In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of understanding the second verse of Hebrews 11 in order to tap into God's power and purpose. The speaker shares a personal anecdote about receiving a book by G. Campbell Morgan on the exposition of Hebrews 11 from a lady named Bertha Smith. Using a simple illustration of choosing a sturdy pew in a rotten auditorium, the speaker emphasizes the need to exercise faith in God's promises. The sermon also highlights the significance of worship as the key to overcoming problems and challenges in life.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me, please, to the 6th chapter of the book of John, John the 6th chapter. The disciples were asking the Lord Jesus a question. The question was, Then said they unto him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? This is John 6, 28. The Lord Jesus, in the 29th verse, gave them the answer. Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. This is the work of God, that ye believe on him, believe on him whom he hath sent. Many years ago, if you had walked up to me and asked me, What is it that I might do that I might work the works of God? I would have very likely said, Well, read your Bible, pray, witness, be faithful to church and give you money. And that's about it. In fact, after reading a book one time, Born Crucified, by L.E. Maxwell, I wrote at the end of that book, the message of this book is, try your best. And of course, obviously, if you hadn't read the book, you would have laughed at that, because that book says everything but that. But I had been taught that we as Christians, we could get saved by grace through faith, that none of ourselves is a gift from God. But then, after you got saved, then you were to try your best from then on through. And so, I missed the message of that book and missed the message of the Lord for a long, long time. Here tonight, I want to talk to you about this matter of trusting Jesus. Trusting Jesus. And I want to get right down to the key of this matter of trusting Jesus. A lot of questions will be answered about the faith life. I'll not stop and say, this is an answer, this is an answer, this is an answer. I expect the Lord to say, this is an answer, this is an answer to you as I go through and open up the truth concerning this matter of the faith life. The faith life is not a leap into the dark. If it's a leap at all, it's a leap into the light. It's never a leap into the dark. And God doesn't send his children out walking in darkness and being blind, but he leads them out. And so, turn with me, please, to Hebrews 11. And I'd like to read the first two verses of Hebrews 11, beginning with 1 through 2. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Second verse, by it the elders obtained a good report. Now, you know, the Bible is a very unusual book, as we discovered in our last meeting. There are many things that make it very unusual, but one of the things that makes it very unusual is that the Holy Spirit is the author of it. And it's amazing to me how the Holy Spirit can take this book and speak to a person. In fact, the Holy Spirit can take this book and speak to a person, take the word of God and speak to a man's heart. And that man will be more assured that God spoke to his heart than if he heard someone audibly. That's amazing. And as I studied this matter of the walk of faith, the life that pleases God, this matter of trusting the Lord, I kept running into a little snag in my spirit when I would get to this second verse. I'd read that second verse and I said, Well, that means the elders believed God, and God gave Abraham an A, and maybe Moses got a B+, and one of the others got maybe a B-. In other words, these men and women believed God, and they got a good report for believing God. But something would disturb my spirit about that interpretation. I would go to an interpreter here and there, and most of them were not very thorough on the point. But something kept happening in my spirit. There's something more in that verse. I'm not a student of the Greek language, so I had no way of going into this verse from the Greek. But the Lord has his way of teaching us the truth. So I was in a meeting, and a dear lady that a lot of you are acquainted with was in that meeting. Her name was Bertha Smith. She was visiting in that meeting, and she was sitting there watching me preach every night. I was really wanting to do my best, you know how you want to do when you're around celebrities, especially spiritual celebrities. And so one night, Miss Bertha came to me and said, Brother Manley, I have a book for you. And it was a book by G. Campbell Morgan, and it was an exposition of the eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews. And there I had a man who knew how to take the word apart and lay it open. And I saw for the first time that this little second verse of Hebrews 11 revealed the unique secret of the way by which God's men and women, the role call that's here in this chapter, how they were able to get in on what God was doing and see God move out of heaven into earth, to see God release his power to accomplish his purpose. And right here in that little second verse, it's all there. Of course, after you see it here, then all at once it appears in the whole chapter. And there it is. And that little verse I want to talk to you about tonight and share with you the key, the genuine key to the life of faith. And of course, if we miss this, we miss the whole process of the life of faith, because this is the very heart of the life of faith. And so let's pray tonight that the Lord will just open our hearts and our minds and God just make the word so real to us. When a person is saved, born again, quickened by the Spirit, washed in the blood of the Lamb, they're made over anew in their spirit. God gives them a new spirit. And they take on the capacity to live in two worlds at one time, this physical world and the spiritual world. And when they take on that capacity, that capacity enables them to be able to have God to show them the spiritual things out of his eternal truth. And actually, when a man is really genuinely saved, the eyes of their hearts, those eyes are opened to where they can see the spiritual truth of God. They're able to see the spiritual things of God. I believe it's Andrew Murray, in fact I know it's Andrew Murray, in his book on Hebrews, that says that faith is like a sixth sense that's able to see. But if there's nothing out there to see, of course that sixth sense cannot see. I want you to hold that in your heart and your mind, because we'll come across that thought many times before we get through with this message. Every one of us, if we're saved by the grace of God, we have this capacity to see the things of God. Paul mentioned this in 2 Corinthians 4.18, when he said, We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. It's amazing to me, Paul said here, I'm looking at things which are not seen. That's amazing, isn't it? He said the things which are seen are eternal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. In fact, Paul said he had his eyes fixed upon the things that were not seen. I believe Paul is talking about his spiritual eyes, not his physical eyes. He had to have his physical eyes on all kinds of objects to walk, and not stumble over some object or something. But here Paul had his spiritual eyes fixed on the things of the Lord. This is really not rare talk, because when you make a study of the Old Testament, you find that a man like Moses lived as seeing him who was what? Invisible. In other words, it seems a careful study of Moses' life will indicate that Moses lived by looking at something that was not seen. What I'm talking about is every child of God has a spiritual capacity to see spiritual things. Now not only do they have a spiritual capacity to see spiritual things, but that spiritual capacity enables them to hear spiritual things. But I want to keep it in the area of the seeing tonight because of how it relates to the truth. And so we have a child of God that has the capacity to see those spiritual things. You remember the story of the prophet that had a young prophet with him, and one morning the young prophet went outside and looked up, and there was an army that had come to take the elder prophet captive. You remember that story in the Old Testament? And you remember how the young man got so excited about the mighty army that had come to take them captive? And he ran back to the elder prophet, and the elder prophet said, Lord, let the scales fall from his eyes. And the scales fell from his eyes, and he looked up that time, and he saw the mighty host of God out there just all over the place. You remember that story in the Old Testament? Well, friends, that mighty host of God was out there all the time. The problem was this fellow was trying to see things with his physical eyes, and the only thing he could see was the physical. But when the scales fell from his eyes and he could see with his spiritual eyes, then he was able to see what God had out there all the time. And what I'm saying to you is this. Every single solitary one of us that had been born of the Spirit of the Living God, we have that capacity. We have that sixth sense. We have that capacity whereby we can see the things of God. And I want you to know that it's more than an intellectual comprehension of well-ordered Scripture. It's the Spirit of God making the eternal truth of God real to your person, and you actually see it, not with the eyes of the flesh, but with the eyes of the heart. You're able to see, and the Bible is full of this particular truth. In fact, one of the great illustrations was John on the island of Patmos. John was caught up in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and friends, he saw things and wrote those things down that he saw, and theologians haven't figured out yet all that he did see. But he did see, right? I tell you, it's interesting to know that he saw. The point is, I'm wanting you to see that a child of God has the capacity to see the eternal truth of God. Now, not only does a child of God have the capacity to see the eternal truth of God, God's truth is eternal. God's truth is everlasting. Now, tell me something. When did eternity, or when did eternal, when did everlasting begin? Or does it stop? Or it doesn't? Well, then there's no breaks in the middle. Then you're actually saying then it's eternity, and the eternal things have always been now. They never were, was. Amen? When they were, they were. And then they weren't. That's it. That's right. And when we get to tomorrow, there'll be tomorrow. In other words, you see, friends, what I'm wanting to do is all at once just pull you up out of this materialistic world in which you live into the eternal now of God, that you might see things like God sees things. And so what I'm wanting to say to you is this, that there in that eternal now of God, that spiritual atmosphere where everything is now, where everything is now, in that world, my dear friends, is the eternal truth of God, and all that God has in His potential is right there available for you to see. Right. It's not only available for you to see, it's available for you to be persuaded that it's there for you. It's available for you not only to be persuaded it's there for you, but it's there for you to embrace. That means believe. And it's there for you to confess. And it's there for you to experience. And it's there for you to express every minute that the eternity of God is there now for you to express now. And so we look through the pages of the Word of God and what we find, we find the will of God about you in every given situation. That's right. We find the truth of God about you in every given situation. In other words, you haven't discovered a situation, you haven't manipulated to the place you have a situation in your life. The devil and all of his cohorts with your help, or your friend's help, and all that you can bring together, and all the activity and everything that's going on in you right now, with all your issues, my friends, you still haven't come to the place where you have gone beyond the point that God does not have His perfect will for you right this very moment. That's right. And that perfect will is established, untarnished, and my friends, has not been affected one bit in the eternities. It's settled right now. Right now. I'm talking about for your life right here. I'm talking about for your life right here today. I mean, God was so particular to give us a perfect example in His Son that, my dear friends, He had the appointment set up with the woman at the well. And everything that went on in the life of Jesus was not only redemptive in its revelation, but, my dear friends, it was representative in its revelation. Redemptive means that all that Jesus did, He did to save you from hell to heaven, from self, from Satan. And one day from the presence of sin. But, my dear friends, more than that representative, He literally proved as man full of God that every one of us could be at the right place at the right time with the right message, with the power of God to get the right job done. Yes, sir. And I want you to know that day when He met that woman at the well, out of all the billions and the trillions and the billions and the billions and the multi-millions and billions and whatever else you want to put in, I don't even think in those terms. I know whatever all the times it's gone and passed, my friends, that split second, Jesus met her right there. But your God's just that great. Your Savior's just that great. And I'll tell you, my dear friends, it wasn't the manipulation of a Savior as God that got there at that moment. It was the working of a Father who was totally in charge of the occasion of a son as man full of God that got him there at the right place at the right time with the right message, with the power of God to get the job done. Yes, sir. And so the same experience that Jesus had in His life you can have every day. Yes, sir. Every day you can meet the woman at the well. Every day. What I'm saying is you can meet your appointments if you ever discover what life's all about. And that's what we're up to tonight. It's talking about that there is a life to discover. Amen. There is a life to discover. Ephesians 2.10 really tells us that there's a life to discover. God said it had been prearranged for ordained plan before you ever got here. And He goes on and says it's a good life, by the way. He said you just get in on it. But what I'm saying in the eternities, in the invisible, there in the glory of God is the perfect will of God. It's the truth of God about your given situation. That's right. Jesus taught His disciples, Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it's being done where? In heaven. So there's obviously something going on up there. You know what it is? God's perfect will for your life. Maybe many other things, but that for sure. Right? Isn't that wonderful? Well, I'll tell you. It's marvelous to know that God's perfect will is going on. I wish we'd get stirred up enough about it that we'd be satisfied with nothing less than what's going on up there down here. Right? And so the Lord Jesus went on to teach His disciples in Matthew 16, 19. He said, I'll give you the keys of the kingdom. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt loose in earth shall be loosed in heaven. And, of course, that's the way it's put in the King James. And that causes me a little confusion because of this. And that is this. It seems that you can bind something up and God agrees with you. You can loose something and God agrees with you. And that really puts a controversy in my heart and my way of thinking because as far as I can tell, as far as redemptive, eternal, everlasting work, nothing, not a thing, originates with man. It all originates with God. Remember this, friend. The Bible is not the revelation of God. It is not the revelation of God, the history of God showing that man is seeking God. I want you to know that. The Bible is not the revelation of God telling about a man or humanity seeking God. That's liberalism. Brother, I want you to know the word of God is the revelation of God seeking man. Yes, sir. God seeking man. And every time a man turns towards God, God someway, somehow, has done a work in that man's life. That's right. Every time he turns towards God, God's done a work somewhere. Now, I want you to listen to the word, the verse, as I read it out of the New American Standard Translation. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever ye shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. Listen to that. Isn't that beautiful? And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Did you notice that? It reverses it. It says here, it said, I'll give you the keys, and said whatever you loose on earth must be what's already loosed in heaven. Whatever you bind in earth must be what? What is already bound in heaven. Now, that sounds like what Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. In earth, what? As it is being done in heaven. Do you see there? Now, here's what I've said to you. Every child of God in this building tonight has the capacity, the spiritual capacity, to see the eternal things of God. The spirit of God is able to take the truth and make it real. Let you see the truth. The will of God. Not only do you have that capacity, but I've given you two verses of scripture, and there's many more to let you know there is something to see. And what there is to see is the will of God about your given situation. Now, the Bible says we do not walk by sight, but we walk by faith. But I want you to know faith sees. Right. Hebrews 11, 13 says, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having, what's the next word? What? Seen them afar off. Now, this is a very humanistic illustration, and I apologize for it, but to you that are listening and moving with me, you might catch a glimpse of the general concept of the principle and proceed to higher grounds just from this little illustration. If you walked into this auditorium and you looked over all these pews, and all of them were rotten but one, which pew would you exercise faith in and put your body in? Well, preacher, I'm not stupid. I would commit my body to the one pew that I could see that's not rotten that would hold me up. I believe there's one that would hold me up. I'd commit myself to that pew. Well, now, that's what I'd do. Where do you think that faith came from to place yourself in that pew? From seeing. Amen. And I believe tonight, I believe tonight what these great men and women of God really got into in that second verse of Hebrews 11. A careful, careful study of that verse will show you that they had a witness born to them and thereby received a report. I believe that you'll find that these great men and women of God faced life issues head on, knowing this, that they had a God-given capacity to be able to see the things of God. And they had a knowledge that God had his will stabilized there in glory for their given situation. And before they proceeded on a humanistic level into the state of disaster, these men and women sought God and they sought God till they got a divine report about a given situation. And when they discovered, when they got a report from God, they became persuaded of it. They embraced it. They confessed it. And then God performed it. And friends, I believe these people did not leap out into the dark. They discovered the truth, the will of God. They got the report from heaven. They were persuaded of it. They embraced it. They confessed it. And God moved out of heaven into earth upon their lives. And when they saw the truth of God, faith was born, faith coming by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And that word there means Roma word, means Holy Ghost quickened, Holy Ghost made alive, Holy Ghost made personal in your given situation. And so friends, faith coming from a person having the truth open up to them on a divine level. And when the person sees the truth, that truth shall set them free. Now if you think you are going to regulate your life to please God with some little formula, a carnal life, and pleasing yourself and running around here tipping God like you would a shoeshine boy. And you are going to get in on the eternities of God. My dear friends, with a life that is so full of selfishness that no man has any way to measure it, you have got another thought coming. Right. Man has to meet the conditions of God to get in on the eternal blessings of God. Before a man can get in on the eternal blessings of redemption, that man has to repent of his sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Right. One of the most awful things that has ever hit the world is upon us in this very hour. When textualism is so prevalent that men, my dear friends, are making salvation so cheap that if you give minimal assent to the truth, you are born again. But I want you to know, friend, no man has ever met God without repentance and a faith in a living Son that died on the cross of Calvary. And for a person to get in on the eternities of God, the eternal things of God about their given problem, you know what they will have to come to? They will have to come to that same state of repentance. They will have to come to that same state of faith that they did when they got saved. Yes, sir. They will have to be pulled out beyond themselves to the place they repent and give it all to Jesus and there a holy God can meet man. A holy God can meet man. And when that holy God meets man because man has met the conditions for a holy God to meet him, repentance and faith, amen, you know what God will do? God will open that heart and that heart will be able to see the eternal truths of God and that person will get up and move out of there knowing. Knowing. Not wondering. Knowing. Amen. You let a person step up today and say, I know, and the whole world will follow him. They will even forsake Mr. Carter. Amen. Yes, sir. Anyone that really knows. That's right. Boy, the world's looking for someone who knows. Now, look. We call this type of repentance and faith, you know what we call it? Worship. Now, we have a little sign out in front of all these churches, Worship Service. But if you ever have a worship service, you won't have to advertise it. You know who will advertise it? The Lord will. Amen. Brother Abel worshiped God, and the Bible says he's still having a confirmation from glory that he worshiped. God is still confirming his testimony. Right? He worshiped. Every time a man worships, every time a man worships, he meets the condition subjectively that a holy God can commit himself to him objectively. And when that man walks out of an experience of worship, he is morally changed. He is never the same. And most people I run into never worship God over two or three times in their whole lifetime. Oh, we go to church and get our heads full of knowledge and grow up like cabbage. But friends, we do not know how to transfer the knowledge from our heads to our hearts by worship. And so we go home the same husband or the same wife we came. And friends, if you come to church on Sunday and you come to church and you do not go home morally changed, you have not worshiped God. Now, I would not say it was a hundred percent waste, but you can imagine, how long has it been since you were changed? How long has it been since you ladies went home with the same man you came with but he was different? Amen? Same lady you came with, but she is different. My wife can know the moment I step off of a plane where I have met God or not in the meeting. Amen. I'm a little hard of hearing if you wonder what I'm doing. I don't know what they're going to think thirty years from now on this videotape. You know, those silent amens just really bother me. All right. Now, you're going rather slow tonight, so I'm taking it easy with you. I'm not trying to give you too much because this is heavy. Yeah, I know it is, but you're so sweet and you're so responsive and you're listening and you're hungry and you're taking my hardness and I trust you're not taking it as harshness. Some people miss my hardness and directness and think it's harshness. You have to get close enough to see in my eyes to know that there's something beside harshness down there. But most people never get that close. I'm afraid for them, too. But, friend, listen. Worship is the key. Right. Worship. These great men and women, they discovered that there was a key. They had problems. They had situations just like you and I have. And when they learned the secret, they learned that through worship they could meet God and God could take the Word. And, of course, they didn't have the Word as we have it now. And I think we're in bigger danger than they were. You say, why? Because we are in danger of humanizing everything. Right. You see, we don't... The battle of liberalism is not even... It's almost a dead issue in this country right now. It's not totally dead, you know. But it's almost a dead issue. And I don't want to be misunderstood at that statement. But you know where the devil is really working today? It's not taking the deity away from Jesus. It's humanizing the way to get to him. And that comes from an oversimplification of the divine. Yes, sir. And so, friends, if you aren't careful that you take this book and read it, comprehend it on a humanistic level, enter into some little emotional experience, or get some kind of little intellectual enlightenment and call it God. Friends, when you meet God, you are morally changed forever. Ever and ever. Right. Forever. Most of us can look back to about three moral changes in our life. When we got saved. Amen. When some people got filled. And when some people got in so much trouble they just had to have God. And if God didn't do something, they were sunk. And they came out of that. And that's about all. And about the most most of us have ever gotten victory over is cigarettes and stealing. Amen. And some hadn't even got that much victory. Amen. I mean, we haven't been changed. A handful of knowledge, but not a moral disposition that resembles Jesus. Pitiful, isn't it? Now, let me go directly to this point, because I'm so stirred up tonight I may just preach on for another hour or two. But let me at least get the message over so folk in the future will know where we are. Because I'd hate to leave them where we are right now. But I think you're sensing the life-giving experience and that's more important than the information I'm giving out. And so, let's take Abraham. I think he would be the example that we need to see. Now, remember the ridiculous illustration about the pew? Because you'll pick up something here that'll be worthwhile. The life of Abraham is quite unusual. Of course, all of those men, all of those women that's mentioned there in the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews, all of them, every one of them, they're unusual. You know why? Because they had the courage, God-given courage, by the way, not human-manipulated courage, because you can't work it up. And they had God-given courage enough to take God at His word, and in that they took God at His word, He made every one of them unique. Oh, you can always tell a man that's got the courage to follow Jesus, he's unique. He's different. There's not another one like him in the world. And one of our biggest problems today is not realizing that the law of reproduction is conception, not imitation. And we have a whole crew of imitators running out here imitating this fellow and this fellow and this fellow and this fellow, and my dear friends, that'll get you nowhere. But the chaos, even imitating Jesus, will not work. Right. But my dear friends, when God does a work, it's conceived in your heart by the Holy Ghost and you walk out different. And that takes courage. The walk of faith is a walk where a man is at the brink of disaster. If God doesn't come through and keep His word, that man is sunk. And I want you to know, Brother Abraham was no exception. God moved on Abraham and said, I want you to get you up out of this place and take off. And he said, let's go. Now, he did have a little trouble with his old man. That's right. That old man statement has come into our vocabulary in the last 15, 20 years, and it's a little disrespectful, but you could take that to the spiritual side if you like. But you could nevertheless go back to the truth and his dad had to die before he got free. And when he died, he got free to go on into the land of Canaan. And he had some unusual experiences, but God just kept maturing his faith. And my dear friends, so many of God's people are so afraid of mistakes and so afraid of failure that they never accomplish anything. That's right. And I know some people, even maybe here tonight, that are so interested in being perfect, they are absolutely imperfect. Amen? But Abraham did do a lot of things that were not right, but friends, he did a lot of things that were right. And he's not known for what he did that wasn't right. He's known for what he did that was right. And if you obey God with an honest heart, God will make the same for you. In fact, God will take your evil activity, not that you have deliberately, intentionally, willfully done, but you've done in good grace, doing your best to obey God, and I'll guarantee you, he'll turn it to victory every single solitary time. He'll turn it to victory. Well, Abraham was quite a man. After 20 years of trying to help God keep his word, trying to help God out, after 20 years of trying to help God out, he finally gave up and said, God, I'll trust you. Well, I guess it's about time. He was 100 years old, and one of his promises was that he was going to be a daddy. And that didn't look too bad from his standpoint, but when Sarah was over 90, and she was supposed to be the mother, that looked pretty awful. And I tell you, it's about time to believe God. It's amazing how bad things have to get before we'll trust God. Amen. And my friends, things got mighty bad. But then he decided he would really stand on the word of God. He stood on the word of God. In fact, as he stood on the word of God, he gave glory to God. And as he gave glory to God, he got stronger in the Lord, and he finally became so persuaded that God would do exactly what he would perform. He went around saying, Hallelujah, praise God, I'm a daddy. Amen. He rendered those things which were not as though they were. Don't you know that was the day when that 100-year-old man ran around there saying, Praise God, I'm a daddy. Praise God, I'm a daddy. The carnal wondered what in the world. He's gone crazy. The lost said, Well, he's just old, and he's lost his mind. And the spiritual probably were wanting to get in on the victory. And I don't know exactly all that was happening, but it must have been an exciting day when Brother Abraham ran around there without any evidence whatsoever from the physical, but strictly from the spiritual, saying, Praise God, I'm a daddy. That's rendering present that which you hope for. And by the way, that's faith. But his faith was not ungrounded. It was grounded in the truth, wasn't it? Amen. It was grounded in the truth. God gave him that son, and then some many years, to you and I it would be many years later, God said, Now I want that son. That son was a son of promise, a son of performance, a son of purpose, a son of plan. Everything, everything about God's economy was tied up in this boy. The whole economy of God was tied up in this boy. And God said to Abraham, Now I want you to sacrifice him. That meant being tied to an altar, a knife stabbed in his body, blood drained from his body, burned to ashes. God said, I want him. And the amazing thing about it, this challenge, this challenge to Abraham's faith, my dear friends, literally contradicted the whole economy of God. But friends, you be assured tonight that God can assimilate any situation he wants to put your faith to a test. And you be careful of misjudging God. Because God knows the start, the end from the start, and he knows how it's going to turn out. So you be careful of trying to play God when your circumstances are so baffling you don't understand what's going on. My friends, your job is not to understand but to obey God. To obey God. Our problem now is we're sitting around in the room trying to figure it out instead of faithing it out. And that's the reason God's not doing it. And Abraham had a difficult time. He was honest. He had a very difficult time. He had a very difficult time. He faced an issue here, and you know what he did with this? Had a very difficult time. And it's obvious from a study of the Word of God that he sought God. Now remember, everything I've said tonight, because there's not a thing that I've said that doesn't tie in somewhere in this message. Abraham sought God, and when he sought God, he got in on the eternities of God, the eternalness of God, and friend, when he did, we jump all the way to the 8th chapter of the book of John, and there stood Jesus incarnated. Jesus, the Son of the Living God, in the flesh. There he was. And there, my dear friends, as we see Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, some of the Pharisees said, oh, we are of our father Abraham. He said, if you were of your father Abraham, you'd be doing the works of Abraham. Now listen to me. John 8, 56, Abraham, watch, rejoiced to see, not here, here, see my day. And what's the next phrase? He saw it. And what's the next phrase? And he was glad. Friends, I've been glad too. Why? Because here was Abraham, several thousand years before the incarnation of Jesus, having a son that was to be the individual through whom Jesus Christ would come in the flesh, having an understanding of this, and yet God said, I want him. And yet God showing him Jesus still coming in the flesh, and when he saw Jesus Christ coming in the flesh, he knew that boy of his had to live. And faith was so born in him that he walked out of that worship experience having seen the eternal Son of God incarnated, walked out of there with such faith, friends, that he believed God would raise that boy from the dead. Notice that God did not give him enough in his revelation of Jesus Christ incarnated in the flesh that made him cocky. But he gave him enough to make him sure that his son would live. But he did not give him enough to give him such an assurance that didn't expect obedience. Yes, sir. He still had to obey. But you know what he did do? He changed sacrifice to worship. And friends, there's not a thing in the world that's unpleasant about worship. In other words, Abraham was excited. Amen. He told his servant, he said, you stay here while the animal says that we're going and worship the Lord. And he said, by the way, we'll be back. He knew he was coming back. Amen. By the way, do you have any idea where he got his faith from? I often say this. Abraham was not concerned about a ram because he had seen the lamb. Do you have any idea where he got his faith from? You see, faith's not a leap into the dark. Faith is a leap into the light. You see, faith discovers what God is up to in Jesus Christ and joins him. Faith is not man pulling God into his world. Faith is man joining God in what God wants to do and making it possible for God to do it. Amen. I was dying when I was two and a half years old. And the doctors told my mother I'd never make it. She knew nothing of this message except the author of it. She knew the Lord. She went out of the house, went down in the woods behind the house, got on her face, and said, Lord, he is yours. And right there, obviously, she stayed out there a couple of hours. She doesn't speak of it, but just as moments. But, of course, you do lose all time when you get in the presence of God. Obviously, it was almost two hours, but she came back into the house, walked over to the bed and told the doctors they could go home. They said, well, Mrs. Beasley, he'll be dead in about 20 or 30 minutes. She said, oh, no, he's not going to die. They said, well, you don't understand. He's almost dead now. She said, oh, but he's not going to die. God let me see that he was born to preach. And I've got sense enough to know he can't preach dead. That's it. So sweet. Do you see the principle I've been dealing with now all night? See, she had a need of a report. She got one. And she got in on it. Amen? Could I close with just reminding you that Jesus said, you know what I do out here? It's what I see my Father do. Do you see the principle operating? Amen? You know what He said? Father, you know what I say out down here? It's what I hear my Father say. Amen? Well, I've given you tonight to me the most important principle and procedure that there is in the life of faith. And friend, to discover what God's up to, be persuaded of it, embrace it and confess it, is to enable God to actually work to the measure of His will in proportion to your faith. And I trust tonight that you will allow God to speak to your heart and let you see that we as God's children are playing the game. Do you believe God's will is being done tonight in your life? Do you believe it is? Do you believe God is doing all that He wants to do tonight? Oh, brother, the devil wants to do his best to keep that from happening in you. Amen. And the most difficult thing is this. Most people will never get serious about God until they have to. And that's so awful. So awful. Would you bow your heads, please? Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you tonight for your goodness. We thank you for speaking to each of our hearts. Lord, you spoke to mine tonight. Lord, thank you for thy presence. Thank you for this good crowd, all these dear friends. Thank you for their hearts. Thank you, Lord, for their listening hearts. Thank you, Lord, for the way you'll bless this material down through the years. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you.