This sermon delves into the challenges and dynamics of marriage, drawing examples from historical figures like John Wesley and biblical characters like David and his wife. It explores the impact of a spouse's character on one's faith and the potential struggles faced within Christian marriages, emphasizing the importance of love, respect, and Godly behavior in relationships.

There, God says. Well, I won't tell you three of them, but I'll tell you this one. And this is a shocking statement. Verse 23. An odious woman, when she is married. Difficult to explain what the word odious means, but it has a lot of meaning. I would say the closest you can come to strong-willed, difficult, self-willed, difficult. The world cannot bear such a woman when she is married, God says. God says. John Wesley, one of the greatest soul winners in the history of the world, many say the greatest soul winners in the history of our church. Wesley never could be discouraged. That was one of the most remarkable things about him. They stoned him. Wonderful things that happened, you know. Fifty men punching, and they all lay down cold. He was so short, they missed him, they knocked each other up. Tragic incidents that happened, but they ran him out of the town. They threw him over a cliff. He just flew through the air, you know. They left him for dead. They threw stones on this man. Even the king of England had to step in to stop and say, this has to stop, this treatment of Wesley and his followers. This cannot go on, all the stoning. And well, the king stepped in, and it started to slow down. But nothing discouraged Wesley. They say he got up and he laughed, and he walked back into the Southland. Nothing could discourage him. Nothing could just make him despondent. I wish I could be like that. One thing, only one thing brought Wesley to despair in his godliness. You know what that was? His wife. No one judged him. It wasn't his choice of marriage. The only thing that drove that man, one of the godliest men that ever lived, that no one would ever put a question mark on his testimony was what with God, was his wife was not godly, was not Christ-like. Tell me, are you a Sarah, ladies? Are you like Sarah, the only example God gives in this whole passage about marriage, the woman, the one woman he mentions, Sarah. Are you like Sarah in God's eyes and man's eyes in your marriage? Or are you like the woman that God says the earth cannot bear once she's married? Cannot bear. What happens when she's married? God says, what are you like? Quite a question to ask you if you're all Christians here tonight. David's wife despised him. He was a man after God's own heart, you know. It's possible that a man after God's own heart can have a wife that hates him, God says. You know that's possible. She despised him as he danced after the great victory. It wasn't the dance that made her, it was despising in her heart. Of course, it was the influence of her father. Not everybody has the cross to bear of having a father-in-law like Saul or David. Saul just lived to destroy David. I wonder if I can just speak for a moment here to fathers and mothers-in-law, to broaden this out a bit. Tell me, do you live to destroy yourself? Do you know how many Christian marriages are destroyed by the in-laws? Interfering. You may not throw a spear at him, but there are other spears to throw, you know. Words, unkind words undermining him. I can take you in America to Christian homes where the in-laws were the reason the marriage ended in divorce. They so hated their son-in-law, mainly because he was going through with God all the way. Tragic. Just for a moment, I just hope there's no souls here tonight. How do you treat your David? It's possible for you to find a woman so hating her husband for many reasons, for many reasons. I was once in a convention preaching and this man and lady came over to sit with me while we were having a meal, and they were talking about God, all the things of the things of God, the church, the state of the church, the things of the convention, just on a spiritual level. I hadn't seen them for many years, and this little girl ran up, pretty little girly, and she looked at me standing with her mommy and daddy, and they said, this is our daughter, and I said, oh my, the last time I saw you, you were a little baby in your mommy's arms. So the mommy said, this is the man who's preached, standing preaching and telling us how to live right with God. This little girl looked at me, she looked at her mommy and daddy for a while, and he just stood there looking at her, and she said, preacher, my mommy and daddy always fight. Well, I looked through the corner of my eye at mommy and daddy, and their mouths fell open. They always fight, she says. My mommy every night cries and weeps and weeps and cries, and daddy screams and mommy screams. You must speak to them. Help them. But I looked at this little girl, you know, I could have been cruel and turn and rebuke that mother and father, but I was also in a test. You have no right to ever be cruel, no matter who fails. So I prayed, and I said, little girly, you are so beautiful. I'm sure your mommy and daddy love you so much. And I know God loves your mommy and daddy. I know that they love him, and I know they want him to have his way in their life. And I know that God is going to help them to be happy. You know, I got up and walked away. I didn't talk to them. I just left that at that, rather than to confront them. Who's to blame in a Christian marriage, where there's just fighting all the time? You may say it doesn't happen. It does happen. It does happen. It happens so much, it's unbelievable. Because you're a Christian doesn't mean to say you're going to have a happy marriage. Oh no, no. I want to ask every one of you here tonight, how is your marriage in the light of God's word? Where does love turn to hate in a Christian marriage? Why does love leave a Christian marriage? Who's to blame when the sweetness turns to sour? When I was a little boy, I was unsaved, so was my parents. And my parents had friends. Beautiful lady, and they would always have time of socializing together with this other married couple. But what was so different about this married couple was the way they spoke to each other. They were very much in love. They called each other by these wonderful names, you know, sweetness and dewdrop, and sunshine, and honey pie, and all sorts of amazing...