Biblical Separation From Unbelievers

Transcript

GR 1813
07/26/2015
Biblical Separation from Unbelievers
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1
Gil Rugh

We're going to 2 Corinthians 6. The Apostle Paul has had an up and down, hot and cold relationship with the Corinthians. It has not been on his part, but the Corinthians have been up and down in their relationship with Paul. Their love for him seems to run hot and cold. We're familiar with some of the problems in the church at Corinth. The attitude of the Corinthians toward Paul ran from great appreciation and love for him as the one who brought them the Gospel. Then they ran into times when their love had gotten cold for him and they became critical of him. They seemed to be closed to his ministry and the truth he was teaching. We've been talking about that and we broke up the section we are in. In our last study we looked at 2 Corinthians 6:11-13. There Paul reminds them he has spoken openly and plainly to them. What he has said has revealed the openness of his heart; he has a genuine love and affection for them. That has not changed. Paul's love for them did not grow hot and cold. That's what he means when he says our heart is open wide. Our mouth is opened wide and it expresses what is in our heart—a genuine love and affection for you. And we're not doing anything to cause your love to us to be restrained, but you have restrained your own affection. You have been holding back your love for me, you've restrained it, restricted it. Something is wrong. He says I would like to have from you the same kind of love in return.

And that's only fitting because I am your spiritual father; you are my spiritual children. I led you to Christ, I've nurtured you in the Word. That's what he is saying in verse 13, “Now in a like exchange,” I would like you to reciprocate my love, not holding back, not limiting it. “I'm speaking to you as my children, open wide to us also.” Then we jumped down to 2 Corinthians 7:2 and noted Paul picks up the same basic emphasis. Verse 2, “Make room for us in your heart.” That's basically the same thing he said at the end of 2 Corinthians 6:13, “Open wide to us.” We opened our hearts to you; open your hearts to us. Then 2 Corinthians 7:2, “Make room for us in your hearts.” And we note some of what the problem is—“We wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one.”

And then we looked a little bit at the issues at Corinth. We went back to chapter 1 of this letter and note their criticism that had been made of Paul, because he changed his travel schedule. That led some to imply Paul was not a man who could be trusted. He said he would come on this kind of schedule, he didn't; if you can't trust Paul on a basic thing like his commitment to keep a schedule with you, can you be sure you can trust him with his theology? So undermining the character of Paul and this attack on his character, his trustworthiness and then his doctrine. That's what Paul is dealing with.

Now it's in this context, and the reason we did those two sections together; because in the middle of that from 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1, Paul gives insight into what a major contributing factor to the problem is. The problem with the Corinthians is they have opened themselves up to teaching, to influence from those who are not believers. That has naturally led to different kinds of undermining confidence in Paul—in his character, his conduct, in his teaching. And so that section is key in understanding how Paul brackets it, with an emphasis on his love for them and a desire for them to respond. And then the same thing basically in 2 Corinthians 7:2-4. We can appreciate what he is going to say in 2 Corinthians 6:14 and into 7:1. That's where we are going to pick up.

2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers.” Well, some say this is a stark change of emphasis; in fact some who don't have the same view of Scripture as we do say that was probably added by someone else or added at a later time, because 2 Corinthians 6:11-13 and 7:2ff seem to fit together. But you have to understand 2 Corinthians 6:14ff to put it into context. What has hindered the Corinthians in their love for Paul? They are being willing to become involved with unbelievers. Once that happens, you have to begin to develop an attitude of criticism toward a true believer, toward his teaching.

Paul has had to deal with this before with the Corinthians. Turn back to 1 Corinthians, we'll look at this passage and then as we move through, back to 1 Corinthians 8, and then we move through what Paul says in the passage before us. You see how things fit together. Problems have continued. It's an ongoing issue in the church at Corinth—lack of discernment, opening themselves up to theological and moral error. Remember a heresy and false teaching that infiltrates the church will always have some elements and pieces of truth connected with it. Otherwise believers wouldn't get drawn into it. So you see in 1 Corinthians 8 Paul says, “Now concerning things sacrificed to idols we all have knowledge. Knowledge make arrogant, love edifies.” Then verse 4, “Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know there is no such thing as an idol in the world, there is no God but one.” He goes on to talk about this.

So you are right. The Corinthians says there is no problem with eating food sacrificed to idols, and sometimes this would be sold in the marketplace. Corinth is a pagan city and so often before food would be sold in the marketplace, it would be offered to a particular idol of a god. And on it goes. And the Corinthians are right here, and what they are being told is correct. An idol is nothing. In Jeremiah 10, Jeremiah mocks the idols—they are made, carved by men; they make a god out of one piece of wood and they burn the rest to keep warm or cook their meal, or they carve something out of stone. An idol is nothing, so the food offered to an idol is nothing. He says that's all right if we eat that food, to that point, fine. But this becomes the problem, therefore, to say involvement with idols isn't that big a deal, because if they are nothing, what's the big deal?

So by the time you get over to 1 Corinthians 10 he has to say to them, verse 14, “Therefore my beloved,” we're going to see that word in his addressing them in 2 Corinthians also, “flee from idolatry.” So their attitude had become; well, we can see there is nothing wrong here. An idol is nothing. That became an excuse that ultimately led to more involvement. So you get to 1 Corinthians 10 and he says get as far away from idolatry as you can. Sometimes we use the illustration, you tell your kids not to go in the street, you look out the window and they are walking on the curb, bouncing a ball or something. But what happens? The ball rolls out into the street, where are they next? You tell them, what are you doing on the curb? Well, you said don't go in the street. The goal is to get as close without . . . That's what some Christians do. That's what the Corinthians were doing. So the point, their involvement with idols and idolatry had crossed the line.

So he says, “I speak as the wise man, you judge what I say.” He expects the Corinthians to have discernment when he explains it to them, to realize their error. And he talks about the cup of blessing, sharing in the blood of Christ, the communion service, which we will be observing tonight. He talks about it in 1 Corinthians 11. Then he comes down to 1 Corinthians 10:19 to apply it. “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No.” So we're in agreement up to that point. Idols, they are just idols. They have no real existence, because there is no other god but the true God; so this is just a figment of someone's imagination. They've been carved and set up.

1Cor. 10:20: “the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.” You understand you are walking as close to the edge as you can, and some of you have crossed the line. An idol is nothing, food sacrificed to idols is nothing; but when you become involved in the worship associated with that, you have become a demon worshiper. That is a BIG issue. I don't want you to become ones in fellowship with demons. This is going to be very similar to what Paul is going to have to address in 2 Corinthians in the passage before us.

Very crucial matter. The Spirit didn't put this here just so we would see the problems the Corinthians had. He put it here because the basic issue faced is going to be the issue that the church continues to face. So he tells them, 1 Corinthians 10:21, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” You can't be involved in these two totally opposed worship activities. Vs. 22: “Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?” You understand what is happening, when one of the Lord's children is involved in a false worship system. If you truly belong to the Lord, that provokes the Lord to jealousy because you belong to Him. You are being unfaithful. You are not stronger than the Lord; do you think He won't come down on you for that?

We get into 1 Corinthians 11; he talks about the communion service. He'll tell the Corinthians, some of you are weak, some of you are sickly, and some of you have died. Some of your number have died because you have not handled this properly. God takes it seriously, you cannot fool around with false worship and not antagonize the Lord.

So we come back to 2 Corinthians 6. Paul has to deal with this subject because the Corinthians have wandered back into it. Just like children, they wander, they are close to getting in trouble or they are in trouble so you address it. You know, they get off the curb and stay up close to the house, the next time you look out the window they are back down on the curb. That's what Paul is dealing with here. So he starts 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers.” That word translated bound together, you have it in your margin, unequally yoked. This is a strong section, 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 there are six imperatives, commands given. Paul is speaking strongly here, these are things you must do or you must not do. He starts right out here, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers.” Don't be unequally yoked is the literal meaning. You have a marginal note from Deuteronomy 22, we're not going to go back to all these passages for time. There Israel was told not to put an ox and a donkey in the same yoke; that would be unequal. There is a lesson being taught there. They cannot work together to accomplish what needs to be done.

So Paul picks it up here in the spiritual context, don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Now this does not mean a Christian can never be involved with a non-Christian. This is where we can get into trouble. We do a lot of things together with unbelievers. Most of you would work in jobs where you are involved with unbelievers. We eat the same food as unbelievers, we breathe the same air. We buy our food often at the same grocery stores. You don't go to the grocery store and say is this grocery store owned, operated and staffed by believers. No, we just go buy the food. What says we are involved with them? Because our money supports it and it comes back and on it goes. We go to a restaurant, do I limit my going to restaurants owned by believers, staffed by . . . It just doesn't work that way.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 5. You know we as spiritual children are so much like physical children. It's like you tell your children they can't do this, you can't go down on the curb. I guess I'll just sit in my room then. No, you can go outside and play in the yard, but don't play in the street. Well, if I can't play in the street, can't get on the curb, I might as well just stay in my room. Well, stay in your room if you want, but that's not what I'm saying. Paul here in 1 Corinthians 5, he has to explain this to his spiritual children. Verse 9 & 10, “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters; for then you would have to go out of the world.” Don't carry this to the extreme. Vs. 11: “Actually, I wrote you not to associate with any so-called brethren if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler – not even to eat with such a one.” A Christian who persists in sin, you cut off your fellowship with. Vs. 12: “What do I have to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?” Hold them accountable.

So he is not saying, cut off your association with unbelievers. Paul is concerned with the spiritual relationship and the spiritual consequences of those relationships. In other words if you work in a business and they are doing dishonest things and they want you to do dishonest things; then there would have to be a break and a parting of the ways. Doesn't mean you become like the unbeliever. But generally we expect the unbeliever will function like an unbeliever. So he is not saying that we disassociate ourselves. Important, because sometimes we go and quote this portion that we are in and that would seem, should I work with an unbeliever, should I work for an unbelieving boss? You should unless you want to go hungry, because that's probably most of the opportunities of the fallen world.

What Paul is concerned about, a believer and an unbeliever cannot be joined in doing the Lord's work. A believer cannot be joined with an unbeliever in false worship. So there are the distinctions here. Important, I can't tell you the damage that has been done and is being done today, because believers don't pay attention to what God said. There is to be a separation spiritually and an understanding that we don't have anything in common spiritually with the unregenerate person. We cannot work together in spiritual things, we will not be joined together for those who promote false worship in activities. That's why I'm opposed to evangelicals and Catholics together. We work through this, it ought to be clear; we have nothing in common. We say well, we don't agree on justification by faith alone, that has to be worked out, but we have a lot in agreement. That's like the Corinthians with the idol worship. We know that's nothing and that won't do any damage, we can be involved. When you get into worship systems, religious systems, you are involved with demons. You are involved either in a religious system, a worship system. I'm using those somewhat interchangeably; that is authored and promoted by the devil and his demons or it's the one true worship system established by God. That's it.

So to start to dabble around and say we have a lot in common, that's Paul's point. He made it 2000 years ago with the Corinthians and they didn't want to recognize it. Do you know what happens when you become involved with the unbeliever and their viewpoints? Someone put it in their commentary on this passage very well. Since we're talking about do not be yoked together, those who are in yoke with the devil will plow for the devil. The unbeliever never compromises, the believer always compromises when there is a compromise.

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. And he is going to have a series of rhetorical questions that are so worded to require a strong answer. For example the first one, “what partnership has righteousness and lawlessness?” Absolutely none at all. That's the point. You don't get yoked together with unbelievers. And again we're talking here in the context of spiritual activity, worship or anything that would require a compromise of your spiritual convictions. In other words, practicing something that would be wrong, sinful. “What partnership has righteousness and lawlessness?” I'm going to read you some Scriptures. Listen to Hebrews 1:9, and he is quoting there from Psalm 45:7 concerning Christ, “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.” You see they are direct opposites. Christ loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. 1 John 3:4 says, “Sin is lawlessness.” We're not just talking about the Mosaic Law, sin is rebellion against God, refusal to submit and obey Him. It's defined here as lawlessness in that sense.

Come back to Romans 6, and Paul is talking here in the context, keep in mind the context. People for salvation come to believe in Jesus Christ and that His death on the cross paid the penalty for their sin. Nothing else could do it. He was buried and raised from the dead and that becomes the pattern, we are identified with Him. We die with Him when we place our faith in Him, the power of sin over us and in controlling us is broken. Now we live for Him. You come down to verse 18, “having been freed from sin you became slaves of righteousness.” Remember sin is lawlessness, so the idea of that would be the same, a little worse, not the same. You have been freed from lawlessness because sin is lawlessness. “You became slaves of righteousness. I'm speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you presented your members,” the parts of your body, “as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, now present yourselves as slaves to righteousness which results in sanctification, holiness.” This is where Paul is going when we get down to 2 Corinthians 7:1, same point. You see the contrast here between lawlessness and righteousness. They don't have anything in common. Christ died to set us free from sin and lawlessness so that we would now live for righteousness. So what fellowship do lawlessness and righteousness have? What do they have in common?

That's why, come back to 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Don't be bound together,” yoked together, “with unbelievers for what fellowship have righteousness and lawlessness?” The believer is one righteous in Christ, now committed to a life of righteousness; the unbeliever lives and serves his sin, his lawlessness and is committed to it. What do we have in common? What are we going to do for the living God by yoking together with unbelievers? It is a catastrophe. You can't read a commentary being written today that doesn't favorably quote from Roman Catholics and other unbelievers because we have a lot we can learn from them. That began to open the door so we could move to neo-evangelicalism, the new evangelicalism and we realize we can learn from unbelievers and they can learn from us. And now we quote their commentators and interact with them as though they have just as much knowledge about the things of God as we do as believers. And it leads to a constant deterioration, because the unbeliever has nothing to compromise. He is unrighteous, he is totally enslaved to his sin, serving the devil. What in the world is going on in the minds of those who claim to be believers that we have a lot we can learn from unbelievers? I realize we can learn, we can learn how to cook from an unbeliever, you can learn how to fix a car from an unbeliever. You cannot learn about the worship of the living God and His truth. You can't mix the two.

Next rhetorical question. “What fellowship has light with darkness?” What fellowship has light with darkness? One of the well-known contrasts in Scripture, 1 John 1:5 says, “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.” And then we are told in 1 Peter 2:9, where we will eventually get in our study of 1 Peter, “God has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Remarkable transformation.

Come back to John 3. You know part of what happens for Christians when they lose their focus on the Word of God and its absolute authority; we begin to go soft on the radical contrast between a believer and an unbeliever. In John 3, the chapter known for what is probably the most familiar verse in all the Bible, John 3:16, verse 15 says, “Whoever believes in Him,” in Christ, “will have eternal life.” “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son in order that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Verse 18, “He who believes in Him is not judged, he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Keep that verse in mind, you may want to share it sometime when you share with a person; because of your sin you are lost and on your way to hell. And they want to know, you are not my judge. Who are you to judge me? No, I am not your judge, let's be clear on that, and I'm not one who can judge you. I'm just telling you; here is what God says. “He who believes in Christ is not judged, he who does not believe has been judged already.” You understand, you think you're going to wait, you're going to die and God is going to put your good works on the scale with your bad works and the good . . . You understand He says I have already judged you; you are guilty, you are condemned, you are on your way to hell. But I have provided a way of salvation and deliverance.

What's the problem here? Look down in verse 19 & 20: “this is the judgment that the light has come into the world.” And in John 1, he explained that Jesus Christ is the light coming into the world, He brings light to men. “Men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, does not come to the light; lest his deeds should be exposed.” But believers are those who practice the truth, and we love the light and we want to come to the light. You see the contrast. The unbeliever is lawless, he is evil. He doesn't want to be exposed to the light. That's why when you speak about sin, it irritates and aggravates them greatly; they don't want to hear that. And you point out that certain things are sin and they are sinners. You can talk about God is love, that's the kind of God I serve. But in His love, He has told us what our true condition is. Like a medical doctor, if he really loves you he wants to tell you; here is your problem and you are going to die; but I'm a surgeon, I believe there is an out. But God, in love I am telling you, you are lost; but in love, I reached down to rescue you from your lost condition. But men love darkness rather than light. Those two can't be put together. God is light.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 6, look at verse 15. There are different words here denoting this yoking, the fellowshipping and harmony. You'll see verse 14, he talked about partnership—“what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness; what fellowship is light with darkness;” verse 15, “what harmony, what does the believer have in common with an unbeliever?” He uses these different words but they really overlap in meaning and the point is when it is all said and done, there is nothing we share in common, have together, are able to partnership in. “What harmony has Christ with Belial?” I'm not going to go further into Belial, but you'll have to take my word for it here, you can read commentaries. Belial is a name for the devil. I don't find anybody who disagreed with that. The word Belial means worthless or destruction, both fitting terms for the devil and used here for his name in contrast to Christ.

What does Christ have in common with the devil? 1 John 1:8 says “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” It would be blasphemy to say there is a lot of difference and conflict between Christ and the devil, but they do work together on some things. We would say, that would be blasphemy. Then where would we ever get the idea to think that a believer who is a child of God; and an unbeliever who is a child of the devil, can work together in spiritual things are the contrasts that Paul is making here? What harmony has Christ with the devil? Absolutely none at all. There is no agreement.

Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Now that's where we have gone soft. Well, I don't want people to think that I am narrow, and bigoted and we only are right. We might even be viewed as a fundamentalist. Most people are throwing that term around just because it is a dirty word today. They don't have any idea what a fundamentalist is. We believe in the truth of the verbally inspired Word of God and its absolute authority in every way. We believe that everyone who disagrees with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth revealed in the Word of God is wrong. I guess that makes me a fundamentalist. What do I have in common with an unbeliever? Well, we agree on some social issues, we can agree on helping the poor, we can agree on abortion, we can agree on homosexuality, and we can agree . . . All these things are nothing you understand, and Paul is going to get to this in 2 Corinthians later in the letter. The devil masquerades as an angel of light; pretending we have a lot in agreement. But really there is nothing, because his purpose in it all, the foundation for it, is totally different. A believer has nothing in common with an unbeliever. Again, we're talking about in the spiritual realm, the moral realm. True, we eat the same food, we go to the same stores, things like that. That's not what he is talking about.

That's what comes up to the next point Paul has built into this. “What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” What are you talking about? We saw this in 1 Corinthians 10, are you trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? What do you think, you can dabble around with idols, the temple of idols? He's not just concerned about the idol that is made out of wood or stone, like we said Jeremiah mocks, they are nothing. But the worship associated with it. You understand any worship system that is not based on the truth of the Word of God, founded in the finished work of Christ is a work of the devil. We have nothing in common with them. We look for points of agreement, they are superficial. They are the way the devil gets his foot in the door by masquerading as an angel of light. Look, there is a lot we can agree on, a lot we can work on. But he compromises nothing, because he can do “good works” to draw followers. But what he is really drawing are worshipers. Once you lose sight of that and say we can be a lot stronger if we work together. The church has gotten progressively weaker, evangelicalism has washed out to be as shallow as the baby pool. It is nothing, doesn't have any depth. Why? We are deathly afraid that we will be viewed as intolerant and harsh. And none of it is true. Being biblical is not being harsh or unkind or intolerant. The devil is very tolerant, he is tolerant of everything. He has established more worship systems in the world than you can count. The only one he has no room for, no tolerance for, is biblical truth and that founded in Jesus Christ.

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? “For we are the temple of the living God.” Come back to 1 Corinthians 3. In English, when we say “you,” we may be talking to an individual. You might be talking, if I say, I want to address you, it means the whole congregation. But if I'm talking to you afterwards and I say, you are, it's individual. We use the same word. In Greek, as in other languages, they have a plural for you and a singular for you. Like if we could say you and you'ans, you is singular and you'ans is plural. That's not so, I just brought that as an example. Important here because in verse 16 he uses the plural. “Do you not know that you,” the church at Corinth, plural, “are a temple of God? The Spirit of God dwells in you. And if any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy. That is what you are.” That is what the church is because as we are gathered together, the Spirit of God is present here; because He is present in each one of us individually.

Come over to 1 Corinthians 6:19 & 20: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” So both are true. We are the temple of God, individually our bodies are a temple; and as we come together as God's people gathered in this place, we are the place where God dwells. Not this physical building, but He dwells here in His people.

So you come back to 2 Corinthians 6 and he says we are the temple of the living God. What do we have then? How can we be involved in false worship? Are we provoking the Lord to jealousy as he said in 1 Corinthians 10? What in the world are you doing mixed in with these people in spiritual and religious matters?

Then he is going to quote a series of quotes from the Old Testament. You'll note here, you ought to underline it in verse 16 before the quotes begin. “Just as God said.” The absolute, final authority of the Word of God in everything. Down at the end of verse 18, “says the Lord Almighty,” the Lord all powerful. When He says it, there is no other position. This is the final word. No wonder people think we are dogmatic, we are narrow. We believe everything God has said is the last word on that subject. We can't have fellowship with those who say we don't think eschatology is important, or we don't think this is important, we think we can have a variety of views. We don't. I realize Christians disagree on some things. That doesn't mean we're going to have openness to every opinion. We have to be true to the Word of God. We're not going to say, well on that portion of the Word you can hold your view, you can hold your view, you can . . . You can, you can't promote here because we understand the Word of God to be clear.

What does he say? He has a series of quotes from the Old Testament. Let me just read you something.
Sometimes we talk about covenant theology and replacement theology. Replacement theology is simple, it just means the church has replaced Israel. And this passage comes from a very good commentary on the Greek text of 2 Corinthians. But this man is confused on his eschatology. And here is what he says. To put it another way, in verse 16, so verse 16, “I will dwell in them and walk among them, I will be their God, they will be My people.” So he says in verse 16 God is the God of the new Israel and the new Israel is the people of God. Then in verse 18, “I will be a father to you, you shall be sons and daughters to Me.” In verse 18, God is the Father of the new Israel, the new Israel are the sons and daughters of God. Wait a minute, you get out of this just because Paul uses the Old Testament to support what he is saying doesn't mean the church has become Israel. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable, we learn from it. That doesn't mean that every portion of Scripture is directed to me. When Israel was sent into the land to destroy and kill all the Canaanites, men, women and children, that doesn't mean we ought to go out and kill every unbeliever in the city. But we do learn something from that which is applicable. That doesn't mean we have become Israel, carrying out that command. So here Paul is simply applying. Something has been true in what God said about His people, Israel, in the Old Testament and what He says about His people, the church, today. It has always been true for the people of God.

God says “I will dwell in them, walk among them. I will be their God, they shall be My people.” In the Old Testament how was that manifest? The tabernacle, the center of Israel's encampment; and the temple, God's presence among His people in their midst. And the cloud of God's glory would descend on that tabernacle, indicating God's presence is there, He is here. Now in fulfillment of what had been prophesied in the fullest way, Jeremiah 31 and the new covenant, He dwells within us. We just looked at those passages. So that's something that has always been true. God has dwelt among His people. Now we need to realize that because we don't go over to the devil's camp and think we can work something out spiritually, theologically and in our worship; because God is present with us and He has no fellowship with darkness. He is light, in Him there is no darkness.

Therefore God dwells among us, what do we do? “Come out from among their midst and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will welcome you.” God requires His people to be separate. Not a popular doctrine today. Only the fundamentalists had that doctrine of separation. It's a biblical doctrine, we are to be faithful to our God, the doctrine of sanctification, being a saint, being holy. “Come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord.” That doesn't mean we cut off our fellowship and any contact in the normal flow of life with the unbeliever. There may be cases, if you are the bookkeeper for a business and your boss says we are going to cook the books and you have to adjust them accordingly, you'll have to say I can't do it. I guess I have to leave. But in the general flow of things, I used to work at a supermarket, I stocked shelves. I did it for unbelievers to eat. I'm not putting food out there for those unbelievers to eat and then when they buy it, my unbelieving boss benefits. That's not what he's talking about. Spiritually, we are to be a separate people.

The corruption of the church was expanded greatly when the doctrine we are going to develop services as seeker services so the unbeliever can come and be comfortable in our church. Can the unbeliever be comfortable in the presence of the living God? He dwells here, not in this building, but in us as His people. We're going to say, we're going to do what is necessary to make the unbeliever comfortable here. We hope the seat is comfortable, we want to treat you kindly, but our worship is not structured for you. Our teaching the Gospel comes out and you have opportunity to hear and believe, but it is not geared for your pleasure. Why do so many unbelievers have bad things to say about Indian Hills? What did Jesus say? “I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” Where did you get the idea that unbelievers ought to have a lot of good to say about you? You are like the Jews. The attitude of the world toward the Jews is anti-Semitic, underneath the surface the Jews are hated worldwide. Do you know why? They have been chosen as God's earthly nation. We're not trying to promote martyrdom, but we ought to know reality, the truth of God. And it is becoming increasingly and openly opposed by the world. That's what it is.

So why the believer, if we did this, the unbeliever would like us more, would see we are not such bad people. They are going to try to say everything, the devil is a slanderer. He is not making any compromise; we are. Remember the one who gets yoked together with the devil plows for the devil. Don't think we're going to work together with them and this is where a lot of our scholarship went; we'll work together with unbelieving scholars and they'll see we are scholars, too, and our truth will impact them. Their error corrupted the truth, they find there is more and more that had to be sacrificed. You don't believe in that literal account of creation, do you? It's not scientific. Well, maybe we can give that up, too. All the history of the Bible doesn't have to be accurate, does it? No. What do you think about miracles? They don't believe it. Well, you want respect in the scientific world. Where does it all go? We are here to please our God, not to please the enemies of our God.

God says, I will welcome you, I will be a Father to you, you will be sons and daughters to Me. Those are the choices. That's what God is saying through Paul, make your choice. Like we have back in the book of Joshua, “choose you this day whom you will serve.” You were a slave of sin and lawlessness; now you are a slave of righteousness. Serve God. That's where we are in 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Therefore having these promises” of God dwelling among us, of us being separated from sin, the defilement, having God as our Father and we being His children, having these promises. “Beloved one,” Paul brings the warmth of his true love for them, loved ones. “let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit,” Physically, spiritually, within and without. Now he is writing to believers, this is not how you get saved, but you need to cut yourself off from all these defiling influences, “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” We are in the process of growth, holiness, sanctification, saint. Basic meaning of the word is to be separate, to be separated. God is perfectly holy because He is perfectly and completely separated from all sin. God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all. Now we have been cleansed from our sin. I'm not saying we are living perfect lives, but that's our goal. That's what Paul said, “I don't count myself,” as he wrote to the Philippians, “as having apprehended and laid hold of it all. This one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind and pressing on to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” That's the goal, I want to be like Him. We sing the song, Oh to be like Him. That means we are to be a separated people, separated to Him. We get this in Peter, “you shall be holy for I am holy.” That's what He required of His people in the Old Testament, required of His people now—to manifest the character of God. You are partakers of the divine nature. It's enough that I belong to God. I don't have to have the approval of the unbeliever, the honor of the unbeliever, the respect of the unbeliever. I don't treat them with disrespect, I don't look down on them, for I was once like they are. But I realize there is no joining together with them in spiritual things.

You know where this leads. Come over to the end of 2 Corinthians. It becomes a problem you don't know, because the devil infiltrates. What has happened at Corinth, Paul says has happened to the church. 2 Corinthians 11:3 & 4, “I'm afraid, that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. If one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we've not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.” Christians delight in thinking they are more open, more tolerant, more understanding. That was the Corinthians. He says, what in the world is wrong with you? That doesn't mean you shouldn't treat other people graciously, you should have no openness at all to false teaching. Then don't be surprised if these men come.

Verse 13 & 14, “Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” Don't be surprised if his servants do, don't be surprised if unbelievers infiltrate among us and then try to sow things. I believe the same thing you do; I just don't think you have to be so intolerant in your approach. Why does the preaching have to be so harsh and against sin? Can't we be more loving, more kind, more accepting of a little bit of diversity? We say “well, that makes sense.” We have to be careful.

You know where this leads Paul finally, as we are done with this. Come to 2 Corinthians 13:5, the people that are constantly drawn this way and open to this stuff, Paul has to tell the Corinthians, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! “Do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you - unless indeed you fail the test?” You better look at yourself. Has Christ really transformed my heart and mind? Am I made new within? Is the desire of my heart to live pleasing to Him? To honor Him? To be faithful to Him? Something is wrong here in the church and even in Corinth. I believe that most of you have trusted Christ but something is wrong. I would encourage all of you to do a self-examination. Have you really trusted Christ? Are you in the faith? Maybe this is the problem. You are struggling, trying to live a Christian life and you never really got saved. Maybe you went through moral reform, cleaned up your life and called that conversion. And you are left with nothing, with the painful struggle of trying to be something you are not.

Important words for us in the day in which we live, understanding what God intends for us and how we are to live as His people. What a privilege.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word. What a treasure has been entrusted to us, a treasure of the Gospel, a treasure of the truth we have in words of the living, all-sovereign God. Lord, You have called us to yourself, we are Your sons and daughters, You are our Father. We are privileged to live lives for You, lives separated from sin, lives separated from all involvement from that which would be contrary to honoring You, to worshiping You in Spirit and truth. May we maintain a faithful testimony as Your people, both individually and as Your church. We pray in Christ's names, amen.