Ambassadors for and with Christ — 2 Corinthians 5-6

0:00 Second Corinthians chapter six, we're gonna talk about that today, and as you've heard, Daniel and I are splitting it, so I'll be talking about verses one to 10, and then he'll swoop in and close it off. But I'm actually gonna start from chapter five verse 20 to chapter six verse 10. And let's just read that together, and then we'll say a quick prayer and get into it. But before we're reading it, actually, just you can keep it in mind, I have three points that I want to convey to everybody. And the first is that we are ambassadors with him.

0:36 The second point is we're... As ambassadors, we endear trials. And the third point is we don't endear alone, but we endear with him as well. So we're gonna focus on those three points, and let's read the chapter first or the portion that I'm covering first. Chapter five verse 20 says, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.

0:59 God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to god. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of god. Working together with him then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of god in vain for he says in a favorable time, I listen to you and in a day of salvation, I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time.

1:27 Behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found with our ministry. But as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way by great endurance in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labor, sleepless nights, hunger, by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the holy spirit, genuine love, by truthful speech, the power of god with the weapons weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left, through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors and yet are true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying and behold we live, as punished and yet not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing everything. Let's just pray real quick.

2:22 Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to come here today and as a church, as one body and one spirit to just worship you and thank you for your great sacrifice on the cross. As we heard today, we know that it wasn't free. It's free for us to accept, but it wasn't free for you. You suffered and you died on that cross for us, and we thank you for that, and we praise your name for that. And as we open up your word that this entire book has been written to describe the depth of your love, we open it up and we ask that you'd give us wisdom and discernment to be able to just speak about it and also to be able to receive it in the way that we need to.

3:02 Please soften our hearts to do that so that we can just continue to live for you and love you in this world with everything that we have. We pray all this in your wonderful and matchless name. Amen. Okay. So as we get started, if you remember two minutes ago...

3:19 I have the timer. If you remember two minutes ago, my three points are: we are ambassadors with Him, we endear trials because we are ambassadors, and point number three is that we don't endure the trials alone, so we endure it with him. So you see at the end of chapter five, Dwight Knight actually talked about chapter five and the ministry of reconciliation, and we see at the end of chapter five that Paul is clearly saying that that that this ministry that we're involved in, this ministry of reconciliation has reconciled us and now we go out as ambassadors and we proclaim that reconciliation to others. We proclaim the gospel to others, so now our duty as ambassador, Christ has sent us and we're down here on earth, and we're ambassadors for Him as He's up there, but the cool thing is if you look at chapter six, the very first verse, Paul kind of blows our mind because he says... He's been saying we're ambassadors for Christ, but in verse number one, he says working together with him.

4:25 So now it transferred from for him but with him also. So he's up there in heaven, and we took work for him, but also with him, and we all know how that's happening, and of course, it's because he sent the comforter down, so the comforter, the spirit is with us down here on earth, and we're working with Him, and we're we're doing this ministry of reconciliation with Him, which is awesome. So Paul goes into a lot of crazy stuff here, and there's a lot thrown at us, but essentially, in this next in the next verse, the rest of the first verse and the second verse, and even the third verse, Paul is saying... He's quoting Isaiah chapter 49, and in Isaiah 49, it says these these verses. I don't know if it's quoted in your bible, but in a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.

5:17 That's directly from Isaiah 49. So essentially, what it says in Isaiah 49 is it's a prophecy from the Lord, and the Lord's saying that I have this salvation for you and in the in due time, this salvation is going to come and this grace is going to come for you. So he's saying that and the way that is described in Isaiah 49, if you have some time later, you should read it, it's pretty awesome. He's saying that essentially that a mountain is in front of you, but in due time, I'm gonna pave a way through the mountain. So it's pretty sweet, right?

5:50 So he's gonna pave his way through a mountain and right here, Paul is assuring us that salvation has come down, the way has been paved through the mountain, the grace is here and the grace is with us, and he's saying don't take that grace, we've received that grace, don't take it in vain, but take it and and live as ambassadors for Him. So he says, don't take it in vain, don't receive it in in vain, but live as ambassadors for Him. And if you remember the background of second Corinthians, it's really Paul writing this letter to them because they're sort of being deceived by other people, and these other people were telling the Corinthians that maybe Paul isn't who he says he is because he's going through trials and persecutions and all this stuff, and why would anyone who's one with God have to go through that kind of stuff? So they're sort of trying to trick him into... Trick them into thinking that he's not who he says he is.

7:19 I'm I'm doing something about it. I'm being an ambassador for him. He said, my entire life and my entire ministry is all about being an ambassador for him, and the things that I'm doing right now are really to I'm doing everything with keeping in mind that I don't want anyone to be offended, and I also don't want anyone to have a reason to bring up an accusation against the ministry. So you see that in verse number three, we put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry. And that's an awesome thing.

7:53 So he says all this, and that's just the first three verses. He's saying a lot of stuff there, and it's pretty great. But then the meat of the passage is really starting from verse four, where he just goes into his resume, which should also... We should aim for that to be our resume as well. So in verse number four, the biggest part of we are ambassadors with him is the fact that we're...

8:21 Verse number four, but as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way, just the first half, by great endurance. So the way that we're ambassadors with Him is really by great endurance. And that word itself, I looked up... So I have a KJV bible, and I normally don't use it now because I understand that's a little bit harder for everyone to comprehend, but I grew up with it. So in my KJV Bible, was reading it and the verse actually says by patience.

8:51 So when you think about it, patience and endurance are kind of like opposites somewhat in some ways, but the Greek word sort of rectifies that because those are two... It's it's like a combined word, whereas... And and in this chapter specifically, endurance is a better way of trying to understand what the Greek word attempting to say, because patience is something that you passively wait for, something that you passively wait to happen, and something that you quietly and patiently obviously wait. You don't patiently run a a race. Right?

9:27 And opposite opposite from that is endurance, where endurance is more of an actively. You're actively you're actively running the race, and you're actively trying to make this happen. You're actively trying to be an ambassador. So this word here endurance, he's saying that I'm actively doing this, and I'm actively being an ambassador for Christ. And that's really cool because that word is actually used in the present and past tense in some of the most famous verses in the bible.

9:58 And one of those is Hebrews chapter 12 with... Which I'm sure everybody knows verse one and two. But we can just read that real quick. Yeah. So Hebrews 12 verse one and two, it's the exact same word saying, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.

10:21 In the previous chapter, it talks about all the great men and women of faith. So we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us also lay aside every weight and sin, which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and seated at the right hand of the throne of God. So we we see here that we run with endurance and that Jesus Christ, he's our example because he endured the cross, and it's the exact same word that we see in second Corinthians chapter six. And in the description, I looked it up...

11:06 The the way I looked up the word was in Strong's Concordance. I looked it up in my Strong's Concordance, and it has a a quotation there, and it says, a good description in the New Testament use of this word is the characteristic of a man who is not served from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings. So it's a man that faces trials and sufferings and is not easily moved aside, and that's because his foundation is a rock that is that is firm, a foundation that won't move, a rock that won't move. So so this this active this active noun, this life that we live, this endurance as ambassadors for him is is really what encompasses the first few verses in this chapter. And that that leads to point two because right after we read that he he commends himself by great endurance, he goes straight into what he's enduring through.

13:09 So temptation, we can turn to James chapter one is is probably the best the best chapter to understand temptation. In James chapter one verse 12, it says, blessed be the man who reign... Remains steadfast under trial. For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for god cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

13:40 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire, then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. So temptation really is not a sin in itself, and we know that to be true from Hebrews chapter four. Right? We have a great high priest who is tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin. Right?

14:04 So temptation is not a sin in itself, but temptation, as we see here, can lead if you allow it to or if you pursue it, can lead to sin. So temptation, that's a that's a definition of temptation and obviously, your struggle can happen. You can struggle to endure through temptation, to fight it and to be rid of it, and you can also struggle with sin itself. So you can struggle because of the consequence of sin, Whereas trials here, and we'll see... We can see that in second Peter...

14:37 Or first Peter chapter four, trials are like what Paul was listing out in second Corinthians chapter six, right? Trials are calamities, and those things that happen that are unexpected unexpected, and the easiest way to understand it is that temptation is sort of this inward struggle that can come out and come into fruition as sin, whereas trials are these external forces coming and bombarding you that you have to face. Either way you're gonna have to endure through trials, you're gonna have to endure through temptation, but in in first Peter chapter four you will realize that it's better to endure through trials that are coming at you, through temptation that's trying to come out. It's better to endure through that than to endure because of sin, because of the consequence of sin. So you never want to be suffering because of sin in your life, and you never want to...

15:29 You know, never want to face the consequences of sin in your life. You want to be suffering like Christ suffered, which we see in in first Peter chapter four. You don't have to turn to it for sake of time, but first Peter chapter four, it clearly tells us in in verse 12, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as if something strange were happening to you, but rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you're insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. So to suffer because of righteousness sake is where you want to be.

16:17 So the reason I say this, and I actually tell this to all the youth here and there's probably lots of you that I've said it to you, this is kind of a gut check for me. Like, you want me to gut check you, I can do that. But this is a this is a gut check for me where if I'm suffering through something, I'll say, Vinay, are you suffering right now? And 99 times out of 99 times, it's yes. So I am suffering right now.

16:42 So then I ask myself, what are you suffering because of? Are you suffering because of sin in your life? Are you suffering because of the consequences of sin in your life? Or are you suffering right now because of righteousness sake? Because you stood up for the savior and you live for the savior and you're ambassador for him?

16:59 Are you suffering because you're like Christ? So that's a gut check because that puts things into perspective I'll quickly realize, wow, this is because of sin, because of these idols in my life, because these things that are causing me

17:11 to

17:11 suffer. So that's a good thing I would say for anybody to do and anybody to think of. And as we continue in the chapter, we see that all that stuff that we go through... Because I'm essentially telling you guys that whether you're living for the Lord or whether you're stuck in sin, you're gonna be going through suffering in this world. So that's not a very positive message, right?

17:40 So if you continue reading the chapter, Paul says he went through all this stuff, but then he's essentially saying, I went through all this stuff, but it wasn't by my own power. Right? So in verse in verse six, it it quickly changes. He says he goes through beatings, imprisonments, all this stuff, but it's by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the holy spirit, by genuine love, love that's been displayed and explained to us, by truthful speech, and by the power of god that lives inside him with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left. Right?

18:19 You sword and you shield in the right hand and the left. So he has tools, he has the spirit living inside him that's empowering him to face trials and endured through temptation and come out of it without having to fall to sin ever just like Christ did, know, and just just like Christ did. So that's point number three is really we equip ourselves to do this by his power and it's pretty straightforward. Right? That point, it doesn't really take a lot to explain that.

18:52 We see that, but Paul goes into this encouragement that despite all that he does, Hebrews twelve two is playing out in my life as well. It's playing out in your life as well that you're ambassador. You're exactly like Christ in this... On this earth. You're an ambassador for him, but it's for the joy set before him that he endured the cross.

19:11 Right? So for the joy set before us, we endear through suffer... We endear through suffering, we endear through temptation and trial, and then he goes into explaining this is the joy that we have, and I just wanted to end by going through these things and saying what they represent and where you can find them in the Bible. But in verse verse nine, it says, as unknown and yet well known, and that's pretty... Sorry, verse.

19:59 And you can see that really in John chapter one and throughout John where the light shine in the darkness. Right? And the darkness cannot comprehend it. So the darkness cannot comprehend who we are and treat us as impostors, as fakes, yet we are true and that's what's happening to Paul right now. And then it says, as unknown and yet well known, we're fully known by God, right?

20:25 Psalm 139, He knew us from our mother's womb before... He formed us in our mother's womb and knew us before the foundations of the world, right? So so in... So we're fully known by God and that's a crazy thing to think about because God knows everything that you've gone through, everything you will go through, everything you're thinking right now, every trial, temptation, every suffering that you face, you're fully known by God, every thought that you've had, yet he still loves you. That's an amazing thing.

20:56 To think that the world doesn't know any of that stuff, even like some of you don't know all that stuff about me, to think that the world doesn't know any of that stuff but God does, that we're fully known still, is extremely encouraging. And then it says, as dying and behold we live. So in this flesh, first Peter chapter one, two, and three, in this flesh we we die. We're gonna die. This body's gonna die and be buried, but...

21:23 And we put to death the flesh, but we're made alive in the spirit. So putting to death the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit, it's a much greater thing. Right? First Peter. And then it says, punished and yet not killed.

21:36 That's directly from this this book. It says that in second Corinthians chapter four. It says, struck down but not destroyed. So we're struck down. We may be struck down, face persecutions, calamities, but we're not destroyed and we can't be destroyed.

21:52 And then we see it says, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing and that was Hebrews chapter 12 again. Right? Despite anything we face, any persecution we face, we can be sorrowful, can we can have emotion, but it's for the joy set before us that we endear through it. So we see that in Hebrews chapter 12 and then it says, as poor yet making many rich, and that's that's a really amazing thing too as well. We see that in Ephesians one, the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ.

22:23 In Ephesians one, you'll see in Christ repeated like 15 times and we have a lot in Christ. We're called sons and daughters of God now And although we may have nothing in this world, which it says after that, it says we have... Although having nothing... As having nothing yet possessing everything. Although we may be a Job in this world where everything's stripped away from us and we have nothing, we still have everything which which is an awesome thing to say.

22:55 So Paul is really encouraging all the believers to to not be surprised by the trial, not to be deceived into thinking trials and temptations are... Separate you from God. Don't be deceived into thinking that. That's the trick of the enemy. The enemy tries to come into your life and tries to say that you know if you're going through this struggle, if you're going through this, do you really love God?

23:21 Do... Is he really with you? He tries to ask you that foolish question but we know that you're... Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Right?

23:29 Romans chapter 12, nothing can separate us from the love of God. I believe that's chapter 12, but but that's that's an amazing thing. So Paul is encouraging them to to believe that to be true, to not be distracted, not to be discouraged, not to be discontent ever because your struggle and the trial and the temptation and even if you do fall to sin, your struggle with sin itself is proof that God is living in you and it was proof that God was living in him. So that's all I have. Daniel is gonna come up now and he's gonna continue talking about the the privileges and what it looks like to be an ambassador of Christ in the second half of the chapter.

24:13 So just in order to start out with, I just want to mention again a couple of the three points that Vinay had and try and blend them into, the second part of the passage here. He said that we're ambassadors, for and with Christ. That as ambassadors, we are ambassadors through endurance, and we have to endure many trials. And then lastly, he said that we we don't endure alone, that we work together with him. It's part of being an ambassador for and with him.

24:47 Right? And so now we are gonna... Or I am going to try and cover some of the ways that we can be ambassadors for Christ by being yoked together with him. So my portion is chapter six verse 11 through the first verse of chapter seven. John told me that I had to cover that, so I'm making sure that I get that covered today.

25:12 So let's just read through it, and then I like to just go verse by verse and figure out... Try and break down the passage. He says, our mouth has spoken freely to you, o Corinthians. Our heart is open wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections.

25:52 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of god.

26:32 So in verse eleven and twelve and thirteen as well, he Paul is speaking to the Corinthians about the relationship between them, between the Corinthians and Paul. He is saying, our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, and our heart is open wide. What he's trying to say here is, hey, guys, I have been I have spoken frankly and honestly with you guys. What you see and what you hear from me is what you get. I have been true to you, as true and as honest as I possibly can be.

27:05 There were those in the church that are in there were false teachers who had infiltrated the church and they were saying to the Corinthians that Paul was that he was kind of speaking out both sides of his mouth, that he couldn't that he couldn't actually speak, that his words in writing were great, great words, but in person he was not much of a man. And Paul is starting to defend himself or actually continuing because he defends himself against these false teachers throughout the entire book. But that's what he's trying to say. He's like, I've been honest with you guys and here's the thing, my heart is open wide to you guys. And the Greek actually means that his heart was literally enlargened.

27:51 So not even that he just opened up a new part of his heart or he just opened up his heart in general, but his heart was literally enlarged to contain all the love that he had for these Corinthians, which I find to be pretty, pretty neat and kind of a cool way how languages can be different like that. Then he continues and he says, You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. And the reason why he is saying that is because when he is writing this, the Corinthians at that time were kind of miserable at that time. Were very depressed. And it was, I believe, as a result in part to mentioned last week, the letters that Paul had to write to correct the major, major issues that were going on in the Corinthian church.

28:42 And Paul felt horrible about having to be as harsh as he was, But it was necessary and it did happen. And the Corinthians, praise the Lord, were able to see the error of their ways and to repent. But I believe that they were a little bit scared at that time and that they were they realized that they had that they had done wrong. And most commentators agree that the Corinthians had limited their love to Paul in some way. And Paul is just at this point trying to say, look, guys, you guys are not restrained by us.

29:21 You are restrained in your own affections. So he just wants to make it absolutely clear that any barrier between them is on the Corinthians. And in order for that barrier to dissipate, all all it takes is a little work on the Corinthians part. He's saying, heart is open wide to you and I am pleading with you based on the fact that we have this spiritual father children relationship, as Paul was the one who led the Corinthians to faith in Christ, he is pleading with them based on that relationship to reciprocate to him and open wide their hearts to him. Now, know that last week John covered chapter seven and in that he brought to our attention the fact that partway through the chapter, Paul is speaking as to how he's overjoyed with the news that Titus was able to bring him, that the Corinthians had come to full repentance of their ways and that they were very zealous and longing to see Paul.

30:25 And so I found it a little bit hard to kind of reconcile these two things, right? And they're in the same book, so they're part of the same letter to the Corinthians. But the way that I, the impression that I get is that Paul was writing Second Corinthians during the time that he was waiting for Titus. And that I think that he got through chapter or through the words that become chapter six for us. And he, at that point, I think he had been hearing some rumors that the Corinthians were starting to come to that full repentance, but that they were also a little afraid of Paul and they were a little afraid of how to interact with Paul at that time.

31:05 And so I think that he's writing chapter six and he's saying, look, here's what I want. You know, like here guys, I, you know, let all my love is out to you guys. The only barrier is on your guys's end. And then he meets up with Titus in Macedonia and Titus is like, great news. They came to full repentance.

31:24 And on top of that, they're like, they're longing to see you, Paul. They really, really want to see you. They're extremely happy and they really want to see you. And so I think that that is when Paul is like, yes, and gets to go home and start writing all the paragraphs in his letter that become Chapter seven. Now, again, I can't prove that.

31:43 There is not necessarily a whole lot of proof, but that's just my imagination working in how Paul was writing at this time. And then he continues and he gets into verse 14. And in this passage he is transferring into instruction in how to be the ambassadors that he is speaking to in the first section and also how to open their hearts back up and their affections back up to Paul. And the way that he wanted them to do that was through separation of the church or and the believers and unbelievers. And what he says in verse four in the beginning of verse 14, he says, do not be bound together or some translations say, not be yoked together, which fits a little bit better with the way that I interpreted here.

32:35 So do not be yoked together with unbelievers. And this is most likely connected most at this time directly to the fact that there were false teachers in filtrating the Corinthian church at this time. And Paul is commanding them to discontinue fellowship with those false teachers and to stop listening to them. And the way he does that is he refers back to a passage in Deuteronomy regarding the yoking of an ox and a donkey together to plow a field. At the time in Deuteronomy, the Lord is giving the Israelites all their commands on their dietary restrictions of clean and unclean animals.

33:19 Eat this, don't eat that, don't put these animals with these animals. Right? And so what he's saying is Israelites don't yoke together your clean ox with your unclean donkey to plow a field. Right? And at the time he was doing that because that was the restrictions that he placed upon them.

33:35 But speaking as a farm boy that I am, if you put those two animals together, it causes all of them... It's very impractical and problematic. Right? Because you have two very, very different sized animals. Right?

33:49 You have this enormous ox and then a relatively small compared to the ox donkey. Right? The donkey's got short legs, but walks much quicker. Ox has got long legs, but walks very, very slow and plotting and methodical. And so what you have is two unequally yoked animals and it causes a lot of friction, lot of problems and a poorly plowed field.

34:11 Right? And Paul is using this passage to command against the practice of entering into any common spiritual enterprise or in reality any relationship between a clean believer and an unclean unbeliever. Right? And he's using this analogy specifically for the Corinthians to help them realize or not realize, recognize the false teachers that had infiltrated and to get them to cut ties with the false teachers that had infiltrated that church. Now, this passage can also refer to a variety of different relationships, both a marriage or dating relationship and even business relationships.

34:56 But it can actually be applied to any relationship that could end up being detrimental to the name of Christ if not handled properly. Right? If we have dating and marriage relationships, right? I've only been married for a year and a month or so, so I don't have a ton of authority on that. Mr.

35:13 Gonzalez would be a much more, you know, much more of an authority on that kind of subject because he's done so much counseling and he's seen so much about it happen. But what I can speak to is the fact that in the Bible it talks numerous times in a great many passages about how important it is to be equally yoked as a couple in your faith in Christ Jesus. It talks many, many different times because of how important it is and not being yoked together with an unbeliever. And as it says in this passage, that is the one of the most prominent ways. You can also apply to a business relationship.

35:51 Business relationships already have tons of stress, whether it's how to conduct your business, who to conduct your business with, how to like just how to spend the money that you have as a partner, you know, as a partnership in your business. But the real point of the passage, I think, is that no matter the nature of the relationship, if one individual is serving Christ and is yoked together with him and is following his plan for their life and the other is serving themselves and the world, there's always going to be problems and there's always going to be friction. And the idea of it is that the Christian can do infinitely more for the cause of Christ on his own with Christ as a partner than by participating in fellowship with false teachers or any relationship that does not honor Christ, whether it is a friendship, marriage, or dating relationship, or a business relationship. Any relationship at all. And Paul goes on in the passage to explain why this is so impossible and impractical with a series of questions involving increasingly implausible and even impossible situations.

37:56 He says, for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness or what fellowship have has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? And now in this passage, Paul is calling on the Corinthians and believers as a whole to witness the utter incompatibility between Christ and his plan and the sin in the world.

38:23 The sin that's rampant in the world. The false teachers in the Corinthian church were teaching lawlessness and dark teachings that were utterly opposite to the righteousness and light that are inherent to being one with Christ. And he uses all these different questions to point out that when Christians are yoked with Christ, they should be as incompatible with sin as Christ is, right, the most worthy of all, as he is with Belial. Which, Belial is just a really, really, really old name for Satan that literally means worthless. Right.

39:02 So what harmony is there between Christ, the most worthy of all, and Belial, the worthless one? And he uses a variety, a total of five different comparisons or descriptions of a partnership, whether it's partnership, fellowship, harmony, something in common or what agreement, right? He uses all of these different ways and he uses all these crazy comparisons to really hammer home the point that there's no possible compatible part between the two sides of Christ and the sin as well. And then he picks up again in verse 16 and he just provides even more reason for the believers to separate themselves from relationships with unbelievers. Right.

39:52 And what he does is he uses an example that's very close to home for the Corinthians. He says, or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And I said that it's very close to home. The Corinthians, not necessarily the church itself, but like the Corinthian church was living in a society in Corinth that had idol worship that was just rampant.

40:21 Was just everywhere. It was very, very prevalent. It was very easy for the Corinthians to identify it because of the sin that was just so bad in that city at that time. And so he is taking this and he is saying, look, what agreement has the temple of God with idols? Right.

40:40 Well, the answer is that there is none. There's no agreement whatsoever. They can't be. Right? We just talked about how Christ and Belial are complete polar opposites.

40:49 So there's no agreement whatsoever. And then Paul is pointing to the fact that on conversion and on the day of salvation, when we make that choice to accept Christ as our savior, we are immediately indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit comes to reside inside the believer's heart. And as such, we become the temple of the living God. And so Paul is saying, look, if you guys just agreed with me that there's no agreement between the temple of God and idols, and I'm telling you, hey, look, here is how I can explain that you are actually the temple of the living God.

41:25 You guys should be completely incompatible with idols as well. And these idols that the believer has to refrain from dealing with is like they can they can be anything, sometimes even seemingly helpful or at least harmless things. But anything that interferes with the relationship between the believer and Christ and performing the plan of Christ on Earth can be considered an idol. And so it is just extremely important for us as believers to remember that. And Paul emphasizes that by quoting Old Testament scripture.

42:05 And the passage that he is quoting is in Leviticus where God is talking to Israel through Moses and he is describing the reward of the Israelites if they're able to obey his command. Right? He just God had just spent several chapters of Leviticus giving them these commands and what made up Mosaic Law and saying, don't do this, do this, don't do this, do this. And then he is saying, you know, if you are able to obey me, I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Right.

42:38 So he's saying, all you got to do is obey and I will be your God. And God also uses these words in two different passages in the Bible, almost word for word in Jeremiah and Ezekiel to show that this agreement stood over a great, great many years. And now as as post crucifixion believers, we are able to see in Colossians one twenty six and twenty seven that he is continuing that agreement and that reward today, although in a way that was not revealed to the fathers, you know, once upon a time, the Israelites. He says there, he says that is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to his saints to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And so, you know, what I'm trying to say is that in Old Testament times, God dwelt with the Israelites in the pillars of cloud and fire.

43:42 And then later in the tabernacle and then even later in the temple, he dwelt with his people, the Israelites, in those ways. Now he is dwelling with his people, the believers, in another way through residence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. And someday he will be eternally continuing this and perfecting it when he is able to remake the world again at the end of days and we are able to dwell with God the Father for all eternity. And then, you know, he moves into verse 17. He says, therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean.

44:19 And I will welcome you. He is quoting Isaiah 5two 11 at this time, where God is telling the Israelites to come back fully to him from the Babylonians. Come out of that unclean land. Do not touch anything that is unclean and I will welcome you. Come back to me is what he is saying.

44:38 And Paul is using this to call believers to completely separate themselves from false teachings and any actions that could possibly lump them in with unbelievers as being no different. And he wants believers to come out from the unbelievers, just as God requires us in any kind of situation of sin. Right. Flee like Joseph is what they say. Right.

45:02 So he kind of wraps up that point in verse 18. He says, and I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. And now the reason why Paul is saying this is because God is speaking through Paul and God understands that severing these ties of participation that some people may have built up with unbelievers over time, say unbelieving family members, right? Severing those ties can be really, really difficult. And God understands that.

45:33 And Paul understands that, too. And he is pointing to the reward and the promise that we have of God being a father to us and us being children of God. Now, this reward isn't cause and effect. You know, if we separate ourselves from the unbelievers, then we get to be children of God. That's not what happens because we know that on the day of salvation and at the point of conversion, when we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we also automatically immediately then become children of God, whether a son or a daughter, we are children of God then.

46:08 And so Paul is just pointing to the fact that God is trying to say, hey, if you guys are able to separate yourselves and you're able to step out of that circle of sin, then I will be able to help you reap the benefits and the joy of being a son of God to infinite levels that you would never be able to experience living in that life of sin. And that's why he is telling us to to come out from their midst and to be separate. And if we don't embrace these commands, we will be receiving his grace in vain. That was something that Vinay mentioned earlier that we should really try to endeavor not to do is receive his grace in vain. But the thing that I do want to talk about a little bit is that verse 14 on to like 18, that whole passage can be very easy to misinterpret and misconstrue as a call to believers to just shun all possible contact with unbelievers.

47:09 Just don't even bother, just separate yourselves completely. And like I said earlier, that can't be farther from the truth because it would be counterproductive and counteractive. What Paul is calling on the church to do is to cut spiritual ties or to cut ties of this common spiritual enterprise with the false teachers and to separate themselves from any relationships with unbelievers that take them inside the circle of sin. Right. Now, I know I've mentioned this circle of sin before, and then here's how I envision what Paul is trying to say.

47:42 Right. We If imagine a big circle. I was going to stand like off the podium, but I'm not sure that Michael pick it up. It's like we just imagine this huge circle. Right.

47:51 And inside the circle is contained every sinful practice and worldly action that you can possibly do against God. Right? Let's just pretend that we can't contain them in a circle and that all of the unbelievers who are, you know, shunning God are contained in there as well. Right? Once upon a time, we were in there.

48:11 As sinners. We were in the circle of sin. Due Holy to Spirit's prodding, as believers, we are able to accept Christ as our Lord, believe that he died for us and accept his free gift and step outside circle. Now what Christ wants us to do, and Paul is commending the church to do, is to look at the circle, stand well outside the circle, don't toe the line because you don't want to slip over the line. You want to stand well outside the circle living a life that's definitely different than non believers and yet reaching back to them with the 10 foot pole that is the Word of God.

48:52 You know, it's kind of a funny way to see it, but that's how my mind works, right? There's a big circle. Christ doesn't want us on the edge, you know, like He doesn't want us because it's easy to follow that temptation. So take a step back and let God and through His Word and through the Holy Spirit reach out the extra distance back to those unbelievers that are still stuck in the circle of sin. And now, you know, we'll just finish off the section.

50:19 And so he is saying that he wants us to work to cleanse ourselves of those defilements and perfect holiness in the fear of God. And now the Christians are called to perfect holiness, but that's not something that we're able to do. There's only one person that's ever been able to perfect holiness in their lives, and that is Christ. And so as sinful human beings, we are unable to live that sinless life that He was able to live. But we are able to live our lives in a way to emulate Him in His sinless life.

50:55 And we are called to emulate Him and to live as He would live to hopefully someday get to the point where Christ will be able to work His or work through the power of God to make us like him and be able to exist in that holy state with God. And all of this should be done out of reverence or fear of God. Basically, our reverential awe of God being God should in itself propel us to do this. And just to wrap it up, I just want to try and find a couple of ways that we can apply this to our daily lives, as my father-in-law likes to say. How can we apply this to our daily lives?

51:39 Right. Paul is calling all the Christians to fully separate themselves from the sin in the world, including relationships that do not honor God. As hard as it may be, we are called to separate ourselves from any situation in which we will be sucked back into the circle of sin and sucked back into the lifestyle of performing actions that would lump us in with unbelievers. And if that is if part of that work is to to discontinue a relationship with an unbeliever that is dragging you down as hard as it may be, that is what we're called to do. And there are rewards and there are benefits to it.

52:21 And God understands that it will be difficult, but that is what we're called to do. And the way that we can do that is to yoke ourselves to Christ. If we are yoked to Christ in the effort to perform His will and His plan for our lives, we have to remember that that's to be incompatible with the sin of the world, completely and entirely incompatible. And as we have said multiple times today, Christ wants us to be ambassadors for him, but also with him. And being those ambassadors for and with Christ does require work, sometimes not easy work, but work nonetheless.

52:57 But the nice thing is, is that while we have to be active ambassadors with Christ, we have to be willing to pull our side of the yoke. We don't have to worry because God will always hold up his side of the yoke and he will always be there to help us through the work that he has for us. So let us pray. And I am sorry because I do know that I ran over. I knew it was going to happen, but I I tried my best.

53:26 So, dear heavenly father, we thank you so much for this passage here today and for the promises that you have made to us, but also the commands that you have made to us. Father, it is always good to know the direction that you would have us to head and we thank you for the holy scripture that you have blessed us with to give us direction in our lives and lord, as hard as some of these commands are to follow, I just pray that you would help us take these truths home with us, apply them to our daily lives, and be able to work to cleanse ourselves from the sin and from the defilements of both flesh and spirit. And we just thank you and thank Jesus Christ so much for being willing to pull his side of the yoke in this life that you have for us. We thank you once more in your son's precious name and amen.