Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Turn to your Bibles, please, to 1st Corinthians Chapter 7
tonight. We are in a different phase in
our series now. We have been somewhere around
2425 messages in the first six chapters of First Corinthians.
However, we are going to very rapidly change the speed of
which we are going through the book of First Corinthians here
over the next few weeks. It's not that what we're about
to read is less important and what we are reading before was
more important. No, it's all important.
It's all the word of God, Amen. But I would say that these
chapters that we're going over very well lend themselves to be
looked at in one sitting. It will lend themselves very
well to be looked at in more of a 30,000 foot view, if you will,
to be able to look over exactly what is going on to help us
understand exactly what's taking place in the lessons that we
need to learn in Chapter 7. Certainly could be looked at in
that very way. In fact, if you were to read the
whole chapter, it's 40 verses. And no, we're not going to read
all 40 verses here tonight because if we did, I don't know
that I have any time to preach. But the idea is if you were to
read all 40 verses here tonight, we're going to cover a lot of
them by God's grace. And I was asking you to
summarize what is this chapter about?
If you give me one word, how would you summarize chapter #7
of First Corinthians? You might say something like
this marriage. You could maybe say something
like this sex, you could say something like this
relationships, or even singleness.
However, I'm going to go in a different direction here
tonight. Although every single one of
those subjects can be found in this chapter, there's no denying
that all of them will be covered here in First Corinthians
Chapter 7. If there was an overarching
theme that really covers all of those things and more, it would
be this word and this word alone.
Contentment, contentment. Now, again, that may not seem to
really track with those other words I gave you just a few
moments ago, but I believe this principle is immestakable and
it's all over our text. Listen, we have trouble with
this issue of contentment, don't we?
Let's be honest here tonight. It's a good place to be honest,
right? We're in church.
Amen. We have trouble with this issue
of contentment. What is it right now outside,
it's cold and we're saying this, boy, I sure wish it was warm.
You know what all of us will say in July, boy, don't you?
Don't you miss when it was cold? I mean, that's the way that it
is is. And we say, well, I would love
to be the fall, at least it's kind of in the middle and the
fall point so wet and it's everything.
I love the spring and said we can never be content.
It's always that we're looking for something else.
When life is slow, we crave excitement.
When life is full, we crave rest.
I mean, we don't have a lot of money.
We wish we had more. When we have more, we wish for
simpler times. I mean, it's just that's the way
life is. It seems like we struggle with
this issue of being content. Now, in this text we're about to
read and address, Paul addresses sexual relationships from a
different angle than before. Now he's talking about how
married couples should handle marriage.
He's talking about how single people should handle singleness.
And if we were to sum up all of those verses, like I just said a
few moments ago, it would really be all about this.
And it's something we all struggle with being content,
right? So let's go ahead and go to the
1st 9 verses here of First Corinthians chapter #7 let's go
ahead and read beginning in verse #1 where it says this.
Now concerning the things, where have you 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. Let every woman have her own
husband. Let the husband render unto the
wife do 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 you may give yourselves the fasting and
prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for
your incontinency. But I speak this by permission,
not by commandment. For I would that all men even
were as I myself. But every man hath this proper
gift of God, one after this manner, another after that.
I say therefore, to the unmarried and widows, and it's
good for them if they abide even as I they cannot contain, let
them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn.
Now, we'll stop right there. Again, we'll take a look at many
of the verses in our text here tonight.
But it's very obvious here that there's something very different
that's going on in this conversation than what we have
seen before. Certainly we've looked at the
issue of fornication. Certainly we've looked at the
issue of the church at Corinth that is not doing right when it
comes to relationships. But now Paul is giving marriage
counseling, but he's not even just giving marriage counseling.
He's giving singleness counseling.
He's giving counseling to everybody of how they are to
live with sexual propriety within their lives.
Well, remember this church at Corinth, just by way of
reminding you was living in the middle of sexual confusion.
Right in the middle, looming large over the church at
Corinth, was that temple of Aphrodite.
It loomed over everything that happened in Corinth.
Many people have been saved out of that culture.
Many people have been saved out of those troubles.
And remember, just because you got saved doesn't mean you know,
know everything on the first day, Amen.
Amen. It might be, you know, the
second day or the third day before you know everything,
right? Got to make sure you're
following along, OK? It's a lifelong of learning,
Amen. And just because you have some
of these old habits, the Spirit is telling you those aren't
good. But sometimes, you know, OK,
this is what I'm not supposed to do.
I got to confess this and forsake it, get it out of my
life. But I don't know what the right
thing is to do. And so now Paul is trying to
explain to them, we've talked about, he's saying, we've talked
about some things you're not supposed to do anymore.
But let's talk about the relationship in a right way.
Let's talk about it in a way so that we can understand exactly
what our responsibility has been.
In fact, this is not just something that Paul is talking
out of the blue. This is Corinth who is concerned
about this. Because what did it say in verse
#1 concerning the things whereof you wrote unto me.
So Paul is saying this. This isn't me just throwing this
on to you. He's saying you have actually
asked me about these things. You have asked me with some
concerns that you have in this area, and I want to teach you
biblically about what these things are all about.
They need help in these manners. And he starts with the most
basic of instructions. It is good for a man not to
touch a woman. Now you say, well, pastor, you
mean that a man is never allowed to touch a woman.
And of course we understand that that is not what is being said
specifically after we read just everything else and what the
chapter is all about and understanding how God has
created a marriage relationship for what it is.
But when it talks about that issue of it being good for a man
not to touch a woman, that word touched there has the
connotation the Greek oven inflaming.
Here's the idea that you need to keep your hands off of the
opposite sex in a way that inflames, but don't make me talk
about specifics here tonight because this pastor don't want
to talk about specifics and you understand what I'm talking
about here tonight. The idea is this, that we should
be in a situation where we handle ourselves with propriety.
We should be in a way that we handle ourselves in a way that
we are always above board with the opposite sex.
Can I help you with something that I have done as a pastor
just to be able to make sure that I am doing right in this
area? I have to have standards in
place, and some because I'm a pastor and some just as prudent
just being a man. When I counsel a woman in my
office, typically, if I counsel a woman in my office, you know
who's there? That woman back there, in case
you don't know who I'm pointing to, that's my wife.
OK, somebody's saying Peyton. Why would Peyton be back there?
No, my wife will be with me. If my wife can't be there, you
know what'll happen? The doors open.
Why? Because I want to be in a
situation where both of us can be accountable, to make sure
that we are not in a place where someone could even wonder if
that we are doing something that's inappropriate.
With Chapter 7, verse #1 you know, really for me, when it
comes to the other women here in the church, and particularly
those who are anywhere close to my age or anything like that,
you know what I'm not going to do?
I'm not going to hug on you. I'm not going to do it.
Do you know why? Is it because I think that
there's something really weird going on or anything like that,
Just for propriety's sake to be able to know that I'm not going
to do that. Now, I hesitated saying this and
I even wondered in my notes if I should write this down because
some of you are going to wonder if you're an older lady, you
wonder if I, if I, if, if I hug you, then what do I think about
your age? And so here's The thing is, if
you're somewhere around my mother's age, if she was alive
somewhere around there, I don't think that it's an issue.
But the idea is this. We need to think about this.
As many of you say, that's a little bit overboard, isn't it?
I mean, really, should we be thinking about stuff like that?
It is good for a man not to touch a woman in a way that
could inflamed. It is good to have standards and
propriety. I don't think it's that crazy in
a culture where there's no standards, in a culture where
there's no propriety, in a culture where you can't even
read the news because the news itself is filled with
pornography. I was reading the news on Monday
and the headlines about the Grammys on Sunday night, and I
realized there was links that I couldn't even click on the news
because of the way people were dressed on Sunday in the
Grammys. This is the culture we live in
today. So no, it's not pharisaical.
It's not weird to say, you know what we ought to be able to
treat as men, women, as ladies. We ought to act as gentlemen and
have some sort of difference between the way that we handle
the opposite sex and the way that the world does.
That's the way that we should be.
And so he starts right out, like, make sure you're careful
with the opposite sex. But then he continues on with
that is. And by the way, is physical
touch between man and woman the enemy?
No, I think that's quite clear here in our text.
However, it is a tiger that needs to be in the proper
enclosure. It needs to be something that
has guardrails around it. And verse #2 teaches us this,
the guardrails or this marriage, the enclosure is this marriage.
This is what God intends. So that brings us to what I want
us to see here tonight as we go through our outline.
And if you have not seen this before, this is the back of the
prayer bulletin. You can follow along with that.
And #1 says this, number one says this, be content in
marriage. I told you all right, be content
in marriage. Paul begins with his admonition
in verse #2 nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man
have his own wife. Let every woman have her own
husband. In my Bible, I've underlined his
own wife. In my Bible, I've underlined her
own husband. Meaning this.
Have the one that belongs to you when it comes to the issue of
sex and when it comes the issue of physical relations, you are
with the one that belongs to you.
You are not to be with the one that does not belong to you.
You say pastor, do you have to say this in 2026?
Yes, they had to say it in about 50 AD and we have to say it
today. Stay with the one that belongs
to you. I just had a phone call
yesterday with a gentleman. I don't want to get into all the
situation, but he sent me a video.
He was starting a program, a very ill advised program in a
lot of ways, and he wanted me to see the video and to maybe give
him some biblical advice, whether it was good or not.
And in this video he said something like this in dealing
with the pornography epidemic in this country and dealing with
the issues of against sexual impropriety, he said this.
He said there's faithful men in our churches who love their
families, love Jesus, but deal with sexual integrity.
Now, I want to be very careful how I say this.
Again, I'd be appropriate. I'm not trying to to talk in a
way that is this lewd or crude here tonight.
I really don't. I want us to just have straight
talk here tonight, but but to be do it in a way that doesn't come
across as crass. But he says there's faithful men
who love their families, love Jesus, but deal with sexual
integrity. And he asked for my feedback.
I talked to him on the phone yesterday and I said everything
about that phrase is wrong. I said if a man deals with
sexual integrity issues, quote UN quote, he's not being
faithful. He's literally being unfaithful.
He doesn't love God the way he should because he says if you
love God, Jesus said keep my commandments and it's not an
issue with sexual integrity. I said, brother, it's an issue
with sin, and you can call it whatever you want to call it,
but it's sin. Proverbs 5 verses 15 through 18
says drink waters out of thine own cistern, running waters out
of thine own. Well.
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, the rivers of water in
the streets, let them be thine own and not thy strangers with
thee. Let thy fountain be blessed and
rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
I had to tell him that this is not what God intended and to be
able to say this, but this is what the world is saying today
and it's even getting into the church today that we need to
call it what it is. It's wrong.
We call it what it is, sin. Now, understand if you have an
issue tonight in dealing with pornography, understand that
this is something that is so pervasive in the world today
because it wasn't that long ago, it was pretty difficult to get
your hands on that type of material.
Now it's about two or three clicks away on your phone, in
your pocket, on a tablet and a laptop.
And listen, you don't always have to be looking for it.
Sometimes it'll find you. If you struggle with this here
tonight, I want you to to listen.
I want you to listen closely to what I have to say.
And I'm speaking mostly to the men, but the statistics tell us
that it's on the rise for women as well.
I want to speak to you tonight specifically as men.
If you have an issue with this, what you need to do is be open
and confess before the Lord. Then go and talk to another
faithful man in the word of God who can help keep you
accountable in this area. This is what you need to do.
You say, well, if I do that, what will happen?
I would encourage you to think of it this way.
If you don't do it, what will happen?
It's a victimless crime. People will say the victims are
so multitude. Families are the victims.
Wives particularly are the victims.
The women in those videos are the victims, often involved in
human trafficking. And if there was no appetite for
it and if there was no type of market for it, then it wouldn't
happen. But billions and billions of
dollars get put into pornography in this in this country every
year. More money goes into pornography
than all four major sports leagues.
Only fans takes in billions of dollars a year.
This is a real issue. And I will tell you this, if you
come to me as your pastor, that I can tell you I have a track
record that I will deal with you in a way that is is is
charitable, in a way that has understanding.
But I'll tell you this, we'll have to call sin, sin.
We'll have to call it what it is, because if we don't call it
what it is, then we can't get to the root of the problem.
And Paul starts right off at the bat.
He says this when it comes to these issues, Hey, gentlemen,
it's your own wife. Ladies, it's your own husband.
And if we don't get real in churches today about this issue,
then it's something that could cause great, great harm.
And they already is causing great, great harm within our
churches. So how do we deal with this?
Well, Paul says there's two things that can be done.
And this is not a detailed list, but I believe it probably
addresses the issues of which they were writing to him about.
I understand. I'm not going to give you all
the tips on how to help you in your marriage here tonight,
because if you know that, let me know because I'd be glad to know
all of those as well. It's a lifelong of learning when
it comes to the marriage relationship.
But Paul, I believe, addresses a couple things of which they were
probably asking him when it mentions in verse number one
that they were communicating with him.
And the first is this, when it comes to being content in
marriage, letter A stay marital, stay marital.
What do you mean by that, pastor?
Well, let's go back and read verses 3 through 6.
Let the husband render unto his wife do benevolence, and
likewise also the wife unto the husband.
The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband.
And likewise also the husband hath not the power of his own
body, but the wife. Now what is this saying?
This is saying that as a husband and wife, your lives are
intertwined and any action or inaction affects the other.
I found out very early in marriage and sometimes I'm still
reminded that what I do, I think just effects myself.
In some ways, it affects my wife more than effects myself.
And there are some things that Diane does that affects me more
than it affects herself. And it says here, when it comes
to the marital relationship, when it comes to that, which
means being connected between husband and wife, particularly
when it comes to being physical in a relationship, what do you
need to do? You need to make sure that you
are marital within your marriage.
Say, pastor, I'm not comfortable with you talking about this
tonight. You want to know who's
uncomfortable tonight? You want to know who knew this
chapter was coming for months? This guy.
All right. But here's the problem.
Because preachers are uncomfortable, doesn't get
talked about. I would hope that you would
understand it's good to be in a church where maybe the
uncomfortable things are still spoken of and that, yeah, maybe
the pastor doesn't really want to talk to you about being
marital and marriage. But if you don't hear it from
here, where are you going to hear it?
You know, there's new believers all the time that you you take
for granted, maybe some of you that have been in the faith for
a long time, new believers that have been indoctrinated by the
world and they have no idea about sexual propriety within
the marriage between a husband and wife.
And if they don't get it from the church, here's really, I get
it some podcast. If they don't get it from the
church, they'll get it somewhere.
I've talked to Christian New Christians, babes in Christ, who
in their naivete have told me that the best place that they
can learn about the physical relationship is from
pornography. Now, I want to make clear here
tonight that that is not only unwise, it is an absolute snare
of the devil. And that is not what should be
done. But there's also just some new
believers who flat out do not know.
And you might think that's laughable, but in this culture
today where anything goes, just because someone gets saved and
comes into the church and a husband and wife are new in
Christ, you can't expect that they understand everything about
the Bible the moment they get into the church.
It took you a while to learn. It took me a while to learn.
And when it comes to this issue, we need to be able to have frank
discussions about this, not explicit discussions.
But at least frankly, cover the idea of what we're talking about
here tonight. You don't need me to be explicit
this evening for you to understand what I am saying and
most importantly, what the Word of God is saying about this.
Listen, Hebrews 313 four, marriage is honorable and all,
and the bed undefiled. God created marriage.
God created sex. And by the way, God created sex
for more than just procreation. He created it for pleasure, but
yet the world has taken that which God has created for
pleasure and has turned it into something that causes great
harm, great sadness, great destruction.
The idea of free sex that is peddled out in the world today,
that there is no consequences. Meats for the belly and belly
for meats. Remember that from First
Corinthians chapter 6. It's just an urge, like eating.
It's not a big deal, is a damnable lie straight from hell,
and it is causing many, many people to stumble.
It's causing our young people to stumble and go into marriage
relationships with a idea of what marriage is like.
That's not true. So yes, the church needs to talk
about this. Yes, there are pastors who are
uncomfortable talking about this.
You say how many? I don't know because I don't
talk to him about it, but I know this guy is.
But it needs to be talked about. This is not what Paul is saying
here is not demanding marital relations with one another.
I am not teaching tonight that you should go to a spouse and
you should make demands upon them.
Marriage is lovingly meeting all of one another's needs.
We say that again, marriage is about one spouse meeting all of
the other spouses needs, but also recognizing that this is a
need as well and not just a want.
Now, again, I can't speak to every situation here tonight.
I can't speak to every couple here tonight.
I'm not trying to pretend that I can, but I will say this, that
this is something that a husband and wife should have a
conversation about. You say, well, I don't know if I
could talk to my wife pastor about that.
I don't know if I could talk to my husband about that pastor.
That might be a sign that there's a greater problem with
intimacy, the emotional and spiritual intimacy, that you
cannot have that conversation with each other.
And again, I know that there's all kinds of situations here
tonight. There are some who are married
with someone who's not a believer.
There's different ages, there's different physicalities.
I understand these things and boy, I am, I am.
So I'm very understanding of these things.
But at the same time, the word of God makes it clear that God
created this for a husband and a wife to be able to have an
intimacy of that which God has blessed in a way that really
can't be explained other than no, it's from God.
And when it's in the marriage relationship, it's right and
it's great. When it's not in a marriage
relationship, it's a snare and causes more problems than you
can imagine. So what do we see?
Letter A stay marital but the letter B it also would say this
stay married, stay married. There were some issues in the
church at Corinth. What were those issues you might
ask? Well there were couples who
maybe someone had gotten saved but yet the other did not.
Now we understand the Bible makes it clear in Second
Corinthians chapter 6, verse 14, be not therefore unequally yoked
together with unbelievers for what fellowship have the
righteousness with unrighteousness and what
communion hath light with darkness.
And I will encourage you if you are single, particularly our
young people that are here tonight, that when it comes to
looking for a spouse by God's someday, you have to start with
this. They need to be a believer
because if you are on any other footing, you will not be able to
have the relationship. You will not be able to raise
children together. It causes nothing but confusion.
And so this is not Paul saying you ought to find an unbeliever.
And then let's talk about from there.
It's talking about the very real issue.
And some of you have come across this, you were both unsaved, one
of you got saved and now the other's unsaved.
What do you do? And some of them thought this,
well, if I'm saved and the other doesn't get saved, should I just
leave them? Is that what I'm supposed to do?
Well, what does Paul say about that?
Let's go to verse #10 because we haven't picked up there yet.
Verse #10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the
Lord. Let not the wife depart from her
husband, but. And if she depart, let her
husband 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.
If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be
pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
By the way, when it says, But to the rest I speak, and not the
Lord. There are some people, people
who are unscrupulous Bible teachers, who will say, well,
this isn't really inspired from the Lord because this is just
Paul's opinion, It's not the Lord.
I would say to you that what he is saying here, because we know
all scriptures given by inspiration of God, that doesn't
mean just parts of the Bible. That means all of the Bible from
book to book, cover to cover. But I would say to you that what
he's saying is that this is not something that the Lord, I would
say our Lord Jesus Christ specifically spoke on, but he is
speaking on this particular situation now.
This is not call backing off saying, hey, you know what, I
know I was, I was preaching scripture to you before, but
now, hey, I'm just going to give you my opinion for a little
while. There's nothing in the Bible
suggests that he is saying rather this is something that
Jesus Christ did not speak about because of the infancy of the
church. But now with the proliferation
of the church and so many more people believing this is a real
issue and it's something I'm covering.
And as he's covering it, he is covering it as Scripture.
But verse 13 the woman which that not, or which hath a
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. Else were your children unclean?
But now are they holy? But if the unbelieving depart,
let him depart. A brother or sister is not under
bondage of 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?
So should someone who is saved leave the spouse who is unsaved?
And Paul says this, No, what you need to do is try to win them to
Christ, that you need to in that relationship continually show
Jesus Christ. Now there could be the case
where the other one leaves and if the other no one leaves, he
says that you shouldn't feel that that is your fault, that
that is the decision that they have made.
But yet here it does make very clear that if you are in that
relationship, here's what you ought to do.
Do everything that you can by loving them to win them to Jesus
Christ. Now you might say, well, how
could I win a spouse to Jesus Christ?
Do I just need to ask them every day?
Do you want to get saved? You want to get saved?
You keep asking that every day.
I'll tell you, it's not going to go well.
It's just not. But why did Paul say that it was
important to stay married? I believe it was because of
this. The best way to win them is to
love them and have a consistent Christian walk.
The best way to win them is to love them and to have a
consistent Christian walk. You know, if I was to ask you
tonight, you know, how many of you are tired?
Like everybody raised their hand because that's we all live like
in this. No, no, we don't live in the
state of Massachusetts, live in the state of tired because
everybody's in the state of being tired.
But you know, I'm tired tonight, You're tired tonight.
But let's just say I have this case of exhaustion.
I'm just dealing with it a lot. And I go to the doctor and I
say, hey, doc, you know, I, I got this problem with being
exhausted. He said, well, how many hours of
sleep do you get a night? They will probably about 3 or 4.
How much caffeine you drink? I said, well, I don't know how
much. I don't know about like the
milligrams of caffeine, but it is five cups a day.
Is that a bad thing? He said what?
We'll we'll, you know, do you have the same bedtime every
night? So now I got, you know, I got
Yeah, I got I, you know, some nights I go to bed at 8:00.
But, you know, most of the time I go to bed at one or two or
something like that. You know what he would say?
He'd say, you know, why don't you go ahead and fix those
things first? Maybe if there's don't work,
then we can do something a little bit deeper.
But there's not a lot that he can do until you do the things
you know that you're supposed to do.
Now I'm not saying your unsaved wife or husband will get saved
if you live consistently. But why would they if you don't
live out the message you want them to accept in the 1st place?
I'm going to run that by you one more time.
I'm not saying that just because you live a consistent Christian
life that they will automatically come to Christ.
There's no promise of that. They have free will.
But I will say this, I can't give you any other extra helps
to reach your unsaved spouse for Christ until you do the things
you're supposed to do and that's this.
Be consistent. As a Christian, you want to win
an unsaved spouse to Christ. Be at church every time the
doors are open. You want to win an unsaved
spouse to Christ? Don't yell at Him.
You want to win an unsaved spouse to Christ, don't cuss
around Him. You want to win an unsaved
spouse to Christ. Don't be watching things on TV
that are obviously against that which your Christianity says,
because then if you're not even living a consistent Christian
life, and who's going to see you for who you are more than your
spouse? If they see that you don't even
really believe the message like you say that you do, why are
they going to believe? And I don't really have any
other options to give you until you do the most basic, just like
the doctor says. Well, hey, you know what?
You're supposed to go to bed on time, stop drinking so much
caffeine. I'll have a consistent bedtime,
then we'll talk. When people ask me how do I win
my unsaved family member or my unsaved spouse to Christ?
I can't help you till you do that.
That doesn't guarantee you'll get saved, but that's where you
start. That's why Paul says you need to
remain in the marriage relationship.
So we seem to be content marriage.
You stay marital, you stay married, but also #2 be content
in singleness. We're to be content in
singleness as well. That's covered in several
different places here. In our text, we saw verses 8
through 10 as well. First of all, when it comes to
that letter A, don't let it have power over you.
Letter A, when it comes to the issue of singleness, don't let
it have power over you. Now interestingly enough, Paul
was single, He said in verse #7 or Chapter 7 verse #8 I say
therefore to the unmarried in widows, it is good for them if
they abide, even as I. Now a lot of us don't think
about whether Paul is married or not, something that probably
doesn't cross our minds. However, I am of the persuasion
that Paul was actually a widower.
The reason why was because the Pharisees most often were
married. Paul said he was a Pharisee, he
sat at the feet of Gamaliel and so he would have very, very
likely been married, but yet there's no mention of his wife
ever in the word of God. Now why would that be?
Best I could tell was probably because he was a widower not
listen I'm not going to fight anyone about that.
I have no biblical basis for that.
I wouldn't fight you anyway not that I can think of but hope you
wouldn't fight me but it does seem very clear to me that
that's what he's talking about that he is in this relationship
or rather the state and status of being single in his life.
And so he is saying that when it comes to that.
Don't let it have power over you for I would verse 7 that all men
were even as myself, but every man that had this proper gift of
God, one after this man or another after that.
I say therefore the unmarried and the widows, it is good for
them if they abide even as I Paul makes it clear for those
who are in a season of singleness.
Don't think you're at a disadvantage because you're
single. Don't think that you're at a
disadvantage because you're single because this breeds
discontentment. And believe it or not, there are
actually some advantages to being single.
Now, I know what they were saying.
Oh, yeah, somebody married. I know there's advantages to
being single. I remember that.
You know, that's not what I'm talking about.
I'm trying to be silly here tonight.
Paul's going to talk about that here in just a moment.
Don't use singleness as an excuse to be unfaithful in your
walk with God. Be content in that which you are
in in this season of your life. In fact, if I was to give you
some encouragement here tonight, if you are single, it would be
this. Don't just try to find the right
person. Instead, be the right person.
That's where I would say you need to start.
Don't just try to find the right person.
Be the right person. You say, well, why is why would
you say that? Well, because it puts the focus
in the right place. It puts the emphasis on the
right syllable, if you know what I mean.
Because if you're just looking for that one, I'll tell you
this. That breeds this contentment.
Looking, looking, looking, looking, looking, looking,
looking, looking.
No, not under there. All right.
Looking. Where are they?
You're always looking. But if your focus is this today
I need to be the type of man, gentlemen, I need to be the type
of woman ladies that would be a good candidate for the right
kind of person, you will do well.
Why? Because now the emphasis is on
how can I draw closer to God? How can I be more like Christ?
And what's interesting is if you do that, you think God's going
to take care of you. You think God will bring the
right person along if that's what he desires for you in your
life. But instead, you can get
yourself all worked up into that next step that you don't even
know if God has for you or not. And then you waste the day that
God calls today and today. He wants you to do this.
Be more like Christ and tomorrow be more like Christ.
It helps you be content in the season that God has for you.
And also, by the way, what you end up catching them with is
what you'll need to keep them at the same time.
If you quote UN quote catch them with godliness, that's good to
keep them with godliness. If you have to catch them with
some other means that are not godly, then you're building
again on a bad foundation. So he says this, don't, don't
let this season have power over you.
And in fact, Paul says this, I wish, I wish more like me.
I wish there were more that were out there that were in the
situation that I am right now. And Paul, I believe, is one who
could say that as having been married and being a widower.
He says it's not as bad as you think.
God has a purpose behind it. In fact, letter B, if we look at
that as well, don't just let it have power.
Don't let it have power over your singleness rather.
But letter B, do let it have purpose for you #32 Drop down
there very quickly. Verse #32 It says, But I would
have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for
the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the
Lord. But he that is married careth
for the things that are of the world, how he may please his
wife. There is difference also between
a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for
the things of the Lord, but she may be that she may be holy in
both of the body and spirit. But she that is married careth
for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
Now stop here for just a moment. What is Paul saying?
He's saying being single doesn't have to be a negative.
There are positives to it as well.
And again, there are those who would be single.
So that's crazy, but don't even make any sense.
But you know, it's interesting to me that even in our culture
today, we've been lifelong renters.
We have been since we've been married now 22 years.
All we've ever done is rent. And you know, the goal for
people is to buy. You know, there's renters and
there's buyers and you know, the goal would be to buy.
And it almost seems like sometimes people think, well, if
you're not a buyer, if you don't own a home, you're almost less
than, well, you don't have, you're wasting your money every
month. You're throwing it down a down a
hole with, with rent. I mean, don't you know, And I
understand some of the arguments with that and some of those
arguments are true. But what's interesting to me is
sometimes I'll have someone who is an owner come up to me and
they'll say something like this boy, you know, I sure like to
get out from under this house. I had to fix the roof, then I
had to fix the foundation, then I had to fix everything between
the roof and foundation. And you know what we do?
There's something that needs to be fixed in our house.
It gets fixed. We lost almost every major
appliance in our home in about 2 1/2 years.
Almost every single one of them. I'm not going to say it was a JS
fault because this is online and could be used for legal
purposes. But I will say we lost almost
every one of them in 2 1/2 years.
You know how much came out of pocket?
Zero. I know it's part of our rent.
But what I'm saying is it didn't take a hit on our budget out of
nowhere. What I'm saying is, OK, renting,
maybe not the thing that you want to do, but it's not all
bad. In fact, there's some things
that people who own look at renting and say, you know, I
have some fondness for that. And I'm not saying those who are
married pine for the days of being single.
I know that I don't. But I will say this, there are
some things that I look back in my single life and I think as
Paul was saying, I could totally give myself to the Lord and his
pursuits because I didn't have to concern myself with providing
for a wife and four children. And So what he's saying here is
not that you are unholy if you are married, No, quite the
opposite. But what he is saying is that if
you are in a singleness situation, that you should
understand that you have a unique opportunity to serve the
Lord, that if you are in a marriage relationship, you won't
have because you can totally dedicate yourself to the things
of God. There are all kinds of sermons I
like to listen to and books I'd like to read and different
things that I would just like to and studies that I would like to
do it. All those things.
But some of them I can't. Because I'm dealing with a son
who has to go to therapy three times a week for physical
issues. Because I have to take care of a
wife and family who do need other things fixed that the
maintenance won't fix. Because there's certain things
that won't fix that belong to us.
Or because I need to run errands.
Or because it's a lot more time to get groceries for more than
what we have. And I say that about myself, but
it's exactly the same for Diane as well.
In some ways, in a home, in a family, even more so.
And so Paul says this, if you're in a season of singleness, don't
let discontentment strike because you have a unique
opportunity to serve God that if you become married by God's
grace, you will never have again.
Well, I mean, marriage, marriage is where it's at.
Well, maybe that's not what God has for you.
Owning a home is where it's at. Maybe that's not for everybody.
And even when it's not for everybody, you see that there
are some advantages to the other.
Now, listen, I know some of you might be here tonight saying
you're speaking like someone who has been married for 22 years
and you don't know what you're talking about.
That's fine. Don't take my word for it.
You can take polls. Paul was in that season.
That season turned into a lifetime after his wife died.
And there was not a sign of regret.
In fact, he says this, I wish more people lived like me.
And you say, well, that seems like that's a little bit over
the top. Well, because I think he was
trying to course correct the thinking of the age was that if
you were single, you were less than, or that if you're single,
you're broken, or if you're single, you're no good, nobody
can use you. What's the point?
It seems like God has great value on you.
If you're single, be content in the season that God's given you.
The bottom line is this. If God gives you a spouse,
praise the Lord. If God doesn't give you a
spouse, praise the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
So we're to be content in marriage, we're to be content in
singleness, and finally we're to be content in Our Calling.
Look, verse #17 quickly it says. But as God hath distributed to
every man, as the Lord hath called everyone, so let him
walk. And so ordain I in all the
church. That's yeah, in all the
churches. So he says, and he says there's
something I need to tell you about your walk.
There's something I need to tell you, all of you, about your
consistent Christian walk. Verse #18 is any man called
being uncirc or called being circumcised?
Let him not become uncircumcised.
If any man is uncircumcision, let him not be circumcised.
There was a great debate during that time about circumcision and
uncircumcision. Now, interestingly enough, now,
now follow along here for just a second.
The idea was that there were some who, after they got saved,
felt like they needed to be circumcised.
And there were some who were circumcised who felt they needed
to become uncircumcised. And you say, pastor, you don't
know what I'm talking about. Historically, there were medical
procedures to help men to be able to seemingly become
uncircumcised again and that they were compelled to do that.
And so Paul here is saying again, stop what you're doing.
Be content what your situation is.
Is any man being uncircums of any man called beings?
We just read that verse 19. Circumcision is nothing, and
uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments
of God. Let every man abide in the same
calling wherein he was called. Art thou being?
Art thou called being a servant? Care not for it, but if thou
mayest be free, use it rather. For he that is called in the
Lord being a servant is the Lord's freeman.
Likewise also he that is called being free is Christ's servant.
You're bought with a price. Be not ye the servants of men.
Brethren, let every man wherein he is called therein abide with
God. Paul broadens this out by not
just talking about circumcision and uncircumcision and talking
about singleness and marriage. Even talks about free and those
who were slaves. He says for those of you who
were slaves in that time, he says you think your life is
going to change because it's free.
Certainly there will be changes, but at the same time it's not
all that you think it will be. For those of you that were free
and you think that you don't serve anybody, he said, well,
you still are a servant even if you're free.
And so he says you're not going to find your contentment in your
situation. You're going to find your
contentment in Christ circumcised.
Well, I wish I was uncircumcised.
The uncircumcised, I wish I was circumcised.
The free says I wish I was in bonds and the bond says I wish I
was free. And, and this, this total lack
of, of contentment. And you add that on top of
everything we've built upon here, the marriage folks, who,
well, marriage is supposed to solve anything but everything.
But then even in the marriage, there's still contentment
problems. And he says the contentment
really isn't the issue at all with your situation.
It's really the issue with Christ.
And that's what it comes down here to tonight.
Your situation in life doesn't dictate your satisfaction with
life. If you don't get anything from
this message tonight, you say, well, I don't know that all of
this applies to me. This message cannot apply 100%
to every person in this room. It would be impossible because
you have to be married and single at the same time.
And if you got that going on, I need to meet with you after
church, all right? Because there's some things I
don't know. So understand that at best this,
this is a 50% message. 50% of it actually applies to your life
here tonight. But here's what 100% applies to
you tonight. Your situation in life doesn't
dictate your satisfaction with life, that no matter how much
you have in the bank matter, how good your car is, how good your
job is, no matter if you're married or single, whether
you're Jew or Gentile, whether you're a business owner or
you're an employee, you can be content in Christ.
That's what this whole chapter is about.
Sure is about singleness, yes. Is about marriage, yes.
But really what we find right in the middle, He says you need to
be content in Him. It even says in verse #23 you're
bought with a price. Just stop.
What was that price? The blood of Jesus Christ.
Amen. That God thought you precious
enough to pay for your sins with His precious blood.
That ought to be enough to make you content for the rest of your
life. Well, it's not enough pastor.
Man's got to live by. Hold on.
Jesus Christ loved you so much He shed His blood for you.
That'll make us content. Oh, life's not that easy,
pastor. No, we're the ones that make it
more complicated. You can be married and be
content. You can be single and be
content. You can be any of these life
issues and you can be content. Your life may not be what you
want it to be because of your mistakes in the past.
Your life may not be all that you want it to be because of
your sin in the past. Your life may not be all that
you want it to be because of someone else's decisions that
have been forced upon you in the past.
Any or all of those things could be true.
That still doesn't mean that you can't be content.
Nobody can steal content from you because contentment isn't
found in what it's found in who. So I ask you tonight, are you
right with God? Now you're not contented.
Maybe it's because there's sin in your heart and you can't be
content because you're not right with him.
I'd encourage you Psalm 139 verse 23 to 24.
Search me, O God, know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and
see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlasting. It could be that you have a lack
of contentment because of deep rooted sin that you have to
confess, or it could be that you just need an attitude
adjustment. Just be thankful for what God's
done for you. Your situation may not be what
it wants you what you want it to be.
Your body may not be treating you the way you want it to.
Your money situation may not be all that it needs to be, May not
have as many friends as you wish that you'd had.
You may not be able to have any of the things that you thought
you would have at this time of life.
You thought you'd be so much further than you are at your
age. I don't know what it is, but you
could still be content because you have Christ.
If you have Christ, you have everything.
That's not a cliche, that's just the truth.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.