The Marriage Vow

[Speaker 1] Praise the Lord. Are we blessed? I'm sure we are. To the glory of God, I have the privilege and pleasure of inviting our daddy to share with us the word for today concerning who will tell me? Concerning the marriage vow. The marriage vow. As many of us as are married, we know we've taken the vow already. As many of us as are single, that day of wedding that you are looking forward to, the big deal about it is that you want to go and take a vow. So what about this vow? What about this vow? I would encourage each and every one of us to join up with our hearts, with our ears, with our understanding as the Holy Spirit breathe upon his word to us. Let's bow down our heads as we receive our daddy, Dr. Oyewole Olusanya, to the podium. Let's bow down our heads and say, "Lord, speak to me in accents clear and still, above the storms of passion and the murmurs of self-will. Lord, speak and make me listen." In Jesus' name, we have prayed. [Speaker 2] [Singing] Pass me not, O gentle Savior, Hear my humble cry. While on others thou art calling, Do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, Savior, Hear my humble cry. While on others thou art calling, Jesus, do not pass me by. [Prayer] Our Father, indeed we are grateful unto you. Lord, we thank you for this day that you have made. We thank you for your mercies that have brought us this far. We thank you for brethren who were able to come here physically, and we are also grateful for brethren who are linking with us from several locations listening and hearing us. Lord our God, our prayer this morning is that whether we are physically here or brethren are linking with us from where they are, Lord, we are praying, meet with each and every one family in the name of Jesus. Lord, for every husband that is listening, Lord, for every wife that is listening, for every mature single that is listening, Lord God Almighty, as we consider the matter of the marriage vow, Lord, I am praying that that area of our lives that needs light, that situation in the life of everyone that needs light, Lord, the situation in different families, the situation in different homes, the situation in different lives that need light by the reason of this message. Lord, lives that you have connected to this message this morning that are listening and hearing, oh Lord God, I am pleading that Lord, light shall shine and darkness will give way for light in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, everywhere there will be need for restoration, reconciliation, everywhere there will be need to reconsider and re-decide, Lord, bring us to such a point, oh God, by the reason of this message in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, do not pass by anybody. Do not pass by anyone. Meet us, oh Lord. Meet us, oh Lord. Out of the abundant and the riches of your mercy, attend to our situations in the name of Jesus. Thank you, eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We are particularly grateful to God for this morning. I want to thank God for the session for the teenagers that just concluded, how to raise your teens, how to raise them, the things to know, the things to do. And I pray God that our, just like it is said in the scripture, me and the children which the Lord has given me, they are for signs and for wonders. That shall be our portion in the name of Jesus Christ. So today, we want to move on. We have looked at the areas that relate to the children. Now we want to move to the area that relates to the couple themselves. Marriage is meant for two, and marriage is different from the family. Marriage is just that that stands between the husband and the wife. And we are considering a very vital topic today. [Audio Glitch] [Speaker 3] Are we blessed by that session? What did we learn? We learned that we can play with our children. We can do Bible-enhancing, uplifting things. You can expose a character that your children don't know by doing this game. Here we have gifts for the children. Feranmi and Damilola, we have gifts for you, so don't go yet. Come and take your gift. Okay, mommies. [Speaks Yoruba]. Okay, come, Damilola. Come, go and give mommy the gift when I give you finish. You will do a hand over. Praise the Lord. Thank you so much, Feranmi, for participating in this game. I know you are no longer a shy girl, abi? You are bold as a lion, gentle as a dove. Nobody should equate your gentleness with shyness, isn't it? Praise the Lord. [Audience] Hallelujah. [Speaker 3] Thank you so much for joining us and for participating in the "Who Am I" game. The Lord bless you. This Damilola is a victor in life. He will beat up all the Goliaths in his generation in the name of Jesus. He will serve God and be faithful like David in the name of Jesus. God bless you, son. Praise God. Please play with your children [Speaks Yoruba]. Bible study start from there. So there is a secret, there is a way to get them to love the Lord and love the things about God. God will bless us in Jesus' name. Here we have rounded up the game session. I hope our online audience were notified that we have a little break in transmission and we will continue shortly because we are ready to continue. How many minutes do you need, sir? [Singing] We are grateful, oh Lord. We are grateful. We are grateful, oh Lord. Hallelujah for all you have done for us. Hallelujah, we are grateful, oh Lord. [Speaker 2] Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. We thank God for today. Our brethren online, there was a little technical issue here, but we are back again online. For the sake of our brethren online, we did not go into the message. We were about starting when we had a little technical problem. So we trust God that you were able to stay tuned till now. You are still linked to us as we try to go into the message, "The Marriage Vow." The Marriage Vow. We trust the Lord that he will meet with us in Jesus' name. So let's start from where we left the matter, the marriage vow. The marriage vow. And to make our discussion this afternoon very snappy and sharp, I've tried to divide our discussion into four sections. I just want to give an highlight of the sections to us. I have Section A, Section B, Section C, and Section D in discussing the matter of the marriage vow. The first section is our situation today. What is our situation today? The second section is understanding vows. The third section is the marriage vow. And then the last section is the issue about the vow is the matter of the heart. The issue about the vow is the matter of the heart. So I want to take the first section, which is our situation today. What is our situation today? And I want to take two Bible texts in a bit to explain our situation today. Proverbs 20:6 and Proverbs 31:10. Our situation today. Proverbs 20:6 says, "Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?" The second text there is Proverbs 31:10. It says, "A wife of noble character, who can find?" But if you can find her, the Bible says she is worth far more than rubies. Now, what I am bringing out for our session today is that this text was something you will find in the Old Testament. And the Bible is making us to see that even before things degenerated to this point that we are today, finding people who are faithful is a very difficult thing. Finding men that are faithful is a very difficult thing. The Bible says a faithful man, many claim to have unfailing love. When they want to talk and talk, "Ah, you see, I love you, I this, that," many things can be said. But the Bible is making us to see something, that to find a faithful man, and this was something that is not said today, it was said as far back as the Old Testament. Again, the Bible is saying that it is not only about men, oh. Many sisters will claim to be this, to be that, but the truth is that it is difficult to find a virtuous woman. It's a difficult thing. Now, if the Bible is saying this as at the Old Testament, when it looks as if things are still okay, where do you think we are today? That's why I said where we are today is a situation where there is almost a total loss of individuals with real inner life. Today, you hardly find people that have real inner life. I mean real inner walk with God. Moreover, what we have today is integrity collapse. Integrity collapse. Sweet talkers, mouth talkers, but when it comes to reality, I'm telling you that what we find today in Christianity is collapse of integrity. You will still find we say we are believers, a little lie, a little hypocrisy, a little, little, little, you just find it here and there. Some claim to be, I was speaking to somebody, he said, "Look, there is official age, there is biological age." And who are those talking? You are talking to Christians. I mean there is collapse of integrity. Other problem you find today is in our churches, and the family institution becomes a waster of life and purpose. What I mean is that if you look around us today, it looks as if when people enter into marriages, instead of their life to be better, their life don't get better. In fact, some people's life would have lived a better life if they did not marry. You find marriages today, I don't know whether you follow the news. What you will find is the husband did something, slapped the wife, or did something, the wife fell down, she died. A wife did this to her husband, poured acid on her. If you start to follow the news, it looks today as if marriage institution is something that, "Hey, be careful, oh. Be careful, oh. Once you enter, your life may not be okay again." And when you discuss with young people today, many young people are scared of marriage. If you ask them why, they will tell you that because of what they are seeing. So the situation we have today [Speaks Yoruba], the situation we have today is such a time that I may say is perilous. I was discussing with somebody yesterday, a minister of the gospel, and he was telling me that, "Ah, sir, even among ministers, there is wahala, oh." That he does not understand again. That why is it that even Christian leaders are not giving proper example? Do you notice that even today, it is the church that is giving reason for divorce? The church is supposed to tell the world that God hates divorce. But today, it is pastors and ministers that will tell you that God has called us to peace. If the man will not give you peace, you can walk away. And you find, what I'm trying to say is that the situation we have today, I was talking with somebody and I said, "But do you know you made a marriage vow?" He said, "Look, [Speaks Yoruba], let's face reality. [Speaks Yoruba]." And I was trying to ask myself, is there any reality outside the marriage vow if a man is married? Is there any reality? There is no reality outside the vow once a man or a woman is married. Is there a reality outside the vow? He said, "Let us forget the vow, let's face reality." So I was trying to ask myself, what is the reality you want to face outside the vow and you're a married person? So what am I trying to say is that three things you can find today. Number one, you find that average people today entering into marriage don't have genuine inner life. Genuine inner life. [Speaks Yoruba]. There is nothing inside. Actually, do you know what he told me? He said, "Actually, even that day of the wedding was my mind in what we were doing? They just asked me the question, 'Will you marry this woman?' I just said all of them, I did not mean it." You don't know what you are saying. You don't know, oh. He thought he was playing, but heaven recognized it. Because he was saying something solemnly and he was promising something to somebody. So you don't need to say, I said this because I was discussing with some people one time, "What is that? I beggy, this thing, I'm not ready for the marriage again." That is not true. I'm trying to make you understand vow. He thought he was playing, but heaven recognized it. Even if you think you were playing, a vow stands. A vow stands. "Anyway, let me just marry the brother. He's anyway, let me just go there, let me just say the word, after all." No matter how you got there. Esau got there by hunger. "I'm dying, let me just eat." The point is there was a promise and heaven recognized it. The Bible says, "Thus Esau despised his birthright" [Genesis 25:34]. Heaven saw that Esau despised his birthright, but Esau thought he was joking, but heaven recognized it. What I'm trying to say is that even when it looks as if we were playing in church that day, you were playing when you got to the parent's place. [Speaks Yoruba]. "Anyway, let me just manage, let me just marry her. Anyway, maybe later I will throw her off and get another one." That was what some sister was thinking. "Later I will still meet my father to bless me." Are you understanding me? But heaven recognized it. I'm trying to make you understand vow. Now, look at the next Bible scripture, Genesis 27:1-41. I will skip some things because of time. But the Bible says it came to pass that when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau, his eldest, he said, "Esau." And he said to him, "My son." And he said to him, "Behold, here I am." We know what happened that day. "I'm about to die, I want to bless you. Go and prepare food." So he went. Now, let's move on to around verse 7. I'm trying to skip. "Bring me venison and make me savory food meat that I may eat and bless thee before my death." That was talking to Esau. Please move on to verse 8. "Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command thee." Yes, move on. "Go now, get the flock, fetch me two kids." Rebekah also was making arrangement. Please move on to verse 10. We are familiar with the story. I'm going somewhere. So Jacob was speaking to the mother, "My father peradventure will feel me and I will seems to him as a deceiver and I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing." Jacob arguing his case with the mother. Please move on. Rebekah covered him with a raiment to achieve that purpose. Move on, move on, move on. Jacob said to the father, "I am Esau, the firstborn, and I've done according as thou bid me." Move on, move on, move on. Isaac said to him, the discover between Isaac, please move on. Move on to around 25. "And he said, 'Bring it near to me and I will eat of my son's venison that my soul may bless thee.' And he brought it near to him and he did eat, and he brought him wine and he drank." And it came to pass, he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his raiment and blessed him and said, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed." We know the end of this thing. Jacob was blessed. Now let's move on to around verse 35. "And he said, 'Thy brother came with subtlety and hath taken away thy blessing.'" Verse 36. "And he said, 'Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he hath taken away my blessing.' And he said, 'Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?'" Verse 37. "And Isaac answered Esau, 'Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servant.'" Please read on, move on. "And Esau said unto his father, 'Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.' And Esau lifted up his voice and wept." What am I trying to say? Jacob came by subtlety, am I correct? But did he get the blessing? Did he get the blessing? Because there was no blessing again with which to bless Esau. I don't know whether you're understanding me. Sometimes you will say the brother deceived me into the marriage, so there is no vow. The sister deceived me into the marriage, so there was no vow because there was deceit. Jacob came by subtlety. The father pronounced the blessing and he was blessed. I'm trying to make us understand vow. That, actually, the sister did not tell me. I want to tell you of a case, some different cases. There was one, the sister as a single lady have aborted, aborted, aborted, aborted, to the point they've removed her womb. Maybe that was when she became born again later, I don't know at which point she got born again, whether after, but at the time she was a sister, there was no womb. She could not give birth again. But when she wanted to marry, she didn't tell the young man. The man, because she was afraid, if she says it, the wedding will not hold. So they went into the marriage and they were trying to have children. She also did not tell the husband anything. They were visiting doctors, they didn't see anything. You know once you tell a lie, you must keep telling lies to cover the lie. Do you understand? It went on and on and on like that until many, many years later that the husband now discovered what was the problem. After several medical checkups, the doctor was able to get that, "Ah, sis, there is no womb." The brother now said because of this, there is no marriage. I said sorry, there is marriage. He said, "She enter by deceit." I said look, there was a vow. The point I am making is you are the one to take heed that no man deceive you. But if you are deceived into a situation and you make a vow, the vow stands. It stands. It stands. You notice that even though Jacob went there, you'll be thinking that since he went there, it was not the right person and he deceived the father, the blessing will not go with him. But the blessing went with him. The father said sorry, there is nothing more. He said, "Thy brother came with subtlety and hath taken away thy blessing." Isaac said sorry. And when the father now wanted to bless Esau, I hope you saw the blessing. Please look at the blessing. When Esau was to be blessed, what was the blessing? "And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, 'Behold, thy dwelling place shall be the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above. And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother. And it shall come to pass when thou shalt have dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.'" [Genesis 27:39-40]. Is that a blessing? You will serve your brother. He will serve you. When it's over, you'll break the yoke from your neck. Is that a blessing? But I am trying to make you see, men who have walk with God, they understand vow. They understand pronouncement. Jacob knew that immediately he made that pronouncement, the pronouncement stands. He knew. When you see men treating their pronouncement anyhow, they are useless men. They are men that don't have serious inner life. People who have, who understand what it means to have inner life, who understand what it means to walk with God. That is why you noticed that Jesus said something, "Let your yea be your yea and your nay be your nay. Any other thing else come from evil" [Matthew 5:37]. For Jesus, you have to mean what you say or you say what you mean. Is that not what Jesus was trying to say? You either say what you mean or you mean what you have said. But if you now say something, then they tell you, "See, I swear by God, I will do it." There is nothing like that. Anybody who has a serious walk with God understands the power of words. That's what I am showing you. But the reason why we are having problem today, I'll still come to that, like I said it at the beginning, is that several men that goes to the altar today don't understand what it means to have a walk with God. That's why people can just pronounce things and think that it does not stand. But men who have a walk with God know that once you pronounce something, it just what? It stands. And look at another one again and look at how somebody tried to fight that vow and see what happened to the person. Look at that of the Gibeonites. I'm trying to make you understand vow, what vow is. Again, we'll be very, very fast with this story. This is the case of, we're familiar with the story, Joshua and the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites, afraid of the Israelites, they did some camouflage to meet Joshua. I want us to go to around verse 6 please. Go to around verse 6. Is that where I want? That is that 9, move on. And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal. And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, "Peradventure you dwell among us. How shall we make a covenant with you or a union or whatever with you?" Move on. And they said unto Joshua, "We are thy servant." And Joshua said unto him, "Who are ye? And from whence come ye?" Please move on. And they said unto him from a far country. Maybe we'll go to around verse 11. I want to go to where they make the vow. No, let's go to 12. Let's go to 13. Okay, look at it. No, go back a little to that 13. It says, "And the men took of their victuals and asked not counsel from where? From the Lord." Have you seen what happened here? Those people brought, "See look at what we brought. Look at the bread, it is dry. Look at our clothes, it is torn. Look at everything. We came from a far country." So they looked at what they brought. They accepted it as true, but they failed to ask God to say, "Baba, this person want to marry me, oh. And he said it's like this, it's like this, it's like this. Baba, can I go ahead?" So it was their cup of tea that they didn't ask God and God too was watching them. Ask, you will be given. Seek, you will find. Knock, it will be open. So you noticed that God kept a record that they did not ask me and God too did not interrupt them. They make whatever they want to do. And that is what I say many times, people will run their lives and then call God to come and bless it instead of making God to help them run their lives. Now, so they went into the vow. Please let's move on now. Verse 15. It says, "And Joshua made peace with them and made a league with them to let them live. And the princes of the congregation did what? They swore unto them." The next verse. "And it came to pass at the end of three days." That's the problem of some people. Some people at the end of three days, some people at the end of three weeks, some people at the end of three months, some people at the end of three years. Are you understanding me? They will now realize that "Ah, I was misled, oh." So their own was not even far. It was after how many days? Three days. I knew somebody who had a realization just within the week of the marriage. Just within the week of the marriage. [Speaks Yoruba]. Just within the week of the marriage. But look at it. "And it came to pass at the end of three days after they made the league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors and that they dwelt among them." What's the next? Please move on. "And the children of Israel journeyed and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities was Gibeon." Move on, move on. I want to get to where, look at it. "And the children of Israel smote them not because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by what? By the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation did what? They murmured against the priest." "Ah, they want to kill them," but the priest could not allow them because they understand the power of what? Vow. But something happened later. You know how this vow was established. How was it established? By deceit or by truth? By deceit. Now look at the next reading, 2 Samuel chapter 21. See, there was famine in the land in the days of David three years, year after year. And David inquired of the Lord and the Lord answered, "It is for Saul and for the bloody house because he did what? He slew who? The Gibeonites." So what is happening here? What did Saul do? He killed the Gibeonites. Look at the next reading. Verse 2 now. It says, "And the king called the Gibeonites and said unto them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn unto them.) And Saul sought to slay them in his zeal for who? For the children of Israel and Judah." So who was Saul killing them for? For the Israelites. "No, I don't want strangers among us. Kill all of them. Kill them. Kill them." He did all of that. God did not react. But I tell people, even when God don't talk, it does not mean that you are guiltless. God will speak when he will speak. That's what some people don't know. That you are handling your marriage vow anyhow and you are prospering. It does not mean you are guiltless. God will speak when he will speak. Saul did everything [Speaks Yoruba]. Nothing happened. Saul is no more on his throne, oh. Dead. He is gone. Who was on the throne now? David. God now brought famine. Year one, no food. Year two, no rain. Year three, no food. "Ah." David went, "Lord, what is happening there?" "There is a problem. There is a vow that has been broken." Which vow? The vow that was entered into by deceit. And eventually, what happened? Look at the verse 3. Verse 3. What eventually happened? "Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, 'What shall I do for you? Wherewith shall I make the atonement that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?'" So they now need the blessing of these people before anything can happen. "And they said unto him, 'We will have no silver or gold of Saul nor of his house, neither shall thou kill any man in Israel.' And he said, 'What shall I do?' And they answered, 'The man that consumed us and that devised against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coast of Israel, what shall happen to the man? Let seven men of his son be delivered unto us and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul whom the Lord did choose.' And the king said, 'I will give them.'" The next verse. "But the king spared who? Mephibosheth." Why? "The son of Jonathan." Why? "Because of the Lord's oath between them, between Saul and David." Do you see this David was wise? Because David too knew that if he take Jonathan's son, there was soon be a problem again with David. So David quickly when he was picking seven, he too remembered his own vow. So he avoided not bringing problem on his own head. He avoided the sons of Jonathan and pick other seven sons. Please read on. "But the king took two sons of Rizpah and five sons of Merab." Move on, read on. Read on. "And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites." Go to that next verse. The verse 9 again. Look at it. "And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they did what? And they hanged them in the hill before the Lord. And they fell all seven together and were put to death in the days of the harvest, in the first day in the beginning of the barley harvest." I'm trying to make you see that what may not speak while you stand, what you are doing with your wife and your children, what you are doing with your husband, may later be a matter for your children. [Speaks Yoruba]. You don't understand. Even those children that you are using to break your vow with your husband, you may not find them. Because marriage is different from family. Family includes the children and other people, but marriage is between two. The vow was between two people. I'm trying to make us understand this matter of vow. And a reflection of Psalm 15. Can we look at that Psalm? Just the last word in that Psalm. Towards the end of the verse. "Who shall abide in the tabernacle of the Lord? Who shall dwell in his holy place?" Now go to towards the last verse. He shall abide. He was calling a lot of things. He putteth not usury whatever and again he was talking about what the man does. Please move on. Okay, the verse before that. In whose eyes a vile person is despised. Okay, move on. Please take the last verse again. Verse 4 again. The last part of verse 4. It says he does what? He sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. Can we have another translation for this thing? Is it possible? Look at it. It says, who keeps his word, whatever the cost. He keeps his word, whatever the cost. I'm telling you the kind of men that can dwell where? Dwell where? In the presence of God. The kind of women that can stay in God's presence are women who keep their word no matter the cost. There are men who keep their word no matter the cost. I know sometimes I was discussing with somebody and he said look, "Olusanya, you don't understand. You don't understand. If there is anything I know about my wife, this woman is somebody that ah [Speaks Yoruba] you must not wake up and see her. [Speaks Yoruba]." I said, "Brother, what are you talking about?" He said, "My wife." I said, "Brother, do you know what you are saying?" He said, "You don't understand me. You see this woman, I don't know how to describe her. She is wicked, she is diabolical, she is [unclear] as she was using word." I now said, "Can we say she is the devil?" He said, "Yes. Yes. Esu gbe ile ni bee. Esu gbe ile ni bee." Then he now quoted the scripture. He said, "Sir, the Bible says 'Suffer not the witch to live.' This woman is worthy of death." He was speaking, oh. I'm not talking of fiction, I'm talking of a reality. I know what I asked him. I said, "Do you know how many witches and wizards Jesus had saved? And he gave us the ministry of reconciliation." I said, "And I think your ministry should begin with your wife. So she's a witch? That is where your work starts from. Reconciliation. If you cannot win the one at home, which one do you want to win?" He said, "Oh, oh, you don't get me. I need my peace." And I said you don't understand something. There is no shortcut to peace. Anybody who breaks a covenant will be broken by that covenant. Anybody who breaks a covenant will be broken by that covenant. That's the truth. That's the truth. I know what I told him. Let me tell you one truth, my brother. [Speaks Yoruba] is the covenant that is breaking your life. That's what I told him. I said the witch, somebody is bewitching you. I said what is bewitching you is that the covenant is fighting you. The covenant is fighting you. I said it's not even about the woman. Do what you like with her, but you will not go far. You see? It looks as if Saul traveled very far, but how far? How far did Saul travel? Now listen. We are talking about God contending for a covenant that has a wrong foundation. How much more do you think God will contend for a covenant that has a correct foundation? Are you with me? Covenant was done by deceit. God was contending for it. What of a situation where two people now actually make covenant with themselves? Not by deceit. You are the one that told the sister, "Look, I will love you until you will die. I will do this till this. I will that..." you are the one that told the man, "I will choose you." You did it and you entered. Not as if the man deceived you. You just got there and there are problems within the marriage. And then you are now acting against the vow. And you think such person can be spared? When God contend for vows that are made with poor covenant. Now, I want to quickly look at something. The marriage vow. And I want us to note these four things. The marriage vow. I said a marriage vow, once taken, actually brings you into a covenant with your spouse. Once you take that vow, you enter a covenant with your spouse. Number two about the marriage vow is that it is an ordinance that precedes the law and all institution. If you look at Malachi chapter 2, you will see God saying something in Malachi. What did God say in Malachi? Malachi chapter 2 verse 14, 15, 16. Can we quickly have that? "Yet ye say, 'Wherefore?' Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant." Once you make a vow to a woman, you automatically enter into a covenant with her. If you make a vow with a man, what happens? He becomes the man of your covenant. There is a covenant. You have a covenant. That's what I tell people. You have a covenant. There is a covenant and you have it. How? When you make that pronouncement. Please let's look at the next thing on that slide. I said it is an ordinance that precedes the law and all institution. If you look at Genesis 2:23, you will notice that the Bible says when, after Adam got his wife, he said what? He said, "This is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of me." Then 24. "Therefore shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they two shall be one flesh." Now I want you to look at this. When you look at this statement, that verse 24, who made the statement? Was it Adam that made the statement? If you look at it, "Therefore shall a man leave father and mother." In the verse 23, Adam was speaking. "This now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman because she was taken out of me." Therefore shall a man leave father and mother, cleave to his wife and they shall be one. It seems as if Adam was the one speaking. Isn't that true? Because he was the one speaking in verse 23. But when you get to Matthew chapter 19, Jesus said, "He who made them from the beginning made them male and female and said, 'For this cause, a man shall leave father and mother...'" [Matthew 19:4-5]. So who is speaking in this point? Who was speaking? It was God. What I'm trying to make you see is that the covenant of marriage is a covenant that precedes all other institutions. It came before the church. There was no church. There was no government. There was no politics. There was no, before anything. That's why I tell people, once your home fails, you don't have a ministry. You don't have a ministry. It's a covenant that precedes all institutions. We must get that clear. Are you following me? So that when you are talking about ministry, you are talking about serving God in whatever thing you want to do, you must understand there was something God first ordained before God began to ordain priests. Before God brought priests, before he brought pastors, before he brought prophets, before he brought the law, before he brought all those things, there was a covenant. And all those things cannot annul this covenant. Please the next one. I said, no, no, no, there is a third one before that one. I said another thing there is that the marriage vow is a blood vow and hence a life vow. It's a blood vow and hence a life vow. If you look at Leviticus 17:11-14, you will find out that God said the life of an animal is in the blood. So Israel should not eat blood. The blood will be used for atonement. That is why the Bible says without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission for sin. When Jesus shed his blood, he gave his life. Is that not? You get it. That is why you notice, I said this if you look at Hebrews 13:4 there, it says, "Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." I'm showing you something, that the marriage vow took place where? It took place where? On the bed. The marriage vow actually took place on the bed. Now, if you look at that Matthew 19, I'm coming from the back. Look at 1 Corinthians 6:15-19. He says, "Shall you take," you can check all these things much more the more when you read, that's why I have all the scripture reference there. Look at 1 Corinthians 6. I want us to go to that one. Look at it. "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of an harlot? God forbid. What do you see? What? Know ye not that what? He that is joined to an harlot is what? For two, saith he, who is he? Shall be one flesh." So he who joins himself to an harlot is one body with an harlot. "But he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." Go to the next verse. "Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." So that when Jesus said he made them male and female, therefore a man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, what he is saying is that a man shall leave father and mother and have sexual intercourse with his wife. Nobody joins people together. It's a man that joins himself. We don't do joining in church. What you see in church is ceremony of marriage. It's not joining. After we do ceremony of marriage in church, the man now gets who? His wife. The man now takes his wife to a bed and joins himself to his wife. That is why it said, "Shall you take the body of the Lord and join it to an harlot?" You are the one that does the joining. You do it yourself. Nobody joins you, but they give you a wife, they give you a husband. Without the parents saying, "We release her," if you sleep with her, God will punish you. God will judge you for it. That is fornication or adultery. But once they have done the ceremony, you get a wife. You now go and join yourself to your wife. Because people normally ask me, "No, me and her, she's not bone of my bone." I said you are a fool. You mean you didn't sleep with her? That point where you slept with her, what did you do? She became the bone of your bone because God said. It is by the power of speaking. God said. It is God that says so. We need to note that. So you notice that God forbids fornication, isn't that true? Why? Why is it that marriage is on the bed, but God will punish fornicator? It's because there is something about marriage and virginity. If you are taking a virgin into a marriage, there's always a spill of blood. God intend that marriage should be a blood covenant because the blood represent the life of the lady. After you break the hymen, hymen don't have any other function again. That is just the function, for blood to spill on the man's penis and then it becomes a blood covenant and a life. So everybody who fornicates before that time is doing something, is fighting God because God ordained something. That's why I said God will judge them. God will judge them. [Speaks Yoruba] because of what he did. We need to know that. So marriage under God is a blood covenant and a life covenant. And the last thing you see there, I said it's a vow that fuses destiny, thus sacred and generational. When he said every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that sinneth against his own body, do you get that? It means actually when a man enter into that covenant by sex, what happens? What happens actually is that he has joined his body, destinies are joined, generational joined. How do you know? You will notice that by that joining, that is what produces children. So that if for instance, I want to give you an instance, if a lady marry from the house of Eli, and God has said nobody will live and grow old in that generation, the lady was not cursed before, but Eli's generation has been cursed. What will happen to the child that will come out? That child will not grow old. You enter into a generation. It's a generational covenant. It's a generational covenant. And that is why you see God saying, "I hate divorce." It's a generational covenant. It's something that produces generation. And look at how I said sacred. What is the sacredness in that thing? Have you not wondered? I want to ask you, what is man? If a man is born today, can he die again? If a man is born today, can he die again? Can he ever die? No. He can sleep, but he can't die because he's in the image of God. Am I not correct? So man is actually a spirit. Once he's born, he's like God, he's eternal. He cannot die. He's either in hell or in heaven, but he can't die. I want to ask you, what produces this thing? This thing is eternal. What produces it? A man sleep with a woman and he produces a spirit. So you are saying that something about sex is not spiritual. You then you are a fool. Marriage is sacred. It's a sacred thing. Because it's not just physical. It's not just enjoyment. Because what comes out of it is something eternal. Is that the covenant we should be joking with? That is the covenant we should be playing with? That is the covenant we should be toying with? I want to conclude like this. Let me go to the last section. I'm rushing because of time. I said the issue about the vow is the situation of the heart. And in that place, I want us to look at that Matthew 19. I may not be able to read all the other scriptures there, but I will just make reference to them. Look at that Matthew 19. I want to get to that point and close. I've been asked to round up. Our time is fast spent. Matthew 19. Let's look at something from that verse 7. Look at what they said. Jesus has answered them already in the verse 6. Please, can we have the verse 6 first? Just to see how Jesus answered them. Jesus has finished his story. "Wherefore they are no longer two, they are one. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder." He has closed the case. Are you following it? That is for Jesus. He has told them, "He who made them from the beginning made them male and female." The case closes. But they now brought up a matter because of the situation of their heart. They brought up a matter. And today, the church is still bringing up this matter because many men you find in church, they have not been able to rise above the level of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. People who see from afar and are ever sad. They cannot see closely. They see from afar. [Speaks Yoruba]. Spiritual bastards that are called Christians. Jesus had closed the case, but there was something about their own heart. Jesus had said "period." But many times you see people raising it. They said unto him, "Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and put her away?" Verse 8. He said unto them, "Because of the hardness of your heart." Everywhere you see a putting away, there is a problem in the heart. Go and mark my word. Everywhere you see a putting away, there is a problem with the heart. There is a problem. Everywhere you see a putting away, there is a problem with that heart. Remember divorce is the final putting away. It begins small small. [Speaks Yoruba]. You have put away. [Speaks Yoruba]. You are putting away. Everywhere you see such thing coming small small, there is a problem with your heart. Because there is nothing reasonable in a man. Somebody came to me and said, "You see, actually, I passworded my phone. There are some private things about it. I don't want her to see. That's why I didn't let her to know the password." They were discussing with me. And I said, "Listen, brethren." I said, "Young man, can you remove your clothes and undress before me?" He said, "No, ah. No, sir. I can." I said, "Okay. Sister, can you undress before..." "Ah," she said, "Ah, sir." I said, "But if the two of you are alone, can you undress before..." "Of course, it's my husband now. It's my husband." I said, "So what is more private than your private?" They said nothing. Nothing is more private than your private. You are sure. And she has seen everything. He said he has seen everything. I said so, your phone is more private than your private. I said you have shared your life with somebody, you are not sharing your money. Are you a wise person? You have shared your life. You have shared your destiny. He say "my money." [Speaks Yoruba]. What is it again that remain? So I won't say my money, your room, my, your own, your own. That is why I said the problem about this vow is the problem of the heart. Everywhere you see gradual putting away, there is a problem with the heart. Because of hardness of your heart, he suffered you to put away your wife, but from the beginning it was not so. If you go and read the history, it's that the Jews, because they cannot put their wife away, they will make arrangement to kill the woman so that they can marry another one. So when Moses saw that the women life were compromised, he now suffered them to put her away so that the women can live. So when you see a man who device to kill another human being because he wants to move on with his own life, is he a human being? Anyway, he said, Moses because of... but from the beginning it was not so. Now look at what Jesus said. "And I say to you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery." Are you following something? Do you see where Jesus went to? Do you see where Jesus went to? Jesus is making us to see something very, very critical. And sometimes this verse is always misunderstood. I may, I don't want to go into the fullness of this verse, but I want to say this. If your wife commit adultery today and the first thing is divorce, you have divorced before that act. The reason why you divorce the person is not that act. It only gave an opportunity to divorce the person. The truth is that the Bible says, that's why you see the scripture, other scriptures, they are all in that thing. Maybe I will send the slide to as many if we have your email, I can send the slide so that you can check all these scripture. I will send it to you. He says two are better than one. They will have a good reward for their labor. If one fall, the other will lift him up. If one fall, the other should lift up. If one fall and the other rejoiced, "Heh, Oluwa seun, mi o fe mo, ma lo," [Speaks Yoruba]. It was that, that was not the issue. You have divorced before that divorce. There have been several putting away before that one. That is the truth. But the point I also want you to see is the sacredness of marriage union. What established the marriage? How did the man join himself to his wife? By sex. Do you see that again? If by sex there is a problem and that problem becomes a persistent problem, what did he say again? He says, "Except because," he who commit fornication join himself again to somebody else. Are you getting the point he is making? Because you can join yourself to an harlot. So if somebody continuously join himself to an harlot, continuously keep on going on and on, not as if he fell into sin, but he continued in sin. What did the person destroying? The very foundation of the covenant. The covenant was established by the very heart of sex. But look at something. He says except for that. Please can we see that scripture? Go and see that scripture. Please that Matthew, I will not go to Jeremiah, I will just make reference to it. That Matthew, that's where I want to close the meeting. Yes, because it was not so. Commit adultery. The next verse now. Verse 10. His disciples say unto him, "If the case of a man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry." Do you get the point that they are making? What Jesus saying? Except you are trying to play on words. What he is saying is that except somebody continued in immorality, you can't put away a woman. Are you getting the point? That if my wife cannot cook, my husband cannot give birth, my wife is like this, my wife is lousy, my wife fights me, my... it's no basis to put away a wife. My husband is not responsible. I'm the only one feeding the family. Bad as it is, you cannot put him away. Because I know people who put away their wife because she cannot cook. And some who are putting away wife today because there is no child. This is happening in the church today. Jesus is saying that there is no any other reason. "Ah, I discovered that my husband is [unclear] who fights me." You cannot put him away. You have to find solution to it. That is why they said, "Ah, if it's like this, it is better for a person not to marry, oh. Ah, ah. It's better not..." because what was it you marry and you get into the thing and for example, like somebody said, "My husband is impotent, so I'm looking for another husband." You can't put him away. That is the point of Jesus. And even as the disciples, but look at what Jesus said. I want to say this thing. Please, I will say why I'm saying so so that you don't misunderstand me. Because that's where I want to close the meeting. But he said unto them, "All men cannot receive this saying, save them to whom it is given." "All men cannot receive this saying." What Jesus is saying literally in this text is that look, you will know, eh... please read the verse 12 so that you will know what Jesus is saying. "For there are some eunuchs which have so born." Are you seeing it? So he's talking about eunuchs or no eunuchs. Are you getting me? Men who don't have anything to do with women. Are you getting it? I hope you are getting me. So what Jesus is saying literally when he said, "All men cannot receive this thing, but those to whom it is given," is that except God makes you an eunuch, you will go into marriage. That's what he's saying literally. That's what he's saying. And if God don't give you and you try to go, you are see several people who try to say they will not marry, committing fornication everywhere. There are people like that. We know, we know, we understand the system that we are in. "Say they are high above," but you see that because except it is given to you, you cannot. But I want to speak on this matter, eh, not in the context in which Jesus was speaking, but with a revelational understanding. Something that happened to me yesternight as I prepared for this message. And that is why I want to close today. He said... go back to the verse 11. But he told them not everyone can accept this saying, but only those to whom it is given. It just flash to my heart, eh... please not in the context, but revelationally. Are you following me? I've explained the context of the verse because Bible said that we must rightly divide the word of truth. Now, you know he was speaking about not putting away your wife. And the disciples were saying that "Ah, it is better not to marry if it is like this." He now said, "But he told them not everyone can accept this saying, but to whom it is given." You know what light I received? Not everybody can accept to be with a woman at, you know, no matter what happens. Not everybody. Except those to whom it is given. I'm thinking another light now. Are you following me? Then the question just came to me yesternight. Who are those to whom it is given? That's why I quoted Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36. Go and check it. He said a new covenant will be established with my people. In that new covenant, I will put my law in their heart and I will write it on their mind. He said I will take away the heart of stone and I will give them a heart of flesh. Do you realize that ordinarily because we enter into a covenant with God in Christ, where the heart of stone is taken away and the heart of flesh is given? Do you know it has been given to us never to go into divorce? All believers can go into divorce, but anybody who properly encounter Christ cannot go into it. They have been given something. It is the problem of the heart, but God has taken away the worst, the heart of stone. So if you are struggling with issue of divorce or no divorce, you need to check did you ever got born again at any time in your life? Let us pray. Did you ever, did you actually got born again? If that vow is something you are struggling with, you are struggling, you need to check whether you are really born again. Then if you are really born again, it means you are not knowing God. You are not taking time to know God. You are not knowing God. It means you are not encountering God. You are not knowing him. You are not knowing him. You are not knowing him. It has been something that has been given to us. A new heart, a new spirit, a heart of flesh. In us, there is no hard heart. Our heart is not hard. Our heart is teachable. Our heart obeys God. We are not children of disobedience. We are children of the covenant. We are children of obedience. Are you struggling with your vow? Then something is wrong with your heart. It is either you never got born again, you thought you did. You thought it happened, but it never happened. Or maybe it happened, but somehow you are not knowing God. You're not taking time to know God. Our Father, we thank you for this afternoon. Our God, we bless your name. Our God, we lift you high. Our God, we appreciate you. Our God, we give you praise. The covenant, the marriage vow. This vow that we made, that we will stick, we will stay with our spouse no matter what it is. No matter what, till death do us part. There was the vow we took, oh Lord. And you have given it, you have given us a heart that can stand by this vow. I pray, Lord, are there brethren struggling with this vow? May there be a fresh encounter with your Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. Are there couples that are here, or some struggling with this vow? Lord God, Lord God, visit their heart again in the name of Jesus Christ. The problem, the matter of the vow is a matter of the heart. The matter of the vow is a matter of the heart. Lord, address the heart of believers today across churches in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name. In Jesus' name. [Audience] Amen.