Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 467 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Thomas: Our subject today--I know I've never preached on this before, never used this subject. The subject is exploitation of sex. I don't think you can disagree with me after we get started here.

Now, I have here--this is a booklet we wrote a good long while back. It's called "Sex and Marriage"--"Sex and Marriage." Now since this message will be heard by way of radio and on television, I'd like for folks to know that you can write in and get this.

-- Brother Jimmy Robbins: Or call the toll free number.

--Brother Thomas: Toll free number, that's right. That's the Midnight Cry Broadcast and it's free. Nothing could be any cheaper than that.

( laughter ).

Somebody said it must not be anything good then if it's free. Not so. Some of the greatest things in the world is free. Salvation is free.

( congregational amens ).

Because another paid for it--Jesus. So don't forget now. That's a good little booklet there and it's got a lot of material in it, a lot of things that we discuss. It's been written...I don't know how long ago--but nevertheless, it's available if you want it.

I say this, a girl, her place is at home with her mother and father until she marries. And I hope it's a mother and father that prays with her. I hope it's a mother and father that's concerned about her. I hope it's a mother and father that just don't let her do as she pleases. They know where she's at. When my kids were growing up I was always concerned about where they were at. They were out with somebody, I knew who. If they stayed out longer than I said, I'd be there waiting at the door. I couldn't even sleep that night as long as my kids were out. And the devil is doing everything he can to destroy the church, this day and time I mean.

Going on here in 1st Corinthians 5, He says, "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven..." That means you're supposed to come here to feast on the word. If you don't enjoy the Word, you won't come--not very long. Some of you're coming because of family connections. You can't help yourself. Usually though, kids like that when they get grown, that's the last of them. They leave to do their own thing.

"Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators." Anybody that you know to be a fornicator--that you know to be loose in their morals, God says don't company with them. Let them know that you can't go with them. Don't company with them.

Now we see what He said to do as a church, turn them over to "Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Now what Paul is saying, it's better that they were dead for that shame and reproach to be brought upon the church. Some seem to think this man really did repent. I know this, you got to face people with their sins. You got to say something to cause them to repent if there's any repentance in them.

Now let's go to 1st Corinthians chapter 7, beginning in verse 1. The apostle here deals with the question of sex and marriage. They obviously had written to him. Verse 1 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." That's to avoid fornication. "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..."

You know, in the marriage vows, you know what the woman's doing? She's giving herself to the man she's marrying. They're becoming one--one flesh. Her body doesn't belong to her. It sure doesn't belong to her to give away or do what she pleases with it. It belongs to him. His body belongs to her. "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."

What Paul is saying here is simply this, I have no direct commandment concerning this but I speak it as an apostle. I give my judgement. And it was usually right when he did that. Sometimes you have to make up your mind what's right and what's wrong. In verse 7 it says, "For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." What he's saying is they're not all the same. We can't put everybody in the same mold.

"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." That means burn with passion, desire. Then he goes on to say, "And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord." Now you see he's coming back to what the Lord has already given precedence for this. But the Lord--this is something the Lord covered. "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." Now he's bringing in some other things that he's giving his own judgment about. "But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not..." Now that could happen like this, let's say a couple, they're both unbelievers, but they go to church or they hear someone and the man or the woman is really genuinely converted. Then you'd have your wife or your husband, whichever the case might be would be an unbeliever because they hadn't surrendered their life to the Lord. "...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." If she's pleased to dwell with him.

Of course it does take into consideration here that if they marry, I mean if they depart, let them remain unmarried. Now there's some cases where the man or the woman just don't want the man or the wife, rejects them. Maybe they go on out, go with somebody else or marry somebody else, or maybe a woman has got a husband that abuses her, verbally or physically abuses her. I'd never advise her to stay with him and take that abuse. That's the way I think God would have it. But if there's any hope of reconciliation I think she should wait and work toward that end, pray toward that end. But if there isn't any hope of reconciliation, the man or the woman goes out and gets another wife, another mate and they know it's all over, I think she is free or the husband would be free in either case.

Now lets take 13 again, "And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him." Now verse 14 is very important. "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife." Now what does that mean? "The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband." Here's what it means, that because of the one believer--the woman or the man, God blesses that marriage. God esteems it so highly because of the faith--one of them is His children. Even though they're married to an unbeliever God recognizes that marriage. That goes to show you how important it is to know the Lord.

Then he says this, "For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband?" In other words, I was talking to some couple here not too long ago, in fact I think it was a woman. I don't even remember who. But I've given advice in these things many times. And I told her, I said your husband's hope of salvation may be dependent on you staying with him and being a genuine Christian. Through your testimony and through association with you as his wife, you may be the means of causing him to turn to the Lord."

And that's vice-versa. Man finds himself married to an unbelieving woman and she's pleased to dwell with him, he may be the means of her coming to the Lord. He may be the means of her being saved. But he adds this in verse 14 about the husband or the wife. Their participation in that marriage union is sanctified. That's what he's talking about. The husband nor the wife are actually saved because of the salvation of their spouse, whether it be a man or a woman. It just simply means that God honors the marriage of that couple simply because one of those--the man or the woman, is His child.

And here's another thing. This shows you how wonderful it is to know the Lord. He adds this in verse 14, "else were your children unclean; but now are they holy." That simply means this, that because of the faith of the mother or the father, there's a special recognition and blessing upon those children. That means something. It means something for you to have a Godly mother or father and more yet father and mother. "But now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or 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 the churches."

Now what he's saying there is don't change the marital status when you come to the Lord. Don't use that as an excuse to leave or break it up. You just abide like you are and there's even a blessing upon your children because of the faith of the one parent. That's wonderful isn't it?

Now I want to say something about girls and boys leaving home. Especially where there's a God fearing mother or father or both. When you leave home because of the lust of your flesh, what you're doing, and you don't think of it this way, but you're leaving the Lord. You're turning your back on Him and you're going out there and you're joining up with devils. Did you understand what I said? You're going out there with people who have no regard for your soul. If you could visualize--if you could see what they're doing, when they leave the door....

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