Unequally Yoked - part 13
As I get older, many things are happening to me, some good and wonderful and others not so good and wonderful. One concept that I am amazed at is the fact that there actually is a real God’s view of life and it contrasts the World’s view of life. And we who know the Lord and are known by the Lord, battle with these two world views, even when we think all is well. So before I get into the texts and the message, as an introduction, listen to what God inspired a man to write almost 3000 years ago, this is what God says;
Ecclesiastes 1:9-11. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.
It is very interesting and somewhat ironic that interpreters have identified Solomon, son of David, as the Preacher that is mentioned in this book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon here is talking about the basic principles of life and not about methods. As the old saying reminds us; methods are many, principles are few; methods always change, principles never do. And to further add a quote from Dr. Ironside as pastor of Chicago’s Moody church; “If it’s new, it’s not true and if it’s true, it’s not new”
Ecclesiastes 3:15. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.
With that in mind, I would like to read our passage of Scripture that we have been looking at.
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then 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.” Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
Today I would like to transition from the New Testament to the Old Testament and use the Old Testament as an illustration of this passage and the Ecclesiastes passage. I would like to give two Old Testament passages and then the main one. Turn to:
Exodus 34:10-16. And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.
And
Deuteronomy 7:3-4. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.
A major point must be made here. It is not about race but religion or where ones beliefs lie. God has established a commandment for His people to follow, in the Old Testament Hebrew nation, to the young Christian church at Corinth and to you and I today at New Hope Baptist Church on Edmundson Road. An application for us also is that this is not just a Second Corinthian statement dealing with the issues in Corinth. The issue was not new and with a careful examination of the Scriptures, we find consistency with Paul statement and the Old Testament book of the Law.
But bare with me New Hope, it has taken all of these passages for me to get to the main one that I would like for us to see, underline and pray about. We have talked about the prevention, let’s look at the after effect. Turn to;
1 Kings 11:4-10. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded.
Don’t miss this. Yes this is King Solomon, King of Israel, blessed with wisdom and wealth and yet foolish in his heart. I call him the sophomoric king, he was wise but foolish.
Brothers and sisters of New Hope while we are yet young we may feel that we can handle it and hang in there with it but the world does not say; okay I will leave you alone, and you win. No the world does not give up on you. The passage does not say when Solomon was young, but when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods. Things we may get away with while we are young, catch up with us when we are old. Stuff I could handle when I was young, I find difficult now that I am old. Even these colds and viruses going around, no problem when I was young but they can knock me down now that I am old. I don’t even heal as fast now as I did when I was young. My thinking is not as quick now as when I was young. Therefore I must agree with Ecclesiastes and say that this is not new. But this is Solomon who talked with God. Listen to the Word of God about this;
1 Kings 3:5-14. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
Solomon was the king allowed to build the temple of God and he was respected through out the world. So what went wrong?
1 Kings 11:1-3. Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.
Being excessive is an understatement here, having one foreign woman as a wife was breaking the law but Solomon had 1000 including wives, princesses and concubines. And that is a violation of what the law says. Listen
Deuteronomy 17:14-20. “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
About 500 years before Solomon became king of Israel, we have the law written about what the king should be about. The wisdom of Solomon was not enough to handle what God was telling him to do. His love for foreign women was, at the least, on the same level as his love for God. His actions in his old age demonstrate that his love for them was higher. Several observations;
Solomon did not learn from his own teachings and writings and as a result the Hebrew kingdom suffered
Ecclesiastes 12:1. Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
Proverbs 3:5-8. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
1 Kings 11:11-14. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.” And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom.
Do we who are called old today realize that we can do or not do something and cause this church and our sons and daughters to suffer as the result of it?
Let us not put our trust in Solomon nor the wisdom of Solomon, one more passage and I will close with this one, from the good news by Matthew, listen to these words.
Matthew 12:42. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
And I am here today to say what we have been saying all this month remember Jesus the Christ, He is the something that is greater than Solomon and He is here.
His wisdom is unflawed! His strength is unyielding! His authority is all authority! His wealth is unknowable! And it is he who says to us old folk; “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Can I make it without King Jesus? Ask King Solomon!
Let us pray
I was moved at the beginning of this month with the words from Scripture, a quote from Jesus concerning the Lord’s Supper, where He says; “do this in remembrance of Me.” When you slow down, stop and take a review, it is sad and at the same time humbling that we, who are in the church, must be reminded to remember our Jesus. Especially since we are the people who walk in His name.
Can I make it without King Jesus? Ask King Solomon.
In the past I have made an accusation that the world, in the context of what we are commanded in 1 John 2:15-17, is attempting to keep and make more disciples also.