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The rest of us will go to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. It's good to see Sharon Hayden with us today. Raising Chuck Hayden finally caught up to her and she had some ulcers that were bleeding. It took a few years but eventually. I saw you at Frankenmuth yesterday. Zender's? So, not a bad place to go when you get out of the hospital a few days. Zender's or Bavarian Inn? Zender's. Anyone, how many like Zender's? I think they're different. I say they're the same, but I like Zender's better. If you don't, well, I didn't ask, so. But it's good to see her out. We're going to finish Chapter 7 today and then we're going to go to Chapter 8 next week. Chapter 8 deals with Christian liberty eating meats offered to idols. Should you or shouldn't you? It addresses some of those things there. And Chapter 8 will be one of those topics that everyone will have an opinion on. At what point do I have to limit my liberty for someone else's weakness and all those things. And then other people use their weakness to hold everyone else hostage and say, you can't do that, it bothers me. And some of us sarcastic people are like, well, you can walk away too. I mean, you don't have to. So we'll look at that next week. You get a chance this week, read chapter eight, four or five times, just so you're familiar with some of the things in there. Obviously, chapter eight is a cultural chapter. We're not dealing with meat offered to idols today. At least I don't know that that's taking place. Probably GMO and things like that's our biggest problem we have with our foods. But there's a biblical principle being taught there using the current cultural issue. And I would say we'd even have those cultural issues today. And they're always changing. So please read that this week so you can be familiar a little bit with the passage there. We've got the men's activity coming up. We're working on another once a month men's fellowship Bible study. Tim and Dean were supposed to discuss that last night in detail and plan it. And Tim said they had a great time at fellowship and they didn't discuss it. Anyway, so we will get that to you here in the next few days. For that, just so you know, me and the elders are gonna be meeting here in the next couple weeks for a lengthy elders meeting to discuss the rest of the year. So if there's something you'd like to try and put together or something that we don't know about, please let one of us know in the next weeks, because we're gonna put the calendar together. And we're not promising it'll happen the way you want and when you want, we don't want to be caught off guard after we put out the end-of-year calendar and then find out there was other things that needed to be put in there. So please bring that to our attention so we can work on that as well. In chapter 7, we're going to begin reading in verse 22. The end of the chapter, again it kind of is a chapter, it deals with some cultural things. that we don't necessarily deal with specifically. We're not dealing with betrothal today and things like that. But the biblical principles taught here are very useful to us. So let's begin reading in verse 22, and we'll read to the end of the chapter. Verse 22, for he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman. Likewise also he that is called being free is Christ's servant. Ye 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 concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose, therefore, that this is good for the present distress. I say that it is good for a man so to be. Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. But if thou marry, thou hast not sinned, and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the flesh, but I spare you. But this I say, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not, and they that buy as though they possessed not. They that use this world as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passeth away. But I would have you without carefulness," or that idea there is without concern. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. In this I speak for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. But if any man think that he behave himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she passed the flower of her age and need to require, let him do what he will. He sinneth not let them marry. Nevertheless, he that standeth steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but have power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well. So then, he that giveth her in marriage, doeth well, but he that giveth her not in marriage, doeth better. The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord. But she is happier if she so abide after my judgment. I think also that I have the Spirit of God. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you this morning for the Word of God. We thank you for the preserved recording here of Paul's letter to the Corinthian churches. It deals with a lot of practical issues of their current day, but yet have great application to our current day. What a testament that is to the Word of God, how it was written thousands of years ago and very applicable to them, and yet we read it thousands of years later and it applies to us as well. Father, give us understanding. Help us, as chapter seven is dealt with the subject of marriage, to strengthen our marriage, to view our marriage as a gift from God, as a priority in our spiritual life, to nurture it and cherish it and to mature it and grow it in the Word of God. We thank you for our church, for our body of believers that we assemble with. We pray for one another. We care for one another. In Christ's name, we do pray. Amen, if I can ask someone to get me water. I didn't realize this is a week ago and for some reason things fall in the water during the week and I'm not sure what but it's in there as I'm looking at it and Someone else might have drank out of it, which is my phobia If you know your pastor, it's a phobia of mine to drink after I won't even drink after my wife So it's nothing personal. But if she drank out of my water bottle, I'm done with it. Okay, we're finished Was the dad that never shared his food with his kids never gave him a bite off his spoon kids are nasty Okay, just look at their sippy cup. It's the nastiest unhealthy thing. You'll ever see so we're in chapter 7 we're dealing with marriage and Paul brings forth some questions Obviously at the Corinthian Church had their their big struggle real if you could sum it up is is it good to be married? Or is it better to be unmarried? well It's good to be unmarried You have a lot of freedom in Christ, not freedom, I mean, most unmarried men are out there spending money and buying things and enjoying that time. But there's an element of doing things for the Lord that you can do. I'm sitting here thinking, I was talking to, I saw Brother Fiocchi's post and Erda and they got married and I thought, I need to go back to Albania again and wanna see the brothers and sisters there in Albania. And I started looking, I just can't say, I'm gonna go next week. I have many other responsibilities. I have my job, I have a wife, I have family, I have responsibilities there. A single person, granted, they work too, hopefully, and they can't just leave that week, but it's a lot easier for them to say, hey, I'm gonna do this for the Lord. And they don't have to necessarily consider the other half of their life, their spouse, in that decision. And that's what Paul's addressing. But then on the other hand, Paul's saying if you get married, that's not wrong either. The Corinthian church was wondering, is it evil almost to be married? And he's saying, no, it's a wonderful thing to be married, but understand marriage brings about it a set of earthly responsibilities that in some aspect can limit you, draw you away from a singleness devotion to the Lord. So he's not saying either one is wrong. Could you imagine if Paul was married? Look at all that Paul is doing for the Lord. Could you imagine if he was married and he had five kids at home? You could almost state, Paul, I think you're neglecting your marriage and your kids. You haven't seen them in years. And I think that would have been a fair assumption to make. So Paul, who's not married, has some abilities and things to do things for God. So that's the overall theme. And then they dealt with things. People, what if you're married to an unbeliever and the unbeliever doesn't want to stay in the marriage because you're now Christians and Christians are taboo and Christians are evil people and Christians are being persecuted and they walk away from the marriage. What do you do in that situation and so forth? So now we come here towards the end of the chapter in verse 22. 23 it's just a little bit of a reminder. I think Kyle even covered these two verses but the idea here that that we need to understand that before us in these two verses is the daily pursuit and Reminder of the life of the believer look at verse 22 for he that is called in the Lord being a servant is The Lord's freemen referring to bond servants likewise also he that is called being free is Christ servant Sometimes we mix the idea of I'm free once I get saved. Oh, thank goodness. I'm free. I'm free at last The law is not abiding to me. I am free You're free, but that freedom really is bookend. It's it's not this I I'm free to do what I want That's not the freedom. We have he says you are free in Christ He says you become what the servant of Christ you are now free to serve Christ verse 23 his reasoning for this Year bought with a price Be not ye the servants of man. He uses this repeatedly. I understand why we teach salvation is free. The free gift of salvation. But salvation really isn't free for Christ. Let us never forget the price that was paid to obtain our salvation. He says, you were bought. You became the servant of Christ because he paid the price for you. He bought you. And it is really that price that he paid that then works in the life of the believer that causes the believer to say, I will be the servant of Christ. So I think sometimes in our effort to doctrinally, which is correct to say salvation is free, it's by grace. We almost make it free in that there's no responsibility or anything on our end of it. So I accept the free salvation Christ suffered and paid a high price for now. Leave me alone Christ. I'm doing my own thing Thanks for the ticket to heaven. I'll see you when I die But the rest of my life is mine that would go completely contrary to the rest of the New Testament That that ideology that philosophy that says that he says remember you have been bought with a price be not ye the servants of men and little the idea here with the bondservant is that he's probably encouraging the bondservant to definitely any chance he can to become a free man, to be free from that servanthood that he is bound to, so that he can truly be the servant of Christ. Now he continues, Not every man, verse 24, wherein is he called, therein abide with God. I think one of the areas of the Christian life today that we seem to struggle in is the area of contentment. And I'm not sure why. I'm not sure what creates this, but look what he says, brethren, let every man where he's called, however God has called you or however God is using you, there and abide with God. The idea here is to be content. In our church, we have three elders. That's a very small percentage of the church. And it will be a miserable state for someone to say, I wanna be an elder. We just had wonderful music brought to us by Kyle and then the girls that sing and sit back here. I wanna be a song leader. Why am I not the song leader? Can you lead it? Well, that doesn't matter. Just my intention is all that matters. Well, not necessarily. And I think in their Christian life, and I see it more, I've had to deal with my own life in the ministry as pastors. You're like, if I had that church, I could really do something. I mean, if we could just run three, 400, then I wouldn't work a second job, and I could do this, and I could go to Albania whenever I want then, and you become very discontent with what God has called you in. And I think we need to learn the value of Christian contentment. Well, if I just had so-and-so's kids. Well, you don't know so-and-so's kids. If I had so-and-so's marriage. If I had so-and-so's job. If I could just have this, or kids, if I could just have these parents, or on and on it could go, and we become discontent. We look at it, boy, I wish I was in that church. They have this, and they have that, and all these different things, and we create this discontentment, and we gotta realize God has called us. He is sovereign. He has placed us in our life where we're at, and one of the things we have to do is learn to accept and be content with what God has asked us to do. Now he comes back to the subject of the relationship and marriages and so forth. He goes, verse 25. Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord. In other words, he's saying this hasn't been necessarily addressed by the Lord in the Gospels. Yet I give my judgment as one that obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. Okay. Now we enter into this cultural issue dealing with marriage. Now the word virgin there could be used in many aspects. It could be referring to someone who's betrothed in marriage. It could be referencing a young woman, often they refer to as a virgin. Could be referring to male, female, though usually it's not. But obviously he's dealing with someone who is not yet in the marriage. And he's addressing again this thought of, is it better for them to marry or is it better for them to remain single? All right, so basically he's dealing with an unmarried person here in verse 25. And he begins to give the benefits of remaining single. Let's look at this, verse 26. I suppose, therefore, that this is good for the present distress. He's saying it's good that you are unmarried for the present distress. What is the present distress? He's referring to the culture of that time. Christians are being persecuted. It's about to get extremely much worse for them. And the idea he's saying is, it's probably better to be single during an age of martyrdom than to be married. Chance and Matthew are back there somewhere. There's Chance. Feeling okay, ribs, huh? If you can get Chance to laugh, it's a good thing. He had a horse roll over on him, his ribs are sore, probably laughter would be good. By the way, he confirmed what you said, Jim. You walked up, looked at him, didn't have to say a thing, he knew. He knew exactly what Jim was thinking. If Matthew and Chance go out there, someone says, we're gonna martyr you. I mean, we'll have a nice memorial service for them, but what did they really leave behind? Do they have to think, oh man, I got a wife, I got kids to take care of. You see the idea Paul's saying here, for this present distress, it might be better to be single. We don't necessarily have that right now. Some cultures do. But that's one of the things he's giving here to consider in your singleness, why it might be better He is getting us stresses in verse 27. So them is it well, then maybe it'd be better for us all to just end our marriages Paul repeats and The art thou bound unto a wife seek not to be loose art thou loose from wife seek not to seek not a wife you say but if you're married Don't misconstrue what I'm saying here that it'd be better to end the marriage so I could be single not have those burdens and responsibilities He's saying if you're not you might want to consider not getting married because of the present distress the times that we are in and it gets very vicious as time goes on It's concern possible verse 28 he kind of gives another issue but in if thou marry Thou has not sinned. He says you're not doing wrong if you get married and of a virgin Mary she has not sinned and Nevertheless, I love this. He's so encouraging here if you decide to get married You will have trouble in the flesh I'm just telling Paul says I just tell if you get married their struggles that come with marriage He's simply here teaching us this idea that that first of all, he says marriage is not a sin. I But marriage, it's kind of like this pressure thing. Two human beings pressed together in this covenant bond of marriage, and there are issues in the flesh. And I'm not talking an intimate idea, but just two stubborn, sinful human beings put together. The flesh will have friction. He says, so if you marry, you will see a whole, I mean, maybe not the first week of marriage, but eventually you're gonna see, there's a fleshly struggle taking place here. There's difficulty that you will have to learn to work through. As my wife and I were thinking, yesterday we were coming back from the Michigan game and we're driving and she, I can't even forget it now, she brought up something about our marriage. We've been going on 22 years. It's just unbelievable to me. It's that fast. And we still argue. They're not as in-depth. We usually just learn now, she's been doing that for 22 years, I give up. And she looks at 22 years, that's just him. No such change. We almost are amused now at each other how we, those few things we just kind of gnaw at each other on. But in 22 years, it's almost, I don't wanna jinx myself here, but it's almost to the point where it's just, we can't even imagine life apart from one another. But if I could take you 20 years ago, there was times I sat here and thought, we're not making it. There, this is, whew. This, I mean, this woman God gave me. I mean, she's hindering the marriage. She's making this difficult. If she would just agree with me, I mean, we would be fine right now. And there was a lot of things we had to learn. We grew up differently. She grew up in a home that was very organized and structured. And Thursday night was grocery shopping. That meant they got pizza on Thursday nights. And dad came home. Carl would come home, and he'd walk in the house, and he'd get the garbage, and he'd take the garbage out. And if he ever wanted to kill them, it was easy, because they did the same thing every day. You knew what they were going to do. My home was a mom and dad with six kids, total chaos. I mean, we just, we were up all different hours. We were coming, we were going. Dad was working in the Army Reserves, and so he wasn't there. And I mean, it was just, grocery shopping day? What do you mean grocery shopping day? Well, when do you go? When we run out of food, mom goes buy some more. So what do we got in the checkbook? All right, let's go get some macaroni and cheese. That'll last us for, we ate macaroni and cheese literally every day for like two weeks one time. I didn't mind it. It's very good stuff. I mean, you remember the big green Tupperware bowls? Huge. I mean, full of SpaghettiOs. On the table, bread and butter. Their supper, you know? I like SpaghettiOs today. I mean, it was just different. We come together. My wife's like, we gotta work on a budget. Budget, what do you mean budget? Like a financial budget. Why? Just spend what we have and then we'll wait till the next paycheck. I mean, it just works easier that way. No stress involved. You just buy it, we're out of money, okay, we'll wait till next week. Get another paycheck, we'll go see what we can do this week. And she's, my wife's very deliberate about house cleaning and you know, nobody ever removes the refrigerator clean behind it, not unless you're moving. My wife pulls out the refrigerator, cleans behind her. I'm like, what are you doing? Relax. Football's on TV. Why are you cleaning? Just chill out. She goes, I gotta get this done. I gotta get this done. It's bedtime. Now, me and the kids have worn her down over the years, and she's finally relaxed. But it's bedtime. What is my wife doing? There's two dishes in the sink. I gotta go clean them before we go to bed. Are you kidding me? Nobody's breaking into the house tonight, stealing the two cereal bowls in the kitchen sink. I remember I came home from Haiti. I got home five days before Matthew was born from Haiti. And my mother-in-law was there, which is just a wonderful treat. And so, because Beth was pregnant, she was there helping Beth, you know, with the pregnancy and everything. And I come in, and I'll never forget, I go to bed, and I hear Mrs. Evans in the living room. Matt, your shoes are here by the couch. Do you want me to put them by the door? Who cares? Well, shoes can't go to sleep if they're not lined up with the other shoes. I mean, listen, it's humorous looking back, but we had friction. There were struggles that were brought about. And I've talked to many of you. It's just like, I didn't think we were going to make it this far. Now I look back, and we just click, and it rolls, and it's just smooth. Not everyone gets a marriage like Betty and Emery or Al and Alice. It's just smooth from day one. How many years now, Al? How many years, Alice? 55. Emery, do I ask you or ask Betty? 66. Man, that must be, I mean, they can finish each other's sentences. That's just, oh, but you're married like two years. were different people. That's what Paul's referring to here. There's a struggle in the flesh, folks. And by the way, most people give up on their marriage way too soon. They just give up. Where do we get the idea? But that's the American love story. You know, you girls grew up reading these romance novels, which I couldn't stand them. Get them out of the house, because they're not real. He's not this guy with flowing long hair on a horse that's just wonderful. I mean, that's not reality. But we hear this, I fell out of love. What do you mean you fell out of love? I just don't love that person anymore. Well, what did you love about him before? Oh, it was great. He brought me flowers every week. He was dating you. That's why he did that. It's changed. I'll never get a friend of ours, he says, I can't wait to get married, I can picture it now. He says, I'm gonna come home, my wife and the kids will be there and she'll have iced tea waiting for me. We just cracked up laughing, man. We're like, she has, you have kids. Yeah, oh, no, that's not happening then. Maybe before kids, she's waiting at the door with your newspaper and your iced tea for you. But you have kids? No. She might say, here's your kids, I'm going out. need to go for a walk. I mean, we bring this romantic idea and we forget marriage is a work. And Paul's saying, hey, if you get married, don't go into this blindly. It's a struggle. It's worth the struggle. There's a friction of the flesh that's going to take place in marriage. And thirdly, Paul reminds the Corinthian church of the eternal life that is before them. He says, put all this in perspective. Look at verse 29. But this I say, brethren. Hold on a second. But this I say, brethren, the time is short. He's not saying panic, go get a wife or a husband, okay? It's not senior panic here, that's not what he's referring to. He's referring to the end times. You know what's amazing to me as I read my Bible, especially more the last couple of years, is how the early church was expecting the Lord to return any minute. This is thousands of years ago. They weren't good dispensationalists, because if they did, they'd know, wait, this can't happen for another seven dispensations. The signs aren't there yet They thought the Lord was coming. And by the way, what were they looking for the Lord to come back and do? Set up his kingdom That was their focus He says the time is short it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none in The earthly kingdom and Christ sets up his kingdom. You'll know who your wife is. I don't believe you're dumb, but you're not married anymore the whole male-female aspect, your wife may rule over you, which is a very fearful thought. Because he does away with that aspect with the believers there. He says, those that were married as though they had never been married, and they that weep as though they weep not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoice not, and they that buy as though they possess not. He said, oh, I was a rich person, I owned all this property, not in the kingdom, it doesn't matter. And they that use this world is not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passes away. The fashion, the idea, the form, the mentality passes away. He says, keep all this in perspective. Your human life on earth, pre-Christ kingdom, is relatively short. It would be great if we would stay up all night worrying ourselves to death about the kingdom. But we don't. We stay up all night worrying ourselves to death about earthly, the fashion of this world. The form of this world. Earthly things. He says, this is all coming to an end. But I would, verse 32, but I would have you without carefulness, without concern. This is what he's saying. He that is unmarried, care for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord. That's his single focus. But he that is married care for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. It's not that being married, you still don't have a focus on God. But your focus has an earthly component to it. There's an earthly responsibility to it. Therefore there is difference also between a wife and a virgin. He's saying one that's married, one that's unmarried. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord. She can devote herself wholly to the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit, but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. It's a different focus there. It's a focus that God's asked you to have towards your husband. And this I speak for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and he that is profitable, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. But if a man think that he behave himself improperly, uncomely toward his virgin, If she passed the flower age, now he's kind of changed thought here, but he's talking father-daughter relationship aspect here. A father thinks he's behaved himself improperly towards his daughter, his virgin. If she passed the flower age, if she's gotten too old, supposedly for marriage, and needs so require, let him do what he will. He sinneth not, let them marry. Now there's a principle being taught here. And I know it's not popular today. But the father remains the authority over the daughter to marriage. He's saying, the father over his virgin, that's past the flower of her age, past, I mean, she's not young anymore. But he's still that fatherly authority over his daughter. My daughter, I don't know when she'll get married. Who knows? Just when you think they're not going to, they come home and say, I'm getting married next week. So I don't want to jinx myself here, but she's in Arkansas this week traveling with the Denners. And oh, please don't bring me home an Arkansas guy. That would be horrible. And she's my daughter. Let's say she's 35 and unmarried. Still traveling with the Denners. Hopefully not and she brings his dad. I met this wonderful guy from Arkansas. His name's Bubba You're gonna love him dad great. You know what? I think it's her age of 35. He should call me and seek my permission To date in court and marry my daughter Well, when is she on her own biblically speaking I never find a time when a female is not under the authority of a father or a husband and No, that doesn't fit well in our age today. He says, the man that has a virgin, has a young daughter, his daughter, if she passes the age, the flower of her age, she's not young now, and that's not 19 for everyone panicking, I'm 18 and I'm single, what do I do? No, that's just a little bit longer. If she passes the flower of her age and needs so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not, let them marry. You can let them get married, that's fine. Never is he that standeth steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but have power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well. He says he can say no. So then he that giveth her in marriage, doeth well. And he that giveth her not in marriage, doeth better. Any idea is this a father-daughter relationship? Verse 38 sums that up. He gives her in marriage. It's okay. He can do that. He decides not to give her a marriage. It's okay He can do that now dads don't use this as your life verse to keep your daughter at home till she's 40 I'm sure she at some point wants to get married But the reality is showing on a side note here the authority of the father Then he goes back verse 39. He sums up which This is a little, to me, I struggle with this verse, it seems strange. Okay, great instruction here, Paul. Verse 39, the wife that is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth, but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord. He doesn't address the man here, which is just, again, pulling out the cultural idea here. The man was given a whole lot more liberty in this aspect. He says, the wife who is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth. For husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to another she will, whom she will, only in the Lord. In other words, it's gotta be pleasing to the Lord. But she is happier if she so abide after my judgment, and I think also that I have the Spirit of God. He says, I think she would be happier if she remained single. Some people say, speak for yourself, Paul. I just find that a kind of a strange ending to the end of the chapter. Other when you go back and look, there was a lot of struggle, a lot of issues here because the wife at this time, in a lot of ways, was considered almost like property. And men would divorce the wife and be done with the wife all the time for the most minuscule reason. They had to have cause. Cause was she didn't cook a good meal. Cause was she didn't have children, whatever it may be. And in this culture, when you were sent away by your husband, what did they do? I mean, we didn't, there wasn't women in the workforce per se, like we'd have today. Yes, they worked in the market and they would find ways to make, but it wasn't the same. And the church of Corinth is dealing with all of this. trying to uphold biblical marriage to life to your part, but then understanding people are getting, you know, not everyone gets saved at five years old, folks. They get saved later in life and they've got issues. Life brings forth issues, especially amongst the lost, especially in the city of Corinth. And so they got all these questions and they've asked Paul to help them. So at the end of chapter seven, I would say this. Not everything in my mind is answered. I understand to be gracious today that not everything works out perfectly as we would hope and expect it to. And that we as Christians also need to be understanding and grasp this idea that not everyone is responsible for everything in their life. Especially at this time in Corinth, a female had no say. She had no say if she was put out by her husband, none whatsoever. And the government at this time would easily give the divorce for it. Now the church is dealing with this. How do we care for them? What do we do for them? What should they do? So he stresses again the importance of the permanency of marriage. The wife, again, is mentioned here. But Paul says, I think she would be happier if she abide after my judgment, as if I say, remain single and not be married and service unto the Lord. Today we deal with different issues in marriage, but we still deal with the subject of marriage. I remember, man, it was so cut and dry when I was a young pastor. This is what it says. This is the way it's gonna be. So easy. And I remember meeting a couple. We're witnessing they get saved, which is what you want. They're living together. They have kids together. Simple. They need to get married. Sir, why aren't you getting married? And he says, yeah, I was married once before. What? No, cannot be remarried ever. They have a family, they have children together, what do I do? That's the first time I was hit right smack in the face with, so it's not as simple and easy out there. What does he do? Do I make him? No, can't. What do I tell the kids? This is their home, this is their family. And 1 Corinthians 7 helped me to understand there's a lot to be worked through here. There's a lot. But let me say this, at no time does he say the believer to leave the unbeliever. Because that's my favorite one. Why'd you leave? They're unsaved. Which probably a lot of times they're not, but it's good to say they're unsaved. You can make them out to be the devil, then you're good to go. He says unbelievers seek not to depart. But you don't understand, he is a miserable man to live with. 1 Peter 3 helps you with that. 1 Peter 3 will help you with that. As long as you can, by the grace of God, the believer maintains and sustains their marriage. We'll deal with all the baggage in the world and it comes in and there's all types of stuff. I read a thing not long ago of a pastor. Had a man in his church. I'm sorry, a lady in his church. She formerly was in a lesbian relationship and they had adopted children. She got saved. Glory to God, man. She has children adopted in common with an unbelieving lesbian partner. every other weekend. It'd be great if every one of them grew up in Awana like I did in a Christian home and we had our package loaded together, perfect little Baptist church. But if we're going to perform the Great Commission and go out there and reach people, we're going to bring in issues. We're going to bring in issues. And for those of us that didn't have to deal with those issues, let us rejoice when we have a Sunday and we sing about grace, the grace of God in our lives. but now they gotta deal with it, and he says, I never thought I gotta, you know, we're trying to counsel with her, different, I mean, it's just all these different things. Or, as often, and as it's tempting to do, and we've even done it in our own mindset at times, build this fancy little igloo and hide in it, and inspect everyone at the door to make sure they come in with no baggage, because baggage is a pain to deal with. But then we miss out on the glory of God's grace when we have a church, as He says in 1 Corinthians, "...and such were some of you." As He brought in, there's tons of people in this church. In verse 6, Know ye not, verse 9, that the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortion, extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. Yeah, let them have it. And such were some of you. But you've been washed by the blood of the Lamb. I tell you, if we're going to perform the Great Commission, we're going to start having people that come into the church and get saved by the glorious grace of God, and we're going to have to learn the grace of God as we try to help them. I'll just be honest, sometimes that's tough to do. I was riding my bike yesterday, doing an easy ride with coach and a couple of people who did Ironman, just kind of getting together doing a little hour and a half, two hour ride. I wrote up by the coach and I says, I'm going to share something. I'm going to share my opinion. And I can be opinionated sometimes. And she just laughs. Sometimes? Maybe more than sometimes. And I share my opinion about something with Ironman. And I think they should lower the time from 17 hours to 15 hours to be able to finish it and call yourself an Ironman. It bothered me that people would get off the bike and walk the whole marathon. And again, by 17 hours, and they get the, you know, No, that's not fair. We've got to be tougher on them. But it was just funny. I can be opinionated. You can be opinionated. But them opinions have to stop at the door where the grace of God has entered into our lives and express that grace that He has bestowed upon us. I hope chapter seven's been a help for us. I hope it's caused us to think, to strengthen some areas, to be gracious in some areas, to uplift the glory of God in our marriages. Let's pray. Father, as we close out this
Content With God's Calling
Identifiant du sermon | 9291621803 |
Durée | 43:26 |
Date | |
Catégorie | Dimanche - matin |
Texte biblique | 1 Corinthiens 7 |
Langue | anglais |
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