 Shall we pray my father my God what to say thank you for the gift of life Thank you for the new week. Thank you for a lecture. Thank you for all the rest of us Fellows to my fellow students. Thank you for the wisdom. We are going to give us this week to carry out lechels Be that glorify in the name of Jesus most precious father will commit our Activities of this week into your able hands lecture father Please preserve our lecturers preserved all the students in the mighty name of Jesus and give us the wisdom Give us the knowledge to know more of you in Jesus name. We pray Amen Amen. Thank you so much. Yes. We'll get started So we've come a long way actually in our topic on holiness We started off by looking at the holiness of God We spent two sessions on that and then from there we are having understood God's holiness We considered why we must be holy why it is important for us to be holy and then from there We have now come into these chapters which talk about how God makes us holy So we saw a little bit of that last time. We saw that he is our Makadesh, you know, which has got that word kadosh inside it So it's basically Yahweh saying I will make you holy. I will set you apart So the Lord takes that commitment upon himself But of course we are expected to cooperate with him because he doesn't like to force us to do anything He respects the free will that he has given us so when we choose to submit and Co-operate with him. He causes us to be made holy. He sets us apart for himself You know, you know in our in our thoughts in our actions in all of that. So he empowers us He helps us. So we started off by looking at that and Today's we're going to use just continuing that today. We're going to be looking at how the Lord Perfects his holiness in us and the you know a role that we play So we say that I'm sorry. I'm just going to be having this cough. I think You know, so it's a kind of allergic thing. Yeah, so Yeah so So we are looking at the same thing, you know about the Lord Empowering and us cooperating but then there are so many scriptures, right? And they all present different aspects of this thought. So we would be going through so many scriptures now What we are covering today would be based on the chapters four and six of your notes because Five was already covered five was the chapter on why we must be holy. So we already touched that So today's session would be based on chapters four and six of your notes and So, you know, you could go through that later After the class, you know, just to kind of revise what has been, you know, covered in the class so Let's begin with second Corinthians chapter six was 14 And you know if someone could read all the way through to the next chapter was one so basically I would like you to read second Corinthians chapter six was 14 and Read all of those verses and read up to Verse one of chapters seven if someone could please do that for us Then, you know, we'll look at what this passage has to say and then take it from there Second Corinthians chapter six was 14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers for what to righteousness and wickedness have in common Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and beyond what does the believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols for we are the temple of the living God as God has said I will live with them and walk among them and I will be their God and they will be my people They will come out from them and be separate says the Lord touch no unclean things and I will receive you I'll be a father to you and you will be my sons and doctors says the Lord Almighty Since we have these promises dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit perfecting holiness out of reverence for God okay, so When we read these passages we sometimes don't catch what is being said Simply because we have been reading these You know passages from childhood and we've kind of become I don't know Immune to what is actually you know being said in them But actually if you look at what God is offering his people here, you know, he says in verse 16 he says I will live with them and walk among them and I will be their God and they will be my people It's quite an awesome promise that he's making over here. He says that he's going to come down And he's going to live with his people He's going to walk among them. He's going to get involved in their ordinary everyday lives You know, it's like this Very rich very influential person who chooses to literally, you know, walk on a day to day basis with ordinary people And get fully involved in their lives and be willing to help them at every point You know, so that's like such a big offer that God is making So he says I will live with them and walk among them I will be their God and he says I will you know, I'm willing to choose these people as to be my people You know, it's the honorable privilege that he's giving and then he he says, you know, therefore That's why because I am willing to do this come out from them, you know come out from the from that Community of unbelievers that you're living among and be separate Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you So the only condition that he's putting is that we should be willing to be on his side After all that he's offering, you know, if we say no, no We want to be on the other side and we want to continue, you know behaving the way the unbelievers do And touching all the unclean things which they touch Then it would be rather pointless It's like as if we are rejecting the offer that God is making us And it's not just this offer that he's making of, you know Being this noble rich benefactor was coming down to help a poor bunch of people No, he's going one step further because in verse 18 it says I will be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters says the lord almighty This almighty lord is not just saying, you know, I'm going to be nice to you people because I feel sorry for you He says I'm willing to go all the way and actually adopt you into my family as my own children You know, I mean like that's the ultimate privilege that he can give Uh to to people and so Paul says over here in verse 18 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit So let's purify ourselves. You know, let's separate ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit Perfecting holiness out of reverence for God So God is making an offer like this and he had to you know sacrifice his son To to fulfill this promise So when such a promise is being given the least that we can do is you know, um Accept this offer and reverence the God who has done this for us and you know separate ourselves So that uh, nothing contaminates our body and spirit So this is what we would need to do out of uh gratitude Out of respect uh for God who is offering us this Okay, so um, that's the point that is being made over here. Um So generally we would expect God in his holiness uh to come down to either Judges or we would expect him to come down, you know, uh to take some action against us And of course, he would never certainly condone our sins But here he's saying I'm I'm willing to adopt you as children And give you a chance to be a different kind of people to be a pure and holy people just like me So he's making this offer and saying see here. I'm uh Giving you a second chance to be a different kind of people And so you cannot be a different kind of people if you're still yoking yourself with the unbelievers You know, we once you um, I mean when we look at the oxen in the in the fields and they are yoked together Those two oxen have no choice but to move in the same direction, right? So if we yoke ourselves with unbelievers, we would have to be You know, we would end up walking in the direction that they are walking You would end up uh indulging in the things that they are indulging in And so if you if that is the kind of yoke which you have chosen to take upon yourself Then how on earth can you wear, you know separate yourself? How on earth can you keep yourself from contaminating your body and spirit? And so it's out of the question. It doesn't work that way So you would have to unyoke yourself. It would have to be a deliberate Step a conscious step that you would take to no longer Uh, you know be part of all of that and to consciously separate yourself from such people and say no I cannot I can I can be your friend But I cannot be your friend to the extent where I am participating in all of that So that would obviously bring a rift in that friendship. You would probably lose that friendship So this is going to happen, you know in in our in our business associations partnerships If the other person is kind of dragging us into something where we would have to compromise our principles Then we would have to back off and say no, which means in fact, it would affect your very, you know, business your finances So there are serious repercussions But this is something that we choose to do because the god of gods the almighty one has said I won't just be a benefactor. I will in fact adopt you as my own family members So for the sake of that honor We choose to give up all of these other things. So What are the some of the things that could contaminate our body our flesh? That would basically be the words that we speak the actions, you know that we perform Basically our choices. So that would It would stain it would contaminate our body our flesh On the other hand, what contaminates the spirit, you know, what contaminates the inner person? That would be wrong attitudes Wrong passions and desires That would you know contaminate the inner person So we would need to separate ourselves from these things consciously So that we can be pure Out of reverence for this god who has chosen to walk among us and live with us and be part of our everyday lives Okay, so this is a commitment that we make to him. Um, and so in line with that, you know, romans 15 verse 16 Says this if someone could read out for us romans 15 16, please Romance 15 16 that I might be a minister of jesus christ to the Gentiles ministering the gospel of god that the That the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable sanctified by the holy spirit Okay, so the the offering that these Gentiles are making Will be acceptable to the lord it will honor the lord Only if it is sanctified by the holy spirit So the holy spirit wants to sanctify us so that whatever we are offering will be pleasing in god size It will be acceptable to him, uh, but we need to you know, cooperate with the holy spirit So that this kind of sanctification takes place And so, uh, the holy spirit is willing to help us break out of any and every kind of yoke We don't have to continue being yoked to the unbelievers. We don't have to continue being yoked to the world He has the power He has the wisdom to bring us out of absolutely any kind of spiritual bondage You know, whatever a stronghold of temptation is there in our lives However intense it may be However, many years it might have, you know held its reign over us Uh, the holy spirit has the power to break us free to set us free I mean, there is no even no doubt even regarding that All that is required is us taking those initial baby steps and you know saying yes lord I really want to give up these things now lord. Even as I start trying you help me So you need to put in that effort and make those attempts and even as you're doing it The holy spirit who sees that you're not just saying the words but are also in action actually trying And when he sees that He takes over he begins to guide. He begins to lead. He begins to empower But if you're but if I uh, you know, I am just simply saying the words again and again and saying yes lord I want to give up this I want to give up this but I'm not taking any steps to separate myself I'm not cutting off those things. I'm not giving up those things Then it would just be words But god looks for action not just words when he sees the action when he sees us making that attempt Then he you know, he uh acknowledges that uh, what we are saying is genuine that we really are serious about cooperating with him And even as we take those first initial steps of cutting off all those, you know trigger points that lead us back into sin Separating ourselves from the people who um, you know leaders into sin Even as we actually start taking those actions He knows that we are serious about this and then he will empower us He will help us and that is why you know, um In roman's chapter seven, uh and the very beginning of roman's eight where you know paul is talking about his past life um You know in the book of galatians Uh when he's talking about his past life He says that as far as the mosaic law was concerned He kept it in a faultless manner I mean, that's a very very high statement to make about oneself uh, the mosaic law had 613 laws and um, uh, so at least outwardly Here was this man paul who was very very sincerely trying to keep all of them to the extent that To keep them externally, you know internally is another matter because you see your emotions are involved and your Motives are involved and all of that and god can look inside and see that you've broken All the laws as at the at the level of the spirit So it's easy to keep the you know, it's no it's it's tough to even keep the letter of the law Um, but it's impossible to keep the spirit of the law without the holy spirit's help But here was this man paul who really had been trying to do that And so, you know, I mean in Everyone would be reading this letter that he's sending out So if he was bluffing about it, you know, someone would be able to point a finger at him and say ha I know on that I know on that occasion. I know what you did and the way you behaved And so I know I know that you really have not kept the law as faultlessly as you're pretending to be but you see no such Um, uh allegations could be made against paul because that man when he was an unbeliever He really faultlessly tried to keep those six six seven and thirteen mosaic laws But on the inside this is the story that was going on. I mean externally anyone looking at him You know, he says that I was a Pharisee of the Pharisee as in I was a better Pharisee than all the other Pharisees combined You know, these are very high words that he's speaking about himself And so in public that is who he was But internally there was this other story going on which only he knew about and he was so deeply ashamed and so deeply struggling And so maybe we you know, we could actually look at those verses So we would need to start off in roman's chapter seven verse 21 And you know, if you could go all the way up to chapter eight verse two So uh roman's seven 21 all the way up to eight two if someone could read out, please Romans chapter seven verse 21 So I find this law at work when I want to do good Evil is right there with me for in my inner being I delight in god's law But I see another law at work in the members of my body Waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin At work within my members What a wretched man I am who will rescue me from this body of death Thanks be to god through jesus christ our lord So then I myself in my mind I'm a slave to god's law, but in a sinful nature a slave to the law of sin Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus Because through jesus christ the law of spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death Okay, so um he talks about uh, what was going on inside because you see on the outside Uh, you know, he would not express his hatred and anger towards people Uh, you know, he would maybe be polite because the mosaic law says, you know, uh, don't call somebody a fool Um, don't murder anyone but on the inside Is hatred literally boiling this anger that he has no control over Is all of these emotions and he has no and he knows that these are all uh dirty in god's eyes And he's unable to deal with it because uh, he says in my mind, I really want to serve the god I know I want to delight in the in the law, but I'm unable to it's like as if something is controlling me and I'm so helpless You know, he says I'm so in verse 24. He says, what a wretched man I am Who will rescue me and then he says in verse 25 You know, jesus christ did that for me. He rescued me and he goes on to explain how jesus christ did that So in chapter eight verse two he says, um, you know, jesus christ introduced this new law of the spirit And this new law of the spirit was able to set him free from this other law that had been, you know, uh, controlling him and Uh been subjecting him and so uh, it is the law of the spirit which Sets us free which gives us victory and uh, so in roman's chapter eight Ephesians chapter five and galatians chapter five He expands on this. Uh, he explains to us. Um, what exactly he means What exactly is this law of the spirit and how does it set a person free? You know from um from from sin and temptation and allow us to have walk in victory So obviously we cannot look at all of those chapters in detail Uh, but just to look at a couple of verses from galatians. Um, maybe if uh, we could first read out Galatians chapter five verse 16 Someone could read out You know, is anyone present? Is anyone attending? Yeah, Galatians chapter five verse 16 So I say live by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature Okay, so uh one Instruction that he gives is live by the spirit. Okay. He's what he says We'll we'll you know, we'll look at that in greater detail If we could also read out chapter five, you know, galatians chapter five versus 22 to 25 galatians five 22 to 25 Galatians chapter five verse 22 to 25 But the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulnessness and self control against such things. There is no law Those who belong to christ jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires since we live by the spirit Let us keep in step with the spirit Okay, so um, uh this Person this wretched man of you know, roman 724 where he calls himself a wretched man because he's so helpless He longs to be some somebody different But he's caught up in the slavery to sin and is unable to escape So now, you know, now that he's had his encounter with jesus And now that he's become a believer he makes a simple decision. He decides, you know, um that he will now onwards Walk in step with the spirit. That's what it says. So I know in verse 25 he chooses to walk in step with the spirit That just basically means, you know on a day to day basis He's just going to listen to the holy spirit's voice and he's just going to submit and obey all that the holy spirit is asking him to do and Why why does he know he will be able to do this? Why does he understand that he will be able to walk in step with the spirit earlier? He couldn't but now why does he know that he will be able to do it now? Because you know, uh because of roman 6 6 and we covered that already in last in the last class So now because of roman 6 6 He knows that uh, the old person that he was that wretched man that he was that wretched man Thankfully got crucified with christ that wretched man got kicked out now A new creation has been created by the holy spirit given birth to by the holy spirit himself And he is that new creation now and so now he knows that he will be able to walk in step with the spirit He will be able to obey All that the holy spirit is telling him to do you know on a daily basis Of course in the beginning, you know, I mean Initially, uh, he would probably fall more just like a little baby that's learning to walk, you know it Uh keeps clopping down onto the ground because it's still learning the art of walking so but as time goes by You know, the spirit continues to teach and the person is able to learn so he uh, he has now Successfully started walking in step with the spirit because now he's a new creation He has the freedom to choose how he's going to walk in which direction he's going to walk Is no longer that wretched man who got crucified So um, so every day on a daily basis as a new creation He chooses to offer his body To to the lord for righteousness rather than offering his body to uh, sinful things So on a daily basis He makes a choice to act out verse 24 Galatians 5 24 Where it says those who belong to christ jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires So because he knows that that wretched man was already crucified and that wretched person died And now he is a new creation because he knows that So each time, you know, his unrenewed mind comes up with his wrong Sinful passions. He takes those passions and he nails them to the cross and says no I don't need to be under your control anymore because I am now a new creation He nails those sinful passions of his unrenewed mind He nails them to the cross And he continues to renew his mind He teaches his mind the word of god and says look This is what the word of god says about what I should think and how I should respond to this particular So I will not give in to you. I am now empowered to live a different life So I can, you know, live a different life and enjoy the full rewards of that I don't have to be this helpless person who's stuck in a situation and unable to come out God can now freely bless me because, you know, there are no obstacles in the way and I'm doing what god wants So he on a everyday basis, he chooses to nail these passions which rise up because, you know, the mind is still not completely renewed. So He every time the unrenewed mind comes up with some sinful thoughts, some sinful attitude He takes it. He nails it to the cross and it's the same with even the fleshly desires of the body So every time those things arise, he takes that and he nails it to the cross So by doing that, he is consciously Choosing to walk in step with the spirit. So this is what he is doing from his side And when the Holy Spirit sees him doing that, you know, um, it says we saw that earlier in Galatians 5 16 So I say walk by the spirit Okay, and again that same thing is repeated in verse 25 Galatians 5 25 it says since we live by the spirit Let us keep in step with the spirit. So the Holy Spirit who sees this person cooperating with him He begins to empower him to live by the spirit. So now this person is no longer just doing this on his own He's being empowered by the Lord by his divine power to be able to walk in victory and uh, so We are not just commanded to walk in step with the spirit We are commanded to do that because the Holy Spirit himself is causing us Equipping us, you know enabling us to do that. So we we are not walking in our own strength We are walking by the power of the Holy Spirit. Okay, so now that is the teaching that comes out of these verses and So no believer has to say to themselves. Oh this particular stronghold that has that has you know, that has got its You know claws into me. I can never ever overcome it. No, there is no such thing Every single temptation every single sin and stronghold Can be broken It's just you who have to step out in faith and just start taking those initial baby steps And even as you're doing that, uh, you know, the Lord will help and Actually in Galatians chapter 6 We also have these instructions given Where it talks about how There are some burdens that are too big to bear on our own and so Fellow believers are instructed and said when you see someone struggling with their sin It's your responsibility to go and help them It's your responsibility to stand by their side, you know to to to encourage them on a day to day basis to pray for them Help them, you know in this fight, which they are fighting to you know overcome those strongholds. So Uh, I'm not saying that this is something that we would need to do on our own You can prayerfully find one or two persons, you know, uh, who Will be willing to invest their time and you know, their prayers and their love and their help You know in helping in guiding you and helping you to overcome So sometimes there are things which you can do on your own with the help of the spirit But there are sometimes where you would have to reach out to other mature believers Wise believers who will be able to help you and guide you in doing this And so even as they stand with you, uh, you know, you can overcome these things There is nothing no stronghold that can't be broken. I mean because I've had things in my life where I thought I would never come out of them And then just many years ago someone just gave me this tiny little sticker, you know, which you can stick on your I mean on the wall on your mirror or wherever and it just said it was this verse, you know, which says he is able And then every time my eye would catch that verse. He is able I would think Yeah, he is able to bring me out of anything, you know Physical things are easier in the sense, you know, we don't we don't we're not exactly that kind of people who will go and do physical acts of sin But the attitudes the inner attitudes my goodness. It's quite difficult to come out of those You know, because We that's the way our mind has been functioning from childhood So for that unrenewed mind to be renewed, uh, it's something that only it can happen through the you know Help of the holy spirit and you have verses like that which says he is able He is able to you know equip us and help us And so there is absolutely no stronghold That you can't come out of God really Has the power and he has the wisdom to know how to do it And so when we take our baby steps in his direction and choose to walk in step with him He will enable us he will equip us and he will empower us because that is his desire To sanctify us so that we can be offered as a Acceptable offering to the father. So God is for us in this He's very very much on our side and he's capable and able so we can have that confidence that We will receive the strength which we need And so we hand in John chapter 15 Verses three to four. Uh, this is what the Lord says. In fact, you know, we we looked at this, um These verses last time in the last class But just as a reminder if you know, one of us could just read out read it out once again John chapter 15 versus three to four, please You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides In the wine neither can you unless you abide with me Okay, so uh, we touched upon this already We looked at how when we chose to believe in Jesus words and we chose to accept him as our savior Um, that was enough at that time. We were completely cleaned. Okay, but We go to him on a daily basis for um Daily cleansing that is something that we'll have to so that's how we remain in him every day those Those those evil passions of the mind Those bodily desires which go against God's commandments, you know, whenever we give in to them We quickly go to him. We say lord, you clean me you purify me from my uncleanness And lord, you strengthen me and make me more righteous in my walk So on a daily basis, we keep going to him and as we do that the our connection to the wine gets stronger and stronger We are no longer one of those branches Which is a kind of loosely connected to the wine and kind of hanging off and barely surviving No, the more we keep going back to him Uh, you know the more we get strengthened that connection keeps getting stronger And uh, then we really begin to bear The fruit of the holy spirit. Uh, there's only one single fruit which we bear because uh in Galatians chapter five Verse 282 it says that we bear the fruit of the spirit. It doesn't say fruits. It's not plural There's only one single fruit which we begin to bear and that fruit has got all kinds of lovely things inside it It's got love joy peace. It's got gentleness self control faithfulness all of those things um So basically all those things are your the nature of God the very nature of God, you know Because the whole plan of us becoming believers was so that we would be made into the image of Jesus Christ so Then that connection to the wine gets stronger and stronger because daily we're going to him for cleansing We're abiding in the wine. We're attached to him even as we're doing that this fruit starts growing What is that fruit fruit is literally the nature of Jesus Christ? So all of his love his faithfulness his self control Starts being produced in us and that fruit starts showing And people can see that we have it and they think oh wow I think this is one person who's actually connected strongly to the wine. The connection is strong, you know, so That is the external evidence of whether actually you're you're properly connected to him or not So if you don't see this fruit in your life, uh, you know and um Um, you see yourself lacking in this fruit in this nature of Jesus Christ Then you need to ask yourself. What can I do to strengthen the connection? Are there something standing in the way? Do I need to get rid of some things and and increase the connection? You know, that's that some that's a question which we would need to ask ourselves Uh, that's why Jesus says you know in john 17 17 if someone could read out john 17 17 John chapter 17 verse 17 Sanctify them by the truth your word is truth So how does god sanctify us? How does he help us to remain in him? Um, he sanctifies us by his word Very faithfully. He gives us the word Uh, you know every day he speaks to us. He points out verses to us Uh, now it's up to us to believe whether it is truthful or not Okay, so we can say no no no what god is saying is not really true You know, and then uh, it's not really going to work out this way So I need to do things from my side I need to compromise from my side to get on in life because I can't just rely upon this word of god The word of god is not uh The word of god functioned very nicely in abraham's day But here we are living in the 21st century in the 21st century The word of god doesn't function in the same way. It's not truthful enough and we come up with all this You know when we come up with all this wrong arguments and we refuse to accept that this word is truth 101 percent truth If we fail to do that And we fail to hold on to it Then we fail to get sanctified. So actually it is very very vital You know, it says in john 17 17 sanctify them by the truth Your word is truth It's the truth of his word that is going to sanctify you and make you holy If you can just hold on to that word and say I believe in this word a hundred percent and I Believe it to the extent where I'm going to act it out. I'm going to put, you know, I'm going to Obey it. I'm going to follow it because I really believe that whatever this word is promising is 100 truth so most of um, you know, satans Schemes and strategies will be to cause you to doubt the word It will be to cause you to um, you know Be casual in your following of it, you know, so you may think okay fine If I know I just follow this word of god to 70 extent then, you know It's not so bad if I know just kind of ignore his word for about 30 percent It doesn't work like that. So he tries to make us compromise So satan's main tactic is either to make us completely disbelieve what god is saying Or at least just kind of just believe it half-heartedly Maybe you're like, okay fine. I'll follow it when it's convenient the word, you know I'll follow the word when it's convenient and when it's too inconvenient I'll just kind of ignore it because What god is saying over here is like too tough and he's saying he'll bless me and I know He will know sanctify me, but I don't see that happening. I mean, uh, when is it going to happen? I don't have the strength to hold on and we start making all of these excuses It doesn't work. Uh, we don't get sanctified. So it, um, It all comes down to Really hundred and one percent just believing in his word believing that it is the truth And holding on to it because what what he has promised in his word shall come through You know, we will be uh greatly blessed in him. So, um That is the main, uh Problem, you know that happened with adam and eve. Uh, they doubted god's word and Not sure whether we should in fact be taking time to, you know, get into that But I think there's something very, um fundamental that we, you know, learn from that adam and eve story So adam and eve failed And when they failed Things just went disasterously for them and now we through jesus christ, uh, have been restored So what adam and eve lost? That has now been restored to us So it would be very very foolish for us to once again repeat The mistake made by adam and eve Okay, so the first humans who were created literally in the image of god, uh, they Were very very foolish. They did some very very foolish things by, you know Because they did not believe in the hundred percent truth of god's word and just hold on to it They failed to do that and they lost What I know what had been given to them now jesus christ has restored that to you and me So now we should not go back to uh, the mistake which they made So even though it's going to kind of eat into our time Maybe we need to look at this so, um Let's you know, look at these Familiar versus uh, if someone could read out genesis chapter one, you know We're starting with genesis chapter one if someone could read out verses 26 to 28 Genesis chapter one verse 26 to 28 Then god said let us make man in our image in our likeness And let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the Okay. Ah, yes. You know, you're supposed to rule over a whole bunch of things basically all of creation Um, then if we can move into verse 28 28 god blessed them and said to them brief fruitful and increase in number Fill the earth and subdue it rule over fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground These people look at them. I mean what is god saying about this uh adam and eve? Let us make mankind in our image in our likeness So these adam this adam and eve are literally like god Okay, they're already like god. He literally made them in his likeness They can't be anymore like him if they wanted they're already like god And because they are like god, they have been created to be rulers And so in verse 28 we see that they are told to you know, just go ahead and subdue the whole earth They've been given the authority and the power to do that So they can just subdue the whole earth and rule over it and have dominion over it Because they have literally been made to be like god literally in his image that is their status And here we have in genesis chapter three verse two to six Where satan comes in and he is causing them to doubt What god has given them so if we can look at genesis chapter three versus two to six if someone could read out please Genesis chapter three verse two to six the woman said to the serpent We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden But god did say you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden and you must not touch it or you will die you will Not surely die the serpent said to the women for god knows that when you eat Eat of it your eyes will be open and you will be like god Knowing good and evil when the women saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasure And pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining a step. She took some and ate it She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it Yeah, so Here we have satan bringing in his lie And what is the lie that he's saying he's saying you guys are not really like god Which is a complete lie because god himself said i'm going to make them in my likeness Now here is satan saying no, you're not really like god You will become like god when you know good and evil Okay, and you do you still don't know it and you'll only know good and evil when you eat this fruit Then once you know that good and evil then you will be like god is what he is saying, you know So he's basically twisting the truth. Okay, so um and But if you look at adam He already had enough wisdom and knowledge to in fact name all of you know creation God brings all of those uh, you know created beings to him because after all he's the ruler, right? So he gets to decide what they're going to be named and this ruler whom whom god has created is so much in god's likeness That he's able to name them correctly and the naming is done so correctly that god accepts Whatever names he has given so here is a man of stature adam is not no ordinary guy You know, he's not just the you know caretaker You know one small little guy He's the ruler and he gets to name these creatures Because they are going to be his dominion and he is going to be their ruler. So he's already wise He's already like god and now satan is bringing this new idea that no no no You don't really know enough to be like god You still don't have that knowledge and so uh eve thinks You know this particular fruit. It seems to be desirable for gaining wisdom She already has all the wisdom. She could possibly need but now she's falling in You know and giving into this lie which satan is kind of placing before her And so uh, she you know decides i'm going to eat this. I want to gain wisdom I want to be like god very sad because they already have all of that And they're thinking that if they do something sinful, they will get it They already have it And they don't even realize it and uh, so um, you know, uh, she eats it And then she offers it to her husband husband. There's no protest from him because which means he also is very much happy with the idea So he also eats it. Okay, so they both do that and then we have genesis chapter three was seven um Yeah, if someone could read out genesis three verse seven, please You know, it would really help us to get along with the session And cover all of the thing if people could just you know, read the verses It just kind of keeps you alert which is why I ask you to read because if I go on and on you know, you may actually kind of Tune out. So this is just so if someone could please read out genesis chapter three verse seven The eyes of both were opened and knew that they were naked And they sued fig leaves together and made themselves coverings okay, so um Satan he said When you eat the fruit your eyes will be opened and you will know good and evil So their eyes were opened uh, but uh, what do they discover they discover that they are naked now basically what happened to satan Is what is now happening to them? Okay, so um, um, I mean now that we're actually into this Let's at least grasp what's going on here so that you know, we can keep this at the back of our mind And know who we are today in christ and stick to the truth Okay, and abide in him and not make the foolish mistakes, you know, which are you know first human fathers did so Ezekiel chapter 28 versus 12 to 13 If someone could read out Ezekiel 28 12 to 13 Son of man take a lamentation for the king of tyrant say to him That says the lord That says the lord god you were the seal of perfection full of wisdom and perfect in beauty You were in eden the garden of god every precious stone was your covering The saddest opus diamond burial earnings. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We'll we'll leave out the entire list of precious stones If you know if you could read 14 and 15 versus 14 and 15 Therub who covers I established you you were on the holy mountain of god You walked back and forth in the midst of fairy stones You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you Okay, so, uh, uh, if you look at uh worse Uh, 28 was 12 and 13 It you know, here it's talking about the king of tyre, but it's also talking about satan. Okay, so there are two, uh Because this king of tyre seems to be pretty embodied by satan I mean, I don't know there's so much comparison between this man must have been a really evil man So there's a lot of comparison going on between this king of tyre and satan himself So, uh, talking about satan it says, you know, you were full of wisdom and perfect in beauty And every precious stone adorned you that was the status which satan had You know a very very high status just the kind of very very high status that was given to adam and eve And it says in verse 14 You were it says you were anointed as guardian cheer up For so I ordained you you were on the holy mount of god. You walked among the fairy stones. So, um, uh Lucifer was the guardian of the holy mount Same way adam was the guardian of this, uh, you know, uh garden of eden Do you see the parallels going on over there? So, um, and then it says you were blameless in your ways Lucifer was created perfect to be completely blameless Just like adam adam was, you know, uh created perfectly holy and um Then what happens when versus uh 16 to 18 if someone could please read out versus 16 to 18 Oh, no, okay fine. We'll take our break and we'll come back. Uh, so we'll we'll uh, we'll do this after the break So at 11 o'clock, you know, if we can all log log back in, uh, we'll we'll continue with our uh session. Thank you