The Way of Truth

[background music] [Speaker 1] We lift you high. We adore you. We thank you for adoption. We thank you for redemption. We thank you for salvation. We thank you, Lord our God, for that call that brings us into the family of God, to make us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Lord, we thank you, for you have translated us out of darkness and you have brought us into the kingdom of your dear son, in whom we have redemption. Lord, we thank you, even the forgiveness of our sins. We bless your holy name, our God. Be exalted, our Father, in the name of Jesus. This evening again, unto you we gather. Lord God Almighty, we have not gathered unto ourselves but rather we gather unto you. And we are praying this evening that God, let your spirit work within us in the name of Jesus. Lord, we pray that God Almighty, you will grant us inspiration. You will grant us understanding. You will give us insight in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, our eyes are on you. Let nothing prevail against your purposes for our lives in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Almighty God. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name, we pray. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. [Speaker 2] We thank God for this time again coming together in his presence to learn at his feet. Last Monday was the last Monday in the month of May, so it was a time of prayer. The Lord helped us to pray and it was a time of refreshing for us. Honestly, I got home overwhelmingly refreshed. I got home—what I can say is that within me there was a renewal. There was a clear renewal within me. There was something definite. There was a blessing of the meeting that I went with. That is the truth for me. And today we want to move on looking at the word of the Lord again this evening. We will not be asking ourselves what we did last week since we have done that before we prayed. So we want to move on and as we try to move on, I want us to consider something that some of us that met here on Saturday considered. I discovered that the more I try to shift from that burden, the more that burden is still on me. Let us even share among the more mature some of the things that we shared in that meeting. How many of us were around on Saturday? Just two of us? Okay, some of us had meetings, I remember now. Just two of us. The other people were not at this meeting. But those that attended, just two of you. I want us to look at this matter again a little closely. I want us to evaluate it. Some of us that were here on Saturday, I trust the Lord that something new will yet come to you. But I felt that we need to consider that matter in this meeting. It was a serious matter with me. I got home and the burden was still there that we look at it. We considered on Saturday the way of truth. The way of truth. That is the topic. Very simple topic. The way of truth. I trust God that the lives that God wants to speak to in this particular meeting will hear God in their own respect in the name of Jesus. And one or two of us who have heard the message earlier will hear it in another way in the name of Jesus Christ. The way of truth. We will be asking ourselves questions. It will be interactive. That was what we did on Saturday. The way of truth. If we are to ask ourselves, what is truth? What is truth? What is truth? What is it the Christian refers to as truth? We want to look at the way of truth, but what is truth? We want responses. It can be an interactive session honestly. What is truth? The topic: The way of truth. [Speaker 3] Jesus is truth. [Speaker 2] Jesus is truth. Okay. Another definition. So it may be the way of Jesus. Is that not? Since Jesus is truth. So we can say the way of Jesus. Truth, we are looking at truth. Is that the only thing we can offer for truth? [Speaker 4] The right way. [Speaker 2] The right way. How do we explain that, the right way? Okay, the right way to go. So we want to look at the way of the right way to go. Yes, truth, brethren, truth. Truth, anybody? Everybody tried to define truth on Saturday. [Speaker 5] Truth is reality. [Speaker 2] Truth is reality. So we want to look at the way of reality. Okay. Truth. We have always heard truth. A small boy says, "Daddy, what is truth? Mommy, what is truth?" We can say truth is the right way to go. Truth is the way of reality. We can say truth is Jesus Christ. What other way? Or is that all everybody has from your personal walk with God? What is truth to you, just for today, from your own relationship to God? Yes? [Speaker 6] What God has said. [Speaker 2] What God has said. Truth. So it may be the way of what God has said. The way of what God has said. Okay. Is there another way? [Speaker 7] The way of God. [Speaker 2] The way of God. Okay. So just like the first person said, Christ, God. So the way of God can be the way of Christ, can be the way of God. All right. All right. I think we have seen we have tried to look at truth from different angles. I will be looking at all of these things that we have said. All of these things that we have said. On Saturday, the major one that comes to our mind is the last one that was said, the last but one that was said. What the Bible says in John 17:17. John 17:17. Can we see it? John 17:17. "Sanctify them by thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17: "Sanctify them by thy truth." And what is the truth? "Thy word is truth." "Sanctify them by truth." We can look at truth from all this way the brethren tried to help us look at it. Reality, the word of God, what God has said, Christ, God, the right way, all of that. But I want us to key in into John 17:17 and John 14:6. John 14:6 is another definition that we have. "Sanctify them by thy truth." So God has a truth. And what is that truth? That truth is his word. Again, God also has a truth and that truth is Christ. He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Now as we sit down to relate together, as we sit down to talk together, we are trying to consider some realities or some issues that surround us today as the body of Christ. A lot of issues that are surrounding us today and sometimes it becomes very germane, very pertinent, very critical to ask ourselves, please, what is truth? What is truth? And what is the way of truth? And that is why I am inviting everybody to define from your walk with God what truth is. And we can see from scripture that if we are to key into truth, truth is that which God has said, his word. Truth is a person and that is Christ. So if we are to go the way of truth, if we talk about the way of truth, we are talking about the way of that which God has said. Is that not? The way of that which God has said. Or the way of Christ. And of course, that is the way of reality. That is the right way. But let us limit ourselves to this: that which God has said and then Christ himself. The reason why it becomes important for us as believers to evaluate this with what we are facing around us is because many things are happening around us today and we begin to—so many things have been invented in. And these things, they look very, very factual. And the first thing we try to do—I want us to first do today as we look at the way of truth—is to ask ourselves, brethren, is truth a fact? Is truth a fact? That is, does fact—is fact synonymous with truth? Brethren, is fact synonymous with truth? [Speaker 8] What is the meaning of fact, sir? [Speaker 2] Fact. You have heard the word fact. [Speaker 8] Maybe I have been making mistake, substituting fact for truth. [Speaker 2] Okay. You use them interchangeably. Here, that is why we want to look at it critically. People use them interchangeably, that truth is fact and fact is truth. But we are asking ourselves—we want to look at it critically—is fact truth? Is truth fact? Because what is surrounding us today in the church are unquestionable facts. And because these facts are unquestionable, it looks like those facts have become truth. That is why things are happening around us. So we want to try to—somebody has just given us a rider. Are they not interchangeable? From your own point, is fact truth? From your own walk with God, from your view of things, is fact and truth synonymous? Somebody said they are synonymous. Somebody said he doesn't think so. We want more comments. Fact and truth. They are not the same. Yes? Fact and truth. [Speaker 9] It could be the same sometimes but not all the time. Truth is a person. Then when we look at fact, that is consistent with science. You reach a particular position about a thing and you establish a fact. You take a theme through some experiment and you realize this thing also answers to scientific truth. So you hold onto it. Then tomorrow somebody tries something again and still don't be able to change this position. God comes with something that does not match better than that and that particular fact can tend to be true. So it can keep changing. [Speaker 2] It keeps changing. Yes, it keeps changing. Fact can keep changing. Then truth remains the same, constant. It does not change. Okay. So fact is subject to change based on prevailing evidence. Is that not? But truth doesn't change. Truth is eternal. Now, the reason why we are discussing this evening and we are looking at this very simple thing—that you will be wondering what are we trying to bring out, what are we checking, what are we evaluating—is because fact has to do with prevailing evidence. You have the facts of life. Are there not facts of life? There are facts of life that have been proved by so many things. They have been proved by science, research, and by experience. What we are saying is that now, the Christian is being sanctified by what? By truth. The Christian is not sanctified by fact. Truth is what God has said regardless of the prevailing facts, regardless of the evidences, regardless of what you can see. Now one element of truth that he has brought out for us this evening is that truth is eternal. Truth is something that God said it and it doesn't matter how every other thing looks. Sometimes it even looks like it can never be correct. It even looks like it does not logically follow. But yet what makes it what we can depend on is that God said it. God said it. Maybe I should come home a little. In an instance—look at this instance. Somebody had been in a marriage for several years. A typical situation happened in Ibadan. Years, but by this in church as Christians. And then after several years of no issue, points were joined together as to the way forward. And somebody said the way forward is either they can adopt motherless children which could be adopted as children, or else the marriage can just remain like that. Another person said, "No, you as a person—can you live your life without having a child? Is it because you have one?" You that you are talking like this, can you die without a child? Can you just remain like that? Do you think if what you said, what is the reality in what you have just said? The thing is that the person can marry somebody else. Adopted children are not biological children. They are still adopted. Why not somebody else? Reasoning—but the Bible says, "Look, the points you are making—can you—let's face the fact of life now." Can you as a person, if it is you, you are the man and you are in that marriage and you have been able to come to this point—will you do the thing that you are saying? Let's face the facts of life. Are you understanding me? Am I very clear? What is the fact of life? The daily realities that we face every day. Experiment. Something we see every day. Something that research, by occurrence, we have seen it and seen it and seen it. And you are—we can see that, "Look, you are talking to an African man, you know. This is Africa. This is not Europe. We are talking about Africa and Nigeria is in Africa. You know the value of child in our continent. So what are you saying?" We still feel there is nothing wrong. Are you following what I am trying to bring out? Now please, this kind of argument, this kind of discourse—do you know how much this kind of discourse have taken away believers from a sanctified life today? It says, "Sanctify them by your what? Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth." Now if truth is what God has said, truth is that which God has spoken, it means truth, whether or not in any circumstances and situations of life, truth remains what? Constant. Truth doesn't change. Truth remains truth. And brethren, I want to bring us to the second question. Are there circumstances under which truth can change? I thought I just established that truth is eternal. Are there circumstances under which—let me help you with what I am trying to say. As we face daily realities, as we face daily issues of life, as we face circumstances, particularly—do you notice, things have not become really tough. Do you agree with me? Things are only getting tougher. They have not become tough. What I am trying to say is, is there a circumstance under which, for instance, because of the prevailing circumstance then a lie can alternate for the truth? Is there any circumstance? [Speaker 10] Like what God allowed, like in the time of Moses. They wanted to divorce their wives and Moses was allowed to give them—something like that. [Speaker 2] Is that a credit? Was that a credit? What did the Bible say? Moses said it because of the hardness of their hearts. Moses saw that if he tells them not to divorce their wives, the men—if you go and read the history—the men because they want the wife to go, it is only by death. They try to kill them. They malhandle the women such that the woman can die and they can move on with their life. They do all kinds of terrible things to these women so as to have a way of freedom to move on with their life. So Moses saw that the life of the women were at stake. So because of that difficulty in handling them, Moses said, "Okay, rather than for the woman to die, rather than for her to become physically challenged, rather than for her to have deformity because her life is threatened, okay, write a note for her. So that anywhere the woman goes, somebody will know that it is not because the woman decided to leave her husband. It was because the man refused to keep her, so that somebody else can have her based on that note." Moses allowed you to do that because of the hardness of your heart. But from the beginning, it was not so. So anybody that does that commits adultery. So even while Moses allowed them, it doesn't mean it was not adultery. It doesn't mean they were free for him. So Moses allowed them, okay, maybe adultery is better than killing the women. Let us allow this to go. And what we are just saying, if we are to project that—if a man comes to the Lord and the Lord says, "This is my word," and the man keep coming to God, "I want to go my way," what did God do to Balaam? What did he say? "You can go. Go." Now the point I'm making is that, does that thing reflect that that life is sanctified? It says, "Sanctify them." The word we are talking about, brethren, we are talking about the way of truth. We are talking about the way of sanctification. We are talking about the way of consecration. We are talking about the way of devotedness to God. We are talking about the way of abandonment to God. We are talking about the way of being lost in that which God has said. The way of being unrepentant as far as God has said something. It doesn't matter how every other thing plays out. God has said, God have said. The question is, are there situations that can play out in our Christian walk and it becomes okay for us not to go the way of that which God has said? Is there? Now, not going the way of that which God has said may not mean that we have not followed certain facts. What I am telling you today is that more and more and more and more, we are beginning to reduce Christianity to "Sanctify them by the fact." The facts of life. "Sanctify them by the fact." But that is the fact. We are all human beings. Let us be sincere. If it is you, will you have been able to do it? Let's face the reality of the situation. Let's face the—eloran ni gbogbo wa o. Let's talk about it. We all have flesh and blood. And we know flesh and blood. Are we denying that we have flesh and blood? Is that not what we are denying? Are we denying that? Is it not a fact of life? Is it not flesh and blood that made Abraham to quickly—when they suggested Hagar, he didn't think twice. He quickly jumped into Hagar before God finally came and said, "Walk before me and be thou blameless." Is it not flesh and blood? But the issue we are looking at this evening, what makes a Christian sanctified? What makes a Christian holy? What is it that separates a Christian from the world? What is the dividing line between the Christian life and the human life? There is a human life and that is the fact of life. Today, gradually, gradually, Christian life is being submerged into what? Human life. Let's think about it. If it happened to you, you won't be different. Don't let us—are you getting me at all? Now we are not saying that there is no human life. But we are asking, what is the point with which God sanctifies his people? He says, "Sanctify them by what? By truth. Your word is truth." It ordinarily means therefore, please listen. It ordinarily means that therefore, if in situations and circumstances of life, what we want to talk, what we want to preach, what we want to offer is the fact of the human life, what will eventually happen to us as Christians? What will happen to us as Christians? We will leave the way of the Christian life and we will go the way of the human life. The question is, let's check our fathers that went the way of the human life under extreme pressure. Did God justify the human life? What I am saying is that as we—at my own level, I don't know at your own level—but as I meet with men of God, as I meet with ministers, I begin to see a trend. A trend that has become almost the center-spread on the pulpit. It looks like "Sanctify them by the fact." It looks like if we preach the facts of life, of course, it makes our preaching more appealing to those who want to hear us. Because today too, the heart of men is not soft to God. It makes us look—"Ehn, ooto niyen mo. O se teyan mo. Ko se kini kan mo. He hears them." Bible, Bible sa ni. As if we want to be eating Bible. As if it is not happening in our way. That is, it's just about "The word of God said, the word of God said," as if we are not human beings. Now I want us to draw a line. We are not saying that we don't have what we call human infirmities. We don't think we are also not going to have what we call human weakness. But the offer of Christianity—what does Christianity offer? He says, "Not as if we are sufficient of ourselves." Am I correct? "As to be able to do anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of who? Is of God." Making us to see that there is a life that we live that is made possible not of ourselves. If the Christian life is about the human life, then there is no need to talk about Christianity. The Christian life is saying that this is human life. This is God-life. And we can live God-life. We can live the life of God even though we are humans. But if we are saying, "See, we are humans. Why are you talking so much about the life of God?" That is not Christianity. Are you understanding me at all? Are you getting the point I am trying to establish? Let's look at—let us call our attention to some extreme situations in scripture. And let's see how things were handled. The first I want to call your attention to is that of Thomas. What first happened was that Mary Magdalene went to the grave. She didn't see the body of Jesus Christ. She ran back to call Peter. Peter ran there with John. They got to the grave. They didn't see the body quite well. They saw the napkin and the linen clothes staying apart. Then what did they believe? They believed that he was stolen. They went away with that report. Magdalene stood there. Then eventually she encountered the two angels who spoke to her from inside the sepulcher and then, in turning back, she saw Jesus Christ. Then he said, "Look, I am yet to meet my father. Don't touch me yet. But go and tell my brethren that I have risen." She went back to tell the brethren. By the time Luke will report it, they said that some of the women in our company, they surprised us. They came to tell us that he is risen. Why? Because there was a first report that they had believed with evidence—that he had been taken away. So they began to struggle with that fact because there was a fact that they had with them. Peter, you know Peter can talk. "Look, I was there. I entered. The stone was not there. We saw the clothes." And so he was able to prevail. And so everybody believed. But Jesus saw the situation. You know in Mark, if you read the story in Mark, it says when Jesus came, he rebuked them for the hardness of their heart for not believing the woman who came to tell them that he is risen after the first gospel they gave them. But look at something. Eventually Jesus came himself. When he came, Thomas was not there. Thomas wasn't there and he said, "I have risen," this is me and all of that. They were all happy. Now there was an evidence that countered the first evidence that Peter and John gave. You know Peter and John, they are peculiar people. They are the same people that normally go with him. So if they can come and tell them that this body has been taken away, everybody believed. So Jesus came himself with another evidence. "See me, I have risen." Thomas wasn't there. And Thomas came and they told Thomas. What did they tell him? The word of the Lord. And Thomas said, "Sorry. Except my two eyes see it like this. Not only that, I must put my hand inside like this. And I must put my hand inside like this. Except that, I can never believe. I can't agree." Of course, God responded to him. But with what comment? He said, "Thomas, you now believe. Blessed are those who did not see but they believe." It was human for him to think that way. Peter had spoken. John had spoken. They had all believed. And Jesus appeared. "Can it be true? Is it actually Jesus? Maybe you didn't check very well. You didn't put your hand here." They said, "No." "You didn't put your hand here? Ah, he's a spirit, he's a ghost, he's talk. Let me put my hand. If I do that and I am there, then I will now believe." That looks—that looks fact of life. Is that not? I was in a meeting and somebody said, "Let us be real. Is it possible not to lie? I mean, in every situation. Let's be real. Is it possible to be consistently truthful?" Brethren, I want to ask you. That was a question somebody asked me in a meeting. He said, "Is it possible to be consistently truthful?" He said, "Look, we must be careful about this word of God too. It's not—sometimes it is wiser." That was his word. But that was the question he put to the group: "Is it possible to be consistently truthful?" And I'm asking us that are sitting here. Is it possible to be consistently truthful? Consistently truthful. It's possible. But do you notice? It is at a great price. It is at a very great price. Do you agree with me? Do you agree with me? So do you notice that the actual thing that is being argued is that men don't more want to endure sound doctrine. The actual thing about it is that it looks hard. It's a hard thing. And I want to ask you, when Jesus related with his disciples, did he say my teachings were not hard? What did he say? He said, "This is a hard saying." And some people went. They went away. Did he say, "No, no, no, come. Come now, why are you going? Let me explain, let me explain. Maybe you didn't get the revelation. The revelation is that I'm not talking about my flesh, God. I'm talking about—" Did he take time to explain that to them? He even asked those who stayed, "Why are you not going?" Ah, those who stayed—do you know what I am trying to make you understand? Once the tree is fundamentally wrong, no matter how far you want to go, it will eventually bring a wrong fruit. The problem—I'm drawing your attention to a very, very serious thing as things are getting more tougher. Things are getting tougher. Once the tree—you are not in heart. What did he say? "You did the new way? Ah, you have not joined them. Let's—where do we want to go?" We have no where we are going but the way of truth. You see, men who have—who alternate truth are men originally who were not into truth. Men who will get to a point and then they say, "You see, you don't know how to—we cannot always be like that. You know." What I'm saying is that it is important for us to begin to evaluate our Christian life. We better begin to ask ourselves critical questions. I have been in a meeting where—where a man of God was saying that, "Look, we have to face the realities of life. Abraham himself, when he got to a point, he had to pick one more wife. And he's our father, an example for us to follow." I am saying this thing because you see when you begin to hear men talk like this—that's why I took you to that scripture. Jesus—Jesus was speaking something that was purely a revelation. Is that not true? "Except you eat my flesh and you drink my blood, you have no life." That was the matter he was raising. And some men left. And the one that remained, he said, "Have you not gone?" But could they go? They couldn't leave. What I am saying is that when truth, when the reality of truth becomes a matter that we can depart from—when it becomes "Ah, ooto o le to yen. It's not as tough as that. Look, let's shift." And that is why you notice scripture say that a time will come when they will no more endure sound doctrine. You see the reality of the fact that some men who look like us are not of us is daily manifesting today. Some men who look like men who encountered Jesus, some men who look like they belong to Jesus but they do not belong to him. Do you know at the onset it was not clear where Judas fell? Are you understanding me? It was as things began to manifest themselves on and on and on and on that it became clear that "I have lost none except the son of perdition." The point I'm making is this: when you look into—into the church today, you look into Christianity today, more and more and more and more, it looks like when we say, "No, sanctify them by the truth. The word of God is truth." It looks like men who say this, they are men who are—who are speaking things that is beyond what God have called us to. But I just showed you one part about Thomas. Shall we move—can we move to the Old Testament? Do you know this very pathetic story of Saul? Can you remember Saul? King Saul. He was an acted king. Is that not? What was the word of God? What is it that God said? Wait for me to offer the sacrifice and then you can go ahead to the battle. Is that not? That was the instruction. He was at the battlefront. Please, what was the reality on ground? Because that is what people are saying now, "Let's face reality." That's why when someone said truth is reality. But now there is another reality that we need to face now. What was the reality on ground, brethren? Are we familiar with that story? The Philistines were advancing. And they kept on advancing. Hope you know what it means to be in the war front. It's not fighting one man, you are fighting an army and the army is advancing. And what was happening to his own men? They were retreating because "Ah! You don't allow them to fight!" Do you understand what's going on? That was a reality. They were advancing, they were advancing. At a point, the army started scattering away, scattering away, scattering away until there was left with Saul how many men? Only 600 in the army of Israel. And so what was expedient? What was expedient? What is the reality on ground? What was the reality? In this situation, God should understand. I am showing you an issue. I am making it to our own time. I am showing you what men of God, believers are saying today. And I am showing you because these things, they are written down for our learning. They are not written down as fables. And so he felt the wise thing to do in this situation is just offer the sacrifice. So he quickly did the sacrifice and gave the command for them to fight. Okay, just as he finished, Samuel showed up. "Ah, what's going on here?" "Ah, I waited for you. You said seven days. This is the seventh day but seven days have not ended." He said on the seventh day. The seventh day, has it ended? When we say this kind of thing to brethren, they will say, "Brother Wale, you are taking matters too hard." But we are trying to show you scripture that he said, "Sanctify them by thy truth. Your word is truth." It will look like, "No, you—in some situations we don't just take the word of God like that. We don't take it each other. We—we look at the reality on ground. If you look at this other reality, then there is no way he could have—he could have done that. So you know in some things, we should follow that we are we are human. And so we should—we should look at it as humans." Brother, we know we are human. But the matter we are looking at is that we are running a race to meet our redeemer. And the only way to run this race is not just because to be in the race. It is to run the race according to the rule. Every race have its own rule. And the rule that we are finding is that he says, "Sanctify them by thy truth. Your word. That which you say. That which comes from you." And please, what was Samuel's response? Who can quote Samuel's response before we—or we should go and read it? He said, "You have done foolishly." Please let's go there. Since we are saying we are—please it's good to read it. If you are there before me, please read. [Speaker 11] 1 Samuel 13:13. "And Samuel said to Saul, 'Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now the Lord would have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart...'" [Speaker 2] The Lord has sought for himself. That was when Saul was actually replaced. God is too hard. Or what do you say? Is that not too hard? God, that in that situation, would you have—would you have taken somebody's kingdom like that? Are you understanding me at all? Are you following what we are discussing, brethren? In that situation, what will you call that type of discipline? It looked too hard for Saul. Because he really know—but what I am saying—look at the reality. Look at the reality. Is it that God does not know that we are human beings? Did God forget that we are human beings at that point? Did the Bible not say our infirmities, he knows? The Bible now says so. So you see what I'm trying to make you see—I'm trying to make you see where God has given a command, where he has spoken on a matter and you feel that under some human extreme situation we can adjust them. Where God has spoken clearly. Concerning fornication. All other sin is outside the body. "Ah, brother, just pray oh. That you will not have an emotional relationship with someone. It's so difficult. You see we are humans oh." I keep asking. Do you know what we are talking about? And I'm saying this thing, somebody here may look so obvious and you are saying, "Ah." But go and check your private life. Go and check your own personal life. I have seen God several times say to me, "Son, I only sanctify by truth. I don't have alternative truth." It doesn't matter the pressure your life is under. I sanctify by truth. I don't have alternatives. Look up to me for strength. Look up to me for grace in the time of need. Look up to me for power. Look up to me. I sanctify only by truth. Anytime a man leaves truth, he is not separated onto God. He may be separated to something. He may be acceptable to some people. He may be, "Yeah, let's look at it. Let's talk like that. How many of us can?" And then you start saying, "Yes, I understand." And you begin to see us encouraging ourselves to live the human life. You begin to see us—everybody just saying, "Bro, yes, we are human. But there is something about us. We have been designed to be powered. Ordinary man cannot do these things." And I want to ask you, go back and ask yourself some very important questions. Could an ordinary man could have just stretched a rod and water will part and the ground will be dry immediately? Can't you see that it was by the power of God that these men also worked? Could an ordinary man—could an ordinary man see soldiers surrounding the house with AK-47, marching towards to to arrest? And he said, "They that be with us are more than they that be with them." Could an ordinary man have done that? For you to know that the man is not ordinary. The servant was just jumping, jumping, jumping. He said, "God, I think he can't see." So what did God do? Open his eyes to see. So please, brethren, what makes us to be human in the case of pressure? What you are seeing, you cannot see immortality. You cannot see eternity. You cannot see. And I hear the Lord say, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." People cannot see again. Another translation says, "Where there is no revelation." Or another translation says the people go wild. They run wild. They become wild animals where there is no revelation. We go wild. And I want to tell you, how many men have become wild in their marriages today? Wild men, they are not domesticated. How many women have become wild women? They are wild animals. You can't see Christianity in the home. How many fathers have become wild animals? How many—how many leaders have become wild animals today? Wild animals. You know what they do? They—they march down, they press down to go up. They feed on themselves to climb. Is that not animals? Even look at everyday relationship among people, among brethren. Don't you see wild animals? You touch somebody down so that you can get favor. You speak in a way so that—"Oga, I came to report you. You know, he said this, he said that when I was with him." Because you want them to accept you. "When I was with him, he said it about you, Oga. I came to report you. You know he said this, he said that. Me, I didn't join him. In fact, I was just listening to him because I want to come and tell you." "Oh, my good boy. Thank you. You are the one that loves me." Is that not so? Just get favor with the master. Why didn't you rebuke the person that what you are saying is not good? "I will go and report you to Oga. Stop this thing or else I will report you." Why didn't you tell the person that, instead of just going back because you want to get promotion, you want to get favor? I'm just trying to make you see instances, situations. I'm talking about the way of truth. The way of truth. The way of truth. Truth is that which God has said. Truth is that which God has spoken. And if you look at that picture, please, look at 2nd Timothy chapter 4. 2nd Timothy 4. Just from verse 1. 2nd Timothy 4, if you are there before me, read from verse 1. [Speaker 11] "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine..." [Speaker 2] Please, look at the order. I want you to look at your Bible. Look at the order. What did he say? What did he first say? Reprove, rebuke, exhort. Is that the correct order? Please check your Bible. Is that the correct order? It ought to be exhort, reprove, before you now rebuke. But it started with what? Reprove, rebuke, before you now exhort. Why? Because—he's giving the reason in the next verse. "For the time will come when they will no more endure sound doctrine." You know what he's saying? The people you are dealing with like this, they are not novices. They know the truth, but they don't want to endure the truth. So they are not coming to exhort them. It is men who don't know the truth that you first exhort. "Do you know that Jesus wants you to be paid? God said, God said, God said." Then when it comes to discipline, you talk about reprove and rebuke. But because the men we are talking about, they are not men who don't know the truth—he said, "A time will come when they will no more endure sound..." So they know the sound doctrine. They know what is truth. Do you want to tell me that men don't know that we are not supposed to divorce our wives? Do you want to tell me that we don't know that fornication is wrong? We know that it is wrong to lie. We know that it is wrong to steal office money. We don't know? When we say that we are human—you see, we are human. No! We know! I could not get to the last scripture this evening. I just checked time and discovered it is already even past 6:30. I want to stop. But next week we—we will check what does truth have to tell us? What does truth have to tell us? But I want you to think ahead. It is a very simple scripture. Matthew chapter 7. He says, "He who hears my word and do it, I will liken him to a what? A wise man. He who has heard and does not do it, I will liken him to a what? A fool." That is what we will be considering. That's what—so that to know whether a man is wise or foolish is what does he do with what was said? What does he do with what what have been said? Something has been said. Something has been proclaimed. What does he do with it? He may be a virgin oh, but he may still be foolish. He may be holy. He may look pure but he may still be foolish. Foolishness is hearing and not doing what he heard. Let us stop for today, please. It's past 6:30. Let's just pray. I want us to talk to the Lord wherever you are. Yes, we are human. We are not doubting that. But through Christ, we can do certain things, brethren. We can do—we can do what God said. We can. I can do it. If we—if we don't come to this level, you are believing a lie. You are believing a lie. Don't believe a lie. You can do it! You can do it! God said I cannot. Our sufficiency is of God. It is very, very possible. If we come to the level of marriage, it is very, very possible to love a disobedient, rebellious, and clamorous woman. It's possible because that is how Jesus loved the church. It is very, very possible to submit to a selfish, inconsiderate husband because God said so. It is possible! It is possible to be consistently upright because he says, "Abstain from all appearance," even the appearance is possible to abstain, not even the evil itself. These things are possible! Don't let us believe a lie. God said it, he made it possible. It looks impossible for Saul to wait for Samuel. Look at the pressure. Look at the advancement of the Philistines. It looked impossible. "You cannot, you cannot. Do something! You cannot, you cannot." Tell that thing you can! I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me! I can. Come boldly to the throne of grace. He says, "Since we have a—a high priest who is not—who is aware, who understands our infirmities, he has gone ahead of us. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help." We have a high priest who knows that when we see fear, we can be afraid. When we see some things, we can run. We have a high priest who knows that—who knows our infirmities. We have a high priest who knows that under some situations, we are likely to tell lies. He said, "But look, come now to the throne of grace. Come and obtain mercy. Come and find grace to help you at such a time. Come and be powered! Come, you can be powered!" It is possible to be powered in his presence. It is possible to be powered. You can be powered that everybody will think you cannot do it otherwise, and you will do it otherwise and they will be shocked. "Heh! That man! I'm afraid of him. Me, I cannot oh." Oh, it was because that man had been powered. He has received grace that helped him in the time of need. He said, "Come! Let us enter the place of prayer! Let us enter into his presence! Let us meditate on the word of God! Let the word of God dwell richly in our hearts through all wisdom! Let us ponder until we are changed! Let us stay in his presence! Let us stay more and more there so that his likeness can be formed in us! His likeness can be formed in us!" That is the beauty of Christianity. That is the beauty. It is possible for the Christian not to lose their saltness. It is possible not to lose it in certain situations. Under pressure. Under so many things. It is possible. Look at the pressure of the three Hebrew boys. Look at the fire. They heated the fire seven times. Look at the pressure that was around their soul. But under that pressure—look at the pressing pressure around their soul. Yet, they honored God. It is possible to maintain good work under any kind of pressure. It is possible. It looks impossible because you have not been powered. Bro, enter into his presence! Enter the place of meditation! Enter the place of reflection on the word! Enter the place of prayer! Enter the place of his presence! Commune with the Lord! Receive revelation! Receive insight! Receive power! That is what God is saying. You can be powered! The Bible says, "Therefore he is able to save to the uttermost those who by him come to God because he ever lived to make intercession for them." Jesus is there. You can be powered, bro. Can you—can you think about Stephen? They were stoning him. "Gwa! Gwa!" with stones. That brother was not crying. "Yes, yes, yes, help me oh! I am dying! I am dying!" That brother was busy looking up as stones were going "Gwa! Gwa!" He was looking up. I'm telling you, that brother had been powered. That brother was powered. It is not possible to be stoning a man with stones and the man is not shouting. He is not saying "Yeh! Yeh! Yeh!" because he's a human. He can feel the pain. We are human beings. But that brother had been powered. That brother had been powered. He had been powered and he said, "Oh," he was looking at Jesus and he said, "I can see the Lord. I see the Lord. I see the Lord standing at the right hand of the Father." Ah, and when all that was going on, that brother was interceding for them again. He said, "Oh Lord, do not lay it at their charge. Do not lay it at their charge." Bro—bro, that brother had been powered. Let us boldly—brother, boldly come to the throne of grace! Boldly access the throne of grace! Go there boldly! Go and meet God and say, "Baba, you have made me your child! You have made me your child! I am your child! I can live the life of God!" Enter there boldly! Don't enter with fear! Enter there boldly! Jesus had gone ahead of us. Go and meet Baba! Don't enter with doubt! Don't enter with fear! Don't enter double-minded! Go with a single mind! Draw near to God! Enter with a single mind and say, "God, I can live the life of God! God, I can live your life!" Don't go there doubting! Don't go there looking at human infirmity! Don't look at the failure around you! Oh, thank Jesus! Lord, I give you the glory. I worship you, my Lord. In Jesus' name. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you, Father. Hallelujah. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. I said the Lord told me, and I'm emphasizing that again. Where there is no vision, the people perish. Where there is no vision, Hosea said the same thing. And people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge. Talking about revelation and knowledge. Your problem is that you are not seeing. You are not seeing the invisible. You are not seeing the invisible. You are not seeing the invisible. You are not seeing the invisible. Yes, God is calling us. He said, "Return." That was the call. He said, "Return to me. Return to me. Come to me. Come over here. Come with me to the other side of life. There is another side to this one. There is another side." [background music fades out]