Bill Stafford emphasizes the permanency of God's covenant, explaining that it is everlasting because it is rooted in God's unchanging nature and His promises. He illustrates how God swore by Himself to Abraham, highlighting the importance of endurance in the covenant relationship. Stafford encourages believers to recognize the fullness of life in Christ, asserting that true fulfillment comes from understanding our covenant with God rather than seeking external validation. He stresses that the Holy Spirit empowers us to live out this covenant, making us responsible for our commitment to God. Ultimately, Stafford calls for a deeper awareness of our identity in Christ and the transformative power of living in covenant relationship with Him.

In Hebrews chapter 6, in Hebrews chapter 6, and if you look at verse 13, and I want to talk this morning on the subject of the permanency or the permanence of the covenant. Why is it everlasting? What makes it endure? Why did God go to all the details of fooling with partners like us, and including us into his life, sharing his blessings with us? Why did he include us before the world began, and made us part of him, saved and foreknown in the mind of God before he ever created the world, was Roger Mullins. Spurgeon said, I'm glad he loved me before he knew me, because once he knew me, he possibly couldn't have loved me. I mean God loved you before you ever arrived. Amen. You know, you know what I'm believing? I believe if the average Baptist ever started thinking and concentrating on the Lamb, you couldn't stand it. You wouldn't have to have a preacher. In fact, you'd fire your preacher up so by the service that he got prayed, he wouldn't have a heart attack just trying to stay in the flow. Amen. I mean, what if you really got your mind concentrating? See, most people come to church and say, now brother, if I get something out of this, I'll be back. What are you looking for? Is there something outside of you that's better than what you have in you? Do you mean you can go to church and get an extra better than what you have living in you? Do you mean you've got to have something outside to create an environment that's better than the inside indwelling living Christ who lives in you? Our concept is messed up. Church has become a filling station instead of a sharing ground. Amen. And everybody comes to church saying, boy, I hope I get something today. What do you mean get something? Can you get any more than what you've got in the person of Christ in you who is the source, the force and the course? That's what we got so many people going down so many dead in alleys with gifts and blessings. Why? They're looking for extras. There is no extra to Jesus. When you got him, you got all. You'll never know and how. Amen. You say, well, what is, what is all the spirit-filled life and going on with God? Waking up to what all you got when you got him. That's why the walk with God's a continual revelation. That's why you don't have to have anybody anywhere, anytime. Now I may be lonely, but I'm never alone. There's a difference in loneliness and aloneness. I may be lonely, but I'm never alone. Right? Amen. I'm just sort of kicking around here. Is it water fresh? It looks like it was used last night. Would you get me some fresh? I mean, is it fresh? Are you sure? Oh, thank you, brother. I don't want, I don't want to drink after Ralph. I'm afraid I'll, I'm afraid I'll grow on those wigs. But anyway, Ralph, I want to tell you, you're good looking, son. I want you to know. Boy, I blew that one, didn't I? I'm in trouble now. I've been in trouble all week. Amen. That's right. I always say the wrongs. I got to where I get in trouble in the empty room. I've just been kicking around this morning. Sandy's song and Jesus is so real. He woke me up at 345 this morning and wanted some time with me. I can't get over him fooling with me. And from 345 until 545, I met with the King. And in studying these covenant promises and the relationship, he has become so real and so precious. And the depth of him and the glory of him and the faithfulness of him, I've seen as I've never seen before. And he's got the word. People sing songs about him and I just fire off. And they lift up the name of Jesus and I'm ready to charge. This morning I'm ready to shout and cry and squall and crawl on my face and sing all the hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall. Just bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all. Oh, what a Savior. Amen. I'm trying to get down, just trying to get in the position to pray. So you just hang on. Okay. All right. In Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 13, for when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, surely blessing, I will bless thee. And multiplying, I will multiply thee. And so after he had patiently, talking about Abraham, endured, he obtained the promise. Now notice, not only did God swear, but Abraham endured. You see, the mark of a covenant relationship is endurance. You see, I don't just believe in the perseverance of the saints totally, I believe in the preservation of the saints. Amen. But here in a covenant relationship, not only does God swear by himself, but he depends upon the endurance of Abraham to fulfill the promise. And Abraham, being faithful to that promise, proved in the depth of his obedience, what a friend he was to God, to where James says, Abraham was a friend of God. And whenever I saw that, even to the point of laying down his own son. You see, I'm just going to kick around here a while, then we'll wrap all this up. You say, boy, your preaching is sure scattered. That's the way I preach. And you have to pray the Holy Ghost gets it together. If he can't, you've got so many outlines now, you can't keep up what all you got. If you live up to all the notes you've got, you won't need any more preaching the rest of your life. Amen. And that's the problem with you now. You got all in the notebook and your head. If we ever get it in your heart, you'll have a spare. Amen. And so I don't worry about people come to me and say, well, boy, you need to be expository. I said, well, I'm exposing everything I know about Jesus. Amen. And, and fellows like Bob Howard make me sick. Come up here with all these alliterations. You know, A, A, A, A, A, B, B, B, C, and D, help my soul, I can't do that. And I hate to think I'm not as smart as Bob Howard, but I guess I'm not. Amen. I'm saying what I'll do, I'll get through preaching. He'll come up and outline my sermon for me. Boy, I appreciate it, Bob. Keep on doing it, brother. It's a big help. It really is. I did, I preached to the last August, I preached on Habakkuk. And when I finished, he came up and gave me the perfect outline. I've been using it every session. Nobody knows. They think I did it. Anyway, but anyway, I don't, I don't tell them I did it. I got it from Bob. But anyway. Oh, he's one of the greatest. All right. You see, covenant depends on agreement. Oneness. Two becoming one. And even though God is the faithful one in the covenant, he can go no further than those who live in obedience. It is through those people he brings to pass the fulfillment of the covenant. That's why we are responsible, every believer, to wake up to covenant relationship. And I pray this week, if I've accomplished nothing else, and if you didn't hear much I said, you'll never get over one thing. That when Jesus died on Calvary, God made it possible to cut covenant with you in the red body of the Lamb of God, so that you could enter into a proper relationship with God. To where you could be one. To where he could share his life with you. Share his blessings with you. Share his with you. Amen? Share his weapons with you. To where you could walk into a life that you could live beyond your capacity. Because it's not your life you live, it's his life lived through you. You say, why is that? You don't have any life. You're dead. Right? And the life that God gave you when you got saved is an exchanged life. Oh, I would to God you'd write it down and write it down and say it and say it and say it until you wake up to the startled fact that you can't be improved. Neither can I. And all I can do will not improve my relationship with God. It's on a grace principle. It's an unconditional principle. Man can do nothing about it, except when God meets him and he repents. God empowers him by the Holy Ghost, which is another reason why the Holy Ghost could come. It was by the unconditional faithfulness of Abraham, who was faithful to God. And even Galatians says that the Spirit is ours through Abraham, who was faithful to the promise. And the Holy Ghost indwells us to empower us to live up to our side of the agreement. Not only did God covenant with me, but he sent the Holy Ghost to make me faithful to the covenant. Hey, y'all didn't hear what I said. No, you didn't hear it. You know why I know you didn't hear it? You didn't have a spell. You don't know what I said. You're waiting for something to get you fixed up. You know, you weren't thrilled. I said enough right then, if I quit right now, and you started living it out, you'll just be shouting the rest of the journey. Did you hear what I said? Not only did God make covenant at Calvary, but he sent his Son back to heaven, sent the Holy Ghost to live in you, so he could bring you to an ability and a power that you don't have in order to live up to what God initiated. So that'll take the strut out of you. That makes you realize that God don't need special singers, don't need special preachers. He needs covenant people who have entered into a covenant relationship, who realize that all they are, God had to make them in the power of the Holy Ghost, and what God initiates, he keeps up one way or the other by making us come to responsibility and obedience and surrender and commitment to the covenant keeping God. And the reason why I think we need to preach this is because we can't do anything with a level of commitment we've got in Baptist people today. They're committed only to the point of when they begin to have to pay a price. That's why I was fixing to say a while ago, that's why Jesus said, that's why Jesus said, and that's why I believe that most people know nothing about covenant relationship because their commitment level is so low that the first time they hit a storm, they quit God. Or the first time they lose a husband or lose a child, or the first time they lose their bank account, or they have a big reversement, they start blaming God. Why has God done this to me? Amen? Am I right? And it can be proven by the fact that most of us serve God totally for what good we can get out of it. Right? And that will never be broken until we wake up to covenant relationship. Amen? All right, now let me read on. I'm just jumping around a little bit. God promised, Abraham endured, and he obtained the promise. Boy, isn't that great? All right, verse 16, for men swear, verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor of a soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that which is in the veil. What's in the veil? The real tabernacle, the heavenly tabernacle. We have a better covenant that has entered into the veil. Whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus. May the hop reach forever after the order of Melchizedek. And then we'll, after a while, we'll get into Hebrews chapter 9. Now then, just for a little while, just let me talk about what I've, rehash what I said last night. The Abrahamic covenant made with Abraham began the seed line that would bring in the church age. The church age was made possible by the seed of Abraham, proven in Galatians 3 when he said of the one seed which is Christ. It's Jesus Christ that came and broke down the middle wall of petition, made peace. He is our peace. Reconciled Jews, Gentiles, born free, Greeks, and Scythians, and brought us all together and made us all one at Calvary. Amen? You see, that's why Paul said, I speak a mystery in Ephesians chapter 3, and here's what he said. What I'm preaching to you now is a mystery that hadn't been revealed up until now. What is that mystery? That there's coming a day when the Jew and Gentile will both be one. You see, the Jew thinks today he's got a special covenant. That's why even when you go to the Holy Land, and especially if you go down the wailing wall, where the Orthodox Jews, the real Orthodox Jews, they still wear the phylactery either on their hands or on their foreheads between their eyes. What is that phylactery? What is it a sign of? They're still looking for covenant. They're looking for the covenant one. They're looking for the Messiah because they know covenant. And they don't know that the covenant has already been sealed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. So they go to the wailing wall with those, you say, where'd they get that? Well, they got it from the book of Deuteronomy and from the book of Joshua. You shall bind it around your neck. You shall put it on your arms, your hands. You shall put it between your eyes as front lips. What is that? That is a covenant that we have with God that one day we'll be back in the land and we'll have King David's throne resurrected and brought back when whenever our real Messiah comes. That's what it means. But what they don't know is that a mystery took place that had been hid all the way from the foundation of the world and was not revealed except to Paul. What is that? A church is going to be born. The church age is coming. Whenever the new covenant, Jeremiah 31, when the new covenant that God's going to make, not outwardly with front lips or circumcision of the flesh, but a circumcision of the heart, written in the hearts of men and living reality by our living Christ. That's what he said. And ladies and gentlemen, that's what I'm telling you. We don't go around in tradition and forms and rituals. We go around in the reality of the indwelling Christ who has circumcised our hearts, has skinned back the veil, and now I see the veil is gone. Hallelujah. Amen? What veil? The same veil that Moses wore when he came down from the mountain and had to veil himself. Why? They can't stand what they're seeing because their eyes are hidden to what Moses saw on the mount. And that is that no longer is it written letters of the law, but we're able ministers of the New Testament written in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Amen? For thank God we have come to a place that we are in covenant relationship to what God reveals and unveils, and we walk right into the glory of God. Why? Because of covenant relationship. We're one. Hallelujah. We're one. Amen? Through the seed, Christ is coming. Why is Christ coming? He's going to the cross, break down the middle wall of petition, and Jew and Gentile, everybody has to become one. Black, yellow, red, green, whatever color we are, one at the cross. We lose our identity and take up his identity, and the church becomes a body. And there are a bunch of Jews that are saved, by the way. Let me remind you that the covenant at Calvary wasn't just for Gentiles. I want you to know that, and that's why the Apostle Paul said in Romans 1 16, and to the Jew first. Why? Because they had it first, and according to Ephesians chapter 2, we were foreigners to the covenant. We were cut off from the covenant. We've never had a covenant. You say, well how come you're in the covenant? Because Romans 7 says, he cut off the true branch so he could graft in the wild olive branch, which is the Gentiles. You know how come I'm in? Because the Jews are out. You know why the Jews are out? They didn't accept the real seed, the Jesus Christ who came to die on the cross. Why didn't they receive him? They're blinded. They're blinded. They're blinded. The veil is still there. They can't see. Boy, I dare you to go read Romans 11 today, and even the Apostle Paul in 11 chapter of Romans said, don't you ever forget that what you've got, you've got because of the Jew, and you better quit being arrogant about it. Why do you boast against the Jew? Don't you know they gave me the word of God, the oracles of God? Amen? Don't you know they gave me the Messiah? Don't you know they gave, everything I have has come through the Jew. But that don't give them special privileges. They've got to get saved just like I get saved. They've got to come to the cross just like I come to the cross. They've got to get born again just like I'm born again. Why? Because God's going to make you and Gentile one in reconciling them by the blood. What blood? The blood of the covenant. Amen? Now, boy, now I'm just, I'm not even in my message yet. Do you want to pray for me? Because I'm just trying to wrap all this up and show you what all I've been trying to say. So much is going through my mind. I get it, I get to, it gets plumb, but he, Holy Ghost will put it together. You know what I'm saying. Amen? Now, how long are the Jews going to be out of it? According to Romans 11, 26, until the fullness of the Gentiles will come in. You say, when will that happen? That's a rapture. And God's going to take out the Gentiles and turn back to the Jews according to the seventh week of Daniel, and he's going to deal with them seven more years. Why? He's going to bring them back to covenant relationship that he made with Abraham. Well, how come God is going to do so much for them? Because he made an unconditional covenant. God is bound. Well, brother, what makes that so glorious? That gets me to my text. That gets me to my text. How come that's so glorious? For when God made promise to Abraham, he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. First of all, we've got an unbelievable promise. What is that? When God could find nobody bigger than he to swear by, he just had to say, well, you just have to swear by myself since I'm bigger than all, since I'm above all, since I'm the God of all, since I rule over all, since I'm sovereign over all. I tell you what, you'll just have to accept my word since I'm God. And since he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. Hallelujah. What a promise. Now, your life, listen to me, your life with God is determined by what you think about the promises. And there's very, very few people in the church that live like they believe the promiser meant what he promised. How do you know? Watch them in the trial. Watch them in their finances. Hey, one of the greatest spiritual barometers of anybody is the way they give. And not by how much they give, it's by how much they keep. Because what you give is not really a real barometer, what you keep is the real. Because everybody says, well, boy, I give a lot. Well, it's according to how much you've got left. Because a man that's got a lot left hasn't given a whole lot. I get amazed at how people look at you when they say, uh-oh, he's after my money. Oh, Lord, can't nobody get your money? You've got it locked down. Ain't nobody going to get it. Man, you've got it sealed. You've even got one in vaults and got it buried in a cemetery, in a vault. Why? Because when you die, you want to make sure you have it. You know how you can tell by whether or not people really believe that God meant what he said and said what he meant? By the way, their lives are either dependent on the promises or else they live it to please themselves and never have to have the Word of God to uphold their life. They don't come to church to hear promises because they don't need the promise. You see, what God's trying to teach you is to so order your life that when you go to church, you don't go to be in a church service. You go to hear God because you can't spend another day unless you hear from him. And when you walk in and sit down to hear that preacher, you're not there wanting a sermon. You're there to meet God and say, oh, preacher, preach to me this morning. I've got to hear something from God because I can't live another day without a God interruption. We've got an unbelievable promise. We've got such a promise. Why? Because the promiser is so great that when he went to swear, he couldn't find nobody bigger than he, so he just had to swear by himself. Is that permanence? Is that power? Is that sufficiency? That's why we lay our hands on the Bible when men take over. What are they doing? They're swearing because most of them don't believe what they're doing. They lie and have time when they say they're going to do what they say they're going to do, but that's a good thing about God. When God swears, you can depend on what he swears. And this is what makes the covenant relationship so glorious. It's not you or church attendance. It's not what you do. It's a holy God who is too great to ever lie. Listen, I could fail for you. I have the potential to fail. What's happened to preachers in these past few days? And when we see the confusion among like the PTL and other preachers, you see, a lot of you, the reason why you've had a real problem walking with God, and people said this to me last night, said there's so many hypocrites, there's so many people that's full of the devil, there's so many people in the church that's ungodly and immoral, and there's so many people will not stick to what they say. They don't care anymore. They live in themselves. And ladies and gentlemen, you don't have to tell me, I'm in I don't know how many churches a year, and I see it everywhere I go, and it's a heartbreaking situation. When you know you're preaching to people that don't love Jesus, they're hobos and hitchhikers. They're strange children offering up strange fire. They don't know a holy God and could care less what you preach or what you say just so that you stay in the time element and get out by 12 o'clock. Brother, we're here, but I've got news for you. We're only here long enough to do our traditional little life, and don't keep me any longer, because I'm just here to keep up a good conscience and do something for myself. But brother, wouldn't it be great if we walked in on Sunday morning and said, I've got to hear from God. Why? Because everything else around me is a lie. Everything else around me is temporal. Everything around me is falling apart. Everything's being pulled out from under me. I've got to hear about something that's permanent. Tell me about a God that cannot lie. Hallelujah. We come to church and hear little book reviews and essays, how to pot petunias and boil bellies off in silence. Amen. And how to make ceramics. Amen. Lord God, we need to hear what has God said. He made a promise to Abraham. You know what he said? I'm putting everything I am on the line according to this promise. And Abraham, I've got news for you. You may backslide. You may become the most wicked man on the face of God's earth, but I've got news for you. I'm standing behind the promise, and I'm swearing it by my own self. Now boy, that's a promise. And hey, in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 20 of the Bible says, For in him the promises are yea and amen. That means when God raised Jesus from the dead, he said yes to every promise in the word of God. You say, well, how can I live with the promises? How do I live with the promises? Find a promise that God makes the rhema, the reema, reema, how you some say reema, some say reema. Find in the word of God in your situation a promise that God quickens to you and makes so alive that you can stand on it and say, I've got it from God, and I'll stand on it till hell freezes over. Why? Because God said it. He said, I thought you could take any promise. Well, that's the logos, that's the whole word of God. But you can't just grab a promise. If you did, then it'd be so familiar, you'd lose the joy of seeking God. You can't just grab any promise and say, that's mine. Why? Because God did not write the promises for you to run around and grab one. And by the way, and let me lay this down too. All this junk we're hearing today on the blessings and the curses, the blessings and the curses, that people are cursed back to five generations and all this stuff in Deuteronomy, and they go back to Deuteronomy and pick up the blessings and the curses, and they say, if we'll live right, we can have these blessings. Let me tell you, that was under the law, and the law was temporary. And those blessings and curses are not under the Abrahamic covenant, they're under the law, and whenever you go to Deuteronomy and claim those blessings and those curses, you are putting yourself under a law you can't keep. You know why we've got such junk? People are not preaching the word of God as it is written in its context. Amen? Listen, I heard a tape by some wild rascal that draws crowds by the droves on curses, most unscriptural, cut the word of God apart, and used Deuteronomy talking about curses. He said, demons indwell the sinuses, and demons indwell the gallbladder area, and demons indwell the areas of sexual part of persons. He said, that's the three areas of demonic. Well, where'd he get that? You know where he got it? He ate lasagna and pizza one night, and went to bed, and had a nightmare. And hereby runs to hear this man. Boy, he's got a revelation. No, he's not, he's a liar. Show me, back it up by the word. Show me the scripture. Tell them, Amen! And we flop down to hear a man who's taken something he says is extra-biblical revelation, and we go and sit down and lead ourselves to that kind of garbage and that strange fire that I don't have time for. But boy, show me a man who's walking in the middle of hell, and God gives him a promise. I think of old Manly Beasley. Old Brother Manly, when he was dying, and I was with Manly before he ever got sick, preached conferences, and the very day he walked into my room, and his fingers were strutted so badly, and they thought he had gout. And from that day on, he went down and down with three fatal diseases. And even right now, Brother Manly is suffering from terrible kidney deterioration, and his kidneys are only functioning 19%. And we're just praying for a quick, his legs swell so badly. But during that day, he called me one morning, and no, I'm sorry, he was with me in a meeting. And God gave him the promise that he would see his children's children. And the doctor said, ain't no way, buddy, you're going to die. And he told the doctor, I will see my children's children. Well, where'd he get that? Was that just some old promise he grabbed? No, that's something the Holy Ghost gave to him personally that me and you can't use. Why? God ain't made it real to me like that. When you say Ramah, you're talking about something God's lifted out of the Scripture that is the Scripture that you can stand on in practical reality and make it alive. That's when the Word becomes more real than the newspaper, and the television, and soap operas. God swore by himself an unbelievable promise. Number two, an unchangeable partner. Look at verse 17, warning God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs a promise. The immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath. Now, here's what I want you to see. The word immutable means unchangeable. The word counsel means a divine decree. Listen to this. The word counsel means a divine decree lying at the basis of the history of redemption. A divine decree. What God is saying, that by the unchangeableness of his divine decree, which is redemption and the history of it, it was God's divine intention, that's God's divine decree, because he's unchangeable to his counsel. What is his counsel? Redemption. Lying at the basis of all God's counsel is redemption. You say, Brother, what's so glorious about that? He confirmed it. The word confirmed here means a mediator between two covenant partners. That's what the word confirmed means. Do you know when Jesus confirmed this redemption? It's whenever he let his son go to Calvary. By the way, the devil knew nothing about what was happening at the cross. All he knew was, amen, nobody, you didn't know, the devil didn't know, demons didn't know. What was happening at Calvary, only God and his Lamb knew. And the devil was standing back thinking he had done got Jesus out of existence. But what he didn't know, that before there can be a covenant, there's got to be the death of the covenant maker. Because a testament is not enforced until the testator dies. Now, hallelujah. In the Old Testament, whenever you had the day of atonement, you had to have first the priest killing a bullock and going through the ritual of covering his own sins, getting ready for high priestly duties. He had to take care of his own sins. Then he came out and took two goats, and he laid his hand upon them, transferring the sins of Israel to the goat, the substitute. And then killed it, and went through the brazen altar by the laver of cleansing, walked in the holy place, and then went beyond the veil one day a year, and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat. And that's when God came down and met with man above the mercy seat, and the sins of Israel were covered for one more year. But then he would walk out, and he would take hyssop bush, and he would take the blood from that first sacrifice, and sprinkle it on the other goat. Put it in the hands of a person, and send it away into an uninhabited place to never be seen again. It's got the march of sacrifice, and it's got the march of resurrection. Why? It's going away with sacrifice, never to be seen again. But when John the Baptist stepped on the shores of Galilee, and people were following him, he looked up and saw Jesus coming, and he said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. What's he saying? Here's the real sin bearer, and the truth of it is, not only is he going to be the sacrifice, but he's going to be the one that resurrects with the mark of sacrifice to ever live to be the enforcer of a covenant relationship that every person that comes to Jesus is safe as long as the priest is alive. How long are you safe? As long as Jesus lives. How come? He's the covenant. He's the testator. He died to enforce it. Everything God covenanted, he made real at the cross when Jesus Christ died, and God was satisfied, then men can be reconciled. Why? God has cut covenant with men at the mercy seat, and the blood of the covenant is still there as the life of God, saying to every believer, If you'll come to me, you can have life and have it abundantly. Why? Because I'll cut covenant with you and agree with you, and you'll share my life. I'll be your God. You'll be my son. Oh, Brother Roach did such a job on that last night, didn't he? You see, the Bible said Adam was a life-giving soul, but the second Adam was a living soul, but the second Adam was a life-giving spirit. What does that mean? Identification, oneness, communion. What does that mean? The first Adam, I died. The second Adam, I've got God's life. How come? Because when he got up from the dead, he became a life-giving spirit. He arose to share in covenant with me all that God said in his word. And when God raised Jesus from the dead, he said yes to every promise in the word of God. Amen? An unbelievable promise, an unchangeable pardoning. Oh, Lord, something here I've got to say. The word fled for refuge here goes back to the cities of refuge. Of course, it says by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, that we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Listen to this. It said it's impossible for God to lie, and by two immutable things. What's the two immutable things? Himself and his word. His character and his word. By two immutable things, God said, I cannot lie. Amen? God cannot lie, and God cannot die. Hallelujah. Now, the word fled for refuge here is really referring back to the work of the cities of refuge in the book of Deuteronomy. And on each side of the Jordan there were set up six cities of refuge to where if somebody killed somebody accidentally or self-defense, they only had one hope, and that was they had to fly to a city of refuge and hope they got there before the pursuer got them. Because a man had a right to kill him if he didn't get to a city of refuge. Right? So he fled. He ran hard. And boy, you know what they did? They kept up good signs, and they kept the roads fixed toward the city of refuge. Why? Once a man started, he went to make it fast. Run! Run! Where are you going? City of refuge. Why? I've accidentally killed somebody, and they're... The avenger is out there. But once that man reached the borders and the city limits of the cities of refuge, that old boy that's his avenger just had to stand outside and look in and say, missed it. Why? He's safe. He's beyond the reach of the avenger. He can't... Amen? How long is he safe? As long as the high priest is alive. Oh, no. Y'all don't know how to get blessed. I think I'll just quit. What's wrong? Are y'all not hearing me? Some of y'all are sitting here about half asleep. I can't understand folks sleeping under my preaching. That upsets me so. I mean, you're dead and you know it. Amen? Nothing upsets me. I mean that. I mean, what does it take to bless us? Do y'all know what I've just said? Hebrews 7.24 says, Wherefore, he is able to save them. How long? Till the uttermost. How come? Seeing he ever liveth, till may continue uninterrupted intercession for him. How? How come the devil can't get to you? Because I am saved by a priest. Well, where is the priest? That's my third point. Hallelujah. The priest says in verse 19, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. Well, where are you anchored? Beyond the veil. Well, how'd you get there? I had a forerunner who preceded me. I've got an unconquerable predecessor. I've got someone who's already run ahead of me. And do you know what the forerunner means? He has been through every valley. He has searched out every cavern. He's met every demon. He has looked at everything the devil's got to offer. Walked 33 and a half years in every area that he needed to. Rose from the dead and purged the atmosphere. When the rapture comes, the devil will have to back off and watch as the saints of God goes passing through. Well, we've got a mighty conqueror who has conquered every atmosphere of hell and left us as more than conquerors. Hallelujah. Listen. Here's what I saw. We're anchored, but not to Nashville. And not to the church. Not to our families. We're anchored. Beyond what veil? The heavenly veil. Well, Brother Bill, what veil is that? Oh, that's the veil that Jesus has walked into and has broke open to where every man, because there's a man in heaven, every man that has met him can walk into the glory world by the very presence of the man, Christ Jesus. And that links me to him to where I may get locked in some storms down here and the old ship may rock and roll, but I got news for you. It can never sink because hell can't get to my anchor. Why? I got a forerunner, a predecessor, one who has preceded me, who has paved the way. You see, the word forerunner, oh, Dr. Ironside. Man, I read this year. I cut my teeth on Dr. Ironside and Dr. DeHaan years ago. And that's what, that's really, they're the ones that really drove me to the word of God. But Ironside says that in the Mediterranean or in a lot of the parts of the world, they don't have the facilities to fix it to where ships can come right in to land because it takes up depth and it costs so much to dig out and to fix it to where those big ships can come right all the way up and dock like they do on those tours, you know, these big ships could not get all the way into land. So what they had was a little ship they called the forerunner. And that little ship would go out to the big ship and pick up its anchor and pull it all the way in the shore. And they had big rocks there that they used to wrap that anchor around. And even though the ship was way out yonder in the sea, he knew he had an anchor on the shore. You're getting it, ain't you? You're getting it, right? Well, I want you to know when Jesus arose from the dead, he just picked up anchor for the body of Christ, for the bride of Christ, and for every born-again believer that he made covenant relationship with in Abraham. You see, where do you get all this in the covenant? The very first verse says he swore to Abraham. What did he swear? Abrahamic covenant! But what makes that covenant so real to you? You say, well, Brother Bill, you mean he just picked up anchor? No, he is the anchor. And when the devil comes and says, I'm going to get you, I said, buddy, you can rock the boat, but you can't get to my anchor. Amen? Why? My forerunner has entered for me beyond the veil into the Holy of Holies for me. How come? Because not only did I have a sacrifice that died for me, the same sacrifice got up as a priest to live for me. I needed a sacrifice for my salvation, but I need a priest for my covenant, eternal relationship of blood to where all hell can rage. But he can't break the agreement I have with a holy God who cannot lie and proved it when he let the forerunner anchor me in glory. And the only reason why I'm not there yet, I'm still here in the will of God waiting for the day when I can bid the world goodbye and set down the shores of sweet liberty. It shines, my anchor holds. In September, I lost my dad to glory. I didn't lose him. He just transferred residence. For two weeks, I stood by my dad in my dad's bed. I'm the spitting image of my daddy. And if you see us together, we look like more like brothers. Daddy looks so young. Well, I got a hold of that, but I do good. And they'd call us brothers. Me and Mama's son. We thought Mama would die first because I had to come home from a meeting in North Carolina in April because Mama's been in the hospital for six weeks. And we thought she'd never make it. Now that Mom's still kicking and going, doing good. She's going to Columbus with me next week. I'll have her for Mother's Day. Spend about four days with her. She's going there to stay with her sister. But the reality of the testator and the covenant and the will became really alive to me. Because as long as my daddy was alive, he controlled his inheritance. He could give me stuff, but it still was his. But before Daddy died, he wanted everything in my hands and my sister's hands because my mother is not able to make transactions. She can't drive. She can't do anything. And so a lawyer friend just came to the house and we transferred everything to my sister and me. But even though it was signed over to us in legal documents, the force of my daddy's will did not go into action until he died. And my daddy didn't leave. In fact, we don't have anything because it's all Mother's. We're taking care of her. I don't need it. He didn't leave enough anyway. And my daddy did awfully well. He left enough to take care of Mom and make sure that she'd be all right. And I guess, I don't know, but we're handling it like God wants us to handle it. And everything's in Mom's hands, really. But here's the sweet thing. I stood in the room with my daddy and I watched him die. And when he did, he lost control of all of his worldly possessions. He no longer can enforce them. Hoping that what he wrote on paper will live right and bring to pass. But my daddy don't know. Because one of us could get a crooked lawyer. Or my mother might could. My mother might could get a...well, not a white lawyer. I don't mean a crooked lawyer. They could get a lawyer who might convince them that that wasn't right. And my daddy's dead and can't do nothing about it. But it's not so with us. The same one that made the will and said, here's what I want you to have. The same one that died to make it alive. Has risen from the dead to make sure it's all mine. And that hell and the devil can't take it away. And when the devil comes running up and says, I'm going to take everything you've got. I said, help yourself. Because the one that rose again has guaranteed that you can't touch it. Unless he lets you. Because he controlled his inheritance. And I belong to him. Hallelujah. Ladies and gentlemen, I got news for you. If you wake up to covenant relationship. It'll affect your life. It'll affect your behavior. It'll affect your confidence and the promises of God. It'll affect your security. It'll affect your relationship with people. It'll affect your attitude. It'll affect your disposition. It'll affect your appetites. It'll affect your desires. In fact, the whole story is when you wake up to covenant relationship. You'll start walking in the spirit. So you can't fulfill the lust of the flesh. That's the bottom line. That I want to live pleasing to my covenant partner. Who cut covenant with me. Shares his life one with one. We're friends. His life is my life. His weapons are my weapons. His robe is my robe. I have put on the Lord Jesus Christ. His sword is my sword. His belt is my belt, which is strength. We have a memorial meal. I take the Lord's supper. Why do you take the Lord's supper? Letting him know that I'm respecting the covenant that he cut for me at the cross. Till I cut it with him in glory. When we see him face to face. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, all I want you to do is this. If I've driven you to love Jesus. And to love his word. And to walk with God. I have accomplished my intention. If I have so freaked that you can no longer harbor jealousy, greed, killings. Criticism, opinionating, life. Venturism, resentment, gossip. Criticism. And if love abounds in your life. And no longer can you live with the least little infraction. That's not pleasing to God. We have awakened to a covenant relationship. That will change your whole life. And your walk with God. Amen. Let's go. And let's live for the Jesus. God bless you. Amen. Amen.