Perfectly Holy

2 Corinthians 6:11-7:1

By way of introduction, lets read the full text for today then go through it together.

2 Corinthians 6:11–7:1 NKJV

11 O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. 13 Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open. 14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” 17 Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” 18 “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

11-13 Being Open 14-7:1 Being Separate

11-13 Being Open

2 Corinthians 6:11 NKJV

11 O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open.

Now Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2:4 “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.”

His relating it this way this isnt just about them hearing Paul but the ministry he is giving them. It is his love for them that drives him to share this ministry and teach them as he is.

Paul has been direct and sharing Christ in everything he shared with them. His intention in this preaching is to be open/freeing in his exhortation.

the way we share biblical love, is through biblical truth. Just the truth of it. No adding or making it feel more comfortable to the culture. Just truth. Now turn to 2 tim 4 with me. 2 Timothy 4:1–2 “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” I cannot rebuke or exhort if i change the scriptures to be soft on sin. Stay here in 2 Tim

We close up to the love and things of God, we we love worldly philosophy, money, etc

2 Corinthians 6:12–13 (NKJV)

12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. (gut love) 13 Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open.

So the corinthians have closed their hearts to them because of their affections to those false teachers and their desire to sin. You should still be in 2 tim 4. Look at

No matter what Timothy, this is how it goes, 2 Timothy 4:3–5 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, (lust craving) because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

what we love, that gut love, that agape love, is what we worship. and if you can turn from anything to follow him, you don't worship him, you worship that thing. i exhort you, repent, follow Jesus. Not your boss, not anything else but him.

to be restricted, is to be bound to your sin.

14-7:1 Being Separate

2 Corinthians 6:14–15 (NKJV)

14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?

Why would we equate ourselves with that which killed us? Romans 6:20–23 “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

these false teachers and apostles are contrary to everything that the bible teaches. Morality, truth, teaching. Paul uses words like, accord, communion so that they see that its more than just following false teachers its rejecting who we are in Christ. Teaching is incredibly important. False teaching is destructive to the Church as a community because it destroys the individual. We never just sin to ourselves.

Paul makes it so obvious, he uses antithetical language to show us one does not fit the other. Belial (the Gr. Beliar is a spelling variation) transliterates an Old Testament word that means “worthless person.” In Greek it came to mean “a lawless person.” It was then used of Satan, the most worthless and lawless of all. Living as a sinner is not living in Christ. Where we you abide?

being around those outside of fellowship is different than partnering with them. we don’t get our truths about God from those who don’t know Him. If we are yoked to those who are doing same work, going same way, thats not restricting, its accomplishing. Its sharing the load, doing the work.

unequal just means going in circles, doing nothing. Then Paul switches up to what it means with Christ in us this hope of Glory (Col 1:27)

2 Corinthians 6:16 NKJV

16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”

the temple was dedicated to the worship of the living God. There were steps to purify everything used in that temple because they were sanctified for use in service to God. How one dressed, behaved, etc was laid out for those coming to worship God. The believers in Corinth learned this from Paul and the scriptures so when He says, the same temple which was made holy for the Lord, you are now the mercy seat, where the holy of holies dwells. Turn to Ezekiel 37

Now, he quotes from Ezekiel but with a twist see if you catch the difference - Ezekiel 37:24–28 ““David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. 25Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. 26Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 28The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” ’ ”” not in them, but in their midst.

perhaps he's looking at: Jeremiah 31:31–33 ““Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—32not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

2 Corinthians 6:17–18 NKJV

17 Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” 18 “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

Now, I think Paul was using Isaiah 52:11 “Depart! Depart! Go out from there, Touch no unclean thing; Go out from the midst of her, Be clean, You who bear the vessels of the Lord.” and possibly Numbers 33, in regards to the father verse, but for sure Jeremiah 31:1 ““At the same time,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.””

Look, he truly is Our Father. Our Lord, Our Savior and God. Revelation 21:7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”

Becoming a believer, and living as a Christian doesn't just give us better lives and affect our surrounding in a real way, but it also in the practical delivers us into a grand relationship with our God! To a people who were separated, God calls us to be separate from this lost and dying world. Titus 2:14 “who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” We are His people called to do these works, because we have been delivered from the wickedness that so easily ensnares us.

But you have come where? Out. Not out of the closet, but the planet itself. Paul affirms this with the next verse;

2 Corinthians 7:1 NKJV

1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

another ending would say, So then, having these promises…or In conclusion.

This is sobering. Beloved I am not saying that you can be saved by works, but don’t be fooled into thinking you can live in outright, rebellious sin and thats ok with God. Look brother, because we have been saved by Grace doesn't mean everything is ok now. Cleanse man, cleanse! Get that dirt off you! 1 John 3:3 “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” Just earlier he said, 2 Corinthians 4:2 “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

He had told them in Turn 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

The question is, are you clean? Are you still living for your flesh or the Spirit? Come out beloved and enter into the joy of your Lord. John 14:15 ““If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Do you love Him, or just the idea of Him?