I would invite you to turn with
me this morning to 2 Corinthians and the 6th chapter. 2 Corinthians 6, beginning in verse 11. Our mouth is open unto you, our
heart is enlarged. Ye are not straightened in us,
but ye are straightened in your own bowels. Now for a recompense
in the same, I speak as unto my children, be ye also enlarged. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers? For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among
them. and be ye separate, saith the
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you,
and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty." Now, I don't feel like I have
a lot of voice this morning. But if I have anything to say,
if I have any message from the Lord, it has to be from this
text. I've looked at a lot of Scripture
this week, but I've not been able to escape
these verses that we've read. Paul writes and speaks these
words from a pastor's heart. He writes to those who profess
to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can sense the
feeling that he has for them in that eleventh verse when he
begins this part of his letter saying, O ye Corinthians. And he often expresses things
in this way in Scripture because he is like a parrot over his
children, seeing the dangers that they don't and being concerned
for their greatest needs that they don't seem to understand. He is like the servant of God
described in the Old Testament. He is a watchman set on the wall. A little later in this same book,
he says to them, for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy,
for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you
as a chaste virgin to Christ." He says much the same way to
those at Thessalonica, as ye know how we exhorted and comforted
and charged every one of you as a father doth his children."
And then you might remember what he wrote to those at Galatia. He says, "...my little children,
of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you."
And not only did Paul write to these groups and churches in
all these epistles, but so did John, who referred to those he
wrote to as these little children born of God. And in verse 11,
it tells us that he speaks from an enlarged heart. What does that mean? That means
a heart that swells with love for them. Some described His
words in another place as hard to be understood. And likewise,
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, they were described as hard sayings. But they both were words of love,
they were words spoken of the truth, and it would be said of
those Hebrews in Hebrews 5, he says, of whom we have many things
to say and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing. But these words come out of a
heart that loves this people, and such as are described in
Hebrews 13 who speak the Word of God. He says, Obey them that
have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for
your souls. Why is it that we are to hear
the spoken Word of God? Why would we listen to any man
seek to speak for God? He said, for they watch for your
souls as they that must give account, that they may do it
with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for
you. They watch for your souls. They say what they say, watching
for the souls of their hearers, and they themselves must give
account to God." And he says, not to hear, and not to listen,
and not to submit yourselves would be unprofitable, not for
them, he says, but for you. And then in verse 12, he says
something that amounts to this. He says to them, if you can't
rejoice in me and what I write to you, or if you cannot repay
or respond to me with the like in affection, then the fault
is in you. I have done my duty from a true
principle of love to you. He says, spoken the truth in
love. But no man stands before a people
and speaks in love who does not speak the truth. Then he says in verse 13, He
says, I speak to you as a spiritual father, and I do not want your
money, your silver, or your gold, or a reward from you, but only
your heart that is opened in love to me. Hold your place right
here and turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4, and listen
to how he expresses it in the first letter in verse 14. I write not these things to shame
you, but as my beloved sons I warn you, for though you have ten
thousand instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers,
for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." He said,
you may have many instructors, but he said, you only have one
that God has used to beget you or bring you to life through
the gospel that I preach. So what I say to you is not to
shame but rather to instruct you and encourage you and to
rebuke you, if necessary, by the Word of God. As a matter
of fact, in Hebrews, again, it says of God's people, And ye
have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as children,
which was what? My son, Despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him
for whom the Lord loveth. Them he chastens, and scourges
every son whom he receiveth." The Apostle John had this to
say concerning his greatest delight. He said, I have no greater joy
than to hear that my children walk in truth. So every word that is spoken,
including every rebuke, every word of chastisement, Every word
of exhortation, every word of comfort, every word spoken by
those sent of God are sent and spoken to be a blessing to the
Lord's people. And after he establishes this,
after he reminds them of this relationship, and of his love
for each and every one of them to whom he wrote, he sets forth
this very strong admonition. Look down in verse 14. He says, Be ye not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers. Now I realize that some have
taken that and narrowed that down to whatever little matter
they want to address among the Lord's people. But the truth
is, this is a very broad and a very general and a very all-encompassing
admonition from God. unequally yoked with unbelievers."
Now, there is a great temptation for us to do as so many have
done and to say that he has to be talking about the very worst
of society. But the truth is, he says, not
simply the immoral, not simply those who are blatantly and outwardly
wicked, not simply just those who are obvious false religionists,
not simply those who are unreligious in every way, but he says, but
all unbelievers." Be not unequally yoked to unbelievers. And what he's not saying here,
he's not saying become like a monk or something, or go live in a
monastery all to yourself. Because we know, just like Paul
knew, that we live in this world and we have many necessary dealings
and contacts with unbelievers in our work, in our home even,
and in our family, and in many situations of this life. If he were saying something like
that, that exclusiveness, how would the gospel ever go out? How would we ever speak the word
of truth to men and women? And he is certainly not saying
here that we are to live in this life and act in some way as those
who are holier than thou in the presence of others. But rather
he takes an illustration from nature and from the Old Testament
concerning the obvious problems that arise from seeking to yoke
together that which can't be. He's speaking of something like
we find in the Old Testament that was forbidden, which was
the yoking together of a horse and an ox. What would the problem
be? Well, there would be an obvious
difficulty in yoking together those things which are so different
in size. It would be wrong to seek to
yoke together in order to accomplish something those which were obviously
very different in speed. And without a doubt, who in the
world would want to yoke together in a team to plow or pull a cart
or whatever it would be, those which were so opposite in temperament? You wouldn't want to put a wild,
spirited horse on one side of that yoke and on the other side
put a slow, meek, and stumbling ox. That's what he's saying. As a matter of fact, under the
law in Deuteronomy 22, it says, Thou shalt not plow with an ox
and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment
of diverse sorts as of woolen and linen together. Why? to show the impossibility of
harmony, the impossibility that these two yoked together can
ever go in the same direction, can ever accomplish anything. And most especially, there cannot
be such a yoking together amongst those who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and those who do not. And what he is saying here
is simply what we find pictured, I believe, in the Old Testament
concerning the people of Israel and all those Canaanites in the
land that they were about to live in. Hold your place and
turn back to Exodus 34. As they are about to enter into
that land, as they are about to go into that which God has
promised. And by the way, I don't believe
Canaan is a type of heaven, but it is a type of this life that
the Lord's people live while they are here in this world.
All right? Look back in Exodus 34, and beginning
in verse 12, listen to what he says. He says, "...take heed
to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land,
whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee."
What is a snare? It's a trap. All right, listen. But ye shall destroy their altars,
break their images, and cut down their groves. For thou shalt
worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous,
is a jealous God. Lest thou make a covenant with
the inhabitants of the land, and they go a-whoring after their
gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and
thou eat, of his sacrifice." Oh, don't you imagine that they'll
go do their thing and then you'll let you do yours? No. He says
they'll call you. And what do you do? You'll eat of their sacrifice. All right? Listen to the next
verse. unto their daughters, unto thy sons, and their daughters
go a-whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a-whoring
after their gods." That was the instruction. In other words,
what it amounted to was the same thing that Paul is saying spiritually. Be careful, he says, be ye not
unequally yoked to unbelievers. And then Paul gives. He gives
in order to cause us to think. He gives in order to cause these
Corinthians to think about what is involved in this. He gives
them five questions by which to show them and remind them
of the great difference between unbelievers and what these Corinthians
professed to believe. You know what the Bible says
concerning God and His people? He says, God maketh His people
to differ. Now, they are not different by
nature. As a matter of fact, the same
apostle says that they are all, by nature, the children of wrath,
even as others. But God, in His distinguishing
grace and mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ, He has chosen them and
saved them out of the world. As a matter of fact, he says
they are not of this world. He tells them if any man loved
the world, the love of the Father is not in him. He says concerning
every person, if any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, And
I mean as he is in this book. Let him be anathema. Let him
be anathema maranatha. That means let him die the death. Jesus is coming. Paul, when he wrote to Timothy,
He says of Christ that He gave Himself for us that He might
redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar
people zealous of good works. A particular people. A distinguished
people. that Peter describes in this
way. He says, But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people,
that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvelous life. But since there are many dangers,
many, many dangers, and much deception, and many who seek
to allure our wandering hearts, he gives us all these warnings. And I found out this, and that
is only God's true people heed the warnings. They are part of
this great and marvelous work and word by which He preserves
and keeps every one of them. He, like Moses, moves them by
fear, He causes them to see their danger, and He enables them to
heed the warning. Only His people. As He says,
My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me. Now, what does He
say in verses 14 through 16? by question. He stands back and he says, first
of all, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? Isn't that what he says? What fellowship can there be
between those who have been made the righteousness of God in Christ
by grace, and those that Paul describes in another place, like
his own people, that he says they are going about to establish
their own righteousness. What kind of fellowship can there
be between people who look to the Lord Jesus Christ and call
Him all their righteousness, and those who, on the other hand,
cover themselves, dress themselves in the filthy rags of their own
self-righteousness. If we didn't know anything else,
we would know by the virtue of the fact that even among those
first two boys that were born into this world, Cain and Abel,
there could not be, even though they were brothers, any fellowship, because one was
righteous and the other was unrighteous. What fellowship can there be
between those whose hope is in an imputed righteousness, one
charged to their account by God, and that of Christ, and those
things that they do by their own hands or don't do? No way. No way. What fellowship could there be
between those who believe and hope in the free grace of God
alone and those who fly in the face of God's Word and seek to
be justified by their own works? There's no way. There's absolutely
no way. What in the world could they
have in common when the very essential thing to their existence
and their hope for all eternity is just exactly the opposite? And then he asks the second question.
He says, What communion hath light with darkness? What communion hath light with
darkness. You see, believers are described
as the children of light. It says that they have been made
light in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they have been enlightened
by His Word in the hands of His Spirit, and they have been shown
some things by God. Isn't that right? They're not
know-it-alls. And they don't claim to know
everything. But by the grace of God, they
have been shown some things by God. They're even described by
Christ Himself as those who have been taught of God. He's given them an understanding
that they might know the true God. They have light on what sin really
is in the sight of God. They have some knowledge and
understanding as to who God really is as He says He is in this book. And they have some light on what's
going on in this world. Do you have any light on what's
going on in this world? I know how we are sometimes.
We throw up our hands and we say, well, I just can't figure
out what in the world is going on. Yes, you can if you believe
this book. What's going on in this world
is the fact that God is carrying out His purpose. God is in that
glorifying Himself, and He is saving and calling out all of
His people. And we have some light, not only
on that, but we have some light on what will happen in the future. We know that Christ is returning
to this earth and he'll bring about a great transformation
of this earth and cause the very elements polluted by sin to melt
with a fervent heat and a new heaven and a new earth wherein
dwells righteousness. will be for all eternity. We're not guided by what the
world thinks is right and by what the world says is wrong. Not that the world in our day
says that there's anything wrong. But we're guided by what God
says is right. And we know that what God does
is right. He's given us light. We didn't
deserve it. We weren't looking for it. John
says, this then is the message which we have heard of him, and
declare unto you that God is light, and in him is no darkness
at all. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, We lie and do not the truth,
but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth
us from all sin." Do you know what light is that? That has
to be gospel light. That has to be the light of the
truth in Jesus Christ. And the very thing That is our
hope, the very light that God has given us in the crucified
Christ. Paul says, the gospel of the
cross or the preaching of the cross is to them that are perishing
foolishness. Just foolishness. He said the
natural man. That's what we are by birth and
nature, apart from the grace of God and the work of God's
Spirit. The natural man receives not
the things of God. They're spiritually discerned.
He cannot discern them, and therefore they are to them foolishness. Foolishness. Let me read you something in
2 Samuel. This came to my mind this morning. Most of us are familiar with
David. And on the occasion of the ark
falling into the hands of the wrong people, and then finally
being brought back to the house of one by the name of Obed-Edom,
David went down to bring up the ark. 2 Samuel chapter 6. And it was told King David, saying,
The LORD hath blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that pertaineth
unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought
up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of
David with gladness. He didn't bring it up the wrong
way this time. And it was so that when they
bare the ark of the Lord, they that bare the ark of the Lord
had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fattenings. And David
danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was girded
with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of
Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with
the sound of the trumpet. And as the ark of the Lord came
into the city of David, Michael, Saul's daughter, who was David's
wife, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and
dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart." She what? He rejoiced. Actually, what David
was doing was he was rejoicing in the gospel. That's what the
Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Lord stood for. That's
where the blood was sprinkled on the ark. That's where God
met with His people through that blood and sacrifice. But when
she saw Him rejoicing with the people over the return of the
ark of the Lord, it says she despised Him in her heart. And
they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place
in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it.
And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the
Lord. And as soon as David had made an offering, end of offering,
burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the
name of the Lord of hosts. And he dealt among the people,
even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well as to the
women, as men, to everyone a cake of bread and a good piece of
flesh and a flagon of wine. So all the people departed, every
one to his house. Then David returned to bless
his household. And Michael, the daughter of
Saul, came out to meet David and said, How glorious was the
king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of
the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly
uncovereth himself. What did David look like? He
simply became as one of the people, showing no distinction between
Him and any of the other people. They all came before God and
were accepted by God by one way. And that way was Christ as He's
pictured in the ark of the Lord. She mocked Him. David said unto Michael, it was
before the Lord which chose me before thy father, and before
all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the
Lord, over Israel. Therefore will I play before
the Lord, and I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own
sight, and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of
them shall I be had in honour." Therefore Michael, the daughter
of Saul, had no child until the day of her death. She wasn't a believer. David was. And they were yoked
together in this relationship. But when he began to worship
God, when he began to glorify God, when he began to look to
Christ, to praise Him, to thank Him, to put Him first, to abase
himself, she despised him and mocked him. What does Paul say thirdly? What
concord hath Christ with Belial? What is a concord? An agreement. Belial is for the most part in
Scripture used to speak of the devil. Christ distinguished when he
spoke between the children of God and the children of the devil. I heard some Christmas music
playing this week. And you know, you listen to things
and you don't realize what you've listened to. But this one was something about
Santa Claus coming. And according to the songwriter,
you know what Santa Claus knows? He says, Santa Claus knows that
we're all God's children. No way. Christ looked at those Pharisees
and He said, you are of your father the devil. The devil. John 8, He said to them, Why
do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear
my word. You are of your father the devil,
and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own, for he is a liar and the father of Those who believe a lie rather
than the truth. If they continue to do so, they
show themselves the children of him who is the father of a
lie. You remember Nabal. Maybe you
hadn't read about Naboth lately, but Naboth was a man who had
been given as a part of his birthright, which was a picture of something
spiritual. He had been given as a part of
his birthright a vineyard. But there was a king who wanted
that vineyard. And the king's wife, who was
a treacherous woman, arranged everything necessary for her
pouting husband to get that vineyard. And she told some people to tell
some lies in a big meeting, in a big gathering, to tell some
lies about Naboth. You know what she told them to
tell about Naboth? She told them to say out before
everybody, Naboth blasphemed God. That's about all you have to
do before a crowd, especially of religionists in our day. So-and-so
blasphemed God. So-and-so told a lie on God. So-and-so has departed from the
gospel. Do you know what they did? The mob
rose up and stoned him to death. Do you know how they were described?
Those who told the lies, who spoke the accusations, they were
described as the sons of Belial. They tolerate Naboth, his right
to have his vineyard, to keep that which was his possession?
No. But I'll tell you this, God wrought
a judgment against that people. He wrought a judgment against
that king. And as the prophet said, the
dogs licked his blood in a certain place when he was smote by a
man who drew a bow at a venture in a battle and smote in the
joint of the harness of his armor, and he died. And men took that wicked woman,
and they cast her out of the window of a high palace floor,
and their brains spattered there on the stone walkway below. And the Bible says, and the dogs
licked up her blood. What concord hath Christ with
Belial? Then he says this, What part
hath he that believeth with an infidel? What part? What could we have
in common, he says, those who believe with those who do not
believe? What do you think is the most
important aspect of our lives? If we're believers, it's Christ
who is our life. You see, the goals of a believer's
life are completely different from the unbelieving world. Our
chief goal is to glorify God. Men by nature, women by nature,
try to get all the glory that they can for themselves. Not
God's people. They've seen that He alone is
worthy of all the glory. Our goal is not to get all the
money we can, not to advance ourselves at all costs, not to
exalt ourselves, not to live purely for pleasure, gratifying
the flesh, God's people are going in a different
direction from the men and women in this
world. We believe in two different gods. We don't believe in what Paul
calls another Jesus or another gospel or another spirit. And the truth is, the generic,
one-size-fits-all God of this day is not God. All your religious friends, oh,
they're so nice. How are you going to think that
they're Christians? Well, they're just the nicest
people. They're the most generous people. And you could go on with an endless
list of descriptions describing the outward character and works
of men and women when the truth is hell is full of them. But they don't believe the truth. They do not cast off themselves
and look to Jesus Christ alone. They will tell you what they
know. They'll tell you what they've
done. They'll tell you what they've
not done. They'll be so likable and so
generous and so friendly, when it comes down to the gospel? No way. Absolutely no way. There are two kingdoms, two ways, The way that seemeth
right to a man, and Jesus Christ the way. The way that seems right,
but the way thereof is the way of death, and the way of Christ
who alone is our life. He says, Be ye not unequally
yoked with unbelievers. Go back in the Old Testament
and read about the yoking together of Jehoshaphat, who was a believer,
and Ahab, another king, who was not. What happened? Well, I'll tell you what happened.
Their armies went up to Ramoth-Gilead and were sorely defeated." Then
he says this, "...what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" You see, that's what the true
church is. Not a building, but the true
church. And every individual believer
in particular, they are called by God the temple of God. And all who worship idols, whether
they're hewn out of rock or stone or whatever it is, or whether
or not they're simply in their own minds and imagination, all
who worship idols, no matter what they are, are idolaters. That's just the way it is. Many say that they are not against
the truths of God's gospel. They just don't quite understand
them. But that's not true. What God
has to say, He has said so clearly and so unmistakably plain that
the problem is not in how He said it, the problem is with
our unwillingness to believe it. And none ever will believe it
apart from a work of God's Spirit, a work of His grace. Only his
sheep believe. He said to those people, he said,
you believe not because you're not of my sheep as I said unto
you. Believers are not to enter into
close relationships or agreements or business partnerships or recreations
or any other unions with those who do not believe the gospel,
with those who do not trust Christ alone as their righteousness. And we are not to be deceived
into thinking that by these relationships we'll have an influence on them. no, or be a means by which they might
believe. And many have been deceived into
thinking this before they enter into the relationship, but find
out all too soon that when they're joined together that the other
party exerts far more influence than they could have imagined. I know people, some living, some
dead, who as believers entered into marriage with an unbeliever,
as believers entered into a business partnership with unbelievers,
as believers entered into a social relationship with unbelievers, As believers entered into a recreational
relationship, or whatever it is, I can almost give you an
example of every kind, and they did so to their eventual sorrow. I know people who married unbelievers. They thought that they were going
to be able to convert that unbelieving one. I know a dear lady. She lived out so many years,
such a sweet, dear lady. But I'll tell you this, if she
were raised and come back to this world, she would give you
a testimony that what Paul is saying here was absolutely true. He's not saying here, undo relationships
that are if the Lord saves you. But he's saying, don't get into
any if the Lord has saved you. We are to believe God. It will
be as He says, as He knows, and as He wants, because He gives
these words in love and concern for His people. All right, I'll close. But look
down here in the latter part of verse 16. He says, for you are the temple
of the living God. He makes that distinction. The
living God. Believers in Christ and the gospel
that gives Him all the glory, they believe on the living God.
They are the temple of the living God. He says, As God hath said,
I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people, or they shall be to me a people. Wherefore, in light of what God
has promised, He said, the living are not to live with the dead. And we do not lose by this. We have in Christ a far better
relationship, and it is with God Himself, and it cannot be
lost, and there cannot be anything better. He says, Wherefore come
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and
touch not the unclean. What's that next word? Thing? But it's a natalicized word,
isn't it? So what Paul's talking about here is not a thing at
all. He says, "...and touch not the unclean." And I, God says, will receive
you. and will be a father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Almighty." The Lord
Almighty. Now, I can't make a direct application to your
individual particular situation, nor to anybody that hears this.
I don't know. But I trust the Holy Spirit to
me. Because He knows all our hearts. Can you hear this? Be ye not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Bear witness to the gospel to
them. Speak kindly to them. Be gracious and kind to them. But don't be yoked together with
unbelievers. Our Father, this day we give
You thanks and praise for the words that You speak
to our hearts, our wandering, straying, unfaithful hearts,
that You might keep us. And as the hymn writer said,
bind our wandering hearts to Thee. Help all who hear this, all Your
people. and give us more grace. For we
pray and ask all things in the name of Christ. Amen.