Walk As Wise Not As Fools

[background music] [Announcer] Church fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Let us go to that text. Let us start gradually from there. I am using the New King James Bible. What translations do you have? [Speaker 2] I have RSV. [Speaker 1] Okay. RSV, good. My sister, what translation? [Speaker 3] NLT. [Speaker 1] NLT, oh good. [Speaker 4] [unclear: NIV]. [Speaker 1] Okay. Now, let us see. Let us go to where we pick the text from and start gradually from there. Ephesians chapter five. I would want us to take it from verse eight. Ephesians 5:8, "Walk as wise, not as fools." Walk as wise, not as fools. It says, "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." For the fruit of the spirit—now, from the way that scripture was used, we will know that the fruit of the spirit is referring to the fruit of the children of light, isn’t it? It says, "For once you were darkness, but now are you what? Light." Note, not just that you are children of light, but that you are light. I hope you are getting the implication. It says, "For you were once darkness." Anybody who has not had a personal encounter with Jesus that translates into a daily fellowship and walk with Jesus, daily obeying Him and seeking His face and moving with Him, the person is actually darkness in person. He is darkness. That is why you will notice the Bible is saying that do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what has light to do with—because in person, while you are still a human being, the actual truth if you are to put the goggles of God on your eyes, you will now see exactly what the person is. What you will just see is darkness. In the same way, if you take the person who has become a believer, it is the same thing. If you are looking at the person, what you will be seeing is a human being. But in the true sense of it, if you are able to see beyond—like when that demon said, "Jesus I know, I also know Paul, but I do not know you people. Who are you people?" He was not talking of a physical knowing. You understand me? He was talking of a different knowing, a different understanding. Now, the actual truth is that when anybody comes into Jesus, he actually becomes not just a child of light, he actually becomes light. What is particular about light? What is particular about light and darkness? Just some characteristics generally. [Speaker 2] One thing about light is that it exposes everything. [Speaker 1] Okay. So light is plain. Light is plain. Nothing is hidden. It is transparent. You see with light. Is that not? You can walk in light. Another thing about light is that it is the only basis for seeing. The eye is not what makes you to see. It is as light enters the eye that you see. So light is actually sight. The sight of a man is not his eyes. Because if you open the eyes in darkness, you will not see. Is that not true? So the seeing organ is not just the eye. The seeing organ is light entering into the eyes. The eye will now see. So if somebody has light, it means somebody has sight. He has sight, he has light. Now, he says because you are light. Now when he said that, let us quickly read on again. It says, now when he had said that, after he had said, "For you are light in the Lord," he now says, "Walk as children of light." In other words, bear the fruit of light. Transparent, open, nothing hidden. You give sight to men. By the reason of you, there is no secret. There is nothing hiding. There is nothing that cannot come to the public. There is nothing—light is something that once there is light, you can see anything you need to see in a place. Once you cannot see certain things, the presence of dark, then you will need to put a torch or put something to see. Now, he now says, "For the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth." Which means the fruit of the spirit is what? Is the fruit of light. So again, light and the spirit is one thing again. So to walk in the spirit is to walk in light. Then how do we recognize the fruit of this light? He says, in things that are—what are the three characteristics? The thing is what? It is right. The thing is what? Good. And the thing is what? Truth. [Speaker 2] I have true. [Speaker 1] Yes, but the truth of light. He says for the things of light. Let us hear the various translations. Now my sister, let us try NLT, verse nine. [Speaker 3] "For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true." [Speaker 1] It produces what is good and right and true. It produces what is good and right and true. Another translation? [Speaker 2] "For the fruit of light is found in all goodness and righteousness and truth." [Speaker 1] The fruit of light is found in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Now, what is the difference between true and truth? Who can try? Is there a difference between true and truth? Is there any difference? No difference. Okay. When Abraham told Pharaoh that Sarah was his sister, was it true or a lie? [Group] It was true. [Speaker 1] Sarah was his sister. Yes, Sarah was his sister. It was true. But is that the truth? It was true, but it was not the truth. Tell me the difference between true and truth. I just gave an example to help you out. [Speaker 2] Maybe the context in which it was used. For example, it was true that like you said, Sarah was the sister of Abraham. But in the context of what Pharaoh was asking, what the connection between the two was, at that junction using the fact that they were sister—and she put aside that she was his wife. But in the context of his asking, it was not the truth. [Speaker 1] She has the best combination of cloth. The reality of something. You see, truth is the totality of the true things that surround a thing. Truth is an embodiment. It is holistic. While true, something may be true but it may not be the truth. By the time you put everything together holistically, it will not be real again. It may not be true. That is why sometimes, some people do not tell a lie, but they are still deceitful. They do not lie, but they are deceitful. Because they use what is true to hide away the truth. So they are still deceitful. They are in darkness. Although they have never told a lie in their life. So truth is an embodiment such that—that is why it is a fruit of light. Light does not hide anything. When you put everything together, what you have in light is truth. It is not just what is true. By the time you go and do all findings about that thing that was said, that is the reality. What you said, the reality of a thing. What I have said is the real thing. There is nothing, no matter how you turn it, this is the reality of what is represented. And that is where today, many Christians are foolish. We move on. But I was trying to show you elements of certain things. He said the fruit of the spirit or the fruit of light is in what is what? The thing must be good. It must be right. And it must what? It must be truth. Now, when these three things do not come together, something may be good, something may be right, it may not be the truth. You get it? Some things may look to us as good, that is why we feel we should do it. But the question is, is it right? Some things may be good, they may be right, but the question is, is it the truth? When we do not ask ourselves for these three things in our decisions, we may not be walking in light. We may not be walking in the spirit. The thing may be right, the thing may be good, but it may not be right. A thing may be good, it may be right, but it will not be the truth. In order to understand what it means to be in the spirit, is that you test it by what? By these three things. The reason why truth is coming so seriously in the matter is because many things may be factual, but they may not be the truth. They may be factual, but they may not be the truth. They may not be the truth. As we move on, I will be giving practical illustrations of what I am trying to say. Some things may be very, very factual. The fact of the matter is that this nobody else could—nothing else can be done. Let me give you an example of a marriage that has gone for about 17, 18 years and there was no issue. Then the young man raised a fact that look, is this how we are going to end? Look, there is nothing. It does not seem—we all understand that it is not easy to end like this. Why not extra-marital and get a child? The fact remains that yes, it is such troubling that there is no issue. But the truth remains that the whoremonger and the adulteress, God will judge. You cannot turn it. You cannot turn it. He said somehow you can turn it. It will be better to remain that way and die that way. That is a hard truth. But that is what people do not want to enjoy again. So we shift from truth to fact. What believers even move by today is the fact of life, not the truth of our living. Not the truth of our existence. There is a truth that—let me give another example of— I said somewhere in a very open hall that pre-marital sex is immoral. Because it was—people come from different background. Somebody said no. It only becomes immoral if for example, the lady is forced into it or the lady seduced him into it or the lady seduced the man into it or whatever. But if two people have affection one for another and they are seriously connected to each other, and somehow there is a relationship between the two of them and the relationship is quite intimate, and they— there is nothing really wrong with that if sometimes romance comes in and all these certain things. They really said there isn’t really wrong with that as far as the people are matured. That is a fact. Is it not a fact? It is a fact. I now said okay. I said this is what I have to say for you the young man who said it. I pray that this will constantly be the experience of your daughters and the experience of your wife. That as long as they find somebody that they are both intimate and they have consenting— he said no, no, no. I said no. I said no. That that is not what he is saying. That he is only trying to say that that thing is a fact. I said yes, I agree with the fact. I am only saying that it will constantly be your portion. He said no, it is not just to that extent. He is only saying that— so what is the problem with it? The problem with it is that the blindness of men is tied down to the selfishness by which they live. God is love. Man is self. The laws of God, they are built on love. The fact of men, they are built on fact, and those facts they are built around their selfishness. So when it comes to you now, it should not be. But for somebody else’s daughter, it should be even if both of you are matured. For somebody else’s wife, it should be, but it should not be— I do not know whether you understand me. So you can see that some things may look— they may look good in themselves, they may look right in themselves, but they may not be what? They may not be the truth. What governs the truth is what God said regardless of how we feel. Regardless of human feeling, regardless of— it is what God said. And that is why I told somebody, I was speaking somewhere, I said do you know— and let me ask all of us who are here. What is love? Let me begin with the lady, since you are here to represent other ladies. Let us ask ladies. Let us begin with the lady. Or you want to speak last? She said she wants to speak last. Let us ask the brothers to talk first. What is love? Very concise and precise. [Speaker 2] I am trying to define love from my own perspective. [Speaker 1] Yes, from your experience and understanding. [Speaker 2] Love is basically God's feeling towards humans. [Speaker 1] Okay. Love is basically God's dealing. Okay. And how do you expect that love when it comes towards humans? I am talking of between two people. [Speaker 2] The same thing in terms of relationship with God and humans. Love will be doing what I expect— love will be doing what man is supposed to do to somebody else, whether in a romantic relationship or— [Speaker 1] Yes, yes. Love for my definition is basically responding to the instructions of God. [Speaker 1] Okay. John, what is love? For him love is responding to people based on what God has taught him. Okay. [Speaker 4] Doing to the person as you want them to do to you. [Speaker 1] Okay. Doing to people as you want them to do to you. That is what you feel love to be. Okay. Yes? What is love between a male and a female? [Speaker 5] When you say a male and a female— [Speaker 1] Yes. No, we are looking at between the opposite sex. We are looking at what people see love as today and what is your own experience and understanding of love. [Speaker 5] Love between the opposite sex, the basic factor is to be honest to that person. [Speaker 1] Okay. Love is to be honest to that opposite person in the relationship. Okay. Your weakness or strength, open up to that person. [Speaker 1] Okay. That is how you see love relating to the opposite sex. Okay. Okay. How do you see love? We are looking at the world around us today and then we are trying to put in something. [Speaker 2] In relationship to the opposite sex, I would say love is respect for the opinion and feeling of the other person and you don't put your will over the will of the other person. You don't have your way over the opinion or feeling of the other person. [Speaker 1] Okay. So for you, you express love with the opposite sex by respecting their opinion. So if the opinion is that you should have sex— no, no, you understand me? What I want is from your experience and dealing, how do you define love? We will ask the sister last. Let Mike define it first. Let us ask Mike. [Mike] Okay, for me, I just see it now from a personal point of view. Love between opposite sex, love is an affection, an affection that I have for opposite sex, godly and a genuine affection within the bounds of God's word. [Speaker 1] Okay. That is what it is. Okay. So for you, love is an affection, what you call brotherly affection. When you say I love somebody, so you start having affection for that person. Okay. Okay. Let us now ask the only sister among us for now. [Speaker 3] For me, I would define it as a sacrifice centered around God's will. I should be able to do whatever that person wants me to do because I say I love that person, but it should be around God's will. God should be the center. [Speaker 1] Okay. Love is sacrifice shown to the opposite sex centered around God's will. Yeah, all of them put a lot of things before us. The point I am trying to push our attention to is that many times we find it difficult to separate. That is why you notice any time you read through the Bible, the Bible will speak of three things. It will say brotherly affection, it will say inordinate affection, and then it will say love. Note that Bible always separates affection from love. Do you notice it? It said, add to your faith knowledge, to knowledge this, to that virtue, to virtue brotherly affection, to brotherly affection love. So what is affection, what is love? Do you get it? Telling you that affection and love, they are two different things. Love is a decision. Love is a decision. It is a decision. And that is why he was trying to say something, that in brotherly affection, brotherly affection can become inordinate affection if there is no love. Brotherly affection can become inordinate affection if there is no love. It is love that does not rejoice in iniquity. It is love that rebukes. It says I love, as many as I love I chastise, I beat them. It is love that frowns in the face of sin. When you cannot shout and cry against sin, and you call it love, it is not love. It is not. Some people do not really understand what love is. Are you getting it? That is why in describing love, God said love is patient. What are you patient with? Are you patient with what you like? No. Are you patient with what you like? What normally calls for patience? [Speaker 2] When things are not going as expected. [Speaker 1] Patience calls for when something is not going the way you would have wanted it with a person. Something somebody is doing is not according to your expectations and inclinations. You get the point I am making? He says love is patient. Ability not to flare up is love. So it is a decision. You choose even though you were— somebody can just slap you in the marketplace. How do you feel? How do you feel? Have you been behind the steering and you are trying to go and somebody just drove your front, just entered your front, and even look at you? You just say, oh thank you, I love you so much. Is that how? What happens? You react. You also want to— that is the feeling. But love is patient. Love chose the person who is taking you one mile, you go two miles. You want to get your cloak, you also give him the coat also. It is a decision. It is because there is no love in the community today that you are having immorality. There is no love. We do not love ourselves. We hate ourselves. Because we have taken time to define love in the context of how the world defined it. The Bible separates brotherly affection from love. And what gives brotherly affection direction is love. And once somebody begins to have affection, what do they say? I love this sister. They define affection in terms of loving the sister. I was handling an issue just two days ago. Someone who is supposedly a Christian brother was requesting for something immoral from a sister. So we were just discussing it. I said, look, it's so difficult because somehow we love each other. Do you get what I am trying to say? Do you get it? And I said that's not love. When it becomes difficult to resist evil, you are not walking in love. Something has gone wrong somewhere. I cannot help it. But I said no, this is not love. We are in love. You people are not in love. You are not. If you are really in love, love is not the feeling you are having. Love is a decision to do what is right regardless of how we feel. It is a decision to do what is right. What am I trying to make you see? I am taking— we are discussing the fruit of light. Don’t lose sight. We are discussing the fruit of light. I am trying to emphasize truth as truth of what? Light. Truth, what God said about something, that's the truth. And it says to know the things of light is that it must have those elements. It is good, it is right, but above all it must be what? It must be the truth. So if that way we run around our decisions and inclinations, we will be walking as children of light. So let us move on because I will come back to that matter, this matter of truth, in conclusion. That is why I take time to emphasize it. Now look at something. Having said that in verse nine, he said for the fruit of the spirit or the fruit of light is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. "Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord." How does the RSV put verse 10? Let us hear the translations. [Speaker 3] "Carefully determine what pleases the Lord." [Speaker 1] Pardon? [Speaker 3] "Carefully determine what pleases the Lord." [Speaker 1] So the fruit of light or the spirit is what? Is in all goodness, all righteousness, and truth. And you notice something, the fruit of light, what is there again? There is soberness, carefully using those things to check for what is acceptable to the Lord. It is navigating around those three things. Is it true? Is it right? Is it this? Is it true, is it right, is it good? Does it have this thing? You are using that thing to look into things to know what is acceptable to God. In other words, when you say walk as children of light or walk in the spirit, it has to do with what? A care to bring these three things into our what? Our decisions and our actions. So that we know that once we can get these three things, then it is acceptable to God. We do not just do things. We are carefully determining what is acceptable to God. And what are the indicators for the determination? It is good, it is right, it is true. Once we do not find the three there, no, it is not acceptable to God. This body says no, not acceptable. It is not. I have this three-scale indicator. These are I scale decisions. These are I scale them. If I cannot find three things there, no, they cannot be light. Something is still hiding. When Abraham said Sarah was my sister, it was true, but something was still hiding. Is that not true? Something was hiding. It was still not light. It was still not complete. So we test by those indicators. So you notice— can we hear another translation for that verse 10? But I like the NLT, it has put it through right for us. Verse 10. [Speaker 2] Basic English. [Speaker 1] Basic English. Let's hear the basic. [Speaker 2] "Testing by experience what is well-pleasing to the Lord." [Speaker 1] Testing by experience what is well-pleasing to the Lord. Do you see? So walking in light, in the spirit, you become a what? A tester. I'm just looking at how good, how right, how true is this thing? Ah but you see it doesn't matter, I know it is good. But is it right? Your own is too much. This thing is okay. It is not just whether it is okay. Is it the truth? You become a tester. A tester. Testing, testing. And the indicators are clear, the parameters. I remember taking my blender to the electrician. He said, "Oga wait, I go use this one wey they call tester. Say oga wait, I wan check which one dey work and which one no dey work so I go know the work wey we go do." Looking at the thing with my own eyes I am just seeing wires. You understand me? But there was a tester. So the three-scale tester is checking. It is good, it is right, it is true. It is good. Once I cannot find it, find these three things, I retreat. I retreat. Now, that is the life— that is what it means to work in light. So something comes out very clear about light, walking in light. Something comes out very clear. What is it from what you have just said? What is it? [Speaker 2] Pleasing the Lord. [Speaker 1] Pleasing the Lord, but something comes out in the life. What guides the life? What you notice, if you have to be testing, what does that make you to become? [Speaker 2] Cautious. [Speaker 1] Cautious. Once you see a believer who is not cautious, he is a fool. He is a fool. He is a fool. Once consciousness, being cautious, taking precautions, precautionary actions, precautionary decisions, precautionary— what is it searching for? Is it good? Is it right? Is it the truth? And why is he saying the fruit of light is in these things? Because you must remember, he is comparing light and darkness. The fruit of darkness is not in these things. So if something is for example good and right but it is not true, what fruit is that? It is darkness. But you know it is difficult. Except you put the third one. Because when a thing is good and right, ordinarily if you do not do it, what will the world tell you? [Speaker 2] You are a fool. [Speaker 1] How the thing is good. This thing is right. There is nothing— this is— there is nothing wrong. Is there anything wrong in this? He said no, it is not the truth. It is not the truth. I remember the story we told about my friend that said got a job of working somewhere and got a job that was to pay him three times of that. And then only to resume and they say you must resume immediately. He said ah, where I am working I should give them one month's notice before I can— they said no, resume now or you lose the job. Then he had to take a decision. Is it not good to resume now? It is good. It is reasonable. Three, four times your salary. Is it not right? It is right because that was the demand for the new job. But is it true? That is where the matter is. And some say ah, your father is not the owner of the two businesses. What is your cup of tea? Ah, if the man say you are even human he can also throw you off at any time. Must you— look, you don't understand. Let wickedness come from the wicked. I am not light because somebody else is light. Because that's one problem we have. You know we try to be light because others are light. Why did you curse him? Sir, you need to hear what he said first. He said I was mad and you are expecting me to be looking at him. In other words, you want to do right only for you to be right. You are not right independently. [Speaker 2] Sir, I just— can we really say that it is right? Because the fact that he was designed from the company— [Speaker 1] Yes, from the company's point of view the company is right. [Speaker 2] Our definition of right should be more what people see as right, not what we know as right. [Speaker 1] That's what I am trying to say. Because right is something that is relative. It's why he added "truth." The truth to balance it. Because right is relative. [Speaker 2] That's why I am saying it's really not right. [Speaker 1] You are saying it's really not right because you are adding truth. But from the phase of the company, what have they done wrong? They have done nothing wrong. They needed somebody immediately and they got the best person. He said okay, come in. He said please, I cannot come in immediately. I have work somewhere. But person said, look, it does not really matter. You could just tell them that the place you went you have to resume immediately. Go back and explain to him. And he said no, who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place? He said he that sware to his own oath and does what? And still keep it. He said this is to my own hurt, but I must still keep it because I want to dwell in His presence. And then when they say this people you need to understand that look, this is four times your salary. He said look, a good name is to be preferred more than silver and gold. I cherish my name. I am a Christian. They know me as a faithful Christian and that is what is important to me in this matter. Value. And eventually he didn't resume. He went back to where he was. They said ah, your head has scattered. Head scattered in Nigeria. But he didn't feel his head scattered. He didn't feel any of that. He didn't feel he had done anything wrong. He felt he had just tested the matter with the indicators. But the reason why I am emphasizing this thing is that you must understand that not all Christians are cautious. People may be gifted, people may be talented, people may be anointed, but they may not be cautious. Do not mistake anointing for working in the light. Do not mistake gifting for working in the light. These are some of the mistakes we make that cause us the president. Because these are— they are not on the same plane. They are on different planes. But sometimes we feel that somebody, because of the level of anointing and gifting we see in his life, we feel if he says something is correct, then it is correct. But the person may not just be cautious about what he is talking about or saying. And that is why many times this is where many Christians go down the drain. They are gifted, they are anointed, but because they are not cautious, they are not testing with these three things, we find them down many drains. Many drains. We find many things here and there, many areas that are not light. If we are to play that area on a video for the saints to watch, they will see, ah, bro! So this is who you really are. Some people have things that may not be played on stage because they are not light. But there is something about light. Look at what follows. Look at what follows. It says, "And have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." That is what light does normally. Light exposes. Light does not hide, light exposes. You get the point I am making? Walking as light you become an exposer. Is that not? But that's not where I am going. Let's move on. "But all things that are exposed are made manifest by what? Light. For whatever makes manifest is light." Can we hear some other translation for verse 13? [Speaker 3] "But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them." [Speaker 1] That's it. Their evil intention is exposed when the light shines on them. So where is it picking darkness? Where is darkness? He said their evil intention is exposed when it comes to light. Other translation. [Speaker 2] "But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light." [Speaker 1] Their true quality— intention, the true quality. Can we get the NLT? [Speaker 3] "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things." [Speaker 1] The what? [Speaker 3] "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things." [Speaker 1] Why? Why is it the most deceitful? Because it makes things to appear not as they really are. Do you get it? Do you get it? It makes things to appear not as they really are. So when God wants to check the deceitfulness, where does He go? Now please read on. [Speaker 3] "And desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives." [Speaker 1] Do you see it? Do you see where the deceit is? In the secret motives. That is where the deceit is. You will not easily see the deceit. It is in the secret motives. Yes? [Speaker 3] "I give all people their due reward according to what their actions deserve." [Speaker 1] So where did God get their action? Is it in what they were doing? From the secret motive. He tells you that ordinarily the motive of the heart inclines to darkness, but the heart acts as light. "The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Man, the heart of a man." If you do not allow the word of God, the grace of God, to constantly deal with your heart— let the word of God dwell in you richly to all wisdom— so that He can begin to guide your decisions, your actions, let Him dwell in you richly. You will not be conformed to this world but be transformed by renewing your mind. You see the one thing about the man is that ordinarily his motives are in darkness, his actions are in light. His actions— what is out out, what we see, what we hear him say, how we see him act, what he— it is always light. It looks light. But the total light, the total light, is where God goes. God goes to see if there is a correspondence, if there is an agreement between the light that he seems to show and the motive, the secret thing inside. So if you are not— that is why for God to get that one, what did God Himself become? A tester. So when the man is coming to God, "Oh, Lord God, I wish God," and he is praying and he is weeping, God is not taken by that. He goes to search. Is there a correspondence? So God Himself is careful in giving reward. It's not because somebody prayed, somebody cries that God gives reward. It's not because somebody is working and very busy, he's preaching, he's teaching, he's anointed that God gives reward. No. God quietly goes to be sure because He knows there is always a contradiction. Ordinarily, a man tends towards himself not towards God. Ordinarily. If you do not realize this thing, you will not see how much you need God. That is why many of us we are not poor in spirit. We are rich in spirit. We do not really understand our nature. That ordinarily, ordinarily, except we daily stay with the Lord, making a constant meditation with the Lord so that we can have— we can be changed from glory to glory. Once we are not experiencing that thing, ordinarily, what we bring out is deceit, wickedness, but it will not appear wickedness. It will appear what? Good. It will appear reasonable. That is how it will appear because the wickedness is where? It is in the secret motive. Let me give you an example. I gave this example one time. For example, when Jesus said, "One of you is going to betray me," and Judas stood before him and said, "Lord," it says they all became sorrowful. And they were asking him, "Lord is it also me?" Now he had already collected 30 pieces of silver in his pocket. And he was— he became sorrowful. "Lord, Lord, is it also me?" Now see, that is to the Lord Jesus. A man's heart is still that wicked that even before God, he can still deceive God. He still knows— he still has this understanding that God can be mocked. You understand me? I am showing you to show you how desperately wicked. That man was gifted. That man was anointed. He was gifted, he was anointed. He went preaching, he went with the twelve, he went with the seventy. He was around Jesus. And yet his motives were in the dark. But God is a tester. And so he said, "Judas, what you do, do quickly. For the Son of Man goes as God has determined concerning him." He is responding to the real man. But this one is not— others would be wondering, ah he should go and do it quickly. What can he go and do? We are here taking the Lord's supper. Where is he going? What was Jesus responding to? He was in the house of Simon and he was preaching. And then a woman who has an adulteress came and was using her hair to wash her legs and everything. And Jesus was trying to attend to the woman. Then Simon said in his heart, "If this man were to be a prophet, he would have known that this woman that is using her hair to rub his legs is an adulterous person." And do you notice? He said in his heart. Jesus answered Simon. "Simon, if a man—" what was He responding to? When he said, "Simon," what did Simon respond? He said, "Master." He didn't say, "this man" again. I'm trying to show you how your heart is. If you do not allow the grace of God— that is why you can find a brother powerfully anointed and yet he is sleeping with sister. The problem is not that something has not been done. Things have been done. The problem is not with God. Because you notice he said, "For once you were darkness, but now you are what?" God is not saying I want to make you light. God treats light as what? As an inheritance. It is not God, come and make me light. You are light. You are the one that is not working as a tester. It is not God coming to make you light. Please check that reading. Many of the things we pray about are not things we need to pray about. So that I am not saying anything to make you feel that you are not Christians. We have been made. We are not working in our inheritance, what I am talking about. If you look at that reading where we pick it from, look at it. Go back to 11 again. What does it say? Go back to verse eight. What does it say? "For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord." Do you see? Is it that you will have light? What did He say? You have it. You are light. I keep telling believers you are not children of darkness. You are children of light. There is nothing about your life that cannot come to public because you are light. It is because you are not understanding that even God is a tester. That's why you are just going, going, going. And then you keep falling, falling, falling, falling, falling. He said testing, examining to know what is acceptable. You must examine it. Do you know why? Because the darkness you are dealing with also appears as what? Light. And the nature you are fighting with is darkness itself. You know it is your human nature that is light. This body, there is nothing good in this body. It is darkness itself. But you are still indwelling the body. The body is still there until we are free from this body. So you still carry this sinful body. And it will easily cooperate with the other one. You know they have been friends. You are the one that is breaking their friendship. So when your body tells you, "Ore e ti daru, ko mean na, ko matter, ko si nkan kan, ko se nkan kan." It matters. It matters. The word of God says that. We have been fighting ourselves. And I tell people, once you can conquer yourself, you will conquer the devil. But once you do not conquer yourself, you do not conquer yourself, you are finished. You are finished. So you find that the things of light, they are there. And that is why when he moved on, let us now go to where we are rounding up. What does it say? He says, "For whatever makes manifest is light." So what does he say therefore? Now, do you notice that from verse 14 is a what? Verse 14 says "therefore." What does your own say? [Speaker 2] "That is why it is said." [Speaker 1] "That is why it is said." Are you getting it now? So verse 14 is just a premise of all that we have been saying. 14, 15, they are just premise of what it says. "Therefore, it says, awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." Therefore and therefore. Yes, they are conjunctions. "Therefore, it says, awake you who sleep." So where is the person sleeping? It is the Christian who is doing life— children of the light that are behaving like— who is not a tester. So do you notice here? He said, "Awake you who sleep." Do you notice something? He didn't say let God wake you up that are sleep. What does he say? Awake. You are the one to wake. Because you have been made. You understand me? People always have wrong way of thinking, wrong way of coming to God. He said awake. When the prodigal son said he wanted to go back home, could the devil stop him? He couldn't stop. He said when he came back to his senses, "I am going back." Did anything— nothing held him back. You are the one to wake. You are the one to wake up. You are the one to repent. But you have been made. There is nothing again God wants to make again. It is like having somebody, you have made somebody the manager and the person is still acting as if he is not taking charge. You now get there, "So I am going to make you manager to take charge." Is that what you will say? "I have already made you manager! Take charge!" That is kind of prayer that we are praying. "Oh Lord made me, arise, help me." No, he has already made you. "Arise! Wake up!" Any Christian who is not a tester is asleep and is temporarily dead. Death is a permanent sleep. Sleep is a temporary death. [Speaker 2] Sir, I want to ask— so anybody who is not a tester, is he not cautious? [Speaker 1] That is what we mean. Who is not testing, is not— is it really right? It could be right, but— it could be good, but is it right? It could be right, but does the Word of God say? This is the point. And He is using it to— and that is what He is guiding in the decision. He is not just— he is not just using earthly wisdom. Do you understand me? I was discussing with somebody who wanted to have a discussion with a young man. It was late. And he said, no, they are going to have a discussion to resolve matters. I said, stay. Divine mind and wisdom says you do not make provision for the flesh. Because you cannot lock yourself up and say you want to have a discussion to resolve matters. We are matured. I said you are acting outside divine mind and wisdom. That is not divine wisdom. You think he is matured, you are thinking about the truth? It is right, it is good, but that is not the truth. It says "Awake, you that sleepest, arise from your dead, and what will Christ do? He will give you light." He will give you light. He will give you light. And what do you see last there? He says, "See then that you walk circumspectly." Do you see that it is another "therefore"? Because you are light, see then that you walk how? Circumspectly. How did the translation put it, my sister? [Speaker 3] "So be careful how you live." [Speaker 1] So you see? Because you are the one to wake up, so be careful how you live. Do you see the instruction again? Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. So who are those now who are fools from what we have said? Careless. Careless. Not precautionary. Not cautious. Not circumspect. We think that being circumspect— they look— abeg, your own is too much. In our own church— it is not about church. It is not about, you know, do not be too conservative. The world is free. No! That thing that has made you to be precautionary is telling you that you have been overtaken by the spirit of worldliness. You have been overtaken. That is not our lifestyle. It is not our style. Our style is to be cautious. Our God is a tester. Our God is cautious. That is why He took His time in Jeremiah 17. Cautious. Even when He is going to search— God is like that. Our God. And we are children of this God. You know that we were made in His image? We were made in what? In His image. We have been made already. We are in His image. And that is exactly what we are. We are in His image. There is nothing wanting in His image. But we are not living in His image. We are not. We are not. And it is because we have allowed worldliness to overtake us. When I say worldliness, I am not talking about things. I am talking about a spirit that makes us not to be circumspect. That makes us just to be free. "We are free about anything. We just do things freely the way they come." I am not saying you are in bondage, but I am only saying that true freedom, true freedom, is a constituted freedom. Let me give you an example of what I am trying to say. I am free to use the road. Is that not so? Or user, because I am a taxpayer. But the freedom to use the road is within a constituted limit. What is the constituted limit? I must start, maintain my own lane. Do you understand what I am telling you? So true freedom, is limited freedom. There is nothing like absolute freedom. Once it becomes absolute, you will— it will become a bondage. And when you begin to do that, you align on the road. What will traffic order do? You see traffic light says stop, you do not stop and you drive. What will happen to your freedom? Somebody will take it away. Your freedom will be taken away. That is why God gave us freedom. True freedom is within limits. And you have to walk within that limit that we are giving through. Any time we go beyond that limit, go and check, we begin to hide. You notice that even when we do those things, for example, when you see traffic light stop and you do not stop and you drive, you see the policemen there, what do you do? You begin to run. Are you really free? It has to do with believers today today. We are not truly free. We have so many things we are hiding. We have so many things we are afraid other believers should know. There are areas of quietness or areas of secret in our lives that are just like that, like that, like that. Because we are not understanding that true freedom is within a constituted limit. And that is why it is precautionary. As you are driving, the traffic light stops, you stay. Precautionary! Maintain distance so that you do not— if you hit someone from the back, you are the one that is guilty. So although you are free, why are you using the freedom? Precautionary! What I have seen today is that the element of caution, carefulness, care, are going away in Christianity. And where this thing is manifesting more, that's what we will focus to, trusting God, if God will allow us to go into the discussion next Saturday of October. I want to show you that these things are manifested more today in the area, in the area of how our young people handle the early hour of the 6th day. The early hour of the 6th day. It was the 6th day that man was created. But in the early hours, at the time of the early hour, you will know that by the early hour, man had not been created. He was created in the later hour. There is so much between the early hour and the later hour of the 6th day of creation. I have seen so much today that one thing that is holding young people back from entering into the fulfillment of purpose is one kind of sexual immorality or the other. One kind. This opposite sex relationship. We will discuss how you handle early hours of the 6th day. But what we must leave with as we conclude for today is, have you thrown away caution? Have you left carefulness relative to the opposite sex, relative to things, to issues, to matters of your life? If you have thrown away caution, then you have been overtaken by the spirit of worldliness. Let us pray. I want you to talk to the Lord. Just talk to the Lord. Have you been overtaken in any way? Is there an overtaking anywhere at all? Check. Have you thrown away caution? Are you now walking as fools? Not precautionary, not cautious, not circumspect. Brothers just loose with money, loose with discipline, loose with their quiet time, loose with their Bible study. Loose, loose, oh loose! Loose with opposite sex relationship, loose with sister, loose on the internet. They are just loose! They are not tied down. We lose caution. You see sister go loose about her dressing, loose with the opposite sex, loose in the way she talk, loose in the things she say, loose in the things she do, loose in the way she appear, loose with her body. Just loose, just loose. This is not freedom, my brother. It is bondage. We have been bound by the spirit of worldliness. Awake you who sleep! Awake! It is not God that is coming to wake you. Wake up! He said you are light. Come back to who you are. Come back. When you arise, Christ will give you light. Christ will open your eyes when you bring back these precautionary things. You become cautious. You begin to check your motive. Why am I doing what I am doing? Why am I wearing what I am wearing? Why am I dressing like this? Why do I put this one like this? Why did I do this? Why am I going to greet this brother? Why am I doing that? Why am I going to take this job? Why am I going for this opportunity? Why? Start! When we begin to put these things in, we begin to check, we begin to look inward. You will see how God will begin to deliver you. He will begin to deliver you from so many things. Some of us because we are not precautionary, we have run away from God's presence. We have run away. Our study life, our quiet time, our sexual life— our relationship with sister is in a mess. So much mess! Come back from that darkness. Don't live a life that you are afraid that if they see this thing, no. Let's come back to where any part of your life, you are bold for them to play it for the brethren to see. You want it to be recorded. Let brethren come and see the way I have been living my life. Come and see my own life. This is the record. Come and see it in secret in the bedroom with that sister, in my office, in my academic, when I'm writing exams, when I'm going for jobs, where I use my ICT. Look, get it. And when you come and see it, come and see how light. That is how He sees me. And that is where God can boast. He said, "Satan, have you seen my servant Job? A man that eschewed evil. Have you seen him? Have you seen him?" And Satan could not condemn him for one thing. Go and look at the life of Job. A precautionary man! "Hey, lest my children have sinned, let me make this sacrifice. Ah, I've made a covenant with my eyes, lest I look upon a maid." Go and check the life of Job. He was a precautionary man! He was a man that was careful. "Ah, I hope my children have not sinned. They've just finished doing their party. Let me go and make sacrifice for their sin." That was Job. There was no immorality in him. Yet he has made a covenant with his eyes. Look at the kind of precaution. What precaution are you giving yourself? You have turned away your guard. You have turned away your precaution. And that is why you are like this. Brother, you are not a child of darkness. God says you are light. Wake up today and tell yourself I am not darkness. I refuse to walk in darkness. Don't submit yourself to darkness. Don't agree. Get up and get out. Christ will give you light! He will give you light! He will give you light! And what do you see last there? It says, "See then that you walk circumspectly." Don't walk as fools. Don't walk as fools. Walk as light. Walk as wise. Walk as wise men. Being circumspect. Knowing what the will of the Lord is. Thank you Father. Thank you Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. [outro music]