Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 2 Corinthians 6. I'd like to read verses 14 through 18. Be 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 you separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you,
and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." A few days ago, I received a
call And I was asked this question, why is there not unity between
the denominations, churches? Why is there not harmony? This person said, it appears
as though to me that we're all working for the same thing. Why? Is there not unity? Well, I thought about that scripture
that said, when you're taken before the council, don't worry. Don't give thought about what
you're going to say. The Lord will give you an answer.
And oh, how I did ask. The Lord helped me to be truthful
right here. Wanting to speak faithfully,
honestly, truthfully for myself and for those of like faith. My answer, I told them, was going
to be one from the Scriptures. I said, I'm going to answer you
now. according to the Word of God, because that's the only
answer I can give you. I said, here's the reason right
here. Can two walk together? Can two walk joined as a unit? Can two walk united, walk together,
except they be agreed? Now I know that there's great
efforts among most of the denominations of this world to find some common
ground, so-called common ground, for the sake of unity. We want
to come together and have a united week of unity. That's what I heard. I think
that's what this week is. This is called the United Church
Unity Week. I told this person I didn't know
that. But why is there no unity? I'll tell you this. First of
all, I thought about this question. I had messages prepared going
through Proverbs, going through John. I had messages prepared. I'm taking verse by verse. And
I had those messages prepared. And based on that question that
she asked me, I thought this is the issue. This is the issue
right now. This is the message. As I heard
Brother Henry Mahan say one time, God's people are not looking
for a message, they are looking for God's message. The message
of the hour. And I thought providentially,
that call was so ordered. And I have to preach on this
this morning. Why? Why is there no unity? Well, first of all, let me say
this. As a general rule, And it doesn't matter, it does
not matter, as I've said before, what the denomination calls itself. Whatever the shingle says on
the outside, it doesn't matter what it is. If they believe that
salvation somehow is according to man's will, man's works, man's
righteousness, man's ability, If it's somehow, one may say,
well, I think you've got to do this. One says, well, I think
you've got to do this. One says, well, I say that you've
got to do this. If it's having to do something,
then they all agree. They agree. They are in agreement.
They are in agreement. But what they're saying is, when
she says, why is there no harmony? There is harmony. in the religions
of this world. Because the foundation of works-based
salvation, somehow, whatever you call it, they're in agreement. But for the believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ, there is no ground of compromise. There is no ground
of unity. There is no ground of togetherness. There is no unity when it comes
to the preaching of the gospel of God's free grace that says
man has no addition in his salvation. The scripture says that by the
works of rights by the works of the laws. No man shall be
justified in the sight of God. Not by works that we've done. Not by the righteousness of man,
but according to his mercy. Listen, salvation according to
these scriptures is initiated by God Performed by God, given
by God, and He tells His people about it. After the fact. He calls them out of darkness.
He tells them through the Scriptures, blessed by the Holy Spirit, to
their new heart. That's how they know it. Saved
by grace. Through faith, through the avenue,
through the grace of faith, they believe God. They realize when
a believer is called out of darkness, they know this. He saved me apart
from myself. There's no compromise. Now, I'm going to show you this.
I've tried to be as careful in the preparation of this message
as I could be. Because I'm telling you, this
right here, this is the issue. This is the issue. Who gets the
glory? Who gets the glory? Who gets
all the honor? Who gets all the praise? Who
does? That's the issue. Our Lord, in praying to His Father,
in His high priestly prayer, in John 17, 16 says this, speaking
of His people, Now I can tell you this, he was speaking concerning
his apostles, but his apostles as representatives of all. There's
no difference. When he's talking about his apostles
being the recipients of his grace, all of God's sheep receive him
as they did. But he said of them, they're
not of this world. even as I'm not of this world. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world, I've got a few questions in this message. Did
He come to unite everybody? Now, just hold your place there
in 2 Corinthians. Turn with me to Matthew 10. Let
me show you something. And here's our Lord speaking. Boy, if we're ever going to listen,
Let's listen to what he said. Is that not the truth? Matthew
10.34. Now, you know, there was a question
that was asked me. I told you. Why is there not
unity between all the denominations, all the churches? Listen to our
Lord. Matthew 10.34-38. Think not that I am come to send
peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I have come to set a man
at variance against his father, daughter against her mother,
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they
of his own household. He that loveth father and mother
more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his
cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." Now, the
gospel will not, it will never cause, establish, bring out universal
peace and agreement when it's preached. It never does. I'll
tell you what it does. According to the words of our
Lord, peace between believers and unbelievers is not going
to be established. He said, I came to set a man
at variance against his father, daughter, mother, daughter-in-law,
mother-in-law. Don't think it strange. if the
gospel causes splits in your nearest relatives, friends, family. But remember this, where's the
problem? The problem is not with the gospel. The problem is with the wicked
heart of man's unbelief. There's the problem. It's not
that a believer doesn't desire that there be peace. We're to
seek after peace. Be peacemakers. We're not commanded. I do not seek after to establish
division. But I know this. I must be truthful
to these Scriptures. I told you before, I and you,
we're going to stand before God. We're going to stand before God. And I'm telling you, I'm going
to show you in just a moment, this is what we're going to be
judged by. Right here. This Bible. These words. These Scriptures. I must, I would
desire, I seek, I ask. I ask and pray as truthfully
trying to pray. Asking for the Lord to have mercy.
Lord, bless Your Word. Lord, You say it. You say it. Open Your mouth wide and I'll
fill it. And I'll ask, trying to pray
aright, ask Him, Lord, would You bless this word to the salvation
of those that hear, those that don't know You? Lord, would You
have mercy? Would You call out of darkness?
Lord, would You revive our hearts? Lord, would You send revival?
Lord, would You cause us to hear? Lord, would You establish unity
all among our people? Lord, would you help me be a
pastor? Faithful, faithful, faithful. I would truly desire, but not
at the expense of the compromise of the preaching of the gospel.
It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. If
you're going to be faithful to the preaching of the gospel of
God's grace, this is what's going to happen. It's going to cause
enmity. It's going to cause it. Why? Because man by nature wants
to be in charge. And there just can't be two in
charge. Every believer must take up, that's what the Lord said,
he that taketh not his cross. I'm telling you, taking his cross,
resolved to the fact, And this is a cross resolved to the fact
that there will never be unity between light and darkness. It's never going to be. He that
taketh not his cross and followeth after me, not worthy of me. Those
are weighty words. Here's the bottom line. Who are you going to align yourself
with? I love my family. I love my kids. I love my grandkids. I love yours. But do you know the best thing
that I can do for those that I love and care about? I thank
God for every person in this room today. But do you know the
best thing that I could ever do, Father? Be truthful to you. Be truthful. Because the truth
alone sets a man free. That's all. The truth. A lie will never set a man free. If I'm convinced that this is
the truth, be truthful. Be truthful. Now, I've got two
questions. If two people agree on eternal
things, what must be the foundation of their agreement? If they're
going to agree, they're going to have to agree on something
that's established. And here's the second question.
On what must two agree in order to be in agreement with God?
Here's the first question. What's the basis? What's the
foundation of a believer's agreement? Here it is right here. The Word
of God. The Word of God. The Lord has
magnified His Word above all His name. His Word. His Word. That Word that goes forth out
of His mouth is not going to return void. It's not going to
return empty. It's not going to return unprofitable.
It shall accomplish that which He pleases. It shall prosper
in the thing that He sent it to. I want to read this Word, study
this Word, and pray and seek and ask. I want to hear. I will desire God to teach me. I want to know, what does the
Lord have to say? Why? I just alluded to it a moment
ago. The Lord Jesus Christ. John 12.48.
He said, The word that I have spoken the same shall judge him
in the last minute. He was talking about those that
reject him. He said, This word is the word that they are going
to be judged by. Can you imagine? I can't. You can't either. And the day
of judgment. These Scriptures that we've dealt
with, try to deal with faithfully. Try to deal with truthfully.
Try to deal with honestly. And then to hear God Almighty
bring those Scriptures up. And just write His Word and hear
those words for the last time. And then try to justify yourself
because you didn't believe them. Whenever you hear something,
if you hear me preach something, you hear any man preach something,
try everything that you hear by the Word of God. Be like the
Bereans. More honorable. Why? They received the Word with all
readiness, all eagerness, all cheerfulness of mind. They listened
to what God has to say. But you know what they did? They
searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so. You're saying that God chose
the people? I'm going to check that out.
You say God predestinated a people unto the adoption of sons? I'm
going to check that out. You say that the Lord Jesus Christ
laid down His life only for the sheep? I'm going to check that
out. They search the Scriptures daily.
You check it out by the Word of God. It doesn't matter what
anybody else says. Listen, the Scripture says, Isaiah
8.20, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to
this Word, it's because there's no light in them. None. So what's the foundation? Why
is there no agreement? Well, let's establish the foundation
then. If we're going to agree on something,
Where are we going to find it? Where are we going to find the
foundation? Here's the second. On what must two agree? What must they agree? I thought
about that question. I thought, my goodness, I know
that time would never permit us to deal with everything, but
I picked out three things that I thought on what must we agree
in order to agree with God. I mean, if we agree and we don't
agree with God, Pat, what difference does it make? On what must we
agree in order to be in agreement with God according to His Word?
Alright, here's the first one. What happened in the garden? What happened in the garden? What is man's state before God
because of what happened in the garden. Well, here's what God
said. You may eat of all of the trees
of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die." You're going to die. You're going
to die spiritually, and in time you'll die physically because
of your rebellion. In the day you eat. Adam ate
of the fruit. that God did forbid him to eat. Therefore, according to God's
Word, Adam died spiritually. That is, no ability to have fellowship with God,
to be in agreement with God, to know God, walk with God, love
God, seek God. He died. He died. Spiritually,
he died. And everybody that was in the
loins of Adam, which is everybody, everybody that was in Adam's
loins, as they started coming forth, started multiplying, people
started being born, on and on, more and more people. Everybody
that came out of Adam, here's what God saw. that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Therefore, in Adam all died. In Adam, everyone that came forth,
came forth dead. Dead. Now, here's my question. When God says, that a man is
born dead. That means he has no ability,
no thoughts, no love, no nothing. No will. He has nothing. He's dead. He's dead. Now, for us to agree, we're going
to have to agree what happened in the garden. Alright? What happened at Calvary? My question is this. We are asking,
why is there no unity? Why is there no harmony? Why
is there no agreement? Here it is. When Christ died on the cross,
did He die to make salvation possible? Did He die to make
it possible for all men to be saved if they would accept
His death? If they would accept His offer? Well, my answer would be, refer
back to question one. How? How? He's dead. He's dead. Can you imagine what a mockery
of preaching that is? We've had funerals here. Can you imagine the mockery of
coming up to a corpse and saying, would you like, I've got this
nice meal right here. Why don't you take it and enjoy
it? Enjoy it. Here's my hand. I give
you my hand. I'm offering you my hand. I'll
help you out. Just lift your hand up. Take mine. You're going to have
to take the first step. You're saying, you know what?
Would you go sit down? That's mockery. That's blasphemy. Not blasphemy. You're poking
fun. It's not funny. Whenever the Lord Jesus Christ,
did He die to make salvation universally possible? Which is
going to have to now end up being that He's a failure. Or, when He died, did He actually
redeem His people? Well, hanging upon the cross, The Scripture
says concerning his death, when Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. What did he finish? What did
he finish? I tell you, he finished the whole
will of Almighty God. in regard to the redemption of
His sheep. That's what He said. Hebrews
10.7, Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book, it
is written of Me to do Thy will, O God. Let me just read something
to you out of John 6. If you want to turn there, John
6.38-39. John 6.38-39. John 6.38, For I came down from
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. Now let me ask you this. When
He said at Calvary, it's finished. When He said, I come to do thy
will, O God. When He said, this is the Father's
will. That of all that He's given me,
I should lose nothing. Raise it up. What did He do at
Calvary? He did the will of God. He accomplished. And when he laid down his life
according to John 10, he said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And then qualified it. He told
those Pharisees, he said, the reason you don't believe me,
you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me.
He finished the work that His Father gave Him to do. John 17
forward says this, I have glorified Thee on the earth. I have finished
the work which Thou gavest Me to do. What was that? He glorified
God in the redemption, salvation of His people. And all that He
died for, according to John 6.37, shall surely come to Him. All
that the Father giveth Me. shall come to me. And him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." And how do we know
that Almighty God was pleased with the finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ? Here it is. God raised Him from
the dead. God raised Him from the dead. Raised for. Delivered for and raised for.
Because of. our justification. If we're going to be in agreement,
we've got to agree on what happened in the garden, we're going to
have to agree on what happened at Calvary. What happened in the eternal
counsels of Almighty God when it comes to salvation, regeneration? What does the Scripture say?
Well, I can tell you this. David said this, I'll read 2
Samuel 23 verse 5, says this, Here was David writing under
the inspiration of God's Spirit, Although my house be not so with
God, yet He, God Almighty, Jehovah, hath made with me. If He's made an agreement with
this whole world and left it up to man, that's just too loose-ended. But if He's made with me, I mean
if this is particular, if this is a particular covenant, He
hath made with me an everlasting covenant. This thing is eternal.
ordered, arranged, directed in all things. And sure, it is so. This is all my salvation. What
is it, David? What is it? That He hath made
with me an everlasting covenant that Almighty God arranged, that
Almighty God directed, that Almighty God executes, that Almighty God
keeps. This is all my salvation and
all my desire. It's all I want. Although He
make it not to grow. He just said, though my house
be not so with God. I would desire for God to save
my kids and grandkids and my family. But if He doesn't, He's gone. He's gone. When it comes to salvation,
what does the Scripture say? The Lord said that He chose a
people. We've read that Scripture. Ephesians
1, 4. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13. On and on. The Lord said He chose
a people. The Lord Jesus Christ said that
all that the Father had given Him, He kept. And none of them
is lost but the son of perdition. Now, he was talking about Judas
there. God gave him twelve apostles. One of them was the devil. One
of them was a devil. The Lord ate the Lord's supper
with him. And Judas went around doing just
what the other apostles did too. He was a devil. Why was he lost
that the scripture might be fulfilled? That's what the Lord said. God
Almighty purposed to have mercy and compassion on whom He would. And when it pleases God, all
that He chose in Christ, all that Christ redeemed at Calvary,
the Holy Spirit calls them out of spiritual darkness in power,
in grace, and keeps them. Now, as I wind this down, The
question was, why is there not harmony? Why is there not fellowship? Why is there not peace? Why is
there not communion? Because we don't agree. God is truthful. Man by nature
is a liar. Why do we not agree? Well, okay.
Here's what I'm going to ask as I do. Wind this down. What are we to do? What are we
to do? Okay, now, the original passage
that I read. Back to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians
6. I'm going to just touch on these
and then we'll be done. 2 Corinthians 6. Be not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. Now, I'm going to read something
to you out of Deuteronomy 22. Deuteronomy 22. If you want to
turn there, you can. It's Deuteronomy 22, verses 9
to 11, is what I'm going to look at. Here's what our Lord gave
concerning instruction. He was giving of the law, giving
the instruction to his people. There are three verses, 9, 10,
11 of Deuteronomy 22, and this is what he said. He said, Thou
shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seeds, lest the fruit
of thy seed which thou hast sown and the fruit of the vineyard
be defiled. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.
I shall not wear a garment of diverse sorts, as of woolen and
linen together." Now, those were absolute instructions, but you
know that there was a spiritual significance to that. Don't sow different kinds of
seeds together. Here's the spiritual significance.
Don't mix two things. Don't mix works and grace. Don't
work. It don't work. You try to mix
works with grace, and it's never grace. It's always works. Always. Don't plow an ox with
an ass. Don't yoke them together. They
don't think alike. They don't act alike. They don't
have the same purpose. They're not going to pull together.
Don't do it. And don't try to mix two different
garments. Thou shalt not wear a garment
of diverse sorts. Don't wear a coat made out of
wool and linen. What is that? Setting forth, don't try to think
that you've mixed your filthy rags of your so-called self-righteousness
with the righteousness of Christ. It don't work. Be not, back in 2 Corinthians
6, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers in anything. Don't yoke yourself
together with one that you don't agree with. It doesn't work. You've got different goals. You've
got a different love. Especially when it comes to worship. You cannot, a believer cannot
sit and listen to a lie on God. You can't do it. You don't agree on the issues
of life. You don't agree about sin. You don't agree about man being
dead. You don't agree about Christ
when He died. You don't agree on salvation. You don't agree. Be not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? There's no fellowship there.
And what communion hath light with darkness? What concord, what harmony has
Christ with Belial? Or what part has the believer
with an infidel? What harmony is there between
Christ, His honor, His glory, His grace, His praise, and Satan? That's what he's asking. The
believer's life in Christ, the believer's life is Christ. The infidels is Satan. How do you know that? Because
the Lord told those. He said, you're of your father,
the devil. What agreement, verse 16, has
the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk
in them. I will be their God. They shall
be My people. The believer is the temple of
God. Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God? Is that not an amazing thing?
God Almighty reigning within His people. Verse 17, 18. What are we to do? Wherefore,
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.
And touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, or be
a father unto you. You shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. The Apostle Paul quotes Isaiah
52.11 when the Lord told His people, Israel, come out from
among them. Don't stay there. Don't be there.
Listen, you're not going to change them. You're not going to change
them. Do you know what's going to change
a man? Invite them to come. Somebody
said, what should I do? Invite them to come. I said,
well, I thought I might go there, maybe get them to go here. Don't. Don't. Don't. Why? Come out from among them. Wait
on God. Wait on God. His ways are not
our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.
But I thought maybe that, well, come out from among them. Israel
was a special chosen nation where God was going to make His presence
known. They were in type a picture of
God's elect. They were told to separate themselves
from the idols and idol worshipers. All that worship not the God
of this Bible, God Almighty who is sovereign, Sovereign, sovereign,
sovereign in creation, providence, and salvation. All that worship
not this God. The Scripture sets forth that
they worship idols. Somebody says, well, I know,
I know. You say, but I won't so desperately
wait on the Lord. Trust the Lord. The regenerated
saint He hears God's command to come out from among them. What's he going to do? He's going
to not listen to anything that does not set forth the glorious
sovereignty of Almighty God. Why is it? That there's no unity. Why is it that there's no harmony?
Aren't we all working for the same thing? No. No. As I said, I'm not looking. I'm not looking to see about
starting trouble. The problem is the unregenerate
heart that rebels against God. And this is the message. This
is the God of this Bible. The only agreement is going to
be found in His Word. Lord, for Christ's sake, I pray,
bless these words to the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the good and eternal salvation of your people.