Good morning We're going to begin
this morning in our Bible study hour in 2nd Corinthians chapter
6 6 chapter of 2nd Corinthians And the Subject that the Apostle
is dealing with in this chapter has to do with Believers being
at odds with with this world. Believers being at odds with
this world. And in another place he refers
to us as pilgrims, strangers, sojourners in this world. And that's really what we are.
So we'll look at this verse by verse in a moment. Let's ask
the Lord to bless our time together. And I wanted to announce that
tonight we're going to have the first official service at Sovereign
Grace Fellowship in Sarasota. They've acquired a building. And they've been working this
week to have it ready. And they're very excited about
us participating with them over there. So if anybody would like
to go tonight, we'll leave around 3 o'clock and get back probably
around 10. So just let me know if you want
to go over for the service. All right. Let's pray together. merciful Heavenly Father come before your throne of grace
thanking you that we can call you our father and that that
in the Lord Jesus Christ there's grace to be found in your presence
that we have our acceptance and our love before you in him We ask that you would bless your
word to our hearts, that you would cause us in this hour to
find our hope in Christ, to be comforted in knowing that in
him we are justified before you and perfectly righteous. We ask,
Lord, that you would Use your word now to just lift him up,
to exalt him, and to cause us to rest in him. We thank you for
our brethren in Sarasota, and we ask, Lord, that you would
bless your word there, and call out your sheep, and provide for
yourself, Lord, a testimony of your grace and your mercy to
your people. I pray it in Christ's name. Amen. Pilgrims, strangers, sojourners,
that's really what believers are. And the more they come to
understand who they are in Christ, the more at odds with this world
they find themselves to be. John said, friendship with the
world is enmity with God. And the Apostle Paul certainly
knew a lot about having conflict with the world. And in chapter
six of second Corinthians, he tells us about that experience. In verse 21 of chapter five, The Lord tells us that God made
the Lord Jesus Christ sin for us. God charged the Lord Jesus
Christ with the sins of his people. He imputed to Christ on Calvary's
cross all the sins of all of God's people. putting them away
once and for all, satisfying his divine justice through the
sacrifice of his darling son on Calvary's cross. That's son. That's our hope. But he didn't
just end there. He goes on to say that we might
become the righteousness of God in him. Perfect righteousness
in Christ. That we stand before God Almighty
in the Lord Jesus Christ just as righteous as is Christ himself. That's a blessing beyond comprehension. It's not something we can explain
or fully understand, but it is something to be believed. And
God said it, and that's our hope. The hope of our salvation is
that God would consider us to be as righteous as he does the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that verse says.
God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might
become the righteousness of God in him. What a glorious hope
we have in Christ. A salvation that's been completely
accomplished by another. Now the chapter divisions you
know are added much later in order for us to be able to navigate
our way through the scriptures so just disregard the fact that
the chapter division now comes and realize that we're continuing
the same vein of thought in verse 1 of chapter 6 he says we then
as workers together with him beseech you also that you receive
not the grace of God in vain what would make the grace of
God to be in vain well Paul makes it clear in Galatians chapter
2 in verse 21 verse 20 he says I am crucified with Christ nevertheless
I do live I have a life but my life the life that I live I live
by the faith It's not our faith that saves us, it's the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me and died for me. He is my hope. He's my
righteousness and his faithfulness before the Father. Remember the
very last words that our Lord breathed on Calvary's cross?
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Trusting the Father
to the bitter end. and perfectly faithful. That's
what God requires. God's not satisfied with your
faith or my faith. He's not satisfied with your
works or my works. He's not satisfied with anything
other than Christ. He's satisfied with Christ and
that's it. The question that we have to
ask ourselves are we satisfied with what God's satisfied with?
Are we pleased? Are we happy? Do we delight in
being saved God's way? Because to be saved God's way
is to be saved in Christ now in verse 21 in Galatians chapter
2 He goes on to say I do not frustrate the grace of God So
here's what it would be to make the grace of God to be in vain
I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come
by the law Then Christ has died in vain So don't don't understand this word
in verse 1 of Galatians 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 he's not saying that
a person is is capable of receiving Christ receiving the gift of
eternal life having salvation and then losing it that's not
what he's saying at all he's saying don't don't mix law with
grace Don't, don't frustrate the grace of God by making your
righteousness a matter of your obedience to the law. For if
righteousness come by the law then Christ has died in vain.
See his death satisfied the demands of the law. Christ himself is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
So when he says don't, don't receive the grace of God in vain
he's saying don't, don't mix this gospel works don't do it
in Galatians chapter 5 he says whoever whosoever is justified
by the law has fallen from grace in other words don't say you
believe the gospel but you're relying upon something other
than the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ for your righteousness
before God Christ is all he's all if you do that Paul goes
on in Corinthians and Galatians chapter 5 to say, you are a debtor
to keep the whole law. If you're going to be saved by
the law, then you are required by God to keep the whole law. Not just in your action, but
in your heart, in your motive. Truth is, you and I listen to
me carefully now truth is you and I have never ever kept one
iota of God's law for one millisecond never have we done it we have
a we have a standard of righteousness according to the flesh that doesn't
even come close to what God requires God's standard of righteousness
is is perfect and we would never been able to do it Christ did he did he satisfied
the law he is our righteousness so that's what he's saying in
the beginning of chapter 6 he says we then as workers together
with him In other words, we're just preaching the gospel is
doing nothing more than just telling men what God has already
said. So we're co-laborers. The Lord has blessed us with
the opportunity to join Him in the ministry of the gospel by
declaring to men what Christ has accomplished. And so he says
we're co-laborers with him. Can you believe it? That God
would allow us to participate in the labor of the ministry
of the gospel? That's what he's saying. And
that's what the church is. The church, all of us together,
we're the pillar and the ground of the truth. That's what we
come together to do. To lift up Christ. the Lord makes
it clear as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so
must the Son of Man be lifted up and if I be lifted up I'll
draw men to me and if any man come unto me I will in no wise
cast him out there's there's our hope so he's saying what
we're doing is what Moses did we're just lifting up the serpent
in the wilderness we're lifting up Christ when why by the way
that that fits with this passage that we just read in verse 21
doesn't it why would God represent the Lord Jesus Christ as a snake,
a serpent. That's what he did. As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of
Man be lifted up. Because God made him who knew
no sin to be sin. Christ was imputed, he was charged
with the sin of all of God's people. And there we have a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ bearing our sinfulness on Calvary's cross. And so that's what we're here
to do. We're here to comfort God's people. and to speak comfortably to them
and to tell them their warfare is accomplished. It's accomplished. There's nothing more for you
to do. It's done. It's finished. It's accomplished. Christ has succeeded in satisfying
the demands of God's justice for all our sins. That's good
news. For a sinner it is. If you're
a sinner, If you know that everything about you outside of the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ is sinful in the presence of God, that's
good news. That's glorious news. That'll
delight your soul. That'll comfort you, won't it?
So he said, don't mix law with grace. Don't do it. If you do,
you frustrate the grace of God, the righteousness of God. It
does not come by the law. If it does, then Christ died
in vain. Don't take this gospel message and make the grace of
God to be empty. If it is of grace, it can no
longer be of works. Otherwise, grace is not grace.
You can't mix the two. It can't be partly grace and
partly works. It's either all of grace. You
know where grace abounds? You know where grace abounds?
The only place grace abounds is where sin abounds. Where sin
abounds, grace does much more abound. The only place God's
ability begins is where ours ends. That's just the truth. God's
ability begins where your ability ends. If you've got any ability
at all, any ability, you won't know God's grace. If you've got nothing and you
know nothing and you can do nothing, if you are nothing, If there's
no good thing in you, then you know something of God's grace. So to receive the grace of God
in vain or to make empty, which is what that word grace, vain
means, to make empty the grace of God is to mix the grace of
God with works. It's to mix the finished work
of Christ with law keeping. And it destroys the gospel. Now in verse two he says, for
he saith, and this is a quote from Isaiah chapter 49, for he
saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted and in a day of salvation
have I succored thee. Now let's go back to that passage
in Isaiah chapter 49. Verse 8. Thus saith the Lord,
in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation
have I helped thee, and I will preserve thee. give thee for
a covenant of the people to establish the earth to cause to inherit
the desolate heritage that thou mayest say to the prisoners go
forth to them that are in darkness show yourselves they shall feed
in the way and their pastors shall be in high places now you
know who that speaking of the father is saying to his son I
heard thee I heard thee I heard your cry. I heard when you said,
Father, if there be any way this cup can pass from me, let it
be nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. I heard you
when you said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they
do. I heard you when you said, it is finished. I heard you when
you said, Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. Heard you when you said father.
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou has given
me out of the world I heard you in the acceptable time that's
the day that's the year of Jubilee that's another reference in the
Old Testament to the year of Jubilee you remember came every
49 years and all the prisoners were to be set free all the debt
was to be canceled all the land and possessions were to go back
to its original owners it was a picture of the gospel of what
the Lord Jesus Christ would accomplish when he comes that he would set
all prisoners free He would erase the death that we owe to God
and he would return to us that which we'd lost in our father
Adam and so much more. So he's saying, now Paul's quoting
from that passage in Isaiah chapter 49, and he's saying that the
father heard the son and therefore gave the son power to set the
prisoner free. All right. Now go back with me
to second Corinthians chapter six. Here's the gospel. Here's the
gospel. Four, now he's using an Old Testament
passage to support the point that he just made in verse one.
Don't frustrate the grace of God. Don't mix law with grace. Don't make the grace of God to
be empty for he said, for God said. Do we believe God? For God said, I heard thee. You
see, our salvation is based upon the fact that the Father heard
the cries of His Son. He's not talking about, I've
saved you because I heard you. The only way we would cry out
is if the Lord's... Crying out to God is an expression
of faith. Faith is not the cause of our salvation, it's the result
of it. It's the result of our salvation. When you cry out to
God to be saved, it's because you've been saved. You wouldn't
cry. In other words, you don't get
saved by reward because you cried out. That's not how it works. If the Lord opens the eyes of
your understanding, gives you faith, you're saved. And what does faith do? Faith
cries out. Faith calls. Faith asks. So, but this passage
he's clearly in that Old Testament passage he's talking about the
calling out of the Lord Jesus Christ. What's not true for us
was true for him. In other words, God the Father
did reward the Lord Jesus Christ for his work. His works went
before him and recommended him to God. And so God's saying,
I heard you. And I gave to you the heathen.
I blessed you. I rewarded you for your work.
That's what he's saying. For he saith, I have heard thee
in the time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored
thee. Now he's speaking to us. Now
is the accepted time. Now is the accepted time. Behold,
now is the day of salvation. If we believe, That the grace
of God is by the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Nothing else. And we don't frustrate
the grace of God with our works. We don't make it empty or vain. And we believe that our salvation
is because the Father rewarded the Son for His faithfulness. the Lord saying right now now
is the accepted time today is the day of salvation believe
it no place in the Word of God does God say to anybody think
about that no place in the Word of God does God say you know
Just go out in the world and enjoy yourself and somewhere
down the road, we don't say to our children, go sow your oats
and just take in the world as much as you can and in time,
we don't do that. And we don't say to, you don't
hear me say to you, you know, just sit there and in God's time,
you know, it'll... No. No. Today is the day of salvation,
right now. The Spirit and the Bride, the
Spirit of God and the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, they
both say the same thing. What do they say? Come. What
is the call of God? God commands all men everywhere
to repent, to come. We don't tell people, yes, salvations
of the Lord, yes, God has to do a work of grace in our hearts,
but He commands us to come. Our warrant for coming is His
command to come. And these things are, you say,
well, that just sounds inconsistent. That sounds, no, it's not. no
it's not if God said it's not inconsistent it's not contradictory
salvation's of the Lord and God says come so now is the day of salvation right
now right now And as a co-laborer with God in the gospel of God's
free grace, I say to you, right now, in your heart, come. Come to Christ. Right where you
are, just like you are. Don't think you're gonna get
better, and then you'll be able to come. come right now just like you
are. Right this very minute. We're
not going to have an invitation after the service. We're not
inviting men. We're calling on men to come. And if you're a believer, that's
what you're doing right now. Right now, in your heart, you're
coming to Christ. Verse 3. giving no offense in anything
that the ministry be not blamed." Now Paul's going to talk about
his conflict in standing for the gospel. I've quoted brother Hugo before
on this and he has a way of summarizing things. I so appreciate that
brother. I have to talk a lot to make
my point. And he just makes it so concisely
and simply. I'm just so grateful for him. He said one time, he said, the
only reason the world doesn't hate us more than it does is
because they don't know what we believe. That's true. That's true. People knew what we believed.
They'd hate us. They'd hate us for it. And if we have intimate fellowship
with this world, it's only because we're not taking a stand for
Christ. You won't have to divorce yourself from the world. They'll
divorce themselves from you. They just will. They won't have
anything to do with you. They'll hate you for the gospel. You
don't believe that? Just take a stand for Christ.
Take a stand for the gospel with your unbelieving friends. Let
them know what you believe. That's what Paul's going on to
say here. He says, giving no offense in anything that the
ministry be not blamed. He said, I'm not going to add
to the offense of the gospel. The gospel's offensive enough
as it is. I'm not going to add to the offense of the gospel
by living a life that's inconsistent with the gospel, being a libertine
or licentious in my life. That's what he was being accused
of. And he's saying that the gospel in and of itself is offensive
enough. But in all things approving ourselves
as the ministers of God in much patience, in affliction, in necessities,
in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in
labors, in watchings, in fastings, in pureness, by knowledge, by
long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned."
There's so much conflict in this world. And patiently waiting. on the
Lord, the afflictions, the necessities, the distresses that come for
standing for the gospel. How many times the Apostle Paul
was beaten with stripes, thrown into prison, in tumults, there
was riots that broke out as a result. Remember the one in Ephesus?
Alexander the silversmith and the coppersmith and in Acts chapter
17 there was a riot that just broke out because of the preaching
of the Apostle Paul. In labors, in watchings, sleepless
nights, in fastings, and he's not just talking about voluntary
fasting, he's talking about being without the bare necessities
of food as a result of him preaching the gospel. We have conflicts in this world
most of which many of which we bring on ourselves don't we he's
not talking about that he's talking about conflicts that have come
into his life as a result of standing for Christ preaching
the gospel by pureness purity of the gospel
by knowledge by long-suffering by kindness by the Holy Ghost
by love unfeigned by the word of truth by the power of God
by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the
left says here's my here's my protection Ephesians chapter
6 he talks about that armor of righteousness the sword of of
the Spirit, which is the Word of God, which he holds in one
hand, and the shield of faith, which he holds on the other hand.
And so he's talking about that armor, which he has on his right
hand and on his left. And these are the things that
a warrior has to wear in order to go into battle. So he's talking
about his conflict in this world in the gospel. by honor believers honor other believers
and by dishonor unbelievers hating him by evil report by those who
would accuse me of wrongdoing and by good report in other words
what he's saying here is what he said in another place when
he said I preach the gospel whether it be in season or out of season.
In other words, the contrast that he's giving us in all these
verses, he's saying, I stand for the same truth regardless
of the response that I get. Regardless of the circumstances
that I'm in, I stand for the same gospel. I don't change the
gospel to fit the needs of the people that I'm around. I don't
turn into a chameleon. I don't change the colors with
the room. I just don't do it. I just, whether
it's an acceptable time or an unacceptable time, whether I'm
loved or hated, I'm going to say the same thing about Christ
because the gospel doesn't change. And all men need to hear the
same thing. As deceivers, they accuse me
of being a deceiver and a liar. Have you been accused of that? I have. And yet true. And yet true. As unknown and yet well known,
as dying and behold we live, as chastened and not killed,
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich,
as having nothing yet possessing all things. The gospel doesn't change regardless
of the circumstances that we find ourselves in. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is
open unto you. In other words, we've spoken
to you the truth and our heart is enlarged. We have a love for
you, a desire for you. You are not straightened in us.
We're not restraining ourselves from loving you or giving you
the full counsel of God's Word. We're telling you the whole truth,
nothing but the truth. But you are straightened in your
own bowels. In other words, if there's any
limitations to the gospel for you, Paul's saying to the church
at Corinth, it's because you're making the limitations for yourself. now for a recompense in the same
he's calling on the church to do the same for him that he's
doing for them he's saying now for a recompense in the same
I speak unto you as my children I'm talking to you because I
love you be also enlarged let your heart not be straightened
let it be enlarged let it be open to the truth verse 14 Be ye not. He's talking about the same subject
now. He's talking about friendship with the world. He's talking
about the exclusivity of the gospel. He's talking about standing
for the truth, not being ambiguous, being clear and bold with the
gospel of God's grace. If you do, it's going to put
you at odds with the world. These positive things that we
just read will come from Christ and His church, and the negative
things will come from the world. It's just the life that you're
going to be living in this world if you take a stand for the gospel. Your loved ones will be your
church family, and the unbelievers will Well, Amos put it like this
in Amos chapter 3, he said, how can two walk together unless
they agree? That's clearly a rhetorical question. It's not possible, is it? It's
not possible for two people to walk the same path unless they
be in agreement with one another. And now he's going to say here
in verse Verse 14, be ye not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers. Don't have intimate fellowship
with unbelievers. We have acquaintances with unbelievers. We try to be kind to unbelievers. We have family members that are unbelievers.
But our friends, our fellowship, is with believers. We just don't
have anything in agreement with unbelievers. The Old Testament law forbid,
in Deuteronomy, God forbid the Jews to put in the same yoke
two different animals. He said do not yoke together
an ox and an ass under the same yoke. Don't do it. Don't mix
seed in your field. Don't mix cotton with linen in
your clothing. What was the reason for those
things? It was just showing that you can't mix these things. You
can't mix law and grace and you can't mix faith with unbelief.
You just, you can't mix, you can't have a, well look what
he says. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. So
don't be in a partnership with an unbeliever. Don't be in a
business relationship. Don't be in a marriage. There's
no fellowship. It's putting two differing things
together in the same yoke. You can't walk together unless
you be in agreement. Be not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship? What fellowship? Half righteousness with unrighteousness. How can one who is perfectly
righteous before God have anything in common with another person
who is unrighteous before God at every point? How can there
be any fellowship? How can there be a bond? How
can there be any communion? And notice how many times, you
know, God, in God's word, there's a thing called parallelism, which
just simply means that the Lord repeats himself. He'll say the
same thing in different words. You find that often in the scriptures.
It's repetition. And it's for the purpose of emphasis. If God says something two times
in a row, how many times the Lord said, verily, verily, I
say unto you. In other words, I'm giving you
an emphasis on this point. And then when the Lord said,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. Why don't you just
say holy is the Lord? Three times the emphasis. It repeated three
times for emphasis. Five times. Five times the Lord
repeats himself in these next three verses. Five times. What is God saying to me and
you? How important is that? Look at it. He says, what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness? That's number one. What communion
hath light with darkness? That's number two. What concord
hath Christ with Ballil? That's three. What part hath
believers with an infidel? That's four. What agreement has
the temple of God with idols? That's five. It's saying the
same thing. God repeats himself five times. To say to believers, to say to
his children, you're not in this world, you're not of this world.
Don't make your fellowship in this world, don't make your friendships
in this world. If you know Christ, then the
other believers are the only ones you can have fellowship
with, are the only ones you can have communion with, are the
only ones you can have part with. Light with darkness? These things
are contrary to one another. Christ with Baleel? That's Satan. How can you put
Christ and Satan together? That's what God's saying. You
know, this is hard language, isn't it? But the Lord's talking,
He's contrasting believers to unbelievers. What part has a believer with
an infidel. An infidel? Yeah, that's what
God calls all those outside of Christ, infidels. Know you not that you're the
temple of the Holy Spirit? What part has the temple of God
with idols? What would be more idolatrous? What would be more blasphemous?
than for us to bring an idol into this place and stand it
up as a part of our worship. We don't do that, do we? We don't
have a steeple, we don't have crosses, we don't have statues,
we don't bring idols in here, we don't make anything in the
image of God. Why? Because it would be blasphemous
to God to do such a thing. And now what's the Lord saying?
That's what you do if you have union with an unbeliever. You've
mixed the temple of God with an idol. Look at the last part of verse
16. I'll close. As God has said, Say, well, preacher,
if what you're saying is true, I'm just going to be, I'm going
to be so at odds with this world. What am I going to have? How
am I going to have friends? How am I going to have relationships? If God be for me, who can be
against me? aren't you glad he finishes that
up look what he says in verse in verse 16 and I will dwell
in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they
shall be my people I'll be satisfied if God before
me and the whole world's against me I'm the winner I'm the winner truly truly You believe that friendship with
the world is enmity with God. It's just that way. Alright, let's take a break.