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Book of 1 Corinthians and the 7th chapter.

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The Book of Corinthians is an exceedingly practical book, and the 7th chapter is no

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less practical than all the rest of it.

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It deals with some very important matters regarding marriage.

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Our text today begins in verse 12, would you follow along with me as I read it.

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But to the west speak I, not the Lord, if any brother hath a wife that believeth not,

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and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

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And the woman who hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her,

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let her not leave him.

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For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified

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by the husband, or else were your children unclean, but now are they holy.

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But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart.

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A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God hath called us to peace.

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For what knowest thou, O wife, that thou shalt save thy husband?

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And how knowest thou, O man, that thou shalt save thy wife?

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That is God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let

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him walk.

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And so ordain I in all churches.

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Is any man called being circumcised?

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Let him not become uncircumcised.

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Is any called in uncircumcision?

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Let him not be circumcised.

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Circumcision is nothing.

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An uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments of God.

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Let every man abide in the same calling in which he was called.

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Art thou called being a servant, a slave, that is, care not for it.

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Let not thou must be free, use it rather.

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For he that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lord's free man.

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Likewise, also, he that is called being free is Christ's servant.

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We are bought with a price.

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Do not we the servants of men.

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Never will every man, in whatever state he is called, there abide with God.

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Let's pray.

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Father, we recognize this book as your inerrant, infallible revelation to us.

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Now pray that as we look at these words today, the Spirit of the Lord would quicken this

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mind and tongue on the ears of all of us so that we may understand what is said here.

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And then we pray that our wills will be surrendered before it.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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The apostle says, but to the worst I speak.

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Already in this chapter he has spoken to those who were single or those who were widows.

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He told them that there is nothing wrong with being single.

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In fact, in some respects it's better to be single.

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He says there is nothing wrong with it with being married.

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In fact, if one does not have the charisma or the gift of being single, he should get

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married rather than being consumed with the files of passion.

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He speaks also in the previous verses to the husband and wife who are both believers.

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And he says in essence to them, there is no reason for the two of you ever to separate.

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Perhaps for a brief period, for a spiritual purpose, you may separate, but then come together

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again lest you be tempted because of your lack of self-control.

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Otherwise, he says, there is no reason for the two of you to be apart and to not fulfill

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your responsibility to one another as husband and as wife.

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He does not touch upon the matter of adultery here as it relates to marriage.

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We talked about that a couple of weeks ago.

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We don't have time to review that this morning.

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In essence, he says to the believing wife and the believing husband, remain together.

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That is what God has called you.

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Work at your marriage and make it all that God wants it to be.

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And now he says to the rest, I have these things to say.

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And he says, I am speaking not the Lord.

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And what he means by that is we don't have a word from the Lord in the gospels about

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this.

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He says, here is the word of God to you.

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He is not saying this is my opinion.

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It's not really God's revelation.

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He is saying, Lord Jesus, do not refer to what I'm about to speak to you concerning,

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but here is what God's will is.

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And he begins to speak regarding the person who is married to an unsafe person, the believer

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who is married to an unbeliever.

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Now we take it for granted that the situation developed after the marriage.

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For Paul undoubtedly had told these Corinthians when he was first there that a believer is

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not to marry an unbeliever.

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That's good prevention from troubles.

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In fact, as Paul writes his second letter to the Corinthians, he reaffirms that command

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of God, that a believer and an unbeliever are not to be married.

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That is never the will of God.

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Now maybe because Paul said that in such strong terms when he was there the first time, there

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was a question that arose.

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What about the person who gets saved after he's married?

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And suddenly finds himself or herself married to a pagan.

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Is it then the will of God for them to separate?

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This question may have further arose because of what happened in the Old Testament.

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The Jews may have remembered what happened in the days of Ezra when he came back to Jerusalem

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and there was intermarriage between the Jewish people and the pagans.

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And the command of God was for them to separate and to put away their pagan wives.

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You can read about that in the book of Ezra.

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And so the question may have arisen, especially among the Jews, now are we to separate from

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our pagan partners?

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Are we befouled?

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Paul has already said to them that we as believers are members of the body of Christ and he tells

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them therefore we must stay completely away from heresy and prostitution.

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Verse 6 you recall, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, it is to be maintained

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in purity.

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And so now some of those thinking people may have said, well if that's true, then as a

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wife, am I then seething against Christ when I fulfill my responsibility to life with my

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unsaved husband and vice versa?

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And I then separate from my unsaved spouse.

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So Paul writes to them regarding this.

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He says this is what we would say, if a brother has a wife who's an unbeliever and she's

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pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

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And vice versa he says in the next verse, the woman who has a husband that's not saved,

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if he's pleased to live with her, then she is not to leave him.

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That is the will of God.

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Why is there to be a continuance of the marriage relationship?

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He explains in verse 14.

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He says the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife.

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And the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband.

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Now that's an interesting problem.

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The word sanctify means to be set apart and he says that the believer sanctifies the unbeliever.

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Now that's not sanctification in the sense of salvation.

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That is sort of what we might call a matrimonial sanctification.

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There is a sense in which the unbelieving, the pagan, partner in the marriage, receives

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the blessing of God in his life because he's married to a believer.

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God's blessing in his favor and his grace is upon that Christian.

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And the spillover effects, so to speak, of God's blessing upon his child was received

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by that unsafe partner.

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And so Paul says, remain together.

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It is not the will of God for you to separate.

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If that pagan partner, that unsafe partner, spouse, is willing to live with you, then

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live with him.

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Because I'm to say, ask your children when clean, but now are they hollow.

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Apparently there was this question.

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If my unsafe husband and I have children, does that mean that our children then are

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half-gods?

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Are they half Christian, half pagan?

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Paul says, no, never.

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He says, in fact, they are whole because of your presence in the home.

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They are clean in the eyes of God.

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Now, what all this is saying is, first place, well, it's not saying, let's put it that

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way.

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It's saying that God is guaranteeing the salvation of your lost partner.

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Well, for that matter, nor is God guaranteeing the salvation of your children.

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What God is saying is that you bring sanctification to that home.

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How many people does it take to make a Christian home anyway?

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In essence, it takes one person to make a Christian home.

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That's what Paul is saying.

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You, as a believer, make it a Christian home.

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And though you may not have the kind of fellowship that you learn for because your partner, or

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perhaps even your children, are not saved, nonetheless, your presence makes that a holy

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home in the eyes of God.

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And those unsafe people receive blessing because of your presence, though they may not even

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recognize it.

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And so Paul says, if those unsafe partners are willing to dwell with those safe partners,

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then they are to remain together.

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But notice he goes on to say, if the unbelieving depart, let him depart.

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In other words, if the unsafe partner says, forget it.

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I'm not staying married to you.

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You are two different.

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You are a different person than I know.

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Goodbye.

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And he deserts the home.

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Then the apostle says, let him go.

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Let him depart.

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He proceeds to say, oh brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases.

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What kind of bondage is he talking about?

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Does he mean the bondage to live with that person?

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That's possible.

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But it seems to me to make little sense that way.

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That if the person leaves home and deserts his family, then the person who's left cannot

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live with him anyway.

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So how could he talk about a bondage of living with that person?

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In fact, later on in the chapter, he uses the same kind of language, that is bondage,

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to speak of the marriage.

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He says in verse 39, for example, the right is bound by the law as long as her husband

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lives it.

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And that word bound is the same root word as the word bondage back here in the verse

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we're looking at.

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In other words, in Paul's vocabulary, let us repeat again in Romans 7, 2.

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To be bound in this sense means to be married.

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And it seems to me that what the apostle Paul is saying here is that when an unbelieving

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pagan person deserts the home, the believer is not under bondage any longer to that marriage.

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That there is here a just cause for a divorce of the marriage.

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He says furthermore, God has called us to peace.

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You see, folks, that's the principle.

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There are those who say, no, you should stay with that unbelieving pagan person who wants

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to leave you, who does not love you, because you may be able to win him to Christ.

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God never has needed a home that is filled with turmoil and hatred to win a person to

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Christ.

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He says, God has called us to peace.

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A brother or sister is not under bondage in a specific instance like this.

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Now remember, we're talking about an unbeliever married to a believer.

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That is the specific situation here.

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And he says, if the unbeliever deserts the home, forsakes his wife, and refuses to live

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there, or vice versa, then the believer is no longer under bondage to the marriage vows.

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And then, of course, there are those who say, well, then is there a right for remarriage?

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It seems to me in the study of scripture that there is such a thing as a divorce that can

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be legitimized.

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Remarriage is inherent in that.

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That is the reason for the divorce.

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What divorce is all about is that it's the end of a marriage.

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It is the end of a relationship.

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It no longer exists.

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And so there is a right of the innocent person to remarry.

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In Deuteronomy 24, verse 4, for example, when this situation is being discussed, God speaks

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of the former husband, not the other husband.

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You see, the divorce had separated the individual from the former husband.

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It no longer existed as a relationship.

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God does not say the other husband.

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He says the former husband.

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That relationship is finished.

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One example from Deuteronomy.

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Galatians 2, God explains what a spiritual divorce is in relation to Israel.

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And we can go on and talk about this, but our time is rather limited this morning.

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When a divorce is permitted, and I almost hesitate to use those words because there

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are those that read into that kind of a statement, that God casually approves divorce.

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Let it be strongly stated that God hates divorce.

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Divorce is never the perfect will of God.

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Even when adultery is involved, God's first will is for repentance and for forgiveness

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to be involved and for our marriage to be maintained.

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God hates divorce.

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He says so clearly in his word.

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But it seems to me that there are two specific instances recorded in the word of God, one

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being adultery and the other the one that we're looking at right now, when God does

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permit divorce because God has called us to peace.

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And in Ezekiel 18, as well as in some other places in the Bible, God makes it clear that

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he does not hold the innocent responsible for the sins of the guilty.

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If there is a member in the marriage, a partner in the marriage who sins, God does not hold

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the innocent person responsible for the sins of the guilty one.

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The innocent one is free in the eyes of God from that relationship and free to be happily

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married again.

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Does this kind of teaching encourage divorce?

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I don't believe that it does.

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I believe what it does is to reinforce to us the importance of the marriage vow.

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You see, when a man and woman stand before a company of people and before God and express

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to one another their love and their intent to be faithful to one another, God takes that

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very, very seriously.

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As far as God is concerned, that union is put together permanently.

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Intended for it to be that way is clear from the book of Genesis.

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It is not to be able to live together forever as husband and wife.

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Sin came in and ruined that marriage and it was ultimately broken by death.

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And every marriage since then has been broken by death because marriage as a relationship

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does not continue in heaven.

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And there are specific instances, the Word of God tells us, when even in this life, that

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marriage God intends to be permanent can be broken because of sin.

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He goes on to say in verse 16, what most thou, O wife, though thou shalt save thy husband?

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And so the principle follows through.

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If he's willing to live with you, live with him.

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On the other hand, if he's not willing to live with you, let him go.

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Because you don't know whether through your influence he will be saved.

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And he says the same thing to a man about his wife.

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And then in verse 17, Paul begins to shift his thoughts a little bit.

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In fact, he broadens it somewhat.

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As he begins to answer a second question, as we look at them today, and the problem

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seems to be, should a Christian then agitate and work to change his social or economic

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or his political status after his conversion?

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Paul says, as God has distributed it, as God has assigned it to every man, as he's called

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everyone, so let him walk.

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In other words, has God called you, saved you, and you find yourself married to a pagan?

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That's where God wants you to live.

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God knows your circumstances.

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He saved you in that home.

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He knows that your husband or your wife, whichever, is unsaved.

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As he has called you, walk, conduct yourself, live, in those circumstances, for the glory

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of God.

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Whatever your circumstances, he goes on to say, and he broadens it, live there for the

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glory of God.

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He says, I teach this in all the churches.

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This is not just for you Corinthians.

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And then he says, is a man called being circumcised?

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Let him not become uncircumcised.

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Now if you read that and you look at it, you see no element Paul.

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How are you going to reverse something like circumcision?

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The man says, if he's called being circumcised, what does that mean?

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It means a Jew, right?

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That's what they're forced to do.

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He says, let him not become uncircumcised.

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How do you reverse that surgical procedure?

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Well, you know, it's interesting that that was tried in that day.

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It relates back to the Maccabean period, when there were Jews who were not at all unhappy

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by the domination of a foreign power, and who in fact wanted to appear themselves to

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be Greek.

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And so there was a surgical procedure invented in that way to try to reverse the scars of

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circumcision.

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They wanted to become un-Jewish.

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And so that's what Paul is referring to here in that culture.

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He says, don't seek to un-Buddha.

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Don't seek to leave your Jewishness.

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He says, are you called uncircumcised?

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Then don't seek to be circumcised.

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He says, that means nothing.

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That's outward.

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He says, the important thing is the hard attitude about the commandments of God.

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The important thing is my surrender, my yieldedness to what the Word of God teaches.

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There's such an emphasis upon the outward, upon that which is the ritual.

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But God looks at the hurt, doesn't he?

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Circumcision, uncircumcision, they're zeroes.

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The keeping of the commandments of God is what's important.

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He says, let every man abide in the same calling in which he was called.

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And so once again he repeats that principle.

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Well, God has called you, but under circumstances you're in, be content to abide there.

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He applies it now to slaves.

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He says, for example, are you called as a believer, called into the family of God, are

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you saved being a slave?

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He says, don't worry about that.

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Don't make it your priority to cease to be a slave.

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He says, on the other hand, if you can get your freedom, then get it and use it for the

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glory of God.

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But don't make it your aim in life to be free.

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Be content that God has called you as a slave.

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You can live for the glory of God as a slave.

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He says, he that's called in the Lord being a slave is the Lord's free man.

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That's a great point.

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He says, though you may be a slave, you are free in Jesus Christ.

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And he says, on the other hand, you may be a free person, but you're the Lord's slave.

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He says, the important thing is your relationship to Jesus Christ.

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So don't get sidetracked on secondary issues.

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You know something? That's what Paul is talking about here.

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It's so easy for us as believers to get caught up in social issues or political issues.

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That perhaps is my major concern today about moral majority, for example.

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And I recognize that there are people who have various opinions about that organization.

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I'm glad somebody is saying some of the things they're saying, frankly.

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On the other hand, I fear tying the cross too closely to the flag.

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Because then that dilutes the strength of our message.

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I hope you understand what I'm saying.

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It is not wrong for us to be patriotic.

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I believe we have the responsibility to God to be patriotic as much as we can.

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When we wrap ourselves in the flag and carry the cross, we are really becoming close to trouble.

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We are stepping close to the line.

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Because you see, it's possible for us then to alienate people who need the saving message of Jesus Christ,

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who don't agree with us on a political stance that we might take.

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That is why we as a church are glad to get involved in moral issues like abortion, for example,

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and to take a strong public stand on them.

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That is not just a social issue.

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That is a moral issue of life and death.

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The same is true with such a subject as gay rights, for example.

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That's far beyond a social issue and a constitutional issue.

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It is a moral issue in which the will of God has some very cool things to say.

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Sin is sin, and we need to call it sin when the Bible calls it sin.

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Rather than have to be hoodwinked by some people who say, well, that's simply a political issue, the learning.

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There's that key word again.

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Those kinds of things are moral issues, but for there are political issues.

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On the other hand, when we come to a political issue that is simply that, or a social issue,

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then we need to understand what our priorities are.

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The Bible doesn't put its stamp of approval on slavery.

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Paul is not saying that here.

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He is simply saying if you're a slave, then you can live to the glory of God as a slave.

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So don't make it your primary issue in life to be fooled.

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Is it possible for a person in Russia to live to the glory of God? Of course it is.

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I have a sister who just returned from China.

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She went with a basketball team to China.

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She came back telling about the hunger of our people for the Word of God.

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In fact, they were able to lead their guide to Christ, and 24 others professed faith in Christ during their seven days in China.

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And throughout China right now, there is a spiritual renewal that's taking place that may ultimately revolutionize the revolutionaries.

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It may change the whole government.

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Does that mean that those believers in Red China should now organize and try to overthrow the communist government?

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Absolutely not.

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It would not be the will of God for them to do so.

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Paul says that clearly here.

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They are to live where God has placed them.

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If they can, through right means, try to change their government and accomplish justice without becoming undermining revolutionaries, fine.

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But they are not to agitate and become revolutionaries.

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Right now, to put it in a different form, in Latin America especially, liberation theology is very important.

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You will hear that term in the newspaper occasionally, more frequently in Christian periodicals.

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And what that theology is all about is this.

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They take the theological terms from the Bible and they apply to the Marxist ideology.

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It is simply communism that is killed by the terms of the Bible.

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It's called liberation theology.

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There is a real problem in El Salvador, Guatemala, and those other places right now,

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because some of the so-called missionaries in the United States of certain denominations are teaching socialism and Marxism in the name of Christianity.

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Trying to overthrow what they call rightist governments.

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Is that the will of God? No.

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It is not the will of God for us to be involved in that kind of thing.

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In the social, political issues.

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Again, I say, if we can accomplish righteousness and justice in our society by using means set up by the Constitution, that's fine.

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But God has not called us to be social or political revolutionaries.

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We are here to deliver the saving message of Jesus Christ.

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And to the extent that you and I get involved in those secondary things, we dilute the power of our message

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and the appeal of our message to the people that God has called us to minister to.

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So what Paul is saying in these verses is, stay on course.

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Don't be sidetracked in the secondary things.

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He says, you and that with the price, don't be the servants of man.

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He says, brethren, let every man of whatever state he's called, there abide with God.

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What he is simply saying is, be content with what God's called you.

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And serve God, bring glory to God.

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In the circumstances, whether it be in your home or in your employment, wherever, bring glory to God, what he's called you.

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He says, there abide with God.

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What great words those last words are.

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To know that as a believer in Jesus Christ, wherever we are, God's with us.

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He's with you in that home where you live with an unsaved person.

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He knows the heartaches, he knows the tears you shed, he knows the complications you face.

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He knows all of that. God's with you there.

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God's with you in that employment situation you find almost intolerable.

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Wherever we are, God's called us there. He knows our circumstances. We are there as his instruments.

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And he says, be content to abide there with God.

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Preach the gospel, bring glory to God, what he's called you to serve.

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Let's pray.

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Father, we've tried this morning to understand the principles of the word and to apply them at least in a quick way.

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Undoubtedly, there are ways that the Spirit of the Lord would apply them to our lives that we've not touched upon.

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I pray that we'll be sensitive to those areas of need.

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We thank you Lord that you are with us, that you never leave us or forsake us.

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And that where you have called us to be, you can empower us to stay.

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We bring glory to you.

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This morning in this auditorium there are some brothers and sisters who are in difficult situations.

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And as they struggle to understand how to apply the word of God to their circumstance, I pray that you'll give them wisdom,

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contentment, and surrender to the Lordship of Christ.

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For others of us who are thinking through the issues that we face in our society, help us to stay on course.

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And not to dilute the effectiveness of our ministry.

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Father, there are a few of those today that have particular spiritual burdens and who need prayer.

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Who need help.

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I pray that before they leave here, you'll give them the courage to seek that help.

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In Jesus' name, Amen.