Christs life & ministry is separated from the world - Part 2
2 Cor: 6:15-7 · Bob Eckel · Jul 30, 2017
2 Corinthians (2017), No. 29
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926172228021

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So let's turn to verse 11 which is kind of what we covered last week and read down through the text here that we're going to be covering today. Verse 11, O ye Corinthians, our speech to you is candid and the heart is wide open and on our part there is no constraint but there is a constraint in your affections. In fair exchange, I speak as unto you, my children, open wide your hearts unto us.

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion has light with darkness? Concord hath Christ with thee, Leal? Or what hath he that believeth within an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?

For you 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. Wherefore, come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not that unclean thing, and I will receive you. And will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. And having therefore these promises clearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

So many people think that chapter 6 should have ended with verse 1 of chapter 7. So leave it be as it is. It's still the word of God. Alright, so this is kind of a challenging section here this morning for a couple of reasons. We'll see that as we go through the passage. So the first verse then, and what accord has Christ with a Belial? How do you pronounce that? I think Belial is correct, but whatever.

Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? Of interest is the only use of this term concord, or accord, or an agreement, or a union. It's not used anywhere else. So this kind of bond if you will, or union between Christ and the devil really is one which is not really mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. And who's this guy anyway? Well, it's not a guy, actually.

The Hebrew word literally translated means worthless, wicked, or without profit. Those are the translations for Belial. not worth very much, at least from the eyes of the Lord. And the Syriac translation, by the way, the language is from Syria, but this is really a Western dialect of Aramaic, means Satan. So Belial is Satan.

And, of course, wickedness, worthlessness, etc. is Satan, from a heavenly perspective. This is likely the proverbial oil and water, and I use that as an example of totally immiscible. What happens if you pour benzene and water? There's no ability for these liquids to miss at all, to really form a constant liquid. Ultimately, we're looking at the extremes of Satan and Christ.

They're kind of at the other ends of the spectrum. The Old Testament has something to say about Belial, although in many texts it's not stated as Belial. Certain men, the children of Belial, and that's really in some versions but not others, are gone out from among you and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, let us go and serve other gods. which you have not known. So you get an idea here of what Belial represents. The children of Belial are serving other gods. So that's not serving the Lord.

And then 1 Samuel 2.12, now the sons of Eli were corrupt. And again, in parentheses, these are the sons of Belial, as interpreted by many of the commentators. And they did not know the Lord. So just a couple of verses that reference this are verses of Judges. There's other verses in Deuteronomy.

And so you can kind of go through the text and kind of look at a class of people who, in fact, have nothing to do with the Lord God himself. And of course, in the New Testament to the church at Corinth, Paul is comparing Christ with Belial in terms of the extremes, the contrast between the two. Likewise, what part a believer with an unbeliever? Isn't that kind of an interesting example? As Christ is to Belial and who they represent, the comparison is what part has a believer with an unbeliever? So this is a continuation of verse 14 from last week about not being unequally yoked. Remember what we said about that? What did we say about unequally yoked?

What was the application here? The teachings. It was the teachings. It was related to the teachings. Yeah, I think it was the teaching that it was in context the best interpretation of this, but we extend that to other areas. And we kind of thought that marriage was another good example of not being unequally yoked, and perhaps business contracts, et cetera, not being unequally yoked. There's no law to say what this really relates to, but it clearly relates to fellowship. And that comes out, I think, here in the verses we're going to be looking at today, and to some extent last week. Part reflects an assigned task, and just an example of that is in Colossians, giving them thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Now if we go back here, or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? It's kind of like a task. So we're partakers of the heavenly light, we're not partakers of the things that the unbeliever Desire stands for, represents. Unbelievers are not included here. In other words, saints in the light. We're in the light. And that light is that of the Lord Jesus Christ, is it not? So, unbelievers are not in that light. So, they have a different perspective of life and what's to follow.

I mentioned to Bailey last night, I mean, there are three questions I think everybody asks, as long as they have a brain enough to ask it. Who am I? Where did I come from? And where am I going? Doesn't everybody ask that subconsciously, at least, or mostly consciously, sometime in their life?

It's initially in airports. especially at airports. Can you relate to that in any way, Tom? Yeah. Oh, I see. The escalators totally broke down like they did last Sunday. And they get pretty quarrelsome. I tried to force all that when it first happened. I just happened to spot it from inside the terminal. And just when I noticed there's nothing moving. But there was no crowd so I just went down there and thanked the Lord it was Sunday. And just basically told them start using the elevators. Too bad we don't have anything out down there that would simply alert and signage people.

It's just one of those deals where you just have to organize the people and still be nice about it. And that's the hard part being nice. I mean, here they come off the train and by the hundreds there they come off the other forms of transportation. If they all converge at the same time, that's when you really that didn't happen.

Thank the Lord. So our idea was. with this and still be representatives of who we are from Christ. Trying to be a nice airport, that sort of thing. So you're an example of a partaker of the light, is that what you're trying to show us? Would the escalator break down?

All right, good. Meet application. All right. So I'm going to ask the question. Doesn't this relate to fellowship? That's what it's all about. What part has a believer with a nonbeliever? I mean, it really does. I mean, Margaret and I are talking about that coming down this morning. We meet monthly with an unsaved guy and his wife that I work with and we have a good time with them. Is that wrong? Is that really being yoked or being partakers of something that we shouldn't be joined with? No, I don't think so. I don't think I have to confess that.

So anyway I think we're talking about fellowship here is really what this relates to. You know a lot of that has to do with attending church on Sunday mornings. What about attending church Jack? Well the fellowship we have amongst ourselves that simply place than unbelievers.

Right. I mean conversations tend to be pretty superficial you know family, weather, sports, what news whatever but it's okay I don't see anything wrong with that but as Margaret and I were talking to coming down this morning I mean and you know Bailey was asking questions last night we weren't forcing anything on him but boys questions continued you know often the question to Margaret or how'd you meet Bob well she met me at a Bible study And boy, that either shuts a door or opens a door. And fortunately, the Lord worked last night to open a door. Bailey's an African-American, very smart medical student, first-year student who's doing some research in the lab.

So anyway. So again, we're talking about fellowship, partakers of one another in fellowship that doesn't exist. And that's like Belial and Christ. We have fellowship in the Lord Jesus Christ, but we have really no fellowship in the world system. And fellowship is a different entity than having a relationship with somebody as a friend. Roger, any further thoughts?

It's kind of building. You start with verse 14. The word blood is used three times. If you look back at verse 14. What partnership? Mine has harmony rather than part. And then you're going to get to the third one you're going to get to here. I like harmony better here actually. So you're building to the third. Verse 16 you're going to get to the third.

Third word, 1 John 5.12.

He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son does not have life. What life is that? It's eternal life, but that life is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ in each and every one of us. That life is not there in the unbeliever. So fellowship cannot exist. in terms of positional and conditional truths.

Ephesians 5.11, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

Interesting. So, the question is, this being unequally yoked, I don't think the Lord is asking us to define that exactly. We gave examples last week and I think we can potentially think of more, but then we become overly legal here. And I think in context the unequally yoke relates to the teaching that this body of believers was receiving. So don't be overly subject to that. That's darkness. Don't hang out there. Okay, on to 16. And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you or we are the temple of the living God. And as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

Now I'm going to kind of open up the door here a little bit about the fact that we've got a lot of Old Testament here. and rightly dividing the word of truth, is Paul just citing this to document the truthfulness of the Old Testament scripture, or in fact is this a true application to the church? I think we all would believe the latter, but let's look carefully at these verses. Notice the contrast or similarity here between the Old Testament temple of God and we being the temple of God. What are your thoughts here? The contrast and or similarity of the temple of God.

Well, don't you think too that a lot of the Old Testament verses that Paul is pointing out here, these were all a foreshadowing of Christ's coming and what Christ was going to be to the world and to us. And so these are just, I think he's just making a point that We were told this back hundreds of years ago, and now here's the fulfillment of this right now in Christ. If we go back and it says, what agreement is a temple of God with idols? Is that relevant to the church?

No, but I think it's talking about then he goes on to say that you're the temple of God. OK, good. So we we are. I mean, it was the same back then, the temple of God, which was the tabernacle. And now here we are, the tabernacle. That's how the Temple of God, there are similarities between the two. In terms of the Temple was the, if you will, where God hung out and the annual sacrifice related to that, but then today we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. So there is a similarity.

The Temple of God is still perfectly righteous and holy, right? But the differences are what? What were the idols that ultimately were problematic for Israel? golden calf, the ones they built when Moses went up to the mountain and they decided they needed some gods. Yeah, all the incense and all this kind of, I mean there are all kinds of things going on back there that we're really not applying to the church age today. I'm not being critical of this, I'm just saying let's think about this and put it into perspective. Randy, you have a thought?

Yeah, well I think this is awesome because This passage here reinforces the idea that God gave the law to separate Israel unto himself. And that principle established this idea that God wanted a special relationship. And Paul is reinforcing that saying, this is not a new idea. Not coming to you with something that's like, ooh, this is a mystery.

This was God's practice. from the Old Testament, and I think we could even argue earlier, Abraham was set aside under God as well. We're going to get there, but this idea of being separated or sanctified is really again this comparison between Christ and Belial. I mean, we're talking about two different spheres. We're talking about heavenly or eternal spheres versus earthly spheres wherein the focus of attention is light versus darkness. Good. OK.

So either way, there's no agreement or a center approval of this temple with idols. What are idols today? There are so many. Infinite. Cell phones. We can be a little overly legal there too in terms of listing a bunch of things. White and darkness are pretty clearly different aren't they? Isn't an idol really anything aside from Christ that you worship or put makes so important in your life?

It could be anything. It could be exercise. It could be anything that totally consumes you. I'd love somebody to say somebody's an exercise addict. We know a few of those. But they're praising God as they're exercising. Anyway, what I'm saying is you need to be overly legal here. The idea is we're positioned above, that's where our focus is and we're citizens of the heavenly kingdom and I think things here, we live in an earthly body and we have an earthly existence and I don't think we need to be overly legal. where your allegiances are, your heart, your soul, your life. Is it based on the fact that this earthly experience is there to conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ?

That's positional, which has an application to our condition. We're told to flee, present active imperative, by the way, this isn't a casual term, the verb tense, from idolatry. And 1 Corinthians 10, 14 to 22, I'd like to read that, but I don't think we have time to do that. But that's a good section here on fleeing idolatry of all sorts.

So we'll leave it as it is. and here's I dwell in them and walk among them, I will be their God and they shall be my people. These are Old Testament scriptures that all are a source of this statement. They're not perfectly taken out of each of these verses, but these are the verses, and by the way I think there are more, wherein I will dwell in them and walk among them and be their God and they shall be my people is stated in the Old Testament. Exorcist, Leviticus, Jeremiah, Ezekiel.

Now, since this part of verse 16 is largely taken from the Old Testament, how does this relate to us today, or does it because it's a promise to Israel? Or does it, meaning does it really, or is this a promise to Israel? Well to a greater extent is already being fulfilled as the Lord grows in us and we grow in the Lord. Okay, what about to Israel? That's out there for them to take hold of if they decide they're getting sick and tired of their own, I guess, pointless worship that looks forward to something that's left over from the past. Well, the verse seems to point to Israel as a nation, does it not? And not to the individual Jew. We know there are Jews of the Old Testament that clearly lived by faith.

There's lots of examples we can turn to. This is the nation. We'll come back to this in the next verse, I believe, in terms of whether we're looking at the captivity and the rejoining of the North and the South together, whether we're looking at the colonial kingdom. I mean clearly in the millennium this is going to be fulfilled. But this does have application to us today. Would Paul have used these verses here if they weren't for the church? I don't think so.

And you know the neat thing about that is how often are you really uplifted by the fact that Old Testament truth gets transected in the New Testament text. And we see kind of the uniformity of God's message and principles outlined by law initially, always calling man to be faithful. and now by grace in the New Testament age. And I really am uplifted by Old Testament being used by the church, in the church, to ultimately bring God's truth to bear.

I'm sure you'll get to it, but these are very endearing terms here. Me and my sons and daughter, I'll be their God. It speaks to a personal relationship. As Tom pointed out, we have that relationship now. So this is re-emphasizing, as a believer, don't get entangled by agreements and harmony with something that is not of Christ. Come out from that. Harmonize with me. Be in fellowship with me. don't be in fellowship with something that's not of me.

I'm going to look at a couple of examples of this in terms of the temples of God. Acts 17, 24, God that hath made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. He's dwelling in a temple, but this isn't something that's constructed by the human physical capability and strength.

1 Corinthians 3.16 Do not you know that you are the temple of God and the spirit of God that dwells in you? And let the word of Christ dwell in you richly and all wisdom teaching in them. So we really are the temple of God. And now this is a temple made without hands.

And this dwelling of the word of the Lord is in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts through the Lord. Alright, any further thoughts of 16? And Roger's kind of opened up the door to where we're going here in the next few verses. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you.

Again, Old Testament kind of stuff. Touching the unclean thing. So, what's the unclean thing? When Paul says, come out from among them, to whom is he speaking? Whatever is there in Corinthian society that's affecting them in the wrong way. That's what he's talking about. He's talking to a believer, is he not? This is to the body. And there's obviously been things that violate this relationship that relates to being unequally yoked by people who are teaching wrong, wrong doctrine.

Isaiah 52.11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from fence. touch no unclean thing, and go ye out of the midst of her, be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Isaiah. So again, Old Testament text kind of brought forward here. And what does it mean to be separate? Micah, don't often look to Micah in the Old Testament to bring truth forward, but arise ye and depart, for this is not your rest, because it is polluted and shall not destroy you, even with a sword of destruction. Shall destroy.

So, again, is it this kind of relationship and fellowship that we're really talking about here? In Paul's letters, and definitely we've seen it throughout 2nd Corinthians and 1st Corinthians, but you look at Galatians, you look at Colossians, he spends a tremendous amount of energy trying to get them to realize that worldly thinking is not going to produce godly spiritual results. and he's trying to draw them out and say you know in Colossians chapter 2 I think it's verse 10 he says to don't let the philosophies of the world sucker you in I know in Corinth they were surrounded by the culture all the time and if we look at our own lives as believers today it's easy to see what's on television or on the internet as various sources and have those ideas form our thinking and not for a second look at the scriptures and say, did the scriptures teach us these things? And so the separation has to do with our life being rooted in Christ, not worldly. As we look to God's truth and the wisdom of the Lord, we're reminded that in 1 Corinthians Paul said to the church of Corinth, the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. As much as you're influenced by politicians and government and everything that relates to this world system, being separate is separate in terms of our eternity and our position and our understanding of the things of God are not the things of the world system.

No relationship, being separate. Well again, the relationship that relates to fellowship doesn't exist between Galileo and Christ, nor should it be between the believer and the unbeliever. And we are a separate people.

Hebrews 10.14, by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. So sanctified is being separate, set apart, and our theology really separates us if we believe what God has for us in that space.

What are the unclean things? Again, a lot of Old Testament brought forward here. Unclean things were well defined in the Old Testament. What about now? What's Paul talking about? Again, in a ceremonial sense, this is according to Levitical law. I mean, the Levitical law has all these kinds of things identified very clearly, doesn't it?

But today, these are things that we would consider as believers, as we're sanctified, things that are immoral, both in thought and life. So, again, we don't need to list these things. The Spirit is using the Word of God to really apply a metric to immoral thoughts in life. And we trust that the truth of the Word of God is really what applies to unclean things in our world. And we could list them, but again, God doesn't list them, because the Spirit of God leaves us in all truth.

You have to sit and ponder these things. And I will receive you. Is this conditional? We've got to get rid of all these things to be accepted of God? Well, in Ezekiel it says, I will accept you with your sweet saber when I bring you out from the people and gather you out of the countries wherein you have been scattered and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. Notice how this acceptance of Israel occurs. It's ultimately, I'm going to accept you, but yet it's It's really conditional, isn't it?

But if it applies to us, is this in the form of fellowship? And I say absolutely yes. So while we can say, using the word accept, we can say we are accepted, but there's a need for fellowship among us, even though we're accepted. That's not the end of the story. And he desires our fellowship. And I think that's based on Roger, you're leading right into this.

Remember always Romans 8.1, there's no condemnation now that those are in Christ Jesus. We are unconditionally accepted. But yet, ultimately, that acceptance is positional.

But our relationship to the Lord is altered by our falling short at times. And then fellowship is lacking. Our fellowship with the Lord is lost, but we're going to come to that in a second because verse 18 will move us in that direction. And the beautiful parallel we always draw is like with the family. We have children. They'll always be our children, but many times there can be... Oh really? We had five because we have so many lessons to learn, and I'm still learning them. There's a lot of lessons.

All right, verse 18 then, and Roger you were alluding to this before, and we'll be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Is this promise of the Lord directed to Israel? Yes. Jeremiah 31 9, they shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them. And I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble.

For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. Just parenthetically, I've tried to look at as much as I could in terms of cross-referencing father to Israel, and I found very little. But his being our personal Heavenly Father is well documented. But does this relate to the post-Babylonian captivity as I alluded to before or only as a promise that extends into the millennium? I don't know, it could be both. Because if you look at Jeremiah, Israel separated. I mean, they're in captivity. The northern kingdom is in captivity.

And this is a direct promise of the near future, whether Israel will be reunited. And of course, you could say that didn't occur really until 1948, where Israel became a country. But that reuniting of Israel in terms of a country and a land was not largely based on, they claim biblical purposes. But really, it's a country. The nation of Israel, there are very few of, you know, abiding by the Levitical law.

So it's kind of separated the Jewish community in three ways. The Jew who claims to be a Jew and is pro-Israel as a nation. The second group kind of goes to the synagogue occasionally, and they take all the holidays. Of course, the first group does too. And then the third group, I think, more orthodox, more conservative Jews who really take their faithful more seriously. So yeah, I think it could relate to the post-Babylonian captivity or the promise that God has extended to the nation of Israel in terms of the millennium.

And Romans 11.26 gives us a hint of this. So all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, they shall come out of the son of deliverer, the Lord, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And that's millennial promises, right? I mean, this ultimate relationship between God and Israel does relate to the Lord Jesus returning as their king and ruler.

So I see this as equally as applicable to the millennium as I do the post-Babylonian captivity. For us, it's a promise of truth. As we walk by faith, do we really believe this? That ultimately we have a father and we are considered sons and daughters?

Romans 8.15, for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you receive the spirit of adoption, wherein we cry, Abba, Father.

1 John 3.1 Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God, and therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.

So does the world really know? I mean, in a sense, think of your relationships with people of the world. They really don't know us. And what was interesting last night is Bailey started to want to know us better. But that's a rare circumstances where you're hanging out with the world and they really want to know where you're coming from.

But typically, that's not true. The world doesn't know us because it doesn't know him. And don't you think a lot of it is they don't want to know us because what it does is it reveals their own shortcomings and they don't want to see that. I mean they don't want to admit that in fact something's not right in their life.

Don't you think that the unsaved world looks at us as following a bunch of laws what we can do and can't do? I'm sure. What principle do we live by? under that doesn't make us follow laws. Grace? They don't understand grace, they don't understand law, they don't know what we believe. Other than that, it's fine. But the prejudice exists in ignorance and it's unfortunate. So how does that ignorance get changed?

By the spirit of God. Thank you. It's the only way it gets changed. Cheryl's mentioned that with Sue. She's shared with her numerous times and now she feels like she needs to take a step back. The spirit needs to work. Our business is planting the seed. We let the Lord harvest that seed if he so desires. Maybe God doesn't have it for him. No, God has that for everyone. But the vanity and pride of the human existence doesn't allow that truth to really come on board, does it? Well, the reality is, too, we don't know.

And we can't be the judge of we plant a seed or they see something in us that they don't understand. And it piques their interest. I mean, years later, other things can happen and that person can become a believer. But we don't know that. And we can't, you know, wander around going, well, let's see what what's my score today on How many people have I brought to the Lord? That's nuts. Well, some of your fellow believers disagree with that. And no wonder they're so discouraged. I haven't brought enough people to the Lord. Well, that's crazy.

It was funny yesterday afternoon, I was saying to Margaret, when I first came to Denver, I'd been saved just right before we moved to Denver. And I started my lab and I had people working in my lab and within the first three or five years I had a number of people come to the Lord. I said to Margaret, you know, am I failing in some way? Maybe I'm not proactive enough in sharing the gospel with people who work for me.

And then look what happened last night. Yeah, what did I say to you? It's not your job. I know. It's not your job, man. She reminds me often what my job is. We'll talk privately a little later. The Lord does the work. We're the vehicles. As we walk by faith, again remember we may be the only Bible people ever see. That's not something we work on or try harder for. It's by faith that we walk. Alright, Lord Almighty, Universal Ruler. The only other use of this term Lord Almighty in the New Testament is in Revelation. There's multiple uses in Revelation.

And I'm having a lot of fun on my way to work in the morning going through McGee's. revelation. He's kind of like your dad, claiming it's one of the easier books to really understand, very systematic and very interpretable going from start to finish. And we all look at it, I don't know about you, it's always a very confusing text. But he's making it very clear and very straightforward.

That Lord Almighty The universal ruler is mentioned multiple times in Revelation, particularly in the terminal phases of Revelation. But this is the only other time. It's kind of interesting why the Lord would use Paul through the power of the Spirit to list the Lord as Lord Almighty here and nowhere else.

Lots of unanswered questions. I'm not sure I'll remember this one when I get into heavenly places, but then we'll have all knowledge. So we won't be asking any questions there. All right, let's go on to the last verse in today's lesson. So verse 1 of chapter 7 could be the closing verse or verse 19 or whatever it is in chapter 6.

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. How are you doing on cleansing yourself here? An act of tense. Our responsibility is to cleanse ourselves. I don't think we do very well at that, but when we live by faith, the spirit works in us to remind us of uncleanness and what it really is. And I think increasingly as you get out of fellowship with the Word of God, with believers, etc., then you start to question exactly what is unclean and what is not. And how do we do all of this? Well, I think we begin with positional truth. So cleansing ourselves of all unrighteousness must see ourselves who we really are.

And a verse we mentioned last week that I think is such an important verse to kind of begin with is 2 Corinthians 5.21 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Boy, talk about positional truth. We're made righteous. Because he hath made him to be sin for us.

So, remember, not only are our sins forgiven, those in the past, those today, and those tomorrow have all been forgiven. but it's not only that, he has made him to be sinned, so our sin nature, Romans 6, 3, 4, we've been baptized with him, baptized him unto death, and risen with him in the newness of life. Positional truth. Important. Romans 8, 1, again, there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. We can't do anything that's going to displease God in terms of the cross.

So this process of unclean, not touching the unclean and constantly cleansing ourselves from all filthiness in the flesh and spirit really relates to our position. Unless you have sound confidence and belief in the position who we are this isn't going to get done very easily. Now we learn to live by faith so if we're positionally placed and understand the truth of the word of God in this sphere Then how do we live? The same way we got saved, by faith.

Again, this is going to be repetitious. This class is well informed about this. For me to live is Christ and die is gain. Either way you win here. It's Christ who does the living within us. Boy, that's tough to explain to an unbeliever who's asking you about who you are. It really is. I kind of went in that direction some last night. Marty says to me, he doesn't understand that and all that.

You're probably right, but it's the truth and the word of God. We're created anew and for me to live is Christ and die is gain. So this cleansing of the flesh and spirit comes from that faith that we're living in our new creations and the Spirit will work to cleanse us constantly from unclean things.

Galatians 2.20 at first, we all love here, I am crucified with Christ and unless I live, but not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh shall live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And what if we fall short, which we frequently do, Well, we turn to 1 John, where it says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. And if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That's how we get cleansing. By having the spirit recognize when in fact the filthiness of the flesh and spirit show up. And that spirit is not of the Holy Spirit, it's of the human spirit. So I hate in a way to be so simplistic, but this class I think understands this. I think if we were teaching in some other church today that didn't understand these positional truths, this is something that people are working on. I'm working to cleanse myself of all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.

I would say, how are you doing here? I don't know about you, it seems to me the things that seem to be able to trip us up most easily are those things that are brought to your attention and you get tripped up more easily as you think more about it. I mean it's only when you begin to see who we are in Christ Jesus and then apply that to a walk by faith that these things start to become more pale and have less merit in our lives. We can share personal examples here.

So again, I'm going to stop here and summarize today. We've got this admixture of Old Testament truth brought forward to the church. And I think we're talking about this yoking with unbelievers as really relating to things that relate to fellowship around the Lord Jesus Christ.

And fellowship in marriage, when a person is unsaved and the other spouse is saved, we know that that unsaved spouse member is sanctified or set apart. But they're not set apart in fellowship. They're set apart by the Lord to really conform the saved spouse in terms of growing in grace and truth. And how being unyoked in other circumstances relates to this. In context, it relates to being taught false doctrine and not being yoked with that. Other thoughts? Quiet.

Yeah, Randy. here that we get to wrestle with the idea of cleansing ourselves. Because the idea is obviously not that we're making ourselves righteous of our own accord. The idea is not that we are earning barren. But I love the idea that Paul is challenging the believers here in Corinth who have been not separating themselves. That's really the application of the separation is the cleansing.

And so it's simply observing, are we Are we abiding and are we looking to the Lord for the source of truth and the body of fellowship? Or are we dirty? There's an interesting parallel there that he's tying the cleansing with our affiliation. And yet we still have to be preaching the gospel in the world. So it doesn't mean that being out and preaching the gospel makes us dirty.

It means that we know where our life is. How do you think, I'm just kind of flying off the top of my head, but how do you think as an unsaved person you would have responded to Paul's teaching? What did Paul represent that maybe was really like oil and water in terms of how different it was? Was this just a man just forcing the gospel on him? No, this is a man whose life had been dramatically changed. who had all knowledge of the Jewish tradition, being a Pharisee, and yet it's Paul and who he was that really impacted the message that went forward. That's true all our lives, isn't it? It's not what we do. It's who we are. And then what we do is an evidence of who we are. And that's so, so important. Other thoughts about this today?

And again, I think it's really neat to see Old Testament scripture kind of applied to the church, but in context interpreted for what it really means. We can look back and see how it related to Israel. But when Paul brings it forward and relates it to the church, it looks again at the theme and the principles of God brought forward from time eternal past to time eternal going forward.

Alright good, so let's turn to the Lord in prayer in closing. By the way we are thankful today for the text and every time we meet together on Sundays we look at your word and we pray that the interpretation and applications are really of you. We're thankful that the word of God is endless in terms of its truth, and we are challenged to rightly divide the word of truth. We pray that these verses today will have not only intellectual capabilities, but also impact our lives as we walk day in and day out by grace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.