Be Careful Who You Partner With

2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. We'll read through

2 Corinthians 6:14

the rest of the chapter, Lord willing. Last week

we saw Paul making a defense for his character

and trying to get the people of Corinth to listen

to him and to follow him and to... Pay attention

to the example that he has left and not be led

astray by other false teachers or people who

may be leading them in the wrong direction. That's

what we saw in the passage last week. Tonight

we will start in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. Let's

2 Corinthians 6:14

pray and we'll get started. God, we come to you

and I pray, God, that your words tonight, we

would take them to heart. that we would learn

from them, that we would grow from them, dear

Lord, that we would pay attention to them, dear

Lord, that we would make good decisions in our

life. And any kind of relationships we build,

dear Lord, we desire that they would be good

relationships. And we desire, God, that our relationship

to you would be a strong and a good relationship,

God. So I pray that you would just help us as

we look at these words. I pray that your Holy

Spirit would be with us, that you would hide

me behind the cross as I preach and teach, Everything

that is done will be for your glory, that you'd

be with these words tonight. And I ask these

things in Jesus' name. Amen. 2 Corinthians 6,

2 Corinthians 6:14

verse 14. Do not be mismatched with unbelievers.

For what partnership is there between righteousness

and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light

have with darkness? Belial, or what does a believer

have in common with an unbeliever? Now, some

of your translations may say some language that

maybe you've heard before. Do not be unequally

yoked. That's something that we've probably heard.

Mine says do not be mismatched with unbelievers.

But that's what it means there. He's talking

about being... unequally yoked or being connected

a believer to an unbeliever in some relationship,

in some partnership, and in some way in which

it is going to be unhealthy. Now, a lot of times

these verses are used in relation to marriage.

Now, he's not really talking about marriage here.

That would be a little out of the context of

what he's saying. But nevertheless, it does fit

because marriage is a pretty important partnership.

It's something that you're making a covenant

with another person. And so his point here being

is that as believers, we need to be careful that

we are not unequally yoked or that we are not

mismatched or that we do not enter into any kind

of partnership, so to speak, with an unbeliever.

That comes with a lot of... a lot of difficulties

now i like that translation unequally yoked because

it gives us some good imagery there a yoke is

something that is that is placed on animals probably

a couple of animals side by side and they're

going to work together to pull something usually

and you need animals that are about the same

size and about the same strength you wouldn't

have uh you wouldn't have a a big old ox and

a small donkey you wouldn't yoke those two things

together one is going to be much stronger than

the other it just wouldn't work out But you need

both things to be kind of the same so that they

can pull together equally in the same direction.

And there won't be any tension on the yoke. There

won't be any tension on the parties that are

connected. But things will go smoothly. Well,

as Christians, when we are unequally yoked, that

is to say, if we are a Christian and we are in

a relationship, be it a marriage or a business

relationship or whatever it is, With an unbeliever,

that's going to cause tension. Why is that? Well,

as a Christian, we hold the Word of God to be

true. We want to live by the commands of God.

But for an unbeliever, they're not held to that

same standard. They don't live by that same standard.

They don't care what God's Word says. They don't

care about the commands of God. And so while

you may want to do right in the relationship,

Somebody else may not have trouble cheating or

causing troubles. Let's say you enter into a

business relationship with somebody. Say you

and a buddy want to open a donut shop. Well,

ain't nothing wrong with opening a donut shop,

but if you want to run that donut shop... with

Christian ideals and in a Christian way and to

try to do right and to try to be fair, but your

partner, who is an unbeliever, is really just

greedy and want to make money and don't care

about the employees and don't care about sticking

it to the customers and don't care about the

product, just whatever they got to do to get

whatever money they can out of the business,

well, then your values there are different. Now

that's just in business. That's a good lesson

here we need to pay attention to. We need to

be careful who we go in business with. We need

to, I think sometimes maybe we just look at this

passage and we just always equate it with marriage,

and there's nothing wrong with that, but I think

that this expands far beyond marriage with all

of our relationships. If we're going to get involved

with somebody, there's going to be tension there

if both of you aren't pulling in the same direction.

So Paul says, Do not be unequally yoked. You

don't want to be a righteous person and a lawless

person. Boy, they're going to clash. The lightness

and darkness, those two things, they have opposing

ideas, opposing desires. Darkness wants things

that are evil. Light wants things that are beautiful.

And so you can't have this opposition and this

tension in your life. And he said this is what

it's like. between a believer and an unbeliever.

He even says of Christ, he says, what agreement

does Christ have with Belial? Now, that's a word

that's hard to... really know exactly what it

means. Some have said it means Satan, and maybe

it does, or maybe it just means some evil spirit

or a demon of Satan or an antichrist. You'll

find different words there. But it doesn't matter

which one of those it means. It means that there

is Christ who's pulling in the right direction,

and there is some other force that's anti what

Jesus Christ wants that's pulling in the opposite

direction. And so those two things aren't in

agreement. Those two things can't hang out. Those

two things can't be in a partnership together.

Those two things can't be in an agreement, in

a relationship together. And Paul says that's

what it's like for believers, that we need to

be careful that we are not mismatched with unbelievers,

that we are not unequally yoked. Now this is

certainly important. In regards to marriage,

we look at one aspect of it, business or whatever

other relationships, but even though he's not

speaking directly of marriage here, there is

no doubt that this is applicable for us. If you're

not married, young folks, when you get married,

you need to find a man. In y 'all's case, or

for young men, need to find a woman that is a

Christian man or a Christian woman with the same

values. And so many times people will say, oh,

well, he's a good person or she's a good person.

And yeah, they don't believe in God, but they

don't hate God or they're not opposed to God

or they're not evil. But the fact of the matter

is this, is those who are not in Christ do not

have the same values and the same morals and

the same ideas and the same thoughts as you do.

So no matter how cute the boy may be or how hot

the girl may be or whatever it is, you don't

want to enter into a relationship where the foundation

of what's important, which is Jesus Christ, is

not there. And so Paul would say, look, if you're

a believer, you need to be aware of the relationships

that you're entering into. and the commitments

that you are making. And you want to make sure

that you are in relationship with other Christians

so that you have the same values. And those values,

first and foremost, are serving the Lord, that

all glory would go to the Lord, that you love

Lord and you love the other people, and everything

else can come after that. But if your main concern

with your partner is they're worried about greed

and money and success, and you're worried about

using the business to glorify God, well, maybe

your business glorifying God will be very successful.

It may very well be. But your focus can't be

on the things of the world. It has to be on God,

and God will sort the rest of it out. So Paul

says, look, don't be one who is unequally yoked

with an unbeliever. Verse 16, and what agreement

does God's sanctuary have with idols? For we

are the sanctuary of the living God, as God said,

I will dwell among them and walk among them,

and I will be their God, and they will be my

people. Now what was the problem that we see

in the Old Testament? Here he's fixing to quote

several Old Testament passages, kind of allude

to several different ones in these next couple

of verses. But we see a big problem in the Old

Testament, and that is God delivered his people.

It is God who had established Abraham and brought

forth the nation of Israel from Abraham. It was

God who had provided all of their needs. It was

God who had brought them out of slavery. It was

God who provided their food. It was God who fought

their battles. It was God who gave them everything

that they ever needed and wanted. God was their

God, and they were to be his people. They were

a people who were set apart. They were unlike

any other people in the rest of the world. There

were lots of people in the world, and no doubt

they worshipped lots of other gods. You can look

at Egypt. They had plenty of other gods. But

God said, I'm making a people that I'm going

to set apart that will be my people to seek me

and to live for me. And I will take care of them,

and they will follow me, and I will be their

God, and they will be my people. And that's what

God called his people in the Old Testament to.

But what was their problem? Well, those idols

were mighty tempting. Now, you may remember it

wasn't long after God brought the Israelites

out of Egypt and Moses was up on the mountain

and the people started complaining, where is

this Moses who brought us out of Egypt? We need

a God. And so they got their gold. They melted

it down into a calf. And what did they say? They

said, this is the God who brought us out of Egypt.

This calf that they had just made with their

hands. Now they made a God out of their hands,

but they failed to realize that a God had delivered

them that had made them with his very voice.

Now what do we want in our life? Do we want a

God that we have made? Or do we want a God who

has made us? And so there's that temptation of

idolatry. Now we're not turning any gold calves

probably, but are there things that we turn to

in life that become our God? There may be. Maybe

it's our money. Maybe it's alcohol. Maybe it's

drugs. Maybe it's fame. Maybe it's popularity.

Maybe it's our success. Whatever it may be, there

may be these things in our life that we begin

to depend on. Now, we may not say, this is my

God who has delivered me. We probably don't open

up our saves every night and look at our piles

of money and say, this is the God who has delivered

me. We may not say those same type of words that

the people of Israel said. It doesn't matter

if we say the words. What about our heart? Is

our heart focused on the things of this world,

saying, oh, this is the thing that is delivered.

This is what I'm going to. When times are hard,

what do you go to? Do you go to the Bible or

do you go to the Bible? These are the types of

things that we struggle with. We may not make

the golden calf, but what do we run to in times

of trouble? Well, maybe the answer to who our

God is or what our God is. can be found by answering

that question. But what does Paul say here? He

says, in what agreement does God's sanctuary

have with idols? Okay, if we are the sanctuary

of God, if God dwells among us, and he is to

be our God, and we are to be his people, then

what kind of relationship should we have with

idols? It should be zero. We shouldn't have any

relationship with idols. You can't worship God

and worship idols at the same time. It's not

possible. You cannot worship two gods. Now, if

we say, oh, yeah, I'm a Christian. I'm a sanctuary

of God. The Holy Spirit dwells in me. Well, how

can we say that in one breath and then worship

our idols in the next breath? It doesn't line

up. It doesn't work that way. What Paul wants

his people to do here is to get rid of those

things, to separate themselves from the things

of the world to God. That there's all these temptations

that whatever teachings are going on there that

are pulling them away from Jesus Christ. Paul

says, look, you need to pay attention to what's

going on here and you don't need to give in to

all of these different idols. These unbelievers

that you've been hanging out with, you better

be careful of the company that you're hanging

out with because they will pull you from God.

And that's true in our life. We have to be careful

of the company that we hang out with. Now, as

Paul here, when he says don't be mismatched or

unequally yoked, is he saying that we're not

to have any relationship at all with somebody

that's an unbeliever? Well, I don't think that's

what he's saying, but we do have to be careful.

Those closest relationships in our life, when

it comes to marriage and business relationships

or other really close relationships, we have

to guard those. We have to be careful who's influencing

us and who we're paying attention to in our times

of trouble. Whose advice are we taking? Now,

Paul says in 1 Corinthians, I believe it's in

chapter 6, maybe chapter 5, I don't recall, but

he had wrote to them, obviously, at some point,

and had talked to them about associating with

unbelievers. and they had misunderstood what

he was saying. They had taken it, it appears

to mean, that he was saying, don't associate

with any unbelievers. But then he goes back and

he clarifies what he says. He says, look, I gave

you a list of some people to avoid. He said,

I'm not saying avoid all these sinners, all these

unbelievers. He says, what I'm telling you is,

you need to be careful of those who profess to

be Christians and are doing all of these sinful

acts. He said, those are the ones that you need

to be aware of. He said, don't avoid sinners.

If we avoided sinners, how would we ever be able

to reach anybody for the gospel? But he says,

look, I'm not telling you to avoid everybody

who's a sinner, but I am telling you to be careful

around those who claim to be Christian and are

living in the sins of the world. So I don't think

Paul's advice here when he says do not be unequally

yoked or mismatched, I don't think it's just

a blanket statement of, hey, don't associate

with any unbelievers at all. But he's saying

your closest relationships, you need to be careful

of what's going on in those things. So who do

we take advice from? Well, we want to make sure

we're taking advice from good Christian men and

women. First, we want to seek God. We want to

seek God's word. And we want to seek brothers

and sisters in Christ. We don't want to get advice

from an unbeliever because they're not going

to give us the same type of advice that God's

Word would give us always. Maybe sometimes they

will. But maybe if we're honest, maybe sometimes

we do want the advice of the unbeliever because

maybe they're going to tell us what we want to

hear. Because sometimes in our evil hearts, we

want to do the wrong thing. and we just need

somebody to justify it for us. We want to be

mad at somebody, and maybe we ask a brother or

sister in Christ, and they say, hey, you know

what? Jesus says you need to love that person

and pray for them. Maybe we don't want to love

them and pray for them. Maybe we want to be bad

on them. So we go ask Jim Bob down there that

we work with because we know he don't care nothing

about the Word of God, and we ask him what we

should do because we know he's going to say,

you ought to go pop him in the nose. So sometimes

maybe we don't want to seek the advice of believers.

Maybe we want to seek the advice of unbelievers.

That's not a good place to be. So we need to

be careful of who we surround ourselves with.

And that's what Paul is saying here. You need

to be careful who you surround yourself with,

especially who you marry and who you have close

relationships with. And you need to remember

that you are a sanctuary of God. So you can't

have it both ways. You can't live for God on

Sunday and live for the devil Monday through

Saturday. And Lord knows there's plenty of people

that try that, probably some of us even in our

life. But there's no blessing in that. There's

no joy in that. And so Paul says you need to

remember that you are the sanctuary of God, that

you are God's people, and He needs to be your

God. Therefore, verse 17, Therefore, come out

from among them and be separate, says the Lord.

Do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome

you. I will be a father to you, and you will

be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.

Now this is a quotation in verse 17 here. This

is a quotation from Isaiah chapter 52. Now at

Isaiah 52 · chapter mention

that time, the people were in Babylonian captivity.

And God was saying, you need to come out from

there. He was going to deliver them. He was going

to bring them out, and he did. And his word has

come out from all the uncleanliness and all this

evil. You need to separate yourself, come out

from among them, and be separate, says the Lord.

So as Christians, we need to separate ourselves

from the world. We need to be able to look different

from all of the rest of the people in the world.

If we're in a lineup and people can look at us

in that lineup and imagine they could see all

the things you do and the way you live, would

the things that you do and the way that you live,

would that stand out any way possible from an

unbeliever? Would that look any different? Or

if people look at you, do you just look like

all the rest of the unbelievers in the world?

And so we need to be separate. We need to pull

ourselves out. There needs to be something different

in our life, something that's more attractive

than what the world has to offer. Chapter 7.

Therefore, dear friends, since we have such promises,

let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity

of the flesh and spirit, completing our sanctification

in the fear of God. So he gives them this instruction.

You need to watch who you're going to hang out

with. You need to remember that you are God's

people, that he has promised to be your God,

and you are going to be his people, and you need

to separate yourself from the things of the world,

and you need to live for God, and you need to

focus on him, and you need to trust him, and

you need to look at the promises of God. And

that's what he says in chapter 7. Since we have

such promises, let us cleanse ourselves from

every impurity. Well, that's good instruction

for us. There's very likely some impurity in

our life. There's probably some sin there, some

things we shouldn't do, some things we shouldn't

say. Maybe our thoughts aren't always good. Maybe

our attitudes aren't always good. There may just

be areas in our life that sometimes need to be

corrected, and God's Word is good at that. The

Holy Spirit is good at that, of convicting us.

And so he says here, look, we have the promises

of God and we need to live on the promises of

God. We need to live for God and not for the

things of the world. So let us cleanse ourselves

from every impurity. And then at the end of the

verse there, he says, completing our sanctification

in the fear of God. That fear of God we talked

about that Sunday. That should be a powerful

motivation. If we fear God, then we should seek

to live by His commands. It talks about sanctification.

What does that mean? That's the idea of being

set apart. Remember, He just called them that

you needed to be separate from the rest of those

people. You recall that passage from Isaiah,

from the Babylonians, that they were among a

sinful people and they needed to be separate.

They were God's people. They needed to separate

themselves. We as God's people, We need to separate

ourselves. We need to be set apart. We don't

want to live like the world. We are to be set

apart because we are God's people. And so this

idea of being sanctified, set apart, to be made

holy. Now, some Christians would argue that you

can reach a full sanctification in this life,

that you can be perfectly holy in this life,

and as a result, you can be perfect. Now, I would

disagree with that. I don't think that we can

be fully sanctified in this life. I think we

will reach a full sanctification in the presence

of God, but I think in this life we're probably

just going to struggle. There's always going

to be those temptations. There's always going

to be those failures. It would be great if we

could go a day, a week, a month without sinning.

But that has not become a reality in my life.

So I won't say that you can't be fully sanctified.

I'll say that I'm not, and I'll say that it's

probably a difficult process. But we need to

be those that are in the process, that are in

the process of being set apart and made holy

by God through Jesus Christ, that we are continually

growing in Him. Let's pray. God, we come to you.

We thank you for these good words, and I pray

that you would help us to... examine our lives

and to be careful of those that we enter into

close relationships with, dear Lord. We, one,

want to make good decisions on those we enter

into a marriage covenant with, God. That's about

as serious as it gets. We want to make sure that

we are joined with somebody that is a Christian.

Dear Lord, in our relationships, our business

practices, whatever it may be, I pray that you

would help us to... not find ourselves in trouble

by being unequally yoked, dear Lord. I pray that

you would just help us to be aware of the people

who are having influence on our life and the

people who are advising us, dear Lord. Are these

Christian people or not? We need to think about

these things, God. We need to remember that you

call us to be your people. If we are yours, if

we've trusted in Jesus Christ, then, God, you

don't want us to live like the world. You want

us to be separate from the world. And so, God,

I pray that you would help us to... continue

to grow in you, that you would continue to help

us to be made holy in you and set apart in you,

dear Lord. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.