FIRST LESSON: LUKE 23:34
"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots."
2ND LESSON: LUKE 17:4
"And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and
seven times in a day turns again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive
him."
GOLDEN TEXT: MATTHEW 18:35
"So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye
from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."
Today is set aside for "forgiveness of sins." You have
heard what Our Lord Jesus Christ said on the Cross ‘Father forgive them, for
they know not what they do’ The Word of God is a double-edged sword. When it
goes forward it takes action and on coming back it accomplishes its deeds. It
is said that if we forgive not our brothers when they offend us, our heavenly
Father will not forgive our sins.
FORGIVE AND YOU WILL BE FORGIVEN
The reason that people do not enjoy the grace of Our Lord Jesus
Christ is that they have refused to forgive those who offend them. The
statement which he made when he said: Father forgive them for they know not
what they do, applies to those who do not impute sins unto others. If we no
longer impute sins unto others, the statement will then apply to us. That is
why our second lesson tells you that if your brother offends you seven times in
a day and turns each time and asks for forgiveness, you should forgive him.
When you forgive him, you can be sure that the first lesson applies to you: The
Father will also forgive you your sins. Until eternity God will not impute sin
on you again.
FORGIVE YOUR DEBTORS
As the heaven is higher than the earth, so is the wisdom of God
greater than that of men. It is only man who can err, God can never err. Have
you heard what he has said? "Father forgive them for they know not what
they do." If you have known that God has forgiven your sins but you refuse
to forgive another person his sins, that is the sin of presumption. If God
forgives you all your sins but you do not forgive your brother who offends
against you, what is your stand? How would you offer the Lord’s Prayer? The
wisdom of God says forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass
against us. Have you forgiven those who trespass against you? It is recorded in
Matthew 6 : 12, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Have you
forgiven your debtors?
DO NOT IMPUTE SINS
That is why our golden text says, so likewise shall my heavenly
Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his
brother their trespasses. What does it cost you to forgive your brother his
sins and have eternal life? Can you not see that it is not in your brother’s
interest to forgive him, but it is rather in your own interest to forgive him.
If we forgive others their sins against us even as God has forgiven us, we are
free. If you do not impute sin unto others God will not impute sin unto you.
But if you impute sin unto others, He will also impute sins unto you.
God does not take pleasure in the death of sinners. He rather
wishes that all of us should repent and come to salvation. If when you repent,
God forgives you, why is it that somebody repents but you fail to forgive him?
You have been told that right from Adam till eternity there is no righteous
person. God is the only righteous one; the rest of us have fallen away. Christ
knew this, that is why he said Father forgive them for they know not what they
do. This statement applies to all those who do not impute sins unto others. God
also does not impute sin unto them.
REPENT AND ASK FOR FORGIVENESS
All those who continue to impute sin unto others are lost; because
they cannot pray and ask God to forgive their trespasses as they have forgiven
those who trespass against them. Have you forgiven those who trespass against
you Those who do not impute sin unto others have the boldness to pray that God
should forgive their sins even as they had forgiven others. God will also forgive
you. He is the person making this statement: that if your brother offends
against you seven times in a day and turns around each time and asks for
forgiveness, you should forgive him. That is the direct statement of God, in
order that whenever you offend against God and ask for forgiveness, he may
forgive you.
It is said that with what measure you use unto others, the same
shall be measured unto you. It is said all of us shall stand before the
judgement seat of Christ. Do not think that it is your father or mother or Our
Lord Jesus Christ who will judge you. It is you, who will judge yourself. Why
is it that somebody has offended against you for the past two or five or seven
years and has asked for forgiveness, but you swear that you will never forgive him?
You should know that you have perished and that person is saved because he has
asked for forgiveness.
FORGIVE ALL WHO REPENT
What kind of sin can someone commit and ask for forgiveness and
you refuse to forgive? There is no exception to the kind of offence that should
be forgiven. But it is said if your brother sins against you seven times and
turns around each time and asks for forgiveness, you should forgive him? What
is there in the world? What kind of sin would you not eagerly forgive so that
you may have peace? If God forgives us all our sins, why should we not forgive
those who offend us? How do you offer the Lord’s Prayer? Do you pray like that
Pharisee? Do you not pray that God should forgive you because you are a sinner?
Do you forgive those who sin against you?
This has been our problem. That is why God calls us here everyday
so that He may take away the little faults that bring about our fall. Can you
realise how God loves us: He was nailed to the Cross and He said — "Father
forgive them for they know not what they do." What can your brother do
that you would nail him on the Cross? Can you not realise that God loves man
more than man loves himself? Can you not see that God does not like the death
of sinners? God does not like to see us suffer.
And so whoever perishes, his blood is upon him. He has taught us
that we should not impute sins unto others because He does not impute sin on
us. Let us go home with this lesson — that it is not the sin of Adam nor of
your father nor of your fore-fathers that is responsible for your sufferings;
but that you as a man, have failed to forgive those who offend against you. Why
is it that somebody offends against you in a very little matter but you vow
never to forgive him; you shut your ears to all pleas and mediations? When you
yourself offend against God, who will forgive you?
The children of God do not bear any person malice. They do not
impute sin unto any person. They do not backbite against any person because
they know that when they forgive others, the Father will also forgive them and
they will have peace. Your taking court actions against people does not avail
much. Whatever sin somebody commits against you and asks for forgiveness should
be over. There should be no more statement tp4t forever. Our Lord Jesus Christ
has laid the foundation of mercy for us. In the words of a spiritual chorus,
you should forgive others and you yourself will be forgiven. We cursed Him, we
abused Him and spat on Him. Finally, we nailed Him to the Cross and yet He
prayed —‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do’ Is that no enough
lesson for you? In your case, who has nailed you on the Cross? Who has abused
you? Who has done to you half of what was done to Christ? If all these things
were done to Our Lord Jesus Christ and He prayed the Father to forgive them,
you should also forgive those who offend against you.
THE KEY TO THE LIFE AND DEATH
Whoever does not forgive his brother has no share in this Kingdom.
This is the very last Word of god which holds the key of life and death. And so
that God should not impute those sins unto them, you are told to love your
enemies and pray for them because they are yo’u7 hindrance. Right
now, ~t the whole world accepts this teaching and forgive one another, we are
all in heaven.
It is not the sins that you commit which hinder you from entering
into heaven, but the fact that you have refused to forgive those who sin
against you. At all times, God honours His words. He is the Word and so He
honours Himself. You will realise that all the inhabitants of the world are
sinners. God knows this and has forgiven us. But he has given us a condition
that as he has forgiven us, we should also not impute sins unto others.
The sins which people commit against you, do not make you perish;
but the sins which you refuse to forgive others make you perish. He knows
everyone of us and our make. What you love, I do not love and what you hate, I
love. And so the world is full of contradictions and sins. God knows about this
but he has given us a condition that if your brother offends against you seven
times and turns and asks for forgiveness each time, you should forgive him.
What is not sinful to you is sinful to another person. What is good to you is
evil to another person. What one town loves, the other town does not love. The
result is that we have no peace. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us His peace and so
the children of God must be the children of peace.
Let our first lesson be read.
FIRST LESSON: LUKE 23: 34
"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots."
After analyzing this statement would you accept that we know what
we are doing? When God came down to the earth and people cursed him and killed
him, do you think that they knew what they were doing? When they spat on him
and asked him to mention who has slapped him, do you think they knew what they
were doing? When they called him Beelzebub, mad man, The Son of Mary, did they
know what they were doing? They did not.
ALWAYS PRAY FOR FORGIVENESS
Now that we continue to steal and fornicate would you say that we
know what we are doing? We do not know ourselves. As the worldly people call
Brotherhood beelzebub and mermaid and juju, do you think that they know what
they are doing? God will forgive whatever sin you commit but if you do not
forgive your brother when he offends against you, then you stand condemned.
This is the Gospel of redemption. Right from today, do not impute
sins unto any person. No matter what happens, pray that the Father should
forgive them for they know not what they do. What has brought about your
tribulations, afflictions and death is that you have shut the door of mercy
against your brother. As you are here, is there any person who has not
something against another person? That is your death. That is what has stopped
you from entering into this Kingdom.
Since we do not know what we do, we should always be forgiven.
Has the Father not told you to forgive others their sins, no
matter what they do to you? Has he not told us openly that if we do not forgive
our brothers when they offend against us, he will not forgive us when we offend
against Him? He says today, when you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
That was why when Stephen was stoned, he prayed that God should not lay that
sin to their charge.
Do not always offer, the kind of prayers which David, the Psalmist
prayed — that God should fight against those who fight against him. If you offer
that kind of prayer, you are lost; you have heaped punishment upon yourself.
Your prayer at all times should be: Father, forgive them for they know not what
they do. The person who calumniates that you kill and drink human blood; would
you say that he knows what he is saying? That person who says that you are
worshipping man and that you are false prophets, does he know himself? Does he
know what he is saying?
GOD DOES NOT IMPUTE SIN ON ANYONE
God has forgiven us all our sins, but if you fail to forgive those
who sin against you, you have perished. You have heard the statement which he
made that whoever speaks against the Son of man will be forgiven, but whoever
speaks evil against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven neither in this world
nor in the world to come. When Paul did not know Our Lord Jesus Christ and went
about persecuting the church, did he know what he was doing, he received
authority from the High Priests in Jerusalem to go to Damascus and arrest
whoever calls on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he arrested them
he either killed or stoned or imprisoned them according to the orders given to
him. He took it upon himself as a special assignment.
When his eyes were opened to the truth, he said that he did those
things when he did not yet believe, but God forgave him. And when we do
something wrong, God overlooks it because he knows that we are men. The
condition is that if somebody offends against you, you must forgive him. If God
were to impute sins to us from the time of Adam, the world itself would have
ceased to exist.
THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD IS FOOLISHINESS BEFORE GOD
We are sinful in our looks. We are sinful with the words of our
mouths. We are sinful in our thought. We are sinful in our footsteps. There is
nothing good in us whatsoever but the Father forgives us because we do not know
what we are doing. Is it not a thing of pity that right from Adam, there is no
person who believes in God, there is none who keeps his words; But he has
always forgiven us because he knows our frailty. He does not bother himself. He
does not seek to be known, but he knows us. He has given you the injunction,
that you should forgive your brother whenever he sins against you.
Upon all your striving to go to the moon and the depth of the
ocean, in search of God, have you been endowed with this wisdom? The word of
God says that whoever thinks he is wise according to this world’s standard
should count himself as a fool in order to be wise. Because the wisdom of this
world is foolishness before God. He catches the wise in his craftiness. Man
knows nothing at all and the entire world is but empty. God knows that we are
empty. The so-called learned men do not believe that God exists. They have gone
to the moon and to the sun but cannot find God and so they conclude that He
does not exist, and that you are entertaining a superstitious belief. They do
not even believe in dreams. But God has forgiven them because they know not
what they are dong. God does not input this sin on man.
MAN IS NEVER AWARE OF HIS ACTIONS
We sometimes go to somebody and tell them to prepare us a
prospective charm and he will go to the market and buy a ring. He gives this to
you and advises you to call on it whenever you are in difficulty and it will
save you. Does this person know himself? When you go to some villages, you will
see shrines and idols around the place. Do the people know what they are doing?
Do you know that it is God who protects us? Do you know that it is
God who feeds us? Those who are taken to the hospital it is God who heals them.
He does all these but does not bandy words with you, because that is how he
wants it. He does not seek to be known. He gives us food and life, He is the
Doer of everything but who knows him? There is none. He has forgiven us because
we do not know what we do.
God is not concerned with the sins we commit, whether we bow down
to stones or rings or charms does, not bother him a bit. He is not interested
in what we do. But he has given us this injunction that if our brother
sins against us seven times in a day and turns each time and asks for
forgiveness, we should forgive him. That is what he wants.
IF YOU WANT PEACE FORGIVE ALL YOUR ADVERSARIES
Do you think a thief knows what he is doing? Do you think that
necromancers and murderers know what they are doing? There is no person who
knows what he is doing. That is why God does not impute any sin unto you. But
one point is clear, if you do not forgive your brother when he offends against
you, you will perish.
Somebody has filled his house with all sorts of charms and
preparations of concoctions, but he continues to be sick and his concoctions
and charms cannot heal him. He is beset with problems all around. He is lacking
in everything and knows every woe. Do you think that he knows what he is doing?
Somebody has filled his house with money but he had no life. He is sick. He is
beset with all sorts or problems. He has no peace. He has no joy and his money
cannot save him. Do you think that he knows what he is doing?
Finally, we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we
shall not go away with anything. What kind of wrong would somebody do to you
that you cannot forgive him? Brethren, I do not want to take you further, let
our second lesson be read. Open your ears and hear because this is the Key of
Life. All those who have offended you right from your childhood, you have to
forgive all of them right from today so that you may have peace.
2ND LESSON: LUKE 17: 4
"And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and
seven times in a day turns again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive
him."
Now that you are saying that witches will be burnt by fire,
thieves and murderers will all be burnt by fire, who then will remain? When you
see a thief in any gathering, you begin to ask what a thief wants in that kind
of gathering? What a murderer wants there? I ask, what about you; what are you
and what do you want there? Think about it: we have gone round to all the
native doctors, There is no sin which we have not been on the forefront But God
has forgiven us all our sins.
CONDITION OF FORGIVENESS BY GOD
You say that this person has perished, the other person has lost.
There is no person who is lost except the person who fails to forgive his
brother his sins.
Even though it is God who is doing all these works, who among us
believe that it is God who is doing this work? Who among you believe, that it
is God who gives vision and prayers? No matter what we do — whether we steal
and fight and fornicate, God forgives us because he knows that we do not know
what we are doing. Can you observe the fathomableness of his wisdom? Many of
you complain that you have sinned and you doubt whether God will forgive such a
sin. What kind of sin is there which God will not forgive when he knows that
you do not know what you do. There is no sin which God imputes on you. The only
condition is that if your brother sins against you seven times and turns each
time and asks for forgiveness, you should forgive him.
UPON THE SINFUL STATE OF THE WORLD, GOD SENT HIS BELOVED SON
If God did not love the world, how could he send his only begotten
Son to come and die for us? Why God sent down his Son was that He should come
and redeem us. Man had never wanted God, and life was rife with theft, murder,
prostitution and all evils. We were quite satisfied in our sinful state and
that was our heaven. No person looked for God. And, when Our Lord Jesus Christ
came, no person regarded him; yet still he said, Father forgive them for they
know not what they do.
That is why Christ said "I thank you Father, Lord of heaven
and earth for thou hast hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and
has revealed them unto babes; yea, Father for such is thy will. All things are
given unto me by my Father, no person knows the Father except the Son and no
person knows the son except the Father and to whomsoever the Son will reveal
himself unto? Can you see why God refers to man as sheep among all the beasts?
You know that of all the animals, the sheep is the most stupid. You stay here
and fight before the altar. You stay here and do all sorts of things but I do
not budge, because you do not know what you are doing. Even if you spit on my
face, I will resent not. Your problem is that if your brother offends against
you seven times in one day and turns each time and asks for forgiveness, you do
not forgive him. But you should forgive him. You should not impute any sin on
him. The hen is more intelligent than the sheep. The goat and every other
animal down to the ant is wiser than the sheep. The sheep is very stupid and
that is man.
What offence has man committed against you? You have committed
adultery with somebody’s wife but when somebody lies with your wife, you vow
that you will never forgive him and that till doomsday you will not exchange
greetings with him. It then means that until you die, no person will exchange
greetings with you. You have borrowed money from somebody and have not refunded
it. Somebody borrows money from you and cannot pay back. You swear never to
forgive him for what he has done to you. It means that you have perished
because you are owing somebody some amount. You have to forgive him and let us
continue to remain sheepish.
God does not want us to know anything. He wants us to continue in
this sheepish condition. He is speaking and doing everything. People are going
to space in search of him but he laughs and does not lay it to our charge. He
regards us as his puppets and He delights in this that we do not know him. We
try as much as we can to please God; but what can you do to please him? He is
always happy and pleased with himself because he knows that we are sheep.
STOP SEARCHING FOR GOD
If we knew what we are doing, would you backslide from church
worship because God has refused to grant you a certain request? If you do not
go to church again what is that to God? If we knew ourselves, we would know his
word because his word is truth. If you have been one who has been searching for
God, do not search for him again. The injunction he has given is that if your
brother offends against you seven times in a day and turns to you each time and
asks for forgiveness, you should forgive. Right from today do not impute sin
unto any person no matter what he does. When you do this you are free. You will
have peace and salvation.
If you do not impute sins anymore unto others, you will be walking
in the light and there is no darkness for you. You have peace all the time.
that is freedom. As long as you do not impute sin unto others, God does not
impute sin on you. Whatever a person, does to you forgive him; do not impute
sin again unto others.
The Word of God says that I am convinced that nothing is evil in
itself but to him that esteems it as evil, it is evil to him. Brethren, I do
not intend to take you further than this, let our golden text be read.
GOLDEN TEXT: MATTHEW 18:35
"So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye
from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."
God says that he will repay you because vengeance is his. He
vindicates the child and the female and the aged and the orphan. He vindicates
all. In like manner whoever does not forgive his brother, God will not forgive
him. Whether you like to fast and pray, if you like, refrain from fornication,
but as long as you do not forgive your brother, God will not forgive you.
FORGIVE YOUR BROTHER HIS TRESPASSES
Distribute all your money to the poor. Feed the hungry. Fast and
prostrate on the ground, but as long as you do not forgive your brother, He
will not also forgive you your sins. God will forgive you every sin, but if you
do not forgive others, He will not forgive you your sin. Have you heard the
text of today? Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.
Forever and ever those who do not forgive, will not know what they do. God has
forgiven all our sins, because we do not know what we are doing. Forever and
ever he has forgiven our sins. He has told us that if your brother offends
against you seven times in a day and turns to you for forgiveness seven times,
you should forgive him. Do not charge him one kobo. Do not be angry with him.
Do not recall the matter again. This is the judgement and the Gospel of
redemption. If you do not forgive your brother his sins, your Father in heaven
will also not forgive you forever and ever.
Brethren, it is said that one stroke of the cane is sufficient
unto the wise. I will not take you further. He who has ears to hear, let him
hear. May the Lord bless His Holy Words. A--men.
EVERLASTING GOSPEL DELIVERED BY THE HOLY FATHER 0. 0. OBU SOLE
SPIRITUAL HEAD OF THE UNIVERSE, BROTHERHOOD OF THE CROSS AND STAR, WORLD
HEADQUARTERS, CALABAR, CROSS RIVER STATE.
TYF
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