[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfreda, Georgia. This is the next message in our series in the book of 2 Corinthians, entitled, We Faint Not.
[0:14] Hey man, 2 Corinthians chapter number 6, if you'll turn there please. Wonderful song, Brother Ed, thank you for that. It's a joy to partner with Brother Ed in the ministry, and I love good Christian music.
[0:27] And I really enjoy it when you know the testimony of the person singing that, and I believe that he wants God to be lifted high in his life. Thank you for that. 2 Corinthians chapter number 6. As you know, or should know, we're going through 2 Corinthians as a church.
[0:42] And as we look at this tonight, Brother Ben read that, the text for the night, I asked him to make that video, give us an update. And in the video, I wanted him to read through the passage and then to say some things based upon the passage that his prayer is as he leaves.
[0:55] You know, our theme for the missions conference was Witness, and that will be our theme for the year. And by God's grace, that Brother Ben, with the work of the missionaries there, were able to start a church named Witness Baptist Church.
[1:07] And I just think that is so neat during his time there that he got to see that. And he mentioned what his prayer was. He prayed that the people would stay strong, that they would not allow lies to permeate the church and to come in, and that's what we see here.
[1:20] I'll give you some background about Corinth and the Corinthian people. But let's read again verse number 14 of chapter number 6. It's been read, but I'll read it again. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion has light with darkness?
[1:38] So I mentioned several times already about being equally yoked together. And some of you look at me quite funny because you're saying, now hang on a minute, I'm not married to you, you weird bearded man, okay?
[1:49] I understand that you and I are not married. Me and that lady over there are married, and I'm thankful to be married to my wife, and we are equally yoked. And some days we feel like oxen that are really yoked pulling some kids around behind us.
[2:02] But we're involved in something together, and I'm yoked with you. And so this passage is commonly used when it comes to marriage, and it is fitting because when you're married it is a spiritual enterprise that you say together that you believe that we will bring more glory to God together than we would separate.
[2:19] That ought to be your prayer, that you're involved in a spiritual enterprise. You want to glorify God, that marriage is about God, and that getting Him together, we could serve Him better. And I see that from the couples in here, that God has used you, and your wives keep you in line, Brother John, and that helps you in the ministry.
[2:37] But it goes farther than that, that you and I are yoked together in this work, that we are partners, that we're in a fellowship together. And I think that's a wonderful thing as we look at this yoke, that we're yoked with the missionaries as Brother Ben and one another in the work.
[2:52] So we're talking about being, we'll talk about a wanted yoke and an unwanted yoke. So the Corinthians had a problem. They were going back to these Feast of Idols. They live in a very pagan culture.
[3:03] As you know, that they would worship, they would be the temple prostitutes who come out in the afternoon. Many of them were saved out of that. They weren't saved from a post-Christian culture.
[3:13] They were saved from a very pagan culture. The majority of people that we will see saved here in Alpharetta will come out of a Christian environment. They won't be believers, but their family would grow up connected to some Christian denomination.
[3:27] We have seen by God's grace, Lang, as he was growing up, grew up in a Buddhist family. But the majority of people in the culture we live have some kind of association with Christianity, making Christianity the largest unreached people group in America.
[3:41] Are you following me here? Well, these people are in a very pagan culture. And so in the afternoons, the temple prostitutes would come out, and that's made reference to them. And it goes on to say in 1 Corinthians, which we went through as a church, Paul says that they were sitting at the table of demons, saying that you were sitting here with these people, and then you come into the house to worship the Lord, and that just can't happen.
[4:00] 1 Corinthians 6, it says it's as if you're joining Christ to a harlot, that your body is a temple, and as you're joining yourselves to these people, it's like you're joining the body of Christ to a harlot when you're coming into worship together after being involved in a pagan worship.
[4:17] So they had opened the doors of their church by letting false teachers in, and they were embracing these false teachers, and they believed these false teachers, and they would follow them. Just to make a very simple illustration, if we as a church get so caught up in the things of the world, in the pagan practices, and we don't put a priority on the gospel inside of our church, then we've opened up the door to let people come in and teach a perverted gospel.
[4:42] Inside of this church here, if you said, I have a real strong conviction about the way that cars ought to be parked. I've always thought that cars ought to be parked at a certain angle, and I really want to paint some lines outside, and I'm very passionate about the way cars should be parked.
[4:57] Well, knowing the deacons in our church and other men in our church, I have a pretty good feeling that we would let you be in charge of the car parking ministry. And so you would probably have a lot of freedom there, and as long as you weren't stacking them on top of each other, and the fire department wasn't coming over here, you would have some freedom.
[5:15] But inside of our church, we take the gospel very seriously. We preach the gospel, we study the gospel, and we make sure the gospel we preach is the true gospel from the Bible. So if you showed up in our church and said, I have another rendition of the gospel that I would like to share, and I would like to plan in the middle of this church and get other people to teach, the men of this church would probably help you out the door.
[5:38] Don't you believe that would be the case? When we get so busy with the things in this world, we open up the door for people to come in, and we open ourselves up for being yoked with people, and we're going to talk more about this.
[5:48] And we see this. It happens in Christianity. Christianity, the Mormon faith had a door open, and a false gospel was being taught, because men said, I'm going to take what's the best of this world.
[5:59] They said, you like polygamy? Would you like to have multiple wives in heaven? So take a little bit of the truth from the Bible, mix it to your fleshly desires. Let's create a new religion. And that's what it is.
[6:10] You can label it a cult, but it's definitely a different religion than the one that we have. And so as a church, if we don't preach the gospel, and we don't work at making sure our children know the gospel, then someday this church right here could be part of preaching a perverted gospel if we yoke with the wrong people.
[6:28] So verse number 14, let's look at a wanted and an unwanted yoke. A yoke was for a common work. Oxen were pulling a plow together. In verse number 7, in verse 1, which will be the last verse we look at tonight, but it says, 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.
[6:51] It says filthiness of flesh and spirit, which gives us a little bit of definition of here of what it's like to be involved in a yoke. This yoke is a work that involves our flesh and a spirit. It requires our whole person being involved in this.
[7:06] This is an intentional decision that we're going to work alongside one another. Oxen belong in a field. You know, I don't like some vegetables. And so if I heard on the radio, brother John, that there was a recall on asparagus, I could very likely say, just to be safe, I'm not going to eat asparagus or any other vegetables ever.
[7:30] My fear in this passage is that those of us who don't want to be engaged in evangelism out in this world, we say, oh, so there's some ways that we shouldn't be involved with unbelievers. I'll just ignore them completely and I will be playing it safe.
[7:43] That's not what this passage is saying. Actually, as I read this and study this, it excites me about evangelism because it reminds me once again how important the gospel is that we can't allow anybody to mess with it, that we have to protect it, that we can be adamant about the gospel being preached from our church.
[7:59] Remember, oxen belong in the field and if he did not want us out in this field, he would have taken us to heaven afterwards. Sometimes people go on a mission trip and Brother Jeff was telling me recently somebody was in Argentina and at the end of the trip, they said, I can never be a missionary here.
[8:14] These people are just too wicked. I don't like to be around people like this. They are too wicked. And Brother Jeff said, that's exactly why God's called me to be here because these people need Jesus.
[8:27] Jesus' prayer for his disciples, John 17, 15. Remember that? We went through the book of John and he's there at the table and then he looks up to heaven and he prays and he prays for his disciples, allowing them to listen in, which I think is one of the neatest things in scripture is that our God would pray for us and allow us to see it.
[8:44] And he says there, he prayed for their protection and their mission in this world and not that they would be removed and have a missionless life. Verse 15, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
[8:57] So he was saying, I'm not looking that you be removed from it, but I'm looking that inside of it, you will be protected. You know, this passage is a wonderful passage in reference if we were looking topically tonight at personal separation.
[9:11] And we'll see here tonight that as preachers of the gospel, which all of you should be proclaiming the gospel, we should not be yoked up, we should not be involved with unbelievers in a common work.
[9:22] And we'll see what that means a little bit, but I just want to remind you here that this is not a passage to tell us that we should be isolationist and go off and hide. Let's look at some, in Luke 5, 7, we look here at a reference.
[9:34] We'll look at two references here that help us understand, because I think one of the keys to understand this passage is to understand what it means to be yoked together, to be partners, to be in fellowship. In Luke 5, 7, and using the words here, it says, And Simon answered, said unto him, Master, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing.
[9:53] Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. Verse 6, And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net, and they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them.
[10:05] And they came and filled both the ships so that they began the sink. So they're doing the work there, and they call over to their other partners. Hebrews 3, 14 says, For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginnings of our confidence steadfast unto the end.
[10:22] I believe as we look at this passage, the Holy Spirit's going to lay personal application on your heart in the areas of separation and in personal holiness and the things that we're involved in that dilute our gospel witness.
[10:33] But in context here in this passage, he's saying, You Corinthian people, you're allowing false teachers inside of your church, and you're allowing them to be involved in the work of the Lord. And because of that, that's a problem.
[10:44] The world's not hearing the gospel. As I said earlier, it's so neat to know we live in the uttermost that when these people who had the gospel, they didn't allow it to apostatize before it got to us. They just allowed it to advance.
[10:55] That people protected and made sure that the church was preaching a pure gospel. And I don't know about you, but I'm excited about that, to know that the gospel that was taught by the apostles that Jesus gave to them is the one that we preach today.
[11:09] So people in a partnership or in a fellowship together. We talk about a marriage. We have a marriage conference that will be happening in November. Both of you want to show that picture. And the theme of it will be two became one.
[11:21] Because in a marriage, you are two people becoming one. And that is definitely the two people working in a yoke fellow relationship together. In a marriage, we see that.
[11:31] On a Wednesday night and a Thursday, we'll talk more about that. At this missions conference that I enjoyed in Louisiana, I heard from a missionary that 54 Tibetan monks from Tibet, they have taken this year alone, they have taken and they've drank gasoline and then they set themselves on fire and they ran as far as they could saying, free Tibet.
[11:53] Some of you, Mary Bill is shaking her head. Some of you have heard about that. Can I tell you, even those people don't believe in a gospel, they don't have the hope we have, they are partners together in a common work.
[12:03] They have partnered together for something. Richard Wurmbrandt, which was in 1945, he was, during that time, he was persecuted by the former Soviet Union.
[12:14] He was standing, he was sitting in a congregation with his wife, attending this Congress of organized Romanian communist government and many religious leaders were there and they were praising communism and they were swearing their loyalty.
[12:29] They voted Stalin in as the president of this large ecumenical group. And as they were doing this and they were standing up and pledging their allegiance, the Stalin and the communism saying how good this would be for the church, Sabina, his wife, elbows him and said, Richard, stand up and wash off this shame from the face of Christ.
[12:49] Richard turned and he warned her and he says, if I do so, you will lose your husband. And ladies, listen to her response. She was in a work, a common work with her husband. She was in this yoke with her husband.
[13:01] And this was her answer to him when she, he said, if I do that, you're going to lose your husband. She says, I do not wish to have a coward as a husband. Wow. She replied, thus Richard declared to the 4,000 delegates who stood up whose speeches were broadcast to the whole nation that their duty is to glorify God and Christ alone.
[13:21] Can I tell you that's an incredible team and a husband and wife in the work of the Lord together and that we're taught in the scriptures that we are together in a yoke serving. Philippians 4, 3, we are yoke fellows in the mission together and I entreat the also true yoke fellow help those women which labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and with other my fellow laborers who names are in the book of life.
[13:46] So we're looking at a type of yoke that we want because we said do not be unequally yoked. We want to take a moment and celebrate the fact that we are equally yoked together and we're going to look at five things that it says here and remember our identity that we are believers and a common goal of seeing the gospel spread around the world.
[14:03] A yoke should have the same creatures pulling it. I grew up on the farm. No I didn't but I have a pastor that did and I think you know that. So I can reference him and talk to him.
[14:13] I grew up in Kentucky which is a farm okay and all of it is. In Deuteronomy 22 in verse 10 it says don't allow an ox and a donkey to work together pulling a yoke together or an elephant and a donkey if you're more politically involved okay.
[14:29] It says don't allow these two animals. It would be a funny looking thing right that you would put a donkey and that you would put an ox together because they're two different creatures and because of that they don't belong together in a yoke.
[14:40] You know we're told in 2 Corinthians 5 17 that we are new good job class alright we are new creatures which means we don't belong in a yoke with an unbeliever in a spiritual endeavor because we're not the same and even though and I've said this before and I think about it I have good moral families people part of my family that are unbelievers and according to the Bible they're different creatures.
[15:06] It's so easy for us to realize in here that all the good works we did before we were saved were filthy rags. Do you know that? How many of you know that? Show me your hand please. Thank you here. Remember I'm the youth pastor I can give out points and stickers at any time that I want.
[15:20] But so we know that about ourselves but we don't remember that sometimes about those that are unbelievers out here they're such good people that what they're doing it's just filthy rags because their hearts aren't lifted up and they don't say God I want to give you more praise and so even though as good a work it is it's selfish they don't recognize it but they're not the same creatures that we are we're made new creatures Colossians 1.13 who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son he has rescued me from darkness he has taken me from Satan's dominion in Acts 26.18 to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan and the God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me it's just simply a rationale that we could be in a common spiritual endeavor with an unbeliever and as a church we must remember that unbelievers think differently than we do Titus 1.15 unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled they have an opposing worldview we're different in here not because of geography but we're different because the word abides in us and it has made us strangers you know Satan knows this he knows this strategy that he knows that you cannot yoke different creatures together to the point that when the
[16:42] Chaldeans took over and we see the captivity happening and we see that they take him three different times and then they go in and they take Daniel and they take some of the elite men like Daniel what do they do they take them in the Babylon and this is what brother Chuck is teaching our teens up there up there in Daniel chapter number 2 about an undestructible kingdom and he talks about how culture was trying to mold them but they took Daniel and their friends and they took them away from a place and what were some of the things that they had them do they wanted them to eat differently but in Daniel 1.4 it says children on whom was no blemish but was well favored and skillful in all wisdom and cunning and knowledge and understanding science and such has an ability in them to stand in the king's palace in whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans they were going to teach them to speak like Chaldeans and read the book of the Chaldeans and those Chaldeans religion it was their culture the Jewish people were being deported and brought to their lands and his plan for the Jewish people was to corrupt them from the inside out that he needed
[17:45] Jewish young leaders to buy into their system and to take care of Jewish affairs you understand that because he knew that they couldn't be unequally yoked he knew that he needed to pervert the mind of some of those young people so that he could lead them in leading the Jewish people into that system so Satan knows that trick he always has and we see that in the book of Daniel and he's still doing it today that he would allow for us as a church to want to get so busy as the Corinthians did in pagan practices taking our eyes off the true gospel that people could be raised up inside of our church and because of that they would teach a false gospel and that would corrupt the church from the inside out and that is his plan that the opposition in the church throughout history often has come from the inside as I take my kids to school and it's not my intention tonight to expose a different church's ministry philosophy but as I drive my kids to school I pass this one church and they say they have two different styles of worship that happen on Sunday morning
[18:47] I'm not as concerned about the two different styles of worship but I pray that the two different styles still have the same substance that as they created a new ministry that the older generation makes sure that the younger generation is still preaching the gospel because as you need somebody to fill a role in a ministry you can very quickly just put somebody in place that isn't teaching the gospel how does this become relevant as you say how does it happen Vision Baptist Church we send out missionaries there's no way that this church here could be taken over and not preach the false gospel how does it happen is that we don't teach our young people the gospel we don't teach them what's most important and they grow up and they're able to do everything like we do and they look like we do and they can do everything on the outside but they have perverted the gospel in their heart and a few generations from now they would be teaching a false gospel if we are not passionate about the gospel they will pervert the gospel if we're not preaching the gospel they're going to pervert the gospel do you follow here with me if you do not explain the non-negotiables to them that the doctrines will just change from generation to generation in America they used to have a thing called a halfway covenant
[19:58] I don't fully understand it but I knew that there was a way that a person that was an unbeliever could be a member of the church because it's such an important part of the culture and you say how could we ever get to that well it's already happened and it might happen again someday but as this church we should stand against that we should be people who are constantly studying and talking about the effects the gospels the gospel has upon our lives we should always be answering why we do what we do the answer why should always be Jesus and the new identity in Christ should be taught we're going to see that there's five questions that are asked here in this passage as we look here together back in 2 Corinthians chapter number 6 it says here if you're following along it says what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness so as we're saying we shouldn't be unequally yoked he's going to give five rhetorical questions to remind us because of our identity in Christ we cannot be unequally yoked with unbelievers in the spiritual endeavor righteousness is obedience to the law of God and we desire
[21:01] Titus 2 14 says who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify himself of peculiar people zealous of good works because of what Christ has done in my life I'm zealous of good works because of Christ righteousness has been imputed unto me in 1 Corinthians 1 30 because we're born of God therefore we possess a new nature which has made us righteous Romans 6 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh for as you have yielded your members servants to be uncleanness into iniquity into iniquity and even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness that I'm yielding as a believer my members my life over to God for a special work that an unbeliever is not giving their life to so it's a rhetorical question it's just simply irrational what fellowship does righteousness have with unrighteousness unrighteousness and lawlessness here is a rebellion against this holy law it's the nature of the unredeemed that we're taught
[22:04] Jesus strongly rebuked the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23 he says here he says woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you like unto white and selfish colors which indeed appear beautifully beautiful outward but are within full of dead men's bones and of uncleanness even so you're outwardly appear righteous on the men but within you you are full of hypocrisies and iniquity why do we make such a big deal about foundations why do we talk about the gospel to even people to believe why when somebody makes a profession of faith we still go back and we start with step number one and foundations is because if you're not a believer you cannot be involved in the same work as a believer and as a church we cannot be in a spiritual endeavor with unbelievers then he goes on to tell us here what communion the next rhetorical question is what communion has light with darkness we have become light in this world the ultimate destination of the righteous is eternal light in heaven who provides light for all eternity it's our savior and what is the ultimate destination of the unrighteous it is eternal darkness and both those principles are taught throughout the scripture third question that's asked that's rhetorical here is what concord has the Christ with Belial the children of God have nothing in common with the children of the devil
[23:21] John 8 44 you are your ye are your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do he was a murderer from the beginning abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it you know some people one time thought Jesus was doing the same work as Satan if you remember the story there it's found in Matthew Mark and then again in the book of John I believe but they come upon him and he's casting demons out and he says look this guy worked for Belial he works for Satan Beelzebub and he is casting demons out and Jesus simply says and if Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand he's saying there's only two works in this world and how could I be working for against myself unbelievers cannot be involved in the same spiritual endeavor because they are different than we are we have different fathers 1 John tells us that Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan and it says here the children Belial the children of the worthless one and unbelievers are the children of disobedience and you may have some resistance in your heart as I read this because you say man that seems awful strong that you're categorizing every unbeliever the same way because there seems to be really good unbelievers and they can do a spiritual and they can do a work that's like ours and then there's some that are just really bad and they don't seem to want to do anything good and if they're really good and they want to do something moral and we want to do something moral then we should be yoked together in a church work doing the same thing but 2 Corinthians 11 tells us how Satan takes on the image of an angel of light and he would love for you to be yoked up in a spiritual endeavor he would love inside of our church to have an unbeliever doing what seemed to be a spiritual endeavor and it doesn't matter how squeaky clean they are or how horrifically pagan they look he is glad anytime an unbeliever gets involved in the work of the ministry and the local church
[25:27] Satan had a place I mean Judas had a place in the ministry even though Jesus had never had a place in his heart and as a church we got to look out for that we must protect it what part has he that believeth with an infidel Amos 3 3 very common passage how can two walk together unless they agree so we see so far it's not only irrational for believers to be bound together with unbelievers it's sacrilegious to do so and then it says what agreement hath the temple of God with idols this may reference as 1st Samuel chapter number 5 Peyton you probably know this story but I love this story the children of Israel losing a battle against the Philistines and they're saying oh I know how to fix this problem we just need the ark of the covenant we need our lucky charm God to come over here and surely if we have the ark of the covenant with us we're going to win this thing so they go off and they get the ark of the covenant and they bring it back and who wins the battle the Philistines they didn't win the battle and they take the ark of the covenant and they take it into their temple of Dagon and in the middle of the night we find that their idol falls over and so they set it back up and dust it off because there's a lot of work you got to do when you worship a false god they require a lot of work of you and he sets it back up and the next night the next day they come in and I believe his head is chopped off and his hands and there's an illustration here that idols don't belong in the house of the lord and that god does not belong where the pagans worship you cannot bring idols in the house of god and you cannot bring god into the house of idols ezekiel 8 12 ezekiel is given a vision here and he gets to look in upon something that they think is super secret that nobody's seeing and it says in ezekiel 8 12 it says then said he unto me son of man hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of israel do in the dark every man in the chambers of his imagery for they say the lord seeth this not the lord has forsaken the earth even when sin happens in the dark it has consequences upon the work these people were sneaking around and inside the house of the lord in a chamber they thought nobody knew about they had writing on the walls for their pagan gods and they were worshipping a false idol and even though nobody knew about it it still had a consequence upon the nation of israel so we have a clear command given for obedience here in separation a decision has to be made look at verse number 14 14 7 and then verse 17 verse 1 all echo the same truth the decision has to be made it says be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers verse number 17 wherefore come out from among them and be you separate saith lord and touch not the unclean thing and i will receive you 7 verse 1 having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse ourselves from the filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of god paul celebrates and he's excited in chapter 7 verses 8 through 10 that when he told them before about a problem in the church they had repented and that's what he's calling for them to do it's foolish irrational irreverent and simply disobedient when we yoke with unbelievers in what is a spiritual endeavor endeavor and he is telling them here they need to make a clean break from it that they need to get far removed from these practices and to do so is to lose an intimate fellowship with our lord it told us here it says 7 verse 1 having therefore these promises unholiness unbelievers to be involved in the work of the lord we lose that intimate fellowship with him
[29:27] i love 2 peter verse number 1 verse number 3 one of my favorite verses it says that our knowledge of him jesus has given us a divine power and virtue virtue being that ability to do right that ability to do what you know god has told us to do the ability to live a life that is separate that is distinct that is a holy life that those that carry the gospel should live and it tells us here in 2 peter 1 3 according as his divine power has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue can i tell you here in closing simply in summary we don't want to be how many of you would say amen with me that you don't care the lord doesn't come back for a thousand years or ten years this church continues and we're not here we want them to preach a pure gospel that we don't want unbelievers coming here and perverting the gospel and the work we want unbelievers coming here hearing the gospel and responding we don't want them coming here unchanged and taking us off track how many of you would say amen to that and we're told that our greatest protection in the area of virtue inside of a church and then also in our personal lives is the knowledge of jesus the way to make sure that nobody ever stands behind this pulpit and preaches a perverted gospel is some we keep somebody here preaching the gospel the best way to make sure that false gospel isn't among your kids and among your family and among you is that you constantly preach the gospel where truth is and where it fills the place it doesn't allow room for false teaching to come in how does this work we have friends we get close we raise people we have children people that we love and care for
[31:10] I use Zach Elrod because he's my neighbor and he's already beat if he wanted to beat me up by now he'd have already done it okay Zach and I are friends we're close friends and I wouldn't know many of you in here if God wouldn't have brought you to the church because you live in a different part of town but Zach's my neighbor which means if he was an unbeliever I would know him and I would have conversations with him if he was a professing Christian and he did not he said he was a Christian but he did not teach a proper gospel he did not believe in a true gospel he was trying to tell me that I had to work for my salvation or something along those lines that I would know him and when we got together I would share the gospel with him but if Zach came inside of the church and I thought he was a believer and he was inside the church and he was gaining influence among people and he was looking to teach a class or find a place in leadership and we've already become acquaintances and we're becoming friends because I know him that according to the gospel if he taught a false gospel as much as it would hurt me
[32:10] I would have to look at Zach and I would say you have no place in service inside of this church because you teach a false gospel that we cannot be involved in a spiritual endeavor sounds crazy doesn't it but when you think about along those lines that's a hard thing to do but the Corinthian people here as they were going out and living in the world in unholiness and they were practicing it was so easy to come inside of the church as we go out and we live in unholy lives we get involved in the practice of pagan practice we get away from things that are affected by the gospel it's so much easier for it to get inside of the church you follow me we open up the door to that when we don't recognize right from wrong as we're not spiritually discerning and when we become lax concerning the things of the Lord in our personal lives then we're going to do the same thing inside of the church and we're going to say well we know Cole's son he doesn't necessarily we don't really know that he knows everything about the Bible but we really need a youth pastor because Trent's old and he's not cool anymore and we need a new one and we're not exactly sure
[33:14] Cole's son saying some weird things Cole Jr. but we really need somebody and does it really matter that much because he's such a good guy let's just let him teach the youth because nobody will ever see him up there and why don't we partner with that one ministry we're not their doctrinal statement's not really clear and we're not really sure but they seem to be good people and you know why don't we just go ahead and do that we can't because the gospel is too important the church is too important and so as brother Robert preached a wonderful message on being an ambassador of Christ and we should be ambassadors if that message is on the characteristics of an ambassador of Christ here is a kind of a policy and procedures for ambassadors of Christ there's a proper way to be yoked together in a spiritual endeavor and there's an improper way to be yoked together and we cannot yoke together with unbelievers because we're not the same creatures we cannot plow a straight row with a donkey and an oxen because we're different they are the field they are not our fellow laborers in the gospel and we must keep the gospel being preached and shared among our families lest this church like many other churches in America have begun to teach a false gospel because it becomes so unholy in their separation and in their personal lives that they just said well since I'm doing this on Saturday then it doesn't really matter a whole lot what happens on Sunday and they allow Satan to get in there and that's his favorite plan he loves to sneak in he doesn't care a whole lot where how much room of your time he gets on Saturday night he cares a whole lot about how much time he gets in this place on Sunday morning he would love that us teach a false gospel so let me tell you here in challenging conclusion we must continue to preach the gospel knowing that we are snatching them away from the fire as we're out there in this world but let us be careful in our separations we be not sin sins than overtaken remember in the Corinthian people and they're eating fruit off for the idols and they say if you're a weaker brother can't handle it you don't need to do it because we don't want him going back to these pagan ways we must be aware of Satan's plan to destroy us from the inside out if we don't think those kids are important up there
[35:20] I promise you that the Chaldeans in the world would love to take them and would love to educate them in the religion of this culture and would love for them to continue to grow up inside of this church that's what some Christian organizations say let Muslims stay in their Muslim context and that way we can take over Islam from the inside out that's unbiblical and it's wrong because Christians ought to profess Christ but that's always been Satan's plan let's keep them among us we must preach love celebrate and teach the gospel in such a way that there will never be a vacancy for that position in our church if you want to park cars you can do it any way you want if you want to be in charge of that but if you want to be in charge of the gospel if you want to be a leader in the way to preach the gospel you must preach what the Bible says and it's a non-negotiable our steadfast stand on the gospel will be a wonderful help in our lives in the areas of personal holiness light deflects darkness you know in the area of personal holiness the way we live our lives the way that we go about this world and we should be touched and we should be spotless without being blemished by this world can I tell you as we said earlier there the greatest source divine power we have in virtue is the knowledge of Jesus can I tell you as Kyle faithfully preaches the gospel at his work it keeps him out of a lot of trouble because when Kyle when they're going to have a party
[36:34] Kyle doesn't always get invited to all the parties the best way to keep yourself in personal holiness is to preach the gospel the same in the church the way to keep false teaching away from here is we preach the gospel and the best way to do it inside your life is to take a strong stand and to be a light because a light deflects darkness candles aren't put out by darkness you can go out there that's not going to put your light out but darkness is going to run from you and as a church we've got to make sure there's always a light in here that we are preachers of the gospel so I'm going to pray and I'm going to ask you to make a decision men especially you say this is hypothetical it's never going to happen it happens to churches all the time it happens in short times it happens in 5 years it happens in 10 years make sure there's never a person up there teaching something that's not the gospel down here not preaching the gospel make sure your kids grow up understanding the gospel that we must be equally yoked and those rhetorical questions that remind ourselves of our identity in Christ I'm going to pray and maybe you'll make a decision tonight at your seat or down here at the altar about personal holiness that you become slack concerning the things of the Lord because you've been playing with the things of this world and it doesn't seem to be a big deal for you anymore that you're doing that and some of you men and ladies will say
[37:46] I love the gospel so much that I will stand with this church and I'll make sure nothing but the bible gospel is taught in this place heavenly father I pray that you'll be with the church Lord the decisions that we have to make that will be made right now Lord at the altar in their seats but Lord we see this as a problem in history the church in Corinth that they become unequally yoked and they worked with unbelievers and Lord I pray that in here we are all equally yoked that there's not someone in here tonight that is not a believer that has never been made into a new creature that's never put their faith in you if there is someone like that Lord I pray that tonight will be the night that they become equally yoked with us they become new creatures and they become go from darkness into light Lord give us men and ladies of character inside this church that will raise our children to understand the gospel and that behind this pulpit and in our Sunday school classes and from those that leave our church that nothing but a true gospel will be preached by our people with every head bow and every eye closed
[38:48] Miss Crystal will play the piano would you make that decision in your seat it demands a verdict tonight not my speech but the Bible will you be part of this church where we'll be passionate about the gospel this message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia for more information log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times location contact information and more audio and video recordings may yem atenden information here and reviewoy .