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E-1 Be seated. This is a great opportunity to come back again tonight, and a great blessing to me to come and speak to you about our Lord Jesus (Whom I'm sure that most of you know, or I hope you do), as in the pardoning of your sins, and--and by the way of His grace to you. May He impart to you tonight more of His grace. When we leave here, may we be able to say like those coming from Emmaus, "Our hearts burned within us as He talked to us along the way."
E-2 Now, each morning, I believe they have a public relation man like... And Mr. Vayle here is having a lesson, a kind of answering questions and talking on the Scripture (Is that here in this building?), right in this building of a morning. And if anybody's free, and some ministers or so forth, would like to visit, why, anybody's welcome. And Brother Vayle is quite a profound teacher, and really a good education. And therefore...
E-3 I say the other
day I--I wish I had an education. I have to use parables like, something or
other to explain, you know. I don't have enough education to break it down.
But somehow or another, the Lord helps me to get by.
And so I remember one time there was a man in the Scripture; his name was John.
And his father was a priest. Usually they followed what their father did. But
he had a--really a message. He was to announce the Messiah. And now, if he'd
went down to the school where his father went, they'd said, "Now, you know here,
Brother So-and-So; that's just the messiah." They'd almost had him talked into
it. So, see, he didn't go to any school of that sort. He went into the wilderness
where he learned of God.
E-4 You notice his messages
come out? He never had no education. He went there in at nine years old, come
out at thirty, preached six months, and was executed. Now, we find that he used,
said... Like the Pharisees come out, and the Sadducees, and he said, "Oh, you
generation of snakes." That's what he'd seen in the wilderness, snakes, something
that's dirty, slimy, and deceiving. See?
Now, somebody might've said, "Why, you little insignificant piece of inconvenience,"
or something. But he... But see, he knowed no words to use, so he just said,
"You generation of snakes." That's what he'd seen in the wilderness. Said, "Who's
warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Don't begin to say that we got...
'We belong to this, and belong to that,' 'cause God's able of these stones (what
he seen) to rise up children unto Abraham. And the axe is laid to the root of
the tree." He knowed what to do with a bad tree. "Everything that bringeth forth
not good fruit is hewn down and cast in to the fire," to burn up the bad wood.
See, he... All of his message was something in nature. He patterned it. The
common people understand that. And then they... I think sometimes they may say
it a little better than they do with all these great big words that people learn
in school.
E-5 Now, we was a little late last night, so we'll try to get you out just on time tonight, if we possibly can. And I trust that the Lord won't let it rain too bad tonight on this tin roof. So we just believe, and--and try to serve Him the best of our knowledge.
E-6 Now, let us stand
as we read God's Word. As we read now from the book of Genesis, and we're beginning
at the 22nd chapter, and the 7th verse, reading the 14th inclusive:
E-7 Let us bow our heads just a moment now for prayer. Our heavenly Father, we are told by this Word, which is God, that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing of the Word of God. And now, Father, we pray that You'll impart to us the context of this reading that we might learn, as it is told us by the Bible, that all those things back in the Old Testament was examples that we should see that those who obey God's call are blessed; those who refuse it are cursed. So we pray, Father, that we'll have understanding tonight by the revelations. May the Holy Spirit reveal to us the things that's pertaining to us in this day, that's all hid in this great mystery of God that's been since the foundation of the world. For we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen. You may be seated.
E-8 I want to talk on
the subject, the Lord willing, from the thought of "Jehovah-jireh." The word
means "God will provide Himself a sacrifice." And we're speaking of Abraham.
And this was at the time that he was looking for a promised son.
To get the real truth of this, we'll go back. And this is in the 22nd chapter.
We want to visit back. I got a few Scriptures wrote out here that I'd like to
refer to, if possible, and I want to speak on them. And I want to start it from
the 12th chapter.
E-9 We'll go back to
find out who this character Abraham is, and now, how--how did it come that God
chose him? We know that the promise was given to Abraham and his seed after
him. And only to be in Abraham are we heirs with him with the promise. Now,
Abraham had seed, and the seed, of course, was... He had many seed--seeds. But
he had one seed that the promise was to.
He had Ishmael. And then after Sarah died, he married another woman, and had
seven sons besides the daughters. And they're all seed of Abraham, but they're
the seeds of Abraham, but the seed was the one what had the promise. And the
seed actually is the faith of Abraham that he had in the promised Word of God.
E-10 Now, Abraham, we
find out, he don't appear until we find him here about the 12th chapter. In
the 11th chapter of Genesis we find that his father came down from Babylon.
And Abraham was just an ordinary man, just as you or I or anyone else. And he
was getting rather, what we would think, a aged man. He was seventy-five years
old. He had married his half-sister. Her name was Sarai. And his name then,
of course, wasn't Abraham; it was Abram, and--and hers was Sarai. So we find
that she was ten years younger than he, which made her sixty-five, and him seventy-five
years old.
They... Probably he was a farmer, lived in the valley of the Shinar there; he
lived an ordinary life. He--he probably went out in the daytime and got his
meat from the bush, and picked berries, and lived that sort of a life, just
an ordinary man. There was nothing special about him.
E-11 But one day God
called him. That's what made the difference, when God made the call. And that's
the way it is to any life. It takes God. It isn't what you do; it's what God
does. See? You say, "I sought God; I sought God." You're mistaken. No man seeks
God; God seeks the man. See? It's not you seeking God; it's God seeking you.
Jesus said, "You haven't chose me; but I chose you." See?
So you're chose before the foundation of the world, or you wasn't chose at all.
He just come to redeem that name. And all whose names were not on that Lamb's
Book of Life before the foundation of the world is the only ones going to be
there anyhow. See? You were chose in Him before the foundation of the world.
When the Lamb was chosen, then you were chosen with Him, before the foundation...
And you're, as I said last night, an attribute of God's thinking. They... That's
the only way you can be eternal and only form of Eternal Life. There's only
one form of Eternal Life, and that's God. So that's all. He is the one that's
eternal.
E-12 Now, we find that Abraham had that place. And God, in the Old Testament worked out types and shadows to show what He was going to do. Now, we find here, that God spoke to him. And the great thing, after God called him... The call that God gave was a supernatural call; but yet, it never staggered Abraham: no time. He always knowed it was God. That's a great thing. When... God's callings are supernatural. There's nothing natural... God takes the supernatural and works it out in the natural, but the callings of God are supernatural. The Bible said gifts and calling are without repentance. See, it's foreordained by--by God.
E-13 Now, we find that in this, that Abraham being called, he heard the voice of God. And He told him something that was almost totally impossible. Him being seventy-five years old, his wife sixty-five years old (that would make her about twenty years past menopause), lived with her since she was a girl... They had no children. And yet, told him they were going to have a baby. And through this baby the whole world, all the nations would be blessed.
E-14 Now, that's a strange
thing. And Abraham, the Bible said in Romans the 4th chapter, "staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong, giving praise to God."
I can imagine after the first month... 'Course Sarah, as I said, was past menopause.
The first month I can imagine Abraham said, "Sarah, how do you feel, honey?"
"No different."
"Well, bless God. We're going to have the baby anyhow. We're going to have him.
God said we was."
E-15 Sarah knitted the
little booties, and got the Birdeye, and the pins, and everything, got ready,
making ready for it, 'cause she knowed she was going to have it. God said so.
See?
The first year passed. "You feel any different, honey?"
"No different at all."
"Praise God. It'll be a greater miracle now than it was the first time. (See,
it's a year later.) Going to have it anyhow. (Why?) God said so. That settles
it. God said so. We... God said so."
Ten years passed. "How you feeling now, honey?" Here she's seventy-five, and
he's eighty-five. Now, could you imagine an old man and woman like that today,
going down to the hospital and saying, "Doctor, we want to make arrangements.
We're going..." God asks you to believe some of the most ridiculous things.
But He always makes it right. God...
E-16 A person that believes God absolutely acts crazy to the world. Could you imagine Moses, trained in all the wisdom of the--the Egyptians, head of the army--the--the armies of Egypt--and yet... Forty years it'd taken him to train up to that. And it'd taken God forty years to take that education out of him--just what it'd taken the world to put in him. Forty years more, He got him all trained down, all the education, theology, out of him. And He met him on the backside of the desert. And he knowed more about God in five minutes in the Presence of God than he'd learned in forty years from the books. That's right. God is not known by education. He's knowed by faith. And God spoke to him in the supernatural.
E-17 And what a ridiculous
thing sometimes God makes us do. Could you imagine an old man, eighty years
old, running--a prophet running from God? And in the Presence of God five minutes...
The next morning--could you imagine him--an old man, whiskers hanging way down
like this, his bald head shining, a crooked stick in his hand, his wife setting
straddle a mule with a young-un on her hip, on the road down...
"Where you going, Moses?"
"Going down to Egypt to take over." Take over? A one-man invasion.
That sounds ridiculous. But the thing of it was, he done it, because God said
so. That settles it. When God says so, that's all there is to it. That's--that's
it. If God made the promise, hang your soul on it. If you can believe it, hang
your... If you don't believe it, stay away from it; it'll harm you. But if you
believe it, stay with it. It'll take you to the victory, just as sure as the
world.
E-18 Now, we find out
that Abraham staggered not at the promise of God. And when he was a hundred
years old and she was ninety, I can hear him. Can't hardly talk now, he's getting
so old and feeble.
"Well, Sarah dear, how do you feel?"
"Well, dear, I feel no different."
"Hallelujah. We're--we're going to have it anyhow. God said so. That's all there
is to it. God gave the promise." He said he was fully persuaded that God was
able to perform what He promised.
And now, we call ourselves the seed of Abraham, his royal seed, not Isaac's
seed, his royal Seed, Christ, and stagger at any promise, fuss with it, say
it's not so, and doubt in our minds. I doubt us being Abraham's seed when we
got that kind of a thought in us.
Abraham's seed staggers not at no thing. It calls things which were not as though
they were, because God said so. He's a Creator; He could make it so. He promised
it, and that settles it. That's all there is to it. When God says it, that settles
the whole thing.
E-19 Now, remember. He wanted to... He could not... He told... Another thing He told him to do, to separate himself now from his kindred and all of his people. God, in order to get a man or a woman, boy or girl to obey Him, you have to separate yourself from all unbelief. That's right. Until you totally separate yourself from anything contrary to that Word and believe it, you... God calls for a total separation.
E-20 What a difference there is today in our schools, that's sending out ministers. They... It's indocumated with all kinds of unbelief and theories that's no more Scriptural than some kind of a creed that they make up, and then send them out with such basis as that. No wonder we've hatched out a bunch of Oswalds, and Jack Rubys, and so forth, across the country. Communism's swallowing the country because we got seminaries and incubator preachers, instead of God-sent, borned again, Holy Ghost filled, fire-born sons of God, children of Abraham who believe the Word of God to be emphatically the truth, and nothing else but the truth: rugged and can stand there upon the promises in the face of anything and face it down that it is the truth. It's God's Word. All right.
E-21 Now, He said, "Separate
yourself from all your kindred, from all your people, everything, and follow
Me." God has not changed His way. God is the unchangeable God. The way God does
anything one time, He has to do it the same way the second time. Remember, when
you can see God's action in any time, if He...
If--if a man was lost, and He saved a man upon the basis of any certain decision
He made, He has to always forever stay with that same decision. He cannot change
it. See? He's infinite; we're finite. I can know more tomorrow than I know today.
So can you know more next year than you do this year. You know more this year
than you did last year: but not God, He's perfect, infinite. Everything He does
is perfect. He can't make a decision today, and make a better one tomorrow.
His first one is perfect. Therefore, you can just hang your soul on anything
He says. It's the truth.
E-22 God was called
on one time to make a decision how to save a man. And the way He did it was
upon the basis of the shed blood of an innocent one in the garden of Eden. And
man has tried everything in the world to save man otherwise. They've built cities.
They've built towers. They've had organizations, educations, and everything
else. And the whole thing is a total flop. There's only one way that God ever
saves a man; that's through the shed blood of the innocent. That's the only
way. That was God's first decision. He ever remains with it.
If God ever healed a man, on the basis He healed him on, He's got to heal the
next one when he comes to that place. If He didn't, He acted wrong when He acted
the first time, when the decision was to be made. If He ever makes a decision,
He has to ever stay with it. If He doesn't, He made the wrong decision then.
See? And who's to say God made a wrong decision. See? We couldn't say that.
So God has to ever remain with His decision. So when He makes it, it's that.
E-23 So He said, "Separate
yourself from all your kindred, everything, all of the unbelief that come down
from Babylon up there." The first great organization in the world was Babylon,
when it organized all the cities to pay tribute to this one city--very type.
All these isms and new things see today... If you ever read Hislop's "Two Babylons,"
and so forth, and get back in Genesis, you'll find out Genesis is the beginning,
the seed. You'll see all these isms and things right placed right in there.
See the self-starched Pharisees that come down from there, from that woman with
them curious roots, and so forth, come right down to the days of Jesus. Pharisees
didn't believe in spirit or nothing else. And they hindered Jesus.
Jesus said, "Let them alone. The blind leads the blind, and they both fall in
the ditch." He went right on preaching, and healing the sick, and performing
miracles, and just the same. They didn't stop Him, because He was the Word.
The Word goes right on, regardless of what takes place. So we find those things
go on, and they finally come to the blossom here in the last days. As Jannes
and Jambres withstood Moses, so will it be the same thing.
E-24 Now, total separation from all unbelief... And remember, Abraham the patriarch was never absolutely fully blessed until he obeyed exactly what God said do. And we'll never, never, never be blessing, and have the blessings until we obey what God said do.
E-25 Another thing I
want you to notice here in the 12th chapter, that the covenant was altogether
unconditional. It was not any strings attached to it. "I have." Not "If you..."
Wasn't no "ifs" to it. "I have already done it." He give Abraham the covenant
unconditionally.
And now, you know in the Adamic covenant, it was "If you don't touch this tree,
then I'll do so-and-so. But if you do, then I'll have to do so-and-so." See?
That had law attached to it. But in this covenant, "I have already made you
a father of many nations." And He's already... It's all unconditional. The covenant
is purely grace, just absolutely grace.
Only thing they had to do to maintain this covenant was stay, and abide in the
land. And every blessing went with the covenant was with them. Only thing they
had to do was stay in that land. Now, we find out, when they went down in Egypt
they lost their blessing, but not their covenant. The covenant was still there.
They lost the blessing but not their covenant, because their covenant was grace
unconditionally.
E-26 And in--in Exodus
the 19th chapter, Israel made one of its most rashal things that it ever did,
was when it refused grace and accepted law. Look what grace had done. Grace
had to furnish them a deliverer, had to furnish them a prophet with a Pillar
of Fire to vindicate him, with a confirmed Word, with a sacrificial lamb. Grace
had give them a great revival. Grace had brought them through, opened up the
Red Sea, brought them across that, delivered them with signs and wonders: all
by grace. But they wanted something so they could make themselves some big names.
Now, if that just isn't the people today. It's just the same thing. They've
got to be... Man's got to get himself involved in it somewhere.
And there's where Israel made its great mistake, when it rejected grace and
took law instead. And the... still... But the covenant that He made with them
was still unconditional. It's still the same thing today; we find it.
E-27 Abraham then, after
they had these conditions given to him, he started his journey, going on. Now,
we find he moved out, and in the 13th chapter he finally come to a spot of full
obedience to God. Now, we find in the 13th chapter that Lot...
First he took his father. The old man was always kind of in the way. And he
tried to get a bunch dragging along with him. And when you do that, there's
where you got it. God said, "Separate."
"Well, I'll tell you. They don't believe exactly, but..." That... Then get away
from it. That's the only thing. Just stay away from it.
And then, the old man, he finally had to bury him. Then Lot became a--a hair
in the biscuit, as the saying. We find out that he begin to murmur, and they
both got rich, and they had plenty to get along with. And we find out then that
Lot begin to quarrel: his herdsmen against Abraham's herdsmen.
E-28 And we find out
that He hadn't... God hadn't fully found faithfulness in Abraham to obey what
He told him to do to completely separate himself from all of his kindred, from
all of his people, and to serve Him. So we find out that, God speaking to Abraham
here at the altar, and had told him what to do...
Finally Lot, when come--the question come up between Abraham... And Lot was
his brother Haran's son. And they--it'd be his nephew. And finally he said,
"Let... We are brethren now. We won't have any quarrels among us. Now, you--if
you east, I'll go west. And if you go west, I'll go east. Now, you just separate
ourselves, and we won't... There's plenty of room here for all of us. And you
just go... You just make the choice."
Now, that was a real Christian spirit in Abraham: give even the enemy the benefit
of the choice. And so he let him take his way.
E-29 And Lot, like so
many today, seen the opportunity. If he ever got away from that strictness,
well, he might make hisself a few dollars. He might be a popular man. So he
looked down towards Sodom, and it was a well-watered land, and big city, and
fine industry of salt, and so forth. They--they had the exports from there.
And--and then again, it was full of big-time women with all their Jezebel paint,
and everything, just a great time. His wife kind of felt a little that way too.
Because we find out, after he become mayor down there that she kind of--she
kind of liked the way of the people. And that's the only thing you have to do,
is get mixed up with something... See, God wants you to separate yourself, and--and
get so far away from them things till you don't even see them at all. That...
You want to see one thing; that's Him and what He promised.
But Mrs. Lot, she kinda liked it, and no doubt she kinda said, "Dear, now, I
was just down and... You look how the women are dressing down there. And look
at those girls. Look how our girls dress. So don't you think that they're more
modern?"
Oh, my. If we haven't got right back to another Sodom, I don't know why.
E-30 There we find that
Abraham stayed with the promise. Then we find out as it goes on in the... As
they separated themselves and Lot... And Abraham took the poorer grounds, the
little way, stayed up where there was not very much grazing for his cattle and...
But he was ready to take the way, because God had put him in that land, and
that's where he wanted to stay, ready to take it.
Now, when he finally fully obeyed God, when he finally obeyed God to its fullness,
to separate himself completely, it was then the Lord appeared to him again.
Until he did that, the Lord stayed away from Abraham. But when he fully obeyed,
then God appeared to him and said, "Abraham, lift up your eyes. Look east, look
west, look north, look south. All of it belongs to you." Amen.
E-31 Now, I like that.
And you know, that's something like it was when I got saved. I'd always heard
about God being a great God. And you know, when I got saved, now, somebody said,
"Now, all you have to do is join church and put your name on this church roll
here at the Baptist church. That's all you have to do."
But you know, one day I seen that I was heir to something. And I--I wanted to
look through it and see what I had. You know I'm just that way. Like a big arcade,
you own it, and--and everything in there belongs to you. You--you don't know
what you own till you go looking through the Bible to find out the promises.
Amen. They'll keep you from them, if they can. But they're yours.
Every promise is to Abraham and to his seed after him. Amen. Every Divine promise
in the Word belongs to Abraham and his seed. And you're heir to it: a heir.
Oh, my. I like to look through to see what I got. If somebody gives me something,
I like to look it over. And I like to look through the Bible and see what belongs
to me. Every seed of Abraham ought to do that.
E-32 When you become
borned again, filled with the Spirit of God, and the Holy Spirit upon you, you're
heir to every one of those promises. You know, it's like I said--a big arcade.
For we're baptized into that arcade. By one Spirit we're all baptized into one
body. That body's Christ, which is the royal seed of Abraham, and heirs to everything
that's in it. Amen.
Everything that was in God, God poured into Christ. Everything that was in Christ,
He poured into the believer: God above us, God with us, and God in us. Everything,
every promise in the Book is yours, if you can believe it, if you have faith
enough to accept it and believe it.
E-33 You know, I look
around. If I find something that's a little too high, I wonder what's in that.
I'll get me a ladder, and push it around, and keep climbing till I get up to
it. That's the way with a promise in the Bible. If anything seems like it's
kind of mysterious to me, I just keep on praying till I reach it. That's all.
That's the way to do it. Keep praying; keep holding on, climbing up, believing
until... You're--you're heir to it. You got a promise to it, and you got a right
to it, and "Ask and you shall receive. For all things are possible to them that
believe."
Now, we find out that Abraham walked through the land. God told him, said, "Walk
through the land. Look it over. Everything in here belongs to you. Every bit
of it is all yours. It all belongs to you."
E-34 Now, we find out
then, that--that in the 14th chapter of Exodus now, or, 14th chapter of Genesis
(pardon me), in the 14th chapter of Genesis, Abraham and Lot had been separated,
and Lot finally got into some trouble. And you always do. When you separate
yourself from believers, you're get into trouble.
We find out that the kings done confederate, and they made war. And they come
down and they took Sodom, they took Gomorrah; they took all the kings of the
dales and valleys, and everything, and took Lot. And just a few people escaped
into the mountains. And when they did, someone that escaped come and told Abraham,
the Hebrew, said that Sodom had fallen, and Gomorrah, and they have took their
kings and--and so forth, and took all the peoples, and their vittles, and everything
they had. And they took Lot, and his wife, and his daughters, all the women,
and has gone on with it."
E-35 Now, Abraham: watch
this Christian spirit pursuing for his brother. Abraham, with old Lot backslidden
gone back... Yet, Abraham loved him. He kept on pursuing, just like Jesus in
the--the Laodicea church age. Yet they put Him out of the church, and He was
on the outside knocking, trying to get back in. If He could just get somebody
to open the door, so He could come in... There's that spirit of Abraham (See?),
going after his fallen, degraded brother.
And he went after him. And he took his three hundred men, servants, and armed
them. And he met him down at Dan. That's the extreme end of Palestine there.
And he met him there and separated himself at night, and pursued, and fought
the armies down, and overcome the kings, and slaughtered them, and brought back
all that was taken out.
E-36 Notice, when he
come back, what a beautiful picture here. That's the reason I just like to kind
of preview this a little bit, so we get the--before I get to my text of Jehovah-jireh.
If you notice, Abraham bringing back all that had been lost, his wayward brother
and the children... As he brought them back, the kings come out to meet him.
And Melchizedek come out, which was the King of Salem, King of Peace, the King
of Righteousness, the King of Jerusalem, without father, without mother, without
beginning of days, without ending of life. Melchizedek met him on the slau--coming
from the slaughter of the kings, to whom the patriarch Abraham (Hebrews 7) met
this Man, and paid a tenth, a tithing.
What a great Man this must've been. Who do you think it was? He had no father.
He had no mother. He had--never did begin. And ever Who He is, He's still living.
He never did end: the King of Salem, King of Peace. Oh, Who was this great Man?
E-37 And notice what
a type we find here. After the battle is over, after the--the real believer
has fought the enemy, broke down the lines, and tried to capture his brother,
the real seed of Abraham bringing back that wayward brother, Melchizedek come
out and served wine and bread (the communion), give him communion after the
battle was over.
Served the communion to him after the battle, a very beautiful type of when
the battle is over here on earth, the victories have been won, Jesus said they
would eat it anew in the Father's Kingdom. After the wayward had been brought
back, then the first thing we do when we go in after the battle's over, is set
down at the table in the Kingdom of God. And there, those that has fought and
set down, and overcome, shall be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And
then again they take the bread and the wine in the Father's Kingdom on the other
side. What a real picture this is of Abraham going out and getting Lot and bringing
him back.
E-38 Now, we find out
then that in the 15th chapter we find something very outstanding here. I--I
kinda like this extremely well, seeing who Abraham was now, and Abraham and
his seed after him.
We find here that after Abraham had done all these great things of believing
God, holding to the promise, separating himself, and all along following out
the way of--of carrying out the commandments of the Lord, we find out that God
appeared to him at the altar. And Abraham asked him the question; he said, "Now,
who is my heir but--but this Eliezer of Damascus? And now, You promised me a
seed. And I--I want You to do something. I want You to confirm this promise
to me."
E-39 And God said that
He would confirm it to Abraham, confirming the covenant that He had made between
Him and Abraham. Now, He's going to give him a sign that it's going to be true,
that even though he's old... He's about eighty-five now. But yet, He's going
to prove to him by a sign that He's going to keep that covenant.
Oh, I'm so glad that God always gives a sign, because He... We ought to know
today that the hour that we're now living, there's supposed to be a sign in
the earth at this time. We're to look for that sign. God never does anything
without first giving the people a sign and a warning. And a genuine sign is
followed by a voice. And the voice is always a Scriptural voice.
E-40 Now, He's going
to confirm the covenant to Abraham, or Abram, yeah. And He said, "Take you a
young heifer (Now, remember, that's a female calf.), and take a she-goat of
three years old." Each must be three years old. Notice, a three-year old heifer,
female, three-year old goat, a female, and a ram, male: each three--three years
old. And there's three of them: three she--two she's and a he. See? Three-year
old clean sacrifice, a heifer, a three-year old she-goat, and then a ram. If
you notice, everything there builds into a sign.
And now, I'm not supposed to preach doctrine from the platform here, and I'm
sure that's close enough you can see...?...
E-41 Notice. And took
two--two birds, one a pigeon, and one a turtledove, which are the same family,
the pigeon and the turtledove. Now, he cut the goat--the sheep in two. He cut
the--the ram and the goat, and the others, he divided them, cut them in half
and laid them down. But the doves, he--and the pigeon he did not divide. That
was... 'Course anyone knows the Scripture knows that's Divine healing. See?
It's in both covenants. And so we find out he laid them in...
Healing's always by faith in the shed blood, always. And the old covenant had
Divine healing, how much more has the new covenant got. See? If the old covenant
produced it, what about the new one when it's a much better covenant, speaking
bigger, higher things, greater things, better things, the new covenant.
E-42 Now, we find in
this that Abraham, when he did this, then notice what happened. Now, here's
a great outstanding point. I don't want you to--to--to miss it. The confirmation
of the covenant. In other words, "It's a promise that I'm true to what I do,
or what I say I'll do," God confirming it to Abraham. And he took those sacrifices,
and slayed them, and put them end-to-end together as he laid them down. And
watched the birds off of them, so the birds wouldn't come down upon the fresh
meat, until the sun was going down in the evening.
And when the sun came down, or was going down, here He showed Abraham what He
was going to do in the future, what was going to happen. Notice, He told Abraham...
First thing he saw was a real horror of darkness come over him. First, a real
heavy sleep fell upon him. Now, that sleep represented death to all human beings.
Every man has to die. Death to all human beings that sleep come upon him. And
before that went a real horror of blackness. And then went a furnace of fire.
And then a little burning Light went between the covenant, went between the
sacrifices, divided it.
Now, what does that mean? It means that every human being has to die, and really
after that, deserves to go to hell. That's right, in darkness, outer darkness,
separated from God. But the Light came in and went in between, dividing those
sacrifices. If you understand, we--that covenant...
E-43 Like we Americans,
how do we make a covenant? Well, the first thing we do, we say... We're going
to make some kind of a business deal or something. We usually go out and eat,
and set down, talk awhile, and then give our propositions, and then shake one
another's hands, and say, "Shake on it." That's our covenant; that's our promise.
Now, in Japan, you know how they make a covenant in Japan? They also have something
to eat. Then they pick up a little cruse of salt, and they throw salt on each
other. That's confirmation of the covenant. We shake hands and say, "It's sealed,
old boy. I believe it. I'll stay with you. It's a promise." And Japanese--Japan,
they throw salt on one another. "It's sealed, buddy. That's the end of it."
It's the end of all strife then if they've made the covenant, confirmed it by
throwing salt on one another.
E-44 But in the old
days...?... in the old days here's the way they made a covenant. We drawed an
agreement. And we took the agreement, wrote it out like that. And then we killed
a animal, the sacrifice, divided it, laid it out like it was in Abraham's time
there, and then we stood in between this covenant, you and I, and we made a
vow to God. "If we fail to keep this covenant, may we be as that dead sacrifice
that died in our place. Let that blood of that sacrifice answer on us. May we
die the same death if we fail to keep the covenant." Then it's all drawed out,
or wrote out on a piece of script, like that. Then it's tore in two, like that.
Now, you take one half, and I take a half.
And now (You see?), you cannot duplicate that at all, especially when it's wrote
on sheepskin. See, you could not duplicate it at all. This has to exactly dovetail
with that to make it so. And then, when we come together, I'm carrying one part,
you're carrying the other part. And then when we come together, and this covenant
is to be made, and our vows is to be paid, then my piece of paper must exactly
dovetail with your piece of paper. And therefore, you are the one that's with
me in the covenant.
E-45 What God was showing
there He was doing, that God Himself was coming down to be made flesh, and He
was going to be in the covenant. And God took Christ, the Spirit... God Jehovah
took Christ at--on the cross, and He tore Him in two. He ripped out His soul
and set it on high, and took the body and put it in the grave, and lifted up
the body in the morning of the resurrection, and sent back the Spirit that was
upon Him to be on the church. That's the same confirmation. In this last days
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever, the same covenant would
have to be in the people.
How you going to get it through education? How you going to get it any way,
besides the confirmation of the living, resurrected Jesus Christ, that's been
raised up from the dead, and setting in the majesty on high tonight, with the
same Spirit was upon Him, that's upon Abraham's royal seed in the last days,
confirming and proving that He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen.
Makes you feel religious, doesn't it? See?
E-46 There is the exact covenant: "Write my covenant upon their hearts." Jesus said, "The things that I do shall you also." As we come up here to Sodom in a few minutes, watch how it is, how it takes place there, exactly how the promise is for the last day, and what He would do. He was confirming it, showing that He--He tore the body of Jesus apart, taking the Spirit, lifted up the body to the right hand of the throne of God, and sent down the other part, the part He tore out, the Spirit, upon us, which is called the Holy Spirit. And the very life that was in Christ is in you. That shows He's your Redeemer. He's adopted you unto God. And now we are sons and daughters of God with the Spirit of Christ. "The works that I do shall you do also. Greater than this shall you do; for I go unto My Father." Amen.
E-47 The Spirit that
was in Him is on you: Eternal Life. He is the Giver of Eternal Life. He is the
Redeemer to bring back that which fell in the fall in the human race, to bring
back to God. And the Spirit that was in Christ is in you.
And if the spirit of a--of a villain was in me, I'd have guns. If the spirit
of a artist was in me, I'd paint pictures. If the Spirit of Christ is in me,
the works of Christ you'll do. Amen. That's right.
E-48 The life that is in Him is in you. Transfer the life from anything to another thing... If you could take the life of a--of a pumpkin, and put it in a watermelon vine, it would bear pumpkins. Exactly. If you take the life out of a peach tree and put it in a pear tree, it'll bear peaches; because the life that's in the tree gives the evidence of it. And there's how the royal seed... Through Isaac come the natural seed that rejected it. In the cross from Ephraim to Manasseh it was transferred, the blessing from the right hand to the left hand... Or the left hand belonged to the left, the youngest to the oldest through there, turned the whole situation from the natural seed of Isaac, which rejected Christ, in the natural church today, which still rejecting. But the spiritual royal seed of God that believes, the royal seed of Abraham which believes every Word of God there's a confirmation of a living, resurrected Jesus Christ in them. Oh, my.
E-49 See, the same thing
it was. The whole church must be relation. When it was typed in the natural
seed... Look, Isaac and Rebekah were first cousins, blood relation: same fathers.
See? Fathers were brothers, made them blood cousins, the bride and the bridegroom.
And in Adam and Eve, it was all Adam to begin with. God took a rib from his
side and made a woman. And He took the feminish spirit out of Adam and put it
in a woman.
Therefore, when a woman acts masculine, there's some--it's a perversion there
somewhere. And when a man wants to be a big sissy, there's something wrong somewhere.
God made a man and dressed him like a man, and a woman like a woman. He ever
remains them to be that way. Amen. And when you see them doing something else,
there's something wrong. It's perverted. And the whole thing has become a bunch
of perverts. It's exactly right. The whole race, the whole generation, it's
all... The whole thing's a putrefied sore, as the Bible says. There's hardly
soundness anywhere. You know that's the truth.
E-50 You can't find
hardly any--any among them that go out on the street, it's hard to find a real
man: sissies as I ever seen. And women, they wear trousers, cut their hair,
wear lipstick, smoke cigarettes, try to be a man. What do you want to be a man
for? You're supposed to be a lady.
I seen a sign said, "Tables for Ladies" in a barroom. I said, "You never had
a customer. A lady won't go to such a place." No, sir. A lady won't: a woman
might, but not a lady. She won't go to such a place. But there you are.
E-51 See, God separated,
cut... See, the body, the bride of Christ, has to come right back to the first...
Now, Eve was... What was Eve? Her and Adam were the same. They were called "Adam."
They were spirit. When He formed man the first time, He made them in His own
image. And God is a Spirit. "In the image of God created He him; male and female
created He them." He was...
And then, still there was no man to till the soil. Then God formed man out of
the dust of the earth, and put this dual spirit into him. And that was the first
Adam. Then when He separated Eve from Adam, Eve fell by disbelieving the Word.
That's right.
E-52 That's where the
church failed today: disbelieving the Word. But in this case, to the royal seed
called, predestinated to Eternal Life, the royal seed of Abraham, they believe
that Word. I don't care what comes or goes, how much they laugh, who says this,
that, or the other, they're ordained to Eternal Life. Then she goes right straight
back. Her and her Lover, Christ, is one. The Life, the Spirit that's in Christ
is in the church. That's the eternal covenant here.
See, God took the Spirit of Christ, tore It apart at the sacrifice at Calvary,
and took that Spirit, lifted up the body, set it on the right hand of the throne
of God and majesty on high; that's everything in heavens is controlled by Him.
And then the Spirit that was upon Him come back. The same Spirit, not another
spirit, the same Spirit come upon Him to confirm the covenant to the royal seed.
And in the last days we're supposed to see it according to the Scripture.
E-53 And before the
bride of Christ can ever be taken up, there has to be a ministry just dovetails
that exactly. Amen. I'm so glad to tell you tonight that I know that's the truth.
Amen. Dovetailing, confirming the covenant, He confirmed it there, showed him
what He was going to do: confirming the covenant. Now, any Bible scholar knows
that's when He confirmed the covenant to Abraham.
What was He doing? Showing in a figure what He was going to do with these sacrifices.
And now, it's getting late. And I won't have time to divide these sacrifices.
I'm going to have maybe do that tomorrow night. But notice... Show what they--what
these sacrifices meant... But see, He confirmed it, showing that in the last
days...
E-54 Now, anyone that ever read ancient history knows that that's the way they made a covenant. They wrote it, and then tore it apart, and handed it, one took one piece, and one another. They had to come back over a sacrifice, make their sacrifice. That's what Abraham did to--to the--down in Gerar, and so forth, when he went there where they offered the altar--offered up their sacrifice, and made their agreements, and tore it apart like that. And God did the same thing, showing there, that what He was going to do to A...
E-55 The question was,
"Where's--where's this seed You promised me? Where... How am I going to be there?
The people are laughing at me, saying, 'Abraham, father of nations, been fifteen
years. Now, you're eighty-five years old, or--or--or ninety. Where--where--where's
all your children at? How many children you got now, father of nations?'" See,
making fun of him...
But he staggered not. He stayed right with it. Made fun, said, "Father of nations,
now let's see. How many children do you have at this time?" See, wanted to make
fun because he was holding to God's promise, believing that He's able to keep
what He promised. He's--He's more than able. He's--He can provide His own sacrifice.
He's Jehovah-jireh. He can provide and make a way for what He promised. And
He confirmed the covenant to him by showing him how He was going to do it, taking
Christ and tearing the Life from Him, and send it down in the last days upon...
E-56 Now, we'll finish that in Scripture this week to prove that to you, that this covenant has to be confirmed with the royal seed of Abraham, which are the people out of the Gentiles, not Jews, a people out of the Gentiles for His Name's sake, taking it for His Name. The church that's got His Name will come back into Him, because that's who she is, her Life.
E-57 Listen. When on
the day of Pentecost... When the Holy Ghost fell on the day of Pentecost, the
Life was given to the church. And that church had went right out and produced...
They wrote behind that church a book of Acts, of what it did, because it was
Christ in the Apostles.
Now, Jesus said in St. John 15, "I am the Vine; ye are the branches." Now, the
vine does not bear fruit; the branch bears fruit. It's energized by the vine.
Well now, if that limb, first one come out on that tree produced a book of Acts,
if that ever puts out another limb, it'll be the same life.
E-58 A few months ago
I was standing with my good friend, John Sharritt, up at Phoenix. I live in
Tucson, as you know. And so, I was up to Phoenix. Brother John Sharritt, a very
fine Christian brother... And he was real, real poor, and the Lord has blessed
him...
And when I first went to Phoenix years ago he had no children, he--and he was--wanted
children. And--and the poor, working out on the street busting concrete, about
twenty-five, thirty cents a hour. And he come down there. And he believed every
word of the message. And he said, "Will you pray for me?" He's got five children
now. And at that... On besides that, he gives around three to four million dollars
every year to the cause of Christ...?... That's right.
E-59 I was with him
here not long ago, looking over his cotton farm. He bought a whole county, had
fifteen hundred Mexicans taking care of it. And was--fifteen years ago was busting
concrete for twenty-five cents an hour.
And he took me out in his great citrus grove, and I seen the funniest looking
tree there I ever seen in my life. It was some kind of a tree; it had all kinds
of fruit on it. And I looked. And it had oranges; it had lemons; it had grapefruits;
it had tangerines; it had tangelos. I think there was about nine different kinds
of fruit, or ten. And I said, "What kind of a tree is that?"
"Oh," he said, "that's just a little experiment, Brother Branham."
I said, "Oh, I see." I said, "They all living on that one tree?" I said, "What
kind of a tree is it to begin with?"
He said, "It's an orange tree. That's a navel orange."
And I said, "It is?" I said, "What's these other fellows doing on there?"
And he said, "They're grafted into it."
I said, "Oh, I see." I said, "I understand." I said, "Now, now, next year everything
will turn back to an orange, won't it?"
He said, "No. The lemon will bring forth a lemon." He said, "The... And the
grapefruit will bring forth a grapefruit, and the tangerine will bring forth
a tangerine."
I said, "Out of an orange tree?"
He said, "Yes, sir."
I said, "I don't see how it could do it."
He said, "It's all citrus fruit."
I said, "Well, praise the Lord. I see something."
E-60 Look. Oh, brother,
when that Holy Spirit come up into that vine and produced from its vine to the
first branch, and they wrote a book of Acts behind it, if that tree ever puts
forth another original limb, she'll grow the same thing. It'll be Jesus Christ.
Now, we've got Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutheran, everything else
grafted into it, bearing denominational fruit. But if it ever puts forth another
branch, it'll be a genuine Christ-filled, Christ-centered Word of God.
E-61 And remember. You
remember the "Bride Tree" message if any of you takes the tapes? How that the
husbandman come forth, and it was bearing the wrong kind of fruit. So he cut
it off, cut it off, keep cutting it back, cutting it back. But Joel said, "What
the palmerworm left, the caterpillar eaten; what the palmer--caterpillar left,
something else eaten." You find that them insects is the same insects, only
in a different stage.
And what the Lutheran left, the Methodist eaten. And what the Methodist left,
the Baptist eaten. And what the Baptist left, the Pentecostal's eaten. The whole
thing's cut down. But God said, "I will restore, saith the Lord, all the years.
I'll send back another church in the last days. I will restore that original
power again. In the evening time it shall be Light."
E-62 Down in the heart of that tree, no matter how many branches is pruned off, will come forth the royal seed of Abraham. Hallelujah. God promised it. God will do it. He said He would do it. "I will restore all the years that the denominations eat. I'll restore all the years. I pruned the thing off. But yet there'll come a vine out of the heart of it. He'll be like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water, a man that meditates in the Word of God day and night," not to a creed or a denomination, but "meditates in the Word day and night, he'll be like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water...?... branches shall not wither. He'll bring forth his fruit in the seasons."
E-63 God promised it.
God tearing loose, pulling out, cutting apart, separating Himself, dividing
Himself. He did the same thing on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost come
down. That Pillar of Fire come down that followed Israel. We all know that was
the Logos. That was Christ. And when it come down on the day of Pentecost, what
did it do? It divided itself, and tongues of fire set upon each one of them:
God dividing Himself among the people.
Oh, brother, you can be undivided with the same Spirit that was in Christ. "He
that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also. Greater than this
(Or more than this, the right translation), for I go unto the Father. Yet a
little while and the world seeth Me no more. Yet you'll see Me; for I (personal
pronoun), I'll be with you, even in you at the end time, the consummation."
He promised to do it, the seed of Abraham.
E-64 He's here now. He's... We're here, a few days ago, celebrating the resurrection of Him, that God raised him up; we testified; we sing it; And He might appear and do something that He did, just like He did before His resurrection; we call it a fortuneteller, a devil, a Beelzebub, shut it out from the church. What do we do that for? Has to fulfill the Scripture, that in the Laodicean age, the Word, which was Christ, was put on the outside, knocking at the door trying to get some cooperation from somewhere, come in and make Hisself known.
E-65 But there will
come a branch out of there, just as certain as anything. I said to Brother Sharritt,
"Then what kind of a branch will it bring forth next year? Will it be an orange?
Will it be a lemon?"
"It--it--it'll be the original," he said. "When it brings forth a branch out
of itself, it'll be an orange, just like it was at the beginning."
And when the real, living seed of Abraham come up, that same Spirit that was
in Jesus Christ will live among them. Every Word will be punctuated with an
"Amen." They believe it. Not, "This is inspired, and that's not inspired." They
believe the whole thing, 'cause it's the Word of God.
E-66 Do you believe
it tonight with all your heart? Amen. I done preached here now till I got--long
time. Let's bow our heads just a minute, and I'll finish this tomorrow night.
I promised I wouldn't keep you late. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today,
and forever... A confirmed... It settled it with Abraham, when by faith he saw
it: went right on, staggered not in unbelief. He staggered not. Now, what about
his royal seed? We who claim... We Christians of this day, who claim to kiss
the same cup that He drank from, having His same Spirit within us... And to
see Him vindicate His promise of being here with us, the promise to make it
fulfilled...
It's never been so. In all the ages we've never had it before. Search the history.
Never did it appear. And where did it, supposed to go to in the last days? To
the elect church, not to Babylon, not to Sodom; they had a messenger down there.
E-67 But the Holy Spirit is the Messenger to the elect church. Now, it's God dwelling in human flesh, showing Himself the Discerner, the Word that discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's Jehovah-jireh. He's already provided our sacrifice, and is confirming His covenant. He's keeping His covenant in the last days with the people. Friends, we could talk here all night. Things that's been said, there's enough said.
E-68 There's people
here that's sick; you need healing. Why don't you believe that? If I could heal
you, I'd do it. Be praying. If I could heal you, I would do it. I cannot heal
you. I'm... You notice I'm giving the service, the first night or two here on
praying for the sick. Now, it's not only for that. If there's any seed here
that's ordained to Life, the Holy Spirit will catch it. They'll see it. They'll
know it. Now, He's...
How many in here would raise your hands before God and say, "I believe it with
all my heart, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that
He's arose from the dead, and He's alive among us tonight, showing Himself to
be among us, and I believe it is of God." Would you raise your hands and say,
"I truly believe it."
E-69 Now, heavenly Father,
they're in Your hands. They are--they are claiming that they are the seed of
Abraham. They--they want... They--they want the blessings of God. And I--I told
them in this simple little way. I started on my text and didn't get to finish
it. But, Father, they--they see here in the confirmation to Abraham that You
confirmed the promise to him, give him the confirmation.
Now, if the--if the Spirit of Christ isn't in us, then we are nothing of Christ.
And Christ's nature cannot be changed. And He's well told us, and promised us
these things according to the Bible in many places. Even the Old Testament promised
it in Malachi 4, that how it would be in the last days, would turn the hearts
of the children back to the faith of the fathers: the--the Pentecostal fathers,
the original doctrine of the Bible, the original Word, that what it would do.
And there'd be a sign, and this sign would confirm--be confirmed by the voice
that would follow it, that You're here, and we believe You.
E-70 Now, Father, may--may
Satan make his way out. We--we do not believe that we have any power, Lord.
We don't claim to have power; we claim to have authority. We realize the little
policeman on the street, with the little cap setting on his head, a big car
sweeping down through them broad ways at ninety miles an hour with three-hundred
horsepower motors, he hasn't got power to stop a one of them. They'd just crush
him right down.
But just let him show that badge and lift his hands, brakes will squeal, and
tires will hum. It's authority. The whole city's behind him. He's got authority,
not power. He may not weigh a hundred pounds, but he's got authority.
E-71 And that's the
way it is tonight, Lord. We come to Satan not with power, but with the authority,
showing the Blood and the confirmation of the covenant. He has no right to hold
these sick people.
Looking upon them, and seeing them sweating it out, here... O God, if there's
some way I could just get the message to them. If they could only see, Lord,
just realize... Wake them up, Lord, one time now tonight. Let them see that
You're the same God. You're confirming Your Word. You keep it just as You promised.
In these last days You said these things would happen when the Son of man is
being revealed that these things would take place. Grant it, Lord, and let them
see that it's You. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.
E-72 Now, believe, friends.
You're such a nice audience. I just run past my time (See?), and I--I didn't
mean to do that. I told them I'd go--be out on time tonight, but I failed it
because I... Now, I'll finish my text tomorrow night, maybe, the Lord willing.
Now, here we are. You're people. We're all though just human beings. We want
to live. Everybody wants to live his time out. I believe God want us to do that.
I--I do believe it. Now, it isn't because there's no balm in Gilead. You know,
it was said one time, "Well, why? Why is it? Is there no balm in Gilead? Is
there no prophet there?" Isaiah said, or I mean Elijah said, "Go ask him. Is
it because there's no prophet in Israel? Why do you go to Ekron, up there, the
god Beelzebub? Why--why do you go up there, him being a Jew? Why do you go up
there?" Said, "Is it because there's no balm in Gilead? There's no physician
there? Is there... Is that the reason? Is that the reason?" No, sir. We've got
Balm. The Holy Spirit's here. Yes, sir. The promise is ours. Now, you've just
got to believe it. It's--it's a day to where people's mind are so scattered
they don't... I feel sorry for them. They don't know what to believe. One says
this and one says that. "Let every man's word be a lie, and Mine be true," the
Lord God said. That's right. Now, He cannot change His nature.
E-73 Now, I believe
last night we started prayer card 1, wasn't it? and called up to about 20, or
something like that, huh? Let's just change that procedure. Let's not have any
prayer cards at all. Just... You just pray. You don't... A prayer card just
gets you up here. But I feel His Presence so, I just know He's here.
How many ever seen a picture of that Angel of the Lord? So help me, when I meet
you at judgment, It ain't two feet from where I'm standing right here. That's
right. It's here.
E-74 Now, somebody that
hasn't got prayer cards raise up your hand, and say, "I haven't got a prayer
card, and yet I'm sick and needy." Why, it's just everywhere. All right.
Now, I tell you. What did that Angel do up there that time? He turned His back,
had His back turned to Abraham, which I was going to get to tonight and didn't
do it... And where He said it would be the same thing at the coming of the Lord
as it was at Sodom. We find out He had His back turned to the tent. And Sarah
laughed at what He said, 'cause He told him, and she couldn't understand that
that just being a Man out there eating the meat that she fried, drinking the
milk from the cow, and eating its calf, and that was God. The Bible said it
was.
E-75 Abraham said it
was Elohim (That's right.), Elohim, God. He vanished right before Abraham. And
God called him LORD God, Elohim, all-sufficient One. "In the beginning..." the
same word's used. Any scholar knows that. "In the beginning, God..." Look at
the Hebrew "Elohim."
Watch when Abraham said, "Lord God, Elohim," same Man, same Person, showing
that God would manifest Hisself in human flesh to Abraham's seed to confirm
the covenant and do the same thing He did. See it? Same thing He did there.
He's always a prophet that discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart because...
E-76 How many knows the Bible says that the Word of God discerns the thoughts that's in the heart? Now, if God will take at least three people in here tonight... Now, this is a challenge. If anybody don't think it's so, you come do it. If you don't, then don't say nothing about it. See? Now, notice. Take at least three people (Three's a confirmation.), that's totally strangers, and if the Holy Spirit... If you'll just believe, that's all I ask you to believe--to do, is believe that this Bible is the Truth, and we're living in the last days, and this is the promise for the last days.
E-77 Remember, Abraham,
or no one else seen any other sign, until the promised son came on the scene.
Abraham seen all kinds of signs and things up to that. But that was the last
sign. He'll never break it, the continuity of God. The seed of Abraham, that's
their last sign. See? That's the last... God... He knew right then that was
Elohim. And Jesus come right back and said it would be that way, and here we
are right here today on it, the same thing. People, this is Truth.
I don't doubt here in a little barn... You said. Well, it's always been that
way. He was born in a manger. There's hardly anyone would believe Him. But it's
just those seed that believe, that's ordained to Life, is all. "All the Father's
given Me will come to me." That's right. See? That's where you're at. If their
name's there, they'll see it, and how... They'll do it.
E-78 Now, see, just
the idea... I--I could pray and lay hands upon you. I'm going to speak on that,
especially on Sunday afternoon. But I--I want you to see today that you can
lay your hands on Him. He is a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling
of our infirmities. You believe that? Then believe it. And now, if He will do
that...
Now, I do know somebody here. I happened to look over, and I see two or three
of my friends setting right there. That's a minister, a couple of them there,
and one with his head down. The Lord just healed his little boy from concussion
of the brain yesterday. He called me by telephone.
E-79 And--and another
man there, and his little baby, the other night, they thought was dead. And
I was in Beaumont. And we called, went over, and he laid his hands upon me and
started crying, and said, "Brother Branham, the Word of the Lord is with you.
Just ask Him." At that very minute the little baby come back to life, and started
breathing again. There's his father setting right there, a minister.
And this man, a car wrecked and throwed him through the something or other,
and over into a ditch, and concussed his little brain, and things. The Lord
healed him perfectly normal. They believe; they absolutely...
E-80 Now, don't say
I did it. I had nothing to do with it. Their faith in God, that's what did it.
You have faith also. Jesus said in St. Mark 11:22, "Whatsoever things... If
you say to this mountain, 'Be moved,' and don't doubt in your heart, but believe
that what you said will come to pass, and you can have what you say." But there
it is. See? It's not a hope; it's a "know it."
And if He can prove Hisself alive, the One that made the promise can prove Hisself
alive, when nothing else in the world can do it, wake up; shake yourself real
hard, your spirit. See? Nothing in the world could do it but God. Now, you could--you
could judge it the evil one, if you want to. They judged Him evil, so they still
judge His Spirit evil. They said He was a devil doing that. Well, 'course they
got that reward. You just believe. You can't heal; I can't heal; there's no
man can heal. God's the Healer.
E-81 But if you could
just realize that the very One that you serve and separated yourself from the
world to serve, the very One that you love, the very One that's going to stand
in the judgment--you in the judgment with Him to be judged, if His Presence
can come right here and show that He's here...
Now, His corporal body can't do it. When that comes, time's over. "As the lightning
cometh from the east unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be."
But His Spirit in the church has come. Look how it's come up, through justification,
sanctification, baptism of the Holy Spirit, and now right into the rapturing
time to get the church ready, just exactly the way it promised, just the way
the church ages are lined out. And we've seen everything coming right down,
right down. Pentecost is the last organization. That's according to the Scripture.
It'll be the last organization: rejected with the rest of them. That's right.
It's an organization. No organization is accepted to God. It's just... It's
individuals is the ones that's accepted to God.
E-82 Now, can't you believe His Presence? Now, here, I'm just your brother. And now, with sent... That God told me to come do this... Therefore, I believe Him. If it wasn't written in the Word for this age, I'd walk away from it. Anything that's not in that Word, I don't believe it. Now, I wouldn't accept it. I don't say I wouldn't believe it, but I don't accept it. I don't understand it. But when it's in this Word, and a promise for this age, I understand it. Do you? May the Lord help us now. And you just--you reach up now by faith, believe that in the--our presence... We're in His Presence, rather.
E-83 Now, if that same Jesus that made that promise, and in the Bible here that inspired Paul, who had the revelations in such abundance he was made nervous, and had trouble in the flesh, except he get exalted above the abundance of the revelation... See, he wrote the Bible, he was so inspired. He wrote the books of the Bible. Like Moses, he was a prophet, so he... The Word come to him, and he wrote it. He was permitted into the Scripture, the sacred writings. Now, he was the one that--that--that says the--believes--taught these things.
E-84 Now, remember that
Christ is risen from the dead and is among us. Now, get that in your mind, "Christ
raised from the dead and is among us." Now, we have seen all kinds of great
moves, and shouting, and praising God; it's all fine. We spoke in tongues, and
prophesied, and all... We've seen all that. That's fine; that comes right along
with it. But remember, the last thing is His Divine Presence, the Word itself.
He is the Word, the Head, the Word. It's coming to the body. See?
And then that Word... And Hebrews the 4th chapter, said, "The Word of God is
sharper, more powerful than a two-edged sword; and a Discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart." Now, take that Scripture and run it right back from
the beginning of the prophets, run it right on down through Jesus Christ, and
see if that isn't the same thing, the same thing, that He's known as the Messiah.
Now, it's not some man here is the Messiah; it's the Holy Spirit is the Messiah.
Christ and the Holy Spirit is the same thing. So here It is here now, just working
in the flesh, getting the body ready for the rapture and raise it. Believe it,
friends.
E-85 Lord God, please let it happen tonight. Now, in the Name of Jesus Christ I take every spirit in here under my control for the glory of God. I say that so that you'll understand. See? Don't you... If you're doubting, you--it'd be--it's not good to stay very long, 'cause many people setting here, no doubt, have seen what happens sometimes to unbelievers. They'll go from one to another, like they did in the Bible.
E-86 How many of you
here is praying, who knows that I'm a stranger, don't know nothing about you?
Raise up your hands that you're praying, for me, that I don't know nothing about
you?
You, that man setting there with the black tie on, looking at me right here.
Now, look. See that Light? Don't you see It? It's a amber, goldish green Light?
You believe me to be His servant, sir? If God can reveal to me what your trouble
is, do you believe? You would believe? Believe with all your heart? Do you believe
it was God? Would you do it? Would you believe your healing would come? That's
it. You have a prayer card? No, you don't have it. You don't need it. Your trouble's
in your ear. If that's right, raise up your hand. It was in your ear. It isn't
now, if you believe it. I don't know the man--never seen him.
E-87 Now, here's a man
setting right next to you. He's kinda praying. He's praying for something wrong
with him. Look at me, sir. You got a prayer card? You don't. You believe me
to be God's servant? You believe what I've told you the truth? You believe it's
the Presence of Jesus Christ? You believe your back is going to be all right
from now on? If you do, raise up your hand. If you will believe... See?
Now, ask him. I never seen him in my life. He never touched me. He's twenty
feet from me. What did he touch? That fulfills the Scripture. He touched the
High Priest. He was setting there praying to be healed. See? He touched the
High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. See?
E-88 Now, what do you
think, young man setting back there, a young fellow looking at me so straight?
You believe God will heal that kidney trouble you got? You do? Raise up your
hand if you believe it. You want to stop that habit you got too? Throw them
cigarettes away? Wave your hand like this, if you do. Then lay it down, forget
it. In Jesus Christ's Name. If thou canst believe...
Right across from me there is setting a lady with glasses on. She's suffering
with nervous trouble. You believe that God will heal you, lady? Raise up your
hand if you believe it. All right.
Will you do me a favor? There's a little lady setting right next to you is suffering
with a female trouble, lady's trouble. That's right, lady. Raise up your hand
if that's so: drainage. Lay your hand over on her, and she'll get well, 'cause
she believes.
E-89 Say, then setting
next to her is one too. There it's right over that other lady setting next to
her. She's suffering with her legs, or trouble with her legs. You believe that
God will heal your legs? Raise up your hand. There you are. You believe Him
to be Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever?
You believe, setting there, right behind this man setting here in front, the
lady that's setting there? You believe that God... You got two dangerous things.
One of them is cancer; the other one is arthritis. You believe that God will
heal you? If you will, raise up your hand and say, "I--I believe." All right.
E-90 You believe He's
confirming the covenant? Here's a lady setting here looking at me, right behind
this man. She's got on a red-looking dress of some sort, red. I figure... Oh,
a sweater, it might be. She's too far; it's dim out there. After... You see,
that makes you so weak, the whole thing begins to turn a kind of a milky color
around through the room. But that stands up over her. See that Light?
She's praying about something. If Jesus Christ will reveal to me what you're
praying about, will you believe with all your heart? You will? I'm a stranger
to you. You're a stranger to me. But you got in contact with the High Priest,
'cause the signal that He gives me is right over you (See?), the sign. I know
it is. You have a tremendous nervous trouble that you suffer with, and also
you got a goiter on the throat that you're suffering with. If that's right,
raise up your hand.
E-91 You say, "You can
see that." All right. You come... You're not from here. You come... You're not
from this country here, this place. You come from Memphis. That's right.
The lady setting next to you, she also come from Memphis. You believe with all
your heart, lady? You believe that God can heal you? You believe me to be His
prophet, or His servant? That stumbles people. See? You believe me to be His
servant? You believe it's God is what's doing this talking? You know I wouldn't
know nothing about you. You believe it would be God, then? All right. You believe
with all your heart, and God... What you're suffering with, you got a--you got
trouble with your throat also. And another thing, you've got a knot, a growth
in your side. You believe that God can tell me what side it's in? If it is,
raise up your hand if I tell you the truth. It's in the right side. You believe
God can tell me who you are? Will that help you? You're Mrs. Cox. Go ask her.
Do you believe? All of you believe now? That's the confirming of the covenant
to the seed of Abraham. If you can believe...
E-92 Here, there's a
woman laying out there on a stretcher. Can you hear me, lady, laying on that
stretcher? Yeah. I cannot heal you. I know nothing about you. You're just a
stranger to me. But do you believe that Jesus Christ can reveal to me what your
trouble is? Would that help you? Will it would? If you lay there you're going
to die. You only have one chance to live; that's accept Christ. You have cancer.
That is right. You believe that God will make you well now? You do? Raise up
your hand if you believe it. All right.
In your place the only thing that you could do would be rise up out of that
bed, and take up what you're laying on, and go home, claiming your faith in
God as the seed of Abraham. Rise up, in the Name of Jesus. She raises up to
take her promise in God.
E-93 How many of the rest of you, believe it with all your heart now? Stand up. You've got strength. God will give you strength. Rise up to your feet. There she is, up off of the stretcher. Now, the rest of you wants to receive Jesus Christ, stand up on your feet. Stand up on your feet. Stand up everywhere, and accept Jesus Christ as your Healer. Lord Jesus, heal every one. Grant it, Lord God.