2 Corinthians Chapter 6 Part 2

[Music] shalom and welcome to via hafta israel a hebrew phrase which means you shall love israel we hope you'll stay with us for the next 30 minutes as our teacher dr baruch shares his expository teaching from the bible dr baruch is the senior lecturer at the zehra avraham institute based in israel although all courses are taught in hebrew at the institute dr baruch is pleased to share this weekly address in english to find out more about our work in israel please visit us on the web at loveisreal.org that's one word loveisreal.org now here's baruch with today's lesson because you are a believer there are certain decisions that you must make your faith has strong and serious implications for the decisions the actions that you take in order that you reflect the character of god in this world that is the calling of every believer take out your bible and look with me to the book of second corinthians and chapter six we began this chapter last week and we're going to complete it god willing now this week and in the second half of chapter 6 we see that paul is writing about a change the change that should happen to every believer and that is that we find ourselves constrained we constrain ourselves not out of an obligation but because who we are now we are a different people what was acceptable in our own eyes now are not because as we prayed a few minutes ago we should have the mind of messiah his perspective is going to guide us and restrict us and these restrictions are good these restrictions bring joy into our life these restrictions protect us from the deceit and the attacks of the enemy that these attacks will not be successful over us that we are not going to be a defeated people but we are going to walk in his victory doing his will and manifesting his glory so paul is speaking clearly to the corinthians here and notice how he begins chapter 6 and verse 11 and again i want to emphasize we're going to follow the order the word order that is in the text the greek text in order to see how things are are put together and when we see god's order for putting the scripture together there will be a greater understanding of his message to us and that's what we need to be doing every time that we encounter the word of god we need to be praying that his message gets to us that we understand this revelation for the sake of serving him worshiping him and doing what is pleasing to him now these corinthians i mentioned that corinth was a most ungodly place full of liscentuousness all types of things that the word of god the commandments of god forbid and now these corinthians both jew and gentile like they are fighting at how they once lived how they once thought all of this is different they are being constrained but notice what what paul says to them in verse 11 our mouth is opened up unto you o corinthians now what does he mean when he says our mouth is open unto you o corinthians this is an idiom of revelation paul is saying that he and others who serve alongside of him who have come to corinth to teach and be emissaries of the grace of god that they have opened their mouth that is that they have shared with the corinthians god's revelation so we read our mouth is opened unto you o corinthians our hearts have been enlarged now he speaks about hearts and he's speaking about endearment that he has given revelation and this revelation comes from them to the corinthians with great love their heart heart thought but also affection and he says as we have given you revelation as we have come to know you as we have ministered in your midst our hearts literally are expanding to you so this heart change causes them to minister to not just forget about them and move on to another people but that this heart change has caused the corinthians to be upon the thoughts of paul and this is why he is writing to them at this time look now to verse 12. now because of this love that was ministered through paul and others to the corinthians mixed together with this revelation the corinthians have changed this congregation is a group of people who now think and behave differently that is normal everyone who has received the gospel they are as we saw in the previous chapter a new creation they are different they are going to think differently and that different way of thinking is going to impact how they behave they are going to make different decisions and carry them out on a daily basis and that's why he says look at verse 12 you are not restrained or confined by us paul is saying it is not us our ourselves what we in our own natural being want that that constrains you this has nothing to do with our relationship why you are being constrained so he says you are not constrained by us but you are constrained by your and it uses a word for a strong sense of of compassion and mercy that is within the very essence of a person now some bibles for example if you look at the king james it will use the term bow meaning the pit of your stomach many times when we have strong feelings of of love when we are moved by compassion we actually feel that in the pit of our stomach and what he's saying here is it is not us who constrains you it's not for us it's not because of who we are you're not obligated to us in some way to behave this way the constraint that you're feeling it comes now because of this compassion that is functioning behaving in your life people are moved now to live differently to think differently and it's that love that compassion that mercy this this new way of perceiving things that becomes a source of constraint or refresh restriction what he's saying is this perhaps previously you saw someone in need and you just pass by them you may not be be moved with care concern you may not have love for them you might say well they're in that position because of their own making because of their own foolishness their own sin their own decisions that may be true but now you just can't brush that aside you can't just set that away from you but you are moved and we see in the gospels many times this phrase same word in a different form where it says that messiah was moved by compassion and it caused him to minister so he's saying these feelings and actions that you are having it's not us who mandate you to do this but it's your new being it's your new nature it is because the holy spirit dwells in you so he says it is not us who constrain you but you are being constrained by your your own compassion those feelings of mercy that that you have verse verse 13. now there's a word here and it's the primary thought in this next verse verse 13 and it's a worse word for a payment some bibles old english might say recompense what it is is a payment that is a natural outcome the consequence of something and what he's saying here and let's just read the verse verse 13 but the same payment as children i speak now what does he mean by for as children i speak well we know the the old adage like father like son so there's going to be a consistency from within a family that father is going to influence his children to behave in a similar way so like father like son and what paul is saying here is there's a response an outcome a payment when you've received the gospel when you have taken hold of the revelation that we share with you the truth from god that truth caused an outcome there was a response from it what was that response these feelings of mercy compassion concern care for others that that you cannot uh be set aside but compel you to get involved in the life of others to take concern not to be like cain who says am i my brother's keeper i'm not obligated to him i'm not his keeper but the implication is yes you are that you need to be someone who's concerned for the well-being of others and this new nature will will manifest a sense of compassion concern to do something and what paul is saying here is that this is the natural outcome the recompense what every believer has and this is why he says i speak to you as children because we're the ones who who gave birth to you spiritually speaking as we are so are you it's not that we're obligating but this is your new nature your new status and therefore he says and you have been enlarged also you what's been enlarged this capacity to love their concern has grown they are seeing that they are getting involved in a more and more and this word is a word for expanding so you yourselves are being expanded in how you act what you get involved in the people that you are concerned about so there's something expanding growing in these people and it's this capacity to love and to show compassion for others to be concerned about them now move on to verse verse 14. here we have paul responding about another implication of this new nature that we are a new creation and that means in the same way that compassion moves us to get involved with people the holiness of god our call our covenantal relationship with him can also mean that we won't have something to do with someone else that we will separate ourselves that we will not be involved with them so we need to always and this is a very simple principle but oftentimes ignored it is appropriate to get involved in someone's life for the purpose of ministry leading them to salvation being a blessing a help unto them counseling them steering them in the truth of god that is always appropriate activity for others to be involved in others lives but in that same way that same faith that same new nature that same objective that we have to serve god can also manifest itself and us separating distancing not being involved with others and that's what paul is going to begin to talk about in the next few verses look at verse 14. he says and it's a commandment do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers now he does not have a context for this which means simply it's broad do not be unequally yoked and this word yoke implies being put together in some type of objective some type of purpose some type of contract some type of agreement so we should not and here are some simple applications for this a believer must not it is forbidden for a believer to marry an unbeliever just that simple secondly to go into business with an unbeliever one ought not do that that is going to have some disastrous results so there are clear walls of separation that we do not want to break down we want to build them up thick so there is a clear separation difference between us and then and therefore he says look again verse 14 he says do not be unequally yoke with unbelievers and now he's going to give us some simple understanding of that he writes for what partnership does righteousness have with lawlessness now these two words i just want to pause for a moment to speak about the significance of these two words righteousness is a kingdom word i frequently mention seek first the kingdom and its righteousness so the kingdom one of the chief adjectives that describes the kingdom of god and the kingdom people our behavior how we think and behave is righteousness and what's in conflict with righteousness now there is a connection between not only the kingdom and righteousness but the law and righteousness and this is what we need to understand about this and you're going to see this clearly if you study the book of romans the law is not an instrument that produces righteousness meaning this i can't take the law and apply to my life and become righteous the law does not have any power it was not given to be an instrument for righteousness but it's connected to righteousness how the law defines what is righteous and what is unrighteous so we see here paul saying don't be unequally yoked with non-believers with those who are against the faith and then he gives an example what partnership can can those who are righteous have with those who are about lawlessness and that word lawlessness and unfortunately many bibles translated differently but it's simply the word nomos for law or torah with that prefix alpha in front of which is a negation so it's not of the law for the law but rather against the law and we translate it lawlessness now this has some very practical implications simply this you are either going to be moving in righteousness or living in lawlessness there's no position in between they are not are not linked together they are mutually exclusive so this is why he gives this example and he writes for for what partnership does righteousness have with lawlessness verse verse 14 the second part and what fellowship does light have with darkness again they are mutually exclusive where there is light darkness flees if there's darkness there is no light so he's using simple illustrations to make his point about and it's a commandment do not be you must not be yoked unequally with non-believers now verse 15 for what and it uses a word for the greek word voice or speaking or word and the prefix for together and we would translate it harmony perhaps so he simply asked and he uses two different terms that are clearly in conflict with one another look again at verse 15 he says for what harmony does does christ the messiah have with and he uses an old testament term in the torah this term bali ya-el what is that it speaks about that which is evil through and through so very important that we see this it has to do with that which is evil consistently thoroughly wanting nothing to do with the purpose of god so we see how messiah he's the anointed one and he's committed to the purposes of god but this term which often times is found in the plural speaking about evil men evil women those who are in opposition to the purposes of god so messiah is about the purposes of god and this term beli ya el is against second part of verse 15 or what portion does believers have with unbelievers meaning we have no part what we're going to receive and what they're going to receive has nothing in common we're going to receive the blessings of god the promises of god and they're going to receive the judgment the curses of god so exactly opposite this is how we need to see these individuals that are linked to this world rather than the kingdom of god we can have no fellowship no relationship no agreement there's not going to be harmony between us and them verse 16. and what and he gives a word for for setting down together meaning putting something together with now we might just simply understand this as an agreement look again at the text verse 16 and what agreement can the temple of god have with idolatry they are by nature opposed to one another categorically in opposition the worship of god and idolatry the worship of god is is incumbent upon a person and it manifests submit submissiveness it manifests a person in obedience but idolatry is all about that person exalting self and getting what they want to give and doing so in what they believe is a culturally acceptable manner oh i i'm not unreligious i'm not ungodly but this is what my god wants me to do this is how i serve my god and of course these idols they don't speak but we hear exactly what we want them to say this is a problem so he says idolatry and the the temple of god they are in categorically conflict with one another look now to to verse 16 the second part for you are the temple of the living god now he's emphasizing he's going to get more specific you are the temple meaning the spirit of god god has entered into us this is what we've seen in the reading from leviticus as we began our time of worship today where it says i will set my tabernacle in your midst do you realize that that is a kingdom expression if you look for example in in the section in the book of revelation revelation chapter 21 and 22 we see that we see the same term i will be your god and you will be my people we see god promising to put his tabernacle in the midst of the people all of this is an outcome and i hope you know the answer an outcome of redemption so he's moving here and he says because of our redemption we think differently we behave differently we enter into certain relationships and we forbid other relationships look again at verse 16 he says for you are the temple of the living god just as god has said and now we're seeing that he's quoting from leviticus 26 and by the way this is also a hint of the same scripture appears in ezekiel chapter 37 with god bringing about a kingdom reality to the people fulfilling his purposes and messiah coming and establishing that kingdom so we read here verse verse 16 where he says and god has spoken that i will dwell among you and i will walk now most because this is what we read from leviticus chapter 26 and verse 12 and i will walk the rabbis understand this as a term of not just intimacy with god but but fellowship it is about experiencing god and here's the takeaway for us it is when we say no to certain things in the world that that rejection brings about intimacy brings about fellowship with god so he says i will dwell among them and i will walk and then we have that that definition of redemption he says in the verse verse 16 and i will be to them god and they will be to me a people and the implication is a people unto me my people now again this expression from the position of judaism and what we see supported in the new covenant as well it all relates to redemption redemption changes us redemption compels us not out of an obligation but out of who we are many times people will say well that's just not who i am i wouldn't do that that's not how i think that's not how i behave that is not according to who i am my nature and the same thing is being said here because of our new nature that came about through redemption because through redemption we are brought into the family of god because we are and what's interesting is that there's going to be a nuance in this scripture because what we see usually in the scripture where this definition of redemption appears is like we read in leviticus and and i will be your god and you will be my people what's interesting when we we see it in the new covenant in the book of revelation there's a change he switches people and he turns it into sons why is this to to neglect women avoid set apart absolutely not when he talks about sons he's using this in the concept of air that we through redemption become heirs we have an inheritance that's what he's saying and therefore he says this in the book of revelation that tells us what our inheritance is it is the kingdom of god so look again he says and i will be their god and they will be for me a people and in in an implication of that an outcome of that the result of that now look at verse 17. because of this new relation because of redemption which is a kingdom concept notice the implication for us he says therefore that means in light of this because of this as an outcome of this therefore you come out of the midst of them don't be yoked or connected to this world we have a calling out and by the way this word the word to to come and the word out to come out this is the same concept of the exodus to go forth from remember what we read in leviticus chapter 26 that last part it is the first half of verse 13 where god says i am the lord your god notice this relationship your god and i have brought you out of the land of egypt this bringing out this departure so this departure has consequences there are outcomes from departing with god departing with god walking with him means notice what he says therefore you come out from the midst of them and he says and you and it might be you be separate but literally if we pay a good amount of attention to this word it's a word for setting boundaries this is such an important concept we need to be people that set boundaries in our life i don't pass this boundary i do not do this i do not say that i do not participate in that and those boundaries are based upon god's standards what standards the standards of the torah let me just say for a moment that there is a false teaching that has plagued christianity for centuries and that is that as believers the law no longer has relevance the scripture makes it very clear we're not under the law what's one way to understand that we are not going to be judged by the law but the law still has relevance messiah says until heaven and earth depart will it depart yes it will when will it during the millennial kingdom absolutely not when he speaks about a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away that is only after the millennial kingdom so the law has relevance now it is not in effect there's no temple there's other reasons but we can still utilize the law we cannot keep the law in the fullness of what the torah says but we can take the truth as paul says the spirit not the letter but the spirit of the law and when we walk not in the flesh but in the spirit we will fulfill the righteousness of the law romans 8 4. so here we utilize how do we utilize the torah by seeing its definition of righteousness this is us this is what we embrace this is what we're involved in this is how we behave and those things that the torah says are unrighteous this is where we set the boundaries where we do not participate because we want to demonstrate righteousness and be separate from unrighteousness this is the implication of what he's saying in this passage when he says let's go back to verse 17 at the beginning he writes therefore you come out from the midst of them and you be separated literally you set boundaries you set set these markings that you don't participate that you don't take part in says the lord it's a commandment it's godly instruction and and he uses the word for that which is of impurity that which is not clean takes the word for cleanse cleaning and it puts a prefix which is unclean that which has not been perfected or made pure so those things that are unclean he says do not touch and this word do not touch is a broad word in the biblical language when we say i'm not even going to touch that i'm not going to speak about it i don't want to think about it i'm not going to deal with it it is going to be something that i am not related to and that's what he means when he says do not touch it implies not thinking not having any connection whatsoever with that so anything that's unclean and remember what we've learned i i've said this several times before but this word for for unclean is that which is unacceptable that god will not bless so when i choose and i am connected with that which is unclean what i'm doing is i'm pushing away god's blessings but when i am connected to participating with part of that which is clean that which is pure that which reflects to the character and purpose of god then i am inviting god's presence inviting his blessing so he says come out and this term come out is really related to the call to depart from this world and it's that term which really to be called out he says here come out but this phrase to be called out ecclesia is what the word church literally means once more and that which is unclean do not touch and i will receive you now again this term receiving it's a term of welcoming something receiving something with joy so he says i will receive you when we say no to something it's an invitation for god's presence and not just his presence but his provision and not just his provision but his perspective and not just his perspective but his power all these things come when we say no now i want to speak about a word the word nat's root now nat's root is simply the hebrew word for christianity and it comes from a word noon sade resh we know this word nitzer which is a a sprout a twig as messiah is called the the sprout that twig that comes from the stump of jesse but but in the verbal form this word is a synonym for the word to keep or guard so we use the term shabbat keeper of the sabbath shomer mitzvot the keeper of the commandments it's a word of of observing a word of guarding and what it says here is this that we're supposed to guard ourselves that we're supposed to keep ourselves pure and keep ourselves away from those things that that are displeasing those things that god rejects himself when we do that we are inviting the presence power perspective of god into our life look now to our last verse verse 18. now verse 18 has an exciting change we see we might say some political correctness in the word of god because he says and i will be to you for father now again father provider father is an instructor all these good things that a godly father will do he's promising to do that to us so he says and i will be to you for a father and you will be to me for sons and he says sons and daughters and what that is speaking of you ask why we understand people simply speaking about a covenant people i will be their god and they will be my people i understand this a covenant people when he changes it in the book of revelation as i discuss and it says i will be your god and you will be my son we have an inheritance but when he speaks about you will be my sons and daughters what's he speaking about he's speaking about a family relationship and family speaks about this intimacy that god when we do this we're going to experience his intimacy his presence in our life as we discuss so he is going to make us his sons and daughters says the lord and notice the last word in the greek text the lord and normally it's translated the lord almighty it is a word that speaks of his dominion over all things that he is a possessor of all things and that his possessing goes back to the very origin of this creation that everything belongs to god so it's a name a title that that that emphasizes and exalts god as the god of all meaning of all things he is the sovereign god and he's making us promise that we will be his family sons and daughters and he will deal with us as a father a godly glorious heavenly father he will deal with us is there anything better than that well we'll close with that until next week may god richly bless you shalom from israel well we hope you will benefit from today's message and share it with others please plan to join us each week at this time and on this channel for our broadcast of love israel.org again to find out more about us please visit our website love israel.org there you will find articles in numerous other lectures by baruch these teachings are in video form may download them or watch them in streaming video until next week may the lord bless you in our messiah yeshua that is jesus as you walk with him shalom from israel

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Length: 44min 0sec (2640 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 15 2021