I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of 2 Corinthians
chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. I've looked at a passage of scripture that contains
the verse that I'd like to look at for just a few moments this
morning. I'd like to actually focus in
on the last line of the 16th verse, where the Lord said, 2 Corinthians
6.16, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Now, the Lord had instructed
the Apostle Paul by his Holy Spirit to say in verse 14 of
chapter 6, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And then the Lord moved him to
ask five questions as reasons for our separating. being separated
from binding relationships with those that know not our God. Whether it be marriage, business,
partnership, intimate social companionship, worship, any unnecessary
alliance. The scripture says in verse 14,
that's for the reasons, For what fellowship, what sharing, hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion, or what do
you have in common, is what the word means, hath light with darkness? And then verse 15 says, and what
concord, that means harmony, hath he that believeth with an
infidel? In verse 16, in what agreement? Putting together. Hath the temple
of God with an idol. And then the Lord gave the foundation
of our separation. Verse 16. He said, ye are the
temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell
in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they
shall be my people. Now what intimacy is set forth
in that last line? I will be their God and they
shall be my people. Now, that sums up the relationship
between Almighty God and those that He's everlastingly loved. Now when it comes to relationship
between the Lord and human beings, now there's a There is a relationship
in which all men, all women have something in common with their
relationship to the Lord. There's a common bond, a relationship
between all people and the Lord as far as creation. The Lord
said, all souls are mine. So all men, all women belong
to God. He said the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof. So everybody belongs to the Lord. We're His by creation. And everybody
has a common bond as far as common providence. What I mean by this? The scripture says, the Lord
maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth
rain on the just and the unjust. Every human being that's ever
been born, every living creature that's ever been born in this
world, we breathe God's air. We eat God's food. We enjoy the
the common providence of Almighty God, but when he says concerning
his people, I will dwell in them. I will walk in them. I will be their God. They shall be my people. Now he's talking now about a
relationship that's going to endure forever in glory. That's a bond that cannot be
broken. That's a union that's found to
have its foundation in His sovereign grace. What do I mean by when
I say sovereign grace? That means He does what He wants
to do with it. That's what He told Moses. I
will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. So to have Him as our God and
to be His people, that's up to the Lord. The Lord is one that
has made that decision. Now I want us to look at a passage
of scripture It's in Deuteronomy, you can turn over there, we're
gonna probably stay there, just the rest of this message is not
gonna be long. Deuteronomy chapter seven. Now
this is a passage of scripture that declares beautifully what
we're considering concerning our relationship, I'm talking
about God's people now, with the Lord. The Lord said in Deuteronomy
chapter 7 in verse 1, now he's talking through his servant Moses
to his people, and he said, when the Lord thy God shall bring
thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath
cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites and the Girgashites,
the Amorites, the Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites,
seven nations greater and mightier than thou. Now, there's something
very revealing in that first verse right there concerning
the power of Almighty God in light of the weakness of man. And this verse of scripture right
here is not speaking primarily of just historical account, though
it is. It is historical, no doubt about
it. But this verse of scripture is not merely speaking of the
nation of Israel going in to the land of promise. But what
it's spiritually saying, it's speaking of God's people, His
sheep, His elect, the bride of Christ, being called out of spiritual
darkness, the darkness of sin and unbelief, into the light
of the glory of God, in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord had promised his people a land. He told them, he said,
I'm going to give you, I'm going to give you the land. You know,
we're going through the book of Genesis right now, and this
right here, all those, if you go back and look what we looked
at the other day when we were talking about the lineage of
Ham, the one that was, his lineage, his family, his heritage was
cursed because of his sin against his daddy, which was a sin against
God. But all of these people, I went
back and compared all these Hivites, and Girgashites, and Amorites,
and Canaanites, and Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, and Genesis. They were in that land that they
inhabited, the land of Ham. God had promised his people,
I'm gonna give you that lamb. I'm gonna give you that lamb.
That's a picture of the land of promise, heaven itself. But
let me ask you this. We have the promise of glory
to all those that God's called out of darkness and given a heart
for Christ, to trust him and to put no confidence whatsoever
in themselves, in their flesh, Has the Lord not promised us
glory, that which Canaan pictures? But do we not walk now in that
blessed promise of glory? Has the Lord not given us the
earnest of our salvation, the Spirit of God? We possess something. And have we not, in regenerated
grace, Mercy entered into the joy and peace and comfort of
that which wastes us. We're looking for something.
We're looking for something that we only see through a glass darkly. It's just like, it's just veiled. You can see, but you don't see
it. Do we not possess right now by
faith that which we shall, by the grace of God, behold soon
by sight? So the Lord had chosen a people, a physical, natural
nation, the Jews, to be His people above all others before. And He chose them, and they are
a type of God's elect. God chooses what He wants to
do. He selects, that's just, that's
scripture. And so here they were, he said,
when the Lord thy God shall bring you into the land where you go
to possess it, and he's cast out all these other nations.
And look what scripture says in verse 7. I'll just touch this
and we'll go on. He said, the Lord did not set
his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in
number than any people. You were the fewest of all people.
The scripture declares that there's just a remnant, a remnant of
God's elect. And this few people, the Jews,
I've said this before, have you ever noticed that through history,
the natural nation of Israel, have you ever noticed how history
has proven this to be? How many countries try to wipe
them out? Everybody wants to wipe them out. They always get
them the Jews. World War II, let's get rid of
the Jews. Let's do this and that. We're going to get rid of the
Jews. We're going to obliterate you now. We're going to send rockets over.
Have you ever noticed that God has sustained them? Why? They're a picture. They're a
type. They're a shadow. That God never
leaves His spiritual Israel. They're just few. They're just
a few remnants. Somebody said, well, why do you
say there's just a few? Because that's what God said. There's a remnant. according
to the election of grace. And so here, the Lord told him,
he said, you weren't the mighty nation. What happened is the
fewest of all nations, according to the scripture, verse 7, they
were given the land of the seven mightiest monarchies in the then
known world. Seven powerful kingdoms. And spiritually speaking, how
the Lord has delivered us, all those Amorites and Girgashites,
you know what that pictures? The enemies of God's people,
spiritual enemies. The Lord said in 1 Corinthians
1, 26-27, you see your calling brethren, how not many wise men
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but
God has chosen the foolish things of the world. to confound the
wise. And that's what a believer admits
concerning himself. I'm so foolish. The Lord has
taught me some things and how I see myself being respectful,
I'm so sorry. I don't walk as I should. God has chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
Back in Deuteronomy 7 verse 2, he said, when the Lord thy God
shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them, shalt
utterly destroy them, thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor
show mercy unto them. These mighty nations. There in the land of Canaan,
those pictures and types of all of our spiritual enemies that
we battle today, our Lord has conquered. That's what he said. He said, I'll run them out. When I give it to you, run them
out, I'll give it to you. And have all the enemies, the
spiritual enemies of God's people, death, hell. the grave, Satan, this world. Has the Lord finished the work? Now I realize we still battle
with these fleshly lusts within our unbelief, cares of this world,
things we struggle with, and we know for a fact. When he told
them, he said, when I put you in the land of promise, He said,
I want you to utterly destroy them, don't make any covenant
with them, don't show mercy to them. Let me ask you this. Spiritually
speaking, what covenant do we want to make right now with what
God has conquered in us? I don't want to be friends. with Satan, I don't want to be,
you know, in agreement with rebellion and the world. I don't want to.
He said, don't show mercy. Verse 3 and 4, neither shalt
thou make marriages with them, thy daughter shalt not give unto
her son, his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son,
for they will turn away thy son from following me. that they
may serve other gods, so will the anger of the Lord be kindled
against you and destroy these suddenly." You know, how plain
and how direct is the Lord's warning against binding alliances
of His people with this world? This is the most dangerous thing
that a believer can do. It's dangerous, dangerous. King Solomon, let me just read
this for you. I'll read it, 1 Kings 11. King Solomon, a man that I'm
convinced was a believer. He was a man that God gave wisdom. God kept him, but God allowed
him to fall, doing just exactly what the Lord said don't do.
First Kings 11, verse one to six, and King Solomon loved many
strange women together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of
the Moabites, Amorites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites, of the nations
concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel,
you shall not go into them, neither shall they come into you, for
surely will they turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon
clave unto these in love. Somebody said, well, I don't
see how. The Lord allowed him to do that,
to teach us something. Be careful, be careful, be careful.
I had a friend of mine, he is a friend, he kind of got edgy
with me because I told him the truth. And he said, well, I'm
already married. What if I'm married? What if
I'm married to an unbeliever? Well, let me tell you what scripture
says. What do I do? Don't do anything. Don't do anything. 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Verses 10 to 13, it says, and
unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord. Let not
the wife depart from her husband, but, and if she depart, let her
remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband, and let not the
husband put away his wife, but to the rest speak I, not the
Lord. If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be
pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the
woman which hath an husband that believeth not, if he be pleased
to dwell with her, let her not leave him. What if one of them
dies? Scripture says in verse 39 of
1 Corinthians chapter 7, the wife is bound by the law as long
as her husband liveth, but if her husband be dead, she's at
liberty to be married to whom she will only in the Lord. He's
saying just, you know, if somebody said, well, I'm already married
and my spouse is not a believer, what do I do? This man that I
told you called me, he said, should I leave my wife? I said,
no, no. No, no, you don't do that. If she wants to stay, you
stay with her. The Lord may save her, maybe.
But if we're contemplating, what do we do? He said, don't do it,
don't. Verse five, back in Deuteronomy
7, but thus shall you deal with them. The Lord's talking to his
people. He said, this is how I want you
to deal with them. You shall destroy their altars, break down
their images, cut down their groves, and burn their graven
images with fire. Now here is a direct word command
of God. What's he saying? He said concerning
these idols, Any God that is not the God of
this Bible, any little g God that is not the God of this Bible,
the one that rules in heaven and earth, the one that does
as he will, with whom he will, when he will. Here's what the
Lord has commanded us to do. Somebody said, well I think we
ought to be compassionate. Listen, where we can please do,
Please, please walk with kindness and compassion, but when it comes
to having to set forth and make a decision concerning the God
that somebody is loving, and it's not the God of this Bible,
I'm telling you, we're all gonna stand before the Lord. And this
word right here is going to stand. Somebody said, well, man, Marvin's
trying to be... No, I'm not. I'm trying to be
honest. I just want to tell you what this says. What do we do
when someone is setting forth a God, a little g God, that is
not this God? Don't appease them. Don't tolerate it. Don't make
excuses. for the idols of this world and
its religion. Man by nature, I know we'll try
to justify ourselves and just, you know, and we'll say that
the man-centered religion, they're sincere and they're loving and
they're caring and they're doing mostly a good work, but let me
ask you something. Who are we to question the God
of this Bible? Who am I to take what the Lord
has said for me to try to, you know, tiptoe through the tulips.
And no, don't do it. Do not do it. We don't make allowances. When it comes to God, when it
comes to worship, I'm telling you, the Lord has promised us,
He said, this message is going to separate. It's going to separate.
He said, you won't... He said, we don't make allowances
that God doesn't make. And the Lord speaks and His people
hear and we follow and we're not trying to belittle anybody,
but we're not going to tolerate it. I can't. You can't. So verse 6, and here's, I'll
just basically read this and I'm going to stop. He says for
or because, this is the reason, this is the reason. Thou art
an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath
chosen thee to be a special people unto him. unto himself above
all people that are upon the face of the earth." When it said
special, I looked that up just to make sure I knew what it meant.
Here's what the exact definition is. A valued property, a peculiar
treasure. He said don't, don't, don't,
don't appease, don't, don't, Let people think, don't give
them the idea that if it's not the God of this Bible, that it's
okay. It's not okay. It's not okay. Without Him, I'm telling you,
there is no hope whatsoever. So we hear what the Lord says. This is the reason because You're
a holy people. Now listen to this. Unto the
Lord thy God. He could have left me to myself,
and I'd have never known Him. He could have left you. He could
have allowed you to do what you wanted to do. But if He has called
you out of darkness, He said, you're a valued property to Me. You're a peculiar treasure. And
so here, the nation of Israel were in type, a picture of God's
elect throughout time. The Father loved them and chose
them in Christ because it pleased Him to do so. It wasn't because
He looked down and saw what they would do. No, no. I've said before, Psalm 14.2.
I mean, if you want to know if God looked down, He looked down.
And He saw that there were none that did good. None. Not one. That's what he says. Not one.
And so Christ, in covenant agreement, he redeemed them because the
Father gave them to him. The Spirit of God called them
out of darkness because God redeemed them. In verse 7 and 8, the Lord did not set his love
upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than
any other people. for you were the fewest of all
people. But listen to this, why did God
set his love upon you? Verse seven, that's where it
says, the Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you
because, why did he? Now listen, verse eight, this
is what the scripture says. And let God be true and let everybody
else be liars, but because the Lord loved you. And because he
would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers,
hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed
you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh, king
of Egypt. Now, there can be no passage
that's more plain than what is set forth right here concerning
the freeness of God's sovereign grace. This is the most encouraging
passage that reveals that sinners are not saved by works. They're not saved by their faith. They're not saved because they
made a profession of faith. They're not saved. They're saved
by the grace of God. And He gives them a heart. to
believe Him. He gives them faith and they
believe Him. He saves them without their help. He said that. Not by works of righteousness
that you've done. You know, that ends it. That
ends it. Verse 9 to 11, I'll stop. Know therefore that the Lord
thy God He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and
mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to
a thousand generations, and repayeth them that hate him to their face,
to destroy them. He will not be slack to him that
hateth him. He will repay him to his face. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? You know what it is to hate this
God? He that hateth Him. You know
what it is? I don't believe Him. I don't believe Him. What is
the one sin that will never be forgiven? One sin. The unpardonable
sin. What is it? Unbelief. Unbelief. Every other thing. All sin will
be forgiven. Not this one. That's unpardonable. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not the Son
hath not life. Believe him. I believe him. I
believe him. Well, this flies in the face of everything I've
ever been taught. I understand. I believe you. I absolutely believe
you. Well, this contradicts everything
that I've ever been told. I believe you. But this is what
God says. Last verse, thy shalt therefore
keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which
I command thee this day. Now, dear hearer, let me ask
you something. Is this your faithful God? The words of a woman back in
Louisiana still ring in my ears today. We told her this. She said, your God is my devil. I said, well, you're going to
stand before my God. I can tell you that for a fact.
This is the faithful God. Is this the covenant God that
you believe? I believe Him. It goes against
my flesh. I understand that. I understand
that. It goes against the carnal mind. But the carnal mind is enmity
against God. This is the God whose commandment
you keep not in yourself. What is the commandment of God?
What is the commandment of God? One, that you believe on Him
whom God has sent. Almighty God is just. The one that I dare not be without. I don't want to be without him. If this is the God that you believe,
I've got some good news for you. You've got good reason. If this
God right here is the God that revealed himself to you, showing
you that he's God. He's not trying to because he's
God. Then I've got good news. You've got good reason to believe
that this is your God and you are his people. I pray the Lord
bless it to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. All right, let's
just