Implication of His Cross 7

[background music: religious choral singing] [Speaker 1] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly homefront. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] We appreciate him for his goodness to us. As we gather again today, we trust the Lord that it is going to be a time of refreshing in his presence in the name of Jesus Christ. We have been considering the implication of looking at Jesus in his cross, the implication of looking at the cross. We are trusting the Lord again that as we move on on the matter from where we left it last week, the Lord will bless us all. We who are here physically, our brethren who are joining us on Mixlr, our brethren who are joining us online, who are joining us on Telegram, we trust the Lord that it will be a time of blessing in the name of Jesus Christ. Today we trust the Lord to move on on the implication of looking at Jesus in his cross, the implication of looking at the cross. Let us have a word of prayer. Our Father, we thank you for your mercies and your love. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your grace. Our Father, as we move on again to look into Scriptures, Lord we pray, meet with us in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray for your people. Lord, meet every one, every individual at the point where they need you most in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, our eyes are on you. Nothing will prevail against your purposes in our lives in Jesus' name. Thank you, eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. We concluded last week from looking at Galatians 2:20-21. [Speaker 3] Galatians 2:20-21: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." [Speaker 2] I will take that in the NLT translation. [Speaker 3] "I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die." [Speaker 2] The NIV translation of that reading. [Speaker 3] "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" [Speaker 2] I take that in the Amplified translation. [Speaker 3] "I have been crucified with Christ. In Him I have shared His crucifixion. We are talking about the implication of looking at the cross, the implication of looking to Jesus in His cross, the implication of taking the cross for the believer. We are reading a very crucial verse of the Scripture this evening, Galatians 2:20-21. I thought I am reading this verse in different versions in a bid to practically demonstrate the meaning, the implication, the practical way of experiencing this crucifixion in our mortal body. It says, 'I have been crucified with Christ. In Him I have shared His crucifixion. It is no longer I who live, but Christ the Messiah lives in me. And the life I now live in the body, I live by faith, by adherence to, and reliance on, and complete trust in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Therefore, I do not treat God’s gracious gift as something of minor importance. I do not treat God’s gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its purpose. I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace of God. For if justification, righteousness, acquittal from guilt, comes through observing the rituals of the law, then Christ the Messiah died groundlessly and to no purpose and in vain. His death was then wholly superfluous.'" [Speaker 2] Now, the reason why I am reading these verses of the Bible is so that we can properly appreciate and understand this matter of our crucifixion with Christ. I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet it is not I, but Christ that lives in me. I am not among those who treat the grace of God as having little importance. If we could be made right by observing the law, then the death of Christ is in vain. Now, last week I rightly noted something very, very important in looking at that Galatians. I said what Paul was having issue with was the life of Peter. Peter, who saw the Jews when they came to visit the brethren in Galatia and quickly shifted away from the Gentiles and was now confusing Barnabas and other believers. Paul had to rebuke him that he is not doing right, that we know that a man cannot be made right by keeping those laws. Now, how is this matter of being crucified with Christ practically demonstrated? I want us to go to the book of Romans. How do I, the practicality of our being crucified with Christ, the practicality of it? Let's look at Romans 6 particularly. In Galatians 2:20-21, we noted now, we just noted that a man cannot be justified by obeying the law. A man cannot be made right by obeying the law. A man is made right by faith. Now, in Romans 6, the practicality of our crucifixion with Christ was written down in Scriptures for our learning. From verse 1, it says, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" That is, if a man is not justified by observing the law, a man is simply justified by looking at the cross of Jesus, a man is simply justified by faith. So the matter is, is there now a ground for us to say since we are not made right by the law, we can continue in sin? Of course, the answer came in the verse 2, "Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" Now, what I want to particularly speak on in Romans 6:1-14 is understanding your crucifixion with Christ. Understanding, that is, when you look at the cross, what you need to understand about yourself, what you need to know. Please, I keep saying something. We need to always understand that iniquity is a mystery. Sin is a mystery. Becoming sinners is not a matter of what a man did or did not do. Becoming a sinner is a matter of something that happened as a mystery. What is a mystery? A mystery simply means something that was once hidden but later revealed. When we talk about the mysteries of God, we are not talking about mysticism. We are talking about something that God, something that was once hidden in God and later God revealed it. Now, what was hidden in God in Adam that was later revealed in the gospel, in the good news, was that when Adam sinned, Adam sinned consequentially for humanity. That is, the whole of humanity sinned in Adam. That is what we understood in the good news, in the gospel. The gospel revealed that Adam did not sin and sin for himself. No. When Adam sinned, Adam sinned and brought mankind into sin. That is what was revealed in the gospel. Now, we are calling it a mystery because many people have refused to believe the gospel on account of this truth that the gospel revealed. Because for many people, we cannot be sinners in Adam. It is not possible. But that is the truth that the gospel revealed. The truth the gospel revealed is that a man is not a sinner because he is sinning. Rather, a man is a sinner because Adam sinned. That is the gospel. Now, the reason why I am saying this is to understand that our being condemned is a matter of a mystery that happened in Adam. It is not something that has to do with what we did or did not do. No. It was a mystery in Adam that when he sinned, as far as eternity is concerned, we all sinned in Adam. And to prove that we all sinned in Adam, the Bible says thousands of years later, God gave the law through Moses so that sin can abound, so that God can prove that we actually became sinners in Adam. That is why God gave the law. Now, the reason why I am giving this background is so that when you look at Romans 6, the implication of looking at the cross, when you say, "I am crucified with Christ," what you are also saying, please understand, that your condemnation became a reality because the truth of the word of God says you are condemned in Adam. There is nothing logically that connects you with Adam, but there is something in God that connects you with Adam. That is the mystery of sin. God said when Adam sinned, you sinned. Now, the good news for us is that we also need to realize that our becoming righteous, our becoming acceptable to God, that we are no more a sinner, it is not also a matter that has to do with what we do or we don't do. It also has to do again with a mystery that is revealed in the gospel. What is the mystery? The mystery is that we were crucified with Christ. The mystery, that is, the same way we sinned in Adam, the same way we also died with Jesus on that cross. The same way! What I am trying to say, hallelujah! Please, look at something in 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3, so that maybe it will make what I am trying to say clearer. I am just trying to make a point as I go into the practicality of our being crucified with Christ. Many times we don't, when we say "I am crucified with Christ," people just say so. They don't understand what it means for them, what is implied for them. As a result, you still find a lot of believers still struggling with different sinful habits, sinful things in their life, struggling to get out of one matter with sinfulness, not being able to live victoriously over sin. And what they don't understand is that the more you think there is something you need to do of yourself in overcoming sin, I want to tell you, the more you live that way, the more you will never gain victory over sin. Victory over sin is a mystery and it is a mystery of our crucifixion. It is a mystery of our crucifixion. So that when you understand your crucifixion, all you need to do is to appropriate your crucifixion and mysteriously you will find victory over sin. Mysteriously, just as mysteriously we discovered that before we met with God, we know right from wrong, but the more we wanted to do right, do the right, it is the wrong that we don't want to do that we are doing. And we start wondering, what is the problem with me? In my heart, I desire to do what is right. Why am I doing what is wrong? Because there was a mystery of iniquity operating in our lives. There was a mystery. That mystery of sin, the law of God is good, but man is a slave to sin. And so there is a mystery over man's life, and that mystery makes him have what I call the inability of man to live victoriously over sin. Now, the victory over sin is also a mystery, the mystery of godliness. Now, when you look at, I just want to show something from that 1 Peter 3. Let's look at 1 Peter 3. I want to call your attention to something there quickly. 1 Peter 3, I want to take you to from around verse 18. "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God)." Please, I want to look at 2 Peter. There is something I want to connect that with. 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3 is the actual verse that came, that I was looking for. Yes, it's 2 Peter 3. Please, open to 2 Peter 3. Look at from around verse 3. It says this first: "that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts." That wouldn't be our portion in the name of Jesus. "Saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.'" Now, while scoffers are scoffing, look at what the Bible says: "For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God," by the word of God, that is what I want you to see. They forgot. What did they forget? They forgot that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in water. It's talking about the creation story. That God said, "Let there be firmament above, let the water above gather to one side, let the water below also gather to another side," and all of those things took place. Now, what he is trying to say is that the creation of heaven and earth was by what? Was by the word of God. That's what he's trying to say. That they willfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and in water. "By which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." Now, what am I trying to make you see? What I am trying to make you see, I want us to appreciate that God fashions and rules by what? By His word. God fashions and rules by His word. Now, it now becomes very, very crucial. I said something when we were looking at the cross and principalities and powers, that as long as a man can be deceived, then the devil can operate. As long as a man cannot be deceived, the devil cannot operate. Crucial to our victory is truth. Now, what is the truth? The truth is the word of God. To know that it is by the word of God that anything stands or falls. That's what I want you to see. Now, look at that Romans that we were reading. Everything stands and falls by the word of God. Romans 6. The Bible says, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" Now, are you noticing something in the verse 2? What is it that the word of God is saying about we and sin? What is the thing we need to see? "How shall we who died to sin..." How did we die to sin? "How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" The first thing this Scripture is drawing our attention to is that the matter between we and sin is not that we will die to sin. The matter is that we died to sin. It is not something that will occur. It is something that had occurred. How shall we who died to sin? Not how shall we who will die to sin. So when I look at the cross, when I say "I am crucified with Christ," the first understanding about my relationship to sin is that I actually had died to sin. Not that I will die. I had. Tell yourself "I am." You may not be seeing the reality of it, but believe it. Don't say until I feel it I will not believe. That was the mistake of Thomas. Begin to tell yourself "I have died to this telling lie. I have died to bearing malice. I have died to fornication. I have died to pornography. I have died to being easily provoked. I have died, I have died, I have died." The more you realize that you have died, you will see reality of your death. Tell yourself that you have died. When it comes, tell yourself "No," speak to yourself. Whatever your name is, like many times I speak to myself, "Wole, you have died. You have died to bitterness. How can you continue in bitterness? You have died to bitterness. You have died to unforgiveness. You have died." The more I tell myself, the more I see the reality in my life. Take the truth of the word of God into the reality of your existence. That is the reality of your existence and you will see it. The Bible says in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. It says through him were all things made, without him was not anything made that was made. [In Yoruba: Ni ateteko se ni oro wa, oro wa pelu olorun, olorun si ni oro, nipa se oro lada ohun gbogbo.] It is by the word! Speak the word of God! The Bible says by faith we understand that the universe was framed by the word of God, that the things that are seen are not created by the things which do appear. They were created by the word of God. Speak the word of God and you will see the creation of that thing in your life. Speak the word of God. I have died. I died to malice. I've been crucified with Christ. I've died to lust. I've been crucified. The more you speak the truth of the word of God into the reality of your existence, you will see it. Because by faith you can fashion your life. He says by faith in the Son of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing the word of God. And what the Bible says, if you believe in your heart and you do what? You confess with your mouth, what will happen? You shall be saved. Believe the truth of the reality of your life in your heart. Confess it with your mouth. Stop confessing "I cannot overcome this thing. It is in our lineage. I saw it in my father. This sickness is from my mother. I got it as an inheritance. This one is from my mother-in-law. That one is in my gene." I don't know what you understand, but I want you to understand this: that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. You can trace your DNA to Jesus Christ because the Bible says the seed of God is in us. The Bible says he that is joined to Christ is one spirit. What that means is that the way there is sexual intercourse between a man and a woman and a life is produced, the same way the Spirit of God brought the seed, the spermatozoon of God into our spirit, so we have the DNA of God. We can live as him! Proclaim the truth of your liberty! Believe it in your heart and proclaim it. I have died to this thing. What is that thing troubling your life? Can you begin to rise and tell that thing that look, I have died to you. Don't be afraid of it because you have been set free from it. "Hey, I hope I won't do it again tomorrow." That is the foolishness of your life. You don't need to see whether it will work. You need to know it will work because it's the reality. And let me tell you, what Christ made available for you is far greater than what happened to you in Adam. So the thing we are talking about, about our being crucified with Christ, there are three principles in that Romans 6. There are three things there. The first principle is this issue of knowing, and I am addressing knowing. The second one is reckon. We should get there next week, but I'm still on knowing. The third principle there is yield. And we are going to see all of them one by one. I am dealing with knowing. Know. If you don't know, I've told you what to do. Begin now by crying to God. Baba! I have not received the spirit that comes from this world. I receive the Holy Spirit not to just be speaking in tongues. No! I have received the Holy Ghost that I might know! I did not receive the Holy Ghost to remain ignorant. No! I receive the Holy Spirit to be a man of knowledge, to be a woman of knowledge. I should not be ignorant. I did not receive the Spirit of God to remain ignorant. No, brothers and sisters! Rise and cry to God! Go and say, "God, I can't, I can't remain like this. I can't remain like this. Lord, open my eyes. Lord, open my understanding. Lord, give me the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of you. Cause my eyes of understanding to be opened." Thank you, Jesus. Let me invite Pastor Comfort to close this meeting for us today. It's almost 6:30. Please, come and close this meeting for us today. [Speaker 4] We are grateful to you for your word that is true. It is true and we receive it as true. We are grateful, we thank you, we bless your holy name. Thank you for the way you came forth for us today, Lord, addressing the issues that make us Christians—the character of Jesus Christ and what He has done to perfect that character in us, to make us just exactly like He was in the days of His flesh. The Scripture says He was tempted to every point, to every extent, yet He did not sin. And the same Spirit that helped Him at that time is what has been given to us freely. And so Lord, we have no excuse. But we thank you, we bless your holy name. Lord, accept our thanks in Jesus' name. Lord, haven't come to this realization, O God, we pray, let this word be actualized in our lives in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. It is not a fiction, it is not a telltale. It is real. And the intention of God is that it be experiential in our lives. Father, we pray, O Lord, as many that have heard this word today, let this be our experience in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Father, we are begging you, we are pleading with you, O Lord, that the eyes of our understanding will be enlightened, that the spirit of understanding and of wisdom will possess us, and Lord we will begin to walk in the reality of this truth that we have heard tonight and that we will keep on hearing in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. None of us, O God, will continue to be slaves to sin, either obvious sin or non-obvious sins, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you, everlasting Father. Thank you for your son that you have used again. Thank you for the grace tonight. Thank you for the door of unction and utterance. We pray, O Lord, that this door will continually be opened wide in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. According to your promise, O Lord, as often as he opens his mouth to speak, that your Spirit will fill him up to speak the word of revelation in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you, everlasting Father. My prayer for everyone that has heard this word today is that none of us will ever recover from it until we see Christ face to face in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you, Father. As we go, please let your presence go with us and abide with us, for it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forever more. Amen. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! [background music: religious choral singing] [Speaker 2] Without you there cannot be us. Lord, you are, that is why we exist. Lord, you are, that is why we exist. Lord, you are, that is why we are alive. You said because you changeth not, that is why the house of Jacob is not consumed. Because you do not change, because you are the same yesterday, today, forever, that is the only reason why the house of Jacob is not consumed. Lord, it would have been the other way round if things had been in the other way round. We would have been consumed for the gate of hell is determined, O Lord, to prevail. But because you are, because you are, because you reign, because you rule. Lord, you are, that is why we reign. Because you conquered, that is why we are more than conquerors. We are grateful, Father, we worship you. We bless you. It is from you that all blessings flow. It is from you that all blessings flow. Lord, we acknowledge that it is from you. Lord, without you no man receives anything except it is given to him from above. Until you open your hand, the earth cannot be satisfied. Scripture says you open your hand and then you satisfy the desires of the nation. Once you shut your hand, once your hands are shut, O God, desires will not be met. Lord, we worship you. It is from you that all blessings flow. It is from you. It is from you. It is from you. We worship you, our God. We thank you, we thank you, we thank you for the things that you have done. We give you glory for the things that are yet to be done. We appreciate you because we are not alone. You said, "I will not leave you and I will not forsake you." Lord, we thank you that we are not alone. Lord, we glory in our challenges, we glory in our troubles. We glory, O God, because you live we know we can face tomorrow. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross, the emblem, the symbol of our victory. Blessed be your name, our God. As we gather unto you, O Lord, we pray, Lord meet us, O God, where we need you most this evening. Lord, satisfy our desires. Answer the questions of our heart. Give us light and direction. Show us the path to go. Teach us in the way we should walk. Instruct our heart, O God. Correct us when we needed to be corrected. O Lord our God, work in us, work through us the good pleasure of your will by the reason of your word, by the working of your Spirit in the name of Jesus. Thank you, blessed Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Oh, we thank the Lord again for today. You know, this song, the praise that we sang, they were just products of some reflection. You know, the first aspect of the reflection was if you look at the axe, if an axe is very sharp and the axe is able to cut either grass or tree or whatever [chopping sound], of course the sharpness of the axe is not coming from the axe. The sharpness is coming from somebody who filed the axe. Is that not true? Is that not true? And then the swift cutting [chopping sound] is because somebody handles the axe to use it to cut, to use it to cut. The second reflection that came that led to those songs that we were singing was telling us that he is the Lord, it is because he does not change that is why we are not consumed. If the person handling the axe changes, maybe the person loses skill or the person becomes too old to file, there will be nobody again to sharpen the axe. If he becomes too old to use strength, the axe will not be able to cut again. Is that not true? So if the axe must continue the way it is, the person using it must not change. Do you understand what the father is trying to say? The person using it must not change. If it must remain like that for life, then the person using it must also remain the way the person is for life. If the person grows old and he can no longer see, [In Yoruba: adanyanlowo abi dakin si ni o]. So it is because he is the Lord, he changeth not, that is why we are not consumed. The second one, thoughts of reflection, was as I was in the course of the day, I was looking at the palm, the coconut tree. I'm looking at this vis-à-vis some other trees that are there. And then the coconut tree will boast of very long root. You know the height of the coconut is the way the depth of the root. That is why the storm cannot remove coconut. If a coconut is three feet tall above the ground, it will be three feet long inside the ground. If it is 20 feet above, it will be 20 feet down. It is growing in both directions simultaneously. Then I look at the coconut on one hand. The coconut can boast against something like some other, the guava, the moringa that are there. But then the question is, who made coconut to be coconut? And who made moringa or guava to be guava? Who made them? God. God. For the coconut is not the one that made its roots to be able to grow long. It was because it was made coconut. So there is nothing special about coconut and the length of its root. It was God that something was made to have to grow that way. Another one was made not to grow that way. Do you get the point I'm making? In other words, that which we are actually flows from him. It is from him that all blessings flow. It is from him. All blessings flow from him. There is nothing that you are that is about you. That which you are is about God. That is the bottom line. What you are is about God. And so it is from him that all blessings flow. That's just my reflection and that's why we just took time to sing those songs. They have been coming in my heart and I thought let's just sing them together as we go into the Bible study for today. We have been looking at implication of the cross and particularly our being crucified with Christ. Being crucified with Christ. And our concern last week was to make us see that of the three things that have to do with our experience of victory in our Christian life on a daily basis, there are three things in Romans 6 that we are considering: You must know, you must reckon, and then you must yield. Three things, that is the basis of the Christian victory. We have been looking at the matter of "know." And our conclusion last week, in the matter of "know," is there anyone in the house that wants to talk? Anyone in the house that wants to say one or two things? Anybody? Okay, nobody wants to talk. All right. Now, our concern that last week was things have been prepared for you. Everything you need to live a victorious life over sin, over the flesh, over the devil, over the world, they were miraculously given to us. Not that they will be given. Actually they had been given, they were given. But they were given on first and primarily on the account of knowledge. And that we said that if you don't have a revelational experiential knowledge of those things, such that you can, he said these things will speak. That was what we looked at last week. These things will speak. Such that it can become what you speak. A thing you have become so certain of. A thing you can display, you can speak about in the face of anything. We said it was that which God spoke that was formed. Until God spoke, nothing was formed. So the universe was framed by the word of God which was spoken. The same way everything that God has designed for your life, they will come by speaking. You believe in your heart, you must be able to confess them with your mouth. He said these things, that's 1 Corinthians 2. He said these things we speak, 1 Corinthians 2 verse 13: "These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual." So we are seeing something crucial. The matter is a matter that has to do with that which is taught by the Holy Spirit. It's not that which come by intellect. And I said until we know, we cannot have, we cannot experience them, we cannot work in them, we cannot actualize them. They will remain in our language here now, they will remain in which balance? They will remain in the ledger balance. They will not come to the available balance. They will be in your account, but you will not be able to spend it because you don't have a definite revelation of them. And that was why in looking at our victory over sin—we now go back to the text that we are considering, Romans 6. In looking at the matter of our victory over sin, we said we noticed that Apostle Paul mentioned in verse 3, "Or do you not know?" Then in verse 6, "Knowing this," and then in verse 9, "Knowing that." "Do you not know? Knowing this? Knowing that?" So the first thing about your victory, the first thing about it is a revelational knowing. And I was just reflecting from where we stopped last week, that you must be able to speak it. You have a revelation of them and you can speak them so you can experience them. And then some of the things we said before in the class were just coming to my heart. I don't know whether you can remember very well when we were looking at, at a point when we were looking at why did the Bible say, we were looking at a parallelism, that is, two things that looks parallel but looks the same but running on different, operating in different ways. Parallelism. Standing side by side but having different origin. Remember when we were looking at John 1? I can't remember which month now. And we were saying that the Bible says, "In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. It said through him were all things made, without him was not anything made that was made." So everything that was made was made by the word. Now, it now says in him was life, the life was the light of men. So everything came by the word. And then we were looking at a parallelism when we look at the kingdom of darkness. I said then that we must never ever forget that what you call, when you say Satan has power, what operates in Satan is the power of God that has been corrupted by pride. You must not forget that Satan was a principal angel created by God. And when he rebelled, like the Scripture says, the gift and the calling of God they are without what? They are without repentance. Just like God did with Samson. Even when Samson was even sleeping with every girl here and there, was the power not flowing? Was it not true? It was when he went and cut the lock that the power stopped flowing. When he was living, as long as he didn't cut the lock, God didn't stop the power even though he had been declared wanted at home. Though working a very powerful anointing. You get the point I'm making? So it was the same thing with the devil. And we were making a close comparison then. I can't remember which topic now, but I remember very well. It just came back again to my mind, this matter of being able to see the truth about what Jesus has done for you, being able to know it to a point that it become experiential before you can be able to possess them. We said then that when you look at the operation of darkness, how are things created? How are they created? Is it not by the word? When they want to do things, what do they do? Enchantment. They speak. That's why he said there is no enchantment against Jacob. Is that not? There's no divination against. What are the enchantments? [Chanting sounds]. And then they start talking. They start talking. Why can't they do things without talking? Why must they say something? Why must they speak? And when they are doing that thing, what do you notice? They are doing spiritual things with the spiritual. Is that not true? The same way when you begin to say, "No, it is written. It is written. It is written. It is written." What are you doing? You are exercising what? The sword of what? Of the Spirit! Which is what? The word of God! It is the same way! So any man who does not know it to a point of being able to do things like enchantment—I'm just giving parallelism. No! The word of God says by His stripes I am healed! You cannot stand until you can speak it that way. You will not experience healing by His stripes. So it must come to a point where it becomes a knowing, not just a head knowing, but a revelational knowing that makes you certain of what you are saying. You are not just saying, "Okay, by God's grace I'll be healed, I'll be healed. Anyway, I trust God, I trust." No! You are speaking with certainty! Because you have a clear understanding! When you look at those people when they are doing those things, even though those things when they meet superior power they bow, but those operating it, how do you see them operating it? So much confidence of the certainty that it is going to work. "Emi! Ah, Emi!" They are so, you see the fullness of assurance that it is going to work. And they are so furious, they are so weak. "Ah, iro! Ko ye jabo mo. Ah, kini? No, iwo!" You will see, that is what we are talking about. There is a knowing that has become certain in their spirit. A knowing. It is the knowing. This knowing is the crucial thing to victory that comes from the cross. It is the crucial thing to victory that comes from the cross. And it is that knowing that the Master said, "You will know the truth, and what? The truth will set you free." It is that type of knowing, which is not the head knowing. Now, what are the things that you are to know if we are to be victorious over sin? That we will just mention. But I wanted to deal with knowing. We'll just mention them now in Romans 6. What is it that we are to know? It says, "Shall we then continue in sin?" from verse 1. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin," how did we die to sin? "How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" The first thing this Scripture is drawing our attention to is that the matter between we and sin is not that we will die to sin. The matter is that we died to sin. It is not something that will occur. It is something that had occurred. How shall we who died to sin? Not how shall we who will die to sin. So when I look at the cross, when I say "I am crucified with Christ," the first understanding about my relationship to sin is that I actually had died to sin. Not that I will die. Tell yourself "I am." You may not be seeing the reality of it, but believe it. Don't say until I feel it I will not believe. That was the mistake of Thomas. Begin to tell yourself "I have died to this telling lie. I have died to bearing malice. I have died to fornication. I have died to pornography. I have died to being easily provoked. I have died, I have died, I have died." The more you realize that you have died, you will see reality of your death. Tell yourself that you have died. When it comes, tell yourself "No," speak to yourself. Whatever your name is, like many times I speak to myself, "Wole, you have died. You have died to bitterness. How can you continue in bitterness? You have died to bitterness. You have died to unforgiveness. You have died." The more I tell myself, the more I see the reality in my life. Take the truth of the word of God into the reality of your existence. That is the reality of your existence and you will see it. The Bible says in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. It says through him were all things made, without him was not anything made that was made. Ni ateteko se ni oro wa, oro wa pelu olorun, olorun si ni oro, nipa se oro lada ohun gbogbo. It is by the word! Speak the word of God! The Bible says by faith we understand that the universe was framed by the word of God, that the things that are seen are not created by the things which do appear. They were created by the word of God. Speak the word of God and you will see the creation of that thing in your life. Speak the word of God. I have died. I died to malice. I've been crucified with Christ. I died to lust. I've been crucified. The more you speak the truth of the word of God into the reality of your existence, you will see it because by faith you can fashion your life. He says by faith in the Son of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing the word of God. And what the Bible says, if you believe in your heart and you do what? You confess with your mouth, what will happen? You shall be saved. Believe the truth of the reality of your life in your heart. Confess it with your mouth. Stop confessing "I cannot overcome this thing. It is in our lineage. I saw it in my father. This sickness is from my mother. I got it as an inheritance. This one is from my mother-in-law. That one is in my gene." I don't know what you understand, but I want you to understand this: that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. You can trace your DNA to Jesus Christ because the Bible says the seed of God is in us. The Bible says he that is joined to Christ is one spirit. What that means is that the way there is sexual intercourse between a man and a woman and a life is produced, the same way the Spirit of God brought the seed, the spermatozoon of God into our spirit, so we have the DNA of God. We can live as him! Proclaim the truth of your liberty! Believe it in your heart and proclaim it. I have died to this thing. What is that thing troubling your life? Can you begin to rise and tell that thing that look, I have died to you. Don't be afraid of it because you have been set free from it. "Hey, I hope I won't do it again tomorrow." That is the foolishness of your life. You don't need to see whether it will work. You need to know it will work because it's the reality. And let me tell you, what Christ made available for you is far greater than what happened to you in Adam. So the thing we are talking about, about our being crucified with Christ, there are three principles in that Romans 6. There are three things there. The first principle is this issue of knowing, and I am addressing knowing. The second one is reckon. We should get there next week, but I'm still on knowing. The third principle there is yield. And we are going to see all of them one by one. I am dealing with knowing. Know. If you don't know, I've told you what to do. Begin now by crying to God. Baba! I have not received the spirit that comes from this world. I receive the Holy Spirit not to just be speaking in tongues. No! I have received the Holy Ghost that I might know! I did not receive the Holy Ghost to remain ignorant. No! I receive the Holy Spirit to be a man of knowledge, to be a woman of knowledge. I should not be ignorant. I did not receive the Spirit of God to remain ignorant. No, brothers and sisters! Rise and cry to God! Go and say, "God, I can't, I can't remain like this. I can't remain like this. Lord, open my eyes. Lord, open my understanding. Lord, give me the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of you. Cause my eyes of understanding to be opened." Thank you, Jesus. Let me invite Pastor Comfort to close this meeting for us today. Please, come and close this meeting for us today. It's almost 6:30. [Speaker 4] We are grateful to you for your word that is true. It is true and we receive it as true. We are grateful, we thank you, we bless your holy name. Thank you for the way you came forth for us today, Lord, addressing the issues that make us Christians—the character of Jesus Christ and what He has done to perfect that character in us, to make us just exactly like He was in the days of His flesh. The Scripture says He was tempted to every point, to every extent, yet He did not sin. And the same Spirit that helped Him at that time is what has been given to us freely. And so Lord, we have no excuse. But we thank you, we bless your holy name. Lord, accept our thanks in Jesus' name. Lord, haven't come to this realization, O God, we pray, let this word be actualized in our lives in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. It is not a fiction, it is not a telltale. It is real. And the intention of God is that it be experiential in our lives. Father, we pray, O Lord, as many that have heard this word today, let this be our experience in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Father, we are begging you, we are pleading with you, O Lord, that the eyes of our understanding will be enlightened, that the spirit of understanding and of wisdom will possess us, and Lord we will begin to walk in the reality of this truth that we have heard tonight and that we will keep on hearing in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. None of us, O God, will continue to be slaves to sin, either obvious sin or non-obvious sins, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you, everlasting Father. Thank you for your son that you have used again. Thank you for the grace tonight. Thank you for the door of unction and utterance. We pray, O Lord, that this door will continually be opened wide in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. According to your promise, O Lord, as often as he opens his mouth to speak, that your Spirit will fill him up to speak the word of revelation in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you, everlasting Father. My prayer for everyone that has heard this word today is that none of us will ever recover from it until we see Christ face to face in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you, Father. As we go, please let your presence go with us and abide with us, for it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forever more. Amen. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! [background music: religious choral singing] [Speaker 2] Without you there cannot be us. Lord, you are, that is why we exist. Lord, you are, that is why we exist. Lord, you are, that is why we are alive. You said because you changeth not, that is why the house of Jacob is not consumed. Because you do not change, because you are the same yesterday, today, forever, that is the only reason why the house of Jacob is not consumed. Lord, it would have been the other way round if things had been in the other way round. We would have been consumed for the gate of hell is determined, O Lord, to prevail. But because you are, because you are, because you reign, because you rule. Lord, you are, that is why we reign. Because you conquered, that is why we are more than conquerors. We are grateful, Father, we worship you. We bless you. It is from you that all blessings flow. It is from you that all blessings flow. Lord, we acknowledge that it is from you. Lord, without you no man receives anything except it is given to him from above. Until you open your hand, the earth cannot be satisfied. Scripture says you open your hand and then you satisfy the desires of the nation. Once you shut your hand, once your hands are shut, O God, desires will not be met. Lord, we worship you. It is from you that all blessings flow. It is from you. It is from you. It is from you. We worship you, our God. We thank you, we thank you, we thank you for the things that you have done. We give you glory for the things that are yet to be done. We appreciate you because we are not alone. You said, "I will not leave you and I will not forsake you." Lord, we thank you that we are not alone. Lord, we glory in our challenges, we glory in our troubles. We glory, O God, because you live we know we can face tomorrow. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross, the emblem, the symbol of our victory. Blessed be your name, our God. As we gather unto you, O Lord, we pray, Lord meet us, O God, where we need you most this evening. Lord, satisfy our desires. Answer the questions of our heart. Give us light and direction. Show us the path to go. Teach us in the way we should walk. Instruct our heart, O God. Correct us when we needed to be corrected. O Lord our God, work in us, work through us the good pleasure of your will by the reason of your word, by the working of your Spirit in the name of Jesus. Thank you, blessed Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Oh, we thank the Lord again for today. You know, this song, the praise that we sang, they were just products of some reflection. You know, the first aspect of the reflection was if you look at the axe, if an axe is very sharp and the axe is able to cut either grass or tree or whatever [chopping sound], of course the sharpness of the axe is not coming from the axe. The sharpness is coming from somebody who filed the axe. Is that not true? Is that not true? And then the swift cutting [chopping sound] is because somebody handles the axe to use it to cut, to use it to cut. The second reflection that came that led to those songs that we were singing was telling us that he is the Lord, it is because he does not change that is why we are not consumed. If the person handling the axe changes, maybe the person loses skill or the person becomes too old to file, there will be nobody again to sharpen the axe. If he becomes too old to use strength, the axe will not be able to cut again. Is that not true? So if the axe must continue the way it is, the person using it must not change. Do you understand what the father is trying to say? The person using it must not change. If it must remain like that for life, then the person using it must also remain the way the person is for life. If the person grows old and he can no longer see, adanyanlowo abi dakin si ni o. So it is because he is the Lord, he changeth not, that is why we are not consumed. The second one, thoughts of reflection, was as I was in the course of the day, I was looking at the palm, the coconut tree. I'm looking at this vis-à-vis some other trees that are there. And then the coconut tree will boast of very long root. You know the height of the coconut is the way the depth of the root. That is why the storm cannot remove coconut. If a coconut is three feet tall above the ground, it will be three feet long inside the ground. If it is 20 feet above, it will be 20 feet down. It is growing in both directions simultaneously. Then I look at the coconut on one hand. The coconut can boast against something like some other, the guava, the moringa that are there. But then the question is, who made coconut to be coconut? And who made moringa or guava to be guava? Who made them? God. God. For the coconut is not the one that made its roots to be able to grow long. It was because it was made coconut. So there is nothing special about coconut and the length of its root. It was God that something was made to have to grow that way. Another one was made not to grow that way. Do you get the point I'm making? In other words, that which we are actually flows from him. It is from him that all blessings flow. It is from him. All blessings flow from him. There is nothing that you are that is about you. That which you are is about God. That is the bottom line. What you are is about God. And so it is from him that all blessings flow. That's just my reflection and that's why we just took time to sing those songs. They have been coming in my heart and I thought let's just sing them together as we go into the Bible study for today. We have been looking at implication of the cross and particularly our being crucified with Christ. Being crucified with Christ. And our concern last week was to make us see that of the three things that have to do with our experience of victory in our Christian life on a daily basis, there are three things in Romans 6 that we are considering: You must know, you must reckon, and then you must yield. Three things, that is the basis of the Christian victory. We have been looking at the matter of "know." And our conclusion last week, in the matter of "know," is there anyone in the house that wants to talk? Anyone in the house that wants to say one or two things? Anybody? Okay, nobody wants to talk. All right. Now, our concern that last week was things have been prepared for you. Everything you need to live a victorious life over sin, over the flesh, over the devil, over the world, they were miraculously given to us. Not that they will be given. Actually they had been given, they were given. But they were given on first and primarily on the account of knowledge. And that we said that if you don't have a revelational experiential knowledge of those things, such that you can, he said these things will speak. That was what we looked at last week. These things will speak. Such that it can become what you speak. A thing you have become so certain of. A thing you can display, you can speak about in the face of anything. We said it was that which God spoke that was formed. Until God spoke, nothing was formed. So the universe was framed by the word of God which was spoken. The same way everything that God has designed for your life, they will come by speaking. You believe in your heart, you must be able to confess them with your mouth. He said these things, that's 1 Corinthians 2. He said these things we speak, 1 Corinthians 2 verse 13: "These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual." So we are seeing something crucial. The matter is a matter that has to do with that which is taught by the Holy Spirit. It's not that which come by intellect. And I said until we know, we cannot have, we cannot experience them, we cannot work in them, we cannot actualize them. They will remain in our language here now, they will remain in which balance? They will remain in the ledger balance. They will not come to the available balance. They will be in your account, but you will not be able to spend it because you don't have a definite revelation of them. And that was why in looking at our victory over sin—we now go back to the text that we are considering, Romans 6. In looking at the matter of our victory over sin, we said we noticed that Apostle Paul mentioned in verse 3, "Or do you not know?" Then in verse 6, "Knowing this," and then in verse 9, "Knowing that." "Do you not know? Knowing this? Knowing that?" So the first thing about your victory, the first thing about it is a revelational knowing. And I was just reflecting from where we stopped last week, that you must be able to speak it. You have a revelation of them and you can speak them so you can experience them. And then some of the things we said before in the class were just coming to my heart. I don't know whether you can remember very well when we were looking at, at a point when we were looking at why did the Bible say, we were looking at a parallelism, that is, two things that looks parallel but looks the same but running on different, operating in different ways. Parallelism. Standing side by side but having different origin. Remember when we were looking at John 1? I can't remember which month now. And we were saying that the Bible says, "In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. It said through him were all things made, without him was not anything made that was made." So everything that was made was made by the word. Now, it now says in him was life, the life was the light of men. So everything came by the word. And then we were looking at a parallelism when we look at the kingdom of darkness. I said then that we must never ever forget that what you call, when you say Satan has power, what operates in Satan is the power of God that has been corrupted by pride. You must not forget that Satan was a principal angel created by God. And when he rebelled, like the Scripture says, the gift and the calling of God they are without what? They are without repentance. Just like God did with Samson. Even when Samson was even sleeping with every girl here and there, was the power not flowing? Was it not true? It was when he went and cut the lock that the power stopped flowing. When he was living, as long as he didn't cut the lock, God didn't stop the power even though he had been declared wanted at home. Though working a very powerful anointing. You get the point I'm making? So it was the same thing with the devil. And we were making a close comparison then. I can't remember which topic now, but I remember very well. It just came back again to my mind, this matter of being able to see the truth about what Jesus has done for you, being able to know it to a point that it become experiential before you can be able to possess them. We said then that when you look at the operation of darkness, how are things created? How are they created? Is it not by the word? When they want to do things, what do they do? Enchantment. They speak. That's why he said there is no enchantment against Jacob. Is that not? There's no divination against. What are the enchantments? [Chanting sounds]. And then they start talking. They start talking. Why can't they do things without talking? Why must they say something? Why must they speak? And when they are doing that thing, what do you notice? They are doing spiritual things with the spiritual. Is that not true? Is that not true? The same way when you begin to say, "No, it is written. It is written. It is written. It is written." What are you doing? You are exercising what? The sword of what? Of the Spirit! Which is what? The word of God! It is the same way! So any man who does not know it to a point of being able to do things like enchantment—I'm just giving parallelism. No! The word of God says by His stripes I am healed! You cannot stand until you can speak it that way. You will not experience healing by His stripes. So it must come to a point where it becomes a knowing, not just a head knowing, but a revelational knowing that makes you certain of what you are saying. You are not just saying, "Okay, by God's grace I'll be healed, I'll be healed. Anyway, I trust God, I trust." No! You are speaking with certainty! Because you have a clear understanding! When you look at those people when they are doing those things, even though those things when they meet superior power they bow, but those operating it, how do you see them operating it? So much confidence of the certainty that it is going to work. "Emi! Ah, Emi!" They are so, you see the fullness of assurance that it is going to work. And they are so furious, they are so weak. "Ah, iro! Ko ye jabo mo. Ah, kini? No, iwo!" You will see, that is what we are talking about. There is a knowing that has become certain in their spirit. A knowing. It is the knowing. This knowing is the crucial thing to victory that comes from the cross. It is the crucial thing to victory that comes from the cross. And it is that knowing that the Master said, "You will know the truth, and what? The truth will set you free." It is that type of knowing, which is not the head knowing. Now, what are the things that you are to know if we are to be victorious over sin? That we will just mention. But I wanted to deal with knowing. We'll just mention them now in Romans 6. What is it that we are to know? It says, "Shall we then continue in sin?" from verse 1. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin," how did we die to sin? "How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" The first thing this Scripture is drawing our attention to is that the matter between we and sin is not that we will die to sin. The matter is that we died to sin. It is not something that will occur. It is something that had occurred. How shall we who died to sin? Not how shall we who will die to sin. So when I look at the cross, when I say "I am crucified with Christ," the first understanding about my relationship to sin is that I actually had died to sin. Not that I will die. Tell yourself "I am." You may not be seeing the reality of it, but believe it. Don't say until I feel it I will not believe. That was the mistake of Thomas. Begin to tell yourself "I have died to this telling lie. I have died to bearing malice. I have died to fornication. I have died to pornography. I have died to being easily provoked. I have died, I have died, I have died." The more you realize that you have died, you will see reality of your death. Tell yourself that you have died. When it comes, tell yourself "No," speak to yourself. Whatever your name is, like many times I speak to myself, "Wole, you have died. You have died to bitterness. How can you continue in bitterness? You have died to bitterness. You have died to unforgiveness. You have died." The more I tell myself, the more I see the reality in my life. Take the truth of the word of God into the reality of your existence. That is the reality of your existence and you will see it. The Bible says in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. It says through him were all things made, without him was not anything made that was made. Ni ateteko se ni oro wa, oro wa pelu olorun, olorun si ni oro, nipa se oro lada ohun gbogbo. It is by the word! Speak the word of God! The Bible says by faith we understand that the universe was framed by the word of God, that the things that are seen are not created by the things which do appear. They were created by the word of God. Speak the word of God and you will see the creation of that thing in your life. Speak the word of God. I have died. I died to malice. I've been crucified with Christ. I died to lust. I've been crucified. The more you speak the truth of the word of God into the reality of your existence, you will see it because by faith you can fashion your life. He says by faith in the Son of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing the word of God. And what the Bible says, if you believe in your heart and you do what? You confess with your mouth, what will happen? You shall be saved. Believe the truth of the reality of your life in your heart. Confess it with your mouth. Stop confessing "I cannot overcome this thing. It is in our lineage. I saw it in my father. This sickness is from my mother. I got it as an inheritance. This one is from my mother-in-law. That one is in my gene." I don't know what you understand, but I want you to understand this: that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. You can trace your DNA to Jesus Christ because the Bible says the seed of God is in us. The Bible says he that is joined to Christ is one spirit. What that means is that the way there is sexual intercourse between a man and a woman and a life is produced, the same way the Spirit of God brought the seed, the spermatozoon of God into our spirit, so we have the DNA of God. We can live as him! Proclaim the truth of your liberty! Believe it in your heart and proclaim it. I have died to this thing. What is that thing troubling your life? Can you begin to rise and tell that thing that look, I have died to you. Don't be afraid of it because you have been set free from it. "Hey, I hope I won't do it again tomorrow." That is the foolishness of your life. You don't need to see whether it will work. You need to know it will work because it's the reality. And let me tell you, what Christ made available for you is far greater than what happened to you in Adam. So the thing we are talking about, about our being crucified with Christ, there are three principles in that Romans 6. There are three things there. The first principle is this issue of knowing, and I am addressing knowing. The second one is reckon. We should get there next week, but I'm still on knowing. The third principle there is yield. And we are going to see all of them one by one. I am dealing with knowing. Know. If you don't know, I've told you what to do. Begin now by crying to God. Baba! I have not received the spirit that comes from this world. I receive the Holy Spirit not to just be speaking in tongues. No! I have received the Holy Ghost that I might know! I did not receive the Holy Ghost to remain ignorant. No! I receive the Holy Spirit to be a man of knowledge, to be a woman of knowledge. I should not be ignorant. I did not receive the Spirit of God to remain ignorant. No, brothers and sisters! Rise and cry to God! Go and say, "God, I can't, I can't remain like this. I can't remain like this. Lord, open my eyes. Lord, open my understanding. Lord, give me the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of you. Cause my eyes of understanding to be opened." Now, that is the matter of knowing. Now, you will now see something. Please, I want you to see the connection between verse 10 and verse 11. I'm going to the next principle. There are three things in that place: know, reckon, yield. But the greatest is the knowing. That's why I've spent three weeks now on this matter of knowing, knowing. I'm telling you how we should know, the kind of know we are talking about, so you can understand me, so you can really get it very clear. You know the knowing we are talking about. I'm moving to this next thing now, which is reckon. Please, look at the connection between 10 and 11 of Romans 6. Do you see a connection? It says, "For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God." What follows in 11? "Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin." Can we try different translation? New King James says, "Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin." Do you see that until there is a knowing, there cannot be a reckoning? So when you begin to, you now begin to reckon. You begin to reckon. You say, reckon yourself indeed dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's what he means when he said, "I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me; the life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God." It says, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Can we see another translation of that, of that verse 11? NLT, please can you use the mic. "So you should also consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus." "Now you should also consider yourself to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus." Any other translation? Can we have Amplified? The Message? Amplified. Please use the mic. "Even so, consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God, living in unbroken fellowship with Him, in Christ Jesus." Can we have the Message? Anybody having the Message Bible? The Message Bible. Verse 11. "From now on, think of it this way: sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you. God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did." When you are saying, "You see, it is because it was so strong, it is because it is this, you know, I am trying, but I have not been able to," then you keep wondering. That is not the way to go because you will never get victory that way. I've told people, it comes more to me in Yoruba language because that's the way it came to me. [In Yoruba: kosi elenura tole segun ese]. It's not possible. That is, there is nobody that can by the will of the flesh conquer sin. There is nobody, this is not possible. All this trying and trying and trying will only lead us to hellfire. Because there is no amount of trial that will give you victory. And then that trying, let me explain something, like what happened with that of Israel. It said they, not accepting the righteousness of God, have gone to establish their own righteousness. You remember? All we know where I'm quoting, Romans 10. They have left that, God has provided a pathway for you to get out of something. You left that of God, you are creating your own pathway to get out of it. Please, [In Yoruba: ewolashise] which one will work? Are you wiser than God? Are you smarter than God? Are you greater than God? The sin you are struggling with, the death that you die, how did this come? Was it not by the word of God? "The day you eat this thing you will die." The person who knows how it came is telling you how it will go. You left that one. You are creating your own way. All because sin is a mystery. Sin is a mystery. Because how we became sinners in Adam is a mystery. One man sinned and everybody became sinners. How? Can you explain it logically? And everybody continued that same way such that in a very short while God had to wipe out the earth with water. To show that everybody actually became like that. Everything that you were given birth to was just like that. They were not different. They were born dead to sin. They were born conceived in iniquity. Is it not a mystery? And then someone telling you that this mystery, the Bible says again great is the mystery of godliness. Christ was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit. They are telling you the mystery that can be used to conquer another mystery. You said no, will of flesh will conquer mystery. How? That's why sometimes you see that you want to get sanctified. I say look, is it by effort that you get sanctified? Go and look at Scripture, John 17:17. He says, "Sanctify them by thy truth; thy word is truth." Sanctification is by the word of God. I don't know, people want to make themselves acceptable to come to God. God says, "Come as you are, let me make you." He's the one who makes. That is the good news. I don't know whether you're understanding me. The good news is that God is reaching out to men. Religion is man reaching out to God. Salvation is God reaching out to man. He says in the same way. So those things that you know, what are you supposed to do? Consider yourself, reckon yourself. Me, no, I am dead to sin, I'm free from sin. Please, is that not what Jesus did? Turn this stone to bread. What did he say? "It is written, man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceed out of the mouth of the Lord." Is that not so? Another place again, "All of this I will give you, just bow and worship me." "Hey! It is written, God alone you should worship and Him alone you should serve." What was he doing? He was conquering the devil! And he is the Spirit. That's why the Bible says it's not by might, it's not by power, but what? By my Spirit. [background music: religious choral singing] [Speaker 2] Let's close the meeting today. It's 25 minutes after. Let's use 5 minutes to pray. This Jesus, your victory is in Jesus. Everything is in Jesus. It is Jesus that I may know you. Jesus, that I may see you. That I may know the inheritance you brought for me. Holy Spirit, open my eyes. That is where the matter is, brothers. That is where it is, Jesus. [Singing: "He will carry the weight of the world upon His shoulder. He will carry the weight of the world will carry you. Oh, he carries the weight of the world upon His shoulder. He who did that, He will carry the weight of the world, will carry you. He can carry you. He can carry you. That is the reality of it. He can, he can, he can, he can. He can carry you. He can carry you. He can carry you. Look, this is the good news about your victory. It's not by might, it's not by power, but by what? By my Spirit."] The Bible says in 1 Samuel 2, it said, "By strength shall no man prevail." By strength shall no man prevail. Ah! This song just coming to my heart. [Singing in Yoruba: "Emimimo ni mofé, Olorun alagbara, ara o le sise mi o, Oluwa wagbewo. Emimimo ni mofé, Olorun alagbara, ara o le sise mi o, Oluwa wagbewo. Ani emimimo ni mofé, it is the Holy Spirit that I need. Olorun alagbara, Oh, Almighty God. Oh, by strength shall no man prevail. Ara o le sise mi o, Oluwa wagbewo."] Let me invite my wife to close this meeting this evening. [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and marriage through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission aid. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 PM. Adolescents and singles' club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM. Marriage forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM. Family life seminars, regular school outreaches, and every day counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life camp by the first bridge, Ile-Ere community, opposite Glory Jo filling station, along Iju-Ire 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. [background music: religious choral singing]