Faith # 2

'The Trial of Our Faith'

Bro. Lee Vayle 

[The opening remarks and opening prayer missing]  

1. 	Tonight the message is “The Trial of Our Faith.” I want to read
a few portions of Scripture… We have one, first of all, in the book of
1 Peter. And in 1 Peter 1:7 It says:

	(7) 	That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of
gold 					that perisheth, though it be tried with fire…

	That what be tried with fire? Gold? No, your faith. I told you that
mountain-moving faith looked toward a God Who raised the dead, which
‘raising of the dead’ meant that the extremist of conditions would
be met by faith. So, there you see it again. I haven’t told you a lie.
Everything I tell you dovetails.

	(7) 	That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of
gold 					that perisheth, though it (this faith) be tried with fire,
might be found 				unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ.

	And that’s what Peter said.

2. 	Now, what did James say? James 1:2-8. (We’ve read it before.)

	(2) 	My brethren, count it all (pure) joy (‘All joy’ means ‘pure
joy’.) 					when you fall into divers temptations.

	Now the word ‘all’, I want you to understand, means nothing mixed
in there. Pure joy means ‘pure joy’. How would you like to have pure
joy? That means nothing mixed with it, joy that is pure, no possible
slippage in the gear, so to speak—no alloy, no diminishing—pure joy,
like you say ‘pure pork’. Pure pork sausage means there is no beef
and no bread crumbs. It’s all pork. Well, that is what the word
‘pure’ means here—nothing but joy. It says you are to count it
pure joy when you fall into divers temptations (testings).

	(3) 	Knowing this, that the trying of your faith (There it is again.) 	
			worketh patience. 

	(4) 	But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and
					entire, wanting nothing.

	That’s enough to read from there; I just want to show you that your
faith gets tried.

3. 	Turn to Rom 5:1.

	(1) 	Therefore being justified (Not being justified, you have been
justified.)				(by faith), we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ: 

	(2) 	By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we
stand, 				and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

	(3) 	And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that
tribulation 			worketh patience; 

	(4) 	And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 

	(5)	 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed
abroad 				in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

4. 	Now this is a most important Scripture, and we are going to deal
from It. Before we do, I want to read It from other translations in
order to get a better understanding. Many words in the King James
Version were not properly researched, or they were used in a day
hundreds of years ago and have lost their meaning. So, I am going to
read it from various translations, which are more modern, in order to
give you a better understanding of the Scripture, and you can research
these words for yourself in a lexicon or some dictionary, or whatever
you choose.

	A. The “Weymouth” translation says this: (And I like this.)

	(l) 	We exult…(‘To glory’ means to exult. If you glory in
something you 				are exulting in it. The word ‘exult’ means ‘to
crow’.) 

	(2) 	We exult in hope of seeing God’s glory. 

	(3) 	And not only so, we exult in such afflictions as is ours; knowing
as we 				do, afflictions produce endurance; 

	(4) 	Endurance, ripeness of character, and ripeness of character, hope:


	(5) 	And this hope never disappoints because the love of God is shed
abroad 				in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.

	B. “Moffatt” translation:

	(1) 	Through him we have access into this grace wherein we have our 			
	standing,

	(2) 	And we triumph in the hope of the glory of God;

	(3) 	Not only so (but) we triumph even in our troubles, knowing that
troubles 				produce endurance,

	(4) 	(And) endurance character (That’s the second time you notice
that is 				mentioned.) and character produces hope,

	(5) 	A hope which never disappoints, since God’s love floods our
hearts 				through the Holy Ghost given to us.

	C. “Way” (an Oxford Translator, “Moody Bible Press
Publication.”) Yes, when Greek students choose a word, many of them
choose the same word, and you may rest upon it; that is the best
translation for this time. Notice again:

	(2) 	We exult in the hope of something higher yet—the glory of
God’s 					presence. (Now, remember; this is a liberal man saying
this.) 

	(3) 	I will further say that we actually exult in such afflictions
(See? Trials 				that are ours!) 

	(4) 	Knowing as we do that afflictions develop unflinching endurance,
and 				endurance develops tested strength, and tested strength the
habit of hope. 

	(5) 	This hope is no delusive one, as proved by the fact that the
brimming 				river of God’s love has already over-flowed into our
hearts, on-driven 				by the Holy Ghost.

	Now, you will notice in these cases there are some words that differ,
but not once is the conclusion different: the hope which never
disappoints because of God’s love overflowing in our hearts.

5. 	Now, as we study this I want you to notice some very special
language in this portion of Scripture; and, if the Holy Ghost did not
show you this, you could read it many times and miss it. This is the
Scripture that God brought me back to, year after year and time after
time, until one day He showed me what I wanted to know and could never
find before in the Word of God. You will notice that this part of
Scripture starts with hope. It says, “We exult in the hope of seeing
God’s Glory.” But it not only starts in hope, but it ends with hope;
and then, it spirals somehow through a spiritual process to a level
which is beyond hope, that is, the level of love.

6. 	Now, let’s examine this carefully according to what we have read.
We’ll just look at it briefly, however, as we examine it, but it will
be a careful examination. It says, “We stand in grace, and we hope for
the glory of God.” What does that mean? The word ‘hope’ means
‘earnest expectation’. What does the ‘glory of God’ mean? It
means exactly what it meant when Jesus was here upon earth, and they
came to him and said, concerning the man who was blind, “Who did sin?
Did his parents sin that he was born blind, or did he sin that he became
blind?”

	And Jesus said, “Neither. The fact is, he was born blind, and he was
born blind for the glory of God.”

	In other words the glory of God was involved in this man’s affliction
because God was going to do something which He could not do unless the
man had the affliction. I have been teaching that all week…you can’t
miss it.

7. 	Here is a picture in Romans 5 of a man exulting, crowing in what he
found in the good Word of God applicable to him and his situation, which
was a predicament. Remember, I have taught you: there can be no promise
without a necessity. There can be no promise without a problem. Face it
once for all: there is no need of a promise without a problem. God
cannot alleviate that which needs no alleviation. God can comfort no
heart that needs no comfort. He can provide for no man that needs no
help. He can heal no man that needs no healing. He can save no man that
needs no salvation.

	Are you satisfied? Huh? Are you? No, quit bluffing! Are you satisfied?
From now on, when you think of promise, you are going to think of
affliction; is that correct? Make up your mind. We can close the meeting
and go home now as a bunch of back-slidden failures, or we’ll sit
around and find us some truth. Far too long we have fooled with the Word
of God. This is no time to fool; it is too late. Because some preacher
or somebody sold you a bill of goods, or some devil has, or you sold
yourself… We can’t fool with that. 

	The Bible says that this man exulted in the Word of God as was
applicable to his situation. He needs God, and he finds that God has the
answer. It goes on to say that he received it with great, great joy. But
then, the trial sets in. But, when the trial sets in, the Scripture says
he endured it, and he came through a better man for it. This enlargement
of heart and life has an effect upon that man’s earnest expectation
which is called ‘hope’, because it now becomes indestructible, for
It says it never disappoints. And from this experience he goes to the
overflowing, manifested love of God in his life.

8. 	You say, “That’s a wonderful experience. I want that.” You can
have it, but you have to go through the same process that man went
through. Let’s examine it word for word.

	The Scripture says that this man exults in the hope of the glory of
God. He is crowing over the fact that God had revealed to him that He is
not only able to extricate him from his…, and does sincerely expect
God to do what He said, because God can’t lie. He is not only
omnipotent (able to do it), but He is immutable. He will do it, because
He swore by Himself, and He stands behind His Word to perform It. He
exults in It, and I must do it also. It is thrilling and rejoicing to
know that God has the answer for us; and that is exactly what God has in
store for us now, because He says over here in Hebrews 6, which we have
read before (at least some of the verses). And verse 16 says:

	(16) 	For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation
is 				to them an end of all strife

	(17) 	Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of
promise 				the immutability of his counsel, confirmed [it] by an oath: 

	(18) 	That by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for
God to lie, 			we might have a strong consolation (comfort), who have
fled for refuge to 				lay hold upon the hope (earnest expectation) set
before us: 

	(19) 	Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the (our) soul, both sure
and stedfast, 			and which entereth into that within the veil.

	Our expectation is centered in Christ himself and can’t fail. And he
proved he can’t fail, because he conquered sin and death and rose
again and is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And It
says our fore-runner, Christ, is within the veil, and our expectation is
anchored in him. Why? Because he is the High Priest of things to come.

9. 	Now this man has seen that God has the answer for him, and he
rejoices in it; he exults in it; he’s just thrilled about it.

	Now, logically, the human mind, by reasoning (And we are trying to be
reasonable.) will say, “All right, I am set free. I have gone to God
for the answer; I am set free. We are gifted so that our needs are
met.”

	But, what does the Bible say? The Bible says, “No, that’s not what
happens: a trial sets in.” In spite of our prayer of faith, the answer
does not come immediately; and, instead of things getting better, they
will either remain at status quo, or they may even get worse. That’s
exactly what Scripture says. 

10. 	Now, the next portion of the same verse reads, “We exult in such
trials and afflictions as ours.” The Bible says that is what this man
did. When the afflictions come he got all shouting happy about them,
too. That is one thing I can never figure out about shouting
meetings—Methodists, Pentecostals, or God knows what they are. I could
never figure that out, because in a church anybody can shout and do
anything. And ho! you can cut a rug, bless God, that would put a dance
hall to shame; but get out there where the trials are, and there is not
one shout in the camp or one smiling face, but just one grump! grump!
grump! What happened to God? The Scripture said this man exults—he
crows as well in the trials as he crowed over the promises. He shouted
just as much; he danced just as hard; he said, “Whoopee!” just as
exhilarated as he said it before. In fact, he is a Billy Brae who was so
happy he literally danced down the street; and one day his wife said,
“Billy, I wants thee to know that the flour barrel is getting
empty.”

	“Well,” he said, “Wife, I wants thee to know, let it get empty. I
shall stick my head in the barrel and shout, “Glory!” through the
bunghole.”

	And she said, “Thou hast better see that thou do it when the time
cometh.”

	So, one day she said, “Billy, the barrel is empty,” and he said,
“Wife, if you will stick your head in the barrel with me, we will both
shout, “Glory!” through the bunghole.” And they did, and God
filled the barrel.

11. 	Now, look! There isn’t any man living who is given permission to
rend the Word of God. For anybody to take away the second part of this
verse is to rend the Word of God. If you can shout, “Glory!” over
God being your healer; over God being a provider, over the promises of
God, then you are duty-bound to shout, “Glory!” over the fact that
you are tested and tried, because that is exactly what the Scripture
says to do. Let me show you, brother and sister. I am not giving you my
own ideas but the Word of God. So, we come to Heb 11:17-19, where It
says:

	(17) 	By faith, Abraham, when he was tried… (Abraham’s faith was
tried.) 				By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and
he that 				had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

	(18) 	Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

	(19) 	Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead;
from 				whence also he received him in a figure.

	Now, let me ask you this question. Don’t answer, but think! When was
Abraham tried by God? Before God gave him the promise or after God gave
him the promise? Abraham was tried ‘after’ God gave him the promise.
If you think the promise of God will keep away the trial, you have
missed the boat. The promise of God will bring the trial; it says so
right here in the Book.

12. 	Let’s see what else the Book says. You know when It says, “It
is written: in the Book, It doesn’t mean somewhere in the Bible.
According as I understand it, (I have been told by scholars!) It means
just exactly as It was written of the cross: “It is finished.”

	“It is written” is identical in meaning; that is, not so much the
meaning as a word for word translation, but the thought. “It is
written”—“It is finished”—“I have spoken,” said God.
That’s It! And It will stand, and It is the only thing that will
stand. We had better stand with It.

13. 	So, we go to Ps 105:19. It says:

	(19) 	Until the time that his Word came: the Word of the Lord tried him
					(Joseph).

	You say, “Bro. Vayle, I’m going to use that Word of promise and get
results.”

	You’d better also say, “Bro. Vayle, I’m going to use that Word of
promise and get tried.”

	God said to Joseph: “Sun, moon, stars, bow down! Sheaves bow down!”

	He came and told his people, and they said, “You really think so?”

	He said, “I am sure it is.”

	They said, “We’ll find out.” 

	So, you need God for the trouble which comes from believing His Word?
Joseph got hated. That’s a nice feeling. I’m getting used to it, I
hope (cross my fingers). Joseph got sold into slavery. He got lied
about…falsely accused...persecuted…put in prison. Until the Word
that God gave him by promise personally came to pass, he was tried by
that same Word.

14. 	Let’s see if I can find over here something. Hebrews 6:15 says
concerning Abraham:

	(15) 	And so, after he had (after he had) patiently endured, Then (and
only 				then) he obtained the promise. (God’s Word tried him.)

	Now, why is it that we can exult? Why is it that we can exult in the
trials of our lives and take the trials in an exultant, rejoicing
manner? In the first place, we have the measure of the faith of the Lord
Jesus Christ, which was given for this very thing and cannot operate
without; it can move mountains and raise the dead. That ought to take
care of it. Also, it puts things in the past tense, because God cannot
fail, giving us the rest of faith while the trials go on—assurance.

15. 	But, also, there’s a second thing, and that is, according to
Scripture, It says, “We know something.” And that is what’s wrong
with Christians. They don’t know anything, hardly, anymore. Now the
old-timers did. The old Puritans knew the Word of God. The old scholars
really knew something. But our modern people, they don’t know for
nothing. The Bible says these people knew something. 

	Now, what is it they knew? Well, that’s the next step. They knew that
tribulation worked patience. That’s what they knew. They understood
what we’re trying to arrive at tonight; and that’s an understanding
of why God tries our faith, how He does it, what the end results are,
and what we are to understand about it to go through the process in
order to arrive at a happy situation in the Lord Jesus Christ. They knew
that the trial of their faith worked patience; they knew that the only
way anybody can get patience is by being tried. No other way.

16. 	So, we turn to Heb 10:32-39, and It says:

	(32) 	But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were 
				illuminated…

	What illuminates the man? “The entrance of thy word giveth light.”
(Ps 119:130a).

	You say, “Bro. Vayle, the Holy Ghost gives me light.”

	Don’t be ridiculous! The Holy Ghost doesn’t give you light. The
Holy Ghost is a Person, and He brings you the Word, which gives you the
light; because, if you have the Holy Ghost and shut yourself away from
the Word, you won’t get light, even though you’ve got the Holy
Ghost.

	You say, “Can I do that?”

	You’re capable of shutting off the things of God. You are! The Word
brings light. “The entrance of thy Word giveth (bringeth) light.” 

	And It says in Hebrews [10]:

	(32) 	But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were 
				illuminated (The Word of promise came to you.) ye endured a great 		
	fight of afflictions; 

	(33) 	Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and 
				afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that 		
		were so used.

	When you are a Christian they are going to go after you, for your own
sake, because you love God; or they are going to fight someone else that
you have conversation with, you are living with, or associated with, and
they will fuss at you because of that. That is exactly what Paul told
you. Now, he said, “Ye had compassion of me in my bonds and took
joyful the spoiling of your goods, knowing…” [Heb 10:34]

17. 	Now, how many of you tonight can be happy when you are despoiled?
We get pretty ‘ouchy’ as any man living. If I want to give it to
you, I’m generous; but, if you want to take it…? It may not be
exactly that I am stingy, but you see I’m right-handed, and I keep my
money in my left hand pocket. It’s not too easy to get it. See?

	Now the Bible says that you rejoice because you know something. You
take joyful the fact you’re spoiled. Why? They knew something; they
knew something. They knew that they had in heaven [Hebrews 10]:

	(35) 	A better and enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your 			
	confidence (faith in the Word of God) which hath great recompense 			
of reward.” 

	(36) 	For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will
of God, 				ye might receive the promise.

	When do you get the promise? After you are tried and endure.

18. 	Now, for years we have been taught ‘live endurance’, haven’t
we? They say, “Now you don’t need to sit down there and suffer,”
and they appeal to your greed. They take out a check and say, “Fill in
this check for fifty or a hundred. God will give it back a
hundred-fold.”

	Now, that is not just exactly a lie, but it ain’t the truth, honey!
They appeal to greed. Oh, I know. I’ve been to their meetings. I get
their magazines. They send out anointed pocket books. If that is not the
same as getting a relic from the Catholic Church, I’ll eat my shirt.
If that’s not paganism, I don’t know what paganism is. If that’s
not substituting a rabbit’s foot for God, I don’t know what it’s
all about. We get it all the time. If you don’t know their names,
I’ll give you their names. I have a right to, because I’ve got their
magazine with their name on it. It’s no secret. 

	It’s not W.V., it’s Jean, isn’t? What is it, Dallas, that does
it? Oh, surely it can’t be just Texas that does it. You’ve got them
here in North Carolina; don’t worry. Just like I’ve got them in
Ohio. And they appeal to you [with] “You don’t need to go through
trials. We are here to take your trials off you.”

19. 	And I’m not saying you can’t get healed. I’m not saying
God’s not doing something for you. But I am saying that, just before
you get the promises of God, you are going to suffer, because God said
so. There aren’t any shortcuts. [There] never have and never will be.
See? It says that ‘after’… 

	You say, “I need healing.” 

	God says, “You need patience.” 

	“I have to have some money.”

	God says, “You need patience.”

	“I need to get my family in shape.”

	God says, “You need patience.”

	I’m going to tell you one thing: I’ve never seen God back up from
His Word yet. He backs It up. He does not back off from It. And I never
saw a man to beat Him yet, either. That’s why one day a lot of folks
are going to stand in judgment and say, “I prophesied.” And He will
say, “So did Balaam.”

	“We healed the sick,” they said.

	“You sure did, but so did Judas.”

	He’ll say, “I never knew you.” [Mt 7:33] God only has respect for
those who preach the word. You stick to His Word, because that is what
God says.

20. 	Over here in the book of James you have the very same thing. James
1:2-4.

	(2) 	My brethren, count it all (pure) joy when ye fall into divers
temptations; 

	(3) 	Knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 

	(4) 	But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and
entire, 				wanting nothing.

	It says here you will always want things all your life, until you get
patience. Once you get patience you will never lack another thing. Whew!
That’s tough preaching; I think we all had better go home. That’s
the lesson that Job learned, isn’t it? We won’t read about Job. We
read about Job the other night. We will read about him later on, maybe.

21. 	Let’s go to Dt 8:2. We’ve got it here. Now:

	(2) 	And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led
thee.

	Now, don’t blame it on the devil. Hey! Who is your shepherd? Huh?
God. Then, why blame the devil? Whose hand are you in? God’s. Then,
why blame the devil? I’m not telling you to blame God. [I’m] just
trying to show you something.

	“Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord…” Notice It says
‘way’; not ‘ways’, but ‘way’. There is one way God leads:
‘way’ not ‘ways’; and there is only one end to it. Our way will
bring many things which are various forms of death, but God’s way
brings one thing.

	(2) 	And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led				
 thee (through) these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, 			
	[and] to prove thee, to know what [was] in thine heart, whether thou 		
	wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

	(3) 	And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee
with 				manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know;
that he 				might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only…

	What happened when they just wanted loaves and fishes from God? They
backslid, didn’t they? [They] couldn’t take the teaching; couldn’t
take the rest. You don’t live by bread alone. You don’t live just by
these promises here. You’ve got to live by what goes with the promise.
See? That’s why nobody is living good these days, because they all eat
de-natured food. They take the potatoes now and they dehydrate them, and
they take everything good out; they add chemicals to them, and what do
you do? You don’t bother with spuds any more. You go down and you get
French’s Fluffy Potatoes in a little thing and pour them in water and
feed yourself and your kids on ‘gunk’—pure, unadulterated
‘gunk’, not fit for a sewer, let alone the human body. 

22. 	You know what? That’s the way man always does things. He takes
everything out of the promises of God, and he tries to put it right
where he wants it. You can’t do that. [It] won’t work. Look at verse
15: “Who led thee through that great wilderness…” Who? Who’s
leading? God’s leading! Where is He leading them to? The Promised
Land! Oh, isn’t it beautiful? What do you want? You want the promise?
So did they.

	How’re you going to get it? 

	“Oh, I’m going to pray the prayer of faith. Hallelujah! And I’m
going to go flitting in.”

	Oh, are you? I’ve got news (for you): Someone with a shotgun knows
how to get those high-flying birds. You know the Bible? There’s not
only the place where It says, “They shall mount up with wings as
eagles,” but it also says: “They walk.” It also says “They
sit,” and they also “stand,” too. It also says “they get cast
down.” Huh? Who? (That’s God.) “…Led thee through the great and
terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions.”

	“Oh,” you say, “I can’t read It that way, because I don’t
like It.”

	“Who led thee through a beautiful, lush valley, so quiet, so sweet,
and there were birds and butterflies, and lots of water, and there was
that money tree; and, of course, there was even a cigarette tree…(If
you don’t think that is bad for you.) and a little wine for your
stomach’s sake.”

	Is that what It says? Why read It that way? 

	You say, “I don’t read It that way.”

	Then, don’t get the connotations as though you read It that way; or
don’t ignore It, because God does not change His ways. The Bible warns
us in Eccl 3:14-15:

	(14) 	I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing
can 				be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it,
that men 					should fear before him.

	(15) 	That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already
been; 				and God requireth that which is past.

	God does not change His ways. It says [Dt 8:15-16]:

	(15) 	Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, [wherein
					were] fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where [there was]
				no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

	(16) 	Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew
				not, (in order) that he might humble thee, and that he might prove
thee,				 to do thee good…

	But you say, “God’s got a funny way about doing things good.”
That’s why He said [Isaiah 55]:

	(8) 	For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways
my 				ways, saith the LORD.

	(9) 	For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher 				than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

	And we know that some of the heavens are millions of light years away
and trillions of miles from here. So, forget your way and get a hold of
God’s and accept it as the natural way of Christian living.

23. 	Now this process of developing faith is not actually a strange
desire of God to put us through. See? Because a man with God back of
him, and the measure of faith, can be patient. He can’t lose, because
he is “more than conqueror,” he’s invulnerable, he’s invincible,
if he only knew it.

	For God to try us is not strange! Now, if God sent a man or boy on a
job, that would be different. For us to tell somebody who is a brick
mason and doesn’t know one piano note, ‘A’ from ‘B’, to sit
down and play, that’s wrong, because you are asking that person to do
what he can’t do. But, when God leads us His way, it is because we are
equipped and well able to go God’s way, because God is not a ruthless
tyrant. He is a good God Who does good things.

24. 	Now, what’s the next step? The next step is that this man
endures; and by his endurance becomes patient. And, because he is
patient, something else happens. And the Bible calls it ‘maturity’,
or ‘ripeness of character’. Remember what Bro. Branham said not long
ago? He said, “The wheat is in the chaff, but it is green, and it’s
got to mature.” And, how is it going to mature? We are going to be
tried as we have never been tried in our lives, so get ready for it.

25. 	I’m going to say something here, and I want you to take it in the
way it is said, because it is going to be on tape; and I am going to be
criticized, and I mean criticized. You believe that Bro. Branham was a
real prophet of God with insight? You believe he would not lie—he
would not lie to me, and he would not lie to you? Bro. Branham did not
know if the tent was real or a symbol. Many people were convinced it was
not a symbol but was real. He told me he did not know. I believe that
the tent ministry’s come and gone and they did not know it, because
the little tabernacle of the Bible is a little frame building made out
of wood with skins on it. But, when you talk about a ‘tent of the
congregation’, that is not the tabernacle. The little tabernacle
contained the Holy of Holies; and in it he said, “I’ll meet you
there, and the others will have to go the same way you went, and
they’ll come out whole.” 

	In other words it is a step to the Resurrection. Now here is something
I don’t want you to misunderstand, because I don’t know too much
about these things. He did tell me this one thing: he said, “Lee, if
there is anything to the tent, I’ve got two men picked. And I pick you
to teach the preachers in the morning, but want you to teach faith to
the people in the afternoon.” 

	I preached twice to the preachers; and no man in his ministry has ever
done that except me. I’m just making a bare, bald statement. You can
take it or leave it. I put no meaning on it, especially, but he said,
“Teach the ministers doctrine.” I taught two mornings on doctrine
and I went back to teaching faith; and I’m teaching you faith in God.
I’m saying, “If you believe the prophet of God, you’d better
believe what God’s Word said, because, you see, character comes by the
trial of your faith—by you becoming patient; and the “wheat is
green.”

26. 	This is the most characterless age that God has ever allowed to be
produced in this world. If you can find character today, brother/sister,
you are finding the highest thing in this world. But you can’t find it
today. The churches don’t have it, and the world doesn’t have it.
The kids in school said that Charles Van Doren had a right to cheat, be
prompted, and to make all that money, if he could get away with it. It
was just too bad he got caught. 

	They said, “The government ought to do more to help us than not help
us. We ought to have the government do things for us. We don’t need to
be independent.” 

	Lying, gouging, chiseling, murdering. And the church is ‘green’. It
hasn’t got character. Why? Because the church has been taught, “You
don’t need to suffer.” Now, come on, you know what I’m talking
about. They’re taught a short cut. My brother/sister, character cannot
come apart from suffering. It says in Heb 5:7-9 concerning Jesus:

	(7) 	Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and 	
			supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able 			
	to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared (He was 				
not heard because he cried and sobbed and fasted—he feared);

	(8) 	Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which
				he suffered; 

	(9) 	And being made perfect, (How? By suffering…to get patience…to 
				get character…and only then) he became the author of eternal 				
salvation…

	Even Jesus Christ had to suffer to develop character.

27. 	Let us turn to Job 5:17-27.

	(17) 	Behold, happy (That means ‘blessed’, ‘fortunate’,
‘successful’.) is the 				man whom God correcteth: therefore despise
not thou the chastening 				of the Almighty:

	(18) 	For God maketh sore, and God bindeth up: God woundeth, and
God’s 				hands make whole.

	(19) 	He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall
no evil 				touch thee.

	(20) 	In famine (Famine? Yes, famine: we talked about it this morning. 
				God) shall redeem thee from death: and in war (Yes, there’s going 
				to be war.) from the power of the sword.

	(21) 	Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: (But it’s
going to 				be there.) neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when
it cometh.

	(22) 	At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be
afraid 				of the beasts of the earth.

	(23) 	For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the
beasts 				of the field shall be at peace with thee.

	(24) 	And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle [shall be] in peace; and
thou 				shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.

	(25) 	Thou shalt know also that thy seed [shall be] great, and thine
offspring 				as the grass of the earth.

	(26) 	hou shalt come to [thy] grave in a full age, like as a shock of
corn cometh 				in in his season.

	When does a shock “cometh in season?” When it is mature. It’s
dry; it’s not green; it’s got character. What it’s got now is
life. [It’s] now ready, as it were, for another cycle. It’s ready
for planting, that it might come forth in a life. In other words you go
into your grave; you are ready for the resurrection. See? [Job 5]

	(27) 	Lo this, we have searched it, so it [is]; hear it, and know thou
[it] for 				thy good.

28. 	What’s “for thy good?” That God can only develop character in
you by suffering. Let’s turn to the book of Psalms—Ps 84:4-7, and It
says:

	(4) 	Blessed [are] they that dwell in thy house: they will be still
praising 				thee. Selah.

	(5) 	Blessed [is] the man whose strength [is] in thee; in whose heart
[are] 				the ways [of them].

	(6) 	[Who] passing through the valley of Baca (the valley of tears, the
valley 				of sorrow, the valley of testings, the valley of
trials)…(What does It say?) 				make it a well; the rain also filleth
the pools.

	Now, Ps 94:12-13:

	(12) 	Blessed [is] the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest
him 				out of thy law; 

	(13) 	That thou mayest give him rest…(How do you get rest? Through
your 				faith in God…the trial of faith. How? By the trial of your
faith.) That 				thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity,
until the pit be 				digged for the wicked.

29. 	Let’s turn to 1 Peter. I’m sort of jumping around in the Book
but I just want to bring out certain verses, because they tell the story
and every Word of God is true, and every Word of God has power in It. 1
Pet 5:6-11, and It says:

	(6) 	Humble yourselves (thyself) therefore under the mighty hand of
God.

	What does It say?

	(6) 	Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt 
			you in due time.

	In other words God is going to bring you down by His Own Hand and,
then, lift you up.

	(7) 	Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 

	See what we are talking about? Now:

	(8) 	Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, 				walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

	How does he devour them? By the people thinking that their sorrow is
too much for them, and they get swallowed up. Now:

	(9) 	Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same
afflictions 				are (being) accomplished in your brethren that are in
the world. 					(Not one misses it.)

	(10) 	But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal
glory by 				Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you
perfect, 					stablish, strengthen, settle [you]. 

30. 	You say, “I want that, patience, without suffering, so I won’t
mind suffering then.”I’m sorry, honey, but you get it by suffering.
You don’t get it to enable you to suffer; you suffer in order to get
it. You don’t get money in order to go to work; you go to work in
order to get money. Huh? Now, don’t try to change God’s order of
scriptures. Oh, don’t try your short-cuts. 

	“Bro. Vayle, I’m going to pray and fast and get the oil on my
hands.”

	Well, you can get a tub if you like and take a bath. I don’t care
what you do. 

	You say, “I’m going to join ‘youth endeavors’.”

	You do what you want. Go ahead! Balaam went his way and got his feet
crushed. Bully for him!

31.	 I’m talking this way to stir us up to get us to realize this is
how you get what you are after. You don’t tell God how to get it. You
get it by God’s way or you won’t get it. You suffer, and if you’re
not willing to suffer, you’re not going to get it. The thing you are
throwing aside is God’s way, which is best; and it’s the only way
God is going to give it to you, because, you see, God can’t change. 

	You say, “Bro. Vayle, I believe in dispensations, and God changes.”

Well, you don’t believe right, because God doesn’t change either in
what He does or what He is; because you do what you are, so therefore,
if God changes what He is doing, He changes what He is.

32. 	Let me show you how stupid is this thought of dispensations. Huh!
All right, in the Garden of Eden, it was what? Innocence? God put woman
and man, Adam and Eve, and He said, “Now I just wonder what they will
do.”

	The devil got turned loose, and the devil caught them. Then, God said,
“Oh, oh, oh! Isn’t that too bad? Look what they did.”

	That’s the way you read the Book…some of you guys who believe in
dispensations. So, He turned around and said, “Well, I’ll put them
under conscience. Let’s see what they do.”

	So, Cain up and killed Abel. 

	“Oh, how shocking, how shocking!”

	He’s lost two rounds now. Human government brought on the flood.
Promise, faith, love didn’t work. Grace hasn’t done it. Six-time
loser is God, according to you people who believe in dispensations. Now,
listen; would you bet on a horse that lost six races and bet on the
seventh? Huh? No, you wouldn’t do that. Then, why bet on a God Who is
a six-time loser? Because that’s what He is if you believe in
dispensations, and God tries something each time different to see if it
will work.

33. 	Oh, brother/sister, come on! God has never changed His way, or He
Himself would be changed. The way of God is suffering. I’m sorry.
I’m sorry I’ve got to tell you. I wish I could be like the modern
preachers and say, “You don’t want to go to hell.”

Well, who does? I told you I wouldn’t want to get my little finger
burnt, let alone my whole body cast into hell. So, you don’t want to
go to hell; you want to go by easy ‘believism’, ‘escapism’.
You’re not escaping anything. You never were meant for hell if
you’re in the Bride of Christ. You’re getting ready for heaven,
honey. Don’t bat your eyes; just read your Bible. 

	If I’m wrong, when I’m finished, you come up here and take over.
We’ll go word for word. I’m ready for any man; I don’t care who he
is. Let’s find out. Don’t twist It, just read It the way it is. He
said, “…After ye have suffered a while, make you perfect…”

	When do you get perfect? After you have suffered. 

	“Oh, if I could get perfect, then I could take it.”

	No, no, no! I’m sorry! Huh?

34. 	Rev 3:19. “As many as I love…” This is said to your day and
mine. In no place in the Laodicean age does it say that we love God. We
don’t. The last book of the Bible in the Old Testament, Mal 1:1.

	(1) 	The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 

	(2) 	I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet ye say, wherein hast thou 		
		loved us?

	God loved Israel; but they did not love Him. We are in the same boat.
God does not say we love Him, but He says He loves us, and He’s
warning us. Why? Because He says, I’m going to have to rebuke you, and
I’m going to chasten you: “Be zealous, therefore, and
repent--because you haven’t seen it.”

	Now, get ready for it, because it’s going to come. We are going to be
abused, if we are the Bride of Christ, indeed, which I hope to God we
are.

	Then, look at the Song of Solomon. When she heard his voice, she said,
“That’s my lover,” and she ran; but, when she got there, he
wasn’t there. She went through the streets. The dogs chased her; they
ripped her clothes; they assaulted her; they tried to molest her. But
she heard His voice, and she ran through the night pleading with him
through the night. She was going and going. Finally exhausted and
fainting, he came and talked to her--raised her up.

35. 	Do you think for one minute you’re not going to get persecuted,
you independent people? If you don’t want to get persecuted, join an
organization tonight. Now, forget it. Just forget it. You might just as
well leave now and join an organization. Go on! Because they are going
to cut off every unorganized church in America. Already, (And you
don’t even know it.) this building has to have what they call a
‘reversion’ clause on it. Where will this building go if this work
falls? And, because you haven’t got it in the deed, and you don’t
know it, they will take your building away from you. Ha! Ha! You’re
stuck already. IRS is going to cook everybody’s goose, because every
check is photostatted right now, and you have not just suggested, but
you have indicated you want your money to go to some person in the
Gospel; and you’ve taken a deduction on it from your income tax. They
are going to come back and tell you that the law says all you can do is
suggest, and you can’t actually tell where it is going to go. They can
look up the back records, and that will get the whole bunch of us. Huh? 

36. 	Didn’t know it, did you? You better know it now, honey. You are
in for it; and I’m ready for the jail. I hate it. I get up nights at
odd times, and I like comforts and all. They are going to get me. I’m
like the fellow that knows he’s going to get hit with the baseball;
but just where, I don’t know. I’m not kidding myself. If you are,
you join some church. They have already said in two years (The
government stipulates in two years.) they figure they will have it down
to six major organizations in America. So, honey, if you’ve
‘minored’ and you want to escape, you’d better ‘major’ right
now. If you’re a child of God, you’re not going to worry about it,
because Daniel has a lion’s den. Let’s go ‘lion’. If God
doesn’t shut them up, what happens? Why, you just get it up; that’s
all. 

	You say, “But, will it hurt?”

	Sure, it hurts, but not too long. Will you be scared? Sure, you will be
scared. I’d be scared. I’m not kidding. It’s rough. I’m not here
to pretend. 

	“Oh, Glory hallelujah, this is sweet!”

	Sure it’s sweet, but you’ve got to have something in here that
makes bitter Word sweet.

37. 	In the book of Psalms 4:1 It says:

	(1) 	Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged
			 me when I was in distress…

	When do you get enlarged? When does God make you a big person? When you
get put in distress. You say, “But, God, I want to be a big man; Lord
God, I really want to amount to something. Now make me something, Lord,
and I’ll go and take over.”

	Oh, come on now! God says, “I’ll knock you down; I’ll tramp on
you; I’ll make it so rough. Then, you’ll be a big man.” 

	You say, “Oh! Hold it!”

	Oh, come on! Big men are always men of character, and you can’t get
character apart from suffering. Huh?

38. 	Hebrews 12. Let’s see what It says:

	(1) 	Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud
				of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth
so 				easily beset [us], (What is that? Unbelief.) and let us run with
patience 				the race that is set before us.

	How can you run a race with patience? You never saw a patient runner in
your life. What’s he trying to tell us? It will be over in a hurry.
It’s just like a race that’s all done. Quieten down! Quieten down!
“Looking unto Jesus the author and (perfecter)…” (The word
‘finisher’ is like a cabinet-maker who finished the cabinet--a
‘perfecter’.)

	(2) 	Looking unto Jesus the (starter and perfecter, because you start
rough, 				and He’s going to smooth us off) of your faith; who for the
joy that 				was set before him (the promises of God) endured the cross
(the 					afflictions and suffering), despising the shame, (The things
they threw 				at him by reproach, mocking and jeering.) and is (now)
set down at the 				right hand of the throne of God. 

	(3) 	For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners…

	He did not endure the contradiction of the saints. No elect member of
God’s Body will ever persecute, harm or hurt another member of that
elect Body. It’s the reprobate that does it. That’s his job. God
doesn’t reprobate for the sake of reprobation. He reprobates because
you need the reprobate to give you trial.

39. 	Now It says here:

	(3) 	…Who endured the contradictions of sinners against himself, lest
					ye be wearied and faint in your (souls) minds. 

	(4) 	Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. (Christ
did. 				He fought himself until His Blood broke forth from his pores.)

	(5) 	And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as 	
			unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,		
		 nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 

	(6) 	For whom the Lord loveth (You see, revelation again.) he
chasteneth, 				and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. (Heb 12:3-6)

	You know that in the Greek the proverb for education was
‘suffering’. The Greeks had a word for education: schooling. And it
was called ‘suffering’. Education is to equip you for life and
mature you so that you can face up as a responsible person. God says,
“I’ve got to scourge you to make you responsible as a Christian.” 

	Now, remember; He’s not going to hurt you. He’s not going to kill
you. No! He’s not going to beat you down; not going to destroy you;
because your faith in God is going to take you through. But you are
going to have to use the things God gave you in the way God told you to
use them.

40. 	Now It says: [Heb 12:7-8]

	(7) 	If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for
what 				son is he whom the father chasteneth not? (That’s to correct
for His 				Own good.)

	(8) 	But if ye be without chastisement, whereof (Every single believer,
					with a measure of faith is a partaker.) then (It says) you are
(spurious 				sons) or bastards, and not true sons.

	Yet you’ve got people that try to tell you to live like bastards
instead of sons of God; that you don’t need to suffer. “Use the
gift; use a short-cut; do this; do that.” 

	Now I’m not against gifts; I’m for them. I’m for healing. I’m
for everything; but I’m for the way that God says It. That’s why we
don’t get results, because we don’t go God’s Way.

41. 	Now, listen carefully: character is a victory. It is not a gift.
What is the victory? It is a successful result of war. The result of the
battles of this life in the name of Jesus Christ, in this world, ends in
one thing-- and one thing only: character. Not money, not health, not
prestige, not a million things that the world loves and wants, but the
one thing that God wants: character.

	Now, notice that this victory of character development, notice it
brings a return of hope. He starts with hope and ends with hope. See? He
gets the promise, he exults in it; the trial comes in, he exults in it,
because he knows that he is being tested in order to bring out patience
which in turn will give him character; and then, this hope (which was
just ordinary hope) the Bible says is now ‘hope which never
disappoints’. 

	How many times have you started out with a hope in God but ended up
disappointed? Come on now, ninety-nine times out of a hundred; that’s
about the way it goes. Isn’t that right? Come on now. Let’s be
honest. I told you: if all we had to do was pray in Jesus’ Name and
every prayer was answered, we would all be princes and princesses living
in palaces with a fleet of Cadillacs with them. You wouldn’t need to
read Gaylord Houser’s book or anybody else’s on how to be strong
men. All would be healthy; all would be glamour girls, and…Oh, no!
See? God’s not interested in glamour girls and all those things. He
wants character. Huh? And, if you got your prayer answered every single
time because of a measure of faith, you wouldn’t have any character.
You would be a spoiled brat. Did you ever hear of a parent giving his
kid everything he wanted every time he squawked? No discipline? If
Johnny feels like throwing his porridge, it’s good, just let him throw
it; but not at me. If you want it, you can have it, but not around my
place.

42. 	First time our boy…and this cured him, this is a fact…and our
son, Gray, is a very sweet little boy, but one day he didn’t get his
breakfast just exactly on time, and he went ‘spuee’. So, I went
‘smack’, ‘smack’, down in the crib, and I said, “Stay
there.” There wasn’t one more time that he went ‘spuee’. He was
the best eater of all three of us. And you know how I taught them to
eat? I taught the top end from the bottom end. Something like the
Lord--He goes at things backwards. You think He does, but He doesn’t.
Character. See? 

	Listen to me: Isn’t there a time in your life you have noticed, that
after a period of time whereby you hang on to God’s Word regardless,
and that you suddenly come out a better Christian; and you know that you
know that you know that you know you’ve got it. Is that right? That is
that process. Not by accident; it’s a process. See? In other words
here is the process of the exercise of faith which causes growth of
faith; and our growth in the faith. God wants both: a growth in the
faith and a growth of our faith.

43. 	Now, let’s apply what we have learned to Abraham, to see if it
holds water, because he’s our test. Now [ ] God goes to Abraham. God
reveals Himself to Abraham, and He says, “I am thy shield, and thy
exceeding great reward.” I am the One Who supplies all your needs, and
Abraham says: “Oh, ho! If you are the One that supplies my needs, what
are you going to do about the fact that I have no son?”

	“Oh,” God says, “I will give you a son.”

	“Oh, that’s nice.”

	Now, but does he get the son? No, sir! All he’s got is a promise. Is
that correct? All right.

44. 	Let’s read now in Romans 4 and follow It through. Let’s read
It, and I will show you something really wonderful here, because this
will help you. Rom 4:17-22:

	(17) 	As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, (Now
					this is a promise. God said it and he believed it.) before him whom
					he believed, [even] God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those
				things which be not as though they were. 

	(18) 	Who when hope was gone (This is the literal translation.) hoped
on 				in faith that he might become what God said he already was.
(See?) 				So shall thy seed be.

	(19) 	And being not weak in faith, (How could he be weak in faith? We 	
			wasn’t weak in faith, because he had a measure of God’s own
faith.) 				he considered not his own body now dead, though he was an
hundred 				years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: 

	(20) 	He staggered not (Notice, he staggered not.) at the promise of
God 					through unbelief.

	Oh, just a minute. What’s that there for? Because, instead of getting
the promise, a son, right away like he thought, God kept him waiting
twenty years, until his body was so dead, and his wife’s body so dead,
it was useless. It had to be God. 

	Now, what would you do tonight, if God said to you, “I want you to
have a son,” and either one of you were too old to have a child? Now,
would you go through your trial till you got the rejuvenation, or would
you say, “Well, this can’t be. I’m supposed to have a son; I’m
too old to have a son. That’s all. Forget it.”

Unbelief. And you lost it. Right? Notice the process. You see?

45. 	Look, folks, the Bible dove-tails. When God lays down a principle,
It holds from Genesis to Revelation without even the minutest change.
And you can’t find one person that hasn’t been on this trail I’m
talking about. 

	Now, let’s read some more about it. “He staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief.” And I’ll tell you, God’s Word
will stagger you, unless you learn about the trial of your faith.
It’ll stagger you. But he didn’t stagger. He knew what was going on,
and he became stronger in faith. See, it’s growing--giving glory to
God. Notice, exulting in the trials; he’s rejoicing. He said,
“Hallelujah!” 

	“Oh,” he said, “Bless God! When this son comes forth, I will be
better able to help him, because I will be older, wiser. Sarah will be
better, you know, get better, mellow with old age and all those
things.”

	Oh, he was happy. He said, “Our bodies will be older, but our minds
will be more mature, wonderful minds; we will know just what to do.” 

	He was rejoicing every day, praising God. “Never mind how old I
am,” he said, “I’m still what God said I am.”

	And he became it.

46. 	Now, listen: It says here: [Romans 4:]

	(21) 	And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able
				also to perform.

	Now, listen; here’s the picture again. Abraham was given a promise,
but he didn’t get the promise. Years later he was getting older and
older until it was too late to believe. But he kept believing and, as he
kept on believing, by patience he became mature; and one day God came
down to him with two angels and stood before him and said, “Abraham,
you’re a man of such character that I can tell you what’s going to
happen, and, by the way, you’re ready to have that son now because you
now have the character.”

	That’s exactly what He said. [Genesis 18:]

	(17) 	And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which 			
	I do?

	He was the friend of God. That’s how deep his character was. He’d
gotten over looking at Hagar. He’s gotten over going down to Egypt.
He’d gotten over all those things. He was a man of character now,
standing righteous before God, believing God, and God said, “Now you
can have it.”

47. 	But I want you to notice the Scripture, my brother/sister. Please
look at verse 17 (if you have a Bible). What does It say that Abraham
did? In verse 17 “He believed.” Is that correct?  		All right. Now,
look down at verse 21, twenty years after. “He was fully persuaded.”
He was not fully persuaded in verse 17, twenty years before. So, the
trial of his faith and holding on to God did not only bring his
character, but brought his faith to such a high lever that he knew that
he knew that he knew that he knew!!! The faith which never disappoints
is the same word as ‘fully persuaded’ (or ‘full persuasion’).
Suddenly, Abraham is strong and powerful, but it took the years of
trial. Remember, God doesn’t fail. It’s we who fail, because we
don’t understand. 

48. 	Now we still have plenty of time, so we’re going to apply this,
not to Abraham, but to you and me. Not that we haven’t been doing it.
We go to God, and we want Him to make known one of His redemptive titles
to us. It may be Healer, Provider, Keeper, Shepherd, or Righteousness.
We pray the prayer of faith; we believe Him. We expect an immediate
answer. We expect some improvement, or at least we expect a betterment
right now. We want deliverance, so we have been taught. We want it at
our own time and in our own way; and, when the answer doesn’t come and
we are not aware of the way God works, then our faith fails, and we say,
“Well, I guess I did not pray in faith.” And the preacher says,
“That’s right. You did not pray in faith.”

	Now you are both wrong, because a prayer of faith is a prayer of faith.
Then, if you believed, you believed. The only trouble is you don’t
know God’s way, so you failed. See? 

	Now you say, “I just thought I prayed in faith.”

	So, that’s how we minimize the power of the measure of faith, and, in
a way, we think that God’s faith failed.

49. 	How can God’s faith fail? You just took it back. That’s all. If
I put a dollar on the counter and say, “Give me four loaves of bread
at two bits a piece.” 

	And then, you say, “Take it back.”

	“Oh, no, don’t do that,” and you take it back.

	He says, “Are you gonna give me the money?”

	“No!”

	I say, “Well, I think… Yes, I do want the bread.” I put it down
and take it back. Nothing wrong with the dollar bill; nothing wrong with
the man trying to give me the merchandise. It’s the fellow taking the
thing back and forth. See? That’s what happens.

50. 	Some even go so far as to say that God denies His answers in order
to do something else for us. That’s not true. No, that’s passing the
buck. But the thing is, nothing is wrong even though we think, by
logical reasoning, (not knowing the Word) that something is wrong.
Everything is exactly the way God wants it. We are merely under pressure
in order for God to teach us to endure, in order to develop character,
to show ourselves worthy of Him and His provision. God wants us to
mature. He wants us to have character.

	Now, what is character? Character is how you act when the pressure is
on. Now, do you want to know what kind of a guy I am? Put me under
pressure, and you will soon see. But, if you give me money and nice
clothes and everything nice, I’ve got no pressure and everybody is
sweet and my wife is sweet and my kids are sweet. Oh! I’m as sweet as
a buttercup. Oh! I’m sweeter than all the roses, sweet as violets, and
so are you.

51. 	I told you. Didn’t I tell you? I told somebody! We had a
housekeeper years ago, when my wife and I worked. Her name was Mabel,
and she had a little step-daughter, kind of little thing she adopted,
called Helen. And Helen and our kids were scrapping day and night. You
talk about a bedlam, we had it--our three kids and her one. Oh, brother!


	So, one day Mable blew her stack, and she said, “It’s your kids.
It’s your kids. It’s your kids!”

	I said, “How come? Why?”

	“Oh,” she said, “when Helen’s alone, she has no trouble.”

	I said, “Sure, ‘cause she loves herself. She wouldn’t fight with
herself. Nobody does.”

	The only way you know what’s in you is when the pressure is put on.

52. 	Did you… Oh, by the way, did you hear what I read about in the
Bible tonight from Deuteronomy? He said: [Deuteronomy 8:]

	(3) 	I led you this way to see what was in your heart.

	Ah! God put the pressure on. It wasn’t that He didn’t know what was
in their hearts. He wanted them to know what was in their hearts. So, He
put the pressure on, and they soon found out what they were like. See?
So, you see, brother/sister, it’s not your action. It’s your
reaction that pins you, whether you are a Christian, because He says,
“When a man comes up and hits you on one cheek, say, ‘Take a crack
at this one—it’s all free’.”

	He takes your coat, you say, “Well, go ahead, this one came from the
same store and matches your coat. You can have it, too.”

	You say, “Come and walk a mile.”

	He says, “No, I prefer two miles.”

	You say, “You’re supposed to enjoy it.” It says to exult in it.
(2 Th 1:3-5) God says it’s a manifest token of God’s approbation or
approval of you. You are a son? He is trying to make you strong. He’s
trying to give you character. It’s your reaction, my brother/sister,
that tells the tale.

53. 	No real saint of God will ever start anything. I challenge you.
Show me in the word where a saint of God ever started anything. 

	You say, “David did!”

	No, no! This lady stripped in front of the public. Any woman taking off
her clothes in public is just fair bait. God forbid any man should touch
her. God forbid he should. But, brother/sister, listen! You read your
Bible. You’ll find out a woman does excite a man. She was naked. He
really didn’t mean it. I don’t believe he did. But in that moment,
it was too late. Christians don’t start things; but, when somebody
else starts it, they often finish it. See? 

	“He hit me here, and you should have seen my right as I crossed
it…boom! Ho! I got him.” Now, don’t do that.

	When he was reviled, he never reviled. When he was cursed and hanged
upon the cross, He said, “Forgive them.” The Bride does not cry for
vengeance. She cries for forgiveness. She understands and says, “I’d
be in the same place, if it wasn’t for the grace of God.”

	God has to put pressure on you to see your reaction, because how you
react to any stimuli (And, remember: it’s going to be rough stimuli.)
will prove what you are inside. And in this day the pressure is going to
come from God as never before. It has to, because we are awfully green.
We’re not mature.

54.	Remember, I read to you over here in Heb 10:35-36:

	(35) 	Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great 				
recompense of reward. (Your confidence in God is like money 				
invested. He will give you a measure of goodies which you never 				
dreamed possible to obtain. But It says here:)

	(36) 	Ye have need of patience, that after you have done the will of
God, 				ye might receive the promise.

	As I said, you say, “Lord, I need healing,” but God says, “You
need patience.”

55. 	A lady went to a man’s meeting in Canada. His name is Dr. Cliff,
the famous scientist, philanthropist, or what… Do you know…? He was
an Episcopalian who worked in the church, and who claims to be born
again. I don’t know, I believe he was. He had the gifts and anointing
in his life. One day… Now I don’t appreciate the fact that he took
an old cigarette, took a little pull on it. He said he did it, not that
he liked it, not that he’s addicted. He didn’t care for it; but, he
said, it kind of embarrassed the folks he was around, if he didn’t
look just a little bit like them, but not really like them. I don’t
see that, but I’m not going to fuss about it. It’s just a part of
the story. 

	Anyway, a lady said to him one day; (She got very abusive about his
cigarette.) so, he said, “Madam, isn’t it true that you are
arthritic?”

	And she said, “I sure am getting worse.” 

	He said, “But it is also true, is it not, that you love coffee, that
you drink twelve to eighteen cups?”

	She said, “Yes, I can hardly wait to get home. I sure love it.”

	And he said, “Lady, let me tell you: I am a scientist, have been for
years,” (He’s a Doctor of Science and got his degree in chemistry.)
and he said, “There is more harm in your coffee than there is in my
cigarettes, because I barely touch them, but you drink coffee day and
night.” And he said, “Furthermore, let me tell you this: you have
prayed for your arthritis, but you will never be healed, because you are
a malicious gossip. You stand or sit at your window to see something to
talk about.”

	She said, “My God, that’s true!”

	She repented, and she was healed. God couldn’t heal her, until she
developed the character commensurate with the gift.

56. 	“You need character,” said God, “which can only come by
patience.” You need character! You think you need healing. No! You
think you need a new car. No! Need a new home. No! No! You don’t need
those things. Oh, you do, yes, but not like you need character. Not like
you need patience. “You have need of patience.” See? 

	Now, listen carefully, because this is an axiom; this is a fixed
principle, and this is what we have been coming to all this week. From
the time that you prayed the prayer of faith until the time the answer
came, there is a path that every Christian must walk upon: (I said,
“He must walk upon.”) it is the path of Christian character
development, and it is on this path that you will win the answer or lose
it forever.

57. 	You say, “Why does God want me to have this character? Isn’t it
enough that I am like Him by means of identification, that He has become
my righteousness, that He has become my sanctification?”

	Listen to me. Turn to the book of Romans once more, Rom 8:17. Please
read:

	(17) 	And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ; 				if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also
glorified together.

	The need for you to suffer is to the end that you will share the
throne. Why? Because power apart from character is the devil, but power
with character is God. You are not fit, and I am not fit to be trusted
with power, unless we’ve got character.

58. 	What’s the matter with Washington today? No character. Your Bobby
Bakers, your rotten, filthy scum that gets there because of money,
skullduggery and shenanigans… There’s not a ‘statesman’ left in
the world! There’s not a man or honorable man amongst them that I know
of. I wish there were. What’s wrong with the world? Stalins,
Mussolinis, Hitlers, Kruschevs! Read your history of the Catholic Church
and just see what their popes were like. They filled their papal choir
with their paramours and illegitimate children. And the mistress of one
of them, Marcia, I understand it was, did her best to kill, and she was
very successful, in many cases, in destroying.

	Power without character is the devil, and he’s got to be destroyed.
He will be, and all who are with him. Power with character alone is fit
to reign, and God wants us to reign with Him. If we’re going to do it,
we’ve got to have character. That’s sensible. That’s what He
teaches us. That’s what the Bible teaches us.

59. 	Now, listen. Let me show you what happens, according to God’s
Word. Turn to Ps 106:7-15. Now:

	(7) 	Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt.

	They didn’t even know what the wonders were all about when Bro.
Branham came. There has never been a man, since Paul, with his power.
There hasn’t been! I’ve read the histories. I’m reading the
histories. Never been a man like him. All the books together can’t
begin to see done what he saw done in a few years. But the people
didn’t understand. They said, “Thank you,” and walked off. Israel
understood not the miracles of Egypt.

	(7) 	They remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked 			
	[him] at the sea, [even] at the Red sea.

	See? They couldn’t take the training. When times got tough, they
really turned their backs on God.

	(8) 	He rebuked the Red sea also (vs 9), nevertheless he saved them for
					his name’s sake…

	Notice: “for his Name’s sake.” That’s why God today is
performing miracles still with His great Name. He won’t let that Name
down. But, look what happens when you don’t do right.

	(9) 	He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them 	
			through the depths, as through the wilderness.

	(10) 	And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and
redeemed 				them from the hand of the enemy.

	(11) 	And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them
left.

	(12) 	Then believed they his words; they sang his praise. (Notice, a
little 					revival.)

	(13) 	They soon forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel:

	See? They didn’t care about His Word. Just give me miracles; give me
loaves, give me fish. Now, listen (verse 15):

	(15) 	And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their
souls.

60. 	I have never seen a leaner group of people today than right here in
America. But you talk about the miracles and the prayer lines; they’ve
got them. You talk about the shortcuts; they’ve got them. But they
haven’t got the Word. 

	They said, “Because he doesn’t talk like us, he can’t have it.”

	But he had it more than all the rest put together--by way of
demonstration I’m talking about now. “It’s got to be God, because
we get results. Don’t we?”

	Didn’t Israel get results here? Huh? Sure, they got results. For His
great Name--He did the mighty works over His Name, but It said, “He
sent leanness into their souls.” Leanness, no character.

	You want God to work, but you don’t want to go through the way God
says for you to have… Go ahead! Go ahead! You’ll be lean. You want
to get prayed for without knuckling down to God? Go ahead, a worse thing
will come upon you. I’ve got to say that’s true, because God said it
was. 

	You say, “God, I’d like this.”

	God says, “I want your character; I want your patience.”

	You’ve got need of it. God wants you to have both of them.

61. 	Turn to Ps 10:17. Here’s what It says:

	(7) 	He made known his ways unto Moses, (but) his acts unto the
children 				of Israel.

	Did you get it? Israel never learned from the miracles. You’ve got to
learn from the Word. Moses learned the way of God--suffering, patience,
then power. They said, “Power, bless God, and that’s it.”

	That’s the devil; that’s not God.

	You say, “Bro. Vayle, I get confused with the way you talk. Aren’t
these people doing great miracles? Isn’t that God’s power?”

	It sure is. Balaam had the power of God; so did Judas have the power of
God. But the men operating weren’t of God. Matthew 7:23:

	(23) 	I never knew you; depart from me ye that work iniquity. (You took
				my righteous things and perverted them.)

62. 	Where’s character today? A man builds a big university and puts
in his magazine, “You can win souls for twenty cents a piece.”

	I’d go rob a bank if that were so.

	“The end justifies the means,” where the means justify the end,
rather. No matter how you get the money… “Let’s win souls at
twenty cents a piece.”

	Where do you get that stuff? That’s not God.

	You say, “Bro. Vayle, you’re mean; you’re critical.”

	No, I’m not. I’m showing you God’s Word. I don’t want you
fooled. Now, if you leave this building, and you go your way, that’s
your business. But God delivered my soul, because I preached the truth. 

63. 	God wants your patience which gives you character, which makes you
fit to rule on the throne. He made known His ways unto Moses, the
meekest man ever known, but all Israel got was His acts. Now, if you
want to get healing, if you want to get a loaf of bread, if you want a
better house, or a better car, or what do you want? Or, do you want what
God wants you to have? Now you can have both. You can have both. It
says: [Mk 10:29-30]

	(29) 	There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or
father, 				or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and
the gospel's, 

	(30) 	But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and
					brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with 	
			persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

	See? You can have it. God said you can have it, but you get it God’s
way. If you get it any other way, you will have leanness of soul;
something is going to happen to you. You want a fat soul tonight or a
lean soul?

64. 	Do you really want God? You’ve got to suffer. I’m sorry. 

	You say, “Bro. Vayle, I want to get healed.” 

	How patient are you? 

	You say, “Bro. Vayle, if I were healed, I’d be patient.”

	No, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! You’re still not learning.


	“Yes, but it’s this pain here that makes me impatient.”

	No, it’s your impatience that gives you the pain and makes it
multiplied until you have got a pain. Now, you’ve got to take yourself
by the horns, so to speak. You’ve got to gear yourself down and say,
“God, I’ll pay the price now.”

	Get quiet before God. Huh? You want to use ‘bulldozing’ faith? You
go ahead! I’ve gotten cured that way.

65. 	I was in Florida in 1952. (Previously I had been praying and
fasting in Canada.) I sat at the table one day, and I knew I had
ulcers--the pain and all. And I looked at God, and I looked at myself,
and I used ‘bulldozing faith’, and I said, “In the name of Jesus
Christ you’ll not stay in this body. I command you to move!” 

	And they moved. Not one trace of ulcer, but what? Within less than
three months it went down to the genital, urinary tract. I get up at
nights now. I do not have prostate trouble. I don’t have kidney
trouble. I don’t have bladder trouble. But the pain and all is there,
because the nerves are there, and it’s acting up. And I would to God I
had my ulcers back, honey. I could pour milk on them, but I don’t know
what to do about this. I’ve been to a doctor. Forget it. He can’t
help me. He tried, but it didn’t work. 

	When am I going to get deliverance? With patience and character.
That’s what I need and I know, and I’m not fussing about this. I
don’t care if I die of cancer. I mean it with all my heart. God, let
me glorify Your Name by being the man you want somehow in this flesh.
I’d die a million deaths of cancer, (That’s fine with me.) if I
really knew that I could have certain things. I’d try to roll a peanut
down a cobble street with my nose, and rip my face to shreds that I
might stand before God and hear, “You’re pleasing, after my
heart.”

66. 	I’m tired of all these great ‘acts’, so-called. Oh, I love to
see God heal the multitudes. I want it, but there’s one thing that God
wants out of you and me, brother/sister, and that’s character, which
comes by the trial of our faith, by patience. The wheat is green
tonight. Oh, how green we are! But we’ll be made ready, because He
said, “I love you. You don’t love me.”

	

	That’s true. None of us really love Him tonight. We do, you see,
follow His commandments, but the effervescence is not there. That
exuberance is not there. That exuberance is not there. But it will be,
because He said, “I love you, and I’m not going to let you go. I’m
going to chasten you; I’m going to rebuke you.” See?

67. 	Now, I’ve got one passage of Scripture left, Ps 66:8-12:

	(8) 	O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to 		
		be heard:

	(9) 	Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be 	
			moved.

	Notice what He promises here? Did you get it? He holds you. You won’t
be moved. You say, “Holds me? What’s going to come against me so I
won’t be moved?”

	Uh-huh! I see you’re beginning to think. What’s He say?

	(10) 	For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is
					tried. (How does silver get tried? In the furnace!)

	(11) 	Thou broughtest us into the net; (Oh, I thought the devil did
it!) 					thou laidst affliction upon our loins.

	(12) 	Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads.

	And this is what we hate. Oh, boy! We don’t even want the preacher to
have any authority. 

	“Well, I’ve got the Holy Ghost!” 

	If you really had the Holy Ghost, you wouldn’t talk that way, but I
know a lot of folks who ‘think’ they’ve got the Holy Ghost. Well,
I’ve got the Holy Ghost; I know what He does. I don’t know what Holy
Ghost you’ve got, but it’s not the One Who wrote the Book, not the
One Who spoke through Paul, not the One Who spoke through David.
You’ve got your own ‘holy ghost’, and he’s not too holy, because
he goes against the Holy Ghost which is holy. Huh? “He caused men to
ride over their heads.” He sent prophets, and they said, “Kill
‘em.”

68. 	Tell me tonight; I think you can do it. Are you a people who can
open your mind and listen without questioning? Because, if you are not,
you haven’t got the Holy Ghost; because, when you’ve got the Holy
Ghost you can listen and not question; because, while you are
questioning, you will miss it with your question. You can just listen,
but you have got such faith that, because you’ve got the Holy Ghost,
you can’t be deceived, and by the time you walk down the road, half a
block, you’ll be all ‘shook up’ by the Holy Ghost, and you will
know which way you’re going.

	But the average person (who is a Christian by denomination only) while
you are talking, he is popping a million questions and not hearing one
thing you say. Because, when the Holy Spirit is come, “He will lead
you…” He will guide you, He will teach you, He will protect you.

69. 	The open mind is the secret of receiving the things of God. It says
Israel’s mind was closed shut, their minds were darkened and blinded,
and they can’t get to God because of a closed mind. I hope your minds
have been opened. The Word says:

	(12) 	Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire
				and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.

	The wealth of God is only poured upon the meek, but “they shall
inherit the earth,” and nobody else. Noah was meek, and he owned the
whole world with his three sons and the four women, making eight in all.
There it is!

70. 	Now, God has given you faith--a measure of His Own faith. It is
called the ‘faith of God’, the ‘faith of the Son of God’, the
‘faith of the Lord Jesus Christ’. It is called the ‘faith of
Jesus.’ It is your assurance, your guarantee, your ability to receive
every promise in the Book. It will give you victory. Make no mistake
about it. But, remember that your faith will be tried. Not that God is
withholding anything from you (No, sir.) but God, in His love and
goodness, is also preparing you to reign with Him at the same time He is
giving you your answers.

71. 	Now, let’s just check this out for a second before we close and
go home. I ask you a question: do you think God could trust you tonight
with a million dollars? You’ve often thought you wanted a million
dollars. Let’s be honest now. Would anybody tell me tonight he is
ready to handle a million dollars? I’d like to meet you, because I
never met one who could, outside of William Branham. He turned it down
flat. 

	Dr. Buckman, although I know he didn’t believe like we believe… I
don’t know if he was ever born again. He was more of a moral
reconstruction agent, rather than a born-again believer, to my
knowledge. I don’t know, I just understand that’s the way it is. He
turned down a million dollars, because he knew he couldn’t handle it.
Frankly, I couldn’t handle a million dollars. I couldn’t handle
fifty thousand, because that gives me ideas, and I don’t know that
they are God’s, because I’d like to do something for some people,
and it might not be what God wants me to do.

72. 	Now, let’s go a step further. Tonight, could any of you handle a
gift of healing? Now, listen. That’s a good ‘prestige getter’, if
you want to get recognized. It’s a pretty fine gift to have, and it
will do a lot of good. It will get rid of insanity; and, if it’s used
with real authority, it will cure any disease. No cancer, no cripple, no
nothing will stand before it. Now, that’s a nice gift, but could you
handle it? Now, be honest.

	See now, what are we driving at? What do you want tonight from God?
What is it you are praying for? That’s good; I am not talking about
that. I’m talking about something material-like. Praying for character
is good but the only way you can get character (Let me warn you.) is
this: God, help me now to get ready, so when the blows come, I’ll take
them in Your Name and say, “Thank You, Jesus.”

	If you just ask for character straight, it won’t work. Don’t ask
for patience straight. God cannot give you patience. It is affliction
that brings patience; persecution worketh patience. Nothing else will do
it. Remember the lady who came to her pastor and said, “Pastor, I’ve
called you here today, because I’ve just got to have help.”

	He said, “What can I do, Sister dear?”

	She said, “You must now pray for patience for me, because I’ve had
it.”

	He got down on his knees, and he said, “Send this lady
persecution.”

	She said, “Stop it. Don’t you understand? That’s my trouble. I
want patience.”

	“But,” he said, “Sister dear, tribulation worketh patience.”

73. 	Character is a victory, not a gift. Remember that. Fruit-bearing
and answered prayer go hand-in-hand. “If you abide in me and my Words
abide in you, then you can ask what you will, and it shall be done”
(Jn 15:7)

	But I ask you in all sincerity tonight: what do you want from God? What
is it you lack to be in light? Now I’m not just talking about things
you need. Maybe you need a new house; maybe you haven’t got a home.
Maybe your kids need help for school. Maybe you need something in your
home, in your personal relationships as you walk this earth. You’ve
got needs, physical needs, because we’re all human. What is your need?
Ask for it; ask for it! 

And then, say, “Now, God, try me!” And every day you are tried, and
it looks like you’re not getting it, say, “Hallelujah! It’s
getting closer!” Say, “Glory!” Do it, breathe it, mean it, and
something will begin to happen to you, and say, “God we got through
good today; now, make it a little rougher tomorrow.”

74. 	Let me tell you how this works in a nutshell. I don’t mean to
explain it this way; but, listen to what happened. Listen! This is kind
of silly, but it’s kind a cute. When I was in Florida one night, and
for days I had been having a pain in my back, you know, like when you
get a blood-clot they tell you how excruciating it is? Well, I got this
pain. It wasn’t a blood-clot. 

	When I lay a certain way, it was like a toothache. And, when I lay
another certain way, it wasn’t bad. I said, look, we’re going to get
the cure, and we’re going to get it the easy way; but it’s going to
be the hard way, because it’s going to be a short-cut. Then, I lay in
a position where it really hurt, and I’d say, “I challenge you in
the name of Jesus!” And I lay there, and it hurt me, and I would say,
“Oh, you got me!” And I’d bend over, and I’d wait a while, get
my breath, and I’d go back and lay in the same position where it would
hurt, and I’d say, “I come again against you in the name of Jesus,
and I’m gonna lick you!” And I lay a little longer this time, and
then, I couldn’t take it. It got me. About the fifth time it never
came back.

	Now, that’s a silly little illustration, but it’s what we do in our
life. But, keep on guard. 

	“God, the answer’s mine. Now it has been rough today, and I’ve
taken it; it will be rougher tomorrow. It’s okay. That’s all right.
I’m going to get it, because I’m following Abraham.” 

	And he said what God said he was; and through a process he became what
God said he was, because he developed patience, and thereby character;
and suddenly this faith sprung into reality, and he got it.

75.	 Now, let me show you something here, and I’ll let you go. Faith,
hope, love: 1, 2, 3. Faith is 1; hope is 2; love is 3. Love is the
highest; therefore, faith is lower than hope. God gave you the measure
of faith. If you bulldoze your faith, you can bypass hope--you can go
clean by--and pass this love, too. When Bro. Branham came, he came with
faith, every spirit brought under control, no miss. I saw two-thousand,
with no miss, healed in one night. That was faith. 

	Then, he brought the word ‘hope’, and they said, “Phooey on hope.
We will go back to faith.” And like Israel, the Pentecostals died in
the wilderness, because they were the ones who said, “We want him,”
and they didn’t want him after all. 

	But those who take hope, the Word, and live by the Word with their
faith, will go… Where? To a hope which never fails. Is that right?
“THUS SAITH THE LORD,” found in the Bride. Is that right? Then, Who
comes? Love. God comes! Love crowning the pyramid. We’re raptured! And
oh, how you’re going to love Him just before He comes. I think we’re
just going to go around screaming. (I want to do that.) I want to
literally tear around screaming, “I love Him! I love Him! I love
Him!” and mean it. I want to get real emotional. I want to jump so
high I’ll jump fifty feet; and, when I come down, I’ll walk
straight. Not jump fifty feet, and when I come down, walk crooked. But I
want to walk straight.

76. 	You see what I’m talking about tonight? Do you get the message?
Huh? Well, I think you do. You’re lovely people. So, time to go.
Let’s sing like Bro. Branham sang, “I love Him.”

“I love Him. I love Him, because He first loved me. And purchased my
salvation on Calvary’s tree.”

Faith # 2 - The Trial of Our Faith  (1870)  -   Page   PAGE   \*
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