Sexulal Responsibility in Marriage (scriptural Positions on Sexual Relations 2)

[Speaker 1] Church fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a Godly home for us. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] Another time in His presence. We give Him glory and honor. We appreciate Him for His preservation in bringing us again into the month of April and the second Saturday in the month of April that we normally have Family Tent Ministry Marriage Forum. We trust in the Lord again today that as we gather unto Him, it will be a time of instruction in righteousness. It will be a time of restoration and healing. It will be a time of blessing and edification for the body of Christ in the name of Jesus Christ. We have been considering sexual responsibility in marriage since the month of February. Under this theme, we have been having different areas of burden, different areas to focus on. For the month of February, our focus was on how sacred is sex. That was our focus. We took time to look at from a biblical point of view the extent of sacredness that is in sex. Then we left that. In the month of March, our concern under sexual responsibility in marriage was scriptural position about sexual relations. We were considering 1 Corinthians 7, but we could not finish up issues on that in the month of March. Like the message I sent yesterday, I hope you get it either on the Telegram platform or the WhatsApp platform or the Facebook platform. I said that we will be continuing. It will be a continuity. The April edition will be a continuity of scriptural position about sexual relations in marriage. That is what we will be looking at and we want to continue from where we left the matter in the month of March. Like I said, Marriage Forum runs between 10:00 and 12:00 noon. We will appreciate if there are questions, latest by 11:30, we should have such questions. Even if you have some questions that generated from March that you have not asked, you can go ahead to send it. The technical crew will get it across to me. You can send it either on Telegram, you can send it on our WhatsApp page, and you can also send it on our Mixlr platform. Whichever platform you sent it, we will surely get the question. Sexual responsibility in marriage is not just about teaching and teaching. We want to make sure that it is very interactive. If you have practical questions and answers, we look at those questions. We look at the Word of God for direction, trying to get scriptural answers to whatever questions that may be asked. So, let us have a word of prayer as we begin for today. Our Father, we appreciate You for Your love and mercies. We thank You for who You are. We thank You for Your love. We thank You for Your goodness. We thank You for preservation. We commit this morning as we gather together. We use this opportunity to pray for our nation, Nigeria. Lord our God, we are asking for Your intervention in the land. Lord, please intervene. Let the wickedness of the wicked overtake the wicked. Let the craftiness of the crafty overtake the crafty. Lord, we are praying that You will give our nation rest. You will give our nation reformation. You will give reformation for good, reformation for social justice, reformation for economic development, reformation for proper political direction. We pray, Lord our God, for our nation. We are also asking for spiritual rejuvenation. Lord God Almighty, we pray. Don't let the dark overtake the land. Let revival overrun our land in the name of Jesus Christ. And as we gather this morning for our Marriage Forum, Lord, we pray for everyone who is connecting with us either on Mixlr or on Telegram. Lord, we pray that You will meet with each and every one of us in Jesus' name. Lord, we ask that there will be restoration for marriages, for homes, in the name of Jesus. Let Your peace, oh Lord, garnish our heart and our homes in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray for instruction and direction. By the power of Your Spirit, let us have them this morning in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Eternal Father. In Jesus' unfailing name we pray. Amen. So, we will take it up from where we concluded, where we stopped in the month of March. We'll go to that scripture that we have been considering, 1 Corinthians 7. [Speaker 3] 1 Corinthians 7. We took our reading from verse 1 and we were able to go through up to verse 5a that day. But for the purpose of today, we want to go through together again. Let's just read together. "Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time." (1 Corinthians 7:1-5) We took that reading in Amplified last month. The Amplified made it clearer when it says, "Do not refuse, do not deprive, and defraud each other of your due marital rights, except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, so that you may devote yourselves unhindered to prayers. But afterwards, resume marital relations, lest Satan tempt you to sin through your lack of restraint or sexual desire." [Speaker 4] That was where we stopped last month and we want to pick the matter from there. Last month we have been able to tell ourselves that it is important to see that the Bible says that we should not deprive, we should not defraud each other of sexual relations except it is by consent. There must be consent to do so. And I mentioned something very, very important that God said that even if an individual wants to concentrate in prayer by way of fasting, he needs the consent of the spouse before such prayer and fasting can be engaged in. And we noted last month that it is a clear indication even when it comes to spiritual matters, making sure what God has joined together, let nothing put asunder. Don't let anything under the guise of spiritual devotion and concern, not to fulfill our conjugal right to one another. So, we left the matter at "Come together again, so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control." And what I said in closing that meeting last month is that the Bible, the Scripture is pointing our attention to a very, very crucial matter in this life. That it is important for us to see that we need to come together again, to resume sexual relations together, so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. And I noted that why is the Bible, why is the Scripture pointing our attention to satanic activity? Satanic activity when we don't follow the scriptural position about sexual relations in marriage. Why is the Bible pointing our attention to satanic activities? That was where we stopped last month. Why was it satanic activity? And I also noted, there's something I noted also last month that the Bible says, "Because of your lack of self-control." I noted that for anybody that God led into marriage, for anybody who says that he has a leading to marry, for anybody who goes into marriage, it is important for you to know that there is a measure, there is a measure of lack of control that you must be conscious about in your life. There is a measure. If you don't live correctly, if you don't live properly, you can be overtaken sexually. You can be overtaken if you are in your marriage and you are not taking time to do the needful, to be sure that there is marital harmony. The Bible wants you to know that there is an aspect of you that Satan can take advantage of. It is something we must be very clear about. Don't claim to be a superman or a superwoman. The Lord said, "Make sure you resume sexual relation because there is something about you that Satan can take advantage of, and that thing is that there is an element of lack of control." There's an element of lack of control. But I want to begin with this concern of the word of God when He says, "Come together again, so that Satan does not tempt you." Why are we pointed to satanic activity? Now, I want to call our attention to some things that we have said earlier so that we can get proper direction in this matter. Now, you remember that when we were talking about the matter of sex in 1 Corinthians 6, when we were looking at the sacredness of sex, can we quickly go back to that scripture? When we were looking at the sacredness of sex, I want to make you understand why the Bible is pointing us to satanic activity when it comes to the matter of sex, sexual relation. Why is the Bible pointing us to satanic activity that, "Look, lest Satan gets you." Now, when you look at 1 Corinthians 6, when we were discussing the sacredness of sex, 1 Corinthians 6 from verse 15, says, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?" Do you not know that your bodies, your physical body, your hand, your leg, that physical body that we carry, they are actually members of Christ's body. "Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!" Now, when you look at this scripture, this scripture is saying that there is something, even though our body is physical, we have a physical body. But because of a relationship that we share with Jesus, that physical body you are looking at is at the same time a mystical body. Am I confusing you at all? Or I make some clarification. You see, your physical body that you carry everywhere you go, that body that you carry, that physical body that you carry, the Bible is pointing our attention to something. That although it is a physical body, it is important for you to know that as physical as it is, it is also a mystical body. Mystical in the sense that it is actually a member of Christ. That is, if anything is happening to that body, even though it is physical, that thing is having a direct relationship with Jesus Christ. There is a direct relationship between our physical body and the body of Christ. And the Bible displayed these things severally in different instances. In Acts 9, where the Lord met with Paul, Paul was persecuting the Christian body. And the Lord told Paul, "Why are you persecuting Me?" (Acts 9:4) The word of the Lord was not, "Why are you persecuting the church?" It was, "Why are you persecuting Me?" It was something that was directly affecting the body of Christ. So, the body was bastardized such that the head of that body had to speak from heaven to the persecutor, "Why are you persecuting Me?" and not, "Why are you persecuting My disciples?" Because that beating, that thing that he was doing was directly to the body of Christ. So, you see, it is a physical body, but it is also a mystical body. In the same way, we find similar reference in Matthew 25 where the Lord said, "I was hungry, you did not give me to eat. I was thirsty, you did not give me to drink. I was in prison, you did not visit me." (Matthew 25:42-43) Then the people were asking, "Ah, when? When?" And He said, "As long as it was not done to the least of these, then it was not done to Me." (Matthew 25:45) So, you notice that while for instance, you may say that the Lord Jesus is not here with us physically, but if you look at scripture very closely, the Lord Jesus is actually here with us physically. How? In the different believers that you see. In those believers, the Lord is here physically. He's here physically with us. Now, that is what the Bible is trying to make us see in this place. Say, "Do you not know that your bodies, they are members of the body of Christ? Shall I take the members of Christ's body and make them members of an harlot? Certainly not!" Which means any time we defile that physical body, mystically, we are defiling the body of Christ. And for you to see the seriousness of this thing, let me show you another very important scripture in 1 Corinthians again, chapter 11. 1 Corinthians 11. I'm just trying to make you understand why the body, why the scripture is talking about Satan. I want to call your attention to this matter of Satan. There are a lot of things we take for granted. There are a lot of things we just commonize. There are a lot of things we just, we act like gentiles about. We act like pagans about. But we should be careful because many of these things are mystical. Many of these things, they are not as physical as you see them. Let's look at something in 1 Corinthians 11. I just want to call your attention to the seriousness of this matter of the body, the body, the body, the body of Christ, our body being the member of the body of Christ, and the issue of Satan tempting us. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, I want to read from verse 17. "Now in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk." (1 Corinthians 11:17-21) He was addressing the matter of the breaking of bread, the Lord's supper that we normally take. And these people, they were commonizing it. They were thinking that it's just about coming to eat and drink. Ah, opportunity to eat supper. Opportunity to eat and be full. So what happens? The people that get there first, they quickly take as much as they want to eat, and eat and eat and eat. And then some don't have anything to eat. Some are drunk, some are full, some don't have. They thought it was just food to eat. They thought it was just about anything they can just commonize. Now, look at what was going on here. Verse 22. "Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes." (1 Corinthians 11:22-26) So the matter of that cup, the matter of that bread, is actually a proclamation of the Lord's death, the Lord's body that was broken. That was the significance of that thing. Now, look at what was going on here. It says, "Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord." (1 Corinthians 11:27) Now, you see a connection. There's a connection between ordinary bread, the food that they brought to eat, that supper they brought together to eat. They called it an ordinary supper. But you see a mystical connection between that ordinary supper that they were commonizing and a direct connection between that and the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus. They were not seeing that at all. They thought it was just bread, "Let me just eat, let me just drink, and let us just go." They were commonizing it. Now, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." (1 Corinthians 11:28-29) That is the point I'm making. There is a place to be able to see beyond that bread, the place of discernment. And that is what I want to bring back to the matter we are discussing about sexual responsibility in marriage. There is something you need to discern about sexual responsibility. There is something beyond just sexual relationship between me and my wife. There is something you need to picture, there's something you need to discern beyond that issue of sexual organ, the feeling of sex, the emotion of it. There is something to discern beyond all of that. May the Lord grant you discernment in this matter that we are discussing in the name of Jesus Christ. There is the place of discerning something. He says, "not discerning the Lord's body," just commonizing the bed, just commonizing the act of sexual intercourse, we just commonize sexual play, you commonize your spouse, you commonize the relationship you have with the person, you feel you can just misbehave, you can do the way you like, you can just act anyhow. You are not discerning something. You are not looking at the spiritual dimension to it. There are serious spiritual issues beyond the physical thing that you are doing with your wife, beyond the physical thing that you are doing with your husband. There are serious mystical things that can have serious spiritual implication. And this implication can become, we have physical consequence. Let's see what happened in this place. "For this reason," look at what happened in this place of not discerning that bread, that wine and the bread they take in church, they just take and just go. Look at it. It says, "not discerning the Lord's body." It says, "For this reason many of you are" what? "weak." "Some of you are" what? "sick." "And among you many" what? "slept," that is many died. Because they didn't discern the Lord's body, they didn't know that some of the sickness that was happening to them, physical sickness now, some of the weakness, spiritually, physically, materially, financially that their life was going through, they did not know that some of the deaths that occurred among them was just because of that bread they just say, "This, this, this." They did not discern the Lord's body. They did not see the mystical connection to that. So what I want to make you see is the mystical dimension to the matter we want to discuss in that 1 Corinthians chapter 7. There is a mystical dimension that when you don't take note, when you don't discern, they have serious physical implication. These people, many of them became sick, they became ill, some of them became weak, and many of them died. Just talking about bread, just talking about wine, talking about food. The way you eat food, can you just imagine that? Just the manner in which they eat food led to judgment of God upon their life. I pray that your marriage will not be the basis of your judgment in the name of Jesus Christ. Your marriage will not be the basis of your weakness, of your sickness, and of your death, in the name of Jesus Christ. So look at how the Bible conclude here. I want you to see the minor things that they were doing that they thought it was minor. "For if we would, if we would judge ourselves, we will not be judged." There's a need to examine yourself, how you relate to your spouse. Judge yourself. Think properly, think straight. Think scriptures. Check the word of God. Think what God has said. There's a need to examine yourself based on the word of God, based on scriptures. Examine yourself. "But when we are, when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world." Look at how He concluded here. "Therefore my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another." So what was their foolishness? What was their foolishness? They were not waiting for one another. Look at the foolishness they did. He said, "Therefore my brethren, when you come together, wait." Just the matter of to be patient so that all of us eat it together, understanding that it is one body. So it is one body representing the body of Christ. Some people cannot form the Lord's body, so they cannot eat it and leave others out. They are supposed to wait for each other and they eat it together. That was what they did not do. And that led to sickness, weakness and death. Just that people did not wait for each other. Can you imagine that? Now, "But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home." That is, if you will get there and you cannot wait, something make you not to wait, you want to eat, you want to eat, eat it at home so that you can be able to wait so that everyone can eat it together. Can you see what we'll call ordinary common sense? But it's not common. It has to do with discernment. I'm bringing you to understand the gravity of spiritual things in physical things. That is what was not common sense, it was not common to them. It's not common sense, it's we call it discernment. I'm bringing you to understand the gravity of spiritual things in physical things. That is what we call discernment. Ability to discern spiritual implication of some physical things that we are doing. That is what we call discernment. You must be discerning or you will waste your life. If you are not discerning, you will destroy yourself. And so, you see the matter again of the Lord's body. The reason why I took this one is because it's the matter of the Lord's body. They were not discerning the Lord's body. So, when you come to that place that we are considering where we were looking at the sacredness of sex, the connection I want to bring back again into the matter of your marriage. When you look at it, it says, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, I take it again from where we left it the other time. It says, "Do you not know that your bodies," you see it? "Your bodies," your physical body. Are you seeing it again? Your physical body. Those ones they did not know that the bread was the body of the Lord. They did not discern it. Now, you see the similar thing here. "Do you not know that your body," a thing you must discern, that your body, a thing you must discern. That body of your wife, that body of your husband, that body, that body you are looking at, that thing you are taking for granted, that physical body, He says, "Do you not know?" Can you quickly discern that it's actually the body of Jesus? There is something about the body of Jesus, about Jesus, the work of Jesus, the body of Jesus. Go and check it in scriptures. When the Lord was doing His work, what did He say? "I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not prevail." (Matthew 16:18) When you come to 1 John chapter 3, "He who sinneth is of the devil," King James, "for it was the devil that sinned from the beginning. For this reason the Son of God was manifest, that He may," do what? "destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8) I want you to see a direct, a direct contact between the work of Jesus, the body of Jesus, the gates of hell, the working of the devil. I'm showing you a direct relationship about this matter of the body. The body. That body of your spouse that you are taking for granted. That sexual relation, you just feel you can misbehave, you can just, if he is not, if he is not, because he did this, you are not ready, let him go to blazes. That thing you are just behaving, you are just acting, you just thought it's between you and yourself. Look at the Corinthians. They thought the matter of the bread was just between them, was just a matter between themselves. So they didn't wait for each other. They were just eating as they liked. And what happened to them? Many of them became sick, many of them became weak, and many of them died. They thought it was a matter between them and the other brethren. They did not understand that it was a matter between them and the Lord. They did not understand that. What I'm trying to make you see is the mystical dimension to the matter we want to discuss in that 1 Corinthians chapter 7. There is a mystical dimension that when you don't take note, when you don't discern, they have serious physical implication. These people, many of them became sick, they became ill, some of them became weak, and many of them died. Just talking about bread, just talking about wine, talking about food. The way you eat food, can you just imagine that? Just the manner in which they eat food led to judgment of God upon their life. I pray that your marriage will not be the basis of your judgment. In the name of Jesus Christ, your marriage will not be the basis of your weakness, of your sickness, and of your death, in the name of Jesus Christ. So look at how the Bible concludes here. I want you to see the minor things that they were doing that they thought it was minor. "For if we would judge ourselves, we will not be judged." There's a need to examine yourself, how you relate to your spouse. Judge yourself. Think properly, think straight. Think scriptures. Check the word of God. Think what God has said. There's a need to examine yourself based on the word of God, based on scriptures. Examine yourself. "But when we are chastised by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world." Look at how He concluded here. "Therefore my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another." So what was their foolishness? What was their foolishness? They were not waiting for one another. Look at the foolishness they did. He said, "Therefore my brethren, when you come together, wait." Just the matter of to be patient so that all of us eat it together, understanding that it is one body. So it is one body representing the body of Christ. Some people cannot form the Lord's body, so they cannot eat it and leave others out. They are supposed to wait for each other and they eat it together. That was what they did not do. And that led to sickness, weakness and death. Just that people did not wait for each other. Can you imagine that? Now, "But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home." That is, if you will get there and you cannot wait, something make you not to wait, you want to eat, you want to eat, eat it at home so that you can be able to wait so that everyone can eat it together. Can you see what we'll call ordinary common sense? But it's not common. It has to do with discernment. I'm bringing you to understand the gravity of spiritual things in physical things. That is what we call discernment. You must be discerning or you will waste your life. If you are not discerning, you will destroy yourself. And so, you notice that it is the matter again of the Lord's body. The reason why I took this one is because it is the matter of the Lord's body. They were not discerning the Lord's body. So when you come to that place that we are considering, where we were looking at the sacredness of sex, the connection I want to bring back again into the matter of your marriage. When you look at it, it says, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, I take it again from where we left it the other time. It says, "Do you not know that your bodies," you see it? Your bodies, your physical body. Are you seeing it again? Your physical body. Those ones they did not know that the bread was the body of the Lord. They did not discern it. Now, you see the similar thing here. "Do you not know that your body," a thing you must discern, that your body, a thing you must discern. That body of your wife, that body of your husband, that body, that body you are looking at, that thing you are taking for granted, that physical body, He says, "Do you not know?" Can you quickly discern that it's actually the body of Jesus? There is something about the body of Jesus, about Jesus, the work of Jesus, the body of Jesus. Go and check it in scriptures. When the Lord was doing His work, what did He say? "I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not prevail." (Matthew 16:18) When you come to 1 John chapter 3, "He who sinneth is of the devil," King James, "for it was the devil that sinned from the beginning. For this reason the Son of God was manifest, that He may," do what? "destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8) I'm showing you a direct, a direct contact between the work of Jesus, the body of Jesus, the gates of hell, the working of the devil. I'm showing you a direct relationship about this matter of the body. The body. That body of your spouse that you are taking for granted. That sexual relation, you just feel you can misbehave, you can just, if he is not, if he is not, because he did this, you are not ready, let him go to blazes. That thing you are just behaving, you are just acting, you just thought it's between you and yourself. Look at the Corinthians. They thought the matter of the bread was just between them, was just a matter between themselves. So they didn't wait for each other. They were just eating as they liked. And what happened to them? Many of them became sick, many of them became weak, and many of them died. They thought it was a matter between them and the other brethren. They did not understand that it was a matter between them and the Lord. They did not understand that. What I'm trying to make you see is that see, the reason why it is a matter of we and the devil is that sexual sin is against who we really are. Every other sin is outside the body. But you see sexual sin, because essentially sex is spiritual, sexual sin is a spiritual battle. And that is why I tell people many times, I tell young people, once you win the battle of sex, you may never win again the battle of life. That is the truth about it. That's what I tell young people. If you don't win the battle of sexual purity, you may never win again that battle. The battle of sex is actually the battle of life. Life emanates from sex. Our spiritual life is actually a sexual, it comes out of sexual intercourse. What makes us spirit, the spiritual life emanates from sex. That spiritual life can be corrupted, can be destroyed, can be... you could see some diabolical things. A man will just sleep with a woman and then go away. After some time, the woman will start getting dry and dry and dry. They say they have taken away everything she is by that sexual intercourse. How were they able to take it away? Because just this one you call the body is just [Yoruba: kwangolo]. It's food for maggot. Our real self is a spiritual thing. And that spiritual thing is sexual. So by that sexual relation, the spiritual life, the life has been, has been taken away. What remains there is just a [Yoruba: kwangolo]. It's just the one that is, the one that you will later start putting down and become food for maggot. Maggot will later eat it. So what we are addressing this morning, brethren, is that see, when the Lord said, "Do not refuse, do not deprive each other of sexual relation, except by mutual consent for a time, so that you may devote yourself hindered to prayer, but afterwards, resume sexual relation." Resume it. Because sexual relation is a sign of one serious spiritual connectivity. It's not just a bodily connection. It's a spiritual connection. You connect spiritually essentially in sex. When you are working against it, you are disconnecting the very essence of life. You are disconnecting. You know, sexual relation, sexual relation is a place that the enemy stands to oppose the kingdom. And if you get it, the things, the things that come in sexual relations, go and watch when sexual relations don't go smoothly and freely the way God wants it. Because God only wants it to be there. If it does not go smoothly and freely the way God wants it, go and check. What are the things that stand in opposition to it? Go and check in any marriage. [Yoruba: Enikan n binu] (Someone is angry). Anger. Somebody want to revenge something. Somebody is bitter about something. Somebody is not pleased about something. Somebody is not this about that. And go and check it. It is in the midst to continue in that, that sexual relations are not allowed. Now check it. As you continue in that, it's also a work of the kingdom of God because you are supposed to forgive. You are supposed to pardon. You are supposed not to allow your anger, the sun to go down on your anger. Are you seeing it? That that which opposes sex is also a work of the kingdom. It's a work of the kingdom. So when you check, when you check your life, when you check our life, you will see that there is so much about our, our sexual life and our success, when I say success in our Christian life. You cannot divorce your sexual life from your Christian life. That is the point I'm making. When your sexual life in marriage, go and check it, is not successful, go and check your Christian life. Your Christian life too, go and check it, has issues. There is a connection between these two parts of our life. I don't know whether the technical people, technical people, are there questions coming from any end there? Because that's what I'm still talking on. So that I try to bring, bring everything to a close this morning. I want to take you to something in Proverbs. Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 5. Proverbs chapter 5 has just 21 verses. And Proverbs chapter 5 is actually a scripture that is talking purely about sexual relations in marriage. "My son, My son, pay attention to my," what? "wisdom." What's the second thing? "Lend your ear to my understanding." Don't forget where we are coming from in James. The wisdom that is heavenly. It declared itself in steady good works. No envy, no bragging, no bitterness. He said, "Lend your ear to my wisdom. Pay attention to my wisdom. Lend your ear to my understanding." Why? "That you may, that you may preserve discretion, and your lips keep knowledge." Now, "For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil." But the end, "But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell. Lest you ponder her path of life — her ways are unstable; you do not know them." Are you getting something at all? Are you getting something at all about immorality? When he said "immoral woman," people normally look at one woman as the immoral woman. He's talking about immorality generally. To deal with immorality, what was the first instruction? "Pay attention to my wisdom." The next thing, "Lend your ear to my understanding." Why you must listen to God's own type of wisdom is because the lip of immorality is smoother than oil. [Yoruba: O dun, o] (It is sweet). It's smoother. But the end is sharper than a two-edged sword. The end, it takes hold of hell. [Yoruba: Ile lo n gbe e lo, ile lo n gbe e lo] (It leads to hell). He now said, "Lest you ponder her path of life," why? "Her ways are unstable; you do not know them." [Yoruba: Bo she ma mu e, bo she ma mu e, bo she ma mu e] (How she will catch you). The same thing the Bible was telling us in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Don't play superwoman and superman. There is an element of lack of control inside you. If you misbehave, you will find yourself reduced to a loaf of bread. If you are not careful, you will find yourself down. He said, "You cannot understand her ways. Her ways are," you cannot know them. [Yoruba: Bo she ma mu e, bo she ma mu e, bo she ma mu e] (How she will catch you). Anger [Yoruba: l'arun kun bi ru s'oko e] (Anger is the disease that fills your husband's soul). Anger, anger, anger before you know, you are elsewhere. It looks like to another realm, but you find yourself elsewhere. Her ways, you cannot know them. Look at what he now says in verse 7. "Therefore hear me, my children. Do not depart from the words of my mouth." "Therefore hear me now, my children. [Yoruba: Eyin omo, e feti si temi] (My children, listen to me). Do not depart from the words of my mouth." Look at the first thing. "Remove your way far from her." Remove your way. "Do not go near her door, lest you give your honor to others." Please look at something. The Bible is saying that once you are near the door, where will you find yourself? You'll find yourself inside. Do not go near her door. Once you are near to the door, what will happen? You will find yourself inside. Because her ways are unstable. [Yoruba: Bo she ma mu e, bo she ma mu e, bo she ma mu e] (How she will catch you). When they appear, when Satan appeared to Eve, was it looking like something to destroy her? It was something to move her another level of wisdom. And several times, no, I will have a better way of dealing with her before you know you are elsewhere. It looks like to another realm, but you find yourself elsewhere. Her ways you cannot know them. Look at what it now says in verse 7. "Therefore hear me, my children. Do not depart from the words of my mouth." "Therefore hear me now, my children. [Yoruba: Eyin omo, e feti si temi] (My children, listen to me). Do not depart from the words of my mouth." Look at the first thing. "Remove your way far from her." Remove your way. "Do not go near her door." [Yoruba: O kan l'ekan ni ko ti ma wo] (Or just be watching it from a distance). Because if you come near, if you find yourself around it, there are serious consequences to pay. What I'll be talking about by the time we move on about this matter, is let's examine what the Bible calls some of the consequences to pay. And the Lord help us in for the month of May. We'll still be handling this matter of sexual responsibility in marriage. We'll be taking it from this point where we are leaving it now, looking at, you know, understanding, you know, some of the crucial things about this matter of sexual relations. We'll continue from here in the month of May. Let's bow down our heads to pray this morning. I want you to talk to the Lord. I want you to pray and talk to the Lord. Sexual relation is actually a spiritual relation. It's actually a spiritual relation. Our body are the members of Christ. We are essentially spirit and we connect spiritually essentially in sex. Sexual disharmony is actually a spiritual disharmony. It's actually a spiritual disharmony. For the, for those who are not married, we can see the disharmony it brings into their life. For those who have married, it's a spiritual disconnection. It's a work against the kingdom. It's setting, it's setting, it's taking a position with the devil. It's setting yourself against the kingdom. The Bible says, the Bible warns, "Do not defraud, do not, do not deny, do not deprive. Do not defraud, do not deprive, do not deny. Do not defraud, do not deprive, do not deny." Because we have an adversary the devil, who goes about looking for, you know, homes to scatter, looking for prey to take. We have an adversary. We cannot be ignorant that we have an adversary. And this adversary, one way, one thing he wants to promote is premarital sex or extramarital sex. That is one way he can get us seriously. And you will see what the Bible says in Proverbs later by the time we be getting to Proverbs in the month of May. Your honor will be gone. So many things goes with sexual, with sexual indiscipline. Once it happens, you will see a lot of things that goes with it. So many things goes with it. I want us to pray, particularly I want us to pray those things that make us to take side that align us with the kingdom of hell. Anger, bitterness, revenge, envy, hurt, unforgiveness. Those things that align us, that align us, that align us. Let's see how we deal with them. Let's see how we make them to dissolve. Let's see how we make them to dissolve. Let's ask the Lord to help us. Let's ask the Lord to help us. Let's ask the Lord to help us. Thank You, Eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Wura, please come and close the meeting. [Speaker 2] Father, we thank You. We are grateful unto You again this day. Thank You for speaking to us. Thank You for opening our eyes to the schemes, wiles and devices of the enemy. Father, we thank You. We give all the glory in Jesus' name. Lord, we pray, establish us in this truth. Cause this word to meet with faith in us. Open the door of faith for every hearer. Cause us also, Lord, to be doers of this word and not hearers only in Jesus' name. Help us, oh Lord, to stand, to stand against these wiles of the enemy, to stand against all this plan of the enemy against the counsel of God. First, against God's institution, against God's counsel. By seemingly things that we just think is just the way I feel about it and a lot. It has place in our marriage, particularly sexual relationship between spouses. Lord, cause us, oh Lord, to arise against these wiles of the enemy in the name of Jesus Christ. To know that everything that have risen against the counsel of God and His institution of marriage is from the enemy. And also to arise for our soul, to arise for our generation, to arise for our children, because God seeks godly seeds in us. To arise for our kingdom, the kingdom of our Lord that He has given to us. Because all these things are connected. Oh Lord, Father, please help us in the name of Jesus Christ. So that we will not give the devil any chance in the name of Jesus Christ. We say no longer, oh Lord, please for the devil in our homes and marriages in the name of Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, please help our heart. Lord, please help Almighty. Help us to seek Your counsel in the name of Jesus. Help us to be selfless. Help us to look beyond, beyond just the physical things and know that Lord, everything, oh Lord, is all about the battle for our soul. Thank You, Father, for hearing us. We pray, oh Lord, beyond this point, please speak to us. Beyond this point, open our eyes. Oh Lord, Paul plant, Apollos water, You give increase. Only You can give increase. Give increase upon the heart of everyone that has heard Your word this morning in the name of Jesus Christ. Let there be an increase. Increase to repentance, increase, oh Lord, to revival, to, to rehabilitation, to God-changing lives, oh Lord, for men to arise in the name of Jesus Christ. Bring increase upon Your word in our heart in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You for Your Son. We pray, oh Lord God, that You will replenish him. We pray, oh Lord, that he will continually draw from the spring of salvation, that Lord, his source will not be dry. Thank You, Everlasting Father. We pray for his home, oh Lord, Jehovah God, they will not fail nor falter, but Lord, You make it a model, oh Lord, in this time, oh Lord, for all to see. And at the end, the name of the Lord will be glorified. Thank You, Father, for answer to our prayers. Thank You for hearing us. Blessed be Your name, oh Lord our God. For in Jesus' unfailing name we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forever more. Amen. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching 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 PM, Adolescent and Singles Club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, Marriage Forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, family life seminars, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere Community, opposite very Joyful 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.