I was thinking when we were singing
that first song, the very last line of that number 50, it said,
hear our praise through Christ our Lord. It made me think of
when we pray, the scriptures declare we don't
know what to pray for. You know that, you that struggle
with prayer as we all do. I find that my prayers basically
are the same thing over and over and over. And I'm made aware while I'm
praying, I find myself wondering in my mind, And that scripture,
you know, the Spirit helpeth us, for we know not what to pray. We want to pray. We desire to
commune with the Lord, don't we? We want to. But while we
see the frailty of our flesh, our inadequacy to pray, and the
Spirit helps us, brings our minds back to where We wanted to be
for a moment, and then we struggle through in seeking to pray. And I think about that scripture
in Revelation, talking about the great angel, the angel of
the covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was given the golden
censer. And it takes the prayers of the
saints, that the Spirit has helped the saints to pray. And he takes
the prayers of the saints and presents them to the Father in
the merit of His holiness and righteousness. And the prayers
are accepted by the Father on the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those prayers that was helped
by the Spirit of God and they're kept. They're kept. They're kept
in heaven. I just, it's just so amazing
when I consider the marvelous blessing of prayer and how little
we know about it and how much we desire to pray and how precious
those prayers are presented in the glorious merit and incense
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we pray, may the Spirit
of God bring back to our memory the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ
when he said, without me you can do nothing. We think we can
pray. We can't pray. We're just frail
creatures of dust that are helped by the Spirit of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ that keeps us, never leaves us nor forsakes us. That's
a precious thought. All right. 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Now, the
Apostle Paul, when we stopped last time, had just stated, he
was talking about if an unbeliever is pleased to stay with a believer,
then that believer is to remain with his unbelieving spouse. Their marriage is honorable before
God and men, and it's being accepted in the sight of God, we don't
know. Maybe the Lord will be pleased
to save the unbelieving spouse. It might be the pleasure of the
Lord, we don't know that. But while you have a believing
or an unbelieving spouse, believer, if they're pleased, now if they
leave let them leave. You're not under bondage in a
case like that. So Paul now is going to continue
in this. It's the same thought about remaining
in marriage, and he's going to give an answer to a misconception
that arose in the minds of the church there in Corinth. The believers had heard, now
they're, you understand, they're coming out of Judaism, they were,
the law and the And they're living in a place that is absolutely
one of the most evil places, Corinth. It was known for its
debauchery. And they're hearing the freedom
that they have from the law and the deliverance from the bondage
of their former life and the encouragement that they're given
to walk in newness of life. Old things passed away. All things
have become new. And many thought that that freedom
meant that they were now to break. all their social ties, that they
were free to forsake their unbelieving spouses, and that servants could
renounce the authority of their masters. You know, I mean, if
I'm free, I'm free. I don't have any bonds to me. And now, because of that misunderstanding
of their freedom, In Christ, the Apostle Paul endeavored to
convince the believers in Corinth that their relationship to the
Lord Jesus Christ in saving grace was compatible with their marriage
and with their social position. He says in verse 17, But as God
hath distributed, or as God hath divided, or as God hath placed,
to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him
walk. And so ordain I in all the churches."
He said, I'm telling you here at Corinth the same thing that
I say to all the churches. If the Lord has placed, has divided
a man, a woman, and placed them somewhere and saved them, wherever
they are, stay there. Stay in that place, let him remain.
Conversion doesn't demand a change in your position, marriage, or
your vocation. Somebody says, well, now that
I'm a believer, I'm going to go do something else. And you
might, you might, if the Lord moves you. But if the Lord has
not been pleased to move you, stay where you are. Where you were when the Lord
called you is where He was pleased to put you. He put you there. And where He called you, stay
there. Single, married, vocation, whatever,
stay right there. Whether you're married to a believer,
unbeliever, or you're married to an unbeliever, stay there
in that place of usefulness and be content to walk in that place. Verse 18 and 19 says, Is any
man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision?
Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing. And
uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments
of God. He's continuing to give instruction concerning the believer's
former religious state. You know, he says, if you were
a Jew and you had been adhering to the ceremonies of the law
and you were circumcised in infancy and the Lord was pleased to call
you out of the darkness of works, religion. Don't try to hide the
fact that you were a Jew. You know, don't try to, you know,
change that, you know, if you were converted, Jew. You don't
hold to the keeping of the law or the trying to hold to the
keeping of the law, but don't try to hide the fact, he said,
if you were uncircumcised, And the Lord factually called, you
don't be circumcised for religious reason because he said circumcision
or uncircumcision has no bearing whatsoever on our state before
the Lord. It doesn't make a man righteous
before God. Circumcision was a sign. And
the scripture declares Galatians 6.15, for in Christ Jesus, Neither
circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new
creature." Paul was saying circumcision or the abstinence from it doesn't
profit you anything. before God for justification,
for a declaration of being holy, right before God. It doesn't make you righteous.
That alone which is profitable, is what he's saying, of an eternal
value is the impartation of life. You must be born again. Circumcision
doesn't mean anything. Uncircumcision, that doesn't
mean anything. New life. That's what he said. For in Christ
Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. God done something for you. Now
that's something. Right there. So circumcision
was intended. What was it for? What was the
reason for it? Well, under the old covenant,
it was a sign. It was a promise. It was a sign
given to Abraham. It was a promise of a better
covenant in Christ Jesus. What it did, circumcision pointed
to the person of Christ. It was a covenant that set forth
that there was going to be a putting away of the the old nature. It was going to be the separation
of sin from the guilt of sin. It was a sign. That's all it
was. It was a God-given sign and a
promise that there was going to be redemption by the Messiah. It was a promise of the putting
away of the filth of sin by His obedience and His death alone. And that's the reason that the
Lord Jesus Christ submitted to it. It pointed to Him. It was of the law. It was a keeping of the law. And so when the Lord came into
this world, made flesh, He submitted. to circumcision. He was brought
to the eighth, he was eight days old and he was circumcised according
to the law. He had to fulfill all points
of the law. But that circumcision, that sign
pointed to him. And it says in Romans 15.8, now
I say that Jesus Christ was a minister. That is, he came not to be ministered
to, but to minister. Jesus Christ was a minister of
the circumcision. He was sent to the Jews, you
know, he came as a Jew, sent as a Jew, but when it says that
he was a minister of the circumcision, it meant to the spiritual Jews,
to the spiritual people, those that were spiritually, in heart,
circumcised. Listen to this, Paul says, For
we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit, we
rejoice in Christ Jesus, we have no confidence in the flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ was the
one to whom the sign of circumcision pointed. When he came, he was
the fulfillment of of that type, that sign. So he says, now I
say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth
of God, or that is, proving the truth of God's word that said,
he shall come, and he did, to confirm the promises made unto
the fathers. He was born a Jew, made under
the law in subjection to the law, circumcised, in obedience
to the law of Moses that he might fulfill every promise, every
type, every picture that was given by Moses regarding the
Messiah. He was it. He came into this
world and did exactly as the Father had promised that he would
do. He finished the work given him. He did put away sin. He put away the filth of sin. So when God gave that sign to
Abraham, that was a sign. And he said, this physical sign
of circumcision is a picture, it's a type of what is spiritually
going to be done to your heart. The taking away of that sin. So he established the righteousness
of His people by His holy obedience. Now, we're justified not by the
one that God promises to send. That's what circumcision was
saying. He's coming. He's coming. There's one coming that's going
to spiritually do to God's people, what's physically done to the
Jews. He's not one that is coming,
but he is one that has come and has finished the work. Now, circumcision, according
to the old covenants, put away. The Jews now, they go through
the motion now, but that's been put away. Christ has come. The sign itself has been fulfilled
and openly shown. Now to submit to the act of circumcision
for justification before God would imply a defect or an insufficiency
in the Lord's finished work. I mean, if somebody's being circumcised
now to say, well, I'm going to do it like they did, well, here's
what they're saying. I don't believe He's come yet,
of which the Jews don't. They're still looking for the
Messiah. Paul says circumcision is nothing, uncircumcision, but
a new creation. So being circumcised for that
reason, To obey God, to fulfill the law, makes me liable to obey
the law in all of its counts. Now, Galatians 5.3, For I testify
again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the
whole law. Paul is saying now, if you're going to be circumcised
to keep the law, now you're going to have to keep the whole law.
So he said, if the Lord saved you, And He saved you in circumcision,
you were already circumcised. Don't try to go back, you can't
undo it. If you weren't circumcised, don't
be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing. Nothing is to be treated with
indifference as it pertains to a man's standing before God. That's what He's saying. So the
question that's to be considered is not whether a man has been
circumcised, but according our verse, verse 19, whether he keeps
the commandments of God. Now that, that's, what does that
mean? You know, look at verse 19. Circumcision's
nothing. Uncircumcision's nothing. All
but the keeping of the commandments of God. Now that's a question
right there that would perplex a believer if the Lord had not
answered it. What is it to keep the commandments
of God? When the Lord was asked, He answered
that, and I'm so glad He did. I so often go back to this verse
of scripture, you know, if you love me, the Lord said, keep
my commandments. Have you ever, you know, contemplating having
to try to keep the commandments of God? I mean, what did the
Lord say? When the Lord was asking John
6, 28, 29, what shall we do that we might work the works of God,
that we might keep the commandments of God? He answered, this is
the work, here it is, that you believe on Him whom He has sent.
That's the keeping of the commandments. I mean, if we're looking to ourselves
to try to say, well, I've kept the commandments of God, Remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Who has ever kept any day holy? Who has ever truly honored your
mother and your father? As Christ did. Now, there's not
one commandment that we have ever kept righteously before
God. Never. But I tell you what a
believer does. He believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's my life. He's my hope. He's my husband,
He's my Lord, my Redeemer, my Savior. I trust Him. I'm a sinner,
saved by the grace of God. That's keeping the commandments
of God. So, concerning circumcision,
uncircumcision, we don't be concerned with the exterior matters, but
rather our conformity to the will and the purpose of Jesus
Christ, believing Him, trusting Him, coming to Him by faith. Trust, not trusting ourselves.
I can't trust, I can put no trust in me. You can put no trust in
yourself. You know, trust in Him. Lord,
as Peter said, when Peter was walking on the water, he saw
the wind and he began to sink. Lord, save me. Boy, you're talking
about getting right to the heart of that prayer. Lord, save me. I'm sinking. How fast do you
think he started to sink? Pretty quickly. Alright, now,
concerning the circumcision of a heart, listen to what he says
in Romans 2.29. But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit,
not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Here's a true spiritual Jew. One that has no praise for himself
or for other men, but all praise is unto the Lord for His salvation,
for His life, for His keeping. Galatians 5, 6, For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. Faith which worketh by love and
keeping of the commandments are the same thing. And then last
verse for tonight. Verse 20, Let every man abide
in the same calling wherein he was called." Wherever you were
when the effectual call of God reached you and saved you in
that, as a rule, abide, a Jew, a Greek, a slave, a free man,
wherever. Be satisfied unless the Lord
providentially makes His will known to you. Now obviously,
there's vocation changes. Obviously, there's a difference. When the Lord called me, I wasn't
pastoring. You know, I wasn't doing that. I was working a regular job just
like I'm supposed to be doing. And providentially, I'm here
tonight. But where I was when the Lord
called me is where I was to stay. He'll make His will known to
you. As long as you're found in fellowship,
in harmony with God's people, found in a place where the gospel
is being proclaimed, rejoice. Stay right there. Wherever it
is, no matter what it is, whatever it is, David said in Psalm 84.10,
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I'd rather be
a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents
of wickedness. You know, how little we think
at times of our position in the kingdom of God. I've heard someone
say one time, I asked her, I said, what do you do? And she said
this, I'm just a housewife. I don't think I have ever seen
a job that is so demanding as a wife who keeps the home. Listen, I'm telling you, and
you ladies that still have to work, you still have to come
home and do it. I mean, you know, I'm not saying
that the men don't help some, but fellas, let's be honest,
we don't do much. And what we do is usually we
mess it up. I'm serious, I'm telling you.
There's things that I do that Glenda tells me, I didn't know
I did it. I didn't know I did it wrong. I thought I did it
right, you know. I try, I try, but a housewife,
I'm just a housewife, I'm just a shoe salesman, I'm just a carpenter,
I'm just an electrician, I'm just a coal mine. Brethren, where
the Lord has called you, adorn the doctrine of God our Savior
in all things. Wherever you are, He puts you
there. What a blessing when we behold
an unnamed maiden. What was the name of the maiden
that spoke to Naaman's wife and told Naaman's wife? Naaman was
a, he was a captain in the army, the Syrian army, and he was a,
I mean he was blam, bam, bam, bam, he was a leper. But there
was a maiden that the scripture never named. and spoke to Naaman's
wife. And Naaman's wife told Naaman,
my handmaid told me that there's a prophet over in this next place,
over in Samaria. And Naaman went over there. And the Lord was pleased to heal
him and save him. I'm going to read a scripture.
I'm convinced of his salvation. But what was that little maiden's
name? I don't know. She was just a
slave. But what a place! She said something
to Naaman's wife and God blessed it. How about a leper? Here's one that was a real blessing
to me. There was a leper who was given
a heart to come to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and say this,
and made this statement, If you will, you can make me clean. What was his name? I don't know. A certain leper. I don't know who he was, but
I can tell you this, how often has his words of faith filled
our hearts with joy and comfort and hope. How many times have
we quoted that scripture? Lord, if you will, you make me
clean. Well, we're quoting a quote from
a leper that the Spirit of God was pleased to not even name.
That's where the Lord put him. That was his state. There's no
insignificant or unprofitable position in God's kingdom. God Almighty is glorified in
our serving Him wherever we are, wherever you are, wherever you
go to work, wherever you're going to be tomorrow. That's where
the Lord puts you. And as insignificant as you think
it might be, or as stressful as you think it might be, the
Lord puts you there. And let's take care that we don't
forsake the place of His choosing by forsaking or despising our
position or our occupation and thereby dishonoring the profession
of His choosing, of His purpose and His grace. Obviously it doesn't
mean, as I said a while ago, that we never change our position,
but if we do, the Lord will do that. I was thinking about these
positions as I wrap this up. If we was a criminal, The Lord saves us. You think
there'd be a change? The answer is yes. I won't trick
you. The answer is yes, there'd be
a change. There was two thieves that were
crucified on either side of the Lord, and as one of them was
dying, he reprimanded the other because of his disrespect toward
the Lord. And this is what he said. Now
this man was a thief. He was a caught thief. He was a convicted thief. And
he was a dying thief. He was all those things. But
he was a changed thief. He was changed. He was in the
same position Right there. Here's what he said, "...does
not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation,
and we indeed justly? We receive the due reward of
our deeds, but this man hath done nothing." Did he die a thief? Yes, he was a thief. But I tell
you, there was a change in him. And he adorned. the position. He adorned the
doctrine. He adorned that place where God put him. He was there
just not very long. There was a man named Zacchaeus.
He was a tax collector. He cheated his own people. He
worked for the Roman government. The Lord called him by grace.
When Zacchaeus' heart was made new, he had this to say, Behold,
the half of my goods I give to the poor. If I've taken anything
from any by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." He was
a crooked tax collector, made to be an honest one. Stayed right
there. Never said that he was anything
other than a tax collector. He kept doing it, but it was
made honest. He adorned the gospel. But here's
my last point in a change, and this is one concerning that man
Naaman I was talking about, especially do we see a change of our former
life concerning our state of worship. This man Naaman, I want you to
take your Bibles, you don't have to turn back to 1 Corinthians,
this is going to be the last scripture, 2 Kings 5. 2 Kings 5. 2 Kings chapter 5, I'll read verses
10 to 19. Naaman was sent to Elisha to
be healed. And Elisha sent a messenger unto
him saying, go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall
come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was
wroth. went away, and he said, Behold,
I thought he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call
on the name of the Lord his God, strike his hand over the place,
and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Farpar, rivers
of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not
wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in
a rage. And his servants came near and
spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid
thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much
rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean. And
he went down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according
to the saying of a man of God. And his flesh came again, like
unto the flesh of a little child. And he was clean. He returned
to the man of God, He and all His company came and stood before
Him and He said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in
all the earth but in Israel. Therefore, I pray thee, take
a blessing of thy servant. He said, as the Lord liveth,
this is Elijah speaking, before whom I stand, I will receive
none. And he urged him to take it,
but he refused. And Naaman said, shall there not then, I pray
thee, be given to thy servant two mules burden of earth for
the servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice
unto other gods, but unto the Lord. In this thing, the Lord
pardoned thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house
of Rimen to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I
bow myself in the house of Rimen, when I bow down myself in the
house of Rimen, the Lord pardoned thy servant in this thing." This
is what happened to Naaman. He was sent by the good providence
of God to the prophet Elisha. When he got there, he thought
that Elisha was going to come out and honor him with his presence. And his arrogance was shown when
Elisha didn't come out. And all that proves is man's
sin and rebellion and lack of submission. All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. But then also we saw the prevenient
grace of God to the object of God's mercy. Grace that moved
Naleman's servants to encourage him to go back. They said, my
father, if he'd asked you to do something real hard, wouldn't
you have done it? You'd have done it if he'd asked you to
do something real tough. He asked you to go and wash in the Jordan
River seven times. You know, truly, provenient grace
that caused him to go back. The Lord said, I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. And then look at the mercy of
God to make him clean. A picture of being made clean
from leprosy is a picture of being made clean from sin. That
same leper said, Lord, if you will, you make me clean. But then lastly, the evidence
of life imparted. He was a broken man, concerning,
doesn't say that he ever left, no record that he ever was anything
other than a soldier. I doubt not that he went back
and he was still a soldier in Syria. and he was still probably
an honorable man, but one thing in particular changed. Whenever
the Lord was pleased to call him out of darkness, spiritual
darkness, this is what he asked pardon for. The last verse that
we read there in 2 Kings, he said in verse 18, in this thing
the Lord pardoned me. He said, when my master goes
into the house of Remen to worship there, he said, my master goes
in to worship this idol, Remen. And he said, when he goes in,
he leaneth on my hand. Obviously there was maybe a frailty,
I don't know, but Naleman would put his arm out, put his hand
out and hold this man up, hold his master up. He said, he leaneth
on my hand. And he said, I bow myself in
the house of Remen. He said, my master goes in there
and he bows down to this idol and I bow down to this idol. And he said, when I bow down
myself in the house of Remen, You know, trying to, you know,
do what his master does, just going through the motion, just
going through religion, just doing it for sake. You know,
well I just, I just gotta go to church. As long as I go to
church, that's all I got. It doesn't matter where you go,
you know, as long as you're sincere. You know, as long as you're sincere,
that's all you gotta do. That's what he thought. But he
said, when I bow myself in the house of remnant, The Lord pardoned
our servant in this thing. He said, I went in to this idol. I was doing what I was doing,
going through the motions, trying to please my master, trying to
do whatever it took to make, you know, make it look good with
him and get on his good side, stay, you know, worship his God.
And I'm going to ask you to pardon me for what I've done. Forgive
me. for going into that idle place and bowing down to that
dead idol. Wasn't a change in his vocation,
but there was a change in his heart. May the Lord bless these
words to our heart and may the Lord teach us, wherever we are,
unless the Lord providentially makes it known to you concerning
a change, stay where you are. and adorn the doctrine of the
Lord Jesus Christ where you are. We're lively stones built up
upon the foundation of Christ and the Lord's put us where we
are for a reason, to glorify Him. For Christ's sake we ask
these things. Amen.