Turn back to 2 Corinthians chapter
6. While you're turning there, we're going to have a baptism
tonight. Mary Kanes is going to confess Christ in believers
baptism. And if you want to be baptized,
let me know after the service. I've entitled this morning's
message. Unequally yoked. equally yoked. Verse 14 of 2 Corinthians chapter
6 says, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now this command comes from Deuteronomy
chapter 22. Would you turn with me there
for a moment? Deuteronomy chapter 22. Beginning in verse 9. Deuteronomy 22 verse 9. Thou
shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seeds or different seeds. Lest the fruit of thy seed which
thou has sown in the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled. Thou
shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. That's the reference
to being unequally yoked. Thou shalt not wear a garment
of diverse sorts, as of wool and linen together. There can
be no blending. There can be no blending of seeds.
There can be no joining of two animals together, blending them,
and you won't blend garments. There are no doubt practical
reasons for these laws, but they show us some great spiritual
principles. The seed that is sown is only
the word of God, the gospel. If you mix it with anything else,
you defile it. You can't mix law and gospel. You can't mix grace and works. When you do, grace is not preached
at all. You can't preach part grace.
You got to preach all grace. And if you don't, the seed is
defiled. And then he says, don't be unequally
yoked together with unbelievers. Now, this is talking about more
than a marriage, although that is certainly included. Don't
be married to an unbeliever. God commands you not to. That's to be unequally yoked.
But more than that, Don't make unbelievers your intimate friends. You don't really have anything
in common with them. Don't participate in their religion. Don't follow
their worldly principles. They will always bring you down
to their level. You can just write that down.
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And then he
speaks of our garment. It's made of one material, isn't
it? the righteousness of Christ. It's not made of his righteousness
and our sincerity or our faith or anything else. You don't try
to blend materials. It's his righteousness only as
our garment. Isn't the law of God glorious?
Those laws that we would look at and say, well, that's strange.
What's the point? Well, the gospel is the point. The gospel is the
point. Our garment is made of one material. Now this blending that he's warning
us about is called syncretism. Big word, syncretism. I asked
Lynn about entitling this message syncretism. She said, no. I said,
why not? She said, just don't. So, all
right. I'm not, it's not entitling syncretism.
I thought I was feeling good. You know, I got a big word here,
you know, big deal. But the word means the attempt to blend opposite
and contradictory beliefs into one system to produce union,
concord, and harmony. That's what the word means. To
take something that is at odds, that's contrary, and try to blend
it together to produce union and accord and harmony. And that's something that cannot
be done. You cannot blend righteousness
and unrighteousness. You cannot blend light and darkness. They can't dwell together. You
can't blend Christ and Belial, the evil one, Satan. They have
nothing in common. Believers and unbelievers do
not have the same portion. And the temple of God is not
a place to set up idols. You can't do this blending, and
that's what he's speaking of. Look in verse, let's read verses
14 through 16 together. He says, Be ye not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers, because when you try that, here's
what's going on. You're trying to blend things
that cannot be brought together. 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? Now, in these verses, we're given
five contrasts between a believer and an unbeliever. What agreement, what fellowship has
righteousness with unrighteousness? Now, a believer is described
as someone with righteousness. Righteousness. And the unbeliever
is described as someone who is unrighteous and lawless. Now, what is this thing of a
believer being righteous? Well, a believer is righteous
before God. And that means I really am righteous.
A believer is righteous before God by imputation and by impartation. And somebody says, what's that?
What's that supposed to mean? Well, I think the best way to
describe this is to go back to Adam's sin. Adam's sin was imputed
to me. It was charged to my account.
When he sinned, I sinned, because I sinned in him, and I am held
responsible for what he did. That's what the Bible declares.
By one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. And I
realized there was a time when I would think of that, and I'd
think, how could that be fair? How could it be fair for God to charge
me with somebody else's sin when I didn't commit it? Well, OK,
hold on. Let's just forget Adam's sin. How have you done on your own?
You've done just as bad, haven't you? If Adam's sin wasn't imputed
to you, you still have sinned. But here's the glory of this
thing of sin being imputed to you. If Adam's sin can be imputed
to me when I didn't do it, Christ's righteousness can be imputed
to me when I didn't do it. It's His perfect obedience. His righteousness being my righteousness
before God. His righteousness is imputed
to me. His perfect obedience is mine. When He kept the law,
I kept the law. His obedience is mine. But remember
Adam. My sin, or his sin, was imputed
to me. But when I was born into this
world, I was born with his sinful nature. That's the way I was
born. His sinful nature. His sinful
nature was imparted to me. And when I'm born again, born
from above, the righteous nature is imparted to me, a holy nature,
a new nature, the seed. So the believer is righteous
before God and the unbeliever is unrighteous. You can't blend
those two together. And then he says in verse 14,
what communion hath light with darkness? A believer is light. Now this thing of light, when
it's referring to light, God is light. In him is no darkness
at all. That light is the light as to
how he can be just and justify the ungodly. That light is seen
where the Lord said, I'm the light of the world. How he could
say to that woman who was taking an adultery in the very act,
he said, woman, where are those out accusers? Has no man condemned
me? She said, no man, Lord. He said,
neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. I'm the light
of the world. He's the light as to how God
saves sinners. Every believer is the light in
that sense. You are the light of the world.
That song people sing, this little light of mine, I'm going to make
it shine. That's not the light I'm talking about. That's darkness
is what that is. That's not light. I'm talking
about the light of how God saves sinners by his son. Light and
darkness. The unbeliever is in utter and
complete darkness. He doesn't have a clue. He's
in darkness. He's blind. He can't see God. He can't see his way of salvation.
He's blind. And his blindness is seen in
the fact that he doesn't know he's blind. You know, you first
begin to see when you find out you're blind and that you can't
see. But the believer is light. The unbeliever is darkness. And
then he says in verse 15, And what concord hath Christ with the evil one? Christ and the devil. If I'm in Christ, that means
that all God sees when He sees me is Christ. Now that's the gospel. In the
Lord Jesus Christ, all God sees. When he sees this person talking
to you, he sees his son. Because if I'm in his son, that's
who he sees. He sees me in him. And then there
is Belial, the wicked one, the devil. Now, I'm either in Christ
or I'm a child of the wicked one. There's no agreement. There's nothing in common between
the two. And then he says in verse 15,
Or what part hath he that believeth? with an infidel. What does a
believer do? He believes. He believeth. He
believed, but he didn't just stop. He's still believing. He's
looking to Christ right now the same way he first looked, as
everything in his salvation. What believers do, they believe.
They believe the gospel. To him that worketh not, but
believeth. On him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. He believes. Infidel does, and
that word infidel is the same word translated unbeliever in
the previous verse. He doesn't believe. He hears
of him who justifies the ungodly, and he says, I don't believe
that. I don't believe I'm ungodly. Something like that will lead
to sin. I don't believe that. They choose to not believe. They
do not believe. Now, what part as a believer
with an unbeliever. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing in common in that sense.
Verse 16. And what agreement at the temple
of God with idols. Now, the temple of God is what
everybody, every believer is. And this is a mysterious, glorious
thing. But God dwelling The living God,
by His Spirit, dwells in every believer, indwelt by God. The new birth. And then, the
unbeliever, the believer is a temple of God, and you don't set up
idols in the temple of God. The unbelievers in idol worship.
Now, there's no fellowship. There's no partnership. There's
no communion sharing in common. There's no concord. It's where
we get the word symphony from sounding together. Congruous
in nature, there's no part. We don't have the same portion.
There's no agreement, no same mindedness. How can two walk
together except they be agreed? They can't. So don't be unequally
yoked because of who you are. The temple of the living God. Look at the language in verse
16. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For
you 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." God, whom the heaven cannot contain,
whose infinite, omnipresent dwells in the heart which He has given,
the new heart of every believer. And every believer is the temple
of God. And God says, I'll dwell in them
and I'll walk in them. Now, that implies fellowship,
fellowship, communion. If I'm a believer, I'm someone
who God has communion and fellowship with. Now, how can that be? How
can the Holy God have fellowship with me and embrace me and even
want to have fellowship with me? There has to be something
in common for God to have fellowship with me. How can He have fellowship
with me and dwell in me and walk in me? I can answer that question. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
1, just a few pages back. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 30. But of Him, of God, are you,
speaking all of God's elect, every believer, but of Him are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Now, God can have fellowship
with somebody like that. Somebody who's wise. How wise is Christ? Can God have fellowship with
Him? That's how wise every believer
is. He's made unto me wisdom. He's made unto me righteous.
God can only have fellowship with a righteous person. In Christ,
I'm altogether righteous. God can only walk in a holy person. In Christ, He's made my holiness,
my sanctification. He's made my complete redemption. He dwells in me and walks in
me. And look at this promise he makes.
Back to our text in 2 Corinthians 6. He says in verse 16, the latter
part, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will. Oh, I love the I wills of God.
He didn't say maybe I will or I will if. He said I will be
their God and they shall be my people. I will be their God.
You know what that means? It means He'll be your God. What's
that mean? It means He's for you. If God
be for us, who can be against us? To have God for you? To have
God on your side? For Him to place you on His side
is what it is. It's not so much having God on
your side, it's Him putting you on His side. God for you. That means all that He is is
for you. I'll be to them a God. If He's a God for me, you know
what that means? His sovereignty is for me. He wills my salvation. I must be saved. His justice
is for me. His justice demands my salvation
because I have perfect righteousness before Him, because Christ washed
away my sins and gave me His righteousness. His grace and
His mercy is for me. His wisdom is for me. His power
is for me. All that God is, is for me. He's got to be for us. Who can
be against us? That makes me feel good. To think
that the living God is for me. For Christ's sake. He's got a
reason to be for me. He's for me in purpose. And we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to his purpose, his purpose,
my salvation, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate,
he's foremean foreknowledge, predestination, whom he did predestinate,
whom he also called, whom he called, whom he also justified,
whom he justified, whom he also glorified. What do we say to
this? If God be for us, who can be against us? I'll be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people. Verse 70. Wherefore? Don't try mixing these things
that cannot be brought together. Don't be unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. 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 you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Come out. Turn with me for a
moment to Revelation chapter 8. Come out from among them. Revelation chapter 18. What's
this a reference to? Come out from among them. Don't
stay there. Leave this place. Come out from among them. Revelation
18 verse 1. And after these things, I saw
another angel come down from heaven, having great power. And the earth was lightened with
his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying,
Babylon, the great, is fallen, is fallen, and has become the
habitation of devils, and hold of every foul spirit, and a cage
of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk
of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of
the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of
the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies."
Now, what is Babylon? Look at chapter 17. The first
mention of Babel is what? Remember in Genesis 11, they
tried to make a tower that would reach to heaven. The word means
confusion. It's man's attempt at reaching
God. It's man's religion. It's salvation
by works. That's what Babel is. Now, look
at this description of Babylon, chapter 17. And there came one
of the seven angels, which had the seven vows, and talked with
me, saying unto him, Come hither, I'll show thee unto the judgment
of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, Babylon, with
whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the
inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine
of her fornication. So he carried me away in the
spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored
beast, full of names of blasphemy, and having seven heads, and ten
horns, and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet collar
and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden
cup in her hand. It looked real pretty, but it
was full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.
And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery. The only way
we know this is because God's made it known, Babylon the Great,
the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth. And
I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered
with great admiration. Now this is who John was talking
about in Revelation chapter 18. And he says in verse 4 of Revelation
chapter 18, And I heard another voice from heaven say, Come out. Now do you hear that? Come out. Same thing that was said in 2
Corinthians 6. Come out and be ye settled. Don't try to reform her. Don't try to conform to her.
Come out. And what this is speaking of is man's religion. Don't be identified with it.
Don't participate in it. Don't give it any credence. Come out. Don't try and reform
her because she can't be reformed. Now, back in 2 Corinthians 6, You know the whole idea of reform. Reform the church. Reform it
from what? I mean, you reform people that are... You know who
you reform. They talk about the Reformation.
They talk about the reform faith. You've heard that, the reform
faith. Reform from what? There's no such thing as reform.
That means it was bad and you brought it back up to where it
ought to be. It doesn't work that way. No such thing. Come out. Don't reform. Don't try to improve
her. Don't try to get things. Come out and be ye separate,
saith the Lord. You've been separated. God separated
you. You be separate. Come out and
be ye separate, saith the Lord. And touch not the unclean thing,
and I'll receive you." Now, I used to read that verse of Scripture.
I'd try to figure out, you know, what is it I don't need to touch? What is this unclean thing that
I'm not supposed to touch? Isaiah said, we are all as an
unclean thing. And our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. Don't you touch human righteousness. That's the unclean thing. It's
not talking about something material. Or if I just don't touch that.
You know, the very religion of touch not, taste not, handle
not is the religion of the devil. All will perish who use that
religion. Don't touch this. Don't taste
this. Don't handle this. We'll be okay. No, the unclean
thing he's talking about is your filthy, my filthy, stinking righteousness. Trying to present that before
God. Don't you do it. Don't touch the unclean thing. And look at the promise. In not
touching the unclean thing and looking to Christ only, he says,
I will receive you. And I'll be a father unto you.
And you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Now, that's the promise. You
come out, you don't touch this unclean thing. And look what
God promises. I'll be a father to you. You'll
be my sons and daughters, sayeth the Lord Almighty. Now, remember. These chapter divisions are not
inspired. And actually, this chapter, this
thought should not be over. You've got to read verse one
of chapter seven with this. These chapter visions are man-made.
And this thought continues. Having, therefore, these promises,
dearly beloved. And what promises they are. I'll dwell in them. I'll walk
in them. I'll be to them a God. They'll
be to me a people. I'll receive them. I'll be a
father to them. and they'll be my sons and daughters?
What promises? Having, therefore, these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Having these promises, let us
cleanse ourselves. Now, the fact that he said, let
us cleanse ourselves, presupposes a present need for cleansing. And Paul's talking about himself,
too. He's not saying you guys need to clean up your act. He's
including himself on this. Let us cleanse ourselves. And I think that this is such
an apt description of sin. Let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness, filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit. The filthiness of the sins of
the flesh, of the nature of the flesh, and you think about Sin
is such a sad thing. You think of the problems brought
in our society simply by sexual sin. You think of the perversions
that come from that. The problems of substance abuse
and drunkenness and drugs and what that does to To us. The filthiness. I love
that. The filthiness of the flesh and
the filthiness of the spirit. He's talking about sins like
self-righteousness, pride, a haughty spirit, envy, jealousy, a suspicious
nature. I mean, just go on and on. The
filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit. And we need cleanse,
don't we? Let us cleanse ourselves. from
the filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Now, how do you go about
cleansing yourself? The only way you can cleanse yourself
is if you're cleansed. You can't clean up your act.
The only way you can cleanse yourself, and you can't even
understand this thing of cleansing yourself unless you're first
cleansed. Now, in the Bible, and this is a blessing to me
to think about, we're said to be cleansed by All these go together,
but the three things. First, I'm cleansed by the will
of God. That leper came up to the Lord,
and he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. I can't
make myself clean, but if you will, you can. And what the Lord
said to him, I will. Be thou clean. Now, the only way that you and
I are ever going to be clean is if God wills me to be clean. If Christ wills me to be clean. And I know this. Somebody says,
well, maybe you won't. Anybody who comes like this leopard
did, I don't care who you are, anybody who comes like this leopard
did, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He's going to
say to them, I will be thou clean. So the only way we can be cleansed,
first of all, is by the will of God. Secondly, by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, 1 John 1, 7, cleanses us from all I love to think about what the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ actually did. When he said it
is finished, all the sins of all the elect washed away. No
more. Cleansed, pure and holy before
God, because I have no sin. The blood of Christ washed it
away. And then the Lord also said, now are you clean through
the word which I've spoken to you, cleansed by the word, cleansed
by hearing the gospel. Do you know if you hear what's
being said, if I hear what's being said, there's something
cleansing about it, isn't it? I mean, it's cleansing, you hear the
gospel. Now, if you're cleansed, you'll cleanse yourself. Now,
how do you go about cleansing yourself? All these things are
included. First of all, I cleanse myself. When I confess my sin, I get on God's side. If we confess
our sins, he's faithful just to forgive us of our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, when I when I confess my
sin, I quit. I quit trying this thing of blending
things. I just get on God's side and
I agree with what God says about me. I take sides with God against
myself. That's what can you do that right
now? Can you get on God's side? I know it's only if he put you
there, but you confess your sins when you are in agreement with
God regarding what he says about your sin. Now, we humble ourselves
when we cleanse ourselves. Look in James, chapter four. James, chapter four. Verse 8. Draw an eye to God, and He'll
draw an eye to you. Cleanse, there's the word. Cleanse your
hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.
How do I go about doing that? Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. You humble yourself before
God. Take the lowest seat in the house. That's what it means to humble
yourself. You take the lowest seat in the house and you will
be cleansed. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9. Verse
14, remember we're saying what do we do to cleanse ourselves? How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge, that's the word, cleanse your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? What are dead works?
Any works that have any of your old nature in them. Doesn't matter
what it is. Any work that you think in any
way would contribute to your salvation, either in the beginning,
the middle, or the end, even get you a higher reward. That's
a dead work. Purge. Cleanse your conscience from
those filthy works. To think that something you do
can contribute to your salvation. Oh, purge your conscience from
that. That's filthiness. That's all
it is. Would you add something of what
you did to what Christ did and think somehow that'll make it
better or that'll make it work? Purge your conscience from that
kind of thinking and look to Christ alone. Look in Acts chapter Verse 8, And God, which knoweth
the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even
as he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them,
purifying their hearts, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now, here's the way you cleanse
yourself by believing the gospel. What is more cleansing to you
right now? You may be conscious of all kinds
of sins, but what is more cleansing than simply believing that Christ
is your righteousness before God? And that all that God requires
of you, you have in Christ. And you rest in Him. That's cleansing,
isn't it? You can feel so filthy and dirty,
one look at Christ, and you feel cleansed, don't you? Cleansed
through believing the gospel. In Romans chapter 6, I've never preached this the
way it ought to be preached. I'm not real sure that I've ever
heard anybody preach it the way it ought to be preached. I wish
I could now. But look what he says in verse 11. Likewise, reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive unto
God through Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, every believer, every
believer, I don't care what your condition is, reckon yourself
to be dead to sin. Right now. And the only reason
God says for you to reckon yourselves to be dead to sin is for one
reason, because you are dead to sin. Christ has put it away. Sin has nothing to say to you.
Now, look what he says next. Verse 12. Let not sin, therefore,
reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust
thereof, neither yield or present your members as an instrument
of unrighteousness or to sin, but yield yourselves unto God. Now, that word yield is present.
Present yourself unto God as those that are alive from the
dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For
sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the
law, but under grace. Now, if you try to straighten things
out, please listen to me carefully. If you try to clean up your act,
what good is it going to do to you? I don't want you to misunderstand
me. Somebody says you say it's okay to remain the way I am.
No, I'm not saying that. But I am saying this, if what
you're doing is trying to clean up your act before God, all you
do is prove how filthy you are. And if you make some kind of
I'm going to, I'm going to quit this, I'm going to start doing
that. I'm going to change. I'm going to, I'm a new man.
I'm really good. No. You present yourself to God. This is not a religion of personal
resolve and endeavor. That never works. You present
yourself to God. You're not making any promises.
You know yourself better than that, but you're presenting yourself
to God saying, Lord, here am I. Here am I. Now, that's the way we cleanse
ourselves. You only cleanse yourself if
you've been cleansed, and if you've been cleansed by the will
of Christ, by the blood of Christ, by the gospel, by the washing
of water, by the word. If you've been cleansed, you
will cleanse yourself. Having, therefore, these promises. And so I want to begin right
now. I want to confess my sin. Before God, not before you, before
God. taking sides with God against
myself. I want to humble myself under
his mighty hand. I want to purge my conscience
from dead works. I want to believe the gospel
and present myself to the living God. Having, therefore, these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness,
bringing holiness to its end in the fear Let's pray.