1 00:00:19,858 --> 00:00:23,649 Let's pray together. 2 00:00:23,649 --> 00:00:28,165 Father, I pray that the worldview 3 00:00:28,165 --> 00:00:33,814 that tries to fit biblical pieces in, 4 00:00:33,814 --> 00:00:37,956 but is a worldview shaped by 5 00:00:37,956 --> 00:00:42,231 unbiblical assumptions, would be changed. 6 00:00:42,231 --> 00:00:45,578 So that, marriage and singleness 7 00:00:45,578 --> 00:00:47,622 are seen to be what they are 8 00:00:47,622 --> 00:00:50,979 in the radical alteration of things 9 00:00:50,979 --> 00:00:55,644 that Jesus has brought. 10 00:00:55,644 --> 00:00:58,773 This is something that I can't make happen. 11 00:00:58,773 --> 00:01:02,696 But You, by Your Spirit, through Your Word can. 12 00:01:02,696 --> 00:01:05,438 And so I ask that You would perform it. 13 00:01:05,438 --> 00:01:08,730 Not that a few little nuggets would be 14 00:01:08,730 --> 00:01:13,773 fit in to a defective paradigm, 15 00:01:13,773 --> 00:01:15,596 but rather that the whole system 16 00:01:15,596 --> 00:01:17,995 would be blown away 17 00:01:17,995 --> 00:01:18,986 and replaced by 18 00:01:18,986 --> 00:01:23,364 a biblical understanding of all things. 19 00:01:23,364 --> 00:01:25,625 So that the smaller things 20 00:01:25,625 --> 00:01:27,819 like marriage and singleness 21 00:01:27,819 --> 00:01:31,705 would fit in the way that you have designed 22 00:01:31,705 --> 00:01:35,162 in Christ Jesus in this brief 23 00:01:35,162 --> 00:01:40,565 and temporary age in which we live 24 00:01:40,565 --> 00:01:44,121 in preparation for eternity. 25 00:01:44,121 --> 00:01:47,385 So, come and help me be faithful to Your Word now, 26 00:01:47,385 --> 00:01:51,197 and give ears to hear, I pray, through Christ. 27 00:01:51,197 --> 00:01:52,745 Amen. 28 00:01:52,745 --> 00:01:56,700 I'm going to start and end 29 00:01:56,700 --> 00:01:58,390 with my main point, 30 00:01:58,390 --> 00:02:00,310 and in the middle, 31 00:02:00,310 --> 00:02:04,735 I'll saturate you with many texts. 32 00:02:04,735 --> 00:02:08,169 So that we have foundation under 33 00:02:08,169 --> 00:02:10,766 the beginning by the time we get to the end 34 00:02:10,766 --> 00:02:12,825 and say it again. 35 00:02:12,825 --> 00:02:14,606 My main point is that God promises 36 00:02:14,606 --> 00:02:18,303 those of you who will remain single 37 00:02:18,303 --> 00:02:21,146 blessings that are better than 38 00:02:21,146 --> 00:02:24,930 the blessings of marriage and children. 39 00:02:24,930 --> 00:02:29,812 And secondly, that He calls you 40 00:02:29,812 --> 00:02:33,267 to display by your Christ-exalting devotion 41 00:02:33,267 --> 00:02:36,351 in singleness, 42 00:02:36,351 --> 00:02:39,528 to display truths about Christ 43 00:02:39,528 --> 00:02:42,083 and His Kingdom 44 00:02:42,083 --> 00:02:45,105 that shine more clearly through 45 00:02:45,105 --> 00:02:48,645 singleness than through marriage. 46 00:02:48,645 --> 00:02:50,364 Four of them. 47 00:02:50,364 --> 00:02:52,718 Four truths that will shine 48 00:02:52,718 --> 00:02:55,254 more clearly through a life 49 00:02:55,254 --> 00:02:57,797 of devoted singleness in Christ 50 00:02:57,797 --> 00:02:59,768 than through marriage. 51 00:02:59,768 --> 00:03:02,562 Number one. 52 00:03:02,562 --> 00:03:05,332 That the family of God grows 53 00:03:05,332 --> 00:03:08,891 not by propogation through sexual intercourse 54 00:03:08,891 --> 00:03:12,691 but by regeneration through faith in Christ. 55 00:03:12,691 --> 00:03:14,545 Number two. 56 00:03:14,545 --> 00:03:16,983 That relationships in Christ are more 57 00:03:16,983 --> 00:03:19,233 permanent and more precious 58 00:03:19,233 --> 00:03:22,892 than relationships in families. 59 00:03:22,892 --> 00:03:25,526 And of course, it is a wonderful thing 60 00:03:25,526 --> 00:03:28,610 if relationships in families can be both 61 00:03:28,610 --> 00:03:31,939 relationships in families and relationships in Christ, 62 00:03:31,939 --> 00:03:33,726 but we know good and well 63 00:03:33,726 --> 00:03:38,318 that is, for many of us, not the case. 64 00:03:38,318 --> 00:03:39,505 Number three. 65 00:03:39,505 --> 00:03:41,799 That marriage is temporary, 66 00:03:41,799 --> 00:03:43,639 and finally gives way to the 67 00:03:43,639 --> 00:03:46,007 relationship to which it was pointing all along, 68 00:03:46,007 --> 00:03:48,191 namely, Christ and the church. 69 00:03:48,191 --> 00:03:50,125 Just like a picture is not needed 70 00:03:50,125 --> 00:03:52,727 when you are seeing face to face. 71 00:03:52,727 --> 00:03:54,333 And fourth. 72 00:03:54,333 --> 00:03:58,502 That faithfulness to Christ defines the value of life, 73 00:03:58,502 --> 00:04:04,398 and all other relationships get their significance from that. 74 00:04:04,398 --> 00:04:05,880 Faithfulness to Christ. 75 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,421 No family relationship is ultimate. 76 00:04:08,421 --> 00:04:11,993 Relationship to Christ is ultimate. 77 00:04:11,993 --> 00:04:15,227 That's my message. 78 00:04:15,227 --> 00:04:17,219 That's my main point. 79 00:04:17,219 --> 00:04:19,227 It has many layers. 80 00:04:19,227 --> 00:04:22,587 And we now need to see Bible 81 00:04:22,587 --> 00:04:23,703 underneath it, 82 00:04:23,703 --> 00:04:25,311 and where all of that comes from. 83 00:04:25,311 --> 00:04:27,355 And we'll start in the middle of the Bible, 84 00:04:27,355 --> 00:04:29,554 then we'll go back to the front of the Bible, 85 00:04:29,554 --> 00:04:31,002 then to the end of the Bible. 86 00:04:31,002 --> 00:04:33,283 And we'll be all over the Bible in this message, 87 00:04:33,283 --> 00:04:34,610 because this message is a 88 00:04:34,610 --> 00:04:38,217 Biblical theology of singleness. 89 00:04:38,217 --> 00:04:44,820 Isaiah 56:4-5 90 00:04:44,820 --> 00:04:46,902 "For thus says the Lord: 91 00:04:46,902 --> 00:04:49,899 To the eunuchs... 92 00:04:49,899 --> 00:04:53,947 (that is, those that cannot procreate 93 00:04:53,947 --> 00:04:55,515 and thus devote themselves to some 94 00:04:55,515 --> 00:04:59,917 unique service... 95 00:04:59,917 --> 00:05:02,881 a king or somebody.) 96 00:05:02,881 --> 00:05:07,212 Thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, 97 00:05:07,212 --> 00:05:12,667 who choose the things that please Me and hold fast My covenant. 98 00:05:12,667 --> 00:05:17,746 I will give in My house and within My walls 99 00:05:17,746 --> 00:05:21,595 a monument and a name, 100 00:05:21,595 --> 00:05:26,812 better than sons and daughters. 101 00:05:26,812 --> 00:05:29,862 I will give them an everlasting name 102 00:05:29,862 --> 00:05:35,520 that shall not be cut off." 103 00:05:56,946 --> 00:06:03,264 So God promises to obedient eunuchs... 104 00:06:03,264 --> 00:06:09,843 blessings that are better than that of sons and daughters. 105 00:06:09,843 --> 00:06:11,143 In other words, 106 00:06:11,143 --> 00:06:15,243 God promises those of you who remain single in Christ, 107 00:06:15,243 --> 00:06:20,565 blessings that are better than being married and having children. 108 00:06:20,565 --> 00:06:23,140 Now, to see that more clearly, 109 00:06:23,140 --> 00:06:25,398 we need to go back to the beginning 110 00:06:25,398 --> 00:06:31,495 of the Bible and make our way forward. 111 00:06:31,495 --> 00:06:33,718 In the created order, 112 00:06:33,718 --> 00:06:37,755 before there was any sin in the world, 113 00:06:37,755 --> 00:06:40,035 and in the covenental order 114 00:06:40,035 --> 00:06:44,810 between Abraham and the coming of Christ, 115 00:06:44,810 --> 00:06:50,297 God is primarily building His covenant people 116 00:06:50,297 --> 00:06:58,163 through the mechanism of procreation. 117 00:06:58,163 --> 00:07:01,378 In other words, being married 118 00:07:01,378 --> 00:07:06,289 and having offspring was of paramount importance. 119 00:07:06,289 --> 00:07:11,039 Because God was focusing His Kingdom building efforts 120 00:07:11,039 --> 00:07:17,897 on an ethnic people - Israel - primarily. 121 00:07:17,897 --> 00:07:20,940 So, to be married and to have children 122 00:07:20,940 --> 00:07:23,333 was the preservation of a name and inheritance 123 00:07:23,333 --> 00:07:26,217 and of a covenant. 124 00:07:26,217 --> 00:07:31,207 So you get in Genesis 1:28, 125 00:07:31,207 --> 00:07:36,805 "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." 126 00:07:36,805 --> 00:07:38,430 Genesis 2:18 127 00:07:38,430 --> 00:07:39,962 This is all before the fall. 128 00:07:39,962 --> 00:07:41,778 Genesis 2:18 129 00:07:41,778 --> 00:07:44,868 Before woman was made, God says to Adam, 130 00:07:44,868 --> 00:07:48,118 "It is not good that man should be alone. 131 00:07:48,118 --> 00:07:51,981 I will make a helper fit for him." 132 00:07:51,981 --> 00:07:54,208 And then when God chose Abraham 133 00:07:54,208 --> 00:07:57,962 as the beginning of that covenant people of Israel. 134 00:07:57,962 --> 00:07:58,970 He says to him, 135 00:07:58,970 --> 00:08:00,963 go out and look at those stars. 136 00:08:00,963 --> 00:08:04,509 So shall your offspring be. 137 00:08:04,509 --> 00:08:07,035 And when Abraham found that he couldn't have children 138 00:08:07,035 --> 00:08:09,522 because Sarah was barren, 139 00:08:09,522 --> 00:08:13,395 he went and got himself a child by Hagar, 140 00:08:13,395 --> 00:08:15,131 and said to the Lord, 141 00:08:15,131 --> 00:08:18,646 "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You." 142 00:08:18,646 --> 00:08:22,135 And God said, "No." 143 00:08:22,135 --> 00:08:24,696 "But Sarah your wife will have a son." 144 00:08:24,696 --> 00:08:25,832 In other words, 145 00:08:25,832 --> 00:08:28,236 physical offspring really mattered. 146 00:08:28,236 --> 00:08:30,633 And it would come God's way and God's time. 147 00:08:30,633 --> 00:08:32,010 And then He reaffirmed that 148 00:08:32,010 --> 00:08:34,709 to Isaac in Genesis 26:3, 149 00:08:34,709 --> 00:08:38,411 "I will be with you, and I will bless you, 150 00:08:38,411 --> 00:08:42,190 for to you and your offspring, I will give all these lands, 151 00:08:42,190 --> 00:08:46,029 and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham, 152 00:08:46,029 --> 00:08:48,370 your father." 153 00:08:48,370 --> 00:08:52,326 And again, physical offspring is seen to be crucial. 154 00:08:52,326 --> 00:08:55,178 The reason these offspring are so crucial, 155 00:08:55,178 --> 00:08:57,276 is because they're the way the covenant 156 00:08:57,276 --> 00:08:59,449 is preserved and extended 157 00:08:59,449 --> 00:09:02,116 on into the future. 158 00:09:02,116 --> 00:09:05,376 And because a name would be lost. 159 00:09:05,376 --> 00:09:07,721 A name would be lost. 160 00:09:07,721 --> 00:09:12,839 Do you remember how Saul plead with David 161 00:09:12,839 --> 00:09:15,495 not to wipe out his offspring, 162 00:09:15,495 --> 00:09:20,565 so that his name would not be erased is what he said 163 00:09:20,565 --> 00:09:22,791 1 Samuel 24:21 164 00:09:22,791 --> 00:09:24,985 "Swear to me therefore by the Lord 165 00:09:24,985 --> 00:09:28,003 that you will not cut off my offspring after me, 166 00:09:28,003 --> 00:09:30,364 and that you will not destroy my name 167 00:09:30,364 --> 00:09:33,410 out of my father's house." 168 00:09:33,410 --> 00:09:34,648 And some of you remember, 169 00:09:34,648 --> 00:09:35,976 the whole institution, 170 00:09:35,976 --> 00:09:37,584 the very complex, 171 00:09:37,584 --> 00:09:40,383 institution of Levirate marriage. 172 00:09:40,383 --> 00:09:41,297 Remember that? 173 00:09:41,297 --> 00:09:47,738 Where a man is obliged to marry his deceased brother's widow 174 00:09:47,738 --> 00:09:53,056 so that the name of the brother would not be lost in the tribes. 175 00:09:53,056 --> 00:09:56,520 And the ordination was that the first son born would get the name 176 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:58,206 of the dead brother. 177 00:09:58,206 --> 00:10:01,476 Listen to Deuteronomy 25:6. 178 00:10:01,476 --> 00:10:04,645 "And the first son whom she bears 179 00:10:04,645 --> 00:10:07,205 shall succeed to the name 180 00:10:07,205 --> 00:10:09,731 of his dead brother, that his 181 00:10:09,731 --> 00:10:12,281 name might not be blotted out 182 00:10:12,281 --> 00:10:13,712 of Israel." 183 00:10:13,712 --> 00:10:16,949 Now that's an amazing provision, is it not? 184 00:10:16,949 --> 00:10:19,429 For the perpetuation of the name 185 00:10:19,429 --> 00:10:23,051 through the physical seed of 186 00:10:23,051 --> 00:10:26,341 this man's wife and his brother. 187 00:10:26,341 --> 00:10:29,712 The most famous illustration of that is? 188 00:10:29,712 --> 00:10:32,978 Boaz and Ruth. 189 00:10:32,978 --> 00:10:34,762 Remember? 190 00:10:34,762 --> 00:10:37,830 He marries Ruth in order that 191 00:10:37,830 --> 00:10:43,436 Elimelech and Mahlon, her husband 192 00:10:43,436 --> 00:10:47,948 would not lose their name and their inheritance. 193 00:10:47,948 --> 00:10:49,262 Listen to these words, 194 00:10:49,262 --> 00:10:52,968 "Ruth, the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon 195 00:10:52,968 --> 00:10:56,294 I have bought to be my wife 196 00:10:56,294 --> 00:11:00,318 to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, 197 00:11:00,318 --> 00:11:04,228 that the name of the dead may not be cut off 198 00:11:04,228 --> 00:11:08,557 from among the brothers, and from the gate of his native place. 199 00:11:08,557 --> 00:11:10,737 You are witnesses to this day." 200 00:11:10,737 --> 00:11:13,471 Ruth 4:10 201 00:11:13,471 --> 00:11:17,155 So you can see how crucial marriage 202 00:11:17,155 --> 00:11:20,518 and offspring were to the preservation 203 00:11:20,518 --> 00:11:23,513 of name and inheritance and covenant. 204 00:11:23,513 --> 00:11:29,685 No wonder Jephthah's daughter 205 00:11:29,685 --> 00:11:32,863 asked for two months 206 00:11:32,863 --> 00:11:37,203 not to bewail her impending death, 207 00:11:37,203 --> 00:11:41,321 but to bewail her virginity. 208 00:11:41,321 --> 00:11:45,463 An amazing story. 209 00:11:45,463 --> 00:11:47,664 "So she said to her father, 210 00:11:47,664 --> 00:11:50,187 'let this thing be done for me, 211 00:11:50,187 --> 00:11:52,416 let me alone for two months, 212 00:11:52,416 --> 00:11:55,170 that I may go up and down on the mountains, 213 00:11:55,170 --> 00:11:58,554 weep for my virginity, 214 00:11:58,554 --> 00:12:01,728 I and my companions.' 215 00:12:01,728 --> 00:12:06,491 And so he said, 'Go.'" 216 00:12:06,491 --> 00:12:10,966 That's the background for Isaiah 56:5. 217 00:12:10,966 --> 00:12:14,505 That's the background. 218 00:12:14,505 --> 00:12:19,400 To cause your jaw to drop. 219 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:24,690 And for you to stand amazed at this. 220 00:12:24,690 --> 00:12:26,598 Thus says the Lord: 221 00:12:26,598 --> 00:12:30,960 The eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, 222 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:33,694 who choose the things that please Me, 223 00:12:33,694 --> 00:12:36,563 hold fast to My covenant. 224 00:12:36,563 --> 00:12:40,780 These unmarried, these childless ones. 225 00:12:40,780 --> 00:12:45,196 I will give in My house and within My walls 226 00:12:45,196 --> 00:12:49,479 a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. 227 00:12:49,479 --> 00:12:52,584 I will give them an everlasting name 228 00:12:52,584 --> 00:12:55,136 that shall not be cut off. 229 00:12:55,136 --> 00:13:01,678 Now where in the world did that come from? 230 00:13:01,678 --> 00:13:06,796 And where is that pointing? 231 00:13:06,796 --> 00:13:10,156 It came from chapter 53. 232 00:13:10,156 --> 00:13:13,860 Want to go there with me? 233 00:13:13,860 --> 00:13:18,189 We read chapter 53, this glorious prophecy of the Messiah 234 00:13:18,189 --> 00:13:20,806 coming to be wounded for our transgressions, 235 00:13:20,806 --> 00:13:22,959 be crushed for our iniquities. 236 00:13:22,959 --> 00:13:28,170 But do we ponder verse 10? 237 00:13:28,170 --> 00:13:32,780 "It was the will of the Lord to crush Him." 238 00:13:32,780 --> 00:13:35,492 This is what God did to Christ on the cross. 239 00:13:35,492 --> 00:13:37,606 Prophesied 700 years earlier. 240 00:13:37,606 --> 00:13:41,108 "It was the will of the Lord to crush Him. 241 00:13:41,108 --> 00:13:43,199 He has put Him to grief. 242 00:13:43,199 --> 00:13:46,756 When His soul makes an offering for guilt..." 243 00:13:46,756 --> 00:13:48,237 There's our salvation. 244 00:13:48,237 --> 00:13:51,512 "When His soul makes an offering for guilt, 245 00:13:51,512 --> 00:14:01,656 He shall see His offspring. 246 00:14:01,656 --> 00:14:04,550 He shall prolong His days." 247 00:14:04,550 --> 00:14:08,591 Indeed forever, after the resurrection. 248 00:14:08,591 --> 00:14:12,352 "The will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand." 249 00:14:12,352 --> 00:14:13,780 What does that mean? 250 00:14:13,780 --> 00:14:16,729 He shall see His offspring? 251 00:14:16,729 --> 00:14:18,497 Jesus was never married. 252 00:14:18,497 --> 00:14:26,633 Don't you believe any crazy movie that says He was. 253 00:14:26,633 --> 00:14:29,905 The whole point is that He wasn't married. 254 00:14:29,905 --> 00:14:32,535 And that He was a dry tree 255 00:14:32,535 --> 00:14:34,531 and a eunuch, 256 00:14:34,531 --> 00:14:35,860 and a single man, 257 00:14:35,860 --> 00:14:38,340 faithfully to the day of His death. 258 00:14:38,340 --> 00:14:39,801 That's the point. 259 00:14:39,801 --> 00:14:45,293 This is another kind of offspring. 260 00:14:45,293 --> 00:14:50,538 When Christ dies for sinners like you and me, 261 00:14:50,538 --> 00:14:52,874 who by grace put our faith in Him 262 00:14:52,874 --> 00:14:54,692 and are united to Him, 263 00:14:54,692 --> 00:14:59,591 we become His children. 264 00:14:59,591 --> 00:15:05,154 And the children of God. 265 00:15:05,154 --> 00:15:10,030 And a whole new way of bringing offspring into being 266 00:15:10,030 --> 00:15:19,181 takes precedence over the old way. 267 00:15:19,181 --> 00:15:22,322 Which is why the next chapter, 268 00:15:22,322 --> 00:15:26,412 54, begins like this: 269 00:15:26,412 --> 00:15:31,474 "Sing, O barren one, 270 00:15:31,474 --> 00:15:33,531 who did not bear, 271 00:15:33,531 --> 00:15:35,780 break forth into singing 272 00:15:35,780 --> 00:15:37,184 and cry aloud, 273 00:15:37,184 --> 00:15:40,307 you who have not been in labor, 274 00:15:40,307 --> 00:15:43,172 for the children of the desolate one 275 00:15:43,172 --> 00:15:46,137 will be more than the children 276 00:15:46,137 --> 00:15:50,686 of her who is married." 277 00:15:50,686 --> 00:15:52,642 A whole new way of thinking. 278 00:15:52,642 --> 00:15:58,570 A whole new way of growing a family is coming into being 279 00:15:58,570 --> 00:16:00,427 prophetically at this point, 280 00:16:00,427 --> 00:16:03,967 and literally at the coming of Jesus. 281 00:16:03,967 --> 00:16:06,668 So what does Jesus say when He comes 282 00:16:06,668 --> 00:16:09,885 to Nicodemus who cannot change his worldview. 283 00:16:09,885 --> 00:16:14,546 He just doesn't get it. 284 00:16:14,546 --> 00:16:18,008 "Truly, truly, I say to you, 285 00:16:18,008 --> 00:16:21,259 unless one is born again, 286 00:16:21,259 --> 00:16:26,699 he cannot enter the kingdom of God." 287 00:16:26,699 --> 00:16:30,580 I'm here to make children. 288 00:16:30,580 --> 00:16:33,160 I'm here to build a family. 289 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:35,102 I'm here to give birth, 290 00:16:35,102 --> 00:16:40,831 like you never knew. 291 00:16:40,831 --> 00:16:42,753 And the Apostle Paul picks up 292 00:16:42,753 --> 00:16:45,342 the strain in Galatians 3. 293 00:16:45,342 --> 00:16:48,837 "Know then, that it is those who 294 00:16:48,837 --> 00:16:53,587 are of faith who are the sons of Abraham." 295 00:16:53,587 --> 00:16:55,970 Not the physical descendants. 296 00:16:55,970 --> 00:16:57,947 "In Christ Jesus, you are 297 00:16:57,947 --> 00:17:02,587 all sons of God through faith." 298 00:17:02,587 --> 00:17:05,235 In other words, it's not physical descent that 299 00:17:05,235 --> 00:17:08,811 makes God's family. 300 00:17:08,811 --> 00:17:13,814 The covenant people are the people who are born of God, 301 00:17:13,814 --> 00:17:16,145 and have faith in Jesus. 302 00:17:16,145 --> 00:17:19,329 Peter picks up the theme. 303 00:17:19,329 --> 00:17:21,170 Chapter 1:3 304 00:17:21,170 --> 00:17:23,258 "According to His great mercy, 305 00:17:23,258 --> 00:17:27,737 He has caused us to be born again to a living hope 306 00:17:27,737 --> 00:17:30,564 through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, 307 00:17:30,564 --> 00:17:32,355 and to an inheritance..." 308 00:17:32,355 --> 00:17:34,488 You want an inheritance? 309 00:17:34,488 --> 00:17:36,934 You've got to have the right Father. 310 00:17:36,934 --> 00:17:38,678 God. 311 00:17:38,678 --> 00:17:40,953 How do you get God as your Father? 312 00:17:40,953 --> 00:17:43,993 Be born again. 313 00:17:43,993 --> 00:17:46,472 "...and to an inheritance, imperishable, 314 00:17:46,472 --> 00:17:48,755 undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven 315 00:17:48,755 --> 00:17:49,911 for you." 316 00:17:49,911 --> 00:17:53,685 Jesus, Paul, Peter, all of them saying, 317 00:17:53,685 --> 00:17:56,440 children are born into God's family 318 00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:59,661 and receive the inheritance 319 00:17:59,661 --> 00:18:03,363 not by marriage. 320 00:18:03,363 --> 00:18:06,077 Not by procreation. 321 00:18:06,077 --> 00:18:08,395 But by faith and regeneration, 322 00:18:08,395 --> 00:18:09,917 which means, 323 00:18:09,917 --> 00:18:14,699 single people in Christ have zero disadvantage 324 00:18:14,699 --> 00:18:18,015 in bearing children for God. 325 00:18:18,015 --> 00:18:19,967 And in many ways, 326 00:18:19,967 --> 00:18:29,938 significant advantages. 327 00:18:29,938 --> 00:18:34,233 Paul was single all his life. 328 00:18:34,233 --> 00:18:36,988 Or at least, lest we overstate it, 329 00:18:36,988 --> 00:18:40,313 single all of the life we knew him. 330 00:18:40,313 --> 00:18:42,773 Because he says he has no wife 331 00:18:42,773 --> 00:18:44,697 in 1 Corinthians 9, 332 00:18:44,697 --> 00:18:47,642 but whether he is a widower, we don't know. 333 00:18:47,642 --> 00:18:52,038 So he has no wife in all of the New Testament documents, 334 00:18:52,038 --> 00:18:56,140 and he is a father if there ever was one. 335 00:18:56,140 --> 00:19:00,702 He says, 1 Corinthians 4:15, 336 00:19:00,702 --> 00:19:03,140 He's talking to his church, 337 00:19:03,140 --> 00:19:05,899 "Though you have countless guides in Christ, 338 00:19:05,899 --> 00:19:08,709 you have not many fathers. 339 00:19:08,709 --> 00:19:13,406 I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel." 340 00:19:13,406 --> 00:19:17,973 That's a single man talking. 341 00:19:17,973 --> 00:19:21,106 Men. Single men. 342 00:19:21,106 --> 00:19:25,538 "I became your father. I'm your father. 343 00:19:25,538 --> 00:19:28,938 Single and unmarried as I am." 344 00:19:28,938 --> 00:19:31,579 Or let him speak for the women. 345 00:19:31,579 --> 00:19:34,270 1 Thessalonians 2:7 346 00:19:34,270 --> 00:19:37,410 "But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother 347 00:19:37,410 --> 00:19:40,999 taking care of her own children." 348 00:19:40,999 --> 00:19:44,524 And so it will be said of many single women in Christ. 349 00:19:44,524 --> 00:19:51,886 She was a great mother in the church and never married. 350 00:19:51,886 --> 00:19:56,369 Now, take heed and be careful 351 00:19:56,369 --> 00:20:01,402 lest you trivialize what I'm saying. 352 00:20:01,402 --> 00:20:04,336 As though you think that 353 00:20:04,336 --> 00:20:08,091 Pastor John is sentimentalizing singleness 354 00:20:08,091 --> 00:20:10,679 to make the single folks 355 00:20:10,679 --> 00:20:15,629 feel good in this series on marriage. 356 00:20:15,629 --> 00:20:20,717 I could care less about making anybody feel good. 357 00:20:20,717 --> 00:20:23,297 I am declaring 358 00:20:23,297 --> 00:20:27,237 the temporary and secondary nature 359 00:20:27,237 --> 00:20:29,344 of marriage and family, 360 00:20:29,344 --> 00:20:32,390 over against the eternal and primary nature 361 00:20:32,390 --> 00:20:33,972 of the church. 362 00:20:33,972 --> 00:20:36,412 That's what I'm declaring. 363 00:20:36,412 --> 00:20:41,413 I'm declaring the temporary and secondary nature 364 00:20:41,413 --> 00:20:43,414 of marriage and family 365 00:20:43,414 --> 00:20:46,855 over against the primary and eternal nature 366 00:20:46,855 --> 00:20:49,307 of the family of God. 367 00:20:49,307 --> 00:20:50,233 Hear that. 368 00:20:50,233 --> 00:20:52,506 This is not trivial. 369 00:20:52,506 --> 00:20:54,006 This is huge. 370 00:20:54,006 --> 00:20:57,164 And I fear that we have settled into our land 371 00:20:57,164 --> 00:21:00,436 and our culture. 372 00:21:00,436 --> 00:21:02,895 And idolized the family. 373 00:21:02,895 --> 00:21:06,070 Idolized marriage. 374 00:21:06,070 --> 00:21:07,932 We're here for a vapor's breath 375 00:21:07,932 --> 00:21:11,503 and then we're gone. 376 00:21:11,503 --> 00:21:14,014 What happens here is relatively minor compared to 377 00:21:14,014 --> 00:21:19,213 what will be after the resurrection. 378 00:21:19,213 --> 00:21:21,886 This is no small thing I'm saying. 379 00:21:21,886 --> 00:21:24,771 In the resurrection, Matthew 22:30, 380 00:21:24,771 --> 00:21:25,692 Jesus says, 381 00:21:25,692 --> 00:21:30,675 "In the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, 382 00:21:30,675 --> 00:21:36,404 but are like angels in heaven." 383 00:21:36,404 --> 00:21:39,862 I am declaring the radical, biblical truth 384 00:21:39,862 --> 00:21:42,221 that being in a human family 385 00:21:42,221 --> 00:21:45,394 is no sign of an eternal blessing. 386 00:21:45,394 --> 00:21:49,707 Being in God's family means being eternally blessed. 387 00:21:49,707 --> 00:21:52,878 Relationships based on family are temporary. 388 00:21:52,878 --> 00:21:56,433 Relationships based on union with Christ are eternal. 389 00:21:56,433 --> 00:21:58,762 Marriage is a temporary institution, 390 00:21:58,762 --> 00:22:01,075 and stands for something that lasts forever, 391 00:22:01,075 --> 00:22:04,895 namely our relationship to Jesus Christ: 392 00:22:04,895 --> 00:22:09,355 Church and Bridegroom. 393 00:22:09,355 --> 00:22:13,579 And when His mother and His brothers 394 00:22:13,579 --> 00:22:19,677 came to Him, Jesus, and asked to see Him, 395 00:22:19,677 --> 00:22:22,818 He said, 396 00:22:22,818 --> 00:22:26,453 "Who is My mother? 397 00:22:26,453 --> 00:22:29,209 Who are My brothers?" 398 00:22:29,209 --> 00:22:32,153 And stretching out His hand towards His disciples, 399 00:22:32,153 --> 00:22:36,344 He said, "Here are My mother and My brothers." 400 00:22:36,344 --> 00:22:39,923 There's not a much more radical statement in the Bible than that. 401 00:22:39,923 --> 00:22:42,002 You want to be the mother of Jesus? 402 00:22:42,002 --> 00:22:45,251 Follow Him. 403 00:22:45,251 --> 00:22:54,185 The mother of God is an obedient Christian. 404 00:22:54,185 --> 00:22:59,583 "Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts at which You nursed." 405 00:22:59,583 --> 00:23:02,161 A woman cried. 406 00:23:02,161 --> 00:23:04,706 He turned and said to her, 407 00:23:04,706 --> 00:23:10,022 "Blessed, rather, are those who hear the Word of God and keep it." 408 00:23:10,022 --> 00:23:12,088 Does this mean anything to you? 409 00:23:12,088 --> 00:23:16,735 Does talking like that change your worldview? 410 00:23:16,735 --> 00:23:21,502 Oh, how blessed were the breasts that gave You suck. 411 00:23:21,502 --> 00:23:24,832 Oh, how blessed was the womb that bore You. 412 00:23:24,832 --> 00:23:27,290 He looks at that woman and says, 413 00:23:27,290 --> 00:23:34,001 "You keep the Word of God, and you'll be My mother." 414 00:23:34,001 --> 00:23:36,786 Do not elevate natural processes 415 00:23:36,786 --> 00:23:40,126 like procreation and childbearing 416 00:23:40,126 --> 00:23:43,142 and marriage to anything bigger than what they are. 417 00:23:43,142 --> 00:23:47,835 Temporal, physical means of keeping the world going, 418 00:23:47,835 --> 00:23:50,247 and illustrations of Christ and the church, 419 00:23:50,247 --> 00:23:58,089 which when He comes, fade away. 420 00:23:58,089 --> 00:24:00,650 "Truly, truly, I say to you 421 00:24:00,650 --> 00:24:03,223 there is no one who has left house, 422 00:24:03,223 --> 00:24:06,223 or brothers, or sisters, or mother, 423 00:24:06,223 --> 00:24:09,942 or father, or children, or lands 424 00:24:09,942 --> 00:24:12,372 for My sake and the gospel, 425 00:24:12,372 --> 00:24:17,047 who will not receive a hundred fold now in this time, 426 00:24:17,047 --> 00:24:20,333 houses, and brothers, and sisters, 427 00:24:20,333 --> 00:24:23,673 and mothers, and children, 428 00:24:23,673 --> 00:24:26,084 and lands with persecutions, 429 00:24:26,084 --> 00:24:28,604 and in the age to come, 430 00:24:28,604 --> 00:24:32,167 eternal life." 431 00:24:32,167 --> 00:24:34,211 Single person, 432 00:24:34,211 --> 00:24:36,366 married person, 433 00:24:36,366 --> 00:24:42,488 do you want many mothers? 434 00:24:42,488 --> 00:24:45,340 Do you want many children? 435 00:24:45,340 --> 00:24:49,500 Brothers, sisters, lands? 436 00:24:49,500 --> 00:24:52,741 A place to stay at night? 437 00:24:52,741 --> 00:24:55,784 Be a part of the church. 438 00:24:55,784 --> 00:24:57,605 Join the family of God. 439 00:24:57,605 --> 00:24:59,453 It's a huge calling upon the church. 440 00:24:59,453 --> 00:25:01,211 I'm not saying we do it very well. 441 00:25:01,211 --> 00:25:03,594 But hear, church, what we're called to be. 442 00:25:03,594 --> 00:25:06,240 Hear this. 443 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:10,204 You leave them, and you get a hundred to replace 444 00:25:10,204 --> 00:25:16,416 in the church - if we're doing our job. 445 00:25:16,416 --> 00:25:21,450 So what shall we say in view of this amazing biblical vision 446 00:25:21,450 --> 00:25:25,272 of the secondary and temporary nature of marriage 447 00:25:25,272 --> 00:25:27,361 and procreation? 448 00:25:27,361 --> 00:25:29,285 What shall we say? 449 00:25:29,285 --> 00:25:32,350 We should say what Jesus said, 450 00:25:32,350 --> 00:25:35,567 and what Paul said, following Jesus. 451 00:25:35,567 --> 00:25:38,389 And here's what Jesus said. 452 00:25:38,389 --> 00:25:40,507 Matthew 19:12 453 00:25:40,507 --> 00:25:45,578 "There are eunuchs, who have been so from birth. 454 00:25:45,578 --> 00:25:51,097 There are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men. 455 00:25:51,097 --> 00:25:55,328 And there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs 456 00:25:55,328 --> 00:26:00,068 for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. 457 00:26:00,068 --> 00:26:06,336 Let the one who is able to receive this, receive it." 458 00:26:06,336 --> 00:26:09,241 There is no reason that we should 459 00:26:09,241 --> 00:26:11,428 take the phrase, 460 00:26:11,428 --> 00:26:14,872 "made themselves eunuchs," 461 00:26:14,872 --> 00:26:19,077 to refer to any form of physical sterilization. 462 00:26:19,077 --> 00:26:20,924 There's no reason to take it that way. 463 00:26:20,924 --> 00:26:23,966 Anymore than we take the words, 464 00:26:23,966 --> 00:26:30,159 "if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out." 465 00:26:30,159 --> 00:26:36,744 But we take both of them very seriously. 466 00:26:36,744 --> 00:26:43,938 If you can receive it, receive it. 467 00:26:43,938 --> 00:26:48,665 Some people choose, by God's calling, 468 00:26:48,665 --> 00:26:52,926 a life of devoted singleness in Christ. 469 00:26:52,926 --> 00:26:55,421 And to them He's promised, 470 00:26:55,421 --> 00:27:00,004 a name and a memorial 471 00:27:00,004 --> 00:27:04,064 better than the name 472 00:27:04,064 --> 00:27:09,271 of marriage and children. 473 00:27:09,271 --> 00:27:11,038 Paul picked it up 474 00:27:11,038 --> 00:27:13,172 and put it most starkly in chapter 7. 475 00:27:13,172 --> 00:27:15,060 Most of you single folks have read this 476 00:27:15,060 --> 00:27:19,043 and pondered what this means for you. 477 00:27:19,043 --> 00:27:25,064 I'll read verses 32, 33, 35 of 1 Corinthians 7. 478 00:27:25,064 --> 00:27:28,648 "To the unmarried and the widows, I say that it is good for them 479 00:27:28,648 --> 00:27:32,742 to remain single as I am. 480 00:27:32,742 --> 00:27:35,878 I want you to be free from anxieties. 481 00:27:35,878 --> 00:27:38,635 The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, 482 00:27:38,635 --> 00:27:41,624 how to please the Lord. 483 00:27:41,624 --> 00:27:46,830 The married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife. 484 00:27:46,830 --> 00:27:49,715 I say this to secure your 485 00:27:49,715 --> 00:27:56,275 undivided devotion to the Lord." 486 00:27:56,275 --> 00:27:59,215 Paul speaks about each having his own gift. 487 00:27:59,215 --> 00:28:01,249 Verse 7. 488 00:28:01,249 --> 00:28:04,467 One of one kind, one of another kind. 489 00:28:04,467 --> 00:28:06,065 In other words, 490 00:28:06,065 --> 00:28:12,993 let him who is able to receive it, receive it. 491 00:28:12,993 --> 00:28:17,699 So, here we are at the end where we began. 492 00:28:17,699 --> 00:28:23,409 With all this Scripture underneath us now. 493 00:28:23,409 --> 00:28:26,572 And I will give my main point again. 494 00:28:26,572 --> 00:28:28,341 My main point of this message is, 495 00:28:28,341 --> 00:28:33,269 God promises, those who remain single in Christ 496 00:28:33,269 --> 00:28:35,150 blessings that are better than 497 00:28:35,150 --> 00:28:38,990 the blessings of marriage and children. 498 00:28:38,990 --> 00:28:40,924 Now, if someone should ask 499 00:28:40,924 --> 00:28:44,674 as I did, 500 00:28:44,674 --> 00:28:48,022 how about both? 501 00:28:48,022 --> 00:28:51,150 Wouldn't it be better to have both? 502 00:28:51,150 --> 00:28:54,653 The blessings of marriage and children, 503 00:28:54,653 --> 00:29:00,403 and the eternal blessings? 504 00:29:00,403 --> 00:29:03,500 There are two answers to that question. 505 00:29:03,500 --> 00:29:06,257 Number one. 506 00:29:06,257 --> 00:29:08,666 You will learn sooner or later, 507 00:29:08,666 --> 00:29:13,203 and you may as well learn now, 508 00:29:13,203 --> 00:29:18,656 that the blessings of being with Christ in heaven, 509 00:29:18,656 --> 00:29:21,164 are so far superior 510 00:29:21,164 --> 00:29:25,133 to the blessings of being married and raising children, 511 00:29:25,133 --> 00:29:27,130 that to ask this question, 512 00:29:27,130 --> 00:29:29,195 wouldn't it be better to have both? 513 00:29:29,195 --> 00:29:33,195 Is like asking, 514 00:29:33,195 --> 00:29:35,662 "If you're going to give me the ocean, 515 00:29:35,662 --> 00:29:40,682 can't I have a thimble as well?" 516 00:29:40,682 --> 00:29:45,079 It does lose some of its force. 517 00:29:45,079 --> 00:29:49,718 You just need to see heaven. 518 00:29:49,718 --> 00:29:52,290 You need to see Christ. 519 00:29:52,290 --> 00:29:54,507 better than we see Him, 520 00:29:54,507 --> 00:29:58,203 to keep things in proper perspective. 521 00:29:58,203 --> 00:30:01,160 That's the first answer. 522 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:09,121 Can I have a thimble with the Pacific Ocean? 523 00:30:09,121 --> 00:30:11,533 The second answer to the question 524 00:30:11,533 --> 00:30:15,740 is that both marriage and singleness 525 00:30:15,740 --> 00:30:19,818 present us with unique trials and unique opportunities 526 00:30:19,818 --> 00:30:22,776 for sanctification. 527 00:30:22,776 --> 00:30:25,721 Unique. Not the same. Different. 528 00:30:25,721 --> 00:30:27,793 Both important. 529 00:30:27,793 --> 00:30:34,076 And there will be unique rewards for each. 530 00:30:34,076 --> 00:30:38,450 And which is better will depend not on 531 00:30:38,450 --> 00:30:41,506 whether you were married or single, 532 00:30:41,506 --> 00:30:49,425 but on how you responded to each. 533 00:30:49,425 --> 00:30:52,534 So, I say it again, 534 00:30:52,534 --> 00:30:54,489 to all singles in Christ, 535 00:30:54,489 --> 00:30:58,182 who will be that way long term, 536 00:30:58,182 --> 00:31:02,590 God promises you blessings in the age to come 537 00:31:02,590 --> 00:31:04,853 that are better, far better, 538 00:31:04,853 --> 00:31:06,701 than the blessings of 539 00:31:06,701 --> 00:31:12,081 marriage and children. 540 00:31:12,081 --> 00:31:16,819 And that brings some responsibility and calling with it. 541 00:31:16,819 --> 00:31:19,039 I can imagine, somebody who 542 00:31:19,039 --> 00:31:21,269 would rather me not make this emphasis, 543 00:31:21,269 --> 00:31:26,894 saying, "what this bunch of singles really needs to hear, 544 00:31:26,894 --> 00:31:30,302 is that they should stop abdicating 545 00:31:30,302 --> 00:31:32,622 their responsibility and postponing 546 00:31:32,622 --> 00:31:36,990 the end of adolescence for about thirty years." 547 00:31:36,990 --> 00:31:42,814 Well, I've said that, if you have ears to hear. 548 00:31:42,814 --> 00:31:45,008 If you think what I'm saying here 549 00:31:45,008 --> 00:31:47,275 is a license to extend adolesence 550 00:31:47,275 --> 00:31:49,100 to 25, and 30, and 35, 551 00:31:49,100 --> 00:31:50,766 while you play computer games 552 00:31:50,766 --> 00:31:54,221 and don't take up your cause for Christ? 553 00:31:54,221 --> 00:31:55,907 And lay your life down for Him? 554 00:31:55,907 --> 00:31:57,756 With all this time you have? 555 00:31:57,756 --> 00:32:02,902 Then you don't understand anything I've said. 556 00:32:02,902 --> 00:32:07,451 I am summoning singles to a radical devotion to Jesus Christ 557 00:32:07,451 --> 00:32:10,542 which means grow up and become a dad at 25 558 00:32:10,542 --> 00:32:14,488 and single the rest of your life, if God wills. 559 00:32:14,488 --> 00:32:20,013 And a mother at 25, of a spiritual family that you disciple 560 00:32:20,013 --> 00:32:25,510 who are born, not of going to bed with a girl or a guy. 561 00:32:25,510 --> 00:32:28,963 The strongest, most Christlike single is the one 562 00:32:28,963 --> 00:32:32,027 who is virgin till death. 563 00:32:32,027 --> 00:32:34,849 And may it be so for many. 564 00:32:34,849 --> 00:32:36,352 What a glory! 565 00:32:36,352 --> 00:32:39,535 What a reward! 566 00:32:39,535 --> 00:32:45,338 And the world will tell you, "That's a waste." 567 00:32:45,338 --> 00:32:47,720 That's a waste. 568 00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:51,238 They don't know anything. 569 00:32:51,238 --> 00:32:54,135 How's your worldview? 570 00:32:54,135 --> 00:32:56,491 Are you buying into it? 571 00:32:56,491 --> 00:33:00,009 Then you're gone. 572 00:33:00,009 --> 00:33:03,914 Then life. 573 00:33:03,914 --> 00:33:06,409 There are four truths 574 00:33:06,409 --> 00:33:10,739 that singles can display in this world 575 00:33:10,739 --> 00:33:12,171 better than married people. 576 00:33:12,171 --> 00:33:15,604 I've spent nine weeks 577 00:33:15,604 --> 00:33:17,933 telling married people 578 00:33:17,933 --> 00:33:20,477 how to display Christ and the church. 579 00:33:20,477 --> 00:33:22,452 And I'm taking one week 580 00:33:22,452 --> 00:33:24,875 to say to single people 581 00:33:24,875 --> 00:33:27,936 what's the counterpart drama in your life. 582 00:33:27,936 --> 00:33:31,352 What are you supposed to display? 583 00:33:31,352 --> 00:33:38,596 If me and Noel, if we, are supposed to display 584 00:33:38,596 --> 00:33:40,965 Christ and the church in our relationship, 585 00:33:40,965 --> 00:33:43,940 what's singleness about? 586 00:33:43,940 --> 00:33:45,834 It's about these four truths. 587 00:33:45,834 --> 00:33:47,000 Number one. 588 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:51,061 Displaying that the family of God grows not by propogation through 589 00:33:51,061 --> 00:33:52,321 sexual intercourse, 590 00:33:52,321 --> 00:33:54,764 which you avoid and abstain from 591 00:33:54,764 --> 00:33:59,298 because you believe in Christ. 592 00:33:59,298 --> 00:34:02,349 But rather it grows by regeneration and faith in Christ, 593 00:34:02,349 --> 00:34:06,348 and you give your life to begetting such children. 594 00:34:06,348 --> 00:34:08,750 Second. 595 00:34:08,750 --> 00:34:12,817 The relationships in Christ are more permanent and more precious 596 00:34:12,817 --> 00:34:14,410 than the relationships in families, 597 00:34:14,410 --> 00:34:17,241 and therefore we'll give our lives to cultivating relationships 598 00:34:17,241 --> 00:34:21,198 that last forever. 599 00:34:21,198 --> 00:34:29,294 Noel and I won't be married in the Kingdom. 600 00:34:29,294 --> 00:34:33,263 That's huge in the way singles and marrieds think 601 00:34:33,263 --> 00:34:35,948 about relationships and friendships 602 00:34:35,948 --> 00:34:40,851 and covenant bonding with people. 603 00:34:40,851 --> 00:34:43,329 Number three. 604 00:34:43,329 --> 00:34:47,019 That marriage is temporary. 605 00:34:47,019 --> 00:34:49,688 It finally gives way to the relationship 606 00:34:49,688 --> 00:34:51,522 to which it's been pointing all along: 607 00:34:51,522 --> 00:34:53,575 Christ and the church. 608 00:34:53,575 --> 00:34:56,052 And fourth. 609 00:34:56,052 --> 00:34:59,075 Faithfulness to Christ 610 00:34:59,075 --> 00:35:03,616 defines the value of life. 611 00:35:03,616 --> 00:35:06,118 And all other relationships 612 00:35:06,118 --> 00:35:10,083 get their significance from this. 613 00:35:10,083 --> 00:35:12,735 Faithfulness to Christ. 614 00:35:12,735 --> 00:35:15,705 No family relationship is ultimate. 615 00:35:15,705 --> 00:35:19,855 Relationship to Christ is ultimate. 616 00:35:19,855 --> 00:35:23,771 So, to Him be glory, 617 00:35:23,771 --> 00:35:28,167 in the Christ-exalting drama of marriage, 618 00:35:28,167 --> 00:35:30,531 and to Him be glory, 619 00:35:30,531 --> 00:35:36,238 in the Christ-exalting drama of the single life. 620 00:35:36,238 --> 00:35:37,966 Amen. 621 00:35:37,966 --> 00:35:42,679 Let's pray. 622 00:35:42,679 --> 00:35:45,401 Father, I am very aware 623 00:35:45,401 --> 00:35:50,385 that that's an orientation message 624 00:35:50,385 --> 00:35:53,386 on the way to look at things biblically. 625 00:35:53,386 --> 00:35:55,472 And many questions for individuals 626 00:35:55,472 --> 00:35:58,472 now remain to be answered. 627 00:35:58,472 --> 00:36:03,532 Which I cannot answer for them. 628 00:36:03,532 --> 00:36:07,843 One has one gift, one has another. 629 00:36:07,843 --> 00:36:12,329 Let him who can receive it, receive it. 630 00:36:12,329 --> 00:36:16,334 But You can answer, Lord. You can answer. 631 00:36:16,334 --> 00:36:20,615 Is it marriage? Or is it singleness? 632 00:36:20,615 --> 00:36:23,156 And Your answer doesn't arrive always when we want to hear it, 633 00:36:23,156 --> 00:36:25,709 and so I pray that all the singles 634 00:36:25,709 --> 00:36:29,749 will be patient with You and with life. 635 00:36:29,749 --> 00:36:32,398 And they will be devoted utterly to You. 636 00:36:32,398 --> 00:36:36,329 Now and if they marry. 637 00:36:36,329 --> 00:36:39,501 Devoted utterly to You in marriage. 638 00:36:39,501 --> 00:36:43,243 So make Yourself supreme in the life of singleness. 639 00:36:43,243 --> 00:36:46,618 And supreme in the life of marriage, 640 00:36:46,618 --> 00:36:50,792 I pray. 641 00:36:50,792 --> 00:36:52,531 In Jesus' name, 642 00:36:52,531 --> 00:36:55,094 Amen.