Implications of the Cross 6

[background music/singing] Church 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. Jesus, day after day, I will live for Jesus. Let's come what may, the Holy Spirit, I will obey. I will live for Jesus, day after day, day after day. I will live for Jesus, day after day, day after day. I will live for Jesus. Let's come what may, the Holy Spirit, I will obey. I will live for Jesus, day after day. Oh, one more time, I will live for Jesus, day after day. I will live for Jesus, day after day. Let's come what may, the Holy Spirit, I will obey. I will live for Jesus, day after day. Almighty God, we thank you again for today. We give you praise, we give you glory, we give you honor, we give you adoration. We are grateful unto you. We thank you for life. We thank you for peace. We thank you, O Lord our God, for your mercies that we daily experience. We say Father, be thou exalted in the name of Jesus. Who is like unto you? Who is like thee? You are glorious in holiness, you are fearful in praises, doing wonders. Hallelujah. We bless you our God, we thank you, we thank you, we thank you. We thank you again as we come into your word. We say blessed be your name, our Father. Meet with us, our brethren on Telegram, our brethren on Mixlr, Lord meet with us, sir. Lord meet with us, sir. Lord speak to our situation. Lord let there be comfort for your people, let there be edification, let there be instruction in righteousness. Teach us your path, grant us understanding, lighten our darkness, teach us your ways, O Lord. Thank you, eternal Father. Blessed be your name, Holy Spirit. Help us through this meeting again today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Ah, our God be praised. For the past two weeks now, we had to suspend our talk on the implication of the cross. Upper fortnight ago, it was a prayer meeting, and we were looking at "Teach us to number our days." And then subsequently, it was the first Monday in November, and coincidentally, it happened to be my birthday, and we decided to look at a reflection of matters of life and direction. So, the week preceding the last week of October, that was when we were looking at implication of looking at the cross, what it means to be crucified with Christ. We were looking at Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet it's not I, but Christ that lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me." That was what we were looking at. And in looking at that, which is under the implication of looking at the cross, we were able to look—we were considering Romans 6, what it means to die with him, what is that implication for our own life. And that was where we were, Romans 6. And we read through that scripture. We were looking at the matter of knowledge. What we saw in that scripture, just trying to do some recollection before we move on today. We looked at being crucified with Christ as a basis of victory over sin. The basis of victory over sin, victory over self, victory over the world. We were saying that that victory is something that the cross made available. And we were looking at Romans 6. I read through that scripture, just because it's about three weeks ago now, I just want to read through again to remind us of one or two things, and then we now move on from where we stopped three weeks ago. Let's look at that Romans 6 again. Romans 6. It says, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!" Here he was speaking specifically about the victory over sin. But that Romans 6:1 is connected with Romans 5 from verse 11 to verse 21. But my concern is the matter of victory over sin as we look at the cross. So, we read, "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? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin—" Hallelujah! "—for sin shall not have dominion over you!" Why? You are not under law, but under grace. Under the dispensation of grace. If sin is having dominion over you, over your life, it is an aberration. It is not the correct thing. For sin shall not have dominion over you. Sin can have dominion under the former dispensation. And so, the Israelites can continue to break the law of God. They could not abide by God's law. They were constantly rebelling against God. But the Bible says that is possible under the dispensation under the law. Under grace, when you see a man that sin has dominion over his life under grace, and he is saying "don't you understand that I'm eternally saved, it doesn't matter how I live," he does not understand the dispensation. He doesn't understand. Under grace, the Bible says what? Sin shall not. Sin shall not have dominion. And that is our focus about being crucified with Christ. We started three weeks ago, actually, the matter of being crucified with Christ. And what we did three weeks ago, I said there are three important things that you need to overcome flesh. It is those three things you need to overcome the world. It is those three things you need to overcome the devil. But specifically we are dealing with the matter of sin because the matter was flowing from chapter five. I said one of these days, if the Lord will permit, the Bible class is going to be a book study, a study on the book of Romans. The book of Romans is a book that if you understand how Paul developed the thesis of our salvation, and you can understand it from Romans 1:18, it climax in Romans 12, the last verse. From chapter 13, it's a new subject matter. Chapter 14 is a new subject matter. 15 is a new subject matter. But from Romans 1:18 till Romans 12, the last verse, Paul built everything that has to do with the thesis of our salvation. If anybody can fully understand that, the person will live victoriously. No, so one of these days we may be having a book study. It'll just be sitting down as brethren who will take assignment, we will just look at it, try to study that book of Romans chapter by chapter, verse by verse. But what we are doing here in chapter six was that the Bible was flowing from a matter in chapter five. But that is not what I want to go into. The matter that was flowing from chapter five was actually raised in six. You must always bear in mind that the Bible don't have chapter and verses before. It was a continuous letter. Somebody came to introduce verses, another person came to introduce chapter. So, those things were introduced later on. If you knock out those chapter and verses, it is just a flow of an idea, a flow of knowledge, a flow of someone's inspiration by the Holy Spirit. So, a matter was flowing from five. That matter flowed on and he said, okay, I have said that even where sin abounds, grace much more the more abound, so that as sin has reigned, grace should reign to justify us. Now so okay, if that is the matter, what shall we say then? Shall we then continue in sin since grace is abounding? There is a matter of abundance of grace. But that is not what I want to fix this evening. What I want to do is that a matter of sin and grace was coming. And there was a need to understand grace in relation to sin. That if we continue in sin under grace, your life is an aberration. If sin has dominion over your life under grace, your life is an aberration to the work of Christ. Your life is not in agreement with the eternal plan of God for salvation. There is a big contradiction. And what can cause that contradiction was what the Holy Spirit by Apostle Paul was addressing in Romans 6, basically between verse 1 and verse 14. So, when they get to verse 14, he said sin cannot have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace. Which means in the mind of God, when the Bible says that truth and grace—the Bible says "the law came through Moses" so that sin can abound. The law was not meant to save anybody. But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ so that sin will no longer have dominion over men. If truth and grace abound in a life, it becomes a contradiction, it becomes an impossibility for sin to have dominion. So, they are exclusive to one another. They don't go pari passu. They are exclusive. If you are truly under grace, sin cannot have dominion. If sin is having dominion, you have not entered correctly into the dispensation of grace. So, if grace is now seen as God's overlooking sin no matter how we feel, we are in the time of grace, and then sin is continuing, it is complete anti-Bible, anti-the scripture, anti-Christ. That is not the idea of grace. Grace is not made people to be sinning. That is not the idea of grace. That is not the purpose of which grace was released. And the truth is when the purpose of something is not understood, then abuse becomes inevitable. And that is what is going on. That is why some think that under grace, God is rubbing our head when we are sinning. "God you know, we are under grace, God don't just kill people like that, it's a time—" that is some people's understanding by grace. It's an unfortunate thing. That is not the position of the Bible. Yes, mercy have always been. I keep telling people mercy is not a new thing, mercy have always been. Only that mercy was revealed in a new way because this covenant has a mediator. So, when we were looking at three weeks ago, were the three things, and what I did that three weeks—just trying to remind us, refresh our mind. I said it is long time, let me just refresh our mind. When we look at Romans 6:1-14, I said the word "know" was used repeatedly. Do we remember now? Try to remember how many times we counted it. Okay, we cannot remember. Let's look at it again. That was what we did that week. And I don't want to go into repeating everything. You can go and listen to that message of the penultimate Monday in the month of October. The fullness of that teaching was there. The gist of that teaching is there. Now, if you look at Romans 6, after he has said "Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" I said the first matter about sin is to understand that the position of your encounter, the position of Jesus in your life is not that you will die to sin. If that is the understanding you have, you have missed it already. The understanding is that, "Certainly not! How shall we who died—" not that "who will die." It is "we who died." We have died to it. That is the reality of our life. But that is not our daily experience. Because you see there's a difference between what Jesus made available for us provisionally in Jesus and the reality of our everyday life. And that is why people have problem. If you want what Jesus did for you to become a everyday life reality, then you must look at it, believe it, embrace it and experience it. But if you are using your experience to measure how Jesus placed you, you will never experience what Jesus did for you, because without faith, it is impossible to please God. So, the matter of a Christian life is not that a Christian will die to sin. That is not the Bible. When we were struggling with some things in our life, when I newly gave my life to Christ and we were struggling with some things, and we were meeting people who said, "Okay, God will help us to die to this thing." So, we were hoping that one day we will die to it. We didn't understand that we have died to it. So, we were like, "God will do something about it." God has done something. In fact, it is finished. There is nothing else God wants to do. And what God did, and he did it eternally for us, is that we died to sin. Now, it is in a bid to now explain this matter. When he said, "Certainly not! How can we who died to sin—" for example, have you ever seen a dead man lusting? Have you ever seen a dead man? If you carry three million US dollars like this before a dead man, does he have any attraction? Why? He's dead. That is the reality of our life. That is what Jesus has done. But when you look at your everyday experience, is it like that? Is it like that? You know it's not like that. That is the life experience, our daily life experience. Now, the point is how do we transfer, how do we make a reality this spiritual reality? You see there is a spiritual reality, and that reality can actually control the physical if we allow it. I hope you are getting it. It was like a statement I made one time when we were talking. I was talking about ledger balance and available balance. When we check the ledger balance of your life, you are dead to sin. But you may not see it available, you may not be seeing it. So, Paul dealt with three things in this place. It is those three things that is the amplification of being crucified with Christ. When you say, "I am crucified," what you are saying by implication, that's what you are saying. So, it is those three things that I was dealing with and I've dealt with one of them, which is the matter of "know." When you look at after he has said, "How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" he began. He said, "Or—" if you still continue in sin, he say, "or—" don't you know? It means if sin continue, if you are not dead to it, it is a matter of knowledge. Or, it's still continuing? You don't know. What don't you know? So, it is telling you that it's not a matter of struggle. And that is where many believers are, they are struggling. They are struggling! They are struggling! I remember, we talk recently again, that is after almost about 13 years after. I met him when he was just entering into the university and I was handling the foundation class. I was handling the new creation realities. I talked about if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. And as I was dealing with that, the first thing I was making the person see, I was just teaching the class, and I gave the testimony of how when we came to Jesus, some habits were there, we were wondering how we'll conquer it. And we were told "we have to pray." And we were trying fasting and prayer. We were praying, "Father, make me a new creature, I become a new creature, I receive it, I receive it, Lord, Lord, Lord!" After the seven days prayer or eight days prayer or nine days prayer and fasting, we still find that we did not die. The matter still continued. Until one day when the Lord opened our eyes to say, "Are you in Christ?" and I said, "Yes." He said, "So what new creation are you praying about? You are asking me to make you when I have made you. You are asking me? Check, check. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." He said, "The prayer of an ignorant person." It was in Yoruba. Some prayers are foolish prayers because they are not according to the will of God. They may be looking like humble prayer. They may be looking like very sanctimonious and "God change me, God make me a new creature," it's looking like a very good prayer. But it's the prayer of an ignoramus person. So, I was just handling that matter with the youth that day and the young man after the meeting came to meet me. He said, "Sir, you have pointed, you said we should stop struggling. The day we stop struggling and start believing, we will be free. Sir, I don't understand." He said, "Sir, I have been struggling with masturbation as a Christian. My pastor have laid his hand on my head. He has prayed all manners of prayer and they have casted out all the devils. But I still realize few weeks after, I'm back into it. I was told it is by fasting and prayer. I have done all the fasting." He said, "Sir, now that I've resumed school, I'm still struggling with it. But you simply said we need to stop struggling and believing." So, I now took time to explain, it was just one meeting. That's the mystery of that meeting. I just tried to explain these things to him briefly, briefly, briefly, and I left the young man. Then he was in 100 level. It met me back after about six months after. He just came to me. He said, "Sir, the thing worked." I said, "What worked?" He said, "Sir, that thing you told me, that is the victory in the cross. As I just believe that if I keep looking at that Jesus has set me free, I'm no more bound. And I was just looking, I was even thinking the first day it did not come, I was waiting for the second day whether it will come. But somehow, somehow, when it comes I say 'No, I'm a new creature, you can't hold me,' I just find that I did not do it. It come again, I stood by it, 'I'm a new creature, you can't hold me.' It did not come all these weeks. I wanted to be sure whether it has gone. But since I've not done it for almost six months, I have come now to tell you that I am now victorious." It was just 20 minutes counseling after a meeting, that was all. But it's the matter we are trying to expatiate and expand. That he said, "Or do you not know?" which means if the thing is there, the first fundamental problem is knowledge. And when you look at it, he mentioned it three times. When you look at it again, verse 4, "know" is not there. Verse 5, "know" is not there. When you get to verse 6 again, what did he say? "Knowing this." And when you look at it, "Knowing." "Knowing." There is something you must be knowing. "Knowing this." For the victory to be continuous, there is a knowing. He talked about knowing again in verse 6. And then when you move on again to verse 9, look at it again. "Knowing that—" I said the matter of knowing, I said there are three things here: Know, Reckon, Yield. Those are the three things. Know, Reckon, Yield. But if you look at "yield" and "reckon," they were not emphasized as "knowing." Because until you know, there's nothing to reckon. If you don't know, please, if you don't know that in your ledger balance now there is three million Naira to take care of your expense till the end of the month of November, you did not know. But the money was transferred, it's in your ledger balance. Please, will you be able to do anything about it? How will you still be living? You will be living as though it does not exist. So, the point I'm making is what I was making then, was that when you don't know, it is also as good as it does not exist. It's as good as that. And then I said what I said then too is that knowing, knowing is so crucial that it is by way of knowing that you can be able to enjoy the things that are given unto you. That's what took us to 1 Corinthians 2. I'm just try to jump, jump, jump, trying to recollect that teaching so that we can really bring everything together. That's 1 Corinthians 2. Please look at that scripture. 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2. The matter of knowing. This matter of knowing. We read 1 Corinthians 2. And I said, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except—" except what? "—except Christ and—" except what? "—Christ and him crucified." That is totality of the gospel. Christ died. Christ was crucified and resurrected. Anything that is not centered on that is not the gospel. It's not the gospel. "I was with you in weakness, in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching was not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature." And I was praying then that I pray that may you begin to grow to maturity in the name of Jesus. When you are mature, may you increase in that maturity. When you are an infant, may you begin to enter into maturity in the name of Jesus. He says that we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the ruler of this age which is coming to naught. But we speak the wisdom of God in—" in what? "—in a mystery." What is he trying to say? The wisdom of God requires what? Inspiration. It requires revelation. In other words, if you carry the Bible and I read the Bible, student of the Bible, CRK, theology, what you will get is Bible knowledge. You will not get the knowledge of God. The wisdom we are talking about does not come by intelligence. It's not how intelligent or how analytical. No. It is rather what? Inspirational and revelational. That's why he say "we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery." It is something that must be revealed before it can be known. And nobody can reveal except the Spirit of God. So, without the encounter of God's Spirit, nobody can really get this wisdom that we are talking about. So we speak wisdom of God in a mystery. It's not the wisdom that come from academic intelligence. It's not the wisdom that come from critical analysis or logical reasoning. We speak a wisdom in a mystery. And that is the wisdom of God. That is what he was talking about knowing. Oh, you have not get then this wisdom that comes by revelation. When he said "do you not know," it's not just knowing as reading Bible and see Jesus died on the third day. There are 1,001 people who know that Jesus died on the third day but they don't know salvation. Am I correct? Am I correct? They don't know salvation. But they know. They can in fact—I remember that when we were growing up then, there's what we call station of the cross. And they will paint everything for us, how he did, they will take us in there, they will even do a drama on Bethlehem, how he was born, showed the three wise men, brought their gift, everything. But we were not saved. Why? Because something had not been revealed. It's not being revealed. That was what I was emphasizing then. He says the hidden wisdom which is ordained before the ages for our—" I said this was for our glory. There is a wisdom that is ordained for your glory. If you don't get into that wisdom, you will never be glorified. That is the truth about it. There is a wisdom that is ordained for your glory. And that wisdom is hidden in God. Until that wisdom is revealed to you, you can never be glorified. What you'll be doing, you'll be living outside glory. You will not live a glorious life. And when I'm talking about a glorious life, what first make a life glorious is not material thing, is victory over sin. And that is why I tell people the worth of a man should never be measured by the material substance that surrounds him. The Lord said, "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of what he possesses." You want to know what a man worth, don't consider what are his possessions. Other things to consider about what is the worth of a man. As such, there is something about the glory and that is the wisdom of God, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the King of Glory. Which means that wisdom is hidden in Jesus being crucified and resurrecting. Is that not the truth? That is where the wisdom is. If they knew that the workings of that thing is not—if they had known that it is inside that thing that the working is, they would not have allowed him to continue to live. All those principalities and powers, they work around to make sure that he was crucified. They would have done everything, "Hey, no, preserve him, he must not die!" And then God would be looking for how he would be crucified. And that is why when somebody said, "When I look intimately at the scripture, I think Satan is God's servant." He said, "Don't you see that with all his sabi-sabi, with all his running around, he's just a tool in the hand of God to accomplish the purposes of God." When he said that, I said, "Then what is there to be feared in the devil who can never outsmart my Father." All I need to know is to be properly connected to my Father. That is all I need. What is there to fear in a devil that is constantly outsmarted by your Father? Is there anything to fear in him? But to some it's worth fear today. Why? Because you are not connected with the Father. You are running the race by your wisdom. You are running by your strength. They would not have crucified him. But as it is written, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit." So, I said it's a matter of revelation. It has to be a matter of revelation by what? By the Spirit of God. He said for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of that man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. And then that's where we stop that penultimate Monday of October. That was where we stop. He say, "Now we have received—" Hallelujah! "—we have received!" It's not that we will receive, not that we may receive, not that we will be receiving, but that what? We have received what? Not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God. Why did he give us the Spirit? That we might do what? That we might know! So, I was making an armchair statement that day. I said the fundamental thing about the Holy Spirit is not the sign of tongue speaking. The fundamental reason why you receive the Holy Spirit is for you to know your inheritance in Jesus. When somebody there is speaking in tongues and he doesn't know what has been given to him, I tell him that, "Look, bro, you are operating outside the fullness of what you've been given." You are like somebody who was given a phone and all you can do with the phone is to make call and send text. You don't know that you can take camera, you can do so many other things, there are so many things you can do with it. You don't know that you can go on internet, you don't know all those things. You feel that what you can do with phone is just to make call and send text messages. How are you using that phone? You don't know you can go on internet on the phone? "Inter- what? Internet? Is it on phone? How do they do it?" Please what do you call that person and phone? Is that person illiterate? You tell the person "what you need is kola nuts. Go and get—" Am I not correct? Am I not correct? He don't need this thing in his hand. And that what I'm saying. The fundamental thing about the Holy Spirit is not just come to be using the sign. Tongue is a sign. Tongue is not the thing. I see brethren jumping in fellowship, speaking in tongues. There is nothing wrong about that, because sometimes people normally misunderstand me when I speak. So, sometimes I always try to come back to explain what I'm trying to say. Sometimes when you emphasize something, people think the other is not important again. That's not true. When we are teaching about the word of God, the importance of the word of God, we may so much teach it and you will be thinking that it is only important to pray. No, that's not what the person is saying. When we handle prayer again too, these things they work in a balance. They work in a balance. But we are saying that he said we have received that Spirit—that's where I stopped that Monday—so that you may know. If you are not knowing then you have not received that Spirit or you don't know why you received that Spirit or you are not operating the fullness of that Spirit. I don't know. Or you receive the spirit of this world, not the spirit that came from God. You know sometimes somebody was telling me that he said his own tongue was taught to him. He said somebody taught him how to speak. He said when they get together, "Oya, say 'ba-ba-ba,'" he say 'ba-ba-ba.' "Say 'ka-ka-ka,'" he say 'ka-ka-ka.' "Now you have begin to speak." That's not what we are talking about. It's not something that you need to be taught. So, maybe that person did not receive the spirit that comes from God. Maybe you receive the spirit of the world. But I am telling you, I am assuring you, if you have received the Holy Spirit that makes you to cry Abba Father, then you have all it takes to say, "God, it has been given to me to know the mysteries of the kingdom. Lord, my heritage in Christ." Look, the Bible says he has blessed us. Not that he will bless us, but he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that are in the heavenly places. We are blessed people. We have been blessed with it! But where are they? Where are these things? They are in the ledger balance. They are in the ledger balance. How do you bring them to the available balance? Paul was addressing the matter of knowledge. He make reference to knowledge three times. Or don't you know? Knowing this, knowing that. The first one: or don't you know? The second one: knowing this. The third one: knowing that. There is a knowing. How do we know? And I was trying to explain the knowing that day. That look, this knowing is about a revelation. It's about an inspiration. You find that one in Ephesians 1 from 15 to verse 18. He says in "Since I heard of your faith, I did not cease to pray for you, that the God of our Father will give unto you the spirit of wisdom and the spirit of revelation in knowledge of God, so that your eyes of understanding might be opened." That is the one we are talking about. If your eyes of understanding if they are not opened, you have not enter the knowledge that we are talking about. You are still having Bible knowledge. You are having knowledge of the Bible, not the knowledge of your inheritance. The knowledge of your inheritance is a revelation of the Spirit, and you've been given that spirit. All you need is a fellowship with that spirit. Because if you don't know, you can never ever have victory over sin. You will struggle till you will die. You will struggle and then you will keep telling people, "You know we are all sinners." "You know if God is to mark sin, who will be justified?" "You know we are Nigerians, only God can help us not to tell lie." "As God help us, we don't compromise. Will you survive in this nation? If you don't come down, there must be some compromise." That's how you will be talking. That's how you will be talking. Your mind will not go to the fact that it was even under the law that there was a Job that Satan had nothing to condemn. You will not see that one. Your eyes will not go to that one. Your eyes will not go that was even under the law that Satan against Abimelech, dared the world ruler. Your eyes will not go to that one. And that is how you will die in your sin. You know sometimes people teach their defeat as the gospel. And it's a terrible thing. If you have not attained unto something, say you have not attained unto it. Don't say that this is where it stops. Where the bus stop is was what Jesus said, "When a student is mature, he's become like what? His master." Because if there is a constant remembrance of sin, then we are not under another testament. It was because of the constant remembrance of sin that God had to cancel the old one. That's why he say you are no more under law. There must not be a constant remembrance of sin under grace. And it's not because people have so much strength, but it's because people have so much what? So much understanding. And I want to say something here. I want to say something here quickly here in this Romans 6. I want you to look at something. I want you to look at something in verse 13. After you know—he has said earlier that what eyes have not seen, isn't it? What ears have not heard? What have not entered into the heart of man is what God did what? Prepared for those who loves him. Isn't it? Now, he now said those things. We have received the Spirit of God so that we can know them. Isn't it? Now, when he came to verse 13, please note something in 13. Is there any other rendering of this place? Can we check some other translation? Is there any other rendering of this first statement of verse 13? New King James that I'm reading says, "These things we also speak." Any other rendering of that statement? Can we try some other translation? How does NIV, NLT, Amplified? How do they put that matter? Can we have rendering, can we have some reading? Please if you want to read, please come and pick the mic. Just want to have the rendering of that first, just that first line. "These things we also speak." 1 Corinthians 2:13. Any other rendering please let's have from us, from the congregation. [Speaker 2]: Amplified. "And we are setting these truths forth in words not taught by human wisdom." [Speaker 1]: "We are setting these truths forth." The "forth" here is what? F-O-R-T-H. Yes. That is presenting it. Is that not? Presenting it in words. We are presenting it. So, when you are presenting something, what are you doing? You are speaking it. What of NLT? [Speaker 3]: NLT. "When we tell you these things, we do not use words—" [Speaker 1]: No, when we do what? When we tell you! Do you see it again? "Tell." What I'm talking about is that do you know that those things that God has prepared, which eyes have not seen, which ears have not heard, which have not entered into the heart of men, that God prepare for them that loves him. They are not things we eat. They are not things we wear. They are not things we ride. They are things we what? We speak. What I'm trying to make you understand is this. Those things that God has prepared for you, those spiritual blessings, they have physical implications. For example, your soul that you prosper, even as your soul prosper. You get the point I'm making. By his stripes we were healed. Healing is not something spiritual, it's something physical. Are you understanding me? Having prosperity in your health, prosper physically, is something material. But what I'm trying to make you see that the link between whatever material thing God want to do in your life that he has prepared for you is a revelation. Until a man can see them and speak them, he cannot have them. What you cannot see them and you cannot present them forth, you cannot say "No, I'm a new creature," you cannot say "No, by his stripes I am healed," once you cannot speak them forth, you cannot have them. You must be able to speak them! You must be able to present them forth! And that is why you come back again to scriptures. The Bible says by faith we understand that the universes was framed by the word of God. And that word was God, was not the one that God did not speak. It was this one. It was the one. Bible says he spoke and what happened? It was done. He commanded and what happened? They stood fast. Psalm 33. He spoke. It was not the one that God did not speak. When you go to Psalm 107, he says he sent forth his word. It was the one that he sent. The presented one. There must be—I keep telling you, if there is no knowing, there is no victory. And what I'm trying to make you see is that why we are talking about knowing as a victory over sin. Do you know that if you cannot conquer sin? Let me give you a good example. When you keep struggling with sin. What did the Bible say? "Righteousness exalt a nation." What is sin? Where will the life of a man be? The Bible says "the way of a transgressor is hard." When a man don't have victory over sin, what happens to his ways? Are you understanding me? So, what I'm trying to say is that there is a strong connection. There is a powerful connection. And let me show you from what happened in Adam. Do you notice the only thing that happened in Adam was that Adam died. Every other thing that happened to Adam, they were matter of consequences. Am I correct? Every other thing that happened, they were consequences. That sin began to reign, that spirit of self-justification, that they were now sweating, that they were now dying, that there was now sickness, that there was now—all those things they were what? They were consequences of only one thing. The only problem man need to solve is the problem of life. Once life is operating—don't forget, "The word which I speaks unto you, they are spirit and they are life." Once God begin to reveal things to you and he's speaking to you, once you can solve the matter of life, the consequences will be over. It was life that left that brought everything that we were seeing. How will life return? Jesus said, "The word which I speak unto you." So, it means when a man cannot come to the place of knowing, to the place of the eyes of his understanding being enlightened. When a man cannot come to that point when you begin to think that everything about God is activity, church activities, running around, and you think that one is about God, that is nonsense. Activities should be a consequence of a life that is operating in a man. The activity is not the life. I don't know whether I'm also trying to make something clear. So that you don't leave here again and say, "any activity in church is nonsense." What I am saying, and making very clear, is that what God prepared for your glory is not first an activity. It is first a revelation. Those things that God prepared for you, everything put together, because you must understand that from birth till death, God commands your destiny. Are you aware of that? So, no scheme of man, no power of hell can pluck me from his hand. Because from birth till death, he command my destiny. In fact, he had—you know, even before we came to Christ, he had been arranging and preserving and making sure we come. Do you agree with me? When we didn't even know anything about him, we were not looking for God. We were busy fornicating, living our life. It was because he command our destiny from birth till death. The Bible made us to know that when we find ourselves inside the kingdom, we should understand that before the beginning of time, he has foreordained you to himself. And one thing I was telling somebody, I said look, it was in eternity that our life was determined. If you truly understand eternity, you will know that eternity—time is a small fraction of eternity. Our life was determined eternally. And then we come into time to spend time, to enter back into eternity. I said actually, if you really understand this, and you get a correct interpretation, you will know that as long as you live, as you're seeking of that kingdom, there is nothing in time that can affect where you are going. Because where you are going is not a matter of time, it's a matter of eternity. So, having that understanding, what I'm trying to push forth in addition to what we have said that Monday, what I'm trying to add today is this thing that I'm exposing now. That brethren, you need to get something clear. This matter of knowing, if you don't solve it—if you don't solve this matter of knowing, then I want to tell you, you can never ever live the Christian life. And let me tell you one truth. My knowing and understanding of the cross does not solve your own problem. That's the reality, oh. That's why I tell people there are no two saviors. I'm just Brother Wale, saved by Christ. You are Brother Sheun, saved by Christ. I am not Brother Wale the savior. So, if you don't connect to him too yourself, your life will just be wasted. It's about him! And the connection I am pushing so much today about the cross, is that there is something about the cross that requires what? A revelation. The matter of the cross is a matter of knowing. It's not a matter of an activity. Activity will follow. I am committed to the fellowship I attend. I don't know whether you can be more busy in your fellowship than the way I'm busy in my fellowship. So, don't think I'm not busy in a fellowship. Don't think I'm not committed to a local assembly. I am committed to a local assembly. In fact, today since 10:00 till 4:30, it was an activity in my church that kept me busy. So, don't think I'm against activity. But I am trying to expand and explain something. That what God has prepared for you is not first an activity, it's about a revelation. It is something you must sit down with, and if you don't sit down with it to the point that you can present it forth—Hallelujah!—you can tell it—Hallelujah!—you can speak it—Hallelujah!—you can never possess it. Because it was until he spoke, nothing was done. And that's why the Bible says about the name of Jesus, say whosoever shall call—there is a speaking. Am I correct? Again, the Bible says with the heart man believe unto righteousness, but what did he say again? There must be a mouth. There must be a speaking. If that thing have not come to a point where you are seeing it, you have received it, and please I want to beg you, it's not what a man can do for you. Paul plant, Apollos waters, it is only God that can give increase. It's God that can do it. The Bible say "There's a spirit in man," Job 32:8, "it is the inspiration of the Almighty that giveth him understanding." You must cry. It is your inheritance. You must cry to God. "Lord, the matter of the cross is first a matter of knowing. A knowing that is by a revelation. A knowing that is by an inspiration. Lord, I am not a spiritual bastard. Baba open my eyes to see. Cause my ears to hear. Cause my mind to perceive these things that you have prepared for me that is in that cross." Brethren, we close the meeting here today. It's 6:30. I want you to talk to the Lord. I want you to talk to the Lord. It is something that is yours! You must be able to see it. You must be able to hear it. You must be able to speak it! And then it becomes yours. We're talking about victory over sin. He say, "Or you did not know. Or you did not know." When you see you did not know that you have died to sin, you cannot know. That knowing is an internal knowing. Until it becomes revelational, it cannot become a reality. It's a revelational knowing. And when it becomes—I want you to talk to the Lord. It is God that gives increase. Lord Jesus, give me increase. Lord Jesus, give me increase. Lord, increase, increase, increase, increase. Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus. Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, open my eyes, open my mind, open my understanding. I need to see, I need to hear, I need to be able to speak. I must speak it! Say 'these things we speak.' 'These things we speak.' It is after we speak it that we can see them. It is when we speak them that we can experience them. It is when we speak them that we can now begin to wear them, we can now begin to eat them, we can now begin to run by them, we can now begin to ride them. It is when we there must be a speaking. Let me invite Sister Comfort to close this meeting for us, it's 6:30. Lord we are grateful because your word is true. Thank you for the truth of your word that you have sent to us again today. You sent forth your word to heal them and to deliver them from their destructions. Lord pray, by this word deliver us from every form of destruction in the name of Jesus Christ. Let this heal us from the blindness of our minds in the name of Jesus. Father we are praying that our mind will be open to this truth and then we receive the experiential understanding of what you have done for us on the cross of Calvary in the name of Jesus Christ. If the matter of sin have been dealt away with, every other consequence cannot stand. And so Father we stand upon this full work of Calvary that you did several years ago for us. We are saying, O Lord, because the matter and the problem of sin have been solved, every consequence that is associate with it, that is being manifested in our lives, let them find their way out now in the name of Jesus Christ. Please Father expound this matter in our mind. Cause us to see this light much more brighter than we have seen now so that Lord we might enter into it in all fullness. Thank you Father for hearing us pray. Thank you for your son that you have used again, that you have flowed through. we are asking that continually, O Lord, you will cause his eyes to be brighter in your word in the name of Jesus Christ. Let the truth of your word be real in his own life so that Lord he will have the testimony to share in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The grace together: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore. Amen. This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in reaching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission heat. 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 everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ileri community, opposite the Rejoice filling station along Igede 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.