Chapter seven. Now, we're not going to read it right through because there are so many verses. There are forty verses. We'll start reading. We'll give a few opening remarks, and then we'll read the verses as we go along, trying to pick it up more or less as a Bible study. I might say that many irregularities had to be corrected in Corinth. because marriage had degenerated under the law and had to be corrected under grace. Things were a lot different under law than under grace, and so these things had to be corrected. Paganism had very few standards relative to marriage, because some of them had many wives back in those days, old pagans and others, they thought nothing. of putting away their wives and fathers could sell their daughters. And so it seemed there were a lot of things going on in those days entirely different than what the New Testament presents and the correction for these things. The Apostle makes some remarks here that a lot of people would think, well, does Paul really have the mind of God when he says some of these things? He's a bachelor and he's trying to take up this subject. And he makes a few remarks throughout this chapter, and I want to call your attention to them, is he really in the mind of God? Because Paul is accused of saying things, and they say, oh, the old bachelor said that, and he is biased. And he didn't have the mind of God and things like this. And, of course, a lot of ladies, especially the women's lib, and they've got it in for Paul. And I heard one say when she was spoken to about it, Well, I'm just waiting till I get to heaven. I got something to talk to Paul about. Well, I want to see if he's ever going to be in heaven. Talking like that. Well, now here are some of the things you'll notice in this chapter. He says in verse seven and six, I speak this of permission and not of commandment. What's he meaning? Well, there was no thing, no commandment or no scripture in the gospel. dwelling on what we have in this chapter, things concerning virgins, and also things concerning the unequal yoke, and things of that kind. In other words, the Lord Jesus didn't mention things where the Apostle Paul could quote them. Then he says, Also in verse ten of chapter seven, and unto the married I command, yet not I but the Lord. And verse twelve, But to the rest speak I, not the Lord. That seems strange, doesn't it? Now concerning virgins, and he says in verse fifteen, Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgment. Then he says she is happier if she so abide after my judgment, and I think also I have the Spirit of God, and that's in verse forty. He recognizes that matters concerning marriage and that there wouldn't be one law that would cover everything that takes place among the Lord's people down these Turk aids of already nineteen hundred years. But the Apostle Paul goes into as much that he can handle from the standpoint of his observation, from the standpoint of his experience and what he saw. When I look back over my life of forty years, I've counseled or had conversation with hundreds and hundreds of couples and married folks, those wanting to get married. I read a lot on the subject, and you learn by observation, you learn by what you hear, you learn by what you see, you learn by what you read. And you can gain a whole lot. And then take what the Bible has to say and what the Spirit of God gave the apostles, you more or less can form some concrete convictions on this subject of marriage. Each case really has to be taken on its own basis of merit. And you certainly do have a lot of the Word of God to back you up. I remember years ago, I learned this after being involved in an accident. My car was hit. And a friend of mine, Mr. Davis, who was lieutenant in the fire department, he had property, and, of course, he had a lawyer. And there was a strange incident. I was going out to visit an old man outside Winston-Salem, and there was a terrible storm, a cloudburst. Well, when we got to the place where this old gentleman lived, on the right side, the water was flowing down. so thick that the highway could be seen, and no green grass of any kind, the water would just level with the highway. And a great big limb of that limb of that tree had been blown over, and it covered half the highway. So I thought, well, I'll be safe in just pulling in right behind this big limb, for no one can hit me if I have to hit that limb first, and I tank it off the road to park, and so that's exactly what I did. On the other side, the ground was a little higher, and I was able to get in, getting my feet wet, to see this old fellow. Well, after about a half an hour, I heard a bang. I left two of the sisters in the assembly, two of the ladies in my car, one of them was a relative of this man. That's why I told them to stay in the car. It's too wet for you to get up. I heard this quack. My car had been hit and knocked about a hundred feet up the road, and the joy of what must have happened inside the car. One of the ladies in the back seat had white shoes, and some of the white shoes was up on the glove department. Of the cars, so somebody got a phone about. But anyway, here a man came along, and he hit this car, and we found out afterwards. And when I came out, I thought, how did that big limb get off that tree? Well, we learned the farmer came along, and he saw it, and he stopped, and he pulled it off. And a lot of the water had receded quickly, and the traffic started moving because a lot of people just stopped and wouldn't drive. Well, there's a situation, and the man who hit my car, he had picked up two young colors. There were soldiers. And he came down that road. It was straight down the road, about a half a mile, as straight as a gun bow. And he didn't think about the curve ahead, and several cars were coming. He was going to try and get by my car, and he couldn't make it. And so it was either a head-on collision or hit my car, and he hit my car. Well, we talked about the situation, and he blamed me, and I blamed him, and you know where he goes. So anyway, finally, he started gathering some men around him, and I could see he knew them. He was calling them by name. They were neighbors. So he came over to me. He said, supposing we take these neutral men and let them size up the situation and abide by their decisions. I said, that's very interesting. I said, I note that you call them by your name. By their names, you ever know them? That's kind of how rough on me. I don't know anybody. No, I said, I won't accept that. Well, finally, I took his name and address, and he took mine. So then I spoke to this fellow, Mr. Davis, Lieutenant Davis. He said, I want to go out and see that situation. So I took him out and told him all about it, and he got his lawyer and came up. And the municipal court judge, this lawyer said, he has the power of unwritten law. For he said it would be impossible to draw up laws to govern every accident. There's bound to be freak accidents, and they would not be included in the law. Well, I believe that's true in connection with dealing with troubles in Rome. There's not one law. You couldn't give one stake, maybe a dozen, that would cover every case. There are always different angles that you've got to consider. So the Apostle Paul, cast upon God as he was, goes into this chapter, and he covers an awful lot of ground. We want to take these things up as we get along. And he's cast upon the Holy Spirit for what he has to say, and I think it has stood up to the test of the centuries. In other words, she reminds me of the scribe the Lord Jesus speaks about in Matthew thirteen and verse fifty two. Then Jesus said unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder which bringeth out forth out of his treasures things new and old. Here is a spiritual man using spiritual knowledge and spiritual understanding. And he's giving his advice. He could quote Scripture, and he did quote Scripture. They cover some cases, but there were some things. The mess in Corinth was such it more or less confused. But here he is giving us his advice, and I think it is excellent advice. And you'll notice the very first verse we have is, Now concerning the things were off, he wrote unto me. The mess in Corinth was so bad, The condition was such there was so much corruption, immorality, a cesspool of iniquity. And this thing had got into the assembly, into the church. They were having trouble with those guilty of some of these vile deeds. And so they sat down, they wrote the apostles, Paul, this is our situation. This is what's happening here. Please give us your advice. Now that's what he refers to. Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Now he didn't stop there. That's just his introduction. That's the way he opened the subject. And you see the nature of the subject by that very statement. And so we take from verse one... Now the Apostle Paul, he's not advocating celibacy. That is, man shouldn't have anything to do with women. He didn't mean that when he said it's not good for a man to touch a woman. He wasn't advocating celibacy. But he had a point to get a cop, and he does that. In other words, for a man or any organization who advocates celibacy, people should remain single, remain single. They're going contrary to the Word of God. God in the very beginning said to Adam and Eve, he said they were to be fruitful and to multiply and replenish the earth. That's what God said. That's why he made Adam and Eve, that they might bring forth children. Besides, the Bible says over in Hebrews chapter twelve, marriage is honorable. Marriage is honorable. And it is. Furthermore, marriage is a beautiful type of Christ and the church. Ephesians five brings out the beautiful symbolism of a marriage to the bride of Christ and Christ the bride. There's a beautiful parallel there. And so we find in many scriptures how God advocates He planned marriage and also that there should be children born upon the earth. So God certainly is not against marriage. This is his institution. Christ was at the wedding in Canaan, Galilee, and he endorsed what went on? And he added his blessing. So for anybody or any organization to say it wrong, for a man to marry or a woman to marry, it's ridiculous. And yet there are some strange cults in the world, and they actually go that far. Not long ago, I read of some strange breed coming up, and they're fighting against marriage because of the situation of the world. Well, God intended that man should be married. It's not good for man to live alone, God, if I will make a help meet for him. Well, there are certain conditions attached to this. In the light of the... prevalence of immorality and lack of self-control, Paul says in verse two. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Now he's advocating right there that there should be marriage. Simply because of the situation in Coral that must have been Hollywood or Las Vegas or someplace like that, and because of the situation. Paul said it's good for every man to have his own wife and every woman to have her own husband. He's rebuking polygamy right there which was rampant in those days. A man could have a dozen one. So the apostle hits the nail right on the head in that work. good for every man to have his own wife and that woman to have her own husband on that very clear scriptural the Bible or scripture has mutual respect in the Bible it teaches that the man and the wife should have mutual respect one for the other and you'll notice that in verses one to seven as we read it Now concerning, we already read verse one and two, we go to verse three. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power over her own body. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband. And likewise also the husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife. She fraud not. or deceive not. Do not deprive the other of his or her right. Deprive ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves the fasting and prayer, and come together again, assuring there were temporary disagreements. Come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinence, your lack of self-control. But I speak this by permission, and not of commandments. I haven't got a commandment from the Lord for this, but this is what I think in the light of the fact that I see them. He says, For I would bet all men, where even as I myself, but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this matter, and another after that. Paul makes it very plain that there's a situation in the married life where there's got to be consideration for each other. Many little things can come into the life undoubtedly. Now it's all right. Before marriage takes place, you get along well. When you start living together, two people living together, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, then thirty days to the month, from day after year, little things are going to get up, come up. Little friction, little situations that are going to be aggravated and devout. And unless you keep in touch with the Lord and that's what he's bringing out, Satan is going to take advantage of that. Seeing the married life is such a beautiful type of Christ and the church and the devil hates Christ and the church. And if he can destroy and in any way disrupt that which symbolizes Christ and the church, he's going to do it. And he sets his mind on the home, especially the home of the Christian. The devil knows if he can undermine that institution, as goes a home, so goes the nation. How true that is today. And Satan is doing as utmost to disrupt the home. of the people of America, especially those of Christians. For if you can ruin the homes of the people of God, then things are in the mess. Here you find the Apostles giving his advice along these lines, the whole Council of God makes clear that marriage is the rule. Calibacy is rare. And God wants us to have Christian homes purity in the marriage life. The choice to remain single, as far as I can see here in my Bible, may have special help from God. Notice that verse seven. I wasn't struck with that so much as I was yesterday in reading it. He says, but I would that all men were even as I myself. Now, some people say Paul had been married. And he was a widower. Well, if I were the ladies, I would resent that. Well, I would that all men were even as I myself. Now, if Paul had a wife and he buried her and he was a widower, he's saying, I wish all men were widowers. Well, I don't believe he said that at all. He said, 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. It seems from that that some men have a gift from God. Divine strength to remain single for the work day. And some ladies do. Some of the finest missionaries on the foreign field are godly women. They've done a work they never could have done. had they been married. So this is what the Apostle is trying to bring out. What a contrast that is between the purity, the refinement, the sympathy, the respect, and liberty of these marriage laws, and the impurity, the grossness, and the cruelty and the slavery that goes along with these systems, Mohammedanism, Hinduism, and parts of the world where the gospel is not gone. It's horrible what little girls have had to go through with in the centuries past. Sold exactly nothing. And the little girls had no choice of who they were going to be married with. Love wasn't in the picture of Paul. Their father chose the man to be his son-in-law. And the poor girl was just the victim of this sordid situation. so far removed from a God of love, a God of compassion who considers their young man and gives advice concerning marriage for the young. God doesn't agree with what's going on in this world and tell you that. And I trust that we'll take to the Scriptures and obey what God has to say concerning them as to the benefit of the family. As a verse of Scripture you might read over in Matthew nineteen. And verse eleven. Christianity does not sanction polygamy. Many wives. Nor does it demand celibacy. No wives at all and no marriages. You'll notice in verse eleven. But he saith unto them. All men cannot receive this saying. Say they to whom it is given. For there are some units. which were so born from their mother's womb. And there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men. There be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. Then there were brought unto him little children. I think this is beautiful. that he should put his hands on them and pray, and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. How the Lord Jesus put his stamp of approval upon home life. Suffer little children. Here he blesses the little ones that are bought into the world. having no choice to have gotten to this world to be loved, cared for, how he blessed these little ones. And here you see the Lord Jesus Christ manifesting his delight, his joy in these many little children that he invited to come unto him. So we have these lovely thoughts, and I want to say this that you have in these verses one to seven. You have the love, the discipline, the mutual respect of the husband and the wife, one for the other. Now you come to verses eight and nine. You read them. I say therefore unto the unmarried and widowed, it is good for them if they abide even as I, single. if they cannot contain, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to birth. Now he speaks to the men. He's just spoken to the unmarried. Now he speaks to the men in the same vein. And 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 away. his wife. So here you have the married and the unmarried linked together. The Lord makes it very plain that for some it is best to marry, simply because of conditions as existed there in Cornel's analogy. It was best. Others, if they were able, they could remain single. Why did he say it best for some to marry? I know you get to a touchy point here. simply because, and this is something that God gave to the human race. That is the drive, the sex drive in every normal man and woman. And it's strong. It's God-given under certain circumstances that's overpowered. And a man needs to be very close to God. Otherwise, he's going to make a mess of his life on many hands. God is fully aware of the power of reproduction in the human body. He himself put it there. But he also can give the grace and the ability to control it. And if a young man or a young woman finds them that they are not able to cope with the power of this guy, they better get married. If not, it means trouble. Now, that's what the Apostle is talking about here. Divinely implanted. So, remember this. And he's bringing this up. Conversion does not alter this. Don't think for one minute that you're going to have less desire for marriage after you get saved. That marriage, in any way, weakens. the desire for reproduction. It does not. You just look at it in a different way. You see it from the sacred point of view. It's honorable. If you look at it something from God, he gives the same thing to birds and animals. The same thing is in man, but man's intelligence. He's not an animal. He's to use intelligence. and ask help from God if he's a Christian ask help from God to control it that it might be channeled according to his will that he might have the one God intended for him at the right time let it be done on an honorable date to the glory of God so the apostle gets into this subject and a touchy one nevertheless it's true and it's necessary and it must be faced. Now we go into verse twelve. Verse ten, eleven of that. Here's verse ten eleven. I thought he'd gone on further in that. And unto the married I command ye that 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. Now it makes it plain if something comes in here and disrupts the situation. no such thing as running off and marrying somebody else. If there's something, a temporary break in your communion with each other, he says, get this thing settled and let the wife return to the husband or the husband return to the wife. That's what God intends. Now we get into verse square. 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. Elsewhere your children are unclean, or illegitimate. But now are they holy, they are legitimate. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart, or brother or sister, is not under bondage in such cases, but God hath called us to be. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? Not that she can save us, but through her testimony, her faith, and quiet, godly behavior, she will be one. how knoweth thou man whether thou shalt save thy wife so you have this subject of these couples and there's going to be in every case there will be difficulties as you have we've already mentioned that in some of these verses these difficulties that are going to arise and now here's a couple and they're married and one gets saved Well, before they were married, they didn't have instant salvation. They were not concerned about being spiritual. But now one gets saved. Does that give ground for the unsaved one to pack up his grip and get out? And does that mean that the one who's a Christian says, well, get out of here. You don't believe us. I believe. I've got something you don't have, and I don't want your honor. No, absolutely not. God says that as long as the unbeliever is willing to stay with the one who's now become a Christian, let him stay, let her stay. How do you know that what you'll be the instrument in the hands of God to win that unbeliever to Christ? And when he gets saved or she gets saved and you're both in Christ, your home and your marriage will be more stable than ever. How wonderful it is to know what God's salvation is. And this has happened many times. I don't see the lady here tonight, but about a month or two ago, she trusted Christ right here. Some of you know who I'm talking about. Well, I thought a year or two ago her husband was more concerned than she was. Asked her to come out and talk to him at her house. But since this wife got saved, he hasn't shown up. And I said to her last Wednesday night, I said, well, is your husband interested? She says, I think he is now. When I told him I was saved, he kind of brushed it off. But now he sees I've got the real thing. And she says, I think he's going to start coming up. Now you see the situation. He saw his wife got something, and I haven't gone. And if ever our homes and the children are involved, if ever our home is going to be established, and we're going to be happy, my wife can never become a lost soul again if need is to make the change. A man begins to think along that line, he wants to save his family. Maybe the father of all and worthy of the name. And that's what Paul says here. Conversion should give no cost. for divorce. There's only one ground for divorce in the Bible, and that's unfaithfulness, that's the gospel. And so Paul handles this situation about after people are saved, after they're married, one gets saved, then what? Of course there's going to be a conflict of interest. The husband of Ezekiel saved one, he wants to go to the place they always went to. She says, no, I can't go. I'm a Christian now. I've got Christ. So what are you going to do? It's up to the wife to manifest that God speaks of that meek and quiet spirit, that the husband may be one without the word, without coming to hear the gospel. He'll be one by the godly, quiet, consistent light of the wife. Many a wife has lived to rejoice in the day when God answered her prayers and her husband was saved. Well, I think there's something we want to notice here very clearly. I wouldn't want to say this. Let's read verse seventeen of the Quran. He's got to hurry. But as God hath this reasoned to every man, as the Lord hath called everyone, so let him walk, and so ordain I in all the churches. Is any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Now, the words, if a man is a Jew, so let him try to become a Gentile uncircumcised. If any man is called uncircumcised being a Gentile, don't let him try to be a Jew, one circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God, and that was in the Old Testament. We don't have that in the New Testament. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Ark thou called, being a servant, a slave? Fear not, but who wants to be a slave? If thou mayest be free or made free and enjoy your liberty in the Lord, use that position to win other slaves to Christ. That's it. For he that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lord's servant. That's lovely to be the Lord's servant. He that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lord's free man. Likewise also he that is called being free is Christ's servant. Serve the Lord in whatever position you find yourself. Well, you say, doesn't that kind of hinder any ambition for progress? No, I think the Lord. If you're in that position as a servant, as a clerk, or something like that, maybe God's going to use you right there to win others for Christ. In Durham, North Carolina, many years ago, when God was working in those areas, there was one man, and he was foreman over one department. of the Liggett Morris Tobacco Cup. He witnessed to every man in that department, and he'd gotten them out to the meeting. Many of them found Christ. And he went to the boss, and he said, Boss, I'd like to be transferred over to that other department. Well, he said, you go and take a cut in your income. You get less pay when you're getting here. That's all right with me. He says, I want a witness to those fellows over there. See, he wanted to get into that new compartment. It's taken a drop in salary. But he wanted to witness to those people. He wanted to give them the cost. He was willing to be the Lord's servant in whatever circumstance he was in. This, to me, is an amazing thing. Here are some scriptures along this line. The believer is to be faithful wherever his Lord is cast. Godliness with contentment is great gain. First Timothy six six. Having prudent raiment, let us be there with content. In Philippians four eleven, not that I speak in respect of want, but I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be a contentment. And verse twenty four is the secret of the whole thing. It speaks of abiding. with God. Notice that verse twenty-four. Rather let every man, wherein he is called, therein, abide with God. Far better to be a laborer and abide in fellowship and communion with God than to be a former foreman or a top man out of fellowship with God. God wants you as a witness in that place. And the secret of the life where the person is single and married is to abide with God in fellowship with God. In the Old Testament, God led the children of Israel. As the cloud moved, they moved. When the clouds stopped, they stopped. And God's presence hovered over them, the presence of God over his people. Is it wonderful as God leads you? Whatever it may be, as a misplaced situation. Don't care about it. I don't like them. Nevertheless, if that's where God wants you, if that's where the pillar of flour is stopped, divide in it. For God will bless you there. And that's the teaching of this remarkable passage. Now, verses twenty-five and twenty-eight. We've got to hurry up. And he says in verses twenty-five and twenty-eight. 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. Paul said, I'm going to be faithful in what I say. I suppose, therefore, that this is good for the present distress. I want you to underline that. The present distress. I say that it is good for the man so to be. Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loose. Art thou loose from a wife? Seek not a wife. See as you are. But if thou marry, thou hast not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she hath not sinned, nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the flesh. But I swear to you, a lot of people have spoken to me about why I'm single. Well, I'll tell you, I've come to this conclusion. The Lord Jesus Christ says, in the world ye shall have tribulation. You're going to tribulate whether you're single or whether you're married. We'll have some joys if you're married that you don't then have when you're unmarried. But you get some joys too when you're unmarried that you don't get at your marriage. And so it just about comes out equal. And if you can do more for the Lord being single, then I say be single. That's the whole thing behind what Paul has taken up with. Not that God doesn't intend men and women to be married. He does. And he's blessed. But you know, more than I know, how many things can come in. And that is a matter of things you've got to do. You've got to take care of those children. You've got to feed them. You've got to educate them. You've got to have a home. And that's what God intends you should do. That's why Paul is pointing out here. I wish that all men were given as I in the sense that I want to give all my time and attention to serving the Lord. Now, parents can serve the Lord. They've got a missionary in their very own home with the children they've got. But Paul is speaking here of this present distress. There were circumstances in Corinth at that day, and there are not details for it. Paul is giving his advice. For the present distress, I think you young people would be wise not to get mad. That has often happened. You take where these terrible earthquakes are struck, where there are famines. People are dying on every hand. Would you advise a young man to get married in that situation, when children were dying on the right hand on the left, no food? I don't think that's using wisdom. Why not wait until things improve? If there's a terrible war going on and you're caught in it, is that any time to get married? I don't think we're not told what the present distress is, for instance, in the Great Depression many years ago. And I remember it very well, where there were, I think, about thirteen million out of work. You couldn't get a job. I figure out a time for young people to use their hands. and wait till things get better. And Paul is speaking of this present distress, time of famine, time of disaster, great depression. And this brings me to something that I'm going to be personal. I spoke to the brethren. First they came to me about going out preaching. They had approached me about it. And I was going with the young lady, fine young lady, some of you who were going out hear this for the first time. But I saw this young lady, and I thought, that's to be Mrs. Wilson. The first time I saw her. And I tell you the bug bit pretty hard. But it didn't send me off the deep end. I knew that God had a work for me to do, and that's the thing that came up in my mind. And I told her when we discussed the situation, how about going steady. And going steady in those days was seeing her once a month, and she only lived forty-five miles a month. I didn't burn up the highway. I'll tell you that once a month. No phone calls in between or letters either. We were going steady. But that was the arrangement. I said, Ada, I know God's got to work for me to do. And I said, any discussions we have are conditioned on this. that the time comes when God will cause me out into his work. It's off. I want nothing to interfere with that. Well, we went to a conference in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, about sixty miles from my home, and we were late getting there. And the preacher, and I remember his name at this time, James Ferguson, a gifted preacher. And when we got there, there was about twenty feet from the back seat to the entrance of that big Scottish memorial temple where the conference, about fifteen hundred people there. And so the big door opened and we tried to tiptoe in, so no one see it, so a lot of eyes turned around and here this young couple walking in. Mr. Ferguson pointed his eye right down the aisle. He said, young man, Because that young woman's in that church where you are doesn't mean to say she's the one the Lord intends for you. I was shocked. I stood there. I was just about stunned. I didn't answer how she felt, but I guess she maybe felt the same way. He had got to that part in his sermon. He didn't know me from Adam. But I'm going to tell you that shook me to my heels. So after that, we didn't talk much. After a month or two, I went over to see her. And I called it off. I said, Aida. And I didn't tell her why, Aida, but she knew. I drove back to Stratford, and I tell you, I hurt all the way. I got home. I couldn't sleep. But I did take a law of that church. And I said, Lord, if I made a mistake, I'd be willing to walk those forty-five miles back to Bramford and reverse that disease. But I had a peace filling my heart that I'd done the will of God. Time came up many months after that that I was commenced with the Lord's work. And Mr. Taylor, a broadly elder in that church, he was watching, and so were the others. He said, Lester, had you gotten married, we wouldn't have sent you forth. We were in the depths of a distress. That's pretty cool. So I saw the wisdom of God in that. And let me tell you something else. Two years later, I went back, and that girl told me she wasn't even saved. Here, here would have been I. linked up with an unshaved wife. Do you see how the Lord directs them? Yes, because of the depression. That's why they felt it wouldn't be wise for me to get married and come down to a country where I knew no one in North Carolina didn't have a friend. I was trusting in God. On the first six months in the South, I got two hundred and thirty-one dollars. Now how in the world did a man and his wife live on that? because of the present distress says the Apostle put the control on your drive and use the mentality don't let your emotions and your passions run away with your brain use your head this is what the Apostle says it gives some counsel to you he wasn't hard he says if you go ahead you're going to have trouble in the flesh that's it and you're with trouble in the flesh how many didn't say trouble in the spirit you're going to have trouble in the flesh and you've got to admit that many times you have liked to done something for the lord but you just couldn't you didn't have the time you didn't have the strength you didn't have the mark And God's not blaming you for that. That's just one of those things that come along with married life. And Paul understands that. And what does he say to them in verses? Thirty-five. And this I speak for your cross. Not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is calmly, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. did not mind. And he says, further up in verse thirty-two, but I would have you without carefulness or without worry. Now I'm going to show you something about the circumstances, the present distress. Listen what God said to Jeremiah, the weakening prophet. Hold in Jeremiah sixteen one. The word of the Lord came also unto me unto Jeremiah, saying, Thou shalt not take thee a wife. Neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place. Why? For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bear them, and concerning their fathers that begot them in this land, they shall die of previous death. They shall not be lamented, neither shall they be very, but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth, and they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of the earth. God says Jeremiah, a judgment is about to strike, and those who get married, unless you want to see all that happens in the earth. With Jeremiah been wise of Zonahan, because of the presence of respect. Think of the Apostle Paul over in Acts, Corinthians, eleven. I'm going to read this. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak of the fool. I am more. In labors more abundant and stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in death of, of the Jews five times received, I, forty stripes, day one. Christ was I beaten with God, once was I stoned, Christ I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have spent in the deep, in journeying, Thothman, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false heavens. in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastens often, in cold and in nakedness, besides those things that are without death which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Paul, what about my life? What would happen to your wife while we're now with the life I live? I couldn't do justice to my wife and children. After all I've gone through, do you think I'd want my wife and child to go through this? No communications like today. We can pick up a phone, call your wife, or write a letter. Why have you been away for months and years, and she wouldn't have known what was going on? It would have been a very unfair, unkind thing for Paul to have married and had a family with circumstances like this, conditions he would go through. because of the pleasant distress, you single folk, please them. And you married folk live as though you weren't married, give all your time unto the Lord. The time is urgent. This is the time. And the Lord wants us all the as happy as it is to have companions. And don't think I have a mystery over the years. But I in no way for a moment regret it. If I had my life to live over again, I'd do the same. I'm like old Brother Gibbs. You know, Brother Gibbs, died about several eight years ago at seventy-eight. He was a bachelor. Said to me one day, he left a nice home, had a nice evening. Brother Gibbs said, you know, Brother Leslie said, I go to some of these homes. Am I a lovely family, lovely couple? He said, when I go home, get out of there and go on to my apartment, I feel like kicking myself. Get going, get married, and have a lovely home I got. Then he said, I've gone to some other places, and when I got out, he said, I've had myself enough. Oh, yeah. If there's anything I dreaded, when I was young, I dreaded the possibility of being impatient, of marrying the wrong girl. And later I'll find it out. I'd wish the Lord take me home to heaven and to live with someone that was not God's choice for me. It's wise to leave, he says, in the hands of God. The Apostle Paul looked upon us being hard. Paul is a very big, hot, tender-hearted man. He's putting the facts on the table. He says, because of the present distress, the horrible thing going on in court and watch coming upon that city. He says control this matter of faith. Do you want your children to be brought up in that city? Then wait upon the Lord. Remember that the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus was only ten years away. Paul says because of circumstances as they are. He says, use your hand. Wait on the Lord. That's about all we have time for tonight. One could say much more about this subject. But you have a good illustration. In Martha and Mary. Here is Martha. She's busy washing dishes and everything else. Mary's sitting at the Lord's feet. Hearing his word. Martha comes in, Lord, Lord, that's not enough care. Dear Mary, my sister has left me alone. Sitter that she come and help me. The Lord says, Martha, thou art careful and trouble about many things. But Mary hath chosen that good part. It comes even ahead of how she begins, making meals and washing dishes, and that is shipping. at my feet, hearing my voice. Whether you're married or whether you're a singer, if you don't take time out, and God knows that married people don't have enough to drive them to their knees every day, I don't know what, with today's world, and what our children are exposed to in this dope business and all other things, if I were a parent and I'm often tempted, God knew what he was doing when he blocked him. I couldn't have been out in the Lord's works. I think God had been just too affectionate. I'd have thought too much of my wife and my children. If I'd heard one of them was sick and though I've seen this happen, I'd stop the meetings and cry, ho. I haven't had that word. I can make plans for a campaign and all I've had and have gone through it. I've had other brethren who were married. As soon as they got the word, they packed the drip the way they went. The wife said, single man doesn't have that. If God has chosen you, if you're married man, married woman, you've got your responsibility, and you can glorify the Lord just as much as any single man or single woman, you've got more responsibility. Paul says, if you're married, you do good. If you don't marry, you do bad. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come into thy presence. We ask thy blessing on thy words. We thank thee for the enlightenment on this complex subject that we have in thy precious words. We see the background of this situation and how the dear Apostles summing up the whole situation he spoke with wisdom with knowledge with understanding with sympathy may we be exercised tonight about these things for thy glory and our good we ask of them lord jesus precious name amen five four seven Take the name of Jesus with you, child of sorrow and of woe, with your joy and comfort with you. Take it then wherever you go. The first verse and the third, your lady will be listening. Five, four, seven. Take the name of Jesus with you. Shall I love the song, the writing of the poem. Is the joy that forgives you? May it be where you go. Praise the same, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of death. Praise the same, oh how sweet. Oh, the birds and the coyotes. Third verse to the last. Oh, in a precious name of Jesus, how his thrills are closed with joy. With his loving heart received us, and his songs are done with the Lord, precious name, oh, how sweet. Oh, the birds and the joy of hell, Cray to play. Oh, I pray.