Biblical Concept of Faith (4)

[Intro music] [Intro Voiceover] Church fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God will involve the godliness [unclear]. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Brethren who are joining us on Telegram, you are all welcome. Our brethren who are connecting with us on Mixlr, you are welcome. As we start again this evening, I would that we take this song together. [Singing] The word of God is sufficient unto me. The word of God is sufficient unto me. The word of God is sufficient unto me. The word of God is sufficient unto me. The word of God is sufficient unto me. The word of God is sufficient unto me. The word of God is sufficient unto me. The word of God is sufficient unto me. The word of God is sufficient unto me. The word of God is sufficient unto me. May the word of God be sufficient unto us in all our journeys of life. The Master said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed out of the mouth of God." May all that proceed out of the mouth of God become the pattern for our living in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's take a word of prayer as we start this evening. Father, we thank You for our gathering this evening. We appreciate You for Your mercies. We thank You for Your love. We give You glory, we give You praise, we give You honor, we give You adoration. Lord, unto You we gather this evening. Baba, we are praying for we who are here physically, our brethren who are joining us on Mixlr, our brethren who are joining us on Telegram. Lord, we pray meet with each and every one of us wherever we are located this evening in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, as we make advancement in the series, Biblical Concept of Faith, this is the fourth episode in this series. Lord, we pray You will speak to us in a way that we can understand. You will meet us where we individually need You most. You will make our lives better. Thank You, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So, we are going to pick the matter from where we left it last week Monday. We have been looking at James 2 as the background in trying to understand biblical concept of faith. And last week, we concluded with the matter of Abraham, where in verse 21, the Bible says, "Was not Abraham our father justified? Was not our father Abraham justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you not see that faith was working together with his work, and by works faith was made perfect?" That was what we examined last week. And as I normally say, if you were not with us last week, you are just coming on board this week, or you have not been with us since the beginning of the series, so that you can be able to put the matter into proper and comprehensive perspective, it will be good that you listen to the episode 1, episode 2, and episode 3. Today we are having the fourth episode or the fourth part in this series, Biblical Concept of Faith. And what I intend to do is to move on to the second example and then conclude the matter in James before we begin to move to other scriptures in trying to understand this matter of biblical concept of faith. That is, as far as scripture is concerned, what really is the faith? What really is the faith? And that's exactly what we have been trying to explore gradually in the last three weeks. And we are having our fourth episode today. Now, haven't considered Abraham, we move on, we read verse 22, 23 as we move on to look at Rahab. "Do you see that faith was working together with his work and by works faith was made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God." So, when we link the verse 22 and 23 together, following the matter we discussed about Abraham, that if we put it in a very one-sentence summary, in Abraham, we saw that faith is obedience, is carrying out that which God said, even when it looks completely unrealistic, when it looks completely unthinkable. Ability to do what God says regardless of how the instruction seems. So, obedience to God's instruction regardless of the nature of that instruction, that is what we saw in Abraham. When you obey the instruction, when you carry out the instruction. And now the Bible says that, "Do you see that faith was working together with works and by works faith was made perfect? And the scripture came to pass, the scripture was fulfilled which says that Abraham believed God." So, we are getting to see something, that believe and faith, they go side by side, but they are not exactly the same thing. We talk about, when the Bible is talking about believing God, the Bible is talking about the ability to make faith to be perfected by works. In other words, for the scripture, it cannot be said that somebody believed God if the person does not obey God. That's what he's saying. So, from the position of scripture, the way to know that somebody believed God is that the person obeys God's instruction. When somebody don't obeys God's instruction, the person cannot be said to have believed in God. Because in making reference to believe, what the Holy Spirit is raising with us here is faith being perfected by works, that is, acting on that which God said. That is what he's describing as faith being perfected by works. So, when faith is not perfected by work, we cannot be talking about somebody who believe in God. To be able to say that somebody actually believe in God, it must be somebody in whom faith is made perfect by works, that is, somebody who carries out that which God said regardless of the circumstance and the situations that surrounds the person. And so, if we have somebody who carries out that which God said, not minding under the circumstance in which the instruction was coming from God, we now say that the person believe in God. So, what I'm saying this evening is that you cannot say you believe in God when you are not an individual who can carry out that which God said regardless of the situation that surrounds the instruction. And that is why today you find so many people who say they believe in God, but yet you find that even though so many are making this statement, very few are showing forth God's praise and glory. Because the believe, what the believe is not the biblical concept of believing. So, point of scripture, we were able to understand this evening that believing God, that I believe God for what God said, is not a static thing. It's a progressive thing. It's an action thing. "I believe God for this thing." If you are truly believing God for something, you are trying to say that I am somebody who have been able to perfect faith by works. That is what it means to believe. And then, haven't said that, the Bible move on to verse 24, 25, and 26 that concludes this chapter. It says, "You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without work is dead also." Now, the second reference in this chapter is the reference to Rahab. And again, it will be good for us to look at this episode that the spirit of God is pointing us to. This was something that took place in the Old Testament, in the book of Joshua, when Joshua sent the spy to go and spy the land of Jericho. And of course, they went as instructed. But the spies met with one or two challenges. The challenge was that the king, or let me say the security network in Jericho, were able to discover that there were one or two person that came to spy the land. And so, men were sent after these two men to apprehend them. And so, that brought us into the picture that brought Rahab into the picture. Now, in chapter 2 verse 1, it said, "Now the son of Joshua sent two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly saying, 'Go, view the land, especially Jericho.'" So they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho saying, "Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country." So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab saying, "Bring out the men who came to you, who have entered your lodge." So you can see that there was perfect security network. They knew these men, they knew where they entered, and quickly there was a proactive response. May the security in Nigeria become something ahead of this and something better than this in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, but let's follow the story. So, they knew exactly where they were, and they sent to capture these men. But the woman took the two men and hid them. She said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went, I do not know. Pursue them quickly for you may overtake them." But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with stacks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. Then the men pursued them by the road to Jordan to the fords. And as soon as those who had pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. Now, before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, "I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt. And what he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our heart melted, neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you. For the Lord your God is the God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore I beg you, swear to me by the Lord since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house and give me a true token. And spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death." So the men answered, "Our life for yours. If none of you tell this business of ours, and it shall be when the Lord has given us the land that we shall deal kindly and truly with you." Then she let them down by a rope through the window for her house was on the city wall. She dwelt on the wall. And she said to them, "Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way." So the men said to her, "We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, unless when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you have let us down. And unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to your own home. So it shall be that whoever goes outside the door of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear." Then she said, "According to your word, so be it." And she sent them away, and they departed, and she bound the scarlet cord in the window. Praise the Lord. That is the episode that Apostle James was referring to, trying again to make us comprehend what is biblical concept of faith. Trying to make us see what faith really is. We saw in the case of Abraham that actually faith is following God regardless of how the instruction looks like. Faith simply means obedience, even when everything looks odd. That's faith. Now, in coming to Rahab, we are looking at a very, very, very, very interesting story. And the Bible refers to this in explaining biblical concept of faith. The Bible says, " likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without work is dead also." Now, in looking at Rahab, what is it that the Bible is calling faith in Rahab? From what Rahab said, it is obvious that it is not necessarily the testimony of the two spies that made Rahab to believe in God. What we are seeing is that Rahab, and being somebody who lives inside Jericho, the inhabitants of the land, the inhabitants of the land, they heard testimonies about the Israelites. The testimony they heard was not a testimony that came only to Rahab. It was a testimony that came to the inhabitants of Jericho. When the testimony came to them, the testimony about the Israelite that came was that one, the gods of these people finished, was able to destroy the whole army of Egypt in a very amazing and mind-blowing way. What is the amazing and mind-blowing way? Is the crossing of the Red Sea, the making Pharaoh to pursue after the Israelite, making the Red Sea to return back on Pharaoh and all the chariots of Egypt. So, that story was not just a story that was with the Israelite. It was a story that spread, and the story spread to Jericho. The inhabitants of the land heard the story because she said, "For we have heard." So they heard. Now, not only that story, the next testimony they heard was how the Israelite were able to destroy two powerful kings, Sihon and Og, Amorite kings. How again the God of these people made these two kings to go down before them. Now, the reality was that when they heard all of these story, when this testimony was coming to them, the heart of the inhabitants of the land, the Bible says according to the testimony of Rahab, she said, "Our heart faints," that there is no single strength in it. So, the seemingly security network, the seemingly running after to get the two spies, was not because there was strength in them. It was actually a matter that they could not see how they will not be defeated. Because Rahab made us to understand what was really going on. What put Jericho on red alert was the realization that these people that are coming are unstoppable. That is what brought them to red alert and they were just doing all they can to deliver the city as much as they can within the limit of what they can do. So, that is what is going on. But we have to look at what the Bible now calls faith. Others heard about the testimony of the Israelite. They all... Oh, as I said they all now, the scripture coming to my mind is something that happened to our fathers. We'll get there briefly, shortly. You know the Bible use the same thing for our fathers. He said, "Brethren, I would not have you ignorant that our fathers were all baptized into Moses. They all ate the same spiritual food. They all drank the same spiritual drink. They were all baptized into Moses, but with many of them, God was not well pleased. Their bodies were overthrown in the wilderness." It's a similar thing with what we are seeing in Jericho. Everybody heard the story. Not only that everybody heard the story, everybody believed the story. Because if they don't believe the story, there will still be courage in them. If you look at the testimony of Rahab, Rahab said in that testimony, she said that... let me go back to that place. She said... that is around the verse 11... "And as soon as we have heard these things, our heart melted." So, a man's heart don't melt if he does not believe a story. They would have just, "Ah, it's not true, exaggeration." But she's making us to see that as soon as... so there was a report. There was a report that came to them. What I'm trying to make you see is something about faith. The Bible say, "Who will believe the report? Who will believe our report?" Which report do you believe? Now, number two was that she said our heart melted, neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you. So, there was no courage. Now, what brought the people to this point was believe in the power of God. Believe in what God had done. Believe in the capacity of the God of Israel. Believe in the ability of this God and a submission to the testimony that surrounds this God, testimony about this God. They totally believed. And it made them to become people that were terrified, afraid, and have given up all hope. But I want to ask you, despite all of this, do you notice that only Rahab, her father, her mother, her siblings and those who belong to her, they are the only ones that were not destroyed with the destruction of Jericho? So you see that somebody believe, somebody agree, somebody submit to the testimony of God is still not sufficient to describe the biblical concept of faith. That when they talk about God, when they talk about Hell, your heart trembles. When they talk about the greatness of God, you agree that God is great. Because you agree that God is great, maybe while you are inside church, maybe while you sometimes pray, maybe while you sometimes call on God, maybe while you do certain things. But you see, these people they were... they acted to show their believe. But the Bible did not call the others people that had faith. The Bible says Rahab... He says, "Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works?" The others were condemned even though they believe. Even though their heart melted, they agree that this God is great. They agree that this God is mighty. But they were not willing to give up what they are holding to, to hold to this God, that is the dictates of this God. They were not ready to align their life with the people that belong to this God. They were not ready to align themselves with the kingdom lifestyle that they were hearing about. They have heard about it. But somebody was ready to align herself. Somebody was ready to follow the dictate. And the way the person showed that she was ready was that the person took step towards this God. What was the step she took? She said when she received the messengers. What I want to make you understand about receiving messengers is the ability to act on what we believe. To receive the report of God and act on that report that is coming about God. You see, one very serious thing about this matter is that you will notice when I said our fathers, the same thing that the Bible said about our fathers. He said they was faith to believe in Moses. There was faith to be baptized into Moses. There was faith, there was faith to eat the bread, to drink from the rock which followed them, which was Christ. He said, "But with many of them, God was not well pleased." Why was God not well pleased? It was because God wanted them to act in a way, but they were acting in another way. Now, what we are seeing about faith is this, is that when it comes to faith, faith is the ability to act in the way that God expects of us. The other people were acting. They were acting. You see, this is very, very crucial for us today. It is very, very, very, very crucial. Others acted, their heart melted, there was no spirit in them. They were afraid of the Israelite. But that is not... that is not what God wanted them to do. What God wanted them to do is not acting that way, but acting the way of Rahab. Pledging allegiance to that God. So, when it comes to us today, it is high time to make us see that faith, faith is believing God enough to act according or in line with God's expectation from you. Faith is not just believing God and acting the way you feel. Faith is not believing God and acting the way you like. Faith is not believing God and acting the way you think. Faith is believing God and acting according to God's principle, acting according to God's expectation. The expectation that God wanted was that which Rahab did. She renounced the initial god that she had and put her faith in the God that she heard of and was ready to align her life with the people of that God. That is the matter. So, what we are talking about, faith, simply goes beyond believing God. Faith is believing enough to act according or in line with God's expectation from you, which means actually therefore that we cannot separate faith from acting according to the dictates of the scripture. Because God's expectation from us is from the scripture. So, faith is not just believing the scriptures. Faith is not just believing God, but faith is the ability of a man to act according to the totality of God's counsel, to act according to the expectation of God in matters of life. When a man is not acting according to the expectation of God in a particular matter of life, that person is not having faith. That is what we are seeing in the case of Rahab. They believe, they acted, but not according to God's expectation. They acted the way they feel, they were afraid. Sometimes when you see the word of God, you feel like, "Can this be real?" I remember talking with someone one day on a matter that have to do with revenge. And I said, "Bro, I don't think this matter call for revenge because the scripture says..." And what he simply said is, "See, bro, that is the scripture. I need to face reality." So, the scripture is one way, is reality is another way. That is not faith. When it come to the matter of revenge, there is what God said about revenge. God said, "Do not avenge yourself. Leave vengeance for me." That is God's expectation. So when you say, "No, the way I feel, I cannot take this. I must revenge." You are just like the people of Jericho. When they heard they were afraid, that was their response. And it is like that for us sometimes. When we hear something about God, we fear. When we hear something about God, it looks odd. When we hear something about God, we feel somehow, we feel some way. And as a result, we don't act according to God's expectation. What I'm trying to make you see is that when the Bible was describing faith according to what happened with Rahab, the Bible says it was that works that showed to God that she had faith. What was the works? She was not just afraid, that was her feeling. She was not just fainthearted, that was the way they all felt. But she renounced allegiance to a particular god and put allegiance in another God. And to show that she has renounced one for the other one, she showed allegiance to the people of God. You might be wondering what I'm trying to bring out. Please understand me. The first and the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And let me tell you, the second go side by side with it. That's why the Bible says, "And the second is like unto it, that you love one another as I have loved you." That's why the Bible says if any man says he loves God but hate his brother, he's a liar. There is a connection. There is this connection in faith. There is this connection between faith in God and allegiance to the people of God. That's what I'm trying to make you see. There is an action connection. If I say I love God... Let me use this thing that comes to me over and over again, particularly for my own marital life. If I say I love God and I know that my wife is the daughter of God, and I don't show genuine concern for that daughter of God, it is a lie, I don't love God. You don't love God. If you truly love God, it will show in a genuine concern for those who are connected to Him. That is what Rahab did and the Bible was calling works. Some people think that faith is about me, I love my God, I no go lie, and then I have nothing with His people. It's a lie. That's not biblical concept of faith. That is not biblical concept of faith. The biblical concept of faith is allegiance to God and allegiance to the people of God. That is what Rahab did. That is what John was saying about if anybody says he loves God, how can you love God whom you have not seen, when you hate His children that you can see? "And this is the commandment that we have from Him, that he who loved God must love his brethren also." This is the commandment that we have from Him. I'm quoting the book of 1 John 4. "But this is the commandment that we have from Him, that he who loves God must love his brother also." And that is what you are seeing in Rahab. There is no allegiance to God which does not show in allegiance to those who belong to God. There is a lie. It's a lie. If I love God and I can lie to a child of God, there is no love of God in my heart. That's the reality I'm trying to make you see. If I love God and the sun can go down on my anger for a child of God, then there's a problem, I don't really love God. He says, "Don't let the sun go down on your anger." That's the biblical rule. Take it, believe it. You see, I'm showing these things because many times we don't look at biblical concept of faith as something practical. That is what James was calling works. And when you look at it, he wasn't contradicting Paul. He was also talking about the faith of salvation. The faith of salvation don't involve works. He was talking about the works that follows salvation. And that is why I made this statement: we are not saved by works, but we are saved for works. That was a write-up somebody sent to a platform that I belong to, and it made a lot of sense to me. We are not saved by works, but we are saved for works. If the work, Bible says we are the workmanship of God created in Christ unto every good work. And let me tell you, fundamental to that good work is that you ought to show allegiance to God's people. And let me tell you, if you don't begin to show true allegiance to God's people, by the time you come to marital junction, your marriage will not work. Many of the problems people display in marriage, they have been displaying it to brethren. But it was not visible because they can change from Brother Peter to Brother Paul, Brother Paul to Brother James, Brother James to Brother Godwin, Brother Godwin to Brother Toppe. They keep exchanging, they keep throwing away. When you now come to "do not divorce," it took one to Himself. He could not throw away. So, the selfishness, the unbrokenness that have always been in his life, the non-allegiance to God's people that have always been in his life, will now show in marriage. They will now say the partner is the problem. The partner is not the person's problem. The problem first begins with you. That's the reality. So, faith check your own life. Are you showing true allegiance to God's people? I want to show you something that shook me and something that gave me serious perspective to our connectedness with other believers. Something that made me to see that look, through faith, biblical faith, in Abraham, it is ability to obey God regardless of the instruction. But in Rahab, it's telling us that faith is allegiance to God and allegiance to God's people. If the two is not balanced, you are not... forget it, what you are having is not faith, you have just been deceived. It's deception. The Bible say the person is a liar. That's what the Bible itself says. He says the person is a liar. Look at something that shook me years back that gave me a serious reorientation about our Christian walk and our Christian life. Let's look at something in the book of 1 Corinthians. It was something that gave me a serious rethink in my Christian that maybe to see that wow, faith is not just that you love God and you know God. The only way to know that you love God and you are knowing God, it has a horizontal manifestation. If truly what you are knowing is God, if truly what that revelation you are having is by the spirit of God, is the Holy Spirit. Like I do tell people, whatever you are calling faith was given birth to by a God of love. "For God so loved the world." Whatever you are calling faith, what gave birth to faith was love. So, if faith does not operate by love, it's not biblical faith. That's not biblical faith. But look, just look at something that shook me years back and I want to point you to that scripture. 1 Corinthians, the whole matter begins around 11. It went on and on like that into 12, 13. All right. 1 Corinthians, let's from chapter 11. Now, Paul was speaking to the Corinthians church and he first spoke about head covering or no head covering. That's not my focus. Now, I want you to come to it from verse 17. From verse 17, verse 17. We will close here today. I just want to point something to you and I want to beg you, if your faith have not been showing true allegiance to those who belong to God, please go and examine yourself whether you are in the faith. That's what I just want to tell you. If your faith is not showing true allegiance to fellow brother, and for those of us disciples who are already married, it's not showing true allegiance to your spouse, you are acting unfaithfully to your covenant with him or with her. Ah, you don't have faith. It's not the biblical faith, no matter what they call you in church. It's not biblical faith. It's not. Let's look at the word of God. I begin from verse 17. He says, "Now in giving this instruction I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse." And many times I pray that anytime your togetherness with other believers and your togetherness in your marriage, may it not be for the worse in the name of Jesus. May it be for the better in the name of Jesus Christ. But look at what he's saying here. He says, "I do not praise you, since your coming together did not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together," he's talking about brethren togetherness as a church, "I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must also be fractions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you." So do you see that it is not when everything is going sweet-sweet-sweet that you know true believers? It is when there are crises, when there are offenses. Somebody stepped on my toe. Somebody did not even recognize my status. I am professor, he called me Mr. I am this, I am pastor, he did not even give me my respect. It is when there are offenses, when there are issues that we begin to know those who are truly approved by God. Because I'm telling you, it was in the fact that God looked beyond our force to our need in forgiving, in dying for us despite our wickedness that we recognized God. So, it was when there was crisis that we understood the love of God. If there was no crisis in the Garden of Eden, if everything had gone everywhere it wants to go, we won't know the love of God the way we know it today. I want you to get something clear. It is in fraction, in problem, in crisis. That is why I tell people, it is what you are under pressure that you really are. That's the truth. It is what you are under pressure, under provocation, it is what you are, what you do, that is truly you. Don't say somebody made me do something, no. It is in the midst of this that we know who is approved as a believer. They were stoning Stephen. They were stoning him to death, and he could say, "Lord, please don't lay this to their charge." That tells you the kind of spirit that he has. May we be like our father in the name of Jesus. He said yes, I partly believe so that those who have approved may be recognized among you. Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others and one is hungry and another is drunk. But, there's an exclamation in the front of that word, that's why I said what, do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. Then he went ahead to now give the proper order. "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you." That the Lord on the night he was talking about that night, the breaking of bread and on and on. But that's not where I'm going. I just want to... he was because it was how they were breaking bread. You know, we break bread from house to house. The Bible said the apostles were breaking bread from house to house. And as often as you do it, families can break bread. All of this kind of, it is when one man you call clergy stand to administer bread that you break bread, it's not true, it's not biblical. Families can break bread, brethren can break bread among themselves as often as you do it. That's the biblical truth about it. That's the biblical truth about it. Now, so therefore, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drink this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason, many of you are weak, some are sick among you, and many have died. For if we would not judge ourselves, for if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, of course we are chastised by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world." Look at the conclusion. Please look at the conclusion. So that you know what he's trying to say. Because many times when people carry this scripture, they just take it and talk outside context. Look at how he concluded. "Therefore, my brethren." So he started something about what, can't you eat in your own house, while you are despising those that are poor. He now talk about the correct order of Holy Communion, the correct order of how to break bread. He now concluded by saying, "Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait one for another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment, and the rest I will set in order when I come." So what does this mean to eat unworthily and eat condemnation on yourself? It's very simple from this scripture. It's very clear. What they were doing was that when they come to take the bread, they take it as if it is breakfast or lunch. So what happens? Instead of wait for one another, he says, "Therefore brethren, when you come together, wait one for another." Instead of Peter considering that okay, ah no, let us come together, it is one body, one faith, one God, so let it go round, let it go round. Okay brother, have you gotten your own? Okay sister Bola, is your own here? Brother Boniface, have you gotten? Okay everybody have gotten. Okay let's wait for one another. Yes, our brethren please come in, let's eat it together in unity. Instead of that, you know what they were doing? When I get there, I quickly want to take as much as possible as if it is my lunch or breakfast. I'm not caring whether others get of that bread. So, what he was talking about unworthiness is lack of allegiance to other believers. That's just what he's saying. They just, they came to break bread and they could not show allegiance. They showed allegiance to God, but they didn't discern the Lord's body. Allegiance to His body, the people of God. He's the head and we are the body. So, allegiance to the head without allegiance to the body. And what did the head do? Some became weak, some became sick, and some died. What I'm trying to make you see is what is biblical concept of faith. Biblical concept of faith you can see it in the life of these people. They thought it's about allegiance to God. They were not showing true allegiance to the body, to the people of God. They were not waiting for one another. And to God, that is unworthy, that is not discerning my body. That is not what I want. He who loves me must love his brother also. And what did God do? God punished them. And that's why for me, I believe in the statement: he who breaks an ordinance shall be broken by that ordinance. It's as simple as that. If you break the principles of God, that principle will break you. The principle of God in operation of faith is allegiance to God and allegiance to the people of God. That was what justified Rahab. May our faith be correct. Let's go into prayer this evening, that's where we are stopping this evening. Wherever you are please begin to pray. Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Is it the biblical faith? Is it the biblical faith? All this I feel, I think, I can't take that, I will fight that, I will kill that, and you say you love God. Whereas your allegiance to God's people? Biblical concept of faith, what we saw that brought justification, is not about how you feel. It's not about how you think. It's not about what you want. It's about allegiance to God and allegiance to God's people. That's the reality of this faith. That's the reality of this faith. It's the reality of this faith. That's the reality. This faith shows allegiance. There's allegiance to God and there's allegiance to God's people. There's allegiance, there's this commitment in your heart as you committed yourself to God, you commit yourself to God's people. That's the reality of this faith. [Outro 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 aid. Our regular activities are: discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 PM; adolescent 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 outreaches and every day counseling. For further counsel, you can reach us at our location, Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Veryjoy filling station along Ijele 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 080-3386-1136, 070-3361-3848. God bless you all.