But good morning, brothers, sisters, and visitors. See, I wrote that before we had visitors here, so I was being faithful. Well, it's been several months since I've been before you in this pulpit. These occasions when Brother Blair is traveling and preaching in another church, as is the case today, I truly enjoy the privilege to come before you and bring a message. As Blair, the other elders, and Brother Jeff just a couple of weeks ago, have acknowledged before, we are always more blessed to study and prepare for the message than the congregation is to receive it as we examine the unsearchable riches of Scripture. And this week has indeed been no exception for me. However, as we are usually in the midst of a series of expositional preaching, as we are now enjoying 1 and 2 Peter with Brother Blair, it's always a challenge to present a clear, crisp, edifying presentation of biblical truth that both fits the flow of the current expositional series and can be covered meaningfully in one stand-alone message. And those of you that have suffered me before know that I sometimes get long-winded. Bear with me today. Because this is my opportunity before you this morning. So let's get right to it shall we. And just so you know. The elders prayed last night and Brother Blair was very much looking forward to preaching at Jerry Marcelino's church in Laurel again today. Have him in your prayers and hope that they're being edified as well. Beautiful thing of Scripture is that we have multiple authors of the New Testament right and I believe it's also very edifying for us to hear from different people at different times. Although I'll probably struggle through this because this is not my daytime gig, right? I hope that you'll all be edified by what we learned together today. Because that's really what I consider this. This is a journey together, us and the Scriptures. And just one other precursor I want to give you is I hope you have a Bible in hand or if you have a smartphone app that you've got your fingers greased up because we're going to be going through Scriptures today. My goal is not only to preach a clear message today, but to give you reference materials to study this more deeply. There's copies available on the podium in the back of the sermon. If you don't have it with you already, you can take it with and study later on as you desire. So now I want to start with a fundamental promise and an axiom, a fundamental truth, that's what an axiom is, that has been proven over the history of the church. And that's this. The more you examine the scriptures as a believer, the more amazing the consistency, the harmony, and the profound power of the gospel is unveiled before your eyes. And I say the gospel, that's because the gospel is just as much in the Old Testament as it is in the New. I sincerely hope that this is true in your walk with Christ as well. If not, one of my primary goals this morning is to demonstrate this foundational truth to you this morning. To encourage you in your own study and meditation in God's Word. Hopefully you recall that just a few weeks ago we were studying the following passage in 1st Peter. So turn with me to 1st Peter chapter 2 verses 4 through 8. I'll let you off the hook on this one because I have it in the text in front of you as well. That's where I'm going to read from. And coming to Him as a living stone, which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed. This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. For they stumble because they are disobedient to the word. And to this doom they were also appointed. Now, as we studied this passage a few weeks ago, we were exposed to one of the most basic and most fundamental doctrines of the Bible. In this passage, Peter was calling these scattered aliens in a positive manner to come to him, who is precious in the sight of God. In this fashion, the Apostle Peter was describing the positive side of our sanctification. to be drawn ever closer to the perfect Christ, to rely completely on His work and His grace, even proclaiming a few verses later in verse 9 the reason for this calling. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. For you were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. So as I mentioned, this instruction is to the scattered aliens and a positive instruction on how to live if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. That was in verse 3. Coming to Him in verse 4. Coming to Him. and then in verse eleven and onward peter continues to provide affirmative direction on how we are to live a guy is god's own possession as we are continuing in our study of first peter with pastor blair and we're still there lord willing next week now this morning i thought it would be good to continue to concentrate on our being made more holy our sanctification but to take us to a completely different epistle, written to a particular church rather than to aliens scattered abroad in several nations, and which addresses sanctification from a different perspective. Indeed, what we're going to learn together in this text this morning is a cornerstone in all Christian understanding and all Christian conduct. We're going to be identifying a principle today that is expounded by the Apostle Paul and has far-reaching and crucial implications for our usefulness, for our obedience, and ultimately for our blessing. So let's turn back to 2 Corinthians chapter 6 where Brother Reese read for us this morning. Now I won't have a lot of time to introduce this book or even this passage, so we'll have to wait for a time when we might study the letters to the Corinthians in more detail. I want to get right to the principle here because it is so very, very important in the context of our current study in 1 Peter. So turn back with me to 2 Corinthians 6, starting with verse 14. Let me just read the paragraph again that follows from verse 14. Do not be bound together with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial? That is the name for Satan. Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has a temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Now I don't know if you've noticed, but this tends to be one of the most familiar portions of Scripture that you'll find in 2 Corinthians. The statement that begins verse 14 may be one of the most oft-quoted portions of this marvelous epistle. It says, do not be bound together. And some of you older folks, including me, you might recall the King James phrase, it says, unequally yoked with unbelievers. And that is the principle which is so foundational, so much a cornerstone of Christian living, that we have to give our attention to it very, very carefully. As with all of Scripture, we do not want to be flippant about what Paul is instructing for the church at Corinth. Now just at first reading it is clear from this passage that the Apostle Paul identifies two opposing worlds, two opposing realms or spheres or kingdoms or dimensions in this life. One is described and characterized by righteousness, light, Christ, believers, and the presence of God. The other is characterized or described as lawless, dark, satanic, occupied by unbelievers, and the presence of idols. Two societies, two realms which stand utterly different, utterly distinct, and completely incompatible. And as the Apostle says, there's no possibility for people in these two kingdoms to be bound together in common work. No partnership, no fellowship, no harmony, no commonality, and no agreement does or can really exist. No one is capable of living with integrity in both worlds. Some people try unsuccessfully, but the realities are simply inharmonious. One is old, the other is new. One is earthly, the other is heavenly. One is deadly, the other is life-giving. One is material, the other is spiritual. One is filled with lies, the other is all truth. One relishes in the unclean and the other strives for purity. And Paul's message in this text is intended to make it very clear to all Christians that there is no possibility of living in both or shuttling back and forth. And that's what we'll see in our study together. So you say, well, why does he address that here? Well, the answer is because the Corinthians were indeed endeavoring to live in both or at least to run back and forth between the two. They had come to Christ. In chapter 5, in verse 17, the Apostle Paul had stated, if any man is in Christ, he is what? A new creature. The old things are passed away. Behold, new things have come. Salvation is called newness of life, and the Corinthians had entered into that newness. to the new and the heavenly and the life-giving and the spiritual and the true that I described earlier. They had come into the kingdom that is characterized by righteousness, light, Christ, and the presence of God. And there was no possibility of having a relationship of any intimacy with what was old and earthly and deadly and material and filled with lies. What was lawless and dark and satanic and idolatrous. They had been made pure and they could have no further fellowship with what was impure. That's Paul's message and the Corinthians needed to hear it. Why? Because many issues that he addresses in both 1st and 2nd Corinthians demonstrates that they were moving back and forth between these two incompatible, incongruous realms. could remind you of the Thessalonians. Like the Thessalonians of whom Paul says, you turn to God from idols, in 1 Thessalonians 1.9, the Corinthians had come to serve the living and true God from idols. But they didn't make a clean break. They had been wooed back into old idolatry, back into the old pagan culture because it was so pervasive and so dominant. And it was so on display and so woven into the fabric of their life, their family life, their social life, their community life. We've got to remember that Corinth was dominated above the city by an Acropolis, a high mountain on top of which the temple to the false deities, which engaged itself in pagan ritual and worship and priestess prostitution, was just up on the hill, literally just up on the hill in the city. This temple not only was the center of that religion, but from it decimated its religious viewpoints and ideologies through the entire culture of Corinth. It was a part of everything in life. Holidays, festivals, celebrations, and so forth. And it was just a constant pull to the Corinthians to fall back into those old patterns. And they did. This is just one reason why the letters to the Corinthians were longer than the letters to the Thessalonians. Have you ever wondered about that when you study scripture? Some church letters are a lot longer than others. Well, one reason for the length of the letters to the Corinthians was simply the need for more admonishment, reproof, and correction. And there was really no possibility of any agreement, any harmony, partnership, or fellowship with that old kingdom. They were allowing themselves, because of the influence of their culture, to get sucked back into the forms of their old idolatry. And on a side note, does this possibly remind you of many in the modern American church? Sad to think about. And to make matters worse, in their midst had come false teachers who brought a mixed up eclectic kind of religion that took Christianity in its earliest form Judaism and the most popular forms of pagan idolatry and melted it all together to form a false and satanic and damnable heresy which had a great influence on the Corinthian church to the degree that some of the Corinthians had even turned against Paul in favor of these false apostles and lying teachers who had come with their doctrine of demons, their satanic concoction. And that's really what it was. Once again, does this sound something like our culture? sadly within the modern american church and i say this with great sadness these are some of the reasons that i tend to agree with a pastor that i heard on the radio over twenty years ago in indiana who often stated that first and second corinthians could easily be taught as first and second americans because it's very much like modern american christianity i should put that in quotes today that seeks to blend Christianity with popular culture, wants to make Christianity more popular, less different, more palatable, less offensive, less narrow, less exclusive in the world. Does that sound familiar? And the result of it is that the true Christianity and the purity of God's Word gets corrupted by compromise. and the church can become useless and shameful and blasphemous in mocking the truth and so the corinthians were trying to link christianity with this new stuff and even to link paul with these false apostles something that he took great offense and defended himself very well i might have and such was an absolute and utter impossibility and more than just being impossible it was frighteningly damaging as we will see So Paul has to address himself to this problem in Corinth. And it was there when he wrote the first letter, 1 Corinthians, to them. So Paul makes a direct statement in verse 14 that is a command, a mandate. The standard and the principle which is expounded in the rest of the text. It is this. Do not be bound together with unbelievers. Now really, this is a classic call by the apostle to separation from unbelievers. And in fact, that is the greatest challenge that you, as a Christian, have. And me too. I work in a secular workplace. I know the challenges that we all have. Not to be bound together with unbelievers is our greatest challenge. To live a separated life is a tremendous challenge, particularly in a culture which is bombarding us with all of the elements of paganism. And I don't know if you recognize those elements of paganism in our modern culture. They bring about old lies and treat them like they're new. especially when it comes to spiritual things. There's nothing new under the sun when it comes to idolatrous beliefs and paganism. But it's not only our greatest challenge, brothers and sisters, it is the greatest source of joy and usefulness to the kingdom when we obey that command. If we indeed have tasted the kindness of the Lord. The people of God cannot form intimate relationships with those who don't belong to God. All relationships like that are superficial. You cannot make a meaningful relationship with an enemy of the gospel. They live in a different world with a different and completely hostile and antagonistic leader. So now we must consider what does that mean? What are the implications of that? Well, first of all, the term bound together is well translated as unequally yoked in the King James because it comes from a Greek term that can have that very implication. In fact, the Greek term heterozygous can be used of yoking up in a common effort. Paul draws this analogy, however, not from the usage of the Greek term, but from a concept back in Deuteronomy 22, verse 10. Here, when God was laying out prescriptions for the conduct of his people, he instructed them that they were not to plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together. And the reasons for that are obvious. Those two animals have two different natures. They don't have the same gait. They don't have the same disposition or instincts, by any means. And they don't have the same strength. Completely different natures. You can't yoke them up and expect a straight furrow. And so Paul is borrowing the Hebrew analogy of the Old Testament, and as well, borrowing from some of the Greek usage in his day of that very term, because it does mean to be yoked differently, to be involved in a common enterprise linked together. And to do the same thing in perfect harmony is an utter impossibility if we're talking about a believer and an unbeliever. do not allow yourself to be bound together in a yoke with an unbeliever it's pretty clear language the pretty clear image now that opens up all kinds of possibilities what in the world does paul mean when he says don't be bound together with unbelievers have you ever struggled with this command and i hope you have you know it always scares me the most when i see a christian this is i'm not struggling and i got this all figured out i'm good to go brother We all struggle. I struggle. Blair struggles. So that's a good thing. We absolutely need to understand this, because the implications have profound significance for our lives after salvation. Now someone's going to come along, as they have many times, not just today, but in church history, and say, well, look, in the purest and truest sense, it's really calling you to the monastic style. the monastic lifestyle that's what it's calling you to you and you have to you should do like those monks of centuries ago put on some dirty clothes find a cave and stay there till you die and you know just stay up there and get dirtier and dirtier and read the scripture and contemplate your navel and don't let anybody influence you just isolate yourself that was the misinterpretation of this that was behind what was termed has been termed the monastic mentality. My family has been studying. Robert Godfrey who the sermon or the psalm series on this morning we've been studying a different series on the history of the church and we just recently reviewed that era of modest monasticism and it was an amazing thing to think these people really felt that way and they drew from this very scripture to justify it. Let's see if they're right. And some of us in a more modern environment might not go as far as monasticism, but might take the approach to declare the following. This might be more like what you've heard. What it really means is you better be sure that you buy your home from a Christian real estate agent, buy your car from a Christian car dealer, buy your insurance from a Christian agent, invest only in Christian mutual funds. You've got to have Christian neighbors, and you even have to find a Christian butcher. On and on and on. So where do we draw the line here? How far does it go? What about a partnership? What about being on a team? What about just working together with someone? What about recreating together with them? What about a common business? What about, as I mentioned before, a partnership? What about a limited partnership? What if you put strings on it? What about dating? What about marriage? What about, what about, where do you draw the line here? What are we talking about? Are we supposed to go out of the world? Well, that's kind of hard because the Great Commission says to go into the world and do what? Preach the gospel to who? Every creature, right? So we're not supposed to go out of the world. In fact, look what Paul said to the Corinthians. They would understand that statement in the context of what he had already said to them. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians and see how Paul defines what he means by that. And he sets some very clear parameters so we don't have to be confused. That's the great thing about Scripture. So much confusion in the modern church would be clarified if we just went to Scripture. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 19 really sets it up. Although I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all that I might win them more." Now Paul is saying, look, I'm free from all men in one sense. I have been catapulted into the kingdom of light. There are no encumbrances in this world, but I have made myself consciously and purposely a slave to them all for evangelistic purposes. So Paul didn't want to pull out of the world. He was anything but a monastic. I mean, he was in the middle of everything. He was in the middle of every crowd there was. Even as we examined Acts 13 this morning, that's what came to mind for the reason Paul was always in the crowd. First one to raise his hand. Amen. He was like Jesus. He created crowds. He went where the sinners were for the purpose of evangelism. So he says, verse 20, to the Jews I became as a Jew that I might win Jews. To those who were under the law as those under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those who were under the law. He became a Jew to the most fastidious law-keeping Pharisees, and he even followed their path, if need be, to win them. But I might add, he never compromised the gospel when he did that. And to those who are without law, Gentiles, in verse 21, he became as without law, though not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ. that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it." Another way of saying that I might have partners in this deal, I want to win people to Christ. So it's quite apparent that Paul didn't leave the world. He didn't run from it. He got right in the middle of it for the purpose of leading people to the knowledge of Christ. He is not calling for isolation. There's no place for isolation from unbelievers. If God wanted us isolated from unbelievers, He would have saved us and instantly catapulted us up into heaven. He's not calling for isolation. In fact, we are mandated to intersect with the unsaved all the time. Now let's follow this and see where Paul really sets his limits. Let's begin by going back a little further into 1 Corinthians, into chapter 5. Somebody now might want to say, well, I'll tell you right now, I want to limit my association with worldly people. I'm just not going to associate with the worst riffraff. I want to stay away from that. Is that where I draw the line? Well, in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 9, I wrote to you in my letter, and that was the previous 1 Corinthians letter, the letter previous to 1 Corinthians is not recorded for us in Scripture. So we know that Paul wrote a letter before 1 Corinthians that's recorded for us in the New Testament. Previous to 1 Corinthians that he had written them a letter, I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people. And if you stop right there, someone's going to say, that's it. It's black and white. There's the proof. I'm not going to associate with them. Ah, but Paul continues in verse 10. I did not mean at all with the immoral people of this world, but I'm not talking about unregenerate, immoral people or covetous or swindlers or idolaters. For them, you would have to go out of the world. And the implication would be, What would be the implication would be to do that would be what? Sinful, wrong, shirking your responsibility. I don't want you to go up into a cave. Paul says no, no. I'm not talking about associating with the immoral people in the world. Verse 11. I'm talking about associating with so-called brothers who are immoral, covetous, idolaters, revilers, drunkards, swindlers. And I'll tell you right now, brothers and sisters, this is a struggle in the modern American church. Paul was not inspired by the Holy Spirit to write about immoral people in the world. He's talking about immoral people where? In the church. You've got to deal with those people. They'll pollute the fellowship. They're like leaven. You've got to put them out. You've got to turn them over to Satan. You've got to deal with them. You don't eat with them. If they're heretics, admonish them a few times and then dismiss them. Verse 12, for what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? For those who are outside, God judges. Now Paul's concern is indeed for those who are outside who are going to fall into the judgment of God. And we need to reach them with the Gospel. So you see, it's starting to maybe become a little more clear to you. So whatever it means to not be joined together or unequally yoked with unbelievers, it doesn't mean that we are to cut ourselves off from sinful unbelievers. Then we would have to go out of the world. And going out of the world would defeat the very purpose for which God has left us in the world, and that is to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. So at this point, can we all agree on that? So all our ministries, street preaching, radio ministry, that's all good now, right? We can still reach the lost. That's good. Now I know what somebody else is going to say. So we've nailed that one down. And I know what somebody else is going to say. I know what it means. It means that if you're married to an unbeliever, you get to get a divorce. And believe me, we've had people come to this church and try to say that. So I know of whence I speak. you gotta get rid of them because after all if if you can have any fellowship with the most at the most intimate level how can light have any fellowship with darkness how can you have a marriage that honors god so don't that unsafe partner soon as possible find yourself a nice christian guy nice christian lady is that what it means where again scripture answer scripture So here we could turn to first Corinthians where you see we're in a lot of first Corinthians because that's the letter that this this church already had first Corinthians chapter seven verse twelve. Paul says to the rest I say not the Lord and this is one thing I want to clarify here please understand that what he means when he says I say it not the Lord. It is not represent some type of a divine disclaimer that you don't have to follow what Paul says here. He's simply saying that I'm not quoting Jesus anymore. He is inspired by the Holy Spirit to say what he said. So I'm going to clarify that. Paul's words here are still the truth of God. But he is no longer drawing from the teaching of Jesus. So he says, if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she consents to live with him, let him not divorce her. And the same is true in verse 13. A woman who has an unbelieving husband and he consents to live with her, let her not send her husband away. and maybe to clarify a little bit here because it might have been a natural implication of the teaching and all the new things all the things being new entering into the kingdom and into the light from darkness and having a new master namely christ in realizing that you no longer could have the kind of intimate relationship that you now have in christ some might think that the right thing to do would be dump that person and find a christian so you could have a really fulfilled life But the Bible says no, absolutely not. And here's the kicker. God hates divorce. Any kind of divorce. So what does it mean then? It doesn't mean dump your unsaved spouse. It doesn't mean cut yourself off from the bad people in your society. So what does it mean? Where are the limitations to be drawn? So I was still struggling at this point too. Well, we've already seen some of the limits that the Corinthians would have understood. Let me take you further to something that they would have well understood. Paul has one thing in mind, folks, one thing in mind. The Corinthians, and I gave a hint to this earlier, were all messed up with false teachers teaching them a corrupted religion, corrupted by paganism. And if that weren't enough, they were surrounded by a culture of the lost, steeped in paganism. Did you know there was a term, you know, today we have that term, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? You know, that's not a good term, right? Well, here, over 20 centuries ago, or about 20 centuries ago, actually, to Corinthianize meant to go to bed with a prostitute. And that's how they identified, that's how their city was identified with wickedness. and what the apostle is saying to them is you cannot link up with false teachers and false apostles and false religion that is the issue that is the issue so that we can go back to first corinthians again chapter ten this time I want to show you this because it's so important to understand the issue here. Paul starts the 10th chapter of 1 Corinthians with an illustration about Moses and the children of Israel. How there was tremendous solidarity at first in the exodus. And they were all brought collectively under the cloud. They all passed through the sea. They were all immersed into the leadership of Moses. They all had the same spiritual food, the manna from heaven. and the water provided at the rock. They all drank the same spiritual drink. They were all cared for by God. But later in verse 5, 1 Corinthians 10, God wasn't well pleased with them. You remember why? Because they got involved in idolatry. Verse 7, do not be idolaters as some of them were. And it tells about their idolatry, reminding us that they sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play, defining their idolatry. And they acted immorally. 23,000 of them had to be killed, destroyed by serpents, a terrible, terrible tragedy. Here was a story, and follow this with me. Children of Israel, collectively in Egypt, God comes and works a work of redemption. They're brought out of Egypt. They are now a redeemed people. They come into the wilderness. They're headed for Canaan. They get into the wilderness, and they start to worship in an idolatrous fashion. They made a golden calf. They fall into wicked immorality and idolatry, and they all die in the wilderness. That's a real brief synopsis of Exodus. If you don't have time to read it, I encourage you to read it. Why? Though they had been liberated out of captivity. Remember, these are the people that were moaning under slavery in Egypt. They had gone through the redemptive provisions of God. Instead of remaining pure, they went right back to paganism. Now, where do you think they learned about that golden calf? You tell me. Where did that come from? Of course, it was from Egypt, the place that they so wanted to be redeemed from. They went back. It's exactly what the Corinthians were doing. Going back to idolatry, with it, that horrible immorality with those temple priestesses. So back in 14, after that illustration, Paul says to them, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Don't go back. And then he tells them why. Is not the cup of the blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ is that there is one bread we who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread look at the nation Israel are not those who eat the sacrifices shares in the altar again he's talking about we're one people we're all one people we've all been redeemed Yet what was happening with the Corinthians? Look at the end of verse 20. I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You can't casually go back to that. You can't drink, verse 21. You can't drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can't partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. What you want to do, verse 22, what do you want to do? Provoke the Lord to jealousy like Israel did? Do you think you're stronger than He is? It's the very same warning as the nation of Israel had received in the desert. When Paul then says, do not be bound together with unbelievers, he is calling for separation, now listen carefully, at the religious, really at the spiritual level. That's what he means. You can't play with false religion. You can't yoke up true teachers and false teachers. You can't take true Christianity and link it to a false, damnable, demonic lie. You can't do that. You have to separate yourself from all of that. For instance, now we're going to go another place in the New Testament. 1 Timothy 1. Paul in verses 19 and 20. Keeping faith. Holding on to the faith. And a good, clear conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander. Who I have delivered to Satan that they might be taught not to blaspheme. Paul had to go into that church and literally throw out the false teachers who were teaching blasphemous heresy. Who were shipwrecking people's faith. He turned them over to Satan. We can't allow that in the church. You can't link up with that in the church of Christ. Over in chapter 4, he talks about hypocritical liars, seared in their own consciences, who teach the doctrines of demons and are energized by deceitful spirits. In chapter 6, verse 3, he says, When anyone like this comes along with a different doctrine that doesn't agree with sound words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited, understands nothing, has a morbid interest in controversial questions. Disputes about words, operates out of envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicion, creates constant friction. They're men of a depraved mind, deprived of the truth. The point is to have nothing to do with them. Verse 20 of that same chapter, chapter 6 of 1 Timothy. Avoid worldly and empty chatter. Avoid the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and gone astray from the faith. Listen, Satan's number one assault on the church is to infiltrate with error. To get in the church and to teach lies, error, bad theology, to bring in subtle secretism, that's what it's called, syncretism with other religions, to bring in stuff that sounds good on the surface but is the doctrine of demons. That's how Satan operates, our enemy. This is how he roars about like a lion seeking who he might devour. And he has done it in Corinth and Paul says you can't do that, it's disastrous. What it says about Satan, though, is everything. That's always been his approach. He doesn't want to fight the church. He wants to do what? He wants to join it. When he fights the church, it explodes, and the blood of the martyrs becomes the seat and the seal of the church and its growth. Just look at the first century. The first century church was spread by persecution. Yet when he joins the church, it dies. So he always wants to get involved in it. And witless, reckless, understanding believers take it for the latest evangelistic strategy and embrace it. And that's the folly that we have to avoid. It's not an even evangelistic strategy. It's slow suicide. Unbelievers and believers cannot be yoked in common spiritual enterprise. Truth and error cannot go together. They are opposite in nature. They are pulling in opposite directions. They are headed towards opposite goals. They are motivated by opposite desires. And they're controlled by enemy kingdoms. So what we're talking about here is linking together with an unbeliever in any religious or spiritual enterprise. That's what Paul's talking about, and that's what we're talking about this morning. We're not talking about where you bank, so you can rest easy there. We're not talking about should you quit your job because you work with non-believers. I'd have to quit tomorrow if that were the case. We're not talking about Christians pulling out of society because we don't have a Christian government. We're not talking about leaving your neighborhood. We're not talking about any of that. We're talking about a spiritual enterprise. Worship, ministry, evangelism, religious cooperation between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light is ridiculous. Why would we want to give Satan access to any part of the work of God? And that's a big part of the job of the elders of this church, is to protect the flock from this. The heathen who do not know Christ, who do not have a genuine place in the kingdom of God, cannot join the enterprise of the church. Many of them will be completely pagan on the outside and they'll be easy to spot. Yet often the ones you have to watch for are the most religious. The ones most subtly like Christians. Satan is wily, covert, subtle, and crafty. There's a reason the military calls those covert operations. As there are many positions we take in this little church, as with many positions that we take in this little church, it is not popular to take this particular viewpoint. but it's fairly safe because it's in the Bible. And as such, I feel very comfortable there. And I hope you do as well. Because there's no place for compromise in this area. So that is the issue. Pagan religion, false teaching ruins those who listen to it. It leads to ungodliness. It spreads like gangrene and it upsets the faith of people. Paul directed all of that to Timothy and warned him to warn the church. The issue then is religious cooperation, religious compromise with false teachers, and with heresy and error. Listen, we simply can have nothing to do with the people involved in that when they are so involved. And yet through the years, much of the American church has continued to do this. And they have different terms for it. Sometimes it's called cooperative evangelism, where an evangelist will come into a city, bring together Christians and non-Christians, even though many of them will call themselves Christian, who believe in the word of God and those who believe in the word of God and those liberals who openly deny the word of God in a common evangelistic enterprise. That is a direct violation of what this text is teaching, and that it happens all the time in common efforts at evangelism. Sadly, it also happens in educational institutions, including seminaries, where those institutions that would claim to be Christian would have on their faculty those who believe the Word of God, those who are born again, and yet those who are not. And they are illegitimately linking together in a common spiritual enterprise to the detriment of the church. To the debilitation of the believers and the false assurance of the unbelievers. Have you ever considered that? It's not only damaging to the believers, it's also giving false hope to unbelievers in many of these instances. People that think they're saved when they're not. True Christians have to separate from unbelievers in matters related to ministry, teaching, and worship. And when I say teaching, I'm talking about teaching that relates to God and His truth. So Paul establishes that principle firmly, and in response to that principle we find in verse 14 he gives us four reasons, four primary motives for following this mandate. And as I mentioned during the introduction, in order to contrast with our study in 1 Peter, where the Apostle Peter was coming mostly from a positive outlook, I want to approach these motives in the 2 Corinthians passage from a negative perspective, if I might. And we will just look at these briefly this morning. To be bound together with unbelievers in any spiritual effort is irrational. And you might not be too surprised that the number one that I would pick as a practicing engineer is the one that relates to reason. It first makes no sense. So we'll look at that. To try to bind believers and unbelievers together in any spiritual enterprise is irrational. As we shall see, it simply doesn't make sense. And to make this point of the sheer nonsense of such a common enterprise with unbelievers, he asks four rhetorical questions right out of the gate, starting at verse 14, each of which demands a negative answer. And here they come, verse 14. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial or Satan? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? And the answer to those is negative. Of course, these are rhetorical questions. Righteousness and lawlessness have no partnership. Light and darkness have no fellowship. Christ and Satan have no harmony. And a believer and an unbeliever have nothing in the spiritual realm in common. It is obvious that you can't make opposites the same. It's called the law of non-contradiction in the study of logic. And those are opposites. Those four rhetorical questions are set in place, the utter ridiculousness of Christians and pagans working together in some spiritual enterprise, engaging in some worship, or being involved in the dissemination of supposedly divine truth. So here's a survey of scriptures to anchor this principle in your mind and I would encourage you to pick each one of these sections of scripture up and study them on your own during this week coming week. In your notes that fell out there. It's Matthew 23, verse 27. Christ condemning the Pharisees, like whitewashed tombs which are on the outside appear beautiful, but inside are full of dead man's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 1 John 3, verse 4, everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. But verse 10, by this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. John 8, verse 12. Jesus makes a very clear distinction. I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Light referring to righteousness. Darkness referring to lawlessness. a collage here in this next bullet. In Acts 26, when Paul was commissioned and called into ministry, he was told that he was going to bring a light and open the eyes of the Gentiles, that they might see the light. Ephesians 5 talks about that, the kingdom of light. Colossians 1, we have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, which is a kingdom of light. Peter writes about this marvelous kingdom, the kingdom of light. He says in 1 Peter 2. He has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. 1 John 1 says we walk in light, not in darkness. And finally, unbelievers, sad to say, are the children of Satan. They walk according to the prince of the power of the air, Ephesians 2.2, according to the spirit who works in them who are called the sons of disobedience. They are lawless disobedient subjects to Satan who walk in a kingdom of darkness. There can be no harmony with them. So what does this mean? Any attempt to get together in a denomination, any attempt to get together in an association, in some ministry of evangelism, a campus ministry, a crusade, any event like that, an attempt to get together in a school setting, in an educational environment, supposedly being able to calmly move towards one goal is ridiculous if this is a spiritual event with unbelievers. Any attempt at fellowship and common spiritual life with unbelievers is ridiculous. It's damaging and as we've mentioned before, falsely reassuring to that very unbeliever that might be participating. And notice that Satan disguises himself. Let me remind you of 2 Corinthians 11. He disguises himself as an angel of light. He works in false religion. His messengers are disguised as angels of light. He crawls into the religious garments and tries to perpetuate his religions. And he sucks believers into compromises with those false religions. including Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Roman Catholics, and whatever other heresies and errors are abounding, you cannot partner with those people in a common spiritual enterprise. It's really sad to think about. Churches are filled with unbelievers in America today. And this attempt is going on all the time to make this kind of mutual believer-unbeliever partnership to work. it is an abomination to God. And because that is so, it is always ineffective. It's usually disastrous. Remember what Pastor Blair has mentioned several times in this pulpit, that other pastors are telling him over and over again that they've figured out what's wrong with their churches. A pastor will come and say half his board are saved and the other half aren't. These aren't just members. These are the board of the deacons or the elders or whatever leadership they have in that church. I can't imagine a worse scenario, can you? How damaging to the witness of the American church. It is not only irrational, point number two, it's not only irrational for believers to be bound together with unbelievers, more importantly so, it's blasphemous. Look at verse 16, where Paul makes this second major point. Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. Just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. The issue here is an issue of sacrilege. All false religion is demon worship. Now remember, an idol is nothing. You can carve an idol out of wood. You make an idol out of stone. You make an idol out of silver. You can make one out of gold. You can do whatever you want to paint one on a wall. And I would add, you could also put one on your smart device, too. You could form one out of marble, whatever it is. And when you're done, it's nothing. But the religion and the ideology that it stands for is the teaching of demons. It lies from the pits. It is the doctrines of demons coming from seducing spirits. So that what happens is demons impersonate the idol, and you worship a demon in the idol, though you don't know it. It is a demon who creates the religion, who conducts the relationship with the worshiper. It is demon communion, is one way to put it. And when you go to the table of demons, when you go to the idol, you worship a demon. All the gods of the nation are demons the Old Testament says because demons impersonate the idols that men create under their stimulation and so the question then returns for us at what agreement has the temple of God with idols well the answer there is none absolutely none you can't mix devil worship with the worship of God they can't be mixed Christianity is completely and totally separate from every form of idolatry. Here are some more scriptures, this time two terrifying examples from the Old Testament. First of all, 2 Kings 21, verse 1. Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. I always wondered how God let him live so long. And his mother's name was Hebzibah. and he did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. What did he do? What were the abominations of the nations who used to be in the land? It was idolatry. And what did he do? He brought back all the idolatry. He brought back all the abominations that the Lord had dispossessed. And you can read about that in this section further in 2 Kings 21. Another example, in Ezekiel 8, verse 3, the Lord stretched out of the form of a hand and caught me by the lock of my head. That's an amazing scripture, isn't it? That God reached out and grabbed him by the lock of his head. It says, Ezekiel, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem. So now God pulls him out of the earth, pulls him up in the sky and gives him a vision. And his vision of this is Jerusalem to the entrance of the north gate by the inner court. That's in the temple where the seat of the idol of jealousy which provokes to jealousy was located. God takes him up into vision and shows him that an idol has been put in the inner court of the temple. And verse 4 says the glory of the God of Israel was there. So alongside the glory of God sits an idol. And he says to me in verse 5, Son of man, raise your eyes towards the north. I raise my eyes towards the north and behold to the north of the altar gate there was an idol of jealousy at the entrance right by the altar. And he said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing? Great abominations with the house of Israel are committing here that I should be far from my sanctuary. I'm going to have to leave because they brought an idol. But I'm going to show you even greater abominations. The passage continues to describe increasing abominations all the way up to verse 16. And what does he find? Twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord, turning away from God and worshiping the Son, prostrating themselves toward the Son. An old activity of Egyptian worship. They were committing abominations. Finally, in verse 18, Indeed, the Lord God said, I shall deal in wrath. And He did, and destroyed them all, and destroyed that temple. So think about that when you read the passages, the wonderful promises in the New Testament that says we are the temple of God. God protects his temple very jealously. There's no compatibility between the temple of God and idols. That's the point. Listen, pagans don't mind going with Christians in religious activity. In fact, they often love it. But we can't allow it. We cannot allow it. We cannot join with unbelievers in worship or ministry or any enterprise that involves God, nor can we invite them to join our enterprise. And that's because of the blasphemy or the sacrilege of it. What agreement has the temple of God with idols? You can't bring idols into the temple of God. You can't take the temple of God and put it in an idol temple. And here's the point. We are the temple of the living God. He's talking about each believer individually. And then he confirms it by a mosaic of Old Testament texts. Just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. and by the way that mosaic of the old testament text is a blending together of statements made in leviticus twenty six verses eleven and twelve jeremiah twenty four verse seven excerpts from both ezekiel twenty seven and thirty seven he's just taking what is the Old Testament teaching and pulling together in a mosaic and summarizing it. And that's why it's depicted as quoted from the Old Testament in your New Testament Bibles that we have today. And saying that God says He will dwell in His people and walk among them and be their God and they'll belong to Him. Third point this morning. To be bound together with unbelievers is also disobedient. It's not just irrational and blasphemous, it's disobedient. And verse 17 makes that abundantly clear because it says, Therefore come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean. So here you have a direct command. Someone who links up with false religionists is in direct disobedience. Therefore is a very important link. Since you are in the temple of God, since God walks in you, since you are His own possession, as verse 16 says, in effect, therefore, make a clean break. Realizing that you are personally indwelt by the living and almighty God, realizing unspeakable grace and privilege of constant communion and power from the resonant Holy Spirit, the Sovereign One who lives in you, you have no alternative but to obey your King. And your King says, separate. Separate no other option can be considered God has expressed the command of this and the command is right here in verse 17 Paul says I am speaking for God himself and telling you come out from their midst and be separate do not touch What is unclean? the same thought in fact in some ways the same words are expressed in the Old Testament by the Old Testament prophet Isaiah and you can look at Isaiah chapter 52. Paul knew certainly this scripture well and it is a suitable companion. In fact, it may well be what Paul had in mind when he wrote that 17th verse. In Isaiah 52 verse 7, the prophet is giving revelation, given revelation from God regarding the coming salvation. He talks about how lovely on the mountains are the feet of Him who bring good news, the Gospel. Who announces peace and brings good news of happiness. Who announces a salvation and says to Zion, your God reigns. In other words, how wonderful it is when someone will come and preach the Gospel. Continues in verse 8, listen, your watchmen Lift up their voices, they shout joyfully together, for they will see with their own eyes when the Lord restores Zion. Break forth, shout joyfully together, your waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all nations and all ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God. So we know what he's talking about. He's talking about a time when God is going to send a Savior, and the Gospel will be preached, and Israel will be saved. Now verse 11, when it happens, he says, Depart, depart, go out from there, touch nothing unclean. Go out from the midst of her, purify theirselves. And there's a very similar, if not parallel, And it's not even what Paul has on his mind, the passage that he is building on, as it were, in 2 Corinthians 6. What is he saying? It's saying simply this. Look, when salvation comes, make a clean break. Come out from your old idolatrous patterns. Come out of those idolatrous habits. No more idolatrous feasts and festivals and meals and celebrations. You make a clean break. In the New Testament, Ephesians chapter 5 reiterates basically the same principle. Obviously those in Ephesus were coming to Christ out of the same kind of pagan backgrounds and needing to make a very clean break. In verse 6 of Ephesians 5, Paul talks about people who deceive with empty words, people who are nothing but the sons of disobedience on whom the wrath of God is going to come. And he says to the Ephesians in verse 7, do not be partakers with them. Don't partner up with those who are engaged in those false religions. You were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. And in verse 10, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord, do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness. But instead, even expose them, for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret." And the fourth point this morning, disobedience to this command is also an act of ingratitude. The last point, it is ungrateful. verse one this is another poor this is another poor chapter break please recall that the chapter and verse additions to scripture were neither in the original text nor are they inspired chapter seven should really begin at verse two Nevertheless first one says therefore having these promises beloved. Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit Perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord now this indeed is a great verse to culminate this passage Blair could actually take this verse and sprint and preach for six months on the doctrine of progressive sanctification But I'm not going to start that this way Paul is giving us the final motive for obeying the command, the final motive for separating from unbelievers in religious association. The final one is clearly because of God's promises. Therefore, which we always want to inquire what's the therefore, therefore, because it is a consequence of all what has just been said previously. Therefore having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves. In other words, he's not appealing any longer to the command, he's appealing to the promise. And here are the commands, he appealed to them earlier. So in verse 14, do not be bound together with unbelievers. 17, come out from their midst and be separate and do not touch what is unclean. And we are to obey those commands out of a healthy regard for God's chastening if we don't. But he goes beyond the commands to the promises, having these promises beloved. Promises then become the final motive. Promises should elicit love, gratitude, thankfulness. We should be so overwhelmed at the generosity, such gracious privilege, such mercy, such grand blessing at the hands of our God. Amen. After all, when we read that we are the temple of the living God and God says, I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And then God says, I will welcome you, I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me. Those are the promises of which he speaks. Having these promises that God will dwell with us, walk with us, be our God and we'll be his people, that God will embrace us and be our father and we will be his children. Now there are seven separate statements in those two verses, verses 16 and 18, that speak of promise. When we understand those promises, beloved, how can we do less than cleanse ourselves from all defilement? Much like the section of 1 Peter where we're studying now, this is an appeal to goodness. God's goodness and His mercy. It's also no different, really, than our most notable and familiar of all such appeals in Romans 12, where Paul says, I urge you to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice. He's calling for separation there, too. Have you thought about that? On the basis of God's sovereign love, His predestined purpose, on the basis of God's gospel call, on the basis of justification, on the basis of God's regeneration in your life, on the basis of God having granted you the Holy Spirit and giving you an inheritance with the saints, so that your joint heir with Jesus Christ, on the basis of God's gift or on the promise of heaven, eternal life, the hope of eternal life, and assurance of that eternal life. On the basis of all of that, all those mercies, mercy meaning you don't deserve a single one of them, on the basis of all that, can't you at least live a separated life? If you can't, it's blatant ingratitude. So just to bring this full circle this morning, listen to what Peter says, because Peter makes the same appeal. This is a powerful portion of Scripture that we have yet to encounter with Pastor Blair. We'll probably be there in a few weeks. 2 Peter 1, verse 3. Seeing that His divine power, that's God's divine power, has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, We should just cherish that statement. God has granted everything pertaining to life and godliness. Praise God. He has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. By these He has granted us His precious and magnificent promises in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature. having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. So here is God, through our knowledge of Jesus Christ, by God's own glory and excellence, he has given to us precious and magnificent promises in the gospel that have made us partakers of the divine nature that have caused us to escape the corruption in the world. God has been so merciful and gracious. Now for this very reason, he says in verse 5, apply all diligence in your faith and supply moral excellence. Start to live the life, he says, when you've received all these magnificent promises, how can you possibly do less than to respond in obedience? That's exactly what we have in this text of 2 Corinthians that we've examined together this morning. He couldn't say it any more directly than he said it. Having these promises beloved. And did you notice beloved is a term of endearment from Paul to people. But it also sets boundaries for who has those promises. Only the Beloved of God, only those accepted in the Beloved who is Christ. Paul likes to use that term. He used it twice in 1 Corinthians and he used it twice in 2 Corinthians to refer to the believers in that city. It is an expression of tender affection, but notice that it is also a way to set the limits on the promises of God. So those of us who are beloved, who have received the promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. How can we do anything less out of sheer gratitude to our Heavenly Father? The fact that we are given such amazing mercies, such amazing promises, should be so compelling that we can only respond with gratitude. Amen. and amen. Let's pray.