C. The Influence of the Will of God. 2 Corinthians 6:1-7:4
1. The ministry of learning.
2. The ministry of knowing.
3. The ministry of willing service.
a. Willing to know doctrine. This is truth. What it is.
b. Willing to teach doctrine. This is the application of truth. What it means.
c. Willing to live doctrine. This is the method to use the knowledge. How it works
Last week we saw how that Paul and the missionaries were –
1). Steadfast in the Lord. 6:3-10 – and he also exhorted the Corinthians to also be steadfast in the Lord.

Today we see the exhortation to be –
2). Separated unto the Lord. 6:11-18

(a). Their attitudes. 6:11-13

Why did Paul turn to this theme following his declaration of being steadfast in the Lord? What was he instructing the believers to do?
First, he told them that they should love him as a father in the ministry of God. He told them that he had loved them and that he had said and done all that he could do to convince them of that love –
2 Corinthians 6:11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.

(1). Their love was due him.

Paul loved the Lord and loved the souls of Corinth. He traveled to the city and preached the good news of salvation to them. He followed in the foot steps of Jesus and now looked for the believers to return that love. They were to love the Lord –

1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

…and they were to love the Lord’s servants –

Hebrews 13:7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Paul then told them that he was not keeping them from showing him love. He was not doing anything to keep them away from him. They were the ones who were not offering their love to him.

1 John 4:21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

(2). Their love was not being stopped by him.

2 Corinthians 6:12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.

(3). Their love should have been given to him as he had given his love to them.

2 Corinthians 6:13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.

(b). Their actions. Right actions are based on right attitudes. 6:14-18

Here Paul takes them back to the opening statement in this chapter – “We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” Paul instructed them by God’s grace –

(1). Do not listen to false accusations. Paul loved them and they should love him.
(2). Do not live according to false teaching.

We must understand that truth and lies do not mix. They are opposed to each other. The poison of a lie is obvious. If you take a lie and add truth to it, it is still a lie. If you take truth and add a lie to it, it becomes a lie. Truth cannot be mixed with anything but truth!

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and 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.

When we get saved, God cleans us from all unrighteousness. While we are still in these bodies of flesh and will commit sin, we are no longer sinners by nature. We have a new nature which is guided by the Spirit of God. Before we were saved, we thought just as the demons thought – notice what they said when they faced Jesus – Matthew 8:29 “…they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Son of God?” When we get saved, our cry to God changes. Note –

Romans 8:14-15 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
God has given us grace that we may be able to live for Him. Therefore we are to be –
Separated together in right thinking and actions –

[a]. Separated from unrighteousness. 6:14-16 The practice of the world.
As we learn what we should do, we should then just do it! This involves a twofold committment –

[1]. Putting old things away. (Putting them behind us)
[2]. Keeping old things put away. (Not going back to the old things)

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us…”

[b]. Separated unto righteousness 6:17,18 The presence of the Lord.

“…and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Conclusion:

Ephesians 5:6-8 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

Are you a child of God having trusted in Him by faith through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ?