually point some examples where that did work. But for everyone that I know of that did work, there's 10 that did not. And God makes it very clear in his word that we're not to have that kind of communion and fellowship with those who do not know Christ. If a person marries a nonbeliever, the house will be divided immediately, there will be arguments that ensue as to whether or not the children are going to be raised in the church by one or the other. God's grace and mercy is such that sometimes it has worked for folks. But it's certainly not an example we want everybody to follow. Verse 16, "And what agreement has the temple of God with idols for you are the temple of the living God? As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them. And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord almighty." So Paul, of course, he is quoting three different Old Testament verses when he talks about this. But he makes sure that we understand the Corinthians where having trouble with idol worship or rumor, Paul says, no, you can't do that. It has no place in your life whatsoever. Whatever that may be for you and your life, I can't say, I don't know. But I do know this, that God wants us to be unguarded anything that would captivate our hearts as a form of worship. And when I talk about that, anything that has greater importance to you in your life than God is an idol. I don't care what it is. If it's more important to you to stay home and watch a baseball game on a Sunday, than to go to fellowship and worship God, it's an idol. Now, you're probably not setting your TV up and we're seeing it, you know, bounding death to it. But nonetheless, it's captivated your heart. And so that's what Paul is talking about here. We are the temple of God. And God's promise is that he will dwell in us and walk among us. I will be their God, they shall be my people. And I love this, he says, therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. It always troubles me when I see Christians who, they get saved and they're doing great, they're walking with the Lord and everything's going along pretty good. And then they decide that what they have is liberty. Liberty to go back to some of the things that they were doing before Christ. Whether it may be drinking, and I have to say today, more than ever, a problem is smoking pot. It's legal now. There are a lot of Christians that think it's perfect. OK, smoke note. And the only thing that I have to say about this is this. God's command is come out from among them. And God says that when you do that, that I will be your God, you shall be my people. Why would I ever want to go back to something that he has called me out of? That he has given me victory over in my life. Those things never did anything good for me. Ever. And exercising it to any degree, even if I can control it, I've set a mark of compromise in my own heart with me and the Lord. Part of that is because I'm just a black and white kind of guy. I mean, they're in or out. There's no middle ground. So I come out, and I don't go back. Verse 1 of chapter 7, we'll finish it. I know you guys were saying he's never going to get there. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. We can just look at this chapter in chapter 5 and see all these glorious promises that God has given to us. But the Bible is just full of promises from God. So many that we can spend another two hours, which I have a short list of, we're OK, going through them all. But the truth is, I just want to just a couple of things. He says, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. You know what? This fear is not being afraid of God. It's all. What I started out with was that God desires to have a relationship with us. And in that relationship, we certainly are in all who he is. And if that doesn't drive us to come out from among them, then certainly the communion part of relationship that God has broken down. It's not what it could be and should be, to be honest with you. And I say that I've walked with the Lord for a long time now, and I wish I could tell you that I've arrived, and there's no need for any kind of further sanctification in my life, but that's not true. There's constantly things that God is working on in my heart and my life that I need to come out from. Second Peter, 1, 3, and 4, it says, as his divine power is given to us, all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these, you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. That's the promise of God, that if we will do that, if we will trust in him, we will look to him, then what he will do indeed is that he will enable us to escape from the very clutches of the world and of the flesh. I've got a whole lot more, but I'm not going to go over him. Let's pray. Father, we love you. We thank you. I pray that you strengthen this in our heart and mind to be able to, Lord, just to follow you with our lives. Help us, Lord, to come out. Help us to see the areas where we need to come out from among them. Lord, speak to our hearts, convict us by your Holy Spirit, that we might be that righteousness that you have desired us to be, being a partaker, that divine nature, having escaped that corruption that is in the world through lust. Lord, bless us today as we contemplate your word in all that you're doing and working in us. We ask it in Jesus' name. And everyone said, amen. If you would stand, please. [BLANK_AUDIO]