For lo, his doom is sure, One
little word shall fell him. That word above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them abideth. The spirit and the gifts are
ours through him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindred go. This mortal life also, the body
they may kill. God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. Please be seated. Good morning. Uh, when, uh, Walter and Betty
and, and, um, the brethren Houston, uh, send their love and appreciation
to you for your love for Cody and, uh, your support, um, for
the work of the gospel in Mexico. Um, they're very appreciative
for you and wanted me to express that, uh, to you. Um, Andrea
and Austin and Kate are doing exceptionally well. And as is
Winna, and as is Walter and Betty. I hope that if I have to go through
that sort of loss, that God will give me the grace that he's given
to them. It's amazing. We don't grieve
like other people. We have a hope, and they have
a hope. And their hope is not founded
on wishes or uncertainties. It's founded on the truth of
the gospel and the truth of God's Word. Services were very Christ-honoring. I wish you could have been there.
I know you wish you could have been there. We're going to continue our study
in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we ask that you would be pleased this morning. To increase our
faith. To give to us your Holy Spirit
in power. That you would lighten the eyes
of our understanding. Father, how we pray that you
would enable us to set our affections on Christ. Those things which are above.
Those things which are eternal. We thank you for the hope that
you put into the hearts of all the family and friends of our
brother Cody. Knowing, Lord, that you have
prepared a place for him, that our hope is not founded on faulty
ground, but on the sure promises, the precious promises of Your
Word. O Lord, how we pray that You
would bless Your Word now and cause us, Lord, to cling to it,
to crave after it. As a child craves after the sincere
milk Lord, that we would crave the milk of thy word, that you
would bless our hearts, encourage our souls with your grace. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. The first part of 1 Corinthians
chapter 7 we looked at last week, and the Lord was speaking to
the singles, those who are not married, and saying to them that
if you're not married and you can remain that way, that it
would be easier for you. Now, very few are able to maintain
that life without, as the scripture makes reference to, the burning
of the flesh and uh... the the temptation of fornication
and if that's uh... that that's very natural and
most folks don't have the grace to remain single but if you can
uh... it be easier be easier life and uh... and we like and
that to christ and his relationship with the church uh... how much
easier it would have been for him. How much grief he could
have avoided. How much heartache and bloodshed
he could have escaped had he just remained single. But he
didn't. He took for himself a wife and
he willingly laid down his life for his wife. And how thankful
his wife is for that. and and we continue to cause
him grief don't wait we we we we do we we continue to cause
our husband grief and yet he's committed to his wife he says
i'll never leave you i'll never forsake you just like jose a
uh... went to the slave market and
purchased gomer back to himself and and and brought her back
into his home so often times the lord does that for his wife. He does that in salvation and
he continues to do that every time he causes us by his spirit
to come unto him. He's showing us his love and
the faithfulness of a husband that will not forsake his wife. And the Lord likens the relationship
that Christ has with his church to the union that we have in
this world with husbands and wives. He said there in Ephesians
chapter 5, we looked at that last Sunday, I speak concerning
Christ and his church, which is a great mystery. But the encouragement
that the Lord gives to us in our struggles in marriage, in
this world, in our relationships, is to give us that pattern. We look unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. And what a perfect example we
have to follow after. Now he's going to turn the attention
of the Scriptures in verse 10, unto the married. And I've titled this study, To
the Married. Now, if you're single, the Lord's
already dealt with that in the first nine verses. He's speaking
now to those who are married. And whether or not you have in
the history of your life a divorce or not, if you're married now,
then this is the admonition that God has for married couples who
are able to hear the word of God. How often times have you
heard someone say, maybe you've thought it yourself, maybe you've
even said it. It's easier to get forgiveness than it is permission. And we use that as an excuse
to do something that we ought not to be doing. And that ought
never to be our attitude when it comes to the precepts of God's
word. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable. for doctrine, for correction,
for reproof, for instruction in righteousness, that the man
of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works." When God
speaks, we say, this is the Word of God. And we're not going to
take this lightly. If we have violated these precepts
in the past, here's our hope. There's not a single sin that
cannot be forgiven. not a single one and uh... and there's not a single one
of us who has not violated this admonition in our hearts whether
we've ever experienced divorce or not soul uh... we're looking to christ I've
heard people say, well you know the Bible says that if you've
gotten divorced and you're remarried, you're living in adultery. That's not what the scripture
says. The scripture says you've committed adultery. was scripture
done saying about living in adultery those those sins are forgiven
if we're looking to christ and have confessed them uh... to
him and so you know that's that that's what that's what he that's
what he shed his precious blood for to uh... to to cover all
arson and uh... so to those who are married here's
what god says Here's what God says. Look at verse 10. And unto
the husband I command, yet not I but the Lord. Now let me clarify
this because somebody asked me last week, I tried to explain
these three verses. There's three verses in this
chapter where Paul says this is not by commandment, this is
by permission. And all he's saying is that This
is either something that the Lord Jesus Christ himself clearly
taught when he was here in those three years of his public ministry,
or it's something that's clearly taught in the Old Testament.
And the three times that Paul speaks of, this is not by command
but by permission, all he's saying is that this wasn't given to
us in the Old Testament and the Lord did not speak to this subject,
but I'm now speaking to it. and uh... it what he's saying
that as a penman of scripture is just as authoritative as if
the lord had said it or as if it had been recorded in scripture
all he's saying is that this is this is the this is the principle
that the lord has ordained for us in in this life and so uh... so when he says unto the husbands
i command yet not i but the lord The Lord's made a clear commandment
that we're not to depart out of a marriage union. What God
has joined together, let no man put asunder. And so you say,
well, I've done that. You know, if you've gone through
divorce, you know better than anybody the heartache and of
divorce but I want to say to you that our God is a god of
forgiveness and if you're married now we're not gonna we're not
going to abuse the grace of God by saying well I'll just get
forgiveness later this is what God says right now to marry couples
whether they've ever been divorced or not. I command, yet not I,
but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband. And
if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to
her husband, and let not the husband put away his wife." Now,
that doesn't require any explanation. We don't say, well, what about
this and what about no? Here's what God says. This is,
and as married couples we say, oh Lord give me the grace, give
me the grace to honor you in my marriage, to obey your word,
to not put away my wife, and to not put away my husband. And the woman which hath a husband
that believe not, if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not
leave him. Now, these are as is the case
today. I mean, I read some commentaries
and they were talking about the paganism that these believers
came out of. And it was rank paganism, but
it wasn't any more pagan than what we've come out of. uh... we we dress up our paganism today
to make it look like christianity but it's still paganism it it
it's just as evil justice demonic as was the situation of these
believers came out of so what he's saying is that if the lord
has been pleased to save the husband or the wife in a marriage
and not the other I don't use that as an excuse to get rid
of your spouse is that what we're not you know we're we're both
not believers and so you speak into the believing husband now
are to the believing wife and the wife I let's read it again
verse 13 and the woman which have the husband that I'm that
believe not if he be pleased to dwell with her let her not
leave him if the unbeliever you know them oftentimes oftentimes
God saves one spouse in a in a relationship and the unbeliever
says I'm outta here there's no way I'm on be a part of that
they they hear the truth of the gospel and they want nothing
to do with it and the Lord saying if that happens outside your
control there's nothing you can do about that let him go but
if they're willing to stay then it'd be better if they stay and For if the unbelieving husband,
I'm sorry, verse 14, for the unbelieving husband is sanctified
by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband,
else were the children unclean, but now are they holy. What does that mean? The word
sanctified means to set apart. What the Lord is saying... Psalm
49 verse 7 says, "...No man can by any means redeem his brother
or give a ransom for him, for the redemption of the soul is
precious." The redemption of the soul can only be purchased
by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're not
going to save your unbelieving wife because you're saved. No
man can save another man. God's got to do that. uh... that's that's clear in the scripture
so when he's talking about being sanctified or being holy he's
speaking of it in a much more broad sense than uh... the act
of having been made holy by the redeeming grace of god uh... he that sanctified and they that
are sanctified are all as one uh... that's that's the sanctification
of redemption that's when god takes a sinner and uh... makes
them a saint and converts them and gives them faith to look
upon to look to christ uh... hebrews chapter ten verse fourteen
four by one offering he half perfected for ever them that
are sanctified so the offering that the lord jesus christ made
on calvary's cross half-perfected and it did perfect the the work
that the blood that Christ shed on Calvary's cross does not become
effectual for our salvation when we believe it was a factual for
our salvation when it was shared a way we're just discovering
when when God gives us faith to believe we're discovering
something that's always been We're not making the work of
Christ work for us because we exercised our faith. God gives
faith to everyone that has been sanctified by the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. and uh... and so the word sanctified
oftentimes is used in that regard listen to this in john chapter
seventeen verse nineteen for their sakes you know john seventeen
is our lord's high priestly prayer he's interceding on behalf of
his church his bride and he says for their sakes i sanctify myself
you can sanctify yourself but he could he could He sanctified
Himself. He set Himself apart that they
also may be sanctified through the truth. They're going to be
sanctified through the truth. Jeremiah chapter 23, the scripture
speaks of our Lord's name being the Lord our righteousness. and in jeremiah chapter thirty
three the scripture says and she shall be called the lord
our righteousness so by virtue of our union with christ we are
sanctified made holy made perfect without sin before god as he
is so are we in this world right now now that's the clearest teaching
of scripture So, whatever the Lord's talking about here, the
believing husband sanctifying the unbelieving wife, or the
believing wife sanctifying the unbelieving husband, else their
children would not be sanctified wholly. We know it's not talking
about that aspect of sanctification that we just talked about. What it is talking about is the
special protection from Satan, the special provisions of grace
that take place in a home because there's a child of God there. How many people in this world
have ever even heard the gospel? How many people in this world
have ever had the blessing of being able to come where God's
people are gathered together and hear a man of God preach
Christ? How many people? Think about
that. Think about that. I mean, how many people? Are there six billion people
in the world? Something like that? Is that about right? I
don't know. Seven? How many? If God has set apart an unbelieving
woman with a believing husband, or vice versa, or given their
children an opportunity to be in the same household with a
believer and to be exposed to the gospel, that's a setting
apart from the rest of the world that they know nothing about. That's what this is talking about.
So if there's a believer in the home, if there's a believing,
maintain that union if you possibly can, that your children would
have an opportunity to be set apart from the rest of the world. This is our Lord's admonition,
His encouragement to each and every one of us that are married. Whether we're in a marriage with
an unbeliever or not, do everything you can to maintain that union
for the hope of salvation for the unbelievers that remain in
that home. see only thing that's gonna matter you know that i'm preparing a
message right now on what does god call precious what does he
call precious and he's not talking about being cute when he went
down when the scripture speaks of something being precious he's
talking about it being priceless and there's four things that
god calls precious He calls the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
precious. He calls our faith precious. He calls the promises
of God precious. And he calls Christ precious.
And I want to introduce that message by asking you, what's
precious to you? What's valuable to you? What
is priceless to you? I mean, we invest so much of
our time and energy into things that are temporal. The only thing
that's going to matter is whether or not we've heard the precious
promises of God's Word, whether or not He's given us precious
faith through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
that moment of truth, when you and I draw our last breath, it
will be the only thing that matters. Nothing else. Now, what the Lord
is saying to us is, in your homes, do everything you can to maintain
hope of salvation for every member in that home. Because whatever
struggles you have in this life, it's coming to an end. We've
just got a few more days. Now, I'm going to keep saying
that to you. Is God saying it to me? And I know I'm older than
a lot of you young people here, but trust me, you've only got
a few more days. We look at those pictures back there on the, when
Cody preached the first time standing right here 20 years
ago, well, 16 years ago. Yesterday, it was yesterday. Verse 16, I'm sorry, verse 15. For if the unbelieving depart,
let him depart. A brother or sister is not under
bondage in such cases, but God hath called us to peace. Seek
to be at peace with all men whenever possible. Now, when is it not
possible to be at peace with someone? When it has to do with
compromising the gospel. and so if what the Lord saying
is if the unbeliever is insisting that you as the believer compromise
the gospel or to maintain this union then let him go because
you can't do that but for everything else make concessions and seek
to be at peace other than the compromising of the gospel For what knowest thou, O wife,
whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether
thou shalt save thy wife? Now, we've already dealt with
that. You're not going to save another man's soul. He's talking
about the influence of the gospel being in that home through the
life of an unbeliever. But as God hath distributed to
every man, as the Lord hath called everyone, so let him walk. The word walk in the Bible has
to do with our pattern of life. It's not what we believe, it's
what we do. He's talking about how to live
your life. So let us walk and so ordain
I in all the churches. These principles are true for
every church and every child of God, no exception. Is any man called being circumcised?
Is it you? Let him not become uncircumcised. Physically that's impossible.
He's talking about Now, a Jew becomes converted and he's living
around a bunch of Gentiles and he denies, you know, having been
a Jew in hopes that, well, if I can, kind of like Peter did
in Antioch. You remember when Peter moved
from the table of the Gentiles over to the table of the Jews
when the elders from Jerusalem came up to Antioch and Paul had
to rebuke him publicly because that very act was a denial of
the gospel. And that's all he's saying in
this verse. He's saying don't identify with a different group
just so you can be accepted by them. It would be a denial of
the gospel. The Lord saves us all and we
don't have to try to please man in order to
in order to be saved he says he says if any man be circumcised
let him not become uncircumcised and if any be called uncircumcision
let him not be circumcised you don't don't don't play that game let every man abide in the same
calling wherein he was called so we know we're not we're not
trying to uh... change the outward appearance
of our life to make us look like you know we're we're uh... we're
christian you are our profession in our are uh... here is from
about whether you be a jew or gentile whatever whatever background
you came from uh... art thou called being a servant
he's talking about slaves Slavery was practiced. And he's saying,
God save you, you were a slave. Don't rebel against your master.
don't don't you you if you you show reverence to your master
trust God to to to to bless you in that relationship and if he
are if he provides an opportunity for you to be delivered from
that slavery than take advantage of it but don't don't insist
upon it I remember The whole book of Philemon is written about
Onesimus who fled, you know, he fled his bondage as a slave
and came back as a brother. So when he's talking about let
every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called, he said,
if you're a slave, just remain there. Care not for it. But if
thou mayest be made free, use it rather. If you have an opportunity
to be free from your slavery, then yeah, take advantage of
that. for if he that is called in the Lord being a servant is
the Lord's free man for he that is called okay here's a person
who's who's a slave mean their purchased property they have
no rights have to do exactly what that we'll know anything
about that and uh... he said you're free in Christ
what is the Lord doing all as is true in all of his work what's
he doing he's speaking to his people to make judgments based
on spiritual truth not physical circumstances he's saying to us don't be like
the world the world makes their judgments and their decisions
based on their physical circumstances if you've got spiritual eyes
if you can see christ If you can have any understanding of
the gospel, then you make the decisions as to how you walk
from that perspective. Because though you may be a slave,
you're free in Christ. You're a free man in Christ.
You're free to love God. You're free to worship. You're
free to believe God. You're free from the bondage
of sin. You're free from the rigors of the law. You're free
from any fear of judgment and wrath and death. You're free.
Where am I free? I'm a slave. No, you're free
in your heart. How fleshly we can be. when we
make judgments based on our physical circumstances rather than the
spiritual truths of the gospel. The Lord is just saying to us, have spiritual eyes. See things
like God sees things. And it will affect the decisions
that you make in terms of how you walk. It will. Verse 22, for he that is called
in the Lord being a servant is the Lord's free man. Likewise
also, he that is called being free is Christ's servant. See,
here's how things really are. Say, you're not a slave, you're
free, you live in a free country, we've got freedom of speech and
freedom of movement and we have so many freedoms that we enjoy
in this country. But you would say, if you're
a child of God, no, no, I'm not free. I'm a bondservant. I'm a slave of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm looking to Him and listening
to Him and following after Him. And in being His slave, I'm really
free. Because the freedoms that this
country offers me and the Constitution offers me cannot be compared
to the freedom that He gives me when I become a slave to Christ.
See, those that are outwardly free are in bondage to sin. They live
in darkness. And those who are spiritually free are in bondage
to Christ. For you, verse 23, are bought
with a price, be not ye the servants of men. You belong to Christ,
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're His. If you belong to Him, if you
belong to Him and you're His servant, then you're listening
to His voice. Lord, what would you have me
to do? What would you have me to do? And here he's told us, as married
couples, what we're to do. May God give us the faith and
the grace to do it. All right, let's take a break. th th