Dynamics of God's Holiness 5

[Singing and Music] [Voice-over] Church's fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home from us. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] It's a time of visitation, a time of refreshing, a time of meeting with the Lord in the name of Jesus Christ. Let us take this song together. [Song] Oluwa, e tobi E tobi o, e tobi Oluwa, e tobi E tobi o, e tobi Oluwa, e tobi E tobi o, e tobi Oluwa, e tobi E tobi o, e tobi Ko s'eni t'ale fi sakawe re o E tobi, Oluwa Ko s'eni t'ale fi sakawe re o E tobi, Oluwa Oluwa, e tobi E tobi o, e tobi Oluwa, e tobi E tobi o, e tobi Olorun ko s'eni t'ale fi sakawe re o E tobi, Oluwa Ko s'eni t'ale fi sakawe re o E tobi, Oluwa. [Speaker 1] Our Father, we are grateful unto you. We thank you again for this opportunity, this privilege of fellowshipping together. We thank you, Lord our God, as we all connect together. Our brethren who are here physically, our brethren joining us on Telegram, our brethren joining us on Mixlr. Father, we thank you. We give you praise as we all connect together again this evening. Lord, our prayer is that your Spirit will work within us, among us, in the name of Jesus. Lord, we are not ignorant of the divine truth that except the Lord builds the house, the laborers are only laboring but in vain. Lord, we are asking this evening, breathe upon all that will be doing together in the name of Jesus. Meet with us as we bow down to you. Meet with us individually, meet with us corporately, address the situations of our lives. Thank you, Eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So we would be looking at the dynamics of God's holiness. What are those things that makes up for holy conduct and unholy conduct? What are those things that should not be found among us? What are those things that should be found among us? Leviticus chapter 19, we'll pick the matter from there. But before I go on, for those of us who were here last week, is there anything we want to say? [Background noise] Some things make you to stand against the life of a fellow believer, and if not a believer, to stand against the life of people. To stand against the life of people. And so we need to be very, very careful not to stand against the life of people. We must be sure, we must be careful, we must be vigilant, we must be sober in that respect of our life. And so we want to move on from those verses where we left last week, in verse 16 and 17 of Leviticus. We want to move on to the subsequent verses. And the subsequent verses we find something again, we find something not too far from where we left the matter last week. It says, the Bible says in verse 18 now, we have looked at "you shall not hate your brother in your heart," "you shall surely rebuke him and not bear sin because of him." Now, we stopped at "you shall not hate your brother in your heart." Now, in going ahead, it says, "you shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him." "You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him." Now, I'm going to tie verse 17 and 18 together. In 18, it says, "you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." I am the Lord. Now, last week we have looked at the whole issue about not hating your brother in your heart. We saw that it only puts you in darkness. It makes you to walk in darkness. You don't know what has blinded you. It gives you occasion to stumble. And we noted something very, very important last week, very vital. If there is no hatred in the heart, there is no evil speaking on the lip. There is a connection between the heart and the lip. So many times we need to guide our heart, for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Now, in moving on from that place, dynamics of God's holiness, I want to tag what we want to look at today as "Walking in Love." Last week, I would tag it the attitude of love. I want to tag what we want to look at today as walking, the practical, some very practical issues about walking in love. About walking in love. Now, the scripture says, "you shall not hate your brother in your heart." And then in continuing, it says, "you shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him." Now, you are looking at that sentence together with what was said preceding it and what was said immediately after it. Preceding it is, "you shall not hate your brother in your heart." "You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him." Now, you notice that when there is issue in your heart and you don't open up your heart to your brother, to your neighbor, what is likely going to happen is that you will bear sin because of that. You're going to bear sin. You're going to bear sin because of that. Meaning that while I should not hate my brother in my heart, it is important that I learn this practical aspect of opening up my heart to my brother. It says, "you shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him." That is, if you see the connection from where we are coming from. And we are going to, because today we are going to look at the book of Matthew chapter 18, and we are going to—that's where this thing was practically explained. The point is, the point we are discussing, is that when there is an issue, you don't go about discussing your brother. You don't bear hatred in your heart towards your brother. Open up your heart to your brother. When you don't do that, what is likely going to happen is that you will bear sin. How do we bear sin? How does sin come in if we don't open our heart? Now, part of what we have discussed last week comes to bear. Partly is that when we don't open our heart to him, we'll open our mouth to others. Are you getting that relationship? When you don't open your heart to your brother, you will open your mouth to others. And when you open your mouth to speak evil to others instead of opening up your heart to your brother, what happens? You are bearing sin because of that your brother, because of that your sister, because of that your neighbor. You are bearing sin. But more importantly, I want us to—I want us to look at something. It says, "you shall not hate your brother in your heart and not bear sin because of him." It says, "you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge"—not that word—"any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." You see it is not different from what we are reading in the earlier verse? Is it different? No. No. Now, when you don't open up your heart to your brother, do you know that one way of taking revenge is the evil speaking? One way of taking revenge is to backbiting, is to assassinate his character, is to speak evil concerning him. You are taking revenge. But revenge can be wider. Revenge can—I'm only connecting this week and last week. Revenge can come in different ways. You can do a lot of evil, you can do a lot of things in order to take revenge. It says, "you shall not bear grudge against your brother, you shall not take revenge, but you shall surely love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." How do we connect all of these together? "You shall not hate your brother." "You shall surely rebuke your neighbor" so that you don't bear sin because of him. Leviticus 19. "You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." The first thing I want you to see in this place is that what must transcend between you and another Christian should be the basis of what the Lord has commanded. That's the first thing I want you to see. What must transcend between you and your neighbor, between you and your sister, between you and your brother, between you and your wife, between you and your children, between you and your pastor—the neighbor can be very, very wide. Are you understanding me? What must transcend in your relationship must not be on the basis of what happened between the two of you, but on the basis of what the Lord commanded. The Lord has said something about how to relate. How to relate to your brother, how to work out things with your brother. The Lord has said something about it. And the first thing I want you to see, if we will be able to live a holy life, if our conduct will be holy, is for us to understand that while so many things may happen between me and my neighbor—my brother, my sister, my friend, my children, my wife—the Lord is not ignorant that things could happen. That's why he said don't hate, don't bear grudges, rebuke your brother, don't seek revenge. He's telling you ahead of time, "Don't revenge." Why is he telling you? What did the person do? Is it something that is palatable? Of course not. So you see that what I want you to see is not that they happened; what is important is how they are handled. You get the point I'm making? I was somewhere one day and somebody made a statement, and I said this thing is not absolutely true. He was talking about, actually he was talking about couples. He said true Christian couples should never have conflict. I looked at that statement, I said you are already making people superhuman beings. You're already making them superhuman beings. The Bible did not give us that picture. The picture the Bible gave us is that conflict could occur, but if we now don't manage as Christians, it is how do we respond to it that talks about Christianity. Not that they cannot happen. He's giving us a picture that two human beings must not be human beings. The two of them must not be human beings, it must be that two angels came together. But if it is still human beings that came together, what we understand from scripture is that he gave gifts unto men, one to be apostles, to prophets, pastors and teachers for what? For the perfecting of the saints, for the edification of the body of Christ in view of the work of the ministry, till we all come to the unity of the faith of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a matured man, unto the measure of the fullness of the statures of Christ. So believers are daily being matured. So if two people that comes into relationship are always two people that are not perfect, they are areas of their life that God is working on. And that is why you see God saying that if because something now happen, you now hate your brother in your heart, then you are not responding to what happened according to God. That is where there is a problem. So holiness, holy conduct, what we must understand about holy conduct also comes into how we manage relational issues. It is because we are not seeing these things very, very seriously today, is why many, many times you find misconception, misinterpretation of things in the body of Christ. Some things will happen, instead of correct response that would just die the matter, that would just bring healing, the response to that thing, instead of bringing healing—please, what is the best response if somebody starts a fire? What is the best response to deal with that fire? It's to pour water. But if the response to fire is petrol, nobody will be alive. That is what you must understand. So the first thing I want us to see out of this thing is that God is speaking to his people, and God was already speaking ahead. The reason why I'm looking at this thing very, very seriously is because practically speaking, you see the Lord addressing these kind of matters. And I was speaking to a couple yesterday. I told them, I said look, you'd better be careful. When we talk of every other person from Adam till John the Baptist, God spoke through them. But when we talk about Jesus, speaking through Jesus, God was speaking in Jesus, that is, it was God that was speaking. He was not speaking through. He was not a medium to speak about God. It was God speaking to man. We must get that very clear. And so if there's anything you see Jesus, the Word of God, there are not things to debate. They are not things—they are not like the epistles, the letters. Because in the letters, God was speaking through again. That's why we say Jesus, the chief cornerstone. The prophets said God will do. The apostles said God has done. What will God do? Jesus will come and die for our sins. Apostles: Jesus has died, come and believe. So the matter is about who? It's about Jesus. Now, if you look at this verse 16, 17, 18 of Leviticus chapter 19, please, can you—do you see any difference between what we have read in this place and the matter that the Lord Jesus addressed in Matthew chapter 18? Let's look at it together. Matthew chapter 18. Let's look at them vis-a-vis each other. Matthew 18, Leviticus chapter 19:16, 17, and 18. Now, Matthew 18, I'm taking my reading from verse 1. At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, "Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Then Jesus called a little child to him, set him in the midst of them and said, "Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it is better for him if a millstone was hung around his neck and he was drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses, for offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom offense comes. If hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame and maimed rather than having two hands or two feet and be cast into everlasting fire." He said the same thing about the eye in verse 9. When he got to verse 10, he said, "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost." Then he now went ahead to give the parable of the lost sheep. I will spare us that. But please, looking at how this thing is building, he's talking about one, just one person. He said the parable of the lost sheep, he said if only one sheep is missing, verse 13, would that shepherd not go to look for that one sheep? And if he finds that one, what will he do? He will rejoice over that one than the 99 that are at home. What is that trying to make us see? That as far as the shepherd is concerned, none should be lost. Is that not the focus of what he's saying? None should be lost. If one gets missing, he will go and look for that one sheep, he will leave the 99 to get that one sheep. So as far as the shepherd is concerned, none should be missing. And that tells you something, that all are equally important to him. We move on. He now moved on to say, "Even so, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." Now, do you see what starts verse 15? Please, do you see what starts verse 15? Please, what is the first word, verse 15? Let's look at the translation. Please, which version are you having? What is the first word? "Moreover." Who is not carrying King James? Verse 15, the first word of Matthew 18. "If another believer"—are you following something? He has been discussing a matter. He was discussing a matter. And immediately he said—please, maybe you join 14 and 15 in NLT. 14 and 15. I amplified from here. [Speaker 2] Matthew 18:14, "In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish. If another believer—" [Speaker 1] Are you seeing something? That the will is on one not perishing. Are you following it? Are you getting what I'm trying to bring out? King James said "Moreover," that is, I am still speaking on that subject matter. Moreover, if your brother sins against you—please, listen—go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. Please, is it different from what you are reading in Leviticus? Is it different? No. "You shall not hate your brother in your heart." "You shall surely rebuke your brother." "You shall not bear, you shall not take revenge." You should not bear grudge. Now, are you seeing the same matter coming up here? Very direct from the mouth of the Lord Jesus. He says, "Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault." Now, what is the emphasis? Between who? Between you and him alone. What is that? Your brother has sinned against you, but what is your mission? Is to protect. You don't want others to know that he sinned. Are you following something? Your mission is not how to make everybody know, which is talebearing, backbiting, gossiping, evil speaking, castigating, tearing down, assassinating another person's character because of what he did. So you discover that if your brother offends you and you begin to castigate him all around, please, who has a greater problem? Who has a greater problem? You or your brother? Who has a greater problem? I want us to be practical. Who has a greater problem? The person who sinned against you, or the person who goes about castigating and speaking evil? Who has a greater problem? Because your brother sinned against you, as far as the Lord is concerned, it's not something that cannot happen. And that is why it amazes me. If this happened among brethren, it amazes me when people get unnecessarily mad when their spouse offend them. It amazes me that some things are clear. He said, "Woe to the world because of offenses. Woe through whom the offenses come." So he's not justifying people who are—are you understanding me? He's not as if he's justifying them. But the point is that when it comes, it is not the joy of the Lord that the person who err should die in error. The joy of the Lord is that the person who err—he should leave the remaining 99 who did not sin against others. He will go and look for that one and bring that one home. And that is why when the brother err and what is in your heart is how the brother will die, how God will cut his neck, then it is clear that you don't know God. It's clear that you don't know God. It's clear that you don't understand that even so, the will of my Father is that none should perish. That's the will of the Father. Because of that will is why the matter of what, do not bear grudges against your brother. Do not bear sin because of him. Rebuke him, discuss it, reconcile it, cover him, let it be between you and him, finish up with the person, let the matter be resolved, don't take it out. And you are now beginning to wonder, is it so that ordinary, if not that our minds are carnal, ordinarily believers should be able to talk offenses through. Are you understanding me at all? If not that our minds are carnal, because we don't have the mind of the Father that none should be lost. What feeds our mind is how we are offended, our interest. He has told you, "If anyone wants to be my disciple, let him die to himself." It is because we are preoccupied with my interest, my name, my this, my right, my that, that is what normally closes our minds. What I'm trying to make you see that the matter the Lord was laying is that the issue about not bearing grudges against your brother, not having any grudge against him. And please, when I see these things, it—because I normally believe Christianity begins from the home. This is something we are not emphasizing today. That is why a man can bear malice with his wife and still be able to climb the pulpit and be preaching. He doesn't understand God. Because the issue is—the reason why you are the way you are is not because you were offended, it's because your mind is carnal. If your mind is not centered on his or her own interest, if your mind is centered on ah, so that none will be lost, that one who should—how do we restore him back? If that is what you are going to meet the person for, the manner of approach will not bring fire. Will not bring petrol, sorry, into the fire. And that is why I keep saying, when believers cannot talk things through, it's a sign that the mind is carnal. The mind, when I mean carnal, understand my carnality. It is not centered on the kingdom interest. Kingdom interest is that none should be lost. And don't bother about what is going on in the church today. I've always told you, and we have always seen it also from the Bible, I'm not the one who said that, it was the Lord Jesus. Don't bother about the confusion you see inside the church. Don't let it get you discouraged. What you have inside the church today is what? A mixed multitude. Don't forget, it's a mixed multitude. Inside the church is what, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And honestly, they are all inside the kingdom. The kingdom of God is like a net which a man throws into the sea and it catches all kinds of fish, all kinds. Even crayfish is fish, even though it is cray. Electric fish is fish, even though it will be shocking others. Shark fish is fish, it will be eating others. Are you understanding me? They are all fish. You call them fish, fish, fish, fish, fish. What ends is fish. But we know the foundation of their life. Crayfish, shark fish. The point I'm making is that while we have all of these fishes, different kinds like that, the Bible said at the end of the day, what will happen? What did Jesus say, Matthew 13 from verse 47 downwards? What did he say? He said at the end of the day, they will put the good ones where? Into a vessel. The bad ones they will throw away. But which net catches all of them? Is it two nets? How many nets? One net. That net is what? The net of the kingdom. So don't mind all of those you see inside the kingdom. So when you see ah, this person did not act like a brother, I acted like a brother, don't let it get you offended. They are not all inside—they are not all brothers. All inside are not sisters. That's the reality of it. And that is why many times you get confused, they get discouraged because you are having this assumption. So he said counting, he was your brother before. We're all inside the church, but how do you now see him? This person is a tax collector, this person is like an unbeliever. You see the Lord proving it again. Not everybody inside the church, some are tax collectors, some are sinners. We are all inside, but we are not the same set of people and we must understand this. And that is why I tell people, if as a Christian you are alone, then your life is not correct. Christians are not loners. No, something is wrong with your life. There should be people that you can call. There should be people that you—and that is why the Bible warns us very seriously. We should not forsake the assembly of one another as Christians. Then there is no perfect fellowship anywhere. But we should be able not to forsake the assembly. "I don't want to relate with any believer again, I just want to be alone." Ah, you are the one that have the greatest of the problem. So he said bring in two or three people, bring in a Christian counselor, bring in your mentor, bring in—let them come and hear the two of you out. You can see that the Lord is saying that if he does not listen to you, don't think that he's the one that has the problem. You might be the one that have the problem. Why not call two or three people? I want you to see the way the Lord relate to us. You can see that the Lord relate to us understanding our limitation as human. And that is why I tell people, don't run Christianity like a superhuman. Some people are ashamed to tell people that ah, you see I made a mistake. Ah, no, that will not look spiritual. You see, I don't have money to spend. Ah, no, it will look like God—you are under the curse of God. We don't live Christianity as if we are superhuman beings, that we cannot have issues. The Lord looked at us, he remember our frame, he know that we are dust. And on that basis, the Lord set up parameters for relationship, for relational things among us as believers. But many times we don't look at the word of the Lord. We don't look at what he says. We come with—you know sometimes I say, people serve a God they fancy, not the one the Bible reveals. There is a God the Bible reveals. And it is that God that we are looking at. He said call two or three people, let them hear the two of you. He says now that every word may be established. That is, why are we establishing? So that we can be sure that yes, this is it, that is it, this is it, that is that. You get the point I'm making? Remember the case of an incident like that. Something happened in a relationship and one of the party ran to the leadership, to their leaders and went to report and said all manner of things and that and that and that. So ah, this and this and that. They now called the other person. "Come, what happened?" By the time they finish that first meeting, second meeting, third meeting, all of them came back and said, "You that came to bring the report, you are the troubler of the nation." So you see sometimes we feel we are right, and that is the point the Lord is making here. So that every word can be established. So at the level of two, then the level of three or four, is that not two or three witnesses? He says if he refused to hear them, you don't stop there. What do you do? Tell it to the church. Tell it to the church. So this time around, it becomes a matter that comes not with selective people. It becomes a matter that becomes what? That place you both attend, that thing that binds you together, because you are dealing with your brother. So something must bind you together that makes you call him brother. That thing that binds all of you together, that group of people that bind all of you together, bring it to them. Bring the matter because you want to be sure that you are—am I the kingdom person? Because you want to be sure that if the person perish, it is not because of you. You want to be sure of that. Because your concern is the lost sheep. The Lord is more interested than the one sheep that goes astray than the 99 that don't have problem. That's what you must always know. It is on this background that all these things have been discussed. "Do not bear grudges against your brother. Don't bear sin because of him. Meet him, discuss it, reconcile it, cover him, let it be between you and him." It is on this background. And if he refuse to hear the church, let him be to you as a tax collector. That is when you can now conclude, this person cannot be a brother. This person cannot be a sister. He tells you, you see the Lord proving it again. Not everybody inside the church. Some are tax collectors, some are sinners. We are all inside, but we are not the same set of people and we must understand this. And that is why many times when people begin to shout, "Brethren come and see oh! It's inside the church that I married oh! We are both in the choir oh! Hey, even Christian marriage is not good!" I just wonder, who are you talking about? Did the Lord tell you that everybody inside the church are going to heaven? Were you told that? He said count him, he was your brother before. We're all inside the church, but how do you now see him? This person is a tax collector, this person is like an unbeliever. So bit of what some people miss some this thing, now means that you should now be looking for revenge. That is the greatest mistake you are making. Because he made us to understand that God make it to rain upon both the wicked and the good. It's not that begin to do good, evil to the person. It's only saying that you now estimate that person not as a brother. But you don't seek his evil. You don't do evil to him. You begin to pray for the salvation of the person and leave the person at that point. But you don't count the person again as somebody that truth makes meaning to, because truth don't have relevance to anybody who have not become born again. The counsel of God, the ways of God, holiness is not for unbelievers, salvation is for unbelievers, holiness is for believers. That is the reality of it. Now, look at what now immediately follow. Even though I will not be talking about that today, when we come to, by the time we conclude the matter of this series, holiness and all of that, "Be you holy for I am holy," the biblical example, brethren have come have finished everything. We'll be coming to effective intercession. Why is intercession not effective today? We'll be coming to all of that much more later. So let's keep, see what, let's just read through. He said, "Assuredly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you if two or three shall agree concerning anything on earth, it will be done. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there." Now, look at where I am coming again, verse 21. Verse 21, then Peter came to him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?" What did Peter do now? He brought back again the matter of offense. He wants to know where to set the limit. Don't mind Brother Peter. So Lord, he now came to him, how many times will I have to go through, at first try to win him, then I again call people, tell church. So how many times will he do it before I say now the door is permanently locked? How many times? That was what brought Peter to the Lord. He said, "Should I forgive him, up to seven times?" The Lord said to him, "I did not say up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven times." So brethren, what is the practical interpretation of this? I want brethren to talk. What is the practical implication of this? Please use the mic, sir, if you want to say something. The mic is here. [Speaker 3] Praise the Lord. What Jesus is saying in essence is that as long as—that seventy times seven, that is, as long as—but it's not possible for that your brother to offend you as long as that. So he's saying that as long as he offends you, keep on forgiving. [Speaker 1] Thank you. Yeah, any other thing that we want to say about that? Any practical thing to say? I want brethren to talk. How do we interpret this? [Speaker 4] Praise the Lord. In addition to what our brother said, it is a sign that there is no option to any other, any other option than to forgive our brother when he or she offends us. And so, therefore, even if you have the opportunity of meeting the person—because when we look at the first text, the first one mentioned, counting the person as an unbeliever, having gone to meet the person, you took others along and with all that the person still couldn't see anything wrong. And in this case, the Bible says we should consider such a person as an unbeliever. But you as a believer, even when the person is still not seeing anything wrong, I mean he's still not seeing anything wrong, still wants to—he still keeps offending, maybe the attitude. You should go and enlarge your capacity to forgive the brother, or the seemingly, supposedly unbeliever. Because the Bible regards such a person as an unbeliever. If he could not talk through, he wasn't ready to turn away from what is offending his brother. So the Bible regards such a person as an unbeliever. That irrespective of that, it is—the onus is on the one who believes, who is a believer to keep forgiving. Just like you have said, apart from that, the forgiveness you give to such a person will help you in the place of prayer to pray for the salvation of this person. If it truly—the person is—has not yet known the Lord or not born again. So it is a thing that whether the person accepts it, whether the person do not even say anything, whether the person is not even seen what he's saying, could not come to terms with that, every believer owes the other person forgiveness, whether the person that offends you is a believer or not, or somebody who is a born-again Christian but lacks understanding. Forgiveness is a must. So that is what that place is telling us, that we should—there is no basis, whether they are an unbeliever. Even an unbeliever deserves forgiveness, and your brother as well. Praise the Lord. [Speaker 1] Hallelujah! Any other contribution? In the matter of the one we saw in the Bible, regarding him as an unbeliever, how do we relate with that practically? If I'm going on the way, I greet an unbeliever and he doesn't answer me. I just pass. That's him, that's how he is. But maybe I take offense because I think this brother is—this one is a brother now, why will he behave like that to me? And even I go to say "But that thing you did the other time, I don't like it," and then I take two other persons and all the process will complete it. Now, how do I relate with that person? It is to see him that I don't—his attitude doesn't bother me anymore. Exactly, you treat him as an unbeliever. His way of—that thing that used to offend me, I see him now that he doesn't understand. Jesus Christ said, "Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." So you just look at it that that person doesn't know, he doesn't understand. So put him at that level. And it will make the heart to be free. You'll not take offense anymore. You'll not—yes. Okay, so I think that buttressed the point that was earlier made, that forgiveness is for all. The basis of forgiving somebody who is not a believer is that you have counted him as a sinner. You see, the understanding of the ignorance of people—when you realize how ignorant somebody is, it makes you to understand that the blind cannot live like the seeing. The blind will keep stumbling. He's blind, so you know. Every time he may just come again, mistakenly pour what you are selling away, but he's blind. You know when somebody is blind, he pours what you are selling away, you direct the person away from what you are selling. And then mistakenly again the blind man was trying to walk through and then he poured it again. What do you do? Do you get angry? Because you know he's blind. That's the point about the forgiveness. The forgiveness is coming from an understanding of the capacity of that person that he's a tax collector, he's a sinner. So even many times I may not even have—when I get there, "Brother, my brother, good afternoon," this and that, he doesn't answer you as somebody. And even once when someone now says, "Please, help me buy something from the market," I don't hiss. "So you didn't know that I called yesterday and you didn't hear that you are sending me something." You don't behave like that because you know he's ignorant. You know he does not have the capacity to live right. You have counted the person like that. But the question Peter was asking is not about the tax collector, it's about his brother. We are now looking at the matter of the brother. The brother that you go to, both of you reconcile, and that is all. You meet him again, you talk with him, and it is all. How many times should you be giving an allowance? Seventy times seven times. Don't say, "Ah, this one is not growing!" Ah! You know sometimes somebody does something you correct, same one again you correct, same third type again you correct. "Ah! He doesn't know this one again," you correct. At a point, "I don't want this kind of person around my life." Now, we are talking about, you know there is somebody you say this thing, he got it right, okay both of you got—oh, thank you. Another thing again he got it wrong, again about ruler, he got it wrong, again about bag, he got it wrong. You are winning him, how many times should I be winning? That's the point. You keep on—that is, you keep on building. There are people that you may find that you may need to keep building and building and building and building, as long as they are getting better, they are getting better because you are winning. Mark the word, you have won the person, you have improved the person's life. He comes again, you have improved the person's life. He comes again, you have improved the person's life. You know sometimes dealing with a brother, dealing with a brother, you may be dealing with somebody that the level of things that God has helped you to get to know, in relation to that person is so far. There are people who offend not because they are not believers, but because they have not come into a revelation. They have not come into a capacity. And so when you find that what kind of allowance should I give such a person? How long should I suffer? Suffer. One capacity to suffer long because you realize—I'm going to show you why it is like that. The Lord is going to show it. Because you realize that even over your own life, God is suffering long. God keeps forbearing you every day, every day because you are not yet perfect. And yet you will come, "Father." "Oh yes, my daughter," as if you have not done anything wrong. As if your life—if you know the way your life is, and then God will show you something again, "Ah, God, it's about my life." You become sanctified, you get better. He shows you another one again, you get better. He shows you another one again. That's how you are growing your Christian life. That is what he's saying. That is the kind of allowance he's talking about. Seventy times seven. And sometimes somebody came—okay, I'll give you mic now—someone once came and said this seventy times seven, is it for a day or for a lifetime? You know believers, there are many Peters in our generation. They want to know whether they should be counting it. "Okay, last year it's not up to 300, it remains—" So is it for a year, for a month, or for a day? That's what somebody asked me one day. And I said, "My brother, I don't think the Lord is talking about the matter of a year in this context." He said, "Why did I think so?" That's what he asked me and I want to say why I think so. Then someone wants to make contribution, the person will give contribution. I said two things why I think that it's talking about a day and not a week or a year. I said one, the Bible says love don't keep records of wrong. It doesn't keep records. So do I begin to count from last year? That don't keep records. I said the second one why I think this matter is about a day is that the Bible says don't let the wrath go down on your anger. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. That day must finish that day. It should not spread to the next. I said, so what I see the Lord teaching us is that the steadfast love for our brethren never ceases. Our mercies don't come to an end. They what? They are new every morning. Every morning you give your brother, your spouse, your wife, your daughter, your neighbor, what do you give them every morning? A fresh calendar. Fresh calendar. They are renewed every morning. Be renewed every morning. That is what I understand. Please, somebody is raising up the hand. [Speaker 4] Yes, praise the Lord. I want to ask—it's not a question per se, but this is what we've been seeing. Because we've seen situations where a person would do a thing genuinely wrong and when his attention is called the person will say he's sorry, and you see the person repeating, repeating the same thing. And at that point you see reaction, "Don't tell me you are sorry again! You've been saying this sorry all over, over again and again. For how long do you want to be saying you are sorry?" And you see the person truly was sorry. [Speaker 1 laughs] But just like in situations like that, of course we know the Bible expects us to forgive. But we should also provide help. And that is the place where you talked about in prayer and how to help the person. One of the ways to help the person that I know is that if you know this has become—I don't want to call it a weakness—one of the forbearance you have is that you don't even pay attention to that thing as a sin again. When the person does it, you just know that "Hmm, in your heart, God will help her." That is also part of the forgiveness without even calling the person attention to it again. Without even making any issue. But you just let it go. The Lord will help our hearts to be able to release the person, understand with the person, forbear with the person, even without—and when we are not raising it, you also not react. You know you may not be talking about it, but your action may be speaking. The Lord will help us, there is a thin line between these things. But we should also know that when God is telling us seventy times seven, he's only telling us to have a large heart, to forbear, the Lord will help us because some people even if you give them seventy times seven in a day, if it is a weakness they will do it and you will count it and you will say "I said I will break record because at the end of this day—" But if you have such a person, just know that that is a weakness in the person. With prayer, with you not even talking about it, just giving the person the allowance, the forbearance, forgiven even before he or she does it. Hallelujah! [Speaker 1] Hallelujah! Any other contribution? Thank you very much, we will take this matter from here next week. It's already 6:30. We need to close. I couldn't go to why the Lord is asking for that, so we'll continue with that Matthew 18 and see how we move on next week. And what you have said is very, very correct. Ephesians 4:32, it said the two works together. It said, "Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another." So you notice something, forgiving and forbearance, they work together. They work together and that is just it. There are things about people that until you accept them, you'll not be able to work with them. As long as those things, they are not—they are not sinful. There are things people do that are not sinful, but they are annoying you. You have tried to correct the person to do it—this is the better way to do it. But the person—the capacity is not just there. So the matter is not that the person is offending you. The matter is that that is the capacity of that person. He doesn't have a better capacity than that, and then you need to learn to accept people. So acceptance, forbearance, we will put all of these together when we come in next week. It's already 6:30, we need to close. For people who made contribution this evening, thank you so much, so much. And we trust that our brethren online—please if you have something to say, brethren online, just send to the Telegram page or send to the Mixlr page. By the time we come in next week, we'll pick whatever you have to say. We'll pick it from there too. We'll take your contribution. Please, we await your contribution. Send your contribution to us, let's add it to this very practical thing about "Walking in Love," "Holiness and Love." That's what we are looking at gradually, I will trust the Lord to help build this thing in the light of the scripture in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's pray this evening, let's pray this evening. Let me just call Sister Comfort to close the meeting. [Speaker 5] Dear Jesus, we are grateful for the things you are teaching us. Thank you for exposing our hearts to us and giving us heart to repent. Lord, we are grateful. Accept our thanks in Jesus' name. Lord, we pray as we have heard your word, the scripture say we should not be like the man that looked in the mirror and turned away without adjusting what is wrong with his facial expression. But Lord, that we should be doers of your word. As we are looking into this mirror, we are asking the Lord the grace to adjust our lives' words upon us in Jesus' name. Lord, we ask that you help our hearts. Help us, oh Lord, so that your word will be the standard of our operation in the name of Jesus. Thank you for your son that you have used for us again today. Thank you for bringing out the truth so clearly through him. We are asking the Lord this truth will affect his life seriously also in the name of Jesus Christ. And as many of us have heard it tonight, Lord, let it be the expression of our lives also in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord, for hearing us pray. As we go, please keep us safe and bring us back together again next week, for it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. [Speaker 1] The grace together: [All] 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. [Speaker 1] Praise the Lord! [All] Hallelujah! [Voice-over] 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 hit. 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 everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp, by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Very-Joy filling station along Ijeere 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.