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1 Corinthians chapter 7 · Scripture Unscripted

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First Corinthians Chapter 7 Let us pray.
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Our Father who is in heaven, holy is your name, your Kingdom
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come, your will be done on earth just as it is in heaven.
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Give us this day Our Daily Bread.
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Forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who have
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trespassed against us. Lead us not in temptation, but
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deliver us from the evil. 1 For yours it's the Kingdom, for
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yours is the power, for yours is the glory forever.
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Amen. Well, let's start in verse one.
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Now, concerning the things, wherever you wrote unto me, it
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is good for a man not to touch a woman.
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OK, Paul, Paul's going to talk about a letter he received from
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the Corinthians. They were wanting to know if it
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was more pious for them to put away their wives or to have
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celibacy and to not touch women. And what you need to understand
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here is that Paul is going to take them to task.
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He's going to show them their futile efforts to try to please
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God, and what he is going to expound upon them is that
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whatever situation they were called in, to remain in that to
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be content. And that is the whole crux of
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the whole situation, friends, is to be content.
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Many of us were just not content and we think that the grass is
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greener on the other side and we're constantly pursuing A
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loftier idea or we're constantly trying to please God and we need
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to rest in the finished work of the cross.
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And we need to know that we don't have to manufacture a
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single thing that if we'll rest in the promises of God that by
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and by he's going to lead us home.
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And we don't need to fear on missing out on anything.
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Or we do not need to fear being the ones who stand before God
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one day saying that we prophesied in your name.
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We cast out demons in your name. And we do not need to fear him
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saying depart from me. If we will just rest in the
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finished work of the cross, If we will make sure that we know
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that we know that we're covered in the blood of Jesus Christ,
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then no matter if you're a garbage collector, a janitor, or
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if you are a rocket scientist, brain surgeon, you can please
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God no matter what situation you find yourself in.
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And if you are living in a sinful lifestyle, if you are
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living in complete reprobate situation, you must flee from
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that. You must get out of that.
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And Paul is going to show us throughout this chapter how God
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feels about it all. And this is not just Paul's
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opinion. This is divinely inspired.
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Friends, this entire chapter here, the entire word of God is
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infallible in an errand, and Paul is hijacked by the Holy
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Spirit and he's going to show us what God thinks about it all.
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Verse 2. Nevertheless, to avoid
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fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman
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have her own husband. So there.
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That is why we do not practice polygamy.
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That is why we are not like the patriarchs of old who took
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concubines and wives. This is God's perfect and
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pleasing plan for us as Christians, friends.
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This monogamous relationship is what pleases God more than
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anything else is that whenever we will get in a relationship
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with the opposite sex, this is not same sex marriage, friends.
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It is one woman and it is one man, and that is God's plan and
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we make no apologies for it. And it is for the procreation
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and it is for the enjoyment. And God makes the marriage bed,
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holy friends. And He is the only one that can
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institute marriage and He is the only one that can actually sever
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the marriage relationship. Court systems do not get that
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right. Unrighteous judges do not have
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that privilege. It is God's holy matrimony.
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It is a holy institution that God put together in the
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beginning. Friends, go and read Genesis and
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you will find that God is the one who started marriage and God
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is the only one that can recognize marriage and God is
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the only one that can dissolve marriage.
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Pagan courts do not get that privilege. 3 Let the husband
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render unto the wife. Do benevolence and likewise also
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the wife unto the husband. So what you need to know is that
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99.9% of men do not deserve a submissive wife by and by.
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What you need to understand is that the degree that the wife
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will submit to the husband is only to the degree that the
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husband is submitted to God Almighty God is the head, and if
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he will bow down low and respect God and listen to God, then she
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will bow down low and respect her husband and listen to him.
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And so many times this verse has been taken out of context and
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unrighteous, sinful men who are steeped in idolatry try to use
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the Bible. And it is no different than
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Satan. It is no different than the
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certain of twist of the serpent in the garden that twist the
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words of God for their own selfish vanity and gain.
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And far be it from us. If husbands will lock eyes with
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the Lord God and not worry about anything else, then the woman
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will have no problem submitting to him because she knows if she
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goes against him, she's going up against God.
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And if she goes up against God, it'll never end well.
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And that is not to say that the husband is God, but the husband
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needs to know that he is serving God and God alone.
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And that is how you find a submissive wife.
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And she will be well pleased to share her due benevolence with a
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man who sold out to God Almighty. 4 The wife has no
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power of her own body but the husband.
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And likewise also the husband has no power of his own body but
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the wife. What studies show us that is if,
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if people who are not in love with each other will stay
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together, they will eventually fall back in love.
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And what you need to understand is even whenever you don't feel
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like it, God says that there is a great danger in withholding
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sex from your marriage partner, from your wife, or from your
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husband. You need to know that the
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devil's playground is fornication and he temps with so
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many different avenues coming at us and bombarding us in images.
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And you will see men act like animals and you will see women
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stepping out whenever there is not a healthy sexual
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relationship within the marriage. 5 defraud you, not one
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the other, except it be with consent for a time, that you may
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give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again
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that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
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That is what you need to understand is that when a
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husband or a wife refuses to have sexual relations with their
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spouse, it is a playground for the enemy to come in and to lure
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them away. You've seen so many marriages
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broken up because they did not have a healthy sex life.
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And that is what you need to understand is that God makes the
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marriage bed pure and holy. And it is not something that we
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compartmentalize and we check out from worship unto God.
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It is something that you need to know that you are naked and laid
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bare before God's holy eyes, and if you are married and you are
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monogamous, it is pleasing unto the Father. 6 But I speak this
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by permission and not a commandment.
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So Paul is not less any divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit, but
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he is only building upon the things that Jesus Christ gave us
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in the Beatitudes when he was talking about marriages.
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And that is what you need to understand, is that here Paul is
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no less divinely inspired, but he is going to expound upon what
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Christ has said. 7 For I wish that all men were even as
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myself, but every man has this proper gift of God, one after
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this manner and another after that.
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So here you need to understand that Paul is saying that if you
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are single, then you can go and please God anywhere and
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everywhere that He calls you. But when you are married, you
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have a duty unto your family. You have a responsibility unto
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them. And we need to know that a
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person who will not take care of his family is worse than an
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unbeliever. Eight I say, therefore, to the
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unmarried and the widows, it is good for them if they abide even
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as I. He's saying, if you're single,
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stay single, because you can serve the God, You can serve God
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all the more. 9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry.
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For it is better to marry than to burn.
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If you have a desire to be married.
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He's saying, don't fight it, give in to it, because it's
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better for you to be married than for you to lust and to be
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caught in some kind of sinful relationship. 10 And unto the
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married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let not the wife
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depart from her husband. This is what Christ had told us
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back there in the Beatitudes. 11 But if she depart, let her
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remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband, and
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let not the husband put away his wife.
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So Jesus told us that it was for the hardness of our hearts that
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Moses gave us the certificate of divorcement.
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It was not commanded as some of the religious scribes, the
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religious folk of Jesus's day were teaching, that it was
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commanded to divorce a wife if she did something wrong.
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He gave us only one out, which was for infidelity, which is if
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one spouse cheats on the other. 12 But I but to the rest speak I
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not the Lord. If any brother has a wife that
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believes not and she'd be pleased to dwell with him, let
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him not put her away. So if you find yourself already
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married and you find out that your spouse, if you come to
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faith and find out that your spouse is not a believer and
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that was not even really something you even talked about
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in the beginning and now it's of the utmost importance and you're
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wondering what to do. He's saying stay in the
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marriage, do not seek to get out of that marriage. 13 And the
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woman which has a husband that believes not, if he be pleased
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to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
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Think about it, friends, here he is.
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He doesn't care anything for the Lord, but she comes to faith or
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vice versa. He loves the Lord now and she
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cares nothing for him. Paul's going to tell us what
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does God think about it? 14 For the unbelieving husband
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is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is
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sanctified by the husband. Else were your children unclean?
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But now are they holy? So this is of great importance,
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friends, that if you will stay in the marriage, then there is a
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chance that your husband will come to faith.
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Your wife will come to faith if you'll stay in it.
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And unless there is grave danger and there's violence, and unless
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there is strife, you don't need to separate from them.
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But even if you find yourself in a very dangerous situation, you
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do not need to seek divorce. You need to seek help and seek
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separation and you need to try and seek reconciliation,
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friends, and here you're going to find what God thinks about it
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and look at what he says about these children.
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This is of the utmost importance.
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Friends, think about if you were to leave your unbelieving spouse
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and they somehow got custody of your children, they could lead
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them down into paths of destruction.
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But if you choose to stay in that marriage, there is a chance
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that they will grow up and grow in to the Lord and be holy.
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And you can train them in the way they should go so that when
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they are older they will not depart from it.
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And we know that God says that he does not wish that any should
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perish. 15 But if the unbelieving depart, let him
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depart. A brother or sister is not under
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bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace.
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So here, if they want to, if the unbeliever wants to leave, then
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you are free from them. Think about it, if you find
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yourself in a house, in a marriage and the unbeliever says
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I can't take it, I'm leaving. He says let them go, you are no
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longer bound to them. He wants you to live at peace as
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much as possible in this life, and that peace comes from him.
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16 For what do you know, O wife, whether you shall save your
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husband? Or what do you know, man,
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whether you shall save your wife?
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We don't save anybody, friends. God does, but it is our witness.
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And who knows? This is God's heart right here.
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Who knows that IF by you fasting and praying, and by your
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witness, by you going to church and being the church, reading
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your word, who knows if that will not be contagious unto your
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spouse? And that is the reason he wants
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us to stay in the fight for friends. 17 But as God has
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distributed to every man, as the Lord has called everyone, so let
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him walk, and so ordain I and all the churches.
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So whatever situation you found yourself in when you were
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called, God says stay in that situation.
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If you are married, stay married.
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If you're single, stay single. Unless you burn with lust, then
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it is better to marry. 18 Is any man called being circumcised?
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Let him not become uncircumcised is any called in uncircumcision.
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Let him not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing.
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Uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments
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of God. That is something, friends, is
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that's what God desires, for us to love him with all of our
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heart, all of our mind, all of our strength, to love our
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neighbor as ourselves. He's saying to us that we don't
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need to try to uphold all of the Jewish customs, friends us as
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Gentiles. And then he's also telling the
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Jews that they shouldn't seek to be uncircumcised, as some people
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did whenever Antiochus Epiphanes was on the scene and they were
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trying to hide their circumcision for fear of man.
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Far be it from us to give into that.
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We keep the commandments of God, and that is what pleases Him. 20
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Let every man abide in the same calling where he was called. 21
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Are you called being a servant? Care not for it, but if you may
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be made free, use it. Rather, he's saying just because
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you find yourself in a pitiful situation, if there is
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opportunity for you to get out of that, you should take it.
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Don't just think that. He's saying if you were called
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in poverty to stay in poverty. Friends.
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If you were called as a slave, don't stay in slavery.
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If you were called in a sinful lifestyle, don't stay in that
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sinful lifestyle. Get out of it, friends. 21 Are
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you called being a servant? 22 For he that is called in the
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Lord, being a servant is the Lord's freeman.
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Likewise also he that is called being free is Christ's servant.
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So he's saying, look at it, If you are in, if you think you
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have freedom, you're a bondservant unto Christ.
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If you think that you're a slave, he's called you a
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freeman. So he's saying, walk in Christ,
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walk in the freedom, and then you will find that you are just
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a bond servant unto him. 23 You are bought with a price.
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Be not you the servants of men. Don't worry about this sphere of
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man. He bought you with a real high
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price, friends, and now you belong to him and you live for
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Christ. 24 brothers let every man where in he is called
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therein abide with God. This is contentment friends,
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contentment in a nutshell. We need to know that whatever
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situation we find ourselves in, we need to be content in it.
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And we don't need to think that the grass is greener on the
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other side, which leads to discontentment, it leads to
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confusion, it leads to a selling our birthright for a mess of
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pottage. 25 Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment
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of the Lord, yet I give my judgment as one that has
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obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.
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So this is what he's trying to say here.
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He's talking about all of the single people. 26 I suppose,
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therefore, that this is good for the present distress.
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I say that it is good for a man so to be so.
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What he's saying here is there's persecution that is coming and
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to avoid so much sorrow that if a person is single, they do not
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have to worry about trying to take care of their spouse and
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their children, and they will be free from so much distress and
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sorrow when the persecution arises. 27 Are you bound to a
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wife? Do not seek to be loosed.
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Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
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So he's saying whatever your situation is, stay in it. 28 But
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if you marry, though you have not sinned, and if a virgin
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marries, she is not sinned, nevertheless such shall have
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trouble in the flesh. But I spare you.
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He's trying to spare us of all the sorrow that comes.
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And we know that God's plan from the beginning was procreation.
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And he know he is desirous for us to have one woman, and to for
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us to have one spouse, a man to have a wife, a wife to have a
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husband, and for them to have children which he honors.
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And you know that many, many arrows in the hand of a man is
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pleasing unto God. We know that happy is the man
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who has a quiver full of them. These children are gifts from
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God. But Paul here is showing that
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when the persecution arises, we could save ourselves so much
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sorrow if we remain single and we'll be able to serve God
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freely. That's why he says it's not a
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sin to marry, it's not a sin to have children, but you will have
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much sorrow. He's trying to spare you of
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that. 29 But this I say, brothers, the time is short.
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It remains that both they that have wives be as though they had
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none. So he's telling us that the
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circle is closing in the birth pains and the contractions.
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The end is near, friends. And if it's not in our lifetime,
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if it's not in the next 1000 years, it's still near because
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1000 years is like a day and a day is like 1000 years to God.
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Do not think that God is slack in his coming.
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He's waiting for the for the full number to come in friends.
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And he's saying that if you have a wife that you don't need to be
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so preoccupied with what does she think about things?
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You need to be more preoccupied with what does the word of God
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say? And then you share that with
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her. And if she will not accept it,
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she will be fighting against God Almighty.
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That is not a place that anybody would ever want to be.
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We listen to God, we please God, we submit ourselves to God.
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And then you will find a wife that is submissive unto you. 30
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And they that weep as though they wept not, and they that
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rejoice as though they rejoice not, and they that by as though
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they possess not. So he's saying that we do not
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mourn like the rest of the world who have no hope.
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We do not look at all of our possessions as our own
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possessions. They are gods and we are just
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stewarding them and we do not just make myrrh and think that
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life is nothing but a big party. This is serious business in
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heaven and hell. Hang in the balance for every
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single person that you meet today, friends 31 and they that
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use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world
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passes away. That is what you need to
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understand is that the children of this world are more shrewd in
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their dealings than the children of the light.
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And we need to be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
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Friends, everything is passing away, and it is only by sending
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things ahead that we will have any kind of rewards. 32 But I
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would have you without carefulness, he that is
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unmarried cares for the things that belong to the Lord, how he
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may please the Lord. 33 But he that is married cares for the
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things that are of this world, how he may please his wife.
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That is what you need to understand is that whenever you
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are not married and God says go, you go.
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But whenever you are married, there's much deliberation, and
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you must go and reason with your spouse and with your children,
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and you must wrestle through all of those hard decisions. 34
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There is difference also between a wife and a virgin.
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The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she
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may be holy both in body and in spirit, but she that is married
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carry cares for the things of the world, how she may please
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her husband. What he's saying is that an
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unmarried woman is free to do whatever God Almighty tells her
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to do, but a married woman has to submit herself unto her
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husband, and she has to worry about taking care and being a
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good helper unto him. 35 And this I speak for your own
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prophet, not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that
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which is comely, and that you may attend upon the Lord without
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distraction. We've got to live lives that are
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not distracted friends. And what he is saying he's is,
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he's not trying to put a noose around your neck.
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He's trying to get you to a place where you are free and
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free indeed. Who the Son sets free is free
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indeed. And that is what you're going to
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find is that Paul is desirous for us to live unto God and God
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alone. But he knows that it is
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beneficial to be married, and he doesn't say anything against
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marriage as a whole, but his desire is for us to be 100% sold
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out to God Almighty. That is the entire point of this
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entire chapter. It is for our profit that we are
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not distracted. 36 But if any man think that he behaves
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himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she passed the flower
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of her age and needs so require, let him do what he will.
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He sends not let them marry. So if you have a daughter and
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you're trying to hold on to her because you are fearful of what
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is all coming down the pipeline and you think that it is better
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for her to stay under your roof and for you to take care of her.
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But here she is. She is now of age, she has come
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into her maturity and things are still going on and on, and the
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Lord has not come back yet and he's still tearing.
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And there is a suitor who desires A betrothal unto your
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daughter. He's saying release her and let
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her go to be married. Quit trying to hold on to her.
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She's not your possession. She was God's before she was
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ever yours. Let them marry. 37 Nevertheless,
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he that stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but
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has power over his own will, and has so decreed in his heart that
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he will keep his virgin, does well.
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So he's saying that we should not push them out if they are in
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a position where they want to stay.
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We don't need to try to push them out into the world and into
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unhealthy relationships. If your daughter desires to
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stay, does not desire to be married, then it is wonderful
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for the father to continue to take care of her.
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This explains why a man leaves his mother and father and
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cleaves to his wife, and the two become one.
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But it does not say that about the daughter. 38 So then he that
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gives her in marriage does well, but he that gives her not in
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marriage does better, because she can stay underneath your
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roof, and only you know where you stand with the Lord, And you
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really can't tell where her future spouse stands with the
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Lord. He can say it outwardly, but you
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do not know what is happening in his own heart.
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And there's so many youthful, lustful desires that come up and
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spring up after someone gets married that has to get dealt
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with and has to get completely rooted out and the
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sanctification process. But you as the Father, you've
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dealt with so much and you can see the world differently than
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the youthful can. And so he's saying it's better
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as we are nearing the end, it's better for her to stay
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underneath your leadership and direction. 39 The wife is bound
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by the law as long as her husband lives.
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But if her husband is dead, she's at liberty to be married
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to whom she will only in the Lord.
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We cannot be unequally yoked, friends, whether it's in
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business, whether it's in marriage, do not be unequally
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yoked. If a husband dies, she's free to
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remarry, but only a believer. We'll end on 40.
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But she's happier if she so abides after my judgment.
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And I think also that I have the Spirit of God.
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Paul is so humble, and here he's not trying to act like he's some
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kind of super St. He's being very modest.
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But it is no less inspired of God, and he's hijacked by the
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Holy Spirit. And God is giving us his mind on
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all these matters. And aren't we eternally blessed
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and grateful for this chapter that lays out so many principles
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of relationships and marriage and how we are to be?
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And he says that when the Son of Man returns, people will be
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doing all the things that they've always done.
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They'll be giving their daughters away in marriage.
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We need to know that He's coming soon.
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If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready, friends.
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We look up and we see our redemption is drawing near and
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He is going to keep us from the hour that is coming to test all
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the inhabitants of the earth. Just remember that.
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I hope you've been blessed by this chapter.
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I know I sure have. I love you.
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I'm praying for you. We'll see you back here
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tomorrow. God bless you.