I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. 1 Corinthians chapter 7. I'd like to look at the first
two verses in this first message, then verses 3 to 5. In the second,
going through the book of 1 Corinthians, And what a blessing. Now concerning the things whereof
you wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication,
let every man have his own wife, and every woman have her own
husband. Now if this is just good advice,
and it is. This is good advice. But if that's
all it is, then it's not the gospel. It's
good advice, don't get me wrong. But what I want to know is, where's
the gospel? Where's the lamb? Where's the
lamb? If I don't see Christ in this. Now what I'd like to do is, I'd
like to just read these verses for a few minutes here. And I'm
going to look at it in light of where we are. What does the Word of God have
to say concerning these scriptures right here for us today? I want them to say, well, it's
just good practical Christian living. If that's all it is,
it's not going to do you any good, me either. Because there's
only one message that the Spirit of God is going to bless. It's
going to bless, He's going to bless the glorious gospel of
God's grace. The last time we met, last Wednesday
night, we considered what the Lord has to say about marriage. God Almighty made man out of
the dust and declared, it is not good that the man should
be alone. I will make him and help meet
for him. I'm going to make him a help
that's fit, that's profitable. that's enjoyable for him. And he made from Adam's rib a
woman. And he gave the woman unto Adam,
and Adam recognized the woman to be bone of his bone and flesh
of his flesh. And then said, she shall be called
woman, which means taken out of man. And then the Lord declared,
therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and
shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. So here's
where the institution of marriage came from. It came from Almighty
God. And it is the greatest in this
life of all contracts. And that's what it is. It's a
bond. It's a contract. It's a covenant.
A man and a woman stand before someone that's performing a wedding
and they make vows. I promise you, whenever I perform
a wedding, I always want to make sure that I tell the man and
the woman Now you listen to what you're saying. I'm telling the
man, I said, you're talking to this woman that's about to give
up her name, her home, the security of her parents for you. And all she's got is your word. I'll sign a piece of paper in
a few minutes. You can turn it in to the clerk of court. The
state will send you a little certificate suitable for framing.
You put it up, you know, somewhere in a drawer or on the wall or
something. You'll give her a ring. She'll
give you a ring. But let me tell you something.
All she's got and all you've got is your word. Your word. I promise you. I give you my word. Almighty
God created the institution of marriage. And I'll tell you,
hold your place right there and turn to John 2. I'll tell you
what's going on here. When the Lord Jesus Christ began
His ministry, the beginning of the miracles, the Scripture declares,
that third day, John 2, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
told, in verse 3, they wanted wine. The mother of Jesus said
unto him, they have no wine. And Jesus said, Woman, what have
I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. And
his mother said unto them, servants whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. And there were set there six
waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the
Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. And Jesus saith
unto them, fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them
to the brim. And he saith unto them, draw
out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bear it.
The governor of the feast tasted the water that was made wine,
and knew not whence it was, but the servants which drew the water
knew. And the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth
good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is
worse. But thou hast kept the good wine
until now. In this beginning of miracles
did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth His glory
and His disciples believed on Him. He did something in that
miracle to manifest the glory of who He is. He's the Redeemer
of the sheep. He turned water into wine. There was a time when Almighty
God sent Moses into Egypt to tell Pharaoh to let his people
go. And Pharaoh refused at first. And because of his refusal, the
Lord sent plagues upon the Egyptians. And one of those plagues, because
of Pharaoh's rebellion, was God Almighty turned water into blood. Moses was a picture of the law. And Moses was sent to tell Pharaoh,
obey or else. And because he didn't obey, the
or else took place. And Almighty God showed his displeasure. in those plagues and turned water
into blood, manifesting death, which is a picture of what will
happen to every man, every woman that tries to obey God's law
on their own merit. Here's one thing that's going
to happen. You're going to die. But the Lord Jesus Christ, at
the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, The Lord Himself, our
great Moses, of whom Moses was a type, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you know what Moses means? Do you know what the name Moses
means? It means to draw or to rescue. To rescue. The Lord Jesus Christ
came and the first miracle that He ever performed was at a wedding. setting forth his pleasure in
marriage. And the first miracle that he
ever performed was he turned water into wine, not blood, setting
forth to all who were present in the attendance of that wedding.
Here was a type, here's a beautiful type, there's a wedding taking
place. And all of those were at that
wedding were pictures types of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ,
His Bride Himself. And He set forth His glory as
the Redeemer of His people by turning water not into blood,
leaving all their salvation to their own works, but He turned
it into wine, declaring the mercy and grace of God in Him. Not blood. Why? Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. That one that was over the feast said,
you've left the best until last. Oh my, have we not had the Lord
reveal to us the best now? So here's the Lord's attendance
at that wedding, and He set forth this truth, marriage is honorable
in all. The bed is undefiled. And knowing
that, knowing what the Lord has to say about marriage, it's good. It's good that the man should
not be alone. Paul the Apostle starts in 1
Corinthians chapter 7 and says this, now concerning the things,
whereof you wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch
a woman." As I said a few minutes ago, obviously no one would have
a problem believing this statement. It's not good for a man to touch
a woman or to have intimate relations with a woman, is what he's saying.
Not just touch her. That's not what he means. He
means to touch her intimately. to have relations. It's not good.
You know it's not good outside of the marriage bond. You know
that, you know. But now, the Apostle Paul, when
the Lord said it's not good for the man to be alone, Paul is
talking to believers here. And he's talking to those that
have asked him a question about marriage. Is it right? Is it
good for a man, a woman, to be married. Is it right? Is it good in our circumstances? Now, what the Holy Spirit is
revealing through the Apostle Paul is not that marriage is
not good. Paul says it's not good for a
man to touch a woman. And he's not primarily speaking
of outside of the bond of marriage. He's talking to believers who
have a very legitimate question. Is it right? for a man not to
be married is what they're asking. Now, Paul is telling them, he
said, it's good, it's profitable for a man not to be in a married
relationship. Not that it's not good to not
be married, but he said marriage is not a commandment. It's a
privilege. Now you listen to what I'm going
to say because this is exactly what the Spirit of God is saying
through the Apostle Paul. If a man or a woman can remain
in a single state and by the grace of God maintain a life
of honor before God and men, He would be relieved of the heaviness
of the responsibilities and sacrifices that come with marriage. Paul says in verse 8 of this
chapter, I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good,
it's profitable for them if they abide even as I. I don't believe
that Paul was married. As I told you last Wednesday
night, the Apostle Paul was sent all over the known world at that
time to preach the gospel. He was a missionary, raising
up. God Almighty had called him to
be a missionary, which would have been a tremendous strain
upon a marriage. And Almighty God graced Paul
to be able to remain celibate. God had called him. Paul says
in verse 28 of this chapter, But if thou marry, thou hast
not sinned. But if a virgin marry, she hath
not sinned. Nevertheless, such shall have
trouble in the flesh, but I spare you. Verse 26, Art thou bound
unto a wife? He says, seek not to be loosed.
Thou loosed from a wife, seek not a wife. If a man or a woman
is gifted by God to remain single, Paul said, that's profitable,
that's expedient, it's wholesome, and he might be relieved of the
burdens of marriage. But, if he can't, if he can't. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication,
let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her
own husband. You know, someone say, well,
the responsibilities of marriage, I'll agree with you, are great. Let me tell you this, if I could
avoid eating, If I didn't have to eat, if I
didn't have to sleep, if I could avoid eating, I wouldn't have
to buy groceries, I wouldn't have the responsibility of the
burden of financial, I wouldn't have to have a refrigerator,
I wouldn't have to have, if I could avoid sleep, I could avoid buying
a bed, I could avoid a lot of things. I could avoid a lot of
problems that have to come up. I've got to work for it. I've
got to have some money. I've got to buy it. But here's
my problem. I can't avoid it. I can't avoid
eating. I can't avoid sleeping. One of
the most miserable days I ever spent in my life was I stayed
up all night. And if some of you can do that,
that's wonderful. I stayed up all night one night
before I was going the next day to go to registration to get
my classes picked out at college. Didn't go to sleep. And that
was the most miserable day I ever spent in my life trying to stay
awake. I remember trying to pick up
classes and I thought to myself, I don't ever want to stay up
again all night long. I cannot avoid sleeping. I've got to sleep. If I could,
I'd avoid a lot of problems. But to avoid fornication, because of the temptation to
impurity and to avoid immorality, to avoid finding oneself in an
unlawful relationship that brings dishonor to the name and cause
of Christ, Let every man have his own wife, and every woman
her own husband." Now, I have for the last few minutes told
you exactly what these scriptures have to say, humanly speaking. Naturally speaking, this is what
he's talking about. The bond of marriage was given
to man because God knew the need of a man. When God told him,
he said, cleave to your wife, go and replenish the earth. There's
a need within a man and a woman. But there's times when the Spirit
of God may leave someone single. But I'll tell you this, celibacy
is the exception, not the rule. As a general rule, we all marry. Not all, but most of the time
we do. And if the Lord has been pleased
to leave someone in a state of singleness, Almighty God has
said, my grace is sufficient. If it's for the glory of God,
if the Lord has gifted you to be able to stay in that state,
it's wonderful. But now, here's the gospel. To avoid fornication, let every
man have his own wife, and every woman have her own husband. Almighty
God, before the foundation of the world, knew what was going
to happen to man. Before God ever created man,
He knew that man would fall. He knew that there would be rebellion
in the garden. Before He ever created Adam,
Almighty God is the omniscient God. He knows the end from the
beginning. He knew that man would be a rebel
against Him, a spiritual fornicator, unfaithful, untrue. But knowing this, Almighty God
had everlastingly purposed, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. Now, to avoid his people being
found and dying in the state of spiritual fornication, to
avoid it, the Scripture says, nevertheless, to avoid fornication. Let every man have his own wife
and every woman have her own husband. How can I a sinner against
God, dead in trespasses and sins. How can I avoid spiritual fornication? I can't. I cannot do it. When Adam sinned against God,
I sinned against God. When Adam died, I died. When
Adam rebelled, I rebelled. and to avoid spiritual fornication,
to avoid fornication, what must be done for me to have any hope? What must be done? Almighty God
said in the beginning when He created Adam, He said it is not
good that the man should be alone. Now you know that he was spiritually
speaking of Christ and His bride. Right? Yes. That's right. It's
not good that the man should be alone. But for whose good? For the good of Christ? The Lord
Jesus Christ could have, if He would have never been joined
to our nature, if He would have never taken us to Himself. We're
going to deal with this in the next one. You know, think of
all the problems that he would have avoided. But for our sakes,
it was good that the man should not be alone. Why? We needed
him. We needed him as our husband. We needed him, the one who pleased
God. Judgment was surely going to
be spewed out upon every spiritual fornicator. I can tell you what
was going to happen if Almighty God left us to ourselves. To
avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, every
woman have her own husband. I need a husband. I need a spiritual
head that has pleased God. All of us do. The bride of Christ
is His people. Every one of us joined ourselves
in Adam's fall to the great whore of false religion. And here's
what God Almighty has to say about man-centered, free will,
false religion. Turn over to Revelation chapter
17. This is what's going to happen.
Here is spiritual fornication right here. Revelation chapter
17 verses 1 to 5. There came one of the seven angels,
which had the seven vows, and talked with me, saying unto me,
Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great
whore that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of
the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth
have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he
carried me into the spirit, carried me away in the Spirit into the
wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting upon
a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having
seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations
and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was the
name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots
and abominations of the earth." This is who the rebel against
God, false religion, is set forth as. This great harlot, Mystery
Babylon. Look at Revelation 18.1. Verse
18, 1 to 5, And after these things I saw another angel come down
from heaven, having power, and the earth was lightened with
his glory. And he cried mightily with a
strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,
and has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every
foul spirit, and cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For
all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,
and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,
and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance
of her delicacies. Then I heard another voice from
heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers
of her sins, that you receive not of her plagues, for her sins
have reached into heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities."
Here's the situation, friends. We've all been born in this state
right here. Rebels against God, fornicators,
spiritual fornicators against God. And Almighty God has commanded,
come out of her, come out of her. How am I going to come out
of her? I can't do anything. I'm dead. What's going to have
to happen? I'm going to have to be rescued. by the great Moses himself, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the rescuer, the drawer out. He who takes
his people that has mercy and compassion to avoid fornication,
of which I cannot avoid it in myself. He's going to have to
do something for me that I can't do for myself. To avoid it, God's
going to have to have mercy on me. He's going to have to have
compassion on me. Leave it up to me and I'm gone. I'm dead. Look at Revelation
19, 1-6. And after these things, I heard
a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Hallelujah,
salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God,
for true and righteous are His judgments, for He hath judged
the great whore. which did corrupt the earth with
her fornication, has avenged the blood of His servants at
her hand." And again they said, hallelujah. And her smoke rose
up forever and ever, and the four and twenty elders and the
four beasts fell down and worshiped God that sat on the throne saying,
hallelujah, hallelujah, or amen, hallelujah. And a voice came
out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants,
and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard, as it
were, the voice of great multitude, as the voice of many waters,
as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth." To avoid the penalty of spiritual
fornication, what happened? Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 verses
4 to 6, what happened? What did God Almighty do for
His people that they might avoid fornication? Ephesians 1 verse
4, according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy. and without blame before
Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved. He shed His own blood for His
people, putting away their guilt, His Holy Spirit comes in power
and in regenerating grace and gives us new hearts, a new spirit. Almighty God robes us in righteousness. Righteousness that we never could
earn. Righteousness that He alone produces. And robed in His righteousness,
His blood covering us. There is therefore, Romans 8,
1, now no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus. O believer,
you who by God's grace have cast yourself upon Him for mercy,
you listen to this. Almighty God has delivered you
from the penalty. of spiritual fornication. To
avoid fornication, let every man, THE man, have his own wife. He got one. The Father gave her
to him. And he, as the great surety of
the sheep, paid her debt. bore the guilt of her rebellion
and fornication against God. He was made that. And Almighty God put the debt
of her fornication away. And to avoid the penalty of fornication,
to avoid fornication, I'll tell you what, she has her own husband. He betrothed her to himself. before the foundation of the
world. He said, I've always loved you. For us to avoid fornication,
spiritual fornication, the debt of it, Almighty God chose to
have mercy. Here's the last verse. Isaiah
chapter 1 and verse 9. Let me tell you something. When
somebody says, I don't know about all that election, all that election
stuff. I'd rather leave a man and let
a man make his own choice. My friend, if God Almighty leaves
a man or leaves a woman to make their own choice, let me tell
you what you're going to do. You're going to choose just like
Adam did. You're going to rebel against God. And Almighty God's
going to put you in hell. Now you listen to me. I'm telling
you. I'll back this up with this statement, with this verse right
here. Chapter 1, verse 9, except the Lord of hosts had left unto
us a very small remnant, a remnant according to the election of
grace, we should have been as Sodom and should have been like
unto Gomorrah. To avoid fornication, Almighty God has shown mercy
and compassion to His people. Did He just sweep it under the
rug? No, sir. He paid her debt in full and
gave her a righteousness, robed her in Himself, and she is in
Him a chaste virgin. Faithful, faithful in Christ. May the Lord bless this word
to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.