Be Ye Holy for I Am Holy; Dynamics of Holiness Part 2

[Choir singing] He is marching on. He is marching on. He is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. He is marching on. [Voiceover] Church and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] The Lord. We thank our God again for another Monday, the time of our discipleship class. And we trust the Lord again that as we gather together unto Him this evening, it will be a time of refreshment, a time of blessing, a time of enlightenment in the name of Jesus Christ. Something—not as if it's completely new, but it just came afresh again to my heart this morning, and I noted it down. I said, men are not rightly made wise by the acumen of their own mind, but by the illumination of the Holy Spirit. What makes men to be wise is not how intelligent they are. It's not how analytical their mind is. Rather, it is light coming from the Holy Spirit. And my prayer is that as we come together again, our brethren who are joining us on Telegram, our brethren who are joining us on Mixlr, as we all come together this evening, there will be illumination from the Holy Spirit to make our mind wise in the name of Jesus Christ. Let us pray to start. Our Father, we are grateful unto You. We thank You for our gathering. Our gathering is unto You, not unto ourselves. Our God, You said the house of Jacob will not seek You in vain. Lord, we pray this evening that our gathering together will not be in vain in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we trust in You that as we gather together, we who are here physically, our brethren who are on Telegram, our brethren who are on Mixlr, as we all gather together, everywhere we are located upon the globe, Lord, Your Spirit will work within us. Your Spirit will work among us. There will be a revelation of Your person in us by the reason of Your word in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Yeah, for the past almost three, four weeks now, we have been looking at this very, very important topic. Our focus for the year, we said, is this concern about the holiness of God. Particularly as the Lord is making it clearer and clearer to us that anyhow you look at the universe, we only have just two classes of people: those who have hope and those who are hopeless. All other classes, they are not too relevant. In fact, they have no basis as far as eternity is concerned. And in the last three weeks, we have been looking at the dynamics of God's holiness, taking our bearing from Leviticus 19. We have been looking at what are those virtues, what are those principles that constitute the holiness of God. What are those virtues, what are those things, what are those things that should characterize our life that sum up into the dynamics of God's holiness? And in the course of the earlier weeks, we have been able to look at when godliness does not begin from the home, then it can never be true. That real holiness is something that must be displayed at the home front. If holiness is not seen at the home front, if proper conduct does not come at the home front, whatever we do in church, in fellowship, every other place we see them is just hypocrisy. And we said so, who we are is more important than what we do. Who we are is at home. What we do is beyond the home. The home is the greatest. The home is king. The home precedes the fellowship. The home precedes the church. The home comes before the pastors, before the apostles, before all of those things. The first institution is the home. And then last week, we moved on to look at another very, very important ingredient in the dynamics of God's holiness. And that we took from Leviticus chapter 19 verse 9, verse 10, where the Bible says: Leviticus 19:9-10 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and stranger. I am the Lord. I read that in a very easy to read translation, NLT: Leviticus 19:9-10 When you harvest your crops, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your field, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. It is the same with your grape crop. Do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vine, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners who live among you, for I, the Lord, am your God. And last week, we were able to see, anybody who is not intentionally generous can never be godly. If you are not intentionally concerned about those around you, if nothing reaches out of you to those who don't have, one should question whether you really know God. One should question it, whether you really know God. In every way, the Scripture repeated it over and over and over again. It is more blessed to give than to receive. True religion is to remember the widows and the fatherless and to keep yourself spotless from the world. If any of you have these worldly goods and you see your brother having need, and you say to him, "God bless you, God bless you, bro, the Lord will provide," and you do not do anything needful to meet his need, he said, then how dwelleth the love of God inside you? The Bible repeats this in several places in different ways to make us to see that one thing about the holiness of God—when we are talking about holiness—holiness is not just about standing aloof. "You are blessed. Good morning." Holiness is a dynamic. Holiness is a state of heart. Holiness is a practice. Holiness is a conduct. Holiness is a doing. Holiness is an action. And one important thing that comes into this thing is generosity. So, today we want to move on. We said we'll be looking at the dynamics of God's holiness in Leviticus chapter 19. So we are moving on today to—we stopped at verse 10 last week. So we are moving on to look at verse 11, Leviticus chapter 19. And I believe this one, the things that are itemized for us today, they are things that are very, very straightforward. In fact, there is no ambiguity in this one. You may say if I am not generous, maybe it's just that I don't have. But be sure—the Yoruba normally say something, I will try and translate it in English. [Speaks in Yoruba] Let me translate for the sake of some of us who do not understand Yoruba. That adage is saying that what you will do as a millionaire, you will have begun it when you are—how will I explain it now?—when you are still in your unit of Naira, in your five Naira, in your ten Naira. If you are not generous with your one Naira and two Naira, if God give you hundred million, you will still not be generous. You will not be generous. So generosity has nothing to do with how much you have. It has to do with a heart that reaches out to others. How is the nature of your heart? It tells you whether you are walking in God's holiness. So I am trying to say that what we looked at last week, somebody may still want to give an excuse that maybe there are some—maybe, maybe not. But the ones we have before us today in God's dynamics of holiness, these ones they lack ambiguity. They are very, very straightforward. Leviticus 19:11 You shall not steal. Is there anything? Is there any way to explain stealing apart from stealing? Is there any way to explain stealing apart from stealing? Whichever way can we use to explain stealing? Stealing is stealing. And what is stealing? Taking what is not yours without the permission of the person who owns it. Taking what is not yours without the permission of the person who owns it, particularly when you now try to change ownership and make it to become your own. You may still take somebody's biro and say, "Oh, you were not there, I used this biro," and you return. But particularly when it becomes a matter you now try to change ownership and make it to become your own. In different ways—my concern today is the different ways in which this thing is done today. Crucial to the holiness of God is this matter of stealing. Stealing comes in different ways today. Let us be careful. Let us be watchful. Stealing is clear. I will not say so much about stealing because we still have so much to do. Now when it moves on in that verse 11, it says: Leviticus 19:11 You shall not steal, nor deal falsely. Then it moves on and says—look at how it now explains something. It says you shall not steal. That one is clear. The next thing, nor deal falsely. Let me check on another translation. It says, "Do not steal. Do not cheat one another. Do not steal or deal falsely." You see, sometimes we don't know that when we deal falsely with people we are robbers. And let me explain the difference between—because when you look at it says, "Do not steal, do not cheat, do not deal falsely, and do not lie." People have always wondered what is the difference between falsehood and lie. Now the difference is this. You see, when you are talking about being deceitful or falsehood, you may not necessarily be making a statement that you know is outrightly not true. Lie is making a statement, you are saying something and it's not true. But falsehood or deceit is that you are not necessarily making a statement that is not true. You could be making a true statement, but with the intention of hiding away the reality about a matter. That's falsehood. I give you an example, a very quick one. Sarah is my sister. Is Sarah not Abraham's sister? Is she not Abraham's sister? So Abraham was not lying. He wasn't telling a lie. "Who is she? Ah, she's my sister." Of course, Sarah was the half-sister. But why was he saying she's my sister? In order to hide away the truth that she's his wife. That's falsehood. So you see, falsehood, many times, are things that Christians do. They say, "No, it's wisdom. You have to be wise." But you see, people who practice falsehood, the truth is that they are not sincere people. Abraham, if you go to the heart of his heart, he knows that something he's been hiding away from those people. Is that not true? People who practice falsehood, they are not genuine people. They are not sincere people. It comes in different ways today, in different things we do with one another, in different ways. You see, people who practice these things, they are not holy. Holiness has to do with conduct. I've explained at the beginning, righteousness has to do with what? Your position before God. So you can't be telling a believer "be righteous" under the New Testament because righteousness is a gift. He doesn't need to work for righteousness. Anybody who is in Christ is a righteous person. He got it in Christ. But the fallout for our life that many of us are not realizing—which I stated every time I keep talking, I'll keep going back to it, and I don't know why I keep making this emphasis because I saw this same pattern in the New Testament—every time the fathers, they talk so much about grace, they will remind us again about our responsibility. When they go on again about grace, they will remind us again about our responsibility. They always bring us back to understand that what Christ actually did for us is that He gave us empowerment to become holy. Righteousness is actually what was given so that holiness can become a conduct. We were made righteous so that we can live holy. We were not made righteous so that we can begin to say God's mercy, God's riches at Christ's expense, and do some kind of irresponsibility. No. That is why Peter said, "If you know you worship a God, if you know you call upon a God who will judge every man according to his work and does not have a favorite," he said, "Therefore, as He who called you is holy, be ye holy in all manner of your conduct." There is no—and I make bold to tell you, I've looked at that over and over in Scripture—when righteousness seemingly—mark my words, seemingly—becomes a basis for misconduct, I can truly tell you that that faith is not genuine. That faith that you are talking about in that person is not genuine. It's just a matter of time. The work of God's Spirit in our life, the Spirit of God in us, brings regeneration. And regeneration that changes a—I want to look at two animals, one on land, one on sea. Okay, he says you—I will say to the goat, okay, yes, let me use goat and fish. A regeneration that changes goat to fish will also bring about the goat not being able to live on land again. If the goat can still live on land successfully, it did not become a fish. What I mean is that if there is true conversion, there must be a changed life. If he suddenly became a fish, then he should no more be comfortable living on land. He should be comfortable living where? In water. That's the point I'm making. So what I'm saying is that when so-called righteousness remove responsibility of holy conduct, then I can also confirm to you that that seemingly conversion, that seemingly faith that that person claims cannot be genuine. It's just a matter of time. In 1 John chapter 2 verse 19, the Bible makes it clear. It said: 1 John 2:19 They went away from us because they were not among us. If they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but so that it might be clear that they are not among us, they went away from us. That was the story of Judas. He was not among them. And to prove that he was not among them, what happened? He went away from them. So there are those that will look so much like us. But over time, they will go away from us. They will manifest—it will come out clear. And one thing I must say, I must tell you, that I've seen consistently in the Scripture about sons of perdition is—you know what it is? Is they don't abide in the truth. One thing I've consistently seen about sons of perdition is that they don't abide in the truth. Truth is something they don't have. They are either not sincere or not transparent. They are either not genuine or not real. If they laugh too much, it is to get something. If they are unusually nice, they want to have something. They are never—and that is what the Bible is representing in this place. It says, "Do not steal or deal falsely nor tell a lie." You can see that the three goes together. And sometimes when I look back at some things our parents used to tell us when we were growing up—you know when we were growing up as children, I normally hear this saying from my parents, I will translate it, don't worry. [Speaks in Yoruba] That is, any child that can tell lie will steal. And when I got to this Scripture and I was seeing how the Bible tied the three together, I discovered that if you can deal falsely, you can steal. If you will always be truthful and sincere, you cannot steal. Do you know that one thing that makes you to do wrong, one thing that makes you to have double life, is that you can deal with people very insincerely? If you are somebody who is consistently truthful, there are things that you will not be able to do. If you know that for everything you do, if they ask you, you will tell them exactly what you did. You will discover that it will keep you from a lot of things. If you know that if you want to do something, if they ask me, I will say exactly what I'm doing. I'm not going to color it. I'm not going to paint it. I'm going to say it exactly. Do you know if you make up your mind that you'll be consistently truthful, you discover that certain things that you do carefree, you will not be able to do them again. What am I trying to say? Why God must be talking to the people of Israel in Leviticus chapter 19, making them to see the various things that come that make up the holiness of God—He says, "Speak to the congregation of the people of Israel. They should not do this because I am holy. They should not do this because I am the Lord. They should not do this because they are holy unto me. They should not do this." Why He was busy displaying these things, we begin to understand the root of the things, the ingredients, the virtues, the conduct that sum up into God's holiness. So brethren, let us be watchful. Let us be careful. Let us be people who are truthful, people who don't deal falsely, people who don't tell a lie to one another. Do you know that Apostle Paul quoted this verse of the Scripture directly? Where did he quote that? Ephesians chapter 4. He quoted this verse directly, talking about what should be the life of a man who has been regenerated. It goes on to say verse 12—and this is where I will compare this with the word of our Lord Jesus Christ. Leviticus 19:12 And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. "You shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord." Now when you look at this Scripture, what exactly is God saying in this place? What is the literal thing here? "Don't swear by my name falsely." Normally, as far as the Israelites are concerned, if they want to do anything and they put the name of the Lord, it means that thing will be done. You get the point I'm making? So the Lord said, "You shall not swear by my name falsely." Now if we compare this—please, I want you to compare this with Matthew. Please, let's compare it with Matthew, the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 5. The dynamics of God's holiness. As we journey through 2023, somebody was speaking with me yesterday and they said, "Hey, the way things are going in this nation, God will just help us oh." He said, "Hey, we don't know how it will turn." I said, "Anyway, we don't know how it will turn. But one thing that I know is that it will be well with them who fear the Lord." I said the way to secure your future today is to live in the fear of God. We don't know how it will turn, but the Scripture says, "Mark the perfect, behold the upright, the end of that man is peace." We don't know what the future holds. He says, "With Nigeria's remaining Nigeria, with this what is going to happen, this election, hey, the way things are happening, I hope, I hope." And I said, "My sister, let not your heart be troubled. Don't let your heart be troubled. What is important is not what is in the future. What is important is that the future starts today. How are you living your life today?" I said I don't know how it will turn. But one thing that has become very certain in my heart is that it will be well with them who fear the Lord. And what exactly am I trying to say in what I'm saying? Is that when we started this year, I said something, that God is taking us on a journey of a closer walk with God on holiness. That many of the things we'll be teaching throughout this year will burden around what are the things that makes up the holiness of God. What are those things that makes up this holiness? Practical conduct. I also said so many uncertainties will be coming up in the year, like we saw in 2019. Not as if COVID was a new thing. I hope you know. You know it was not new. Something like COVID have happened before in the earlier centuries. But what made this one different is just what? The suddenness with which it came. So I said there will be nothing new under the sun. Only that several things will be happening in an unexpected manner, but they'll not be new. What will be new about them will be the unexpectedness with which they will happen. And I said gradually, it will be going on like that and eventually the greatest unexpected will take place. Rapture is not a new thing. Elijah was raptured. Enoch was raptured. The only difference that this one is going to come with is that when they will say "peace and safety," suddenly—it's the unexpectedness too with which it will take place. So people—and that is why, you know, I keep putting a lot of things together. The ten virgins. Five were wise, five were foolish. What was the foolishness in the foolish? Extra oil. What was the wisdom in the wise? The extra oil. When the Lord was to conclude the parable, what did he say? "Watch." What is the summary—people have tried to interpret that oil. It means the Holy Spirit. It means anointing. It means—no. It's always good to look at things within their context. In the context of that parable, what the Lord was saying is that watch and be ready. And I keep saying, it is our level of—I don't know how much watchfulness, how much watchfulness you are using to live your life today. We need to be very, very watchful. We need not to be careless with the things we do. We need to be watchful about our actions. He says, "Watch." If you don't watch, you will not know what to pray for, how to pray. If you don't watch—if you are not a watchful person, when you ought to be praying for certain things, you will pray for wrong things because you are not watchful. We watch unto prayer. And prayer again bring us unto watchfulness. What is it that I'm just trying to reiterate to us is that brethren, as we march on 2023, you are the ones celebrating Happy New Year. Ah, when they say "hey, 2024, Happy New Year," you are the one counting years. But don't forget that as far as God is concerned, His decrees are eternal. You're the one counting years, but rather understand that with every passing minute, every passing hour, the ultimate purpose of God, they are coming to definite fulfillment. That is what is more important. Every day, as you say Happy Birthday, Happy New Year, Happy New Week, also have it in mind that if we were 20 years away from it before, we are now 19 years away from it. Then 17 years away from it. Then 16 years away from it. Like that, the number will keep getting closer and closer to that ultimate. Why? Because the ultimate has been determined. There's nothing anybody can do about it. The ultimate has been determined. I will need to—we need to just—we need to just get—keep living and moving and understanding that put it this way, put it that way, on the final analysis, a rock will be cut out without hand. And that rock will come for the scattering of the whole kingdom. It's going to go to the feet. And when it scatters the whole image, the whole golden thing, the whole alluring thing, no trace, nothing about that old one will be seen again. But that rock will become a solid rock that covers the whole earth. And the Scripture says the God of heaven is going to establish a kingdom which will not be given again to another people. That is the ultimate. That is the final analysis of everything. Everything that is pulling us here and there now, we won't find any trace of it again. There will not be a trace of Naira. There will not be a trace of Dollar. There will not be a trace of Pounds. There will not be a trace of marriage. There will not be a trace of children. There will not be a trace of limousine, SUV. There will not be a trace of kidnapping. There will not be a trace of banditry. There will not be a trace—everything is going to be another kingdom. The ultimate. And anybody who is not living in view of that ultimate, as far as I'm concerned, is a foolish person. The ultimate is what we should understand and remember. Remember that the ultimate is not only determined, the determination of this thing is also fixed, such that when the time comes, nobody can stop it. When the time has not come, nobody can bring it. Crucial to that ultimate are the things that we are discussing. Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Very crucial to it. Very essential part of it. And do you know, brethren, do you remember—not as "do you know," do you remember that even the ultimate of redemption is holiness? Ephesians chapter 1, because I want to talk about something that borders on integrity. That's the next thing we want to discuss. That's why I'm giving all of this background. Look at Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Are you there? Ephesians chapter 1. I read New King James translation. Ephesians 1:1-4 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. So the ultimate of redemption—what is the purpose of God in redemption? The purpose of God in redemption is not heaven. The purpose of God in redemption is not heaven. The purpose of God in redemption is not heaven, I keep telling people. Rather, heaven is a plan in the purpose of God. The purpose of God is so that we should be holy. Heaven is a plan in that purpose, that when we have achieved the purpose of making them holy, there is a place I have prepared for them. Are you getting it now? He said, "I go to prepare a place for you, so that where I am, you can be there." But the purpose of God in redemption is so that we can become holy. It is when men demonstrate the life of God on earth, which is holiness. You see how it connect as we go on, as we go on in this discussion, you see how two fundamental things about God connect. You know the Bible says God is love. We are coming there. You will see what essentially love is. But the point I'm making is that the purpose of God in creation and in the universe—people should live like God. When that is done, what has happened? Man that He created in His image and in His likeness, and man forfeited that image and that likeness, then the purpose of God on earth is fulfilled. As long as we are sinning here, God's purpose is not fulfilled. God's purpose to get fulfilled is in holy living. And when that come forth in our life, His purpose on earth is fulfilled. And that is why you can see that when a man, God want to show us that in the Old Testament, He used Job to showcase what He want in the mind. "Satan, have you seen? Have you seen my servant Job? A man who fear God and eschew evil." And Satan was just scratching his head. He could not say, "You see, you know he told one lie yesterday. You know..." Satan was rubbish. That is the purpose of God on earth. That His purpose, that men can reflect the character of God. When that is fully achieved here, God now says, "Yeah, boys, have you showed him better? Have you dealt with him very well? Let's go and rest ja-re." We now come to heaven to come and rest. Are you getting the picture? So heaven is not the purpose. Heaven is just a plan in that purpose. So that what I am trying to make you see is that one thing to pursue as we journey through 2023 is what we are discussing. And I want to discuss something that borders on integrity. That's what took me to that place, and I had to do a little digression to discuss those things that I discussed. Look at what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 5. That's what took me to that place. Matthew 5:33. The Lord was speaking about things that borders on integrity and He explained. Let me read from 33: Matthew 5:33-34 Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord." But I say to you, do not swear at all. So I want to explain something in the old about the holiness of God that translate, that brings us to this matter in the new. Now when God said they should not swear in the name of the Lord falsely, what God meant is that an Israelite, an Israelite, once he says true to God, it means that thing that he said is actually the truth and nothing but the truth. So God is saying that anytime they want to use His name, it must never be on what is not true. Don't swear falsely with my name. Don't take the name of the Lord in vain. Don't swear falsely in the name of the Lord. Now when God was saying that, they should not swear falsely. What get to the New Testament, Jesus said don't need to swear at all. And I want to give you an illustration of something. Do you notice that if you tell somebody, if I tell Godfrey, "Ah, I will visit you next tomorrow." He say, "Ah, if I see you, shall I will believe." And I say, "Ah, you think I will not come? You think I will not come? I'm going to come!" What that thing is reflecting to you is that your life lack integrity. What it means is that people have looked at your life, that you are not somebody who mean what you say and you don't say what you mean. You are somebody that when you speak, you don't mean them. And so over time, you will need to swear. You will need to say, "Ah, ah, me, me? I swear I will come!" So when Jesus said you don't need to swear at all, He was bringing us to a better understanding of God's holiness. That if actually there is no perversity in your tongue, you will not need to be swearing. I have this firsthand experience, and every time I remember, it stay so much in my memory. It was some workers—I think they were bricklayers. Yes, they were bricklayers. They were working for one man. So, I don't know what we discuss to that point. I don't know what we were just discussing. And then the—there were about four bricklayers. Three of them were used to that man. One of them was not used to the man. The work became much, so they need to bring—no, two of them—three were used to the man, two were not used—they were five. So they got more bricklayers. So what happened was that this—I happen to know the man who owns the project. So somehow, I was with the workers close to the end of the day. They were just talking. And then one—I got to know because of the way they were talking, that's how I got to know that two of them were not used to him, three were used to him. One bricklayer first said, "Ah, I hope this man, I hope he will come back oh. This one that he says that when he comes back he will come and settle us. I hope he will come back. It's already getting late." One now said, "Ah, no, he will come, don't worry." So they continued. After some time, another one again raised that "Ah, this is already getting to seven. It's already late. We have finished the whole work and we are just waiting. This man, I doubt if he will come." Then another two, different from that first one, now said, "Ah, it is because the two of you you are new. That's why you are talking like this. We know this man." I will translate it in English what they said. They said, "We know him, [speaks in Yoruba]." That is, somebody who talk and will never fail. Ah, they said, "He's coming! Because his work is one, somebody who talk and he does not fail." You know what actually caught my attention was that a fellow human could call another human "somebody who talk and he does not fail." That is attribute of God. You know I stood there that evening, I reflected deeply. That this is what God want us to display in our characters. I stood there, you know, it made so—it's so fresh. Every time I think of that incident, I say it is because we are not giving ourselves devotedly to God, that is why the character of God is not showing in us. There are remnants. There are people who are living this life we think is impossible. And the difference is that they gave themselves. The Master said, "See, you do not need to swear at all." He said, "Look, let me read on." He said, "You don't need to swear at all." Where is it now? He said: Matthew 5:34-37 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No." For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Are you getting something at all? Brethren, are you getting something? Are you getting something? What is this thing, what is it playing on? What is it bordering on? What I'm trying to make you see is that one crucial ingredient in holiness is integrity. One crucial ingredient in holiness is integrity. Integrity. Integrity is a crucial thing. People whose word is them. And is that not what God is? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Is your word you? These are crucial dynamics in holiness. These are things that you may not take very seriously, but I'm telling you, one important conduct in working with God is that your yes should be your yes. This is everyday talk, everyday talk. You now come to people who go to altar to take vow. "I take this vow that in poverty and in rich, in this and that, in this and that, till death do us part. No matter what, in rain and in fire, in whatever and in whatever." And then when the rain and the storm of personality differences begin to come—you know no matter how much you think you know someone, marriage is a different ball game—when the storm of background differences begin to come, when one thinks this is the best way and another begin to show off before you know, it becomes "we are irreconcilably incompatible." Me, I did not marry to die oh! God has called me to peace. If marriage don't work, me I want peace. And then we begin to take joy in all of these things that we do today. The point I'm making, a lot of things today borders on the quality of people, the quality—people today, what is the quality of their life? One serious quality of life that is vital in holiness is integrity of person, uprightness of the heart. No matter the material thing that surrounds anybody, when you notice that his yes is not his yes, his no is not his no—let him be calling down fire from heaven, he's not somebody to draw close to. Let him own the universe. That his—I don't know what to call it now—your every morning greeting is new car. If he owns the whole—I don't know whether that is possible. Once he greet you in the morning, greet you with a new car. I'm trying to talk about riches that—I'm not trying to talk about—I'm saying no matter how much somebody may earn, may have, if you notice that the tongue is not sincere—no matter what you may be seeing about—no matter the aura you may see about that person, I advise you, take three steps away from that person. That is, be careful, be careful with such persons. We are talking about men of value, men of strength, men of grace. Jesus said, their yes is their yes, their no is their no. Watch relationship. "I will call you by 5:00 PM." If he did not call you by 5:00 PM, watch whether he's really sorry about it. Or he just said, "Eh, eh, ah, you know how it is now, you know anybody can just forget, just..." The same way, if he tells you he will marry you, then anybody know "how it is now," even that I said I want to marry you. It's the same thing. He that is not faithful over little will not be faithful over much. Let us pray. Integrity. Integrity. That is the matter we dealt with today. Do not steal. No falsehood. Don't lie to one another. Don't swear falsely in the name of the Lord. Don't bring the name of the Lord into the mud. Anybody who is a Christian doesn't need to swear, because he himself is the image of God. He doesn't need to swear. He display that character of God. Integrity. Look at the level of deceit in our leaders today. Look at the level of deceit everywhere. People do all kinds of things to get certificates. People do all kinds of things when they get certificate again to get a job. People enter into marriage deceitfully. People run churches deceitfully. People do ministry deceitfully. Deceit everywhere. Parents lie to children. Children lie to parents. Lecturers lie to students. Students lie to lecturers. You see deceit. And then on Sunday, everybody is inside one church. "Thou art worthy oh Lord." We need to look into our life. He who called us is holy. And I'm telling you, we don't discuss holiness with unbelievers. That's why I laugh when you're trying to tell unbelievers to be holy. What concern unbelievers and holiness? We talk about holiness with Christians, because they're the ones that have the capacity to be holy. Until a man is righteous, he cannot be holy. If a man have not received the gift of righteousness, he cannot be holy. It is those who have received the life of God that can live the life of God. That is the point I'm making. There must be a capacity. That is why grace is not like the law. Paul said: Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Under the law, there was no capacity to do right. There was no capacity, because righteousness was not imputed to the people. But now we are under grace, righteousness has been imputed to us. Grace has been released to us. The capacity to be holy was given to us in Christ. The whole essence of Christianity, that capacity you receive, is a change in your conduct. Your conduct should become like the conduct of God. You be a display of the character and the person of God. That's the essence of your justification in Christ. If I cannot live—if my conduct can't be according to the character and the nature of God, then what's the essence of the gift of righteousness and abundance of grace that I receive? We will not receive the grace of God in vain. Talk to the Lord this evening. Paul said, "I do not receive this grace in vain." He said, "This grace, I did not receive it in vain. But I labor." The Bible says, "striving according to His power that worketh mightily in me." There is a power that has work in you. And that power that has work in you is to produce this type of conduct. You're supposed to be a man of integrity. Your yes is your yes. Your no is your no. When you give somebody your word, say, "Look, this is my word," the person can go and sleep because you have given your word. Not pastors who tell lies today. Sisters who tell lies, brothers who tell lies. It's not about spiritual gift. There are many people doing signs and wonders, but they tell lies. They deal falsely. They're not truthful. They're not truthful. How can God— Thank You, Father. Be Your name, oh God. Thank You, Holy Spirit. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Our Father, we thank You again for Your word that has come to us today. Thank You for the admonishment. Thank You for the reproof. Thank You for the rebukes. Thank You for the corrections. For it is all in the hope that we will become like You. And Lord, we are praying that this hope of Yours that You have for us, Lord, we pray that it shall be achieved in Jesus' name. You have a hope to make us like You. We pray that we—that Your life seen in us, Lord, we pray it shall be so concerning everyone of us in Jesus' name. That Your grace overshadow us in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, sincerity of the tongue and the uprightness of the heart. Lord, please do for us in Jesus' name. That we shall be men just as You are, Lord, in this regard. Lord help us, that it shall be so concerning us in Jesus' name. It shall be our testimony in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Thank You Lord for answering our prayers. Lord, we pray for our teacher that You have used today. We pray Lord Jesus that You continue to increase Your hand upon him in Jesus' name. Lord, he shall not run dry in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Increase Your hand upon him in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You Lord for answering our prayers. We pray Lord that by the time we continue next week, that Lord You keep us even beyond then in Jesus' name. We pray concerning our nation, oh Lord. We pray that we commit our nation into Your hands. Lord, magnify Yourself in Jesus' name. Magnify Yourself in the mighty name of Jesus. Above principalities, above powers, above thrones, above authorities and whatever it be, magnify Yourself in Jesus' name. Thank You Lord for answering our prayers. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. The grace. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forever more. Amen. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. Praise the Lord! [Voiceover] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in reaching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development and mission help. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 PM; Adolescents and Singles Club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Family Life seminars, regular school out-reaches and every day counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ile-Oluji community, opposite Very Joy Filling Station along Ilesha road, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.