(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at six. Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study. This week will be in Proverbs 21. We've got the soul-winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. Across the page is the birth announcement for the Avghulis family on the birth of baby Elizabeth, born Wednesday, January 4th. Be sure to congratulate them. Keep praying for the rest of the ladies that are still expecting. Below that, Mexico Monday is tomorrow. It's just a one-day trip down to Mexico for soul-winning. We do this about once a month, so leaving about 7 a.m. and getting back at 11 p.m. If you're planning on attending, please sign up over here. And if you need any more details, you can speak to Brother Segura about that. There's gonna be a small-town soul-winning trip also on this coming Saturday over in the Globe area, specifically Central Heights City. And you can speak with Brother Raymond Cooper for more details on that. There's also a sign-up and a schedule for that over to my right. On the back, Steadfast Baptist Church has been working on this new documentary about the King James Bible. I was able to watch a rough draft of it several days ago, and it was very good. I really liked it. I was really impressed by it, and so I haven't really seen the final cut. There were still some things they were working out, but what I saw was really good. And so I would love for you to go and see this at the theater on Monday, January 30th. So we haven't quite nailed down which theater it's gonna be because we always did the Super Saver Cinema Eight, but apparently they are permanently closed. So we have to find other options, so we're trying to figure that out. But once we get it figured out, we'll give you more details. There'll probably be several showings throughout the afternoon, evening. We're thinking like 3.30 p.m., 6.00 p.m., 8.30 p.m. to give a bunch of options. And so that's coming up on the 30th. Then there's the Youth Conference out at Verity Baptist Church. This is for ages 13 through 19 specifically. And if you just Google the Verity Baptist Youth Rally, there's a webpage that'll come up that actually has a breakdown of all of the activities on Tuesday and the activities on Wednesday. I'm gonna be preaching on that Tuesday night. Pastor Jimenez will be preaching on the Wednesday night. And then there'll be activities throughout the day. And then other upcoming events, couple other small town soul winning things coming up in the month of January. And that is about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning from the past few days. Anything to report from Thursday? Gotcha, okay, got it, okay. All right, and then what about Friday? Anything from Friday, gotcha. Okay, and then how about Saturday? 10 for the group in Thatcher on the small town soul winning. That's outside of Thatcher, okay. And then anything else outside of Thatcher on Saturday? And then what about today Sunday? Gotcha, Scott? Five for the main group with brother Scott, okay. 11 for North Phoenix, another one. Okay, anything else? Okay, got it. Anything else from today? Very good, keep up the great work on soul winning. And with that, let's sing our next song. Come lead us. All right, we're gonna sing Psalm 24. You should find the answer on your hymnal there. If you don't have an answer, please raise your hand and we'll get one to you. Psalm 24, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell therein, glory hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and of her heart throughout the land, let up his soul unto vanity, nor shore, this he clean. He shall receive the blessings of the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of the fasting air, flexing thy face, O Jacob, seal up with a care. Let all he gains, let he lift up the everlasting cause and the King of Glory shall prevail. Who shall receive the glory of the Lord's song and mighty? The Lord mighteth at home with a soul. Let all he gains, let him lift up the everlasting cause and the King of Glory shall prevail. Who is his King of Glory, the Lord of all. He is the King of Glory, seal up with a care. He is the King of Glory, seal up with a care. Okay, good singing, let's go on your hymnals now. Hymn number 213, number 213, there is glory in my soul. Hymn number 213, since I lost my sins and I found my Savior there is glory in my soul, 213, sing it out together now. Since I lost my sins and I found my Savior there is glory in my soul. Since I gave my soul in the King of Savior there is glory in my soul. There is glory, glory, there is glory in my soul. Every day that I live and I come to God my God. There is glory, glory, there is glory in my soul. There is glory in my soul. Since the day is my life, it is time for what is there is glory in my soul. Since you touched and healed me in loving light is there is glory in my soul. There is glory, glory, there is glory in my soul. Every day that I live and I come to God my God. There is glory, glory, there is glory in my soul. There is glory in my soul. Thanks to God I've walked, I've achieved nothing. There is glory in my soul. I am chosen, saved, and trembling. Every day there is glory in my soul. There is glory, glory, there is glory in my soul. Every day bright and rose, there I come for all my cause. There is glory, glory, there is glory in my soul. There is glory in my soul. Since I entered, came on my way to the fair, and there is glory in my soul. Since the day I bide to the Lord was given, there is glory in my soul. There is glory, glory, there is glory in my soul. Every day that is rose and I come for all my cause. There is glory, glory, there is glory in my soul. There is glory in my soul. This time we'll pass the offering plate around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter number seven. 1 Corinthians chapter number seven, as we always do. We'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number one. Follow along silently with Brother Dan as he reads 1 Corinthians seven, starting in verse number one. 1 Corinthians seven, the Bible reads, now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband, and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment, for I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath this proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. I say therefore to the unmarried 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. And unto the married I command, yet not I. But the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband. But, and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband, and let not the husband put away his wife. 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 which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. 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 hath called us to peace. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk, and so ordain I in all churches. Is any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called an uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? Care not for it, but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman. Likewise also, he that is called being free is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price. Be not ye the servants of men. Brethren, let every man wherein he is called therein abide with God. Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress. I say that it is good for a man so to be. Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned. And if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the flesh, but I spare you. But this I say, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoice not, and they that buy as though they possess not. And they that use this world as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passeth away. 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. 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. 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 you may attend upon the Lord without distraction. But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncumbly towards his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will. He sinneth not, let them marry. Nevertheless, he that standeth steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well. So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well, but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better. The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth. But if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord. But she is happier if she so abide after my judgment. And I think also that I have the Spirit of God. Dear Father, heaven, please fill past your spirit, please give the wisdom to hear from the Sermon this night, we pray in Jesus name, amen. Man, this evening I'm preaching from 1 Corinthians chapter seven. And there's a part at the end of the chapter that's a little bit tricky. And that's the part that I really want to expound tonight. But I'm gonna go through most of the chapter leading up to that to make sure that we have the context and understand what's going on in this passage. And obviously, all of the teachings of this passage are pretty important when it comes to the subjects of being single, fornication, marriage, adultery, divorce, you know, there's a lot covered in this chapter that's very relevant to our lives today because we live in a time where the Bible does not really dictate the way that people look at these issues of dating and marriage and life, right? Our society doesn't really uphold the standards of the Bible in 2023 America. So we really need to make sure that we're constantly looking toward the Word of God and understanding what God says about how we should live our lives and what God's judgments are on these things. Because often, they don't go along with what society says. So look what the Bible says in verse number one of 1 Corinthians chapter number seven. It says, now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband. It'd be nice to know exactly what the Corinthians had written unto Paul, what they were asking about specifically. But alas, we don't know that, right? But this is what God has given us. And he says, it's good on the one hand for a man not to touch a woman, right? For a man to just be celibate, a man to just be single and not to touch a woman. But nevertheless, realistically, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband. What he's saying here is that theoretically, it'd be great for a Christian man to just be single and remain pure and just spend his life serving God. That's good. There's nothing wrong with that. But the reality is that most men are not able to pull this off. Some men are able to pull that off. The Apostle Paul is one who was able to pull that off. But the Bible says that not everyone has that gift. Not everyone has that ability. And so for most men, this is gonna be a snare. It's gonna be a stumbling block. It's gonna be a bad thing for them to remain single and unmarried perpetually. And so he says, in order to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband. Why? Because if the man doesn't have his own wife and he has a strong compulsion in that area, then he might just break down and commit fornication at a weak moment or a woman might just break down and commit fornication at a weak moment. It's better to satisfy that desire, which is a natural desire that God has given us. And it's perfectly normal to have that desire. It's better to satisfy that desire within marriage than to try to go against the grain with that and then ultimately break down and commit fornication, which is a major, major sin. Now, obviously it's possible to remain pure and to abstain from these appetites, but God's just saying, look, realistically, every man should marry a wife. Every woman should marry a husband because that's how most people are gonna be most effective in their service for God and not tempted by fornication. And so within marriage, in light of what we just read about how part of the purpose of marriage, according to the Bible, is to avoid fornication, to sort of get that out of your system in a righteous manner so that you're not tempted by something outside of the bonds of marriage. It stands to reason, verse number three, that the husband should render unto the wife due benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband, and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. And so here's what the Bible is saying. If part of the reason why we should get married in the first place is to avoid fornication, it doesn't really make a lot of sense then to think that we could get married and then deny our spouse that physical relationship because then, boy, that didn't really work out very well, did it? The husband's getting married to avoid fornication, but then his wife is not sleeping with him. Well, then guess what? That's not gonna work very well, is it? To satisfy that desire because it's not being satisfied. Or conversely, the woman gets married and then her husband is withholding that physical relationship from her. Well, then that's not doing a good job of satisfying her so that she can avoid fornication, avoid adultery and other sins. And so obviously, if this is gonna work out the way that God has planned, then within marriage, we are to provide that physical relationship to our spouse and not deny them that. And by denying them that, the Bible calls it in verse five, defrauding them, defrauding them. Now, what is fraud? Well, fraud is a rip-off, right? So if I buy something and it doesn't work and I try to get a refund and I go back to the business where I bought it and the business is just gone and there's nothing there because it was a scam, I'm like, ah, I got ripped off. I gave them my money or maybe I pay my money online and the product just never shows up and then I can't get a refund. Okay, this is fraud, am I right? Why, because I got ripped off, right? So the point is that if you're getting married, there's a certain expectation when you get married and if that expectation is not met, it's a rip-off. It's a fraud, right? So like for example, what if I married my wife and then I just refuse to go to work? She'd be like, what in the world? I thought that when we get married, I'm marrying a provider. I thought I'm marrying a breadwinner, right? Or what if I married my wife and she just refuses to cook and clean? Then obviously I would feel ripped off, right? Well, that's what the Bible is talking about here except in a different area, it's saying, if you withhold that physical relationship from your spouse, you're ripping them off in that area. And that's a pretty important area because the Bible even presents this as a major reason for getting married in the first place according to verses one and two. A major reason for getting married in the first place is to righteously, excuse me, righteously fulfill that physical appetite within marriage. And so it's very important that you do not tell your spouse no with regard to that relationship. And we live in this stupid, bizarre, faggoty, transgender, weirdo, insane 50 gender society so don't for one second give a rat's tail what anybody out there thinks about this subject because they are so confused, they don't know Jack, all right? You need to go to the word of God. And so what does the Bible say? We just read it and I think that anybody would agree that verses one through five are crystal clear on what's being said. But nowadays it's like, well, you have the right to tell your husband no whenever you want, you know? And oh, it's abuse if he makes you do that if you don't wanna do it, ah! Hey, that's garbage. And you know what? Go take it and throw it in the trash can. And if you don't like it, well, there's the door. But I'm preaching what the Bible says and I don't give a rip what anybody out there thinks about it, okay? That doesn't exist, this thing of, well, you know, I just don't consent unto you, you know? Well, you consented when you got married. That's what the Bible says, okay? Look what the Bible says in verse five. It says, 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, okay? Now, what did it say in verse four? The wife hath not power of her own body but the husband. Does that sound like the husband needs permission to touch his wife? If it says the wife doesn't have power of her own body, the husband has power over her body. But then it flips that over and says, and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife. So does the wife need permission to touch her husband? No, it's like, is this okay? Is this all right? Am I allowed to do this? It's like, no, you're married. But see, what I'm explaining right now is so obvious that any idiot already knows that it's true, but today we're living in such a crazy society that these things have to be actually explained and broken down to you. And I have to like slow down and break these things down just to make sure that we haven't been corrupted or just confused by the bizarre teachings of our generation out there about what marriage means, okay? And I've had people attack me for preaching this. And you know what, just ask me if I care. Because I'm just gonna keep preaching it because it's true. As soon as it stops being in the Bible and as soon as it stops being true, then I'm gonna stop preaching it. Some idiot came to me one time and said, he was gonna marry a divorced woman. And I told him, I said, hey, you shouldn't do it, brother. Here's what the Bible says, whosoever marrieth her that is divorced comitteth adultery. The guy's asking me for my advice and I'm just telling him what the Bible says. That's my job, I'm a pastor. And this guy said, well, okay. But he talked to her and all the reasons why it wasn't her fault and why it's an exception and why blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he says, well, her husband raped her. I was like, excuse me? How the hell does that work? And he's like, well, I don't know, that's what she said. And I said, okay, Einstein, think about this for a second. First of all, let's pretend that what you just said is even a thing. Let's say that that even exists. Let's say that that even can exist. I said, well, that would mean that she was refusing to go to bed with him. So have fun marrying this woman who refuses to go to bed with her husband. Because that's basically what you're saying. And then he's like, oh yeah, actually, wow, okay. Yeah, I see what you're saying. And then he comes back and says, oh, no, no, I went and talked to her. It turns out it was before they were married. Oh, okay, well then that was real smart of her to marry a rapist. But what it really was, she's just changing her story because she realized how stupid it sounded to say, oh, my husband raped me. That means that you're refusing to be with your own husband which is your duty as a wife which makes you look like a guilty person right there, okay. And so I don't care about whether this offends you or not because you know what, this whole thing of rape within marriage, well, you know what, my wife can rape me whenever she wants, okay. Because that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life, okay, because we're married. I don't have power over my own body. She doesn't have power over our own body. This is what the Bible says. And you say, Pastor Anderson, I can't believe your preaching is so uncouth. Well, you know what, look what the Bible says. Look at our crazy society and you decide whose side you wanna be on, okay. All right, beloved, let's move on. Verse six says this, but I speak this by permission and not of commandment, for I would that all men were even as myself. Now what does he mean there when he says, I speak this by permission and not of commandment? What he's saying is that I'm not commanding you to get married. You're not being commanded to get married. Marriage is not required. You have permission to get married, right, so that you can avoid fornication, yeah, get married. But he says, it's not a commandment because I would actually like it if everybody were like me. And when he says, like me, he means being single because the Apostle Paul was perpetually single. He was not married and he did not feel the need to get married, he didn't wanna get married and he was able to just serve God and focus on that. And so he's saying, I would that all men were even as I myself. Yeah, I think it'd be great for everybody to be single. This is what he's thinking and saying. But he says in verse number seven, partway through there, but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner and another after that. He's saying, look, not everybody has the ability to successfully navigate life as a single man. Most people need to get married. What did God tell Adam in the Garden of Eden? It's not good for the man to be alone. And so for most people, that's true. It's not good for the man to be alone. It's not good for the woman to be alone. There are exceptions to this, like the Apostle Paul, who's an exception and he's saying, hey, I think it'd be great for people to be like me, but I realized that people aren't like me. Every man had this proper gift of God. So I'm not speaking this by commandment saying that you have to get married, but what I'm saying is that most people should get married. And that if you are married, don't abstain from a physical relationship because that kind of defeats the purpose of being married in many ways, because part of the purpose of being married is to avoid fornication. And what happens if you defraud one another? The Bible says that Satan will tempt you for your incontinency. You know, you're not gonna be able to contain yourself and you can be tempted and go out and commit adultery, which is a very wicked saying. So I hope everybody's tracking with this so far and that it's all clear. I'm trying to break it down as clearly as I can here. But the Bible says in verse eight, I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. He's like, look, if you're unmarried, if you're a widow, hey, it's good to be like me. But if they cannot contain, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn. And what he means by burn there is burning and lust. He's saying, look, it's better to just get married than to be burning and lust with this unsatisfied appetite and then you're susceptible to sin, you're liable to fornication or adultery. And so he says, it's better to marry if you can't contain. Now, some people may not have a strong desire in this area. They may have that appetite totally under control. They are candidates for being like an apostle Paul, someone who just serves God as a single person perpetually because they have that under control. But most people, this is gonna be really hard for them to go through life in this way so they're a lot better off getting married, okay, is what the Bible's teaching here. Now it says in verse number 10, under the married I command yet not I, but the Lord let not the wife depart from her husband. So it's a very clear commandment, not coming from Paul, but coming from God that the wife should not depart from her husband. But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband and let not the husband put away his wife. So the Bible couldn't be any clearer here. The Bible says, look, if you're married, do not leave your husband. Don't do it. And you say, well, but then the Bible says, but and if she depart, so it's kind of making allowance for her to depart. No, hold on a second. The Bible also says, little children, these things write unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin. Is that saying that we have permission to sin? No, it's just the reality that people are gonna sin. Little children, these things write unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin. We have an advocate with the father, the Bible's saying, don't leave your husband. But if you do, don't sin. But if you do, right, don't leave your husband. But if you do, you need to remain unmarried or be reconciled to your husband. And that's a beautiful thing when people who are divorced can actually come back and get back together and repair their marriage and fix things, okay? That's the goal. Whenever somebody comes to me and says that they're divorced, the first thing I try to explore with that person is, hey, is there any way that we can get you reconciled to your spouse, okay? And sometimes that's not possible. Sometimes it is possible. But that's always the first thing I wanna explore with people because that's what the Bible says, right? That the woman who leaves her husband should either remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And then by the same token, the Bible says, let not the man put away, let not the husband, at the end of verse 11, put away his wife. Put away simply means divorce. So the Bible is saying, husbands, don't divorce your wife. Don't divorce her, okay? It's a commandment from God. Period, done, end of story. Then he switches, but to the rest, now he's talking about other people, but to the rest speak I, not the Lord. So verses 10 and 11, who's that from? Paul or the Lord? The Lord says, don't leave your husband. Don't divorce your wife. Now it makes perfect sense because isn't that what Jesus Christ taught? Will God join together? Let not man put asunder, whosoever marrieth her that is divorced, comitteth adultery. All of these teachings are consistent with what we see here. But then in verse 12, it says, but to the rest speak I, not the Lord. Okay, so now Paul's giving his opinion. Verses 10 and 11 were not Paul's opinion. They were the word of God, the Lord's commandment. 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 which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. Now what the Apostle Paul is saying here is true. It is correct, it is right, okay? But he's basically coming up with this on his own. Of course he's right and what he's saying is consistent with the teachings of the rest of the Bible and we should of course follow what he is teaching. First he gives the clear command of God and then he says, you know, God didn't say this, but here's what I say. And then he expounds upon and expands upon God's commandments. And so he says that a brother that has a wife that believeth not, so you've got a saved man and he has an unsaved wife, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. Which that's what God just said, don't put away your wife, period. And the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. Of course the Bible already had just said, don't let not the wife leave her husband in the first place. So what is Paul even adding here? Okay, this first part isn't Paul adding anything. He's just reiterating what we just said. He's just making it more specific saying, look, even if they're not saved, don't divorce them. Even if they're not saved, don't leave them. Does everybody see that? But the teaching was identical. And then it says, for, he's gonna explain why, 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. And here's what he's saying. He's saying that if one of the parents is saved and the other is not, at least you can still have a sanctified home because that one Christian parent can make sure that the children are being raised with a godly upbringing and bring that Christian influence into the home, bring that sanctifying effect, that holiness into that family. Otherwise your children would be unclean, meaning that basically if they have no Christian parent, then they're gonna grow up like little heathens. They're not getting the word of God. They're not getting a Christian upbringing. But now they're holy, you know, because they've got at least that one Christian parent. 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. This is where Paul is actually giving us something new that is his opinion, that is his thought. Because that first thing that he said wasn't anything new. He's just basically verbatim repeated God's command and just added in the word unbelieving just to make sure we understood, hey, even if they're unbelieving, God's commandment still stands. But what I'm saying is that if the unbelieving depart, I think it's my opinion that you should let them depart. That's the part that is Paul's, not the Lord's command of just here's what I think, here's my opinion. Does everybody get this? Now, what a lot of people do is try to make, you know, verse 12 Paul's opinion. Well, if verse 12 is Paul's opinion, then Paul's opinion is totally meaningless since 10 and 11 is the commandment of God and said the exact same thing. Okay, we gotta get to something new for it to be Paul's opinion. Now, it makes perfect sense because what is Paul's agenda in this chapter as a human being? How does Paul feel, not talking about God's commandments, but Paul's feeling, Paul's opinion is, hey, man, I would love it if everybody were like me. That is his opinion. Is that God's opinion? No, because God's opinion is it's not good for the man to be alone. God's opinion is get married. But Paul is saying, you know, humanly speaking, hey, I like being single and I would love everybody to be like me, but I realize that people aren't like me. So because Paul, and don't let me lose you here, I'm trying to make this simple, Paul has that viewpoint so it makes sense that when he says, well, here's my thought, not the Lord, it's something that goes along with that viewpoint that he has that's unique to him as a single man who doesn't care about getting married. And so what he's saying is that from his perspective, which thinks it's great to be single, most of us, here's the thing, most of us don't think it's great to be single, but Paul does think it's great to be single. That's his opinion as a human being. That's how he feels. Works out great for him. It's not for everybody. Even he knows it's not for everybody. Here's what he's saying. He's saying, you know, I think that if you're married to an unsaved person and that unsaved person doesn't wanna be with you, you're a Christian and you're married to an unsaved person and they don't wanna be with you, he's saying, you know, instead of just beating your head against the wall to try to make that relationship work, if they wanna leave anyway, maybe you should just say, okay, bye, let's go our separate ways because they're unsaved and they wanna. Now he's like, look, if they're pleased to dwell with you, you need to stay with them. You're married. Oh, you're not saved, I'm leaving. That's garbage. Oh, you're not saved, I'm done. Wrong. But what he's saying is if they don't wanna be with you, you don't have to be just chasing them and begging them and going after them and trying to just do everything to keep them around instead of focusing on serving God. He's saying, you know what? Maybe just let them go. Just cut them loose. If they're unbelieving, depart, let them depart. And then he says, a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases. He's saying like, you don't have to move heaven and earth to make your unsaved husband stay with you or make your unsaved wife stay with you. You're not bound to do that. If you know, you can just let them depart. You can just let them go. If that's what they wanna do anyway. And if you're okay with being single, because remember, he believes in the virtues of being single. So I hope that all makes sense to you. I'm trying to really break this down and make it clear. But it says, if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace, right? Just live a quiet life on your own and don't fight that battle if you don't want to. The Bible is not saying that if your unbelieving spouse doesn't wanna be with you, you have to just let them go. It's just saying, hey, you're not in bondage in that case. Now, what some people will do to twist this scripture that Paul has specifically just said is his opinion. They'll try to use this to negate what Jesus taught as a commandment. So Jesus just gives a commandment and says, do not put asunder what God has joined together. He says, look, if you marry her that is divorced, you're committing adultery. If you put away your wife and marry another, you're committing adultery. And here's what they say, oh, but if the unbelieving depart, that all goes out the window. Nonsense. God's word says that if the wife leaves her husband, she's to remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. If you put away your wife and marry someone else, the Bible calls it adultery. That is not being, the Apostle Paul is not just negating that. He just reiterated it a minute ago. In fact, he reiterates it at the end of the chapter. Look what the Bible says in verse 39, the wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth, but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will only in the Lord. Does that say, but if her husband depart because he's an unbeliever, she's at liberty to be married to whomsoever she will. There's nothing like that in this passage because that's not true, because that's not what Jesus taught. And so Paul is not gonna contradict the teachings of Jesus, okay? It's till death us do part. And so Paul is giving an opinion that it'd be better to be single if your unsaved spouse doesn't even wanna be with you anyway. He's not saying, oh yeah, just let the unbeliever depart and then just go marry someone else and just do some wife swapping, just trade up, just switch spouses. That is not what the Bible is teaching. That is a false doctrine, okay? So don't get sucked into that. That is wrong, okay? Because here's what happens. I've been in churches that teach this. They teach this view of that there's just all these exceptions and there's all these reasons why you can get divorced and remarried. And let me just explain something to you. In these churches where they teach that there's all these exceptions, people always find a way to make their situation fit that exception. They'll fit that square peg into the round hole because they wanna get divorced. And so they'll just find a way. So I mean, I've seen a million church statements of faith that will say something along the lines of, oh, we're totally against divorce, except in cases of abuse, sexual immorality, blah, blah, blah. And they'll give this big list, infidelity, blah, blah, blah. And people will just make that be whatever it is. Oh, verbal abuse, alcohol abuse. You know, I've even had a pastor say this. When it says, you know, if the unbelieving depart, I've heard him say, well, he departed emotionally. He departed emotionally because he's not meeting your needs emotionally. Or people will just start accusing their spouse of being unsaved, even though their spouse is by every evidence saved. I mean, Kent Hovind, who's on like his fourth wife last time I checked, but we'll have to check again at the end of the service. Okay, he's on like his fourth wife or whatever. And guess what? He quoted this verse about his wife. If the unbelieving depart, let him depart. Let me ask you something. What is the evidence that his first wife isn't saved? From what I understood, she was a faithful Christian lady going to church for decades. And she professes faith in Christ. She goes to church. I mean, I don't know her personally, but I've never heard anyone claim that his first wife isn't saved. I don't know. But do you see how Kent Hovind could just pull out this verse and just accuse his wife of being unsaved and not provide a shred of evidence and say, well, here's how I know my wife isn't saved. Here's the proof my wife isn't saved. No, no, he just, if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. So therefore I'm gonna marry someone else. And then next year he'll marry someone else. And the next year he'll marry someone else. He's literally on his fourth wife is what I understand. So that's a real life example of somebody just, and I could name a bunch of other people that I know too. I'm not going to. I'm only naming him because he's a public figure that's, his crap's all over the internet. But you know, I'm not gonna name other names, but I could, I'm like going through mine. People who've said to me, oh, well, I think they're not even saved. Just a railing accusation that their spouse isn't saved cause they're looking for a divorce. Okay. Or people will have this attitude, well, if they leave you, you can marry someone else. So then they just try to make the person miserable to get them to leave. So that like, see who will get the other one to leave first. By they torture each other until somebody leaves so that they can blame the other person. Everybody see what I'm saying? So this is a bad doctrine. This permissive thing of just easy divorce and just all these excuses. Or, you know, the Bible says, except it be for fornication, but in the modern versions it says, except it be for sexual immorality. So here's what they'll do. Oh, your husband looked at a dirty magazine, divorce, right? And cause there's any immorality, anything. Oh, he did it in his heart. He thought about it or whatever. And you can see how, if you take this far enough, anybody can get divorced for any reason. That's how the Jews felt about it. Because when the Jews came to Jesus, what did they say to Jesus in Matthew 18? They said, or sorry, Matthew 19. They said, you know, can a man divorce his wife for every cause? And Jesus is like, no. What God has joined together, let not man put asunder. And so I don't want to beat a dead horse with that, but let me just make my position abundantly clear. And I've done tons of sermons on this to back this up. I do not believe that there are any grounds for divorce whatsoever for people that have been married long-term. I think that the only exception in the Bible was to immediately annul a marriage if the husband found uncleanness in her. She's found not to be a virgin or something. That was something that would happen right away, fornication being the cause, okay? I do not believe that after you're married, like for example, my situation, I've been married for 22 years. How long have you been married brother Raymond? Raymond's been married for three years, right? So couple kids, I've got couple kids times six, but you know, Raymond, we will never have any grounds to divorce our respective wives for any reason, amen? That's what we believe, right? So we, it doesn't matter what happens. God forbid something horrible would happen and God forbid that, you know, someone's wife would commit adultery or something, but still, even if my wife were to commit adultery, which obviously she never would, but even if she were to commit adultery, I would not divorce my wife. I will not divorce my wife, period, no matter what. And God hates putting away, and that is the stand that I have taken for 20 some years. In fact, I took that stand before I even got married. I knew that going into marriage, okay? That's what I believe. I think the Bible's clear. And today, Christians have as high of a divorce rate as they even do because of the other kind of teaching. Because you know what? The vast majority of my independent fundamental Baptist brethren go soft on this. Well, you know what? I go hard on this. And so that's why I believe that our church and our young people, you know, is gonna have a much lower divorce rate because we don't teach this permissive view on divorce. And by the way, it's so easy to go off on so many tangents that I wanna get to the part that I wanna talk about, looking at the clock and trying to figure this out. But the thing about this is that, you know, God's commandments, they actually make sense, okay? And actually, these other stupid viewpoints don't make sense. Let me just give you some examples, okay? Somebody comes along and tries to tell you, oh, it's okay to sleep together before you're married. That teaching's out there. That's what Jews think. That's what a lot of Roman Catholics think. I've had evangelical Christians say that. And you know, hey, it's okay. And our society thinks that premarital whatever is okay, don't they? Well, let me tell you how stupid that is. You'd be producing a bunch of bastard children. How does that work? Okay, and how about this easy divorce doctrine? Well, how does that work? How does it work for my wife and I to get divorced when we have 12 kids together? Oh, let's get divorced. How does that even work? It's a mess. It doesn't make any sense. It's confusion. It's crazy. Somebody comes along and says, oh, polygamy is okay. Right? That's a stupid doctrine that's out there that Mormons and Muslims believe in. Here's what's so stupid about that. 50% of people on this planet are men. 50% are women. How's polygamy gonna work? You know, Mohammed's telling you, you could each have four wives. How's that gonna work? That means three guys are gonna go without a wife. So you can have four. That makes no sense. God has designed this world so that there are enough women to go around for the dudes. Okay? It's not like, two girls for every boy. That's a stupid, that's a wrong song. Okay? There's not two girls for every boy. It doesn't work that way. And so that's why all of these polygamous cultures, you know what they all have in common? They keep marrying younger and younger girls because they're running out. So they gotta marry the teenage girls and keep going younger and younger because it doesn't work, it doesn't make sense. God's way is right. One man, one woman, the math adds up. 50-50, male and female, it works. It's not gonna work for wives or for the Mormons. They'll have even more than that. And so God's commandments make sense. This divorce doctrine that permits all this divorce, how does that work for the kids when you have all these broken homes, all these kids running around, right? It's only, this easy divorce doctrine and this it's okay to go to bed before you're married doctrine, it only works in the age of birth control. You know what I mean? Which is not biblical anyway. So in real life with the parameters that God has created for us, it actually makes sense that you stay a virgin until you get married and then you get married and then you have kids and then you stay married and raise those kids and it's a lifelong commitment that you don't just walk away from. And you say, well, what about once your kids are all totally grown? Well, I just keep having more, you know? So that date keeps getting pushed off way into the future. And by the time our last kid leaves the home, we're gonna be so old that it's just not, you know, that's a joke. But the point obviously, we're gonna stay married anyway, but it's a joke. The point is that God's commandments actually work and make sense. And there are all kinds of problems with discarding God's view and taking these dumb new doctrines where divorce has a bazillion exceptions and you can always find an exception and blah, blah, blah. Okay, let's keep moving here. I got a little bit bogged down there. It says in verse 16, for what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband, or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? So he's saying another reason that you stay with your spouse even if they're not saved is because you don't know if they're gonna get saved down the road. You don't know if you're gonna get them saved five years from now, 10 years from now. How do you know if you're gonna save your wife? How do you know if you're gonna save your husband? But as God has distributed to every man as the Lord has called everyone, so let them walk and so are they and I in all churches. Is any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called an uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. Now I'm gonna skip some of this because it's not really about marriage and I wanna stay on point with that subject and just have a time constraint. So look at verse 25. Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord. So I can't point to anything that Jesus specifically taught on some of this. So he says, I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress. I say it is good for a man, so to be. Now the present distress again indicates that there's some kind of a controversy or a problem or a debate going on in the Corinthian church and it's what they wrote to him and we don't know what they wrote to him as I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon. We wish we did but we don't. But I think that from reading this chapter we can ascertain what's going on in the church that basically there was a teaching in the church that everybody needs to be single, everybody should stay single or that you're better if you stay single no matter who you are. Being single is always the best choice for people. That's probably what seems to be going on because he says, hey, it's good for a man not to touch a woman concerning what you wrote to me. Yeah, I agree with that part but to avoid fornication, hey, let every man have his own wife. Let every woman have her own husband, right? So he says here, he says, you know, it's good for a man so to be. It's good for a man what to be? It's good for a man to be a virgin is what he's saying, right? Concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord but then jumping down he says, it's good for a man so to be. It's good for a man to be a virgin, right? So yes, it's good for women to be virgins, to be pure, to be clean until they get married but that goes for men too. So we don't wanna have this double standard where we want the girls to be virgins but the boys can go out and sow their wild oats before they get married. Again, how does that work when you're gonna produce bastard children with that stupidity, okay? But it's a sin period even with birth control into the mix, fornication is a sin. You must wait until you're married and virginity is for male and female. We should both go to the marriage altar pure on our wedding day. That's what the Bible teaches, amen? And so he says, it's good for a man to be a virgin. Now the world might make fun of, oh, you're a virgin. Folks, they're also gonna make fun of you for being a Bible believing Christian. They're gonna make fun of you for believing that God created the heaven and the earth. So who cares if they make fun of you for being a virgin? The joke's on them when they're filled with disease, when God's not blessing them. But it says it's good for a man so to be, meaning it's good for him to be a virgin. Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. And what he's saying there in verse 27 is, we should all be satisfied with whatever situation we're in in life. You guys that are single, enjoy being single. Be happy that you're single. You guys that are married, enjoy being married. Be happy that you're married. Don't always be looking at the grass that's green or on the other side of the fence. Just remain in the calling wherewith you're called. Be happy and content with what you have. So he says, art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned. So he's saying, look, if you get married, it's not a sin. There's nothing wrong with getting married. You know, if you're single, you don't necessarily need to be out there just constantly pining and wishing you were married. You know, you wanna be happy with your current status in life, but if you marry, you haven't sinned. And if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Now again, people will twist the scripture and say, oh, if you're loosed from a wife and if you get married, it's not a sin. So that means I can divorce my wife, marry someone else and it's not a sin. Go back and read the words of Jesus and quit contradicting Jesus Christ. Quit taking Paul's opinion and contradicting Jesus Christ because Paul's opinion doesn't contradict Jesus Christ anyway. Even if it did, he said it's his opinion. It doesn't contradict because he's not just, hey, let me write opinions that contradict Jesus. Oh, let's put that in the Bible. It's absurd. But people will believe a lot of crazy things when they wanna justify their behavior. They wanna justify their lifestyle, okay? No, the Bible is not saying you can divorce your wife and marry someone else because Jesus already said no to that. Paul taught the same thing. When he says, art thou bound unto a wife, seek not to be loosed, loosed there just simply means single. Bound equals married, loosed equals single. It doesn't necessarily mean that you used to be married. It's just saying you're single. Now, maybe you're widowed, maybe you're single, whatever. But if you divorced your wife or if you've been divorced by your wife, well then this is not for you to just say, yeah, just marry whoever you want, false doctrine. So if thou marry, thou is not sinned is directed towards single people, not divorcees, okay? But and if thou marry, thou is not sinned and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. So it's saying the dude isn't sinning if he gets married and the virgin's not sinning if she gets married, okay? Nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the flesh but I spare you. But this I say, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not, they that rejoice as though they rejoice not, they that buy as though they possess not. What is he saying? He's saying, look, if you're single, be content, be happy because guess what? That's, you know, life is short anyway and so you think, oh, I'm gonna be single for the rest of my life. Well, the good news is your life isn't that long. The bad news is your life isn't that long, you know? So you're gonna die and so it's gonna be over at some point. So this thing of like, oh, I'm gonna be single for the rest of my life but the rest of your life isn't super long. So you just go with it. Or how about this? I'm stuck with this person for the rest of my life. Well, guess what? The rest of your life isn't that long. So hang in there, buddy. 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, stay with it, stay married. You say, well, I just, I don't know if I can do this for the rest of my life. You can and you will. Just be thankful that Mormonism's wrong if you have a bad marriage and you're not gonna have to do it for eternity, okay? But you're gonna do it till the end of your life. And some of you are gonna be single until the end of your life and some of you are gonna be married to someone until the end of your life. And the Bible says, look, the time is short. It's all gonna be over at some point anyway. You need to just hang in there and do what God has told you to do. And it says in verse 32, but, so he says in verse 29, the time is short. It remains the both they that have wives be as though they had none, yada, yada, yada. But verse 32, I would that you were without carefulness. Now, what does carefulness mean? Carefulness means like worries or anxieties, okay? So he's saying like, look, I would want you to be without distractions, anxieties, worries, stress. He's saying now the reason why I like dudes to be single like me is because I would like for you to be without distraction. Like I'm without distraction. I can just, he's saying, I can focus on the Lord 100% because I'm not married. I don't have to worry about keeping my wife happy. I can just serve God all day long, 100%. And he's saying, you know, I think that's great. And I would that you were without carefulness because look at the context verse 32. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord. And that's Paul, right? Paul's unmarried and he's just serving the Lord all the time. That's all he worries about. But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. Now look, I'm a servant of God. I'm a pastor, right? But is that the only thing that I have to worry about in my life is just my service for God? No, I also have to please my wife. I have to take care of my wife, right? I have to be a family man as well. That's part of my responsibility. I have to be a pastor, yes, but I also have to be a husband and a father because I've made those commitments. And so the apostle Paul is saying, he that is married, that's me, careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. I can't just get totally super sanctified out of the world because it's like, I gotta be down in it enough to please my wife and be a family man and take care of the needs of my family in this world. I can't just be 100% focused on the things of God all the time because I've got a family. Does everybody understand? It says in verse 34, there is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman, now the unmarried woman is the virgin, right? Because the expectation is that if you're unmarried, you should be a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit, and she can just really focus on the things of God, right? But she that is married careth for the things of this world, how she may please her husband. My wife can't focus 100% on her walk with God because she's got to also take care of my needs and keep me happy. That's what the Bible says, just like I have to take care of her needs and keep her happy. This is what it means to be married. And so the Bible says that she is looking for how she might please her husband. And this I speak for your own profit. He's saying, look, I'm telling you this for your own benefit. Not that I may cast a snare upon you. I'm not trying to make things hard for you, but for that which is comely, now this is very important, this is where we're getting into the difficult part of the passage, so I want you to pay close attention, that which is comely and that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction. Now, attending upon the Lord without distraction, what does that look like for the Apostle Paul? What does that look like for the Apostle Paul to attend to the Lord without distraction? What does he mean by that? He means not being married, am I right? So he says that he thinks that that's comely. What does comely mean? Proper, I think it's proper, I think it works, I think it's suitable that you attend upon the Lord without distraction, I think it's great, and that's why it's okay for you not to be married, to be single, if you have your, as long as you have that gift of God where you're not just burning with lust and you just really need to be married, that it could be great for some people, and again, this is a minority of people, it's great for some people just to be married so that there could be this comely situation, suitable, proper, where they can just attend upon the Lord without distraction and be like, I mean, Apostle Paul accomplished a lot because he was just able to just be like a laser beam, and a lot of these mission strips might not have worked out if he had a wife and kids to think about. Is everybody following? Okay, so now let's read this very slowly and carefully here, this next part, because this is the tricky part, that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction, but if any man think he behaveth himself uncumbly toward his virgin. Now, this is the tricky part. What does it mean by his virgin? What does that mean? Now, some people would say like, well, his virginity, but that's not what it says, and it's impossible for it to mean that grammatically in either English or Greek, and by the way, this is a tricky part in the KJV, but can I explain to you why it's tricky in the KJV? Because it's every bit as tricky in the original Greek. Reading this in Greek, it says the exact same thing, and just as much as it's tricky in King James, it's tricky in the original Greek. Guess what? The King James is just bringing the trickiness into English because they're not foisting their own interpretation on it. They're just translating what it says, and so a lot of people would maybe look at this and say, oh, the King James is being too hard to understand here. Now it's the original that's hard to understand. Sorry, it's just that the Bible specifically says that there are some things in Paul's epistles that are hard to be understood, and this is one of those parts that's just a little tricky to understand. So going to the Greek, don't buy that for one second on this passage because believe me, I've read it in Greek. It says the exact same thing, and it's just as ambiguous, and it says exactly what it says here. Actually, I don't think it's ambiguous, but whatever ambiguity people would claim about this verse. So his virgin, the question is, what does that mean? Now I'll submit to you that the only possible explanation that makes any sense in the context and with the plain reading of the text is that his virgin is his daughter is what this is referring to when it says his virgin. Because here's the thing, unmarried dudes don't possess virgins. Dads have virgins. And in fact, you can also find other Greek literature where you have this expression of his virgins referring to his virgin daughters. That actually makes sense. Okay, does everybody follow? Now, let's go through this just point by point, and I'm gonna prove to you that I'm right, okay? Because it is a difficult passage. I'm not claiming that it's easy to understand, but I'm gonna prove to you that I'm right about this, okay? So it says, if any man think that he behave with himself uncomly toward his virgin, okay, if she passed the flower of her age, because the Bible's not condoning of these child brides, this Islamic garbage of marrying prepubescent girls, okay? So the Bible says, if she passed the flower of her age, meaning that she's fully physically mature and passed the flower of her age. I mean, she's an adult physically, right? Fully grown. And by the way, again, God's rules make sense. Girls that aren't fully grown aren't gonna be able to give birth. So how can they get married and be with their husband if they're not fully grown? Yeah, they could give birth in a hospital and have all kinds of problems, but they're not designed to give birth until they're fully grown. So obviously women should not get married until they're fully grown. I don't care what Mohammed Pispy upon him says. So basically it's saying here, if she passed the flower of her age, this guy's virgin daughter, his virgin, okay, and need so require, let him do what he will, he senteth not, let them marry. Now notice the switch from him to them. Everybody see that? So what the Bible's saying is that this guy who has the virgin daughter and him keeping his virgin daughter isn't comely. It's not proper. Because in the previous verse, being single was comely. But he says, you know, if any man is behaving uncomly by keeping his virgin basically from getting married, look, if she's old enough, if she passed the flower of her age and need so require, now what could that need be? Maybe the need is that she really wants to get married. Maybe she doesn't wanna be one of these perpetually single chicks because she doesn't have that gift of God because not everybody has that gift of God. And according to the first five verses of this chapter, this physical compulsion could go both ways and be a two-way street. There could be a woman who isn't that jazzed about getting married, or there could be a woman that really wants to get married and doesn't wanna be single. And so need requires that she be married, okay? There could be other outside constraints, but if need so require, let them marry. So if he, having his virgin be in his home unmarried is an uncomly situation toward his virgin, then let them, someone else marry, right? Her and the dude that she's gonna get married to. Does everybody follow? Everybody see that? Here's the proof. Because it says he, and don't miss this, it says, let him do what he will, he senteth not, let them marry. Notice the switch of the pronouns. So then if they're the ones getting married, what is it that he's doing? Jump down to verse 38 and the answer's right there. So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well, but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better. So when it says in verse 36, let him do what he will, the do there is what? Giving her in marriage. Let him do what he will, let him give her in marriage, let them marry. He gives in marriage, they get married. Does everybody see what everybody's doing in this scenario? Then we get to verse 37. Nevertheless, he that standeth steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, meaning that there's no compelling reason for his daughter to get married, but has power over his own will. What does that mean? That means that basically he has the power to make this decision and someone else is not making it for him, like in a situation where let's say he's a servant or a slave or something where he has to give his daughter in marriage or whether he has made a commitment or a promise to give her away and he can't renege on that. If he has power over his own will, if he has free agency to decide whether to give his daughter in marriage or not, but has so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, meaning he's gonna keep her and take care of her, keep her in his house, pay her bills, feed her, clothe her, right? Because if she's gonna live with him and be single and live with him for a long time, he's gotta pay the bills. You know, it says then if he's, he that hath power over his own will and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, he doeth well. So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well, but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better. Now somebody could come along and say, no, no, no, I don't think that's what, it's not talking about that, it's talking about her boyfriend or her betrothed or whatever, you know, here's the problem with that. The problem with that is how do you make that fit with verse 38, he that giveth her in marriage doeth well, right, he that giveth her not in marriage doeth, we're talking about somebody giving or not giving a marriage, we're not talking about someone getting married or not getting married. It's a third party that's doing the getting married, it's the daughter, okay? Now, I'm running out of time, but I don't even care because you need to hear this, okay? So the ESV, and I talked about this when I preached down in Tucson, and that's kind of what prompted this sermon. The ESV completely twists this passage and teaches something bizarre, and I wanna show that to you. So we know what the Bible really says, amen? Now, look down at your Bible and I'm gonna read for you the ESV, look at verse 25, it says, now concerning the betrothed, so instead of virgins, it said betrothed, now guess what the Greek says, virgins, and it's a word that's always translated as virgin, and it's never in any Greek literature on this planet does it mean betrothed, it just means virgin. In fact, it's the most basic, obvious word for virgin, it's so basic that if I say it to you, even though you don't speak a lick of Greek, you're gonna know that it's virgin because it's parthenos, and the most famous building in Greece is called the parthenon, and why is it called the parthenon? Because it's in Athens where they worship Athena, who's a virgin goddess, she's not eternally engaged. She's a virgin goddess, it's the parthenon, it's parthenos, and by the way, it's not, the Bible didn't say behold, a betrothed shall conceive and bring forth the sun, it said behold, a virgin shall bring forth the sun, so the editors down at the ESV need to quit screwing around with this word parthenos because next thing, they're gonna be messing with people's faith in the virgin birth of Jesus. If the word parthenos is suddenly just up for grabs now and can just mean whatever we want, but here's what's funny, on the ESV itself, next to where it says betrothed, there's a little footnote at the bottom of the page that says, well, the Greek is virgin. Well then, what are you doing? So here, so they said, concerning the betrothed, I have no commandment from the Lord. You're looking down at the word of God in verse 25, I'm reading from the extremely stupid version. I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. I think that in view of the present distress, it is good for a person to remain as he is. Again, taking away what the King James said, it's good to be a virgin. Now, it's just good to remain as you are. Basically, it's good to just stay betrothed. Just stay betrothed. Now, I looked up betrothed in the dictionary. The betrothed is the person to whom one is engaged to be married, okay? To betrothed verb, and I looked up in a bunch of dictionaries to make sure I got all the definitions, to promise to marry, to enter into a formal agreement to marry. So if you've entered into, according to the ESV, if you've entered into a formal agreement to get married, just stay in limbo till Jesus comes. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. If you do marry, you've not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yeah, no, no whatever, because guess what? If you're betrothed, you're supposed to get married because that's what betrothed mean. You made a, you promised to do that. You made an agreement to do that. So, oh, you know, hey, so, you know, if you're betrothed, you could get married. But listen, it gets way worse. Look at verse 34. His interests are divided, and the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit, but the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. Think about how dumb this is. If you're engaged to be married, if you're betrothed, if you're a woman who is betrothed to a dude, are you just totally without encumbrance and able to focus on the Lord 100% and not worry about anything else? No, because you're betrothed to a dude. Think about that. Now, if you're a virgin, if you're single, if you're unmarried, yeah, you know, you got no strings and you can focus on serving the Lord, but she has a commitment to that guy. That's why this doesn't make any sense. Okay, let's keep going. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. Look down at the Bible in verse 35. Make sure you're following along in the real Bible because I'm reading for you from a wrong version. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. Verse 36, if anyone thinks that he's not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong and it has to be, let him do as he wishes, let them marry, it's no sin, but whoever's firmly established in his heart being under no necessity, but having his desire under control and has determined this in his heart to keep her as his betrothed, he'll do well. So then he who married his betrothed does well. He who refrains from marriage will do even better. So the ESV is teaching that you just be betrothed forever. So you're engaged for like seven years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 30. We've been engaged for 30 years. I just, I'm able to, I can wait. I think the editors of the ASV have some real commitment issues. You know, I just feel bad for all these girls that are getting strung along by these ESV toting dudes, just keeping them as they're betrothed and never actually setting a date for the wedding. Okay, think about how crazy this is, but I think it goes even deeper than that. I mean, this is stupid, it's absurd, but it gets even weirder, okay, because many, many years ago, I just found out about this reading in the ESV a couple of weeks ago. But years ago, I received something in the mail from our local Roman Catholic Church here. And it was like a booklet explaining how all their beliefs that we attack, they all come from the Bible, okay? And it was explaining all their goofy teachings. And one of the goofy teachings of the Roman Catholic Church is that Mary stayed a virgin forever and she's still a virgin right now. So even though the Bible said that Joseph knew her not until she brought forth her firstborn son, her firstborn son, and that Jesus had brothers, Joseph, Judas, James, and they say, oh, they're cousins or whatever. The Bible says that he had these brothers. They're half brothers because they're the children of Joseph and Mary. And his sisters, are they not all with us, the Bible says. And so I guess those are cousins too. Because you could say brethren is sometimes generically used about like a tribe or something, but sisters. So Jesus had at least seven half siblings because four brothers are mentioned and sisters, are they not all with us? It doesn't say, are they both with us? All is three or more. So obviously, Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, but then her and Joseph had a normal married relationship that produced at least seven other children, right? But the Catholic Church, they want to worship her as this eternal virgin. And so here's what they teach, because I got this pamphlet from the middle. This is what it said. It said that even before there was any talk from Gabriel about giving birth to the son of God, that Joseph and Mary were never planning to sleep together. They were never gonna sleep together because they were just basically entering into this relationship where he's just like her guardian, where they get married, but they don't touch each other. And they're just like, they just like, they're just like that forever, which is like, it's like eternally betrothed basically that they're just eternally betrothed and whatever. And I think that that's where this junk in the ESV is probably, they're probably coming from that. And here's, they say, oh, that was a thing in the culture back then. Okay, I have one question. On what planet was that the culture? On what planet was it ever the culture for a man and a woman to get married and say, but we're not gonna sleep together. We just get married and we just, I'm just your guardian and we just live together. It's gonna be so, we're just gonna play house and it's just folks, that's stupid. That is not normal. Okay, that's not marriage. Marriage involves a physical consummation, okay, of that marriage, or you're not married. You could say whatever vows you want. If you don't sleep with her, she's not your wife. Okay, if you don't consummate that marriage, it's null and void. It doesn't exist until you consummate that marriage. That's another sermon of itself. But the point is that the ESV seems to be maybe bolstering this bizarre doctrine by teaching this idea that you just have this betrothed, she's your betrothed, but you don't consummate that and it doesn't become marriage fully perennially. Seven years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, okay? Stop and think about how crazy this is. Because didn't the Apostle Paul just finish saying how like, oh, well, if you're unmarried, you got no strings and so you can just attend to the Lord. Well, let's say that I was in one of these weird Catholic, weirdo relationships, okay? Well, then if I'm living with some chick, but we never touch each other and we're not really married, we're just betrothed, we've been engaged for 17 years, I'd still have to deal with that chick living in my house. And she'd still have to deal, I mean, somebody's got to cook and clean. Somebody's got to pay the bills. It sounds like I'd still have a responsibility if she's my betrothed and I'm her betrothed. It sounds like we're still connected and obligated to each other in some way. And if this sounds strange right now, it's because it is, because it doesn't make any sense, because it's from some other dimension where these things actually happen, okay? It doesn't make any sense. But does everybody see how the ESV is just way off the deep end here? Here's their first mistake, not translating Greek into English by their own admission. Well, Greek says Virgin, but it's the betrothed because they interpreted the passage wrong because I'll admit it is a tricky passage. But when we went through it slowly though, we got through it, didn't we? And we proved that, hey, this is what it's saying. If you interpret it the other way, you have these eternal engagements, which are super weird and breed commitment issues among young Christian men. But they didn't translate the Greek. They put their own view on, and it turns out that their view was retarded. And it was Catholic, okay? And so therefore we need to stick with the King James. And so I wanted to break that down because in my sermon in Tucson on Thursday night was just all about being King James and the Word of God being preserved. But I didn't really have time to really delve into everything about 1 Corinthians 7. So tonight I really wanted to take the time and break down this chapter. And we need to make this chapter a part of our worldview and let the Bible tell us how to think about these things. And there's so much more I could say, but we're out of time, so let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. Thank you for this very instructive, informative chapter. And Lord God, I pray that everyone who's here would stick with the King James and realize that the ESV can't be trusted and that there are some weird Catholic beliefs out there that are just absurd. And that Lord, we need to get a right view on marriage and virginity and everything else from your word. And Lord, I pray that if anyone was offended by the sermon tonight, Lord, I pray that you would just work in their heart, that they would not be offended, Lord, and that they would understand that what I've preached tonight is preached out of love and because I want to preach it for their benefit. And he that hath in the ear, let him hear it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.