1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,520 Welcome to the NECF Podcast, where we share our weekly sermons and faithfully interpret 2 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,520 the Bible to encourage and direct you on your spiritual path. 3 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:22,800 We are devoted pastors and special guests devout to the depths of the Bible, exploring 4 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:27,040 its profound lessons and useful applications for your daily life. 5 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:32,800 Join us as we explore the timeless truth that have the power to change people's hearts and 6 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:39,200 minds, promoting a closer relationship with God and a firm belief in His promises. 7 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:55,520 Romans 8 verse 14 says, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. 8 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:07,040 As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. 9 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:21,200 Galatians chapter 5 verse 16 says, I say then, work in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill 10 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:22,560 the lust of the flesh. 11 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:29,760 Work in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 12 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:35,920 And for those who are joining us newly in this church, or those who have traveled and are 13 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,920 forgotten what we've been doing and you are back, we welcome you home in Jesus' name. 14 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:44,640 And for those who are joining us for the very first time, we welcome you once more in Jesus' name. 15 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:47,040 Amen. 16 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:48,560 Hallelujah. 17 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:52,400 So our theme for the year, who can remind us, what is the theme for the year? 18 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:55,120 The leading of what? 19 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:56,560 Of the Spirit. 20 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:57,680 Which Spirit? 21 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,080 The Holy Spirit. That is the Spirit of God. 22 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:05,760 So our focus and our consideration for this year has been the leading of the Spirit. 23 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:11,600 We are the sons of God, and we are men that God has led by His Spirit. 24 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,040 And the first instance of this leading is in salvation. 25 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:17,680 We come to know Jesus. 26 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:20,080 That is the first leading we have as believers. 27 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,080 That is the first leading we have as Christians. 28 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,880 Which means that every man and every woman, every man and every woman, 29 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,800 every man and every woman who believes in Jesus Christ has been led by the Spirit. 30 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:32,320 Hallelujah. 31 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:37,520 It therefore means that you have the capacity to continuously walk in the leading of the Spirit. 32 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,920 So when we say walk or the leading of the Spirit, 33 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,920 we're not saying that this leading is for some specific individuals alone. 34 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,080 But it's that which happened in every believer's life. 35 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,880 So long as you are born of the Spirit and the Spirit lives in you, 36 00:02:54,880 --> 00:03:00,560 you are off to always be led by the Spirit that lives in you. 37 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:05,440 So the last time I taught here in my teaching, 38 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:10,160 I started a new series on understanding the Spirit led life. 39 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,600 And the goal is for us to understand what encompasses this leading. 40 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:16,560 The life of a man that is led by the Spirit. 41 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:19,840 The life of a man that is led by the Spirit. 42 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:22,400 Hallelujah. 43 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:24,160 And in that we had a sub topic. 44 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:27,520 We started by looking at a sub topic, the love of God. 45 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:33,840 We said that the man that has been led by the Spirit or the life that is led by Spirit of God 46 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:37,200 is expressed in love. 47 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:43,360 Because what constitutes the life of the Spirit that lives in you, 48 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,640 because the Bible says that God has shed his love, 49 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:49,600 have brought our hearts by the Holy Spirit. 50 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:55,440 So when we receive the message of salvation and the Spirit of God begins to live in our hearts, 51 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:59,440 we have the capacity to express love. 52 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:05,520 And first and foremost, we began looking at the love for God. 53 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:06,080 Hallelujah. 54 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:12,000 We saw that Jesus in his teaching stated that the first and the greatest commandment 55 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:12,720 is what? 56 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:14,240 Is to love God. 57 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:22,160 And his teaching, we established that to love God is the most primary, primary, the most important. 58 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:27,360 Matthew 22 verse 34 to 38, where Jesus was teaching. 59 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:32,160 But the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees. 60 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:34,880 You know, the Pharisees are a group of scholars. 61 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:41,040 The Sadducees are also another sect, having some variations in their 62 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,200 beliefs and their school of thoughts. 63 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:44,000 Amen. 64 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:50,160 So when the Pharisees saw that Jesus has silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 65 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:52,400 They gung up together, right? 66 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:54,960 The next verse, 35, quickly, please. 67 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:59,360 Now one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him and saying, 68 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,160 Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? 69 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:09,360 Because these men were expert of the law and they were taught the law. 70 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:13,280 They were expert of the law and they were looking for something that they would see and do. 71 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,240 And then they will feel good about themselves. 72 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:23,680 Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, 73 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:25,520 and with all your mind. 74 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:30,400 This is what the first and the great commandment. 75 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:33,280 This is the first and the great commandment. 76 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:35,760 So what does it mean to love God? 77 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:37,520 What does it mean to love God? 78 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:42,640 You know, we saw also in the last teaching, it's on our, you know, pages where we upload 79 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:46,480 our messages, just a recap so that we understand where we're going to. 80 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:51,520 So we also saw that loving God is not just in words. 81 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:54,960 He says you must love the Lord your God with all of your heart, 82 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,400 all of your mind, with all of your soul, with everything that is in you. 83 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:04,640 And for us, when you ask any average believer, you say, yes, I love, I love God. 84 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:07,040 Everybody, you know, in the church, we love God. 85 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:08,960 But what does it mean to love God? 86 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:12,560 First John chapter three, verse 18. 87 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:14,880 Give me this text in the amplified. 88 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:17,280 First John 3, 18. 89 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:26,080 It says little children, that is believers, dear ones, let us not love merely in theory. 90 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:27,520 All right. 91 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:34,400 Because some of us, or most of times, we express our love in words, in theory. 92 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:44,240 Let us not love merely in theory with words or tongues, giving lip service to come to compassion. 93 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:50,720 But in action and in truth, what does it mean to love God in action and in truth? 94 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:57,280 It means that in practice and in sincerity, because practical acts of love 95 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:00,240 are more than just words. 96 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:01,040 Hallelujah. 97 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:08,960 So whatever we say as we express our love in those songs we sing, in our conversation, 98 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:14,960 as we express that we love God, let this expression of the things we say, the things we sing, 99 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:18,320 be seen in our actions. 100 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:21,520 That is what it means to love God with all of our hearts. 101 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:25,920 Because it's possible for us to say one thing and we do another. 102 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:30,880 We noted that there is a possibility of professing the love for God with our mouths 103 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:32,880 while our actions show otherwise. 104 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:34,880 Isaiah 19, verse 13. 105 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:41,840 Instances in scriptures where men profess their love for God with their lips, where the Bible 106 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:46,880 says their heart is very far and far away from God. 107 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,080 Isaiah chapter 29, verse 13. 108 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:56,320 Therefore the Lord said, inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths, right, 109 00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:03,360 they draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far 110 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:09,360 from me and their fear towards me is taught by the commandments of men. 111 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:12,160 Is taught by the commandments of men. 112 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:16,480 They come to me with words in their mouths and they say, I am the Lord. 113 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,480 They are taught by the commandments of men. They come to me with words in their mouths. 114 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:32,480 They orchestrated their own way of worship which is taught by men and their heart is far away from me. 115 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:36,480 So their conduct is a reflection of what is in their hearts, not necessarily what they profess with their lips. 116 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:44,480 And there is that possibility in you as a Christian that your actions and the things you say does not match, 117 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:48,480 especially when it comes to expressing love towards God. 118 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:54,480 Ezekiel 33, verse 31. 119 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:58,480 So they come to you as people, that is the prophets speaking here. 120 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,480 So they come to you as people, as people do. 121 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:06,480 They sit before you as my people and they hear your words. 122 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:08,480 You see, they hear the words. 123 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:10,480 What happened? 124 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:18,480 They listen but they do not do them for their mouth, for with their mouth they show much love. 125 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:28,480 They listen but they do not do the things they listen for their mouth, for with their mouth they show much love. 126 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:32,480 But their hearts pursue their own gain. 127 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:38,480 So there is a disengagement between what is professed with the lips and what action. 128 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:42,480 Because your action is a product of the abundance of what resides in your hearts. 129 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:44,480 Hallelujah. 130 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:48,480 So we see love demonstrated in action. 131 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:52,480 Even God himself, he didn't just say I love you, right? 132 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:56,480 But he demonstrated his love towards us with an action. 133 00:09:56,480 --> 00:09:58,480 And what is the action that demonstrated his love towards us? 134 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:00,480 Is that he gave, he moved. 135 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:06,480 We see God becoming man as a demonstration of his profession of love to you and I. 136 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:14,480 So also our own love towards God cannot be limited by only the professions of our lips. 137 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:22,480 But our actions, what we do must reflect the condition of our hearts. 138 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:28,480 Because the love for God is not on the lips but it's from our hearts. 139 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:32,480 Isaiah 1 verse 11. 140 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:38,480 It's an lamentation here, it says to what purpose is a multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord. 141 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:44,480 I have had enough of burnt offerings because this man, they love doing a lot of things. 142 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:48,480 Of course we say that actions, right, must match with words. 143 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:50,480 Isn't it? 144 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:54,480 Genuine actions must match with words. 145 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:58,480 Must match with words or words must match with genuine action. 146 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:08,480 But there is another aspect where our actions, activities, who seems to be deviating from the condition of our hearts. 147 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:14,480 Look at an example, it says to what purpose is a multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord. 148 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:18,480 I have had enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fowl of faith cattle. 149 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:26,480 I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs, O God. 150 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:30,480 Let me just interrupt quickly to 15. 151 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:36,480 When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts? 152 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,480 Bring no more futile sacrifices. 153 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,480 Incense and abomination is an abomination to me. 154 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:54,480 The new moons, the sabbaths and the callings of assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meetings. 155 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:58,480 You call your act of worship iniquity. 156 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:00,480 You call your act of worship iniquity. 157 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:04,480 Say your moons and your appointed feet, my souls hates. 158 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:06,480 They are a trouble to me. 159 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:10,480 I am weary of bearing them. 160 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:16,480 When you spread out your hands and I hide, I will hide my eyes from you. 161 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:20,480 Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. 162 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:22,480 Your hands are what? 163 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:24,480 Full of blood. 164 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:32,480 So these men are in a religious wrath, mixing religion with a lot of atrocities. 165 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:36,480 Their heart's condition is not surrender to God. 166 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:38,480 Hallelujah. 167 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:44,480 So we concluded by saying that our love for God is expressed in what? 168 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:46,480 Is expressed in obedience. 169 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:54,480 Our love for God is expressed in our obedience to His word. 170 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:58,480 What His word says, we live by it. 171 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:00,480 We do what His word says. 172 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:06,480 Our lives, that is the land that is led by the Spirit. 173 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:10,480 The Spirit is not leading you into doing your own things. 174 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:12,480 Hallelujah. 175 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:22,480 The Spirit of God is leading you to do the things that are of God, especially as revealed in the written word. 176 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:30,480 The most accurate means of direction for the believer is not dreams and visions, 177 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:35,480 but it's actually instructions embedded in the written word. 178 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:40,480 So if you are a believer and you are living a life led by the Spirit, 179 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:49,480 what we should see emanating from your life is unconditional obedience to the words of God. 180 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:54,480 That is how love towards God is expressed. 181 00:13:54,480 --> 00:14:00,480 And we emphasize that the written word is inspired by the Spirit of God. 182 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:04,480 The written word cannot be disassociated from the Spirit of God, 183 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:10,480 and the Spirit of God cannot lead you into doing anything that is against the written word, 184 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:21,480 because the written word is an inspiration of the Spirit of God for our direction, for our leading. 185 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:27,480 So obeying the written word is actually walking in the Spirit. 186 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:35,480 So when we say, this year we seek to understand the leading of the Spirit, 187 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:40,480 we cannot remove the word from the leading of the Spirit. 188 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:44,480 And if you want to have direction for your life, 189 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:53,480 direction that the Spirit of God will lead to you, you cannot have direction without the help of the written word. 190 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:57,480 When you pray and fast for direction and you close your Bible, 191 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:02,480 put it under your box, I can assure you that there will be no leading. 192 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:07,480 Because all the leading that you can ever have has been given to you, 193 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:11,480 and it's in the book that you have before you, the Word. 194 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:18,480 So rightful and careful explanation of scriptures will lead you in the direction of the Spirit of God. 195 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:24,480 The way we measure and test every leading is by his written word. 196 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:30,480 So you and I have the obligation to give ourselves to the Word, 197 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:38,480 thereby leading our lives according to the Spirit of God. 198 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:46,480 Now for the sake of those joining us newly, let's lay a foundation on one of the most profound realities of a Christian life. 199 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:49,480 I'm going to do this. We've done this several times. 200 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:54,480 We keep doing this and we will continue to do this. 201 00:15:54,480 --> 00:16:02,480 And this reality of the Christian life is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Amen? 202 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:09,480 We need to lay this foundation again for the sake of those maybe joining us in this church newly. 203 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:15,480 And for some of us have been around for quite a while, it's a refresher course for many who have been with us. 204 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:21,480 Amen. Paul will say that for me to repeat this over to you is not what? 205 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:27,480 It's all burdensome. But it's for what? It's for your own safety. 206 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:33,480 Hallelujah. So we cannot move an inch without going back to the basics 207 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:37,480 to understand the foundational things that are needed for us to move forward. 208 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:41,480 So whenever we come to talk about the Spirit of God, the leading of the Spirit, 209 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:46,480 first of all understand what it means for the believer, the man that is born again, 210 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:50,480 to have the indwelling of the Spirit in him. 211 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:58,480 So this is foundational. And as brothers and sisters, let's be patient with those who are just joining us. 212 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:05,480 And let's start from the basic. So when we're starting from basic, from the beginning, where are we going to? 213 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:10,480 Genesis, okay. Salvation, Genesis, of course. Genesis is the book of salvation. 214 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:15,480 Obviously. Amen. So we're beginning from where? We're beginning from Genesis. 215 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:23,480 And what we're going to do is we're going to look through scriptures and understand the idea of salvation, 216 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:30,480 what happened at salvation, and how the believer is able to be what the temple of the Spirit, 217 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:37,480 how the believer has the Spirit in him. Then we'll begin to see how the believer ought to work 218 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:44,480 according to the Spirit that is in him, especially in love. Hallelujah. 219 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:55,480 So now, when God created Adam, did God give the Spirit to dwell in him? Amen. 220 00:17:55,480 --> 00:18:05,480 We start from there. Amen. When God created Adam, was Adam given the Spirit to dwell in him? 221 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:13,480 That's the question we're going to answer. Now, the common knowledge we have is that God created Adam, 222 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:18,480 and when God created Adam, what did he do? He breathed his Spirit into him. 223 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:25,480 And when Adam sinned, what happened to the Spirit that God put in him? The Spirit what? 224 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:33,480 The Spirit was taken away from him. Therefore, he lost the Spirit of God as a result of disobedience. 225 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:44,480 Is this true? It is important for us to go to the beginning of all things to understand man, 226 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:50,480 how God created man. Now, Genesis 1.26, let's go to Genesis 1.26. 227 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:58,480 And God said, let us make man in our image, on the line image. Our image is very, very crucial. 228 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:06,480 We must be very intentional about some statements in scriptures. God said, let us make man in what? 229 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:17,480 In our image. Cycle our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea 230 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:24,480 and over the fowls of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth, 231 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:32,480 over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image. 232 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:39,480 In the image of God created he him male and female created he them. 233 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:50,480 So let's examine this text. From the first verse 26, we see let us make man, which is an intent, right? 234 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:57,480 When I said let us make man, there is a statement that has been made. OK? 235 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:06,480 And this statement will follow by an action. So the phrase let us make speaks of an intention, 236 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:12,480 of an intention God is stating his plan, his plan for man, for the creation of man. 237 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:23,480 In verse 26, the creation of humanity. Therefore, in God's plan, God wants to make humanity in his image. 238 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:32,480 God intends that man will do what? Will be created in his image. God is spirit. 239 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:40,480 So for man to be in the image of God, he must carry the spirit of God in him, isn't it? 240 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:45,480 And that image will be what will make him have dominion. 241 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:54,480 So the dominion that man will exert upon the things that God has created is a product of the spirit of God in him. 242 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:58,480 Because without a spirit, it is impossible for man to have dominion. 243 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:08,480 So he asks a question. When God created Adam, was he in the image of God? 244 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:21,480 What we are invariably asking is this. Was Adam given the Holy Spirit to dwell in him at his creation? 245 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:28,480 If yes, does that mean that when he sinned, the spirit was taken away from him? 246 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:38,480 So we see in Genesis 2 verse 7, where the man was created, we saw the statement, the intent of God in chapter 1 verse 26, 27. 247 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:42,480 And in Genesis chapter 2 verse 7, we saw where the actual creation was done. 248 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:52,480 And the Lord God formed man of dust of the ground and breath into his nostril, what? The breath of life. 249 00:21:52,480 --> 00:22:01,480 Now let's look at the effect of this breath of life. And the man became what? He became a living soul. 250 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:09,480 The dust and the breath of life came into the man and the man became what? The man became a living soul. 251 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:15,480 So when God made the first man, he only became a what? A living soul. 252 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:22,480 Alright? And the Bible in that verse did not say that he became the image of God. 253 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:32,480 Okay? That means Genesis 1, 26 to 28 that we read earlier on has not been revealed yet in the first man. 254 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:53,480 This brings us to the conclusion or rather will give us a hint that man that was created by God doesn't mean that he is already in the image of God. 255 00:22:53,480 --> 00:23:02,480 Alright? So we can now ask a follow up question. How does man actually come into the image of God? 256 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:14,480 How does a man come into the image of God? If we are saying that God created man and he breathed into him life and he became living, 257 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:25,480 he became a man from the dust, the man became a living soul. And we are saying that that breath is actually wind, right? 258 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:36,480 Oxygen, he began living as a human being. Then how does a man become or how does a man come into that image of God? 259 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:43,480 What condition will a man fulfill, will that man fulfill to come into the image of God? 260 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:51,480 Now let's look at Genesis 5 briefly then we'll come back to answer this question too. Genesis 5 verse 3. 261 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,480 Genesis 5 verse 3, we see another word where image was used. 262 00:23:54,480 --> 00:24:03,480 And Adam lived 130 years and he gave birth to a son in his own what? In his own likeness. 263 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:08,480 He gave birth to a son not in the likeness of God. Alright? 264 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:15,480 In chapter 5 here, the son that Adam gave birth to was in his own likeness after his own image. 265 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:26,480 And he named him what? He named him Seth. So Adam bore a son in his own likeness and his image not the image of God. 266 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:34,480 Why? Why is this man that Adam born was not in the image of God? 267 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:39,480 We can make reference to what happened in chapter 3. Alright? The falling has already happened, right? 268 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:48,480 And then he gave birth in his own image, isn't it? So up until now we can see that no image of God is seen yet. 269 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:56,480 Nowhere is mentioned that the man anyway so far so good is in the image of God. 270 00:24:56,480 --> 00:25:04,480 And let's go back to Genesis 2 verse 8 and 9. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. 271 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:09,480 And there he put the man that he has created whom he had formed. 272 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:18,480 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to sight and good for food. 273 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:26,480 The tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 274 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:34,480 So now notice in this verse as we always tell you, every tree here does not mean that there are plenty trees. 275 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:39,480 Alright? We've taught several times that this every tree is referring to what? 276 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:50,480 Referring to those two trees. Alright? So you don't have to imagine different variation of fruits but remain in the context of the explanation here. 277 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:55,480 Jump to verse 16 to 17. Genesis 2 verse 16 to 17. 278 00:25:55,480 --> 00:26:00,480 And the Lord God commanded the man, now you see he gave a word, alright? 279 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:10,480 He gave a word saying of every tree, referring to those two trees, every tree, right? Of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat 280 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:21,480 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 281 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:32,480 So if there are only two trees as we've established, please be patient. Alright? Let not your mind go over. 282 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:40,480 I know of course we have basics on the school knowledge, alright? But remain in the context of what I'm saying. 283 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:45,480 Don't be put off even if what I'm saying to you is new. 284 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:56,480 So God gave an instruction not to eat of, alright? Not to eat of one and to eat of another. 285 00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:04,480 So I want us to know two important things from this verse. Number one, the tree of life, okay? 286 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:09,480 What does it lead to? The Bible says it leads to life. 287 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:16,480 And then there's another tree of the knowledge of good and evil which leads to what? Which leads to death. 288 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:21,480 Now these two concepts are very important as we go on to understand this passage. 289 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:29,480 It is important for us to note here that Moses' communication here is of God's plan. 290 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:40,480 Moses is communicating God's plan and in his attempt to communicate the plan of God concerning man, 291 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:52,480 he involved the usage of what? Of figure of speech to communicate God's promise of life to humanity. 292 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:59,480 And he also communicated the consequence of not choosing life, which is what? 293 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:05,480 Which we see clearly in this passage is death. 294 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:19,480 So since Moses is deploying the use of allegory, which is a figure of speech, to explain God's plan, 295 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:36,480 we must ask what did Moses mean by it? What we are saying is that Moses was using an allegory to explain God's plan for humanity. 296 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:48,480 Moses was using an example, right, of something natural, okay, to communicate the plan and the purpose of God to man. 297 00:28:48,480 --> 00:29:00,480 And he uses trees, he uses fruits, he uses what? Eat, not eat, and many other things we can see, physical things around the story. 298 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:07,480 Now what does it mean to eat according to the story or according to the method or the allegory that Moses used in his teaching? 299 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:16,480 What does it mean to eat? Now let's come as a tradition to the New Testament to see how this concept is also explained, 300 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:23,480 especially by Jesus Christ. Jesus used this same concept in Matthew chapter, in John chapter 6 actually. 301 00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:28,480 But let's look at Matthew 15 first, Matthew 15 verse 16 to 20. 302 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:34,480 Then we look at John chapter 6, Matthew 15 verse 16 to 20. 303 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:54,480 So Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do ye not yet understand that whatsoever entered in and the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the drought? 304 00:29:54,480 --> 00:30:00,480 Do you not yet understand that whatsoever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 305 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:05,480 Do you not yet understand that whatsoever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 306 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:10,480 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from where? 307 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:15,480 It comes from the heart. And they defile a man. 308 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:31,480 For out of the heart of a man proceeds what? Evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 309 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:39,480 These are the things which defiles a man. But to eat with unwashed hands and does not what? 310 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:52,480 It does not defile a man because there is a custom that the Pharisees, the Jewish people, they have that when you eat without your hands washed, it means that you are sinful. 311 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:59,480 And Jesus is saying, Don't you know that, see, what makes a man sinful is not what comes into his mouth and goes to his stomach and is dedicated. 312 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:04,480 But what makes a man sinful is a heart condition. 313 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:09,480 So sin emanates from the heart. Right? 314 00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:27,480 So this concept that Jesus explains that whatever a man eats enters his belly and goes into the toilet later on, you know, nullify the idea that it is what a man takes in him that makes him sinful. 315 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:42,480 Jesus also explained for that eating does not defile a man. However, what defiles a man from this text is that which proceeds from his mouth, which is directly coming from where? Coming from his heart. 316 00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:46,480 So this explanation takes down the idea, right? 317 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:53,480 The idea that Adam ate an apple. 318 00:31:53,480 --> 00:32:02,480 Even though the Bible did not say it's an apple. Adam ate a fruit and he sinned against God. 319 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:07,480 Remember, we said earlier on that Moses was communicating what? 320 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:21,480 He was communicating a spiritual activity. He was communicating a spiritual reality, but he uses physical things in order to communicate a spiritual reality. 321 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:29,480 So Moses will be presenting God's plan in his writings because Moses, right, was not a gardener. 322 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:34,480 He was a nutritionist, right? He was a prophet of God. 323 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:39,480 And what a prophet does is that he speaks for the plan and the purpose of God. 324 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:47,480 And in his use of the story, he was trying to communicate the plan of God to humanity. 325 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:51,480 Right from Genesis 1. 326 00:32:51,480 --> 00:33:03,480 Now, let's see John chapter 6 verse 32 to 33, continuing in Jesus's way of teaching, trying to understand what does the word eat mean? 327 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:07,480 What does it mean to eat and what does it mean not to eat? 328 00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:21,480 Then Jesus said unto them, John chapter 6 verse 32 to 33, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father gave you the true bread from heaven. 329 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:29,480 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. 330 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:33,480 In this verse, we can see Jesus explaining that this true bread is where? 331 00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:37,480 Where is the true bread coming from? It's coming from heaven. 332 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:43,480 Now, true bread does not mean that it is a false bread. 333 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:47,480 True bread, the opposite of this true bread does not mean that it is a bread that is false. 334 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:55,480 He said that what Moses gave you is physical, but this is the explanation of what Moses was trying to communicate. 335 00:33:55,480 --> 00:34:09,480 And we see in this verse also, verse 32 especially, he says for the bread of God is he, the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. 336 00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:13,480 So the bread is a he and this bread, what does it do? It gives life. 337 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:18,480 So this hunger is not a physical hunger, right? 338 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:23,480 It's communicating something spiritual because the bread is a he. 339 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:27,480 It's a person. It's a person. 340 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:39,480 It means the perfect bread means, you know, the true bread means one which is perfect, one which is perfected, one which is perfect, which is a real deal. 341 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:47,480 So the bread given by Moses is a type and a shadow of the true bread. 342 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:55,480 Types and shadows is a pointer to what God will do or is a pointer to what God has done in our own context. 343 00:34:55,480 --> 00:35:03,480 So Moses ministered or Moses' ministry of teaching was in types and shadows. 344 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:07,480 All right. What do you mean by types and shadows? 345 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:09,480 Hebrews 8 verse 5. 346 00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:13,480 What Moses did in the wilderness with the people of God, 347 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:21,480 the physical things he did, the ordinances established by Moses were a pointer to another one which is real, 348 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:27,480 was a mode of teaching, was a mode of explanation that Moses employed. 349 00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:32,480 Because remember, Moses wrote the Genesis, the first four books, right? 350 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:34,480 The first, is it four or five? 351 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:36,480 The first five books of the Bible. 352 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:39,480 So let's look at Hebrews 5 verse 8. 353 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:47,480 They say, who served from verse 6, let's see, verse 6, but now had obtained a more excellent ministry. 354 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:54,480 Talking about Christ, how much more also he is the mediator of a better covenant. 355 00:35:54,480 --> 00:36:03,480 This better covenant is referring to something that is perfect, which was established upon what better promises. 356 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,480 I think next we're going to look at what promises are. 357 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:12,480 We're going to look at the concept of promise. When the Bible says promise, what does it mean? Promise. 358 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:16,480 Because many times we think that, oh, we have many promises in the Bible. 359 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:21,480 Let me give us a clue. We have only one promise. God made only one promise to man. Amen. 360 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:26,480 And we'll see what a promise is in scriptures. Verse 6, right? 361 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:39,480 Verse 5, verse 5, who served unto the example and shadow of the heavenly things as Moses was at mornish of God when he was about to make the tabernacle. 362 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:47,480 For see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the path and should thee in the mount. 363 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:59,480 Which means that what Moses established, the ordinances, the programs, all the arrangements of Moses was of the real that he saw on the mountain. 364 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:07,480 God showed him the reality. So he was able to establish something athlete to point people to what is real. 365 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:13,480 Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1, for the law, when we talk about the law, what are we referring to? 366 00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:17,480 We're referring to the writings of Moses, especially. All right? 367 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:25,480 For the law having a shadow of what? Of good things to come and not the very image of the things. 368 00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:33,480 So the law carry what? It carries stripes and shadows. It explains the reality of these things. 369 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:44,480 And not the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the commerce there unto perfect. 370 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:59,480 Which means that all the activities and the sacrifices, the killing of ghouls and rams and the sacrifices, the blood, you know, things we see, blood this, blood that, they couldn't make a man perfect. 371 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:08,480 They couldn't make a man accepted in the sight of God. But that which God will do by himself in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. 372 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:15,480 So let's continue back to John 6 verse 35. 373 00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:31,480 John 6 verse 35, and Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He didn't hide it. He says, I am the bread of life that cometh to, he that cometh to me shall never hunger. Amen. 374 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:40,480 Have you all come to Christ? Who is hungry now? I am hungry. I'm not eating food this morning. Amen. 375 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:48,480 Which means that Jesus is not talking about physical hunger. Right? If you come to him, he said you will never hunger. 376 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:58,480 So if you read this, right, without trying to understand the mood of communication, you will think in Jesus and if you come to me, you will never lack food to eat. You will lack food. 377 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:03,480 Some of you, you don't have food in your house and you are Christians. Let's be real, right? 378 00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:15,480 So that's not what it's meaning here. Alright? So, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Are you thirsty for water? Do you get thirsty? Of course. 379 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:23,480 Remember the woman, the Samaritan woman, right, by the well side? Jesus said I will give you water, right? 380 00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:33,480 And you will never thirst again. So he's not talking about something physical. He's using a physical thing to communicate a spiritual reality. 381 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:43,480 Are we together? He that believeth on me shall never thirst, but I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not. 382 00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:59,480 Alright? So Jesus here explains here that he is, am I going back? Yes. That he is a true bread and anyone that eats out of this true bread will never hunger. 383 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:09,480 Here we see Jesus introduce a word believe in that verse. Eat of we see line by line here. 384 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:16,480 He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 385 00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:24,480 So if you come, coming is believing and you will never thirst and you will never hunger. Alright? 386 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:31,480 The person who believes in him shall never hunger. So if you believe in Jesus, you get hungry, of course we get hungry. 387 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:40,480 So we therefore means that he is not explaining something natural. Chapter 6 verse 40, jump to verse 40. 388 00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:54,480 And this is the will of him that sends me, that every one who seeth the Son and believeth on him may have what everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day. 389 00:40:54,480 --> 00:41:02,480 He must, he used the word rather, he used the word believe again to explain that anyone that believes will receive everlasting life. 390 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:14,480 Verse 47 to 48. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am what? The bread of life. 391 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:26,480 Verse 50. This is a bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. You believe you have everlasting life. 392 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:42,480 You eat and you will not die. So the hunger there is not a physical hunger. Alright? And the bread there is not referring to physical bread. 393 00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:48,480 The man who eats of this bread will have everlasting life. Verse 51. I am the living bread which cometh down from heaven. 394 00:41:48,480 --> 00:42:02,480 If any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world. 395 00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:12,480 So the story is getting interesting. So Jesus is saying that he will eat his flesh. This bread is referring to his flesh. Right? 396 00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:19,480 Jesus says that he is the living bread and anyone who eats of the bread will have everlasting life. 397 00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:34,480 Verse 52. The Jews therefore strove among themselves saying, how can this fellow give us his flesh to eat? How can this man give us his body to eat? Are we carnivores? 398 00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:43,480 Of course, the audience does not understand the communication, right? They got him wrong. They thought Jesus was talking about his physical body. 399 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:59,480 Let's move to verse 53 to 58. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 400 00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:13,480 Whosoever eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. So you mean if you eat Jesus, you drink his blood, you have eternal life. 401 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:26,480 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. 402 00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:39,480 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. You eat him, you live by him. 403 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:51,480 This is that bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth of this, of this bread shall live forever. 404 00:43:51,480 --> 00:44:13,480 So the provision of manna in the wilderness coming down on earth is types and shadows, is a typology, is an allegory of God through Moses teaching to the people of God concerning Jesus Christ. 405 00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:22,480 So verse 56 speaks of identification. The man that eats is identified in Christ. 406 00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:31,480 The Father explains in verse 58 that the man that eats of the living bread, which is Jesus, will do what? Will live forever. 407 00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:35,480 This is eternal life, which is found actually in Christ. 408 00:44:35,480 --> 00:44:48,480 61 to 64, when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples were normal and he said unto them, Do this offend you? What if he shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? 409 00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:57,480 There is a spirit that worketh, that quickeneth, the flesh profited nothing. The word that speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. 410 00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:07,480 But there are some of you that believe it not. So many of them did not believe what Jesus was saying. 411 00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:16,480 So Jesus will explain that eating his flesh and drinking his blood is what? Is equal to what? Believing. 412 00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:27,480 So eating Jesus' blood, flesh and drinking his blood is equivalent to what? Believing. Alright? 413 00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:36,480 What he meant by eating his body, his flesh, it means believing in him. That is what it means. 414 00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:42,480 Jesus will explain this believing in his works, believing in who he is and what he has come to do. 415 00:45:42,480 --> 00:46:01,480 So since the scripture teaches it as to believe, we can also, you know, look at the Moses' way of teaching as well because I will say it's in the same era. 416 00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:08,480 Moses also in his writing in Genesis, he will use the word eat to refer to what? To refer to believe. 417 00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:19,480 So what was Adam to believe? He was to believe in God's plan for man. He was to believe in God's promise. In God's promise of life. 418 00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:35,480 So Adam believing in that will come into God's image. So God's image. Man come into God's image by believing. 419 00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:45,480 Man will come into God's image of God by what? By believing. God's image is based on God's life. 420 00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:52,480 But sadly we saw in the story of Adam, he didn't believe. He rejected God's promise. 421 00:46:52,480 --> 00:47:01,480 And he was found in death and opposite nature to the image that God has wanted him to be. 422 00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:14,480 He rejected life. He demonstrated unbelief. That means that God's image, as I said Aaron, can only be come into by faith. 423 00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:23,480 All right? To come into the image of God is by faith. To come into the image of God is by faith. 424 00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:33,480 So if Adam will be found in the image of God, he must believe. He must exercise faith. He must exercise faith in what God has said. 425 00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:41,480 In what God has said. In the offer of life that God has given. 426 00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:47,480 We'll see Paul explains Moses to us in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4. 427 00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:56,480 Moses is in explanation of Moses. Paul in explaining Moses writing in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4. 428 00:47:56,480 --> 00:48:04,480 It says, In whom the God of this world hath blinded their minds. They blinded the minds of them which believe not. 429 00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:09,480 So if you are in unbelief, there is a coverage on your face. 430 00:48:09,480 --> 00:48:18,480 Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God? Who is the image of God? 431 00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:25,480 The image of God is Christ. Are we together? It's not Adam. It's who? It's Christ. 432 00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:33,480 Who is the image of God? To shine on them. To shine on them. 433 00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:41,480 The image of God is Christ. Paul calls Christ. The image of God. Colossians chapter 1 verse 14 to 15. 434 00:48:41,480 --> 00:48:53,480 Colossians 1 verse 14 to 15. It says, In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Verse 15. 435 00:48:53,480 --> 00:49:02,480 Who is what? Is the image of the invisible God. Who is the image of the invisible God? Christ. 436 00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:09,480 The firstborn of every creature. I don't want to explain deeply here. 437 00:49:09,480 --> 00:49:15,480 The firstborn of every creature. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. 438 00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:20,480 So if you want to see the invisible God, what do you look at? You look at Jesus. 439 00:49:20,480 --> 00:49:24,480 You look at who Jesus is and you are able to understand the invisible God. 440 00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:32,480 Hebrews 1 verse 2 and 3. It says Jesus is the express image of his person. 441 00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:38,480 Hebrews 1 verse 2 and 3. Let's read from verse 1. 442 00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:46,480 God who at sundry times and in divers manner speak in time past unto the fathers by who? By the prophets. 443 00:49:46,480 --> 00:49:50,480 The modes of God's communication to the men of the past were through prophets. 444 00:49:50,480 --> 00:50:00,480 God, yes verse 2. Verse 2. Had in these last days spoken unto us by his son. 445 00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:10,480 Whom he had appointed her of all things by whom also he made the words. Verse 3. 446 00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:18,480 Who been the what? The brightness of his glory and the express image of his presence. 447 00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:26,480 So if you want to know God, the only formula by which you know God is not in Scientology. 448 00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:33,480 Are we together? If you want to see the image of God, you focus on who? You focus on Christ. 449 00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:42,480 Anything outside Christ, any knowledge outside Christ can never arrive at the perfect knowledge of God. 450 00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:49,480 You cannot arrive at the knowledge of God by understanding your personality. Are we together? 451 00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:56,480 By understanding your temperament. We've tried that before. We never arrive at Christ. It's a wrong formula. 452 00:50:56,480 --> 00:51:05,480 Are we together? You can never arrive by knowing God by psychology. 453 00:51:05,480 --> 00:51:10,480 You arrive as a false image of yourself if you are a believer. 454 00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:17,480 So the ways by which we can see God, he has given us the express image of his person. 455 00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:24,480 And upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself pushed out sins and sat on the right hand of the majesty on high. 456 00:51:24,480 --> 00:51:32,480 So we see here that Jesus is what? Is the express image of who? Of God. 457 00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:40,480 Hence when God said let us make man in our image and likeness in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 to 28. 458 00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:45,480 God was stating his intention for man. And what is the intention? 459 00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:56,480 That man that God will create will believe in his message and will come into this image, will come into Christ. 460 00:51:56,480 --> 00:52:06,480 God was stating his intention of man to be found in Christ and if you are a believer it means that you are where you are in Christ. 461 00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:12,480 You are in the image of God. His son. The very image of God. 462 00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:22,480 God's plan for man is to be in his image, to be in Christ. That is God wanted man to have everlasting life. 463 00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:28,480 So what was presented to Adam for him is to believe the gospel, right? 464 00:52:28,480 --> 00:52:38,480 This was tapify or was given in tithes and shadows as a tree of life in Genesis chapter 2. 465 00:52:38,480 --> 00:52:48,480 And we see Adam on the other hand shot unbelief towards a message and then he was found in death. 466 00:52:48,480 --> 00:52:58,480 Therefore the tree of life was a figurative expression or it is an explanation of God's plan of life in Christ for man. 467 00:52:58,480 --> 00:53:03,480 Of which Adam rejected as an act of his will. 468 00:53:03,480 --> 00:53:11,480 So Adam exercised his will against the plan and the purpose of God. 469 00:53:11,480 --> 00:53:20,480 That is why even up until today for you to come into the image of God you must as a matter of exercise your will in believing the gospel. 470 00:53:20,480 --> 00:53:26,480 In believing the gospel. So becoming the image of God is not automatic. 471 00:53:26,480 --> 00:53:29,480 It's not automatic. Adam disbelieved God. 472 00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:36,480 So Adam's sin was a sin of unbelief, of disbelief which we can see is in disobedience, right? 473 00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:41,480 In what God told him is not a behavioral misconduct. 474 00:53:41,480 --> 00:53:45,480 He is not in eating and not eating. 475 00:53:45,480 --> 00:53:49,480 He rejected life. The tree of life. 476 00:53:49,480 --> 00:53:53,480 To eat of a tree of life is to... 477 00:53:53,480 --> 00:53:57,480 To not eat of a tree of life is to reject what God has said. 478 00:53:57,480 --> 00:54:01,480 Is to reject God's offering of life. 479 00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:06,480 Alright? Is to reject God's offer of life. 480 00:54:06,480 --> 00:54:15,480 Hence Genesis 1, 26, 28 didn't come to pass in the life of this Adam that was created in Genesis 2. 481 00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:23,480 So we can ask the question did God ever fulfill that promise of man to be created in the image of God? 482 00:54:23,480 --> 00:54:29,480 Did God ever fulfill this promise of man being found in the image of God? 483 00:54:29,480 --> 00:54:33,480 Yes. How? 484 00:54:33,480 --> 00:54:36,480 Huh? How? 485 00:54:36,480 --> 00:54:42,480 After Adam's sin, God became a man, Jesus Christ, right? 486 00:54:42,480 --> 00:54:48,480 Paul calls him the last Adam, the second Adam. Let's look at John chapter 1 verse 14. 487 00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:51,480 John chapter 1 verse 14 in the KJV. 488 00:54:51,480 --> 00:54:58,480 He says, And the world was made flesh and dwelt among us and with beheld is glory. 489 00:54:58,480 --> 00:55:03,480 The glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 490 00:55:03,480 --> 00:55:09,480 1 Corinthians 15 verse 45 to 47. 491 00:55:09,480 --> 00:55:14,480 And so it is written, the first Adam was made a living soul. 492 00:55:14,480 --> 00:55:20,480 Where did we see that living soul? In Genesis chapter what? Huh? 493 00:55:20,480 --> 00:55:23,480 Chapter what? It's true, right? 494 00:55:23,480 --> 00:55:28,480 There was a breath of life into the man and he became a living soul. 495 00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:32,480 So we see here expressly Paul was explaining Moses. 496 00:55:32,480 --> 00:55:36,480 The first man Adam was made a living soul. 497 00:55:36,480 --> 00:55:39,480 The last Adam, referring to who? 498 00:55:39,480 --> 00:55:43,480 Christ was what? Was a quickening spirit. 499 00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:46,480 How be it that was not first which is spiritual? 500 00:55:46,480 --> 00:55:49,480 How be it that was not a? 501 00:55:49,480 --> 00:55:52,480 How do I read this all King James? Give me new King James. 502 00:55:52,480 --> 00:55:55,480 Verse 40, this is in New King James. 503 00:55:55,480 --> 00:56:01,480 However, correct. However, the spiritual is not first. 504 00:56:01,480 --> 00:56:08,480 Which means that the first Adam was not what? Spiritual. Amen? 505 00:56:08,480 --> 00:56:13,480 But natural. Is it clear? Is it clear? 506 00:56:13,480 --> 00:56:19,480 The first Adam was what? Was not spiritual. He was natural. 507 00:56:19,480 --> 00:56:23,480 Afterwards, the spiritual. What is that after all? 508 00:56:23,480 --> 00:56:27,480 Afterwards, he's referring to after all, the second Adam, referring to Christ. 509 00:56:27,480 --> 00:56:31,480 Let's look at verse 47. The Father explained this. 510 00:56:31,480 --> 00:56:36,480 The first man was of the earth, made of dust, right? 511 00:56:36,480 --> 00:56:41,480 The second man is the Lord from where? From heaven. 512 00:56:41,480 --> 00:56:47,480 Hallelujah. So Paul here says that the last Adam, 513 00:56:47,480 --> 00:56:50,480 he is a quickening spirit. He is a Lord from heaven. 514 00:56:50,480 --> 00:56:56,480 That means he has been the last Adam. He will begin a new kind of humanity from that last Adam, 515 00:56:56,480 --> 00:57:04,480 comes forward a new kind of humanity that is by the spirit. 516 00:57:04,480 --> 00:57:09,480 One which anyone who believes will take on the image of God. 517 00:57:09,480 --> 00:57:13,480 So the image of the Son of God. 518 00:57:13,480 --> 00:57:18,480 So Paul put it like this in Romans 5 verse 9. Look at Romans 5 verse 19. 519 00:57:18,480 --> 00:57:21,480 As we run up, Romans 5 verse 19. He says, 520 00:57:21,480 --> 00:57:28,480 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. 521 00:57:28,480 --> 00:57:32,480 Tango didn't say all. 522 00:57:32,480 --> 00:57:38,480 By one man's disobedience, how many were made sinners? Many. 523 00:57:38,480 --> 00:57:43,480 I say again, not all, but many. 524 00:57:43,480 --> 00:57:47,480 Why would I say not all? 525 00:57:47,480 --> 00:57:56,480 Adam gave back to two. One is Wu, Cain, and one is Wu, Abel. 526 00:57:56,480 --> 00:58:01,480 Cain was what? Found in what? In unbelief, right? 527 00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:05,480 What about Abel? Abel believed. 528 00:58:05,480 --> 00:58:13,480 So was Abel in the likeness of the sin of Adam, 529 00:58:13,480 --> 00:58:19,480 in the context of the disobedience of Adam, was Abel a sinner? 530 00:58:19,480 --> 00:58:23,480 In the similitude of Adam's sin, was Abel a sinner? 531 00:58:23,480 --> 00:58:29,480 In the nature of Adam's sin, found as disobedience, which means that he's conditioner, right? 532 00:58:29,480 --> 00:58:33,480 He's a product of will, he's a product of choice. 533 00:58:33,480 --> 00:58:36,480 Are we together? 534 00:58:36,480 --> 00:58:42,480 So, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. 535 00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:52,480 So by one, by the obedience of one, shall all, shall what? 536 00:58:52,480 --> 00:58:54,480 Also many, because not all. 537 00:58:54,480 --> 00:59:01,480 So it relegates all this concept that Jesus died and he has paid it for all, so everybody is now safe. No. 538 00:59:01,480 --> 00:59:05,480 He says many didn't say all, which means that it's conditional to all to believe in. 539 00:59:05,480 --> 00:59:09,480 So many will become what? Will be made righteous. 540 00:59:09,480 --> 00:59:12,480 So the obedience of Christ makes many righteous by faith. 541 00:59:12,480 --> 00:59:21,480 When we believe we come into God's image and likeness, we become like Christ in character and in nature. 542 00:59:21,480 --> 00:59:27,480 Because he lives in us. First, Genesis 1, 26 to 28 is fulfilled where? 543 00:59:27,480 --> 00:59:31,480 It's fulfilled in Christ. Hallelujah. 544 00:59:31,480 --> 00:59:38,480 Genesis 1, 26 to 28 is fulfilling who? It's fulfilling Christ. 545 00:59:38,480 --> 00:59:45,480 The last Adam, the one that gives us his nature by faith and from where we walk in dominion. 546 00:59:45,480 --> 00:59:52,480 So the believer today walks in dominion as a result of his belief, his faith in Jesus Christ. 547 00:59:52,480 --> 00:59:58,480 The male and the female in Genesis now will be male and female in Christ. 548 00:59:58,480 --> 01:00:01,480 Humanity in Christ, the last Adam. 549 01:00:01,480 --> 01:00:06,480 The new creation today and forever. 550 01:00:06,480 --> 01:00:09,480 Founded in God's glorious image and likeness. 551 01:00:09,480 --> 01:00:12,480 Let me conclude. 552 01:00:12,480 --> 01:00:16,480 The first and the important commandment of God. 553 01:00:16,480 --> 01:00:21,480 The first and the most important commandment we saw earlier in Matthew 22 verse 27. 554 01:00:21,480 --> 01:00:26,480 Matthew 27, part seven again. 555 01:00:26,480 --> 01:00:35,480 Jesus said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. 556 01:00:35,480 --> 01:00:40,480 So loving God is not just in words, but in actions. 557 01:00:40,480 --> 01:00:43,480 First John 3 verse 18. 558 01:00:43,480 --> 01:00:50,480 My little children, let us love not in words or in tongue, but what? 559 01:00:50,480 --> 01:00:53,480 But in deeds and what? And in truth. 560 01:00:53,480 --> 01:01:01,480 Now these actions of expressing love towards God. 561 01:01:01,480 --> 01:01:07,480 First, because see, the reason why we are focusing on God is because you cannot love men without loving God. 562 01:01:07,480 --> 01:01:09,480 Are we together? 563 01:01:09,480 --> 01:01:14,480 And for you to even love God, we will see that he first loved us. We're going to go into that first. 564 01:01:14,480 --> 01:01:17,480 God first of all, he loved us. 565 01:01:17,480 --> 01:01:22,480 Right? Then we love him by what? By obeying. 566 01:01:22,480 --> 01:01:26,480 When we obey, we now begin to love others. That is the sequence. 567 01:01:26,480 --> 01:01:34,480 Are we together? So these actions must be founded on faith. 568 01:01:34,480 --> 01:01:41,480 It is a response to love God is a response to the leading of the Holy Spirit in you. 569 01:01:41,480 --> 01:01:46,480 If you don't have the Spirit of God in you, you don't have the ability to love God. 570 01:01:46,480 --> 01:01:53,480 You don't have the ability to love men unconditionally as Christ have loved you. 571 01:01:53,480 --> 01:01:57,480 So these actions must be founded on faith. 572 01:01:57,480 --> 01:02:05,480 It is a response. Loving God is a response of what? Of the leading of the Spirit in the believer. 573 01:02:05,480 --> 01:02:10,480 And we who believe have the ability in us. 574 01:02:10,480 --> 01:02:14,480 All this explanation is for me to arrive at this last sentence. 575 01:02:14,480 --> 01:02:23,480 We who believe have the ability to do what? To love God because his Spirit does what? 576 01:02:23,480 --> 01:02:29,480 Has been given to us. How was the Spirit given to us? Because we believe. 577 01:02:29,480 --> 01:02:35,480 Are we together? Let's open our mouth and give thanks to God. 578 01:02:35,480 --> 01:02:41,480 Say Father, thank you Lord for the gift of your Spirit and for giving us the ability to express love. 579 01:02:41,480 --> 01:02:51,480 First of all to you. Because a life in the Spirit is a life inspired and live in obedience to your Spirit. 580 01:02:51,480 --> 01:02:59,480 And we've seen that sin is no longer a problem. It's no longer a barrier. 581 01:02:59,480 --> 01:03:07,480 Christ has become the eternal sacrifice. Therefore we have the capacity to love you. 582 01:03:07,480 --> 01:03:12,480 Say Father, I walk in this truth. 583 01:03:15,480 --> 01:03:20,480 Thank you for listening to our sermon today. We hope you were blessed by this teaching. 584 01:03:20,480 --> 01:03:25,480 If you want to learn more about our church, please visit our website or follow us on social media. 585 01:03:25,480 --> 01:03:28,480 We would love to connect with you and hear your feedback. 586 01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:33,480 Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast channel and share it with your friends and family. 587 01:03:33,480 --> 01:03:37,480 You never know who might need a word of encouragement.