Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 6:1, 6-8 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
The Apostle is very clear In this passage that those who are claiming to be Christian are not supposed to get involved taking people to court for whatever reasons. To participate in these activities is to engage in a verbal fight with others. When someone defrauds you, it means that they withhold something that is rightfully yours or is due you. A good understanding of this word is taught through its usage in the book of 1st Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 7:2-5 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.
As the Apostle teaches, in marriage your body becomes the property of your spouse until death parts you. Sometimes in a marriage, a spouse will use sexuality as a weapon, or deny it in order to get things that they want. When that kind of behavior develops, it’s not Christian charity that they possess, it’s hatred towards the one they freely chose to live their life with. To go one step further, If a spouse divorces the other, they sin by permanently defrauding their marriage partner of what rightfully is theirs. Defraud is a sin in the sight of God, which is to deprive somebody of what belongs to them. Depriving somebody means to take away something from them that is necessary or pleasant, or to withhold or deny something from their enjoyment or possession of. It is not allowing somebody to have or keep something that is inherently theirs.
1 Thessalonians 4:6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
Anybody who professes to be a follower of Jesus Christ is forbidden from going to the court system or earthly law with others. Granted, there are numerous occasions when people might defraud you of what rightly belongs to you, but we are not to retaliate. They might take your possessions, your belongings, your finances, or in a divorce scenario, run off with your own children, but Christians are not to go to earthly law for justice, but to Christ Jesus. Instead of fighting in a courtroom, we suffer the wrongs that are committed against us. The Lord commands us not to resist evil. This means that when somebody defrauds you of what is yours by taking something against your wishes, you are forbidden to fight back. Although many people will wickedly take advantage of that situation, God sees everything and nothing is hidden from His sight. He knows when we are being defrauded by others, and He will certainly avenge His suffering children.
Matthew 5:38-40 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
Luke 18:7-8 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily….
In another passage of scripture the Apostle James clearly warns the rich about keeping back the wages that were due to those who had worked for them. They had already earned it, and it belonged to them, but the rich wouldn’t pay what was agreed upon. When the poor were defrauded, they cried out mightily to God to avenge them, and He heard them. The Lord continues today to hear the cries of those who are deprived of what is rightfully theirs.
James 5:1-4 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Instead of going to an earthly courtroom to sue somebody to get back what rightfully belongs to us, we cry out to the Lord Jesus, the King of Justice. We don’t take matters to court, we take them to Christ. Just as Pharaoh found out in the days of Moses, God is not mocked, and He will avenge.
Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Hebrews 10:30-31 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Even when the Lord Jesus was taken to an earthly courtroom to stand before Pilate, He didn’t speak a word or resist the wrongs that were being committed against Him.
Mark 15:3-5 And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing. And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee. But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.
The world and everything in it were created by Jesus. He is the highest place of power and authority, and could have destroyed the world in the blink of an eye, but He didn’t. He allowed himself to suffer when the world committed such evil acts against Him.
Matthew 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
So if someone sues you to take away your own coat, then let them have it. Don’t resist evil when they defraud and sin against you. All we need to do is petition the one who presides over….
……The Highest Court
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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