Biblical Perspective on Singleness, A

Introduction: The Framework of Romans 12:1-2 for Singleness

0:00 This message was delivered at the 1991 Reformed Baptist Singles Retreat.

0:06 I'm thankful for the privilege of being a part of your gathering on this weekend. This is the first time of your, I think this is the third year that you've had this gathering, that I've been privileged to be a part of it in this way, and I do count it a privilege. I think I need a little less mic, Dave. It's kind of rumbling in my ears there. Please.

0:31 And since I will have the privilege, God willing, of ministering to you three times tomorrow, Pastor Nichols is on vacation, left a couple of days ago. He would normally be preaching Sunday evening, and in the light of the fact that we'll be carrying on the ministries of the ordinary fare that we would be giving to God's people here tomorrow, as I sought the input of the Singles Committee here at Trinity, and sought prayerfully to consider what I should bring you, and then when I began to feel some sense of direction, consulted with my wife, finding that often her instincts on these things have stood me in good stead over 35 plus years, and then I spoke to the pastor of one of the groups here that has about a dozen and a half present, maybe not quite that many, but more than a dozen, and there was a general consensus that, that what I propose to give you on this occasion would indeed be appropriate, and under the blessing of God, I trust, helpful to you, and more tailor-made to this setting of a singles conference. And I want to begin our study by turning with you to the familiar words of Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.

1:55 I shall read these verses, announce my subject, and then briefly expound these two verses to put the subject into this very distinct setting of Paul's exhortation in Romans 12, 1 and 2, and then we'll attack the subject itself. Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. And be not fashioned according to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now the subject I want to address tonight is a biblical perspective on singleness. How should we, in a very special way, view ourselves as singles in the light of the Word of God? And the reason for choosing that subject is bound up in the teaching of these two verses.

The Summons to a Basic Posture and Ongoing Duty Before God

3:12 And I want you to consider with me briefly what these verses contain. First of all, they contain a summons to a basic posture before God. These verses begin with a summons to a basic posture, and then they contain, secondly, a summons to an ongoing duty towards God. So, a summons to a basic posture before God, and a summons to an ongoing duty towards God.

3:48 Under that first heading, notice the basis of the summons and the essence of the summons. Here's the summons. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. The basis of this summons that the Apostle gives to all of the brethren at Rome is what he describes here as the mercies of God.

4:16 And in the context, the mercies of God are nothing more or nothing less than all of the provisions of God's salvation for hell-deserving sinners as so extensively expounded, in this very epistle to the Romans. A salvation that comes to a guilty, condemned, hell-deserving humanity, providing in Jesus Christ the full and complete pardon of all and every sin, provides us with a perfect record in the court of heaven, puts to our account the perfection of the obedience of Jesus Christ, a salvation, which breaks the dominion of sin imparts the Holy Spirit as a divine gift enabling us to live in a manner that is pleasing to God and that assures us that one day the salvation begun in that blotting out of our sins in crediting us with a perfect record in breaking the dominion of sin and giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit assures us that one day when God is done with us we shall be made into the very likeness of Jesus Christ and it's that salvation which expounds the mercies

5:42 of God every part of that salvation is God's pity in action perfectly suited to our drastic and extensive need as sinners and Paul says all that he said about that salvation in those words the mercies of God and so the basis of this summons to assume this posture before God lies in the objective provision of God's magnificent multifaceted salvation in the person and work of the Lord Jesus and in its application by the Holy Spirit now we've if those things don't mean anything to you, then the summons will find no response in your heart. But if you sit here with your heart at least tinged to some degree with a sense of wonder at God's mercies to you, a hell-deserving sinner, then any summons that comes to you based upon God's mercies has got a hook in your affections and in your will. And that's the basis of the summons that the apostle issues. And then the essence of the summons is very simply stated to live in the posture of entire devotedness to God.

7:09 That's the essence of this summons. I beseech you by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual sacrifice, and in those words the essence of what Paul is saying is I summon you on the basis of God's mercies to live life in the posture of entire devotedness to God. And he uses imagery and then he gives a rationale for that imagery. And the imagery is that of a burnt offering.

7:48 When a Jew went out under the Mosaic economy and he took... a lamb or a ram or some other animal prescribed by scripture to be offered up as a burnt offering to God.

8:03 When the animal was slain and then the animal was given as a sacrifice unto God, whatever else was true of that animal, it was wholly devoted unto God. When it was done with the sacrificial ritual, it was not only dead, it was utterly consumed by the fire that burnt upon the altar upon which it was offered. And under that imagery, Paul says I'm summoning you Roman believers to a life of utter devotedness to God as devoted as the carcass of that animal that was marked out for sacrifice, given up to God, its life taken out of it, and wholly devoted to God and cleansed. Consumed upon an altar. That's the imagery. Now he says the difference is you don't offer yourself up as a dead sacrifice, but as a living sacrifice.

9:05 A living sacrifice set apart unto God, set apart unto God in a manner that is well pleasing and acceptable to him. So that's the imagery of the essence of the summons. And then the rationale is, he says, for this is your spiritual or rational worship or service. And you'll find different translations because the word for service is most frequently used for the service of priests in the temple or in the tabernacle.

9:41 So it was religious service. It was service in conjunction with worship. So it's as though the Romans ask him, well, Paul, why are you using this imagery? From the Old Testament to summon us to a life of utter devotedness to God that has a parallel in the devotion of an animal sacrifice to God in the Levitical ritual.

10:05 He says, I'm doing this because this and this alone is the response that is rational, intelligent, and that answers to the demands of God's grace in the life of every single sinner to whom, that grace has come. As one commentator on these verses has said, if theology is grace, then ethics is gratitude. If theology is grace by the mercies of God, then ethics conduct is gratitude. And he says this and this alone is the rational or spiritual service commensurate with the measure and the nature of God's mercy. So that's the summons that comes to every one of us who claims to be a recipient of God's mercy in Jesus Christ. The basis of the summons is gratitude. I beseech you by mercies of God, gratitude for this gracious salvation in the Lord Jesus.

11:17 And the essence of the summons is to live a life in a posture of entireness, an entire devotedness to God, as devoted as that blood sacrifice that was marked out, set apart, given up to God in Levitical ritual. And the rationale for this, such and such alone is the spiritual service, which is pleasing to God and is rational. Then he gives a second summons. And this summons is to an ongoing duty, which we have to God.

Assertion 1: Prolonged Singleness is an Abnormality Resulting from the Fall

11:52 Not only a summons, to a basic posture before God, but a summons to an ongoing duty to God. It has a negative element, a positive element, and then it has an end in view. And what's the negative element? Verse two, and do not be fashioned according to this world or this age.

12:16 Someone has paraphrased it this way. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. This present age is called this present evil age. Satan is called the God of this world.

12:33 The scripture says that he is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who works in the sons of disobedience. And as Paul issues this summons to a basic posture before God, he says, you'll never work out the implications of that posture unless you are found engaged in an ongoing duty. And the first part of that duty is negative. Don't let this world squeeze you into its mold.

13:03 That is, don't let this world dictate your perspectives on life in general and on singleness in particular. For this world has its opinion of singleness, how we should view it, how we should conduct ourselves within that state, what we should, or should not do to get out of that state and into another. The world has its very strong deep-rooted opinions and perspectives. And Paul says, don't let this world squeeze you into its mold.

13:41 Do not be conformed or fashioned according to this world. But then there's the positive element. Be continually transformed. Transformed.

13:58 We get our word metamorphosis. Metamorphosis from the Greek word. It's a transliteration into English. What happens to the caterpillar when it becomes a butterfly?

14:08 A metamorphosis has gone on. And he says, you need to be metamorphosized. How? Not by ephemeral about your Christian singleness or anything else, but you are to be transformed by the renewing to have an arm of how I think about every facet of life.

14:50 Be transformed by and what is the great end in view that here's the ending view. You may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That is that in your own life experience, you may in your own personal walk before God know the reality of doing the will of God, the thing which is good. Morally good in itself acceptable unto God and perfect.

15:34 Not the perfection that awaits the age to come, but the completeness that is possible in this present life. Now that summons to an ongoing duty. I say sets the framework for our subject tonight. Why should I be concerned with all of the other responsibilities to bring together a quote new message?

16:00 It's all fresh notes prepared for tonight without consulting any previous treatment of this subject. Why? Because my concern is the concern of this passage that I do whatever is within my power to make sure that you, as one who professes to receive, to have received the mercies of God and to have a disposition born of gratitude, that you want to live a life of utter devotedness to God. That you will not be conformed to the spirit of this age with respect to how you view your state of singleness, but that you'll be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

16:39 That you as an individual may actually work out the will of God in your present and future state and know that in so doing, you are walking in the thing that is good, acceptable and perfect. Well, with that, brief exposition as the framework and basis of dealing with our subject and I want to address the subject of biblical perspective on singleness. Now you see why I want to do it. I want you to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

17:15 Then surely, if you've received the mercy of God, that's your desire. And as time permits, I want to make six very straightforward assertions about what I'm going to call, prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age. Now that's a mouthful, but as I wrestled with how to state what I wanted to state, I started each one of the statements, the assertions with those words. And here's the first assertion.

17:45 Prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age is an abnormality resulting from the fall of man. Now you'll never think biblically about singleness. Until you come to grips with that assertion. Prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age is an abnormality resulting from the fall of man.

Reasons for Singleness and Deliverance from False Guilt and Self-Pity

18:13 In the original creation, Genesis one and two make it abundantly clear. God made the male and female. God blessed them. God said, be fruitful, multiply, have dominion over the earth.

18:27 And subdue it. Genesis one as an abbreviated quotation of 26 to 28. Then we come to chapter two of Genesis and the well-known words. God had made Adam, placed him in a garden, given him a task.

18:41 Adam had named the animals, but the scripture says the Lord God is the one who came to this conclusion. It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper answering to him. And then we have that beautiful account of how God anesthetizes.

19:01 Adam takes one of his ribs, makes his counterpart, brings her to Adam, awakens him and beholding her, he sees his counterpart. As I've said to our own people, it's one of those things. I wish I had a tape recorder hidden in Eden. Better yet a camcorder and to have seen the look upon Adam's face and to hear his voice when he said, this is now bone of my bone.

19:25 my bone and flesh of my flesh as all of the animals paraded before him and he saw in some of those animals no doubt as we see characteristics that have a an almost spooky human element in them yet it says there was not one of them that corresponded to him none with whom he could intelligently disclose his deepest thoughts and yearnings and his loftiest insights into the world in which god had made him no helper was found answering to his need but when he wakes up from his being anesthetized by god and beholds eve he said this is now bone of my bone flesh of my flesh here is my counterpart and in those verses it's clear that the woman was made for the man and therefore woven into the very fabric of her femininity was the condescending concept of her complimenting adam and woven into the very texture of adam's masculinity was his incompleteness without the woman god drew the conclusion is not good for the man to be alone

20:41 i will make a helper answering to his need and we have every reason to assume had sin never entered every subsequent son and daughter of adam and eve would have had a counterpart in his or her adam or eve each armin had a counterpart even though each of them ultimately 실 Sverige ły aj men men koérer all societies. But there is an inequality of the number of available men and women in almost every society. It doesn't fall out that death evenly cuts at the same time and sweeps one generation after another into the grave. War, which often devastates the male population. God speaks of it

21:52 in the book of Isaiah that he would bring about a situation so desperate in which seven women would be contesting for one man because war had done its horrible, horrible, devastating and ravaging work. Disease that incapacitates. Matthew 19, Jesus said in this present age, there are some who are eunuchs from birth. That is, they are born with deformities that make it impossible for them to live. They are born with deformities that make it impossible for them to live.

22:23 They are born with deformities that make it impossible for them to live. They are born with To fulfill the role of a husband. Others because of the cruelty of sin. It says others are made eunuchs by men.

22:32 And when a king had a harem. And didn't want to have the overseer of the harem. Messing around with the goods. Castrated the overseers.

22:39 Literally made them eunuchs. And that's been a practice that has gone on for centuries.

22:48 Sinful actions and attitudes. Keep people from being desirable marriage partners. Which never would have been true. When Adam looked upon Eve.

22:56 There was nothing that he could discover in her. That would be a legitimate grounds for him to say. Wait a minute God. Let's think twice before we contract this marriage.

23:05 I'm not so sure about this gal. There was nothing. Or vice versa. There was nothing in Eve that said.

23:11 Wait a minute God. Before you join me to this man. There are a few things I want to investigate. But that no longer exists.

23:18 All marriages are made of two sinners.

23:22 Saved. If they are Christian yes. But sinners still. In terms of the activity.

23:27 Of remaining sin. And there's another apparent factor. That God's electing grace seems. Seems.

23:36 To fall more often upon the head of women than men. Often you find in a church. Farmen with unconverted. Male spouses.

23:48 Then vice versa. And often you find a level of devotedness among young women. You don't find among young men. I can't figure it out.

23:55 I'm just stating facts. But all of them are the result of. Ultimately of the fall. And what it has done.

24:02 Divorced. Jesus said. Rooted in the hardness of the human heart. Matthew 19.

24:08 That takes people out of the married state. And puts them back into the single state. Prolonged singleness. Beyond responsible marriageable age.

24:21 Is an abnormality resulting from the fall of man. Now why is it crucial. To have this. Fact in any perspective on singleness.

24:32 Well let me give you three reasons. Very simple but very crucial reasons. Number one. This fact alone will deliver us from false guilt.

24:42 Concerning our own prolonged singleness. There are few things that will cause a sincere Christian. Greater self-doubts than prolonged singleness. Beyond ordinary marriageable age.

25:00 And we say. Well there must be something horribly. Ugly about my personality. If not my appearance.

25:07 Something very undesirable about me. As a woman or a man. That I cannot. Either be desired as a marriage partner.

25:15 Or I cannot secure the consent of someone else. Whom I desire. And we get into the dilemma of those people in John 9. You remember that man born blind.

25:26 They only had two alternatives. For someone who had congenital sickness. Either God was punishing the parents. Or this person sinned very grievously.

25:38 Shouldn't say congenital. Had an extended illness. Did something very naughty as a kid. And God was judging.

25:44 And they said who did sin. This man or his parents. That he should be born blind. They only had two alternatives.

25:52 Guilt on the guy. Or guilt on the parents. And Jesus said. There's another alternative.

25:59 Neither is true in this case. This blind man. Is not to be attributed as a divine judgment upon the parents. Or upon this man.

26:08 But that the glory of God might be manifested. You see in this sinful wretched state. That we are presently in. God is determined to use the very reality of sin.

26:22 As the backdrop to display his glory. And your singleness beyond responsible marriageable age. Is an abnormal. But it does not.

26:34 But it does not mean. That there is something directly attributable. To your sin. Or to something undesirable.

26:43 In you. There may be other reasons. Reasons that ultimately find their rationale. In God's determination.

26:53 To glorify himself. Then the second reason why you need to understand this. Is not only be delivered from false guilt. If you have continued.

27:02 Prolonged singleness. But to be delivered from self-pity. And hard thoughts of God. To be delivered from self-pity.

27:12 And hard thoughts of God. I've met more than one person. Who is in a state of singleness. Males and females.

27:21 Beyond responsible marriageable age. Who were constantly indulging in self-pity. And hard thoughts of God. It's not fair.

27:31 That I've not been sought. As a marriage partner. It's not fair. That God won't give me my Eve.

27:37 Wait a minute. This whole condition is a result of the intrusion of sin. And the only fair thing in this moral universe. Is that all of us be roasting in hell.

27:50 That's the only fair thing. The only to expect of God. Is his judgment and his damnation. Anything that is mercy.

28:03 Just to walk on his ground. Single or in any other state. Is all of mercy. And Margaret Clarkson.

28:11 Who's come to grips with her singleness. And lived a great life of usefulness. As a single woman. Has addressed this issue so perceptively.

28:19 That I want to quote her words. From her book. You're Single. By Margaret Clarkson.

28:25 She said. God never promised anyone. A husband. A home.

28:29 And three chubby children. Nor health. Happiness. And prosperity either.

28:34 Far more New Testament promises. Have to do with suffering. Than with material good. Or human well-being.

28:40 God's doing something for eternity. Not merely for time. Singleness as we've already seen. Is one result of man's fall.

28:48 All mankind must partake of the evils. Attendant upon man's sin. And in so doing. Some of us are bound to experience.

28:58 Singleness. If my part of humanity's travail. Includes singleness. How can I feel cheated.

29:04 On sober reflection. Which of life's other calamities. Would I prefer. Blindness.

29:08 Deafness. Mental retardation. Insanity. Quadriplegia.

29:12 Johnny. Erickson. Tatter. Devastation by war.

29:16 Famine. Natural disaster. To mention but a few. These are questions.

29:21 For serious consideration. Thousands of people. Do experience these things. But for the grace of God.

29:26 So might. We. All. Be.

29:30 All. All. Be. All.

29:34 All. All. All. All.

29:38 All. All. All. All.

29:42 All. All. All. All.

29:46 All. All. All. All.

29:50 All. All. All. All.

29:54 All. All. All. All.

29:58 All. All. All. All.

30:02 All. All. All. All.

30:06 singleness, a burden many of them are forced to carry as an extra along with their physical disability, that is they bear the burden of singleness on the back of this other great burden, then surely you can never again feel cheated. When unworthy thoughts of being cheated plague you, when you experience surges of desire or periods of depression, try counting your blessings before the Lord literally and deliberately. Do as the song says and name them one by one. Not only will it surprise you what the Lord has done, but before long you'll be lost in shame and then in awe and worship. Overwhelmed by God's goodness and mercy to you, your singleness simply won't matter that much anymore. You'll forget your feelings of being cheated. As a Christian, I have no rights to marriage, to physical well-being, to anything but what God sends.

31:12 The Christian knows only God's gifts. Now you see, if I understand that my state of prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age is an abnormality resulting from the fall and I am implicated in that fall, Romans 5, 12 to the end, Romans 5, 12 to the end of the chapter, then what better means to be delivered from self-pity and hard thoughts of God? If that God who has so ordered my life has ordered it that I'm in a state of prolonged singleness beyond normal marriageable age, I'm not roasting in hell. I'm not being strapped into a wheelchair as a quadriplegic every morning. I'm not having tubes stuck into me that I might, be kept alive. How can I have hard thoughts of that God and be filled with self-pity? You see how our theology of the fall enables us not to be conformed to this world, a world whose attitude is, if there is a God, he owes me everything and I'm going to grab all I can get. No. What have you that you did not receive? If it's anything beyond hell, it's all of grace.

Deliverance from Unbelieving Fatalism and Prayer for a Spouse

32:38 And it's all of mercy, so that's the second reason why you need to understand that. But there's a third reason. And that is to be delivered from unbelieving fatalism. We believe in the sovereignty of God, but we're not fatalists as the Muslim. We believe goal正ffer nos abrang as a Muslim We believe in a loving wise father who controls and orders all events and circumstances. But he's a God who is active in his world, and who has an ear that's open to our cry. Who dares to say in some 37, 4, delight thyself in the Lord, and he will give thee the desires of thine heart. He says in James 3 and verse 2, James 4, I'm sorry, in verse 2, ye have not because ye ask not.

33:28 In Matthew 7, 11, Jesus said, if you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your heavenly father give good things to those who ask him? And therefore, believing that God in redemption is committed not to the total eradication of the effects of sin in this present age. This is all called the down payment, the earnest, the first fruits.

33:52 That's all we get down here. But thank God in the first fruits, God does undo a lot of the horrible effects of sin. And we can come to God and say, Lord, this is an abnormality. If it please you in your mercy, not because I'm wise.

34:09 And I'm going to wear you down. Maybe you had parents. If you whined enough, you got what you wanted. And that's why you're mad at God, because he doesn't act like your parents did.

34:17 God isn't impressed with your whining and you'll never wear him down. You can pump iron eight hours a day and you'll never get God in a hammerlock and get him to say, uncle, give in. That's losing business. But to come and say, Lord, you've made me the way you've made me.

34:34 And this prolonged singleness is abnormal. Lord, I feel the abnormality. And you're a loving father. And you who sent your only begotten son would not withhold any good thing.

34:46 Lord, if it can be good for me and for your church and for your glory, then, Lord, give me the desire of my heart. In your way and time, you give me a husband. You give me a wife. You see, if I believe that prolonged singleness beyond the ordinary marriageable age is an abnormality, the result of sin.

35:09 Then I am delivered from an unbelieving fatalism that says, well, I'm just locked up to my singleness. That's the beginning, middle and end of it and become a sour old bachelor or a sour old maid. I never used the term old maid around here to describe single people. It's a derogatory term, but I used it now because that's the place to use it.

35:31 The sour old maid is the woman who has taken a fatalistic attitude with respect to her singleness. And a pity me, self indulgent, woe is me attitude with respect to God. It's a horrible thing. And we need to be delivered from an unbelieving fatalism.

Assertion 2: Singleness as a Special Gift for Special Service

35:50 So the first building block in a biblical perspective on our singleness is to recognize that prolonged singleness is an abnormality resulting from the fall of man. I've spent a good bit of time on that because that's fundamental to all that follows. Secondly, Prolonged singleness, beyond responsible marriageable age is sometimes a special gift from God in order that we might render special service to God. Prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age is sometimes a special gift from God in order to render special service to God.

36:35 And there's two texts in the scripture that make this abundantly clear. In Matthew 19, the whole subject is the subject of marriage and divorce and the permanence of marriage. And after Jesus is done explaining that God's intention for marriage is to be learned from the original institution of marriage and creation, the disciples then respond in Matthew 19 10 and they say unto him, if this is the case of a man with his wife, it's not expedient to marry. Lord, if you're telling us, that in the administration of your kingship, you're going to reestablish the binding nature of marriage so that a man cannot be putting away his wife for every trifling little cause and simply write a piece of paper and send her away, then it's better to remain single. I mean, if the commitment's that permanent, then it's better not to make it. And the Lord responds by saying, this is pivotal. He said unto them, Matthew 19 11, not all men can receive this saying, but they, to whom it is given.

37:42 For there are eunuchs, those unable to marry that were so born from their mother's womb. There are eunuchs that were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs that made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. See what he's saying?

38:08 He's saying that a state of, prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age is in some cases, the result of someone voluntarily choosing to be single for a specific concern related to the kingdom of God. However, Jesus goes on to say, no one should assume that that is to be his position. If there is not reasonable, evidence to believe he has been given this gift by God. Not all men can receive this saying, but they, to whom it is given.

38:51 He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. And the person who makes a miscalculation out of false zeal or subtle asceticism, that he or she is being called to singleness, beyond responsible marriageable age, for the sake of some special task in the kingdom, and God has not given to them the grace needed for that state. They are guilty of presumption and they'll suffer for it. Second text is first Corinthians seven.

39:28 And while there were certain circumstances, we don't know what they were, but Paul describes them as because of the distresses that are upon us. First Corinthians seven, twenty six. He is urging people to consider a life of singleness, beyond responsible marriageable age. And he says in verses thirty two to thirty five, there is an advantage to that state.

39:57 I would have you to be free. First Corinthians seven, thirty two from cares. He that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord that he may please the Lord. But he that is married is careful for the things of the world, how he may please his wife and is divided.

40:14 So also the woman that is unmarried and the Virgin is careful for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy, both in body and in spirit. But she that is married is careful for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I say for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare, a constraint, a noose upon you, but for that which is seemly, and that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction. But now that must be put in the context, of what he said at the very beginning of this chapter.

40:47 And in the very beginning of that chapter, in language that is almost course, and seems so utterly devoid of anything romantic, that some have been offended by it. But Paul was a great realist. And in that immoral city of Corinth, where if you wanted to say someone was debauched and debased, you said he was Corinthianized. A word was coined.

41:11 He was Corinthianized. He said, because of foreign, fornications, let each man have his own wife, let each woman have her own husband. Then he admonishes them to mutual conjugal responsibilities, and duties, and privileges, and commands them not to withhold themselves from one another sexually, lest they expose themselves to temptation. But then in verse seven, he says, how be it each man hath his own gift from God.

41:43 What? What? What? What?

41:44 What? What? What? One after this manner and another after that.

41:47 So what he says in the subsequent verses is predicated upon this concept. It is a gift from God to be able to remain in the single state and to be given the grace necessary not to burn with distracting passion or to fall before it to one's own damnation, but to be the kind of person that is not divided in the single state can attend. And holy upon the Lord, the man or woman burning with passion and stumbling into fornication to the jeopardizing of his soul is not someone attending unto the Lord without distraction. So these verses in the latter part of first Corinthians seven must never be cut loose from the first seven verses. Paul started where he ought to have started and he did. But having said that it is still true that prolonged, singleness beyond responsible marriageable age is sometimes a special gift from God in order to render special service to God. Now, what practical difference will that make with respect to my single state?

Practical Implications of Singleness as a Gift

43:01 Well, again, let me give you three practical implications. Number one, we will never demean the single state in another. We live in a society. That with all of its kinkiness still has within it a sense that the married state is the normal state.

43:27 And anyone who's not married is to be demeaned either as someone undesirable or someone who's questionable. Maybe the guy is queer. That's why he doesn't seek a wife. Maybe she's a lessee.

43:40 Maybe she gets her jollies with her roommate. Don't ever be guilty of being conformed to this. World and raising an eyebrow over any brother or sister in Christ, who is in a state of prolonged singleness beyond ordinary marriageable age. It may be that they have been given a special gift from God to be single, to render special service to God and your demeaning God's gift.

44:08 And in so doing, demeaning God himself. Don't ever demean the state of singleness in the light of this principle. Furthermore, don't. Be suspicious of those who are single beyond ordinary marriageable age.

44:26 And carry secret suspicions that maybe they're not quite wired properly in their sexual orientation. Love thinks no evil. You may not have a clue of how much that person has wrestled along with God in secret to maintain the gift of singleness. It's coupled with purity.

44:53 The tears shed, the agonizing wrestlings with God. And what a horrible thing for you to think evil thoughts of such a person. If you ever hear one else doing it, rebuke it sharply. It demands and deserves such rebuke.

45:07 Third practical implication. You must prayerfully consider this possibility. If God in his providence has hedged you up to a state of singleness, beyond responsible marriageable age, could it be that he is conferring upon you a gift of singleness because he has some special service for you to render? Could be.

45:34 Could be. And we don't expect a prophet to rise up in the church and say, Thus saith the Lord, Thou hast the gift of singleness, John or Mary. No. But how are you going to know?

45:47 If providence has hedged you up to singleness, that's a fact you can start with. And you can bring that fact before God and say, Lord, I don't understand this fact, but most young Christian men, most Christian women my age are married. I am beyond the responsible marriageable age of most people. Lord, that's a fact.

46:08 I can't argue with it. And you're the Lord of all facts. Lord, could it be? Could it be that you are giving to me or have given to me the gift of singleness?

46:20 What then is that special service for which that gift has been given? And maybe some of you, you ought not so much to be praying for a husband or wife as praying for wisdom and discernment, to know the special service to which God is calling you in your state of singleness. There are places where no responsible man would take a wife and children, but where a devoted man could take the gospel where it's never been taken. Where are the young men among us with the spirit of determination that Christ will have his reward?

46:58 From those places where no man could honor and nourish and cherish a wife, and at the same time be preaching the gospel. Where are the women prepared to render service commensurate with their God assigned role of non leadership in the church and yet many spheres of service within the church and on behalf of the church. I think of two single women in our own assembly and everyone in this congregation will know who I'm referring to in the tremendous, service they render to this whole congregation because they've accepted their gift of singleness unto God. Well, there's a third assertion. Time's getting away from me quickly. Must hasten on.

Assertion 3: Singleness as a Divinely Imposed Trial of Faith

47:49 Prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age is sometimes, hear me carefully now, this is different from number two, is sometimes a divinely imposed trial of faith. Prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age is sometimes a divinely imposed trial of faith. Here's a person with no sense of a call to singleness and to a special task to do in Christ's kingdom. The man has sought a wife, but no one worthy of being a wife will consent to be his wife. And because we don't live in a society where you walk in the bush, bop her on the head and drag her back into the tent, you're single. And some of you, not very many, nobody here old enough to remember little Abner, but they had a Sadie Hawkins day. And on Sadie Hawkins day, all the women were free to go about and take any man to be their husband.

49:04 Well, we have no reform back to Sadie Hawkins day. When you gals have liberty to go and grab your man. Seriously, you do not have any sense that God has given you a peculiar grace to be single and therefore prepared to make yourself a male or a female eunuch for the kingdom of heaven's sake. But the scripture does say this in James 1 to my brethren counted all joy when you fall into diverse trials, knowing that the trial of your faith works.

49:38 Patience. In other words, your singleness is not so much a gift from God, given that you might perform a special service for God, but it is a trial of faith imposed upon you by God to show the sufficiency of his grace, in spite of all of the peculiar burdens and tensions arising out of your singleness. And if that's so, then you've got to reckon with such passages as James 1 to Lord. I must count it.

50:16 Joy having fallen into and remaining in the ongoing trial of my singleness. And in that situation, remember such passages as these Hebrews 4 14 and 15, for we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted. Like is we are yet without. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace.

50:46 There is in our blessed Lord. No indication from the scriptures in terms of the exegesis of any given set of passages in terms of the theology of the integrity of his manhood. He is not only called Anthropos man, one of mankind, but he is referred to in several places as a man on the air. One of them.

51:11 Male gender. And there's no indication that our Lord. And I say it reverently was a sex less or an androgynous male looking creature that he entered puberty as any normal Hebrew boy did and possessed all of the faculties of soul and body commensurate with vigorous whole humanity found in a man. And with that, it's evident that he was tender and the presence of women enjoyed the presence and companionship and interaction of women.

51:53 He loved the home at Bethany. And we know the name of one man Lazarus, but we know the name of two of the women who were there. And yet in all of that, never was there an untoward glance or an unholy desire. And yet we don't have a detached high priest and say, well, I can't come to God.

52:14 Tell him about what I feel in my yearnings and my longings. Why? Who says you can't? We have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin.

52:35 And then a second text. You need to really lay to heart and pray. The Holy Ghost will burn into your heart is second Corinthians 12 9. Paul faced a situation.

52:45 Where he said, Lord, I see only two alternatives, whatever this thorn in the flesh is, if it continues to plague me, this messenger of Satan to buffet me, I can't fulfill my ministry. Therefore, the only alternative I see is Lord, remove this affliction, whatever it is. It makes me consciously weak. I can't see how I can fulfill my task.

53:11 He said, for this cause, I besought the Lord three times. Probably three seasons of extended fasting and prayer. And he had it all figured out. Only two alternatives.

53:24 The thorn in the flesh, whatever it was remains and I can't fulfill my ministry or God removes it. And I fulfill my ministry. God says, no, I have another alternative. I'm going to leave the thorn because it's that thing that keeps you consciously weak Paul.

53:42 And when you're consciously weak, then you consciously depend upon me. And when you consciously depend upon me, I can use a humble dependent man, but because I've given you such privileges and I've given you such revelations. If this thing were not there to keep you cut off at the knees, you'd be strutting around like a peacock and I resist the proud. I wouldn't use you.

54:03 You couldn't fulfill your ministry. No Paul. There's a third alternative. I'm going to leave this affliction because the devil is my devil.

54:13 Oh, yes. He's a messenger of Satan to buffet. Buffet you, but he's at the end of my chain doing my bidding and his buffeting keeps you consciously weak. Paul says, Lord, I never looked at it that way before, but I see it and I accept it.

54:27 Then he said these words most gladly. Therefore, will I glory in my felt weakness, my infirmities, my asthenia, my felt conscious weaknesses. Why? That the power of Christ may tempt itself upon me.

54:46 Literally. For when I am weak, then am I strong for some of you. Your singleness will be just that. It will be that that keeps you conscious of your utter dependence upon God.

55:05 You say, Lord, I just feel at times like I'm a hair's breath away from shaming your name by allowing my heart to go out to an unconverted man or woman in my longing for companionship. Lord, I feel I'm just an eyelash away. Away from falling into fornication. God says, I know that, but you haven't have you?

55:26 I've kept you for these three, five, seven, eight, ten, 15 years. Yes, Lord, but I got this has got to go. God says, no, it's that very thing. That is the trial of your faith.

55:41 That's working endurance and steadfastness and the grace of humble dependence upon me. You see, after all, God's great concern. Is to get us to heaven, not to give us a husband or wife. Christ died to land us safely in heaven.

56:02 If he's going to use prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age as a divinely imposed trial of faith, then you must cease fighting the thing which is God's very instrument to bring you safely home to glory. Just as some do not choose a debilitating disease, a radical handicap, the loss of an arm. I made reference to Johnny Erickson, Tata and her quadriplegic state out of these trials, come other graces in abundance, not only to the glory of God, but to the good of his people. Second Corinthians, one of the Paul says, God who comforts us in all our tribulation, why that we may be able to comfort others by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. And while there are several sections, in Margaret Clarkson's book that I don't endorse, especially what she says on page 50 and page 123. And then the whole last chapter on singles in the church. One of the most refreshing things about this book is that you see second Corinthians one in operation.

57:12 Here's a woman who came to grips with the fact that her singleness was in her earlier days, a divinely imposed trial of faith. And then it became what she recognized. Later on is a gift from God. And as a result of it, she is able to help people like myself who've not known that prolonged singleness to have an insight in an understanding, and to be able to stand here on a Saturday night and minister in a way we otherwise couldn't.

Assertion 4: Singleness as a Result of Worldly and Sinful Attitudes

57:43 Thank God that she embraced that trial of faith biblically and is bringing comfort to so many others as a result of it. And the fourth statement, and I'll gather up speed as I move along, conscious of our time, prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age. Sometimes here I'm going from comfort. The meddling sometimes is the result of worldly and sinful attitudes, perspectives, desires and patterns of life.

58:23 Prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age. Sometimes. Is the result of worldly sinful attitudes, perspectives, desires and patterns of life. The very thing forbidden in Romans 12 to do not be conformed to this world or James for three.

58:46 You ask and receive not because you ask a miss that you may consume it upon your loss. You're asking is out of a wrong framework. Therefore, God does not answer you. Now, let me get very specific.

59:00 You men. When's the last time you prayed in the words of Proverbs 31 and said, now, God helped me to see the character traits that I should look for in seeking a wife, because the Bible does talk about finding a wife, seeking a wife, taking a wife, indicating that the initiative is to be conscious and deliberate on the part of a man. And in Proverbs 31, I was struck with this. In reading this, in my own devotions, trying to read a proverb, according to the day of the month, each day of the month over the years.

59:37 What does this whole section from Proverbs 31, 10 through the end of the chapter say about a woman's figure and face? Says only one thing. It says it's deceitful and it's vain. That's all the only head about face and form.

60:03 Is said in verse 30. Grace is deceitful. Beauty is vain. Every else that constitutes this woman, a worthy woman.

60:17 Verse 10. A worthy woman who can look for a worthy woman. Why do I look for? Because this is a mama talking to her son.

60:35 The words of King Lemuel, the Oracle, which his mother taught him. Thank God for mamas. They teach their sons what to look for in a woman. And so he says a word.

60:45 She says to him, a worthy woman, who can find her price is far above. And then she describes this worthy woman. It's as though he's getting kind of answers, describing all of her industriousness and her abilities and her practical sense and all the rest. But mother, the make any difference what she looks like.

61:03 Said, well, if she's a good looker and she's got lots of social grace and everybody loves her. The first time she walks in the room, most likely it's deceitful and the beauty will soon go. And the wrinkles will come and she'll look like an old hag. Then what do you got when the fair, fair face is all wrinkles?

61:29 What do you got left? Some if she's not been a worthy woman, you ain't got nothing. You got nothing. But if you got a worthy woman, the beauty that shown through her relatively plain face in ordinary form will now be so enhanced by the cumulative effect of living with such a worthy woman.

61:49 She'll become more beautiful, even as the wrinkles, become more profuse. He said, that's crazy. No, it didn't. That's biblical.

61:59 And that's my testimony. Young women don't attract me. I've lived with a worthy woman for 35 years. The prettiest girl here.

62:14 You may be just what the Bible calls a ring of gold in the swine's snout. That's what the book of Proverbs says. A beautiful woman without discretion, without spiritual nobility is like a gold ring in a swine's snout. How incongruous to go out and buy a $200 gold ring and then stick it in a pig's nose.

62:38 Who says the Bible isn't got humor in it? That's what it says. A woman who's got a beautiful face, but is not a noble woman is like a ring of gold in a pig's nose. Now, I ask you guys, you want to be married with something that God likens to a ring of gold in a pig's nose?

62:57 Then you've got to get rid of all the influence of the billboards and the magazines and the Playboy, and your TV sitcoms and all around and get rid of that stinking notion. You're going to find a noble woman all wrapped up in a 36, 24, 36, who prays 10 hours a day, who's got 170 IQ, she's a head turner and everything else. The reason some of you are single beyond responsible marriageable age is you have got, as men, sinful attitudes, perspectives, and desires and patterns of life with regard to looking for a wife. And you know, the whole world around you judges the book by its cover, and you don't make me embarrassed by the cover. And therefore, that's the first thing you're concerned about is the cover. And you don't even let the pages speak long enough to see that there's a noble woman, unless you are initially powerfully attracted physically. And there's not a word in the Bible that indicates that's a prerequisite for the beginning of a relationship that may consummate in a God-honoring marriage.

64:09 You find it in the Bible, show me. I've been looking for years and I haven't found it yet. But a worthy woman, that's the woman you're...

64:20 So you're going to have to deal with that, some of you men. You're going to have to deal with the matter of your selfishness. You sit in churches where there's a high standard of what a husband is supposed to be. He's preached and lived before you.

64:32 The responsibilities of being one who loves your wife as Christ loved the church and nurturing your children, that scared the liver out of you. And you're full of unbelief that God can't make you the kind of man that could care for a woman that way. That's sinful. O ye of little faith, according to your faith, be it unto you.

64:56 Some of you selfish. You just don't want your little world that's all neatly packaged to be disrupted with someone else's interest and desires and concerns and mood swings. That would mean you'd have to start living day and night for somebody. You're not ready for that.

65:15 You're too full of self. Well, in some of the cases of some of you men, and I can only ask you to pray, search me, O God, and try my heart, your prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age may indeed be the result of worldly sinful attitudes, perspectives, desires, and patterns of life. And you need to repent of those things, not just to get a wife, but because they're sin. Repent of them because God commands you.

65:44 He commands you to repent of them. And think biblically about what you ought to seek in a wife, even if you don't end up seeking one. Because God says, don't be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You're to think biblically about this.

65:59 And for you gals, may I be bold enough to speak to you, some of you expect more than the word of God warrants. There's a man who has real deep devotion to Christ, is a selfless, caring man, responsible and level-headed. So what if he's got narrow shoulders and isn't six feet tall? Oh, yes, but I always do.

66:20 Well, forget your silly little teenage dreams. Where does the Bible say that you measure manhood by inches up or around? Where do you find that, girls, young ladies, women? Where do you find that?

66:41 I don't find it in the Bible. That's the world's perspective. It's not God's perspective. And some of you have been pursued and may be pursuing right now.

66:51 By noble, godly men, who in an age of narcissism and navel-gazing are selfless, concerned, outgoing. Who've cultivated an interest in the children of the church. Who've been willing to teach a Sunday school class. Who are always there to help people move.

67:10 They show a pattern of selfless, loving concern for others. All right, so they ain't exactly Robert Redford. You ain't exactly who? You put the name.

67:31 I had an aunt who had an uncle of mine who was single and died single. And one of his problems was there. And it was back in the days when, again, shows my age, when Clark Gable and Betty Grable, they were the real good-lookers, you see. And he came home from one time spending a little time with a certain woman and was talking to my aunt about it.

67:55 And he said, but she isn't exactly Betty Grable. And she turned around and says, well, Bert, maybe she went home tonight. And he says, he ain't exactly Clark Gable. You see, even from the standpoint of being reasonable in your expectations, you women, can it be that your own prayers are being frustrated by your worldly and sinful perspectives?

68:21 And you need to deal with it and ask God to mortify them in your heart. Maybe some of you have some sinful asceticism. The whole idea that the marriage state is less spiritual. That doctrine comes from the devil.

68:34 1 Timothy 4, 3. Doctrines of demons are these, Paul says, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats. The single state, when a gift from God allows special service for God. But notice I didn't say higher service.

68:51 We are not Roman Catholics. That the single state is inherently more holy. That is not the teaching of the Word of God. And you may have some asceticism in you.

69:05 You may have laziness in dealing with those things that are unattractive in your womanhood and in your manhood. Now, though God says you're not to look for grace and beauty, doing the best with what God gave you is your responsibility, both men and women. Why? Because you're an image bearer of God and you're to reflect His image.

69:29 And you are to seek under God to be as attractive as you can inwardly and outwardly. But it's your own laziness. It's your own laziness that keeps you frumpy and dowdy in your appearance. And I don't blame a girl if she says, How can I be proud of a guy that comes with a jacket that goes back 15 years with 7 inches lapels on it?

69:54 And the guy says, You mean a godly woman won't see beyond my 7 inch lapels? No, unless she's blind. And it won't bother her at all. Until she hears all her friends snickering and she'll say, What are you snickering about?

70:09 And they'll have to tell her. That character you're going with got 7 inch lapels. That's a 1967 jacket he's wearing. Oh.

70:17 Yes, I'm not blind. And I put my safe in the place of some of the young women and I say, No, it's not wrong for them to feel a bit. If he's kooky in something so practical as that, where else might he be kooky if I get closer? If he's willing to be that kooky in open public appearance, what would he be like?

70:46 Alone? Behind closed doors? Huh? Isn't that right, gals?

70:55 Huh? Some of them nodding their heads. So some of you guys, it's not unspiritual to save a few bucks to find out what will keep you. Not being Mr. Cool Threads, you know, who's always on the cutting edge of the latest styles.

71:13 No, no. But dressing in such a way that no godly young woman would have any reason to be embarrassed to introduce you to her friends at the office. That's what I'm talking about. And vice versa.

71:25 You gals. If you need to go and read a little something in the library about color coordination and what colors are best for your hair style and your color hair and what...

71:38 Some... Even I can tell some of you got the wrong color lipstick on.

71:45 I've never taken a course in that, but I've got enough sense of aesthetics to know. You say that's unspiritual. No, it isn't. We are made physical beings who can appreciate these things.

71:57 I've given the biblical emphasis that we're not to let those perspectives dominate. But you read the Song of Solomon and there's the balancing perspective. Both the man and the woman delighted in the physical appearance of the mate. Well, what do I say by way of application?

72:16 Under this heading, I urge you to pray. Search me, O God. If my singleness beyond reasonable marriageable age is the result of sinful perspectives and attitudes and dispositions, Lord, help me to see them and to deal with them in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Be convinced that there's no legitimate outlet for sexual burning but marriage.

72:39 Fornication is not an outlet. Masturbation, fantasizing, homosexual, lesbian relationships. God writes over all of them. His word of condemnation.

Assertion 5: Singleness Does Not Alter Identity or Worth in Christ

72:52 May God help you to think biblically. Now, it's nine o'clock and I'm supposed to be done. Dave, may I give these other two heads quickly? Yes?

73:04 All right. The rest of you, is that all right? I won't be long with you. This is the first time I've ridden this horse, so I didn't know how it would ride.

73:13 I've not ever brought these things in this way before, so you be patient with me, all right? Prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age. Does not determine or alter my fundamental identity or worth as a Christian man or a Christian woman. And how some of you need to get hold of this.

73:38 Prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age. Does not determine or alter my fundamental identity or worth as a Christian man or woman. Now, we hear much about personhood in our unisex age. There is no such thing as neutral personhood.

73:59 We're all males or females. But my identity and worth as a Christian male or female are not for singleness or marriage of God as a man or a woman. James 3, 9 speaks of even fallen men and women who are made after the likeness of God. It doesn't say if they're married.

74:28 They just need to be human. We are all horribly, tragically implicated in the fall of Adam. Romans 5, 12 and following. We've got nothing to strut about.

74:42 As in Adam, all die, male and female. But blessed be God, we are all equally redeemed and given equal status in Christ. Galatians 3, 27 to 29. Ye are all the sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

74:59 In Christ there is neither bond nor bondage. Neither bond nor free. Ye are all one in Christ Jesus. That does not mean I cease to be a woman if I'm in Christ.

75:14 I cease to be a man if I'm in Christ. It means that in terms of the privileges and the identity of union with Christ, my sexual identity means nothing. My marital status means nothing. Nothing.

75:32 My status as an image bearer of God. And as one complete in Christ is not one whit altered by a trip to a marriage altar. And some of you need to get hold of that truth. So that you carry yourself with the dignity of one who is conscious of your worth and of your identity as image bearer, fallen but in Christ made complete.

76:03 Whether or not you ever walk in Christ. Whether or not you ever walk down an aisle and say I do. That is liberating. That is a liberating truth.

76:15 You have nothing to be embarrassed about. To know that you've been loved from eternity by God. Chosen in Christ. Redeemed by his precious blood.

76:27 Quickened by his spirit. Endowed with every gift and grace given to a child of God. And listen. It's the consciousness of that identity in Christ as a single person that will give stability to you as a married person if marriage is in the will of God for you.

76:47 If you're all hung up with your sense of dignity and worth with relationship to what you are as an image bearer and as a child of God prior to marriage. It'll complicate it. Because when your husband or your wife begins to discover what a rotten creature they married and sees all your sins up close and begins to let you know then you're shattered and devastated. Because you never came to grips with what you are as complete in Jesus Christ as a single person.

Assertion 6: Singleness Does Not Change God's Standard of Devotedness

77:22 You follow me? Marriage doesn't cure that. It complicates one's ability to come to grips with it. And then finally prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age.

77:38 Does not change God's standard of entire devotedness to Christ. Prolonged singleness beyond responsible marriageable age does not change God's standard of entire devotedness to Christ. Let me explain what I mean. Here's the way some singles think.

77:59 As a single person I've got more time to myself more money to spend for myself more energy to expend. Therefore I'm free to use that time and money and energy on myself. I can be a fashion hound fill my closet so it looks like Imelda Marcos' with all the shoes. Three pairs to match every outfit.

78:20 I'm single. No, there's nothing wrong with that. I can spend all kinds of money ten, twenty, thirty, forty bucks a week on fun and games. It'd be wrong if I were married.

78:31 I'd be denying my wife and kids things but I'm single. This is the way I suck my single thumb. It's a kind of thumb sucking. Self-indulgence.

78:43 Spending time and money on myself. If I were married I'd have to deny myself. The teaching of the Bible is there is no double standard of entire devotedness to Christ for every Christian, single or married. The teaching of the Bible is clear in Luke 14, 25 and following Jesus turned to the multitudes and said If any man come to me, single or married and hate not father, mother, brother, sister, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

79:14 Then he gave the illustration of counting the cost and then he concluded by saying in verse 33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you, married or single, who forsakes not all that he hath, be my disciple. What right do you think you have to have a less rigorous demand of discipleship because you're single? You don't get it from the Bible. Every true child of God, single or married should be able to say for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

79:44 If any man will come after me, married or single let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. Margaret Clarkson, whom I'd hoped to quote more frequently throughout the course of the message but I do want to conclude with these words If you marry, this union with Christ will be your greatest assurance of a happy marriage. If you don't marry, it's your only security against a lonely, bitter, barren and I would say selfish old age. You see, prolonged singleness beyond responsible, marriageable age does not change God's standard of entire devotedness to Christ and that standard sits upon you here and now and we come around full circle to where we began I beseech you brethren were there some singles at Rome? No doubt there were. Married? Yes, there were.

80:40 But I beseech you brethren, single or married by the mercies of God to present your bodies, the entirety of your redeemed humanity in entire devotedness unto God don't be shaped by this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that married or single you may prove the good, the acceptable and the perfect will of God. How crucial it is that we think biblically about our singleness that by the strength of Christ and the power of the Spirit we may conduct ourselves in our singleness in such a way as to glorify God and commend the grace of the gospel. What a wonderful thing when the gospel makes happy Christ-centered marriages where a husband is really loving his wife with the selfless love of Christ to the church and a wife is joyfully and lovingly submitting to him as the church is submissive to Christ. But what a wonderful display of the grace of Christ when someone has prolonged singleness either as a special gift for special service or an extended trial of faith imposed by God and you see in that single the grace of God making them happy and fulfilled and outgoing and you magnify the facets of God's grace

82:06 that come to light in that prolonged singleness even as you magnify the grace of God that comes to light in that effective marriage. And isn't this desperately what we need in our churches? That whoever comes in married or single will see these people have a God whose grace meets the need of every person. Isn't that what we desire?

82:30 May God grant that our meditations tonight will contribute to that end under the blessing of God. Thank you for your careful attention and I trust the Lord will bless these things to all of our hearts in days to come. Let's pray together. Our Father how we thank you for the privilege of spending this time in your word together tonight.

82:55 Thank you for each of these men and women that you've brought together. Thank you Father for your word which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. And oh Lord if in anything I have spoken contrary to that word blow upon it and bring it to naught. But where we have rightly had it and handled that word oh Lord make the applications in a hundred ways that we could never make those applications that every single in this room will think biblically about his or her singleness.

83:28 Grant our Father that blessing will continue to come in these hours together as we look beyond one another and unto you the giver of every good and every perfect gift. Thank you for our time together in your presence through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.