Faithfulness to Your Marriage Vow 2

[Intro music plays] Church even fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home for you. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] And our text of consideration was Luke 1, the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Zechariah. Today we'll be moving on on the matter of faithfulness to your marriage vow. Faithfulness to your marriage vow. And this time, we'll be looking at two families, the family of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac, the family of Mr. and Mrs. Elkanah. So our focus this morning is faithfulness to the marriage vow, Isaac or Elkanah. Isaac or Elkanah. Let's have a word of prayer. Our Father, we are grateful unto You. We thank You again for this time in Your presence, and we commit this meeting into Your hands. Lord, we have been looking at the matter of faithfulness to the marriage vow. We saw in the family of Zechariah that their faithfulness made that family to be fruitful even in old age. In old age where ordinarily you'll be thinking that the strength should have gone. Rather, in that old age, they became prosperous. They became fruitful because they continued faithfully with You. They were faithful keepers of the marriage vow. The challenge that Zechariah saw in Elizabeth was not enough, was not sufficient, could not bring him to a point that he would not be faithful to the vow. He was faithful to the vow, standing with the wife until in their old age You visited them consequent of their faithfulness, consequent of Your mercy. Lord, our God, we are praying that as we move further again on this matter of faithfulness to the marriage vow, trying to x-ray the family of Isaac and Elkanah. Lord, we pray, minister to us. Lord, we pray, families and homes and individuals that will need this message, Lord, we pray, let this message get to them in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, our desire and our prayer is that, Lord, every challenge in every home, no matter what that challenge is, no matter what is challenging any marriage today, Lord, our God, You are the Master over every storm. How You will speak peace into every storm and every storm will cease in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Eternal Father. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Faithfulness to the marriage vow. In our earlier consideration, we have been able to see that, one, as far as God is concerned, marriage is between a male and a female. Anything outside that does not come from God and will not return to God. For marriage to be according to the divine order, from where it originated, it is not a lesbian marriage or an homosexual marriage. It is a marriage between a male and a female. And we have also noted, we also said in our earlier discussion, that the marriage vow is something that when we are making the vow, either at the level of the relationship or eventually at the level of the congregation, where during the marriage ceremony, we should really understand that we are taking a blood and a life vow. It's a covenant that should stand. Jesus said He who made them from the beginning made them male and female and said, "For this reason, a man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one." So what therefore God has joined together, let no man, let no court, let no body, let no religious person, let no individual, let no institution try to put such asunder because they are no longer two, they are one. A man cannot be irreconcilable to himself. No matter the challenge that a man has in his own life, he cannot become irreconcilable to himself. So if we always see the two of them like that, that they are no longer two but one, we'll properly understand why it is so essential, why it is so important to keep the marriage vow. We will come to points where we may be considering understanding consequences of breaking the vow. We will get to all that later. But what we want to look at particularly today is still faithfulness to this vow. We want to look at, we saw the example of Zechariah, Mr. and Mrs. Zechariah's marriage. We want to take two other examples. One on the positive side, the other on the negative side as to faithfulness to this vow. And as I begin this morning, I want you to note something, that for Zechariah, the Bible says, like we said in the month of March, the challenge that the Bible gave us is that Elizabeth was barren. Barrenness, like we said last month, could also be a man's problem. It is possible that the man's sperm is not viable, a man could have low sperm count. So the problem could also be from the man. At least science has been able to make us know that it takes the two to tango, so the problem can be from either side. But what we saw in that marriage was that there was barrenness and the Bible says Elizabeth was barren. And the other two examples I'll be picking today will be also relating to the issue of barrenness. What I first want to say about these particular families is actually deliberate. It's a deliberate thing. Deliberate because we are actually looking at something that may look like a very, very serious issue, particularly in the Nigerian context and even in the African context. Even in the African context, we are looking at it. We know that the matter of having children is a very, very serious and fundamental issue among us, particularly in the African world. Not as if it's not a serious issue in the Western world, but we know that the attitude and approach to the challenge seems to be rather severe in the African side when compared to the Western world. And so we are deliberately picking a fundamental challenge today for which many homes, many marriages became unstable. Many marriages, we have seen homes where because they were having only female, the husband went out outside to go and have extramarital relationship because he's looking for a male. And in some situation, they are only having male and the husband because he wants female by all means gets into some extramarital relationship looking for female. So we have found this kind of thing, and we have found that it is even more now serious when there is no issue at all. [Audio cuts out] have happened in the life of many couples. In the life of many couples, it has happened severally and many times most people think that no, there must be a child. There must be a child. If there is no child, then the marriage cannot stand. And that explains why sometimes today you find young men, young women, for some people, before they go into the marriage ceremony at all, they want the woman to be pregnant. But of course, that does not come from God. For God, that is immorality. That is fornication. That is fornication. Impregnating your to-be in the name of wanting to be sure that she'll be fruitful is also not from God. It's not a solution to the problem. We are saying because eventually, one day we will all give account of ourselves to God, and then you will realize that eternity is greater than fruitfulness. Eternity is greater than having a child because when we get to the gate of heaven, they will not be saying those who did not give, who could not have children should not enter. There will be those who didn't have children that will enter because they remain committed and faithful to God. And there are those who have children that will not enter. We should understand that for the believer, for the Christian, it is living with eternity in view. That may not be the view of the general society. Not everyone have this philosophy about eternity, but I am speaking from a Christian perspective because this is a Christian marriage ministry. From a Christian perspective, that is not correct. It's not a way to do it. But I'm only trying to say, trying to show the extent to which having issue is so fundamental a problem. But we could see that somebody like Zechariah remained faithful to the marriage vow. Whatsoever things were written down, they were written down for our learning. For some of you, it may not even be the issue of fruitfulness that is the problem. Like we noted last month, you saw an issue with your husband, an issue with your wife. She talks like this, she do that like that, he has this personality, he has that thing, he has that, or she has that, and for that reason, you want to quit the marriage. But we're looking by, that's why I'm saying that we are deliberately picking the issue of fruitfulness because we know it's a very serious issue today in the society. I know several people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, who because on the matter of this fruitfulness have done things that are contrary to the word of God, contrary to scriptures, contrary to God, all because of the matter of having a child or having a particular sex. So as we journey together today, let's look at the family of Isaac and the family of Elkanah. I've decided to look at this problem of this challenge of faithfulness to the marriage vow. It's a vow that you have taken, it's a life vow, and you must be faithful to it. I would like us to begin with Isaac in Genesis 25. Genesis 25. That should be around verse 19, thereabout. The Bible says, yes, from verse 19, "This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca as his wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister of Laban the Syrian." Verse 21, "Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord granted his plea, and Rebecca his wife conceived." But the children struggled together within her, and she said, "If all is well, why am I like this?" So she went to inquire of the Lord. A message was given to her about the children. Eventually, she gave birth to a set of twins, Jacob and Esau. So I quickly want to move to verse 26. It says, "Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau's heel. So his name was called Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them." My concern with the last, that verse 26, is the last sentence: "Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them." Genesis 25:20 says, "Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca as wife." And verse 26 says, "Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them." Which means that home, the challenge of this home about fruitfulness took how many years? That's roughly 20 years. Roughly 20 years. Roughly 20 years because since the child came at 60, she must have conceived something before that 60, nine months earlier if it is a nine-month pregnancy. Now, what we want to call your attention to, don't forget our topic is faithfulness to the marriage vow, which we started last month. Faithfulness to the vow. Zechariah had similar challenge, Elizabeth was barren. He remained faithful to that vow and in their old age, they became fruitful. We're looking at another couple that we want to compare with another family still on this matter of barrenness. Now, the Bible says that when Isaac took Rebecca as his wife, there was a challenge. There was a challenge. What was the challenge? Rebecca could not give birth. And like we said in the month of March, barrenness is not something that is realized at the 20th year. It will be realized after one or two years into the marriage. I believe you are following me. After one or two years into the marriage, they will have realized that nothing is happening. "What is going on?" Three years, nothing is going on. Four years, nothing is going on. I want to imagine, I'm imagining because this is not recorded in the scripture, but I'm looking at the social situation of this couple, taking from counseling experience with so many other couples today. As one year, two years, three years, this couple would have started looking for solution. They would have been visiting for, if it is today's society, they want to get to the hospital, conduct some test, check this, check that, meet a gynecologist, wanting to find out what is the problem. They meet experts on reproductive health, trying to get a solution. They're visiting here, visiting there, spending money on and on. I'm just looking at it that I don't think that this couple would have just sat down doing nothing. They would have been doing something. They would have been trying to see how they will surmount that problem. And so after two, three years of trying, I see them keep doing so many things, trying, trusting the Lord. I believe that Rebecca too will be praying. Everything will be going on like that trying to see how it will go. Now, but when we got to verse 21, the Bible made a very clear statement. This is not imagination now. This is clearly written. The Bible says, "Now..." So they got to a point in their marriage that Isaac realized that this matter will be resolved in the place of prayer. Bible says, "Now, Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife." They have been trying several other things. They have done many things. They did so many things, and I see Isaac going along with Rebecca in that challenge. I see Isaac standing faithfully to that, to his vow, that for better, for worse. I know sometimes some denominations don't like the use of "for better, for worse." They think it's for better, for best. But those who say "for better, for worse," they're only talking about worse things happening. They are saying whether any how things turn, whether in the valley or on the mountain, any how it goes. We see brother Isaac standing faithfully with Rebecca in this challenge. Remembering the vow that he made. I am saying this because this was a time in history under this culture. If Isaac was to look at his father, his father, when things were delaying, Abraham took Hagar. In fact, after the matter of Hagar, even though God have told Abraham that it will be in his seed, not his seeds, you remember that later again Abraham take Keturah to have a child by her, to have children by her. And eventually, what happened was that when Abraham was finally departing, the Bible says Abraham gave all that was his possession to Isaac, then he sent those children away. What I want you to see was that Isaac could have looked at the example of his father. Because it is in that same chapter that this matter that we are reading, it's in that same chapter. You will see that from verse 1 of that chapter, it says Abraham took a wife and her name was Keturah, and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, Shuah. Then began to name all their generation. And the Bible says all these were the children of Keturah. And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. Then he gave gift to the sons of the concubine which Abraham had. And while he was still living, he sent them eastward away from Isaac his son. And if you look at the way the Bible puts the record, it's something very, very interesting. Bible says, "But Abraham gave gift to the son of the concubine which Abraham had, and while he was still living, he sent them away from Isaac, his son," as if those sons were not his children. But the Bible is trying to point at something, and I'm trying to make you see something. Isaac had a background. Instead of following one sister for another almost 20 years, Isaac could have quickly alternated and then get somebody that will bring a child on time instead of wasting time with one sister. I'm talking of the culture as at this time. And he had a quick example for him. His father too was a child of covenant. But you could see that Isaac understood that anywhere the fathers deviate, we don't follow them. Because I have seen some ministers today who were saying that, after all, Abraham had two wives, David had several wives. It is not really a bad thing. It is not really something. But I'm showing you somebody. I remember a particular incident where some elders were advising that within the Yoruba culture, we don't marry [unclear: medol?]. If a somebody don't have children within the marriage, he should have children outside the marriage. I don't know what to describe of those elders, but may God not withdraw wisdom and wise counsel from our elders in the name of Jesus Christ. What I'm showing you was that the immediate predecessor of Isaac was Abraham. Isaac had a quick reference. There was an example, there was something that could easily push him to say, "Look, I can't be wasting time." After three years, four years, five years, six years, seven years, eight years, nine years, 10, 11, 12, I know of several couples. I know marriages that after 10 years of waiting, some 15 years of waiting, you begin to hear strange stories. If the story was among those who are not followers of Jesus Christ, what is my problem? What do I have to say if the blind live like the blind? There is no problem. Those who don't know God cannot follow the ordinances of God. But we are talking about men who call themselves followers of Jesus, who after a while of such challenge, quickly deviated from the marriage vow. What I'm showing you is that we have an example in a father, in a father Isaac, men who stood with their wife. For Zechariah, we saw that for them it was till old age that they became fruitful. But what we are showing you today, that God could also answer you in the challenges in your marriage. You may not even need to wait till very, very old age. It may not even be necessary. But even if it means that you have to wait on a serious challenge about your spouse till old age before God do something about it, it's worth waiting. But I'm showing you the goodness of God, I'm showing you the mercy of God, that for another family, it was after just 20 years. I'm comparing that with Zechariah that we considered last month. After 20 years, God showed up. Although ordinarily, 20 years too is not a small time of waiting. Am I not correct? That's why I'm telling you of marriages that after five years, six years, seven years of a matter as serious as childlessness, we see men who still head to their vow. So I want to ask you who is thinking of divorce because you say my wife is lazy, my wife don't know how to cook, my husband don't know how to talk, my husband's temperament is like this. I'm talking of several other things today that you may be mentioning that may not be as fundamental as this. But this man kept to the vow. And what interests me in this story is that in the verse 21, the Bible says, "Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord." I don't know whether you can see something in that verse. But when the Bible say "Now," some things were there before this time. Now, Isaac had been a burden bearer, carrying the burden along. And it got to a point in his heart that Isaac felt, "Look, if joint prayers, we have prayed together, there have not been solution. We have visited several places, there have not been solution. I know Rebecca is praying, there have not been solution. Look, I am so bothered about this matter. I want to separate a time to be alone with God. I want to be alone on the matter of the barrenness of my wife." It tells you that the challenge in the life of Rebecca was a serious burden in the heart of Isaac. Because this was a personal prayer. It was not a joint prayer. And what I'm trying to make you see is that one serious thing about the marriage vow, and I want to make you understand that when there is an issue about your spouse, there is a challenge in the life of your spouse. [Audio cuts out] many strange things also are happening to people you may describe to be believers today. I'm not saying every evil that happens is as a result of this. But I'm saying that sometimes it is because we keep breaking hedges. And as we break hedges, what happens? The serpent just bite. Because the Bible says he that break, if you break the hedge, what will happen? Serpent will bite. There are some troubles in your life today that those troubles, they are troubles that came as a result of unfaithfulness. Just like I am telling you now, one major trouble of Christianity today was the trouble that Abraham would not stay with Sarah. He went into a premarital relationship, extramarital relationship. And today, we are still in that trouble. They are troubles that when you break, you are when you break the life covenant because you are acting against the law of life, then you are calling for death. And so it is so important for you to see that heaven recognizes that they are no longer two, they are one. I've just shown you, just now pointed you to the scripture in Job. Satan, hell, anytime you are acting against your wife or your husband, you are seeing their problem as their problem, not "we have a problem" or "I have a problem that must bring me to God even though that thing is about your partner." Anytime you are not acting from that perspective, even hell knows that you are breaking the hedge. Because when they were told to go and touch Job, when they were told not to touch Job, they knew what not to touch. They knew that the wife must not be touched, and they expect you to know that. So when you don't know it and you are acting contrary to it, what are you calling for? So the problem of Rebecca which you may say the problem of Rebecca was never the problem of Rebecca in that marriage. It was an issue, it was a problem that brought Isaac to his knees. It was a problem that Isaac said, "Now, this our problem, God solve it for us." And do you see what happened in that story? That the Bible says when Isaac did pray, what the Bible says? The Bible says God did what? God heard him. God listened to Isaac. And what am I pointing to about that? Is it that Rebecca was not praying? Was it that Rebecca was not praying? Rebecca would have been praying for her life. But who did God answer? Who did God answer? God answered Isaac. I don't know whether you understand me. I'm showing you a dynamics about marriage vow. That there's a dynamics that God in His wisdom is saying the solution for the challenge you are seeing in your spouse is in you. Many times the solution for the challenge that you are seeing in your spouse, if only he will change, if only she will change, God is saying, "No, if only you will change." That problem in the marriage will be solved. The actual thing that God is saying is that don't wait for him to change. The solution to the crisis is not in him changing. It is in you who is complaining to change. And I'm telling you that many times, that is the truth. Many times, that is the truth. The solution for the challenge in your marriage, the solution for that challenge that you are painting that you go everywhere to talk, every time you want to talk, you don't mind this my husband, or don't mind this my wife, he's the problem I have, don't mind that husband, he's the problem. That thing that you are talking about, the way God have arranged that marriage is that if only you will stand correctly, many, many years ago, that problem would have been solved. But because you are doing something very, very serious that you are not seeing. You are cutting the body into two. You see, there's a problem with the body, and then somebody decide to sever the body, to cut it into two to solve that problem. Will that person solve the problem? What will that person do to that problem? Can I tell you that you are the one increasing, making the problem in your home more complicated? That thing that is in your spouse, if only you will see it as your burden, a thing to pray and pray through with God, I'm telling you there would have been solution. Another thing I want to say in this place before I leave this case of Isaac, I'll take another example, is for you to also see that many times barrenness in our spouse, in our spouses, barrenness in them, many, many barrenness in different areas, whether financial, whether physical, whether spiritual, different kind of barrenness that may be, many, many, many, many times what God is saying is that if only you could do something, this barrenness would have been gone. It was by the reason of Isaac that Rebecca became fruitful. We'll take the second example. This is the positive side. The only difference we see here from what we considered in March is that one major thing is the fact that you may not have to wait all your life before your marriage become fruitful. But if you have to wait all your life like the first family, Zechariah, for God is not a big thing. In their old age, that was when God came. So if God is saying wait until both of you are almost gone before I will solve the problem, it's not a reason to break your marriage vow. But God in His graciousness is giving us another example today, that you may not wait till you are completely old. God can still solve the problem while you are still young. God can solve that problem early and that quite early. And may the Lord give you the right attitude to the challenge in your own marriage and also give you solution to them early, and that right early in the name of Jesus Christ. Can we look at the second person I want us to look at about this marriage covenant? And I said that we will be considering just two families today, and that is the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Elkanah. Elkanah, the marriage of Hannah and Elkanah. In this time, we're looking at the negative aspect of it. We have seen two positive example to marital challenge. Now we want to look at a negative handling of the challenge. And this is what is more common today. This is what is more common today even in our churches. Wife abandon husband to solve their problem by themselves, husband abandon wife to solve their problem by themselves. May we not have spouses that are like this. And that if that is the challenge right now, either for you as a husband or a wife, may God grant you breakthrough in your personal altar in the name of Jesus Christ. So we know the story about Hannah, it's a very popular story, so I will not be taking much time on it so that we can come to a point where we can pray this morning. But some few things I want to point us to in this story is that we all have an understanding that Hannah was the first wife. That is clear to us from the way the story went. And then two, what I also want you to see is this similar pattern with God. You will see that when I was talking about Abraham, all those things that came through Keturah, they were just mentioned because Bible want to come to the genealogy of Isaac. What happened to those generation was not useful to God. Are you understanding me? They were just mentioned in passing because it was good to conclude Abraham's story. That was why they were mentioned. When God now wants to continue with Abraham's story, you notice that the details of the story was in Isaac. Now, you will also notice a similar pattern even also with the so many wives and concubines of David. That you always see that all those things, all those things that we add and add and add and add and add, you will notice that God don't have much to say about them. They are just bypass. There is no particular reference to them. And what I also want you to see in this same place is that this book is called what? First Samuel. Is that not the book? First Samuel. So whose story do we want to tell? The story of Samuel. It was Samuel's story. God wanted us to know how Samuel came and the condition with which Samuel came. That is why God managed to mention that there was one woman that Elkanah, and look at the kind of beauty, look at the kind of beauty, I want to show you something. One is Elkanah, one is Hannah. Please I'm just speaking figuratively, not literally. So that you don't say ah no, that is not the Hebrew translation. Sorry, that's not what I'm doing. I'm just speaking figuratively. Elkanah, el to ye ko kana. I mean somebody who's supposed to be a covering for Hannah, a el for Hannah, a covering for Hannah. A god, you know say El Shaddai, talking about God. A el for Hannah. Please I'm speaking figuratively. He became a what? I don't know what how to describe him. And he was saying that am I not more to me than ten sons? If she was not, why did you marry another one? No people know how to how to make some statement. Self-justification, useless statement. If she was more than ten sons to you, why do you go into another marriage? And do you see how God proved the foolishness of that man? God wanted to show that this man was foolish. God did not only give Hannah Samuel, what did God do? God gave whatever else you were looking for that led you into that rush would still have come by this woman if you have been patient. And I'm telling you, whatever thing you are rushing out, rushing out to go and get instead of staying by your covenant, instead of standing by your covenant, whatever thing you are rushing out to go and get, I wish you will be patient. You will still find it in your spouse. You will still find it. I wish you will be patient. I wish you will you will you will, like we said in the month of March, hold to your vow and say God this is my vow. This is the woman of my vow, this is the man of my vow. I will stand with you, I will stay in this place, and I know you will visit me. I wish you will do like that. And then there's also one thing I also want to show from this place, is that there seems to be a culturally accepted notion that a woman can share her husband, but it seems we are saying a man cannot share his wife. Are you understanding me at all? There seems to be a culturally, look, whatever you call it, from the point of the Bible, is wickedness. Whatsoever make it clear that a woman cannot share husband, also is making it clear that a man cannot share his wife. Whatever make it clear that a man cannot share his wife, that is a woman cannot be allowed to be married to two at the same time and there is no problem about it. She's married to this, I take it from this one, no, you will be outside, I'll be coming to you in the evening, I'll be with this one in the morning. If we say that is not possible, if there is something about the male gender, there's something about society, and I call it wickedness, I call it injustice, I call it foolishness, I call it madness, I call it blindness. That thing that make us say ah, no, how will I have my wife and no, that is not possible, she's my wife. The same thing, she also make you understand that polygamy, by this time now I mean polyandry, that case of man, a man having two women and three women, is also something that should not be heard. Something that is wickedness. There is no justification for it. Just like I said there is no justification for the other one. You will say how do I know? Why am I why am I talking like this? I will also show you in the Bible. That's why I said this generation is a wicked and a perverse one. We don't pay attention to the word of God. Some things we just pick them from culture. Even if you ask many of our Christian sisters, "Yeah, since the husband have done that, you know they should allow men, it is women that are not allowed." I don't know where they got those belief. I don't know where we got it. But look at the Bible. I'll just point something in the Bible and then I will leave the matter. It's not what I want to face this morning, but it's just good to point it. Since I've made reference to it. Look at 1 Corinthians 7. Let's just quickly look at something there. 1 Corinthians 7. Can we just look at something in 1 Corinthians 7? Please, just look at it very simply with an open heart and very literally. He says, "Nevertheless..." I'm reading from verse 2, "because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to the wife the affection due to her, likewise also the wife to the husband." Please, what do you see in the verse 4? What is in the verse 4? Can we try several translation? "The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does." Which means the wife cannot take that body as her own and go and do anything with that body. Look at what the Bible also says. Did the Bible leave that to be standing alone? What followed? It says, "And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but his wife." Didn't the Bible balance that? "The wife give authority over her body to her husband." Didn't the Bible balance that? "The wife does not have exclusive authority or control over her body, but the husband. The husband has this exclusive right. Likewise also, the husband does not have exclusive authority and control over his body, for his the wife." He say the same way, no husband has exclusive control and authority over his body. Who have that authority? But the wife. It's the wife that have authority. So no man can say "I can go and join this body to another woman." He does not have that right. This is the word of God. Forget all this cultural thing that we carry around in our head. Many religious folks that will not look at the word of God. This is the place of the Bible. None of them, the husband when you talk about exclusive authority, it is the wife that owns it. It's the wife that can decide. And the same way, it is the husband that can decide. But what I see today is that the man have exclusive authority over his wife, and that exclusive authority over his wife, he also have it over his own body, he can decide whatever he like. These are cultural wickedness, societal blindness. And anybody who preaches that does not know God. It is not correct. It is not the Bible. So if we feel that, and do you know something about the jealousy of the man? The jealousy of the man is so violent because it's like the jealousy of God. The man just doesn't want, in fact, if the man begin to smell something around his wife, I read a story, no, it's not even a story. It was on the news, it happened in South Africa. Why a a man got into the house and then found somebody with his wife. He was so mad at what he saw that he took the gun, killed the man, killed the wife, and killed himself. A woman may not be able to do that. Jealousy is something that is so strong in the man. And that is why it is wickedness. When you when you understand that this thing I cannot share it. I can't share this woman. It's something that ah, in fact, it's not possible. And yet, you are talking about polygamy. My wife can share me. And some men of God are saying that there's really nothing oh, when there is no children, when there are no children, you know this sometimes, it is the woman that is supposed to keep her own when the woman too does not keep her own, what will you what do you expect the man to do? He need to get some solution. Blind guides that are also leading the blind. So I'm just pointing that to you that it is important for us to know that divinely speaking, scripturally speaking, none of them hold right over himself. None of them. The man cannot take that body and take no, just like the woman cannot. That's the Bible way. But you, we are looking at Elkanah. You saw him, he took this other wife, and I notice that one, do you notice that God did not even intend that their names be mentioned? We could not even find their name in scripture. It said he has children. And you see that it was by the reason of Samuel that that lineage became something in Israel. What I'm trying to announce to you in looking at this family is that alternating your spouse as a solution is not a solution. It's not. Alternating is not a solution. Divorce is not a way forward. Putting away is not the way forward. That there are challenges in the marriage, that there are something about my spouse, something about my wife, something about my husband. Sometimes we rush. And when we rush out to get some solution. [Audio cuts out] I remember this this three incident, I will close with these three story. These are real life story. They happen in different aspect of to different families, different couples in different aspect of Nigeria. One family, they were only having boys and the husband felt, "Ah ah, I must have a girl." That is not it's not even the case of barrenness oh. It was a case that they were having boys. And then you know what happened? The husband, you know, began to go out with one woman. The wife got to know, and the wife began to struggle with the husband. "No, no, why will you no," you know, jealousy is both ways. The wife was jealous for her husband. She began to struggle with the man. For that reason, the man beat the woman mercilessly. "She go, I have the right to my body. Even you, you are my property. You can't stop me." Eventually, of course, he had his way. Impregnated the other woman. But mind, while he was busy beating the wife, the wife was, you know, had conceived, they were not aware. But do you know what eventually happened? Before the one outside gave birth, the one inside gave birth two months earlier and it was a girl. The one inside, the wife, it was a girl. Two months later that one also gave birth a girl. So what he was rushing for to go and look for outside, did it not come inside? Was it not inside? It was inside. Very much inside. Other case was somebody that they were having only girls. And the man rushed out so that he can have a boy. Unfortunately for him, as many times as he did it, they were all girls. As many woman as he met, girls, girls, girls, girls, girls, girls, girls. He was thinking it was the problem of his wife. So he was trying several women, and then try another one, and then try another one, but they were all still all girls. He now came back home to settle down. So what was the foolishness? So he thought the problem, you are not giving me a boy, I will show you that I'm a man. Has he not disgraced himself? Please, has that man not disgraced himself? Has he not disgraced himself? As the results of even a woman wants to talk now, with all your running around, running around, you thought it was my problem. Has the man not proved that it is not the problem of the woman? Has he not proved it to the woman now? So why had he that problem before? It was him the man. It was his problem. He's the one to give the Y sperm. The woman will always bring the X. What I'm trying to say is let us understand this divine principle. There's a vow before us, and if we stand with this vow, if we will not rush out like Elkanah, if we not abandon our spouse to it like Elkanah did, abandoning Hannah to it. If we will stand in the place of prayer with our spouse, can I tell you that solution can come? But what is our point today? Is that we must understand that the marriage vow is a vow to be kept regardless of the challenge that is in our spouse. And our spouse challenge is our challenge. It's not their challenges. It is something that we must both get into to solve. Let's talk to God in prayer. Let's talk to the Lord in prayer. I don't know what you want to tell the Lord. I don't know how this morning message came to you. But I want you to pray. I don't know whether you are thinking that no, let me sever the body to solve the problem. Let me sever the body in order to solve the problem. Let me cut it into two. That way I will solve the problem. Maybe that is the approach you have been putting to it. Can you can you can you reconsider this morning? Can you reconsider? My marriage vow, my marriage vow. That vow, that vow that we take. That vow that we took is a vow, it's a life vow. It's a life vow. It's a life vow. It's a life vow. It's a life vow. When you act against this vow, you are acting against life. Everlasting Father, we thank You for this morning. We commit ourselves into Your hand, Lord, we pray. That Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, help us, help us. Those of us that are yet to come into it, may we understand the sanctity of this vow in the name of Jesus. Those of us that are yet to come into it, Lord, we have opportunity to pray for such people. Oh, God Almighty, for the brothers, Lord, give us in our generation more and more and more men like Isaac in the name of Jesus. Lord, our God, we are praying, give our children, oh God, spouses, give our your people spouses, oh Lord, oh God, spouses that will not abandon them to themselves in the name of Jesus Christ. And Lord, we pray for marriages today, those that are already inside, and it looks like there's an abandonment of one person. Oh, Lord, by the reason of this word, let there be restoration. Let there be an arising to go the correct thing in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. And Lord, we pray particularly, everywhere there is a rush, trying to rush out for a Peninnah instead of waiting for our Hannah. Oh, Lord, I pray, grant couples patience in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Thank You, Eternal Father. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever more. Amen. [Music plays] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in reaching the lives of singles and marriage through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission head. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class, every Monday, 5 PM. Adolescents and singles club, every first Saturday of every month at 10 AM. Marriage forum, second Saturday of every month at 10 AM. Family life seminars, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp, by the first bridge, Iloro community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Igbatoro road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.