One of the saddest experiences a preacher, counselor or teacher will ever experience is that of looking into the sad face of one with whom he has lovingly studied and counseled for some time, and have to say, “Your present marriage is not scriptural, and so, your desire to become a Christian hangs upon your separation from the unscriptural partner you now embrace, followed then, by full and complete acceptance of God’s marriage laws as laid out in the Bible.” Do not be deluded! Being baptized will neither wash away the unscriptural marriage nor anything else for which there has been no repentance and prayer. A thief who stole $10,000.00 and hid it under his bed can maintain that he has repented until torment freezes over, but as long as he retains the money, he has neither repented nor cleared himself of the wrongdoing. Just so! A man who has contracted an unscriptural marriage can proclaim aloud that he’s repented, but until he divests himself of his illegitimate (unscriptural) marriage partner, he is living in sin!
The present live-in craze that has swept through most nations of the Earth in the last few years is nothing but fornication or adultery, depending upon the circumstances. Those who foolishly reason that they should try the marriage arrangement for a season, to see if they can adjust to it, wouldn’t think of going down to Walmart, lifting a new automotive battery from the shelf, taking it home and runing it for a few weeks before agreeing to pay for it. Such would be absurd, but no more so than someone with a sound mind moving in with a partner without benefit of God’s marriage rules. Yet, look at the multitudes who are guilty of so doing! It’s reminiscent of the ungodly mess man had gotten himself into before the flood in Noah’s time. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5 NKJV).
Is there any way out of this malady? Of course, there is! When God inspired the apostle Paul, he went everywhere preaching the Truth! When he got to Corinth, he observed that they were very much like others of Earth in that they were given to doing what they wanted to do, regardless of what God had instructed them to do. What did Paul tell them? “Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2). Please note! Paul did not say, “Find you a sweet thing with a pretty body and little judgment,” and nor did he say, “Pick you out a good-looking man, and move in with him!” A “wife” and a “husband” was God’s remedy for this sinful state of affairs – not someone else’s wife or husband but one’s own, and only according to God’s Holy directives!
“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12). “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified” (2 Corinthians 13:5).
