His Cross Part 6

[Narrator] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Main Speaker] Lord, we are gathering together unto Thee. Unto the Lord, unto the Lord shall the gathering of His people be. We are gathering together unto Thee. Oh, one more time. We are gathering together unto Thee. Unto the Lord, we are gathering together unto Thee. Unto the Lord, unto the Lord shall the gathering of His people be. We are gathering together unto Thee. Precious Father, unto You again we are gathering, or we are gathered. Lord, our God, our eyes on You that as we gather together, we who are here physically, our brethren who are joining us online, Lord God Almighty, we pray that Your Spirit will work in our midst in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, our eyes on You. Lord, do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves in the name of Jesus Christ. Visit us in those areas of our life where we need You most. Come to us in a way we will understand. Do a work in our life that will remain, that will last time and eternity in the name of Jesus Christ. We give You honor, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So we are considering the matter of the cross. And we have been going gradually, gradually, gradually on this matter. We are climbing the ladder one after the other. For the benefit of those of us who were not around, or who were not with us last week, particularly online, we normally ask those who are present one or two things they learned. That is the purpose of it. We take it very briefly and then we move on to what we have today. So very quickly, for those of us who were around, I hope we will grow to a point where even people online, they can be contributing to our meetings like this. I am hoping that the third Monday, either the third Monday or the last Monday, whichever of them, we will take time to recap and do some question and answer on this matter of His cross. Today will be the sixth series in the matter of His cross. For those of us who were around last week Monday, we want to ask you what you took home, what was a particular high point of lesson for you, or what was a blessing to you in our last week discussion, or something you want to share that is related to it, about it, emerging from it, relating to it. I don't know if any of us who were here last week Monday will have anything to say. Anybody having anything to say before I move on? Okay, no hand. So let us move on quickly to our focus for today. So we last week, we were looking at the primary, the particular essence of the cross of Jesus. The particular essence of that cross. And what we saw very clearly is the essence of that cross was life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. So we saw that the essence of the death of Jesus, the essence of His coming, the essence of His cross is to give eternal life. And we were relating it to John 3:16, John 10:10 where the Lord also said, "The thief cometh not," King James says "cometh not but to steal, to kill and to destroy. But I have come that they might have life and that life abundantly." So we saw Jesus again saying that, "What brought me, what made me different from every other person who was before me, the dividing line between me and every other person is that I am offering life. I am offering life." And that became a very crucial thing for us last week because we were looking at it vis-à-vis where we are coming from. Where we are coming from was that we died. Every other thing that happened to us was because we died. If we did not die, there would not have need—there would have been no need for a redeemer. What brought the whole thing about a need for redemption was that we died. So we were able to relate it back to Adam, that actually what happened was that we died in Adam. So what we actually lost in Adam was life. So what we are getting back in Christ was life. So every other thing that happened between Adam and Jesus, they were just temporary arrangements. They were just temporary arrangements. Because we saw in Romans chapter 5 that after—He said no, He said the first Adam was a type of Him that was to come. So for God, after Adam, what was in the mind of God was who? Christ. So every other thing we saw in between, they were just shadows. They were nothing, there was really nothing about all of those things. There is nothing about them. And that is why all the things we saw in the miraculous power, the signs, those wonders that you saw, if they were just temporary arrangements, does it not make you to understand that if actually we enter into this life properly, do you know the kind of power we will be displaying? Do you understand me at all? Do you know the kind of—I want you to look at what God called temporal. Look at what Elijah did. Look at what Moses did. Look at what Elisha did. Look at what the prophets did. Look at all that they did. The Bible said Moses will speak with God mouth to mouth as a man speaks with his friend. Although the point was that God came in the representation of angels because nobody has seen God. And Jesus made that very clear, nobody has seen God. He said, "But I came from God." So God took the form of angels and He was speaking with Moses mouth to mouth. What I am pointing at is even that operation, [unclear: awa melogan], how many of us? Have we even operated Elijah? Have we operated Elisha? I am talking however that what I am trying to say is if you look back to the early days of revival, we have experienced more than Elijah. It is as if things are dying. That is what I am trying to say. That is why I was making reference to people like Ayo Babalola. I am making reference to people like G. Filings on revival. Go and look at all of these people. There was when there was revival. You look, I was reading about G. Filings. G. Filings was just came to a family and he was asked to bless the food. And, "Father, we thank You for this food." By the time G. Filings finished just prayer, everybody on the table, the whole family on their knees praying and asking God for help. Is it Jonathan Edwards? Jonathan Edwards entered into a disco where they are having disco. That "Please, we cannot give you time here. You cannot give you time." That they said okay, they will give him just—I think they gave him, Jonathan Edwards, they gave him about 10 minutes. About 10 minutes. Just what you want to hand you quickly. Jonathan Edwards mounted the podium of the disco house in less than 5 minutes. The everybody inside the disco house was holding the pole of the disco house crying, "No, don't put me in hellfire!" That disco house closed down. I am serious. That was the end of that because everybody inside that hall became believers. What I am saying is, do you understand me? It is like things are dying. That is what I am trying to say. So what I am bringing out is men have lived even after the apostles. And the apostles, you know at the level what Peter operated. The Bible says the shadows of Peter, just his shadow, everybody that come under that shadow, even spirits was jumping out of them. Those things they look as if they cannot happen again. They look [clapping background noise]. You know they look like things that they can never happen. Is it the Hunters? The Hunters are another people that are on revival. The Hunters will get to a place, you know people without leg, they will just hold the leg and the leg will begin to grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, and the person will start walking. Is it Swaggart that somebody have goiter, and just slap, and the person the throat was normal again. The thing just jump out. Slap it, get out! I am talking of we have also seen men in Christ. Do you get the point I am making? So I am saying this so that you don't think that it was only in the temporal that there was power. Even people who have walked this life with Christ, people who have lived the life correctly, who have come into this thing, there has been an experience of power. But the point I am making actually is that it is crucial to—and that was what I tried to establish last week. It is crucial to understand that manifestation of power, miraculous signs, all of these things, they are not the essential purpose of Jesus. That is what I am trying to bring out. They were things that operated in between. And that is why Jesus Christ said that, "Look, as I go to my Father, greater works you will do." If we are to do more than Jesus did, just imagine what we will be doing. I hope you get the point I am making. So he said "Greater works you will do." But my concern last week, which I tried to establish and made clear, was that when we died, what happened was that even though the Bible says that we died, what the Bible said entered was sin. Sin. Bible said as by one man sin entered and then death by sin. And the death reigned over everybody. And so the matter we were checking last week was that that death came with sin, then the life we must understand came with righteousness. So that if anybody comes alive, what will manifest in him will be what? Righteousness. If anybody is dead, what will manifest in him is what? Sin. So in death, there is the operation of sin. In life, there is the operation of righteousness. You will notice that it say in dying you will die. That is what was said. But we understood that it was sin and death. When Jesus Christ said that God is alive, then we should understand that in that life, there is righteousness. That was what we took time to establish last week. And it is subsequent to that that I want us to move a little further again beyond where we stopped last week. Now let's go back to that Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. His cross. The cross of Jesus Christ. In that Romans 5, we are already—we have read through up to verse 15 last week. We stop at verse 16 last week. It said, "But the free gift is not like the offense." That is where we stop. "For if by one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, abounded unto many." Then I want to take it from—then I said please, one thing I mentioned last week again that as I just read now I remembered, is that I want you to note that the Bible called what Jesus brought, He first called it a free gift. Last week, it was a free gift. By implication, you don't work. If something is a gift, it is not something you can work for. You cannot work for it. You can only accept it. You see, these are important things about living the life of Christ. Because many times, like we said in "His Cross Two," that was taken by my wife, His Cross Two, we noted something very well. That the Bible said, "As you have received Jesus, so do walk." When we want to walk in Jesus, we want to walk with Him different from the way we received Him. But it is the way we received Him that we can also walk in Him. Now in receiving Him, it was what? A free gift. Something you cannot work for. Something you just accept. You accept it. Number two, when in that verse 15 again, it said, "If by the offense of one man many died, much more the grace of God." He call what Jesus brought again, "the grace of God." He called it the grace of God abounded to many. So let's go to 16 now. "And the gift is not like that which came through the one man who sinned. For the judgment which came from one man's offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification." Now what we are seeing in this cross is that we saw that one, it's a free gift. Number two, it is a grace. Number three is that that cross resulted in what? Justification. What is justification? Now you'll be wondering, look at this verse 16, compare it with the verse 1. What do you see in the verse 1? In the verse 1 of that chapter 5. "Therefore, having been justified by faith." Now, so we are seeing that what that cross brought is that in bringing life to us, that life is a free gift. That life is a grace. You see, we are saying this thing because many times when people become born again, they will be looking for one grace to live right. They will not understand that they have received grace. So, "God, give me grace to live right," instead of saying, "God, cause me to grow in the grace that I have received." That life is actually also grace. Now we are seeing again further that that life that came by that cross is also what? It resulted in justification. That is why I show you verse 1 back. It says, "being justified." What does it mean to be justified? Justified. Take it from other translation. Made right with God. So justification is what? Being made right. Under any other translation? To be acquitted from guilt, declared guiltless before God by faith. Now, it means we have been acquitted of what? Sin. We are acquitted of it. And then we are what? We are made blameless before God. We are made blameless before God. Any other one? Being made acceptable to God. Okay, acceptable to God. Another translation here says, "being accepted by God." You know what you are trying to say? When you identify with that cross—do you get the point I am making? We are talking about what the suffering, the death, and resurrection of Jesus brought. Once you say and truly, somebody comes to the Lord, he is repenting from his sin, and you say, "Lord Jesus, Your suffering is for me, Your death is for me, Your resurrection is for my sake. I identify with it." That act of that person is doing, which he is doing by faith. The faith is what? You are believing that what God said is not a lie, so you are acting on it. I hope you get the point I am making. Know the difference between believe and faith. Believe is potential, faith is kinetic. Believe is air, faith is wind. You know, when air is in a place, you can say, "Oh, I am feeling this place is okay, it is cool, it is good, you can feel that there is air around you, there is oxygen." But when that air begin to move, we are talking about wind. If it move very fast, you say a wild wind. When it get to extreme, you call it hurricane. Is that not true? So when we act on what we believe, it is faith. When you don't act on what you believe, you only believe, you don't have faith. So there are—you cannot separate them. There cannot be believe, there cannot be faith. But there can be believe without faith when you don't act on that believe. So that's why the Bible—the Bible did not say being justified by our believe. No. We are justified by acting on our believe. It is when we act on what we believe that we say this person has faith, that is he is acting in faith. Now when he say "being justified by faith," being made right by faith, what he's saying is that act of saying, "Jesus, Your suffering is for me, Your death is for me, Your resurrection is for my sake. I identify with it." That act of doing it, what actually really happened is that you have been made acceptable to God. I am talking about—you know what I am talking about now? I am talking about this matter, what actually comes to us in the cross. It is different from the matter of what comes to us is to be made rich. What comes to us is to live long. Methuselah had nine-thirty without the cross. I don't know if any of us will have nine-thirty here. Who is set for nine-thirty years? I am sure by the time you get to—even seventy now, it's long life. But so that I am trying to give us an understanding. What actually came to us in the cross, we don't—we don't take time to actually take advantage of them. It is what is not particular to the cross that we focus on. "In the cross of Jesus, I'll be made rich. In the cross of Jesus..." Those are not the thing about the cross. Listen, He said, "I have come that you may have life." That's the first thing. Before he now said "abundant." It is the effect of the life that you'll be talking of your soul prosper, you are in health, you are this and that, you have money. Those are the consequence of the life having come. So but the life itself, we have neglected. Are you understanding me? It is just like when Adam died, what happened? He had to sweat. So once he comes alive, what he needs is first, once he is alive, the matter of the sweat, consequently, what will happen? It will go. He doesn't need to begin to put his energy into that because the sweat came because why? He died. Once he is alive, consequently, it will just be going. It will just be going. That is why I keep telling people, go and check scripture. David said it over and over again. He said, "Once I was young and now I am old, I have not seen the righteous forsaken." If you live godly, you cannot be forsaken. Nor His seed beg for bread. There will be bread. But when you now carry the cross to be focusing on bread, you are foolish. Because that is not the object of the cross. It is as someone who went to market, said "Please, I want to buy Jarrah for rice. I want to buy Jarrah for beans. Please." What would they tell the person? "My friend, no, you don't buy Jarrah here. Buy rice, then we will give you." That is what I am trying to say. We have carried our faith and our focus on God to be pursuing the Jarrah. We have left the actual. The actual is that once we encounter that cross, we encounter life. Once we encounter that cross, we encounter a gift that is free. We don't work. When we encounter that cross, we encounter grace. When we encounter that cross, we encounter justification. I am not trying to be righteous before God. I am already accepted by God. I don't come—that is why you notice many times, go and check many of us, our fellowship. When we want to pray, "Oh God, whatever thing will block my entrance, whatever will not allow this prayer to be answered, whatever, whatever..." We always feel there is a barrier. There is a—because we don't know that we have been accepted. So you see us putting a barrier. When you come on Monday, "God, anything that will not make this thing to be accepted, anything that will not allow it to be accepted, God remove..." When you come again on Tuesday, "Anything that will not allow it to be accepted, God please remove." When you come on Wednesday, "Anything..." When you come on Thursday, "God, anything..." You know what is happening? Immediately Adam died, he began to hide from God. When you notice yourself hiding from God, it is like you don't understand what happened at justification. Are you understanding me at all? There is a justification. We need to understand this thing. Not as something you begin to—you see, we try to—we try to work to be justified. You want to work so that you can be justified. But God is saying you have been justified. You are trying to be acceptable to God. And that is why as we go on about the cross, I will come to the matter of conscience. What most people do that give them problem is that they don't do everything to have a clear conscience. So many times, it is your conscience that condemns you. If you don't take time to have a clear conscience, your faith will die. Once you want to pray like this, you just remember, "Ah, man I did that and it's bad oh. Eh, I should not have done that." So you see your conscience start coming back because you have not lived a life to have a clear conscience. Your conscience is not clear. That's why when you come, your conscience begin to trouble you. What troubles you is your conscience. And that is why the Bible says we must do everything to have faith with what? With good conscience. I will come to the matter of that later. But I'm still talking about what happened at where? At the cross. At the cross, I'm talking about what did not happen in the temporal. In the temporal, despite all that they lived, they could not be accepted because their sin could not be taken away. Their sins were only covered temporarily with the blood of goats. God just covered it. "Ah, I have not forgiven those sins yet. Just use goat blood to cover it." When Jesus came, even the sin of Adam, the sin of Abraham, the sins of Moses, the sins of Elijah, all of them, Jesus did what? He cleaned them off. It is no more a matter of sin being covered, it is sin being taken away. That is why Jesus said, "Abraham rejoiced to see my day." Abraham was waiting for Jesus. Moses was waiting for Jesus. Because they could not enter their rest. It was when He finally died, and Jesus went to hell and said, "Sorry, Mr. Devil, they cannot remain dead. They cannot die again." Bible says, "who through death, defeated him that have the power of death." So they could not come to life. I don't understand me. There is an eternal life that Abraham could not enter into. There was an eternal life that Moses could not enter into. All those people, they could not have eternal life because the key of death was with the devil. So everything they did, there was no eternal life. I'm talking about His cross. So that we should separate His cross from the—from the issues we are imagining it with. This cross, what actually is this cross? So all those people, that's actually the Bible says that all of them, Hebrews chapter 11, it says they all died in faith but they did not obtain the promise. They did not get eternal life. They could not obtain it. And what did the Bible say? Bible say "because they without us cannot be made perfect." There must be the chief cornerstone. Jesus must come. Jesus must come! Or else, all of them, they were all waiting. They all did everything in faith. The Bible says the Spirit of Christ was in them, testifying about what—the suffering of Christ, and they were waiting. Holy men of old, they were all waiting that eternal life will come. They were waiting, they were waiting, but they could not get eternal life. They all died in faith, Hebrews 11. They all died in faith! They could not obtain that promise. They all—they could not enter into that promise to get—it says, "And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith..." We have been talking about them since morning. Elijah, Moses, Abraham, the father of faith. Look at what we say about them. Look at how they work with God. They had good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise. You see it? Why? Why? Verse 40. That's verse 39, Hebrews 11:39. What is verse 40? What did God do? "God, having provided..." Hallelujah! What did God provide? "...something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us." What is the something better? Imagine all of them after all the miracles and signs and everything, they remain under the power of death. So they could not be made perfect. Because after Adam it will be Christ. Every other thing is just temporal. Nothing. It is as we bear the image of Adam we must bear the image of Jesus. That was what—that was God's arrangement. So every other thing, all of them, all of them, all of them, all of them, they had good testimony, wonders, signs, everything. That's why you know Jesus said that on that day many will say, "I cast out demon, I..." and He will tell them, "I don't know you workers of iniquity." It is not the focus of why I came. I came to give life. Life! That you do miracles, signs, and wonders, honestly it's a wonderful thing. But God allowed all those things so that people can believe in Jesus. That's why God allowed for miracle, signs, and wonders. That's the essence of miracle. So that people can believe and enter into life. Jesus came to give eternal life. That's what He came to give. That's what nobody could give. And so you notice that they could not be made perfect. He said, "All these, having obtained..." and go and look at—please, I want you to read some things about these people. I want you to check some things about them. When people talk, I want you to—I want you to see some things about these people. I want to read from—I want to read from verse 28. "By faith," talking about Moses, "he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should—should touch them. By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians attempting to do so were drowned." He's talking about power. "By faith, the walls of Jericho came down." A wall that he saw the diameter was such that houses were built on it. That wall came down after it was circled for seven days. "By faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she received the spies with peace." He now said, "And what more shall I say? For the time will fail me to tell of Gideon." Hey! You remember Gideon? You remember Gideon? A man that went into the camp with just 300 men and conquered millions of people. He said faith—"Time will not allow me to talk of some other people." He said, "Should I begin to talk of Gideon? Did I talk of Barak? Could I talk of Samson?" We have mentioned him before. The one-man army. One man is the army. He's the Air Force, he's the land force, he's the sea force. He's the atomic bomb. He's the gun, he's the knife. He's everything, he's the commando. Just one man. How can you put that together, which kind of—I'm showing you how the power of God had moved when things were just temporal. For you to know how much God will move if we actually walk in our heritage. Do you get the point I am making? Can you imagine how much God will move if we now walk in our heritage? Unfortunately the enemy have blinded our eyes. We are pursuing what is not in the heritage. We deny the power so we could not live a godly life. And so we could not see real power. We could not see real power! Talking about [unclear], when you see real power, then you can imagine that you—a man look—we are not talking of a stream. We are talking of a sea! Opened into two. Everybody was walking and the seabed was dry. Which technology can dry water in hours? The bed of sea. Till today, there is no such technology. We turn water to a wall. And then immediately again the water become—and I'm showing you, the Bible says, "Look, check your mind back to all of these people." [Unclear: Kamasope agbara wa nitori ibo lagbara wa]. There is no power but God. Bible say power belongs to God. When you talk about power, people are running here, going to one [unclear: babalawo], going to one man, "[unclear: baba ise agbara fun mi] for my church to grow, do something for me so that my church—I want to tie something around my waist so that I can have multitude." Where, where, do you know what power is? Power belongs to Him. When it comes to power, what is in [unclear: babalawo]? What can—what can [unclear: ogun] do? And all he said, whatever he said he is doing, is never free. It is at the expense of maybe your wife, your children, your glory, and everything and he says he is giving—what has he given you actually? Because power does not belong to them. So they cannot give it free. Somebody gave it free because it was His own. And even now, it is His own. And He can still give us free without taking our children, taking our virgins, taking our wife, taking our glory from us. He can still give us free. Because it belongs to Him! He said, "What more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, of Barak, of Samson, of Jephthah, and also of David and Samuel and the prophets." Time will fail me. Look at what he was saying. He said, "who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of the lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword." I'm talking about what men have done. What is happening now that we cannot do by faith? Out of weakness, they were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Look, these people, they were seeing it afar and they prefer to die to get it. He said, "Still, others were tried of mockings and scourgings, yes, chains and imprisonment." That is why I tell people that people are beaten and tortured and whatever, it is not as if God don't have power. It is what God choose for each of His servants. Is it a matter of power that made them to be able to kill Jesus? If He wanted to demonstrate power, can anybody kill Him? It's a matter of purpose. And I tell people, nobody had the power to take your life, except God has given that power to take it. That is the truth about it. Let us rearrange the way we think. Our problem is that our mind has not been transformed to think at the frequency of God. The our battleground is our mind, the way we think. The way we think! Others were tried of mockery, of scourgings, yes, of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were sawn in two. That was Isaiah. When they were to kill Isaiah, they put him inside a tree, between a tree, and then cut him into two. He says, "they wandered about in sheepskin and goatskin, being destitute and afflicted and tormented." All of these were faith. They did it all by faith. So that you are destitute and you are tormented and this because of your faith, it's nothing new. Faith is not about—only about riches and about power and about glory. It's also about suffering. It's also about torment. It's also about imprisonment. It's also about persecution. Faith is not only about power and miracle. It's also about dying, dying at the hand of sinful men. That is also faith. Let's correct our mentality! That's why he's showing you that they did all this by faith. It means if you don't have faith, you cannot stand persecution. Faith, you go through persecution by faith. Imprisonment by faith. Bondage by faith. Affliction by faith. Destitute, being destitute, you go through faith. Faith can bring you into all of these things. That's what he's trying to make us see. So when somebody says, "I cannot be rich, I cannot be rich in heaven," that person—that person is a spiritual bastard. It's not about the faith. Because there are two—we can see that faith was demonstrated both in power, in glory, and also what? In suffering, in dying, and in persecution. And they are all faith! That is faith. So that the person that—that stopped the mouth of the lion should not be the person who died does not—no. Both of them are faith. That's what the Bible is making. God chose to allow some and chose to deliver. He is our God! Because even the captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering. So who are we that we will not suffer? Let us correct certain things about—about this thing. How can men—they saw something afar, they so much embraced it, and they were destitute because of it. Today people don't want to be destitute because of faith. It's like saying if the only way to Christ is to lie, then I will not do any job. God will provide for my needs. I will be doing whatever thing I can do for myself. That's what he's trying to say. If the only way to make it as a contractor is to—is to cut corners, then I will not be a contractor. I will be doing small-small job that I can see. That's what it means to be destitute. If the only way to US is by fraud, then let me die in Nigeria. That's what it means to be destitute! That is placing your priorities right. Knowing what comes first. But today they tell you that God understands. Even when we tell lie, God knows, God knows. Do you see people? I'm showing you people, human beings like us. As if these are not the—these are the people that gave us the baton. We'll be talking as if this thing began with us. Running a relay race. They are running, they are running. You get to your turn, you change—you change the dimension. "Is it 100 meters? No, it's not a must you run very fast. You see, we can also sit down and have some party." People have been running this thing. It gets to your turn again, you start—to run for us so we can win. You say "Let us do some small birthday first. You know in our own time things have changed." Is that the way? Do you know what you are talking about? Did it begin with us? And that's why at a point in my life, there's nothing wrong with having contemporary. But you know at a point in my life, I—I just have a switch of mentality that my contemporaries would be men of old. I begin to look at men of old as my contemporaries. I begin to look at their—because at a point, I was wondering, who is there to look at in contemporary times? I mean as an example of what we really have. Because we know that we are the church founded on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ being the chief cornerstone. I'm talking about this cross. We're talking about this cross. He says, "Of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in desert and mountains, in dens and in caves of the earth. All these, having obtained a good testimony." All of them were good testimony through faith. Have you seen it? But what we call good testimony today is when you just show power [clapping background noise]. Good testimony! I'm showing you what the Bible called good testimony. But where I am actually going is about Jesus Christ. He said, "All these, they did it through faith, but they did not receive the promise." Telling you that all of these things is still not the promise. Are you just getting it? God just did all of that, but that is not the promise. Can you imagine that all those things Moses did was not the promise? All those things they did, that was not the promise because the promise was eternal life. They did all of those things, just imagine it. After all of those things, that's what we were reading also. Jesus said some will say, "I did that in your name." Then he will say, "Depart from me workers of iniquity." So what the benefit of doing those things? So all of them, they would have been useless in their faith if Christ did not come. That was why the Bible says—look at what the Bible says. It is a very familiar scripture but I want us to go to scriptures to read it. Look at what the Bible says about Jesus. Look at what the Bible says, Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4. Look at what the Bible says. I take it from verse 8. "Therefore it says, when He ascended on high, what did He do? He led captivity captive and did what? And gave gifts to men." Another translation says, "This is why the scripture says, when he ascended to the height, he led a crowd of captives and gave gift to his people." NIV says, "This is why it is—it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive in his train and gave gifts to men. Now, now this, he ascended. What does it mean? Verse 9. But that he also first did what? Descended where? Into the lower parts of the earth before he ascended." He first had to descend. Do you know why? God has provided that without us should not be made perfect. There are people down who died waiting for Him but did not get the promise. So before He ascended, He first have to descend. He descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended, Hallelujah! is also the one who ascended, far above all the heavens, that He may fill all things. You know what it means now? That is why things both in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, He was able to now fill all things. Because in Adam, certain thing was gone. Somebody had the key of death. So the heaviness could not descend—could not fill under the earth. It could only fill where? Up. We need to get back that thing. So He had to descend so that He can now be everywhere. That is why there is no where, there is no demon, there is no spirit, there is no grave, there is no hell that does not recognize the authority of Jesus. So song of old that they will be saying, "Oruko Jesu yi to bi" is not just exaggeration. Now he descended into the lower parts of the earth, that he might fill all things. He says, "And he gave some to be apostles, to be prophets, he gave gifts." What's the point I'm trying to make you to see? He descended down to do what? To lead captivity captive. There was a captivity of who? Of everybody who have had a good testimony waiting for him, but could not obtain eternal life. So he went to free those captives and then make them his own captive. That's why Abraham was thankful waiting for Jesus to come. Moses was waiting. They were all waiting that somebody will come. Don't worry, we will get this promise. We will be free from the hand of him who holds the power of death. We will be free from the devil. And that day, when He came, by death, He conquered him that have power over death. And that is why the Bible says if they have known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. If they have known. That is why I tell people that what you don't understand is that it is in the worst of the enemy that the glory of the Lord is manifested. It was—it was after the crucifixion that there was—there was resurrection. That tells you, after the enemy would have exhaust all he has, that is just the beginning of God. That is just the beginning of God! These are things we must understand about this Lord that we are serving. That is thing we should know. So he did that. And that is why it is so crucial for you to know—I go back to that Romans chapter 5. I am trying to bring out Romans chapter 5 out for you very, very clearly so that you know where we are coming from and where we are going to. He says—he says resulted in justification. Made right with God. I am not trying to be reconciled. I'm not—I'm not trying to be—I don't know if you understand me. I have been reconciled. I have been made right with God. How did this happen? It was a free gift. That is what the cross is saying. The cross says it's a free gift. And that is why we call it a good news. If I had to work for it, it is a bad news. Because the men who work for it never got it. We will soon get there, you will see it. People who try to work for it could not get it. All that they did and did and did, they could not. The law made nothing perfect. That's what the Bible says. It could not. Even your high priest, when they want to go to the presence of God, you know what they will do? They will tie chain on their leg. And they will be going. If they get there and they didn't do well, they die inside. Nobody can go there, they will use chain to pull them out. They go and anoint another high priest. The law made nothing perfect. It made nothing perfect. It made nothing perfect. Now look at what the Bible says. It says for if by one—I'm in verse 17. "For if by one man's offense..." Look at what it says. Please, look at it very well. "For if by one man's offense..." What did the Bible say? "Death reigned." Please, what does it mean to reign? To be in charge! That's why I like—I like Yoruba translation. [Unclear: Iku joba]. That is what it means. It reigned. [Unclear: O n se ijoba lori ohun gbogbo]. That is what it means. It was a reign. [Unclear: O n joba]. You know what it means? No matter how you try not to die, you will die. No matter how you try. That's why you will see them, New Year resolution, "I will not—I will not masturbate again." Before they get to second week in January, they are back in it. You will see them, "Me I have made up my mind, this thing I will not do it again." That was what Peter thought. Peter thought he can live without Christ. He said, "Me, I am going to die with You. Me, I have made up my mind." Then Jesus said, "You will deny me three times before tomorrow." By the time he got there three times, [unclear: o ti mo tun]. So it is not—so even if you want to live, you cannot live. You cannot live by yourself. [Unclear: Kosi elenu ara to lagbara lori ese]. There is no human being that can conquer sin. No human being. There is no—no body can do it. Because actually, death reigns. It was in charge! It's not as if—not as if death came into existence. That's not what it means. That what most people think. No. [Unclear: O n joba ni]. It's reigning. And when we say death reigned, you know what it's trying to say? It's talking about when the death came, what are we talking about? It's talking about sin. How do you know? That's why the Bible said that, "And we who died through trespasses and sin." We are talking about death. Death is actually sinning. When He say it's reign, how do you know that a man is dead? A man can no longer live right. He cannot live right. Let him try and try and try and try, he will only be trying. Because death is in charge. But look at what the Bible says. I'm talking about this cross. My concern is His cross. Because many times, we just—I was in the market today and I saw somebody put a chain in his neck and there was a cross. I say "this is—it's not about one thing on your neck." It's not. And I remember in my old background, we carry the wood of the cross. "Jesu, Jesu." And when we get to the cross like this, you bow down, "Jesu." We were still in our—in all our immoral life. It's not about one stick somewhere, about one—even that symbol has nothing to do with Christianity. It has to do with paganism. I will still get to emblems that are not about the cross today. We'll get to those points later. This thing you carry that you do like this, it came out of paganism. It's the sign of the sun god. It has nothing to do with Christianity. I will also talk about what actually when Jesus said, "As you come to that who want to follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross." That's what people thought and then they are carrying cross. We are still coming to that. But I first want us to understand this cross. It says if by one man's offense, death reigned. [Unclear: Iku joba]. He is the baba. I know many times when we think about these things, and I read—I understand why I have Yoruba Bible on my screen. When I go back, Yoruba will say, [unclear: Eni aba laba ni baba]. Do you understand me? What it means is that the person we meet on ground becomes the Lord. You know, it's just like when you get into—you see it's men among prisoners. When you get into the place and you meet someone, "[unclear: oya] go and bow down for the king." If you say no, they will slap you. "Go and bow down for—[unclear: o mo baba? Gon!] Go and bow down." When you join, if you check it among [unclear: agberos], garage, there's always—always a baba. When you come and you want to join, they say "[unclear: oya]." "Everything! The person that first get here is the person everybody must come to respect." [Unclear: Eni aba laba ni baba]. What you don't understand is that we met death. You met death! So death is the baba. There's nothing you can do about death. That's why I pity people that are struggling to live right, instead of accepting the righteousness of God. God made something free, you are trying to work for it. Because if it is not free, we can never obtain it. And I keep telling people, was death not a free gift from Adam? Was death not a free gift from Adam? Is God not just in making life a free gift? What did you do to die? You were born! What do you do to live? Be born again! That's all. So you see God being just. It says if by one man's offense, death reigned through that one man. Now look at what the Bible says. I'm talking about this cross. My concern is His cross. Because many times, we just—look at what the Bible says. It says what? "Much more." Hallelujah! Much more! "Those who receive what? Abundance of..." Please, what did you receive? This small grace? What did you receive? "Abundance of grace!" So why are you saying grace then? God will be surprised. That you don't know what the cross is all about. Am I making sense to you? I'm talking about His cross. He says for it's telling you a consequence that something is a consequence. That if you look at it, immediately Adam sinned, death was in charge. Immediately you come into Christ, abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness is in charge. Something was in charge. Do you notice? Please, listen to me. You notice that death was in charge not because of something we did, but something somebody did. The same way, abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will what? Do you see it again? Will what? "Will reign in what? In life." Do you see? It will reign in what? In life! The matter is life. It will reign in life through who? Through the one man, Jesus Christ. So the point is that, are you in Christ? If a man say death is in charge, I cannot change, I cannot stop this thing, I cannot stop this thing, what is he telling us? He's not in Christ! Or the other dimension to it, he entered Christ, he was told that the purpose of the cross is to be rich. So he is still struggling with sin, wanting to be rich. So as he's getting rich he is telling lie, he's fornicating. Do you understand me? Because he was not told the purpose of the cross. That's why the Bible says if any man continue in sin, two things. Bible says he is not born of God or does not know God. So it's either a question of birth or a question of ignorance. That's the truth. Either you are not born again, or you were not told what the cross—you were not told what actually happened to you. Because until you know the truth, you can never be free. So there are people today who are born again but they are not free. Because you cannot operate in the liberty of what you don't know. It is truth that brings liberty. It is truth that brings liberty! The reason why I cannot continue in sin is not like saying, "God, please come and help me." Let me explain it to you. It's like somebody, a police officer, traffic warden. He got to a confused traffic, trailer this way, bus this—with the uniform. And starting, "[claps] God, come and take care of this place! Government! Government! Ah! Government, come and control this traffic. Government! Government!" He's ignorant of the uniform that he is wearing. Because he is the government. All he need to do is to enter that traffic and say "You stop! You this way, if you move—stop! Stop! You move! [unclear: oya] stop! Move!" And then you put the traffic in order. That is how you can control the traffic of your life. Everywhere that is jam-packed, there's authority in Christ to control. There's authority in Christ! Put the traffic of your life in order and stop saying, "God, give me grace, God give..." No! That's not—you don't know what the cross is. You are not calling for the government. When you entered into Christ, the Bible says "the for His government, the increase of His government shall be upon His shoulder." That is why you know that Bible says that what does Christ have to do with Belial? What did the Bible call you? He say you are Christ. The Bible says if any man is joined to the Lord, he's what? He's one spirit! Not two spirit. What happens with us in the Lord is what happened in sexual intercourse. That's why sexual intercourse is a great thing that you must run away from, pre-marital sex and extra-marital sex. They are spiritual things. You know that Bible always connect it. For He has said, the two shall become one. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Since He is also a spiritual thing, it's not fun. The way people are joined to Christ, such that Christ can come back and say "I was hungry, you didn't give me to eat. I was ill..." "Well, so when you didn't do it to the least of your brethren you did not do it to me." The way that when you do evil to your brother, it is done directly against Christ. Because we are joined to him. It is not "Why are you persecuting my body?" "Why are you persecuting me?" That's what He told Saul. "Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He's one spirit! And so that government becomes where? Upon His shoulder. It is not "Government, government, come and control the traffic" when you are wearing the uniform. That is complete—I don't know what to call that. That is ignorant stupidity! And that is what some Christians are playing. "Oluwa jo, Oluwa wa gbami, Baba jekien le stop ese yi, Oluwa je kien le se, Oluwa jo, ah Alaanu lo lohun wa saanu fun mi." I keep wondering where we are praying from. It looks like a prayer, but it's stupidity! Understand something. Are you in Christ? That is what you are to secure. If any man be—are you in Christ? And how do you come into Christ? What a free gift! He said whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ho! Look at the access! Is that not a good news? That we call upon the name of the Lord. "Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, I come to You, I give my life to You, I surrender to You. Come, come, I come into You. Oh, when You died, it was for my sin. I turn from my sin today. Oh, Lord Jesus, come and reign in my life." The Bible says as that thing happen, you receive abundant grace, you receive life, and then righteousness begin to reign in life through that Jesus. Oh, what a wonderful gift! Is that the good news? Nothing can be better. I don't know if something can be better, can be gooder. There is an English like that. Nothing can be gooder than that. It's better than better. Because of the freedom of access. It is not "run to Lagos, go and kill one cow. After you have killed three cows... no, you bring—you kill two cows, you offer one of your children, then you put three million down. Apart from that, it has to be in dollars and in pounds. After you have paid all of that, you now come back, then you push your head down, you hit your head again to the Lord three times. After you have done that, you fast twenty-five days. After twenty-five days fast, then you go into another 150 days of praying, then you will get the salvation." Ah, how many people will be able to do that? He said whosoever shall do what? Call! Hallelujah! You just call, "Lord Jesus!" and there is an answer. Let us go ahead to pray. I want you to call this evening. Call. It's about calling! Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Call upon His name. Oh, Jesus, how I love calling Your name. Oh, Jesus, Your name is so great. Your name is so good. He said because "Because he have loved me, I will deliver him. Because he has known my name, I will set him on high." There is something about that name! The name of the Lord is a sanctuary. The righteous run into it and they are saved. There is something about that name. Oh, that name Jesus. That name Jesus. Just call upon Him. Oh, freedom of access! You don't need an intermediary. You don't need me to help you to call. I don't need to stand in the middle. It's direct access. It's direct access. Oh, that day when He died, oh the curtain of the inner—of the most holy torn into two. Everybody come. Freedom of access. Freedom of access. He said "Come boldly to the throne of grace." Come boldly! Come boldly! You don't need an intermediary. You don't need somebody. You don't need to pray through me. You don't need to pray through your pastor. You don't need to pray through the bishop. You don't need to pray through anybody. You just go ahead. You just go ahead and talk to the Lord. You don't need to pray through anybody. You don't need to call on Him through anybody. Just call. He said whosoever shall call. Whosoever shall call. Just call upon His name. Call upon His name. Call upon His name. Oh, that is the cross of Jesus. Oh, what a wonderful cross. Oh, on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. Oh, an emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the