Be Content | February 4, 2026

Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look

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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

Turn to your Bibles, please, to 1st Corinthians Chapter 7

tonight. We are in a different phase in

our series now. We have been somewhere around

2425 messages in the first six chapters of First Corinthians.

However, we are going to very rapidly change the speed of

which we are going through the book of First Corinthians here

over the next few weeks. It's not that what we're about

to read is less important and what we are reading before was

more important. No, it's all important.

It's all the word of God, Amen. But I would say that these

chapters that we're going over very well lend themselves to be

looked at in one sitting. It will lend themselves very

well to be looked at in more of a 30,000 foot view, if you will,

to be able to look over exactly what is going on to help us

understand exactly what's taking place in the lessons that we

need to learn in Chapter 7. Certainly could be looked at in

that very way. In fact, if you were to read the

whole chapter, it's 40 verses. And no, we're not going to read

all 40 verses here tonight because if we did, I don't know

that I have any time to preach. But the idea is if you were to

read all 40 verses here tonight, we're going to cover a lot of

them by God's grace. And I was asking you to

summarize what is this chapter about?

If you give me one word, how would you summarize chapter #7

of First Corinthians? You might say something like

this marriage. You could maybe say something

like this sex, you could say something like this

relationships, or even singleness.

However, I'm going to go in a different direction here

tonight. Although every single one of

those subjects can be found in this chapter, there's no denying

that all of them will be covered here in First Corinthians

1 Corinthians 7 · chapter mention

Chapter 7. If there was an overarching

theme that really covers all of those things and more, it would

be this word and this word alone.

Contentment, contentment. Now, again, that may not seem to

really track with those other words I gave you just a few

moments ago, but I believe this principle is immestakable and

it's all over our text. Listen, we have trouble with

this issue of contentment, don't we?

Let's be honest here tonight. It's a good place to be honest,

right? We're in church.

Amen. We have trouble with this issue

of contentment. What is it right now outside,

it's cold and we're saying this, boy, I sure wish it was warm.

You know what all of us will say in July, boy, don't you?

Don't you miss when it was cold? I mean, that's the way that it

is is. And we say, well, I would love

to be the fall, at least it's kind of in the middle and the

fall point so wet and it's everything.

I love the spring and said we can never be content.

It's always that we're looking for something else.

When life is slow, we crave excitement.

When life is full, we crave rest.

I mean, we don't have a lot of money.

We wish we had more. When we have more, we wish for

simpler times. I mean, it's just that's the way

life is. It seems like we struggle with

this issue of being content. Now, in this text we're about to

read and address, Paul addresses sexual relationships from a

different angle than before. Now he's talking about how

married couples should handle marriage.

He's talking about how single people should handle singleness.

And if we were to sum up all of those verses, like I just said a

few moments ago, it would really be all about this.

And it's something we all struggle with being content,

right? So let's go ahead and go to the

1st 9 verses here of First Corinthians chapter #7 let's go

ahead and read beginning in verse #1 where it says this.

Now concerning the things, where have you wrote unto me?

It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have

his own wife. Let every woman have her own

husband. Let the husband render unto the

wife do benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the

husband. The wife hath not power of her

own body, but the husband, and likewise also the husband hath

not power of his own body, but the wife.

Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a

time, that you may give yourselves the fasting and

prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for

your incontinency. But I speak this by permission,

not by commandment. For I would that all men even

were as I myself. But every man hath this proper

gift of God, one after this manner, another after that.

I say therefore, to the unmarried and widows, and it's

good for them if they abide even as I they cannot contain, let

them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn.

Now, we'll stop right there. Again, we'll take a look at many

of the verses in our text here tonight.

But it's very obvious here that there's something very different

that's going on in this conversation than what we have

seen before. Certainly we've looked at the

issue of fornication. Certainly we've looked at the

issue of the church at Corinth that is not doing right when it

comes to relationships. But now Paul is giving marriage

counseling, but he's not even just giving marriage counseling.

He's giving singleness counseling.

He's giving counseling to everybody of how they are to

live with sexual propriety within their lives.

Well, remember this church at Corinth, just by way of

reminding you was living in the middle of sexual confusion.

Right in the middle, looming large over the church at

Corinth, was that temple of Aphrodite.

It loomed over everything that happened in Corinth.

Many people have been saved out of that culture.

Many people have been saved out of those troubles.

And remember, just because you got saved doesn't mean you know,

know everything on the first day, Amen.

Amen. It might be, you know, the

second day or the third day before you know everything,

right? Got to make sure you're

following along, OK? It's a lifelong of learning,

Amen. And just because you have some

of these old habits, the Spirit is telling you those aren't

good. But sometimes, you know, OK,

this is what I'm not supposed to do.

I got to confess this and forsake it, get it out of my

life. But I don't know what the right

thing is to do. And so now Paul is trying to

explain to them, we've talked about, he's saying, we've talked

about some things you're not supposed to do anymore.

But let's talk about the relationship in a right way.

Let's talk about it in a way so that we can understand exactly

what our responsibility has been.

In fact, this is not just something that Paul is talking

out of the blue. This is Corinth who is concerned

about this. Because what did it say in verse

#1 concerning the things whereof you wrote unto me.

So Paul is saying this. This isn't me just throwing this

on to you. He's saying you have actually

asked me about these things. You have asked me with some

concerns that you have in this area, and I want to teach you

biblically about what these things are all about.

They need help in these manners. And he starts with the most

basic of instructions. It is good for a man not to

touch a woman. Now you say, well, pastor, you

mean that a man is never allowed to touch a woman.

And of course we understand that that is not what is being said

specifically after we read just everything else and what the

chapter is all about and understanding how God has

created a marriage relationship for what it is.

But when it talks about that issue of it being good for a man

not to touch a woman, that word touched there has the

connotation the Greek oven inflaming.

Here's the idea that you need to keep your hands off of the

opposite sex in a way that inflames, but don't make me talk

about specifics here tonight because this pastor don't want

to talk about specifics and you understand what I'm talking

about here tonight. The idea is this, that we should

be in a situation where we handle ourselves with propriety.

We should be in a way that we handle ourselves in a way that

we are always above board with the opposite sex.

Can I help you with something that I have done as a pastor

just to be able to make sure that I am doing right in this

area? I have to have standards in

place, and some because I'm a pastor and some just as prudent

just being a man. When I counsel a woman in my

office, typically, if I counsel a woman in my office, you know

who's there? That woman back there, in case

you don't know who I'm pointing to, that's my wife.

OK, somebody's saying Peyton. Why would Peyton be back there?

No, my wife will be with me. If my wife can't be there, you

know what'll happen? The doors open.

Why? Because I want to be in a

situation where both of us can be accountable, to make sure

that we are not in a place where someone could even wonder if

that we are doing something that's inappropriate.

With Chapter 7, verse #1 you know, really for me, when it

comes to the other women here in the church, and particularly

those who are anywhere close to my age or anything like that,

you know what I'm not going to do?

I'm not going to hug on you. I'm not going to do it.

Do you know why? Is it because I think that

there's something really weird going on or anything like that,

Just for propriety's sake to be able to know that I'm not going

to do that. Now, I hesitated saying this and

I even wondered in my notes if I should write this down because

some of you are going to wonder if you're an older lady, you

wonder if I, if I, if, if I hug you, then what do I think about

your age? And so here's The thing is, if

you're somewhere around my mother's age, if she was alive

somewhere around there, I don't think that it's an issue.

But the idea is this. We need to think about this.

As many of you say, that's a little bit overboard, isn't it?

I mean, really, should we be thinking about stuff like that?

It is good for a man not to touch a woman in a way that

could inflamed. It is good to have standards and

propriety. I don't think it's that crazy in

a culture where there's no standards, in a culture where

there's no propriety, in a culture where you can't even

read the news because the news itself is filled with

pornography. I was reading the news on Monday

and the headlines about the Grammys on Sunday night, and I

realized there was links that I couldn't even click on the news

because of the way people were dressed on Sunday in the

Grammys. This is the culture we live in

today. So no, it's not pharisaical.

It's not weird to say, you know what we ought to be able to

treat as men, women, as ladies. We ought to act as gentlemen and

have some sort of difference between the way that we handle

the opposite sex and the way that the world does.

That's the way that we should be.

And so he starts right out, like, make sure you're careful

with the opposite sex. But then he continues on with

that is. And by the way, is physical

touch between man and woman the enemy?

No, I think that's quite clear here in our text.

However, it is a tiger that needs to be in the proper

enclosure. It needs to be something that

has guardrails around it. And verse #2 teaches us this,

the guardrails or this marriage, the enclosure is this marriage.

This is what God intends. So that brings us to what I want

us to see here tonight as we go through our outline.

And if you have not seen this before, this is the back of the

prayer bulletin. You can follow along with that.

And #1 says this, number one says this, be content in

marriage. I told you all right, be content

in marriage. Paul begins with his admonition

in verse #2 nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man

have his own wife. Let every woman have her own

husband. In my Bible, I've underlined his

own wife. In my Bible, I've underlined her

own husband. Meaning this.

Have the one that belongs to you when it comes to the issue of

sex and when it comes the issue of physical relations, you are

with the one that belongs to you.

You are not to be with the one that does not belong to you.

You say pastor, do you have to say this in 2026?

Yes, they had to say it in about 50 AD and we have to say it

today. Stay with the one that belongs

to you. I just had a phone call

yesterday with a gentleman. I don't want to get into all the

situation, but he sent me a video.

He was starting a program, a very ill advised program in a

lot of ways, and he wanted me to see the video and to maybe give

him some biblical advice, whether it was good or not.

And in this video he said something like this in dealing

with the pornography epidemic in this country and dealing with

the issues of against sexual impropriety, he said this.

He said there's faithful men in our churches who love their

families, love Jesus, but deal with sexual integrity.

Now, I want to be very careful how I say this.

Again, I'd be appropriate. I'm not trying to to talk in a

way that is this lewd or crude here tonight.

I really don't. I want us to just have straight

talk here tonight, but but to be do it in a way that doesn't come

across as crass. But he says there's faithful men

who love their families, love Jesus, but deal with sexual

integrity. And he asked for my feedback.

I talked to him on the phone yesterday and I said everything

about that phrase is wrong. I said if a man deals with

sexual integrity issues, quote UN quote, he's not being

faithful. He's literally being unfaithful.

He doesn't love God the way he should because he says if you

love God, Jesus said keep my commandments and it's not an

issue with sexual integrity. I said, brother, it's an issue

with sin, and you can call it whatever you want to call it,

but it's sin. Proverbs 5 verses 15 through 18

Proverbs 5:15–18

says drink waters out of thine own cistern, running waters out

of thine own. Well.

Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, the rivers of water in

the streets, let them be thine own and not thy strangers with

thee. Let thy fountain be blessed and

rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

I had to tell him that this is not what God intended and to be

able to say this, but this is what the world is saying today

and it's even getting into the church today that we need to

call it what it is. It's wrong.

We call it what it is, sin. Now, understand if you have an

issue tonight in dealing with pornography, understand that

this is something that is so pervasive in the world today

because it wasn't that long ago, it was pretty difficult to get

your hands on that type of material.

Now it's about two or three clicks away on your phone, in

your pocket, on a tablet and a laptop.

And listen, you don't always have to be looking for it.

Sometimes it'll find you. If you struggle with this here

tonight, I want you to to listen.

I want you to listen closely to what I have to say.

And I'm speaking mostly to the men, but the statistics tell us

that it's on the rise for women as well.

I want to speak to you tonight specifically as men.

If you have an issue with this, what you need to do is be open

and confess before the Lord. Then go and talk to another

faithful man in the word of God who can help keep you

accountable in this area. This is what you need to do.

You say, well, if I do that, what will happen?

I would encourage you to think of it this way.

If you don't do it, what will happen?

It's a victimless crime. People will say the victims are

so multitude. Families are the victims.

Wives particularly are the victims.

The women in those videos are the victims, often involved in

human trafficking. And if there was no appetite for

it and if there was no type of market for it, then it wouldn't

happen. But billions and billions of

dollars get put into pornography in this in this country every

year. More money goes into pornography

than all four major sports leagues.

Only fans takes in billions of dollars a year.

This is a real issue. And I will tell you this, if you

come to me as your pastor, that I can tell you I have a track

record that I will deal with you in a way that is is is

charitable, in a way that has understanding.

But I'll tell you this, we'll have to call sin, sin.

We'll have to call it what it is, because if we don't call it

what it is, then we can't get to the root of the problem.

And Paul starts right off at the bat.

He says this when it comes to these issues, Hey, gentlemen,

it's your own wife. Ladies, it's your own husband.

And if we don't get real in churches today about this issue,

then it's something that could cause great, great harm.

And they already is causing great, great harm within our

churches. So how do we deal with this?

Well, Paul says there's two things that can be done.

And this is not a detailed list, but I believe it probably

addresses the issues of which they were writing to him about.

I understand. I'm not going to give you all

the tips on how to help you in your marriage here tonight,

because if you know that, let me know because I'd be glad to know

all of those as well. It's a lifelong of learning when

it comes to the marriage relationship.

But Paul, I believe, addresses a couple things of which they were

probably asking him when it mentions in verse number one

that they were communicating with him.

And the first is this, when it comes to being content in

marriage, letter A stay marital, stay marital.

What do you mean by that, pastor?

Well, let's go back and read verses 3 through 6.

Let the husband render unto his wife do benevolence, and

likewise also the wife unto the husband.

The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband.

And likewise also the husband hath not the power of his own

body, but the wife. Now what is this saying?

This is saying that as a husband and wife, your lives are

intertwined and any action or inaction affects the other.

I found out very early in marriage and sometimes I'm still

reminded that what I do, I think just effects myself.

In some ways, it affects my wife more than effects myself.

And there are some things that Diane does that affects me more

than it affects herself. And it says here, when it comes

to the marital relationship, when it comes to that, which

means being connected between husband and wife, particularly

when it comes to being physical in a relationship, what do you

need to do? You need to make sure that you

are marital within your marriage.

Say, pastor, I'm not comfortable with you talking about this

tonight. You want to know who's

uncomfortable tonight? You want to know who knew this

chapter was coming for months? This guy.

All right. But here's the problem.

Because preachers are uncomfortable, doesn't get

talked about. I would hope that you would

understand it's good to be in a church where maybe the

uncomfortable things are still spoken of and that, yeah, maybe

the pastor doesn't really want to talk to you about being

marital and marriage. But if you don't hear it from

here, where are you going to hear it?

You know, there's new believers all the time that you you take

for granted, maybe some of you that have been in the faith for

a long time, new believers that have been indoctrinated by the

world and they have no idea about sexual propriety within

the marriage between a husband and wife.

And if they don't get it from the church, here's really, I get

it some podcast. If they don't get it from the

church, they'll get it somewhere.

I've talked to Christian New Christians, babes in Christ, who

in their naivete have told me that the best place that they

can learn about the physical relationship is from

pornography. Now, I want to make clear here

tonight that that is not only unwise, it is an absolute snare

of the devil. And that is not what should be

done. But there's also just some new

believers who flat out do not know.

And you might think that's laughable, but in this culture

today where anything goes, just because someone gets saved and

comes into the church and a husband and wife are new in

Christ, you can't expect that they understand everything about

the Bible the moment they get into the church.

It took you a while to learn. It took me a while to learn.

And when it comes to this issue, we need to be able to have frank

discussions about this, not explicit discussions.

But at least frankly, cover the idea of what we're talking about

here tonight. You don't need me to be explicit

this evening for you to understand what I am saying and

most importantly, what the Word of God is saying about this.

Listen, Hebrews 313 four, marriage is honorable and all,

and the bed undefiled. God created marriage.

God created sex. And by the way, God created sex

for more than just procreation. He created it for pleasure, but

yet the world has taken that which God has created for

pleasure and has turned it into something that causes great

harm, great sadness, great destruction.

The idea of free sex that is peddled out in the world today,

that there is no consequences. Meats for the belly and belly

for meats. Remember that from First

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 6. It's just an urge, like eating.

It's not a big deal, is a damnable lie straight from hell,

and it is causing many, many people to stumble.

It's causing our young people to stumble and go into marriage

relationships with a idea of what marriage is like.

That's not true. So yes, the church needs to talk

about this. Yes, there are pastors who are

uncomfortable talking about this.

You say how many? I don't know because I don't

talk to him about it, but I know this guy is.

But it needs to be talked about. This is not what Paul is saying

here is not demanding marital relations with one another.

I am not teaching tonight that you should go to a spouse and

you should make demands upon them.

Marriage is lovingly meeting all of one another's needs.

We say that again, marriage is about one spouse meeting all of

the other spouses needs, but also recognizing that this is a

need as well and not just a want.

Now, again, I can't speak to every situation here tonight.

I can't speak to every couple here tonight.

I'm not trying to pretend that I can, but I will say this, that

this is something that a husband and wife should have a

conversation about. You say, well, I don't know if I

could talk to my wife pastor about that.

I don't know if I could talk to my husband about that pastor.

That might be a sign that there's a greater problem with

intimacy, the emotional and spiritual intimacy, that you

cannot have that conversation with each other.

And again, I know that there's all kinds of situations here

tonight. There are some who are married

with someone who's not a believer.

There's different ages, there's different physicalities.

I understand these things and boy, I am, I am.

So I'm very understanding of these things.

But at the same time, the word of God makes it clear that God

created this for a husband and a wife to be able to have an

intimacy of that which God has blessed in a way that really

can't be explained other than no, it's from God.

And when it's in the marriage relationship, it's right and

it's great. When it's not in a marriage

relationship, it's a snare and causes more problems than you

can imagine. So what do we see?

Letter A stay marital but the letter B it also would say this

stay married, stay married. There were some issues in the

church at Corinth. What were those issues you might

ask? Well there were couples who

maybe someone had gotten saved but yet the other did not.

Now we understand the Bible makes it clear in Second

2 Corinthians 6:14

Corinthians chapter 6, verse 14, be not therefore unequally yoked

together with unbelievers for what fellowship have the

righteousness with unrighteousness and what

communion hath light with darkness.

And I will encourage you if you are single, particularly our

young people that are here tonight, that when it comes to

looking for a spouse by God's someday, you have to start with

this. They need to be a believer

because if you are on any other footing, you will not be able to

have the relationship. You will not be able to raise

children together. It causes nothing but confusion.

And so this is not Paul saying you ought to find an unbeliever.

And then let's talk about from there.

It's talking about the very real issue.

And some of you have come across this, you were both unsaved, one

of you got saved and now the other's unsaved.

What do you do? And some of them thought this,

well, if I'm saved and the other doesn't get saved, should I just

leave them? Is that what I'm supposed to do?

Well, what does Paul say about that?

Let's go to verse #10 because we haven't picked up there yet.

Verse #10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the

Lord. Let not the wife depart from her

husband, but. And if she depart, let her

husband remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband, and

let not the husband put away his wife.

But to the rest speak I not the Lord.

If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be

pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

By the way, when it says, But to the rest I speak, and not the

Lord. There are some people, people

who are unscrupulous Bible teachers, who will say, well,

this isn't really inspired from the Lord because this is just

Paul's opinion, It's not the Lord.

I would say to you that what he is saying here, because we know

all scriptures given by inspiration of God, that doesn't

mean just parts of the Bible. That means all of the Bible from

book to book, cover to cover. But I would say to you that what

he's saying is that this is not something that the Lord, I would

say our Lord Jesus Christ specifically spoke on, but he is

speaking on this particular situation now.

This is not call backing off saying, hey, you know what, I

know I was, I was preaching scripture to you before, but

now, hey, I'm just going to give you my opinion for a little

while. There's nothing in the Bible

suggests that he is saying rather this is something that

Jesus Christ did not speak about because of the infancy of the

church. But now with the proliferation

of the church and so many more people believing this is a real

issue and it's something I'm covering.

And as he's covering it, he is covering it as Scripture.

But verse 13 the woman which that not, or which hath a

husband that believeth not. And if he be pleased to dwell

with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is

sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified

by the husband. Else were your children unclean?

But now are they holy? But if the unbelieving depart,

let him depart. A brother or sister is not under

bondage of such cases. But God hath called us to peace.

For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy

husband? Or how knowest thou, O man,

whether thou shalt save thy wife?

So should someone who is saved leave the spouse who is unsaved?

And Paul says this, No, what you need to do is try to win them to

Christ, that you need to in that relationship continually show

Jesus Christ. Now there could be the case

where the other one leaves and if the other no one leaves, he

says that you shouldn't feel that that is your fault, that

that is the decision that they have made.

But yet here it does make very clear that if you are in that

relationship, here's what you ought to do.

Do everything that you can by loving them to win them to Jesus

Christ. Now you might say, well, how

could I win a spouse to Jesus Christ?

Do I just need to ask them every day?

Do you want to get saved? You want to get saved?

You want to get saved? You keep asking that every day.

I'll tell you, it's not going to go well.

It's just not. But why did Paul say that it was

important to stay married? I believe it was because of

this. The best way to win them is to

love them and have a consistent Christian walk.

The best way to win them is to love them and to have a

consistent Christian walk. You know, if I was to ask you

tonight, you know, how many of you are tired?

Like everybody raised their hand because that's we all live like

in this. No, no, we don't live in the

state of Massachusetts, live in the state of tired because

everybody's in the state of being tired.

But you know, I'm tired tonight, You're tired tonight.

But let's just say I have this case of exhaustion.

I'm just dealing with it a lot. And I go to the doctor and I

say, hey, doc, you know, I, I got this problem with being

exhausted. He said, well, how many hours of

sleep do you get a night? They will probably about 3 or 4.

How much caffeine you drink? I said, well, I don't know how

much. I don't know about like the

milligrams of caffeine, but it is five cups a day.

Is that a bad thing? He said what?

We'll we'll, you know, do you have the same bedtime every

night? So now I got, you know, I got

Yeah, I got I, you know, some nights I go to bed at 8:00.

But, you know, most of the time I go to bed at one or two or

something like that. You know what he would say?

He'd say, you know, why don't you go ahead and fix those

things first? Maybe if there's don't work,

then we can do something a little bit deeper.

But there's not a lot that he can do until you do the things

you know that you're supposed to do.

Now I'm not saying your unsaved wife or husband will get saved

if you live consistently. But why would they if you don't

live out the message you want them to accept in the 1st place?

I'm going to run that by you one more time.

I'm not saying that just because you live a consistent Christian

life that they will automatically come to Christ.

There's no promise of that. They have free will.

But I will say this, I can't give you any other extra helps

to reach your unsaved spouse for Christ until you do the things

you're supposed to do and that's this.

Be consistent. As a Christian, you want to win

an unsaved spouse to Christ. Be at church every time the

doors are open. You want to win an unsaved

spouse to Christ? Don't yell at Him.

You want to win an unsaved spouse to Christ, don't cuss

around Him. You want to win an unsaved

spouse to Christ. Don't be watching things on TV

that are obviously against that which your Christianity says,

because then if you're not even living a consistent Christian

life, and who's going to see you for who you are more than your

spouse? If they see that you don't even

really believe the message like you say that you do, why are

they going to believe? And I don't really have any

other options to give you until you do the most basic, just like

the doctor says. Well, hey, you know what?

You're supposed to go to bed on time, stop drinking so much

caffeine. I'll have a consistent bedtime,

then we'll talk. When people ask me how do I win

my unsaved family member or my unsaved spouse to Christ?

I can't help you till you do that.

That doesn't guarantee you'll get saved, but that's where you

start. That's why Paul says you need to

remain in the marriage relationship.

So we seem to be content marriage.

You stay marital, you stay married, but also #2 be content

in singleness. We're to be content in

singleness as well. That's covered in several

different places here. In our text, we saw verses 8

through 10 as well. First of all, when it comes to

that letter A, don't let it have power over you.

Letter A, when it comes to the issue of singleness, don't let

it have power over you. Now interestingly enough, Paul

was single, He said in verse #7 or Chapter 7 verse #8 I say

therefore to the unmarried in widows, it is good for them if

they abide, even as I. Now a lot of us don't think

about whether Paul is married or not, something that probably

doesn't cross our minds. However, I am of the persuasion

that Paul was actually a widower.

The reason why was because the Pharisees most often were

married. Paul said he was a Pharisee, he

sat at the feet of Gamaliel and so he would have very, very

likely been married, but yet there's no mention of his wife

ever in the word of God. Now why would that be?

Best I could tell was probably because he was a widower not

listen I'm not going to fight anyone about that.

I have no biblical basis for that.

I wouldn't fight you anyway not that I can think of but hope you

wouldn't fight me but it does seem very clear to me that

that's what he's talking about that he is in this relationship

or rather the state and status of being single in his life.

And so he is saying that when it comes to that.

Don't let it have power over you for I would verse 7 that all men

were even as myself, but every man that had this proper gift of

God, one after this man or another after that.

I say therefore the unmarried and the widows, it is good for

them if they abide even as I Paul makes it clear for those

who are in a season of singleness.

Don't think you're at a disadvantage because you're

single. Don't think that you're at a

disadvantage because you're single because this breeds

discontentment. And believe it or not, there are

actually some advantages to being single.

Now, I know what they were saying.

Oh, yeah, somebody married. I know there's advantages to

being single. I remember that.

You know, that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm trying to be silly here tonight.

Paul's going to talk about that here in just a moment.

Don't use singleness as an excuse to be unfaithful in your

walk with God. Be content in that which you are

in in this season of your life. In fact, if I was to give you

some encouragement here tonight, if you are single, it would be

this. Don't just try to find the right

person. Instead, be the right person.

That's where I would say you need to start.

Don't just try to find the right person.

Be the right person. You say, well, why is why would

you say that? Well, because it puts the focus

in the right place. It puts the emphasis on the

right syllable, if you know what I mean.

Because if you're just looking for that one, I'll tell you

this. That breeds this contentment.

Looking, looking, looking, looking, looking, looking,

looking, looking, looking, looking, looking.

No, not under there. All right.

Looking. Where are they?

You're always looking. But if your focus is this today

I need to be the type of man, gentlemen, I need to be the type

of woman ladies that would be a good candidate for the right

kind of person, you will do well.

Why? Because now the emphasis is on

how can I draw closer to God? How can I be more like Christ?

And what's interesting is if you do that, you think God's going

to take care of you. You think God will bring the

right person along if that's what he desires for you in your

life. But instead, you can get

yourself all worked up into that next step that you don't even

know if God has for you or not. And then you waste the day that

God calls today and today. He wants you to do this.

Be more like Christ and tomorrow be more like Christ.

It helps you be content in the season that God has for you.

And also, by the way, what you end up catching them with is

what you'll need to keep them at the same time.

If you quote UN quote catch them with godliness, that's good to

keep them with godliness. If you have to catch them with

some other means that are not godly, then you're building

again on a bad foundation. So he says this, don't, don't

let this season have power over you.

And in fact, Paul says this, I wish, I wish more like me.

I wish there were more that were out there that were in the

situation that I am right now. And Paul, I believe, is one who

could say that as having been married and being a widower.

He says it's not as bad as you think.

God has a purpose behind it. In fact, letter B, if we look at

that as well, don't just let it have power.

Don't let it have power over your singleness rather.

But letter B, do let it have purpose for you #32 Drop down

there very quickly. Verse #32 It says, But I would

have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for

the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the

Lord. But he that is married careth

for the things that are of the world, how he may please his

wife. There is difference also between

a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for

the things of the Lord, but she may be that she may be holy in

both of the body and spirit. But she that is married careth

for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

Now stop here for just a moment. What is Paul saying?

He's saying being single doesn't have to be a negative.

There are positives to it as well.

And again, there are those who would be single.

So that's crazy, but don't even make any sense.

But you know, it's interesting to me that even in our culture

today, we've been lifelong renters.

We have been since we've been married now 22 years.

All we've ever done is rent. And you know, the goal for

people is to buy. You know, there's renters and

there's buyers and you know, the goal would be to buy.

And it almost seems like sometimes people think, well, if

you're not a buyer, if you don't own a home, you're almost less

than, well, you don't have, you're wasting your money every

month. You're throwing it down a down a

hole with, with rent. I mean, don't you know, And I

understand some of the arguments with that and some of those

arguments are true. But what's interesting to me is

sometimes I'll have someone who is an owner come up to me and

they'll say something like this boy, you know, I sure like to

get out from under this house. I had to fix the roof, then I

had to fix the foundation, then I had to fix everything between

the roof and foundation. And you know what we do?

There's something that needs to be fixed in our house.

It gets fixed. We lost almost every major

appliance in our home in about 2 1/2 years.

Almost every single one of them. I'm not going to say it was a JS

fault because this is online and could be used for legal

purposes. But I will say we lost almost

every one of them in 2 1/2 years.

You know how much came out of pocket?

Zero. I know it's part of our rent.

But what I'm saying is it didn't take a hit on our budget out of

nowhere. What I'm saying is, OK, renting,

maybe not the thing that you want to do, but it's not all

bad. In fact, there's some things

that people who own look at renting and say, you know, I

have some fondness for that. And I'm not saying those who are

married pine for the days of being single.

I know that I don't. But I will say this, there are

some things that I look back in my single life and I think as

Paul was saying, I could totally give myself to the Lord and his

pursuits because I didn't have to concern myself with providing

for a wife and four children. And So what he's saying here is

not that you are unholy if you are married, No, quite the

opposite. But what he is saying is that if

you are in a singleness situation, that you should

understand that you have a unique opportunity to serve the

Lord, that if you are in a marriage relationship, you won't

have because you can totally dedicate yourself to the things

of God. There are all kinds of sermons I

like to listen to and books I'd like to read and different

things that I would just like to and studies that I would like to

do it. All those things.

But some of them I can't. Because I'm dealing with a son

who has to go to therapy three times a week for physical

issues. Because I have to take care of a

wife and family who do need other things fixed that the

maintenance won't fix. Because there's certain things

that won't fix that belong to us.

Or because I need to run errands.

Or because it's a lot more time to get groceries for more than

what we have. And I say that about myself, but

it's exactly the same for Diane as well.

In some ways, in a home, in a family, even more so.

And so Paul says this, if you're in a season of singleness, don't

let discontentment strike because you have a unique

opportunity to serve God that if you become married by God's

grace, you will never have again.

Well, I mean, marriage, marriage is where it's at.

Well, maybe that's not what God has for you.

Owning a home is where it's at. Maybe that's not for everybody.

And even when it's not for everybody, you see that there

are some advantages to the other.

Now, listen, I know some of you might be here tonight saying

you're speaking like someone who has been married for 22 years

and you don't know what you're talking about.

That's fine. Don't take my word for it.

You can take polls. Paul was in that season.

That season turned into a lifetime after his wife died.

And there was not a sign of regret.

In fact, he says this, I wish more people lived like me.

And you say, well, that seems like that's a little bit over

the top. Well, because I think he was

trying to course correct the thinking of the age was that if

you were single, you were less than, or that if you're single,

you're broken, or if you're single, you're no good, nobody

can use you. What's the point?

It seems like God has great value on you.

If you're single, be content in the season that God's given you.

The bottom line is this. If God gives you a spouse,

praise the Lord. If God doesn't give you a

spouse, praise the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

So we're to be content in marriage, we're to be content in

singleness, and finally we're to be content in Our Calling.

Look, verse #17 quickly it says. But as God hath distributed to

every man, as the Lord hath called everyone, so let him

walk. And so ordain I in all the

church. That's yeah, in all the

churches. So he says, and he says there's

something I need to tell you about your walk.

There's something I need to tell you, all of you, about your

consistent Christian walk. Verse #18 is any man called

being uncirc or called being circumcised?

Let him not become uncircumcised.

If any man is uncircumcision, let him not be circumcised.

There was a great debate during that time about circumcision and

uncircumcision. Now, interestingly enough, now,

now follow along here for just a second.

The idea was that there were some who, after they got saved,

felt like they needed to be circumcised.

And there were some who were circumcised who felt they needed

to become uncircumcised. And you say, pastor, you don't

know what I'm talking about. Historically, there were medical

procedures to help men to be able to seemingly become

uncircumcised again and that they were compelled to do that.

And so Paul here is saying again, stop what you're doing.

Be content what your situation is.

Is any man being uncircums of any man called beings?

We just read that verse 19. Circumcision is nothing, and

uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments

of God. Let every man abide in the same

calling wherein he was called. Art thou being?

Art thou called being a servant? Care not for it, but if thou

mayest be free, use it rather. For he that is called in the

Lord being a servant is the Lord's freeman.

Likewise also he that is called being free is Christ's servant.

You're bought with a price. Be not ye the servants of men.

Brethren, let every man wherein he is called therein abide with

God. Paul broadens this out by not

just talking about circumcision and uncircumcision and talking

about singleness and marriage. Even talks about free and those

who were slaves. He says for those of you who

were slaves in that time, he says you think your life is

going to change because it's free.

Certainly there will be changes, but at the same time it's not

all that you think it will be. For those of you that were free

and you think that you don't serve anybody, he said, well,

you still are a servant even if you're free.

And so he says you're not going to find your contentment in your

situation. You're going to find your

contentment in Christ circumcised.

Well, I wish I was uncircumcised.

The uncircumcised, I wish I was circumcised.

The free says I wish I was in bonds and the bond says I wish I

was free. And, and this, this total lack

of, of contentment. And you add that on top of

everything we've built upon here, the marriage folks, who,

well, marriage is supposed to solve anything but everything.

But then even in the marriage, there's still contentment

problems. And he says the contentment

really isn't the issue at all with your situation.

It's really the issue with Christ.

And that's what it comes down here to tonight.

Your situation in life doesn't dictate your satisfaction with

life. If you don't get anything from

this message tonight, you say, well, I don't know that all of

this applies to me. This message cannot apply 100%

to every person in this room. It would be impossible because

you have to be married and single at the same time.

And if you got that going on, I need to meet with you after

church, all right? Because there's some things I

don't know. So understand that at best this,

this is a 50% message. 50% of it actually applies to your life

here tonight. But here's what 100% applies to

you tonight. Your situation in life doesn't

dictate your satisfaction with life, that no matter how much

you have in the bank matter, how good your car is, how good your

job is, no matter if you're married or single, whether

you're Jew or Gentile, whether you're a business owner or

you're an employee, you can be content in Christ.

That's what this whole chapter is about.

Sure is about singleness, yes. Is about marriage, yes.

But really what we find right in the middle, He says you need to

be content in Him. It even says in verse #23 you're

bought with a price. Just stop.

What was that price? The blood of Jesus Christ.

Amen. That God thought you precious

enough to pay for your sins with His precious blood.

That ought to be enough to make you content for the rest of your

life. Well, it's not enough pastor.

Man's got to live by. Hold on.

Jesus Christ loved you so much He shed His blood for you.

That'll make us content. Oh, life's not that easy,

pastor. No, we're the ones that make it

more complicated. You can be married and be

content. You can be single and be

content. You can be any of these life

issues and you can be content. Your life may not be what you

want it to be because of your mistakes in the past.

Your life may not be all that you want it to be because of

your sin in the past. Your life may not be all that

you want it to be because of someone else's decisions that

have been forced upon you in the past.

Any or all of those things could be true.

That still doesn't mean that you can't be content.

Nobody can steal content from you because contentment isn't

found in what it's found in who. So I ask you tonight, are you

right with God? Now you're not contented.

Maybe it's because there's sin in your heart and you can't be

content because you're not right with him.

I'd encourage you Psalm 139 verse 23 to 24.

Psalms 139:23–24

Search me, O God, know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and

see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way

everlasting. It could be that you have a lack

of contentment because of deep rooted sin that you have to

confess, or it could be that you just need an attitude

adjustment. Just be thankful for what God's

done for you. Your situation may not be what

it wants you what you want it to be.

Your body may not be treating you the way you want it to.

Your money situation may not be all that it needs to be, May not

have as many friends as you wish that you'd had.

You may not be able to have any of the things that you thought

you would have at this time of life.

You thought you'd be so much further than you are at your

age. I don't know what it is, but you

could still be content because you have Christ.

If you have Christ, you have everything.

That's not a cliche, that's just the truth.

Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of

Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing

to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us

know by contacting us at [email protected].

Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,

MA. May the Lord bless you as you

grow in His Word.