The text for the sermon this morning comes from Matthew 19. Matthew 19, and we're going to be considering verses 11 through 12. We'd like us, for the purposes of context, to read those first 10 verses of Matthew 19. There we see that Christ is in dialogue with the Pharisees over the subject of marriage. So let's hear God's word this morning as we find it in Matthew 19 verses one through 12 and paying particular attention to verses 11 and 12. Now came to pass when Jesus had finished these things that he departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. Great multitudes followed him and he healed them there. Pharisees also came to him, testing him and saying to him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? And he answered and said to them, have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female? And said, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separates. They said to him, why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and to put her away? He said to them, Moses, because the hardness of your hearts permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery. And to whoever marries her who commits adultery. His disciples said to him, if such is with his wife, it is better not to marry. But he said to them, all cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb. There are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men. There are eunuchs who have made eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept them, accept it. Our text from Matthew 19 verses 11 and 12 is an especially relevant passage in today's culture. There's much talk today about what place marriage and sexuality has in society. Many of these discussions have led to a complete perversion of God's good and beautiful notion of marriage. There are countless scores of people who remain single when they do not have the gift of singleness, and this leads to all kinds of sexual immorality. It also led to a perversion of the beauty of what it means to be male and female. And oftentimes, the church can respond to the world's abandonment of marriage by suddenly encouraging absolutely everyone to get married. That is not quite the right response either, because in Matthew 19, verses 11 through 12, Jesus declares the goodness of being single and living a gospel-magnifying life. Christ says, for there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sakes. He who is able to accept it, accept it. The message of Matthew 19, verse 11 through 12 is something that the church needs to hear. The expectation in Reformed churches is almost always for people to get married. That's certainly the typical experience for the believer. However, the typical experience for the believer often becomes the necessary experience, even the mandatory experience. The church goes too far and errs. placed on people to get married and have children. If they do not do that, well then they are not fulfilling God's will for their lives. I'm talking to single people in various churches I have been a part of. I've heard them say that they have felt ostracized as though they are second-class in the church simply because they are not married. Even in reformed churches as well, I've heard wives shamed and gossiped about as they have had different bearing children. On social media, you might almost come away thinking that it is a sin to be single or barren. The result is that those who are single and barren in the church have often been ostracized and they struggle to know what their role in the church is. You might wonder why I place singleness and barrenness together in the same realm. Well, as we'll see in Scripture, these concepts are often very closely connected. There's many passages in Scripture that address both of these in the same breath, as we'll see. But thanks be to God that Jesus Christ rightly defends singleness here in this passage and beautifully expounds on the blessedness of being eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. So let us consider Matthew 19, verses 11 through 12, looking at how such singleness can be used for the glory of God. As we saw, the context to our sermon text is a discussion around the difficulty of marriage. Marriage is difficult because of him. This isn't the difficulty of marriage problem with the original institution of marriage. God gave man the institution of marriage and it was a good and perfect thing. The human sin mars this beautiful institution and it makes it difficult. Christ addressed in Matthew 19 sexual immorality coming into the marriage relationship. The relationship between a husband and a wife needs to be that one flesh relationship, but adultery and sexual immorality leads to the breaking of that. And there's also that affair they're asking about. They're asking, well, is it all right for us to divorce a woman for any reason? And Christ has to tell them, no, you shouldn't be divorcing your wives for any reason. And so we see that marriage is indeed made difficult by human sin. And Jesus very clearly stipulates to his audience that the only grounds for divorce are sexual immorality. Otherwise, husband and wife are to remain together their lives. People hear this and they're shocked at this. They say, if such is the case with other men with his wife, it's better not to marry. And we might make our heads of the disciples for coming to this conclusion. But we must acknowledge that they had a certain realistic understanding of the difficulties of marriage. You know, they're operating with the assumption that, well, marriage is indeed difficult, and it's nice to have that way to get out of marriage when the rubber hits the road. It's nice to have that ability to divorce for any reason, to be loose from a difficult wife. But Christ tells them this isn't allowed. Yes, marriage is difficult, that you are to remain together, except for possibly the case of sexual immorality. And Jesus told the disciples that one can accept the same, but only those to whom it has been given. In other words, he said, for those who cannot accept the difficulty of marriage and their need to remain with one's wife till death parts them, for them perhaps it's better that they remain single. They cannot accept this, and perhaps it's better for them to remain single. Now this, the radical nature of what Jesus is saying, because in the Old Testament, there is a shame associated with singleness. Being single could be compared to a type of barrenness. Many of us are familiar with the historical narratives of women in the Old Testament. That's a common theme. And we specifically remember the story of Hannah who had her womb closed by the Lord and how Paniah would provoke her severely to be miserable because of that. And we read in Deuteronomy 28 that barrenness is tied directly to the curse of God. We read in Deuteronomy 28 verse four that if Israel obeyed God, well then the fruit of their womb, the fruit of their body would be blessed. But if they did not obey God, they would be cursed. Deuteronomy 28 verse 18. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body, and the produce of your land, the yields of your cattle, and the offspring of your flocks. And as we saw in our Old Testament reading this morning from Jeremiah 16, Jeremiah is another example of God's judgment on those who barren. Jeremiah was to be a testament, an aspect of his prophecy that as he lived single, so station would be brought upon the people of Israel. There would be no joy in marriages. Husband and wife would be spurt in the captivity and the judge on them. Jeremiah was to remain single as a declaration of God's coming judgment upon Israel. And so the expectation in Israel in the Old Testament is that you get married and have children. And we see this even in our text when the disciples say, we're shocked, if such is the case of the man with his woman, it is better not to marry. Disciples are so shocked by what Jesus has said about divorce, marriage, that they raise the objection in a sense saying, how can singleness possibly be better than divorce? Surely divorce is better than singleness. It's better that a relation does not work out than that I remain single. At least we're married to somebody. Shame with singleness and barrenness stems from the book of Genesis. Genesis 1.27, God gave the creation mandate to man, saying, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Man's calling in this life was to fill the earth with offspring. And after the fall, that call continued, but it had an added difficulty. Because of Eve's sin, the Lord would greatly multiply her sorrow and her conception. Labor would only be difficult and painful, but there would be the sorrow of barrenness. So we see, once again, that there's this curse attached to this idea of singleness and barrenness. But there's also, in Genesis, an added impetus for the bearing of children. And that comes out in the Gospel promise. We read 3.15. There's a new impetus to having offspring after the fall. And this impetus is the bringing about of the seed of the woman. The one who would crush the head of the serpent and deliver man from his sin. And suddenly, the child is associated with God's blessing. Continued expectation of one who will deliver them from their sin. A question that is constantly being asked with the birth of every child. Is this trying to be our deliverer? Is this one finally God promising to deliver us? Is this one going to be the Messiah? You see that especially in the name of Seth in Genesis 4. Eve gave Seth his name because God had a seed for me instead of Abel, whom killed. And that's one of the ideas with Psalm 89, which we've sung. There's this expectation from the line of David is ultimately going to be the Messiah. And so with the birth of every new king, the question is being asked, is this finally going to be the one? And the discouraging note of Psalm 89 is that no, there's absolutely a Davidic dynasty. There doesn't seem to be this hope. So that's some of the cultural and the biblical background to this text in Matthew 19. And this brings us to consider now what Christ says about eunuchs. And there's three types of eunuchs he speaks of here. Eunuchs were those who for one reason or another remain single. And the first type of eunuch Christ mentions are those who are born thus from their mother's womb. These were eunuchs because of some type of congenital condition. They had some sort of physical abnormality that makes marriage, the fulfillment of marriage obligations, difficult or impossible. They would be barren, unable to have children. Now, these are not prohibited from a marriage, but especially in the biblical days, it would have been very difficult for them to find a spouse. And this difficulty stemmed in part from the need to have children who would support you in your old age. You need someone who is able to care for you. Now, perhaps not surprisingly, it has actually become necessary in today's day and age to provide a qualifier with this text. This text is not speaking of those who today struggle with gender dysphoria, nor is this validating the legitimacy of your expressing yourself as transgender. Even with physical deformities, there is still the need to live out one not given sexuality. very rare occasions that might be difficult to determine. That's where wisdom and a seeking of God's guidance needs to occur. Jesus is not speaking of transgenderism here, because that is a wicked creation of this modern age. This is simply addressing those who have some type of congenital condition. So that's the first type of eunuch Christ speaks of here. The second type of eunuch Jesus speaks about are those who are made eunuchs by men. And this involved the intentional physical mutilation for the purpose of retaining political power. This was a common practice in the courts of nations around Israel. And Israel was told that this would be an aspect of judgment for their sins, that their sons would be given to these foreign nations and a eunuchs in their court. In 2 Kings 20, verse 18, we read, and they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget. and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Now the reasons for this type of eunuchs existing have really disappeared with the spiritual and biblical morality. It is very, I can't think of any instance in modern day where this might apply in the specific context that Christ is speaking of. But there's a point of application with this, too. You know, the original reason for this type of eunuch has all but disappeared, but there's still a rising number of eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men. Rise of transgenderism has brought with it men-approved sterilization. This is a horrible breach of the sixth commandment, which is for the preservation and care of the human body. Many are wickedly deceived by influencers, doctors, and parents into this wicked practice. Church must not only speak against such a practice, pleading with these young people to take care of their bodies and avoid being made eunuchs, but also minister with love and care to those who have. been made eunuchs by men. So that's the second type of eunuch Christ speaks of here. And the third eunuch Jesus mentions are those who have made themselves the kingdom of heaven's sake. These are not traditionally those who would be considered. These are people who have intentionally sought out singleness, even though they could just as easily be married. They have not sought the blessings and comforts that come from marriage. They have not sought that so that they could have more time for the advancement of the kingdom of heaven. This was the case with Jeremiah, who remained single as part of his ministry. This was also the case with Jesus Christ himself, who remained single all of his life. And we must know that this type of singleness has a very specific purpose. The singleness is for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. I'm not saying here that just anybody should remain single for their entire life. Instead, these people must use their singleness for the purpose of glorying God. There are many today who remain single so that they have opportunity to live for themselves and enjoy greater freedom and sin. Many men and women don't settle down in life so that they can participate freely in this hookup culture that is actually an immoral culture that we live in. They remain single out of a position of selfishness, so they don't have to be encumbered by marriage. In response to that, Paul states very clearly in 1 Corinthians 7 that the single person is to live for the Lord. He says, he who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But he who is married cares about the things of the world, how he may please his wife. There is difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. It's also important for us to point out that while the single person is able to devote a lot of time and energy to the service of the Lord, a time and energy that the married person doesn't have because they need to care for their wife or their husband, we need to point out that the single person is not necessarily more sanctified than a married. This is the great error of Roman Catholicism and the constraints that that religion has placed on priests, nuns, and monks in forbidding them to get married. You know, that forbidding of marriage is a witch that has resulted in widespread sexual immorality in the Roman Catholic Church. Men and women who in no way possess the gift of singleness have been forced into a life of singleness because the church that it has held in that is the path to holiness and communion with God. So the church really needs to hold two things in balance here. The first is that one can be single all their life and be in submission to God's word and grow in holiness as a result of that. The second is one can just as be married and grow in holiness as a result of that. Marriage is not necessary for fulfilling God's calling on your life, especially so if God's called you to singleness. And singleness is not necessary for fulfilling God's calling on your life, as God has called you to the life of marriage. Marriage is not necessary for godliness, and singleness is not necessary for godliness. So that brings us to now consider the blessedness of singleness. While many churches downplay singleness and discourage it, we must heed Jesus' words and recognize that there is indeed blessedness in it. In our text, Jesus speaks of the voluntary giving up of the biblical blessings of marriage for the blessing of being eunuchs in the heaven. And there's something we call an exciting happening here. There's a change happening between the old covenant and the new covenant. The old covenant, the old administration of the covenant of grace, singleness and bareness was a sign of God's judgment. But that is no longer the case in this new administration of the covenant of grace. This is demonstrated first off in the reality of Jesus Christ, the savior of men, being single. Jesus Christ, the most blessed fruit of the womb, was conceived by one who was single. He was conceived by the Virgin Mary. Christ embraced the single life as a declaration of him taking upon himself a bareness and singleness in the old covenants. raise up physical offspring for if he had no physical lineage. But he did that or that he might put upon himself that curse of barrenness. Christ taken upon himself that curse, the barren woman is able to rejoice with the words of Isaiah 54. We read there, "'King, O barren, you who have not born, "'break forth into sinning and cry aloud, "'you who have not labored with child, "'for more are the children of the desolate "'than the children of the married woman.'" As I was saying there, that the curse has been removed by Christ. Suddenly the barren woman is able to rejoice because of the spiritual blessedness she has in Christ. She now has a fruit that far exceeds the fruit of a physical child she has encountered as one of the children of God. And the widow, the one who has never been able to find, the one who has never been able to find a spouse, she also no longer has cause for fear or shame. Isaiah 54 verse 4 says, Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed, neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame, for you will forget the shame of your youth and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. For your maker is your husband. The Lord of hosts is his name, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. He is called the God of the whole earth. See there that there's no shame for the single person because Jesus is her husband. We read in Isaiah 54 that the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused. This is the love of God towards you who are single, that he would call you his wife, his bride, and bring you into marriage relationship with himself. Nor is the single believer devoid of offspring. While Christ had no physical offspring, he has a host of spiritual offspring. All those who come to faith in him are sons and daughters of God the Father and the adopted brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. And those who use their sin to seek the kingdom of heaven will be able to rejoice in the spiritual heritage that they bring forth. They can rejoice in how God has used them to encourage others in following Him. And how God has used their life to point others to Him and use them to raise up a spiritual heritage of those who fear His name. In some ways, Matthew 28 is an addition to the creation mandate and fill the earth. In Matthew 28, Christ calls the church to go into all the world, but instead of bearing physical offering, they are to make those of all the nations. The earth has filled with physical offspring, and now the church is to go and make disciples of all nations. The church is to rejoice in the spiritual offspring that are brought forth to pray in the name of Jesus. So a single person, do not descend. Women, do not despair that you have no offspring. Next, we are told that these are not to say, here I am, a tree. They are not to bear any fruit, for the Lord says to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and choose what they hold fast to my covenant, even to them I will give my house and within my walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name cut off. So do not despair, those of you who are single, for you are blessed far better than that of sons and daughters. You have a name written in the book of life. You have redemption and blessedness of an everlasting life that will know no end. For all those who are single, whether you desire to remain so for your entire life or are waiting on the Lord's timing in marriage, be encouraged in the gospel of Christ. Use this unique opportunity in your life to advance the kingdom of heaven in your particular station and calling. Know that you are wedded to your bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't have to be worried about the care of a spouse and devote yourself to your heavenly spouse. Nor does singleness mean to aliveness. I've spoken of marriage, previous sermons, as being for the purpose of companionship. When your relationship with Christ, you have a companionship that far exceeds the earthly marriage. You have a perfect companion in the person of Jesus Christ. We who are married can sometimes forget that. We can make either husband or wife. And when they sin against us, we can be brought to a point of great despair, but Christ's relationship with you will never be cause for despair. In church, especially those of you who are married, be sure those who are single in their calling, do not make assumptions about the reason for their singleness. The church can hinder the calling to singleness by viewing them as outsiders or constantly trying to toast for them, rather than whom seek relationship with those who are single, strive to know them and encourage them in using their single thoughts. They certainly could be using that singleness for the purpose of seeking a spouse. Or that could be a devoting of their life to singleness, so that it can be devoted to prayer, the reading of the Word, fasting, or mercy ministry. May singleness and barrenness be used as an opportunity to proclaim the glory May we use the opportunity to proclaim the blessedness of being in relationship with Jesus, who has taken on himself the curse for sin, that those who might not think they are a dry tree, but a fruitful and green tree. May those who are barren see that they have fruit, the fruit and the blessings of salvation, a fruit that is boundless and everlasting. Christ came, offered, And he has given us himself, both in giving us fruit, spiritual fruit, and in giving of himself as our companion, as our faithful husband. Well, let's pray. We come before you. Thankful, O Lord, that you do indeed hear our prayers. Thankful, Lord, that Jesus Christ came and took upon himself the curse for sin. and that He has removed that. And that, Lord, He enables those who are single to know the blessedness of being single. Lord, we pray that You would ever encourage Your church in the truth of Your Word, that those who are married might live in their marriage for the glory of God, that those who are single might live in their singleness for the purpose of glorifying God. Lord, in whatever our station and calling, may we rejoice in you and give you the praise due your name. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen.