II Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Yesterday we looked at the need for an enlarged heart. In the physical body, an enlarged heart is not a good thing. After my first heart attack the doctors put me on some medication to keep my heart from growing. The human heart is a muscle and apparently when the muscle is hurt it tries to repair itself. That can involve growth. That is not a good thing for the heart.
In the Spiritual realm, we need an enlarged heart to be willing to receive the truth.
In our text today God directed the apostle Paul to deal with some very important truths regarding our associations. Christians need to listen to and receive the Word of God. We need to be governed by the sure Word of God, not the foolish imaginations of man. We know that our hearts can easily be deceived. We do not follow our heart. We need God to change our heart that it will be attuned to His will.
The Bible is the Word of God from Genesis 1:1-Revelation 22:21. The Catholics have inserted the Apocrypha into their corrupted perversion. Some King James Bibles also had that corrupt addition inserted into them. The devil is a liar from the beginning. He will corrupt anything he can get away with.
The fact is that even though the devil has tried and still is trying to corrupt God’s Word, God will always see to it that His Word is preserved. It is up to us to accept the Truth and if we do that, we will also be guided to see the lie. When a person refuses to accept the Truth, he cannot see the lie either.
In our text, God is continuing to show the repentant Corinthians the importance of using God-sense in decisions. Common sense is not the same as God-sense.
There are many wrong partnerships in our world. There are too many Christians who are careless and they join hands with the ungodly. We are supposed to believe that there are Christians in our government. How can any born again Christian be a part of any one of the political parties in this country? All the parties are corrupt. Even the “Christian Heritage” party is an ungodly party. They have stolen a name that does not belong to them. I have spoken to their leadership about that, but they insist on keeping that name. They are no different than the many individuals who claim to be Christians when they are not.
God directed Paul to begin this section with the firm statement that Christians cannot be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Notice that it is unequal yoking. The unbeliever is defiled and in darkness. The Christian has been given life and needs to live a holy life. The unbeliever has no interest in holy living. If he or she can make a quick buck by dishonest means, they will do so. Their conscience is seared. The saved person has an awakened conscience and they desire to serve the God Who saved them.
Paul was directed to make some clear distinctions of this opening statement. What fellowship is there between righteousness and unrighteousness. The obvious answer is: there is none. That is why a true Christian cannot be a member in a New Evangelical church. That is why a true church would never join a ministerial association. That is why a true church does not join a community venture because there is no fellowship there. Lost people need to attend a true church to hear the truth and get saved. However, saved people do not join false churches. There is no fellowship there.
Light and darkness have no communion. Light exposes the darkness.
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
In Genesis 1 God separated the light from the darkness. The two cannot coexist. In the Spiritual realm the darkness is the evil. The Light is Jesus Christ. He sat and ate with publicans and sinners. The Pharisees tried to make Him one of them, but He was separate from sinners. Wherever He was He exposed the sin. Sinners were brought under conviction by Him. The same will be true for true born again Christians today as well.
In verse 15 we see there is no “concord” or “agreement” between Christ and Belial. The Mormons teach that Jesus is the brother of Lucifer. That is a lie. The devil is a fallen angel. He was never a god. He is a created being. He chose to sin against God and his doom is sealed by God.
A believer also has no part with an infidel. The Muslims call non-Muslims infidels. They teach that infidels need to be put to death. The infidel in that case is the Muslim. God does not tell us to put Muslims to death. However we do not agree with them on anything. Rick Warren was instrumental in concocting the lie of “Chrislam” some years back. Rick Warren is a lost man who deceived many to follow his lies. Catholics, United Church, Lutherans, Anglicans and a host of other groups are all part of the infidel group. True saints do not join with them. The Ecumenical movement is not of God. It is a poison that is keeping thousands of people from the truth. God says the person who believes has no part with an infidel.
In verse 16 we see there is no agreement with the temple of God and with idols. God destroyed the Temple that was originally the Temple of God in Jerusalem, because the kings had brought idolatry into that Temple. God does not value a building more than the truth. The Bible tells us that the body of the saints are the Temple of the Holy Ghost. True Christians cannot have any other God but the true God. They will not accept the CCM music that is promoted by the secular churches. They will not accept the pagan worship that has permeated most churches today.
Paul stated that true Christians are the Temple of the living God. God is not dead. God dwells in the true child of God. The Holy Spirit does not sit idly by and allow His Temple to be defiled by wickedness. The Bible defines wickedness, not man. I realize the secular religions have redefined wickedness, but God has given man a conscience. Man can sear that conscience, and when he does that he will press toward evil more and more. He will not be innocent before the Holy God.
In verse 17 the command is for true saints to come out from among the lost. There could be some saved people in New Evangelical churches. God commands them to get out of there. Those who insist in remaining there prove they are lost. A true Christian that is a part of a New Evangelical church will be corrupted by the poison in there. The Holy Spirit will not let that person rest in that state.
Notice that it is the Lord that commands the believer to get out of a compromised situation. A true Christian does not hem and haw about a bad business association. If the person made a bad choice, they get out of it. They don’t try to save face. Those watching need to see that they made a wrong choice. Yes, it will be embarrassing, but they should have thought of that before they made the bad choice. It is not that they did not know or could not know. Greed is a powerful tool of the devil.
God says: “touch not the unclean thing”. Achan took of the unclean thing, and God said he could not live. He chose to disobey clear orders and he needed to be stoned along with his family. They all conspired to hide their sin, rather than confess it.
Verse 18 tells us that if the person insists on unequal yoking, he or she does not have God as their Father. A true child of God cannot be in an unequally yoked situation. They need to get out of that. If you are involved in such a situation and you claim to be saved, here is the test. You know you do not belong in that situation. You know you cannot have fellowship with God there. If you are God’s child, you will get out of that now. You will not try to find a way to phase yourself out of it. You will obey God, if you are saved.
Notice again, that this is the Lord Almighty that is saying this. This is not the opinion of the apostle Paul. This is God declaring this to be so. The saved person must obey God’s way. The blessing is in obeying God’s way. Don’t make excuses. If you are saved, then obey God and enjoy His fellowship.
Pastor Bartel