In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of understanding God's promises and the truth of the gospel. He refers to Paul's teachings in Romans and Galatians to highlight the assurance that God has sworn to give His people a land flowing with milk and honey. However, the preacher also warns that not everyone will receive this promise, as it is contingent upon obeying the voice of the Lord. He uses examples from the book of Joshua and Exodus to illustrate the consequences of disobedience and the need to keep God's commandments in order to experience the fullness of His blessings.

Now, I want to talk to you tonight concerning the Promised Land. I think I'll stand up. I never thought it was a good thing to lounge and preach. I don't think it's too good to lounge and listen either. I'll stand up. And I want, then, by the grace of God, to deal with this wonderful subject of the Promised Land, and under the great theme of the land that floweth with milk and honey. Now, to you people of Rorah, this should not be a strange title. And though the country out here doesn't flow with milk and honey, you have both milk and honey on premises, I believe. And that's very, very wonderful. And what a simple and delightful way God has, thus, of talking about the particular land into which he was going to lead his people, Israel. You understand simply what it means, don't you? And I suppose that when you think of other things, like you might read in the New Testament about the river of the water of life, you may well wonder sometimes why such a thing was not mentioned when God spoke of the Promised Land. Why didn't he say, it's a land that floweth with the rivers of the water of life? Well, simply because you are to understand that except the rivers of the water of life did flow, there wouldn't have been any milk flowing and any honey flowing. Because obviously the rivers of the water of life, he said it was a land that was cleft with rivers. You may read this in Deuteronomy chapter 11. These supplied the grass in the meadows that the cows ate, that produced the milk. And they supplied and fed the flowers that the bees, from which the bees extracted their nectar and so on. So that the honey was made. And this, if you like, is a stage further on. And speaks of, to us, that wonderful statement of the Lord when he said that I've come that you might have life. You don't have that unless the river of water of life is flowing through your whole spiritual manhood. And that you might have it more abundantly and this of course will result in the milk and the honey flowing in your life. You will know also too that milk stands for the simplest basic form of natural food and nourishment. And that honey stands for the simplest basic sweetness. Natural sweetness. Natural basic nourishment and sustenance. And this should be the state of the natural man when he has been redeemed by the Lord, baptized in the Holy Spirit. This, when the Lord has done his great work in the life, we should then be reduced to something wonderfully wholesome. Naturally, by the supernatural supply of the Holy Ghost. Flowing with milk and honey. Everything sweet. Nothing artificial. Nothing at all. Just natural, wonderful, sweet. No roots of bitterness anywhere to produce anything that's bitter and ugly and distorted. But just this basic condition. Now I want to talk to you about that then a little tonight and I want to take some of the references. I don't often preach in the Old Testament, do I? But I'm going to tonight. And I want you to follow these references with me in your Bible. I would like to have had time to have taken every single reference. There aren't so many references to this particular phrase in the Old Testament as you may think. Because, you know, it's so sung up in our sort of gatherings, you know, flowing with milk and honey, caning and, you know, bells and jingles and all that sort of thing. It's so sung about and talked about in certain circles that you would think the Bible was plastered with it. But actually, the phrase land flowed with milk and honey doesn't come so many times as you might, as I have said, by these means, come to think of. Let's start, shall we, in where we ought to start. And if I asked you where the first occurrence of the word came, you might be fine guessing. So I'll tell you. We'll look into Exodus, in the book of Exodus, where you will remember, I'm quite sure, Moses was, in the third chapter, keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he was in the backside of the desert, and he comes to God's mountain. You all ought to have Bibles, you know. Just supply these young ladies with Bibles, will you? Because they're going to take quite a lot of references and scriptures. There you are. Isn't that a Bible on the arm of the chair? That's right. So that we can look through these references together and see what God has to say. And of course, if it's written in the book, we shan't have any difficulty about whether it's true or not, and we ought not to have any difficulty about whether we ought to believe it or not, and we ought not to have any difficulty that if we say we believe it, that it becomes part of our life. If not, we don't believe it, we're just telling lies, or deceiving ourselves, or something of this nature. And so we'll look in this book. And God says this in the third chapter, verse 6, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cries by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the land of Egypt, and to bring them out of that land unto a good land, and a large, and to a land flowing with milk and honey. There it is. Now we're introduced to it. This isn't a phrase that's been dreamed up by some man in an ecstasy of poetic bliss to describe something in the fanciful talk of his imaginative heart. It is something that God said. He has called this land flowing with milk and honey, God himself. Praise the Lord. If you check this up in Deuteronomy chapter 11, you will find he says that he's had his eye on this. This is the land. He's had his eye on it. Wait a minute. Praise God. He's had his eye on that land. He saw that it was literally flowing with milk and honey. Not a figure of speech. And it was a marvelous thing. And this is so. Now, I don't know in my own heart, I don't know you each well enough, not all of you, to know whether you're in this delightful experience in your own spiritual life. For you will know that what God promised to ancient Israel, literally, geographically, and all the lovely things that go with it materially, he has promised us spiritually. And in Christ, we enter into that which is far greater than having literal milk or literal honey. Far, far greater. And you must always know that anything you see outwardly is only a figure of the true. It's far better, for instance, to have music in your soul than to listen to all the greatest symphonies being played by all the grandest orchestras of the world. You understand that, don't you? They only make music, but it was first in Beethoven's mind and soul, or Mozart's, or any of these others. It was there first. Do you understand that? This that you hear with the outward, that which you see or handle with the outward, they're only symbols and figures of the true. This is what we've got to understand so clearly, that there is that which God intends us all to have as positive, present, glorious experience. Now I say I don't know whether I know you all. I don't think I do know you all intimately enough to know whether this is true of you. Now, we're going to see how it can be true. We're going to see not only how it can be true of us, but how it can be maintained, and that's a big thing. For there are lots of people who have gasping moments where they glimpse something and they get tips, or they drink a nice pint of this milk, you know, but to be in the river where it's flowing, they get a little taste of this wonderful sweet condition inside, and then bitterness, hardness, sourness, they don't seem to know that God intends us to live in this glorious and wonderful condition. Why? It's so wonderful, for instance, this honey of the Bible, that if you're in the midst of the hardest battle, just a taste of it causes your countenance to shine and your eyes to lighten up. Do you remember that story in the Bible? The man who just sort of dipped in some honey in the chase, and he was refreshed. Go on, all right, I won't tell you. If you don't know, you should know. Sinking salts there, and all that. But nevertheless, there's illustration of it. And it's so glorious, beloved, to be able to be in this. Now, this is why so many people go down in battle, you see. They don't know this wonderful sweetness. They don't know the source of these things. All kinds of things go wrong in the life. But I don't want to stop on little sidelines of illustration. The Lord has privileged you to have a Bible to find those things out for yourself. You know, one of the great things that God did to Peter was give him some keys. That's right, you see. And I only want to give you keys. That's all I want to do. And you're to unlock all the doors. That's what you've got a Bible for. You're not to bother about all the other things. You're to see what this book says. Do you understand that? No, you ought to take that right to your heart. That's a command from God. That's not an idea I'm trying to serve. We're all to stop messing about. The other things don't matter. It doesn't matter whether you get a wonderful house and a lovely car or a top job or something. That's nothing. Nothing at all. Do you understand that? You're not to slave yourself to death just to get those things. You're to keep using the keys that God puts in your hand. That's what God will account us all concerning. Now, we're going to get down to this book then. Because, you see, this is a blessed and wonderful experience for us all to enter into. Turn with me next into the book of Deuteronomy. And in the book of Deuteronomy and the 26th chapter, we'll take a reading, shall we? You see, we've got a weekend together. It won't matter if we carry on without going to bed, will it? Keep on going on and on and on and on. You see? Wonderful. And in the 26th chapter of this wonderful book, we read this, what shall we say? Verse 1. It shall be, God's talking to them, When thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possesses it, dwellest therein, that thou should take of the first, the first, the first, you understand, of all the fruit of the earth, the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land, that the Lord thy God giveth thee, to put it in a basket, to go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name. Thou shalt go unto the priest that shalt be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God that I am come into the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers, for to give us amen. I'd like to read it all, but time's not going to serve us. Verse 8. The Lord brought us forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders, and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. You see, it's right. God said that's what it was. They didn't know. You see? And now they're actually confessing it, professing it, you see? Verse 3. I profess this day. Praise God. This is wonderful. And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God and worship before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee and unto thine house. Thou and the Levite and the stranger that is among you. When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase, the third year, which is the year of tithing. Yes, besides the tithing you have to do every week, of course. And hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates and be filled. Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house. Terrible thing to keep hallowed things in your house if they are supposed to belong to God. And also have given them unto the Levite and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me. I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them. Now, I want to tell you, if a man under law could say that, people under grace ought to be able to say they haven't. Not to say go to bed every night and confess they've sinned again in the day. Here's a man under law saying he hasn't done it. That's what God's telling them there to say too. It's no fancy of their own. God's telling them, I have not. Praise God. Isn't that wonderful? Yes, I think we'll go on, shall I? I have not eaten thereof in my morning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead. But I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. Amen, that's wonderful. Now, listen, the result of it. Look down from thy holy habitation from heaven and bless thy people Israel and the land which thou hast given us as thou swearest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey. Praise God. Fancy encouraging people to come before God and tell him they haven't sinned. How about that? That's in your Bible. I didn't write it. I like to say that. I believe it. Do you? You see, now these are the conditions for asking for blessing. Now bless us, Lord. Not that the man's got to wait till he's perfect before he can ever ask for blessing. We're in a day of grace now, you see. Blessing was consequent upon keeping the law. But now we're blessed so that we can keep God's laws of the Spirit. We're in a different way altogether. This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments. Thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart and with all thy soul. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes and his commandments and his judgments and to hearken unto his voice. And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people as he hath promised thee and that thou shouldest keep his commandments and to make thee high above all nations which he hath made in praise and in name and in honour and that thou mayest be a holy people of the Lord thy God. Jesus Christ. Wonderful. I would have loved to have read all that chapter but you can do the rest of it. Dear them, it is being fulfilled. He's brought them to this place and he's telling them all that's going to happen and all that's going to be so gloriously fulfilled. And they were anticipating a time and they were standing on the borders of the land now when they should be skipping up into the third year with their baskets full of everything. Not only milk and honey. This is the basic condition. But now everything to God. Everything being brought to the Lord. The token of it all in giving the tenth for the tithe was only a token. That's all. And they were to bring them there and they were to rejoice and sing and shout and praise the Lord because they were in this wonderful place. That was going to be in three years time. It was so real. It was so real. They were going to have so much. And beloved, let me ask you a question. Am I speaking about your condition when I read this? For this is what it all is about. That you and I should be in this glorious place with God. But there are lots of people who never get there and I'll tell you why they don't ever get there. Let's have a look in the book of Numbers. Though God has provided it, they never get there. And if we look into the 16th chapter of Numbers, we will read about Korah and Dathan and Abiram. You see that in verse 1. And there was a great rebellion. They got 250 princes famous in the congregation, verse 2. And they gathered, verse 3, they gathered themselves against Moses and against Aaron and they said all sorts of things that were lies and so on and so on. And among the great lies that they said was this. When Moses and Aaron called for them, Moses in verse 12, Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliah, which said, We will not come up. Is it a small thing, now you listen to this lie, that thou hast brought us up out of a land that flows with milk and honey to kill us in this wilderness except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us and so on. Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey and so on and so on. And Moses was very rough in verse 15. But what I want you to see is this. Some people never get into this place of the land that flows with milk and honey because they've got lying imaginations in their own soul. And they think it's better in the world. They say contrary. Now this is the sin. They say it's better in the world. It's the world that's flowing with milk and honey. That's what they say. And did you notice when we started to read in Exodus chapter 3, when God went to them in the land of Egypt, the thing he said was this. I'm going to bring them up out of this land into a good land that flows with milk and honey because Egypt was a bad land. It was not a good land. It didn't flow with milk and honey. It flowed with their blood from the taskmaster's whips. That's what he did. You see? But here's how a heart can get so distorted and deceived. Searches about in Egyptian things or worldly things trying to find its basic nourishment and sustenance and sweetness there. And they go and say, see pictures made by men and women who have not an ounce of sweetness in them. Their lives are ruined and rotten right through. They go and you know the way the world goes on. It doesn't lie there. Nothing in the world comes from anything that's sweet and nourishing. My word. It's all rotten and impure and guaranteed to blast and destroy you. That's why God brought the people out of it. Don't you see? But here they were and these people were priests. Priests. Telling the people that it's best in the world. We're not very far removed from it today. Not very far removed from it if we are. These were people that swung the censors. Incense. Telling them it's better in the world. Yes. Lying to them. Absolutely lying to them. Deceiving their own selves. You see. Why, beloved. Take the word of some real men of God. Turn with me into the 13th chapter, will you? And in the 13th chapter we'll see what some real men of God say. Here they are. And verse 17. Moses sent them to spy out this great land of Kadesh. You see. And they went into that land and they come back. And this is what they say. And they went and came to Moses, verse 36, and to Aaron. And to all the congregation of the children of Israel and to the witness of Perun to Kadesh. And brought that word unto them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of that land. And they told him and said, We came under the land with our citizens and surely it floweth with milk and honey. This is the fruit of it. Here you are, you see. Bless the Lord. Ah, it was absolutely true. And there are those people who are like those spies, Joshua and Caleb. These particular two. They've been in. And they got the fruit of it, too. I can show you. Here it is. You understand this, don't you? They didn't bring back a cow and a beehive. But they did bring back a wonderful bunch of grapes. It took two men to carry it. Slung on a pole. Now this is it, beloved. You see. And in the mouth of two witnesses this word of God was established. And it was there. And isn't it true? Now you read about Joshua and Caleb. They went in and came back for the benefit of those who hadn't gone in yet and told them what it was like. But you follow their histories. Joshua latterly became the great leader when Moses died. And Caleb became the great man who at eighty years of old said he was strong now when he was eighty to go out to war and to come in as he was when he was forty. That's what he said. And he was a man. And he said, Give me this mountain. Who's up there? Giants. Give it to me, he said. That's right. What about them? Give it to me. This is my territory. Just give it to me, Joshua. And you know Joshua stands for Jesus. Caleb says, Just give it to me, Jesus. That's right. Hallelujah. Now isn't this a marvellous thing? And he very soon showed them. An old man of eighty. Because, beloved, he knew and it was true. He entered into the land and did he enter. It flowed with milk and honey. Ten other men entered in and came back. Defeated. Same land. It was still flowing with milk and honey. They'd drunk some of the milk while they'd been in. They tasted some of the honeyed upness. They'd actually eaten some of the fruit, no doubt. They were there long enough. Had to live on something while they were there. Because they never entered in. They had a little excursion over to come back. They never entered in. Praise the name of the Lord. And there are lots of people like this. They have an excursion over and come back because they don't go in the right way. That's right. They don't go in the right way. You understand that, don't you? That's why some people, they think, Oh, bless, it's milky and honey. And you know, Oh, it's marvelous. But you know, if you get alongside of them, that they're not in. You know they're not. See? Because they don't go in the right way. I don't know whether I ought to stop now and show you the right way. But that's not my particular pursuit tonight. I want to just take this thing with you, taking it through. Look, for instance, in the book of Joshua. In the book of Joshua. And the fifth chapter. Verse six. The children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord, unto whom the Lord sware that he would not show them the land, which the Lord sware unto their fathers that he would give us. A land that floweth with milk and honey. You see? Now God has sworn that he won't give people this land that floweth with milk and honey. Even though he swore in the beginning he'd give it, but there are some people to whom he will not give it. He can't have it. You see? Do you want to know who those people are? Here it is. They obeyed not the voice of the Lord. They are the people. They never give it. They cannot have this wonderful, basic, lovely, nourished and sweet condition. They can't have it. Their natures don't change from sour and bitter and hard to sweet and nourishing and good. They don't change. You know they don't. You've only got to live with them or work with them or be with them very long in a church where you can get side by side with them. You'll very soon know it's not happened. Listen to them in their business transactions. Listen to them in anything. You've got to listen to them everywhere. You know they're not in. It doesn't matter what they say. God's sworn they won't. I tell you when God swears it's tremendous. And he blotted them out. Blotted them out. And yet in the beginning he'd said, I've come down to take them out of Egypt and take them into the land of Floeth. That's what he'd said. But he didn't do it. And I want to tell you this. God cannot fulfill his promises to anyone who does not obey his voice. He can't do it. Even though he's gone on oath at Calvary in the blood of his son, he can't do it unless you obey his voice. Because all this wonderful milk and honey and sweetness and nourishment and basic loveliness of human nature was in his son. The son that was slain. And the blood flowed from this wonderful inward state of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't obey his voice when he calls us in these days, and God knows whether you obey or whether you don't. You do too, don't you? That's right. You can't come into the soul that shed the blood. For he poured out his blood on the cross and you remember it says in Isaiah 53, he poured out his soul under death. That's what it says. Do you remember? That's what it says. His soul was poured out under death. All the lovely, natural, glorious sweetness and the purity and loveliness of him as well as his spirit being God in human flesh. See? Marvelous. That you and I should have it. This is what he meant when he said, I lay down my life. That is your Greek word, I lay down my soul. What is she? They should have it, my soul. See? You should become a lovely, sweet soul. Beautiful. Glorious. Flowing with milk. Flowing. Now God wants us here, beloved, and we've got to come here. And another reason, beloved, why people never really get in or this really, this great state is in the Exodus again. Let's go back to Exodus. And this time I want to look into chapter 13. And this 13th chapter is altogether a wonderful chapter. You know it follows the 12th wherein we're told of the great Passover, where the Lamb was slain. In picture and type of Calvary, where the Lamb was slain and the blood had to be put on the lintels and on the doorpost of the houses where they were. And God saw the blood. And this great 13th chapter follows it when the Lord in consequence of that had brought them out. Alright. And in the 13th chapter, this is what we read. Verse 5. When the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites which he swear unto thy fathers to give thee a land flowing with milk and honey that thou shalt keep this service in this month. There's something about keeping here. Keeping. Take this word keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread. In the seventh day there shall be a feast unto the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten. Seven days. And there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee. Neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. And I shall show thy son in that day saying this is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. What? What did the Lord do? The Canaanites. Did he do anything with them? They had to do something with the land. What did he do with them? What did he do with them? They had to sprinkle the blood. They had to eat the land. They had to have their loins girt. They had to have all that. But you don't read in Exodus 12 that God did anything to them. But they're saying God did you know. God did something to me when the land was slain. That's what you're supposed to be saying. And I want to tell you you'll never get into the Promised Land unless this happens. And if you're in, if you get in, you won't stay in there unless you keep this. What is it? Well, you know what leaven stands for in the Bible, do you? Sin. It stands for the sin in its inner, secret, hidden workings in the heart and in the whole life permeating everything. You can't stop leaven once it's in dough. You can't stop it except by putting it in the fire. You can't stop it working. Do you understand that? That's why Pentecost had to follow Calvary. The fire had to come. Do you see that? Fire came at Pentecost. These men had to be put in the fire in an initial putting in. And it's only that that stops the working of the leaven. And the only thing, beloved, that can qualify you to be in a soul state of flowing with milk and honey is that you've had God deal with sin in your life. All of it. The lot. I've already said this. These men of old could come and say to God, We've not sinned, Lord. We've kept your commandments. How about that? Do you know, Paul could say that as touching the law he was perfect. Saul of Tarsus, he was perfect as touching the righteousness which was in the law. Perfect! And yet there are those who tell us we can't be perfect as touching righteousness in Christ. God forgive them and save us from them. Hallelujah! And this is it, beloved. You see, this is what... And God ordered of seven days of eating unleavened bread, leaven wasn't to be seen. Not even a bit of leavened bread. Not a bit of leavened fresh among you. Now then, no sin anywhere. Neither leavened itself. Why, what a tremendous thing. And they kept it. Now they have a feast of it on the Sabbath too. Hallelujah! This is wonderful what God's done for us. Hallelujah! Do you know, if I want to laugh and skip and shout and sing, this is the thing I laugh and shout about. That God's dealt with sin in me. That's right. Because sin will pollute any milk. Leaven can't stop working once you put it in dough. It starts immediately. It works in a temperature, you know, in the heats of the flesh. You have to put it into a greater temperature in the fire of the Holy Ghost before it will stop. That's right. That's why God baptised people in the Holy Ghost and fire. Do you see that? Plain as a pike star to me, that is. I wish it was for everybody. It's as simple as ABC. You don't have to work anything up. Well, it's easier than going to sleep to understand this. It's simple. And God, this is what they said, you see. You swore, Lord, you swore to our fathers. You swore it to Paul. He preached it and wrote it in Romans. You swore it to these great fathers of the church. You swore it to give it to us, the children. Hallelujah. That's what Paul said. I didn't give it to anybody. So that the truth of the Gospel should remain with you. Galatians chapter 6. Don't worry about these reverend coming in privately, secretly to spy out our liberty. Liberty, what from? Sin. Our liberty in the love of Christ. Our liberty and freedom. He said, you know why I did that? I didn't give into them for one minute. He said, no fear. So that the truth might continue. I'm in the land because of my father. Because God's my father, I know. And here's the wonder of the Gospel that God swore to himself that he'd do it. God said, I'll do it. Hallelujah. He's done it. He interposed himself by an oath. Hebrews chapter 6. That's what he did. He put himself in there to deal with all sin by an oath. Look what it cost him, but he did it. To bring sin to death. To stop it. Hallelujah. What a wonderful thing this is, beloved. This is why lots of people never get there. Now isn't this right? The thing that spoils the sweetness of homes and relationships and fellowships is sin. Now isn't it? That's the thing that does it. Everything goes along smoothly and then something happens and he loses his temper. You see, or something like that. Worst of it is he still says praise the Lord when he goes to church. That's the worst of it. Covering it up. Instead of getting it dealt with. You don't praise the Lord for those sort of things. This parrot-like repetition of praise. God save us all from that too. Let it be that real that God Almighty feels it. By the Spirit. Let's go on. Because you see, beloved, you've got to understand some precious things. Look into the Levitical book this time. In the book of Leviticus. And when we get to the great book of Leviticus, we'll get to the 20th chapter. Now look, I'll tell you what you must do. You must read through these great truths yourselves. Take them out of their legality, but keep the principle of them, the principle of righteousness, proper conduct. Keep that, because in Christ, who fulfilled all that, he's now given it to you, having fulfilled that, so you ought to find it easy to keep the commandments that were commanded the old people. You ought to find it a nature and a life and a sweetness and a joy. You understand that? You ought to read these things through. They still hold today when it says a man mustn't carnally lie with a beast or a woman mustn't do this or that or the other with a man. They still hold today why women must dress themselves decently and so must men behave themselves properly. You ought to read these things. They hold today. Keep it very clear. And when you get into this great 20th chapter of Leviticus, it says this, verse 22. You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments and do them that the land whither I bring you to dwell therein spew you not out. Think of that. And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nations which I cast out before you. They committed all these things therefore I abhorred them. But I have said unto you you shall inherit their land and I will give it unto you to possess it a land that floweth with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God which hath separated you from other people. You shall therefore put difference between clean and unclean and so on. Verse 26. You shall be holy unto me. Doesn't matter what you are to other people in this sense. It's what you are to me. You shall be holy unto me. For I the Lord am holy and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine. A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them. So, God goes right on. What a tremendous thing beloved for us to see this great thing. People cannot maintain their milk and honey sweetness and wholesomeness, beloved simply because they will not be holy unto the Lord. Severed. Different from everybody else. They won't be. They think, oh one, you shouldn't be different. I talked to a girl, not so long ago, a young woman. And she came to me and said, Mr. Norton, can I talk to you? I said, yes, you may. There's a crowd in the room so we retire to the mantelpiece, you see, where everybody is and we start to talk. And she said, now whilst I've been in such and such a place, I've been going to some psychology classes. She went all through this, she said. And I went there because I felt that if I could, I could help people that were in it, you see. I said, now look here, my dear. If you wanted to help people with cancer, would you go and catch cancer? Oh, no. I said, that's enough then. See, you're to be severed from it. That nonsense about getting into it because you could help others is a lot of absolute nonsense that came out of hell if ever you did. Do you train people, do you train people to be drunkards in order to arrest people that get drunk? It's a lot of stupid nonsense. This is all part of the stupid psychiatric psychology that's being put out. It's out of the pit. You're to be holy, separate, severed, not just separate, but absolutely cut off. Cut off. In everything. That's what God says. You'll keep your milk and honey sweetness then. It don't matter if other people want saccharine sweetness, let them have it. It's bitter enough. Let them have it. Or even if they want sugar sweetness, let them have that. That has to be manufactured. Let you and I keep the wonderful flowing honey. As long as you don't offer it to God, you mustn't offer honey for sacrifices. You understand that? There's only one you must offer to God, and that's Jesus. He had no honey on him. None. He was just like a butchered lamb. That's right. You're not... You see, nothing of your sweet nature, even when it's redeemed, that's not to get mixed up with what Christ has done. We've got to keep this absolutely separate. But in our own time, we're separate, beloved, from the world. God says, I give you this land to possess it so that you can say it's mine. Have you got a river of milk in your land? Yeah, I've got a river of milk in my land. You've got a river of honey? Yes, I've got rivers of honey in my possession. Glorious. Of course, you can't deceive people. People know whether you're sweet or not. And the Lord would have us all in this wonderful place, beloved, where he can deal with us all the time. And we're in full possession. Well, are you holy? Really. Do you want to be what God wants you to be? We read it, didn't we? A peculiar people. Separated. You must put difference between clean and unclean. You must. You must. You've got to put difference between clean and unclean. In everything. In your reading. In things you look at. In things you listen to. That's right. You've got to put the difference. The Lord teaches all and helps us. And he will by his Spirit, beloved, if we will walk in his ways. This time, let's go on to Deuteronomy again, shall we? I know the time is going on. And I didn't mean to say that I'd keep you up all night. I didn't really mean it. And I said it. No, I was only joking. And in Deuteronomy chapter 6, we read this. We'll quickly take these, but I want you to take them as a check. Verse 3. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with thee, and you may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Increase mightily. How about that? Increase. What a tremendous thing. Beloved. In other words, God doesn't want you to be a sort of a spy that goes in, has a bit of a drink, and a lovely taste, and comes out, you see, even though you're carting a big bunch of grapes around with you. He wants you to be in there, stay in there, and increase mightily. Oh, this is what he wants. Now, God wants people in this state. See, I go in with my wife. I'm going back to the land of Israel now. I go over to Jordan. I'm in. I'm settled in. Now I have a family. Family. Sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters. This is it. Hallelujah. And this, now, in the spiritual sense, this is right. Absolutely right. Everybody in. Enjoying it. Increasing. Let's go on to the 11th chapter. I've already touched on it. I'm giving you a key. There's a key tonight, you see. You can study these things out. In the 11th chapter, and in verse 8. Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that you may be strong and going to possess the land, whether ye go to possess it, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give unto the man to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey. There it is. And you can read down this chapter and get the contrast between this land and Egypt in the same chapter. We won't do that now. You may do that. You see. Prolong your days. Day after day after day after day. Prolong. Not in for a while and out. In for a day and out for a month. Like some people think. This is the Christian life. No, beloved. There is one long, steady, glorious enjoyment of it all. Prolong. This is what it says. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong their day. And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. Amen. This is it. He sees his seed. He knows those who are in. He sees them. He sees the children. He knows whether you are of the seed of life that was sown in the earth at Calvary. He knows whether you are or not. They took him down and put him in the ground. Now he knows whether you are of it. If you are, you will have had a resurrection. Glory. It's a tremendous thing, beloved, to be buried with Christ. So that you can rise up in all that wonder. And prolong your days there. Oh, this is a marvelous thing that God has planned. I thank him. He hasn't planned and provided or promised a few fragrant moments and then darkness. But that it's an ever increasing, mightily growing, prolonged experience. Week in, week out. Month in, month out. Year in, year out. Because what are these time measurements? We've entered an eternal life. What are these time measurements? Praise God. It's got to be there. Hallelujah. No matter if it's day or night. There. All the time. Have a look at the 27th chapter. And in the 27th chapter, this is what it says. Moses said unto the elders of Israel. Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when you shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster. And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayst go unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. Therefore it shall be, when ye be gone over Jordan, ye shall set up these stones which I command you this day in Mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God. An altar of stones. Thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones. Thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there and rejoice before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones of the altar, the very altar, all the words of the law, very plainly. In other words, the law was never to be dissociated from the altar. Never. Hallelujah. You keep that very clear. And this is it, beloved, so that you shall see the thing always, the great sacrifice that was wholly accepted, the sweet-smelling burnt offering offered to God for you, beloved. And so I want to tell you that the baptism of the Holy Ghost brings this fire of that burnt offering down upon you. Do you understand that? That sweet-smelling whole burnt offering, you know, the fire came down on their heads as they consumed them wholly for God. And there on the very stones where it all took place, where the peace offering also ascended. All written. These, beloved, were the gateway into the land. When they passed over, there they were, the twin monks, Chorazin, Ebal, praise the Lord. To them they were the gateway into all. What a tremendous thing then, beloved. Now, do you want to be there? I want to tell you this. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. I'll pray the Father, he'll give you another comforter. You see, you just keep my commandments, I do the praying, you just do the obeying. You just do the obeying, you needn't ask then, I'll just pray. Isn't it marvellous? This will cut your prayer life down, 95% of the things you pray, and then let you out into a 200% different kind of prayer life. Do you see? I've often said I won't preach on prayer because it'll be so different from what the general people preach when they preach about prayer. It's this that does it, beloved. You just obey, I'll pray. Look at that, better than that. Honey, praise him. Just keep the commandments. I'm not going to keep running back to Ebal to remind me either. Tomorrow morning if we break bread and drink wine, it isn't so that we should dash back and have a look. Do you understand that? No, Sunday morning, sorry. I'd forgotten it was Friday. Ah, little buddy. Ah, remembrance of him. Not Calvary, him. Him. Him. Glory. This is what he said himself, do it in remembrance of me. Do it in remembrance of Calvary. That's right. Isn't it good we didn't write the Bible? It would be altogether different from what we wrote the Bible. It would be altogether different. Or would it? Here's the tremendous thing. Just keep my commandments. That's all I want you to do. And you know this is the simplicity of maintaining this glorious life. You just keep his commandments. You don't do anything else but what he commands you to do. Just keep living. Then he says something to you. Just do it. That's all. Simple as that. Oh, but I thought it was buying this and doing that and going through all these exercises, genuflections, capers and what not. Nothing to do with it. You don't do that. You just listen to him. That's all you do. It's a marvelous thing. Do you have his sweetness? Oh, it's all so glorious. I think we'll draw up tonight in Ezekiel. Let's go to the book of Ezekiel. And in the wonderful book of Ezekiel, I suppose we all know it, don't we? In this lovely 20th chapter. The Echadogah Pass is the seventh year and the fifth month. The tenth day of the month that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord and sat before me. Then came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel. Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you. Wilt thou judge them? Son of man, wilt thou judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. In the day when I chose Israel and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt. When I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am Jehovah your Elohim. In that day, in the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had aspired for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands. Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes. And defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Jehovah your Elohim. But they rebelled against me and would not hearken unto me. They did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes. You're not told this in Exodus 12 are you? You're not told them, you're not told that secretly in those bundles they did up on their backs they put idols, you're not told that, hiding them whilst pretending to be under the blood, whilst pretending to eat the lamb, whilst pretending to obey God. But you see, the Holy Ghost has seen it. He doesn't record it until he gives it to the prophet Ezekiel. You see, God sees those things that we think he doesn't see. Because he doesn't make a big fuss and a bother about it all the time, and bore us out, you see, we think we got away with it. But you can't get away with anything. That's the thing you've got to see. I said, cast ye away every man his abominations of his eyes. Defile not yourselves, verse 7, with the idols of Egypt. You see, I am the Lord, your God, but they rebelled against me. Wouldn't happen unto me. They did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. You ought to read that 20th chapter. It will open your eyes about why people can't maintain, who can't keep the message. Why? Why? Because they keep the abominations of their eyes. Lots of them. You like to look at things, look on things, peep for things, seek for things. Don't you? In the secret, in the dark. Do you? Do you? You say, well, this is a complete, this is a tremendous thing, this salvation. Of course it is. God wasn't playing when he gave his son, hang on, a cross. You understand this, don't you? You see? You defile yourself. That's what it is. How can you? What do you do when a cow gets defiled, father? You know. Gives wrong milk, doesn't it? That's right. Do you know you can alter the flavor of honey by just shifting your hives to a different place? Not immediately. Say, this is lime. Oh, that's clover. That's heather. Don't go into producing heather, honey, because it's too expensive to produce. Yeah. You see, you can say, yeah, I know the flavors. That's right. You can tell the flavor. You know, beloved, it's so wonderful when God starts to deal. And you know, you can get the Pentecostal flavor in fun, honey. Yeah. That's right. You get the holiness flavor in some. That's right. You can get the flavor of, well, I won't start naming. I won't. But, oh, beloved, you know, if you've been feeding on the flowers of Eden in his heart, okay, if you have, if you've not refused to walk with him in paradise, what a wonderful thing it is, beloved, to live here, for Canaan was to be like a sort of a glorified paradise. That's right. All the devils were to go out. All the people that had any wrong kind of spirits were out. Familiar spirits, you see. Out. Because you can't be familiar with God with a familiar spirit. You're only familiar with the devil. Or with other human beings. You're never familiar with God. People have a familiar spirit and they say, they're psychic. You can't get familiar with God with a psychic spirit. You could. Sukey it is. You've got to get familiar with another soul. That's all. Human being. You can't get familiar with God. You can get familiar with what's going on in another soul and people think you've got a gifted spirit. Deceived. You understand? Lots of these people are about, passing for great men in Pentecostal circles. You and I are here to know God. And you can only get familiar with God one way. And that's by the Holy Ghost. For he's familiar with God the Father and God the Son. That's right. That's the only way. You can't get familiar with God in any other way. And when you get familiar with God, by this great spirit of God, your soul will flow with milk and honey. You'll be delectable. Sweet. People will want to spread you all over their bread. Yeah, let that sink in. I'm not just saying stupid things. People will want to spread you all over their bread. Now may the Lord bless us. You see, just listen to what it says in verse 6. I lifted up mine hand unto them to bring them forth of the land of Egypt. Now you can't stay in anything of the world and have this. Now you've got to make your choice, one or the other. Make it now. Make it deep. Make it eternal. All right? The land that I spied for them, praise God, flowing with milk and honey. Listen. It's the glory of all the lands. There you are. It's the most glorious condition a human being can know on the earth. Amen. You come to the glory. The glory. Amen. The glory. Because you've let God deal with sin. This is what God did with me in the day He brought me up. When God, He deals with it. I keep this, He said. They said. Moreover, I bring everything to God, praise God, not just a mere measly tithe. I wouldn't so insult God as to offer Him a tithe. Offering only two shillings in the pound. I'd be ashamed of myself. I'm skipping and dancing, praise God, to offer God everything. Hallelujah. Here it is, Lord, what you said. You gave it to me. You spied out this land. Everything's yours. Everything. This is the way you come, beloved, to live. If you want to live, you've got to live carefree as well as scot-free because it's a gift from God and you can't earn it but if you'll obey God, walk in His ways and not argue for Egypt's end. Oh, that's the land of milk and honey. Let's go and drink at their brooks again. Drink at their streams, you see. You get some honeyed or silvered voice singing over the radio or something like this, you see. Drink. You be careful. Especially you people who want a drink of Jim Reeves or somebody like that singing so-called gospel songs. He's an unsaved sinner. Do you understand that? Jim Reeves wasn't saved. I hope they don't play it in your church before the gospel meeting on Sunday nights. Those sort of things. You might as well get the Beatles. It doesn't make any difference. It's not the thing they sing. It's what's coming through. Do you understand? And these people, oh, they've got a marvellous voice. Yeah, I know. So's the devil. Read about him. Tablets and pipes. It says so. In your Bible. It talks about him. See? Hallelujah. Now we're here to be in what God wants us to be in. And if you will be this, that walk in holiness and keep away from sin and let God keep sin out of you and you put zippers between clean and unclean and you put away the abominations of your eyes. You put away the defiling things. Men's eyes and women's eyes lust after things. You've got to put them away. You can't put the temptations away, but you can put your idols away. You put them away. Praise the Lord. And you can let the Lord lead you on, beloved. So can I. I want him to. I want him to this weekend. I want him to lead me on and on and on. When I go home, I said to Bob, I said, I'm looking forward to this weekend being ended, Bob. I said, I should get a rest now before Christmas. Not because I didn't want to come. I'm glad I'm here to share, as it were, my last sort of efforts this year with you here. OK. But I want to go on. And when I'm through, I want to be more what God wants me to be than when I started. Hallelujah. Well, no one asked me a question. Are you in this promised land? Flowing with milk and honey on it. Sometimes just before I go to bed at night, I get in the fridge, and I empty half a bottle of milk in a pan, and I put it on the stove. I turn the switch. It warms up. I pour it into a beaker. I get the honeypot out. I take the spoon in. I squeeze it. I drink it, and I go to bed. Milk and honey, just before I go to bed. It wouldn't matter, though, if I grumbled at my wife just before we went to sleep. See? It wouldn't matter. It wouldn't matter a bit, you see. The Lord wants us to live in this tremendous thing. It wouldn't matter about me drinking milk and honey if I was grumbling at my wife. See? Nothing of that would matter. It wouldn't matter about what I'm saying here tonight to you if I grumbled. Or even when I said I was saying my prayers, I was really grumbling about something that happened today. Oh, Lord, you saw what that is. It's supposed to be praying. That shows that the fountain's wrong. Lots of people's prayers are just their sin. Their prayers are. They're grumbling. All their inward state's coming out. They don't see it. Don't see it. They think they're praying. Oh, Lord. You're going to be able to pray. When you've had a terrible time, you've just got to say, Father, forgive them. That's right. See? Don't believe any of what they're doing. I did this, Lord, and it got terrible. No, I don't believe any of it. I said, don't be silly. They were sensible. They knew they were trusting me. Didn't they know they were knocking nails in Jesus' hands? Didn't they know they were crucifying him? Of course they did. You've got the wrong spirit, man. You think you've got milk and honey. You've got poison there. No wonder. Now may the Lord lead us on into all this. You see what I said about changing the prayer life? You understand now when I say it won't do for me to preach about that because it would be so different from what all the experts are preaching. There's a place, beloved, into which God brings you and you're in the glory of all the earth, of all the lands. You're in the glory. Amen. And you're in possession. And you're in obedience. And you're in severance and separation and holiness and peculiarity. And you're in cleanness. You're there. God. Are you? I feel, beloved, that we ought to pray about this. Oh, it's quarter to ten. Never mind. Let's have a time. You talk to the Lord. If you're not there, now's the time to come. What you do is like the Israelites did when they got into this land and abandoned to Joshua when they got in. And Joshua is Jesus. And you're abandoned to Jesus and you'll be in. Hallelujah.