Unequal Yoke (the Old and Good Path)

Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home from. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] The old and the good path. But we just want to bring you together to how we got to that point. And so the first thing about unequal yoking is that God said, don't be unequally yoked. So anybody that is unequally yoked with unbelievers is acting directly against God's instruction. Then we also noticed that when He said don't be unequally yoked, we noticed also that the Bible says that friendship with the world is enmity with God. So anybody who is a friend of the world is an enemy of God. Not that he may be an enemy, not that he is like an enemy, he is an enemy of God. And then we also notice in the series that we have been taking, that one very important thing about this matter of unequal yoking is that ever from the beginning of, in fact, yes, since the beginning of time, it was ever the counsel of God that light and darkness should not coexist. So we went to Genesis to see that God said let there be light and there was light. And the first thing that God did with light was to separate light from darkness. That was the first thing we noticed that from the foundation of time, God, even though God did not extinguish darkness, He never allowed light to be inside darkness. He separated them from themselves and then having separated them, He now gave light name. He said, light, you are day. Darkness, you are night. So we saw that in separating them, God also named them. So it became very fundamental to us looking at the series that as young people, we must understand that, yes, we cannot be separated from the world. We can't because we are in the world. If we want to be separated from the world, look at what Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 5, 6. Apostle Paul was saying something there which is of great benefit for us. Please let's look at that scripture. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and then chapter 6. There is something he mentioned here which I think is very good for us to see. Now, let me first take that of 5. That of 6 I will make reference to it later. In 5 he said, I'm reading from verse 1. He said, it is reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality is not as even named among the Gentiles, that a man has his father's wife. And you are puffed up and have not rather mourned and that he who have done this deed might be taken away from you. Now having said that, verse 6, your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole... Who knows what is leaven? Who knows what leaven is? Nobody? This is a generation of champions. What is leaven? What's another name for leaven? Yeast. Now those bread you normally buy, Oye-Ato bread, all those bread you buy. They look very big. But when you handle it, what happens? The thing will just go down [sound effect]. When it goes down, what is it telling you? You don't know what it's telling you? Oh, these children, you are not dynamic. What is it telling you when you handle it and the thing just [sound effect]? The thing is telling you that I am very sorry. That size you saw is not my actual size. It is blow-blow something. They added yeast. My true size is what I've come to now. So that thing you see on the table is not the actual size. It's hypocrisy. Yeast means hypocrisy. It will just blow the thing up. And then you think that the thing is as big as that 2, 350 you are spending. No, it's not as big as that. It's just small flour. They now put the thing. The thing will now rise. You say, ah, very big is not big. Do you get it? So he says a little yeast that you put in flour, what will it do? It will work round the whole thing and make it look very big. He's trying to say it takes just a small poison to spoil the whole food. You get it? It takes just a small poison. Have you ever tried to eat maybe your shawarma or whatever, or your plate of rice, salad and everything, and then mistakenly, just a little waste, human waste, just fall on the rice? Just small, compared to the bowl of rice. Will you still continue with the rice? What will happen to that rice? The fact that it even entered the plate made the whole rice to become condemned. It is not just on the rice. That's what he's saying. That it takes just a little leaven to spoil everything. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Now look at what he's saying. Therefore, purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, since truly you are unleavened. For indeed, our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Do you know the unleavened bread? You have not seen unleavened bread before. Holy communion bread. That one is even wafers. Unleavened bread is a bread that they do not put yeast. So when you see the thing, it will be hard. It will be crunchy because do you understand it? It will be hard. That's why he said break bread. Did you hear that before? Jesus broke the bread because it is not this kind of your own bread. You don't break your own because it's leavened bread. Their own is unleavened. There is no yeast. So the thing is hard. It will be hard because nothing is... so the size of the unleavened bread is the actual size. That's why he says the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. While leavened bread is hypocrisy. That size is a lie. Once you press it, it will come to the actual size. Are you understanding it now? So the unleavened bread is that of sincerity and truth. Once you see unleavened bread, the size that you are seeing is the actual size of the flour. That's why in some churches they don't use this type of your bread. They use unleavened bread. They will ask the baker to please bake for them. So he will charge them because the bread will not rise and it will be big and it's actually the flour. So he will charge them for it. But look at something here. Look at what he said in verse 9. I wrote to you in my epistle, that is in my letter, not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly do not mean the sexually immoral people of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or idolaters, since then you will need to go out of the world. Are you seeing it? Let me take that in a simpler translation. He said, simpler translation, "When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn't talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, who are greedy or as swindlers or idol worshipers. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that." Because some of them are your lecturers. Some are taxi drivers. Some are the medical doctors. Is that not true? Some of your lecturers, they will even be... for you girls, they say, "Ah, girl, I like your face." And he's your lecturer. Do you understand what I'm trying to bring out? You meet them in many ways. But look at what he said. "But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral, covetous, or idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person." So are you seeing something? What Paul is trying to say? What I'm trying to say is that can we get out of the world to be separated from the world? No. But what are we to be? Salt of the earth. However, in our unequal yoking, to avoid unequal yoking, he's talking about two set of people. There are those who call themselves brothers. He said those ones you don't need to relate to them. Why? Because their ways don't differ from the ways of those other people. Those other people that are like that, who do they need? They need Jesus. We need to associate with them in a way that we can, when we say come to fellowship or know Jesus, they want to know Jesus. But for a brother or sister who is immoral, who is like that, what did the Bible say? I read it in a simpler translation. He says we should not associate with such. What is it trying to make us see? That as far as God is concerned, unequal yoking is a serious sin. It's something if the Lord is asking us that if somebody says he's a brother, not an unbeliever, you know he's a brother, says he's a brother, and he's what... I like to read a simpler translation. "What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulge in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worship idols, or is abusive. Note this thing. What I meant is that you should not associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulge in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worship idols, or is abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Don't even eat with such people." Why is he saying so? You've seen the bottom line from where we started. He says be ye separate and I will be your God, your Father, and you shall be my sons and daughters. So you notice that one thing about God, because from the foundation, God have always separated light from darkness. So it's a matter that keeps coming, that keeps coming over and over as far as God is concerned. These are the things we have discussed before. Other thing we noted was that we now look at unequal yoking in terms of sexual immorality among young people today. We have looked at that in one of the months. And what we noticed was that sexual immorality is becoming also common among Christians in the Christian community today. Am I right? Am I right? Yes. It's becoming common in the Christian community today and we're asking ourselves why. We now said it is because there are several unequal yoking that we allowed among ourselves as Christians. So we mentioned different things. We mentioned even among Christians now, you begin to have "my boyfriend in Christ", "my girlfriend in Christ". If you have a boyfriend in Christ, why will you not end in bed? The boyfriend you had when you were an unbeliever, if you begin to have boyfriend in Christ, you don't end in bed? We began to look at things like association with the opposite sex among ourselves. We were looking at things like dressing. We looked at things like our value system. Who do you associate with? We looked at all of that. We look at even practical safety values that among Christians today, we are so careless with the way we relate with the opposite sex. Brothers and sisters, I had to warn on my campus. I was relating with some young people and then I had to warn one of them. He's a brother. He said because people were settling down, accommodation when we newly resume. So he now, in his house, brothers, sisters living in the same room. I said why? He said, "You see, nothing can happen now, we are brethren." I said you are blind. I said the fact that you are even all of you are together in one room, are you not sending message to the world when we know that today students live as husband and wife even though they are not married? Am I not correct? Am I not correct? If we as Christians now begin to house our sisters... I said is there no sister in the whole fellowship that that sister can go and stay with in the whole fellowship? "Actually, sister said the sisters she's relating with, they are behaving one kind that is closer to the brother." [Yoruba language: Ori e ti daru] said your head, your head, something is wrong with your thinking. Something is wrong with the way you are thinking. Something has happened to you. I'm talking of carelessness among youth, careless behavior. We noticed that if we want to be morally pure, we should be careful about so many things we do. We look at all of that. And then later we came to the man David. We have considered the man David as a general, lessons to learn from the life of David. We saw that at a time men go to war, David was at home. Be careful with how you use your time. We saw that David planned something for Uriah having slept with Bathsheba and wanting to cover the pregnancy. David now planned to make Uriah to go and sleep with the wife. And we noted then that young people you must understand there is an enemy that wants to defile you. There is an enemy making plan just like we saw David planning to defile Uriah. We saw Potiphar's wife trying to defile Joseph. We said young people understand that you have an enemy. You have an enemy. Don't just live freely, live carelessly. You have an enemy. And we now put that to understand this, that the Bible says be vigilant, be sober, your adversary, the who? The devil. Understand that there is a devil that wants to rubbish you. And that devil will work through anything. We saw how David worked through several things. But something kept Uriah. What was that? Integrity. Integrity kept Uriah. We said if you must be kept as a youth, you must have the strength of integrity. Uriah was... well, when he came to the house, David said go and sleep with your wife and he said, "Ah, king, everybody, even the ark, is at the warfront. How will I go and sleep with my wife?" And what we saw in integrity is the strength to have courage to say no to what you know is no. Some people don't have that courage as young people, and that is foolishness. Look at Joseph. When Potiphar's wife was trying to do one or two things, he had the courage to say, "Madam, ah, madam, you sleep or you are awake? Which one you dey?" My master don't... everything in this house I control except you because you are his wife. How will I do this thing against God? Then you see, I didn't want to offend, I didn't want to talk anyhow so that they will not think I am crude. I didn't want... I remember a case like that. That happened sometime in one, one church in one town. And then it was the minister that was trying to... he went to see the minister for counseling, a lady. And the lady was trying to... the man was now trying to sexually assault the girl. Oh, I love the girl. You know what she did? Just gave the man slap, the pastor! [Slapping sound effect] jumped out of the office, slammed the door. When the whole thing happened, then some elders now, they now gathered and they're discussing it. Said that girl, that girl, even if the pastor have tried to do such a thing, she should not have gone to that extent. You know what I told some of the elder? I said it in Yoruba. [Yoruba language: Mo ni eda ni yin, e n se eda]. That is, you are morons, you are not elders. I said that girl have done what is right. If that girl have not acted that violently, we will be telling a different story today. There was strength in Uriah, the strength to say no to what you know is no. Look at the three Hebrew boys. Bow to this thing or else you will die. "Oh king, sorry oh, we cannot bow. Our God have told us we should not bow to idol." We should have courage. Courage of self-conviction. Courage of self-conviction, that's what we saw in Uriah. "Oh king, the ark is in the battlefield. Joab is there. Me to go and sleep with my wife? King, I can't take that order." And the king said, "Okay, okay, okay." Even the king knew that that was... the king said, "Okay, okay, okay, no problem." The king now arranged another one. What is the other one? All kinds of food and drink and everything. And then the man, he make sure that they got him drunk. But do you saw one thing we saw in Uriah? We said even when he was drunk, he did not go to his house. He went and slept with his master servant. And that is where I tell people, I've done it before in several meeting. If you take a bottle of coke and you compress it and compress it, after much pressure and the plastic got broken, what will happen? It is coke that will come out. Why not water? Why not water? Because it is coke that was inside. If you take a bottle of water and you also done... it's also done like that, what will happen? What will come out? It's going to be water. I said be careful what you are storing inside. Because in the day of pressure, it is what is inside you that will come out. Uriah was under serious pressure from the king. He was already drunk, but even in his drunkenness, no, the ark is in the field. No, no, me, [Yoruba language: e lo fimi le]. He was drunk and yet he could not go. Some of us are not drunk and yet we are being immoral. Uriah was drunk and yet they could not make him go to his house. Are you seeing that? What are you storing inside? Because in the day of serious pressure, that is what is going to be reproduced out of you eventually. I read a story this morning, just this morning on the news. I don't know whether some of you follow this on Nation, on Nation newspaper. A woman who got pregnant for the son of her husband. It looks like how did that happen? But the detail of the story is very shocking. Was that the man impregnated a lady outside wedlock when he was still small. So he grew up, got married, brought that son into the house. But because he does not want the wife to victimize his son, because the wife have told him that he doesn't want situations of extramarital and that she does not want to marry a man who already has a child. So he too deceived the woman. There are several deception. That's why I tell people, please pray. Be sure God is leading you. He deceived the woman. He didn't tell the woman that that boy was his son. But he want his son to be in the house. So he told the woman that he is his niece, his nephew. So he brought him in. So they were all in the house. Unfortunately for them, there was no issue. After five years, no issue. Ten years, no issue. The man now became a beast, beating, molesting because the man is the only son of the mother. The mother too began to visit from the village. That "this your wife, send him away, this and that." They put the woman under so much pressure that if she's not careful they will kill her this and that. The man beat her, abused her, said she's a witch and all of that. So when the woman saw that her marriage was going away, they have done several tests, visited doctors, done everything. The test is showing that the woman is normal, but the man have low sperm count. The man did a lot of thing to adjust, but still no issue. So the woman now said that okay, maybe the way out of this thing, she doesn't want to break her marriage, she want to secure her marriage. She now thinking that that young man was a relative of the man, she now lured the young man to sleep with her. Are you following the story? Not knowing that he's the son of her husband. Unfortunately, she became pregnant for that one. In a way she was happy that yes, and then, but the other one was wondering how she got the pregnancy. But nothing was discussed. Over time, what happened was that the young man was going to school, he died. That person that impregnated her. The man became depressed and after a lot of things one day, one night, he called the wife and now told the wife that actually the truth about that young man, why he became so depressed, because the wife was wondering, "He's just somebody's son, so why are you..." He now had to confess to the woman that he's actually my son. That's why he was so depressed. And that the woman should please tell him now, this issue, where did he get this pregnancy? Because he know that he's not the one that impregnated her. The long and short, she now told the husband. The husband became more depressed such that over time the husband died. Now the family of the man now want to kill the wife that she killed their son. That's what is in the news. I mean as at today, that's what I read as at today's newspaper. What am I trying to bring out of all of this? What am I trying to bring out? The man was under pressure to marry a woman he loved. He told a lie. What is inside you when you come under pressure? If he had told that woman the truth, "he's my son," what later happened may not have happened. But you see, what are you storing inside? In the day of pressure, it will come out of you. You think you are hiding now from people, you think you are hiding, you are hiding. Be sure that you are storing strength inside. Godly strength, godly character, truth, transparency, holiness, righteousness. Be storing them inside. Be sure you are consistent inside as a young person. Because the day of pressure, they are still ahead, they are coming. Whether you hear God or you don't hear God, go and check what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7. What did He say? He said, "He who hear my word and do it, the rain fell, the flood came, the wind blew and beat against the house. He that heard my word and did not do it, the same thing, the rain fell, the flood came, the wind came and beat against the house." The only difference was that what? One fell, the other one did not fall. That was the only difference. So whether we are... what I'm saying is that godliness does not immune us from adversities of life. But godliness guarantees that what? Many may be the affliction of the righteous, but from them all, the Lord will do what? The Lord will deliver him. The righteous will triumph. That's the difference. But in the day of the storm and wind, if you are not godly inside, some other things will come out of you. That's the point that we are making. And that's what happened with that of Uriah. Uriah stood the test of time. What are you putting inside? So it's- we spoke so much about in that one. And then we move on to look at another general. That was Simeon. Simeon in the Luke New Testament, Luke. We look at one in the Old Testament, then we look at the one in the New Testament. That was Luke. In the book of Luke, Simeon. You remember Simeon. The man that came at dedication of Jesus Christ. You remember him. And we look at that life. We said that day everybody gathered. For Simeon, the Bible says he was a man that was filled with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he will not die until what? Until he see the redemption of Israel. And the question we were asking ourselves in that topic, that was what we took last month. I'm taking an overview before we enter into that one for today and then we wrap up the whole thing. Is that we said Simeon, we're asking ourselves as young people, what is the level of work you have with God such that the Lord can tell you of things to come? What level of work do you have with God? That was what we considered last month. As a young person, if you will not be unequally yoked, what we saw in Uriah, if we will not be unequally yoked, is what? Character, integrity, strength. In Simeon, we're looking at another thing. If I will not be unequally yoked, I must have what? A close work with God. A close work, a work, a close work with God. Working with God. A close work with God. That work must be there. That's what we saw in Simeon. That work must be there. And then we saw something again about Simeon. He was not invited to the dedication. But he came by the power of the Holy Spirit. Bible said he was led by the Holy Spirit to that place. And that day people just did the normal naming ceremony, normal dedication ceremony. Mary, where is the turtledove? They sacrifice the thing. They did the normal thing. Who was the minister for that day? It was Simeon. Simeon was the one that told Mary when he saw her, "Ah, oh Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, my have seen the redemption of Israel." And then he told Mary, "You see this child? This is about the child, this is about the child, that is about the child, that is about the child, that is about the child." And we said something, if you must not be unequally yoked, something that must characterize you is what we are seeing in Simeon. Your generation, make up your mind not to just be in church and be officiating. The priest, the Levite that day, they were just officiating. They didn't know what was happening. They didn't know that that is the redemption of Israel. They didn't know. They dedication you. Yes, where is the turtledove? Okay, oh yeah, sacrifice. In name of the Father, name of the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen. Let's do the other one. Okay, okay, okay, bring this one. Okay, sacrifice. Now shall ever shall be, now shall... okay, you bring this." It was just activity that day. None of them knew that that was the redemption of Israel. And I said if you don't want to be unequally yoked, as a young person today, make up your mind. I don't just want to be in the number in Christian assembly. I want to be a minister, somebody who connects with God and can bring God to bear in situation. In everything you do there is a touch of God in the assembly of God's people. Look at Simeon that day. He was able to make Mary see God in that child. Was that not true? He was able to make look at this, look at this, this, this. Others were busy and that is how it will be. People just be in the choir, they will be the ushers, they will be this and they will be that. Activity this, this and that. And everything just goes normally. But there are some men, men who properly connect and know the reality of God in every situation. If you not be unequally yoked, if you will not be lost in this generation, because what we are having more today in our fellowship, that we are having more, listen to me, more of crowd than of disciples. What did I say? More of crowd than of disciples. That what we are having more. I was called for a counseling session recently. I don't want to mention the church. But one of these living church. When I say living church, like Redeemed, Four Square, the normal church you know what I mean, deeper life churches like that, the normal kind of our churches. The brother is in ushering unit, the sister is in the choir. Don't think because the brother is in ushering, people who are ushers that are not serious. You can find very correct brothers among ushers too. You remember brother Philip? You remember brother Philip in the Bible? Brother Philip now in the Bible. He was not among the apostles. They wanted to appoint seven people that will be serving bread. Why eight people to be serving bread? Do you see them as serious brothers? Brothers in the fellowship. You see brethren, we the apostles we are too busy with prayer and the word of God. Let's appoint seven brothers to be serving this bread, to be serving tables. Like they're going to be working between kitchen. They will run to the kitchen, "Oya, this side have not taken food, this side food." Those kind of brothers. That was where you find brother Philip. Yet when they scattered, brother Philip entered Samaria, conquered Samaria for Jesus. There was a magician, he conquered the magician. Look at how the Spirit of God carried Philip from that place to meet the Ethiopian eunuch. You remember him. He ministered to that one again. The Spirit of God carried him from that place again. That was just ordinary a brother that was dividing bread in the fellowship. So it's not by office. Are you understanding me? It's not by office. Don't be thinking that because somebody is president then we must be spiritual. No, it's not by office. So that I'm saying that so that you don't think that because this brother is in the ushering. The brother was in Akure here. The brother is in the ushering unit, the sister is in the choir. They married. What I was called to come and intervene into as a counselor, that's what I'm talking about. The following week following the wedding, the so-called brother brought another lady into the house, matrimonial bed. It was neighbors that told the sister that something so so so. She ran home and found the brother on matrimonial bed with another lady. Once matters were to join matters, you know what brother told sister? That's why the sister was more confused, that's why I was called. Sister was more confused. Said, "Ah, cool down, relax, relax, how many things have I done? Is it not just one lady?" I'm serious oh. Brother who have been in the ushering unit all his life, who have been among brethren all his life. I'm just making you to understand the situation we are in today, that we have more crowd inside the fellowship than we have disciples. So a lot of people are just officiating, officiating, officiating. Only few people, look at that day, only one person was the minister. All the high priest, all the Levite carrying the thing, what were they? What were they that day? They were just crowd. They were just officiating. "Yes, what's the official thing we do? Choir should give us a solo." [Singing voice] and then the Bible study gave us Bible study. You see the word of God. And then just the normal thing was going on. But there was a brother who whenever he handles Bible, it was not just about Bible study, it's about connecting people with God. There can be a sister that whenever she is to take song, it's not just officiating as choir, it's connecting people with God. There can be a brother whenever he is to do ushering... I'm serious, I know a young man, true life story, personal story. He was just walking on the street. Walking on the street and a man sitting in his veranda saw him. And said, "Please, young boy, young boy," not young man, young boy, he was just about 20, 21. "Young boy, please come, come, come. Please I want you to preach Jesus to me because I can see Jesus in you." He was just walking on the street just singing. And yet that was thing that you can be ordinary usher, ordinary usher. That the way your manner of doing things can convict people of sin if your life is correct. And you can be usher that by the reason of you that people will sin. I've entered fellowship where to minister, you have to look at one side. You must not look at the sister who is standing as the usher, virtually the whole breast is outside. I'm serious. You have to be looking at one side. You just cut out the whole of this side. Looking at one direction like this and she's the usher in the church. So when we see, I'm trying to say so that you can understand what is going on around us. Your life, if you don't want to be unequally yoked, look at men like Simeon. I want to climb to that ladder. And as we wrap up this matter today, I had to say all of these things to bring us to this point where I want to close the matter today. Because I am telling you, something that I want to open the door with today. Look at that 2 Corinthians chapter 6, please look at that place. Look at something there quickly. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and 7 and chapter 7. Please go to that scripture quickly. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Now when you look at the matter, I'll just read through. It says, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? What part has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God." Do you understand that? Do you understand that? What does that mean? Any believer is what? What does that mean? Take your mind back to the Old Testament. What does that mean? You are the temple of the living God. What does that mean? That God dwells in us, isn't it? And what is the implication of that? We are the representative. Yes, that is we are the ambassadors of Christ. But that God dwells in you. What is the implication of that? Now let me help you what I'm trying to say. The place that the president dwells and the place that the citizens dwell, is it the same thing? What do you notice about the two? What is the major thing? What makes the difference? What makes the difference? Now what I'm trying to make you see. The Bible says you are the temple of the living God. You are the temple. Now what that is making you to understand is something very, very serious. Do you notice that anytime Israel sins, what happened to the glory of God? It departs. But when they are living right, what happens? The glory of God is there. So if he says God dwells in you, what is it telling you? It's telling you that your thoughts, your emotions, your physical life, the entirety of your person, should be such that the glory of God should not depart. You are God dwells in your emotions, God dwells in your thinking, God dwells in you. The way you think, the way you talk, the way you act, you should understand that it is subject to what? God's dwelling in you. The fact that God dwells in you commands some things about you. The place where dog live and the place where human live, what do you see? You notice some things. Where the dog live and where the human being live, there is a difference. You can't find a kitchen in a doghouse. But you find a kitchen where human beings live. Why? Because these are human beings. So where God live, it tells you that certain things... are you understanding it? Your life should be carrier of certain things that commands the glory of God. We'll come to that very soon. We'll come to that quickly. Say you are the temple of God. Look at what he says where I want to... he says, "As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from among them and be separate says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, then and I will receive you. And I will be your Father and you be my son, my daughters, says who? The Lord Almighty." Now what did he say in the immediate verse, in the immediate verse that follow? The immediate verse is already chapter 7. But please just knock off the chapter. Just read on. You know the Bible was not in chapter before. You know this letter was just one letter. Somebody divided it into all of these thing. So knock off the chapter. Just move to the next verse. What did he now say? Therefore, "Having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from what? All filthiness of what? Of the flesh. And of what again? Of the spirit." So there are two kinds of defilement. Filthiness of the flesh, filthiness of the spirit. The one that has to do with your physical self, and the one that has to do with your emotions, your thinking, your... you understand? Perfecting holiness in the what? Perfecting holiness what? In the fear of God. Now what I want to talk about is this... I want to expand this verse and then we will be closing for today. And then we'll be taking if you have a question, we'll be relating to question. Now he says, separating yourself from every filthiness of the flesh. So there are some filthiness that have to do with the flesh, with the body. The way you use your body. He said having these promises that God will dwell, we are the temple of God, that God lives in us, that He is our Father. Having these promises brethren, let us separate ourselves from every filthiness of the flesh, because God lives inside that body. If we say you are the temple, it is the body that is the temple. I hope you know. It is the body that is the temple. He said because of this promise, remove yourself from filthiness of the flesh, the filthiness of the spirit, perfecting holiness where? In the what? That is what I want to talk on. What does it mean to perfect holiness in God's fear? Holiness cannot be perfected outside the fear of God. Holiness can be perfected within the fear of God. And I want to show you certain things, something that happened which I call the old way, the old path, the old and the good way. The old and the good way. Look at Jeremiah chapter 6. Are you there? I want to read from verse 13. Please pay attention. He says, "And their houses shall be turned over to others." That will not be our portion in Jesus' name. "Field, their field, their wife together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land," says the Lord. Why is God wanting to do this? Look at what he says. "Because from the least of them, even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to what? Given to what? Covetousness. Covetousness." Please be noting it oh. "And from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals how? Everyone deals how? Falsely. Everyone deals how? Falsely." Verse 14. "They have also healed the hurt of my people slightly, saying what? Peace, peace, where there is what?" What does that mean? He said they healed the wound of people slightly. They see peace where there is no peace. What does that mean? That is the picture. Somebody like... as you will see it around us today. Somebody have, maybe steal government money in the office, pen robber. You know the state of the nation today is everywhere. Is that not true? And yet my self will tell him, "Ah, eh, se bi Nigeria la wa e je ka gbagbe iyen a f’Olorun a wa lowo, God will just help us eh. Even God knows that Nigerian Christian will be judged differently from American Christian. God understand." I've heard people say that oh. Because God knows this our situation, it is hard. What are you doing? You are healing wound how? Slightly. There was a case of immorality in one community. And then we were trying to... but this thing, and one of the elders said... elder, oh, that day that elder did not find it funny with me. It was a very... that was when the meeting ended. That was where the meeting ended that day. He said, "And you see, we are all sinners. You know, how many of us are really clean? Don't let us, let us see, we all practice this thing. Don't let us... ko ni s’iru e mo, we won't say such again." Immediately he finished talking. Oh my goodness. When I pick the matter, you know what I told him? I said we are addressing the case of immorality among brethren. You are healing the wound slightly. You are saying since we all do it. I said if you are doing it, let us know. Something is wrong. We're trying to correct it. You are saying, "You see, we all..." I said I'm not a sinner. If you are a sinner, let us know. Is that the way to deal with this matter and you call yourself an elder? Is that the way to address this kind of matter? That so we should continue abi? We are all sinners. Then we come tomorrow, "Lord, we sin again, forgive." We come next tomorrow, we sin again, God, any sin that will block... you know some of our churches are like that. We come on Wednesday, "Father, any sin that will block our prayer group please remove the sin, remove the sin." You come on Thursday again, "Father, any sin to block our prayer remove." You come on Sunday, "Any sin, let's confess our sin." I keep asking, is it when you want to collect something from God that you need to confess your sin? So if you don't want to collect something you don't need to confess your sin? Why didn't you confess at the point when you did it? And if every time you want to get something from your father you must confess sin, are you a serious person? Look at your relationship with your children. Every time they want to collect, "Father sorry because I didn't obey you that time, but I need my school fees, please give me." They come again and, "Father sorry, you told me to fetch water, I didn't fetch it, you know I'm very sorry father please I need money to go out." You give. You come again in the... say, "Father you see I'm very sorry, you told me to wash the car, I didn't wash it, but you know I need money now to make up, please give me." You give. In the following morning again, "Father you see, I should cook night time, you didn't cook it, I'm sorry, but you know don't let this stop you giving me money for..." If you have a relationship like that, what do you call that? One of the thing we call religion. One of the thing we call Christianity. I don't want to... that's not my focus this morning. But what I'm trying to bring out is that when you make, when you... you understand? He said they have healed the wound slightly by saying "Peace, peace" where there is no peace. When people committed fornication, God killed 24,000 in one day. Have you read that point in the Bible? 24,000! Not in one year oh! That then is the attitude of God towards immorality. Phinehas took spear, pursued Cozbi, spear Cozbi down, spear the woman down. God says, "Ah, you have stopped my anger. Today I separate you from every other person. I will make a covenant of peace with you and generation forever and ever because you have done what is good." Look at the attitude of God towards immorality. Somebody is saying that you see we are all... if we are all sinners then let if we are talking outside Christian community, we know we are all sinners outside. But not in between Christian community, say we are all sinners. And it happened in different ways today. Somebody just told a lie, "You see, that one is just a white lie. It's just a white lie you see. You know black lies is when you tell the lie and you use to affect people. I just used it to escape. God understand that there is no way..." You know we just make light, small-small... have you ever heard that? White lie, green lie, black lie. You know me, I move from church to church. I fellowship with different people. I was in an assembly to minister and I was talking against being deceitful and the holiness of God. One said, "Sir, you know there are three types of lies. There's the white one, there's the green one, there's the black one. Now, then there is the holy lie." He said, for example, he was quoting the Bible. He said, "You see Abraham told a lie and God defended him when he said Sarah was his wife. That's a holy lie because you see that God still fought for him. Then yeah..." Is that not what he had been taught? May wrong men not father you. He said, "Look at the Egyptian midwife, they told lie and the Bible says God blessed them. So there is a kind of lie you will tell that you receive the blessings of God." He said, "It depends on how you tell the lie." And I don't know whether you used to... have many of you have been taught that kind of teaching? When the Bible say putting away lying in all its forms. We are talking about a better testament. We are talking about a new covenant. Like one elder, one time in the... I don't want to mention my church. Who later rose up in my church and the elder was saying that there is nothing wrong with polygamy. Abraham married two wives, Jacob had two wives, the twelve tribes of Israel came from four wives. So polygamy is the way. It's only when you want to be a pastor that you don't need two wives. It's only pastor that should marry one wife. What I'm trying to say is that there are prophets today that are healing the wound slightly. The third kind of sin. Look at the fourth sin. I'm just showing you the fourth sin. When you read further, what do you see? "Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? What did he say? No." What's the next kind of sin you see there? Loss of godly sense of shame. You know, when a righteous man does what is wrong, he becomes ashamed. He will have this sense of, "Ah, no. This thing is not good." Then he will not even be able to talk. But do you noticed what is going on here? Even when they did, even when they did that thing, what happened? They were shameless. Look at four types of sin here. Number one, they were covetous. Number two, they were deceitful. Number three, they were making light of sin. Number four, they became shameless. What did the Bible say now? He says, "No, they were not ashamed at all, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall." That will not be our portion in Jesus' name. "At the time I punish them, they shall be cast down," says the Lord. What is the remedy? Verse 16. Thus says the Lord, "Stand in the ways and see and ask for what? The old paths where the good way is and do what? Walk in it. Then you will find rest for your what? For your soul. But for them, what did they say? But they said, we will not walk in it." May that not be the state of your heart. So what is God telling them? If you don't want to fall among those who fall, I'm talking about the old path, the old good path. Four things you note in that place that you must guide your life again. He says they were covetous. Jesus said no man can serve two masters. Covetousness simply means, passion for things mundane and material that supersede passion for God. Passion for things mundane and material that supersede passion for God. That's covetousness. Passion... the old path, he said ask for the old path, walk in the old path. They left that path. The path that they left, they entered a new one. In this new one, what is the first thing in it? Covetousness. How do you know that you are covetous? When there is passion for things mundane or material and that passion is stronger than your passion for God. That is for example, you can lie to get money. You can be deceitful to get a wife like the story I just told you. You can... you, you cannot miss chatting with friends but you can miss chatting with God. Passion, go and watch this passion. Passion for things mundane or material that supersede passion for God. That is the new path that is on now. Let us ask for the old one. Ask for the old one! Walk in it! Or else you will fall with them that fall! People are falling today seriously, I'm telling you! So that you will not fall with those that are falling! Ask for the... so that you can find rest for your soul. I'm telling you the period we are in today are difficult times. They are difficult times! Ask young people, I'm telling you, ask for the old path. The old path where passion for God should supersede passion for mundane and material things. People lie today about their age to get good job. Covetousness. You ask someone to do this for me, the next thing is how much will I get? Even in church, people join fellowship to make it. "Ah, this church is like big people, let me join this one." I mean covetous spirit! The man of God must tell you the day of his birthday, the wife's birthday, everybody's so that people can bring gift. Love for gift. I'm not against gift oh, I'm not saying you shouldn't give. But when it's done deliberately because you want to get from people. This is the new path that is on today! Preaching because you want to make money. People who think that godliness is a means to gain. Godliness is an end in itself. That you are godly, that is the purpose of godliness. It's not to get something. Run from this new path! Thousands are falling! So that you will not fall! The other thing he seen in that place is he says they all practice deceit. Hey! Young people! That's another thing again now among us. That's the new path. People will be telling lies they will be calling it Christianity. They will call it smartness. You need to be wise. You know in Nigeria you have to... somebody said you see age is just a number. It doesn't matter. Somebody said even my father that told me my age. I am sure he did not make mistake. I mean, I'm serious! These are conversation with people! Deceitfulness! That's the new path we find today. Fathers, pastors, leaders, heros... lie! Look at our politicians! Look what you find in this nation! Deceit! Also in the assembly of God's people! Bible says the church of God is the pillar and the foundation for truth. Anywhere you don't find truth God is not there oh. For the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of truth. Jesus said, "I am the truth." Anywhere you don't find truth, God is not there. Run from this new way. Because there is- people are falling. And more will still continue to fall. But if you can abide in this way, you will find rest for your soul. What's the last one? Making caricature of sin. The third one. Making light of sin. You make light of sin. You make light of lie. You make light of immorality. A young man just embrace her so closely, face to face. I say, "Young man, what are you doing?" say, "No sir, you know we are just, it's just my sister, we are just, we are just, we are just." I say, "Do you know what they call holy distance?" say, "I don't know." And we talk for some time to make him understand something. And I said, "Sister, your bosom should be reserved for your husband." You embrace this, you embrace that, [sound effect]. What makes you special by the time you marry? If everything that your husband should see, everybody is seeing it already, what makes you a... what price they don't want to pay for you? Have you ever heard about bride price? Have you ever heard about bride price? So what price are they paying if everything is already in the public? Common sense thinking! Thinking that I mean people have even lost the common sense, the sense that is common is no more common. Leave this new path! And the last one, loss of shame. That's another common thing today. I was still telling them last Saturday in church. I led the prayer last Saturday. I was talking to a woman, the breast, not dressing properly. "Madam, why is your..." he said, "Ah! Go to hospital, they see the breast when I still small, they see the breast. So what is the stress about covering it?" Your breast is outside and you are not having a sense of shame? You have no sense of shame? I mean, it's a shameless generation! The things that should give us shame... when I was growing up as a child, our mothers do everything to protect their undies. Even if you see our parents' undies they feel ashamed. You see their breast anything they so much cover but today you even put bra outside. What supposed to be under is now on top and there is no shame. We have lost things that should make us ashamed. Christians sitting in exam and I told you, say, "Ah, you see brother, you see what happened was that I was in a tough situation." You're not even ashamed to be thinking that you are talking in exam as a Christian. As a Christian! You say, "You see what happened was that actually my friend and it was under..." I said, which kind... I say you should be ashamed. [Yoruba language: se oju o ti e]? I don't know how someone will be saying this and you say, "Ah, I'm so sorry. I don't know how it happened. I'm so sorry. God should just have mercy." That should be the correct thing. And then, "Brother look eh, even education is a scam. It's just..." you just be wondering, what has happened to Christianity? I encourage you, leave that path. Ask for the old path. So that you can find rest for your soul. I want you to talk to the Lord very briefly. Ask for the old, the old and the good one. The old and the good one. The old and the good one. The old and the good one. I just want you to pray. That is my message to this generation now. That is the message I'm preaching now to this generation. God is speaking to us. Let us go and ask for the old path. He said go and ask for the old one. The one this one is bad one. That's what God is telling this generation. People are falling because of these things. You will not fall in the name of Jesus. But please, ask for the good one. I just pray for you this morning you shall find rest for your soul in the name of Jesus. Your soul will not become restless. Many people are restless today, restless in their job, restless in their marriage, restless in their children. So many restlessness today. But I pray for you, your soul will find rest. But I charge you this day under God, and I charge you by God, I beg you in the name of Jesus, ask for the old path. May the Lord bless you in the name of Jesus. Just before we share the grace please I want to encourage you again. Talk to fellow students, gather men. We'll make provision for how you will get here and how you will go back. We run a discipleship classes. We will see how join you with the Telegram so that you can join our discipleship classes, you can join us online. And if you can make it to this place on Mondays, 5:00 p.m., we have our discipleship classes. We trust the Lord, it will be a blessed time. Next Saturday is our marriage forum for those of you who may have people who are already married or at the age of marriage or you also considering marriage. We have our marriage forum and that forum is going to be question and answer. We want to look at a lot of things. We have been discussing a lot of things about marriage since the beginning of the year. So next Saturday, which is our marriage forum every second Saturday of the month, it will be question and answer. Please you can be sending in your message before that Saturday, your question before that Saturday. We will gather them. We're not just going to start answering questions. We just got to be here again, those of us who will be here physically, those who will be joining us online. The Lord will... it will be a blessed time in Jesus' name. 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. 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 hint. 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 every day counseling. For further counseling you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Very Joy 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: 080-3386-1136, 070-3361-3848. God bless you all.