Dr. Joel Beeke's sermon, 'Being Single: A Life for the Glory of God,' addresses the challenges and opportunities of singleness from a biblical perspective. He begins by emphasizing the purpose of life as glorifying God and centering on Christ, using 1 Corinthians 6:20 and 10:31 as foundational texts. Dr. Beeke discusses the societal changes in marriage age and the increasing trend of singleness, urging singles to use this time to become marriageable by living for God's glory. He outlines biblical propositions about singleness, emphasizing God's sovereignty over marriage and singleness, the importance of sexual purity, and the tension singleness creates with God's creation ordinance of marriage. Dr. Beeke also highlights Christ's singleness as part of a new creation, offering an opportunity for undivided devotion and service to God. He encourages singles to embrace their status as a temporary calling, keeping the door open for marriage while living a fulfilling life in service and devotion to God. Practical advice includes focusing on Christ for completion, serving family and the church, and living for God's glory. Ultimately, he reminds listeners that marriage is not the ultimate goal, but rather eternal unity with Christ.

Well, you heard a lot of good advice already. I'm tempted to say just go to your rooms and pray about it and wait on the Lord and we're done because Scott Brown has obviously done a lot of thinking, a lot of experience with singles, and what you heard was very, very valuable. I hope you take it to heart. I'm going to speak to you about being single as a life for the glory of God, but I'll have throughout my talk some biblical propositions up front, and then I want to, a little bit the pattern you had Scott of giving practical advice in a variety of areas on the back end a little bit will overlap with what Mr. Brown, Pastor Brown had to say but there will be a lot of other things as well.

I don't think the overlap will be that much. I want to read four texts to you. First Corinthians 6 verse 20, For you are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. God's meaning, capital G-O-D apostrophe S. First Corinthians 10, verse 31, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Philippians 1, 21, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. In Colossians 2, 9, and 10, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power. Now why did I pick those four texts? I'm not really going to expound them that much in the talk. Talk is a bit more topical, but the point I wanted to stress with you from the get-go is that the whole purpose you are put here on earth is to glorify God and to center in Christ.

And when my wife Mary and I raised our three children, We were praying when they were little kids that they would someday meet someone that they could marry who lived for that double purpose of glorifying God and centering on Christ. And then when they got to be about 10 years old, all of a sudden one day it dawned on us, wait a minute. We should be praying that our efforts with our children, I don't know why we didn't think of this sooner, should work out such that they are fit subjects to marry someone else, as Scott Brown just called it, marriageable because they center on Christ and live for the glory of God. Well, translate that into your life. You see, that is your goal.

Those of you who very much want to be married and are not, or want to meet someone that's marriageable, remember this, you are to use this intervening time in God's providence where you haven't met that person to be that marriageable person, namely live totally for the glory of God and center upon Jesus Christ as your only Savior and Lord. So that's a little bit the direction we're going to be going but let me have a prayer before I begin. Lord God I pray for this address that Thou will use it as well as the last one in a meaningful way in the life of every single single that is here that they would have many takeaways from the addresses this evening and tomorrow morning and that this conference will do them much good. Please be with those for whom singleness is extremely painful. Lord, help them and be near to them and guide and lead them, give them a plain path and help them to humbly, submissively bow before Thee even as they wait on Thee and do gladden their hearts.

Do fulfill what Thou hast said in Psalm 37, delight Thyself in the Lord, and He shall give Thee the desires of Thy heart. Fulfill that, Lord. And I do pray that in the heart of each single here, there would be an inner yearning, a passion, an earnestness to live to thy glory, to center upon Jesus, to be able to say, for me to live as Christ, even as they wait on thee for a lifelong marital partner. So bless this talk we pray in Jesus' name, amen. When I grew up, the average age in society for a man to get married was 23 And the average age for a woman to get married was 20.

My parents got married when they were 19. And we used to tease them about it when we were young, because that even seemed young to us when we grew up. But my dad always had an excuse. He said, well, your mother and I both lost our mothers when we were very young. Actually, I never knew either grandma because one died from a serious disease in the early thirties and the other died from a brain tumor in the late thirties.

So we need to remember the fragility of life. Marriage is not a be-all and an end-all, and you're going to live happily ever after, never face any trials. And sometimes some marriages are a lot easier than others. My wife's parents just entered their 70th year of marriage and they're doing fine, but others go through agony when a spouse is torn from their side. Now in our church circles, very conservative church circles, I suppose that number might have been even smaller, like 22 or 21 and 19.

In my first church, there were often people, I don't recommend this, but there are often people getting married 17, 18. Why is it now 30 for men and 28 for women? It's like almost half of your childbearing years are gone before you start. There's something unnatural about this and Scott was talking about this a bit in his talk as well. As Christians, we ought not to accept the new normal of singleness as belonging to half of the population now did you know that 50% of the population now I'm speaking of adults are not married and this even in practical ways, is the downfall of a society if it keeps going in this trend.

So that's the first thing I wanna establish by way of introduction. We need to reverse this trend and men need to step up and be men and take leadership and speak to the father of a young woman that you may be attracted to, that you feel is godly and need to take a step forward and you need to stop being so unmanly, so shy, And so fearful of rejection. I mean, how many jobs have you applied for that you didn't get? You coped with it. Well, your life isn't gonna be destroyed if the roadblock comes in the way, either through the father or through the girl, but you need to prayerfully wait on God, don't act impulsively, but prayerfully wait on God, and then you try again.

So I want to lay out several propositions here to guide your thinking, first of all, about the single life and then give practical guidance for living well as a single person. So first of all, biblical propositions about singleness and living for the glory of God. I want to start by looking at three propositions about singleness and our creator. And our creator. The first of these is, the Lord reigns over marriage and over singleness.

Ultimately, we're not in control, even though we may use and must use the means but God is in control. God works all things according to the counsel of his own will. Ephesians 1 11 says God created marriage in the Garden of Eden, bringing the first woman to the first man, defining marriage as a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, Genesis 2, 18 to 24, and has ordained every marriage since then. Proverbs 18, 22 says, who so findeth a wife findeth a good thing and obtaineth favor of the Lord. That is, who so finds a God-faring wife, of course, is the implication.

Proverbs 19, 14 says, house and riches are the inheritance of fathers and a prudent wife is from the Lord. So God is in control of all things, of your birth, of your growing up, of your marriage, of your life, and of your death. Son of man, Ezekiel 24 says, God speaking to Ezekiel, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes. And that very evening, Ezekiel's wife died. So what did we do with all of this happy time, this sad time?

Well, we understand God is in control and That doesn't mean you don't feel pain you do feel pain one person spends long years Desiring to be married Another marries young but suffers greatly in a bad marriage. And don't forget, a bad marriage is far worse than no marriage. And yet another enjoys a good marriage only for a while, and still others have a long good marriage by the grace of God. So here's the point I'm leading to. Not only in this area of life, but every area of our lives we need to strive for that kind of maturity that enables us to bow under God, to bow under God and be submissive to Him.

And what really is submission? Well, I had a lady once who in my church was in a bad marriage and it was one of those marriages where it was a two-sided problem. Many of them are not by the way, but her husband died and she came up to me two years later and this is what she said, God has given me so much submission in the loss of my husband I want to let you know that I never grieved over the loss. I'm thinking, I'm trying to process that. Like, no, wait a minute.

Submission without pain is no submission. If it never bothered her, then clearly she didn't have a very good marriage and she didn't feel like she lost that much. This is not submission to God. Submission is when you bow under God while you're in the midst of pain. And if I can say it so, submission is like this little ladder going down here, four steps.

There's four succeeding steps in the depth of submission. Submission is a deep thing. Submission is a growing spiritual maturity thing. The first step of submission is to acknowledge God. To say it is the Lord.

You see that many times in the Bible, right? When Aaron's sons died, he held his peace, but when Eli's sons died, he said, it is the Lord. That's the first step of submission. You acknowledge that nothing happens to you that is not in the counsel and the will of God. The fact that you're single today, it is the Lord.

Secondly, submission goes deeper when you justify the Lord. When you say, not only is it, it is the Lord, but it is right. I really don't deserve anything better. I'm a sinner. You see, when you receive a God-faring spouse from the hand of God, that ought to overwhelm you.

And I trust you all will experience that one day, that it will overwhelm you. Why did God bring such a good woman into my life, when I never deserve such a special woman. That's how you ought to feel. That makes a man feel very, very grateful for a God-fearing life, And vice versa, with a woman with a man. So my wife and I have a, we have a little plaque in our master bedroom, in the bathroom part.

Just, you can just read it every day. It goes, and this is really practical level, this is not hyper-spiritual, but it has spiritual implications. Goes, a good marriage is where both parties think they got the better end of the deal. See, I can't believe that God gave Mary to me, and she tells me I can hardly believe it but she can't believe that God gave me to her and you see when you justify the Lord and say I really don't deserve a wonderful God-faring spouse because I'm a sinner. That's another step of submission.

It's a sweet step because then you're not lashing out against God anymore saying, why is the Lord doing this to me? But you're saying, no, I don't deserve it. I'm going to keep waiting on the Lord. The third step of submission, and this applies by the way to all afflictions in life, is you don't only acknowledge the Lord and justify the Lord, but you actually, this is a lot deeper, you actually approve of the Lord doing what he's doing or not doing what he's not doing. And that, that I say goes far deeper, That goes to the depth of Job when he lost all ten of his children, one fell, fell below.

He turned to God and what did he say? The Lord is given and the Lord has taken away, not only, that would be okay. It is the Lord. But then he adds this amazing statement blessed be the name of the Lord oh that goes deep that goes deep And that goes deep as a single too. When you say, I embrace the pain, and it is a painful thing for many of you, most of you, I embrace the pain that God has me in at this moment.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. But then there's a fourth step that goes deeper yet. That's when in the midst of pain, you cling to the Lord as your greatest friend when he seems to come out against you as your greatest enemy. You remember later in the book of Job, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. That's profound.

No natural man can ever come to that point, not even close. Could it be, and I'm saying this to you in love, could it be that One reason God is exercising you in your single state is to lead you to cling to Him and to grow you spiritually by clinging to Him no matter what He does to you. So that's point one. When you glorify God with your whole way of life, you recognize that the Lord reigns over both marriage and singleness, and you bow under him. The second proposition about singleness in our Creator and living to the glory of God is that you need to remember as a single that the law of God limits sexual activity to husband and wife.

Limits sexual activity to a husband and a wife. And that's a tough sell in our society today. But the moral law in the Decalogue says to both single and married people, thou shalt not commit adultery. God forbids fornication of all kinds, also among single people. All kinds of sexual activity between people not married to each other.

So this is the will of God as you heard last talk even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication. 1st Thessalonians 4 verse 3 says in other words God is forbidding not only sexual intercourse, but also erotic and intimate touching prior to marriage. So the law of Holy God regulates our very thoughts and desires of our hearts and words of our mouths, or should do so, requiring an inner purity and holiness of speech in contrast to the wicked, lustful, lascivious ways of this world that just wants to express itself as if marriage or intimacy rather has no laws. John Calvin puts it this way, whenever they are assailed, speaking of singles here, by their fleshly inclinations. They should place the fear of God in opposition to temptation of this sort, cut off all inlets to unchaste thoughts, entreat the Lord to give them strength to resist, and set themselves with all their might to extinguish the flames of lust.

That's not easy. God never said the Christian life is easy. God never said the single life is easy. But God has said, as the Heideberg Catechism puts it so well in question 108, we must, expounding the seventh commandment, we must live chastely and temperately, whether in holy wedlock or in single life. And then principle number three.

Singleness exists in a kind of tension that is hard to describe, intention with God's creation ordinance of marriage. The Lord God said when he first instituted marriage, it's not good that the man should be alone, I will make him and help meet for him, fitting for him. So marriage, remember that, is not a human idea. It's not even just a human romantic idea. It's a creation ordinance.

It's instituted by God, woven into the very fabric of human life in this world. And so when Paul said, let everyone have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband, people may find themselves in a position where they cannot be married, at least not in the boundaries of wisdom and righteousness, yet they cannot escape the tension of singleness at the same time, which includes loneliness, sexual frustration, perhaps even financial difficulties, pressure, criticism from family, perhaps some fear, insecurity, and not least, the grief of unfulfilled dreams. So tension, Tension makes us vulnerable to temptation. But remember tension in itself is not sin Often tension is the opportunity to grapple in prayer with God, to work out obedience to God's will and become more like Christ. Self-denial, John Calvin said, is the beginning of the Christian life.

Not the ending point, the beginning. We're not to live for ourselves. We're to live whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do, whether we marry or not. We're to do it all for the glory of God. Well, that's a segue then to my second main group of propositions, and I've got four of them here, about singleness and Christ.

Singleness and Christ. So proposition number one about Christ and singleness is that remember Jesus Christ remained a single man to begin a new creation. The singleness of God the Son incarnate signals remarkable change in God's order for humanity, a shift from the creation to the new creation. Jesus Christ never married. He fathered no children, but he rose from the dead as the last Adam the beginning of the new humanity so How does the new Adam beget offspring if he remains single?

Well, he does so by the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit to go out and regenerate people and bring his church as his bride, I'm speaking spiritually and figuratively now, to himself so that one day in glory, there will be an innumerable multitude that will be in spiritual, not physical, but spiritual marital union with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And he is the perfect bridegroom and he is a better bridegroom than any husband you could ever find. There's no one like him. No one who's so wealthy. No one who's so famous.

No one who's so full of wisdom. No one who can save your soul. No one who can meet all your needs as prophet, as priest, as king, as Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ we might say, reverently speaking, there is neither married nor single, for Christ is all and in all, and as the perfect bridegroom He so loved the church and gave himself for her that he might present her to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. So remember, As much as you want to be married, there's a better marriage, a utopian marriage, a perfect marriage with Jesus Christ that will endure forever.

Jesus Christ will never leave you a widow. You'll live forever. For me to live as Christ forever and ever and ever for this life and for the better life to come. You know, I had a lady in my church when I first came there 38 years ago. She had newly been converted.

And here's how it happened. She was kind of a worldly lady actually and I don't really think the member of my church who's really still alive today, well into his 90s now, and godly man, but anyway, he married this woman and she came to church with him, but And the marriage was okay, it was maybe a B minus marriage, about as good as it could be, I suppose, without both people loving the Lord in sincerity in God's common grace. And One day she gets frustrated with her husband and she says, you don't spend enough time with me. And he says, well, what would you like me to do? He's a really kind man.

And she says, read to me. She couldn't read very well. She liked it when he read. He said, well, what shall I read? Oh, she said, read that little booklet on the table there from your church.

And we passed out these sermon booklets. So he picked it up, it was by Octavius Winslow, 19th century author, great, great writer, by the way. And the title of the sermon was, my times are in his hands. Psalm 31, 15. And he starts reading that sermon.

And she suddenly is convicted of her grumbling character. She's not bowing under God. And she becomes a sinner, a lost sinner before God while he's reading the sermon. She begins to weep and he keeps on reading about the fullness of Christ, how Christ can turn it around. And right during the sermon, Christ turns her around and she falls in love with Christ, the ultimate husband.

And by the time he says amen, she's just bursting. And she looks at him and she says, honey, all our married life, you've been number one, and now you're number two. But I will be a better wife to you when you're number two than when you were number one because when you're number one, I put all the burdens of my life upon you expecting you to meet all my needs, but now I know there's a better husband who can meet all my needs, Jesus Christ. So I'll be a better wife to you than I ever was before." Wow. You know, God can do everything in one minute, But she learned a lot under one sermon, I'll tell you that.

And that woman became so godly, she was a tremendous encouragement for me. And you can call it misdemeanor, you can call it what you will. But three times in the next 30 years she called me up on the spur of the moment and said, Pastor, you're weighing heavy on my heart. Please don't tell me, but I believe you're going through some deep trial right now and I just want to let you know that I'm praying for you day and night. And you know, all three times I was going through a trial, the calls of that woman were so great.

This woman became so fruitful. She became known throughout the congregation for her wise spiritual wisdom. You see, remember, marriage is not the be all and the end all. There's a better marriage to come. Number two, singleness offers the opportunity for undivided devotion and service to the Lord.

Now you've probably heard that a lot. Maybe it makes you a little bitter when you hear that. But don't be bitter. Think of each period of your life as a period of life to dedicate to the Lord. My dad used to always say to us when we were kids, whatever stage of life you're going through, determine what is worthwhile to do and whatever is worthwhile to do, do it with all your might.

And you see that's true for men, for women, single, married. If it's worth doing, do it for the glory of God with all your might. And if it's God's sovereign pleasure right now that you're single, live for him with all your might. And look at examples in church history who've done that, or Paul is a prime example, or Richard Sibb is the Puritan. Oh, what a network of people he connected with, politicians and ministers.

That man did so much good as a single. Or Amy Carmichael. Ask any married person and you will learn that married life is full of distractions and responsibilities so that singleness does, Paul's right, does allow you to serve God with greater liberty. Although, I hasten to add, single people also are very busy, because they have to take care of all life's things by themselves without a partner helping them, and that involves a lot. You do all the different things in life yourself.

So I don't wanna stretch this too far here and sometimes people think wrongly in churches, oh well, he's single, she's single, we can get him to do this and you pile stuff on you as if you have nothing to do. No, that's not right. But at the other hand, you do have, when you embrace the pain of singleness rightly, you do have the freedom to adjust your schedule to be of good service to the church and to the Lord and to relatives. When I was single as a young man, man, I just loved my little nieces and nephews from my older brother and my older sister. And I almost felt like they're my kids when I go over there.

I know there's a difference, but invest, invest yourself in the children of the congregation or in relatives' children and live for the glory of God. Be of service. You'll get joy in life when you serve. You'll never get joy in life when you're selfish. Just won't happen.

When I was 19 years old, or rather 16, my brother was 19, and he came up to me one day and he said this. He said, Joe, I figured out what all of life is all about, and I can say it in one word. Got one word, come on. He goes, service. I said, what?

Explain. He said, well, it's simple. God created us in Adam to serve. Adam was to serve God, he was to serve creation, keep the garden and keep it. He was to serve his wife.

His whole life was service. But when we fell, we became selfish. And so we tried to find happiness through selfishness, rather through service, which is the surest road to unhappiness. But when we get regenerated, we receive back, although imperfectly, a heart that loves to serve. And we then become prophets, priests, and kings again to God, offices we lost in our fall.

And so I just think life is like that. You just, when you're born again, you just want to serve. And you get much more joy in serving than you do in receiving, in giving, Jesus said. It's more blessed to give than to receive. So that's what life is all about, living your life for the glory of God, for the service of others, of serving God, serving other people, and that's when you'll have true happiness.

And I remember saying back to him at that time, oh yeah, that sounds pretty good. Man, fast forward to today. That sounds very good, very good. I have never met a person in my life who's a solid Christian, mature Christian, who dedicates his life in service to the Lord that is an unhappy person. Never seen it.

I've never heard a person say I'm sorry I spent so much time in the Bible and serving the church and serving other people. I just haven't heard it. You see when you live a life to the glory of God, you will have a greater liberty even when you're single. And then in Christ, Singleness can be a calling for you temporarily. Temporarily.

So I'm not saying something different here than Scott Brown said. But You have to always leave the door open The door open for marriage even if you think oh wow, I'm in my 40s now, and I'm never going to get married and Singleness must be God's best for me. That's all I'm going to get Keep the door open But as you keep the door open, don't let your heart be overwhelmed Every time you go to something like single conference or something and you don't walk away with any prospects, you say, oh, I'm disappointed again. Now, you have to learn to live with that tension where you come to singles conference to be fed and you're not, I mean, it's not that you close your eyes, but you don't get all wound up and put all your hopes on this again and go up and down. You see, like waves of the sea and be all upset when you don't meet someone.

No, no, no, live above that level. Say this is God's calling for me right now. I do hope he'll change it at some time. I'm praying for that, but it's his choice for me at this present moment. I got a happy story to tell you.

I have a friend, very very close friend to me. I've known him for 40 years. He comes to see me every year from another state, and he loves good books. He's a minister, and we sit and talk, book talk for about three hours, and then he goes back home. And we just have a real close bond with him.

This minister presently is 69 years old. He's opened his heart to me. This man has wept so much in his life because he's always wanted to be married. And he just could never find the right one. I mean, I've tried to set him up with a few and it didn't work.

And other people did and it didn't work. And I've actually said to the other guy who told me he tried to set him up with a few people too, we kind of agreed, I don't think he's ever gonna find anyone. I mean, you can be too particular too. So, about a month ago now, he calls me, and he hadn't talked to me for a while because he's been going through something I didn't know he kept it from me he got some cancer in a certain part of his body and so he said to me I have two important things to tell you. One is that I've, I got cancer.

Oh, I'm so, so sorry. And I prayed with him right away. And he says, but now he says, I want you to be sitting down. I go, sitting down, okay. He said, I got something that's gonna just shock you.

He said, I finally found the woman of my dreams. 69 years old. And the woman's like three or four years younger than him. Absolutely perfect for him in every way. He started to describe her.

It was outstanding. But now he has the problem. He got cancer and can this go through? And two weeks ago he calls me up and says, the doctors declared the treatments were completely successful, I'm freed from cancer, and so therefore I just proposed to my friend and she accepted it and we're getting married. I mean, it was just beautiful.

And then I know a little bit about this woman and it is a perfect match. And so this minister has been preaching about marriage so many times in his lifetime. He'd been dreaming about it, weeping over it, but he didn't go off on his own and do his own thing. He denied himself, humbled himself before God. I'm not saying you have to wait till you're 69, but the point is this, you keep yourself open.

You never know, you never know when God's going to send the right person along for you, designed for you. He's still the best heavenly matchmaker there is. And then finally, number four, all in Christ ultimately will be single and yet none will be single. What do I mean by that? Well, God's new creation has begun in individual lives as Christ converts and sanctifies each of his elect, and this new creation one day will blossom forth into the renewal of all things in the new heaven and the new earth, Revelation 21.

At that time, the Lord Jesus will raise his people from the dead and bring them into a new order of life in which they will dwell in the glory of God. And Jesus says, no one will then be married for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but there is the angels of God in heaven. Matthew 22. But at the same time, no one will be married in a physical marriage, but they will be married in a far grander and most glorious manner, as I've already said, to Jesus Christ. In fact, last week I preached on these words, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife hath made herself ready.

Oh, the joys of everlasting marriage, spiritual marriage with Jesus Christ. Okay now let me hasten for hasten on for some practical advice. Section one of this practical advice practical advice for a God glorifying good life. Number one, betroth yourself. In Bible times, betrothment was a very strong engagement.

You actually had to sign a bill of divorce if you broke a betrothment. Betroth yourself to Jesus Christ here in this life by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Don't rest until you can say for me to live is Christ. And at the same time that is the highest qualification you can bring into a marriage if God does send the right person along for you. Number two, flee the vices, flee the vices of worldly singleness, the sexual snares, the magnetic pull of addictive pornography that promises liberty and pleasure, but delivers enslavement and death.

Don't live for yourself. It's one of the greatest temptations for someone who's single for many years. Don't do it, Don't do it. Paul says, Christ died so that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again. Second Corinthians 515, that's the way to live.

So flee, flee from using anything God has given you, whether it's your body, your mind, your skills, your wealth, your home, your car, your friends, your fame, as a means to get personal attention, personal glory, personal pleasure, personal ease for yourself. Live for the glory of God and live for the welfare of your neighbor. That's the way to live. Calvin puts it so well. He said, we are not our own, therefore we are to live for God.

Let us therefore live for Him and die for Him. We belong to God. Let His wisdom rule all our actions. That all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward Him as our only lawful goal. Number three, I've already spoken a bit about this, regard Christ and not earthly marriage as your completion.

Our over-sexualized culture insists that without sexual activity, a person is incomplete. The evangelical subculture modifies that thought slightly to say that without marriage, a person is only half a person. Earthly marriage cannot complete you. It can give you many benefits, but it wasn't designed to complete you. The only one who can complete you is Jesus Christ.

To be linked to him in justification, to find your life in him in sanctification, to be constrained by loving him, and to be growing in likeness to him, and to be longing for him for his return, to forever be with him, that is our completeness. Only the fullness of God can fill you completely, no matter how good of a marriage you may have here on earth. Second part, practical advice for a God-glorifying productive life. God-glorifying productive life. Number one, use your liberty well for Christ in his kingdom.

Use your liberty well for Christ in his kingdom. Remember that all that you are and all that you have is given to you by God as a stewardship. You own account of it one day, just like married people do, to God. So as much as it is true for married people, so it is true for singles, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all these other things shall be added unto you. So true freedom is not born out of self-indulgence, but it's born out of obedience to God, serving Him.

Number two, serve the family God has given you. Honor your father and your mother, love your siblings. Cherish your nieces, your nephews, your biological relatives. And If you can do nothing else for your relatives, then pray. You already have a great, great value to your life.

Pray for your loved ones. You know, I visited a woman in the hospital one time, and she's still alive now. She's about 95. She's been in the hospital many times, got to know her very well. And I prayed for her at the end of my visit, of course, earnestly.

But then I looked at her, I saw her face was grimacing with pain and I said oh my friend I wish I could do something more for you you know what she said to me I rebuke you pastor I go what do you mean you rebuke me for what did I say wrong she said you just did more for me than all the physicians this hospital can do for me. You lifted me up in all my need to the Lord of Sabaoth, to the throne of God. That is more valuable than anything else. Don't underestimate the value of your prayers for those near and dear to you. And Maybe you can serve the family of God in your church.

I know a woman who wanted to have children, couldn't have children, she was married, but couldn't have children. She was so jealous of other people that could have children and then She saw the needs of one of the relatives that had a child and the child was kind of colicky or whatever. And that woman denied herself and went and helped the other mother. And in the process of helping the other mother she realized that having a child is not to be all and end all of this life it's a lot of work a lot of challenges and it humbled her but she wouldn't have learned that if she hadn't served. So look around in your church.

Is there someone I can serve? Is there someone I can help? Don't, don't, if you're in Christ, don't Just be a survivor passing through this life and put everything on the weight of marriage. Don't be like Rachel who got so angry with Jacob that he didn't give her children that you'd be angry with God he doesn't give you a spouse. Don't be a survivor in Christ.

Be an overcomer in Christ. We can overcome. We can be conquerors through him who loved us. So invest in friendships and invest in doing good. Invest your life, make your life worthwhile in wonderful ways of servanthood.

And then, finally, some practical advice for a presently God-glorifying single life. Number one, accept the temporary afflictions of singleness. We actually talked about that. Number two, do not be afraid or embarrassed to pursue marriage. Do not be afraid or embarrassed to pursue marriage.

Put yourself in situations where you can meet godly singles of the opposite sex and see what the Lord will do. Three, consider intentional singleness to serve God's kingdom while God is calling you to the single state. David Brainerd said, I cared not where or how I lived or what hardships I went through, I only cared about gaining souls to Christ. And he was close to getting married when the Lord took him away. But you see, his battle, His battle was to live a worthwhile life for the glory of God supremely.

And then marriage was secondary. So Singleness can also be a path greatly blessed by God for you can do so much good. And finally some practical advice for an everlasting life for an everlasting God-glorifying life. Remember that marriage is no one's final state, no one's final state. All marriages will be dissolved by death or by the Lord's return.

Although that's not to say that we won't be side by side with those that we love in glory, but then we will all be focused upon Jesus Christ. In some way our marriages will be the best ever, not with sexual intimacy, but everything will be focused on Jesus, which is supreme, of course. But Christians are pilgrims passing through this world, passing through Vanity Fair on their way home to the city of God. And believe me, friend, life is short. You blink a few times you might be married.

You blink a few more times you might have kids. Blink a few more times they might be married and you'll have grandchildren. Blink a few more times and you'll die. Life goes incredibly fast. So live in hope, not supremely of marriage, but live in hope supremely of living forever in the perfect realm of glory, glorifying God forever and ever.

So remember in your pain, in your sorrow, that the best day of your life will not be your wedding day but rather when Christ appears in the glory of God we shall see him as he is, for we shall be like him. Whom have I, Lord, in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Live out of that, live out of solely Dale Gloria. I live for the glory of God alone.

Yes, you'll still feel pain, but you won't despair. And you'll receive strength to go out and keep your hands on the plow and go forward, serving God in this life and for a better life to come. Let's pray. Gracious God, please bless this advice, these principles, propositions, that we might all, married or single, live for the glory of thy name. Help us in all that we do and show us what to do and what not to do and how much to do.

Help us to live balanced lives in every area of our life. But may they all be marinated in this undergirding and overriding principle. I want to do everything for the glory of my worthy, worthy Savior and Lord. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.