 The title of our sermon this morning is Undivided Devotion, Undivided Devotion. This is part two as we have been working through this text, 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 11 through chapter 7 verse 3. So as we return this word state out of part two of our verse by verse study of this text, it's important I think for us to remind ourselves of the context and Paul's purpose for writing this passage to make it clear in our mind so to speak sort of lay out Paul's argument if you will from this text of scripture and how that argument should apply in our hearts and minds how we should apply it to our Christian lines. The church in Corinth is embattled. So we discussed previously in detail the church appears as though it may come apart at the seams at times. There are significant self-destructive problems within the church pertaining to sin, division, discord, disunity, accusations in Corinth are flying, partisan disagreements abound, and false teachers now opponents of Paul are leading an insurrection in Corinth that threatens to undo the good work that was begun just a few years prior. Paul by all of this is justifiably concerned. Paul pours himself out in prayer for the Corinthians. He sheds tears over them. Now he writes these letters to them, exhorting them. He has visited them, painful visits where he rebukes and corrects and reproves with all long suffering and patience. Paul is justifiably concerned. He writes to them chapter 2 verse 4 out of much affliction and anguish of heart with many tears. He can sense his influence among them waning. He can sense their confidence in him, their confidence in the message that he's preaching. He can sense that dissipating. He can discern the troubled path that they appear to be treading and he knows that that path leads to great loss. Since the non-canonical severe letter written just before this one, just before 2 Corinthians, the Corinthians have taken positive steps. Most notably among those steps is that they have dealt biblically with one of Paul's most stringent opponents in the church. As Paul meets up with Titus then in Macedonia, Titus brings encouraging news about their response to his severe letter. They've repented of their neglect. They've repented of their lack of love toward Paul and they have dealt with the sinner in their midst. But now their relationship to Paul is far from being reconciled. Paul's hope now is to exhort them, to press them in this text, to press them in this letter, to a full and faithful restoration. Knowing that restoration with Paul is a restoration to the gospel, so to speak. A restoration to Paul and his apostolic preaching of God's Word is a restoration to God's Word, to God himself. To be estranged from Paul, to be estranged from the apostolic preaching of God's Word, is to be estranged from the Lord Jesus Christ, is to be estranged from the preaching of the gospel and it is the path to apostasy. And this gives Paul much cause for concern. Where are the Corinthians? What is the condition of their heart? Has he run in vain? Has all of this labor been in vain? So this text reminds us then, 2 Corinthians chapter 6, this text verse reminds us how important it is to persevere in the faith. It also reminds us how easy it is to be turned aside. We can be easily derailed, can't we? We can easily deceive ourselves. Paul would later tell Timothy, serving in Ephesus, Timothy, be watchful in all things. Endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Why? Why should Timothy exercise himself to watchfulness? Why should Timothy strive for godliness? Because Paul says, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables, turned aside to Satan, turned aside to destruction, turned aside to apostasy. We've seen that, haven't we? We've seen that in our own day. That has been the reality throughout church history. Paul said it in his day, it happened in his day, it happens in our day. So Paul pleads with the Corinthians then in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, and he pleads with us, don't receive the grace of God in vain. Take heed how you hear. Consider the spiritual blessings that we've been given in Christ, right? Consider the promises of God that are all yes and amen in him. And devote yourself to the ministry that we've been given. Just devote yourself to the treasure that lies there within that earthen vessel. And hold fast the word Paul says that I preach to you unless you believed in vain. Hold fast. So as we come to chapter 6 verse 11 then, Paul begins the piercing work of diagnosing their malady in commanding or commending the remedy. He knows what lies within the heart of the Corinthians. He knows what the problem is. And now thinking about their problem, thinking about their condition, their context, their state, Paul now exhorts them to the truth of God's word, exhorts them to consider the Lord's remedy. First, Paul charges them now to fuel or to fire godly affections. And that begins really on the surface, so to speak, with him. If they're going to fan the flames of godly affection or godward affection, it needs to begin with reconciliation to God's apostle. O Corinthians, he says in verse 11, we've spoke openly to you. You know our love for you. We've not held anything back that would be profitable to you. I've written chapter 2 verse 4 that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you. He says in verse 11, our heart is wide open. The problem doesn't lie with Paul. The problem doesn't lie with Timothy or with Silas. The problem lies with them. Verse 12, you're not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. There's no restriction in our affection for you, Paul says. There's no cause with us for you to withhold your affection from me. The problem lies within your own affections. The problem lies within your own heart. So Paul charges them then in verse 13. Now in return for the same, in return for full and unfettered affection from me, in return for my godward and godly affections toward you, I speak to children as a spiritual father who loves his spiritual children. Now you, Corinthians, you also be open to me. Paul says essentially, these opening verses, that your heart toward me has grown cold. Paul knows that that cold heart indicates a deeper spiritual problem in the hearts and minds of those people in Corinth who suffer from it. He knows that reflects a serious problem. They have left their first love and that has evidenced itself now in their lack of affection for the Lord's apostle, in their lack of affection for the Lord's preaching through him. And as lawlessness abounds, their love grows cold and Paul knows it and Paul is concerned about it. What's the remedy? What's the remedy? Chapter seven, verse two, Paul says, open your heart to me. We haven't wronged you. We've not corrupted you. We've not cheated you. Fire up godly affections. Fire up fuel godward affections. Cultivate love for one another. Cultivate love for the Lord in Corinth now with many and maybe with some of you here this morning, there is a soul destroying 11 in the heart that left unchecked. That 11 will spread like a cancer until it fills your heart until it cools and then freezes your affections for the things of God. You can see it, can't you? You can see it in the lack of zeal. You can see it in the presence of apathy. You can see it in the coolness of indifference. You can see it in the inconsistency and the hypocrisy of your own prayer. You can see it, can't you? In your lack of devotion to God's cause, to God's gospel, to the Lord's work, you can see it creeping in, can't you? It's like an 11. If that remains unchecked, it is the path to apostasy. You remember from Pilgrim's Progress, it's like that fire that burned against the wall near the house of the interpreter. The interpreter takes Christian by the hand and he leads them to the wall where Christian sees the fire burning there. He tells Christian, this fire, this fire that burns here is the work of grace that is wrought in the heart and he sees Satan standing there on one side of the wall and Satan is laboring, laboring with all the wicked and deceitful tools that he has at his disposal to extinguish the flame, to pour water on the fire. For the true Christian, for the one who has turned from his sin, the one who is relying upon the Spirit of God by faithing Christ, we know that Christ is on the other side of that wall pouring oil on the fire, the oil of his grace. And despite the water dousing work, the water extinguishing work of Satan, that fire in the heart of the Christian empowered by the Spirit, enabled, supplied by the Spirit burns hotter and hotter and hotter. And we understand this as God's sovereignty and salvation. We understand this to be the work of God by his Spirit in the life of a genuine believer. God alone is the one who supplies the oil of sanctifying grace to complete the work that he has begun in us. God alone does that work and his grace is sufficient. His grace is more than sufficient to keep that fire burning red hot. The blessings of our redemption, won by Christ and applied by the Spirit, will prevail over the heart, will prevail over inward corruption. So Paul here in our text isn't doubting the sovereign grace of God. Genuine saving faith is an unquenchable faith. Amen? Paul's not doubting the sovereign grace of God. Paul is concerned here about their lack of reliance upon the oil. Paul is concerned here with whether or not they are genuinely in the faith. He's concerned about them. He's concerned about us this morning receiving the oil of God's grace in vain and letting it spill upon the ground wasted. He's concerned here with man's responsibility. Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress describes the work of Christ behind the wall as a secret work. In other words, it's secret because we don't see it. We can't visibly view it with our eyes, right? As we observe our own life or the lives of others who profess to know Christ, all that we can see are the flames. We can see the flames. We see the flames as they either burn hotter and hotter and hotter or we see the flames dwindling. We see the flames begin to slowly die out. We see some flames reduced to flickering embers and we see with great fear, fear of the Lord, concern for their soul that they may finally die out and be extinguished forever. So Paul pleads with them. Paul pleads with us this morning. Fan the flame, right? Fan the flame. Lay hold of the oil by faith. What does it mean if that fire is extinguished forever? What does it mean if the fire goes out? It means that Christ was never behind the wall to begin with, right? It means that there was no oil being supplied. There was no oil to sustain it. Satan douses that flickering upstart fire with the water of adversity or Satan douses it with the water of persecution or the water of worldliness, the water of ease, the water of comfort, the waters of worldly ease and worldly comfort, worldly leisure, the cares of this world, and the fire eventually goes out. So in Paul's heart and mind toward the Corinthians for us this morning, this is heaven and hell. This is life and death. These are matters of eternal significance. Your fire may be dwindling. Your fire may be smoldering embers at this point. You may continue to come to church. You may continue to maintain a shallow confidence that your faith is real. You may continue to keep up appearances. You may continue to play the role. All of that in a church like this is difficult. Why? Why is it difficult in a church like this? Because you've got brothers and sisters around you who are lovingly keeping an eye on your fire for you. They care about how hot your fire is burning, right? Praise God. They ask you how you're doing with the supply of oil that is being provided for you. How are you doing that? Are you receiving that oil in vain? Are you making the most of the oil of God's grace to you? They're walking around you, walking around in this church with fans in their hands. Someone walks up behind you and blows on you. They're fanning daily and the more so as they see the day approaching. They know a hot fire keeps the wolves away. They know a hot fire fans affections for the Lord Jesus Christ. They know a hot fire keeps you persevering in grace. But at some point, at some point, it's difficult to keep your dwindling fire from being noticed. And it's noticed by the sheep and it's noticed by the wolves. That's what Paul's concerned about here in 2 Corinthians 6 as well. And rather than repenting and laying hold of the oil by faith, you get angry with that loving brother, that loving sister who's looking out for you, who's loving you in that way. You insist there's no problem. You're doing what you need to do. There's a fire under there. You may not see it, but it's there. What about your fire this morning? Heed Paul's warning. Heed Paul's warning. If you've noticed a reduction in heat, Paul gives us here the remedy. He gives us the remedy. Pursue an undivided devotion to the Lord, an undivided devotion to His cause, an undivided devotion to the ministry that you've been entrusted with, an undivided devotion to His kingdom, an undivided devotion to His likeness. As we'll see, this is a pursuit of holiness. Point one on your notes, fuel godly affections. We saw that last Lord's Day in verses 11 through 13. Fuel godward affections. Two, point two on your notes, douse or extinguish worldly affections. Douse or extinguish worldly affections. We'll see this in chapter 6 verse 14 through chapter 7 verse 1. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. James says, whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. As we seek to extinguish in our lives worldly affections, there are three means here given by the apostle Paul in this text by which we may pursue this aim. Three means. You'll find them on your notes. First, disunion with the godless. Disunion with the godless. Second, communion with God. And third, devotion to godliness. As we consider those three points from your notes, remember the twofold sense of the word holiness. This is important as we consider our text. One, holy or holiness refers to being set apart to God. Set aside to God and consecrated to His use, to His service, to His worship, to His praise. Just like there were vessels set apart for use in the temple as holy, just like the Levites were set apart to serve in the temple as holy. They were holy to God, separate from the world, not in league with the world, separate from sin, you could say. In the world but not of the world, we must be holy to God. Secondly, holy or holiness refers to being set apart from sin. Being set apart from sin, living an increasingly holy life, putting off sin, putting on righteousness, pursuing holy or righteous living. As Paul would say, cleansing yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. This is a pursuit of holiness. Once reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, once, as Paul has said, we are made the righteousness of God in Him. We must, by faith in Christ, access that grace, the oil of His grace, so to speak, in which we now stand, taking heed that we don't receive that grace in vain. We must move on in the Christian life to increasing holiness. We do that by diligently pursuing our sanctification in accord with the will of God. In part here in this text, through the use of these three means, we'll see Paul exhorting us through these means to holiness in both senses of the word. Disunion with the godless, communion with God, devotion to godliness. Notice first with me, Paul's command for disunion with the godless. Look at verse 14. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Very clear. There are two camps. There are two realms, two kingdoms of dominion you could say in this world that Paul is concerned with. Living for Christ in this world, chapter 5 verse 16, not regarding anyone according to the flesh any longer, we should see that there are only two camps of people, two realms of people you could say in this world that you and I should be primarily concerned with. There are only two camps that Paul is here concerned with, believers and unbelievers, the righteous and the lawless, the bride of Christ and the children of the devil, those who are saved by the gospel and those who are enemies of the gospel. There are two camps. Paul mentions one in verse 14. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now this imperative, this command in verse 14 has a context. Who are these unbelievers? Who are the unbelievers in Corinth that are attempting to yoke themselves with a church? They are pursuing yoked fellowship, you could say, with the believers in Corinth. Who is Paul warning them about in this text? Think with me. The enemies of the Lord, the enemies of the Lord's church in Corinth are professing Christians. They're professing Christians. These wicked unbelievers in verse 14 are Judaizers. We've looked at that previously in our study of 2 Corinthians. The Judaizers are those who say they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They believe that we're saved by grace through faith, but the Judaizers call for works to be added to faith for salvation, namely the calling for circumcision, the calling for us to obey certain aspects of the ceremonial law. The Judaizers are corrupting the gospel with their works. Paul says in Galatians chapter 1, let them be accursed, let them be damned. These are professing Christians. They say they believe in Jesus. They have weaseled themselves into the church at Corinth, and Paul is referring to them here as lawless, as darkness, as sons of the devil, as unbelievers. He's referring to them as pagan idolaters. Those who are professing the name of Christ by their words and by their actions, Paul says here, they are pagan idolaters. In other words, they profess to uphold the law and they themselves are lawless. They profess to walk in the light and they are shrouded, walking in darkness. They fashion an idol for themselves. It's an idol after their own image. It's an idol after the imaginations of their own heart and mind. They call it Jesus, and they, Paul says, are worshiping demons. They are pagan idolaters. These are false teachers, false professing Christians and their followers who are following after them. Paul had already dealt with this issue of pagan idolatry in a broad sense in 1 Corinthians. Turn there with me, and I want to make an important connection for us from 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Look there with me at chapter 10. Chapter 10, really in chapters 8 through 10 and following, Paul deals with the issue of pagan idolatry in the city of Corinth. And in order to deal with pagan idolatry here, Paul begins by referencing the example of Old Testament Israel as a way of admonishing the Corinthians to flee idolatry. Don't have anything to do with it. He begins in verse 6. He says, now these things, when he says now these things in verse 6, he's referring to that deplorable example of the Israelites in the wilderness when they failed to trust God, when they turned aside to idolatry. He says their example in the wilderness, these things, verse 6, became our examples. These things were given to us, written for us, as examples to us not to fall into the same pattern of disobedience, not to fall into the same pattern of faithlessness. He said they became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Verse 7, and do not become idolaters, as were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. It was immediately upon crafting for themselves the golden calf. Verse 8, nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day 23,000 fell. In other words, the Lord is deathly serious about sin and idolatry. Do you see? Verse 9, nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents, nor complained. Grumble, verse 10, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things, verse 11, happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition upon whom the end of the ages have come. Now look at verse 14, verse 14. Here's the command then. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. We need to remember that the Corinthians lived in a culture that was steeped in idolatry. Everywhere you turned your head, there was idolatry, pagan worship. Paul says flee from idolatry. He says, I speak to wise men, in verse 15, judge for yourselves what I say. Separate yourselves from idolatry. We're in union with Christ. Are we not? Look at verse 16. The cup of blood in which we bless. Is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break. Is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, verse 17, though many, are one bread. We are in union. In union with Christ, and by virtue of our union with Christ, we're in union with one another. And we are one body. Why? Because we all partake of that one bread. The bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 18. Observe Israel after the flesh. Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What am I saying then? What am I saying then, Paul says? That an idol is anything? Or what is offered to idols is anything? No. An idol is nothing. It is the fabrication of man's heart, a fabrication of man's imagination, the work of his hands. Idols are nothing. Verse 20. Rather, this is what I'm saying. Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice to, they believe they're sacrificing some worthless, dead, unliving, unfeeling, unthinking, undoing, worthless idol crafted with man's hands. That's what they're sacrificing to. But Paul says that those things which appear to be nothing, Paul says in the Gentiles sacrifice to demons. Those worthless idols, when the Gentiles worship, they're worshiping demons. Demons are behind, are behind worthless idolatry, godless idolatry. Rather, I'm saying that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And so Corinthians, I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Put back with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and look at verse 14. Here in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 14, Paul now narrows his focus. He narrows his definition and exhorting them to flee idolatry. Now, in exhorting them to flee idolatry, he narrows his focus to include with those worthless Gentile idols and the demons behind them, Paul narrows his focus now to include false professing Christians who preach, as he will say in chapter 11, verse 4, another Jesus. And we have not preached a different gospel which you have not accepted. I made the connection with me, right? Paul is essentially saying that when someone crafts an idol out of, from the dictates of his own heart, and he may call it Jesus, if you're not worshiping the Jesus of the Bible, but you're worshiping his fabrication of your own imagination, you are worshiping idols. You are worshiping demons. If you are not holding to, adhering to the gospel that he is preaching, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel laid out on the pages of Scripture, repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, turning from sin and entrusting yourself to him by faith. If you're not believing that gospel, if you corrupted it in any way, if you add your works to it, if you pervert it in any way, Galatians chapter 1, you are worshiping demons. You have created an idol in your own mind, in your own heart. You're bowing down before a worthless idol that will lead you to hell. These false teachers in Corinth, those who fabricate their idols in that way are idolaters. They are unbelievers in verse 14, unbelievers. These are those in Corinth who have enticed the affections of the Corinthians, and they've enticed them with their error, with their false teacher, false teaching. In chapter 11, verse 13, Paul describes them as false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder, Paul says, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. In other words, pagan idolatry doesn't come always wrapped in the garb of some satanic looking thing crafted in wood. Pagan idolatry isn't always dressed up in the garb of Hinduism or Buddhism or Satanism. Sometimes it doesn't come so overtly. Often it is disguised as an angel of light. Therefore, he says, it is no great thing if his ministers, if the ministers of Satan himself also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness whose end will be according to their works. They presume to teach righteousness. They themselves are lawless. And here, adding works to the gospel. Verse 14, he asked the question then, considering this, these are pagan idolaters. They are demon worshiping unbelievers. So Paul asked the question then in verse 14, for what fellowship then has righteousness lawlessness? Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. Why? Because what fellowship, what metake, what partnership, what sharing together in common goals, what sharing together in common efforts, what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? The answer to that rhetorical question is none whatsoever. Absolutely none, no fellowship. Paul wrote to them in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 11, not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person. Not to keep company with such a one. He says, put away from yourselves the evil person. What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? The one who conducts himself in righteousness obeys the law of God. The one who conducts himself in lawlessness disobeys the law of God. Listen to this from 1 John chapter 3 verse 4. Just listen. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness and sin is lawlessness. And you know that the Lord Jesus Christ was manifested to take away our sins. And in him there is no sin. Whoever abides in him does not make a practice of sin. Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him. He says, little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous just as the Lord Jesus Christ is righteous. He who sins is of the devil. For the devil is sin from the beginning. You see how there's just this dichotomy being painted here, right? This entire separation between the two. They are incompatible. Two ends of the spectrum. He says, for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Not to enable them through his fellowship. Whoever has been born of God does not sin. For his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are made manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God nor is he who does not love his brother. They couldn't be any more unalike. They couldn't be any more dissimilar. They couldn't have any less in common. What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? Paul asks here this question rhetorically. How can the one who practices righteousness and the one who practices lawlessness partner in any common goals, partner in any common pursuits? The believer loves righteousness and hates unrighteousness. The believer is governed by righteousness. He pursues righteousness. Paul says that he presents his members as slaves to righteousness. He is a slave of righteousness. How can it be then that righteousness and rebellion can walk together? It can't be. The Lord himself will say to many professing Christians in that day, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice what lawlessness? Lawlessness. They may appear outwardly righteous to men as the Pharisees did, right? But inside they are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. Lawlessness. The lawless are those who hate the Lord Jesus Christ. They show contempt for Christ. They show contempt for the gospel through their daily lawlessness, through their daily rebellion. No matter how nice they may appear outwardly, this is their state. Remember witnessing to a woman at the door once. We were talking about the gospel and her response at the end of it was, I'm going to go back to the church that I was at and I'm going to pursue the Lord. The problem was the church that she was going back to was an idolatrous synagogue of Satan. So when I attempted to explain that to her, her response was that the people there are so nice and that priest there who's ministered to me many times in my difficulty. When my husband died, he ministered to me. He's so nice. Oftentimes they come disguised as angels of light. Inwardly they are ravenous wolves filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. No matter how nice they may appear outwardly, this is their state. Paul continues in verse 14. Why didn't he ask the question? What communion? What quinonia has a light with darkness? The answer? None whatsoever. No communion. Light has no communion with darkness. Christ is the light of the world. In him there is no darkness. The light that shines in this world. He dispels the darkness and he has called his people out of darkness into his marvelous light. Light is truth. Light is understanding. Light is wisdom. Light is goodness. Light is holiness. Light is righteousness. Darkness is ignorance. Darkness is sin. Darkness is error. Darkness is rebellion. Darkness is hopelessness, death and hell. The Lord says that hell is outer darkness. Where there is light, there is no darkness. And where there is darkness, there is no light. They are mutually exclusive. Do you see? Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 5, that believers are all sons of the light, sons of the day. He says we are not of the night. We are not of the darkness. The unbelieving false teacher, the unbelieving false professing Christian, is a son of the darkness. Chapter 4 verse 4 here in our text, the God of this age has blinded their minds, left the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should shine on them. The Lord said of wicked men didn't he that they love the darkness rather than the light. How can there be any fellowship between light and darkness when wicked men love their darkness rather than the light and when sons of the light love the light and hate the darkness? Colossians 1 verse 12, Paul says we are partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and he has conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love in whom we have redemption, not through any perishable common thing. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins clean to the light. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 8, Paul says you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord. Now walk as children of light. How could there be any communion, any fellowship, any fellowship with darkness any longer? There simply is no common ground, no common ground. Look at verse 15 and what accord the word is symphonesis. It means where we get our word symphony from. The word symphony comes from this word means harmony or agreement. What harmony, what agreement, what accord has Christ with Belial? The answer, none whatsoever. None whatsoever. Belial here is the transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning worthlessness. Means destruction. Came to be known for the adversary, the enemy, Satan. Christ, the righteous one, the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of his kingdom. Belial is the lawless one, the ruler of the darkness of this age to entirely opposed kings, to entirely opposed kingdoms. To think it possible for a son or daughter of the kingdom to be in any harmonious pursuit of anything with a son or daughter of the devil is as absurd and is as blasphemous as Christ being in harmony with Satan over anything. Right? There is no Christ. There is no accord. There is no accord with Christ and Belial. Verse 15, again, or what part, Maris is the word there. What portion, what shared commitment has a believer with an unbeliever? The answer, none whatsoever. None whatsoever. Christ now in verse 15 contrasts those who entrust themselves holy to Christ with those who do not. Christians here and non-Christians, believers and unbelievers. Those false teachers in Corinth who opposed Paul in his gospel, they would have adamantly professed to be believers. If it had spoken with them, they would have said, yes, I'm a Christian. They would have said I have my faith in Christ. I witnessed the two Mormons at my door. Last week, they professed to be Christians. They professed to be saved by grace. They professed to have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They professed to be believers. Paul alludes to them here in verse 15 as unbelievers, sons of the devil, sons of darkness, sons of disobedience. How can you tell the difference? Well, sons of unbelievers, sons of the devil, unbelievers, sons of disobedience, they have radically different values, radically different convictions, radically different purposes, radically different aims. One is faithful or faith-filled, you could say. The other one is faith-less or unfaithful. On the surface, there are many things in common between believers and unbelievers. Isn't there? We both share common graces. It rains on both the just and the unjust. We're both made in the image of God, both living on the same planet, breathing the same air, eat the same food. But we live in a radically different world, you could say. We live in a radically different realm. We have a radically different heart. We think in radically different ways. We have radically different hopes. We have radically different joys, radically different motivations. There can be no shared commitments, no merits, no part between us. It's just not possible. It's simply not possible. These two are so incompatible, in fact, that attempting any fellowship between them at all would be like setting up pagan altars in the temple of the living God and worshiping there. Verse 16, what agreement, what union has the temple of God with idols? The answer? None whatsoever. No agreement, no union. Genuine believers have turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. In fact, being built together for a dwelling place of God and the Spirit, believers themselves are the temple of the living God. More about that next week. Now think with me. Those five antithetical questions of Paul, as we consider how categorically opposed these two kings, these two kingdoms, these two peoples are, what then are we to make of the command in verse 14? Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Paul draws this word picture yoked together, unequally yoked together. He draws this from the Old Testament. Unequally yoked together translates a compound Greek word made up of heteros, meaning different, and zugos, meaning yoke. Now yoke was that wooden contraption. It was used to fasten two animals together at the neck for the purposes of plowing or pulling a cart. You would yoke them together to plow, yoke them together to pull a cart. Any wise farmer would understand you don't yoke an ox to a donkey. That's also in the law of God, Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 10 to the nation of Israel. You can't yoke cows and cocker spaniels. They do not go together. There's no hope in that yoking for productive cooperation. What symphony, what harmony is there between cows and cocker spaniels? There is none whatsoever. None whatsoever. There is none. They're different sizes. They have different strides. They have different capacities to pull. They sound different. They eat differently. They're a mismatched pair, a mismatched covenant, if there was such a thing. An unequal partnership. They're not going to pull in the same direction. They can't pull equally. They can't pull together. So the idea of the use of this word in verse 14 is to avoid getting yourself into a yoke with an animal that doesn't have the same purpose, that doesn't have the same temperament, that doesn't have the same makeup, doesn't have the same worldview. To attempt a union like that is incongruous. It's unsuitable. It's impossible. Do you see? The same thought is expressed by Leviticus chapter 19 verse 19 where the Lord says, you shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed, nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you. As Paul would ask rhetorically in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, is the Lord really concerned with oxen here? Is the Lord concerned with the purity of wool or the purity of his people? Is the Lord really concerned with mixed linen or the purity, the holiness of his people? Paul says in line with that concept, stay out of any kind of yoke with unbelievers. Don't partner with unbelievers. Don't have union with unbelievers. Don't attempt to write a symphony with unbelievers. There is no harmony between you and an unbeliever. Does that mean I shouldn't be working for the same company with unbelievers? No, we'll talk about that in a moment. Does that mean that I shouldn't be attending family reunions with my lost family members? No. Maybe if I want to be genuinely separated from unbelievers, I should go out into the desert and live in a cave so that I have no outside contact with the outside world. Maybe I should climb a tall pole and sit upon the pole so that no one can interact with me or rub against me. Maybe I should wall myself into the walls of the cathedral so I can be cut off from the world. No, no. Paul makes this very clear in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 9. Turn there with me. 1 Corinthians 5 verse 9. We can deduce what Paul is referring to here from the very words used in the antithetical questions of verses 14 through 16. We also have the near context to help us in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 9. Paul said there in verse 9, I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Don't keep company with them, Paul says, but now Paul has to come back and clarify what he intended with that communication. He says in verse 10, yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or idolaters since then you would need to go out of the world. You're going to follow me, right? It doesn't mean then to be yoked, unequally yoked together with an unbeliever does not mean mere company with them. If it meant mere company with them, we couldn't have company with anyone and we might as well go off into the wilderness and live in a cave. It's not what Paul is referring to here. Paul doesn't expect that we would go out of the world. It doesn't mean that we should stop all associating with all immoral people. We must associate with them, right? In what way? Preaching the gospel to them. We want to see them saved. We want to see them become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a responsibility to preach the gospel to them. Paul means rather that they should stop all interaction with a professing Christian here who was immoral. Cut off that one. Cut off that one. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 12, he tells Christians who are married to unbelievers, not to seek a divorce. Don't leave your husband if he's willing to live with you. That is presuming there that those who were married, they were married and then became converted were not to be unequally yoked to an unbeliever in marriage. But if you were married and then you became converted, Paul's saying don't run away from your unbelieving spouse if he's willing to live with you. Then stay married to him. Don't seek a divorce. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 27, Paul assumes that they will be eating with unbelievers. So in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14, Paul is not saying that we should cut off all company, cut off all interaction with, contact with unbelievers. Here, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, he's assuming they're going to eat with them. Here's the emphasis on what is distinctively Christian associations. Look at verse 11. But now, Paul says, I have written to you not to keep company, meaning not to associate yourself with. Don't be involved with anyone. Here it is, named a brother who is sexually immoral or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person, not even to eat with such a person. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 27, they'll eat with unbelievers. They won't eat with this one. They won't eat with that one named a brother who is a brother in name only. Makes sense. Why? Why is that? Because this person, by their sinful conduct, has revealed themselves to be an unbeliever and yet they profess to be attached to Christ in union with Christ. Believers and unbelievers are not to be yoked together. To yoke yourself to a harlot is to yoke that harlot to Christ. To yoke yourself to an unbeliever, though he professes Christ, he's a brother in name only. To yoke yourself to that unbeliever is to yoke that unbeliever and his conduct and his actions and his words to Christ. We are not to do that. There's a good example of this and the consequences of this in the Old Testament in 2 Chronicles. I want to take a look at this briefly together. Look with me at 2 Chronicles, chapter 19, chapter 18, 2 Chronicles 18. Just an example of this very thing from the Lord in the Old Testament. In chapter 18, we see this unholy yoking of Good King Jehoshaphat with Wicked King Ahab. This came about after many years as a result of failings in this respect long ago. Solomon, King Solomon, the son of King David, and we know that name, King Solomon unequally yoked himself together with pagan, idolatrous, evil, immoral, unbelieving foreign wives. And in Solomon, unequally yoking himself together with those pagan, idolatrous, unbelieving, immoral wives, ended up being swept away with their idolatry. He built altars for them to worship their wicked idols, to worship demons by. Solomon's son, upon his death, Solomon's son, Rehoboam, assumed kingship over Israel, because first his father unequally yoking himself together with immoral, idolatrous wives. His son, Rehoboam, following in those footsteps, did even worse. And the kingdom, kingdom of Israel, the nation of Israel split between Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, and Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Jeroboam took 10 northern tribes of Israel away, cut them away, you could say, to himself, took 10 tribes with him and did evil in the sight of the Lord. And a wicked trail of kings followed in the northern kingdom, Israel, for many, many years. Rehoboam kept Judah in Benjamin, the southern kingdom, Jerusalem. And there were some good kings, some bad kings in that line. Until we come to southern kingdom now king, Jehoshaphat, good king, one who sought God, and wicked king Ahab, the king of the 10 tribes of Israel, the northern capital city of Samaria, who was a deplorably wicked king, in the long line of deplorably wicked Israel, northern kingdom kings. So look now, this alliance takes place in chapter 18, verse 1. Jehoshaphat had riches and honor and abundance. And listen to this, by marriage, he allied himself with Ahab. Jehoshaphat gave his son to marry one of Ahab's daughters. Should have known better. This is to be unequally yoked here. This is a wicked alliance. This is an alliance that will prove harmful to Jehoshaphat and the southern kingdom. After some years, he went down to visit Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen in abundance for him and the people who were with him and persuaded Jehoshaphat to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead. The purpose that Ahab wanted Jehoshaphat to go up to Ramoth Gilead with him is because they were going to go to war against the Syrians. Ahab wanted Jehoshaphat to join him in war against the Syrians. Now why, you have to ask yourself, why are they fighting the Syrians in the first place? Why are they fighting the Syrians in the first place? Because Jehoshaphat's father, Asa, king of Judah, made an unequally yoked covenant with Ben Haddad, the king of Syria. You see how this just compiles itself, right? God said to Asa, if you had called upon me, I would have given Ben Haddad into your hand. But because you made a wicked treaty with Ben Haddad, he's going to be a thorn to you. Why did Asa do that? Because he feared the king of Israel and didn't call upon God for help, but made an alliance with the king of Syria. So now, fast forward, Jehoshaphat unequally yoked now to this wicked king of Israel, Ahab, is going to fight the Syrians at Ramoth Gilead. So Ahab, king of Israel, said to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, will you go with me against Ramoth Gilead? And he answered him, I am as you, I am as you are, and my people as your people, we will be with you in the war, unequally yoked together. Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, please inquire for the word of the Lord today. And that's why Jehoshaphat and the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, 400 men said to them, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead or shall I refrain? So they said, go up, for God will deliver it into the king's hand. But Jehoshaphat, he knows there's a problem. Jehoshaphat said, is there not still a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of him? So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, there's still one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil. He is Micaiah, the son of Imla. Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say such things. And the king of Israel called one of his officers and said, bring Micaiah, the son of Imla quickly. Well, Micaiah comes and Micaiah is persuaded to tell Ahab, the prophecy of the Lord. And he tells them in verse 16, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, these have no master that each return to his house in peace. Their master will be cut off. The king of the northern kingdom will die. Look at verse 28. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth Gilead. What do you notice there? What do you notice? What had Jehoshaphat already done? Jehoshaphat had already made an unequally yoked covenant treaty with wicked king Ahab. And so now, after having already made the treaty, I am as you are. My heart is your heart and my people is your people. We're going to go up with you to war. And then, inquiring of the Lord, Micaiah comes and says, clearly, you're going to be defeated in battle. Jehoshaphat has given his word to this wicked king. And so he goes into battle with him, unequally yoked together. You look at chapter 19, verse one, Jehoshaphat and Ahab are defeated in battle, obviously. Ahab dies in battle. Chapter 19, verse one, then Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, returned safely to his house in Jerusalem. And Jehu, the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? There's the issue, isn't it? When we are unequally yoked together, we show preference or esteem or deference to those who hate the Lord, to those who are the wicked. He says to Jehoshaphat, therefore, the wrath of the Lord is upon you. Nevertheless, good things are found in you in that you have removed the wooden images from the land and have prepared your heart to seek God. What happens when you're unequally yoked and God is displeased? You face the consequences for that when you esteem the wicked before God, when you show deference and unity with preference to harmony with. You share in fellowship with unbelievers, sons of darkness, sons of belial. Well, do you think that King Jehoshaphat learned his lesson? After that painful experience? No, he didn't. Look at a chapter 20, verse 35. Chapter 20, verse 35. After this, verse 35, after all this, after all that the Lord has done for him, after the Lord had blessed Israel, after all this, Jehoshaphat King of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah, King of Israel. Ahaziah acted very wickedly. Here he is again. Here he is again. This time, not to go to war with Ahaziah, but to enter into a business venture with Ahaziah. We are not to be yoked unequally together with unbelievers in business ventures. We are not to partner with them when they will act wickedly and we have a responsibility to act righteously. We are not to have an unequal partnership with unbelievers, with sons of belial. Here he allies himself, verse 36. He allied himself with Ahaziah to make ships to go to Tarshish and they made the ships in Ezeon Geber, but Eleazar, the son of Dattava of Marisha, prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying, because you have allied yourself, you've made, you've been unequally yoked to Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your works, then the ships were wrecked by the hand of God so that they were not able to go to Tarshish. What's the fallout of this? You say, well certainly all that was lost, those ships were lost. Think of the lives lost from Asa through Jehoshaphat. You see the consequences of this sin, right? But look further at chapter 21, chapter 21, verse 1. Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. Then Jehoram, his son, reigned in his place. Look at verse 4. Now when Jehoram was established over the kingdoms of his father, he strengthened himself and killed all his brothers with the sword and also others of the princes of Israel, verse 5. Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem and he walked in the way of the kings of Israel just as the house of Ahab had done, for he had the daughter of Ahab as a wife and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. Who would have gotten Jehoram, the daughter of Ahab to be his wife? Jehoshaphat in an alliance with Ahab would have given the daughter of Ahab to marry his son. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. The Lord would not destroy the house of David because of the covenant that he had made with David since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever. The Lord is the one who is faithful to his covenant, say men. Back in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, you can tell from the definitions of the words, from these examples in Scripture, exactly what Paul means by the admonition, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. If you look at the very words themselves, from verses 14 to 16, what coinonia, what fellowship, what metache, what partnership, what sharing together in common efforts. We're not to partner in common efforts with those who hate the Lord. We're not to show deference in our partnership or in our, in a covenant with them, as Jehoshaphat did with the king of Israel, wicked Ahab. We're not to have any communion, any warm fellowship. And specifically in Corinth, this text is in the context of church, isn't it? They're fellowship with the Lord and they're fellowship in the Lord with one another. We're not to add to that. We're not to connect to that. We're not to tie to that fellowship with an unbeliever, fellowship with a son of the lile. What portion, what shared commitment can we have with the wicked? There can't be shared commitments in that sense. There can be verse 16, no union, no agreement, no symphony, no harmony with the temple of God and idols. We're not to be unequally yoked. It doesn't mean that we walk away from unbelievers in this world. We certainly cut off the one named a brother who is one in name only, who has sinned against God. The one who's been put out of the church, the one who's been put out, has been disfellowshipped. We have no communion, not even do we eat with such a person. We don't enter into partnerships. We don't enter into marriages. We don't enter into businesses, business dealings where you're partnered. Do you work for an unbeliever? Yes. Many of us have worked for unbelievers. Have you employed unbelievers? Yes. Sometimes we employ unbelievers. We're not in partnership. We don't go blinked arms hand in hand with King Ahab into the fight. We're not to joke ourselves together with unbelievers. The reason given for that, we'll explore more fully next week, is given in verse 16, because you are the temple of the living God. God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God. They shall be my people. Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, separate from the world, separate from sin, separated to God, separated to his use. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a father to you. You shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. It takes wisdom, doesn't it? It takes discernment. It takes prayer, reliance upon God, reliance upon his word. It takes a consideration, a careful consideration, case by case of the relationships that we have in our lives. Paul's concern in this text is that it is those relationships and it is the failure, our failure, just like Jehoshaphat's failure to take down the high places. It is our failure to cut off those relationships, to be in a position, to be influenced by them in such a way that our affections for the Lord, for his cause, for his kingdom, grow cold. Do you see? There's a connection between the two. It's just not possible. You can't be together with them. We are to give all praise, honor, and glory to the one who then condescends to dwell with his people. Amen? Amen. Let's pray together. Take a few moments, pray silently, and examine your life, examine your relationships, examine your motives, examine the people that you call friends, and consider how you may be influenced by a relationship in which you are unequally yoked together with an unbeliever, and then call upon the Lord for help in that, consider how the Lord would have you repent of that and trust him, and let's commit ourselves to communing with him. Amen?