In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of choosing the Word of God over traditions and wrong teachings. He refers to the story of Abraham and how God promised him descendants as numerous as the stars. The speaker also highlights how some people try to boast in the flesh and control others. He mentions the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt and how Moses received the law. The sermon concludes by mentioning a vision from the book of Revelation, where Jesus is described in glorious detail.

When anyone receives a revelation in the Word of God, it sometimes conflicts with what he has previously been taught. This causes you to have to deal with old traditions or wrong teachings. These tapes may contain some new light from God's Word, and it may be opposed to some traditions you have previously learned. Therefore, follow through these messages in your Bible, in sequence, in order that you may be able to make a choice for the Word of God, rather than the traditions of men. This is tape number 10 in a series. We urge you to listen to all the tapes in the series, in numerical order, so that the whole teaching can be received and understood. Listening to a part of the series, or to the tapes out of sequence, can lead to a misunderstanding of the nature, the intent, and the importance of the series. And then he took Abraham outside, and he said, now you look toward the heavens and count the stars. If you're able to count them, he said to you, so shall your descendants be. If you can count all these stars right here, all these, all, you're going to have that many descendants. Then he believed the Lord, and he reckoned it to him as what? But, now he hadn't made covenant yet. Are you understanding? But righteousness came to him when he believed. Now, when you believe, you know, when you believe something, that means you're going to do it. That doesn't make mental sense. It's with the heart that man believes in righteousness, and if your heart believes it, it's going to bear the fruit of it. Amen? So, he believed God, and it reckoned him to righteousness. And then, we see in verse 7, and he said to him, I'm the Lord who brought you out of the error of the Chaldeans, and to give you this land to what? I'm giving you this land to possess it. And so he, and, and, and, Abraham, now watch this right here, I want you to get you a big pencil and mark this right here. And he said, O Lord God, how am I going to know that I can possess the land? Now, see, that's the problem today. Look at me, folks. He went ahead and told him, because we're fixing to make covenant. You're going to possess it, because I'm stronger than anything come against you. You will possess the land. But, Abraham said, how am I going to possess it? How do I know I'm going to possess the land? People are trying to possess the land today. The branch is trying to do it without the vine, see? That's the work of the law. Not being led by the Spirit of God, not being led by God. Alright, so he said to him, you bring me a three-year-old heifer, and three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon, so you're fixing to make covenant. Then he brought all them to him, and he cut them in two, and laid them each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds. Then the birds of prey came down upon the carcass, and Abraham drove them away. Those birds of prey are always around to try to stop covenant. Now, verse 10, 12. Now, let me just stop and tell you something about covenant. Look at me. Covenant is when two becomes one. If one of you and I were making covenant, we'd have to know each other very, real well, because everything you have would belong to me. Everything I have would belong to you. I'd lose my whole identity, because my identity would change. We would become one. Your identity would change. We would meet in the field, usually. They would make covenant, and I'm not gonna go through all the things. I've got too many scriptures here, but it's on that Church of Sleeping and Bondage there about covenant. But it's when two, two become one, and this is exactly what he's fixing to cut covenant. What they do, they take these animals, they don't cut the head off. They split it and held the head to tail, and then they, in hives right there, and then a person gets on each side of it, and they face each other. This is, we're going to make covenant. And then you walk a figure eight. In other words, it's a walk of death. That's, the walls of blood signifies and represents a walk of death. That's what it is, because you're dying to yourself. When you make covenant, it's, you, you die, and so you walk a figure eight. But in the middle, and in the middle, you stop, and you would proclaim all that you own is his. He would proclaim all the blessings and everything he owns. He, well, you would bless one another, but then you would also, in the middle of this covenant right here, you would proclaim, you would speak curses on him. Now, he knows he would come about, too. Awful curses that's going to be spoken on him if he breaks the covenant right there. And you'd speak, I'd speak curses on you, you'd speak these awful curses on me. And so then you would make covenant. The two would become one, and wherever you'd go, there's two of you, right? I mean, there's two of you that became one. You're one heart. You become one heart, and that's what blood covenant is. Now we see, verse 12, and when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon. Now, Abram went to sleep, is that right? And God said to Abram, know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in the land. It is not theirs where they shall be enslaved and oppressed 400 years. Now, I'm going to tell you before we're going to make covenant here, that they are not going to keep covenant. They're not going to keep covenant. Now, I'm going to go ahead and make it with you, Abraham, but they're not going to keep covenant. Because they're going to go be enslaved over with, in Egypt. They're going to be enslaved and oppressed, and that's when Moses came and delivered them out of Egypt and gave them the law, is that right? Is that right? Okay. So, we see there in verse 17, and it came about when the sun had set that it was very dark. Now, Abraham's asleep, isn't he? And, behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch, which passed between these pieces. Y'all have any idea who that is? Let's just continue. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, to your descendants, I've given this land. Amen? Now, Abraham, listen to me, Abraham didn't even have to walk through the pieces. Because he didn't really have anything he could do except a bunch of weakness. Just like you and me. Someone else walked through the pieces. Let's see if you recognize. Now, hold your place right there, and I want you to turn to me to Revelation 1. See if you recognize who might have walked through the pieces here, who made the covenant with Abraham. Revelation 1, verse 12. Now, we had seen over there that it's very dark, and there's a flaming torch and a smoking oven that passed between the pieces. So, now in Revelation 1, verse 12, and I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the middle of the lampstand was one like the Son of Man. He was clothed in a robe reaching to his feet and girded across his breast and with a golden girdle, and his head and his hair was white, like white wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burning bronze, and when he had been caused to glow in a furnace or an oven, and his voice was like the sound of many waters, and his right hand held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in its strength. Who do you see there? Who walked through the pieces for Abraham? Jesus. If I don't get a chance tonight, I'll show you that Jesus is the one that brought the law to Moses, too. He was the one in the flaming bush, thorn bush. Amen? Well, turn back to Genesis 18. So we're going to see what the descendants of Abraham walked like. Abraham and his descendants. Verse 19. 18-19, For I have chosen him in order that he may command his children, and Abraham and his house all after him, to keep the way of the Lord by doing what? You do the will of the Lord, and you keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he's spoken about. He's going to bring on what he's spoken about if he does righteousness and justice. Is that what your Bible says? Verse 20. And the Lord said, He went on to talk about the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah, Indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave, and we see you sent fire to destroy them. See, we could get this. I'm just throwing this in so you can find some interesting things to look at in the word. Have we already seen Sodom and Gomorrah of the day? Did we kind of look at that here the other night? So see, and there, fire was, that's a time for today. That explains to us what's happening today. That's for, for the ones that live by it for the flesh. Amen? Now look back in Genesis 17 again. I want you just to see, I want you just to see these two verses again with me again. I want you to stand up with me, please. Just stand up and take your Bible with you. Now in Genesis 10, I mean Genesis 17, verse 10. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and your descendants. If you ever mail among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and this shall be a sign of covenant between you and me. Now, does it say the descendants of Abraham is going to be circumcised? Let me say it one more time, then I'll go on to the next verse. Does it say that the descendants of Abraham are going to be circumcised? All right. Now, are we descendants of Abraham? Well, then we're going to be, let's see what kind of circumcision that we're supposed to have then, okay? Now first, you can go ahead and turn that loose in Genesis. I want you to go with me to Lossians 1, okay? And you're going to see the same thing that he told Adam, told Abraham, rather. Lossians 1. Now, we used to walk after the lust of the flesh before we come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that right? And the flesh is hostile to God, and it's evil. Is that right? And doesn't subject to except the law of God. Is that right? All right. Now, in Colossians 1, verse 21, and although you were formerly alienated, that's before you come to Jesus, you were hostile in mind. You were engaged in evil deeds, that's the lust of the flesh, rebellion. Yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order he's going to present you before him, what? Holy, and what's that word? Say it one more time. Is that what he said to Abraham, you're going to be blameless, and then I'll establish my covenant with you. Is that right? Is that what you saw? Okay, it kind of sounds like the prayer of, effective prayer of what kind of man of veil as much? Righteous man. Let me just stop right there. I want you to go back to Luke 4, and I want to show you how that works. I want to show you how the prayer of a righteous man of veil as much. Now, Jesus had never cast out a demon. He'd never healed one sick person, and his ministry started at that time in Luke 4, and he just goes through the same temptations that Eve went through, when she gave the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the boastful pride of life. We see in Luke 4, verse 1, that Jesus was full of the Spirit of God. He didn't so go say, I've got it. No, that's not what he did. He was led by the Spirit of God to go in the wilderness, because God tests the heart of everything he's ever created. Everything. And then for 40 days, he's being tempted by who? The devil. And so, how does the devil tempt? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the boastful pride of life. The same temptations, I'm not going to go through them, are there. But after, look at verse 13, and when the devil had finished every temptation, Jesus had proved that his heart was holy and blameless. Is that right? Is that right? He, and then in verse, he finished every temptation, then Jesus returned to Galilee, because now he not only pulled the Spirit of God, but he's got the power of the Spirit of God on him. The power of the Spirit is example to you that comes on you and I. As we, we put, we become blameless, we prove our hearts holy, we're not trying to share the glory with the Lord. Are you understanding? Then the Lord can work through us. Is that right? Amen? So then the power of the Spirit came on him, and he walks in the church house, verse 18, and he said, the Spirit of the Lord is on me. I've come to set the captives free and open the eyes of the blind. Amen? He had the power on him. Amen? Now, let's go back over there. Now, that's what it means. That's how you're prepared for every good work. You're not prepared for every good work if you're not coming through the fire. You'll know it with all and they'll die. You lay hands on a stick and they'll not recover. Okay. So, I'll turn to Colossians 2, and we're going to, we're going to look about this circumcision, what kind of circumcision we've got. Now, now we turn to Jesus now, and we look in verse 4. I say this in order that no one may delude you with persuasive argument. No intellect or whatever can come and try to talk you out of the word of God. For even though I'm mountain in the body, nevertheless I'm present with you in spirit, and rejoicelessly you're wise. What is good discipline? Look at me, folks. If you don't receive discipline, you're not a child of God. Do you understand that? I mean, you are an illegal, illegitimate bastard. You're not a child of God if you don't receive reproof and discipline. Jesus is not your Lord. You can't be corrected. They say, I'm rejoiceless to see your good discipline. Good discipline always comes to light. I mean, if you get out of it, you come to sacrifice, and you get that light and walk in peace. Amen? Okay. And the stability of your what? There's your faith in Christ. Now, discipline being led by the Spirit of God and your faith in Christ, and if you therefore have received Jesus Christ as Lord right there, what does it say to do? Walk in Him. What did he tell Abraham to do? Walk blameless. Amen? That's the only way you can walk, is walk in discipline and reproof. Amen? And be corrected by the Lord. Now, verse 8, he's having a warning here. See to it, you better see to it, that no one captures you with philosophy. You know what that is? Look here. Philosophy is flesh intellect. See it, no one takes you captive through philosophy, through empty deception. Now, flesh is always deceitful. It's saying one thing while its heart is deceitful and is going to exploit and use you in every relationship. You understand what I mean? All right, now, through philosophy and empty deception, according to the what? The traditions of men is flesh. It's doing godly things after the flesh. And it takes you captive and you get in there and it gets your heart, and you'll have a hardened heart to the Word of God, and you'll not be led to the Spirit of God with a false security. And you can be taken captive according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to who? Look at me, folks. All these things can take you captive rather than the gospel. You get another Jesus, another gospel. Now, here comes the circumcision. And in him, you also were circumcised with a circumcision that's made without hands. And what did your King James say? In the removal of the sins of the flesh. Folks, look at me. When you remove the sins of the flesh, where does it show your heart? It's barren fruit for God. Do you see the circumcision? And that's going to be the sign. You'll know them by the fruit. Amen? It's the covenant of the heart. Amen? Now, you see how it's the same thing? Are we children of Abraham? We walk in flames, we walk the same way you walk. Verse 13, and when you what? You were dead in your transgression. If you write Ephesians 2, 1, 2, 3, that you were dead when you walked after the ways of the world, you walked after the prince and power of the earth, Satan, and you were led by the demon spirit that works inside, not on the shoulder of all the sons of disobedience. You can sit down whenever you're ready. And when you were dead in your transgression, and what? Folks, I'm going to tell you what. I want to go on that next verse. Now, talk to me. Talk to me. Then I'll know you're with me. You look at me like a calf at a new gate. Now, listen. Now, look at me. I want you to see this. Were you circumcised by removing the sins of the flesh? Amen? That's right. Okay, now, look at verse 13. And then, before, you were what? You were dead in your transgressions, that means in your sin, and you're what? The uncircumcision of your flesh, because you were walking after the sins of the flesh. Amen? And then, you were not bearing fruit for God, were you? He made you alive together with Him. Have Him forgive us of all, all, all, all transgressions. Of course, you know that you can... Well, I'm just going to show you here in just a minute. You can rebuild what you once destroyed, and you still prove yourself to be a transgressor. Didn't we see that in Galatians 2? If you repent from your sins, and you're putting it to death, and then you turn back to it, you know, 2 Peter 2, it says it's like a dog returning to its vomit, or a pig after washing, returning to the pig pen. So, when I was talking about pig pen a while ago, that's what I was talking about. Now, let's just read it again. And when you were dead in your transgressions, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him. Have Him forgive us of all, all, all our transgressions. Isn't that right? Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisted of degrees against us, which were what? I mean, these degrees are hostile to us. Isn't that right? And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Well, what about that? He's nailed it to the cross. But then, we're supposed to walk how? We no longer walk under the law. We walk in blessings and peace, and we become blessed. We walk in love. Our mind, we have it. Look here. When you have a change of heart, you have a change of mind. Now it's giving. Instead of going out to get all you can get, and can all you can get, you know, like the world calls you, success, name, reputation, and climb to the top, and power, control. And all of a sudden, you have a change of heart, and the Spirit of God leads you to go give, and give, and whatever you give, where it used to be curses come on you, now you get blessed, and blessed, and blessed, and blessed, and blessed. That little lady right here, Trula, who goes to the meetings, and we were in a camp meeting in Oklahoma, and she just sits there. God has given her gifts, and she just sits there. And her, you know, people, sometimes, see, they need time, and they need help, and you know, there's more of the body of Christ than just the man that came to town. There's several of us, you know. And so she'll sit there for hours, and it's just glorious what happens to people when they sit there, because she goes through, and again, you know, and take the Word, and deal with things, and so forth. And she just bubbles over, because of her gifts. God's just blessings just come all over her, and she just, she's in a bed everywhere she goes. So, now let's turn back to Galatians 3, and let's just see something about blessings and curses. We told you we were going to look at it. Galatians 3, verse 17. Now, we looked at this before, I just want to see it again. What am I saying is this, the law which came 430 years later does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the covenant of promise. Do we have some promises that come to us through Abraham? Well, verse 19, why the law then? It was added because of the transgressions. But what, I'm going to read something to you out of Galatians 3. I don't want you to turn over there, but I just want to read this to you. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Therefore, consider the members of your body. We're dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire, greed, and all these things from outside. We're dead to it. That's our covenant. Amen? We died. And so that's what, when you make covenants, you die. And you die to what? You die to the sins of the flesh. Amen? And so the Spirit of God leads you. Now, I want you to look, and Paul gives the example of this in Galatians 2.20. And once again, he said, I've been, well, let's just see verse 17. If while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found sinners. Now, if you find yourself in sin, if you examine yourself, does it tell you to examine yourself before you take the Lord's Supper? You know, when you're taking the Lord's Supper, what you're doing is renewing death. He said, you better examine yourself. You better not be taking a table of demons, your heart living for the flesh and the demonic, and you worshiping them and have those idols come and take the Lord's Supper. For this reason, many among you are weak, sick, and a number are asleep. You judge about them wrongly. Amen? You drink judgment on yourself instead of drinking blessings on yourself. Why is it in John that all of them, when he said, you eat my flesh and drink my blood, why do you think all of them walked away? They didn't want his enemies. They didn't want to die to themselves. They didn't want to give up the world and everything in the world for Jesus. What did they do? They walked away. Let me ask you something. Has the gospel changed since then? It hasn't changed. Of course, when you water it down, everybody's saved. Budweiser in your hand and everything else. Can't even get to witness nobody anymore. Everybody knows Jesus. So we see in Galatians 2.20, now I'm going to look at verse 18 again. For if I rebuild what I once destroyed, I prove myself to be what? Transgressed. If I go back and build back up in the flesh, if I'm found a sinner again, Jesus is not the minister of sin. If I rebuild what I once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. And what do you, would you call that willful sinning? Huh? And if you continue in that right, you'll come to the place where there's no sacrifice. Amen? Well, what do you think traditions lead you to do? Paul says the opposite of this right here in verse 20. I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer my flesh to live. We already settled that in Romans 7 last night, didn't we? It's no longer I live. It's not my flesh. It's not I, me, mine anymore to live. But it's Christ that lives in me. He's the one that controls me now. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered himself up to me. That's holy and blameless. Amen? All right, now let's just read over in Galatians 3 again where we were a while ago. Verse 7. Therefore be sure that it's those who are of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Only walking in faith and led by the Spirit of God is the only way that you can walk holy and blameless. So, verse 9, those who are of the faith are blessed with Abraham the believer. That's being led by the Spirit of God. Verse 10. For as many are of the works of the law, that's trying to go another way than being led by the Spirit of God, faith, they are under a curse. For it is written, Cursed is every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law before him. And that's exactly what we're talking about here in Galatians anyway. I want you to read with me there. In Galatians 3, what he's talking right above there, verse 3, Galatians 3, 3. He said, Are you so foolish? Have you become a fool? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now going to be perfected by the flesh? How many see that? See, you're being perfected by the flesh. You're rebuilding what you once destroyed. You prove yourself a transgressor. You're willfully practicing sins, which traditions and carnal doctrines, they applaud it because a deceived heart lives in deceit. You draw near to God with your mouth and your heart's far from him. And he lets delusion, the looting spirit influence, the hedges down, and the spirit of sleep, the powers of darkness, come to put people to sleep. That is a great falling away. The falling away is apostasy, where you come over here and you call something. Church is not church. You're calling something Christian, it calls it Christian. Everybody, all you have to do is say some words right here. And then you're called being led by the Spirit of God. Works. Everybody that believes that you can receive, make Jesus Lord by words, will always say being led by the Spirit of God, it works. Because if they don't call it works, it tears down all the theology, everything their hearts are trusted. I mean, you touch a gold case. See, a doctrine that does not conform you to godliness, it does not fulfill the law. Is that plain? Now, we see this in 1 Timothy 6, 3-5. If the doctrine does not conform you to godliness, it will not fulfill the law. Therefore, it's a false gospel. It puts you under the curse of the law. And what do you see it? Everybody see that? Hold up your hands. It puts you under the curse of the law. Because it puts you under judgment. You're practicing rebellion against God and practicing sin. Amen? So, if you were the devil, wouldn't you want to have a doctrine that doesn't conform you to godliness, to capture the hearts of people so they'd have a false security? Isn't that right? Well, wouldn't you say that's how a doctrine gets distorted? It's contrary to the doctrine. If the doctrine doesn't conform you to godliness, is it contrary and is it distorted? That's a problem in Galatians that you're talking about this whole thing. Back up. We already saw in 1 Timothy 1 that the law always speaks to those who distort the gospel. Is that right? The doctrines, strange doctrines. Now, look in Galatians 1, verse 6. Now, these people started in the spirit and now they're trying to finish in the flesh. Amen? Now, verse 6. I'm amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you. Now, who called him? You're deserting Jesus by the grace of Christ. And what are you deserting Jesus for? A different gospel. Which is really not other. There are some who are disturbing you because they want to what? What do they do? They distort the gospel of Christ and that gospel is getting in your heart. And you're turning from fallen Jesus to go right to this gospel. Amen? Now, verse 8. Now, that's called the works of the law. Are you hearing me? Even though we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel, if it's contrary or distorted to that which we preach to you, let him be accursed. Is that plain? If the curse is on him. And you can tell what, first time they want, we had more time, which is very, of course, it's already obvious anyway, but you can clearly do this. Verse 9. As we have said before, so I just, Paul just said again, now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel that's contrary, the gospel that doesn't conform you to godliness, to that which you receive, let him be accursed. Accursed. Is that plain? For am I now seeking the favor of men or of god? Am I striving to please men? Folks, do you know why the gospel gets perverted? Look at me. Let me show you something. Now, look at me. Here's how the gospel gets, here's how the gospel gets perverted. People who live after the flesh, our ancestors, who did not expose, oppose, nor understand the powers of darkness, they developed doctrines, and those people were not dealing with the flesh because it didn't come down in the gospel. So when you're not dealing with the flesh, what kind of motives do you think you have? You have perverted motives when you don't deal with the flesh because when your heart is holding on to the flesh, you will exploit, and you will use, and you will seek to use the things of God in all relationships to serve your own purpose. That's how men take these doctrines. They don't deal with flesh, and they become kings. And then when you see them in the marketplace, Good morning, Rabbi. Good morning, Doctor. Flesh. They'll sit at the head table, flesh like zombies that they've noticed, and travel over sea and land and make a proselyte because I've become twice the son of hell they are. You flesh religious crowd, you're always cleaning the outside, but the inside is full of flesh, self-indulgent. You're whitewashed tombs. You're full of dead men's bones. How are you going to escape the fences of hell? That's a gospel. That's a doctrine that pleases men. A doctrine, a gospel that pleases God will sanctify the congregation. The ones that when you say it like God said it, they'll either come to Jesus or they can't stand it. They'll leave. You don't get them to say, you let nickels go, you let numbers go, you let big tithers go, you let the whole thing. The word divides. The word chooses. You either come to life or you don't come to life. Amen? Now, verse 10. For am I now seeking the favor of men, flesh? Am I seeking the favor of flesh or of God? Am I striving to please flesh, men? If I were trying to please men, I wouldn't be a bondservant of Christ. I would have you to know, brethren, that this gospel which was preached to me is not according to man. It pleases God. Our ambition is to please God, not selfish ambition. Amen? Name, career, reputation. Jesus didn't have any reputation. Where are we going to get it? Amen? Now, Galatians 3 again. Galatians 3, verse 11. Now know that no one is justified by law before God is evident. The righteous man is going to live with faith, isn't he? Is that right? Let's just go on just a little, little further right there. However, the law is not a faith, is it? On the contrary, he who's trying to go by the law instead of being led by the Spirit of God, making Jesus Lord of his whole life with his faith, he who practices it is going to live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. How? Through faith, making him Lord. And how does he do it? Having become a curse for us, and now Jesus, now do you see how this works? Look here. Jesus defeated all the sins and everything, and he's come to be Lord of our hearts, and he'll lead us with his word and gospel by the Spirit of God to purify our hearts. Amen? So what do you repent from? The circumcision is you remove the flesh. Amen? That's a sign of covenant. Is that right? And so, being led by the Spirit of God, you're not, you're no longer on the law, because you're no longer breaking the law, and that's how Jesus becomes a curse for you. But if you're on the works of the law, you just go and say some words, and you just continue to rebuild what's supposed to have been destroyed. You're like the man in Matthew 7 who cast out demons and prophesied with the Spirit of the devil working with him, and Jesus said, I never did know you, you, who practice lawlessness. He never did repent. He never did turn. He was not led by the Spirit of God. He was led by another gospel, another Jesus, and a different spirit. You see? Let me ask you something. Can I ask you that everything I've said to you this week, does it point to love? Does it point to Jesus in the word? And we decide you don't follow me any further than you see me follow Jesus. Is that right? You are a Jesus follower. Jesus is your Lord. Amen? You don't follow anyone no further than you see them follow Jesus. All right, now. So, verse 14, in order that in Christ Jesus, and 1 John 2 shows you about in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham comes to this Gentile. There's your blessings and curses, folks. Do you see it? In Christ Jesus is being led by the Spirit of God and believing. Amen? Now, I'm about to finish here, but I want you to turn with me right back to Romans 2. Romans 2. And quickly. Hurry. Now we see, you remember we saw the person that the wrath of God in Romans 1, verse 18, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all men, God and his unrighteousness? And look at verse 28. Do you remember what we saw there? God gives them over to the brave men. And what kind of fruit do they bear in verse 29? We know in verse 24 they're given over the lust of their heart and impurity. And then we see in verse 29, there's greed, strife, gossip and envy. Their hearts are given over slandering and arrogance and boasting. In verse 31, they're without understanding. That is a veil that's over them. And in verse 31, they're unloving. And although they know the ordinance of the word of God, that those who practice such things, and say you wouldn't practice such things, that grace would increase. If you would not practice such things, you will not enter in the kingdom of God. That those who practice such things are worthy of death. They not only do the same, but gave hearty approval to everyone else that practiced them. Isn't that right? Right? Okay. Now, I want you to see in verse 28. Romans 2, verse 28. For he is not a Jew, who is one where? Outwardly. Neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, who is one where? In other words, that means your heart, right? And the circumcision is that which is of the what? Heart, by the Spirit and not by the letter. And this praise is not from men, but it's from God. Do you know who the real Jews are today? Who the Jews are? The ones who Jesus Christ is their Lord, that are led by faith. Amen? Now that's who the Jews are today, and I'm going to show you in just a minute who the Israel of God is. So now look in verse 25. Back up to 25. 225. For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the law. Now if you want to practice it without Jesus, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision is to become uncircumcision, right? Because you're not walking in righteousness. Now let me, don't go too fast. Verse 26. If therefore the uncircumcision, that means physically uncircumcised man, keeps the requirement of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Because he's keeping the law, it's going to, I mean he keeps the word of God, it's going to be circumcision, right? And will not he, in other words, this is a good way to tell you who's walking in faith and who's not walking in faith, what it's pointing to. And will not he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the law, will he not judge you who have in the letter of the law and circumcision are a transgressor of the law? In other words, you know, they're transgressing the law, they're practicing sin, they're on the works of the law right there, and defending it and justifying it in the face of the gospel of Christ. Now will you look over there in verse 30. Make that chapter 3, verse 30 rather. Chapter 3, 30. Since indeed God, who will justify the circumcised by faith, and he's going to judge the uncircumcised through faith, is one, everything has to be of faith and forget everything else. Do we then nullify the law of God through faith? No. God may it never be, because that's the way you establish the law. You become a doer of the law and you fulfill the law. It's through faith and being led by the Spirit of God. Amen? That's the way it's established. So then 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, Therefore if any man is in Christ, you become a new creation. Now this is a new creation. Old things have passed away, the flesh, rebellion, behold, all things have become new. Now look at verse 14. For the law of Christ controls us just like we saw it did to Paul in Galatians 2, having included this, that one died for all and so therefore what? All die. Is that right? You die to sin. And he died for all, that they who live should no longer live for what? You no longer live for your flesh. But for him who died and rose again on their behalf. And now look at verse 18. Now all these things are from God and this is the way Jesus Christ, he reconciled us to himself, how? Through giving us the ministry of reconciliation and the word of reconciliation because we take this word to other people so that their hearts and rebellion will be washed from their hearts and they'll come to Jesus and be led out of the fire and judgment of God today. Is that right? Okay. Now Galatians 6. And this will be your last one. Galatians 6. Now anyone, you know when it makes a reference to someone on the works of the law, that would be bondage to works or circumcised. Look at verse 12. Those who desire to make a what? Good showing in the what? Flesh. Now if someone's trying to make a good, look at me. If someone is trying to make a good showing in the flesh, where is their heart living? For the flesh. Is that right? Their heart is living with the flesh and the flesh is hostile to God and it will not subject itself to the law of God. Amen? Okay. Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh, they try to compel you to be circumcised. You'll be like them, simply that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised, they do not even keep the law themselves. They don't keep the work, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. Now let me show you something. Flesh wants to be king and people like this who walk out of the works, they want you in bondage. They think they're helping God out. They're servants of Satan and this is where they exploit you and they use you. And they sit there deceived by the powers of darkness and they think they're bringing you along. And they pick and choose through the word of God the things and pick out the blessings. Never you deal with the judgment or anything. They pick out through there the things that will make them look good because they're deceived in their heart thinking that they're bringing you on instead of the word of God. And so when the word of God never comes forth, people do not turn from sin and when you do not turn from sin, you do not turn from captivity and you do not turn from the Lord. This is how you shed blood. It's perverting the word of God. When you don't say what God said, you shed blood. You pervert. Because you cause people to be destroyed. You cause them to be destroyed. Now, let me just show you how flesh just reacts. I want to show you how they control people. Let me just back up. Hold your place or back up. I want to show you one verse in Galatians 4. I want to show you how flesh controls you. Now, do they want to boast in your flesh? See, they can use a lot of bodies to make a name for themselves, right? Or build something to look good. And you ever see these big chairs, you know, that look like little boys with their feet dangling off of them? Verse 17. Now, here's how they want to boast in your flesh. They eagerly seek you. Not really commendably, but they wish to shut you out. Now, look at me. Look at me. They seek you eagerly. Now, they don't want to be persecuted for the cross of Christ. So when you start this thing that persecutes them the cross of Christ, you start citing some things in your Bible, they will withdraw fellowship from you. And then the powers of darkness will attack you with guilt and condemnation. And then you'll begin to seek them because after all, there might be 500 and you're just one. Looks pretty bad on you and the demons start talking to you, doesn't it? Huh? Isn't that right? Let's see if it's what it says in verse 17. They eagerly seek you. I know a little pastor here that's enjoying this right now. They eagerly seek you, but not commendably. They wish to shut you out in order that you may what? Seek them. And that's how the powers of darkness use flesh to get you to seek men. And see, when you know one of these kings, you can't never find nothing in the Word of God. They already know because, see, they're holding a dead book in their hands and when you come up with any lie, they attack you back with historical revelation. There's no lie if they got a dead book, but they attack you with historical revelation and persuasive argument. You think God's trying to show us something? So, let's read that again now in Galatians 6, verse 13. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the law themselves. That's religious. But they desire to have you circumcised that they can boast in your flesh. But may it never be that I should boast except in the cross over Lord Jesus Christ to which the world abdied the world, crucified the world, and the world to me. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but what is something? Faith by becoming a new creation. All things have passed away. All things have become new. You turn from all the works of the flesh. You become a new creation. And those, verse 16, who will watch. If you go to watch in this room, you'll have peace and you'll receive mercy upon them, upon the who. Glory be to God. There's Israel. And they're not trying to make a good choice. I wish we had no doubt. Hell is turned loose in this earth right now. And destruction. And you'll see it on the people's faces. You see it. The powers of darkness are moving in. And they're destroying people. In fact, if you learn a little light the enemy wants to give you a little spiritual pride over it then. And so you're shut down. I'm going to tell you something. We've got a little light. Just remember that we've learned enough to just know that we don't know what we ought to know. The only one that knows it all is Jesus. When you wake up first thing in the morning, your trust is going to have to be in Him. He's the only one that leads you at all times. And when you let your heart turn aside to anything else, you've got an idol and you've got a hardened heart. And a hardened heart can never, ever possess the land. A hardened heart can never possess the land. Now listen to me. We're going to go back to Hebrews 10, but we're going to have to deal with this thing a little more about practicing sin. And just to make it get a little clearer to you, and it's just the Bible just full of it. Once the Lord moves, moves all right, you're going to see it. You just don't want this way. But a hardened heart, you choose an idol. That's what makes it hardened. And when you choose an idol, you can't possess the land. And if you don't possess the land, you can't be sanctified and without the sanctification. That's Hebrews 12, verse 18 says. Without the sanctification, you're not going to receive the Lord. And that whole chapter 11, 12 is about faith, isn't it? It'd be interesting some of the things you're looking in there to get. I mean, what faith really is. And then Hebrews 12 shows you that you'll receive reproof, and you'll receive discipline. This concludes tape number 10. Please fast-forward this tape to return it to the beginning. Please proceed to tape number 11 where this message continues. For additional tapes, write Be Fruitful and Multiply, Post Office Box 160065, Irving, Texas, 75016. That's Post Office Box 160065, Irving, Texas, 75016.