Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 7. 1 Corinthians chapter
7. I've been going through this book
verse by verse. What a blessing. The Apostle Paul, and last time
we considered this, being directed by God's Spirit, set forth the
duties and the responsibilities of husbands and their wives. Now, tonight I'm going to be
talking to believers. I'm talking to believers. Unbelievers, they care nothing
for these scriptures. They care nothing for God's Word,
and for an unbeliever, the Scriptures mean nothing to
them. But for believers, Paul is speaking to the church at
Corinth, and he told The church concerning husbands and wives,
verse 3, let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence. I won't go into the depth that
we did last time, I'll just read the scriptures, then we'll go
on to start in verse 6 tonight. And likewise also the wife unto
the husband. hath not power of her own body,
but the husband, and likewise also the husband hath not power
of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other,
except it be with consent, for a time that ye may give yourselves
to fasting and prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt
you not for your incontinency. The Apostle Paul, and this is
where we'll start tonight, he said in verse 6, but I speak
this by permission and not of commandment. Now this is what
he was saying. were divinely spoken to teach believers that
the admonitions, when he says, but I speak this, what we just
read concerning the responsibilities and the duties that husbands
and wives have for each other, he said, I'm telling you this
under the inspiration of God's Spirit to teach you that Marriage
is not a commandment of God. It's a privilege given. It is
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if a man, a woman are married,
Then the scripture set forth, this is the responsibilities.
He said, I speak this concerning the permission that we have of
the Lord. Not a commandment of the Lord.
There's some believers that are not married. We're going to deal
with it in just a few minutes. So he says in verse 7, For I
would that all men All believers, he's still talking to believers.
When he says all men, that doesn't mean everyone without distinction
because only a believer cares about what God has to say. I would that all men were even
as myself, but every man have his proper gift of God, one after
this manner and one after that. He wished that all believing
men and women were as himself. I believe that, and I think all
the commentators say the same thing, we pretty well presume
that Paul was not married, but it never says it specifically,
so therefore we're just going to not make a direct statement
concerning that, but we believe that he wasn't. He says, I wish,
I would, that all men were even as myself." But he's not talking
specifically about being married or not being married. Whether
he was or whether he wasn't is not the issue. He's talking about,
he said that all men or women in the Lord would be satisfied
in the state that they are. Paul said, I know how to abound
and I know how to be abased. I've been prospered materially
and I've been in dire straits, you know, and I've learned whatsoever
state I'm in, therein to be content. So that's what he's saying concerning
men and women in the Lord. He said, I would that all men
were even as I myself. being content wherever the Lord
has placed you. But every man hath his own proper
gift of God, one after this man, or one after another, if the
Lord's given the gift of self-control. And you can remain unmarried,
abstained from fornication. It's what he's been talking about
last time. Then, that's wonderful, that's
good. But every believer has his own
special gift of grace from the Master wherever the Lord has
placed you. Remember this. God's people are
lively stones. Build it up. Together. Built
on the foundation of Christ. And wherever the Lord puts us,
He put us there. We're there by the grace of God. So, then He said in verse 8,
I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them
if they abide even as I. Again, content wherever he is. I don't want to make a statement
that I can't back up with the scriptures, but if he's saying
now, if to the unmarried and to the widows, if a believer,
if a believer is unmarried, never been married, or if your spouse
has died, you're a widow or a widower, he said it would be good, it's
profitable, if you remain unmarried. That is because of the cares
and the responsibilities that he had just dealt with, here
again of the last service or two, marriage carries with it
responsibilities. It's got trials, it's got Things
that happen, we're sinners saved by the grace of God and we have
that old man with us and it's got its own burdens as I've told
you before. A man that's not married doesn't
have the responsibility of house that he's got to have. He's got
to have a place to live, but maybe it doesn't have to be as
big or large. He doesn't have children to raise
and children are expensive. I've said before, you always
say, I'll be so glad when these kids get out of the house and
I don't have the responsibility of raising them. You never get
away from the responsibility of them. Never, never. If you're not, you know, keeping
them financially, your heart is still with them. I mean, they're
still your kids. My kids are all grown. And Gabe
and Sarah and Hannah and Becca and Mark and Aaron, they're still
my kids. And I love them and I'm concerned
about them. You've got them. You've got the
responsibility of children. Then grandchildren come along. And so Paul said to the unmarried, to the widows, it's good for
them. It's profitable. Not that it's
good or better than being married. We dealt with that on the marriage
bond and how this is ordained of God. It's a picture of Christ. So Paul is not saying that the
Lord You know, he's not in contention with what the Lord has said.
When the Lord said it's good that the man not be alone, Paul's
not contradicting what the Lord said. What he's saying is, if
the Lord, by His grace, by the gift of restraint, has given
you that ability to remain unmarried, free from these responsibilities,
you're free to be able to serve the Lord. in a capacity that
being married would have been a hindrance to you. It appears,
as I said, that Paul was unmarried, therefore he was given God's
gift, obviously, to devote himself to the calling of the Lord. What
calling? Hold your finger right there and turn over to Acts 9.
Acts chapter 9. I mentioned this, I didn't read
the scripture last time, I just made reference to it. What did
the Lord call the Apostle Paul to? Saul of Tarsus 2. Acts 9
verse 10 said, There was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias,
and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Behold,
I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise,
and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire
in the house of Judas, for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayeth, he hath
seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting
his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. And Ananias
answered, Lord, we have heard by many of this man. how much
evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath
authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on thy
name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way. He is a chosen
vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings
and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great
things he must suffer for my name's sake." I mentioned Paul said that he
was so many times in the water, and he was in shipwreck, and
he was beaten, and he was stoned, and he said great things. He must suffer for my name's
sake. To give you an example of the
burdens that Paul, if he was unmarried, was relieved from,
I think about Job. And Job was chastened of the
Lord through Satan. It was used Satan to chasten
Job. He took his kids, he took his
animals, he took his servants, he took all of his, tore up all
of his buildings and stuff like that. And Job was totally devastated
by these losses that he had had. Can you imagine? But then, his
wife, his wife came to him and said, why don't you curse God
and die? Why don't you just curse God
and die? Can you imagine? Can you imagine
a man's wife? God's called a man to the ministry
that he's in right there, and then have the burden of having
a wife that is just, you know, why don't you curse God? What
a burden. Paul said, he said, I say to
the unmarried widows it's good for them if they abide even as
I. But, he said in verse 9, if they
cannot contain, let them marry For it's better to marry than
to burn. If the Lord is not given that
gift or that grace of self-control and restraint, then here's what
Paul is saying. Be married. Be married. The advantage of freedom from
the responsibilities of the trials that come with marriage. And
the vast majority of us are married. Not all, but most of us are. And those that the Lord has allowed
to be unmarried, if they remain unmarried, the Lord will give
them grace. But if they can't, then He says,
be married. You know, be married. And He
said it's better to be married than to burn for compassion. And to be, you know, in dire
desire of companionship stuff. But, I want to read just 1 Corinthians
chapter 7, just turn over verse 39. Verse 39. Look here, the wife
is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth, but if her
husband be dead, now he was talking a few minutes ago to those who
are unmarried and widows, or widowers. If her husband be dead,
she is at liberty to be married to whom she will. But Louis says, only in the Lord. Only in the Lord. My wife passed away in 2000. And I was talking to brother Henry
Mahan one time, I'm sure I shared this with you. I visited with Henry and Doris
a lot, and one day Henry was talking to me and he said, I'm
going to give you some advice. He said, don't even consider
marrying anyone that has not made a profession of faith for
at least five years. At least five years. What you
want is you want to marry someone that knew Christ before they
knew you. I thought that was good advice. That's what the
Apostle says. If they marry, marry in the Lord. But he said in verse 10, And
unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let not
the wife depart from her husband. When Paul speaks of himself speaking,
now listen to what he said, verse 10. Unto the marriage, I command,
yet not I, but the Lord, let not the wife depart. You know,
when he speaks of himself, look in verse 6, but I speak this
by permission. Look in verse 8, I say therefore
unto the married and widows. Look at verse 12, but to the
rest, Speak I, not the Lord. Now let's make one thing perfectly
clear. The Apostle Paul is not speaking
his own mind and his own thoughts. These scriptures right here that
we're reading, all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
And when Paul says that I speak, I speak. I say this, I'm saying. He didn't originate anything
when it came to these Scriptures. All he means when he says that,
he's speaking that which the Spirit of God has moved upon
him to reveal concerning subjects that the Lord did not speak on
specifically. But though the Lord did not mention
it before, The Lord is saying it now, through the mouth of
Paul. What he's saying is, I speak
God, you know, I say this, not the Lord. That means he didn't
say it before, but he's saying it now. So, all Scripture is
the Word of Christ. So we're not taking somebody
and say, that's just Paul's opinion. No, it's not. Remember, all scripture
is given by inspiration of God. So therefore, it's the Master's
voice that we hear. So Paul says, and under the marriage,
I command, what he's saying is, I'm saying this, he said, but
he said, it's not I, but the Lord. Let not the wife depart
from her husband. Now, when did the Lord say that?
Well, again, hold your place, turn over to Matthew 5.31. Matthew
5, 31. Matthew 5, 31, 32. The Lord is speaking to a group
of Pharisees. He said, it hath been said, whosoever
shall put away his wife, let him or her husband, wife put away her husband, let
him give her a writing of divorcement. But I say unto you, that whosoever
shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication,
causeth her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her
that is divorced, commiteth adultery." Now this is the commandment of
the Lord. What had happened, The Jews had taken God's Word
and twisted it and turned it. They'd taken the law and they
would take it and they'd say, well, if a woman has been unfaithful. And then they started making
their own judgment call on what they considered to be unfaithfulness. Whatever they consider, whatever
trivial thing that a wife might have done. They consider that,
well you're just being unfaithful, you back talked to me, or you,
you know, even one, Mr. Gill said, read where if they,
if the food wasn't prepared, like they like, like the husband
liked it, well that's unfaithfulness. And they had it to where all
you had to do is just go down and just say, I'm just, you know,
I'm not happy. I want the, I want to go to the
priest and I'm going to get a, you know, an annulment piece
of paper, just write on there, I so and so and so and so on
this date, that I give you, I relinquish, you know, from me and, and you're
not my responsibility anymore. And the Lord says, you, you know,
you've, you've, you've heard that you could just go down and
just get a writing of divorcement. The Lord said, but I say unto
you, except for fornication, except for adultery, incest,
except for, or in the scriptures in 1 Corinthians 7 verse 15,
but if the unbelieving depart, we're talking to believers tonight,
and I'm going to start Lord willing next time on verse 12, and it'll
be talking about believers married to unbelievers. But he said,
if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister
is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us
to peace. So here is the grounds for divorce
according to the word of the Lord. Unfaithfulness in marriage
concerning adultery. Unfaithfulness. They were unfaithful. Or if they leave, if they tell
you, I just don't want to leave, I don't want to stay with you,
and I would say this. But the scripture sets forth
to believers, Ephesians chapter 5, wives submit yourselves to
your own husbands. He's talking to believers. He's
talking to believers when he says, husbands, love your wife
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Now, believing men or believing
women, listen to me. If there is one that is married
to an unbeliever, I don't want to get into next time's message
because I'm going to deal with this, and you'll probably have
to listen to it again, but I've repeated myself before, so it's,
you know. If you're married to one, you
love your wife, husbands, as Christ loved the church, and
you give yourself. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as unto the Lord. Do it as you're doing it
as unto the Lord. You do what the scriptures set
forth for you to do. And if the wife or the husband,
because of the gospel that you believe. Now, if you're a jerk
and you treat your spouse disrespectfully, you don't love her, you don't
wives, you're not submissive or something, and you just, you
know, and the other one, you know, just you beat them or something
like that. That's, that's not, if you're,
if they're leaving you because of that, shame on you, shame
on me. But I'm telling you, if they
leave over the gospel, if they leave, if they back you in a
corner, and they say, now I'm going to tell you something,
It's either going to be me, or this gospel that you say, or
this Christ that you say. I can't handle it. Let them go. Let them go. If they depart,
here's what he says. If they depart, let them go. Let them depart.
Let them leave unto the married. I command, yet not I, but the
Lord, let not the wife depart, but, verse 11, if she depart. I'm going to tell you something.
Remember me saying that we're talking to believers? He's still
talking to believers. And when He says unto the married,
He's still talking to believers here. I command, yet not I, But
the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband. Look at verse
11. Look at the first verse, first word in verse 11. But,
but, if she depart. Paul is speaking to believing
husbands and believing wives, or professing believers. And
one might ask, now, you're saying that you're talking to believers?
He's talking to believers. Because I can tell you this,
that we're human. We're flesh. And Paul is talking
about believing husbands and wives. And he says, let not the
wife depart from her husband. Can it be that two believers
couldn't reconcile things? I've seen it. I've seen it happen. I've seen two people that that married and they, for some
reason, they just couldn't stay together. You say, how can that
be? How can anything be? We're sinners
saved by the grace of God. There may be something about
one or the other that you just It drives you up the wall. I
don't know what to say. All I can tell you is this. Whether
their habits, whether their irresponsibility, whatever it is, the scripture
says, let not the wife or the husband depart except for unfaithfulness. But, If you do, that's what verse
11 said, but and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be
reconciled to her husband and let not the husband put away
his wife. When we made a vow, we used to
turn over to Numbers chapter 30 verse 2. Numbers 30 verse
2. Numbers 30 verse 2. If a man vow a vow unto the Lord,
or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not
break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth. out of
his mouth. We made a bond, we made a promise. We made a promise to our spouse,
but we made a promise before God concerning marriage. Marriage, the institution that
Almighty God started in the garden concerning His Son and His Bride. And when we are married, We make
a vow, we're making a vow before God. I'm promising, I promise
you that this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to give myself
to this woman, this man, I promise. He said, you vow a vow unto the
Lord, keep it. We go through and our spouses,
they abandon us. They're unfaithful to us and
there are reasons. But concerning staying with our
spouse, making a vow to the Lord and staying with our spouse.
If they've not been unfaithful, if they've not abandoned you,
you know, stay with them. Stay with them. Verse 11, But,
and if she depart, let her remain, or be reconciled to her husband,
let not the husband put away his wife. Though they may find
themselves for reasons other than adultery or abandonment. And believe me, I see it. I see it. It's the most accepted,
sadly to say, accepted You know, men and women of our age, and
I know it's always been like this, but I guess I'm just more
aware of it. It's just so much disrespect
concerning the marriage, concerning each other, concerning faithfulness,
and they just, they treat, well if it just doesn't work out,
you know, I'll just get a divorce, you know. For what reason? Irreconcilable
differences. You know, the sad thing about
it is that's the only thing they'll put on the Divorce papers now,
you know it could be adultery and you know they want to put
that on there, they want to put it on irreconcilable differences. If you're going to leave, if
you're going to leave and your spouse has not been unfaithful
to you, they hadn't abandoned you, If you leave, remain unmarried
or go back and be reconciled to your spouse. Why? Because
your departure, because you decided to depart. It was your idea. It was your idea. They wanted
to stay with you. You didn't want that. You wanted
to leave. Well, if you leave, don't be married or go back to
them. You're leaving and they didn't
unfaithfully treat you. Your leaving didn't void the
marriage. You made a vow unto the Lord. Now, let me say something
here. If you were married before and
the Lord converted you and now you were in a marriage before
and you've gotten a divorce, forget it. Forget it. It's under the blood. Christ
has put away your guilt. David was an adulterer. David was an adulterer. God put
away his guilt. There was a woman that was at
the well in Sychar, and the Lord came, crossed her path, and he
got talking to her, and he told her, he said, he said, go tell
your husband. And she said, I don't have a
husband. He said, I know you don't. He said, you had five
husbands, she was married five times. She was married five times,
and he said, and the man you're living with now is not your husband.
Now she was just, you know, living with somebody. And the scripture
says that she went into the city, obviously the Lord had done something
for her, went into the city and told The men there, the people
there in the city, she said, come here, the one that told
me all things that I ever did. Is not this the Christ? The Lord saved her. And so I'm
telling you, if you've been in a marriage and the Lord's been
pleased to save you and reveal himself to you and call you out
of the darkness, it's under the blood. Don't, you know. He's
going to be like the woman that was taken in adultery, taken
in the very act. These accusers tried to use her
to trick the Lord, catch Him in inconsistency. And after the
Lord exposed their foolishness, He asked the woman, He said,
Woman, where are thine accusers? And she says, They're not here,
there is none. And the Lord says, Neither do
I condemn you. Then He said, Go and sin no more. I heard Brother
Henry preach on this subject one time, and he said this was
the advice that he gave. He said, if it's happened, he
said, you can't go back and change it. He said somebody would say,
well, yeah, I think we ought to make all these things right.
He said, well, what if you've murdered somebody? Are you going to get that person,
get them out of the ground? What are you going to do? He
said, just don't do it again. That's what he told the woman
taken into adultery. Neither do I condemn you. Go
and sin no more." Oh, the preciousness of marriage and the fitness and
beauty of the union between Christ and His bride. But I'm going
to close with this, and I'm telling you right now what I'm doing.
I'm really going to end up giving you really the outline of what
I plan to preach on next time, but I could not end this message
without this, the last part of the 11th verse. And let not the
husband put away his wife. Now I'm going to fly to the precious
Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. Almighty
God gave a bride to the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus Christ,
a man comes and he asks his bride to be, if she'll marry him. And
the Lord said, I eternally betrothed you to myself. He betrothed us to him. gave himself as our husband and
betrothed us, took us to be his bride. When it says, let not
the husband put away his wife. He loved us everlastingly, promised
everlastingly to never leave us, never forsake us. God never
changes. Whatever God promises in time,
He's always promised. What is He purposed in time?
He's always purposed. Chosen out of the world of the
sons of Adam to be His. And would have us for Himself. Now listen. We fell in Adam. And the Lord who hates putting
away, has promised, I am not going to cast you off. But having fallen in Adam, we
all came forth as spiritual adulterers. That's what I dealt with last
time. Spiritual adulterers. And being
spiritual fornicators. What is the penalty for that? Death. Death. What did He do? He was made us. He was made sin. What we deserved as spiritual
fornicators, He became. And He died. And when He died, we died in
Him. We suffered the penalty of our
rebellion in Adam and ourselves. We came forth speaking lies in
ourselves. We're all as an unclean thing,
all of us. But being made sin, He put away
what the law demanded be done to us. The soul that sinneth
gonna die. You think we escaped that? No,
sir. We died in Christ. Truly died in Christ. Now we're
going to physically die, but by the grace of God, a believer
is not going to eternally die. He's not going to be cast into
the lake of fire. Why? Christ has put away his
guilt. He put away his sin. He cast
it as far as the east is from the west, and bore our guilt,
and carried our sorrows, and cleansed us from all of our sins
in his own blood, and robed us in righteousness. Now listen.
In Christ we are chaste virgins, no spot, no wrinkle, pure. He chose us in Him that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love and then sealed us
like a seal, a stamp. Sealed. Sealed us. What? By the Spirit of God. And
He keeps us. Through faith under salvation
ready to be revealed in last time. And listen to this. Let not the husband put away
his wife. What? For fornication? She's not a
fornicator. He paid for that. He put away
that guilt. What? Put her away because she's
not holy? She robed Him. He robed her in righteousness.
She's holy. There's no condemnation to them
that be in Christ Jesus. And we're not going to leave
Him. We're not going to leave Him. If the wife of a believing wife
wants to leave, then remain unmarried. You think we're going to leave
Him? Uh-uh. Why? We're kept. by the power of God,
willing, in the day of His power, to come, and to come, and to
keep coming, and to love Him, and to stay, and stay. Will you go away also? Where
are we going to go? You have the words of eternal life and
we're sure. You're the Christ. Oh, believing men and women. plagued in a world of sin. We're burdened with ourselves
and we struggle daily with the old man, we do. But the marriage,
being that divine picture of Christ and his church, is precious. It's precious. This is a precious
institution. It's the work of God himself. And may the Lord teach us in
our relationship to each other. Wives, submit to the husband
that loves you, doing all he can for you. Submit yourself. Husbands, love your wife as Christ
loved the church. The preciousness of this institution
is unspeakable. And I pray that the Lord teach
us. I want to be a husband that Almighty God saved me to be. I want to. I want to be a husband
to Glenda. I want to be faithful. I want
to love her and take care of her and respect her. And I'm
convinced that she wants to be a wife to me. Husband, be a husband
to your wives. Be a wife to your husband. And
do it for the glory of Christ. For it's in His name we ask all
these things. Amen.