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Second Corinthians chapter number six. Second Corinthians chapter number six, starting in verse one. We then as workers together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I suckered thee. Behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation, giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed, but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well-known, as dying and behold we live, as chastened and not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged, you're not straightened in us, but you're straightened in your own bowels. Now for a recompense in the same, I speak as unto my children, be ye also enlarged, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness, and what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel, 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. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and I will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer, dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day, I thank you for the souls that were saved today, I ask now that you would just be with pastors who preaches your word, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. All right. We're in 2 Corinthians, chapter number 6. Look down at your Bibles at verse number 14. It says, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness, and what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel, 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, wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. And the title of my sermon this evening is three interpretations of 2 Corinthians, chapter 6. Three interpretations of 2 Corinthians, chapter 6. And more specifically, I'm actually referring to verses 14 through 17. That's what I'm gonna be focusing on this evening. Now, 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, is actually a great portion of Scripture dealing with this matter of separation. You know, when we talk about being separated from the world, being separated from the things that are worldly, things that are not pleasing unto the Lord, this would be one of the text verses that we would use to prove that. You know, when we say Christians shouldn't be worldly, they should be separated from things that are ungodly, separated from unbelievers. We go to 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 14, as a proof text to show that. And, you know, separation is an essential element in the Christian life. It's not something that should be glazed over. It's something that we should give heed to, earnest heed to, and recognize that it is important. Now, before I get into 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, let me just make a couple of opening statements here. When it comes to studying a passage of Scripture, it's essential that we read it in its context in order to extract the main interpretation, right? You know, if we don't do that, then what happens is you're gonna come up with your own interpretation. And, in fact, that's how a lot of false doctrines are made up, right? They take one verse out of one passage of Scripture, out of one chapter, and they just run with that one passage of Scripture, you know. They read something like, you know, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And they say, well, there you go, you have to work out your salvation. It takes works, but we see that when you take it in the context of what the chapter is actually saying, what the book is actually talking about, and, in fact, what the whole Bible says, you know. We obviously understand that we don't work our way towards salvation. It's something that's already been worked out for us by Jesus Christ, and all we have to do is place our faith in Him. But that's why it's important that we read everything in its context in order to understand the interpretation. Now, once we get that interpretation, we reinforce that with other congruent passages of Scripture. So we find a passage of Scripture that teaches a specific doctrine, and it teaches what it's saying in context there. We compare Scripture with Scripture, and that reinforces that teaching, okay. That's how we know that salvation is, you know, when it comes to salvation, it's once saved, always saved, because when you look at the entire, the entire Bible, when you look at all of Scripture, you see that that's what the entire Bible teaches, you know. It's all in harmony. That doctrine works in harmony with everything else in the Bible. Now, you may have heard the statement, there's one interpretation, many applications, and that's definitely true. You know, when you read the Bible and you come across specific passages of Scriptures, you know, there is one interpretation of that specific parable, one interpretation of that specific doctrine, but maybe it's phrased in a certain way, or maybe it's stated in a certain way, or it's applied to a certain person in the Bible where we can make many applications to different areas of our life, etc., and that's great, you know. The problem lies is that when you only use it for application, but you never actually give the interpretation of the Scripture. You know, you only use it for application, you only use it for how is it that we could apply it, but we don't get the exact interpretation of that Scripture. It's important that we have both, but it's important first that we get the interpretation and then the application thereof. Obviously, we understand that we need to know what the Bible says, but we also have to know how to apply it to our personal lives, right? Now, this is true when dealing with 2 Corinthians chapter 6, and the reason I say that is because 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 14 through 18 has been applied in many different ways, but let me say this, there is only one interpretation of what we're looking at here in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, and I'm going to work my way backwards because I'm actually going to give you the main interpretation at the end of the sermon, and I'm going to give you the applications in the very beginning. So let me give you a couple of applications of how people have used 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and why they're right, okay? Application number one is this. This is an instruction, or this is instructing us on who we shouldn't marry, right? Now, this is an interpretation that I've heard throughout my Christian life. You know, growing up as a Christian, as a saved person, I've heard my pastor and different preachers, different people who have preached in our church tell us that we should not marry unbelievers, we should not marry people who are not saved, and they would often use 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 as a proof text to do that. But here's the thing, 2 Corinthians 6 14 is not talking about marriage, right? But here's another thing, to that I say, amen. You know, when I talk about, when I tell people, hey, you shouldn't marry unbelievers, I use 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14, even though that's not the main interpretation of that passage of Scripture, because of the fact that a great application of what we see there, it's good for people who are saved not to marry unsaved people, and it goes along and it's congruent with every other teaching in the Bible when it comes to this matter of marriage, with marrying the Lord, okay? The application lines up with the rest of the Scripture. Now, turn with me if you want to Deuteronomy chapter 7, Deuteronomy chapter number 7. You see, throughout the Bible, we see God forbidding his people to marry unbelievers, right? Now, why is that? Well, he says it's an unequal yoke. Now, what does that mean? Basically, it's an uneven relationship, okay? Can two walk together except they be agreed? And in fact, the Bible says in 1 Peter 3 7, likewise ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered. You see, it's important that when you get married as a believer, you get married to someone who is saved. Why is that? Well, first and foremost, because of the fact that when you are married to another, when your spouse is saved, you're gonna be heirs together of the grace of life, you know? There's certain privileges, so to speak. There's certain perks that come with marrying a believer. There's certain headaches that you don't have to deal with, right? You know, a person who marries, who has a spouse, who's not a believer, you know, sometimes there can be a grief to that individual. First and foremost, because they can die at any moment and go to hell, and you know what? If that spouse has any ounce of love for their spouse, that's a devastating thing to happen. You know, to lose a spouse and have them to go to hell, and they're not saved, I mean, that's a devastating thing, right? But not only that, how about their philosophy in regards to raising children? You know, their philosophies are obviously gonna be vastly different because of the fact that the believer, if they're, you know, a Bible-believing Christian who practices the Bible, goes to church, reads the Bible, you know, they're gonna want to raise their children according to God's Word, whereas maybe the unbeliever will not have that same view. What's gonna happen? There's gonna be conflict within marriage because of that. Now, in the Old Testament, we see God forbidding intermarriage between Israel and the foreign nations, right? We see that constantly being reiterated, and this has actually grossly been misinterpreted to mean that you shouldn't marry outside your race. How many have heard that before? And in fact, I remember being in old IFB churches where pastors literally would teach this from the pulpit, okay? Now, I will admit that my father-in-law, to a certain extent, did believe that, but then he changed his view on that, okay, later on. Obviously, right? Because, you know, his son-in-law is a Guatemalan, is a Hispanic, or as many of you out there would say, he's Mexican, right? But not only that, you know, my brother-in-law, he's married to a Chinese girl, okay? And, you know, I mean, one of his sons married a Anglo-Saxon, you know, or whatever, but his other daughter married an Asian person, okay? And so, you know, obviously he changed his view on that, but you know, there's a lot of old IFB pastors that did not change their view on that, and they'll specifically preach, you should not, there's no, you know, it's not biblical to do interracial marriages, it's not right because it's not biblical, the Bible forbids that. Well, no, it doesn't, okay? Now, you're in Deuteronomy 7, I'm gonna reach you from Exodus chapter 34, verse 14, it says, For thou shalt worship no other God for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice. And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and thy, excuse me, daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go whoring after their gods. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. Now, go to, you're in Deuteronomy chapter 7, look at verse number 1. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land where the thou goest to possess it, and has cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater mightier than thou. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them. Now, he's telling them, hey, when you run into these nations, you just need to wipe them all out. Now, is that because God's just a racist? It's because God just hates these other races, he just hates the color of their skin. No, it's because of their pagan worship, that's why. It's because they were committing abominations in the land, folks. Now, look at verse 3. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter, thou shall not give unto his son, nor his daughter, shall thou take unto thy son, for they will turn away thy son from following me. So he's saying, I don't want this white guy getting married with this black girl and all this Asian people. No, is it because of their skin color? It's because of, you know, one is yellow, one's black, and one's brown? Absolutely not. It has to do with the fact that the culture that they're involved in, the pagan religious culture that they're a part of, would cause the believer to stray away from God. That's what it was. So God was not against race, he was against the pagan culture of that race, okay? Verse 5 says, but thus shall you deal with them. I'm sorry, verse 4, for they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. Folks, that's why it's important that when we get saved, we leave our culture behind and we take on a Christian culture, amen? Now, keep the parts of your culture that are still good and wholesome, amen? Keep the parts of your culture that line up with the Bible, you know, the food of your culture is still good, amen? But things of your culture that deal with religious idolatry or things that are pagan should be completely forsaken, okay? And the reason I say this is because some cultures, right, they identify their culture with the religion. I mean, you go out soul winning and you run into Hispanics and they'll literally say they're Catholic, not because they go to a Catholic Church, not because they even know what the sacraments are, not because they've even done their first communion, literally because their grandma's Catholic, because they've always been Catholic, because they're Hispanic, they're Mexican, you know, they're whatever, and they'll say, well, this is what we've always been. So they literally identify what they believe based upon their culture, but that's not to say that a Hispanic person when they get saved can't get right with God, serve the true God, you know, have a Christian culture, but they have to forsake them. It's not like, well, you know, I'm saved, yeah, but, you know, back in my culture, we have the Virgin Mary in our home and we have the crucifix in our home and that's just a cultural thing. No, those things need to be burned. Those things need to be smitten and broken and burned because that's not a part of Christian culture, okay. So anything within that culture that would seek to take people away from the true God, that's what God was against. He wasn't against other races even joining Israel as long as they're willing to adhere to what the covenant said, okay. It says in verse 5, but thus shall ye deal with them, ye shall destroy their altars and break down their images and cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth. So he didn't want foreign nations to pollute the children of Israel by bringing in false religion, false doctrine, and causing God's people to get away from him. So that's why he said don't marry into these people, not because of the color of their skin, but because of their beliefs, their paganism, their abominations. And look, a lot of these cultures, abominable, right. You know, to the point where the land would spew them out of their mouths, the Bible says. You know, they're involved in sodomy, they're involved in all kinds of wizardry and witchcraft and just different things, necromancy, right. They were abominable unto the Lord and that's why God said I don't want you even being involved with these people. I don't want you to marry into their culture, marry into that people because of the fact that they practice paganism. They'll cause you to stray away from the Lord. So when God was opposed to marrying into a, excuse me, what God was opposed to was marrying into a different culture that was steeped in paganism. It was the religion that made the difference. And look, to prove that you have Ruth, right, who was a Moabite, right. She was of Moab and what happened? We see her getting married to Boaz but we also see her prior to that telling her mother-in-law, you know, for whether thou goest I will go, whether thou lodgest I will lodge, thy people shall be my people, thy God my God. What is she saying? I'm willing to change my religion, change my beliefs to be a part of what your belief system is, right. And of course she's in the lineage of Jesus Christ, okay. But she was not of Israel originally, okay. So that shows you there that God is not opposed to the race thing. What he's opposed to is marrying unbelievers. Now let's see if the New Testament reinforces that. Go to 1st Corinthians chapter 7, 1st Corinthians chapter 7, 1st Corinthians chapter 7. Look, there's all kinds of issues that comes with marrying, a believer marrying an individual who's part of a different religion. I mean, I've known people who were saved who were married to like Mormons and there's, I mean, there's conflict in marriage because of it, you know. And you know what? Sometimes those believers, they compromise and they go to that stupid congregation of the Mormons to appease their spouse. It's not right, you know. It's compromised but that's the situation that a person is placed in when they marry into, when they marry an unbeliever, when they marry a person who does not have the same beliefs about salvation as they do. And look, the rules that God has set forth in the Bible, it's not to make our life miserable. Commandments of the Lord are not grievous. In fact, they're there to protect us, right. Really, they're there to give us an abundant life. It's there to spare us from a lot of heartache and headaches, amen. Look at 1st Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 39. Let's see if the New Testament reinforces this teaching It says in verse 39, the wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth, but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will only in the Lord. So there you go. Verse 39 says that, and by the way, this could be applied to a man as well, even though it's referring to the woman, that if the husband dies, the spouse dies, they are at liberty to marry whom they will, who ever they want, as long as they're in the Lord. What does that mean? As long as they're saved, as long as they're a believer, okay. Now obviously, it's not wrong for a young man or young lady to have specific standards that they would want their spouse to have, you know. It would be good for a Christian to get married to another Christian who faithfully goes to church, right, who is serving the Lord, you know, who is serious about the things of God. But obviously when we ask God, Lord, who should I marry, He just says they need to be in the, whoever you want, only in the Lord, okay. Now people will go overboard on this and say, well, you know, I married an unsafe person, so therefore, you know, I need to divorce them because they're not a believer and I need to marry a believer, and that's false, you know. The Bible tells us that God hates divorce. He hates putting away, okay, and people want to use this and say, well, I made a mistake because I married a person before I was even saved and now I got saved and my spouse is not saved and so now I need to divorce him. Now I need to divorce her. No, false. And here's the thing, yeah, they weren't God's will when you first met them, but now that you're married, now they're God's will, okay, you know, and they want to use that as a justification. Now go back to verse 10, okay. Let's look at, let's look at that holds water. Look at verse 10 of chapter 7. So keep in mind, God says marry whoever you want, only in the Lord, and He says in verse 10, and unto them, marry thy command, yet not I, but the Lord. Let not the wife depart from her husband, but, and if she depart, you know, he can remarry someone else. It's all good. Is that what it says? No, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband and let not the husband put away his wife. So he's saying, look, if someone departs, referring to they leave their spouse, you know, God forbid they actually get a divorce, they get written a bill of divorcement, the Bible says that they should remain unmarried. Now he's not sanctioning, he's not putting a stamp of approval on that person leaving their spouse, but the nature of the beast is that some people will do that, right. They will leave their spouse for whatever reason, you know, they don't want to be a part of the relationship anymore, there's conflict in the marriage, they can't hack it and they leave. Well, here's the solution, you either remain unmarried, in other words, you don't get married again, right. To remain unmarried basically means you don't get married again. I know that's deep, but sometimes we've got to explain those things because people try to like fit their own ideologies and preferences into the Bible. Let her remain unmarried, or look what it says, or be reconciled to her husband. So what God wants is this, is like look, depart, if that's what you're gonna do, that's what you're gonna do. Here's your two options, you could remain unmarried or go be reconciled to your spouse once again. Look at verse 12, but to the rest speak I, not the Lord, if any brother have a wife that believeth not and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away, and the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. So what is he saying? Hey, if you are married, if you get married to a person who's not a believer, and they're pleased with you, in other words, they like you, they're not trying to depart from you, you're not making their life a living hell, okay, then stay with them, leave it at that. Look at verse 14, for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Now what does it mean to be sanctified? It doesn't mean like, you know, okay, my wife's saved so I got a free ticket to heaven if I'm not saved, you know, it doesn't mean like, oh, my husband, I'm saved, but my husband is not, but he gets a free ticket because I'm saved, doesn't work that way. What he's specifically saying here is, look at down to verse 16, for what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband, or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife. In other words, you have an opportunity to really win your spouse to the Lord, and you know what, I mean, this is the sermon for another day, but there's specific instructions that God gives a husband and God gives a wife to be able to win over their own spouse, and so a person who is involved in a marriage where a spouse is not saved, that saved individual, part of that marriage there, you know, they have an opportunity to win their spouse over to the Lord if they adhere to God's instructions on how to do that, okay, and no, it's not preaching to your husband, okay, no, it's not giving him a hard time and asking him why he doesn't go to church, and why is this, and why he's good for nothing, you know, nagging him, that's not what helps your husband get saved, you know, according to the Bible, what helps your husband get saved is a meek and quiet spirit, you know, loving your husband and fulfilling your role as a wife can soften your husband's heart to the gospel, okay, because it's not the gospel that's the problem, oh no, he just hates the gospel, no, maybe you just don't like clean your house and cook him meals and treat him well, maybe you disrespect him in public, you know, that will cause his heart to be hardened to the gospel, you see, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, right, but sometimes a person's heart can get hardened and that's based upon the conduct of the individual, right, you know, the wife can be misbehaving, same thing with the husband, and that can cause them to have a hardened heart, verse 14, for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, else were your children unclean, but now are they holy, but if the unbelieving depart, let him depart and go get yourself another spouse, no, sorry rucktards who want to use this to try to teach that, I like how they just try to insert their own doctrine into the Bible even though it doesn't say that, but if the unbelieving depart, let him depart, a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace, so look, if a wife has a husband who is departing, he's like, I don't want to be with you anymore, you know, obviously the wife, if she's done everything she can, it's kind of not her fault, right, I mean, I mean it's her fault of the fact that she married an unsaved guy, but she can't really, you know, manipulate or control the will of her husband, right, and it says here, a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace, so what does that mean, in other words, your full-time job should be to try to win your spouse back, be reconciled, be at peace, try to win them over, oh I've done everything I could, then you're basically saying that the Bible's not true then, right, because any person who's told me that, oh I've done everything, it's just a flat-out lie because the Bible specifically lays out what a woman or a husband is supposed to do to win their spouse over, and guess what, I'm gonna believe the Bible over someone's opinion, you know, and what they typically mean is this, well I told her I love her, you know, I told him that he's the greatest and I love him too, well you know, you have to go above and beyond to be able to win your spouse over, especially if they're not saved, okay, now look at verse 27, here's another verse people use to justify divorce since we're on the topic here, look at verse 27, art thou bound unto a wife, seek not to be loosed, art thou loosed from a wife, seek not a wife, but and if thou marry thou hast not sinned, right, so it's like yeah, you know, obviously it says that if we're loosed from a wife, you know, if my wife divorces me because she doesn't love me anymore and she wants to leave me, you know, I shouldn't seek a wife, you know, but the Bible says in verse 28, but if I marry I haven't sinned, no, here let me just tell you this, yes you have, because to make that statement is to completely negate everything that Jesus said in the Gospels, where he says it's adultery, both parties are involved in adultery if they marry after they've been divorced, okay, says but if thou marry thou hast sinned and if a virgin marries she hath not sinned, nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh, but I spare you, now he said well what does it mean then, you know, if the Bible says there that if someone is loosed from their wife and if they marry they're not sinning, pastor seems there that God is making some wiggle room there for someone who's divorced to get remarried again, no it's not, go to Romans chapter number 7, because the term to be loosed and to be bound is actually referring to what the law does, right, when someone is married and when someone is bound to a wife, they're bound to a husband, it's referring to the fact that they made a covenant, they're married, when they are loose it's referring to the fact that the spouse has died, that's the only way you can remarry someone else and no that's not an encouragement to go murder your spouse, okay, I'm sure there's some people out there that would like to, look at Romans 7 verse 2, let's prove that from the Bible, for the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth, but if the husband be dead she is loosed from the law of her husband, the same wording that's being used in 1st Corinthians chapter 7, it's kind of sad that it's, you know, the law refers to as being bound though, right, you know, like if the woman had the husband, you know, or for the woman which had the husband is bound by the law, just like, you know, honey I'm glad you married me and she's just like, well I'm bound to you by the law, okay, so don't get too excited, I'm only with you because the law tells me that I need to stay with you, right, so long as he liveth by the way, but if the husband be dead she's loosed from the law of her husband, so what's the only thing that can determine or what's the only thing that would permit a person to remarry is death, till death do his part, right, verse 3, so then if while her husband liveth she be married to another man she shall be called an adulteress, so is Paul teaching contrary to what Jesus said, no in fact his teaching is in tandem with what Jesus said and he's not contradicting himself from 1st Corinthians 7, they mean the exact same thing, she shall be called an adulteress but if her husband be dead she's free from that law so that she is no adulteress though she be married to another man according to the Bible and so I wanted to touch on that real quick because it's always good to talk about divorce every once in a while and to let you know where we stand when it comes to this matter of divorce and just show you what the Bible says and this is not a sermon on divorce because there's many other verses that we could have gone to and we could have gone to Matthew chapter 5 and so on and so forth but I just want to show you but how about this how about you just avoid all this and just get married to a safe person, how about you just get married to if you're an independent fundamental Baptist why don't you just get married to an independent fundamental Baptist, why don't you just get married to a faithful independent fundamental Baptist who loves the Bible, loves the Word of God they want to serve the Lord you know and they want to fulfill their god-given role, I want to marry a soul winner, pastor me here bless God, I want to marry a fired up soul winner, that's not my recommendation for you young man you say what in the world how can you tell me you don't want me to marry some fired up soul winner because here's the thing if you marry a young lady who just wants to fulfill her biblical role as a woman she's gonna become a fiery soul winner eventually you know but let me say this I've met many many many fired up soul winning ladies who are not fulfilling their biblical role okay and I'll just leave it at that you know better to just find a young man who wants to fulfill his biblical role why I met a man who wants to be a pastor yeah you better be careful with that you know why don't you just try to seek for a man who just wants to you know raise a family right wants to raise a godly family and I'm not saying that if a man out there says I want to be tells a lady I want to be a pastor he's just like some wicked person what I'm saying is this is that you know seek to marry someone who just wants to live a normal biblical life like I want to get married I want to have children I want to provide for my wife and my kids and I want to raise kids for the Lord and I just want to live I want as for me in my house we shall serve the Lord you know and that's at whatever capacity there is okay you know but this is why God tells us hey be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers now that's not the main interpretation of second Corinthians 6 but that's a great application okay don't marry an unsafe person you're gonna go it's gonna be grievous and you know what young man she can be a beautiful woman and she can have all the physical attributes that you like and long for but you know what that gets old you know what once you marry her the the looks are gonna go away and you know what if she can't cook you know looks can't satisfy a hungry stomach folks and you know when she says well I don't want to go to church well I don't I don't believe in that stuff why are you always going to church why you're always sewing why you're always doing this I don't want to raise my kids like that I want to vaccinate my kids I want to do and it's just completely contrary to what God actually says you know it's gonna be a grief to you so better to just do it the way God says it and don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers find yourself a godly young man a godly young woman within the local New Testament Church okay now so that's application number one application number one that's a great application is this don't marry unbelievers amen application number two of second Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 is that this is an instruct instruction or this is instructing us on being separated from worldly friends right how many you've heard that before I've heard that I preach that you know and not the main interpretation but it is a great application now why is it a great application well because of the fact that if that is a teaching that's permitted throughout the Bible that we should not be associated and be close friends with worldly people who are not saved right or how about just worldly Christians now when we talk about friends we're referring to those with whom we have close fellowship with okay I'm not just talking about just regular friends you know he that hath friends must show him so friendly obviously you know and maybe you have friends at your job maybe some of your neighbors are your friends and they're not saved but you wouldn't necessarily say well these are my close friends you know these are people who I share core values with we have a common cause you know these are just friends okay so we're referring to those who are actually part of your circle of friends part of your life okay and when we think of our circle of friends it should be mainly compiled of believers and by the way that's why a church exists right a church is the pillar and ground of truth the church is a place where believers get edified to the preaching of God's Word but hold on a second it's also a place where you get friends it is a social club you know and some people take that overboard obviously you have liberal churches who they only want to make it a social club and that's why you know their doctrine is as deep as a cup of water you know they don't teach any deep doctrine they want to teach a 15-20 minute lesson and you know on grace and then the rest of the time they just want to hang out and fellowship you know that's not that's an imbalanced ministry okay a balanced ministry has Bible teaching Bible preaching but provides Bible fellowship as well right biblical fellowship where the brethren could be exhorted and they gain friendships that's why I'm against this mentality well I just go to church because you know I just want to get a preaching of God's Word I'm here for the preaching I'm not here to make friends false wrong you have the wrong attitude you know what a church is about that you know forsake not the assembly of ourselves together as the manner of some is and the Bible talks about exhorting one another right well you exhort one another through friendships how are we even gonna practice the principle of replacement if we don't make friends at church well what is the principle replacement well when you first get saved if you get saved later on in life you probably have ungodly friends you know or just friends that are not saved friends that are not Christian and you know if you're not careful if you don't develop new friends as a Christian you're gonna eventually yoke up with those old friends and those old friends are gonna take you into old habits you understand so when you develop new friends you develop new habits you know anybody who comes to our church any length of time eventually they're gonna go sony they're gonna develop the habit of Sony anybody who comes to our church for any length of time will develop new friends that will help them develop an appetite for hard preaching if you ever want to develop a specific habit get around the people who have those habits and you will develop that habit yourself okay you will develop that appetite that habit etc so that's why it's important that we have the right friends and that we separate ourselves from the wrong type of friends okay can two walk together except there be agreed and again I'm not saying you know oh you we need to be like the Amish you know the Amish they go to you know Timbuktu or whatever they live they don't live no around anybody they had their they're completely isolated and they have this cult mentality where they feel like they're better than everyone else okay you know the Bible says that yeah we should be separated but you're not yet not all together from the fornicators of this world you know for then must you needs to go out of the world obviously when you're working when you are living next to people neighbors or whatever you know you're gonna have people in your life that you associate with that are not saved that are not believers but when we're talking about friends we're talking about those who are in your close circle of friends people who influence you people whom you influence people who make an impact in your life okay and again can two walk together except to be agreed so if a safe person is buddy buddies with an unsafe person how is that relationship working out because how can two walk together except to be agreed and the Bible tells us what agreement had the temple of God with idols you know what common ground do you have an with an unbeliever to have such a close relationship with them well we both are into like money you know well that's bad okay we're both into girls we like to pick up on girls together you know well you need to visit revisit point number one okay behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to do well together in unity you know that's why it's important that you get Christian friends and not just Christian friends I wouldn't take it a step further you know Christian friends from your church people are going in the same direction as you are people who believe like you believe right because I guarantee you there's Christians out there who may be listening to this who they have they know Christian people people who are saved but those people are completely against them because of the views that they hold regarding end-times Bible prophecy or whatever may be you know it's it but it's a blessing when you are in fellowship with another believer who has the same views as you do has the same doctrine believes the same thing you guys are going in the same direction you guys are fighting for the same cause you know and that's why it's great when we have churches that are like that right when we have fellowship with other churches that maybe they don't run their ministry exactly the way we do but they still believe like we do and that's why we can have fellowship with them and by the way the term friendship in the Bible is only used twice and both times is actually in a negative light now turn with me to James chapter 4 I'm gonna read to you from Proverbs 22 verse 24 it says make no friendship with an angry man with the furious man thou shalt not go that's the first time that it's mentioned James 4 4 is the second time that it's mentioned it says he adulterers and adulteresses well that's a good way to start off a sentence right know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God that's powerful okay you know he's specifically saying look if you are not if you are unequally yoked together with the world well let me just tell you that you're at enmity with God you're an enemy of God that's powerful he said well why would God say something like that you know does he really feel that way well do you remember the previous scriptures that we read in the Old Testament where he says I am a jealous God he's not messing around and in fact he even says that his name is jealous right I am jealous he's jealous to the point that hey if you make an affinity you make a French you make friendships with the world with the ideologies the philosophies the people of this world God says you're at enmity with me and in fact he calls them adulterers and adulteresses now why does he do that well because of the fact that he considers it to be spiritually being unfaithful in a sense right when you are just forsaking God's ideology and embracing the world's ideology when you forsake God's congregation and you embrace the congregation of the wicked you're basically being unfaithful now I don't believe he's literally saying like you're an adulterer an adulteress like really like like a person who actually commits the physical act but he's drawing that parallel there to show you how wicked of a thing it is to become a friend of the world okay so why does God forbid friendship of the world when we have close fellowship excuse me we have close fellowship with those whom we share a common cause right in other words whoever you're close to you're probably close to them because you guys you guys have a specific goal a common goal you know when you're out there preaching the gospel you're seeing people save your soul winning you're out there with your soul winning partner that's good fellowship time and there's a certain closeness do you feel to your brother in Christ when you go do that you know not because you guys look the same or you guys have the same hobbies or whatever it may be it's because you're both are out there with the same purpose of winning someone to Christ you know and so that's why he that's why it's forbidden by God because if you are yoking up with an unbeliever what is your common cause it's not Jesus because it's not that person's coming cause you know our cause is that we have the cause of Christ right whereas an unbeliever their cause is money its possessions its vanity its things that don't matter and so what is it that a believer is doing yoking up and being buddy buddies and close friends with an unbeliever if you guys don't have the same purpose the same cause in this world okay you're making an affinity you're making a league with the person who does not share your same core values and same direction now a good example should I say a bad example of this is Solomon right the Bible says in 1st Kings chapter 3 verse 1 and Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt now Pharaoh is a picture of the devil and Egypt is a picture of the world and what do we see Solomon doing Solomon is making affinity with Pharaoh who's the devil and Egypt which is the picture of the world I mean not a good thing right he is drawn a league with him he's making affinity with him and look what it goes on to say and took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he made an end of building his own house in the house of the Lord and the wall drew some roundabout so his relationship with Pharaoh his league his affinity with Pharaoh caused him to up take Pharaoh's daughter so he basically violated the first point right marrying an unsaved you know not a believer I mean she's part of a pagan culture okay and by the way what happened to Solomon you know all his wives drove his heart away from the Lord because of that and so you know history repeats itself there so it's important that we're not equally yoke unequally yoked together with unbelievers because of that now go to Philippians chapter 1 now when it says be not unequally yoked together a yoke is the instrument used to unite beasts of burden right it's two beasts that are united for a common cause they're yoked together they're basically strapped together to plow a field so to speak right so they're going in the same direction they're both in that yoke and when it comes to yoking up with people we want to yoke up with people who are furthering the cause of Christ not minimizing it and when you are friends with people from the world they're gonna tell you to hang out on Sunday now go to church they're gonna say hey come do this barbecue coming out on Friday come do this come to do things that you wouldn't typically do if you're faithful to church or faithful to the things of God so they're actually hindering the work of God when you hang out with them why because at that point you're gonna place a higher priority on the activities that you share with them than the activities that you do with the church that's just soul winning preaching etc you know we should be yoked up with soul winners we should be yoked up with lovers of truth look at Philippians 1 verse 27 only let your conversation be as if it come at the gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs these stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel so the gospel should be the prime goal of our church right seeing people say that's why we're called first works Baptist Church we want to keep the first works on the forefront of our minds that is the common goal that we share as a church now thankfully that's not the only common ground that we have as a church many doctrines that we believe in this church you know is shared by the vast majority of the people here but not only that some of our personalities are the same right and if they're not a lot of the people gain the personality of the church when they come here you know a lot of the same things they ended up liking the hobbies the same interests become integrated within church members obviously not everyone but to a certain extent that's a good thing why not you know especially if you work out in the world and you're around ungodly pagans all day long you know it's a breath of fresh air it's like an oasis when you come to church on a Sunday you come to church on a Thursday and and you get to fellowship with the brethren and you know what you share common ground and you know you share the common restaurant you share the common interests you share the common hobbies it's great because you can enjoy those extra curricular activities maybe that's outside of the Bible too right it's just like you guys can actually go out and hang out and you know I'm not saying you're not gonna talk about you're not gonna talk about the Bible but if you don't talk about the Bible you can still get along because there's still common interest even outside of that but you know that the the main common interest that you have is Jesus Christ it's soul winning its doctrine and therefore the hearts of the people become knit together due to that commonality that you have there but you know what when you begin to fellowship with the world you know he that walketh with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fools shall be destroyed okay look I don't care how backslidden you are you know if you're out there hanging out with the world there's something in you that bothers you because you're not amongst your brethren yeah you can you can smoke your weed and drink your alcohol and make your jokes and and have that kind of fun quote unquote but you know at the end of the day when you go back home you're thinking to yourself this is not where I need to be you know and you can fake the funk as long as you want but at the end of the day you know this is not where I'm supposed to be I need to be with the brethren you know where I can lay my head on my pillow at night with a clear conscience you know you can go Baptist nightclubbing and fill your hearts with sugar you know and and you know you still get a sugar hangover afterwards or whatever but at least you go home at night knowing hey I got a clear conscience I served the Lord today I had fun doing it I had fellowship with the brethren I had a great conversation I was edified by the preaching I love the singing and I can't wait to do it again whereas people who are unequally yoked together with unbelievers they have to try to justify themselves every single time they go home well you know just one last time you know just one last time I do this one last time I'm with her one last time I'm with him one last time I'm with my buddies there's one last time I'm smoking there's one last time this and that and it's never one last time okay it's wrong this is why the Bible says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers now here's the last one now go back to 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 and I'm pretty much done here's the last application and really this is the main interpretation of 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 and I'm not gonna spend a whole lot of time on this because it's pretty evident it's pretty self-explanatory the that this is instructing us not to labor with wicked people that's what it's telling us okay look what it says in 1st Corinthians or 2nd Corinthians excuse me 6 verse 14 be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what Concord hath Christ with Belial now we wouldn't necessarily say the unsaved people are all people of Belial right children of wrath children of disobedience but they're not children of the devil right it says what Concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols for you are the temple of the living God as God has 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 ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you now here's what's interesting is that that wording there touch not the unclean thing obviously is a reference to the Old Testament and if you go back to the Old Testament where unclean thing is first mentioned if I'm not mistaken it's actually first in reference to an unclean beast okay which is exactly what the Bible refers to reprobates ass okay wicked people beasts etc now I believe what the Apostle Paul here is saying is this like hey you guys at Corinth don't work with wicked reprobate people so ah you guys are just obsessed with that topic that's what it is no that's what he's saying I'm gonna prove it to you look at chapter 7 verse number 1 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 receive us we haven't wronged no man we have corrupted no man we have defrauded no man I speak not this to condemn you for I have said before that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you now notice that in 2nd Corinthians the Apostle Paul is constantly trying to validate the fact that he's an apostle of Christ to the Corinthian Church right and we know that the Corinthian Church what are they doing to Paul they're rejecting him that's why he says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 13 though we be as reprobates right because of the fact that they were treating the Apostle Paul as though he was a reprobate as though he was rejected we obviously know that he wasn't now look at chapter 11 of 2nd Corinthians I'm approved to do that they were working with them to a certain extent this is what to God you would bear with me a little in my folly and indeed bear with me I'm jealous over you with the godly jealousy for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin of Christ but I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through her subtlety so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ for if he that cometh preaches to another Jesus whom we have not preached or if ye receive another spear which he have not received or another gospel which he have not accepted ye might wear well bear with him he say look if some false apostle come comes in here preaching them the gospel you might even bear with him you might need to accept them you might even allow them to come into the congregation for I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles but though I be rude in speech yet not but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things he's like look I'm not the bad guy I'm not the one teaching a false gospel I've been thoroughly manifested to you right the signs of an apostle were wrought among them by the Apostle Paul have I committed an offense and abasing myself that ye might be exalted because I preached to you the gospel of God freely skip down to verse 13 for such are false apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed to the ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works I say again let no man think me a fool if otherwise yet as a fool received me that I may boast myself a little he's being facetious there that which I speak I speak it not after the Lord but as it were foolishly in this confidence of boasting seeing that many glory after the flesh I will glory also for ye suffer fools gladly seeing ye yourselves are wise he says look you might as well accept me because you're accepting these guys you're rejecting me but you're not rejecting these of false apostles well look I must be a fool and you know what you suffer fools gladly because you're allowing these deceitful workers apostles who claim to be apostles of Christ to come into the congregation you're laboring with them okay and this is why he's given them that admonition in chapter 6 to say hey be not unequally owed together with unbelievers don't work with them don't allow them don't allow false brethren to creep in unaware to teach in fault to teach false doctrine to lead the brethren astray now here's the last portion description I have you go to 2nd Chronicles chapter 18 and no I'm not gonna I'm not gonna quote I'm not gonna show you the verse you know shouldest thou help thee in godly love then they hate the Lord you already know that I'm gonna go actually a little before that to the very beginning of the chapter look at 2nd Chronicles chapter 18 verse number 1 now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance and joined affinity with Ahab and after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samarian Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance and for the people that he had with him and persuaded him to go up I'm sorry excuse me and for the people that he had with him and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead so look Jehoshaphat made affinity with Ahab Ahab is a wicked King Jehoshaphat was a godly man but because he made an affinity with him Ahab was given an opportunity to persuade Jehoshaphat to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead a war that he wasn't supposed to be a part of right look at verse 33 and Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat the king of Judah wilt thou go with me to Ramoth Gilead and he answered him I am as thou art oh man he's like I'm with you man I'm just like you no you're not what communion hath light with darkness what Concord hath prized with Belial what that go with me to Ramoth Gilead he answered him I am as thou art and my people as thy people and we will be with thee in the war wrong answer wrong answer you're unequally yoked together with an unbeliever and not just an unbeliever or wicked unbeliever right a wicked person who's gonna lead him astray obviously Ahab gets hit but we see that Jehoshaphat is spared but he is strongly rebuked at the end because of his close affinity to Ahab and what is what is he what is God telling him there hey don't be unequally yoked with people like this don't work with wicked people you know why because the Bible says ye therefore beloved seeing that you know these things before beware lest he also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness why is it bad to work with wicked people well because of the first and foremost because then the wrath of God comes upon you but secondly you fall from your own steadfastness okay they begin whether that's a an individual you know who claims to be an independent fundamental Baptist who is teaching some way off doctrine and you're just like well I'm just gonna back him up I know that's not what he really meant and you know people are just going overboard on this well you know you might want to check yourself first because the instruction is very strong to not be unequally yoked together with people who are wicked who are teaching false doctrine because first and foremost God's wrath will be upon you but secondly you're gonna fall from your own steadfastness in doctrine you're gonna get watered down doctrinally you're gonna get fooled you're gonna get deceived it's gonna happen and so those are the three major interpretations of 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 all great applications though right first application in regards to marriage amen second application in regards to friendships amen but the third application which is the main interpretation is this don't buddy up don't labor with wicked people amen inspire heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word help us to give heed to these words Lord and Lord I'm thankful that I was able to to marry a believer and I prayed that that would be the case with many of the young men in our church I also pray God that you'd help us to be to live separated lives that we wouldn't be close friends with people who are not believers because those people can influence us and we're not saying that we're better than anybody but we are better off because we're saved and we are going in a different direction we have a different purpose we have a different goal in mind and we need to keep that in mind when we develop relationships and friendships you know friendships and relationships are not there just so we can get a kick out of that conversation they're there so we can influence others and so they can influence us but I also pray Lord on a bigger scale that you would help us to stay away from wicked people Lord that we would never labor with them or work with them in close proximity in regards to we're not talking about a job I'm not talking about you know a place of work where they someone is earning a paycheck I'm referring to and I believe the Bible is referring to the work of the Lord and I pray God that you'd help us to stay away from that steer clear of that and in Jesus name we pray amen