We then as workers together with Him, and
what a glorious way to view the ministry.
I'm working with Jesus.
Working together with Him, we 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 succored thee.
But Paul adds, behold, now is the accepted
time.
Behold, now is the day of salvation.
Giving no offense in anything that the ministry
be not blamed.
And so Paul again goes back to the
subject of his ministry.
His ministry for Jesus Christ.
He views it as being a worker together
with Him.
And as such, beseeching them that they would
not receive this grace of God in vain,
but would accept the salvation today.
Don't turn aside God's offers to you.
The grace of God, but receive it.
Today is the day of salvation.
And so Paul said, I seek not to
bring any offense to man in anything, because
I don't want the ministry to be blamed.
But in all things, proving ourselves to be
the ministers of God.
Seeking to prove that my ministry really is
of God.
First of all, in the physical sense.
In patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors,
in watchings, in fastings.
The preposition in, talking about the physical suffering
and hardships that Paul endured as a minister
of Jesus Christ.
Things by which he proved his ministry.
And then changing to the word by, he
speaks of the mental things that he endured.
By pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by
kindness, by the Holy Ghost, and by love
unfeigned.
And then going into the spiritual things by
the word of truth, by the power of
God, by the armor of righteousness on the
right hand and on the left.
So the ministry, the proof of the ministry,
the characteristics of the minister.
God give us such ministers today who will
so serve the Lord and man.
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.
So these interesting contrasts that take place within
the ministry.
Sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many
rich, having nothing yet I possess everything because
I possess Christ.
O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto
you, our heart is expanded or enlarged.
I'm expressing myself to you.
My heart is just enlarged for your sakes.
You are not straightened in us.
This word straightened literally means a narrow place.
It came to mean being pressed into a
narrow place.
Being pressed so hard into a narrow place
that it straightens out all the kinks.
And so the idea of straightened is that
the crookedness or whatever, you know, if you
press hard enough on you, they just flatten
you out and you can become straightened.
And so being put in pressure in a
narrow place, being squeezed in causes this straightening.
And the word anguish then developed out of
this Greek word.
The anguish of being pressed into a narrow
place.
Now Paul said to the Corinthians, you haven't
been put in a narrow place because of
me.
But you are straightened in your own bowels.
Now for a recompense in the same, I
speak as unto my children.
Be also enlarged.
You've been put in this pressure.
You've been put in anguish in this narrow
place.
But my heart is enlarged towards you.
Now I pray that you'll be enlarged.
Your heart will be enlarged.
You'll be freed from this pressure, from this
narrow place.
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship, communion, oneness hath righteousness with
unrighteousness?
What communion hath light with darkness?
There are many people who believe that theirs
is a special case, not really covered by
the scripture, and thus they can do what
they please.
Because it really doesn't apply to their situation.
God doesn't, God wasn't really thinking of their
situation when he gave the rule.
And thus there are many people who enter
into unequal yokes with unbelievers, believing and hoping
that things are going to equal out.
That God will take care of it.
There is an old Greek saying, the dice
of the gods are loaded.
That is, you cannot go against God and
win.
You cannot go against the Word of God
and win.
Over the years of pastoring, I've had so
many young people come in, oh, they are
so in love.
Oh, he's the man of their dreams.
There's only one thing wrong, he isn't a
Christian.
But I know that as I live the
life of Christ before him, and I walk
in love and in meekness and all, I
know he'll come to Jesus.
And I said, yes, but the scripture says,
be not unequally yoked with an unbeliever.
Oh, but you know, we love each other.
And I know, I know he's going to
change.
And they are determined to marry in spite
of the counsel of the Word of God
otherwise.
And in scores of case after case after
case after case after case, a year, two
years down the road, I sit with the
same young lady who is completely torn up.
Oh, I wish I had listened to you.
I'm living in a hell.
I don't think I ever really loved him.
Oh, this is horrible.
Do I have to stay in this state?
You know, and their lives messed up because
they thought that they could go against God's
command and win and come out ahead.
Be not unequally yoked together with an unbeliever.
Now, this does not and is not limited
to just marriage.
This goes to many different types of yokes
where you are brought together with an unbeliever
and you are always in an unequal situation.
Watch it.
You're always in an unequal situation if you're
yoked with an unbeliever.
You see, they don't follow the same rules
that you follow.
They don't live by the same ethic that
you live by.
And to lie won't bother them.
To cheat won't bother them.
To fudge won't bother them.
But it will you.
And I've had so many businessmen who have
come to me.
Bemoaning the fact that their partner wants to
do that which is illegal.
They don't want to report all of the
profits.
They want to keep a double set of
books.
What shall I do?
They've entered into an unequal yoke.
What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
What communion hath light with darkness?
What concord hath Christ with Belial?
Or what part has he that believes with
an infidel?
You're trying to bring together unequal things.
The results are always disastrous.
What agreement has the temple of God with
idols?
For you are the temple of the living
God.
This old tent is nonetheless the temple of
the living God.
What, Paul said, know ye not that your
bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit
which is in you?
You are not your own.
You've been bought with a price.
What relationship can there possibly be with the
temple of God and with idols?
For 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 will be a father
unto you.
And ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty.
So, God's call for His people to separation.
You are to be different from the world.
You cannot have real communion with the world.
You have no common ground of meeting.
You're trying to bring two diverse situations together.
You're trying to join together the life of
the flesh with the life of the spirit.
They cannot commingle.
It's an unequal yoke.
So, God's call for you is to come
apart, be separate, saith the Lord.
Don't touch the unclean thing.
And God said, I will be a father
and ye will be my sons and daughters.
As a child of God, you do live
different than a person who is not a
child of God.
You're expected to live differently.
Living by different standards, living for different purposes.
If you only love those that love you,
what do ye more than others?
Even the publicans do the same.
Love those that hate you.
Do good unto those that despitefully use you.
Pray for those that persecute you.
And so shall ye be the children of
the Father.
You see, Jesus is declaring you're to be
different.
You're a new creation.
The old things have passed away.
Everything has become new.
And God now lays claim to you as
His son, as His daughter.
Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world.
For he that hath the love of the
world in his heart hath not the love
of the Father.
The cry of the Spirit, be ye reconciled
to God.
The ministry of reconciliation.
You can only be reconciled to God as
you come into the life of the Spirit,
denying the flesh, denying yourself, the self-centered
life, and taking up your cross to follow
Him.
And that's the challenge of the Spirit of
God to our hearts tonight.
May we respond in Jesus' name.
Father, we thank You for Your Word.
And may Thy Spirit take Thy Word tonight
as a sharp two-edged sword.
And may He cut deep into our hearts
to expose those things that are there in
order that He might heal.
Heal our relationship with You.
And heal us so that we might be
reconciled unto God through Jesus our Lord.
Bless Thy Word now.
May it take root and may it grow
forth and bring forth fruit unto Thy glory.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
And now be ye doers of the Word
and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For he who hears the Word of God
and does not do it is likened to
a man who is looking into a mirror
and sees the truth about himself.
But as soon as he walks away, he
forgets what he saw.
How easy that is, isn't it?
We have an image of ourselves.
We look in a mirror many times and
we're shocked at the truth.
But as soon as we walk away, we
embrace our image again.
We forget what we saw.
I don't want to acknowledge what I saw.
I like my image of myself better than
I like the reality of myself.
See, my image of myself, I'm still in
shape.
Far from reality.
So is the man who hears the Word
of God, acknowledges the ideal, but then doesn't
live by it.
He's deceived.
He's living in a delusion, a dangerous delusion.
So with a psalmist, may we pray.
Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Try me and know my thoughts.
And see if there is a way of
wickedness in me.
And God, lead me in the way everlasting.
In Jesus' name.