Part 1 of 3 Parts
The Following Message Has Been Transcribed For
Clarity, Continuity Of Thought, And Punctuation By
The LEM Transcribing & Editing Team.
I Corinthians Chapter 7: Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Brethren, Paul is saying that it is a good thing not to engage in sexual intercourse. Now I do not hear this preached in the Church today. All I hear in the Church is that everybody, with very rare exceptions, is to get married and to seek a mate. There is a seduction over the whole country that torments young men and women, and some older men and women, that makes them feel that they are out of place, that they are out of God's will, that they are being denied something wonderful if the Lord has not provided a mate for them. I do not hear this being preached, but Paul clearly said that it is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman. Now I am going to suggest to you that if you are not touching a woman, if you are a young man or a young woman, and you are not engaged in sexual activity and you are tormented, that you have a spiritual problem in your soul. Because if you are tormented by your condition, your condition is a contradiction to the Scripture.
Paul said, it is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman. As we get to a place later on, he says because of this present condition that we are in, that if you are married, you should live as though you are not married. If you are a young or an old man or woman who is tormented, either because you do not have a husband or a wife or you have a husband or a wife, and for whatever reason there is no sexual activity, I want you to hear this word. There is a spiritual problem in your soul, and you should ask the Lord for deliverance and submit yourself for prayer, because it is not consistent for Paul to say it is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman and for you to be in torment because you are in this condition. If you are in torment, there is a contradiction between your life and the Scripture.
Very few preachers will preach this because you really cannot preach something that you do not live. Any preacher will tell you this. If you try and preach something that you are not willing to live or cannot live, you can never preach it with conviction. When it becomes known to the body of Christ or to the members of the congregation that you are not living it, you will cause them to stumble. This is very rarely preached on because it is a very rare preacher that is willing to forego sexual activity. Most preachers are married. Most male preachers are married. It is very rare to find an unmarried preacher. I am not talking about a widower. I am talking about a man that never married and has given his life to Christ. It is more common to find a female preacher that is not married because it is a more serious problem for a woman preacher to marry.
The problem is this. When God raises up a physical woman as a preacher, she has become a spiritual male. If she marries, she puts a man, a human man, between her and Christ, and her relationship with Christ cannot be the same. Now if a woman is married, and God raises her up into ministry, the Lord somewhere, somehow, has compensated. There is a difference between being married and God calling you to ministry while you are married, and being called to ministry when you are single and getting married. Can anybody not understand what I am saying? When you are single and you are called into ministry, you have a vital relationship with Christ and you choose to put yourself under a physical man, you are altering your relationship with Jesus Christ. I have heard many testimonies of women doing this and the result is not positive. It is the diminishing of the relationship with Christ. I cannot promise you that it will happen to you if you are a woman preacher and you choose to get married. I cannot promise that it will happen to you, but I have heard many testimonies from many women that they have been single in a vital union with Christ, and they have chosen to marry and subject themselves to a natural man, and it has diminished their relationship with Christ.
To get back to our issue here, we find very few men willing to preach on this because there are very few men and very few preachers, that are willing to forgo having a wife, not only for sexual intercourse, but also for the companionship, and the family life that is involved with a wife. There are very few men today who are willing to forego it. I suggest to you that our society does not line up with the Scripture in this area. I think we would have to go far and wide to find twenty five unmarried men living for Christ, and happy with their condition. Let us not forget happy, but content with their condition. Most men and most women desire to marry if the Lord will permit, but Paul said, it is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman.
Now when the Lord put me in this study today, to be honest with you, I cannot remember which word it is, maybe as we go past it I will recall. Thayer commented on one of the words I looked up in the study. It said this is the condition of an athlete. This is the chosen lifestyle of an athlete. They choose to give up sexual activity with women, wine and unhealthy food, in a survey of famous athletes or accomplished athletes. I have heard this. Even athletes, if they are restless before they go into a wrestling match or if they are boxers, when they are out there training for a match, no women are allowed. They put all of their concentration and all of their effort into the goal before them. The goal before us, as Christians, is supposed to be the Kingdom of God. I am sorry to tell you that it is a very rare group of people in the Church today that have made this goal the driving force of their life. It is very rare. Whoever this message is for tonight, I hope it blesses you. The Lord had me preach it for you especially.
Now concerning the things you wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Do not let anybody shame you into getting married. Do not let anybody within the Church or outside of the Church harass you or force their will upon you because in this natural world, it is a preferable lifestyle. In this natural world for carnal men and women, I would recommend marriage. It is not good to be alone. Is that not what the Scripture says, they will quote you in Genesis, it is not good for a man to be alone, but that was before the flood. Now it is not only after the flood, but we are about to enter into the age of the Kingdom and spiritual things are the direct opposite of carnal things, of natural things.
Paul is saying, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. We will find out later on that he wrote often that it is better to not even be married. Brethren, the rules change when the age changes. The end of the ages are upon us. Those of us in the Church today, are in the running to have the opportunity to enter into the Kingdom, and the rules are different for us than for believers of a hundred years ago, and certainly for Adam at the beginning of time, where God said it is not good for a man to be alone. This is a very emotional issue in the Church. I rebuke all carnal minds. You can do whatever you want. I am not telling anyone to marry or to not marry, but I deal in truth in this ministry. The truth is not being preached. I do not know one male preacher that would tell this to a young man that sought counseling. They would not tell them because they know themselves, that they would not like that lifestyle, and would hope that God would not give it to them.
Verse 2. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband. Paul is saying, and we will find out later on, that he says this is a gift. It is not for everybody, and if you genuinely feel that you cannot live in this preferable lifestyle, well then, get married. What I see in the Church today is all the married people putting condemnation on the single people. The people with the less preferable lifestyle are harassing the people with the preferable lifestyle, trying to fix them up, trying to influence them to get married, trying to encourage them to get married. Without realizing it they may be making them feel bad if they are not married. I have seen couples in the Church have fellowships and socials and they hesitate to invite single people. It is for married people only. This should not be, brethren. We should be all believers, married or unmarried, with children or childless, all mixing together. We are not suppose to be fellowshipping in categories. If you are on the same level with the person in Christ, and you are having a Bible study, everybody is welcome.
Obviously you cannot have a hundred people in your house for dinner, but the fact that someone is single should not turn you away from them. They should certainly not be a second class citizen. What we see in this society, and in the Church, that if you are single you are a second class citizen. You do not fit in. You do not belong. You are strange. There is something wrong with you. This is an error in the Church. Paul says it is preferable. If you are not mature enough, if you are not disciplined enough to handle the lifestyle, then get married. Let us get things straight. To be a eunuch for Christ is preferable to marriage. We will find out further on down the line that Paul clearly stated, if you are a man and you are married, you cater to your wife. There is someone between you and the Lord, and if you are a woman and you are married, it is even more serious. There is definitely someone between you and the Lord. It is not as serious when you are a man because you are the authority in the family. If your wife does not approve of what you are doing or if she is upset with what you are doing, you could still go do it without being in rebellion. But if you are a woman, no matter how much in agreement your husband is when you married, if two years down the line he decides to oppose you, you have a real problem because he is your natural head.
Let us get it straight. The preferable lifestyle, according to the Scripture, is eunuch. I think if we did a survey in the Church, we would get a very small percentage to say amen to that. What is the root of everyone's failure to confess this? The root is man's terror that he might be left without a partner, that he might be left alone, that he might be left without a sexual partner, that he might be left without a family life. I want to tell you the bravest of men in the Church, if you had ex-ray eyes to scan their hearts, I tell you they are terrified at the thought of being alone. The most macho men are terrified at the thought of not having anyone to wash their laundry for them, of having to cook for themselves, of not having anyone to take care of them when they are sick. I am not saying that to condemn anybody that feels this way. What I am condemning is the perverse doctrine in the Church. Paul said, and I believe he has the Spirit of God, the preferable lifestyle is eunuch. We do not hear that in the Church today. It is reversed. Those that are not married are treated like those in the world. In the world you are an outcast if you are not married. In the Church, which is suppose to be the opposite of the world, you are suppose to be in a higher lifestyle or a higher life form, but the Church condemns you just like the world condemns you. In this area, the Church is just like the world.
Verse 3: Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband. Respect one another. Well, we know there is not much respect amongst husbands and wives in the world today. We see a lot of couples in the Church having a lot of problems. The marriages in the United States are in trouble. From what I can see, the Church has been a small help. I look at Christian marriages in the Church today, and I do not see that they are anywhere near as good as even non Christian marriages in other countries that have strong family ties where the young people have grown up seeing healthy marriages. In this country marriage is under attack. When a young man and woman marry, that have not come out of homes where there are good marriages, and they need to be re-educated. They need to be re-taught how to relate to one another. The woman needs to be taught how to submit to her husband. The husband has to be taught how to love his wife. If they did not experience it amongst their own parents, they need to be re-educated.
It is not enough to cast a demon out of somebody. They have to have a new experience imparted to them. We see this problem in the Church in many areas because of our collapsing society. Even though they enter into a relationship with the Lord, they simply do not or cannot function on a healthy level. It is not enough to be casting a demon out of them. They need to be re-educated and we do not see much of that happening today. Why do we not see much of that happening today? It is because this is a form of deliverance that is associated with the imparted anointing. Everything is simple with the imputed anointing; healing, deliverance, the gifts and calling of God without repentance. It is simple deliverance. Those of you that are here have heard me saying this for a long time. I have seen people come out of mental institutions flocking to a Church where the word was out there that the power of deliverance was there. I have never seen one of them delivered. Only the ones that are disturbed mildly get deliverance. Why? It is because there is only a mild manifestation of deliverance power. There has to be another anointing coming, and it is coming with the power of God with counseling, the power of God with the wisdom of God, working together to rehabilitate people and families and couples. Glory to God.
Verse 4: The wife has not power of her own body, but the husband, and likewise also the husband has not power of his own body, but the wife. Verse 5: Defraud ye not one the other except it be with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. So we are told here that it is not Godly to withhold yourself from your husband or wife for any manipulative or punishing reason, and that the purpose of your body is to submit to one another, to comfort one another, and help one another. This worldly concept of withholding sex to show anger or to show disappointment, is very ungodly. Scripture clearly states that when you make your commitment to get married, that your body belongs to one another. Hallelujah.
Verse 6: But I speak this by permission and not of commandment. Verse 7: For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. He says, but I speak this by permission, not of commandment. When he says let every man have his own wife and every wife have her own husband, Paul says it is not a commandment. It is permission. Again he says, it is preferable that everyone should be celibate and unmarried so that they could serve God with all of their heart and soul. When you have earthly responsibilities, it will definitely cut into your relationship with God. If anybody hearing this thinks I am against marriage, you are mistaken. I am for the truth. There is only twenty four hours in a day. If you sleep five, there are only nineteen hours left. If you have a husband and children, and you are shopping, cooking, cleaning, sewing and bathing, there are only so many hours left to serve the Lord. You must take care of your children and your husband. That is the truth. Now Paul says, if you want to get married, he gives you permission to get married, but get married with an intelligent educated attitude. If there is some married woman in Christ that is telling you that you could serve God as well as you can when you are married as when you are not married, that is not true. You have been told a lie. There is only nineteen hours in the day unless you want to sleep more, and then there is only seventeen hours in the day. We are limited by time. If you want to get married, and the Lord permits, get married, but do not get married believing a lie. Get married, knowing that it will cut into your time with the Lord. I tell you the truth.
Verse 7: But I would that all men were even as I myself, but every man has his proper gift of God. In other words, Paul says, it is best to be unmarried, but he understands that everybody could not handle it. Verse 9: But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. Now every time I ever heard that preached, I heard it preached it is better to marry than to burn up in torment with your passion. Although I cannot prove this to you in the Scripture, I am going to give you something to think about. Every time I have ever read about burning, it is referring to the lake of fire and the judgments of God. I am going to ask you to think about the possibility that what Paul is saying here is it is better to marry than to fall into sin and burn in the judgments of God. Somebody that has a lust problem reads this scripture, and instead of getting delivered from the lust, they say I better get married because I am burning. I want to tell you something, that to burn with lust when you are serving God, and you are not married, is not acceptable to the Lord. Celibacy is not torment. It is a gift from God that you should live such a life without pain, in contentment. If you are single, if you do not have a sexual outlet, and you are burning with lust, you need deliverance from lust. It is not acceptable to God. That is not a reason to get married because you are burning with lust. You need deliverance. If you marry a woman because you are burning with lust, what kind of a husband will you be to her? You must love her as Christ loves the Church. Glory to God.
You know there is a difference between Paul saying marry to avoid fornication and marry because you are burning with hidden passion. You know someone can slip into fornication here and there. It does not mean they are burning every day, every minute, of their life with burning passion. It is what we hear in our society today, but that is not normal. I am sorry. To be walking down the street, going to work, coming home and thinking about sex every second, for it to be primary in your mind like that, that is not a healthy condition. Jesus is suppose to be primary in your mind, and because of the advertising in our society today, someone could have a problem like that and think it is wonderful. It is not wonderful. It is something that needs to be dealt with. You can be tempted to fall into fornication without being a sex fiend. I believe that when Paul says it is better to marry than to burn, he was saying it is better to marry than to slip into fornication, because all you have to do is slip into it once and the judgment comes on you, than to experience the judgment of God. It is better to marry than to experience the judgments of God for fornication, not necessarily that you are burning with passion day and night. Glory to God.
What happens if you are burning with passion day and night, you get married and after two years your wife cannot have sex with you anymore. Then what do you do? You cannot divorce her. You are married to that woman. I know Paul says it is good to avoid fornication, but brethren, it better not be primary in your mind or you have got one big problem. You do not know what the day is holding for you or what tomorrow is holding for you. Glory to God.
Verse 8: I say, therefore, to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. It is better, he is saying to those who have never been married, or perhaps divorced, and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I, but if they cannot contain, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn in the judgment fire of the Lord. Glory to God. Even in my margin it says, to be consumed with passion, if they cannot contain themselves. Glory to God. That word, contain, means self control. I am suggesting to you, implied and included in that self control is not only sexual activity, but it is a discipline that would permit people to deal with the loneliness and the aloneness of a single life. A lot of people express that through a sexual desire. They think that is the answer to all of their problems. Jesus said, if you are going to fall into fornication, either because you have sexual desire or you are expressing a desire for affection or loneliness through that sexual desire, it is better to get married than to burn in the fires of judgement. It is a very fine line, but I really think that it is a deception to think that Paul is referring to people that are burning with passion. I do not know why it is so important. The Lord has not told me yet, but I feel that the Lord is making this point. Perhaps by the end of the message, He will tell us why it is so important.
Verse 10: Unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband. But if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put her away. A lot of people in the Church think this is a very hard word, that if you have an unhappy marriage or a troubled marriage, and you depart, that the woman should stay single. I would like to give you a little insight into that. I do not necessarily think that the woman has to remain single or go back to her own husband forever. I think the spiritual principle behind this is that if you are married, and you are so unhappy with your husband that you want to leave him, the chances are that you have some kind of an emotional problem or a curse in your life that caused you to wind up married to this man. If you are so unhappy that you cannot stay with him and work it out, the chances are there is a curse operating in your life that would cause you to marry another man very similar to the first one. That is why Paul is saying, either go back to your husband and work it out or stay single.
I believe in some cases that the situation is irreconcilable. If the person that departs gets deliverance and changes in Christ, and overcomes this problem where the curse is broken, and if the Lord permits, somewhere down the line, that it is possible for her to have another husband. What this is saying is, women, if you are really unhappy with your husband and you think the answer is another man, you are mistaken. The answer is that you have a spiritual problem that needs to be dealt with. That is what the answer is. That is what Paul is saying. Either go back to your husband and work it out, or stay single, because you have a problem that gets you married to men like this.
I saw a woman on TV the other day. She was married three times, and each time her husband cheated on her. The third time she decided she did not want to get divorced, so the two started to swing. If you do not know what swing means, they started to go to clubs where both of them engaged in sexual activity with other people. She no longer had to deal with feeling betrayed by a man who cheated on her because she went with him, and this was how she dealt with the curse in her life that made her marry three men that cheated on her. Paul is saying, if things are really that bad, there is a real good chance that you have got something operating in your soul that brought you to this man who was such a poor husband.
Verse 12: But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: if any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman that hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. I am going to just read through a few of these verses, because they really are not the main point of this message. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, else were your children unclean, but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. In other words, if you are married to an unbeliever and they leave you, that is one of the cases of legitimate divorce. You are free to marry again, because you have hung in there, and you have stayed, and did everything you could to work it out, and they have left you. The Lord has given you permission, if He brings someone into your life. It has to be God giving you the husband to marry again. Glory to God.
I am going to skip a few of these verses, down to verse 25. Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord. Yet I give my judgment as one that has attained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I want to suggest to you right up front that Paul is talking about men that are virgins. Most people that read this think that a virgin is a woman. I want to tell you a virgin could be a man that has never experienced sex. I am going to suggest to you that Paul is talking about male virgins. As we go through the next few scriptures in the next few verses, you will see that in one verse he is talking about men, and in another verse he is talking about women. We are going to just point out in which verses he is talking about what. Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgment as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress. He is talking about men. I say that it is good for a man so to be. It is good for a man to never experience sex and be a physical virgin. Art thou bound unto a wife, seek not to be loosed. Are thou loosed from a wife, seek not a wife. But if thou marry, thou hast not sinned. And if a virgin marry, she has not sinned. Now that word, she, is not she in the original Greek. I am suggesting to you that Paul is speaking to men here. But if you marry, you have not sinned. In other words, if you are not a virgin or if you are a widower and you marry, you have not sinned. If you are a virgin and you marry, neither have you sinned.
He is talking to two categories of men. That word, she, is a pronoun that could be either he or she. It is a Greek pronoun that could be translated either he or she. I am suggesting to you what Paul is saying. In the verse before he was saying, if you are bound to a wife, seek not to be loosed. If you are loosed from a wife, seek not a wife. Then he says to those that are loosed from a wife, but if you marry, even though you are loosed from a wife, if you are divorced or widowed, if you marry, then you have not sinned. But if you are a virgin, a man that has never has sex with a woman, and you marry, you have not sinned either. Nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the flesh, but I spare you. Now brethren, check out this scripture. Paul has promised you trouble in the flesh in marriage. I want to tell you there is a truth to it. There are benefits for marriage and benefits against marriage. I know a lot of married people that are lonely. Aside from that, you will have other people in your household. There are plenty of married people that are lonely, but Paul has said that you shall have trouble because you are two people that are most likely related on an adamic level and you will have conflict.
If God gives you a husband, you marry, but if you are marrying because you think it is the answer to your problem, you most likely will be disappointed. The answer to your problem is Jesus. The answer to your loneliness is Jesus. The answer to your emptiness is Jesus. If you marry somebody, it is a situation which requires both parties to give. Where both parties give everything they have, maybe if the Lord blesses it, it will work. If you come to a marriage expecting your mate to fill your emptiness or to meet your need, and he feels the same way about you, you have got a disaster on your hands. Marriage is a sacrifice. It has benefits, but it is a sacrifice.
Verse 29: But this I say, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none. The time is short for what? We are being converted into Christ. We are entering into the Kingdom. Brethren, arise. I do not see it in the Church. Nobody is aware of the urgency. Everybody is eating and drinking and giving in marriage and marrying. They do not understand how short the time is for us to labor in Christ to enter into the Kingdom. Paul says if you have a wife, that you should be as though you had none. What does it mean? Do not preoccupy yourself with sexual activity. Do not preoccupy or idolize your wife. Do you know that some men make idols out of their wives, and some wives make idols out of their husbands. They put them before God. I know a woman right now. She is a woman of God. She went and got married and now her answer to her every problem is her husband. When she was single, her answer to every problem was Jesus. Now that she has got a husband, he has become her god. He has become her god. She will have to answer to the Lord for it. It will not be pleasant when she finds out that he is just a man. How is she going to find out? He is sure to let her down. He is sure to let her down. She has put him in Jesus' place.
Those that have wives, be as though they had none. I want to point out to you that it does not say women, those that have husbands, be as though you have none. As unfair as it may sound, it is a manifestation of the curse. Men can to a large degree, leave their wives and family to serve God and it is acceptable to society and it is acceptable to God. It is not that acceptable for women unless you have a specific call on your life, and God calls you out from under the natural order. You have obligations at home that are greater than the man. You can call it unfair all that you want, but it is acceptable that the man goes out and serves God, but you have to stay home and keep the family going. That is just the way it is.
Verse 30: They that weep as though they wept not; and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy as though they possessed not. What Paul is saying here is do not yield to your adamic emotions. If you are sad, if you have reason to be sad, act like you do not. Even if you are rejoicing, act as if you do not. Just go on and press into the Kingdom. Even though you might have the money to buy, act like those that do not have any means to possess anything. These possessions mean nothing. That is what he is saying. Weeping means nothing, rejoicing means nothing, possessions mean nothing. Press on into the Kingdom. Verse 31: They that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away. What that means is those of us that have the privilege of using the things of this world just like the new computer that God gave me. I am so excited about it, but he says do not abuse it. Thank God that He lets you use the modern conveniences of this world, but do not use it to hurt anybody. Do not use it to take advantage of anybody. Use it for the work of the Kingdom, whatever it is that He has given you. Nothing is really ours. Everything belongs to God.
Verse 32: But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. Now here we are talking about natural women, obviously. Verse 34: There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. It is the same Greek word, virgin, in verse 34 as in verse 28. In verse 28 he is talking about men, and in verse 34 he is talking about women. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy, both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. This is the truth, brothers and sisters. I am not against marriage, but go in with your eyes open. This is the truth. Paul is telling you the truth and so am I.
Verse35: And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. Paul just said the same thing that I just said. He is not against marriage. I am not against marriage. He says I speak this for your own profit, not to hurt you. I am not against you if you want to get married, but that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. If you have a wife or a husband, they are a distraction to your relationship with the Lord. That is the truth. Glory to God.
This is the end of Part 1.
3/18/10mjs
