Title: Time is Short. Don't Set Your Hopes on Marriage Meta: Don't set your hopes on marriage, but on knowing Christ and living for Him. What does, "let those who have wives live as though they had none" mean? This is a sermon that the family integrated churches need to hear! Tags: marriage,wives,lives,eternity,god,family,church,Corinthians 1 00:00:05,050 --> 00:00:09,289 This has to do with how we rightly see things, perceive things. 2 00:00:09,289 --> 00:00:13,446 And he says this: the present world is passing away. 3 00:00:13,446 --> 00:00:21,499 Brethren! the reality is that everything that has to do with this world is going to be gone, 4 00:00:21,499 --> 00:00:24,322 and it's going to be gone like that. 5 00:00:24,322 --> 00:00:28,100 We are in a passing world. This isn't forever. (P) 6 00:00:28,100 --> 00:00:32,369 Listen, you may think when you are going to that altar, 7 00:00:32,369 --> 00:00:35,594 and there's the man and he is waiting for you ladies, 8 00:00:35,594 --> 00:00:38,598 and you're walking down the aisle, "This is the greatest thing. 9 00:00:38,598 --> 00:00:41,100 This is the thing my heart has always desired. 10 00:00:41,100 --> 00:00:42,758 This is going to last forever." 11 00:00:42,758 --> 00:00:44,440 But it doesn't last forever. 12 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:47,061 You set your joys there, and they are gone. 13 00:00:47,061 --> 00:00:48,438 It is passing. 14 00:00:48,438 --> 00:00:52,119 Nothing we have right now is going to be here fifty years from now. 15 00:00:52,119 --> 00:00:53,231 None of it. 16 00:00:53,231 --> 00:00:59,481 Most every marriage in this place, in fifty years, is gone; it's done; it's over. 17 00:00:59,481 --> 00:01:04,312 Your wife is no longer your wife, your husband is no longer your husband, 18 00:01:04,312 --> 00:01:06,686 because you are dead or Christ has come, 19 00:01:06,686 --> 00:01:08,679 and there is no marriage there. (P) 20 00:01:08,679 --> 00:01:10,150 That is in this world. 21 00:01:10,150 --> 00:01:13,257 In a world that is fleeting, in a world that is passing, 22 00:01:13,257 --> 00:01:17,144 those of us with families, those of us with wives, husbands, children, 23 00:01:17,144 --> 00:01:21,727 we should live as though we had none, because it's all passing away. (P) 24 00:01:21,727 --> 00:01:26,588 All I can say is, "Paul, that is risky language, that is daring language." 25 00:01:27,068 --> 00:01:30,615 Do not make marriage or a wife or a husband your heaven, 26 00:01:30,615 --> 00:01:32,392 because it will soon be gone. 27 00:01:32,392 --> 00:01:35,375 These things are passing, that fall is coming, 28 00:01:35,375 --> 00:01:39,549 and even though those of us in Christ would be rescued there at the end, 29 00:01:39,549 --> 00:01:43,979 where Christ's arms will bear us up, we will not be dashed against those rocks, 30 00:01:43,979 --> 00:01:48,293 brethren, the time we may find ourselves there is close at hand. 31 00:01:48,293 --> 00:01:50,516 The world is perishing around us. (P) 32 00:01:51,166 --> 00:01:59,324 You folks at Corinth, you are looking to marriage as where you are going to put your joy. 33 00:01:59,324 --> 00:02:02,467 Marriage as what is precious. 34 00:02:02,467 --> 00:02:06,927 Whether you have sexual relationships as that which is desirable, 35 00:02:06,927 --> 00:02:10,947 or not having it as that which is most desirable. 36 00:02:10,947 --> 00:02:15,595 He says, "This is what is precious. 37 00:02:15,595 --> 00:02:21,108 It is time, and the time is short, and this world is passing. 38 00:02:21,108 --> 00:02:29,602 Brethren, men find things precious in proportion to the importance that men put on things. 39 00:02:29,602 --> 00:02:34,016 The greater that thing has an ability to affect and concern their welfare, 40 00:02:34,016 --> 00:02:38,875 the greater degree that they will esteem that thing. (P) 41 00:02:38,875 --> 00:02:45,519 Brethren, do you realize our eternal welfare depends on time? 42 00:02:45,839 --> 00:02:48,698 Time is not just precious because of its importance, 43 00:02:48,698 --> 00:02:52,098 time is precious because of its shortness. 44 00:02:52,098 --> 00:02:57,328 The time is very short. 45 00:02:57,958 --> 00:03:03,228 Often, when something is rare - think about the rarity - 46 00:03:03,228 --> 00:03:07,670 men when they find something that is rare, they tend to put value on things too. 47 00:03:07,670 --> 00:03:11,271 I mean, you think about stamps and baseball cards, 48 00:03:11,271 --> 00:03:16,290 but men especially set a high value on things that are scarce 49 00:03:16,290 --> 00:03:19,227 if it's something they can't live without. (P) 50 00:03:19,227 --> 00:03:23,201 You may recall when Syria besieged Samaria, back in 2 Kings 6:24-25, 51 00:03:23,201 --> 00:03:25,126 "There was great famine in Samaria," 52 00:03:25,126 --> 00:03:29,108 You know what happens when there is great famine? Things become scarce. 53 00:03:29,108 --> 00:03:32,318 And then, do men put high prices on them? They do. 54 00:03:32,318 --> 00:03:37,895 "As they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver." 55 00:03:37,895 --> 00:03:41,397 A donkey's head, eighty shekels. 56 00:03:41,397 --> 00:03:42,831 Why? 57 00:03:42,831 --> 00:03:50,070 What might in another day be utterly useless and not worth anything - eighty shekels.(P) 58 00:03:50,070 --> 00:03:59,768 Brethren, the question I ask you is not time all the more to be prized 59 00:03:59,768 --> 00:04:02,186 when your whole eternity depends on it, 60 00:04:02,186 --> 00:04:05,761 and because you have so little of it. 61 00:04:05,761 --> 00:04:13,319 Time is so short, brethren, the work Jesus Christ has called us to do is so great! 62 00:04:13,319 --> 00:04:19,948 The work we have to do to prepare for eternity must be done in time. 63 00:04:19,948 --> 00:04:21,866 Jesus sets us to a work. 64 00:04:21,866 --> 00:04:23,496 He says, "Pray for laborers." 65 00:04:23,496 --> 00:04:25,403 He says, "Go into the nations." 66 00:04:25,403 --> 00:04:29,223 He says, "Be witnesses of mine. Be light. Be salt. 67 00:04:29,223 --> 00:04:32,569 This is what I have commissioned you to do. Go and do it." 68 00:04:32,569 --> 00:04:34,882 And we have such short time to do it. 69 00:04:34,882 --> 00:04:39,439 The work is great. The time is short. 70 00:04:39,439 --> 00:04:42,147 Brethren, we ought to value it on that note. 71 00:04:42,147 --> 00:04:46,907 Time is short. Time is short. (P) 72 00:04:46,907 --> 00:04:49,192 And what he is saying to us is: 73 00:04:49,192 --> 00:04:56,045 don't become so overly consumed with a spouse, with a wife, with a husband, 74 00:04:56,045 --> 00:04:58,752 that you lose sight of that reality. 75 00:04:58,752 --> 00:05:04,785 Don't let a wife blind your eyes to the fact you don't have long in this world. 76 00:05:04,785 --> 00:05:06,694 Not only do you not have long with her, 77 00:05:06,694 --> 00:05:08,403 you don't have long in this world; 78 00:05:08,403 --> 00:05:10,986 you don't have long to do what God has called you to do. 79 00:05:10,986 --> 00:05:12,775 You don't have long to do this work. 80 00:05:12,775 --> 00:05:16,899 The greatness of all this work that Jesus Christ gave to His church to do. 81 00:05:16,899 --> 00:05:21,388 So, if you are married, buy up the time as though you were not married. 82 00:05:21,388 --> 00:05:24,631 Don't become so overly consumed with a spouse. 83 00:05:24,631 --> 00:05:29,168 Or some of you who don't yet have one, so overly consumed with finding a spouse 84 00:05:29,168 --> 00:05:32,200 that you waste your life.(P) 85 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:39,024 Don't fritter your time away simply because you are married. 86 00:05:39,024 --> 00:05:43,954 And if he is saying that, listen, if he is saying that to the married man, 87 00:05:43,954 --> 00:05:47,303 "Live as though you don't have a spouse; live as though you don't have a wife," 88 00:05:47,303 --> 00:05:50,522 what in the world would he say to the single person? 89 00:05:50,522 --> 00:05:52,721 If the married should live as though they are that way, 90 00:05:52,721 --> 00:05:55,366 how then should you live if indeed you are not married. 91 00:05:55,366 --> 00:06:00,808 Young people, are you buying up the time with fervency that singleness allows? 92 00:06:00,808 --> 00:06:05,056 Or are you in bed at 10 am? 93 00:06:05,056 --> 00:06:10,092 "As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed." (Proverbs 26:14). (P) 94 00:06:10,092 --> 00:06:12,490 Brethren, this is for real. 95 00:06:12,490 --> 00:06:17,250 Time is precious because of the uncertainty of its shortness. 96 00:06:17,250 --> 00:06:21,256 It isn't just short, you are uncertain as to how short it is. 97 00:06:21,256 --> 00:06:26,643 And it may be a whole lot shorter than you think. 98 00:06:26,643 --> 00:06:32,087 You can lose something precious, something that you treasure, and it can be returned. 99 00:06:32,087 --> 00:06:36,475 It can be stolen, the police can find the burglar, and it can be restored. 100 00:06:36,475 --> 00:06:39,501 You can get your wallet stolen or lose it somewhere, 101 00:06:39,501 --> 00:06:42,062 and somebody drop it in the mailbox, 102 00:06:42,062 --> 00:06:45,450 and suddenly it shows up back on your doorstep. 103 00:06:45,450 --> 00:06:50,507 But the fact is, if you lose time, you can't get it back. 104 00:06:50,507 --> 00:06:55,147 You can lose your reputation, that's harder to get back, but you can. 105 00:06:55,147 --> 00:07:04,810 Brethren, once time is gone, it's gone forever. Period.(P) 106 00:07:04,810 --> 00:07:10,485 It doesn't matter if you are like Peter, and you repent 107 00:07:10,485 --> 00:07:18,635 and you have godly sorrow and you fall on your knees and you weep bitterly, 108 00:07:18,635 --> 00:07:22,291 brethren you can be forgiven, but you can't get it back. 109 00:07:22,291 --> 00:07:29,412 And no matter how much you repent, you cannot restore lost time. 110 00:07:29,412 --> 00:07:34,243 Repent, and weep, and sorrow, but it's gone. 111 00:07:34,243 --> 00:07:39,427 If you wasted it, it's gone. 112 00:07:39,427 --> 00:07:41,735 There can simply be no delay. 113 00:07:41,735 --> 00:07:46,266 If you do not buy up the time now, you'll have no other opportunity. 114 00:07:46,266 --> 00:07:47,718 You have an eternity before you. 115 00:07:47,718 --> 00:07:52,372 The Lord God of heaven gave you time here in order to prepare for eternity. 116 00:07:52,372 --> 00:07:56,049 And He didn't give you much of it, so don't waste it. (P) 117 00:07:56,049 --> 00:07:58,760 What makes it so unreal, 118 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:05,039 what makes it so unsubstantial is not that it isn't real. It is real. 119 00:08:05,039 --> 00:08:07,052 What makes it such a shadow; 120 00:08:07,052 --> 00:08:13,932 what causes the reality to be so suspect isn't that it isn't real. 121 00:08:13,932 --> 00:08:17,261 It's that tomorrow, it may be gone. 122 00:08:17,261 --> 00:08:19,071 It's the shortness. 123 00:08:19,071 --> 00:08:23,215 It's the fact that I can't really put my hopes here. 124 00:08:23,215 --> 00:08:27,394 I can't walk down the aisle, as I am leaving the church building with my wife, 125 00:08:27,394 --> 00:08:31,041 and think, "Great! Now I am going to be happy forever. 126 00:08:31,041 --> 00:08:33,247 This is going to last forever." 127 00:08:33,247 --> 00:08:38,664 Ladies and gentlemen, nobody in this world walks off into the sunset 128 00:08:38,664 --> 00:08:44,388 and lives happily ever after. That is a myth. 129 00:08:44,388 --> 00:08:47,234 It doesn't happen. (P) 130 00:08:47,234 --> 00:08:56,158 Listen, I'll tell you this: Here's one more thing about time I'll tell you. 131 00:08:56,158 --> 00:09:00,869 Its end is certain. 132 00:09:00,869 --> 00:09:04,137 We may not know how much of it we have left. 133 00:09:04,137 --> 00:09:08,646 It's very uncertain how much time we have here. 134 00:09:08,646 --> 00:09:11,666 You can't get it back when it is gone. 135 00:09:11,666 --> 00:09:13,658 But we know the end of it. 136 00:09:13,658 --> 00:09:17,942 The end of it is certain; the end of it is judgment. 137 00:09:18,362 --> 00:09:22,501 Death is coming. Hell is moving. 138 00:09:22,501 --> 00:09:30,331 Ladies and gentlemen, we are caught in a river that is more powerful than we are, 139 00:09:30,331 --> 00:09:35,337 that is sweeping us along, and there are falls at the end. 140 00:09:35,337 --> 00:09:40,020 And I'll tell you this: Only those in Jesus Christ 141 00:09:40,020 --> 00:09:45,486 would be saved from the destruction at the bottom of those falls. (P) 142 00:09:45,486 --> 00:09:48,955 That time is coming. The time is short. 143 00:09:48,955 --> 00:09:53,499 We go live in our vacations and our houses and our fancy things, 144 00:09:53,499 --> 00:09:56,716 brethren let me tell you this: You get to the heart and the soul 145 00:09:56,716 --> 00:10:02,284 and the core of what it means for a man to live his life, who is married, 146 00:10:02,284 --> 00:10:05,256 and live it as though he is not married. 147 00:10:05,256 --> 00:10:08,206 What does that look like? What does that have to do with? 148 00:10:08,206 --> 00:10:11,338 I think it has to do with this: It has to do with setting your joys, 149 00:10:11,338 --> 00:10:16,864 your hopes, your heaven, all your glory in that; in a spouse; in a relationship here. 150 00:10:16,864 --> 00:10:20,357 It's fleeting, it's shadow, it's going to be gone. 151 00:10:20,357 --> 00:10:23,735 Don't set it there. Set your hope in heaven. (P) 152 00:10:23,735 --> 00:10:28,118 I think another thing that would tend to press upon us is: 153 00:10:28,118 --> 00:10:33,227 Don't allow marriage to keep you from seeking first the kingdom of heaven. 154 00:10:33,227 --> 00:10:34,736 Don't let it be that. 155 00:10:34,736 --> 00:10:36,480 Don't allow it to be a snare. 156 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:39,187 Yes, men, love your wife. Yes, that is real. 157 00:10:39,187 --> 00:10:40,987 Yes, provide for your house. 158 00:10:40,987 --> 00:10:44,071 Yes. Those are all real things, good things. 159 00:10:44,071 --> 00:10:50,495 But men, women, we still have this word, Luke 14:20. 160 00:10:50,495 --> 00:10:56,096 Did not the man there say, "I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." (P) 161 00:10:56,096 --> 00:11:02,965 Brethren, you know one of the ways we live as to say we don't have a wife, 162 00:11:02,965 --> 00:11:05,092 is when the Lord says come. 163 00:11:05,092 --> 00:11:08,458 When the Lord says come, you don't want to be like this fool 164 00:11:08,458 --> 00:11:11,490 who says, "I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come." 165 00:11:11,490 --> 00:11:15,167 Brethren, we are to come when we are called, as though we had no wife. 166 00:11:15,167 --> 00:11:19,877 Brethren, don't love your wife more than Christ. 167 00:11:19,877 --> 00:11:23,716 Luke 14:26, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother 168 00:11:23,716 --> 00:11:26,775 and wife and children and brothers and sisters, 169 00:11:26,775 --> 00:11:31,111 yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." (P) 170 00:11:31,111 --> 00:11:36,347 Brethren, Jesus Christ calls us to absolute devotion and commitment to Him. 171 00:11:36,347 --> 00:11:38,849 Christ is Lord. Christ is King. 172 00:11:38,849 --> 00:11:40,548 He didn't come to haggle, 173 00:11:40,548 --> 00:11:43,592 He didn't come to debate, bargain, or dispute that point. 174 00:11:43,592 --> 00:11:46,450 Your time is short; your life is short. 175 00:11:46,450 --> 00:11:49,387 Your time is His; your life belongs to Him. 176 00:11:49,387 --> 00:11:51,023 You were bought with a price. 177 00:11:51,023 --> 00:11:52,542 He doesn't come to haggle. 178 00:11:52,542 --> 00:11:56,429 He doesn't come to say, "It's okay for you to serve your wife and not Me. 179 00:11:56,429 --> 00:11:59,430 It's okay to be led over there by her." 180 00:11:59,430 --> 00:12:03,157 He comes and He says, "I have total demand on your life. 181 00:12:03,157 --> 00:12:04,976 All of it, on the altar. 182 00:12:04,976 --> 00:12:07,009 All of it, sacrifice to Me. 183 00:12:07,009 --> 00:12:12,189 I want your love, I want your affection. All of it." (P) 184 00:12:12,189 --> 00:12:18,072 Brethren, I would say this too: Don't let your wife, don't let your husband 185 00:12:18,072 --> 00:12:21,544 be a snare to you from storing up treasure in heaven. 186 00:12:21,544 --> 00:12:23,103 Don't store up treasure here. 187 00:12:23,103 --> 00:12:27,830 Look, I guess this just brings in another note. 188 00:12:27,830 --> 00:12:30,502 You that are married, live as though you have no wife, 189 00:12:30,502 --> 00:12:33,684 live as though you have no husband, when it comes to your faith. 190 00:12:33,684 --> 00:12:34,917 What do I mean by that? 191 00:12:34,917 --> 00:12:38,165 Some people, they feel like, when they are single they could go off 192 00:12:38,165 --> 00:12:40,064 and help Trevor over in Papua New Guinea, 193 00:12:40,064 --> 00:12:43,769 but "Oh I have a family." 194 00:12:43,769 --> 00:12:47,842 Brethren, is God not able to preserve one as well as twelve? 195 00:12:47,842 --> 00:12:52,331 Brethren, we have seen something of a work of God here in San Antonio. 196 00:12:52,331 --> 00:12:57,973 But who knows? Is there an ebb here? Is there a falling off? 197 00:12:57,973 --> 00:12:59,631 Is God withdrawing? 198 00:12:59,631 --> 00:13:02,972 Would He have us to heat up our passions and lay hold on Him, 199 00:13:02,972 --> 00:13:06,693 and pull Him back, and say, "God, please don't go. 200 00:13:06,693 --> 00:13:10,367 Please don't pull back. Please don't stop saving. 201 00:13:10,367 --> 00:13:15,142 Please, come back. Come in greater power. We need more. 202 00:13:15,142 --> 00:13:17,816 We haven't hardly yet tasted of it." (P) 203 00:13:17,816 --> 00:13:20,227 Brethren, this is time. 204 00:13:20,227 --> 00:13:22,548 This is the time we have been called to live in. 205 00:13:22,548 --> 00:13:25,640 And one thing that is certain about this time is we need God in it 206 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:27,407 if we are going to accomplish anything. 207 00:13:27,407 --> 00:13:30,382 If we are going to do the work; if we are going to carry on; 208 00:13:30,382 --> 00:13:34,318 if we are going to be victorious, we can only do it in time. 209 00:13:34,318 --> 00:13:36,600 God help us, brethren. 210 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:39,652 Hold on to God in this time. 211 00:13:39,652 --> 00:13:45,812 Walk with Him, talk with Him, plead with Him, hold on to Him. 212 00:13:47,132 --> 00:13:50,663 It's going to be gone very shortly. 213 00:13:50,663 --> 00:13:52,413 It's going to be gone. 214 00:13:52,413 --> 00:13:55,665 Brethren, this is our time. 215 00:13:55,665 --> 00:13:58,916 We are not guaranteed of tomorrow, this is our time.