1 Corinthians chapter number 7. Look at verse number 25 this evening. The Bible says, Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord, to be faithful. I suppose, therefore, that it is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. Are thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Are thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. But if thou marry, thou hast not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the flesh, but I spare you. But this I say, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none. And they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoiced as though they rejoiced not, and they that buy as though they possess not, and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world pass the way. But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried cared for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But he that married is married, carrieth. "'for the things that are of the world, "'how he may please his wife. "'There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. "'The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, "'that she may be holy both in body and in spirit, "'but she that is married careth for the things of the world, "'how she may please her husband. "'In this I speak for your own profit, "'not that I may cast a snare upon you, "'but for that which is comely, "'and that you may attend upon the Lord "'without distraction. But if any man thinketh he behaveth himself uncomely towards his virgin, if she passeth the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he senteth not, let them marry. Nevertheless, he that standeth steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart, that he will keep his virgin, doeth well. So then he that giveth her in marriage, doeth well. But he that giveth her not in marriage, doeth better. The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth. But if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord. But she is happier if she is so abide after my judgment. And I think also that I have the Spirit of God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for tonight. Lord, thank you that we still have a song. Lord, we still have much reasons and many reasons, Lord, to continue to praise you, to sing. Lord, the praise is unto you tonight. Lord, I'm thankful that even in the day and age that we live in. God, as was mentioned in prayer, Lord, it sure has getting darker and darker as soon as the days go on, Lord, and sin becomes more prevalent and more present, and Lord, right in our faces as we continue through this life, Lord, there's still much to be thankful for. We thank you for grace tonight. We thank you for mercy. Lord, thank you for love that is unconditional, everlasting. Lord, thank you for truth. that'll stand the test of time, God. Everything else is gonna fall apart and fail, but Lord, your word will still be true. Lord, I'm thankful that we can anchor our lives on it, we can build upon it, Lord, we can, Lord, hang on to it in the storms of life, Lord, that it comforts us when we're discouraged, Lord, it challenges us, Lord, when we need to be challenged, Lord, it convicts us when we're wrong, Lord, and I thank you, Lord, just for a word that is that powerful, God, that it discerns the intents of the heart, Lord, it reads me better than I read it, Lord, and I pray tonight, Lord, that you'd help us from the word of God, And Lord, you just simply work in our hearts tonight. Would you hide me behind the cross of Calvary? God, would you end me out of myself? Fill me with the spirit of God. Use me one more time, Lord, to be a help and a blessing and encouragement to your people. Lord, I sure do love you, and I sure am thankful for all that you've done and for who you are, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen, and amen. We've come here back to First Corinthians, and we're gonna continue along this line of Paul's press conference. My wife asked me what he preached on tonight. I said, Paul's press conference, part three, amen. And so we've made it to part three tonight, but really, I guess you could subhead this, which one's better, and Paul's gonna compare and contrast the single life and the married life, the unmarried and the married, and it's not necessarily which one is better. We're gonna see that there are, Pluses to each of these, and I don't think we have the right to say that marriage is bad because God is the one that created it and the one that instituted it. Therefore, everything he does is good and right. Therefore, marriage done God's way, by God's standard, by God's work, is a good thing tonight. But we're going to see, as we go into this, that Paul tells us in verse number 25, that he is once again not speaking from a place of commandment or what he's about to tell us does not come with a command from the Old Testament or a commandment from the Old Testament that thou shalt do this or thou shalt not do this. There is no commandment that thou shalt be married that applies to every single person. But Paul himself was not married. But There is tonight as we look at this, this idea, he's not gonna give a commandment, but he's going to give some wise judgment. And he says right there at the end of verse number 40, I think also that I have the spirit of God. He knew that this was not just Paul making these things up, but being led by the spirit of God. He is giving us some wonderful information that yes, deals with the subject of marriage and being single and those different kind of things tonight. But Paul doesn't come off anywhere and says that it is that you shall not be married. Right? Nowhere does he give that command. Nowhere does he tell that you are forbidden from marrying. But he's going to give us some ideas and some truths tonight about this as we look forward to this. forbidding to Mary, as a matter of fact something later on, that he would write to Timothy about and tell Timothy that the idea or the doctrine or the teaching of forbidding to Mary is actually a doctrine of the devil. It's a doctrine of the devil to tell someone you cannot be married. Now you say, well preacher, that's not a big deal to me, but it's a big deal. 1 Timothy 4 verse number three tonight is where you find that phrase forbidding to marry, being tied to the doctrine of the devil. And that was a big deal for me because I grew up in a system that forbid certain men to marry. right in the Catholic faith and the Catholic religions that the right way to say that tonight that if a man desires to be a priest he must He must make the commitment that he would not be married, or they forbid men who desire to be priests or to be priests from marrying. And growing up, my whole life, that's a godly attribute, right? But we really see, we've seen firsthand the effect that it has, not just on the priests, but those around it. But then to say that you have to forbid them, the Bible clearly ties that to a doctrine of the devil, and if that's the doctrine the church holds, well then they have to ask who's in control of that church. It's not the Word of God. It's not the Holy Spirit of God. It's not God the Father, the Son. That's the doctrine of the devil. Well, I think we can say who's in control there. But we come here tonight, and so Paul's not going to say you are forbidden, but he's going to leave it up like he has been in the past few lessons that we looked at tonight, that it is up to the individual to make that choice according to God's direction and God's leadership and within the confines of the scripture. We're going to talk about that tonight when it comes to this. Now Paul is going to command one way or another. He's building upon that principle that we've seen over the past two weeks and it really comes down to the choice of the individual. Now Paul is going to weigh in on some things that should be considered by those who are gonna make the choice about marriage, but in reality, this evening, we can take these truths and these principles and apply it to decisions, not just coming to marriage, but decisions we're gonna make in our Christian life. And so let's look at this tonight, look at some truths that we find here. Notice, number one, we see the current distress that is mentioned in verse number 26. The Bible says Paul wrote, I suppose, therefore, that it is good for the present distress, Now, as a preacher, what is that? Well, we could probably sit here all night and guess at and try to hypothesize what that present distress was in the church of Corinth, but we can make some ideas, make some guesses tonight. We know that there was problems with that. We know that the Christians in the first century were heavily persecuted, not just in Jerusalem, but anywhere that was under Roman captivity and Roman governing, not the Catholic, but the church, right? The Christian Church was was heavily persecuted. So no doubt there was probably distresses on the outside We know Corinth was not a good place. It was not a family-friendly place. It was not a holy place It was a place full of sin and debauchery So there's a lot of oppression on the outside of the current distress, but we also there's problems inside this church, right? We've already talked about that. This church is full of schisms. It's full of sensuality and It's full of things that ought not to ever be named in the church. And so no doubt there's a distress on the outside, but there's distress on the inside. And so Paul said, listen, as you're going to make this decision, you must consider, not that it is the main ruling factor, not that it is the only thing that we consider, but you must take consideration into the present predicament that you are in, the place that you're in. That word distress means a bind or a constraint or a problem. And I think it's safe to say tonight that this church at Corinth had problems. It had problems within, it had problems without. And so Paul said, you need to take this into thought, you need to take this into reasoning when you go to make your decision concerning this choice. And here's Paul's advice. He said, in this present distress, look at me in verse number 26, the Bible says, I say it is good for a man so to be. In essence, Paul said, what you are now, I would counsel you to remain that way until the distress is over. and to that present distress is no longer distressing. Then he's gonna reveal to us further on tonight as we get into this, those who were, could you imagine growing up in that church? and coming to an age of understanding certain things and the lifestyles and the choices that were not just being done in that church but being flaunted in that church, and now you've got this misconstrued idea of what marriage is and what it is not and how it ought to be done. And so Paul's telling them, he said, listen, before you make any decision on this, my judgment, my counsel is wait until all of this is over, wait until it's all sorted out to where it's supposed to be, and then make your decision. And so what Paul is saying tonight is that this decision, there were some that were thinking, well, you know, getting married solves everything. Getting married fixes everything. And so Paul was saying, oh, before we go any further, he's dealing with this issue of being married and being single. And getting married was not the solution to the problems that were going on at the Church of Corinth. It was not the solution to the distress that was going on. But also being single or being married and then becoming single was not the answer either. Paul was saying whatever you are, if you're single or married, remain that way until you can get to a place where you're not making that decision out of a place of distress, but you're making that decision out of a place of discernment and wisdom and understanding. And Paul's advice simply states sometimes the best thing we can do is wait until the present distress is over before we make a decision or no longer, before we make that final decision. Now, Paul does clarify in verse number 28. Right, he does clarify now if you still get married, even with everything going on, he said you have not sinned, right? You just haven't followed his counsel, his guideline or what he would do in his own life. But it's still not, it's not a sin to get married tonight. God ordained and God orchestrated marriage for His glory and for a greater purpose than that. And so for a man or a woman to get married is not a sin, even if, you know, in the economy that we're in, right, even in the society that we're living in, even in the world that we're going on, right, it is not a sin for a man and a woman to get married. But Paul was saying that marriage is not the solution. That marriage does not fix everything. That marriage is not the answer or the end all to what is going on in the church at Corinth and what's going on in our life. Then he goes down to say verse 29, verse number 31, even as Christians who have been saved by the grace of God, even when we get married, there are going to come points in our life where decisions have to be made that we realize that something is not what we're looking for. Why? We already have someone. Right? He goes on to say in verse number 29 tonight, But this I say, brethren, time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none. So the answer isn't just in a singular object or a singular person. Tonight, it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's gonna say, "'Cause there's a certain time we're gonna weep, "'as though we wept not, and as though we rejoiced, "'as though we rejoiced not.'" So oftentimes, we think, man, if I can just get this thing, or I can get this person, or if I can get to this place, therefore, everything is going to be solved. And Paul said, no, those things may not be sin. It's not a sin to weep. It's not a sin to rejoice. It's not a sin to try to obtain worldly things to take care of worldly business, right? That's why you go to a job. You don't go there because it's always fun and sunshine and rainbows. You go because Georgia Power is gonna call you once a month or text you once a month, email you once a month and tell you, hey, you owe some money. And so you go to earn so you can pay, so you can have electricity and you can have the things. That's not sin tonight, that's called living life. And so Paul said, but if our answer, or we think our answer to our current distress is something or someone or somewhere or somebody, we're missing the mark because our hope and our answer, we already have, is Christ. And that's what it was missing here at the Church of Corinth. They were trying their best to plug in different things to try to find the answer. And Paul said, no, the answer is Christ tonight, even in our current distress. And so we see tonight that the current distress has to be addressed and learned from it, and no doubt factors in. But ultimately, we must remember that no thing or no person outside of the Lord Jesus Christ can help us in the current place like the Lord can help us tonight. So notice number one, there's a current distress. Number two tonight, notice number two, there was a calculated decision. There was a calculated decision. Now, if you're gonna make the decision, learn to make it with facts and not just feelings, right? If I only made facts on what I felt or made decision on what I felt tonight, well, my family would not have any kind of healthy meals, right? Because we don't ever feel like cooking, right? We just, let's run by McDonald's. We passed one today coming back to the church and Shiloh said, dad, Why haven't we gone back to McDonald's?" I said, "'Cause it ain't been your birthday. We only go to McDonald's on your birthday." She's gonna think that, she's gonna be 21 years old and figure out McDonald's is just a fast food restaurant. It's not just somewhere special you go on your birthday. But as long as she keeps saying that, everything will be all right. Now, but Paul's desire was for them to make a decision that was without carefulness. What he says right there in verse number 32 tonight, the Bible says, but I would have you without carefulness. Not that you're careless, right? Not that you're, I'm just, I'm gonna throw a dart and hope it sticks, right? But rather to make it without worry, right? To make it without trouble, without distractions. In essence, to make a calculated decision. One that is based upon facts, one that is based upon truth, one that is based upon God's Word. Paul wanted to make the right decision that wouldn't cause them any more trouble or distract them from what God had designed them to do. Now, in the context tonight, he's speaking about being married or remaining unmarried throughout your life. But the reality, not just in that, that's a big choice we make in life. That's a big decision we make in life. It needs to be based upon not just our feelings, right? Not just our emotions in the moment, right? But upon the facts that God has given you this person, that God has placed them in your life. That is who God desires for you to marry. God has lined it out. They got a clear testimony. They love the Lord. They're serving God, right? And we learn these things, and therefore we can make these decisions off of facts. and also with faith as well. But notice he displays the simpleness of singleness. The simpleness of singleness. Verses 32 and 34, we see that a single person, an unmarried person, we'll see the word right there in verse 32 and verse number 34. It talks about those who are unmarried in verse number 34, or 32, 34, it talks about the virgin, that's an unmarried woman that is being spoke there. And Paul illustrates, and Paul brings out the idea tonight, that the simple life, or the single life, is simple. It's simple. It's far more simple than the married life. Not that the single life is better than, oh, you took a step down when you got married, but the single life is simple. You're responsible for yourself. That's where your responsibility stops. your walk with the Lord, your job, those kind of things. There's a lot less things tying you down, right, or keeping you in place, right? Before me and Miss Becky got married, I lived in the first house that we rented when we first got married, but I lived there by myself for like a month or two months before we got married. You know what I had? I had a television, I had a couch, and I had an Xbox. That's all I needed. I didn't even have a blanket the first night I slept there. I tried my best to wedge myself into that couch to try to get some kind of warmth. So I eventually bought a blanket, right? But the simple, here's the thing, as a man, that's living high on the hog. We're perfectly content. That's all I need, just give me somewhere I can eat. Give me somewhere to use the restroom and give me a couch, a television, maybe a television, just give me somewhere to sleep. Right, and we'll make do. The simple life is, or the single life is simple tonight. And so I had those things, and so not just in general and in that physical sense, but singleness brings the simplicity to serving the Lord as well. What do you mean by that, preacher? He wants you to move, no problem, it's just me. Right, he wants you to go to Bible college, great. I'm the only one that's got to be up until 10 o'clock at night, those kind of things. He wants you to eat, work, and go to church. That sounds like the life. That is the simple life, or the single life tonight. And so he brings out this simplicity there of one who is single and remains single. But then he also brings out and displays the sincere affection of marriage. affection of marriage. Verses 33 and 34, look at verse number 33, but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. Well you contrast that with verse number 32, here's the single person who just loves the Lord. This loves the Lord and how they may please the Lord. It makes it sound like the husband or one who decides to get married to a woman and have a wife, it seems like he's made a worldly decision. Because now all he cares about is the things of the world. How he may please his wife, as if he has put his wife on a pedestal. Everything I do is just focused on her, which we know is not biblical marriage. However, there is a responsibility that is given to a man who has chosen to marry a wife, that he is to lead her, he is to be the head of the home, he is to provide for her, he is to be those things that God has ordained and outlined in the scripture, and we understand tonight that that does require a thought process that a single person doesn't always think about. Right? The single person doesn't think about, well, you know what? I'm going to change jobs because I'm tired of this job. I'm just going to change jobs. A single person will do that. Whereas a married man says, you know what? I might need to talk to my wife about this. Right, there's this responsibility that's given there, not that he's carnal, not that he's worldly, but now it's less simple in that sense. It is more, I don't wanna say, more detailed, right? I was about to say stressful, but I don't wanna say that, but it's more detailed tonight. But he takes on the responsibility of being a provider for the wife and the family, making sure they have the essentials that are needed in life. Right, and we've lost that as a society. We've lost it completely as a society, right? We have grown up and we have trained and taught and indoctrinated society to be dependent upon the government, right? Dependent upon, you know, some other system or some other form instead of going about it God's way through God's plan tonight. But Paul, he brings out, he displays a sincere affection of marriage. He goes on to say right there in verse number 32 that he may, or excuse me, verse number 33, that how he may please his wife. He may please his wife. That sounds a whole lot more than, well, here's my paycheck, what else do you want from me? I did my job, leave me alone. Right, to please his wife. See, there's a vast difference tonight. And I don't know, this message is not sponsored by McDonald's. There's a vast difference tonight in the experience you'll have at McDonald's and that Chick-fil-A. Even on Peach Orchard Road. Right, you go to McDonald's, what do you want? And they give you what you want. No frills, no thrills. Not even a smile. Better be able to catch it. Gonna throw it in the... But you go to Chick-fil-A, and you're like, oh man, I forgot to put Chick-fil-A sauce on there. Can you please go inside and get me some? Oh yeah, no problem, thank you. Like it's their pleasure to serve you. It's their pleasure to make you satisfied as a customer. And so when it comes to marriage, I think sometimes we feel like, well, if I just do my responsibility, what's required of me, then don't, that's it. I don't want to go no further than that. But when it real boils down to is serving one another to a place where it becomes a pleasure in your life to please them. to know that they're satisfied, to know that they're happy tonight. But then he goes on to say the same truth carries for the wife. He goes on to say right there in verse number 34, right, but she that is married carrieth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. So there's this added responsibility there that is not in the single simple life. There's this caring one for another. Every decision I make, yes, my relationship with God, it needs to be where it's supposed to be. And if it is where it's supposed to be, well, then I'll be the best husband that I could possibly be. I'll be the best father I could possibly be, best friend I could possibly be, best pastor I could possibly be tonight. And so, yes, we maintain that first relationship. However, when it comes to a married couple, when it comes to those who are married tonight, there is an added responsibility of not only is my relationship right with him, but I need to make sure that they are taken care of, that I am doing my end of the deal in that sense when it comes to being married tonight. So the same truth carries for the wife. It is not that your spouse becomes more important than your relationship with the Lord, but that your relationship with your spouse is the first one to be directly influenced. with the Lord tonight. Notice from verse number 35, Paul isn't calling marriage a snare. Look at verse number 35, but this I speak for your own profit, for that which I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction. Paul said, I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into. that you're thinking, well, this marriage is, you know, it's my way out, it's my, you know, whatever you categorize how you want to, it's the solution to my present distress. The reality is, marriage is a lifelong commitment. And so Paul was saying, listen, it's not a snare, but I just wanna make sure you know what you're getting into before you get into, because your marriage is gonna outlast this present distress. And so you need to make sure that you're not doing it just because, well, this is, they're my knight in shining armor. When me and Miss Becky got married, we come from different backgrounds. We come from different exposure to marriage and different things that happen within a marriage. I come from a home of divorced parents, and she come from just a different atmosphere. And so we knew what we didn't want, and we knew what we wanted. We just didn't know, how do you get that? It was never modeled out in front of us. And so just through studying, through asking people that had what we perceived to be good marriages, why do y'all still love each other 40 years down the road? And so we learned tonight that it wasn't a problem, there wasn't a solution to the present distress. And so Paul was saying, listen, if that's your idea and that's your thought process, you gotta make a calculated decision here. One that is based upon facts tonight. Let me ask you, do you take the time to make calculated and thoughtful decisions? Not just in marriage, right? Some of you have already made that decision, it's made. Ask God for help, right? Guidance and direction. But not just in that decision in life. Do we often make decisions just off our feelings? Off our emotions? Or do we step back and say, let me make sure that I know this is God's will. Let me make sure I know this is within God's word. God, would you give me a verse, right? So we learn to make calculated, thoughtful decisions. Or do we just let our emotions and feelings make those decisions for you? Then notice finally tonight, number three, the confident determination. verses 36 through 49, Paul continues down this line. But what about this instance? What about this circumstance? We always like to try to find the exceptions to an issue, don't we? Now, Paul isn't bringing up exceptions to the rule tonight, or in this case, or this case, in the final part of this chapter, he's dealing with a societal norm of the day. In verse 36 tonight, he said, but if any man think that he behave with himself unkindly towards a virgin, Right? For the longest, you know, I read that verse and I just understood it to be if someone was inappropriate, you know, in a physical sense and, you know, an emotional sense, they were just inappropriate to an unmarried lady. But when you study out, kind of find out, you know, in their society, in first century, you know, Corinth, arranged marriage was not the exception. It was the norm. Right? would pick out the husband for their daughters. But how many glad? That ain't the norm anymore. Right? Now, I think a mom and a dad ought to have a heavy influence. I think they ought to be able to speak freely into a child's life and warn them and say, hey, I see some red flags here. That's what God gave you parents for. And I think every young person, when they get married, the person getting married and the person they're getting married to, both ought to have the blessing of their parents. I think it ought not to be an awkward thing. But we live in a society, if you really wanted to, you go to Las Vegas, get married by Elvis Presley, if you wanted to. But in society at this time, fathers would arrange the marriages of their daughters. So that was the norm of the society this evening. So the extended practice of the day was arranged marriages. Now this is not a case for our modern day, but I still think tonight that a couple ought to have the blessing of the parents. But verse number 36 speaks about a father who's overprotective. There's no one good enough for his daughter. And as much as I don't like to think about it, As much as that's way out in the future, of my daughters getting married, I realize as a father, I'm responsible to help train them and teach them to be the kind of man they ought to look for when it comes to getting married or becoming a wife in that sense. But I've also come to the realization that yes, one day Raelynn may become a wife, and she may move up from underneath my authority as her father, but she'll always be my daughter. Right? And I can rest assured I'm not about that. But this evening he speaks about the father's overprotective. This, this, this phrase, behave yourself and come. There's not anything sexual tonight, but rather, uh, but a fear of based on a selfish based decision. And so once again, we don't, we are not in the habit of dowries. My, my father-in-law still tells me all the time. I never got a dowry. I never got a dowry. I said, but you got the best son-in-law in the world. So we understand tonight that it carries this idea, we're not in that tonight, but there's this idea in verse number 36, there's a father who, there was a man who was more than capable of being a good husband to his daughter, but maybe because he wouldn't get paid enough. Or maybe because, you know, for some selfish reason, right? Instead of allowing his daughter, right, to marry them, he put a stop to it and would not allow it to be. Not because of anything sinful on their part, anything wrong on their part, right? He just couldn't let go. He just wasn't willing to do that tonight. And so Paul tells him, hey, listen, let them marry, right? It's not a sin. Let them do what God desires out of their life. And so he gives that confident determination in verse number 36. But then verse number 37 speaks of a father who's wise, who also realizes that there's a balance there. I'm not to just let them, in a sense, marry off to anybody. Notice what it says right there in verse number seven. Nevertheless, he that standeth steadfast in his heart, having known in essence the need of marriage, never came up. There was no need for them to be married, but God has power over his own will and has so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well. To realize that, well, I'm not gonna marry off because old buddy's about to give me $100,000. And therefore, that would be me being selfish. He's not a good man. He's got issues, he's got problems. He's not even saved, don't know the Lord. So we see here tonight that Paul gives us confident determination that yes, there's some that are overprotective, who may refrain and not let their daughter marry the one that God desires for them to marry. But then at the same time, there's ones who marriage is not God's will for their life. And through wisdom discernment, they realize that and therefore they continue to take care and provide for and protect that which God has given them. And then verse number 38, the Bible says, so he that giveth her in marriage, doeth well. Doeth well, it's a well thing to do. But he that giveth her not in marriage, doeth better. Right? So you mean it's better for my daughter to remain single for the rest of her life? What Paul is saying here tonight, that wisdom, you can just marry him off to anybody. But to step back and say, no, this is not right. and being able to stand up and make that decision for her tonight is what Paul was speaking about tonight. You give her to a man who's God's will for life, you do well, but you help her not to marry the wrong person. You do better. That's a pretty big thought there. In verse number 39, 40, what about widows? Right? We talked about an unmarried virgin tonight. We've talked about a lady who is underneath the authority of her father. What about a widow? See, widows are unique. sense that they're no longer underneath the authority of their husband because their husband's passed away. They're also no longer underneath the authority of their father because when they got married, right, that changed. And so what about widows? Can widows get married again? Are they allowed to get married again? Look at verse number 39, Paul said, the wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth, but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will. Now notice this next phrase, only in the Lord. does that mean preacher that they don't get to go to the courthouse? They just get married at the church and they don't file no paperwork? No, Paul is saying they can get remarried. They can marry again, but only to a saved person. Or they should only get married to a saved person. They understand that, they know that now. We're not talking about coming from a lost perspective. We're coming from a safe perspective. Paul was saying, listen, they are free. Her husband dies. She's not required to remain a widow for the rest of her life. If God so happens to send another man and he falls and all that kind of stuff, she's free to marry him as long as he's saved and he knows the Lord as a savior. But it's also not wrong for her to stay single. Look at verse number 40. but she is happier if she's so abide. After my judgment, I think also that I have the spirit of God. So Paul said, yes, she can, but she's not required to. Nor is she required not to. And so what Paul was saying here is that you have liberty here to allow the Lord to speak to your heart through his word, to help you make decisions about certain things. There are certain things, no matter how you cut it, you cannot justify it. Listen, I can't justify drinking. I can't justify adultery. I can't justify fornication. I can't justify lying. Why? Those are all clear sins in the word of God, right? There's no way around that. I can say, well, you know what? You're not allowed to drink, but you are, right? Because that is a clear sin in the word of God. But yes, you're allowed to get married and you're allowed to remain single for the rest of your life. Whatever it's not, but it's not me making the decision for you. Whatever the Lord, is leading you and guiding you and directing you, not your feelings. Cause listen, that, that, that, that cute boy, he's not going to be cute for very long. He's start growing hair on his back and get a big nose. Cause noses and ears never stopped growing. Just remember that. But it still has to be based off just emotions, right? And it can't be based off just Moses, it can be based off a decision that is based upon the facts of God's word tonight. And so yes, Paul is using marriage and widows and virgins tonight, but he gives us this principle that there are certain things that certain people are going to do because that's God's will for their life. And there's certain things that certain people aren't going to do because that's God's will for their life. they need to know what God desires for them to do. Do we make decisions based upon us being in control or do we make decisions on what we know the Lord would desire for us to do tonight?