G.W. North emphasizes the significance of the covenant established with Abraham, contrasting the old and new covenants. He highlights that God's desire is to be intimately connected with His people, wanting to be their God and for them to be His people. North explains that the covenant is not merely about rules but about a deep relationship with God, who desires to reveal Himself fully to us. He encourages believers to understand their identity in Christ and the importance of faith in God's promises, as exemplified by Abraham's trust in God's word. The sermon sets the stage for a deeper exploration of God's covenantal relationship with humanity.

I felt it laid on my heart at this time to more or less move in a series. And that will mean that things will be said tonight which are really only introductory. And though I hope that we'll leave us all suspended in mid-air without any conclusions at all, I trust that we shall see that the climax is ahead. And we shall all want to be in on it. It's rather like that with the books of the Bible. Each one has a message, but they all have to be there to contribute to the whole. While one doesn't leave you suspended in mid-air, yet as this one in its wholeness adds its wholeness to the greater wholeness, then it's also very wonderful when it's all together. Amen. I want to talk to you during these days about the covenant. I want to contrast the old covenant with the new. I want that God should move us into a clear knowledge and a heart understanding of what he really is, saying to us, wanting for us, and to that end has provided for us so abundantly in Jesus Christ for these days. I think it was 17 years ago, if I note that the young lady who's scribing over there now, who used to do a lot of work for me once upon a time, and I think she's been pretty busy in these days too, passed me a little note to say that it was 17 years ago, in a hall not so far from here, when I spoke on the covenant. She also, and you'll see what a good secretary she'd make for me if I really wanted one. Perhaps I do need one if I don't want one. She told me that 11 years after that I spoke on it in Liverpool. And here I am again this weekend back in Bradford to talk on this great theme. It was in this city where God really moved on me to bring me out of partial understandings and doctrinal, mere doctrinal approaches to the greatness of what he's done for us in Christ. To bring me out of denominational emphases and to make me see the wholeness of what he had done. Upon that great fact, that place in Westcourt took a new name. And we called ourselves the New Covenant Fellowship. So may God tonight then, and then in these preceding, in these succeeding days, enable us to see somewhat into that which he has for us. I remember the glory of that occasion. And in fact they were those occasions when God came and came and moved and wrought again and again. Increasing the vision, opening the understanding, giving more and more. Beyond doctrines, beyond the sort of tramlines of denominationalism, into the greatness of his vast self. For this is what it really is all about. And so then, perhaps you won't be surprised at what I'm going to say next. I would like you to turn with me to the book of the Revelation. I shall be using the authorized version in these days. I hope you don't come unless you bring a Bible. If you do forget it, we'll sit beside someone who's got one. And so that you can look over. And God can take us into the vastness of what he's got written in this Word. For virtually, beloved, all I want to do is to let the Bible speak for itself. And read it as it is written. In the book of the Revelation then, and in almost the last chapter, chapter 21, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth were passed away. That's the death of them. They pass away. And there was no more seed. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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, and God, and so on. And I want you to see here a fulfillment of that wonderful verse that is spoken of in 1 Corinthians, and the 15th chapter. Probably the greatest verse in the whole Bible. 1 Corinthians 15. I hope you're not ready to take up the challenge with me and say, No, it's John 3, 16. Everybody says John 3, 16 is the greatest verse in the Bible. But in 1 Corinthians 15, there's a wonderful, wonderful verse here. And it says this. God may be all in all. 28. 1 Corinthians 15, 28. That's the greatest thing. God all in all. Hallelujah. Now let's make no mistake about it, and this is why I have read seemingly backwards, because we're going back plunging into the first book of the Bible before we're through tonight. This is what God is moving to. This is the thing that he's seeking. Beloved God, let's go back to 21 of Revelation. God wants to be your God. Now that's what the covenants are all about. Once you see this, that God wants to be God to you. That's right. That's what he wants to be. He doesn't just want to be a shepherd. He just doesn't want to be a helper. He doesn't want to be just a forgiver. He doesn't want to be a dirt cleanser. He doesn't want to be just a healer or a provider. We get on such limbs of the tree, and some of us sit well out on them too. We get such angles and ideas instead of seeing that it all grows from this great root thing in God's heart. He wants to be God to you. He is God, but he wants to be God to you. Now let that sink right into your heart, and perhaps if nothing else comes of the series of meetings than just this. That you see that God wants to be God to you, and he's planned everything, and he's moved through all of time, and he is still moving through time, and will yet move on through time. How long it's going to last I don't know, until this glorious thing comes to pass. It's God's triumph. God will dwell with men. God will be their God. I'm going to have my own way. That's God. Glory be to the name of the Lord. And I'm so glad that this is the kind of God I know. This is the God of the Bible, that's really revealed. That in the end, despite everything, and despite everybody, if everybody wants to be against him, he's going to have his way. He's going to do what he says. He's going to fulfill everything. Now let's make no mistake about it, there's a lot gone wrong with the world. There's a lot gone wrong in this world. Lots of things that God has done have gone wrong. I understand that. God made man, and they've gone wrong. I understand that. God made this universe, and it's out of gear. So don't sort of stand up on your hind legs when people want to poo-poo God. Admit it. There's lots of things that God has done have gone wrong. Not that he intended that they should. God had to curse the earth. Think of that. He didn't want to curse the earth. Something went wrong. And principles and processes of cause and effect are working out in this earth. Things that you and I can't alter for all our faith, or all our pseudo-faith, or all our boasts, or all our anything. We can't do anything about them. They've got to work themselves out in the earth. God, if you like, though I ought not to use this word about him, but I trust it will convey an idea to your mind. He's resigned himself to the fact that it's going to work out. Bless the name of the Lord. He's cursed the earth. That's working itself out. You haven't got to be bothered to try and explain all suffering and all these things to people that want to come and argue with you. Of course there's lots of things gone wrong. It isn't because God isn't all-powerful, but it's because in the nature of things, he can't stop it. He can't give you will to choose one moment and then take it away from you next when you're going to do something that's wrong. He can't just give you free will, if you like, to choose the right and then take it away from you if you're going to do the wrong. He's got to let it work out. Understand it. But though his will isn't being done by the people of the earth, but it's being yet done in the earth, he's still working out his will, beloved. Praise God. Another thing for you to remember is this, and you'll find this in one of David's wonderful psalms. I won't tell you which one. He says that the judgments of God are in the earth. There's still judgments of God in the earth. I say this to you because, if I get a little bit off track, it's because I'm, you know, not going to stick too strictly to my schedule. I was talking with someone the other day, and you meet these kinds of people, and they say, do you know, I believe, this is the logic of the way he was going, he said to me, no, no, I believe that I can have enough faith to really control my life. I was listening to him, and I said a noncommittal, hmm, you see? And then he said, do you know, I believe I can have enough faith, if I really only had enough faith, I could really, I could really have faith for all the people in the world, he said. I said, do you? He said, yeah. On we went, we were driving in a car, and I got quite a lot more of this, and then in the end I said, now look, brother, now look, my brother, that is not true. You can't have faith to stop ill and wrong coming to everybody in the earth, because that faith isn't available to you. You see? That's nonsense. But people get into these sort of high-flying ideas and think they've got realms of faith to explore. It's realms of nonsense. God is, God's judgments are in the earth. They're in the earth now. They're going to work themselves out, and you can't get faith to stop it. Do you understand that? Because it's just not available to you. Faith only comes by hearing the word of God, says scripture. So you've got something false, if you've got that kind of feeling. It isn't faith. I say this, beloved, so that we can see right at the beginning that God is working to an end, and he's going to work this thing right out perfectly. Nothing is going to stop him. And praise God for it. His great desire to you, beloved, is to be God. Is he God to you? I'm not asking you whether you worship him and say hallelujah to him, or something like that. Is he really being the kind of God that he is and wants to be to you? That's the point. Because he can't be the God he wants to be to all the earth, in all this universe, he's going to create a new heaven and a new earth, and he's going to do it there. That's right. He's going to do it there. And no one's going to stop him. No one. Not in there. So, you know, perhaps the greatest verse in the Bible is God all in all. I am persuaded, beloved, that if we would only allow him, God would do greater things for every one of us. He'd show himself to be a more wonderful God than we know him to be. Even those of us who talk about being born of him and walk in fullness of the Spirit and use the gifts of the Spirit and are always reaching out for ministries and want to be laying hands on people to bless them and I don't know what. God, ooh, I do pray that this may take place. That while we're here in these days, God might really come in a great big way. Ooh, I remember when God really began to open this thing up to me. I literally burned with it, flowed with it, shouted it, prayed it, prophesied it, thought it, went to bed with it, thought about it in bed, got up with it, thought about it all day long, preached it, sang it. I don't know what I didn't do. But when God really began to open this thing to me and it's very, very wonderful. It's God that does it. Think of this glorious first say in the Acts of the Apostles. And let your mind travel along the line of the revelation. Here in Acts chapter 7, here's young Stephen. I think he must have been a young man, don't you? He says, Men and brethren, verse 2, and fathers, hearken! The God of glory appeared unto our father, Abraham. That's it. And you will know that that's where the covenant really started. The God of glory appeared to our father, Abraham. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the God of glory appeared to you? Wouldn't it? That's what it's all about. God appears. And he appeared to Abraham to commence this very thing that we are going to spend our time on. For virtually, beloved, there are only two covenants. There's the old and the new, virtually. I know you can get certain Bibles which give you seven. Seven's a nice number. And so on. And they talk about the covenant of innocence and the dispensation of this and the Abrahamic covenant and the Palestinian covenant and the Davidic covenant and the old covenant, the Mosaic covenant and away we go, all the way through. But virtually there are only two. The old and the new. That's the thing for our hearts to understand. For this thing that we call the new covenant is an outworking of what God began in Abraham. That's before he started the old covenant or the Mosaic covenant. A big thing for us to understand. And God, he is moving from himself, bless his wonderful name, we shall see this again and again and again, that because he can find no substance anywhere else. No one anywhere else. We've got this idea in Hebrews chapter 6. Let's have a look at it, shall we, so that we can understand. Because Hebrews is the great book of the covenants, especially the new one. In Hebrews chapter 6, this is what we find. Verse 17, God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it with an oath. Verse 13, When God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. Glory be to God. You see, he started himself. Actually, the Greek there is that he interposed himself with an oath. By an oath, he interposed himself. He brought himself between his promises to Abraham and the impossibilities for Abraham to have or to know what he was talking about. He interposed himself. It was glorious. And so the Lord moves in this great self-revelation. Marvelous that he does this. I've been... That's two lots now, thank you. I'm not a very thirsty man. For quite a time lately, God has been blessing me very much in his great self-revelation, starting just from himself, of his nature. Glory be to God. No higher, no greater. You can't go any further back. It is the ultimate, the absolute, the sublime. There is no studying out his counsel. He gives no reasons. Who hath first given to him that it may be given unto him again? Who has been his counselor? Who did he ask to buy your leave? He starts with himself, and God can find no greater reason than that. And it's on this level, beloved, that everything concerning our salvation and eternal life is founded. It's here. So that men may be shifted off themselves utterly. Most people are running around themselves. Their prayers revolve around themselves. Their Bible reading revolves around themselves. Whether it's extrovert or introvert, doesn't make any difference. They're both horrible to God. He's got a cross for them. The thing about it all, beloved, is that God is starting with himself. Himself and himself alone. And his whole proposition to you is to reproduce himself in you. That's his proposition to you. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Oh, mind you, we'd better start tracing this out, I think. Let's go back into the Old Testament because although we started at the end so that we know where we're heading, we don't want to get to the end too quickly. We've got, I think, six meetings or five more after tonight ahead of us. So that there's no need for us to hurry, though there's no need for us to unduly linger and waste time. I want, not just because it's the first occurrence of the word covenant in Scripture, because it occurs twice earlier in the Bible than this, I want to go to Abraham in Genesis. You will know that Abraham was a Chaldean. He lived in Ur of the Chaldeans. Ur really means the city of light. But Abraham discovered that light was darkness. It was a city of devil worshippers. And Abraham heard the voice of God talking to him in Ur of the Chaldeans. And he left that place and he was supposed to have gone out into the Promised Land, but he didn't go out into the Promised Land. You will remember, if you look at verse 32, chapter 11, on their way out from Ur of the Chaldeans in 31, they came to Haran and they dwelt there. And the days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran. Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee. You see, God said, I'm going to make it of thee. I'm not asking you to make the nation, Abraham. I'm going to make it of thee. That's a tremendous thing. God wants to make something of you. You think he has any justifiable basis for saying such things to you? Anything in you? He wants to make something of you. Can you make silk purses out of sow's ears? Can you? Praise God, he says. I will make of thee a great nation. He wasn't meaning numerically great either, only. He was meaning great in character. Great in life. Great in, oh, hallelujah. That's right. The Lord was talking to me, but you were getting on so much prophesying, so I didn't say anything. But the Lord was talking to me about wealth of life, that he wanted to bestow wealth of life upon us. Have you got wealth of life? Riches of grace. Riches of glory. This is the wealth of life. The other's poverty. God's got riches of grace. Riches of glory. Oh, he was pouring it into me. Oh, praise God. Riches of character. He wants to make you great. David could say that he was great. He says, thy gentleness has made me great. David could talk of being great. Great. Stop all this whining about getting up in a corner and being Uriah Heepish, you know, I'm ever so humble. Stop that nonsense. If you'd really read your Dickens, it was a lot of hypocrisy. God wants to make you great. Really great. And he's the maker. He's not just suggesting it to you. He's not just giving you some kind of an idea. He's coming onto the scene. He's coming onto the platform of your life. He's talking to you. I will bless thee. Make thy name great. And I shall be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curses thee. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abraham was sensible. He departed. He got going on that. That's right. Don't overlook that word so. So, with this in mind, with this in his heart, with this thing that God was saying to him, he went. Praise God. I love that, don't you? Someone that's got something in them called faith that lays hold of the word of God and believes God without an ounce of confidence in themselves and looking to nothing in themselves at all and moves out because of it, what God says. God didn't have to keep nagging at Abraham. He wasn't Gideon pulling fleeces out. He moved on God. Gideon's mentioned in the Bible but not so many times as Abraham is. Gideon isn't the father of the faithful. Abraham is. Stop your fleecing. Stop your fleecing. Stop your nonsense. Learn to get out on the naked word of God. I should be preaching to you about Abraham instead of really getting on with this. But then I've been saturating in it for about two days. It's bound to come out. What you're taking has to come out, you know. So be careful what you take in. Well, we know what you take in because we hear what comes out or see it. This is the tremendous thing. And God is moving in this great realm and this man, he goes off. So Abraham departed as the Lord had said to him. Hallelujah. He had a lot yet to learn but what a great beginning. Of this man. Now this, beloved, is why God could come and make the covenant to him that we're going to read about. It's in, I hope you know this story of Abraham sufficiently to know that in the 15th chapter God comes and he says, The word of the Lord came unto Abraham in vision saying, Fear not, Abraham, I am. He's on himself, you see. I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And Abraham said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me? Seeing I go childless and the steward of my house is this Eleazar of Damascus. And Abraham said, Behold to me thou hast given no seed and lo, one born in my house inherits me. That's really what he said. That's the Hebrew. One born in my house inherits me. That's a divine principle. Understand it. That's right. It's only the sons who abide in the house forever. Link it up with John chapter 8. And they inherit the Father. They inherit God. Glory be to God. Behold, the word of the Lord came unto him saying, This shall not inherit thee, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bow shall inherit thee. Blessed be the name of the Lord, brother. There's your basis for the doctrine of the true new birth. Out of the bowels of God comes the seed. Praise God. And so we're on this great truth. And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven and tell the stars if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, And so shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord. And he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto him, I am Jehovah that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, or Jehovah Elohim, Triune God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old and a she-goat of three years old and a ram of three years old and a turtle dove and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these and divided them in the midst and laid each piece one against another. But the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abraham drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham and lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abraham, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge. And afterward shall they come out with great substance and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. Thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass that when the sun went down and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the Lord cut a covenant, that's your word, cut a covenant with Abraham saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land. And so on. Praise the name of the Lord. This is a precious and glorious thing that God is saying to this man. I wonder if you've got a heart to receive this beloved. Notice how God is moving. I've been noticing this over and over again. He comes to Abraham, he says, I am, I have, I will. So see the foundation of everything that God is doing. Beloved, it's all settled in his heart. It's all done, it's all over. He's not waiting to make up his mind. He's not one who snatches at opportunities and is waiting for something to turn up. Hallelujah. He's done this glorious thing. He moves to Abraham at this time and he shows us how covenants are made and it's good for us to understand it. He makes this tremendous statement to Abraham. He says, My covenant is with thee. My covenant is with thee. Let's look at verse one. He comes to Abraham and he says, I'm your shield, Abraham, and your exceeding great reward. Praise God. He didn't say that he was going to give Abraham anything but Abraham thought that's what he'd said. Most people never really hear what God says to them. He says, I am your shield and I am your reward. So what are you going to give me? He didn't say he was going to give him anything. He says, I am. Not something I give you. Do you see this? We've got hearts that keep on misunderstanding and keep on misinterpreting. We, we're so tiny, we can only go for tiny things. We cannot conceive God in all his greatness. He couldn't understand that God could be his reward. God himself. What are you going to give me, Lord? What are you going to give me? What are you going to give me? He says, I wish you'd give me a child. Oh, God says, I'll give you millions of them. What are you worrying about? You see, don't you understand? The end is not a wonderful race. The end of it is not a marvelous family. The end of it is not this, that and the other. The end of it is God. That's the beginning of the end. And this is the thing he's got to get our hearts to understand. We're looking for little bits of gifts. Little bits here, little bits there. Crumbs, crumbs, crumbs. And they're only what the dogs have. The children should have the loaves. That's what the scripture says. We're to see what the Lord is talking about. Our failure, beloved, is simply because we don't grasp what God is meaning. We haven't got hearts that can lay hold of it. And we're all cribbed and cramped and little and small and falling over. And we're all in trouble simply because nobody really has a heart that's so transformed by the Spirit of God that they can believe God actually, what he says. Do you believe that you can have God, all God, entirely God, without any subtractions or any contractions? In you, in all his greatness. Do you believe that? Well, you don't unless he's there. You're only believing about it. You only believe when the Bible says so. That's the trouble. We keep substituting Bible believing for believing God. Believing our favorite texts. Still God. Hallelujah. Praise him. It's all so tremendous, beloved. God clear the vision. God move upon us. God was before the book was and he'll be there when the book's burned up in the general fires. He'll be there. And we are beloved to know what God is really talking about to our hearts. And, oh, God, he does something great for Abraham. You see, he hadn't forgotten Abraham. You see, that verse really starts off in verse one. After these things. Well, you have to read what the things were. In the preceding chapter, old Abraham, he'd been out after about five kings. He'd heard that they'd come and stolen Lot. And after all, he felt a great responsibility for Lot because he brought Lot out of Ur of the Chaldeans. And he shouldn't have done that, but never mind. God still loved him. We'll see that in a moment or two. And so when he heard that these people had come and taken Lot and all that Lot had, he got his family retainers together. And he went after those people and God absolutely slew those people. And he'd come back and the king of Sodom had come out. He said, now, look, he said, look, he had the souls. And I don't know what. He came up pleading and he wanted to give Abraham something. He said, you don't give me anything. Not anything you don't give me. How about all these kings when they gather their armies together? What's going to happen to me then? Never mind, Abraham. I'm your shield. You see, I'm your shield. I'm your shield and your exceeding great one. It's wonderful to know that you can go clear out of the enemies of the Lord. It's wonderful that you can go out after the devil and his host and not be afraid and keep sprinkling blood all around you like that. In this modern superstitious age that's using the blood as the blood of some bull or a goat or like a white rabbit's paw to bring good luck. He didn't say the blood's your shield. He said, I am. Amen. Get this into your heart and it'll get you out of all these fears about bogies and demons in these days. What the devil will do to you. He can't do anything. Understand it. Not when God comes and says, now look here. I'm your shield. Praise God. That's rest. That's relaxation. Hallelujah. Glory. You see. Oh, it's tremendous. Thank God you're shield. The devil can't get through that. It's impenetrable. Keep on your toes, Abraham. Watch now. Watch. Look out. I'll be back soon. Oh, relax, Abraham. Don't do anything. I'm your shield. I'm your shield. And I'm giving you an exceeding great reward. And oh, what a reward God is just for the effort of obedience. That's all. God was rewarding him for obedience. That's all. Not because he was a marvelous general or field marshal. Not because of that. He wasn't handing him back on. He was saying, I'm your shield. I'm your reward, Abraham. Oh, bless the Lord. I know this man, Abraham, was a tremendous man. He didn't say, Lord, how about all those? Please look after me. No, no, no. He didn't go into this sham praying. Lots of your prayers would stop if you really took God at his word. Now, wouldn't they? You ask yourself and see whether you aren't revolving around yourself or whether you're really revolving around God, whether you're really believing. Oh, but all those kings, Lord, you know what happened there. Tell me after me. And I don't know what. Please protect me, Father. He didn't say that. He said, all right, Lord. As a matter of fact, he wasn't looking at the past at all. He was looking into the future. He wanted a seed. He wanted a seed. God had made tremendous promises to this man. And God says, this that comes out of thine own bowels, verse 4, shall inherit thee. Praise God. And he believed in the Lord. And he counted it to him for righteousness. Bless the Lord. He believed in the Lord. You're never told before that he believed. You read your Bible. You say, well, he must have believed. That's why he believed him. But now he's believing in him. That's right. There's substance here. He's believing in him as a shield. Glory. Do you really believe in the Lord as a shield? Do you really believe in him as your reward? Do you? Do you really believe in him? He says, look up at those stars up there, Abraham. Now Abraham and God knew that Abraham couldn't count them. But he believed in God and he knew that God wouldn't deceive him. That's right. Abraham, whether you believe it or whether you don't, believed for you. You're here as a result of this. You're here. Believed for you. And of course he couldn't see you. You were out in that nebula up there. He couldn't see you. He just believed. He didn't bother whether there was a chap named North going to be born or not. He didn't bother about that. He believed in God. He only wanted what God had for him. That's all. He didn't want anything else. He didn't try and check up on God or anything like that. He didn't try and think he'd got some prophetic vision into the future or anything like that. He just believed God. That's a marvelous thing when some poor simple body can believe God like that. God said that's what's all going to be. God counted it to him for righteousness. Hallelujah. Marvelous thing when God said that. Oh, I'd like to go on and on and on along that line. But I suppose we got started a bit late. And I mustn't spend too much time on it. And God spoke to him and he said this, Whereby shall I know, verse 8, that I shall inherit it? He said, Take me an heifer of three years old, And a she-goat of three years old, And a ram of three years old, And a turtle dove, And a young pigeon. Now you will know, if you're familiar with your Bibles, That in Leviticus 1, Where you have the burnt offerings listed, The things you could burn for a burnt offering, They are these animals. They are these animals. Not the sin offering here. The whole ascending offering to God. It's linked with the burnt offering in Leviticus 1. And can you remember where turtle doves and pigeons are linked together again? Luke chapter 2. That Mary went for her purification of Jesus, And she took a turtle dove and a young pigeon. There's your link with the seed again. Isn't it marvelous how God has woven all this vast pattern of sacrifices And things into one glorious whole. You see, he's talking about the seed. And the seed is mentioned way on there in Luke chapter 2. Thousands of years hence yet, But God works strictly to a pattern. God works strictly down on what he said. And remember, he only deals with people, Please take this down if you're taking notes. It's important that you understand this. That he only deals with people according to and upon the basis of the covenant then in being. Remember that. He won't deal with you on any other basis. Amen. Let's recall this. Before we continue with this. You will remember I have said that twice before we get here, The word covenant is used in the Old Testament. It is used in Genesis chapter 6. And in Genesis chapter 9. You will know that therein is the story of the flood. And that God said to Noah, Or it is recorded in the scripture, That Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord. And God was moving in to destroy the earth with a flood. And he instructed Noah to build the ark. He said, because my covenant is with thee, I'm going to establish my covenant with thee. He takes Noah in the ark through the flood, Brings him out, And he makes the great covenant in the ninth chapter. Keep your finger in this chapter 15. We'll go back to the ninth chapter. And this is what he says. He blessed Noah in verse 1. And he says in verse 7, You, he says, be fruitful, multiply, Bring forth abundantly the earth, And multiply therein. And God spoke unto Noah and to his sons with him, Saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, And with your seed after you, And with every living creature that is with you, Of the fowl of the cattle, Of every beast of the earth with you, From all that go out of the ark to every beast of the earth, And I will establish my covenant with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood, Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you, And every living creature that is with you, For perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the clouds, And it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth, That the bow shall be seen in the cloud, And I will remember my covenant, Which is between me and you, And every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud, And I will look upon it, That I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. And you see God's dealing on the basis of that covenant with all flesh on the earth. He's promised us he'll never destroy the earth again with a flood. Nothing will make him do it, doctor. And that's a covenant with animals that don't know anything about it. That's a covenant with the lower creations. It's a covenant in nature. And they don't even see the bow in the cloud, I suppose, when God sets it in the cloud. Doesn't matter whether we see it, God sees it. He puts it there and he says, I'll look upon it. Whether you do or whether you don't makes no difference. If you're an anteater with your head stuck down in an anthill trying to catch ants, Mr. Armadillo, it doesn't matter that you don't see the bow in the cloud. I see it. I made a promise to you, Mr. Armadillo. Glory. God keeps his covenant when people don't know he's ever made the promise. When things don't know, God's faithful. Praise God. He's faithful to the whole of creation. He's going to burn this earth up, but he's never going to flood it anymore. Amen. It's great for our hearts to know this, beloved. Don't you see? And God's dealing with anybody and everybody on that basis they don't even know. You can call it a providential mercy and grace, if you like. You see? But when he starts to move, he always is on the basis of the covenant. He'll never depart from it. It's no good trying to plead with God to shift. It's no good doing anything. He's made up his mind. It's you've got to come onto the basis of the covenant. God's on it. God's on it. You're the one that's got to make the move and there's grace to do it. There's power to do it. There's power for anybody. There's no devils, nor thousands of devils. Ask Legion when you see them. They can stop it. Nothing. Amen. It's a tremendous thing for your heart to realize this, beloved, and get onto this ground of God. Everybody's moving on themselves. Everybody's trying to shift in their own little world kingdom. You can hear the groans and the moans and the sighs and all sorts of things. We'll come to that. I thought we might reach it tonight, but we won't. About this a little later in the history of the development of the covenant. They're there. There's all sorts of things. Bondages, grievances, downtreadings, so that people have kept looking at themselves. This is the artful trick of the devil. Everybody's listening to themselves, looking at their own circumstances. They're doing everything except look away to God. And in their misery and in their trouble, they keep saying, Oh God, and calling on God. And you can hear the groan of the prisoner in his prison. And God's made a great covenant, beloved. And all you and I have got to do is to start to really believe that. God, move off yourself. Move from yourself. Come yourself, Lord. That's the way. Don't start looking for releases in yourself. Look for the release in God. The release in self will come. That's right. That's what Calvary's all about. God released in blood. That's right. And Pentecost is God released in power. That's right. In the spirit. That's what it's all about. Moving from himself. And that was all covenanted. We'll see it all the way through. Oh, I hope we get a foretaste to keep coming. Let's keep going on too. There's so much that God wants us to understand. And we're back in this 15th chapter now of Genesis. And God says to him when he wants to know how he's going to inherit it. Look at verse 8. He says, Take me an apple. Don't take one for yourself. Take it for me. Don't take it for yourself. Say, Oh, I want, I need this. Come off yourself. Come off yourself. Oh, hallelujah. Do you see? God wants to interpose himself. He wants to get you between your eyes and your circumstances and your littlenesses. And your efforts that you think you've got to do this and you've got to do that. There are things we've got to do. But not the things that God is claiming to do and showing you. He's done everything except one thing. And that is he can't believe for you. That's right. And I can't believe for you. I know I can't believe for you in one sense. And I've had to do that for a good many. But beloved, there is that believing which you must do yourself. And when it happens, you'll know. You'll be free of yourself. Straight away. You'll know it. Your bones will be broken. You'll be awake. Nothing to stop you. You'll always know. But until then, you'll be mithering. That's a good Yorkshire word, isn't it? I've got that one. Around in yourself like this, you see. That's right. That's neither repentance nor Christian nor spiritual. It's nothing but the same old ego coming up over and over and over again. Unbroken self. Uncrucified ego. That's what that is. It gets a lot of pity. If it doesn't, it gives itself a lot. That's right. That's right. But you know what Jesus said? Don't weep for me, you waters of Jerusalem. I don't want you weeping for me. I'm not even weeping for myself. I sweat a good deal in the garden, but I'm not weeping for myself. Don't you see? This great release. End of God. Take me, he says. And so Abraham takes them and he cleaves them down the middle. That's the old way of making covenants. Two parts to the covenant, you see. You have one whole. Two parts of one whole. They were split right down the middle. Right down the breastbone, I expect. And they all washed. And they were put together just wide enough for somebody to walk between. That's how the covenants were always cut. The two people that made the covenant had to walk down between the centers of these two pieces that were put apart like that. To show that they were one in one great life and death, blood and sacrifice covenant. Although the blood isn't talked about, I want you to get that. Sacrifice, but not blood. Read your Bibles. Don't read into them. Read them. See what God is saying. And oh how God teaches you. If you dare to stop cheekily inserting things that you think have been missed out or ought to be there because you gleaned them from some other scriptures or something. But you're neither a scribe or an inspired apostle to write. Remember that God has given the revelation. And here's the truth in. The fowls come down on the carcasses. Abram drives them away. The sun's going down. And the darkness is really setting. And a great deep sleep falls upon Abram. And low and horror of great darkness falls upon him. And when he's like that, dead asleep, when he's really in the great horror of darkness, God talks to him. God talks to him. Praise God. He talks to him right down there. When he's asleep. Talk about subliminal. That's right. He talked it down into the subconscious there. He talked it down into the unconscious. He talked it down into the spirit of Abraham. That's where God talks. If ever there was a psychologist, it's God. He puts him to sleep. Hallelujah. He puts him to sleep and his thoughts got taught to him. And when Abraham woke up, it was in him. Have you ever gone to sleep? I mean the kind of sleep that Lazarus slept. Death. See? Or the kind of sleep that you love to sing here. You like to sing about it. You see? In that sea there, the quickening calls of all. He sleeps and... Yes, that's right. We must sing that whilst we're together over these days. This tremendous poem of Wesley's. He's got it. He's the poet of the New Covenant all right. Very few other people are. Very few. But beloved, he's asleep there. The sun's gone down. And he says this. Know of a surety thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that's not theirs. And shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And I'm going to judge that nation. They're going to come up with great substance. And so on. Why? Why? Because God's made a covenant with him. He's talked it down into that life. Abraham had obeyed in conscious obedience. But then God brought him to a place in his life where he was shielding him. And he was his reward. And the voice started to talk down inside that man when he lay asleep. His no longer conscious faith. God was talking substance into him. Talking reality. Talking life into him. God can't talk life into anybody until they come down to that tomb where Jesus lay and slept. Where the substance of their being now is the word of God. Not just the reaction or response of their consciousness. But God has moved into being now. That's what it's all about. Word has to become flesh. Reality. Not something I just believe. But something which is me. Part of me. And I can't depart from it. I'm made of it. Amen. That's what God's talking about. This is the thing that's revealed in this great covenant of grace. Through faith. In this man. And he says this. It comes to pass when the sun went down. Verse 17. And it was dark. Behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. And in the same day Jehovah cut the covenant with him. They were one. God who cut it into his own being by his own word which is sharper than any twisted sword. He cut it into himself. He cut it in the way for him. Deep down there whence it was never depart. God had moved in by his word. God was going to do it. And though Abraham lay there asleep he saw, he saw. In this great vision he saw God the great smoking furnace. And he saw Abraham the little lamp going through with God. And it was God that did it. God did it. He said that's it Abraham I'm taking you through this with me. Amen. When God came down later in the great covenant, the Mosaic covenant. Do you remember that the top of Sinai was a great smoking flaming furnace. All right. Same God. Same God. Yeah. That's right. And God wants you to see this beloved. He says I'm going to give you this lamp. Now when are you, when are we stopping tonight? I mean I'm going to start with this. The evening and the morning. The evening and the morning. Stop me wandering about so much. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God has covenanted to give this man a seed and a land. Hallelujah. A possessor and a possession. Amen. That's right. He's going to possess him. He's going to inherit him. That's what he said. Inherit him. Glory to God. Come on. I hope you're translating this into true New Testament truth. I hope your mind's going ahead. It'll be a long time before we get there in the scriptures. It won't be the night. Hallelujah. And then stupid Abraham. He warranted the lovely thing that came to him next. Because the next, the lovely thing that came to him next is in the 17th chapter. It's the other half of the chapter 15. You can't have a chapter 15 without a chapter 17. I know you would say you can't have a chapter 17 without a chapter 15. That's right. Because you can't. If you've got 17 you must have come through 15. But I want to tell you that in the purposes of God he's no intention of having a chapter 15 without making you have a chapter 17 experience. They are, again, two parts of one thing. Remember that in chapter 15 God said, Take me this. This is for me. In chapter 17 he says, Now do this for yourself, Abraham. There's the other side of it. Here it is. When Abraham was 90 years old at nine, he was still quite a young man. He lived a long time after this. The Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him, I am El Shaddai, the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. He said, what a wonderful thing. It was a loving refuge. You see, God had come to him in chapter 15 and said, Now, see that? I'm going to give you the seed. But in chapter 16 he thought, Oh, I've got to do something about this. You see. So hence comes Ishmael. A tribe. And God said, Now look at it. You've walked out into perfection. Now you ought to be perfect. He couldn't wait for God. Some have been like that. You've ruined what God's, something God's done because you just couldn't wait. You see, you've got to. You see, you're hot. Cool down a bit. You're hot because you're not resting. You're feverish. Dry. He says to Abraham, Walk before me and be thou perfect. Now you, this is a strange thing, really. If you count this to be strangeness. Because you see, El Shaddai has two wonderful meanings about it. God Almighty. It has the thought of the shoulder for strength and the breast for love and sustenance. Now, surely, you see, what we all would like is to be picked up and put on his shoulder and lie on his breast and drink the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow thereby. That's right. It carries the aspect of the mother. The breast for sustenance. Motherhood comes from God. Understand that. It's a precious thing. It's original in God. Amen. That's how he had a son. You see, you mustn't think that God's copied the pattern on earth. In fact, the thing on earth has been copying the pattern in heaven. Keep that absolutely right. You keep that right. All earth relationships in their purity and originality were patterned on the Trinity. Things as they are in the heavens. It's a marvellous thing for us to understand this. And he says, Now, I'm El Shaddai. I'm going to carry you on my shoulder and snuggle you into my breast. Now, that's not what he said. He didn't say you walk. You're not going to be carried. That's right. You walk before me and be perfect. That's right. Do you really believe you can walk on God's shoulders? You know, God's got some marvellous ideas. Exodus 19. Let's have a look at this. Let's keep these. Let's keep the Bible ideas from heaven running freely in our minds, shall we? You didn't think you were going to have a Bible study tonight, did you? You thought I was going to preach to you. In Exodus 19 it says this. Oh, let's read it. Moses went up unto God. Isn't that marvellous? Have you ever been up to God? Verse 3. He went up to God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, You've seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself, that they'd slogged some weary miles across the desert. But he said he'd worn them on eagles' wings, you see. I've got you on my back, on eagles' wings. Now go on, get marching. That's right. Where do you think God is? Under your feet. But don't trample him under your feet. You think he's carrying you. He says walk. It's the tremendous hythphile in the Hebrew. Walk up and down, to and fro. Go on. Get a real good look over all this. It's tremendous. Be perfect. Be perfect. He's coming in again, and he's wanting Abraham never to repeat this sort of thing he'd done before. It was an imperfection. Now remember also this, that when you're dealing with Abraham, sin is never in view. Understand that? Because, you see, sin is not imputed where there is no law, and God had not given the law till Moses. So you're not having sin dealt with. That's why it's the burnt offering, which wasn't to do with sin at all. All right? God always works according to correctness. It's always right. The pattern's always perfect. But he's teaching a man of faith to walk in perfection. Did you think you could be perfect? Somebody said to me yesterday, Do you really think you're perfect, Mr. Orr? I said, Yes. They looked at me. I said, Yes, I do. Oh, I'm not as perfect as I ought to be. But I'm perfect. God, Really? Yes, that's right. Philippians chapter 3, you can read it for yourself. It says there, Let us then, as many as are perfect, walk according to this rule. Two or three verses earlier he said, I don't think I'm perfect. I don't think I'm perfect, but I'm perfect. What do you think of that? That's a contradiction, isn't it? When these people say to me, You know, there are so many contradictions in the Bible. I think I know a lot more than you do. They're usually only atheists. And I think, well, if you really read the Bible, not with an atheistic eye, you see many things that seem to be contradictions. But they aren't. The imperfection of perfection. You know, like the little apple, it's perfect. But it's not really perfect. That's right, isn't it? Like the blossom on the apple tree, it's perfect. But wouldn't it be dreadful if it was just blossom? Never had any fruit. It's got to get beyond that perfection, you see. It's got to be the perfection of an apple. Then the perfection of maturity. Then the perfection of flavor. Do you see that? Perfection of size. All right. You see, sin isn't in view here. It's not a matter of whether a person is sinlessly perfect. It's whether he has perfectly grasped the word of God and the will of God and is responding to this in faith. It's the bringing a man to the perfection of maturity. That's what it is here. He says, you're to walk before me and be perfect. None of this Hagar business anymore. We've had enough of that Abraham. None of that. He doesn't spend hours saying, you ought to be ashamed of yourself and I'm disgusted with you. He doesn't do that. He loves us. He leaves people called pastors to talk like that or elder brothers or people that don't know anything about it. They tell you that they're disgusted and they come down with all these things, you see. But God doesn't do that. Beloved, let us love. The love is of God. Hallelujah. You know, you must never tell anybody one thing that's wrong with them unless you're, oh, beloved, if you could only be tears and if you could only be melted, then you're fit to tell somebody there's something wrong. You see. Otherwise, you're very wrong yourself yet, brother, sister. Go and shut yourself in your room till the fires of Calvary, love, have melted you right down and made you fit even to take the shoes off the person you're going to rebuke. Rebuke thyself first. Amen. Hallelujah. There wouldn't be many splits in churches if that happened. There wouldn't be much trouble amongst brethren if that happened, you see. He just says, now, look, I want you to be perfect, Abraham. It was a bit of Abraham. Oh, Lord, I expect you to come and say, take that, take that. See, fancy behaving like that to Hagar just because Sarah said so. Jealousy. Cattiness. Spitefulness. You ought to have known better than to have responded like that, Abraham. He didn't do anything of the sort. I love him, I love him. He's treated me like a soul at times. He's blessed me when I had no right to be blessed, save the pleading of the blood in New Jerusalem. None. He, I'm learning so much of the ways of God. I want to be perfect. I want him to take the sting out of my tongue and the sting out of my tail. I want him, I want him to make me like that blessed one who had no harsh words, save for any, but that died in the war of hypocrites. Amen. I meet an abundance of people who are always wanting me to come in with a big stick, sort of calling on me as a last resort sometimes because they can't do anything about it. I hate it. I'd rather come in with my arms outstretched, a big hug and a kiss. That's what I'd rather do. I'm learning. I'm sorry I had to get so white-headed before I could learn so much. But get old, get old, beloved, if it's going to teach you. Hasten the days. Amen. Hasten the days. God wants to mature us. He wants to do something wonderful with us. And, but look, he says, you do this, you be perfect. Remember, there's no verse here really in the original. Walk before me and be thou perfect and I will make my covenant between thee and thee. I will multiply thee exceedingly. God wants to covenant to multiply perfect people who are walking before God and being perfect. They're the people he wants to multiply. He wants seed, but oh, beloved, he doesn't want a seed of perfection. That's what he wants. Ah, I'm, I'm all with the Lord, I really am. My heart rises to this. My, everything in me wants to be what God wants me to be. I don't moan that I've lived so long and he's got to leave me here a lot longer yet because I'm not as perfect as I ought to be. Considering the opportunities and the blessings I've had in my life. Be careful of living a long time on the earth. It might mean that you've been very stubborn and obstinate. God doesn't just cut off the stubborn and the obstinate in this great new covenant. He leaves them longer till they come round a bit more. He's very wonderful. He's very gracious. He's very perfect in his ways. Abraham, he falls on his face and God talks with him saying, As for me, Behold, my covenant is with thee. That's right, you know this, Abraham. Think of chapter 15, he didn't say that because the book wasn't written. You know this, my covenant's with thee. You took me, that's the first. You took me, those things. You did nothing except for me. See, acting as me. Now he says, you know my covenant's with you, don't you Abraham? Anybody here wants to say, Yes Lord, I know your covenant's with me. Now I want to know whether your covenant is with him. That's the point. That's the thing he's moving to. Here it is. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abraham, but thy name shall be called Abraham. For a father of many nations have I made thee, and I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come of thee. Now he's got the royal seed in him. It was there. Royalty was in him. This man of faith. I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations. Oh, note there. I'm not just doing it once in history. I've got to do it in every generation. In this thing that he's talking about. Calvary once. But in this generation, Calvary once in history. That's right. But in this generation, where do you stand in this covenant? Here it is. Ah. I'll 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. Here it is. And I will be their God. I will be their God. He means it. He's going to do it. God says to Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou and thy seed after thee in their generation. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me and you, and thy seed after thee. Every man child among you shall be circumcised. Do you see? God showed in chapter 15 that the covenant had to be cut in himself. Now he's showing the covenant's got to be cut in you. Calvary is where God cut it into himself. If you like. But you, now in your generation, it's got to be cut into you. The covenant of circumcision. He gave Abraham, so we're told in Romans 9, the covenant of circumcision as a sign of the faith which he had as yet being uncircumcised. He speaks to your faith. He had faith but somehow, of course you couldn't blame him. He hadn't got a Bible. Calvary wasn't yesterday. Not to Abraham. It was still future. And he didn't know that God is working out in flesh on the earth this thing for us to see. There are two sides to every covenant. I impute this to you the first time. I take you through with me. Little burning lamp. I'm the great big smoking furnace, you see. You've got nothing in this. You're lying there as it were dead. Asleep. I'm doing this. But now you're very much alive Abraham. Now you've got to do something. The covenant of circumcision. And oh, it's such a tremendous thing, this covenant. And he that is, look at verse 13. He that is born in thy house and he that is bought with thy money must needs be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. Oh my, this is tremendous. Let's go right down the chapter, shall we? And Abraham, verse 23. He takes Ishmael his son, all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day as God had said unto him. What a tremendous thing. Verse 26. In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised and Ishmael his son and all the men of his house born in the house and bought with money of the stranger were circumcised with him and the Lord appeared unto him. And the next verse. Praise God. Obedience. Has God stopped appearing to you? Is God not so plain, so nigh as he used to be to you? Where did you stop obeying him? How about this great truth of circumcision? Hmm? Circumcision. In the flesh. Hallelujah. I know that true circumcision is in the spirit. It's of the heart, Romans 2. We're told very clearly there. It's in the spirit. Heathen, not a Jew's one outwardly, but circumcision is in the flesh, of the heart, in the spirit. Amen. Have you come to this place of spiritual circumcision? Have you? Have you been circumcised with the circumcision of Christ? Colossians 2. Have you? Really? Oh, when it comes right down in here, in your own self, right down here in this mortal flesh, eh? So that Jesus Christ could be manifest in your flesh? So that the word of God can be there, eh? In you, a living reproduction of Jesus Christ. When did it happen to you? You see, there are two sides to this. You keep singing about Calvary. You keep talking about the blood. Has the knife come right home? Has it? Cut right in so that the flesh is gone? The world's gone? Has it? Right in. Oh, glory be to the name of the Lord. That's the token. You're not in the covenant if that hasn't taken place. Apparently. There you are. You're not in the covenant. So why believe? I believe in Jesus. Well, do you believe enough to have this really dealt with? If not, you're not believing enough. You know what an amazing thing is? No talk about heaven or hell here. Have you noticed that? We haven't talked about it. Only talk about the heavens being made. No talk about hell here. Not talk about eternal security or anything like that that we like to talk about. Or do we like to talk about it? It's talking about living and walking on this earth in the perfections of God. Knowing that all the time you're walking you're being born on his shoulder and fed off his loving heart. The milk coming out there over his heart directly into you. Fathered by God and walking as the sun on the earth. The sea. Faith. Is that how you're living? Is that what it's all about? Do you see what God is after in this tremendous covenant? Oh. My, this is absolutely tremendous. Do you know if people wouldn't be circumcised it was regarded that they had broken the covenant and they were not in it. Verse 14. The uncircumcised man-child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised that soul shall be cut off from his people. He hath broken my covenant. Calvary was enacted, bless God, in all his grace that you might find faith to lay hold of Calvary to the cutting out of your flesh and severance from this world. That you might find that God makes men thereby not gives you angels wings thereby enables you to walk down here on this earth not go heighty flighty off sublimating everything in what you might call the heavenless. That's what it's all about beloved. Oh glory. Glory. God wants to fill the earth. He says I'll multiply this exceedingly exceedingly abundantly. Praise God. And isn't the fact that we're in here tonight a testimony to that? Isn't it? I said it was 17 years ago when I preached this that was recorded we're all here tonight. No I didn't originate the ministry please don't think of that. I'm only talking that we're all here tonight. You see this is the whole truth this is the whole trouble beloved. People keep coming to me that devil's cast out and getting delivered and all they want is to get circumcised. Get in the covenant. That's all they're needing. God's a covenant keeping God. Heaven's covenant to let you be filled with devils my brother. Or sister. That's not God's covenant. I'm your shield he says. Praise God. Let's get our priorities right. Let's come out of this sort of Pentecostalism that's being talked about today. Let's get on to reality. Amen. God I know some do need delivering. I know that but I testify to you that many many people that come to me for deliverance only need to be born again. That's all they need. Yeah that's right. They only need to come out of the devil's territory. That's right. They only need to have real belief in God and in the power of that cross and take it under themselves. Go on cut yourself deep in. That's right. Take me these things he says in chapter 15. Now he says Abraham just take the knife. Go on. Take it to yourself. You took it to me. It was I who fixed the nail and fixed the bone. It was I who nailed him to the cross. Wasn't it? It was I. They did it for me. God did it for me. Praise him. Praise him. I'm glad I shall never have his blood staining my hands or the responsibility for his murder upon my shoulders. It was sacrifice when God did it. Did it murder if I do it? Hallelujah. But he did it for me. And he did it properly. Now he says come on son. Take the knife. You be circumcised with the circumcision of Christ will you? Say yes Lord I'll be circumcised with the circumcision of Christ. I'm in the covenant. I'm in the covenant. You're not circumcised with the circumcision of Christ. You're not in the covenant. When Moses of old who was chosen to be the great mediator of that old covenant was being brought down from the backside of the desert where God had revealed himself to him. I'll touch upon this. Excuse me. I'm going to touch upon this and then we're going to close tonight. We'll come back on it probably tomorrow night. He called Moses over the backside of the desert and he said I'm going to make you a deliverer and he comes away from the backside of the desert there where he'd seen God at the burning bush where God appeared to Moses also as well as that God of glory appearing to Abraham. The same God appeared in glory to Moses. And there beloved he calls him and he says go on. I'm sending you. And there he takes Zipporah and his wife who means little bird. She wasn't a dove by the way. I mean that. He comes with his two children. His two sons. As he stopped somewhere overnight in the desert in the inn God came and sought to slay him. Why? Why did God choose a man to be a deliverer and then come and try and kill him? Why did he do it? For the same reason he sought to slay Jacob. And he did slay Jacob. He slayed the spirit of Jacob slew the spirit of Jacob and raised up the spirit of Israel. He slew the spirit of Moses the man who was paddling along in his inheritance thinking he was the great deliverer drawn out of the water. And he said no Moses. You're not even in the covenant. I can't have you leading my people if you're not in the covenant. And Zipporah took a knife and circumcised her two sons and flung the skin down at his feet and said you're a bloody husband to me. That's what she said. But he was a bloody husband. From that moment onwards hallelujah he was a circumcised man. At least his two children were circumcised seed. And he didn't dare go and confront those people if he wasn't practicing it in his own life. God won't have hypocrisy. Here's the failure of so much that's leadership called. Here it lies. God won't have sin. He won't have dodging the covenant. He won't build anything on any foundation but the thing he has revealed. He moves from himself all the time is self-revelation. It's a great effulgence of glory and a river of grace. It's a great nature of love. It's God moving in to reveal himself. He doesn't want to reveal Moses' defections or Abraham's imperfections or anybody else's failures. Hallelujah. Come unto the word. Come unto what I've said. And so Moses had to have his own two sons circumcised and he didn't care what his wife thought or what she didn't think. And that was that. Amen. Wonderful. And so God made him the mediator of the old covenant and they were circumcised with the circumcision if you like of Moses, if I may put it that way originated with Abraham. Came from grace and not from law. But beloved, it was made law because it was grace. Keep that very clear. It was made law because it was grace initially. And you can be circumcised. It can be cut right out of you, right out of your life, right out of your flesh. So would you keep pleading Calvary as you plead it right deep down into yourself, your ways, your flesh, your all. God must be all in all. Amen. Now let's pray.