Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Corinthians 7:25 – 40

April 28, 2002

 

*Intro:* *Concerning marriage we seen the godly advantages of it*

*Genesis 2:18*,  And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

*Ecclesiastes 4:9*,  Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor.

*Psalm 127:3*,  Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

*Malachi 2:15*,  But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit?

And why one?

He seeks godly offspring.

Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

*A-  **NOW, on the other hand, concerning singleness; we saw that it is a gift or calling from God.*

1-   As with all gifts or callings from God the purpose is the furtherness of the gospel.

a-   So that the natural man would understand and decide.

2-   So weather marriage or singleness or any other calling it is imperative to know God’s will for you.

*1 Corinthians 7:19*,  Circumcision (marriage)  is nothing and uncircumcision (singleness) is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.

Ø *So, what is the will of God and how do I know if I have been called to singleness or marriage??*

*A-  **As a means of laying a foundation for Verses 25-40 we’ll look at 5 ways of making the determination of “am I called to marriage or singleness”.*

*#1- Are you currently married?*

1 Corinthians 7:10-11 & 13

A-  Maybe you were called to singleness and married anyway, what are you now to do?

1-   If this is the case you acted contrary to God’s will.

a-   Otherwise known as disobedience or sin.

2-   What are we to do with any sin?

a-   Take it to the place of grace

*1 John 1:9*,  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

-         Then call Johnny Cochran “get me out”.

b-   NO you are to remain married.

*Malachi 2:16*,  “For the Lord God of Israel says That He hates divorce, For it covers one’s garment with violence,” Says the Lord of hosts.

“Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously.”

c-   A good reason to come together in prayer and God’s leading.

*Romans 12:18*,  If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

* *

*#2- If you are unmarried how do you know if you are to be*

*      married?*

A-  To the males I would ask “Do you like girls”?

1-   To the girls “Do you like boys”?

*a-   **Warm fuzzy pit of your stomach type of like.*

2-   Do you spend a lot of time thinking about the opposite sex?

a-   God would have suppressed these feelings if you were not to marry.

-         Because you do not have desires for the opposite sex does NOT mean that you are gay.

*1 Corinthians 7:9*,  but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry.

For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

*Proverbs 18:22*,  He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord.

*#3- What about the divorced*

*A-  **Well 1st I would ask was your divorce based on scripture.*

1-   Are you even free to remarry.

*1 Corinthians 7:15*,  But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases.

But God has called us to peace.

*Matthew 19:9*,  “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

a-   Where divorce is permitted so is remarriage.

*B-  **What if your divorce was not based on scripture?*

1-   Did your divorce happen before salvation?

*2 Corinthians 5:17*,  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

*a-   **You are free to remarry*

2-   Did your divorce happen after salvation and it was not biblical.

*a-   **You are NOT free to remarry.*

*Matthew 19:9*,  “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

b-   What happened to grace

-         When did grace flow into your life ?

·        At repentance (faith, belief)

*Mark 1:4*,  John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

-         How can you repent of something that you are willfully going into?

Ø *I can be a jerk and be sorry that I am = a sorry jerk.*

Ø *I can repent of being a jerk and then no longer be one.*

C-  If you have a marriage that came after an unscriptural divorce you still give it over to the Lord.

*#4- What is God’s will if you are widowed.*

A-  Scripturly there are 2 obvious options.

*Turn to Titus 2:3-5,  1 Timothy 5:9-16*

*Romans 7:2*,  For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives.

But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.

*#5- Then there is the God ordained ministry of singleness those*

*      who are unmarried and are perfectly content to remain that *

*      way.*

*Matthew 19:12*,  “For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.

He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”

*1 Corinthians 7:7*,  For I wish that all men were even as I myself.

But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that.

*James 1:17*,  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

*A-  **We went through these 5 points so that we would know the purpose of V:25-40.*

1-   They are not here so that singleness can just be endured.

2-   Not so the single can stay busy and have something to do.

3-   But, so we can see singleness as a calling from God that is just as glorious as marriage.

*1 Corinthians 7:25*,  Now concerning virgins: I have no commandment from the Lord; yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has made trustworthy.

A-  Virgins = unmarried men and women.

1-   “no commandment from the Lord” = Not something Jesus addressed directly.

a-   What is to be said is from Paul,  in the light of scriptures,  through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

*l- “yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has *

*   made trustworthy.”*

A-  Paul is saying: “This is my opinion on the matter as the Lord has been merciful to be and I have been proven to be someone who can be trusted.

1- Notice that there are no commands here just direction.

*1 Corinthians 7:26*, I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress—that it is good for a man to remain as he is:

A-  Present distress = Persecutions of the Jews and the church.

*Turn to Matthew 25:15-20*

* *

*Read verses 27-28*

A-  Life is hard, us being less than perfect

1-   Marriage is 2 sinners coming together (the hard part)

a-   Then children (I have a family of 6 sinners)

2-   Single = hard

a-   Marriage = Harder

-         Marriage + Children = Very hard.

3-   Now through in the persecution of the church.