What our teaching this morning centres on is marriage. In this church, one of the false accusations people make against us is that, we do not have interest in marriage. We do have an interest that is higher than what our parents had in marriage, and we have a teaching that is deeper than what we learnt from our parents about marriage. The issue of marriage is very important. It is not something for a short time or something that is new. It is what had begun from the beginning of the world. It is also not what will end at the middle of life, but what will go into eternity with us.
Therefore, all of us who have come here as Bible students need to pray that we will not be forgetful hearers. If we keep what we learn in our heart it will become a treasure to us, and will certainly keep us from danger and trouble. Our children and grandchildren will also inherit and profit by the Word. When I sit with prospective couples to counsel them on marriage, it is wonderful to realise that many of them do not know the meaning of marriage. They do not know that it is God’s plan for a man and woman. They would say, ‘Marriage is when one leaves his parents to marry a woman or when one finds a helper.’That is what they think marriage is.
Marriage is not just picking someone on the street. It is not what educated people have knowledge of. It is not what our parents know either. Pick-and-choose was what our parents were doing before, and we grew up to know that. Our parents were choosing spouses as women choose their headgear. They thought it was someone who had many wives who would be wealthy, but marriage is different from that.
Some people take marriage as custom, some tell us that it is the custom of the white people, but they go contrary to the Word of God when they say that. Some see marriage as what we have come to the world to do, which is compulsory. In some sense, we may think that is true, but we must know for sure that what we call marriage is what God planned for man, not man’s plan for himself. The one that man plans for himself is always a failure. Our great grandfathers failed in it. It has sent many educated people to sorrow and trouble in this world and to eternal jail from which they cannot return. Likewise, it has become a stumbling block for many on the road to Heaven, even for some of those who profess to be saved, sanctified and baptised with the Holy Ghost and fire. It has become a stumbling block for many people who are lost and never return to the fold. May God deliver us.
It is one of the teachings that nominal evangelists use to lead many astray and which bring trouble to many young people, especially students. It is a thing that parents push their children into without having the full understanding. When the children entered into it wrongly, they have entered into trouble, and they cannot escape from it. Many of them have lost their lives. Many have become insane. Many of them have contracted deadly diseases. The parents thought that their children ought to have a spouse and give birth to their own children. After the parents have misled them into it, they cannot rescue them from it. It is a terrible bondage.
This morning, as an intermediary, a Bible student, teacher and preacher, I want to advise that, we concentrate on this teaching, and plead with God to interpret it to us. Not only that, when we get home we should think about it because we have a great responsibility resting on us. We must be careful so that we do not repeat the mistake of those before us. Our ministers are in a delicate position. They must be careful to know the Word of God on marriage so that they will not become compromisers. After they must have endorsed what they do not know the details of, and the matter has become something else, requiring correction, they then tell the guilty party to ‘Go and do it’with a warning, ‘Don’t tell anybody that I heard of it.’But God knows you are fully aware of it.
Genesis 2:18 reads: “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” This verse concerns the first man, Adam, whom God put in the Garden of Eden to dress and keep it. God in His love, glory and honour knew that Adam should have someone who would be his helper. When Adam did not complain or even know that such could happen, God made a statement, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” This sentence made by God is what some people have turned into a commandment. Did God tell Adam to look for a help meet? Was it not God who made the plan for him? Did Adam know how to find a help meet? Did Adam know how God created him? He did not know; it was God Who said it, and He was the One Who made it happen.
“And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; “And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
“And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2: 20-23).
God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and He removed one of his ribs, and covered it with flesh. God used the rib to form the woman and He took the woman to Adam. When we say that a deep sleep fell upon Adam, we can compare that to sleeping so deeply. When God had removed a rib from Adam’s side and had formed Eve with it, He then woke Adam up, and brought her to him. Adam looked at her, she must have looked like him because he said, “. . . This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
Adam knew full well that Eve was taken out of him, not that she was formed from scratch. She was a part of Adam and Adam called her Woman. Let us pay attention to these statements because they are precious and we can benefit from them if we keep them in our minds. Adam was the one who named her Woman. That is the beginning of woman.
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
The verse we have just read makes it clear that God began the institution of marriage from the beginning of the world. It was not man who began it. It was not someone that commanded or suggested that a man should marry a woman. God made it so because there is nothing God cannot do. If God had wanted Adam to quickly multiply by having many wives so that he would have many children to work with him in the garden, God would have done just that. Adam was but one man who had to keep and dress the whole garden; he had to take care of the birds, the animals, and the garden. He ought to have many hands to assist him in taking care of the garden. That is what our country is trying to emulate. Some farmers who cannot weed an acre within a year think that if they marry many women, they would have more hands to help them in the farm to make them rich. That is a deceit. May God deliver us from strong deceit. Even with the many wives, your lot will not change for the better. My friend, if God saw that Adam needed such arrangement, He would have done so for him. God did not give Adam two women. Truly he needed help, but God gave him one woman. Therefore, it was that one woman that God made to be Adam’s helper. It was not the white man who said Adam should have one wife, it was God Who said so. It was also not the white man who wrote in Genesis 2:24 that:
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
It was not many wives, and God did not say he should cleave unto wives but his wife. He was talking about one wife.
Jesus also brought this matter to light in Matthew 19:4-6: “And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, “And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
“Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
If we look deeply at what we read concerning marriage in Genesis, we will see that Adam’s wife was not his choosing, it was God’s choosing. Man began to experience trouble in marriage when he began to choose for himself. The Bible tells us:
“That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose” (Genesis 6:2). The children of the world corrupted their manners and culture. God was angry about it so much so that He said, He would destroy the world He had created, including man and animals. God said He would totally destroy them.
But God found one person, who was righteous, whose heart was against everything contrary to the will of God. The person was Noah. God loved him because he loved God. God made him His representative. God made him a peacemaker between Him and man. Noah preached for 120 years. God made him a shepherd to warn people that the wrath of God was imminent because the people were corrupt. The sons of God were choosing wives for themselves from the people of the world. So, if we look at it, then, it is not new for people to choose wives for themselves without waiting for God to choose for them. Those who did so then failed woefully. They gave birth to many children, they built many houses, they acquired the glittering things of the world within the 120 years. God was patient with them. He gave them the opportunity to repent, still they could not stop committing sin.
They were there for 120 years struggling in the sin of wrong marriage and everything that went with it. The matter of marriage is tough. Once we have entered into it, it is difficult to wriggle out of it. Not long, the flood came. People began to run, shouting, ‘Noah! Noah!’ Remember that when Jesus was asked what would be the signs of His coming and the end of the world, He quoted the period of Noah and said:
“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark” (Matthew 24:37,38).
They remained in the sin till the judgment of God came upon them suddenly! May God deliver us.
It is necessary for God to show man his wife before he can have the right woman who will be his help meet throughout his life. To know the bone of our bones, we must go back to our Creator in prayer and fasting with deep consecration, because we do not even know the type of bone in our own ribs. It is not difficult for God to know the bone of an individual for He created everyone. God took the bone of the ribs of Adam and made him a wife. That makes it compulsory for a man and a woman who want to get married to earnestly pray and know the right person to avoid trouble.
The heathens who gave birth to our great-grandfathers, in their own way, to know the bone of their bones, would consult herbalists to find out if the person proposing to their child was the right person. They were being taken to idols because they did not know God. But you and I, who call ourselves Christians, must not go to idols from where we were delivered by God. Is it not right for us to take our petition to God, the One Who knows the bone of our bones? Or should we just choose and pick for ourselves concerning what we don’t know its future? It is possible for our wrong choice to bring trouble to us throughout our life. It is possible for our choosing alone to become a debt for us throughout our life. It is also possible for our choice to become a centre of sickness that we will never be able to escape. But the right choice will surely lead to blessing, comfort and peace throughout life. It is beneficial to ask from the One Who formed the bone out of bones, and the flesh out of flesh to guide us. It is only by doing so that we can be involved in a right marriage we would enjoy all through our life.
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
Jesus used this verse in His response to those asking Him in Matthew 19:3-5:
“The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? “And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, “And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?”
This shows clearly that marriage was instituted by God Himself from the beginning. The intending couple will leave their parents, and the two of them will cleave to each other and become one. They are not two anymore, but one. And we must not separate them. We do not separate them. They have become one flesh; they cannot divorce each other.
The Pharisees who came to Jesus were asking question because they thought they had the right to divorce their wives. But the certificate they claimed to have was not according to the plan of God from the beginning. The certificate was designed because of their stiffneckedness. It was because of their stubbornness. God did not create husband and wife for divorce but to be together for life.
Marriage is so delicate that the man or woman must carefully consider all that is involved. He or she must pray through. It is not a two-day prayer, nor a week’s prayer. It is not the type of prayer that cannot produce result. It must be a prayer accompanied with waiting upon the living God. The man or woman must not allow the world to push him or her into it. He or she must not allow friends to push him or her into it. He or she must not take or heed advice that is contrary to the Word of God from the parents. He or she must pray alone with God. He or she must know the steps and the approval of God concerning it because marriage is what we cannot stop once we have begun. It is what God had instituted from the beginning that they must not be separated.
Many have negatively affected the lives of some young people through false advice because of their scanty understanding or ignorance of the Word of God. Marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman. They must receive the approval of their parents. That does not mean seeking for guidance that is contrary to the Word of God because in doing so, they will suffer the consequences. But once we put God first, there will be no problem. Taking guidance from the pastor with much prayer before informing the parents is compulsory. It is when the parents give their approval that the woman can proceed to give her response to the man who has proposed to her. But if the parents refuse to give approval, she should go back to her pastor for guidance.
It is absolutely wrong for a pastor who has understanding of the teachings about marriage to mislead anyone into it. If not, when the consequences manifest, they will come back to the pastor with complaints. Before long, the pastor will compromise. With a sympathising heart for the couple, he will say, ‘What do we do now?’The husband or wife will say, ‘I can’t do without giving birth to children!’The husband or the wife may have a challenge with fertility! The pastor will then say, ‘You can find solution, but don’t let people know I was the one who told you. You can apply wisdom.’ But God was there listening. Therefore, it is compulsory to put God first and follow His leading. Marriage is not for a year, it is not for 60 years, it is not for 70 years, even if we die at 90, what we will meet in eternity, if our ways are crooked, is dangerous!
For a man who never found out the will of God, who just said to a lady, ‘I want to marry you,’ and the lady says ‘Yes, I will marry you,’ without asking God! Without knowing the will of God! Without even taking him to her parents to seek their consent! They have received gifts from each other, writing love letters to each other, using words to entice each other. The lady has gone ahead giving her body to the man, either by going to the man’s house or meeting him somewhere else; and the two of them have had carnal knowledge of each other!
They possibly would begin to live together! That type of approach is even contrary to the customs of our land. Sooner or later, maybe six months, one year or more during which they have been deceiving each other, the man will then go to another lady, writing letters to her, saying, ‘I want to marry you.’ This is after he has had carnal knowledge of the other lady who he has married secretly. If he is questioned, he would say, ‘I am not married.’ Some men have married four women through such deceit! Some men have even married six women! My friend, isn’t there trouble in the world? Won’t there be many cases of divorce? When the Bible tells us what God’s standard about marriage is, even if we are novice, since God has not hidden it from us, if we disobey, won’t there be trouble? Will judgment not come from God? The Bible says,
“Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment” (Ecclesiastes 11:9).
This verse is telling us that, there is no child’s play in marriage as our parents called it. They would say, ‘That was child’s play, when he was still young, when he did not know anything.’ But he knew sin and his senses were intact. He knew that he could talk to God as he has reached the age of accountability. He knows the difference between good and evil, and he can distinguish sin from play. The Word of God says, “All these things [which he did when he called himself a child] God will bring thee into judgment.” God did not say he did them when he was a child and therefore He will overlook it. Instead, God says, ‘Rejoice, keep doing it, judgment is at the door!’
We need to understand that we have brought much trouble of divorce upon ourselves, which we called pleasures, which we thought God did not know! “And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.
“And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?
“And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to
put her away.
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
“But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
“And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
“What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mark 10:2-9).
Romans 7:2,3: “For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
“So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.”
The verses we read from Mark and Romans are saying the same thing. Aman who has married one wife, as long as the husband is alive, the law has joined them together. But if the husband dies, she is free from that law. But the Pharisees were asking that, ‘We have authority to issue a divorce bill to a wife.’Who gave you the bill? They said, ‘It was Moses.’ Moses gave you the bill of divorcement because of the hardness and stubbornness of your heart. It was because of the spirit of murder in your heart! So that you would not kill the women in the middle of the night, he gave you the bill to divorce them, but it was not that you should divorce them and then marry another. If you divorce them, you must remain single without marrying another woman.
In the laws of our land, throughout the world, governments approve that, a wife who commits adultery, her husband can divorce her or the husband who commits adultery, his wife can divorce him. But the Bible says, he cannot remarry. That law is part of the laws of our land and the government enforces it. That is where many hide to divorce their wife or husband, so much so that out of 100 homes, we cannot find 20 where there have not been divorce and remarriage.
1 Corinthians 7:10, 11: “And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
“But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.”
The foregoing proves those who say that God gives room for divorce and remarriage wrong. These verses confirm to us that, if we are unfaithful, if the husband or wife leaves each other, let this be the punishment for a while. If the husband or wife wants her spouse back, let them do so, let them reconcile. If he or she does not want the spouse back, both must remain single without remarrying. There is NO divorce and remarriage.
This law is hard to us as it was hard for the disciples of Jesus Christ. They said, ‘Who can take this? No one can endure it at all.’But whether or not they can endure it, listen to Jesus’response to them:
“His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
“But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
“For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it” (Matthew 19:10-12).
These verses make us understand truly that this matter of marriage is serious. It is not us of this age who made it serious, it has been so serious from the beginning. God Who created the Heaven and earth is the One Who made the road to Heaven narrow, He did not make it a broad way. Few people walk on the narrow road. Many walk on the broad way. The disciples of Jesus who heard it from Him reconsidered it that, if the matter between a husband and his wife is this serious, who can take it? Truly, no one would want to receive it except those whom it is given, the Heaven bound souls. Those who ask God to give them the grace to receive it, who vow that, ‘I want to do all that You want and how You want it for me in this world.’These are those who put their future into God’s hands before they get married.
If anyone has entered marriage wrongly and has corrected it, and now turns to God for direction, putting his or her life into God’s hands that, ‘I want You to direct me to Your perfect will for my life. Whatever it takes, I just want to go Your way.’Such are the ones who can receive the help and grace to do God’s bidding.
Jesus explained to them that, ‘Don’t you know that there are eunuchs in this world?’ There are those who are born eunuchs. There are those who were made eunuchs. Apart from those, there are those who made themselves eunuchs because of the Kingdom of God. These two sets of people—those who were made eunuchs and those who were born eunuchs—will no doubt struggle to be free from the bondage, whether it is possible for them to be free or not. While some people are still struggling to be free from it, some do not care what the outcome will be. They want to choose to be eunuchs because of the Kingdom of God. By the way, what are we looking for? This matter of Heaven is more than pursuing the world, it is more than looking for a wife or husband. What Jesus said that we should seek first is the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. He promised that, “All these things shall be added unto you.” They have chosen to be eunuchs because of the Kingdom of God. Or what is left, what else are we looking for when the Kingdom of God is there to pursue? The verse did not say we should first look for house, wealth, husband, children and so on; it says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” My friend, we need to think about it. If people can decide on their own to become eunuchs for the living God, because of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God, if you say you will not do so, what about those who were made eunuchs, what can they do? If you say you cannot do it, what about those who were born eunuchs? What can they do about it?
It is certain that there is something that will be their reward, something will be their blessing, which God has prepared for those who decide for Him. We have not seen that blessing. Jesus did not hide it from His disciples. Peter asked Jesus that, those of them who had left home, work, wife, children, family and brethren, what would be their reward? Jesus answered and said,
“And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life” (Matthew 19:29).
What Peter was telling Jesus that they had left were those things their mates in the world were pursuing, leaving the Word of God because of them. They did not want to follow the standard and direction of God concerning—how they would live a meaningful life, how they would do the will of God, how they would allow God to order their steps, how they would make the Word of God the standard of their lives and of their dressing. They would not want the Word of God as their compass. Because of their refusal to make the truth of the Gospel the centre of their lives, places of worship also became corrupted. They were the same people who were in charge of places of worship. They were the citizens of their country. Places of worship were corrupted, the community corrupted, their homes broken and their children lacked parental care. Their children had no help. The children, too, continued in the customs and traditions their parents had bequeathed to them. Many who had once joined the old-time religion of ‘no divorce and remarriage,’ have left the old-time religion and established places of worship. That is nominal Christianity! They have begun overseeing those places of worship that will take them and their sins. They are the ones who began to recruit disciples in higher institutions of learning and seminaries to continue teaching the traditions they had received from their parents, and to live such life. These people are more than those worshippers who received the wholesome teaching of the old-time religion.
If we consider it carefully, we would see that the same people are the directors in various places of work, they are captains of industries, they are also in charge of institutions of learning. They are teachers who do not care to follow the whole truth of the Word of God. Where, then, are we taking Christianity to?
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
“Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10). What the people of the world say cannot hinder them from the Kingdom of God is what the Bible says those who commit such will not inherit the Kingdom of God. We praise God that He gave us the opportunity to believe the Bible. The Bible is judging the world! It is the Word of God. It is what God, the Father has given Jesus Who is His likeness and Whom He has given the judgment of this world. It is the Bible that God has chosen for us to be our Compass and Guide to Heaven. My friend, it is only through Jesus we can journey to Heaven. Jesus said, we should not ‘be deceived.’ May God not allow us to be deceived. The world is full of deceit.
These deceivers have sprung up forcefully among the youth and are deceiving themselves. These days, we see those who call themselves ‘evangelists’. They tell young women who deceitfully inform their parents that they want to marry someone else after they had given themselves in marriage secretly that there is nothing wrong with that. The false evangelists call such ‘the sin committed in time of ignorance.’ They say God has overlooked that. They will say she should proceed to marry that other person. Some people say they had someone when they had not known the Gospel, when they had not been saved from their life of sin. The two of them had been dating each other for two or three years. They are still husband and wife. The false evangelists say they should forget that! Whoever has chosen a young woman or young man secretly, and the two have had carnal knowledge of each other, the two are married already. It is only the parents who are not aware. They bypassed their parents. They left their father and mother, they left the minister, they left the registry, they married each other secretly. If you leave him, you have left your husband; if you leave her, you have left your wife. You can write a letter overseas and claim you have not lived with her or done anything. But did God know or did He not know? Those who are overseas are strangers; they don’t know you, but God knows you and He can see you. You cannot hide from God.
If you carelessly fall for a man, or just give yourself to a man without any agreement of marriage, that is a different thing. We know that people get involved in fornication. That is the game young people and adults play to corrupt the world. That is no husband. Even if you open a shop and twenty-five men have carnal knowledge of you, that is not marriage. But once you agree with someone that you want to marry him or her and he or she agrees, and then you fall for him, that is the end. The marriage is consummated. You have signed and stamped your marriage.
If a man proposes to you and you keep yourselves holy, you go to the pastor and your parents give their consent, if you like, they can organise a traditional marriage within the family for you, in the church or registry. It is after that, that you can have carnal knowledge of each other as husband and wife. That is the confirmation that you are husband and wife. The same applies to those who bypass their parents and the church and have carnal knowledge of each other. It is the same. But everyone will reap their reward. The reward of one will be different from the other. The one who disobeyed will keep reaping the consequence of disobedience while the obedient will enjoy the support of the parents and God. If you have a problem, they will pray with you; if something happens, they will support you. But for the disobedient, they will say, ‘He is a disobedient child. That is the reward of his disobedience.’ But if he repents and turns to God, God in mercy, will save him.
My friend, perhaps you are married to an adulteress or adulterer—someone who had married her own husband or his own wife. You go to the parents to ask the hand of their daughter in marriage, while her husband is still alive. Know for sure that the two of you are entering adultery. The Word of God tells us that ‘no adulterer or adulteress will inherit the Kingdom of God.’But if you can run quickly to the foot of the Cross like those who sinned during the time of Moses, they ran to the city of refuge and were saved. If you hold on to the horn of the altar, and ask God for forgiveness, Jesus Christ will save you. He will clearly tell you what to do and how to be free from adultery. He will give you peace. He will make you a new creature. He will make you His bride. Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith. He does not leave anyone in the dark. He makes us know that He has gone to Heaven to prepare a place for us. Jesus told His disciples that they should not be troubled, He was going to His Father and their Father. He was going to prepare a place for each of them. He is coming back to take the saints to Himself because He wants them to be where He is.
That is what He was saying about those whom He will take to Heaven, the bride of Christ. He said,
“And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27).
Begin to consider the type of people who will go with Jesus to Heaven, those whose names are in the Lamb’s book of life. One of them is the Samaritan woman who came to draw water from the well. She had been with five men. But even the last man was not her husband. But when she met Jesus, she chose to make restitution of her life and she received a new life. She now became one of those who will enter in with Jesus. Another one of them was Rahab, the harlot. Another was the woman who was caught in adultery and was taken to Jesus Christ, whom Jesus asked, ‘Where are thy accusers?’ She answered and told Jesus, ‘I cannot see them.’ Jesus said, ‘Go and sin no more.’ Another one was Zacchaeus, who climbed the sycamore tree to see Jesus because of the thirst in his heart to become Jesus’ friend.
All those mentioned above are people whose sins were many and that could shut the doors of Heaven against them. But when they met Jesus, they opened their heart with genuine repentance. They accepted Jesus into their lives. In accepting Him, the light of Jesus shone into their heart. All the difficult things that no man could do, Jesus helped them to do them. In a moment of time, in a twinkling of an eye, they became citizens of Heaven! My friend, I do not want you to think about it the way the disciples of Jesus did, that, ‘Hmmm, if marriage is like this, who can take it? ’It is the person who wants to go to Heaven that can take it!
It may be difficult, but you tell God, ‘The way is tough, please make a way for me to everlasting life.’ Maybe it is only two homes you have been and yours is not as many as the one who has been to five homes. But Jesus told the woman at the well that, ‘The one you have been with is not your husband.’ Immediately, she accepted wholeheartedly. She said, ‘I believe you are the Messiah.’ She was set free! Do you know that Jesus can do same for you today?
This morning, you have had the privilege to see the glorious light that drives away the darkness of the world. The world may have been deceiving you but Jesus is telling you, ‘The way to Heaven is open to you now. ’Narrow is the way; it is not a broad way. You have been walking on the broad way, where you were roaming about aimlessly. But today, the light of Heaven has shone in your heart. Do not wait! A minute delay can ruin your life.