Now we ended last week here in
chapter 7 of 1 Corinthians in verses 10 and 11. Let's read
those and we'll go into where our lesson begins in verse 12
this week. In verse 10, Paul says, And unto the married I
command, yet not I, but the Lord. Let not the wife depart from
her husband. But, and if she depart, let her remain unmarried,
or be reconciled to her husband. And let not the husband put away
his wife. Now this is clearly the command of God. for married
couples to remain married. Whatever differences may come
up, you work them out. You get over them, you work them
out, and you do not separate. This is the command of God in
this matter. Now, verse 12, where our lesson
begins to sweep, Paul goes on in this vein. He says, But to
the rest, speak I, not the Lord. If any brother hath a wife that
believeth not, if she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not
put her away. and the woman which hath a husband
that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her,
let her not leave him." Now, Paul here is offering his advice,
and like we talked about last week, this is not just the advice
of some fellow that just fell off the turnip truck. This is
the advice of a man who is riding under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. So this is God's Word. It's not just Paul's advice.
This is God's Word. And this is what God's Word has
to say to a believer who is married to an unbeliever. Now, first
of all, to believers, if you're single, I tell you, don't put
yourself in this situation, being married to an unbeliever. Look
over in 2 Corinthians 6. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. Be ye
not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what
part hath he that believeth with an infidel? So to believers,
you're not to marry an unbeliever. You'll be unequally yoked. You'll
be pulling in opposite directions. And I've never really driven
a animals or whatever, yoke together. But I imagine it's difficult
when they're pulling opposite directions. It's difficult for
the one trying to drive them. It's difficult for the animals.
I'm bound to chafe and hurt and it's a disaster waiting to happen,
so don't do that. But this case that Paul's talking
about seems to be where a husband and wife are married, two unbelievers,
and one of them is converted after they're married. Well,
now what do you do? Well, even though both of you
were unbelievers when you said, I do. You know, that's still
for life. That marriage covenant is still
for life. That was a promise made before God, even though
you are an unbeliever. But if the Lord saves one of
you, that doesn't mean you're free from the marriage covenant.
That doesn't mean you're suddenly free from your spouse. Matter
of fact, it makes that covenant stronger because it makes you
a better husband or a better wife. And if the Lord saves one,
saves a husband or a wife, I can tell you this. There'll be a
big change in that home. There's going to be a change.
And if your spouse can live with that change, if they can live
in peace, continue to live in peace and harmony with you, then
don't you leave that marriage. That marriage is ordained of
God. Now, verse 14, Paul says, For the unbelieving husband is
sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified
by the husband. Else were your children unclean,
but now are they holy. Now Paul says the unbelieving
husband is sanctified by the wife. You know that doesn't mean
that he's made holy in God's sight. An unbeliever can never
be holy, ever. What Paul's talking about is
the marriage. This marriage is good and right. Even though you're still married
to an unbeliever, that marriage is holy. In the eyes of the world,
that marriage is holy. You're not living in sin, you're
married. And in a legal, civil sense, any children that are
born in that marriage are legitimate children. They're not illegitimate.
You're married. They're legitimate children. And that's best for
the children. It's best for a child when the
mother and father stay married and raise those children together.
need a mama and a daddy. That's just so. I know that's
not the popular thing in the world, but that's so. They need
the things that a father can give them. They need what a mother
can give them. It takes both. I tell people, Jan, I have two
children and we're outnumbered. It takes both. And children are
always better off with both parents in the home paying attention
to those children. Raising them and teaching them.
It's not just living there and making sure they don't kill themselves
and making sure they got food to eat. Teaching them and raising
them together in a home. That's best for children. So
you stay married. Now, verse 15, Paul says, but
you always have to have these, but in there because of our sin
nature, the sin nature doesn't go away. But 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." Now
if the unbelieving spouse leaves the believer, departs, over the
gospel. Now this is the key. This is
talking about over the gospel, over a hatred of the gospel.
If they depart over a hatred of the gospel, they will not
stay married to you unless you deny Christ. They will not stay
married to you unless you quit going to the worship service.
They're going to interrupt your time of worship. Then you let
them leave. There's no choice to be made
there. If they're going to make you choose between the Lord and
them, there's no choice. You let them leave. And if that
spouse leaves over the sake of the gospel, the deserted spouse,
the believer, is free to remarry. They're not bound to remain unmarried,
just like we read last week. If a wife should depart, then
she's to remain unmarried. But the one who's deserted, if
they're deserted over the gospel, over Christ, they're free to
remarry. Now you're free to remarry in
the Lord. Don't put yourself in that situation again. You
marry a believer. And the old timers talk about desertion over
the gospel is treated like death. Death annuls the marriage covenant
and you're free. And they talk about desertion
over the gospel as the same way. Now, it's not just desertion
because they can't put up with your personality or the things
you're doing wrong. This is talking about over the
gospel. And if that were not so, if the believers deserted
because over the gospel, if that were not so, that child of God
would be in bondage to a rebel the rest of their life. So Scripture
says that you're free to remarry. The Lord never puts unreasonable
demands on His people. Never. You don't have to stay
in bondage to that rebel. And listen, the Lord has called
us to peace. Peace. The Prince of Peace calls
his people to peace. Not to warfare, not to a life
of fussing and fighting and feuding. A life of peace. Look back at
Romans chapter 12. In Romans 12, verse 18, if it
be possible, as much as life in you live peaceably with all
men, surely that starts at home. If you're married to an unbeliever,
as much as possible, as much as life in you, you live at peace.
That peace, it must start at home. A peaceful home is so important. A home of calmness and love and
peace. Warfare and ugliness. That stuff happens out in the
world. You can't escape it. You've got to go out in it. You've
got to live in it. You've got to work in it. But to come home
and those four walls be a place of peace and harmony. That's
necessary. That's very important. And if
a believer cannot live in peace with an unbelieving spouse, Then
you let them leave in peace. Don't start a big war with them. Let them leave in peace. But
if a believer can live in peace, if it's possible at all to live
in peace with that unbelieving spouse, then you do that. Because
it's best. I promise you it's best. And
you never know what will happen. Because look at verse 16 back
in 1 Corinthians 7. For what knowest thou, O wife,
whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether
thou shalt save thy wife?" If it's possible to live in peace
with your unbelieving spouse, then you do it. You do it for
two reasons. First, when someone leaves their
spouse, the spouse that's deserted, and we've seen this many times,
and I've talked to many, many people that this has happened
to, and without exception, you know what they tell me? This
is worse than death. This would be easier if they
died rather than just leave them. It would be easier for me to
take. So you avoid that. You live in peace. And you avoid
that if you can. And secondly, you live in peace
with them if you can because you never know what the Lord
will be pleased to do. We just don't know what the Lord's
purpose and will is. He's pleased to save you. He's
pleased to save me. He could be pleased to save our
husband or wife, too. You never know. You never know.
But I tell you this, it'd be just like him to do it. It'd
be just like our Lord to show mercy and save your spouse. You
never know. And Paul says, you don't know
whether thou shalt save thy husband. Now, you know that doesn't mean
you're going to be able to save your husband. We can't save anybody.
We can't save ourselves. We can't save our spouse. We
can't save our child. Salvation is of the Lord. And
that's where it's best found. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of the Lord's love. It's of the Lord's mercy. It's
of the Lord's grace. Salvation's of the Lord. But
it could be that if you live with an unbeliever and you live
a life of faith, you pray for them. You show them an example
of faith, an example of holiness, an example of kindness and generosity
and love. It could be your spouse will
become interested in what you have. Your spouse, if your two
unbelievers are married, they knew you before you knew the
Lord. And they notice a change. Could be they get interested
in what you have. And if they go looking for what
you have, you know what they'll find out? It's not a what you
got at all, it's a who. They might find who you have
if they go looking for him. You never know. Could be. Could
be your spouse will come to worship service with you. You just maybe
to keep peace with you. They'll come to worship service.
Could be, you know, they want to go out to eat on Sunday afternoon.
Well, I'll go to church with you so we can go eat afterwards.
You never know. Could be they're just wanting to woo you and they'll
go to church. Who knows? And if they come in
spite of themselves, they'll hear the gospel and they'll call
on the Lord for mercy. So I tell you this, they're going
to have to hear. We know that. They're going to have to. If
they're going to believe, they've got to hear. How should they call
on Him of whom they've not believed? And how should they believe on
Him of whom they've not heard? I know there's no salvation apart
from hearing Christ. Could be they'll come and hear.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Could be
they come hear the Word preached and the Lord will give them faith.
He'll give them an ear to hear it. You never know. They might come with you and
really hear. And I'll tell you this, stranger
things have happened. I heard. Could be they'll hear,
too. The Lord's able, I know that.
Now, verse 17, Paul says, But as God hath distributed to every
man, as the Lord hath called everyone, so let him walk, and
so ordain I in all churches. Now, salvation, God's calling
of election, that doesn't change your status and station in life. If you're married when the Lord
saved you, You stay married. If at all possible, you stay
married. Now, you'll be a better spouse.
You'll understand marriage better. You'll be a better spouse. But
you stay married if you're married when the Lord called you. If
you have a job when the Lord saves you, you keep going to
work, keep doing your job same way you always did. You should
be a better employee because now you're working under the
Lord, not just somebody writing you a check. You're not a mercenary
anymore. You're working as under the Lord. But you keep working
your job. The Lord gives different people
different gifts and he puts different people in different situations,
different circumstances and different places. And the Lord does that
to accomplish his will and his purpose. The Lord's purpose is
not confined to me and just. It's all over, it's everywhere,
his purpose is going to be accomplished. So wherever the Lord puts you.
You serve him and do it well. And you be content to be there
until the Lord opens a different door. Whatever gift the Lord
has given you, use it. He didn't give you the same gifts
he gave somebody else. He gave you a different gift.
So use it. Whatever it is that the Lord
gave you. Now, verse 18, he goes on in this teaching here. Whatever station you're in, when
the Lord calls you, you stay in it. Is any man called being
circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised.
Is any called an uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision
is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of
the commandments of God. Now if a person is a Jew, before
the Lord saved them, they were a child, a baby, an infant, and
they were circumcised according to the law. The Lord calls them. They see all that keeping of
the law, all that religious junk that they used to be in is just
that junk. It's done. Well, there's no reason
to be ashamed of that. No reason to try to remove that
mark in the flesh. It's just flesh. It's just flesh. And if a person was the opposite,
they were Gentile before the Lord saved them. They never had
been circumcised according to the law of Moses. They didn't
know anything about the scriptures. They were just a heathen. Well,
there's no reason to be ashamed of that and run out and be circumcised. Because it's just flesh. It's
not going to add anything to your calling, to your salvation.
It's just flesh. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision
makes us more righteous. Does it make us more holy? Does
it make us more saved? Does it make us closer to God?
No fleshly activity. None whatsoever. No fleshly activity
in our past or in our present. makes us more righteous. Because
the state of the flesh has absolutely no effect on the state of your
soul. Look over Colossians chapter
3. The state of your flesh has no effect
on the state of your soul. Colossians 3 verse 9. Lying not one to another, seeing
that you put off the old man with his deeds, And you've put
on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him, where there's neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free. But Christ is all and in all. Christ is all. Christ is all
in the state of our souls, not our flesh. It's not where you're
from, what your nationality is, what your skin color is. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the external motions of religion
are nothing. All the external motions of religion
are absolutely meaningless without an inward work of grace. You
can do whatever it is you want with your body, it's meaningless.
You can bow, you can kneel, you can pray, you can look awful
religious, it's meaningless without an inward work of grace. It's
not circumcision of the flesh we need, is it? It's a circumcision
of the heart. We don't need a change in this
flesh. What we need is a new heart, a new nature, a new spirit. Look over Romans chapter 2. Romans 2 verse 28. We don't need
a change in this flesh. We need a new heart. Romans 2
verse 28. For he's not a Jew. He's not
one that's a part of spiritual Israel. which is one outwardly,
neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.
But he's a Jew. He's part of spiritual Israel,
which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart in spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of
men, but of God. And not only does this fleshly
circumcision or trying to keep any particular part or point
of the law, Not only does that not make us more holy, not only
does it not make us more justified, matter of fact, it hurts our
justification before God if you do it in order to be circumcised.
Galatians chapter 5. Galatians 5 verse 2. Behold,
I Paul say unto you, If you be circumcised, if you're circumcised
in order to gain righteousness, gain salvation, Christ shall
profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that's circumcised, if you're circumcised in order to keep
the law, that he's a debtor to do the whole law, and Christ
is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you're fallen from grace. If you try to keep even
one point of the law in order to make yourself righteous or
more righteous, you're a debtor to do the whole law, and Christ
has become of no effect unto you. And if Christ has become
of no effect unto you, you have no hope of salvation, none whatsoever,
because salvation is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Or
then where does righteousness come from? It doesn't come from
the law. It doesn't come from circumcision. It doesn't come
from tithing. It doesn't come from all these things. Where
does righteousness come from? Paul says, by keeping the commandments
of God. Now, he's not talking about the
law of Moses, keeping those commandments and the Ten Commandments and
all that mosaic law. He's established no man can do
that. We can't keep the law. We can't
even keep part of it. Not even for a second. The commandment
he's talking about is the commandment of the gospel. The commandment
to look to Christ. You flee to Christ and you trust
in him for all your salvation. That's the commandment of the
gospel. The commandment of the gospel is to throw away all your
filthy rags of righteousness and beg God to be clothed in
the righteousness of Christ. That's the commandment of the
gospel. And then the commandment of the gospel is to serve him
in love. Look over at Matthew 22. To serve him in love. Matthew 22, verse 35. Then one of them, which was a
lawyer, asked him a question. Asked our Lord a question, tempting
him, and saying, Master, what is the greatest commandment in
the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is
like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. On these two commandments hang
all the law and prophets. And that can only be done in
Christ with a new nature. That can't be done with a nature
I was born with. It's got to be done in a nature that's born
from above. Now verse 20, back in 1 Corinthians
7, Paul says, let every man abide
in the same calling wherein he was called. Now salvation is
not going to change your earthly circumstances. It's not going
to change your family responsibilities. It's not going to change your
job responsibilities and job duties. You're still going to
have to go out and work to pay the electric bill and eat. It's
not going to change your fleshly circumstances. He will give you
a new attitude. It'll give you a brand new attitude. It'll give you, because you've
got a new heart, but it's not going to change your earthly
circumstances. And salvation doesn't require that you change
your marriage. Salvation doesn't require that
you get a new job, that you change, you know, your job, unless it
was a dishonest job to begin with. Now that, that will change.
Matthew and Zacchaeus were publicans. Publicans were tax collectors
for the Roman government. Nothing wrong with collecting
taxes, as long as it's not over-taxation. But these fellas overcharged
and they skimmed off the top and became wealthy. That's dishonest.
These men were publicans before the Lord called them, not after. Matthew left his books and followed
Christ. I don't know that much about
Zacchaeus. remain collecting taxes, but I promise you this,
if he did, he did it honestly. He didn't skim off the top. He
took an honest wage and sent the taxes to the government like
he was supposed to. He became an honest man. Salvation
doesn't change your earthly circumstances, but it does give you a new heart
and a new nature. And you'll go about those circumstances
a whole lot different than you used to because you've got a
new nature. Now you've seen the Lord. In verse 21, Paul says,
I'll call being a servant, will care not for it. But if thou
mayest be made free, use it rather. If you were a servant when the
Lord called you, don't think that being a servant is suddenly
beneath you and beneath your calling, because it's not. You'd
be a better servant. You serve your master cheerfully.
Even the Lord calls you. Wayne going out to that plant
every day suddenly just seems Not so attractive, but you got
to do it. You got to if you want to. It's
not very holy. I mean, it doesn't seem that
way, but you do it with a brand new attitude, with a brand new
idea. And if you become free, you use
that freedom wisely to put yourself in a better position to worship,
in a better position to learn more of Christ and to serve him.
In verse 22, Paul says, 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, your station in
life doesn't have anything to do with your spiritual state
before God. Not a thing. If you're a servant,
when God calls you, that's all right. Continue being a servant. You're the Lord's free man. In
a spiritual sense, you are the Lord's free man. You're free
now from the bondage of sin. You're free from the power of
sin. You're free from the curse of sin. You're free from the
curse of the law. You're God's free man. And if
you're a free man in this world, you've got some power, some wealth,
and some influence, don't get too full of yourself. The Lord
gave you that. You're the Lord's bond slave.
That's what Paul called himself all the time. Paul, a bond slave
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're a willing, loving bond
slave. Willingly bound to your master
because you love your master. You love to serve your master.
The believer, at the same time, is the Lord's free man and the
Lord's bond slave. Both. You're not an indentured
servant now. You're not forced to serve and
forced to serve for a length of time before you become free.
You're a willing bond slave who never wants to go free from the
master. You're not a mercenary serving for pay. You're a bond
slave serving out of love and thanksgiving. You're serving
out of a heart of grace. You're God's bond slave. So it
doesn't matter what your earthly circumstances are. Now, verse
23, you are bought with a price. Be not ye the servants of men.
Brethren, let every man wherein he is called therein abide with
God." Now we looked at this a couple of weeks ago. Every child of
God is bought with a price. The precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, God's Son. So no matter who you are, if
you're a servant of men or you're a master of men, you've been
bought with a price. You belong to the Lord Jesus
Christ. So you continue in whatever state
You were in when God called you. And be content to be there. But
don't just be content to be there like, well, I'm content. I'm
putting up with it. No. Be pleased to dwell there. Be pleased to stay there until
the Lord's pleased to change it in His purpose and His will.
And that goes for marriage. If you're married, you stay married.
If you've got a job, you keep working that job. Whatever economic
status you're in, don't expect it to change. Whatever situation
that we're in when God called us, listen. We're not there on
accident, are we? Was it an accident that you're
married to an unbeliever when the Lord called you? Is it an
accident you're living in a certain town, working a certain job when
God called you? No, sir. God put you there. The Lord had been directing your
steps from all eternity. Why is it your great-great-great-great-grandparents
and their children and their children and their children and
their children ended up being where they're at when you were
born? And you got the certain amount of education you got.
You ended up getting the job you got. The Lord's been directing
your steps from all of eternity to that point when He called
you by His grace. And the job you got and the marriage
you're in, the circumstances you're in, are not an accident.
They're God. He's been directing your steps
all along. You didn't know it. Now you do. Before the Lord called you, you
thought you were doing that. You thought it happened by accident.
You thought, well, somebody serving said, bad luck. No, sir. It's
because the Lord put you there to serve. Now you know it. Now you know the Lord's been
directing your steps and the Lord's going to keep directing
your steps. And you walk in the path that God puts you in. All
right. The Lord bless you.