God Sex and Marriage 4 (he Made Them Male and Female)

This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and marriage through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission help. Our regular activities are: the discipleship class, every Monday, 5:00 p.m.; Adolescents 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 everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Vero-Joe 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. [Speaker 1] We are grateful to God again that we are gathering in His presence for our monthly Marriage Forum that comes every second Saturday of the month. And we are having the November edition for the year 2021. We thank our God for His preservations and mercies. We also trust Him again that today, He is going to meet with us everywhere we are, everywhere we are connecting, we are gathering. And those of us who are physically here, we trust the Lord to meet with all of us in Jesus' name. We have been considering the topic: God, Sex, and Marriage. It has been a series. We started months back. In our first edition in the series, we considered, "Have you not read?" where Jesus told the religious leaders that came to him asking him whether a man can put away his wife for any reason. And the response of our Lord was his immediate response, or his first response, was "Have you not read?" And we saw that it is so crucial for us to know that whatsoever does not agree with what had been written, that which has been written, then is not correct. Scripture, as far as the Lord is concerned, is the final authority when it comes to the matter of marriage. "Have you not read?" So when men have not read, when men have not diligently considered that which God said, you will find that they will begin to misbehave. They begin to come up with inappropriate behavior in their marriage. But as Christians, our life is expected to mirror the word of God. So Jesus said, "Have you not read?" And anytime you want to do anything in your marriage, please check: is it according to that which is written? And then in the next edition, we considered the matter of the hardness of the heart of men. They were asking Jesus that, "But Moses allowed us to put away our wives." And the response again of Jesus was that, "Look, Moses allowed you to put away your wife because of the hardness of your heart. But from the beginning, it was not so." So anytime we begin to see the matter of marital instability, divorce in marriage, setting aside, putting away, not getting along with our spouses, the problem is that our heart is not correct. It is the hardness of the heart of men. God never ordained divorce as part of marriage. It is the wickedness in the heart of man, the rebellious nature of the heart of man, the stubborn heart of men not wanting to follow the pattern of God, not wanting to submit to the authority of Scripture, disobedient heart, rebellious heart. Anytime you see divorce, you should know that that is the state of your heart. Your heart has a problem. You need to check your heart. It is a matter of your heart. And in the series that followed, we considered the matter of the provision where Jesus said, "Except it be for adultery." We were considering that window in the October series, in the October episode. We saw that why was the matter coming, why did Jesus say, "Except for divorce?" And we considered, we came to a very important conclusion that it is crucial for us to see that there is no any other window where the possibility of divorce is, except in marital unfaithfulness. Yet, the matter that Jesus was raising was very clear: that we are talking of a window, not a commandment. Because ordinarily, as it says in the Bible, two are better than one. If one fall, the other should lift up. The other should not abandon. The other should not throw away. The Bible says if a brother is overtaken in a fault, let those of us that are spiritual seek to restore the brother. But if one fall and the matter is that the other is quickly running away, we saw that there had been a divorce before that incident. And so we were able to also see in that October episode that it is crucial for us to know that many things that people talk about today—"My spouse, there is no fruit of the womb," "My husband is not too responsible," "My wife is stubborn," "My husband is overbearing," "My wife is not compatible, she is not as enlightened as I am," "My husband does not know how to manage money"—and all of these other things people talk about today, we mentioned that so many things people raise today as the basis for divorce is not supposed to be if the heart of man is right. And so we want to move on today to go back again to Matthew 19 and see how the matter started when Jesus was giving the response. I told you earlier that what we want to be doing under this series is to be looking at that which has been written. Because that was the concern of Jesus: "Have you not read?" And because we wanted to look at all the responses of Jesus to the Pharisees, we considered "Have you not read?", we considered "Hardened heart", and we considered "Except for adultery". We have not actually looked into the matter where Jesus said, "Have you not read that He who made them from the beginning?" That matter that Jesus raised, we have looked at "Have you not read?". Now the matter of what marriage ought to be that Jesus raised, we have not considered it. And that is what we want to begin to consider from the November series. From this November episode, we want to begin to consider each of the statements that Jesus made as to what it ought to be. We have been looking at what it ought not be. Now we want to come back to: what should it be? There should be no hardness of heart. We should make sure that we have read Scripture. Now, having said all of that, how should marriage be? What actually did God ordain? And that is what we want to begin to consider in the November series, in the November episode in this series that we are considering. Let us have a word of prayer as we go into the topic for today, which is "He made them male and female at the beginning." At the beginning, He made them male and female. Almighty God, we thank you for this morning. We commit ourselves into your hands as we look into your word. Oh Lord, as we fellowship together in Scriptures, with Scriptures, and with one another, Lord, we pray: speak to our heart in the name of Jesus. Lord, we pray: let the entrance of your word bring light and understanding in the name of Jesus. Lord God, as we look at the matter of what you made at the beginning, Oh Lord, I pray in every marriage, in every home, in every life, and for those who are not yet married but are looking towards it, everywhere the perception or the understanding of the matter is not according to that which is written, Oh Lord, as we fellowship together today, meet with us individually and address everything that does not agree with your counsel in the name of Jesus. Thank you, immortal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Now let's look at the word of God. We go back to the main text we have been considering under the series God, Sex, and Marriage. Matthew chapter 19 from verse 3: "The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?'" He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female?" And that is what we want to look at very closely today. He who made them at the beginning made them male and female. And because He made them male and female, He now said, "For this reason..." Now, He made them male and female. Because of that, in verse 5, "And said, 'For this reason shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife.'" So, because of what He made, because of the kind of making, He now said, "For this reason, a man shall leave father and mother." So, we are seeing that the institution of marriage, as far as God is concerned, is premised on this divine truth: that God at the beginning made them male and female. The first thing that needs clarification is that as far as the Maker is concerned, in the wisdom of God, in the understanding of the Maker, in His making of things, what He made was a male and a female. And so marriage is not between a male and a male. Marriage, as far as the Maker is concerned, is not between a female and a female. Rather, marriage as far as the Maker is concerned is an institution that is ordained to be between a male and a female. So that anything that differs from this, it may be acceptable in the philosophy of men, it may be acceptable in the imagination of man, it may be acceptable in the thinking of man, it may look correct as far as men are concerned, science may come up with whatever it wants to say, but may I announce very categorically that as far as the Maker is concerned, the wisdom behind creation... Creation did not emanate of itself. Creation is not about itself. Creation is not from itself. Creation did not flow out of itself. The Bible says in Revelation chapter 4 verse 11 that, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive all glory, honor and power; for Thou hast created all things for Thy pleasure." The Scripture makes us to understand again that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through Him were all things made; without Him was nothing made that was made. So in the mind of the Maker of heavens and earth, the person who is the Creator of the universe, as far as He is concerned, and anybody that wants to align himself with the Maker, that person should understand that marriage is between a male and a female. Now, we are looking at this making that was made. The Lord said, "He who made them at the beginning." So let us go to the beginning. Let's see how this making, how the making was done. Because the Scripture says again in Romans chapter 15 verse 4, "For whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning." So since the Maker recorded—of course, don't forget what He said at the beginning, "Have you not read?"—some things were written down. So it is important for us, since the Maker wrote down how the making was done, it will be good for us to consider how this making was done. So that we'll be able to appreciate why in verse 5 of that Matthew chapter 19, the Lord was saying, "For this reason, a man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife." Let's go and look at how the making started. "He made them." Let's see how the making was done. That is what Romans chapter 15 verse 4 tells us. It says they were written down for our learning. Let's go and see what can be learned from the making. Let's go to Genesis chapter 1 where the making was done. The Bible says in Genesis chapter 1 from verse 1 to verse 31, it was talking about the making of things. And chapter 2 was also talking about the creation. Now, He made them male and female. Genesis chapter 1, the Bible says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Of course, the earth was without form, it was void, it was an empty something, there was nothing on it. And so having made the land, God needed to start putting things upon the earth. When the earth was made, it was just first empty, it was just a dry land. Because when you look at verse 5, it says then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, let it divide the water above from the water beneath." Thus, God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. And that is why I said when we are talking about heaven, you're talking about different levels of heaven. God was in one heaven before He makes the sky. So God does not actually live inside the sky, as some people think. So when first say heaven, if you check some other translations, it will tell you that God made the sky. So God was not living in the sky when He came to make the sky. He was somewhere before He made the universe, before He made the sky, the galaxies, and all those things. So people who are looking for God inside the sky, even though the Bible calls that heaven in some translations, you are just making a mistake. And that is why Solomon said the heavens of the heavens cannot contain you. God lives inside eternity and He came to make what you call heaven, the sky. God doesn't live inside the sky. He made the sky. So we may call that a kind of heaven, but that is not the heaven where God dwells. Now, He called the firmament heaven. And the morning and the evening, that was the second day. Then the third day, the Bible says let the water under the heavens, the one now under the sky, let them gather together in one place, and let there be dry land appear, and it was so. And God called the dry land earth. So you see that when the earth was first made and the heavens were made, they were null and void. There was nothing inside. When the sky was made, there was nothing. There was no sun in it, there was no moon in it, there was no bird flying in the sky. That's why in that verse 2, it says the earth was without form and it was void. When God created the heaven and the earth, it was just dry land and then an open sky. So it was null, it was void, there was nothing inside. He called the dry land earth. And God saw that the earth was good. But please note that as at this time, it was actually void. There was nothing in it. It was just dry land. There was no vegetal cover, there was no fruit, there was nothing. It was just void. The same thing, the heaven was void. There was nothing in it. So verse 2 is like a summary: in the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth, and the heavens and the earth were void. They were void when they were made. And then the work of creation continues. Because it did not stop on the first day, it did not stop at the second day, it did not stop at the third day. And so we saw that on the third day of creation, the earth was created and God saw that it was good. So we move now to what happened on the fourth day. God now began to bring things into that which was void. Then the Bible says God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass." So that which was void began to take shape. Instead of just being an empty thing, it was not designed to be empty. And that's why I tell people when God begins to deal with our life, God deals with us in stages. God begins with us gradually. Don't be in a haste. Don't despise the day of little beginning. God may be starting something in your life very small. Your marriage may start very small. Your business may start very small. Your home may start very small. It may be starting looking as if it is null and void. But God is going somewhere with your life. He's going somewhere. And you see after that third day, everything was void. But by the fourth day, what was void began to take shape. And I pray that whatsoever has not taken shape in your home, in your business, in your life, in your children, whatsoever may not have taken shape, may there be the beginning of a fourth day in your life. In every marriage, whatsoever is void, may there be a creation, something coming into it to move you from one level to another in the name of Jesus Christ. Now we are looking at that. That which was initially void began to take shape. And as it was taking shape, what happened? He says the first thing, "Let the earth bring forth grass." What I want you to see is that Hallelujah! You know when you look at science, science will say that the things in land are the ones that make the grass to grow and all of that. Of course, that is a fact. That is a fact. Just like if you say that it is the spermatozoa of the man and the egg of the woman that forms a child. Of course, that is a fact. But it is important to know that that is not the truth. The truth of the matter is that the earth could not bring forth grass until God said, "Let there be grass." Are you understanding me? I want you to get that very clear. So that grass is growing and you are saying it is because the land is fertile, of course that is just a fact of the matter. The truth of the matter was that God said. Life is not in anything apart from in God. God is life. Whatsoever does not come in contact with God can never have life. The truth of anything is what I'm telling you. A sperm can meet with an egg, and for years, that marriage will still be barren without a child. Because God has not spoken. You remember, just think back to some of our patriarchs of faith. Look at Jacob and Rachel. Jacob was sleeping with Rachel over and over again, but God did not want a child to come. The egg was meeting with the sperm and yet it did not come, until the Bible says God remembered Rachel, and then God allowed the womb of Rachel to bring forth a child. So understand the fact of a matter is different from the truth of a matter. You must be clear about that. The truth of a matter is that which God said. That's why the Bible can categorically say that children are heritage of God. Until God opened His hand, the earth can never be satisfied. Everything that is life emanates only from God. And that is why all that science has been able to do to date, science cannot create life. Science has done all kinds of things. For science to make anything to be alive, it must first go back to nature. It must first take life from where God has placed life. Without God, there cannot be life. That's the point I'm trying to make you see. And so please don't forget our journey. I'm trying to make you see the matter of how they were made. Because these things were recorded for our learning. They are not just Bible stories. They are written down. The Lord said, "He who made them at the beginning." So we are going to that beginning to see how things were done. So that we don't begin to live in the foolishness of our own imagination. We don't begin to handle marriage in the stupidity of our thinking. We don't begin to handle marriage in our ordinary human mentality. We need to look at what God did and what God said if you want to get it right in marriage. And that is why the series is God, Sex, Marriage. You need to see the God-factor in marriage. You need to understand that and fear. And the first thing I'm trying to make you see is that that which was void began to experience life. Let the earth bring forth grass. So whatever you see inside the earth that is making it to bring forth grass came because God said. Everything was by His word. "Let there be this." And so grass came forth. And the Bible says and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to their kind. So you see the fruit tree began to come up. What was void began to experience things. Trees began to come. And then he says and they were to bring according to their kind. They were just different kinds. You notice in there, its kind, its kind. He says and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself on earth, and it was so. So you find out that the ability of the seed to reproduce another one was because God said let it be like that. So the ability is not in the seed; the ability is in God. What I'm trying to make you see is that everything has its origin in God. God is our source. And if we turn against our source, we will go dry. He is our source. And it was so. And the Bible says in verse 12, "And the earth brought forth grass." Hallelujah! Power of the word of God. The word of God cannot go back to Him the same way. It must produce that for which it has been sent. So the earth recorded everything that was barren in it, everything that could not produce, everything that was dead, everything that could not bring forth began to bring forth. Hallelujah! What was void began to bring forth. He says, "And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed was in it according to its kind, and God saw that it was good." So the evening and the morning were the third day. So by the third day, the earth has begun to take a form. What form can we see? Vegetal cover, grasses, trees. You see form is coming, form is coming. And I just keep having this inspiration inside me that anywhere there is no form in your marriage, form will start coming. Form will start coming. Form will start coming. That which is void will experience life in the name of Jesus. The word of God, there will be an entrance of life into whatsoever is dead in your marriage in the name of Jesus Christ. So life entered and then things began to get green. Fruitfulness began to come up. Hallelujah! So that was the third day. Then we move on to the fourth day. Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven." So the heaven too that was void before wants to start experiencing its own. So light, let there be light to divide day from night, and let them be for signs and for seasons, for days and for years. And let them be for light in the firmament of the heaven to give light on earth, and it was so. He says so then He made two great lights. So there were several lights apart from the sun and the moon, the two great lights, there were other lights, stars, this, that, several lights. Oh! I pray for you: light into your heavens, light into your heavens. Light, light, light! God began to bring light. Light into every darkness, light into every darkness, light into every darkness in the name of Jesus. God was bringing light. There was no light in the thing. He made the sky, the whole thing was just dark like that. But he was the one that made. There may be some things about you now that look as if can this thing be God? This my wife, can she be from God? Can he be from God? This my marriage, is God in it? Why is everything so dark? Why is everything like this? Oh! My brother, my sister, be patient. I wish you will stay with the God of light. I wish you will put your trust in the God of light. I wish you will rest on the God of light. God that can bring light into situation. And light will come into that thing that looks so dark today. Don't jump out of the God of light. Light is not in any other place. Light is only in God. So the light that came, what was a dark heaven began to have light. Light here and there. And God began to wonder the brightness that will come upon what was dark. God began to look at how everything will just start shining because the earth before too was not having that kind of light. So let them give light to the earth. And everything just began to get—just start, the rising of the sun, the shining, the breaking forth of the day. May you experience a breaking forth in the name of Jesus. May new things spring forth in your marriage. May glorious thing spring forth in your home. May they spring forth in your relationship. May they spring forth in your life. May the God of light bring the rising of the sun into your situation in the name of Jesus Christ. That was this God. I'm showing you creation. I'm showing you the stage-by-stage of this thing. He who made them at the beginning. I'm showing you how it went. And light began to show. He said then God made two great light, the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. Are you seeing that? Several kinds of light today. And that is why I keep telling people: science is only trying to discover what has been made. There is nothing it wants to discover that is new. It's only trying to explain what has been made. The Yorubas will say, "Oun t'olorun ti da l'aye lo wa." It is already there. He made them different things. And that is why I want to beg you, my brother: be careful about the fact of a matter at the expense of the truth. The fact of a matter is not the truth of a matter. Science can only study fact. But don't forget that this fact that you are seeing emanated from a truth that is not seen. Because the Bible says we understand by faith that the universe was framed by the word of God, so that the things that are seen, they are not made from the things that appear. The fact that we are seeing, the things that you are seeing by fact, they are not the source of what you are seeing. The things that you see, they are made from what you cannot see. You must get that clear. Fact is one word; truth is another word. Truth is that which God has spoken. Fact is that which you can see and study, but understand something very well: that that fact that you are seeing did not emanate from itself. It emanated from a truth that you cannot see. And that is why when we run our life by fact, we run into darkness because we leave the source out of the fact. May you not run ahead of God in the name of Jesus Christ. Every fact has a truth from which it is emanating. Connect to the God of the fact and you enjoy the truth of that fact. That is the way to enjoy life. Praise the Lord. Now, when you move on, it says God set them in the firmaments of the heaven to give light to the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. Do you see it? The sun in its own axis, just standing there, and the earth rotating around it. And when it faces the sun, it gets light from it. They say we are in daytime. When it moves away from it, it has darkness. They say it is night. Are you seeing how the sun is ruling? These things we did in geography. It was there all from the beginning. And the Bible says so in the evening and the morning, that was the fourth day. And then God now moved now to the place of the water. The earth has been made to be fruitful, to have shape. The heaven has taken its own shape. It remains the water. It remains the water. Then God said, "Let the water abound with abundance of living creature." Hallelujah! Oh, hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Our God is life. Whosoever must have life must touch God. Without God, there is no life anywhere. Whether on dry land, whether in the sky, whether in the water, anywhere you want to think about it. Once you want to touch life, you must seek for God. You must seek for God. God is the only one from whom life emanated. Now, so life inside the water, let it abound with living creatures. Let the birds fly above the earth. Hallelujah! Look at the beauty of creation. Let the birds fly above the earth, across the face of the firmament. And then you can see how what was void before began to take shape. Hallelujah! Began to take such a wondrous shape. He said so God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the water abounded, according to their kinds. Every winged bird according to its kind, and God saw that it was good. But look at something again. Look at something again I want to show you. In verse 22, it says, "And God blessed them, and said, 'Be fruitful and multiply, fill the waters in the sea, let the birds multiply on the earth.'" So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Are you seeing that? Even the birds that were created, the ability to reproduce is not also inside them. God had to bless them and speak. He spoke, "Be fruitful." So those things that science is studying did not emanate from that things that they are seeing. It is coming from what cannot be seen. The ability to reproduce themselves, it's not really in themselves; it came from somewhere. So when you look at the part of the water, you put this and this and then you say this and this and this and you say oh, that's how it started from the beginning. Oh, how foolish we are. How depressed man can be sometimes. How lost we can be sometimes in our reasoning. He said so, those things they came up because God blessed them. So in the evening and the morning, that was the fifth day. Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures." I'm just seeing this wonderful God. These creatures, they were to live on the green plants. So God first allowed the green plants to be there. I just imagined that they first brought goat before they brought grass. Goat would have died before food will come. Our God is a God of all knowledge. Our God is the greatest organizer. Our God is the master planner. Our God is the God of all sciences. He is the source, He is the beginning, He is the end. Look at the arrangement. Look at the workings. Look at how they are going. Look at how orderly He was doing things. That is why the Bible says He makes all things beautiful in their time. I am telling you, as long as God is involved in your life, as long as you are a child of God, I want you to know: your Father is a master planner. Your Father, your Father is the wisest. He knows how to arrange it. He will make all things beautiful in their time. The food was here for them to eat, and then gradually they began to bring forth what to now eat those food. So animals—the earth began to bring forth living creatures: cattle, creeping thing, beast of the earth, each according to its kind, and it was so. Are you seeing this God? And then God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Hallelujah! God saw that it was good. And our God was now through with all of that. God now said—Hallelujah! We are coming to where we will be relating back more seriously now to where we are coming from in Matthew. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image. Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion, of course, over everything that was initially created." So you discover that man was now to come. And when God was bringing man, God made man in His image. Man was made in God's image. If you want to know who a man is, you need to look at God. If you don't look at God, you will not know exactly what a man looks like. And that is why when a man does not look at God to live, he cannot live like the man that he was created to be. I don't know whether you understand what I have just said. I hope I'm not confusing you. I said God made man in His image. For you to know what man really should look like, you need to look at God to know what man should look like. So when man does not look at God to know what he or she should look like, then he will not be able to live like the man that God created man to be. He will live in other ways. He created in His own image, in His own likeness, and he said, "Let them have dominion." So they were created to come and rule over every other thing that God made. They were created to come and rule over all of them. That was the intention of God. Said let them rule over everything, over—he says over everything that God created. So when he got to verse 27, please note: man was created in the image of God and in the likeness of God. Man must be like God. Man must be in the image of God. If you look at it—an organizer, a being of wisdom, a being that can create, a being that can bring to pass, a being—he must be like God. And then God gave him dominion. And then when he came to verse 27, the Bible says, "So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him." Brother and sister, everybody connecting to us and listening to me, please: how will man know exactly how he's to look like? God created man in His own image. So if you want to know what man really was like when he was created, who must we look to? We must look to God. I don't know whether you understand me. I am trying to make you understand something: that if you don't look at God, you cannot live like man. If you don't have an intimate relationship with God, such that you can be looking at God—you can be looking at God, you can see who God is, you can see how God lives, you can see how God thinks, you can see how God considers thing—when you cannot look at the image of God, you cannot know who you really are. One major problem today about marriage is that the men, they don't even know in the image of whom they are created. And when they know, they are not even looking to Him in whose image they were created. The female are not also looking into the image of who, in whom they were created. These are very serious things. Because you cannot know how you ought to live until you look at the way you were created. You were created in a particular way. You were created in the image of God. So if you cannot be looking at that image, you cannot live like the way you ought to live. You may be living, but you will not be living the way you ought to live. Now, he says he created—look at the Scripture in verse 27. He says, "So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him." He created him. I want you to look at that Scripture very closely. Because this is where we are going, more precisely. Having seen all that God did, and now we are looking at when it came to man. Every other thing that God created was not in the image of God. That's number one. Every other thing was not in the likeness of God. That's number two. Every other thing that was created was not created to have dominion. Man was created to have dominion. That's number three. Now, we are now looking at what was said here. The Bible says, "So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them." I want you to look at that arrangement. And I am particularly reading it this way from the King James translation because some other rendering did not come out like this. If you look at the NLT translation, it says, "So God created people in His own image. God patterned them after Himself. Male and female He created them." That was not exactly what was done. That was not exactly the way it was. It is time to understand the way it was. Let's go back to that Scripture that I read from the King James translation. He says, "So God created him." That's the pattern. The pattern was that God created him before it now became male and female, He created them. Because if you go to chapter 2, and we are to understand this matter very well, in chapter 2 from verse 18, the popular Scripture that we read for marriage, he says then God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone." Maybe I should take it from verse 7 before I go to verse 18. Chapter 2 verse 7, he says the Lord formed man out of the dust of the earth. And of course, there was a breath into his nostril and then what happened? He became a living being. Then the Lord planted a garden east of Eden. He put man that he had formed there. Out of the ground, God made trees to grow in that garden and everything for the man. And then he told the man in verse 15, then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may eat freely, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you shall eat of it, you shall die." And God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone." So the correct reading is that God created human being in his image. In the image of God, he created him. Him was first created. There was first the making of the male. In the image of God, he created him. That is the correct reading. That is the thing that agrees with the totality of what we are seeing in the Bible. There was first the making of the him before the making of the them. And that is very fundamental and crucial for the matter of marriage. Because like I told you, it is God, sex, marriage. All of these things emanating from God. Man, sex, marriage, all emanating from God. Now, he created him and then he created them. That's the correct reading. Now, he says God created him in his own image. That is, God first made the male. Don't forget, "He made them male and female." That was what we are coming from. That's our consideration. But before I will sit down on this matter much more the more in about 10-15 minutes to round it up, I want us to go back again to that Genesis where we are coming from. Because I just wanted to show you that the correct reading should be that in the image of God, he created him before male and female he created them. That is very fundamental and crucial. That is the truth. Now, in that chapter 1 that we are reading, that verse 27 where we are reading, he says so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. He created him. Human beings were created on the sixth day. There was no creation on the seventh day; God rested. But the male and the female were not created at the same time. Now, what I first want to call your attention to in Genesis chapter 1 is that do you notice that since we have been reading creation from verse 1, we got to verse 22 where God blessed the earth, God blessed the animals, the creation, and He said they should multiply? We have read through all of those Scriptures until we came to verse 27. Do you notice that not until we got to the creation of man, there was no reference to female? It was when we got to the creation of man that there was a reference to female. I want to ask you this question: was it that for the other creation, there was no female, or there were no females? Of course, females of all of those creation, they were made. Because you notice that the Bible says God blessed them and said be fruitful. So the blessing to be fruitful did not first even come to man. It first went to the animals, those things that were created. But what I want you to see was that in the making of the female in the animal—in these animals—there was no reference to a female. It was just that God created them in their kind. But when it came to man, there was a reference to a female. It is important to see this crucial thing. It is not by mistake that female was not mentioned earlier. No, it's a deliberate thing. And the deliberateness I want you to see, because you need to understand that our God is a deliberate God. God is a deliberate God. You will notice that it was when He made the female in man that He now said a man shall leave father and mother. There was no marriage institution in animals. There was nothing like one animal will leave father and mother to go and join his wife. There was nothing like that. But when it came to man, immediately God was through with the female, the Bible says God now said, "A man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife." There was nothing like that when the females in the animals were made. There was nothing like that. I am calling your attention to this matter so that you understand these things. He who made... Our concern is that "He made male and female." And it is good for us to understand this matter, to see it and to know it. And so, why is this matter like this? Why is a definite female not emphasized in the making of the animals? Why is a definite female emphasized in the making of humans? You will see that number one, when you look back again at that Genesis chapter 2, because you will realize, if you look at this Scripture, that Genesis chapter 1 verse 28 where the Bible said then God blessed them and said be fruitful and multiply, that verse 28 actually happened after chapter 2 of Genesis. It was after God made the female that God now blessed them and said be fruitful. That's why I'm bringing the two into one to explain this matter of creation. Now, you will notice that in Genesis chapter 2, when God was to make the female—why are we emphasizing a particular female when it came to the making of human beings? That's what we are considering. We saw that when God was making the female in human beings in chapter 2, the Bible says when God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone," the Bible says in verse 21, "The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept. And He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man." So you noticed actually that in the making of the female in human beings, God took a part of the male. And God, having done that, now covered that bone with flesh. And that is what God described as the female. If you look at it, what you are calling the female is like saying the feeble part of the male. It's not actually another creation, so to say. It is the feeble part of the male. There were several bones inside that male. God took just one. One bone. And that one bone became what God put around to bring forth the female. So you see that what became the female was something taken out of the male. So essentially, if you are to look at it very closely, she was just Adam clothed with flesh again in another way. And so when you look at that very closely, you will see that it is only in man that the female took her origin. The origin of the female was emanating from the male. He made them male and female. So the female that came to Adam was not just any female. It was the feeble part of Adam that came to Adam. It was just him that came to him. And that is why the Bible says he created him, and then from him he created them. So while for the other animals, the female is not something that emanated from the male, and that is why you notice when they begin to interreproduce among themselves, there is nothing like an abomination. It is not an abomination for animals to interreproduce. Mother hen can give birth and the cock that came from mother hen again will mate mother hen, and on and on like that, because they were made in their kinds. But it was not something for man. So that when you see human beings having sexual intercourse just with anybody—premarital sex here and there—it is a display of animalistic tendencies. It is the glory of animals that is being displayed. It is not the glory of man. That is not the design of God in making man. Man is not designed to have it like that. Animals are designed to have it that way. And the reason why our youth and several even married men having extramarital relationship why they are like that today is because they have not looked into the image of Him who created them. He who made them at the beginning made them male and female. That is, He who made them at the beginning actually made sure that it was not two people, so to say, that he was creating. What he did at the beginning was to create one and from that one, he made the other. He extended that one to have the other part of him. So it is the feeble part of him that also got married to him. And that is why he could confidently say, "A man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one." He could say that because at the beginning, what he made was male and female. That was not an emphasis in animal. The matter of male and female, anytime you are hearing male and female, what is meant is that the female—that thing you are calling female when we are making reference to human being—is a being that is essentially taken out of the male. This is a being that is not essentially another creation. Anytime we look at the female, we are looking at the feeble part of the male. And this must be a deep understanding inside us. What is the implication of this? Will be what I'll be considering in our December episode. What is the implication of this for the existence of male and female? Before we now come to the matter of marriage. What is the implication of this? What should this understanding give us? What should we understand from this? How should this direct the way we live? How should this direct how men should treat women? How should this direct how male and female should enter into marriage? What is the implication of this? Because having made them this way, God now ordained marriage. So it will be good we look further and further into this matter. Having made them this way. So you need to know that the female is out of the male. And the male and the female for human beings, they are not designed for premarital sex. They are not designed for extramarital sex. They are not designed for such thing. They are designed for something greater. And you will understand that they are not designed for polygamy. They are not designed for having more than one. Because what the male was to marry was essentially himself. It was not taking this, taking that, like our fathers used to do. We saw that in some of the patriarchs. That does not make it right. Because the Lord said, "He who made them at the beginning." As we close for today, I want to plead with you. Can you look at your spouse again and understand that actually, no matter the stage in our marriage today, God can bring light. God can take us beyond this point. It may look formless, it may look void, but there is a God of light. He can bring light into the relationship. Beyond that, I want you to look at your spouse again and understand that we are not two people. In the real sense of the making, we are not actually two people. That's not our design. We are not two people. Can we look at each other again and say, "Oh, I'm just the feeble part of this person." And see that this is the feeble part of me, and not another person. This is the feeble part of me. That is the truth about it. And if you have not been married, I'm charging you: you need to understand. Don't put on the glory of animals. Don't begin to have premarital sex. And if you are married, run away from extramarital sex. It's the glory of animals. It's the glory of animals. No matter how you describe it, you are not an animal. That is not your image. It's not your image. You are designed for something higher than that. Your design is in the image of God, in the likeness of God. And for you, the young man who is not yet married, run away from anything premarital sex. You are not an animal, young boy, young girl. You are for greater glory. You are designed to have dominion on animals. You are not to live like them. You are not to act like them. You are not to behave like them. And today you see that animals don't have a sense of shame when they have sex. Look at pornography everywhere. Human beings have become shameless. They have become animals. You see pornography picture everywhere. You see it on TV, you see it everywhere. Porn sites. Because we have become animals in our imagination, animals in our thinking, animals in our reasoning. Dogs are never ashamed when they are sleeping with themselves publicly. Today you find everything, sexual things outside, private parts in the public, and people are not ashamed. Why? Because they have become animals in their imagination, animals in their reasoning, animals in their thinking, animals in their action. Animals, animals! Oh, I pray that every imagination that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God, above the image of God that God has created you, I pray that by the authority in the name of Jesus, those imaginations will be cast down in the name of Jesus Christ. And for we the men, where you are seeing your spouse as another person, I pray: may God remove that blindness. May you begin to see as God sees. That woman you are oppressing is the feeble part of you. She's the feeble part of you. And as you are pressing it down, you are pressing down yourself. And may God help our wives to see: you are the feeble part of that your husband. You don't need to contest, you don't need to fight him, you don't need to challenge him. You are just the feeble part of him. Marriage is not a place for competition and contest. Thank you, Father. Blessed be your holy name. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Our Father, we thank you for this morning. We just commit ourselves into your hands again. We pray that Lord, that our mind be renewed after your word in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to see as you see. Help us to see that which you made. Help us to run our life accordingly in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and 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 forevermore. Amen and amen. This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and marriage through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission help. Our regular activities are: the discipleship class, every Monday, 5:00 p.m.; Adolescents 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 everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Vero-Joe 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.