“Great Swelling Words of Emptiness” #2036

18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. (2 Peter 2:18–19, NKJV)

With empty words that promise pleasure and freedom, the voices of error and evil use fleshly lusts and sinful abandon to bait, capture, and enslave souls. With swelling words, they offer people alcohol as a social beverage to mix and mingle, to relax, and to have a good time. What they do not advertise is the drunken stupor and addiction it causes (Prov. 20:1; 23:29-35). With swelling words, they offer people sex (from an early age) without shame and (supposed) consequences. Telephone apps make hooking up easy. The morning after pill, chemical abortions (RU-486 pill), and surgical abortions are the worldly person’s “get out of jail free” cards. Casual sex outside of marriage not only defiles what is holy in marriage, but it also erodes moral boundaries, often becoming just as addictive as alcohol (Heb. 13:4; Rom. 1:28-29). Those who urge you to defile yourself are “slaves of corruption” already (and misery loves company). The remedy for the spiritual, mental, and emotional trauma caused by sin’s enslavement is Jesus Christ. But it requires a determined faith to trust and obey Jesus instead of following the empty and deadly teachings of men that indulge the flesh and darken the soul (1 Cor. 6:9-11; Acts 18:8; Rom. 6:17-18; 12:1-2). Take God’s way of escape; it is there for us all (1 Cor. 10:12-13).

Your Faith is Not Negotiable #1041

12  But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her… 15  But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. (1 Corinthians 7:12, 15, NKJV)

Some Christians question whether they must end their marriage to an unbeliever, in order to be faithful to Jesus. The apostle applies Jesus’ teaching from Matthew 19:6 – “what God has joined together, let not man put asunder” – and answers, “No.” Is the unbeliever is willing to allow the Christian to live his or her faith, do so and bring a godly influence into the home (1 Cor. 7:12-14; 1 Pet. 3:1-6). If that willingness is not present, and the unbeliever sunders the marriage (being unwilling to have his or her spouse to live for Christ, v. 16), the Christian is “not under bondage in such cases.” That is, the Christian is not now, and never has been a slave to the unbeliever (see 1 Cor. 7:23). This verse does not teach another cause for divorce and remarriage, that is, desertion. (Marriage is for life, with one cause for one party to be free to remarry, the cause of fornication, Matt. 19:3-6, 9.) Instead, it teaches the believer that his or her faith is not negotiable – even in a marriage. Do not surrender your faith for the sake of pleasing any person; “you were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men” (1 Cor. 7:23). God has called you to be at peace with Him (v. 15). So, do the will of God, not the will of men.