I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The title for today's message is, The Narrow and the Broad Way, and our text is taken from Matthew 7, verses 13 to 14, on page 1500 of the Church Bible. We are looking at three sub-headings this morning, One Right Way, difference between the narrow and the broad way, and then practical application. Let's go to the text, Matthew chapter seven, verses 13 to 14. I read, enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Last week on the Salmon on the Mount, we looked at the Golden Rule. The lifestyle of a true believer is expressed in the Golden Rule. To love your neighbor as you love yourself can only be practiced by a true believer in Christ. who knows him or herself, to be a sinner, an ill-bound, ill-deserving and ill-deserving sinner. That because of the mercy of God, he has been found and forgiven, and he has been given grace and love in spite of his wretchedness. It is only then that he will be able to look at the unbeliever and practice the same love that God has bestowed upon him. Because by nature, we can only do good to those who love us. But to sacrificially do good to those who hate us and those who despise us, comes by the grace and mercy of God in the gospel. Today, we are looking at the narrow and the broad way. Jesus is coming to the conclusion of the sermon on the mount. And it is now time for the practical application to this sermon. which is enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Now to our first subheading this morning, The One Way. Let's go back to the text, Matthew 7, verse 13. It says, enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. For many people today have embraced what is called religious pluralism. In other words, a religion which accepts multiple paths or roads to God. It is almost as if it is an abomination to believe in one true God and one way to eternal life. This concept has become more popular in this day and time because the world does not like truth. Because truth divides people. because truth is bitter and it is a swallow, a bitter pill to swallow. And so people have come up with all kinds of notions. They believe that we should just live as one people to avoid truth and discrimination. We should not tell ourselves the truth. We should accommodate all religions and believe that every religion will lead to heaven. There's also what they called religious ecumenism. This is religions working together as one. Sometimes it's called interfaith movement, in which cults and apostate churches are working together as one. As a result of these popular ideologies, a significant number of people in churches believe that there are more than one way to heaven. These concepts are unbiblical and nowhere taught in the Bible. What we have in scriptures is the exclusive demands of the gospel. Jesus said in John 14, verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I will unpack that a little later on, but first of all, let us look at the Old Testament Scriptures from Genesis 3, verse 15, which says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and ours. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. Known as the Proto-Evangelium, the first gospel, the curse on mankind because of Adam's sin and God's provision for a savior from sin. It's what we have in Genesis chapter three, verse 15. This is a contrast between true and false religion. God has never for once introduced multiple ways of heaven. only one way, as contrasted with the false. God causes Satan to be forever at war with the truth. The seed that will crush the serpent's head, which is the offspring of the woman, is going to be in conflict with false religion. throughout our age and time in this world. This is an ongoing battle between the people of God, the seed of the church, which is also the narrow way, and also the one way religion, which is spearheaded by Christ in the covenant of grace. It has always been one way. When you go through the history of the Bible, from Adam and Eve, we have the line. I mean one line. not two or three or four. One line that obeyed God, Abel. From there we have Seth. We have Enoch, who walked with God and was no more. Then we have Noah. On the ungodly line, we have the false and untrue religion. We have Lamech, a wicked, descendants of Cain, who murdered his brother Abel in cold blood, out of jealousy. Cain's children continued in the line of sin. Lamech, son of Methuselah, was Cain's great, great grandson, who continued to murder people. The trend of that wickedness continued through the family line. He even boasted of his killings to his two wives. This was where polygamy actually started, was first mentioned in the Bible. Then Lamech was the father of Tubal Cain, in contrast to Cain's sinful line. Seth, Eve's other son, and his descendants were known for righteousness. Seth's great, great grandson, Enoch, the Bible says, walked with God so closely that God took him directly to heaven at 365 years of age. So you can see that God has always contrasted, even from the beginning, the line of righteousness and the line of falsehood, false religion. It has always been one way to heaven. No wonder when the patriarch prayed, they said the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, they are mentioning the line to which righteousness is proceeding from, the line from which God has ordained the gospel to be preached, the line of the helix, the one-way religion. So let us put away this issue of bringing everybody into oneness and telling us that we are only serving the same God. God has demonstrated to us from the Old Testament how the demands of the gospel are exclusive. One way religion, one way to God, one Christ, and one salvation for humanity. And unless and until we believe in Christ, we are all going to end up in hell if we do not put our faith and our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We see this in Genesis chapter 5 verse 22 to 24. Enoch fathered Lamech, Lamech fathered Noah. This was the line of promise whose hope was to destroy the cross which Jesus nailed to the cross when he was crucified. He abolished the reign of sin and death through his death, burial, and resurrection. Throughout the Bible, there has always been these two lines, the true and false religion. You have the godly line and the ungodly line. The Bible says, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated. Where does the hate come from? It comes not as a result of the fact that God hated him for his creation, that God distinguished the two lines. The one is godly and the other one is ungodly. He chose to bless the one line with the gospel message, with redemption, with salvation, and he chose to ignore the other line. to live in its own perdition. Throughout the Bible there has always been these two lines. One is the narrow way and the other is the false way. Let nobody fool you that there are two ways or five ways to heaven when there is only one way. when we come to the new testament jesus makes this exclusive statement i am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me john chapter 16 verse 4 in john chapter 16 verse 4 we have one of the seventh i am statements of jesus christ which is the name of god reflected In this statement, it reflects his power and authority and Jesus claimed this name for himself. I am the self-existent one. That is the very nature of the Messiah. He is the God-man-redeemer, the one who came to save us from our sins when we believe. In John chapter eight, verse 58, Jesus said, truly, truly, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. The Jews took up stones to stone him because they clearly understood that Jesus is calling himself to be God, equating himself with God, which was blasphemy to the Jews who were totally ignorant of who the Messiah would be. And he said, again in the same John chapter 16 verse 4, he says, I am the way, which is a definite article distinguishing himself as the only way. Not two way, not three way, of four ways. Peter reiterated this fact in Acts chapter 4 verse 12. It says, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. This is the exclusive claims and nature of the gospel. One way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ. Not Mary, or the saints, or some angel, or other religions of the world. It is only through Jesus Christ. And then he comes to the second one, I am the way, the truth. Again, Jesus uses the definite article to say with emphasis that I am the only truth. Jesus has equated himself with the law of God in this very sermon, the sermon on the mount. After contrasting the pharisaical position and false notion of the Pharisees, he then said to them, But I say unto you, equating himself with the law of God, the only truth, as I came to fulfill the law and the prophet, in Matthew chapter 5 verse 17, as the source of all truth is the incarnate word of God. Thirdly, he said, I am the life, the source of all life. Speaking of his authority over life and death, Jesus said he was going to lay down his life for his sheep and that he was going to take it again. In John chapter 10, verse 17 to 18. In this I am statement, Jesus declared himself To be first of all, the only path to heaven. Secondly, the only mentor of righteousness. Thirdly, the savior of both physical and spiritual life. To stop patronizing Christians who believe in many roads to heaven. Stop patronizing them. Stop sympathizing with them in order to avoid being discriminated. That we are called to say the truth, to defend the truth, to declare it even in the midst of opposition. We cannot be cloud ourselves with heresy, with falsehood, with religion that believes that there are 12 or 15 ways to go to heaven and we begin to compromise, we begin to look as if we are all the same, we are all heading to the same direction. remember a pastor went for a visitation he went and visited this sick woman the husband was there in the house while the pastor was sympathizing sharing the word of God the man interrupted and said you know going to heaven Like you said, Pastor, it's like many roads. It's like all of us are going to Banju, and you take Serekunda, or you take Westfield, or you take Tabakoto, or you take the other side of the road. But you can see that the Pastor was not In compromise with this man, he did not accept that kind of teaching that comes from this man. He continued to share the gospel and not affirming the heresy which this man was trying to propagate in the midst of other people. We should be resolute in our gospel message. We should not compromise with it. There are no many, many ways to heaven. There is only one way to heaven. And Jesus himself said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one, means no one, not many, but no one comes to the Father except by me. I am the truth. I am truth personified. I came to fulfill the law. I am the way, the truth, and the life. If you are breathing and living today, it's as a result of the life that I gave to you. I am Emmanuel, God with us. The prophet spoke about him, that he was the God incarnate, the God-man redeemer who would come to save his people from their sins. And so therefore, we should not miss that point. In the Bible, the whole of scripture speaks of one way, not two way. everyone knew the Bible that God had a line of promise and that line he has maintained throughout Old Testament scripture even in the time of war in the time of farming God has always left himself with a remnant a people that will propagate the gospel, that will take the line of promise from one generation to the other. It said that David's kingdom will become an everlasting kingdom, and it is from that kingdom that Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, was born. Never will we mix that. When you look at the Bible, the history of scriptures, it is always through the one line of promise that God has effected and orchestrated His blessings. Without Him, without Him we can do nothing. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot manufacture our own salvation. Man in and of himself. Because God has made us and given us this desire to worship. And so, in all of our cultures, we must find something to worship. We must look for something to worship. There is no culture, there is no nation, there is no people that will not look for a deity, somewhere, someplace to worship. Because we have this in... in and of ourselves. We are built in like that, to always look for something to worship. It is either we are worshiping God, or we are worshiping ourselves, or we are worshiping a deity, or we are worshiping a stick, or we are worshiping a stone. And that is why all cultures throughout the world, they are looking for something to worship. And so everybody's coming with his own religion. Everybody's saying, my own is the right way. But God has not left us to make those choices. Without him coming down and establishing a covenant of grace, there wouldn't have been no salvation. Man would have been left to his misery, going up and down, looking for their own gods, which they will manufacture themselves. Don't you see the world in which we live in? There's so many religions in the world. How come? because man is seeking his own way. Bible says the way of man is destruction. This is the broad way that leads to destruction. And so many people found a way in it. And so now, this morning to our second point, the difference between the narrow way and the broad way. the narrow way and the broad way. Let's go back to Matthew 7, verse 13. It says, verse 14. Let's start to verse 13. Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, there are few who found it. Narrow way is the way of hardship and difficult situation. It is called the narrow way because it's not an easy road. If anybody tells you that Christianity is a bed of roses, he has actually lied to you. Because if you just look at your life practically, and you begin to recount on all the sour providences that you have been through in life, you'd actually come to the conclusion that being a Christian is not a bed of roses. One day I was telling someone, I said to him, that Christians are the most joyous people in the world. Because you see, both the narrow and the broad way, all of us are not exempted from suffering. Look at the Nollywood actor, Junior Pope, that was drowned yesterday, left a wife and three children. Look at the girl in Serekunda. Her father locked up in a house. Because he was tired of being locked up, he jumped from the stair, from the top building and died. We are no strangers to suffering. And we are not exempted from suffering as being Christians. But one of the things that distinguishes us to the unbeliever is the joy of the Lord, the peace of God that passeth all understanding, the joy of the Lord, which is our strength. So this way is actually very difficult and hard, full of tribulation. The Bible says in Acts chapter four, verse 22, through many tribulations we shall enter into the kingdom of God. In 2 Timothy 3 verse 12, it says, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ will be persecuted. But God has given us grace, he has given us strength to undergo this persecution, to suffer with patience and perseverance, looking unto Jesus, the offerer and finisher of our faith. And that is why you can see two people. One is a Christian and other is a non-believer. They are going through the same road, but the Christian will be the one courageous. He will be the one giving the other one courage and encouraging the other one not to give up. And sometimes they will look at you and say, look at this foolish man, instead of you to find ways. to solve your problem. You are telling us about courage, about patience, about obedience to the word of God. It is difficult. The Broadway is difficult. But God will give you grace and endurance to persevere. Why does grace come upon the believer? Why does God give us endurance? If there is nothing to endure, God wouldn't have given us endurance. So know this place is very, very difficult and it's hard. God will give you grace to undergo it. And it requires, the narrow way requires crucifixion of our flesh. Crucifying our flesh in Galatians chapter five verse 24. The Bible says, and those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with his passions and his desires. In Galatians 2, verse 20, he says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Crucifying the flesh. Remember our time in the secondary school, There was this notorious criminal, very notorious for his criminal act. One day we saw this man in a white suit standing before the assembly preaching the gospel. That was one of the comedies we have for the day. The whole assembly started laughing and looking at short a man as this. Who had made you a preacher all of a sudden? But this was a thief, a wrangler, a bully, and someone who likes to fight and loves fighting and makes fighting as his best occupation. But today, he stands before the people preaching the gospel. And he continued like that until the school believed that something new has taken place in the life of this man. A total demolition of his former life now As the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17, If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, everything has become new. I tell you, to crucify the flesh is not an easy thing. People will mock you. they will despise you and you yourself will see that it is not easy because you are demolishing yourself the things that you loved before will begin to appear before you and they will begin to taunt you they will begin to disturb you they will begin to tempt you and you cannot in and of yourself deny all of these things but you have to look to Christ daily That's why we pray, we mourn over our sin. The Bible says, blessed are those who mourn. We mourn over our sins and we mourn over the sins of other people and we pray that this our body would one day be glorified so that the struggle between sin and righteousness will be over. But we see that this struggle is an ongoing struggle in the life of a believer and so therefore it's not easy to become a Christian. Pastor, one day I was told about this story. This man of God wanted to say something. He wanted to say something that he was struggling in within himself. He wanted to say that something was telling him inside of his heart that I should not say these things because if I say these things He's going to hurt my friend. He's going to disintegrate my friend. He's going to take my friend back to memory lane and begin to think of all the sufferings that he had passed through. And God gave him good reasons, biblical reasons, through the word and the spirit, he was able to understand why he was not permitted to say it. Because if he had said this, it would have become A terrible thing for the one hearing those words, because it would have brought him down, it would have destroyed his confidence, his hope and his trust would have been destroyed. But this man began to thank God in his heart. As he was thinking, he said, thank you, Lord Jesus. Because if not for you, if not for the Spirit of God ministering inside of me, I would have just opened my mouth and said these words. And according to the testimony of this man, God was telling the Spirit of God. was witnessing to him, telling him the reasons why he must love his neighbor as himself. He looked at himself and said, if I were in the position of this person and I were to say these words, and this person were to say these words to me, how would I feel? How would I respond? And so it's not an easy thing to crucify your sinful self because that is what you are used to. That is your lifestyle, your formal lifestyle. It takes the grace of God in your life to bring to subjection the passions and desires of the flesh. It happens with both men and women in the covenant of grace. We struggle every day over sin to put it under subjection. And if you are not careful, sin will master you if you do not seek Christ daily in His word, in prayer, in the sacrament, in the Lord's day like this. If you do not seek Him daily, you are sure that you will be down the drain of sin because you have not sought the Lord, your God, continually. And so it requires sacrifice. Crucifixion of the flesh is not An easy thing. Living by faith is to live trusting Jesus. Requires a deliberate putting to death the old sinful nature. And thirdly, the narrow way requires you and I to have endurance. We have to endure trials. Must be ready to endure. We must be ready to endure the death of a loved one. disease, injury, financial hardships, worry, fear, etc. without compromising our faith. I remember those times when we were at Dromakolom, while we were preaching, the drunkards were drinking, they were rejoicing, they were having a party, they were interrupting us! in all sorts of manner. But we have people who continued with us up to this point. People who came along with us. They endured the trials, the mockery, all the way down to this place. How they despised us, they rejected us. But you have people who come to me and said, you know what? I am not, I cannot go any further. Tired of these insults. Look at these drunkards. They don't even care about us. But you see, when you look at yourself, A sinner, you know you are undeserving, ill-deserving, hell-bound, without the grace of God. When you see a sinner who is suffering and languishing in that position, you would have mercy upon him more. Knowing that if God does not deliver them, they can't be delivered. They are in a miserable, helpless situation. It takes you through difficult times. It takes you through a time of sorrow and sadness. And you must endure. All of that. You must not compromise your faith. A lot of people compromise their faith. And it's very easy for unbelievers to compromise. I tell you when they are in difficult situation, they are ready to do anything just to sort out their problems. They can compromise their health. They can compromise their bodies. They can compromise their mental state and everything. They are ready to fight. They are ready to do anything just to get what they want. But Christians, we are called to endure. We must be ready to endure. In 1 Peter 1, verse 6 to 7, in this you greatly rejoice. Though now for a little while, if need be, You have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Living a life side separated from the world, we have to be ready to face all kinds of hardships, through many tribulations, we shall enter into the kingdom of God. We have been called out of the world into a life of purity, both personal and corporate, in the midst of a sinful world and culture. In Romans 13, verse 14, the Bible says, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 22, the Bible says, abstain from every form of evil. So the broad way, the false way, would encourage all these things. They will want you to be part of them. And so when we look at the Broadway, we see that the Broadway is full of people. That is the popular place to be. That is where everybody is gravitating towards. The lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and the deceitfulness of riches. You look at fashion and design and everything that is going on in the world is gravitating towards the broad way. But Christians, God has called us to be separate, to come among, to come away from them and be separate. This broad way is the false religion. The Broadway is a walks-based religion, the religion of the scribes and Pharisees that believe that their walks will take them to heaven. apart from the righteousness of Christ in the gospel. We see that in almost all the religions in the world that I have interacted with, they will always tell you, this is what and what and what to do in order for you to gain internal life. In order for you to gain internal life, you should do this and this and this and that. But for the Christian, our walks are as a result of our appreciation of God, who has saved us in spite of our walks. So we live the life of righteousness as fruits of the Holy Spirit, in joy and gladness, appreciating the One who has, in the first place, given us the walks to live by them. not arrogantly propagating them as the way of salvation, or boasting about them, or being proud about them, but as fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we come to God in appreciation and love for Him, and we do it willingly out of the desire of our heart. But the broad way is a works-based righteousness, and that cannot save any one of us. The Bible says in Ephesians 2, verse 8-9, For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that is not yourself, it is the gift of God, which any man should boast. In Galatians chapter two, verse 21, Paul says, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. A person must have true inner righteousness, and not only an external performance of God's law, but true eternal righteousness. gives love in our hearts and makes us to obey God out of love and appreciation of the almightiness of God and the love that he has shown to us. They love those who love them. The Broadway people, they love those who love them and it is easy for them. You don't have to pay a price. You just go by the rituals. And then you are safe. They are trying to bribe their own consciences. They are trying to suit their own consciences with carnal works. And that is why you see that they will be dedicated in their times of prayer that you do something to them. Let's say by mistake or have a quarrel with them before you know that. is either they fight you, they insult you, despite the fact that they are just coming from the prayer house, they are ready to inflict any form of harm or injury on you. because praying to them is just ritual, it's just a ceremony. It's not followed by the true heart of obedience and piety that is demonstrated by true believers in Christ. So when you have a problem with a non-believer, I tell you, even if he's coming out of that temple, you will take him for just one minute and you'll see the hard side of him and you would wonder whether he is coming from a prayer house or not. That is the popular way they have deceived themselves into suiting their own consciences with their practical religion, forgetting that religion starts from the heart. The broad way is about health, wealth, and prosperity, that they will tell you that if you become a Christian, you should be healthy, you should be wealthy, and you should always prosper. That is the message. And so a lot of people are gravitating towards that. That is why today you have all these mega churches. Because of what they are preaching, they are selling the world market into the church. They have brought the world into the church. And people who are there who love the world, who love the things of the world, would certainly come to the world. When the church becomes the world, it becomes an abomination. It is called the utilitarian gospel. It is the needs-based gospel, which is no gospel at all. Because when we suffer as Christians, we know the reason, God told us the reason, is to conform us to the image of Christ. And what is best in the life of you and I, if not to be conformed to the image of Christ? Where do we find true joy and happiness, if not to be conformed to the image of Christ? Indeed, suffering is redemptive. No matter how sour and bitter the providence is, it is going to redeem you from your sin, from your selfishness, from your greed, from all that evil passion that is killing you inwardly and outwardly. I tell you, You cannot say to yourself that you are truly happy if you are a Christian without suffering. Because suffering makes you to bend the knee to come before him in prayer. Some of us would not pray if there is no need before us. We just sit down, relax. It happens to some of us at times. When things are okay, every place is just shining and giltering. You feel relaxed. Even at times you see the prayer meter going down. That prayer that you are passionate about, all of a sudden you become so busy that you begin to live sometimes out of prayer. But I tell you, when a Christian suffers, he learns a lesson. He becomes closer to God because suffering is redemptive. It's not all about health, wealth and prosperity. We have both sweet and sour providences and we should be content with them. Paul says, I know what is to abase and abound. And in every one of those situations, I am content. I will not be grumbling and murmuring because of sour and bitter providences. And only when the sweet ones comes, that's when I begin to rejoice. Then you who are an hypocrite, you must seek God in both of those situations and inquire in his temple, knowing that without him, you can do nothing. Some people grade success by numbers, say, well, the megachurch or the most populous church. They are right because there are many. That is not the view of the Bible. The narrow road is few, the Bible says, will find it. It does not mean, on the other side, that God is not going to save many people. He's just telling us that this is what is the scenario, the situation. On the last day, it is God himself who saves people. And we are told that a multitude of people in every tribe and tongue and nation will stand before the throne of God rejoicing and celebrating his goodness that is the work of God but here as we are living here now he's telling us giving us a description of how the narrow road looks like but it does not mean that he's not going to save many that is not a restriction but it's just a description of how the road looks like so therefore My fellow Christians, I pray that we will look at these terms of the Gospel, the exclusive demands of the Gospel, be ready and willing to follow. Do not say sickness is not your portion. Nobody told you that sickness is not going to be your portion. Don't say that failure is not your portion. Nobody told you in the Bible that failure is not going to be your portion. Sometimes you fail for the better. You fall sick for the better. because God is doing a spiritual work in your life. And I tell you, if some people are not treated, they are not diagnosed, they are not known for the disease that they are carrying, they wouldn't have taken precautions. When you know that you have diabetes, you now begin to eat sugar, you put away sugar. And so the symptoms begin to tell in your body so that it gives you break. You fall sick because sometimes you do not exercise your body. You are just living. You eat three times a day, no exercise. And your body begins to give you sign. Because God wants you to treat that body so that you would live. And be able to manage that sickness properly. So that you'll be able to come to the Lord's day like this and worship God. So suffering is not a bad thing for the Christian. But the world there, the broad way, no, no, it's a bad thing. We do not take it. We do not tolerate it. Everything should be well with us. But in reality, even when they say it, they themselves know it's not real. It's not real because it does not happen to anybody like that. Now to our third subheading, practical application. When on the narrow road, do not complain or mumble about your circumstances, because you may think that some people made you suffer. All of this. Remember that your circumstances are not an accident. They are orchestrated by God to fulfill a specific role according to a sovereign plan. So they are not an accident. Where Joseph will become a prime minister. That is where his brother sold him as a slave. They dumped him in a ditch. Oh, I remember. When reading the scriptures coming across the evil that the brothers did to their brother, you feel bad and discouraged. about the evil of sin in the life of men. But you see also the hand of providence walking behind the sins, orchestrating the events, the circumstances, so that all things will work together for good to them who are in Christ Jesus. Eventually, in Genesis 50, when Joseph, after burying the father, the brothers were feeling very shy to come before Joseph and confess their sins. And he sent a delegation and said, please, forgive us our sins. We do not mean or intend to do this to you. But Joseph said to them, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. You meant it to disgrace me, to put me out, to dump me in a ditch, but God meant it for good. And I want to encourage us this morning, every Christian without this at the back of your mind, those sour, bitter providences, those circumstances that are very sour and bitter in your life may have been meant for evil, but God meant it for good. Because God has a plan for you. God has a purpose for you. God has a destiny for you. The decrees of God are His eternal purpose according to the counsel of His will, whereby for His own glory, He hath foreordained whatever come to pass. So therefore, my brethren, let us forgive wholeheartedly and put the past behind us. Let us be like Paul. He said, I press on towards the mark. The high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Forgetting all those things that are behind me. Let us forget them. Forgiveness is key in this issue. Walking the paths of righteousness for His namesake. But if you want to carry the past on your shoulders and begin to mount with them on the present, you cannot make it so far. because you need to forgive your brother like Joseph did. And do not blame those ugly scenarios and circumstances in your life. They are the ones that make you unique. Don't you know that you have one, one thumbprint? Nobody has ever lived in this world like you, and nobody will ever again live in this world for the rest of your life and generations that are yet to be born. Even twins that are born into this world, they don't have the same thumbprint. That is to tell you your uniqueness. If God can only make one of you, for the millions of years and generations that have passed by, it is only Sebu Kamara. What a loving God that placed, that has placed so much value upon his creation, that he could only make one person out of the millions and trillions of people that live in this world. You will never see your duplicate. And that is what makes you unique. God has a plan for you. And his plan is only for you. Your circumstances, your trials and temptations, they are different. Those similar with other people, they cannot be the same. That is why you speak the way you speak. You talk the way you talk. You are calm the way you are calm. You understand things the way you understand them. Because God has placed you uniquely on a unique path that is designed for you alone and not for the two of you. I cannot be Mr. Koroma, Mr. Koroma cannot be me. You cannot be Joseph, and Joseph cannot be Saido. You cannot be Mary and Mary cannot be Augusta. So appreciate God for who you are and the circumstances that he has placed in your path. Do not compare yourself to other people because you are never two in this world. And if you have not believed the gospel this morning, you have not placed your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. You will not be like Joseph who said God meant it for good even though you meant it for evil. For you it will be evil throughout your life because you don't have Christ in your life. You will hate people, you will revenge, you will do anything in your power to hurt those people who hurt you. Because the only language of the unbeliever is to pay back time. Are you the payback type? It's time for you to forgive. And that can only be realized when you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. You repent of your sins, you turn away from them. and believe that he came into this world. Live a righteous life so that he can take the reward of his righteousness and credit them into your account. He paid the penalty of our sin on the cross so that God can take away our guilt and reconcile us to God through his blood atonement. And so that he will give us a new heart so that we'll begin to live in obedience to him. We'll forgive people even as Christ forgave them. We'll mourn for our sins and the sins of other people. And we will be our brother's keeper. and not our brother's hater. Let us pray. Our most gracious and everlasting Father, we thank you for your word this morning. We ask for grace to take heed of all your commandments, warnings, promises and good examples to follow. Give us today our daily spiritual bread and give us grace to forgive at all times. Give us grace to dedicate this entire day to the public and private worship of God, being the Lord's day in our thought towards these actions and in all that we do to bring glory and honor unto your holy name. We thank you for your word this morning. We pray that your word will have a free cause in our lives and be glorified. These and many other masses we ask through your son's name and for his sake.