October 19, 2008
Evening Service

II Cor. 6

 

Review:

1. Chapter 5 had some very good food for thought. 

• Motivation of the future presence of Christ.
• Motivation of future reward.
• Motivation of the love of Christ.
• Motivation of the message of reconciliation.

Notice how Paul puts it;  GOD WAS IN CHRIST RECONCILING THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELF.

Isn’t that powerful, and wonderful to think about?

 

Let’s begin with chapter 6:

 

2Co 6:1-18  We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.  (2)  (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)  

• What does this mean to me?  It means God wants you saved right now.  Not tomorrow, not a week from today, but right now.
• Let me assure you that the God I serve can deliver, and forgive you for any sin that you have committed.  There is nothing you have done that He won’t forgive you for, and give the glorious victory in Christ.

(3)  Giving no offense in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 

• Paul did not consider it an offence to upset the Jews. 
• In another place Paul said, he had become all things to all men, that he might win some.

(4)  But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,  (5)  In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;  (6)  By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,  (7)  By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,  (8)  By honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;  (9)  As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;  (10)  As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. 

• A far cry from the description of ministers today.
• I would say, here in the USA, you would be hard pressed to find a hand full of these kind of preachers.  There are just not any Paul’s around today. 
• Don’t get me wrong, your Pastor should live as well as you live, not any better, not any worse.  Certainly not as lavishly as some of these TV ministers, and some of these huge denominational preachers live.

(11)  O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.  (12)  Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.  (13)  Now for a recompense in the same, I (speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged. 

• It is the language of reproof, meaning that he had not received from them the demonstrations of attachment which he had a right to expect, and which was a fair and proportionate return for the love bestowed on them.

 

(14)  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:

• This is a very strong, and important verse of instruction:   far reaching.
• Just as you would not yoke together a horse, and a cow, or something of that nature to pull a plow, it would probably be a disaster. 
• Notice how Paul elaborates on this idea.

for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?

• None, you will feel completely out of place.  Jesus associated with sinners, only to teach them God’s will.  There is no other reason for us to be linked together with an unbeliever than this.

and what communion hath light with darkness? 

• This is the idea, light does away with darkness, but if you are not careful, the corruption of darkness can put out your light.

(15)  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?  (16)  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God;

• Paul had said in the first letter;   1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
• And;  1Co 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

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. 

• God had said this by more than one Prophet, and continually offered these promises.
• Lev 26:12  And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.

(17)  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.  (18)  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.     READ JEREMIAH 31

 

Time and again God would cry out to the people of Israel to stay away from the sins of the people they would come in contact with, and they wouldn’t do it.  So He chastened them, because He loved them.               Listen to what John writes;

 

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

 

SO WHAT IS THE ANSWER FOR SOMEONE WHO IS STRUGGLING WITH OBEYING GOD?

1. TOTALLY YIELD YOURSELF TO GOD;  LISTEN TO PAUL;  Rom 6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
2. JAMES SAID;  “DRAW NEAR TO GOD, AND HE WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU.”
3. A total plan for success;   Psa 1:1  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  Psa 1:2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.  Psa 1:3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

 

BE THAT VESSELL IN THE HANDS OF THE MASTER POTTER, AND LET HIM MOLD YOU INTO WHAT IS PLEASING TO HIM.