Biblical Concept of Faith (17)

[Introductory music and choral singing] [Singers] Be unto the Lord forever and ever. Amen. Amen, amen, amen, amen. Blessing and glory, and glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, and honor, and honor, power and might be unto the Lord forever and ever. Amen. Amen, amen, amen, amen. Blessing and glory, and glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, and honor, and honor, power and might be unto the Lord forever and ever. Amen. He has promised He would never fail. I will lean on Him. I will lean on Him. He has promised He would never fail. His faithfulness is forevermore. His faithfulness is forevermore. [Speaker 1] Almighty God, we are indeed very, very grateful for this evening again. We thank you, our Father, for this first Monday in the month of May. We are indeed very, very grateful. Accept our thanks, O Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ. Everlasting Father, we look upon to you. We pray that as we gather together, we who are here physically, our brethren who are connecting with us, some on Telegram, some on Mixlr, Lord, we pray, Lord, meet with every one of us in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord our God, we are begging you, meet us in a very, very personal way that it will be clear to us that it is you yourself instructing us, directing us, correcting us, encouraging us, rebuking us in the name of Jesus Christ. We pray that we will all personally see beyond the speaker. Lord, we will see the Lord. Lord, I pray that there will be seed for the sowers and there will be enough bread for the eaters to eat in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, grant us all inspiration, both in speaking and in hearing, in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Yeah, we thank God again as we move on in our study from where we left the matter last Monday. Last Monday was a time of prayer. Every last Monday of the month, we exhort ourselves briefly and then we pray. The exhortation last week centered on what we wanted to pray on. Our Bible text, John 10. And our focus last week was to bring ourselves to see that there is something about our life that is very clear in scriptures. The book of John chapter 10 made it very clear to us that our life is not just hanging. Our life is not just hanging. Our life is in the hand of the Shepherd, and that Shepherd is a good Shepherd. And I want to beg you, brethren who are connecting with us today, brethren who are coming in today, if you have not followed us all this while, because this is the 17th episode of Biblical Concepts of Faith. This is the 17th episode. I want to beg you so that you can have a comprehensive understanding of what we are doing. It might be good to listen to the earlier episodes. Although each of the episodes stands alone, each of them is a message on its own, but it is very important to also see that everything is connecting together. Everything forms one big whole, just one big thing that brings all together. So the matter of God our Shepherd was something that began when we were considering Isaac, how God shepherded Isaac. And we began to look at the nature of God's shepherding. And we had that matter to close last week, the nature of God shepherding. And the climax of that shepherding was what the Lord Jesus said in John chapter 10, verse 26, 27, 28, and 29. I would like to read that again. Jesus was speaking to the Jews. He said: "But you did not believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand." (John 10:26-29) That was where we climaxed the matter last week. And we assured ourselves of something very, very important: that see, you must get it clear. If you don't get this matter clear, it becomes very, very difficult to operate the faith of the Bible. God, God who began your faith is able to finish it. You are not the one who authored your faith. God authored your faith. Paul said being confident of this very thing, He who began the good work is able to finish it. If your faith don't rest on what Jesus said, that "I give them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand," John chapter 10, verse 26, 27, 28, 29, you must have that clear understanding. That was actually where I rested the matter last week. That see, if your faith don't rest completely in God, then you can never please God. You can never please God. There will be several things on the way because I'm trying to go gradually. I'm moving out of the Lord's shepherding, the nature of God's shepherding. We have concluded that last week. But all of them is under biblical concepts of faith. If you don't have God's shepherding, you cannot operate biblical faith. It's not possible. You must understand how God shepherds His people. That makes you to have the biblical kind of faith. And as we try to progress today to take an overall overview of our fathers in the wilderness and then gradually coming into Hebrews chapter 11 where the matter of faith was now clearly conceptualized, I want to say this. It is very important for you to see that the reason why our fathers, the reason why they perished in the wilderness is not because God cannot take them to Canaan. You must get that very clear. Please, I am emphasizing again, if you are just joining us today and you have not listened to the nature of God's shepherding, it's good to go and take the matter from episode 11 to episode 16 and bring it together. Understand the nature of God's shepherding. It is fundamental to your faith for you to understand the nature how God shepherds His people. Now, when you look at our fathers, the Bible said in Exodus chapter 3, let's quickly get there brethren. Let's get to Exodus chapter 3. The Bible says something about God in Exodus 3 that I want you to note. The Bible says: "Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, 'I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.' So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called him from the midst of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am.' Then He said, 'Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.' Moreover He said, 'I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God." (Exodus 3:1-6) And the Lord said, please note what the Lord said. That's where I'm going. Please note that this was not the idea of Moses. Moses going to lead the Israelites was not the idea of Moses. It was God who said to Moses: "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down..." (Exodus 3:7-8) Please note that. Note, "I have come down." God is the one to shepherd them. "I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up..." (Exodus 3:8) Are you seeing it? It is to shepherd them. It is to bring them. Let me tell you, when God called you, it was to bring you to an expected place. God don't call people for nothing. God don't call people for nothing. I want you to get God very clear. That's why we look at the nature of God's shepherding. God called people to something. God has an end. When God begins something, there is an end of God. That's why it says faithful is He who began the good work, He will also finish it. It says unto Him who is able to keep you from falling. Now, He says "and bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." (Exodus 3:8-10) Now what I want you to see in this place was that Moses was not thinking of going to bring anybody. Moses, it was not Moses' idea to go to Egypt. It was not Moses' idea to go and confront Pharaoh. It was not Moses that came down to deliver the people. It was God that came down. Now there is a symbol, there is somebody, there's an individual that seems to come to the people, but it was God that came down. God, it was God who saw it. Their deliverance, it was God who saw it, it was not Moses. The need to get out and come to Canaan, it was God who saw it. So it was never Moses' idea. It was completely the idea of God. It was completely something emanating from God. And so, God, but you know, God works in a way through His messengers. The Bible said He has made His angels ministering spirits, but His messengers, what? Flames of fire. He made them flames of fire. Of course, the ministers, they are never fire. They are just flame of the fire. God is the fire. God is the consuming fire. The ministers are mere flame. Flame refers to the visible aspect of the fire. So the ministers are the visible aspect of God. But they are never the fire. And nobody can ever take the place of the fire among the ministers. Nobody can ever take the place of God. That is something I have always made people to see. Nobody can displace God in anybody's life. God stands as God. So everybody must be personally connected to God. My sheep hear my voice. Go and listen to that message of God's shepherding. Now, but the point I'm trying to make, the point I'm trying to make you see was that Moses was the flame of a fire that Moses himself did not start. God is that fire. It was God who saw everything. It was God who wanted to deliver them. So Moses came to Egypt. So the whole thing was about God. Number two, I also want you to see that the whole idea of their deliverance, even though they prayed, even though they cried, was not their idea. It was also God's idea. So the journey, the journey out of Egypt, that journey out of Egypt was the journey that was completely strategized, organized, put into place by who? By God. But eventually, when God started the journey with them, how many got to the expected place that God wanted for them? How many of the original people that left Egypt? It was just Joshua got there, Caleb got there. Am I correct? Do you know how many millions never got there? But what I'm trying to make you see was that it was not because God could not have taken them there. They did not get there not because the ability of God cannot carry them there. And that is why the Bible in speaking to us, the Bible said that we have been born again unto a new hope. Please, I want to read that. We'll come back to this Exodus. Let's look at something in Peter. Let's look at something in Peter. I want to show you something in the book of Peter. First Peter chapter 1. I want to show you something there. First Peter chapter 1. The Bible says: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus: Grace to you and peace be multiplied." (1 Peter 1:1-2) Look at what Peter said. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance..." (1 Peter 1:3-4) So do you see that God begot us to what? There is a beginning and there is an end. When God brings anybody, God don't bring them into uncertainty. If anybody is walking with God and he is uncertain about his future, it is not the biblical faith. He does not understand the nature of God's shepherding. Now when God brings people, He brings them to something. It is to something. Now he says, "to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you." (1 Peter 1:4) I will come back to this much more later. We are still coming back to First Peter chapter 1, verse 3 and 4. We will come back to it. This matter of inheritance and what actually our inheritance is, because that is the ultimate object of faith. Because unfortunately today, men have lost the ultimate object of our faith. And it looks like the ultimate object of faith is something material and earthly. It's very, very unfortunate. We will come back to that later. By the time we are rounding up this biblical concept of faith, we will still come back to this matter, understanding the ultimate of the biblical faith. We'll come back to that. But what I'm trying to show you is that we have, God took us out of hopelessness into a hope. That hope has a beginning and it has an end to an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that does not fade away, reserved for you in heaven. Now look at verse 5. How are we kept? How are we kept for that hope? "...who are kept by the power of God through faith..." (1 Peter 1:5) How are we kept? How are we kept for that hope? Who are kept by the power of God through faith. It means when you remove faith, there is nothing to keep you. The power of God that keeps us, that power that keeps us, it keeps us through faith. It keeps us through faith. It is saying that God can do what He says He will do. So it is when you say God can do it and your hope is in that, that is when the power of God operates in your life. And that is why I showed you, I made reference to this in rounding up shepherding last week in biblical faith, that we need to get a clear understanding that God don't take away. Rather we trample upon serpent, scorpion. We trample upon them by looking up. When they were bitten by the fiery serpent, their prayer was that God take away the serpent. God never took away any serpent. Rather God told Moses make a bronze serpent, place it on a pole. It will come to pass if anybody is bitten by the one on ground, what should they do? They should look up. If they keep looking up, what will happen? The venom of a living serpent will die. If they don't look up, if they are looking down, what will happen to them? The venom will kill them. But what eventually killed them is not the venom. It's because they did not look up. The venom is so powerful, but it has been rendered powerless in the instruction to look up. Once they look up into that instruction, the venom is neutralized. But if anybody is bitten by the serpent and he keeps saying [Yoruba language: E gba mi, e gba mi] look, save me, help me, help me, then run into the synagogue, help, please somebody pray for me, the person will die. Even if the person even call Moses, Moses pray, and Moses lay his hand, you will not die, you will not die, you will not die, the person will still die. Because that is not the instruction. The instruction is look up. There is nothing particular about the serpent that is on the pole. If God had said if anybody bitten by serpent let them drink a cup of water, what will save them? A cup of water. So there is nothing in the serpent. The power is in what God said. God said look up. And that is why we don't take God's power from anything that God uses. The power is with God. Power is not in anything. It's an instruction that God gave. God gave that instruction. And so it is important for us to know that Jesus said it is as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so shall the Son of Man be lifted up. That's why the Bible tells us "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2) Because when you don't keep looking into the author and finisher of your faith, there will be trouble. Because God, any time they look up, once they look up, what will happen? The power of God will destroy the power of the serpent. If they look away from the serpent, what will happen? The power of the serpent will overpower them. So the power of God becomes operational when we act on the instruction of God. It is acting on God's instruction that we are calling faith. That is faith. God said, what did God say? And so, the Bible says we are kept. What is keeping us till the time of our inheritance is faith. We are kept by the power of God, but listen, that power becomes operational when we do what? When we look up. That's why we are kept by the power of God. What is keeping them from the fiery serpent is what? The power of God. But how is He keeping them? acting through faith. God said look up. The serpent is coming, you are looking up. But you know ordinarily, if you throw a snake on the floor here and the snake is crawling all around your leg and somebody says look up, I want to sincerely ask you how many of us will be looking up and not be looking down? Brethren, I am asking a question. If serpents are inside this hall now and that serpent once they bite you die, and God says don't bother your head, just look up. I've placed, be looking at the fan, I'm giving an example because that's what God told them, be looking up, just I've made a bronze serpent, just look up. How many of us will successfully look up and not look down small? Brethren, I want response. We who are inside this hall, how many of us will successfully look up? You'll just be looking up, even when the serpent is going on your leg, you go, "Hey no, whatever happens I am looking up." You will not look at the serpent and look at whether it is coming. Please brethren, how many of us? What I am trying to make you see is that while there is so much pressure to look down, life is not down. That is why you find that many people don't eventually get to the ultimate that God intended for them because it is more reasonable and natural to look down than to look up. It is more reasonable and natural to look down. But unfortunately, as many who are looking down, they will be going down. So I am trying to draw your attention to something because we have concluded the shepherding of God. And I'm trying to summarize something that will now bring us to Hebrews 11 where we want to begin to look at the concluding episode of biblical concept of faith. I don't know how many episodes that will take us, but by the time we are getting into Hebrews 11, we are gradually coming to the beginning of concluding biblical concept of faith. This is our 17th edition. Now what I'm trying to make you see is that what is keeping us is the power of God. You cannot keep yourself. Except the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen they stay awake in vain. Except the Lord builds the house, the laborers they labor in vain. Look, that is not making us to be irresponsible and lazy because you know that the Bible says laziness is godlessness. Laziness is godlessness. That is clear in scriptures. I don't want to go into that teaching but we know from scriptures it says go to the ant, O sluggard. A diligent soul will not stand before mere men, he will stand before kings. He that does not work should not eat. So God is not saying that we should be negligent. We should be diligent about our life. We should be serious-minded people. We should be responsible, we should be watchful, we should be sober. But we must never put our hope in ourselves. We must never think that it is because I did this that is why I did not fall. That is stupidity. Even though you are doing all of those things, your confidence and your hope is in Him who began this good work, He will finish it. We must never put our hope in ourselves. We must never put our trust in our effort. We must never put our trust—and that is why you notice that the pride of life is a demonstration of worldliness. It says all that is in the world, the pride... what is the pride of life? A sense of fulfillment in what you have been able to do. So anybody who have the pride of life is an enemy of God. When you think that, yes, I got it because I work hard, you forgot that no man can receive anything except it is given to him from above. That does not mean you should not work hard. That does not mean you should not be diligent. But God is making you to see that I am the one that gives you power to make it. If I don't give you health, how will you get that thing? If when you are going I don't keep you, accident occur and you go down the lane, will you achieve it? You forgot that there are many of your equals who as they were given birth to them, they die. If I don't give you life, how will you get what you have now? God wants us to see that, look, whatever you become is on account of His mercies. So hope must never be in whatever we think we may be doing. That's what I'm saying. Because sometimes, people when you are trying to emphasize a truth, people seem to understand another truth. "Oh then, I should be negligent, I should just be living anyhow, God will keep me." God never said that. He said be vigilant, be sober, watch and pray lest you fall into temptation. He said all of that. But He said having done all to stand. Having done all, after you have done all, stand, not hoping in yourself, but hoping in who? In God. Because all those things that you did, how does God summarize them? He said I am the one who work in you both to will and to do of My good pleasure. So if you are able to do what is right, who worketh in you? It is God. We must get that very clear. Why God is saying that it is Me and not you. He will never share that glory. So we are kept by the power of God. But that keeping is through faith. And you will notice all through, all through, all through the ministry of Jesus, you will see how Jesus has spoken about faith. "Your faith has made you well." "I've not seen such a great faith." "If I'm willing..." "No, not if I'm willing, all things are possible to him who believe." Mary said "blessed is he who believe for there will be a performance of those things which are told him by the Lord." The only way we can respond to God and we will ever make God happy is faith. Because faith is saying that God can do what He says He will do. So it is when you say God can do it and your hope is in that, that is when the power of God operates in your life. So with them, when the serpent is even coiling around their neck and it thing come and it jump and it gives somebody a bit on the ear, the person just look up, look up, the person keep looking up, looking up, he's putting his hope in God, he's saying "God you are able," what happens? The power of God come into operation and then it keeps that person. That's what I'm trying to make you see that the shadow of faith is in the Old Testament. What we are practicing in Christianity, the shadow is in the old. It's clear from the old. It is as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, the same way that Jesus will be lifted up. So we are looking unto Jesus. Now, so the point I'm trying to draw near to you is that even though God called you and God is bringing you to an inheritance which is your end, and you are to be kept by God's power, but brethren, it is through what? It is through faith. It is through faith. I am not talking of your strength. That's why I took time to explain that matter of faith. What is keeping you is keeping you because you are looking up. It's not because you are looking at yourself. You are not looking at your strength, your weaknesses, you are not looking at all of that. You are not looking at your ability. You are looking at who? You are looking unto Jesus. You are looking at what He said about you. You are looking at what He pronounced about you. You are looking at what He said is yours. You are looking at what He said He has done. And I keep telling people and I will keep repeating it: Christianity is first and foremost about what God has done for us, not about what God will do for us. We must have a clear understanding that it is finished. Somebody is, we are more than conquerors through somebody. Somebody authored it, so that person who authored it is the person finishing it. We must get it clear. Get it clear. Now, God took these people by Himself and they started that journey. Ever from the beginning of that journey, they began to misbehave. The first part of that journey, which we have already looked at—if you go and look at episode 8, 9, and 10, Moses by the Red Sea—we have looked at it already. So I'm drawing something from that place that was that they saw beyond Moses. They could see the cloud. But yet, their complaint was against Moses. They said "Moses, this is what we have told you, that you should have allowed us to die, to serve the Egyptians. Is it not better if we have died in Egypt, at least there would be a burial ground, some place to bury us. Now you have brought us here. Is it not what we have been telling you?" Now the point is, what happens to the cloud that was before them? There was a cloud before them. There was a cloud. They didn't see a cloud that leads the way when God said "I will lead you through the way that you don't know the way." He was leading them all through. That cloud was there. And yet, that cloud was there but their complaint was to Moses. They began to complain against him, complain against him, speak against him, speak against him. They were speaking, speaking, speaking. They said all kinds of things against him. Anyway, that left. They moved on from that spot. They moved on. By the Red Sea, before God parted the Red Sea, look at what they said. By the time they crossed to the other side and they saw the Egyptians, they changed their story. What was their story? "Sing unto the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider has He thrown into the sea." What I'm trying to make you see is that these people, they are people who in the beginning of their journey they were doing what? They were looking up and they were what? They were looking down. They were double-minded. They were double-minded people. They were not single-minded. They were not single-minded. Now you will notice that when the Bible wanted to summarize everything about them, the Bible gave us example where in First Corinthians chapter 10, that's the summary about them. The summary. The Bible summarized them for us in First Corinthians chapter 10. First Corinthians chapter 10, the Bible summarized them for us. In First Corinthians 10, the Bible says from verse 1: "Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.' Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry." (1 Corinthians 10:1-14) Do you get what is happening to these people? They were wavering between God and idols. They were not steady in their faith. And why were they wavering? Because different types of trials was coming around them. They were facing different challenges. They were seeing different issues. Many things were coming along their way. And as a result, they began to think that ah... like somebody said, he was speaking in Yoruba language, I will translate it. [Yoruba language: Agba po l'eyan n gba Olorun. Agba po l'eyan n gba Olorun. O ni fi ogun s'ogun gbogbo won si'le wa gba gbogbo e po, bo ba ti a wa je ko ki, a wa je ki agbara yen po]. What the person is saying, let me translate for non-Yoruba hearers: that you don't take God only in isolation. Along with other gods you do what we call constellation of gods so that in case this one don't work, the other one will work. That is what they were doing. They were bringing some addition to God. They were adding. They were adding to that God. And the reason why they were adding was because of what? They were facing different issues. They were facing different trials. So Paul had to tell them ah, these things they are written for our admonition. They are written for our admonition. He said look let me remind you, say moreover brethren don't forget that our fathers, they all passed through, they all did this, they all did this, they had the same spiritual drink, they did this, they drank of Christ, they ate of Christ, they went through those things, but yet with many of them God was not pleased. Don't forget that without faith it is impossible to please God. With many of them God was not pleased. Why was God not pleased? By the time we enter into Hebrews it will become clearer. But the fact the Bible makes us to see that God was not pleased with them because they did so many things. Why did they do those things? Why were they complaining? Trials. They complained about how the road was difficult. They complained about that there is no... is it only this manna, manna, manna, manna, this dry thing that they will be eating? And when they were talking about the manna, I hope you remember how they said it? Please go and read those stories again if you have forgotten. He said "we remember the cucumber and the garlic that we ate freely in Egypt." Hey! Were they eating those things freely? People that were crying to God that they are in hard bondage! You see, be careful sometimes when God is, when you are working with God, sometimes we begin to complain. "In fact, I've been better self, unbelievers have better life than my own." That is how we talk sometimes. That is how we act. That is how we speak sometimes. "In fact, look at my brother who did not believe is having a better life. This my Christianity self, it doesn't worth it." That is what they were saying. That is the example of what I am trying to say. They say they were getting this coriander, this thing that looks like coriander seed, ordinary coriander. What happened in that case? You know God gave them meat. God told them he said they want meat abi? God told Moses, tell them that by tomorrow they will eat meat. And Moses said "ah God, excuse me, there is an omission. The number of the people, they are over one million. You say they will eat meat by tomorrow? Maybe you want to say next year, because to gather the meat..." Ah God told Moses "is anything impossible for me? Go and tell them that they will eat meat by tomorrow." Moses himself was confused about how over a million people, besides men and children, besides women and children, that's the million oh. I know women and children will be more than the number. You know they don't count women and children. So Moses was wondering. Anyway, he went to tell them. And what did God do? By the following day, God caused the east wind to blow and it blew and it brought quail. I hope you know what is quail? [Yoruba language: Aparo]. It brought it as low, he forced those things down that they were catching it, they were catching it. "Ah, eron ti de, this is meat!" While it was still, while it was still, while it was still in their mouth, while it was still in their mouth, what did the Bible say? God caused a plague to come upon them and many of them died. And you know what that thing makes me to see? It's possible sometimes for God to make you seem to, seem as if you are prosperous, only for you to be destroyed. You look as if they prospered. But they prospered to die. But that is not even where we are going. What I am trying to make you see was that they became dissatisfied with the bread that God was giving them. At another point, what was their complaint? There was no water. At another point... what I'm trying to make you see was that it was different trials, different challenges, different of those things, trials that made them to do what they did. You get the point I'm making? At some point it was not just trial, it was attraction. You know when Balaam could not curse them? You know Balaam tried to curse them through Balak. Balak went to hire Balaam to come and curse them. He tried, he could not curse them. Balak, Balaam now advised that let your ladies go into their midst and pollute them, that their God is so strong. Once you can make them sin against their God... Do you notice that that one was not trial, it was attraction? Attraction from the world when the world is offering you things. A good job, a good this, tell a little lie to make more money, a little compromise to get promotion, a little bending of principles to get it, a little this, that's kind of thing. He said these things they are written down because there is no one, there is no one that you want to face in this life that is not as common to men. So when you say "Ah! [Yoruba language: Ah ariiru eleyi ri!]" it's a lie. There's nothing new under the sun. You can't say "ah, we have not seen kind of thing before, I've not seen kind of thing before, you see my own problem is a special one." We need to understand when people start talking like that. You know that fundamentally something is already missing. Nothing can be so special that it becomes peculiar to you. Whatever you are facing is a common thing, it's common. By the time you ask four, five, six people, somebody have gotten that kind of situation before. That's the reality of it. That's what he's saying that we should take this as learning. Now what I really want to bring out from all that I have been saying since morning is that please get something clear: that we also we have been called by God like they were called by God. Brother, it is God who called you. Sister, if you actually gave your life to Jesus, Jesus is not a vain talker. I hope you remember that was our biblical concept of faith episode 2. So you can go and listen to that. God is not a vain talker. Anybody who speak and does not watch over it to perform it is a godless person. When God speak, God watch over it to perform it. So when you say "I will, don't worry, I will give you tomorrow, I will dash you tomorrow," and they don't do it, they are not operating the Christian faith. Christian faith don't make us vain talkers. When we say, we say what we mean, and we mean what we say. Those are believers. Don't mind what is going on today with different kind of problem we are facing in people. We have looked at episode 2. What I'm trying to say is that God did not take you in vain. When God said "look, I give you eternal life," what God meant is that you will not perish. That is what God meant, you will not perish. That is what He meant. That is what He want to do with you. And His power is able to keep you. So many things may be happening in our nation today that is making our hearts to get afraid, that's making us to be [gasps]. But brethren, we must understand that even if this body perish, there is a God who is able to keep. There is a God. The God who called us is able. And I tell people, nothing can just happen to a believer. No. Do you know why I say so? He said "are not five sparrows, are not two sparrows sold for one penny? Yet one sparrow don't fall to the ground outside the knowledge of your Father." Do you get what Jesus is trying to say? Two sparrows sold for one penny. So how much is one sparrow? There was no half penny in those days. The lowest is a penny. So two sparrows are sold for one penny. One is so valueless that it's until you put two together that you can now put one penny. But one cannot fall to the ground without God's consent. Do you get what Jesus is teaching? That even what men don't give value because God created it, it cannot die without God's consent. He said "fear not therefore, you worth more than many sparrows." I cannot just die. For me to die, God must consent. That's what I'm trying to make you see. I'm talking about this faith that we have come into. What we must hold, because if we don't hold these things and we begin to look at your situation, my situation... do you know one day? Do you know one day God spoke to me about something? That's many, many years back, but I just remembered it now and I want to say it. You know, there was this particular commercial driver then I was doing my PhD in University of Ibadan. So then I travel almost every week I go to Ibadan. So at some point when I'm going, my heart start beating. "Oh, God." I don't like, personally I don't like traveling, personally I don't like traveling personally. So my personality was playing. "Ah this Ibadan again. Ah." And sometimes I just worry. Ah, journey, journey, Nigerian road and accident and all of that. You forgotten that this one died, that one died in accident. But you know one day, you know what took that thing out of me? One day as I was, so as I was to travel, I can't remember what, but I saw one of the drivers. I did that program, I started that program around 19... I can't remember, I will get it now. I want because that thing changed my attitude so I want to try and relate it. I started my PhD 2012, I finished 2018, because I lost my supervisor in the midst of it so they have to change my supervisor. That was my PhD. I did my MPhil, I started my MPhil 2010. So my MPhil was two years. Two years from 2010. 2008? Yes, started all the journey to Ibadan 2007, 2008, that's when I started all the journey. I finished all the journey 2018. Going almost every week. You get the point I'm trying to bring out. So in one of those going, I've stayed about three, four years in that my going. I now just saw a driver who have been picking me from around that 207, 2007, 2008. I saw him maybe around 2014. And the Lord just spoke to me. He said "Son, this driver, you go maybe once in a week. This man is on this road every day of his life. I have kept him all these years. If I could keep him who goes on a daily basis, I can keep you who goes weekly. Stop being afraid." Do you get the point I'm trying to make? The, the, there is... God is trying to make me see that if you entertain fear, if you don't allow your heart to rest on me, that is when my power will not be able to keep you. We are kept by the power of God through faith. You get the point I'm making? So it doesn't mean that brethren some of our brethren who died in accident, it was because God could not keep them that's why they died. It was because God so ordained that that is how they should die. That's the truth about it. That's the truth about it. But what I'm pulling you towards today, what I'm calling your attention to today, is please I want us to look at our fathers in the wilderness that eventually they never got to the land, not because God was not able to keep them. The Bible now showed us that it was in their trials in different things, they began to murmur, they began to commit... they began to sin, they began to... ah! "I cannot survive in Nigeria! They said that this my age self, I'm already 45. If I don't, I better cut five years away, I may never get a good job. You better cut five... ah, let me make myself 35!" Different trials, different things today. But the more we throw away faith, the more we forgot that we are kept by the power of God through faith. We'll pick it from here next week. Our fathers in the wilderness are a good example for us. God began with them. I want you to lift up your head above your fears. That God you have begun this journey with me, you have called me out of Egypt. I'm looking at the examples of our fathers. There is nothing that overtake me as such as is common to me. Lord you are able to bring me to the expected end. You have not called me to nothing. You didn't call me to emptiness. You didn't call me to vanity. You didn't ask the house of Jacob to seek you in vain. No! We are not seeking God in vain. God is not a liar. God is not somebody who will not, who will not, who will not do what He has said. The person who called us, the person who called us, He called us with an expectation. He called us to bring us into something. And He said "look, look up unto Me. Look up unto Me. Look up unto Me. Look up unto Me. Look up unto Me. Look up unto Me." Why not cry like that man? "O Lord I am looking up, help me to look up." Because I also know that it is God that works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Lord I am looking up. Because we want to begin to explore, you know from this place we'll be moving next week into Hebrews. And begin to see what Baba began to say about this faith that we have been called to. God who spoke to our Father through the prophets in dreams and in this, as in these last days spoken to us in His Son. [Speaking in tongues: Yamarakada labayakatala babababa]. Hey! Look, what you are into is greater than what our fathers were into. That is what I'm trying to make you say about biblical faith. I'm going to make you see from Hebrews. What climaxed in Hebrews 11 began in Hebrews chapter 1. We'll begin to look at the book of Hebrews. We'll begin to see how the Bible builds the matter systematically before it finally came to "look, if any man draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him." [Speaking in tongues: Ramolekente riyababa]. Say God I will look up. I will look beyond the serpent. I will look beyond the situation. I will look beyond my fears. I will look. There is an inheritance, there is a hope, there is an expectation, there is something you said, there is something you have told me, there is something you spoke, there is something Lord God Almighty. I am kept by your word. I am kept by the instruction you gave. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. My sheep hear my voice. If you cannot hear him then you cannot have faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. My sheep hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice. Lord we thank you for this evening. Lord we bless your name. Lord we bless your name. We just commit ourselves into your hand. Lord God Almighty, as we begin to look at the matter of our fathers, as we start, that is what we are beginning today as we make progress more and more in this matter. Lord please come to us personally. Lord please meet with each and every one of us. Lord please address our situation. Lord meet us at our various junctions. Speak to our heart. Address our situation. Give us light and direction in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore. 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. [Closing Message] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's Word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission aid. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 PM; 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 everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ile-Ere community, opposite Verio-Joy filling station along Ije-Are 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.