God Sex and Marriage 3 (if the Case of a Man and His Wife Be Like This)

[Intro music] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] We thank our God again for another second Saturday in the month of October. We bless him for his mercies, we bless him for his love, we bless him for his grace, we bless him for his goodness. We thank him again for another opportunity to have our marriage forum and we trust the Lord that today again he will help us as we fellowship together with one another, our brethren who are physically here and our brethren who are online as we fellowship together again this morning, we trust the Lord that it will be a time of blessing, a time of refreshment in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's have a word of prayer for us to start today. Our Father, we bless your holy name, we give you praise, we give you glory, we give you honor, we give you adoration for all who you are and for all that you are. We bless you our God. We come again into your presence. Father, Paul plants, Apollos waters, it is you that gives increase. O Lord, give increase to this meeting again this morning in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, our eyes are on you. Lord, our eyes are on you. Let nothing prevail against your purposes in our lives in Jesus' name. Lord, as we consider the matter again of our homes, the home front, the family, Lord, we pray, O God, visit our homes. Lord God, bring peace to troubled homes, give direction to our lives, give instruction to us. Our young, our bachelors and spinsters who are yet to be married, Lord, by the reason of this discourse, Lord, give direction, give instruction, O God, that will make our home to be stable, to be strong, viable, particularly in this end time when so many things are happening around the family. O Lord, we pray, build our homes for us, build our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We have been considering the series that we began in the month of August thereabouts, God, Sex, and Marriage. And we said those of you who have been joining us from the beginning of the series, you remember our focus is looking into the scriptures, looking beyond human philosophy, looking beyond human reasoning, looking beyond human thinking, looking at the scriptures, what the word of God says about the matter of sex and marriage. That's why we titled it God, Sex, and Marriage because we said ever from the beginning, marriage is that institution that had its origin in God. It was God who said, it was not Adam's idea. It was God's concept, it was God's intent, it was God's intention, it was God's making when he said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a help suitable for him." So we saw that marriage is solely God's idea. It's wholly his idea. And anybody that wants to get it right in marriage must see it in the light of the one who originated it. And we said that the one who originated it, in our first discussion, we saw Matthew 19:4, "Have you not heard?" We saw that Jesus queried the ignorance and the stubbornness of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the men of his own time, because he told them that "Have you not read?" So he who originated marriage also wrote things about marriage and Jesus made us to see that that is his word. If you really want to understand marriage, you want to know what marriage is about, you want to get it right in it, we cannot but look into scriptures and trust the Lord for proper understanding of that which the word of God says as regards the matter of marriage. And then in the second edition, we were looking at divorce, the origin of divorce. And we saw that when God instituted marriage, it was clear that as far as God is concerned, "What God has joined together, let no man put asunder." Nobody should try to put asunder, under no circumstance, under no situation, should anybody try to set them apart, try to bring divorce. God says, "I hate divorce." But we saw something very important because they said that Moses allowed us to put away our wives. And then we saw in our second edition that Jesus said that Moses allowed you to put away your wife because of the hardness of your heart. Because you were difficult, you were stubborn, you were rebellious. And as a result, Moses allowed you to put away your wife, but from the beginning it was not so. We saw therefore that anywhere we are talking about divorce, it is because the heart of man has a problem. Anywhere you see divorce, we are not dealing with people that have a converted heart, that have the heart of flesh. We saw that it is the stony heart, it is the rebellious heart, it is the wicked heart that talks about marriage. So anywhere we see divorce, divorce is not something that has its origin in God. It is something that has the origin in man, in man's wickedness, in man's sinfulness, in man's rebellion, in man's stubbornness, in man's selfishness. Anytime you see it, please don't relate divorce to God. Divorce has to do with the state of your own heart, has to do with the wickedness in your heart, has to do with the rebellion in your heart, has to do with the stubbornness in your heart. It has to do with men and women who are spiritual bastards, men who have not taken upon themselves the yoke of Christ. You know there are two level of rest. He said, "Come unto me and I will give you rest." And then the second level of rest, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in spirit." Any man who has taken the yoke of Christ and is learning from Christ will be meek and lowly. He will not be a man that is rebellious, wicked, and stubborn. So anywhere we see the matter of divorce, I said this categorically then in our second edition, that we are dealing with men who either have not encountered God or men who do not know God. Spiritual bastards, accursed children. When people are really children, they are obedient children. We know believers by being obedient children, and we are talking of obedience to the yoke of Christ. Then in the yoke of Christ there is no divorce. That we made clear in our second edition. And today is our third edition in this series. We want to, like I said, we are moving further and further in that discourse between Jesus and the Pharisees and between Jesus and his disciples, depending on which synoptic Gospel you are reading. When we look at the matter in the book of Mark, it looks like that discourse was between Jesus and his disciples. But when we are looking at it from the point of Matthew, it looks like the discussion continued there with them. But in whichever way, we decided to use Matthew, the book of Matthew as our text of consideration because in the book of Matthew, a particular statement was made further. It seems to be a more fuller account than what we have in Mark and in Luke. But we are looking at all of these together to be able to look at this thing holistically, to see what the Lord said about this matter of divorce. And so we are moving further today in our selected text, Matthew chapter 19. Because I said then in the second edition that Jesus seemed to raise an exception. And there have been several discourse about this exception and I would that in this edition, I want us to look around it and look into it, looking at the scriptures. And so let's move to our text again this morning. Let's look at our text this morning, which is Matthew chapter 19. Matthew chapter 19 from around verse 3. Matthew chapter 19 says, "The Pharisees also came to him, tempting 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? He who made them at the beginning, made them male and female. And said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate." Then they said to him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and put her away?" That was our consideration in the second series. "And he said to them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery." His disciples said to him, "If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry." So we saw the response of the disciples, their fear with the situation of a man and his wife. For them, if what Jesus said is true, then it might be good for a man not to marry. And I want to see the possibility of considering these two verses today, Matthew chapter 19 verse 9 and chapter 19 verse 10. But before I begin to dig into it, let us also look at this presentation in Matthew chapter 5, in Mark 10, and then in Luke 16. Everywhere this case was mentioned, I just felt it is good we read all of them all through just to have a fuller account, a fuller picture of this matter of divorce so that we don't leave any text out in our consideration. Now, I want to read something again about divorce, about marriage, in Matthew chapter 5. In Matthew chapter 5, I'll take it from verse 28. "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. Furthermore, it has been said, Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce." The same matter that we saw in Matthew chapter 19, this we considered in the September edition. "But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery." We saw the presentation here again in Matthew chapter 5, in another discourse. This was in the discourse of the Sermon on the Mount where the Lord, before the Pharisees came with the question in Matthew chapter 19, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had already addressed this matter. So what we are seeing in Matthew chapter 19 is not the first occasion in which the matter of this exception was raised, except for sexual immorality. It was raised again in Matthew. We will come to the rendering of this matter in the book of Mark. In the book of Mark, that is Mark chapter 10. Let's go to Mark chapter 10. I just feel we should lay some background before we move on particularly. In Mark chapter 10, says the Pharisees, I'm reading from verse 2, "The Pharisees came and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? testing him. And he answered and said to them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and dismiss her. Jesus answered and said to them, Because of the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. God made them to be such inseparable." We will come to the matter of what God made later. We'll soon be coming back to look at all of this matter that about what God made at the beginning. We'll come to that in the series. But first I'm just want to first untie some knots so that we can move smoothly by the time we come to the matter of what God made. Now he said, "God made them male and female. 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 no man separate." In the house, that's why I said when you look at it from the Mark rendering of the story, it appears Jesus was through with the Pharisees at that level and then he moved away with his disciples. It's possible this was the occasion because we saw that in Matthew 19, the disciples that were saying that, "If the case of a man and his wife is like this, it is better not to marry." It's possible, but let's focus on what we are doing. So whether the Pharisees were on the occasion or they are not, that's not, it doesn't change, it doesn't have any effect on what the Lord said. Now he said in the house his disciples asked him again about the same matter. They asked him, it was looking like, "Lord, this matter, are you saying that a man cannot put away his wife for any reason? A man cannot set his wife aside? A man cannot put away his wife for any reason? Is that what you are trying to say? Are you saying that a man cannot put away his wife except for immorality? Is that what you are saying? Are you really sure?" His disciples were wondering because it was a time for them that there was so much perversion. A man, the liberty of putting away and picking another, you marry this, you set that aside, you put that again, that was a corruption of the time. I'm trying to make you see that there have not been a time in history that marriage has not been seriously challenged by the wickedness, by the nature, by the sinfulness of human nature. So the issue of marital instability is not a new thing. The issue of putting away, picking another, putting another, it's not a new thing. And ever through that generation God has been speaking. By the time we'll be making some references in the Old Testament again, you will see what the Bible has to say. So there have always been this issue of man wanting to decide on how the matter of marriage should go. There have always been this contention between the sovereignty of God in this matter, the dictates of God in this matter, the position of God in this matter, and the position of man in this matter. That's why we said God, God first in this matter, God, Sex, and Marriage. You cannot remove God in this matter because God is the originator, God is the creator, God is the inventor. Marriage is a child of God's brain. It's a product of God's endeavor. You cannot set God aside and get it right in marriage. What I'm trying to make you see is that man ever from the onset have always want to do something different or what God did at the beginning. Always want to present something different, always want to see it from a different angle, always want to hold it, always want to perceive it, and man have always struggled with these things. And man have always come up with different way of looking at it, with different attitude to it, with different approach, with different philosophy, with different things. So we are facing our own today, in our own generation. But I'm always trying to make you see that it is not a new thing. It is the same old thing coming up in different way in different generation. But you still see God speaking in the same way in all generation because our God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. What he said at the beginning still remains the answer for all generation. There is no new answer, there is no new thing. And anybody that want to get it right must understand that there is no old, there is no new way of handling it. It's still the same thing that God has said at the beginning because at the beginning, he declared the end. Bible says he declared the end from the beginning. And I'm telling you that at the end of the day we are coming to meet with God. God will still tell you it is what I ordained at the beginning. So you see the Mark version made us to see that the disciples even, the people that were following Jesus, the disciples themselves, they were wondering. They were wondering that this matter, will this thing be exactly like this? This must be a very serious thing. So they were looking for some clarification. They wanted to be sure that what Jesus said was not an overstatement. They wanted to be sure that what Jesus said was what he meant. It was not as if it was just speaking to, okay maybe that is for the Pharisees. There is a better way for or there is an easier way for the disciples. There is a new approach, there is something different for the disciples, different from what he had given to the Pharisees. So they wanted some clarification. They wanted to be sure of where they stand if they are to be followers of Jesus Christ. And I want to beg you, you better be sure. You better know how it stands even with the disciples. You better know how it stands if you really want to get it right with God. And you want to be sure marriage will not be the basis of your condemnation because the Lord said it is not those who call him Lord, Lord that will enter into the kingdom. No, he doesn't leave you to just call him Lord, Lord. He needs you to do his will. It is the doers of his will that actually recognizes his lordship, that actually recognizes his lordship over their life. If you are not a doer of his will, then you don't recognize the lordship of Jesus over your life. That is the point. So the disciples wanted some clarification. They wanted some clarification. So the Bible says that in the house, that's Mark 10:10. In the house, the disciples also asked him again about the same matter. They asked him because for them too, this is a serious thing. This is a serious thing. We still want to look at what make this thing so serious. Why are they looking at it as something so serious? Because I'm still going to say some things about this matter today to draw serious clarification. So you find out that the disciples were struggling with it. It looks something impossible. It looks something, Lord, this matter cannot be exactly as you have said it. Maybe there is something else you you forgot to say. Let's come again. Let's ask the Lord again. So the disciples asked him about the same matter, that Lord, is this really the way? Is the matter really as you have said it? Are you saying that a man cannot put away his wife for any reason? For any reason except for immorality? Is that what you are saying? Is that the basis of what you are saying? Are you really saying that? And then he answered them. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband," so we can see that even though this period did not talk about a woman giving a letter to her husband, but from the statement of the Lord we see that a woman too can put away her husband just like a man can put away his wife. There is equal right. There is this equal right in marriage. Just like the man cannot retake another, another wife, the woman too cannot take another husband. They have been, they made them male and female to be one body. The husband the head, the woman the body. So it is one body. Neither of the party has the right to join that body again to another body. Neither of them has the right. Neither of them has that right. They are both equally committed to it and none of them, the body of the man belongs to the wife, the body of the wife belongs to the husband. So neither of them. There is nothing like a man can take two wives but a woman cannot take two husbands. These are cultural depravity, these are cultural anomalies. These are things flowing from patriarchy. These are things flowing from the sinfulness and the wickedness of the masculine gender, committing violence over the feminine gender. So these are not religious roots. They are things that flow from the sinfulness of man. They are cultural practices. It has nothing to do with biblical teaching. From the point of the Bible, the man does not have authority over his body except the wife, and the wife doesn't have authority over her body except her husband. Both of them are equally liable to one another. They are equally responsible to one another. This is the position of the Bible, and you find that also in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. And so the Lord said, "If a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." So they are equally liable in it. So you find out that the disciples wanted to be sure that was what Jesus said. Now, if you take this matter to look at this same thing, I want us to read all, Luke in Luke chapter 16. The matter just came in intermittently without any particular discourse, but the reference was also made in Luke chapter 16, around the verse 18. The statement just came in in between other discourse and so it does not give any fuller account but the statement was just made in Luke 16 that, 16:17 and 18, "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail. Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery." That's just how it came in the book of Luke. And then what came before was not so related to it, what came after was not so related to it. But what could be related to it in the book of Luke is the fact that the word of God stands forever. And what stands forever here as the word of God is that God hates divorce. And anybody who put away his wife to marry another commits adultery. Anybody who marries she that is put away commits adultery. Neither of them can put away, neither of them can pick another. It is a body and a head. When you join that body again to another body it becomes a monster, it becomes a head with two body. If you take if it's the man goes and marries another, if it's the woman that goes out it becomes a body with two head. So he made them male and female, not males and females. He made them male and female and said, "A man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife." So it's one head, one body, not two head, one body, not two bodies, three head as in polygamy, as in polygamous marriages. It's not or and in some ten bodies, one head. Whatever had more than one body, whatever had more than one body is a monster. Make no some of these things you need to understand the spiritual implication. The ordination of God is a head and a body, a man and his wife. And so let's now go back to our text of consideration, I just felt we should consider everywhere it is mentioned in the synoptic Gospels just for us to see the fuller picture of the matter. So let's go back to the text that we are using, our text of navigation, which is Matthew chapter 19. So I said I want to speak to verse 9 and 10 today, which is our focus today. Our focus today is this response of the disciples. And what we are saying today is that if the case of a man and his wife be like this. If such is the case of the man with his wife. That is what we are considering today. If such is the case. For the disciples, what they said here is that if such is the case, it is better not to marry. Are you seeing something about man in this place? Are you seeing the sinfulness nature of man, the wicked nature of man? God ordained marriage for the goodness of man, God ordained marriage for the benefit of man, God ordained marriage for the great goods that God saw. And you know when God ordained marriage, the Bible say in Genesis chapter 2 that it is not good for the man to be alone. When you look at the statement of the disciples here, it is that ah, it is good for the man to be alone. That if the case of a man and his wife be like this, it might it is better not to marry. Now, why is this coming like this? Marriage is a part of duty. You will notice that even in the disciples something is coming out clearly. That man want to enjoy the benefit of marriage but don't want to take the responsibility that is in marriage. Man want to enjoy, milk marriage, take the benefit out of it, but escape from the duty that is in marriage. I'm trying to make you see the wickedness that is in the human nature. Everybody, and that is why you will see some men today, they marry one put her at home, say that is my wife, but they are busy going everywhere having girlfriends here and there, sleeping with them all around. They want to enjoy the benefit of marriage but they don't want to take the responsibility of it. They don't want to stay with their wives, they don't want to sleep with that one woman when the Bible says you leave father and mother, you leave every other person and you are joined to your wife. They don't want that. But they want to have the benefit of, okay I have one that is giving birth to my children, I have one in case if they ask me am I single or married, I can say married, at least I have the status of married. I have one which is a child-producing machine for me. That is what they want to get in putting one at home. But the duty, the duty to that one, the responsibility, what God actually calls responsibility, is not just giving her money, running the family, giving building a house for her and all of that. You are doing all of that to achieve your selfish end. The reason why you are doing all of that is to keep her somewhere, to be maybe a child-producing machine, to be something to describe your status. So what you are really spending money for is not your affection, it's not your commitment, your responsibility to her. It is still serving your selfish interest of, okay I have one in one place that is taking care of my children, that is serving my pleasure, that is for my purpose. So let me make sure that I'm sending money to that one, let me be responsible to sending money. But in that situation, you are an irresponsible individual because the vow you made in marriage, the vow of marriage is a vow that says you leave all others and you are committed to her alone. You leave all others, you become the only object of your sexual pleasure. If you want to express any pleasure, any sexual pleasure, it should be only in her. Even when you look at another woman lustfully, you are committing adultery. Everything about your sexual satisfaction should be in her. So you are an irresponsible man even when you put one woman somewhere and you are responsible for her feeding, for her housing, for the children, but you are not responsible to her in terms of your commitment to your vow of marriage. It is still irresponsibility. Several individuals are irresponsible today even though society describe them as responsible people. They are irresponsible people. We are looking at the word of God. We are speaking from the position of scriptures. I've told you earlier when we started this series, it's looking at the matter from the place of the word of God. Looking at the matter from him who made marriage. Somebody made it. You are just a user. You are just trying to use it the way you like. You are not following the creator's manual. In his manual, how to use it is clear. You are a user, you can't decide for the creator how you are to use what he created. No. And that is why we have all kinds of problems today at the home front. So you see that even with the disciples, they were struggling with it. It looks something impossible. It looks something, ah Lord, this matter cannot be exactly as you have said it. Maybe there is something else you you forgot to say. Let's come again. Let's ask the Lord again. So the disciples wanted some clarification. They wanted some clarification. So they wanted Jesus to be sure that that was what Jesus said. Now, if you take this matter to look at this same thing, I want us to read all, Luke in Luke chapter 16. The matter just came in intermittently without any particular discourse, but the reference was also made in Luke chapter 16, around the verse 18. The statement just came in in between other discourse and so it does not give any fuller account but the statement was just made in Luke 18 that, 16:17 and 18, "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail. Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery." That's just how it came in the book of Luke. And then what came before was not so related to it, what came after was not so related to it. But what could be related to it in the book of Luke is the fact that the word of God stands forever. And what stands forever here as the word of God is that God hates divorce. And anybody who put away his wife to marry another commits adultery. Anybody who marries she that is put away commits adultery. Neither of them can put away, neither of them can pick another. It is a body and a head. When you join that body again to another body it becomes a monster, it becomes a head with two body. If you take if it's the man goes and marries another, if it's the woman that goes out it becomes a body with two head. So he made them male and female, not males and females. He made them male and female and said, "A man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife." So it's one head, one body, not two head, one body, not two bodies, three head as in polygamy, as in polygamous marriages. It's not or and in some ten bodies, one head. Whatever had more than one body, whatever had more than one body is a monster. Make no some of these things you need to understand the spiritual implication. The ordination of God is a head and a body, a man and his wife. And so let's now go back to our text of consideration, I just felt we should consider everywhere it is mentioned in the synoptic Gospels just for us to see the fuller picture of the matter. So let's go back to the text that we are using, our text of navigation, which is Matthew chapter 19. So I said I want to speak to verse 9 and 10 today, which is our focus today. Our focus today is this response of the disciples. And what we are saying today is that if the case of a man and his wife be like this. You have no any other reason against your spouse. You cannot bring any reason except this one. This is a serious thing. And what they saw as a remedy, then let me let me never marry. But is that also the remedy? Is that also the remedy? Several men who have said that they will not marry, several people who have tried to practice celibacy in different time at different point in history, have we not see several things that have happened to them in terms of sexual vice here and there, their immoral life here and there. Of course God gave marriage as one provision of marriage is to help against sexual immorality. But one thing that I've said very clear is that marriage does not cure lust. David was married and yet he lusted after another man's wife. He slept with Bathsheba. Joseph was not married and yet the woman was lusting after him, wanted him in bed, he didn't go into that immorality. So marriage does not cure lust. It's not a cure for lust. Lust is whether you are married or you are not married, the issue of lust remains. But marriage is one provision against immorality. That is true if we look at 1 Corinthians chapter 7. To avoid immorality let every man have his own wife and every woman her own husband and let they should not deny themselves in their sexual duties. But it is very crucial, very important to know very clear for you to see what the disciples are struggling against. Because it it is just unimaginable ordinarily to say that there is no other any other reason under heaven. And that is the reality, my brother and my sister that is listening to me. There is no any other reason under heaven as far as the word of God is concerned for which you can put away who you married. There is no other reason. The only exception that came from the mouth of the Lord is for sexual immorality. And I want to make some clarifications here to make some things clear. When the Lord said except for sexual immorality, it will be good that we look at this again in relation to other scriptures so that we don't begin to misinterpret, we don't begin to run wild. We don't begin to go against what God has said clearly in some other instances of the scriptures. The first thing is why is sexual immorality coming as an exception? I will give a fuller discourse to this from our next meeting. But I will just make a mention of it today. Because in our subsequent meetings, because I said I've earlier said that I will still be coming to that which God ordained. That which God ordained. God ordained something at the beginning. Something was ordained at that beginning. And sexual immorality runs contrary to that ordination. If you look at it in Matthew, I've just mentioned it now, but I trust the Lord that in our November edition I will give a fuller explanation to this matter. But let me just make a mention of it briefly now. Because what I really want to base is this matter of there is no any other reason. That's my focus today. If the case of a man and his wife be like this. That you don't have any other reason you don't. We don't. There is no the remedy against any other thing apart from sexual immorality is not divorce. Divorce is not a remedy. Divorce is further rebellion against God. It's further rebellion against God. Now, if you look at it in that Matthew, that same Matthew where we read before, he answered them, "Have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female?" The same thing he said in Mark chapter 10. "He made them male and female and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." Physically the two become one flesh. Physically they become one flesh. And how did that happen? How did this joining happen? If you look at the matter in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, do you not know that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the member of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "two," saith he, "shall become one flesh." For "two," saith he, where was that said? A man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So he's saying do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "two," God said at the beginning, "shall become one flesh." But he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Therefore flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man sins is outside the body. But he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. He's joining that body to that body. If it is even if it's a harlot, he's joining the body to that harlot. So whoever you are having sexual sin with, you are joining your body to that person. So that is why you are seeing the exception. That's why that thing is coming. That's why it is coming in that place and it's coming very clearly. And it is good for for me to also clarify something. Now, if the matter be like this, does it therefore then mean that if my if my spouse, either the man or the woman, if my spouse fall into the sin of adultery, should I therefore the next thing for me is divorce? The question therefore comes in looking at other scriptures with this. That the Bible says two are better than one, for they will have a good reward for their labor. Because if one fall, the other will lift him up. So in the place of sexual immorality, it must be clear to us that when the Bible says, when the Bible says except for sexual immorality, it is important for us to know that if the situation is that your spouse was overtaken by a fault, like we saw in Galatians chapter 6. It say if a brother is overtaken, if a brother is overtaken in a fault, let those who are spiritual restore him. And let them consider themselves lest they also be tempted. So what are we saying? That if the situation of your spouse is that he was overtaken in a fault, it is how to restore him. And normally if two people are really committed to themselves in marriage and one of them is overtaken in a fault, naturally the next thing that should come up will not be to put away. Naturally what should come up is what could have happened. It should be concern, it should be how did this happen. Because sexual sin don't just take place. For someone to be overtaken in a fault, a lot of things must have been happening. So it is a situation of seeking restoration, seeking reconciliation because the Bible says love covers a multitude of sin. Love can bear all things. So if it is the case of your spouse being overtaken in a fault, what is expedient is not to seek for divorce. What is expedient is for us to seek reconciliation, is for us to restore the brother or for us to restore the sister who was overtaken in a fault. We must also get that clear. But on the other hand, if it's a case of not overtaken in a fault, it's a case of willful disobedience, it's a case of willfulness. It's not a case of being overtaken in a fault. It's a case of your spouse willfully, stubbornly, wickedly, rebelliously breaking the very vow of the marriage, dissolving the basis of your joining. Cause the basis of your joining, I've shown you 1 Corinthians chapter 6, is sexual intercourse. If he goes on in sexual immorality and we have spoken to him, we have discussed with him, we have explained that this thing is not correct, this thing is why are you like this, but the person does not see anything wrong with that. He says no, this is what I want to do. He's willfully, he's rebelliously, he's wickedly continuing in that. So this is not a case of being overtaken in a fault. And of course, if somebody is like that, of course you can know from what the Lord said that we are dealing with men who have not known God, who have not seen God or who have not known God. He says if your brother offend you, go and show him his fault and then you will gain your brother back. If he does not listen to you, pick two or three people to show him his fault so that there can be one or two witnesses. If he does not listen to them, call the church. If he does not listen to the church, he say count him as an unbeliever, count him as a Gentile, count him as a tax collector. So if you have a situation where it's a situation of willful willful disobedience, a case of willful rebellion and the person keeps going on in a sexual immorality, then the other person is free. That's the point the Lord is making. It is when you have a situation of willful willful continuance in sexual immorality. Because in sexual immorality there is joining. And that is why I normally warn younger generation. That is why the enemy today is creating a lot of sexual perversity. You will see young men, young women today who are not married having sex here and there. They don't understand that they are joining their future, they are joining their life, they are joining their destiny to that person they are committing immorality with. By the time they now want to settle down in marriage, they are already spiritual monsters. You will be seeing a boy, you will be seeing a young man, but you are not just seeing a young man. When you look at things spiritually, he has a head and several bodies because he has committed fornication with several people. He has committed immorality severally. You see ladies like that too, you think you're dealing with just one lady, no you're not dealing with just one lady, you're dealing with a spiritual monster. She has already several head joined to her. This is some of the root cause of marital instability today. Most people who enter into marriages are entering as spiritual monsters because man is a spirit. I want to say those two things as I close this meeting this morning. I will pick this matter again from where I'm leaving it again today in our next meeting. Please I beg you, if you have any question or course please you can reach me on the phone number that will be released at the end of the meeting. We'll tell you our contact, we'll give you our contact information by the end of the meeting. Please I beg you, if you have any issue you have any question you want to ask you can refer them to us, you can reach out to us. I will pick this matter from where I'm leaving it today. But I'm warning this generation. For those of us who are not married, flee sexual immorality. That's the warning of God. Flee tells you that there is a danger. The danger in sexual immorality is that by the time you come to the junction of marriage you're already a spiritual monster. Flee sexual immorality. And for those of us that are married, I want you to see sex as something really sacred. See your marriage bed as something really sacred. Free from lust, free from immorality. That is your most sacred duty you have one to another. It's beyond just giving money to a woman, feeding a woman, having job, buying car, building houses. One of the most sacred duty towards one another is your body. Let us fear God in everything we do. And also warn this generation, there is no other reason under heaven for divorce. The Lord bless you, the Lord keep our homes, the Lord help us to live right, the Lord keep us going in the name of Jesus Christ. Our Father we thank you again for this morning. We give you glory, we give you praise, we give you honor. We bless your holy name our God. We bless your holy name our Father. Thank you Jehovah. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Let us 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 forevermore. Amen and amen. [Outro] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in reaching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission aid. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 p.m.; Adolescent and Singles Club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; Family Life Seminars; regular school outreaches; and every day counseling. For further counseling you can reach us at our location, Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilara community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Ijegun 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.