FAITH OF ABRAHAM, Part 2 Bro. Lee Vayle Macon, Georgia July 29, 1973 1. When I was here last time in November, I took the “Faith of Abraham, Part 1.” I never took the “Faith of Abraham, Part 2,” because I didn’t have any notes on it, I hadn’t studied it, but I went home and I studied it. And I find that the “Faith of Abraham, Part 2,” from the Book of Hebrews, chapter 11, absolutely lays out perfectly what we studied previously when we found out, as Bro. Braham taught us, that Abraham and Sarah, who received the promised son just before Sodom and Gomorrah, types what we’re going through today. The Church could not receive the Promised Son…there is no one who can produce Him. It takes the Bride to bring forth That Promised Son, not only manifested as a Son of Man, but to bring Him forth literally to complete headship as the Fullness of the Godhead Incarnate when He comes down at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Now the world cannot do it, but the world must be in a Sodom condition, and it’s in the Sodom condition that you will notice that something is happening to Abraham who is dwelling apart, though near and around those who are in this world. 2. And in Romans 4 you will find that when God gave him the promise to begin with, it says the promise was given to Abraham who received it by faith. And then you will notice in verse 21, after where Abraham went through his life, and remember: the life of Abraham is the life of the Bride, in every Elect One, so it spans not merely a twenty to twenty-five year period, or how many years it provides, but it actually types the full thousands of years that God is taking to bring forth His people. See? And it says here [Ro 4]: (21) And being fully persuaded… And remember: Abraham was not fully persuaded when the promise was given…he merely believed. But at the end time, in a Sodom condition, comes full persuasion. Isn’t that wonderful? When everything else has gone to pot, when everything else is ready to go down the drain, God has a Bride with full assurance of faith! And then I hear people trying to take away what I’ve got, my assurance in THUS SAITH THE LORD. I challenge you this morning: I say I have no friends in this Message! Don’t ever presume on my friendship and try to cross me with this Word. I’m fighting for my life in a Sodom condition. I’m standing on THUS SAITH THE LORD. I do not have my own thoughts on this subject—I’m not relying on my mind, I’m not relying on my vindication or something someone trumps up and tries to take away our faith. 3. There came a day when that meekest man on earth, outside of Jesus Christ, Moses, stood up. He was fighting for his life, too, on a vindicated Word. This is a day of full assurance of faith, my brother/sister. The prophet of God said, “Opening those Seven Seals, which contained the Seven Thunders, It gave us everything to put us in a Rapture.” Now did he say it? Then don’t try to argue it down by some other statements…put them in their proper context. I can argue the Word of God, and Bro. Branham, the same way, until I can find you a good Jehovah Witness—“there’s no nothing, no anything; and you can live like the devil, have fourteen wives or anything else, and still make it, “glory to God,” with both feet…” Ah, don’t give me all that nonsense! The prophet of God told us what he came to do, bringing full assurance of faith, in a Sodom condition, by vindication, when ‘God with skin on Him’ came down and proved Who He was. And He said that “this time and this generation shall not pass away.” And I’m standing on it. Listen, brother/sister, we’ve come to such a climax that if this does not prove out, nothing proves out! You’ve got one place to go—spiritism! Certainly it’s true…because you’ve got nothing but good and bad spirits, who need evolution. Now come on, face it. I don’t feel real religious, but I just may in a minute. 4. We’re at the end time, with full assurance of faith. I can prove it to you. Are you looking backward? Are you looking forward? No. You’re looking right now, as when Jesus, one day, said to His disciples, when the seventy went away, “Will you also leave Me?”[(Jn 6:67] They said, “To whom shall we go?” “Well,” He said, “you could go back where you came from.” “Oh,” they said, “no, no. We’ve been through that.” You think I could go back where I was? You better believe I wouldn’t go back to where I was. I’d leave it all before I went back to where I was…walk off, leave the whole thing flat! “Well, go down the road,” said Jesus, maybe, “and look for something else.” They said, “No, no, no. If this isn’t the Absolute, forget it.” 5. People preaching “eighth day,” and “other messengers,” and this and that… I’ve got one messenger, by the name of William Branham, and I’ll stick with him, and that’s the end of it. Do you know why? I’ll tell you why: I don’t want to insult anybody, but I’m going to put it real, right, plain, and simple: when William Branham said, “THUS SAITH THE LORD,” and what he said came to pass, I would no longer make my God a fool and an idiot by backing up a man that He had not sent. If you want to know what the initial evidence of the baptism with the Holy Ghost is, you just heard it right there. I mean it, really mean it. You’re not looking anywhere, but you’re looking right here. Where would Abraham have looked? Sarah, she said, “Ha, ha, ha,” up her sleeve. And God said, “Why did Sarah laugh?” “Oh, I didn’t laugh.” A lot of people are going to say, “Oh, I believe,” when the Rapture’s done gone. “Oh, I’m a believer, Lord.” It’s going to be too late. Now Bro. Jack misquoted me; he didn’t hear me right. I said, “We’ve got lots of time, because they can’t clear the restaurant for us, so you’re going to sit here for a while…maybe.” If I haven’t gone to preaching, I’ve been meddling. I’m just meddling right now. See? 6. Abraham, with a full assurance of faith! I brought out and showed you that, as Bro. Branham said, “You have got to say the right thing to God.” If you’ve got to say the right thing ‘to’ God, you have got to say the right thing ‘about’ God—otherwise you are an idolater. Now I know that’s rough, tough preaching. You say, “Just because I believe in three Gods…I’m an idolater?” You go check with the prophet. He had THUS SAITH THE LORD, and God said, “You hear him.” [Dt 18:19, Acts 3:22-23] And in Deuteronomy 4, that same God said about that same prophet, or anybody, He said, “You’ll neither add to the Word, nor take from It.” So God said, “You hear that man.” Then that man cannot add to the Word nor take from It. He’s got to be one with that Word. Is that right? Can you see that, or should I repeat it? Now you don’t need to have me repeat it, do you? I’ll do it anyway, because I like the sound of my voice…when I’m saying these nice things, all these little goodies. God’s Word says, “If a man comes in the Name of the Lord, and the thing that he says comes to pass, you’ve got to hear him. And if you don’t hear him, you’re in danger of death.” Now, in the 4th chapter [Deuteronomy], He said, “You can’t add to this Word, or take from It.” So, therefore, God is duty-bound to back up the man that He says you are to hear, with never letting him add to the Word or take from It. Then what kind of a man was that prophet? You’ve got an Absolute. 7. “Well, brother, I’m waiting for Jesus.” I’m not. He has come already, as far as I’m concerned. That’s the Word. I’m not talking now about the One Corporal Incarnate God manifest in human flesh…and I am not talking about the Fullness of the Godhead in that Body, Jesus, coming down. I’m talking about Him, Who, in the Pillar of Fire, said, “I’m Jesus Whom you’re persecuting.” [Acts 9:3-5] I’ll tell you: the men that lifted their hand against William Branham, the men that will lift their hands against us, are going to have a direct confrontation with Him Who is that Pillar of Fire, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know who is going to be most of them? [Mt 7:23:] “…I never knew you…” “But we cast out devils!” “I never knew you.” “But we did this…” “I never knew you.” (Because the confrontation is there…) You say, “How is that confrontation?” Listen, brother/sister, the Baptists and Methodists died long ago. The wheat lies in the chaff…not some place else. Now I hope you don’t get a mean spirit because I talk rough up here, see? but I want to put backbone in you; I want to put some muscle in your blood. No muscle in your blood, you’re in bad shape. See? 8. Now, just recapping a little bit to show you what we brought up: that we are at the full assurance of faith. See? You say, “Why?” Because “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” [Ro 10:17] We’ve got the Word of God, the former rain [Jer 5:24; Hosea 6:3; Joel 2:23], which, the Spirit of God falling upon, brings us into our perfect faith! Why? Because “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God;” and the Word of God has come and we heard It, and It’s being multiplied to us; it’s coming into progression. That’s that River of Water we talked about in Ezekiel 47. See, that Water was to flow through the desert and restore the land! See? Did you catch the word ‘restore’? So God said, “For the first time in My Eternal Life, (because I AM Eternal), I am going to create a frog.” And people said, “Isn’t it nice God restored that frog?” Aren’t you a little sick? Restoration is not creation. So if the prophet came for restoration, he didn’t bring us anything new, he brought us the original Gospel, just as It was, with the full revelation. Now why are you people looking for something new? That’s right. 9. We’re going to take, based on what we taught on the last time, we’re going to teach from Hebrews 11:8-19. And I hope by now you’re all used to my clipped way of saying things, because I talk, at times, fast and furiously, and my thoughts come very, very fast, but I hope that they’re continuous so that you maybe can pick up the thread and hold it because we live in the dangerous age of Laodicea, the age of materialism in its apex, that I am afraid, without meaning to, we are interpreting the Word of God in a materialistic manner…we as Saints…and we must get back to what is definitely and finally spiritual, which we’re going to talk about this morning. 10. But before we do, let’s bow our heads in a word of prayer: Our kind Heavenly Father, Thou gracious Eternal God, Who loved us enough to let us come in contact, not only with the prophet, as some of us have, but others who never saw him or heard him personally but received the revealed Word as he gave It forth, that man being vindicated…what a tremendous thing that was to us, Lord, that this should be so, and we thank You for it, O my God. For, Lord, it is true, really…in my own case I can say, unequivocably, that if I missed everything, the fact that You gave me an opportunity to be near the one that You ordained through the ages to be this messenger at the end time, it was indeed enough of a privilege that one should not ask for more, in a material sense. We’re looking at it that way. Of course, Lord, we want to go on all the way in Eternal Life and be a part of the very thing for which he came, to give us the full assurance of the Word whereby we could enter in. And, Father, help us this morning, each one of us, to solemnize our hearts now and to recognize more and more that which the prophet spoke, as we bring forth, Lord, this second part of “Abraham’s Faith,” wherein You have delineated in two places in Your Word concerning his faith. How important it must be then to analyze and understand by the Holy Ghost just what we’re dealing with this morning as Children of Abraham. We ask these mercies in Jesus’ mighty Name, praying blessings, O God, of heart warming, and joy, and peace, and freedom in the Holy Ghost to go all the way. Amen. 11. Reading now in the 11th chapter of Hebrews [8:11]: (8) By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (9) By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: (10) For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (11) Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. You notice Sarah here, she didn’t have a thing to do with the promise, she just had to believe what Abraham got from God. That’s the way the Bride is; She doesn’t have to worry one thing about this Word, just believe It. She is not responsible for getting It; She’s just responsible for hearing and believing It. See? Now that is right. That is all it says about little Sarah here. See? Where did the seed come from? From Abraham! Where did he get it? He got it from God. See? 12. Now [12-15]: (12) Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. (13) These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (14) For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. (15) And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out… It doesn’t say that at all. It said, “If they had kept in mind that country from whence they came, they would have gone back.” That is Bible—you know that’s Bible. Israel tried to do it…organized to go back to Egypt. See? It always happens that way. 13. Now, verse 16: (16) But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. (17) 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. In this account of the faith of Abraham we have an historical, yet spiritual, account of the life he led as a recipient of God’s covenant promise. Now remember: he was the one who received God’s covenant promise. His dedication lay in understanding just what the promise really was. 14. That’s why there’s not too much dedication. People do not really understand the promise. They’re too nervous; they’re looking for something else. Yes, I’m not! I would be nervous only if I wasn’t relying on the promise that Bro. Branham brought us. But I’m not nervous about It—I’m nervous about myself. People get nervous about the Word, and then try to figure out something. You better stop reaching. See? The 9th verse of that 11th chapter, where it said, “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise…” See? A promise is given. How this title deed holder of the original covenant promise conducted himself is a lesson to all of us who claim to be heirs of the same promise. That’s right. We must have the same revelation and follow the same pattern, because this is commended and commanded of us before God and by God. Now let’s prove it. I said that Abraham’s life, (And we are in him) must be a picture of every Child of Abraham, of every Elect One through the thousands of years until there is no more election. All right. 15. We go to Galatians 3:6-9: (6) Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. (7) Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. (8) And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. (9) So then they which be of faith are blessed… (In the covenant promise of Abraham because the blessing of Abraham lies in a covenant!) My! You know, some people think, “Well, so what?” So what! That’s the creative Word of God! If God doesn’t have it here in front of your eyes, He can produce it! On what? The Word! Why, this would make a dead man shout. I might bring on a Resurrection this morning just preaching about the Word. (Not that I could do it; the Word is going to do it…don’t worry.) 16. Romans 4:12: (12) And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcized. Hebrews 10:38-39. I’m reading this because this prefaces the 11th chapter: (38) Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, (From what? The covenant promise.) my soul shall have no pleasure in him. (39) But we are not of them who draw back to destruction; (The word ‘perdition’ is ‘destruction’.) but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. The Children of Abraham are included in this promise. See? They’re heirs with him, the Bible teaches us. 17. Now, 11:8-9, as we look at our subject: (8) By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (9) By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. Notice: he was called to go out into a place and inherit it, that’s right, but see what actually came about as a fulfillment. “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country,” simply dwelling in tents that he pitched hither and yon. Now according to these verses, God had called Abraham to go out and receive a land of promise; and he actually got there and he lived in that land. 18. Now let’s check it out. Genesis 12:1. You always go back to the Old Testament or you can’t understand the New…just can’t do it. Verse 1: (1) Now the Lord said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee. (5) Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. (6) And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh, and the Canaanite was then in the land. (7) And the Lord God appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. (8) And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. (9) And Abraham journeyed, going on still further toward the south. Genesis 13:1-4: (1) And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, (See, he even went way down there.) and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. (2) And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold. (3) And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; (4) Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. (Verse 12:) (12) Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. Genesis 17:4-8: (4) As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. (5) Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. (6) And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. (7) And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. (See? Abraham’s Seed is right in there.) (8) And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. 19. That looks very much like a promise given and a promise received and fulfilled…but not so! Let’s go to Acts…you get the explanation. 7:2-7: (2) And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; the God of Glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, (down in Chaldea) (3) And said unto him, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred. And come into the land which I shall shew thee. (4) Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in the land of Charran (or Haran), and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. (5) And he gave him none inheritance in it (What does it say? It said, “Didn’t give him an inheritance at all.” None. He gave him no inheritance in it.) no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. (6) And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. (7) And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. Now, with this in mind, even though this looks like a promise given and a promise received, it is not so. The promise has never been received. The covenant of God has not yet been fulfilled. 20. Now we go back to the Book of Hebrews, the 11th chapter, and we look at it again, beginning at verse 8: (8) By faith Abraham, when he was called… Notice, he’s called Abraham even when back in that land he was Abram. The Bible never calls him ‘Abram’ again, He calls him ‘Abraham’. And if Bro. Branham called you and me ‘Bride’, there is no other name for it. You look back and say, “Well, I did this, and I did that.” So did Abraham, as Abraham, after being changed from Abram, because when he and his wife went through that wonderful change, they still went down there to Egypt and got messed up, to a degree. But he was still Abraham, and the man that he actually messed up—he had to pray for to get him out of the mess he got him in! Ha! And I hear some of this stuff they call ‘preaching’. You better get your Bibles and find out a few things. You don’t draw your own conclusion; I’ve told you the truth. The fellow that lied, and messed up the poor guy that took the lie…the poor guy had to get unmessed by the fellow that messed him up! And you talk about being something outside the grace of God. If you can’t praise God for that, you praise God for nothing. This doesn’t make license, this is just the truth… 21. All right. [Verse 8:] (8) By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, (Notice: “After receive for an inheritance.”) obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (9) By faith he sojourned (Sojourned) in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. It says here that Abraham was called out of the place to go to some other place that he should after inherit—not inherit at the time he went there…see?…but later on. He obeyed…that is, he came out of the Ur of the Chaldees, not knowing where he was going, nor having definite knowledge of the land ahead. You wonder why it is now we do not know much about the Millennium or anything after that? How are you going to know if Abraham didn’t know? See? People always want to know about things. What does it matter to you? Are you a Child of Abraham, or some question-question-question type of person? Faith doesn’t ask questions—faith believes a revelation. See? Not knowing where he was going, he just kept on moving, he just kept on moving. He made his stay in the Promised Land, but the Promised Land was a strange country to him…he could not accept it, and neither could the country accept him. 22. This world is not my home, I’m just a-traveling through. But in the meantime, dear Lord, a four-story house will do…not a mortgage on the bank, but a million bucks in the vault. Hmmmm? Did you catch that? Let me read you something (Gen 3:17): (17) And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. You think I’m going to love to sit here in a land that is like that, a land that hates me? I know some preachers and some people with complexes, and you’ve got to keep on telling them how much you love them, and how sweet and everything nice they are or they just go to pieces. And I want to tell you: the earth has never been sweet and nice to me, so I’ve got a real complex about it. All it’s ever brought forth is thorns and briers and a mess of trouble. The rocks bruise my feet, the hail comes down and pelts me. And I’m so cold-blooded it’s horrible because my feet perspire all the time, and in a little chilly weather I’m just like two blocks of ice…you know, like Barney Google’s horse, I guess, plodding up and down the ‘cobblestones’…and it’s just pure misery. Now I’ve got a complex about this place! It’s got so bad: I kid Bro. Bob back there, I said, “This world is such a rotten mess I can’t wait…I think I’ll just light the fuse that’s going to blow it up!” He said, “Oh, you wouldn’t do that?” I said, “You’re right, Bob. This place is such a mess, I’ll just leave the fuse going and let them suffer, and I’ll just go away myself.” 23. If you haven’t got a complex on this earth there is something wrong with you! I didn’t say a complex about the Word! There’s too many people got no complex about the world, but they got a complex about this Word! They just can’t relax and believe it. I want to tell you something: you let me stay home long enough in my study and get ten and twelve hours a day behind me, I just get solid as a rock. But on this road here I get so torn up I just do not know my own mind, and it takes me almost weeks to get settled down when I get home. You’re fussing about this Word! You’ve got too many interpretations, and a million things about It! That’s not in my message so I’ll quit. 24. Sure, this world’s cursed. You think Abraham was going to settle for an inheritance of a cursed world? “Well,” he said, “I’ll stick around a while, but I’ll come back when it gets better.” See? He never made a permanent stop, or built a city. Look at verse 10 here: [Hebrews 11] (10) For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. What was this revelation, this covenant? He had a definite revelation that his inheritance in the earth was not for the days of his sojourn, or his present life; it was for some definite time later on but not now! That’s right. How would you like to have been Abraham and get a promise way back there and God say, “Abram, come on out. I’m going to take you to a land I am going to give to you. Come on out.” “Oh,” he said, “glory, hallelujah! I like that!” He gets there and God said, “Hey, did I tell you I gave you this land?” He said, “Yes.” “I’ve got news for you. I am going to give it to your seed also for an everlasting possession, and I’m going to be their God.” And he said, “Hallelujah! O Glory! I’m going to build a city.” But he couldn’t find a place to settle down. By the time he got through walking, he found out that God didn’t give him one place where his foot went for an inheritance, because the Bible says so. You say, “Then what kind of a God is that anyway?” He is the kind of a God that you believe in faith, Who will keep His Word, Who will give it to you at the right time! See? 25. This same revelation was accepted by his heirs, who, of course, would inherit all of God’s gifts and promises to Abraham. According to verse 9: “By faith he sojourned…with Isaac and Jacob…” and all the others who had the same promise, who didn’t have one little place to put their feet. Now if you are hearing me preach this morning what God’s Word really says, you can understand why Israel is having the problem they have got right now…and a lot of things they say about them just are not so, according to Scripture, because they are never going to have that land right until God gives it to them, and then they are not going to have it even then as a nation. They are going to have to come back as the redeemed of Almighty God. See? (We’ll show you that.) 26. The days of the sojourn of all the heirs, Abraham and all of them, is well defined in Acts 7, which I read to you. And it says in 7th verse (b): (7) …And after that shall they come forth, and serve Me… Why? Because He said, “I’m going to be their God everlastingly,” and God is not the God of the dead, my brother/my sister. [Mt 22:32] See? They would serve God as did Abraham, these sojourners, then they would later inherit it, or get the true Title Deed from which they could never be robbed again. And we see how exactly true this is by reading Hebrews 11:13: (13) These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them (spiritual eyes) afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. See? They said, “We’re just staying here a little while.” That’s exactly what happened. You can see also that every true Child of God views the promise of inheritance, with Abraham, in exactly the same light. Verse 14: (14) And they that say the same things declare plainly that they seek a country. 27. Now, verses 39-40 (I’m just jumping around right now, because we’ve got to get back to the whole thing later): (39) And these all, having obtained a good report. You know what is the best report card God will ever give you? That you believe what God ordained you to believe…and it better be simple, or there’s going to be too many people miss it. Now: (39) They received not the promise (at that time)… (40) God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. And you can see right there that every Child of Faith is going to end up in the same place, inheriting the promise of Almighty God, the land of inheritance—which we’ll keep talking about. 28. Now, the present earthly benefits that God has allowed us to have must never, ever let us lose sight of what is ahead of us. The question now arises: what is the promise of God to Abraham? The promise of God to Abraham is what Abraham looked for by revelation in spirit of what anybody thinks God said to Abraham. God said, “Abraham, I’ll tell you what: you are My friend. I am your Friend. I am going to give you this land here. I am going to give it to you.” So what does Abraham say? Abraham said, (Now you better watch, don’t let me trick you now.) “Glory to God I’m going to get that land. Hallelujah! I see acres and acres; I see farm land, I see prairie, I see hills, I see this… I’m a-looking, oh, I’m a-looking!” He did not! He looked ‘for a City’. “Oh, does it say so?” You know, it’s amazing: if the Lord just opens your eyes to just even how it is written, how wonderful the revelation can be: Abraham ‘looked for a City’. “Oh, I thought it was a land.” It’s a ‘city Whose Builder and Maker is God’. You say, “What is that city?” Pearly white City! Revelation 21:1-27: (1) And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (2) And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven (Not from man, not anything you and I are going to make; but coming direct from God…God’s creation.) prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 29. When is a woman the most wonderful? In that moment of bridehood when she is adorned for her husband, the very thing she was made for, because she was made for Adam! That’s right. You were made for one man, not a dozen men. That’s right! And the thing types all the way through. You think I would have married a second-hand woman? I’m the kind of guy, if I found out twenty years or so later I would have booted my wife out. You say, “Where’s your grace?” I haven’t got any when it comes to that. You show me where God has any grace when it comes to that. Bro. Branham said she can be forgiven, but never justified. In other words, you can come in after the New Jerusalem is set on earth here, so to speak, or is ready to be set in that White Throne Judgment…but you’ll never sit with the Lamb on His Throne if you’ve been a spiritual prostitute, of any description. No, don’t play fast and loose with the Word of God, my brother/sister. In the face of THUS SAITH THE LORD, if you’ve got one creed and dogma left, God have pity on your soul. And you call yourself a Christian, some kind of idolater? Where’s your vindication? 30. Listen: God’s doing it, Rev 21:2-4: (2) …Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (3) And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (4) And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Well, listen: this isn’t that old cursed earth. Thank God, He gets rid of it. The world hated me and I hated it! You know, when you get two pieces of sandpaper rubbing each other, all you get is a bunch of grit. Oh, brother…I’m gritty to the world and it is gritty to me, at least I sure hope so. (4) …And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying (These all died in faith.) neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed. Look at that New Jerusalem…let’s take a little look at her. She’s got twelve gates and twelve angels, names of the twelve tribes, and the wall had twelve foundations. There is your City. Abraham was not looking for earthly promises. 31. Abraham wasn’t any old Laodicean who was “rich, and increased with goods,” bless God, “and have need of nothing.” “Hallelujah! We’re going to buy the world for Jesus! And all you folk just give us a great, big fat offering and we’re going to bring the people to God” Why didn’t God on the day of Pentecost give a hunk of gold twenty miles wide and forty miles high, instead of the Holy Ghost? Somebody is wrong somewhere. Now you can begin to see why Bro. Branham said money was a trap, and he would never respect money for one minute. He turned down a million and one half dollars at one plug; fifty thousand another time; a half million another time! He said, “Take your money away.” At the end of the week, I’ll bet they can testify, Billy Paul has told me: what he had left over he gave away, and said, “God, do something else.” Ha! And these guys want money, money, money, money, money, money. Gold calf schemes. Let it not be mentioned amongst the Bride. God have pity on us. It is not the Spirit of Christ—it is the spirit of Laodicea. 32. Revelation 5: let’s look at it. We can get some more of this. This is a little ahead of this New Jerusalem, but it is all in the same picture. All right, verses 9-10: (9) And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (10) And hast made us unto our God kings and priests. That’s exactly what’s going to happen. Let’s see it, Revelation 20:4-6: (4) And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands: and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (5) But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (6) Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power. 33. The promise of God to Abraham, and the Royal Seed, is to inherit the earth by means of the First Resurrection, which we are in now. Yes, we are, by the actual restoration of the Word, because without the restoration of the Word, there is no resurrection. So, therefore, this is a part of it, because it is all one continuous revelation of Christ the Word. You say, “Restoration? What Word?” Christ. “Resurrection? What?” Christ, Word, Elohim. It’s always been that. We’re just coming into greater and greater measure, unto Ezekiel’s River—Water to swim in. Absolutely. It was only to the ankles in Luther’s day’; it went to the knees in Wesley’s day; it went right up to here in the Pentecostal day…though they thought they were swimming. But you and I, my brother/my sister, have got the immeasurable River of Revelation which cannot be crossed over. There is nobody that can add to It, or take from It. It is so deep, and so great, it is the once for all. And It says, “You can swim in It.” [Ezek 47:5] Covered with Water! Covered with Word! Immersed in the Word! Drinking the Word! Loving the Word! Living the Word! If that’s not the Holy Ghost, I don’t know what is…or maybe you want some sensation and feeling, because we don’t yell loud enough or jump high enough. 34. Now you can tell me to clap my hands, and I will…maybe. You can tell me to shout, and maybe I will. If I want you to tell me to do something, that’s tell me to cry. You’ll have to bust my face in. It takes the Spirit of God to make me cry. You go through your emotion if you want to. See? Preachers got to stand up here and get their anointing with people shouting and all, go ahead and shout…I’m all for it, it’s great…but I want it put in its place. I got my anointing before I hit this pulpit. I got my anointing going through this Word. Do you know how I get my messages? I start writing, after I have read, and read and read, and I start writing. I don’t know half the time what I’ve written. And I go back next day and say, “What is this doing here?” But I know it’s there for a purpose! And I’ve yet to find one time it hasn’t been one hundred percent with the Message. I’ve got to get mine ahead of time. And if I’ve got any anointing at all, you’ll get yours now, because the anointing is for the revelation. Bro. Branham said, “We’ve seen the Word of God revealed in power, but now is the day for the revelation of the meat of It.” I’m a bit paraphrasing, but you’ll find it there. 35. The promise of Abraham to the Royal Seed is to inherit the earth in the First Resurrection. That’s right. [Rev 20] (6) Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power. The earth has lost its curse. Everything is gone that should be gone. There will be no more crying, no more tears, no sighing, no sorrowing, no pain, no death. Well, under those conditions I’m ready to take over! Hallelujah! I like that…I’ll settle for that. “Well,” God said, “I didn’t ask you to settle for anything less.” Certainly. 36. This same earth that we inhabit now by promise, we actually own potentially. It is to be ours according to the Book of Romans (This is for the thousand year period, not the later period.) 8:19-23: (19) For the earnest expectation of creation… (That earth that was cursed.) Now listen: do you know something? Everything, even that which is inanimate, has some type of vitality…though we cannot place it. Now these lights here, they put rays through the air. We’ve got ether or currents going through here. You’ve got radio waves, television waves—you can’t see them, you’ve got to have an instrument to pick them up. Don’t you know that the mass of these microphones is moving too; but it’s moving so slowly it can’t be measured. In other words, there’s a life somehow—I can’t explain it. But there is nothing that is really dead. How can it be if God is behind it by His Word? 37. Now this earth that was cursed is groaning. “Oh, that’s a ‘figure’.” Hogwash, it’s a figure! It is true—God said so. There is something there. Put your microscope on it; you’ll never find it. Now let’s say there is an Intelligence behind it somehow, or in it, because It says it is: (19) …Waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. (20) For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. (21) Because the creation itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (22) For we know that the whole creation groans… 38. What would you feel like if you were a curse and knew it? This beautiful earth brought down by sin, it’s an actual curse to man right now. It’s a booby trap. See? No wonder Bro. Branham said, “Get me out of this pest house.” You say, “What has that got to do with creation?” He’s part of the earth. Sure, our bodies. It is: (22) …Groaning and travailing in pain. Why would He say that about the earth if there was not some reason for it? You say, “Oh, that’s just the animals.” Oh, no, that’s the whole thing. The whole thing is upset. See? God wants to do something about it. He is going to do something about it. 39. All right. Let’s go to 2 Peter (He is going to do it. See?) 3:10-13: (10) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (11) Seeing then that all these things shall be (Annihilated? No..) dissolved (Not annihilated. Dissolved…brought back to that original Adam.) what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy behaviour and Godliness. (12) Looking for and hasting… You just can’t wait for it! “Well, bless God,” said Lot, “I like those little cities, and, you know, it’s not bad here.” I think Lot felt like I do about going out roughing it. Now the way I rough it is a nice Holiday Inn Motel, or some good one with an air-conditioned room, and a restaurant next door, and a lot of screened windows to keep out the mosquitoes and I’ll look out at the lake. That’s my idea of roughing it. I am afraid most of us look at the promise of God the same way. We just love it down here. It’s nice, soft living; we never had it so good. Oh, boy…I’m ready to take a match and set fire to all the clothes I’ve got. Years ago, when I prayed patches on my patches, it was a whole lot better. Now if the thing gets a hole, I can throw it away. People give me things, so many of them. Yes, I’m not one bit happier. In fact, I’m a whole lot worse off. I used to know, Jack, what I was going to wear when I went to the clothes closet. Now I wonder. I’m getting bad as a woman! You can sure see perversion took over the land. The only thing is, I’ll admit it…most of the men won’t. What a mess; all this is going to be burned up. Thank God. 40. But it says: (12) Looking for and hasting (Speeding up. See?) unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? (13) Nevertheless we… Why? Well, we are glad to get rid of it. The earth is not happy we are here; we are not happy we’re here; nobody is happy we’re here! We’ve got a promise. Do you realize that is the only thing we are to be happy about, is this Word? Bro. Jack, preaching last night, he should have gone all the way quoting Bro. Bosworth. Bosworth said, “If you must doubt, doubt your doubts; never doubt your faith because your doubts are unreliable and your faith is okay.” But listen: I’ve added to that and I’ve said this: You look anyplace but the Word and you will not find anything to encourage you. If you look in that Word you will find encouragement. If you look in that mirror you’ll wonder why you were born…wish you hadn’t. 41. Now: (13) …According to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth (Made out of the old.) wherein righteousness dwelleth. It doesn’t say the world is righteous; it says what is ‘in’ it is righteous. Now you can’t find a curse where it is righteous. See? Oh, brother/sister, we ought to be looking for that day. We ought to be looking for that resurrection. We ought to be just chomping at the bit. We ought to be nervous about it. “Well, bless God, you know, it’ll come. Every man has his day. In the meantime I’ve got some nice promises here that will do, you know.” I don’t know where God made Abraham a dozen promises; I saw He made one promise. Oh, glory, hallelujah! Brother/sister, if I could get my hands on Rockefeller’s money I wouldn’t worry about your bank account. No, no. And my itchy hands, they’re greedy for that Kingdom. If I get my hands on that Kingdom, you can have the rest. I don’t care what part I have. It is all going to be good because therein “righteousness dwelleth.” Sure, I am looking for that ‘City that has foundations’. 42. Look over here, Romans 4:13: (13) For the promise (Now listen!) that he should be the heir of (Palestine? No! No, sir. Heir of:) the earth… (Both restored, recreated.) Then who is going to settle for a little bit of Palestine? Not me. No, I’m not going to do it. Somebody has got all mixed up on the history of Israel and what is going to happen. It is what the prophet said, “The Millennium is a honeymoon.” And I just l-o-v-e that honeymoon because I’m not going to have to take care of a wife. I’m going to be the wife! Ha, ha, ha! He is going to take care of me! You talk about the old days, they had it good. You know, back in the Old Testament a young fellow could get married, in the vigor of his youth, and the people said, “Stay at home, boy, and just take care of your wife for one year.” [Dt 24:5] You say, “Oh, man, just be a lazy fellow and live with my wife for one year?” We’re going to be there for millions and millions and millions and billions of years, and He is gong to take care of us. I’m ready to go now. [Sigh] Get me out of this pest house, and the pest hole that we live in. 43. Also notice, this same earth is our prison house, as it says in Acts 7:7: (7) And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge… Genesis 3:19: you know I’m typing here, because I am perfectly able to do it by Scripture, if you know what you’re doing: (19) In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. We are prisoners now in this earth, for the time being. There is going to come a day, bless God, when God turns that key and the dead are going to come out of the ground, and according to the prophet, Jesus does that when He comes down…He takes the dead out of the ground. Under the Sixth Seal the earth is purged, and prior to that the Saints have gone to Glory, so God can purge the earth, purge Israel, and the nominal church. 44. Now, we have taken some time to get around to what this promise actually is. It is the covenant promise of God to make us an absolute re-creation—lock, stock and barrel, where there will never be any impediment of any description, but unending bliss that is so beyond the mind of man that all he can do is take this promise and say, “Hallelujah, something good is coming, and I can’t wait for it, because it is something better than anything I could ever think of.” See? That’s why I said neither the prophet nor anybody can tell you too much about this because there is nothing told here. You’ve got to wait for it, but let me make a suggestion: you just think in your mind for one minute what it could have been on this earth without sin, and you’ll see something a million times better. Now I lost you right there because I lost myself. Faith of Abraham, Part 2 – Page PAGE 17