Understanding the Concept of Long Life (2)

[Intro Voiceover] Discipleship class cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God always desires a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Welcome to this discipleship class, which will be a continuation from where we stopped the last time. We started a series last week, which is understanding the concept of long life. Understanding the concept of long life. To understand what long life really means. Last week, we had done what we call the background to the topic. Last week, we looked at different aspects of the Scripture where the word "long life" was used. Psalm 91:16: "With long life I will satisfy you." Exodus 23:26: "The number of your days I will fulfill." We studied these scriptures, that indeed, the word "long life" and "fulfilling our days" was a word that was used in scriptures. We were trying to establish what it really means. We said last week that it is very important to understand long life because long life has to do with purpose. The purpose of a life determines the length of the days that that life will use. When you are through with your purpose, it simply means that life has expired. The number of days given to a life normally corresponds with the purpose for that life. We were able to look at the concept of where the Bible used the word "long life," the fact that a time to be born and a time to die, the number of days we are to have, how all of these have been determined by God. Each of the various things we looked at last week, and we were able to also establish last week that it is very paramount, very important for us to know that long life, looking closely at scripture, is something that is rather relative. That is where we're going to pick the matter today. Almighty God, we thank you for the privilege of prayer. Almighty God, we thank you for another time again in your presence. We thank you for the time of fellowship. We thank you for this hour again. Lord, we just pray that you walk in our midst as we fellowship together, as we look through scripture. Speak to our hearts, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So, in this second episode, we want to move on from where we left the matter last week. If you were not part of us last week, it will be good that you take time to listen to the first episode of this series. It's very important that you listen to it. So, last week, we concluded at Psalm 139:16, where it said, "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; and in your book all the days that were allotted to me, they were there, ever before any of them came to pass." So we want to look at trying to now move on a little further this matter of, if we have been able to see from scriptures that number one: purpose determines the number of days. Number two: when to be born and when to die are things that God has a clear understanding of for every every man, we established that last week from scripture. And then, furthermore again last week, we established that the number of days that each man is to spend, looking at scriptures, Job and Psalm 139, there's a clear understanding also that these things have been foredetermined by God. So if it is so, why is the Bible saying "with long life I will satisfy you"? I want to begin that inquiry, that question, from Psalm 34. We're picking the matter from Psalm 34 today. Psalm 34, from around verse 12 or thereabout. The Bible says, I'm reading to you King James Version, "What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?" Then the response to that question followed from verse 13. "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth." Now, when you look at Psalm 34, from where we are picking it today, Psalm 34 seems to be addressing a matter that there are certain things a man can do that can make his days longer. That seems to be what it says there. So I want us to look at it a little closer. Let's look at this thing a little closer. Now, it says, "What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?" It appears that this Bible is saying that if you love life, if you love many days, that you may see good, it appears there are certain things that we can do that can make the number of days we spend to be longer. It appears those things have not been determined. It appears a time to be born and a time to die does not follow purpose. It appears certain things can be done to make the number you will spend in terms of days, 70 or 80 or 90 years. So Jesus was 33, but Genesis says 70. It appears there's something you can do to make that number longer. But a closer look at the scripture, and comparing scriptures with scripture, you will discover that that is not exactly what this scripture is saying. That is not what this scripture is saying. Now, it says, "What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off their remembrance from the earth." Now, when we look closely at this scripture, this thing is giving a very clear understanding to us, as we now compare it with other scriptures now. What this scripture is actually saying is that if you as an individual want to have fullness, fullness in the number of your days. We'll start to compare scripture with scripture, the matter will be clearer. What this scripture is actually saying is that in the number of days that God have allotted to you, it is possible not to enjoy life in those number of days. It is possible that you spend those days in afflictions. It is possible you spend those days in loss of things. It is possible that you spend those days not really having the benefits of enjoying God's goodness. Now, I must be careful about what I've just said because sometimes there is this other extreme about our Christian call. People normally think that in Christ, it's given to us only to believe in Him. That is not so. In Christ, it's given to us both to believe in Him and also to suffer for Him. So, the nature of God's calling upon our life can take us through tribulation. It can take us through suffering. We have seen the case of Job. We have seen the case of Jesus. The call of God upon the life of Jesus made Him to suffer so many things. The call of God upon the life of Stephen, the call of God upon the life of Paul, made Paul to go through many, many, many challenges and tribulations, suffering. But we need to understand the matter of our coming to Jesus, that it's given to us both to believe in Him and to suffer for Him. That is the nature of our Christian call. That's why we can say that in all things, God works together for good. Not in all good things, but in all things. Even some things that look like, "Wow, this is not good," like we saw in the life of David. It was from running from Saul that he gathered the men that became the mighty men of David. It was not running around; those men would not have been gathered. So, you need to have that understanding about the call. It was the call of God that took Joseph to prison. It was the call of God that took him again from prison to palace. So, we need to get that clear at first. It was the call of God that brought Daniel into the lions' den. It was the call of God that threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the fire. So, that must be clear. What we are discussing this evening is not in that direction. What we are discussing is that when God was saying, "With long life I will satisfy you, and I will fulfill your days," "Do you love life and you want to see good?" What actually the Bible is implying is not necessarily about 70 years, 80 years, 120 years that people live. It's not about how many years you will live. No. When God said "with long life" and "I will fulfill your days," "you will see many good days," what He's actually saying is that if you live in the fear of God, if you live with respect for God, just like God told the people of Israel, "If you obey me, these blessings will follow you. But if you disobey me, these curses will follow you." Now, when you disobey God, there are curses that will follow you, that will make you not have satisfaction in your days, that will make you to spend your days in afflictions, in tribulation, that will make your way to be hard and difficult. So in that way, you have not had fullness of life. So, what Psalm 34 is saying, when it says, look at it, it says, "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off their remembrance from the earth. But the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their prayers." So what is He saying? What He's saying is that each man, what man is he that loves life, the man who wants to see many good things? What that man needs to do, so that your days can be good, so that you know when days are good, time flies. When things are fine and enjoyable, you don't know when time flies. Have you noticed that? When things are fine and enjoyable, you don't know when time flies. When things become difficult, time begins to take time. You look at time, it's very, very long. You look at it as if it is long. That's what the Bible is saying here. What He's saying is that if a man wants to have fullness in his days, if a man wants to enjoy good in his days, if he wants a situation where it is the blessings of God that follows you and not the curses of God, if you don't want the eyes of the Lord to be against you in your number of days, if you want the face of the Lord to be attentive to your prayer, if you want the eyes of the Lord to be upon you for good in that number of days, there are things to do. Not necessarily that when you fear the Lord, if you are supposed to live 70, you'll now live 80 years. If you finish your purpose terminated at 65, you'll now take another round of 20 years. That's not necessarily it. Because when you read scriptures sometimes, you begin to get confused that the Bible says that if we fear God, it will make our days to be longer. What the Bible is talking about "long life I will satisfy you" is not necessarily about length, but about fullness in that life, in that number that is given to you. Fullness in it. Now, how will you know? Let's begin to look at, let's compare scripture to scripture. Let's look at biblical example. Can we look at 2 Chronicles 26? 2 Chronicles 26. This is about King Uzziah. Now look at what the Bible says here. It says from verse 1, it says, "Now all the people of the land took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah." So Amaziah is gone, Uzziah is now king. Now, the Bible says about Uzziah, "He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king rested with his fathers. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper." As long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. "Now he went out and made war against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities around Ashdod and among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians who lived in Gur Baal, and against the Meunites. Also the Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah. His fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he became exceedingly strong." Now, look at what is happening to this young man. Coming in at 16, reigning for 52 years, and look at how he was moving on from one level to another level. It says, "Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the corner buttress of the wall; then he fortified them. He also built towers in the desert. He dug many wells, for he had much livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plains. He also had farmers and vinedressers in the mountains and in Carmel, for he loved the soil. Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war by companies, according to the number on their roll as prepared by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's captains. The total number of chief officers of the mighty men of valor was two thousand six hundred. And under their authority was an army of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred." And look at how the Bible is describing the greatness of Uzziah. If you look down in verse 15, "He made devices in Jerusalem, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and on the corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. So his fame spread far and wide; for he was marvelously helped till he became strong." Why was this man enjoying fullness? Why was God satisfying him? Why was God granting him establishment? Because because of what we saw in Psalm 34. So he feared the Lord, he let his lips eschew evil. But look at something. "But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense," which was supposed to be done by the priests. But he felt because of what he was with God, he could be both king and priest. His heart was lifted up, "God is so much with me, I can do anything." So look at what happened. "Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord, valiant men. And they withstood Uzziah, and said to him, 'It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honor from the Lord God.' Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there, on his forehead, he was leprous! So they thrust him out of that place. Indeed he also hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him. King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death." Are you seeing something? What has happened to fullness of life? What has happened to fullness of life? It has been cut off. Life, satisfaction, ability to enjoy, to have fullness, has been taken from him. It says he was a leper until the day of his death. He lived in an isolated house because he was a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. Look at what now happened. Then Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from the first to the last, the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz wrote. So Uzziah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the field of burial which belonged to the kings, but not where kings are buried. They said, "He is a leper." Then Jotham his son reigned in his stead. So you see that even though he reigned for 52 years, for a good number of that years, where was he? He was in isolation. He was a leper. Who was monitoring the affairs of state? Who was handling the affairs of state? It was God. That is when the Bible says the eyes of the Lord are against those who do evil, to cut off their remembrance from the earth. You see when you fear the Lord, the eyes of the Lord are upon us for good. It is that good, when you see life, long life, when you are able to enjoy His goodness, ability to enjoy His favor. That is why, when the Bible is saying "with long life I will satisfy you, and I will fulfill your days," "do you love life and you want to see good?" what actually the Bible is implying is not necessarily about adding to your the number of the length of the years you want to spend. No. It is talking about that length that you want to spend. If you fear me, if you love me, I will make sure that certain things follow you and certain things don't follow you. That's point. So, what Psalm 34 is saying, when it says, look at it, it says, "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off their remembrance from the earth. But the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their prayers." So what is He saying? What He's saying is that a man who loves life, the man who wants to see many good things, what that man needs to do so that your days can be good, so that you know, when days are good, time flies. When things are fine and enjoyable, you don't know when time flies. Have you noticed that? When things are fine and enjoyable, you don't know when time flies. When things become difficult, time begins to take time. You look at time, it's very, very long. You look at it as if it is long. That's what he's saying here. What He's saying is that when a man, if a man wants to have fullness in his days, if a man wants to enjoy good in his days, if he wants a situation where it is the blessings of God that follows you and not the curses of God, if you don't want the eyes of the Lord to be against you in your number of days, if you want the face of the Lord to be attentive to your prayer, if you want the eyes of the Lord to be upon you for good in that number of days, there are things to do. Not necessarily that when you fear the Lord, if you are supposed to live 70, you'll now live 80 years. If your purpose terminates at 65, you'll now take another round of 20 year. That's not necessarily it. Because when you read scriptures sometimes, you begin to get confused that the Bible says that if we fear God, it will make our days to be longer. What the Bible is talking about long life, "I will satisfy you," is not necessarily about length, but about fullness in that life, in that number that is given to you. Fullness in it. Now how will you know? Let's take another scripture, comparing scripture with scriptures. Let's look at Lot and Abram. Lot and Abram in the book of Genesis. Genesis 13. We'll start with Genesis chapter 13, actually. In chapter 13, Lot has been following Abraham. Lot has been following Abraham. And Lot also, who went with Abraham, had flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support them that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land. So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go right. If you go right, then I will go left." And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the plains of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord, that's before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Eden, like the land of Egypt as you go towards Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself, please note, Lot chose for himself all, not some, he chose all the plains of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated from each other. And Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Abram, lift up your eyes now and look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward and westward. For all the land which you see, I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through the length and its breadth, for I give it to you." Then Abram moved his tent and went and dwelt by the terebinth tree of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord. I don't know whether you are following what is going on here. Two people have been journeying together. As they journey together, what happened to the two of them? They were expanding. They were growing. They were increasing. They got to a point where there was so much, and somebody said, "Okay, it's not the whole land before you." Actually, what it should have been is that "it's not the whole land before us?" But there was somebody who have learned to seek peace and pursue it. That's what I want you to watch. I told about the recipe for life and enjoying fullness of life. There is somebody who have learned to seek peace and to pursue it. There is somebody who have learned that strife is not the way of life. Strife will cut you short of the fullness of God in the days that God have allotted to you. Strife will not give you opportunity to allow God open doors for you because the man who strive is a man who does not hope in the Lord. If you truly trust the Lord, you will leave the Lord to fight your battle. There was a man who understand that the recipe for life, you say "who is the man who fear God and want to see good many good days," so that your days can be good, so that you know, when days are good, time flies. So somebody looked at the whole thing and then he looked for what was better, what was best. Ordinarily, that should have been the correct way to live because the way to live should have been, "This thing you have animal, I have animal, okay, why not let us do it like this? This side is well-watered, this side, why not let us I go part of this, you take part of this for our animals' sake?" But somebody was greedy. Somebody wanted everything for himself. And somebody was there who was not even striving about that. And so the person made a choice and he chose towards that place. But the Bible quickly noted, the Bible quickly noted, that that was before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot did not know that very soon, what was looking watered and fat is something that is going to become a salted land. He never saw that coming. What he saw was a land well watered. But please, I want you to look at something. Look at what immediately followed. After chapter 14, immediately Lot made that departure. Look at what happened in chapter 14. "It came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations, they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). All these joined together in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). Twelve years they served, they served that king for twelve years, then the thirteenth year they rebelled. In the fourteenth year, the king, that's Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, came and attacked all of those king." So what happened? I'm just going to what happened. So when the attack was going on between those king, look at what happened to this young man. I'm moving down, they attacked, they fought, they did that, this against again that king. They were fighting, it was a war between them. But look at what happened. After they conquered that place, it said, "Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went away." What did they also what did they also take here, verse 12? "They also took Lot, Abram's brother's son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed." "Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt at the terebinth tree of Mamre." They came to tell Abram that, "Look oh, they have carried your brother away captive oh." He said, "When Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed three hundred and eighteen trained servants that were born in his own house and went in pursuit as far as Dan." What am I trying to bring out? Immediately they departed on the ground of greed and on the ground of loving peace, what began to happen to the life? What was looking like plenty began to go down. It was not that so Lot died immediately or Abram went to heaven immediately. We are looking at physical thing in this life. You begin to see that his days began to be cut short. He became what, a captive. If not that Abram went to deliver Lot, what would have been the remaining of the days of Lot? What have been the remaining of the days? He would have been a captive. Is that, is that, is that the life of being a rich farmer and the life of being a slave? It was not the call of God that was bringing Lot into this, please understand this. What was bringing him into this was what, a man who who will not follow the recipe for life, the recipe for life to fear God, eschew evil, there should not be deceit in your mouth. You should seek peace and pursue it. He want his way, and life began to be cut short, fullness began to go. Anyway, Abram went to deliver him and brought him back to that place. Immediately he was brought back to that place, another problem started. God was to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And when God got there, the first thing that happened and the second and the third, let me just take the first. The first thing that happened was harassment from the people of the city. If not for the angels, they would have finished Lot. Anyway, the angels first they delivered him. That was the first thing. But for the angels, where he thinks he's going to increase, what has started to happen to his days? His days, the life in his days, there's no more many good days. There's now evil in his days. In his days, he has begun to experience what we call a cutting short in his days. Because you need to understand something: when you are no more enjoying God's favor, God's presence and goodness, your days are no more full. Your days are no more full, it doesn't matter what you are doing. It's not fullness of days. Now, he began to be cut short. But for the angels, what was the next thing again? They said, "Oya, Lot, you need to leave this city. You are to take nothing." That was the second. Look at everything that he went with. I'm talking about his days, we have begun to cut short his days. Look at everything he went with to that place, the Bible says he had so much that his herdsmen and Abram's herdsmen, they were striving. Now what has happened now? He was told to leave everything, he is just to take his wife and his children and they are to leave that city. Lot was confused. What will happen to all the livestock? What will happen to the sheep, all the herdsmen, all of those people, all of those things? What is going to happen? He could not take step on time. The Bible says God had mercy on him. God had mercy, what was the mercy that God had on him? Please you can go and read up this story. I'm trying to save time but you can go down in chapter 19. If I'm not wrong, you'll see that story. Let me take you to where you will find that story so that you can by yourself go down and read that story and see what happened. You know so that everything will not just be speaking off and let's see let's see what happened. Verse 15 of chapter 19. "When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry." Lot could not hurry. They urged Lot to hurry, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest lest you be consumed in the punishment of this city." Then the Bible says in verse 16, "And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, and his wife's hand, and the hand of his two daughters, and the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him and set him out of the city." You see, he didn't know what to do. He was looking at everything. I'm trying to make you see how sorrow began to multiply. From captivity into loss of all his investments, all that he had from when he began to follow Abraham. All the investment was to go in one day. All the investment. So he lingered, he didn't know what to do. God had mercy, God pulled him and said, "Look, you need to run." When they got outside in verse 17, "And it came to pass, when they brought them outside, he said to them, 'Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, stay anywhere in the plain! Escape to the mountain, lest you be destroyed.'" Then Lot said to them, "Please, no, my Lord. Indeed now your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy, and you have shown me by saving my life, but I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil overtake me and I die. See now, this city is near enough to flee. It is a little one; please let me escape there. Is it not a little one? And my soul shall live." And he said to him, "See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there." Therefore the name of that city was called Zoar. Now, the sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of heaven. So He overthrew the cities, all the plain... where was all Lot investment? All the plain. All Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the inhabitants of the city, and what grew on the ground. So what is the next thing that went again? Every property, all the things that Lot saw that attracted him. What happened to all of them? They were gone. Listen oh, that's number two. It has not ended. I'm showing you how life began to go from this man. Number three: his wife. He was fully married with wife and children when he was with Abraham. Look at the fullness. The Bible says, "But Lot's wife look back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt." Number three: the wife again was lost. I want to show you four things that happened to Lot. And you begin to see how his days were no more fulfilled. You begin to see that his days were cut short. You begin to see that fullness was taken from him. You begin to see that life, good in days that he may see good, they began to cut it from him. The wife became a pillar of salt. So maritally, what has happened? Maritally he has suffered loss. Property-wise, he has suffered loss. Let's see what happened again, it did not end there. The Bible says that Lot alone was in that place. Look at what happened, verse 30. "Then Lot went out out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters were with him, for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar; he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave." Please, please, what has happened to all the houses? Where are they now dwelling? They have now become cavemen. Cavemen. Again, inside that cave, because the good hand of the Lord is no more upon him for good, but it is now to cut off his remembrance from the earth. You can see how God is cutting off his remembrance. One by one, the memory of Lot was going. He could not see good again. Memory was going one after the other. What happened again inside that cave? Now the firstborn said to the younger one, "Our father is old and there is no man on earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine and we will lie with him, and we may preserve his lineage, the lineage of our father." So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she laid down with him or when he arose. "And it happened the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, 'Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you will go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.'" Then they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay him or when she arose. Thus both daughters of Lot were with child by their father. What is happening to this man? Look at how length, fullness was taken from him. Look at how the memory of this man was being taken from the earth. You see when you fear the Lord, the eyes of the Lord is upon us for good. It's that good, when you see life, long life, when you are able to enjoy His goodness, ability to enjoy His favor. That is why when the Bible says "with long life I will satisfy you," when the Bible says that "I will fulfill your days," it is just to understand what the Bible says in Deuteronomy: that if you obey Me and you stay with Me, these blessings will follow you. If you disobey Me, these ones will follow you. If you go and look at what will follow them, it is what will reduce them until you will decrease and decrease and decrease and decrease, go and check Deuteronomy 28. Those curses, what it will do to them is that it will reduce them until they will no more be remembered again in the face of the earth. So the matter about long life, about short life, is not really about how many years, or it's not really about that. Jesus did not live a short life. Jesus lived the fullness of His days. It's not about how many days He spent on earth. It's about whether the face of the Lord is against you to cut off the remembrance of you from the earth, or whether the face of the Lord is towards you and His ears is attentive to your call. It's whether you are in communion with Him and He's pleased with you, or whether you are on the other side. We'll go to the New Testament next week to look at this same matter, how our Lord presented it. And we will see, we'll begin to look at, we've looked at the Old Testament, but I would like us to look at the New Testament to establish this matter further and further. We'll look at some things, make some references back to David as we are ending today. We'll pick it up from David next week. My prayer, my prayer that we may indeed, in the concept of scripture, enjoy long life in the name of Jesus Christ. There's nothing like enjoying the face of the Lord being towards you and His ears attentive to your call. There's nothing like that in life. There's nothing like it in life. Don't let us neglect this recipe. We are still coming back to that recipe, the concept of long life. We are coming back to it, that's where we are going to end this whole discussion. We're coming back to it. You see it again in the New Testament. Let us understand there's a recipe to life. There's a recipe to life. Let's make up our mind to enjoy life by following God's recipe towards life. Let's go ahead to pray this evening. Let's talk to the Lord as we close. Let's talk to the Lord. Let's talk to the Lord, let's ask the Lord, God Almighty, God Almighty, Lord, may I, may I as an individual, as an individual, enjoy fullness of life. May I follow your recipe for life. It is about following that recipe. It is about the recipe. We'll still take time to look at those recipe very well, closely. But I'm just trying to make you see. Let's pray this evening that "Lord, my days you will fulfill according to scripture. I will enjoy life, even in His call." When David went through everything, what looked terrifying and destructive because he was enjoying life, it was peaceful, it was safety. May we enjoy life. What will be terrifying to men... there's this song, there's a Yoruba song: "Oke t'alagbara n gun, t'o n mi ele, oun l'omo Olorun n gun, t'o n pada wa dupe." Because they are enjoying life. What seemingly the mighty try to climb but they could not, because they are not enjoying life. A man who walk with the Lord: "Oke t'alagbara n gun ti won n gun ti." What they says is impossible, what they says, "look at this thing," you will see men who have life. You will see men who are enjoying life, whom God will fulfill their days. It doesn't matter the opposition before them. It doesn't matter the threats, it doesn't matter what is standing. It doesn't matter the affliction they may be going through. It doesn't matter the circumstance around their life. Those men whom God has said, "I will fulfill your days," you will see these men, they will go through these things, they will pass through these things, they will come out of them, and you will marvel. Say, "Ah, eh, which kind of person is this? How was he able to do it?" It is because God has said, "I will fulfill your days." God has said He will satisfy them with long life. Nothing can reduce their number, nothing can cut short that number. Nothing can reduce it, no scheme of men, no power of hell can cut it short. No scheme, no scheme of men. Let men let them scheme and scheme. Look at how Saul schemed and schemed and schemed and schemed. He could not cut David short because God will fulfill his days. God will fulfill his days. I want you to tell the Lord that Lord, God Almighty, you will fulfill my days. But there is I must show you: you must love life and see good. You must follow God's recipe for life. God can fulfill our days. It doesn't matter what is happening around you. It was that same God, when Pharaoh said no son will live, it was that same God that made Moses to live in the palace of Pharaoh because his days God must fulfill. A boy that was supposed to die when he was born, lived 120 years, because he had there's a 40 years to learn to be a shepherd, there's another 40 years to enter ministry, 40 years to learn shepherdhood, 40 years to lead the children of Israel. So no Pharaoh can terminate him as a child. No Pharaoh, no matter the scheme of that Pharaoh, no matter how strong that Pharaoh is, no matter how intelligent that Pharaoh is, he cannot cut short that life. Instead, Moses grew in the palace of the Pharaoh, the Pharaoh that was to kill him, Moses grew in his palace. Those are what God can do for men who follow God's recipe for life. Men who follow God's recipe for life, their days God will fulfill. God will show them His salvation. He will satisfy them with long life. He will satisfy them. That is one thing God does. God will do it for them. It doesn't matter the circumstance around them, their days He will fulfill. Their days He will fulfill. And I pray for you listening to me. I pray for you wherever you are listening to me. I pray for you wherever you are. Your days the Lord will fulfill. Your days the Lord will fulfill. No scheme of men will cut off your days. No scheme of men will cut short your days. No scheme of men, no power of hell, no gate of hell will cut short your day. Your days the Lord will fulfill. He will show you His salvation. With long life He will satisfy you. But I beg of you, follow God's recipe for life. Follow God's recipe for life. We'll be looking at that is what we'll be concluding with, we'll study that recipe closely. Because sometimes we don't know that you are cutting short your life daily. You are taking away from yourself, not enjoying fullness in your own days, because you are not following God's recipe for life. Oh Lord, we thank you this evening. Lord, we thank you. Lord, we thank you. Blessed be your name, our Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Let's share 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. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. [Outro Voiceover] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission heat. Our regular activities are: discipleship class, every Monday 5:00 p.m.; adolescent and singles club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; marriage forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; 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, Ilekere community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Ijede 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 080-3386-1136, 070-3361-3848. God bless you all.