In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that there is hope for this generation and for the people of God. However, this hope is not found in the world, but in those who align themselves with the armies of heaven and make a total commitment to God. The preacher highlights the importance of receiving a fresh word from God every day, just like the manna provided to the Israelites in the wilderness. God's provision is for a people who desire to be overcomers, and He offers the opportunity for all to be 100-fold overcomers. The preacher also references the story of Abraham and how God orchestrated the timing and circumstances for the great deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt.

I'll just read the verse I read last night, and continue with that for a while. I know, Doug, there are a few here that were not here last night. We spoke in the manna, the manna, the bread that God gave in the wilderness. And here in the letter to the church at Pergamos, we have a promise to the overcomers in the church at Pergamos. John was given a message to each of the seven churches that existed in his day. And those churches existed then, and so the word applies to them then. And they've existed all through the church age, and so the word that God gave to the seven churches was applicable all through the church age. And I think you can somehow, and seemingly with good authority, seem to have been able to pinpoint the different periods of the seven church ages. And we are definitely in the Laodicean age, when the church is saying, even though they've got the word there and they can read it, they're still saying, we're rich and increased with goods, and we need nothing. All you've got to do is turn to the church section in your Saturday evening paper for Friday. And you'll see in Laodicea, we're rich and increased with goods. We've got a big building, we've got a big program, we've got lots of young people, we've got a good choir, we've got orchestras, we're sending out missionaries, we're prospering. I mean, it's as evident as anything can be. We're living in the age of Laodicea. Nevertheless, all these churches are present today, and the seven churches are all present. And God has the same provision for us in this age as He has for all the church ages, and as He had in the day when John was commissioned. He sent forth these letters. We have the same provision for every need. In every one of these churches, there were great needs. And for every one of the churches, there was one who had the answer to every need. The church of Ephesus, these things said he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand. He was in control. He was in control of ministry. He held them in his right hand. But there was a need, but the one who was in control was the answer to that need. The church of Smyrna, there were great needs. But there was one who was the first and the last. The church of Pergamos, great needs. Doctrines of Balaam. Doctrines of Heraclitus. People that were dwelling where Satan's throne was. But there was one in the midst of his church who was the answer. And the answer to the church of Pergamos was the sharp sword with two edges. These things said he which hath the sharp sword with two edges. So it's wonderful to know that now as we're living in the end, and now it's preeminently the Laodicean age of the church, all these churches are here. And he rises up in the midst of his people, the first and the last. He has the seven stars in his right hand. He has the sharp two-edged sword proceeding out of his mouth. His eyes is a flame of fire. And this is God's answer to everything that's wrong with the church. There's been a man rising up in the midst of the church, in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. And he's doing it. He's doing it in a corporate man. Don't cherish in your thoughts, oh, if God would only raise up another Elijah, another Jeremiah, another Ezekiel, another John the Baptist. He's doing that, but it's going to be in a corporate way. It's going to be a corporate way. There's going to be a prophetic people rise up. There's going to be an apostolic people rise up. There's going to be an anointed people. It's going to rise up in this day and hour. And together with Christ as the head, the church and the world are going to see the Son of Man with eyes as a flame of fire, with feet as a burnished brass, with a sharp two-edged sword proceeding out of his mouth. And there is no iniquity in the church that God cannot deal with and that he will not deal with. He's coming to cleanse this church. He's going to purge it. He's going to purify it. He's going to take away all the draughts that he might present this church to himself, himself a glorious church, that having spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing. And in every one of these churches, whether it is in the early church or whether it is in the church age or the church that exists today, the Lord has a message for the overcomer. I don't care what church age men might have lived in, they were able to be overcomers and to be accounted in that great company. We're going to go forth with the Lord Jesus Christ in this day and hour, riding upon white horses whose name is faithful and true and the armies of heaven are going to follow him, also riding upon horses. The time is at hand when God rises up. The Lord Jesus Christ is about you. Come in his glory in the midst of the earth and that glory will be darkness or light. Which will mean death and destruction and devastation all over the earth, but that same glory is going to be a cloud that rests upon his people and the glory that emanates from his people. Never was there a day of greater darkness than today. God says when darkness covers the earth and grows darkness of people, then he says the Lord will arise upon me and his glory shall be seen upon me. So we thank the Lord that there is hope for this generation. There's hope for our young people. There's hope for the people of God. But there's none in the world. But it is in those who see what God is doing and who are allying themselves with the armies of heaven. They are making that total commitment that God requires of his people in this day and hour. Every one of these letters to the churches, we hear these words, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. We emphasized last night that the purpose of the manna that God gave in the wilderness was to satisfy their every daily need. It wasn't something they could store up. It had to be fresh manna every day. It had to be a living word every day from God. They couldn't store it up. They couldn't eat of the stale manna because it bred worms and stank because God had a fresh supply every day. And as men slept in the night, God caused the manna to settle upon the Jew. And when the Jew evaporated, there was this living word from heaven. It wasn't God's ultimate. It was the wilderness food. We are a people who are always inclined to take the part for the whole. God blesses his people and we're so quick, so ready to settle for that. And God's heart has always been intent upon leading his people further and further and further in his ways. But because God does some great thing and it's mighty in our eyes and wonderful, we say this is it. This is what my heart has longed for. I don't want anything more. And there seems to be such a joy and a glory in it that we feel this is it. This is the thing for which our hearts have yearned and prayed and God has done it and now we're satisfied. But God is not satisfied. God is not satisfied until the full intention of his heart has been fulfilled in his people. And that intention is that you and I might be conformed to the image of his Son. And until that happens, God is not satisfied. And how then can we be satisfied if we're hearing what the Spirit is saying to the churches? And so we hear these words over and over again. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying, is saying to the churches. Not what he said yesterday. Not what he said last month. Not what he said last year. Not what he said in the word. Now understand me. I believe this precious word. I've read it from cover to cover many, many times and memorized large portions of it. But like I said last night, it's the blueprint. It's not God's ultimate. It's not God's ultimate. And when the Bible was written and the canon of Scripture was completed, the Holy Spirit did not go back to heaven. And I know they're taught in fundamentalist circles that the Holy Spirit came to bring forth all truth and now it's all there in the Bible and so we don't need them anymore. The Holy Spirit did not go back to heaven. The blueprints of what God is going to do is here in the word. But Jesus Christ is the master builder. Like I said last night, you can have a stack of blueprints eight inches high for some building. It's not enough for you and I to grab those blueprints and quote and say it says this here and it says this here and it says this here and somebody else comes along and another trace says no, but this is the way I see it. He who wrote the Scriptures has the final authority. And the architect who made up the blueprints, he has the final authority. And when the architect comes on the job and they see all these tradesmen arguing as to what the blueprints meant and what the specifications meant, he says it means this. I'm telling you that the Lord Jesus Christ, when he went away, sent his Holy Spirit to be the advocate in the earth, to do in the earth what he is doing in heaven. He came to abide in his temple to accomplish in the earth what Jesus is saying in the heavens. And the time has come when I know God is going to insist that his ministry so abides in him and hears his voice that they're going to speak only what precedeth, what precedeth, other than the mouth of God, what God is saying, not what he says, but what he is saying. He says in the Bible, I don't care. Is he saying it now? If he isn't saying it, shut up! What God is saying is a word to the church of this generation, calling them to repentance, calling them to clean up, calling them to commitment, calling them to put on the holy garments of his righteousness, because God's glory is coming to abide in his temple. He's going to cleanse. He's going to purge. And forget all those far-off doctrines about what God's going to do when the kingdom is coming or in the ages to come. God is saying a word now when he's calling upon his people to clean up, to repent, to hear what the spirit is saying to the churches. I know God's going to insist very shortly that those who stand before God's people to minister to his word are going to speak out from his heart or God's going to shut their mouth. God says to him that overcometh, I will give to Edith a hidden manna. We spoke of the manna, but there was something about that manna that though it satisfied her every need, it was corruptible. It was corruptible. And all her doctrines have been corruptible. They've served a necessary purpose, but they're corruptible by nature. What do I mean? I mean that only that living word that comes forth from the heart of God is going to do what God wants to accomplish today. But in the Ark of the Covenant, in the holiest of all, there was a golden vessel filled with incorruptible manna. It was the same word, but when they took that word and put it in this golden vessel and put it in the Ark of the Covenant, no longer did it go into corruption. And until you and I find ourselves identified with the holiest of all, and with the glory who abides in the holiest of all, we're not going to have that infallible, that incorruptible word. But as we find our place in that golden vessel in the Ark of the Covenant, God has got a people who are going to be the bread of life for this world. You say Jesus is the bread of life? I know he is. As Paul says, you're one bread and you're one body. Jesus didn't stay on the earth more than 40 days after he rose from the dead because he had a better plan. And that better plan was that if he went away, he would send the same spirit that was in him to abide in his body. And his body might be the very fullness of God in the earth. The very fullness of him that filleth all and in all. His body, you and I, the church, the bread of God. God's preparing living bread for the earth. I know he's in heaven, but he's preparing it in the earth. Like his spirit who abides in the earth, who abides in his temple. Bread, the bread of God that is placed in a golden vessel and put in the Ark of the Covenant. It's one thing for me as a vessel to receive of God's bread. And it's a blessing for you and I to receive of God's word. But we're not going to have that incredible word until we, golden vessel and bread and all, are placed in the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy Stone. And perhaps that might explain to us a little more of what Jesus said when he said, Abide in me and I in you. For if a branch abide not in me, it beareth not fruit. Every branch that abideth in me beareth fruit. For apart from me ye can do nothing. Abide in me and I in you. I used to puzzle over that a lot. Still do. Because I know I receive the Lord. I know he dwells within. And so we say, what more could I ask? The Lord dwells in my heart. And then, of course, we're taught that there's something else. Because God wants to baptize us with the Holy Spirit. He wants to fill us with his Spirit. And so we realize, yes, when we were saved, we received a portion of God. But now we must be baptized. We must be immersed. We must be filled with that Spirit. And so we go on to the second phase of God's purposes in the temple. And we receive of his Spirit. We receive gifts and ministries of the Lord. And we've gone a little further. And so we say, well, now we've gone into the holy place and there's gifts and there's true worship and there's ministries. God's raised up ministries in the church. We've got worship and praise. We've got the candlestick. The gifts are functioning. And so that is all. But no, there's another realm. And that other realm is the holiest realm. And in that other realm it's no longer gifts. It's no longer ministries. It's no longer service. It's no longer that which proceeded forth from man at all. God is the light of that realm. It's no longer the light of the candlestick. It's the glory of God himself. It's no longer the table of showbread which they used to eat on the Sabbath day. It's the hidden man and the ark of the covenant. And so there is another realm. Jesus in me, the golden vessel of the Lamb. Wonderful. We don't respond to any of God's blessings. But God's heart cry all through the history of his people was that they wouldn't fall short of his desire. And it's always been God's complaint with his people that they would draw short of his desire. And so writing to the Hebrews, Paul says, He said, I want you to come short of what God has. Come short of it. We always want to come short. Why do we want to draw come short of what God has said? The real reason, of course, is we're not prepared for that total commitment that God requires for a people who would go in all the way. And so we, because of that lack of total commitment, it will be very easy for a people who have not been prepared to commit their all to God. It'll be very easy for them to find a church, a teaching, an organization, someplace where people will minister to them as long as they don't go beyond what their commitment would require. And so, you know, if there isn't total commitment, well, we can go here because, you know, it's compatible with me. I can pretty well run my own life. I'll give my tithes to the church and all that. Maybe I'll help in the, you know, help in the orchestra or choir or Sunday school or something. But, you know, it's not that hard a message. I can go there and feel comfortable. But there's a people who can't feel comfortable for the simple reason that there's a yearning within desiring more than what they now have. And that yearning is there because God put it there. It's not that it originated in you. It originated in God. And the reason God put it there is because it's God's desire to have a people in whom he might dwell in all his fullness. And so somehow through experiences and dealings and chastisement, sometimes through much bitterness of experiences, troubles of various kinds, God will stir up your nest until you realize the futility of your own way of life or what you've seen in the church or what you've seen in your own experience and you begin to hunger for more. Perhaps, at first, blaming God for the trouble or for the tribulation or for the trial. But then realizing that it's all over, that because of that, God caused you to hunger and to thirst after him. And that's what he wants. And so if it took that, he doesn't hesitate to do that. But it's going to take that. To bring a people to the place where they will hunger and thirst after him that they might seek him, that they might go further with him. Because he wants a people not in whom only he might pour forth his blessings in this golden pot, but he wants that golden pot to be placed in the ark of the covenant. He wants you to come in him. He wants you to find a new center in him. For as long as it's what God can do for me and in me, you are still the center. But in this new realm, you live and move out of another center. No longer what you think. No longer how you see things. No longer according to the understanding that you know the scriptures. And this was a hard one for me because I studied the scriptures much, memorized them a lot, had some very firm doctrinal positions. But I find in that realm, I don't have a right to my doctrines. Jesus said, my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. The people that I'm speaking of are going to be a people who are not caught up with some hard and fast doctrine, but are so caught up with him that whatever he says is right. And so I can find myself freely quoting a scripture that would seem to promote or stand by a certain doctrinal position. And then I can quote another scripture which would seem to undermine it. And it was a little bothersome to me at first to think that I've got to drop this strong theological stand if I'm going to abide in him. Abiding in that center where my thoughts and my doctrines no longer count. It's his doctrine. And Jesus himself said, my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. Just by way of illustration. The security of the believer. It's always a very strong doctrine for me. That when we're saved, the Lord secures us. We're securing him. And of course we have all kinds of scriptures. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life. And they shall never perish. And so you can paddle away in that. Give them the eternal life. And I still believe it. Give me eternal life. But then the Lord says, didn't I say my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me? And a stranger's voice they will not follow? Yeah, but I don't like that because my doctrine says this, you see. And so the Lord Jesus just had the Father's doctrine. The doctrine from heaven. What God was saying. And there's no other true doctrine of what he is saying. Now we know that this book is the word of God. But like I said, it's the blueprint. It's the blueprint that he who wrote the scriptures can alone interpret the scriptures. And the Holy Spirit by whom holy man of old wrote the scriptures. He alone can give us the revelation of the heart of God to know what God intended and what God said. Therefore the apostle Paul says, the natural mind receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can ye know them. So you cannot understand doctrine just because you've got a sound intellect and are able to analyze and make deductions. You'll never come to know truth except by the spirit of revelation that you and I will only receive as we find ourselves committed to God, abiding in him and knowing what the Spirit is saying to the churches. He will not contradict himself, but he will say many things that to the natural mind will seem contradictory. But he will not contradict himself. And anything that God does, anything that God says, anything he's going to say, it'll be here in the Word. But if he's going to say it next week, and I'm trying to say it today, it's going to be perverted. It's going to be perverted. Just as truly as if I took a bud, one of these beautiful flowers, and I know there's something beautiful there. I can just sort of sense it. I can see a little bit of red retreating out of the end of the bud. And so I pluck it, and I take off the green cover, and I unfold the petals. I don't have a flower. I don't have it. I've ruined it. Now truth is something that God wants to unfold within us. God wants truth in the inner man. Truth is not something for you to get in your little mind there and to argue about. Truth is something that God wants to build into your life until it unfolds like the bud opens up into a beautiful rose. And you try by your own natural hands to take and unravel that bud. You don't have a rose. Only the spirit of life that's in that rose can cause it to unfold and bring forth the beauty that God desires. So it is with divine truth. God brings his people into the ark of the covenant. But first of all there must be a golden vessel. A golden vessel to contain the incorruptible bread of God. And God's in the process of making golden vessels. He's making golden vessels. Paul says in a great house there are vessels of wood and earth. Vessels of gold and silver. Vessels. Many kinds of vessels in God's house. So we don't despise any of God's people who truly love him. Many kinds of vessels. Some of gold, some of silver, some of wood, some of earth. Some vessels unto honor, some unto dishonor. What does that mean? Well one translation I think cleared it up for me. Some vessels that are used for noble purposes. And some vessels that are used for dishonorable purposes. In God's house. Would you mean in a house vessels for dishonorable purposes? Yes. There's vessels to bring in the wood, the coal to carry out the garbage. Vessels like that they're used constantly. But there's a golden vessel that the master of the house just keeps there for a very, very special occasion. It's a vessel that's been tried and proven, gone through fires. And the fires, all the fire is done to purge away the drops. That the pure gold and the silver might remain. So God has all kinds of vessels. We don't want to despise any of God's vessels. But Paul says if a man will purge himself from these things that defile, then he shall be a vessel of honor, sanctified, and prepared in every good work to meet for the master's use. So God is speaking a word to the churches, knowing that as that word goes forth it's going to strike into the hearts of chosen ones who are going to desire to be an overcomer in the fullest sense of the word. To desire to be an overcomer in the fullest sense of the word. And the scriptures are written and all through the scriptures God's plan and provision is clearly revealed whereby his people can become totally overcoming. It doesn't show the blueprint if you just want to be a carnal Christian and just make it into heaven. It doesn't give a blueprint for that. There will be a blueprint. But the Bible doesn't say, you just want to go step one, this is what you do. God tells us how to be that kind of a people who will go all the way with him unto the heart of God. You don't need any recipe for the others. If you don't follow God's plan, and if you don't pursue God's objective in God's way, you'll automatically fall into one of the other categories. But God's provision in the scriptures is for a people who desire to be totally overcomers. And so there's going to be some who are totally overcomers. Some of that grain that falls into the ground is going to spring up, some 30-fold, some 60-fold, and some 100-fold. It doesn't say now 30-folders, well, if you just want to be a 30-folder, you know, you do this and this and that. It tells us how to be 100-folders. And that's the provision that God has made, and the way is open for His people to go all the way. He offers it to all, all will not accept, but He offers it to all. He that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna. And as surely as you eat of the hidden manna, that hidden manna becomes a part of your being, and you become that bread of God to the world. It's as you eat of Christ that you become the bread of life for others. It's as you eat of Him that you become like Him. I will give Him to eat of the hidden manna, and will give Him a white stone. I want to talk about the white stone just briefly. I used to read this verse, well, I've read the New Testament through many, many times, and so often that it didn't take long to memorize this verse. And I remember when I first read it and memorized it, the beauty that it had for me. The beauty that I saw in it. Yet I know I didn't understand it. I scarcely had any understanding in it. But there was a beauty in it. Don't trouble yourself, don't be condemned, as you read the book of Revelation, you'll read many, many things you do not understand, and like I said, don't try to unravel it. But just read it because John said, Blessed is he that heareth and readeth the words of the prophecy of this book. We read it with an open mind, with a hearing ear. Little by little, we'll find, especially in this day and hour of the consummation, we're going to find that all over the book of Revelation many meaningful, wonderful truths are going to shine forth. And because it's the day of the consummation, the day of the revelation, see, it's not revelations, it's not a book of a bunch of revelations, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ, the unfolding of Christ, showing forth of Christ in the midst of the church. And so I used to always love that verse, and I've spoken on it many, many times in the last perhaps 10, 20 years, or I guess more than that. But I was never satisfied. Every time I speak on it, I didn't see anything, I didn't tell them anything. There's so much there, but I couldn't, I couldn't explain it, I couldn't bring it out. And I know the same will be true after this meeting. And nevertheless, I know that as I've gone along, I've seen more and more and more in it. And God says, I've got a hidden manner for you, hidden away in the Ark of the Covenant, but you've got to come into the Holy Place, the holiest of all, to partake of that hidden manner. It wasn't for Israel. They couldn't partake of it. They had corruptible manner. But God says, I've got it. And when it fell from Heaven, God said to Moses, take a golden vessel and fill it with manner, and put it in the Ark of the Covenant to be kept for their generations. How long it is kept, we don't know, but it is to be kept for their generations. I think the Lord is saying to you and I, it was kept for future generations. They couldn't partake of it. But I'm going to keep this vessel of hidden manner there for a future generation. For a generation of people who will be living on down through the Church Age, and in every generation of the Church Age. Generations. There's going to be a people who are going to partake of this hidden manner, this incorruptible food. This life that they've discovered, that issues not from their own heart, not from their own life, not from their own mind, not from pursuing their own methods and their own ways and doing their own thing in the earth, but a life that proceeds because they abide in Christ. And they bear fruit because they abide in Him. And without Him they've learned they can do nothing. A people who found a new center, a new source of being, no longer in here where everything centers upon me and God, you do this for me and do this and do this and do this. But you find yourself in allied, joined to another heart. Another mind. The mind of Christ. The mind of God. The mind of Jesus. You're under His control. You move out of His center. A new center of being. And I'm not saying I know too much about it, but I see it there. I see it there as through a glass darkly, and I know God's going to bring a people into that realm. They're going to live and move out from the heart of God, out from the mind of Christ, saying only what Jesus is saying, doing only what Jesus is doing, going only where Jesus will lead them, ministering with their hands, only as Jesus will anoint those hands, their feet, taking them only where the Lord Jesus would have them to go. There's going to be a people who are going to come and live and move out of that center. The center of God's heart. And God says to such a people, I'm going to give a white stone. I casually picked up a book one time, just casually, and I read this statement that in ancient times, certain countries, an engaged couple, instead of giving a ring like they do today, each would give the other a white stone. And that was the seal of their affection, one for the other, and the seal of their commitment. I give you this stone, you're going to be mine. I give you this stone, you're going to be mine. And that gave me the key to the understanding of this verse. The white stone. God gives you and I a white stone, and then he asks you and I to give him a white stone. God has a white stone for his people. It's the white stone of his covenant. And God says, I'm going to do this in and through my people. It would take many, many, many teachings to bring forth all that God has desired to do in his people as set forth in the new covenant. But basically the new covenant is this. God says, I am going to do it. God says, I will. The most outstanding feature perhaps of the old covenant was in the words, thou shalt. Thou shalt or thou shalt not. But I think the outstanding words of the new covenant is this. God says, I will. I will. And the reason God did away with the old covenant, there's only one reason. There was nothing wrong with, God's righteous requirements were all revealed in the law of Moses. The righteous heart of God was clearly revealed. But they couldn't do it. It wasn't in them to do it. They said, we'll do it. And God lamented through Moses, oh, that there was such a heart in them that they might follow me and do my will and obey my commandment. God said, oh, I wish you had that kind of heart. But nevertheless, he gave them the law because we didn't understand and they didn't understand then, but it's revealed in the New Testament that the reason God gave the commandment was to make sin more exceedingly sinful. That when the law came with all its harsh requirements and men would try to do it, they'd only become more sinful in trying to obey God's law. You say, why would God want to do that? For the same reason that we mentioned last night. Why God led them through the wilderness. That in the wilderness they might discover themselves. Their inherent depravity. Why does God want to do that? To deal with it. Oh, that God would come forth and shine forth in our presence and expose the hearts of men. Not to embarrass them, but that they might see themselves as God sees them and that God might deal with it. And that's all that God wants to do. That's all he wanted to do in the law. He might deal with it. And so, instead of giving them an ordinance whereby they could attain to life, that which was intended to be for life, Paul says it became death. And that sin through the commandment, he said, became more exceedingly sinful. Well, I think we understand that. But in the New Covenant, God did away with the old because, he says, they couldn't keep it. That's what he says writing to the Hebrews. God says, I'm making a new covenant with my people because they didn't continue in the old one. Well, if you're making a new covenant and it's the same as the old, we won't continue in that either. But it's not going to be the same as the old. God says, I regard them not, saith the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel in those days, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued it not in my covenant. So he says, I'm not going to make a covenant like the old one because they didn't continue in it. The new one is going to be so different that it's not going to depend on you and I, it's going to depend on God. God says, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will write my laws in their heart, and in their mind also will I write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. They shall, yes, but that comes after the other. I will write my laws in their heart, I will write it in their mind, and they shall be my people, I will be their God. So the difference, the prime difference between the old and the new was the old said, you've got to do this, thou shalt, for thou shalt not. The new says, I will do it. See, my part, well, I know we have a part. Let me just illustrate it in what happened in God's confirmation of the covenant to Abraham. The new covenant really incorporated the Abrahamic covenant. Like we mentioned last night, and we didn't have time to pursue the matter, but God came to Abraham, having led him for a number of years, and yet in a very strange way, because God said, I'm leading you out of your country into a land that I will give you, and I'll prosper you, I'll give you a seat, I'll give you a nation, I'll give you a land, I'll make you triumphant over your enemies, I will bless you, and I will bless them that bless you, and curse them that curse you, and he had a tremendous covenant. And, but Abraham had to wait, and wait, and wait, and he never did see the fulfillment of it in its full ascent. And we say, well, why would God give a man a promise and never cause him to see the full desire of that inheritance that God promised? Because if anything God promises to give you, he has something far more in mind than the thing he promised to give you. Peter says, whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be made partakers of the promises by faith. Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be made partakers of divine nature. The exceeding great and precious promises are given to us of God, and God's ultimate intention is that in receiving and embracing these promises we become partakers of divine nature. Not just to see the promises fulfilled. And in fact, when we come to that place where we feel the promises are just about ready now to be fulfilled, we're just about ready to lay hold upon the promises we know the hour has come. If we walk with God, God's intention has become so greater, so much greater to us. We forget the promises. Or if that's too strong a word to say we forget the promises, let me put it this way. Instead of saying, Lord, now thank you Lord, I've waited all these years, I thank you for giving me this, it becomes insignificant in our eyes. Because we see that the way he's led us has caused us to come to know him better. And he becomes our reward. And God became Abraham's reward. Do you know that Abraham forgot this idea of taking the land of Canaan and making that his possession? I mean, even today the church is preaching it, Zionism is preaching it. Abraham forgot that notion. Because he forgot the notion of a little land of Canaan and his vision was enlarged to see the Christ in his glory and that in union with Christ he had everything. Abraham became heir of the world! Paul says that. Paul says that Abraham understood that he was to be heir of the world! The promise that he should be heir of the world to Abraham was not appropriated by words but by faces, Paul writing to the Romans. And so while the church and Zionism is so concerned about getting Canaan over there, God has promised Abraham the world! All nations were to be blessed through Abraham and that all who are of faith, all who are of faith, China and Japan and Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran, all that are of faith are the children of Abraham. But the promise wasn't really to multitudes of Abraham's natural children. Paul tells us right into the Galatians that the promise was really not to Abraham's seeds, plural, but to Abraham's seed, singular, in which he says is Christ! The Abrahamic covenant was to Jesus and those who are of him and in him and have faith in him. And so God was going to confirm this covenant to Abraham. We're talking about the new covenant, the white stone that God has given us. He would confirm it to Abraham. He said, alright Abraham, take a heifer, take a goat, take a ram, take a young pigeon, make the sacrifice. He said, I'm going to cut a covenant with you. And down in verse 18, the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, the word in the Hebrew is cut. The same day the Lord cut a covenant with Abraham. And Ezekiel talks about the cutting of a covenant. And God reproves the princes of Judah, I think it was, who dishonored his covenant. He says, when you cut the calf in twain and walk between the pieces. As far as I know, the only scripture that describes the cutting of a covenant. But they would cut the sacrifice, make peace here and peace here, and then those who made the covenant would walk between. And so it was sealed with the cutting of a covenant. And so God cut a covenant with Abraham. And so Abraham was there in the scene, waiting for God to come to confirm this covenant. I'm talking about my part. I'm talking about giving him the white stone. You give Abraham one, but yes, there's our part. And so Abraham laid the pieces out, but the fowls came down upon the carcasses. And Abraham was busy driving the fowls away. Why didn't God come and finish this covenant so they could get the thing over with? But he couldn't do it until God came. He was the other part of the covenant. And so the fowls would swoop down and Abraham would drive them away. And let me tell you, that's one illustration. And we could use many illustrations like that. That's your part and mine. There's no way that you and I can do what God has said. And like I said last night, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Then he goes on to say, it is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows. For so he giveth his beloved sleep. God is saying there's aspects of my covenant that I've got to knock you out. I've got to knock your senses out before I can do it. He's got to rid us of our carnal thinking, our vain reasonings. He's got to put us to sleep in that sense. He's got to bring us to that place where we can no longer have confidence in our reasoning, in our mind, in our thinking. He puts us into that kind of a sleep that God might do it. That he alone might be glorified. But we do have a part, and a very necessary part. And that part is to be so in union with the heart of God. There'll be such commitment to him, such waiting upon God, such seeking of him, that he will be able to do it in us. And so Abraham's part in the confirming of the Abrahamic covenant, drive away the birds, drive away the vultures, drive away those fears, those unbelieving thoughts, those carnal strivings, all those things that emanate from the human heart. Subdue them that God might do what he has said. But he got weary of it. Because he kept waiting and waiting. And one of the most grievous things we find in the scriptures concerning God's promises, concerning his dealings with his people, one of the most grievous things in the word is God's tardiness. He doesn't come when we think he should. He doesn't come when we want him. He doesn't come when we think we need him. God is always slow according to man's way of thinking. Whenever I mention this, I think of a son of one of my nephews, and he was in great trouble. His dad says, well, ask God to do it for you. He says, I do, but he's always so slow. And his father says, I can identify. And that seems to be the way it is. But God knows what he's doing, and God is not really slow. It's just that you know, we don't understand the heart of God. He always comes in the fullness of time. Nevertheless, he keeps his chosen ones waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. He keeps Moses waiting 40 years. He keeps Joseph waiting 13 years. He keeps David waiting, I don't remember how many years. His chosen ones, he always keeps waiting. And why do you do it, Lord? Well, the reason he's doing it is because in that waiting period, he's able to deal with us and prepares for the hour of his visitation. Never think that when God's promises linger, that God has forgotten. And don't blame God and say, God, why are you waiting so long? God is seeking to prepare your heart so that you'll be prepared for what God wants to do. In our self-confidence, we say, I'm ready, Lord. God has to take away all that self-confidence. He's got to knock the senses out of us. Too many strange dealings, too much waiting, too trials, too many of our own troubles, many that we bring on ourselves, which nevertheless, God seeing the heart and knowing the heart, he's greater than our heart, and though he knows we bring many sorrowful and hurtful things upon ourselves, he doesn't reject us. He says, through this method, I will chisel away and I will hammer and I will prune and I will refine through this method that you might come forth a vessel that I'm after. He wants a vessel of gold and silver. He'll use the vessel of earth. He'll use the vessel of wood, but he's looking for a few golden vessels. The vessel of earth can take a little heat, not too much. The vessel of wood can't take any heat, but he'll use the vessel. But the vessel of gold and the vessel of silver, no matter how much heat is applied, all the heat can do is consume the drum. Job says, I know that when I am tried, I shall come forth as gold. God wants to bring forth a golden vessel. He wants the people who are in such intimate union with him that they know God and they see God. And when we know God and when we see God in the New Testament sense, that's the end of our carnal wounds. That's the end of sin. John says, the reason men sin is because they have not seen God. There's a revelation of God before that second appearing of Christ. There's a revelation of God to the hearts of people where they see him and it changes and transforms them into his image. And Job said after his trial, though he had many grievous complaints against the Lord, for the Lord having dealt with him in this manner, many grievous complaints he uttered, not out of a wrong heart, out of a pure heart. And God says, Job, you've spoken rightly. And remember that when people tell you that Job got all his troubles because he feared. God says, Job, you've spoken right. But he says there's a lot of things you don't understand. And he asks them some very hard questions, none of which Job could understand. Job says, I'll lay my hand upon my mouth. Job says, I heard of you by the hearing of my ear, but now my eyes seeth thee. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. God wants to so reveal himself in the mischievous people that in seeing him and seeing his glory, it will bring an abhorrence of themselves. For it's only when we abhor ourselves that we're going to fly unto him to clothe us with those pure garments of righteousness. God sees us as we are. He says to the church of Laodicea, and you don't know it, that you're wretched, you're poor, you're blind, you're naked. That's what God says to the church of Laodicea who say that we're rich, we are increased with goods, we have need of nothing, we're charismatic, we're full gospel, we've got all that God has for us now until he comes. We just carry on the way we are, increasing more and more. God says, you're blind, you're wretched, you're naked. I counsel thee, buy of me gold. Try it in the fire that you might be rich. Invite Raymond to clothe yourself that your nakedness might be covered, and I shall have to anoint your eyes that you might see. Because God has many things he wants to show us in this day and hour, but we don't see it because we're caught away with our own goodness, our own wealth, our own spiritual gifts, our own ministries, the power and the authority that we have. The great things we're able to do, our TV programs, our radio programs, our outreaches, our missionary programs, our church buildings, our church programs, caught away with that, and we don't see the Lord standing at the door and saying, let me in, I want to get in. You're poor, you're blind, you're poverty stricken. Buy of me gold. Try it in the fire that you might be rich. When the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abraham. God says, Abraham, you really can't have any part in what I'm going to do. The only part you and I have is to drive away the birds of fear and doubt and unbelief and all those carnal, natural thoughts that come to us. Drive them away, but only God can do this beautiful work. And when the time came for God to do it, he knocked Abraham unconscious. But God, you and I are supposed to make this covenant. No, God says, I'll make it. And I'm going to put you to sleep while I make it. And so Abraham knew the labor of driving away the birds. He knew the labor of it, and the sweat of it. And don't think for one moment, because God is going to do this thing that you and I can fold our hands and sit back and say, well, fine Lord, I'll just wait around. How are you doing? He doesn't make the covenant with that kind of a people. He makes the covenant with the Abrahamic people who, though they know they cannot do it in themselves, they're seeking him. They're crying unto God. They're beseeching him. They're praying. They're seeking to commit themselves to the Lord. They're asking the Lord to search their hearts. To search out the innermost thoughts of their hearts. They might drive away all these birds that would come down, these ravenous birds that consume the faith or consume the hope that we've got. God's going to do it, but he requires a seeking people. A people who are diligently seeking him. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham, and lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abraham, while Abraham slept, Know with surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterward they shall come out with great substance, and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. Thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Only God can bring into being the circumstances cause the timing and the circumstances and the men of God to be prepared for this great deliverance that God had in mind four hundred years later. Only God could do that. Man couldn't meddle with that. So he put him to sleep. And it came to pass when the sun went down it was dark. Just as we mentioned that in the darkness of the night God sent his bread from heaven to settle upon the Jew while men slept. They could have no part in the making of the manna, but they must gather it every day. And that was a lot of work, because that manna was small, very small, like a small seed. And they had to gather it but only God could make it. Are you beginning to see your part? My part in God's? It's not a fifty-fifty thing. It's a hundred percent of God and it requires a hundred percent dedication. Behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that pass between those pieces. Abraham, you can't walk with me down between the parts. A smoking furnace and a burning lamp pass between those pieces. God himself went down between the pieces. God says, Abraham, I'm going to do this while you sleep. While your people are in captivity in Egypt, I'm going to make the preparation. God says, I will do this to my people. God says, I'll write my laws in your heart. God says, I'll make you in my image. God says, I'll conform you to the image of my son. Your part and mine. Hear it. Say, Lord, I believe. Lord, I accept. Lord, do whatever is required in my life to bring forth that image that you desire. It's the only part we can... Matter of fact, it's the only part we can we can show in this great transaction of the new covenant. Many things we could say along that line. Him that overcometh will I give thee to the hidden man, I'll give him a white stone, the stone of the covenant. And in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. In the stone a new name. A new food, an incorruptible food. A white stone, a new covenant. A new name in the new covenant. So that when God fulfills his new covenant in our lives, we come forth with a new name. He gives the vision of it, but having the vision of it is not sufficient. What did we say last night? Well, heaven could say, if the vision tarry, wait for it. Many get weary of waiting for it, and they go about trying to establish their own name. Do you know that much of the kingdom building, much of the tower building that goes on, much of the city building that goes on, much of the church building that goes on is the desire to make a name for themselves? Do you know that the New Testament church, in the period of its great progress in the earth, which was the first 300 years, knew nothing of church buildings? That they were the church? And it was after the church back-slid that they got into building programs? You talk about revival in the church, and they've got to build a temple that'll seat 5,000 because the one they got now only seats three and it's packed? I believe it's a sign of a back-slidden church to get involved with building programs. The New Testament church began in Jerusalem within perhaps a matter of days there were 8,000 converts in the matter of 3,000 one day, and then came to be 8,000 I think it means, or was it 5, I think it meant 5 plus the 3, anyway within a few days and the word of the Lord after that says it grew and multiplied and it is true they did meet in the temple area for a while and there was a lot of room in the temple area and all Judaism had access to it and so they did for a while but that didn't last too long they were persecuted. Where did they meet? Well, you see, that's only incidental. They were the church Amen And so the apostles went from house to house, breaking bread having fellowship with the saints they weren't going around preaching the gospel house to house they went there to groups of believers they were the church out there during the day time at their work, wherever they were they were the church I know that many here in Kelowna who are weary of church structures and the like would just like to see couldn't we just get together all these little groups, you know that really love the Lord and have a real thriving church here in Kelowna I really think God wants you to be the church Amen You be the church and as God leads you there's a little family here and a little family here, a little family there doesn't mean that you're all necessarily one yet God's in the process of making us one but you find fellowship with people that are in as far as you love the Lord and understand the scriptures you find fellowship and so there's a group of people and there's another group here and there's another group here and another group here, I don't care if there's a hundred of them or two hundred of them five hundred if need be in Kelowna but they're the church Amen It's not the thing they build, that's not the church stop going to church and start becoming the church of Jesus Christ Amen God's going to do that because the whole thing is based on the economy and the economy is going to crash but the church of Christ is going to rise up strong and triumphant in the world and in Kelowna and I understand great things have been spoken for Kelowna and Penticton, this area but don't you know you get a thousand converts all of a sudden and oh we've got to build a big tabernacle let them be the church the time is at hand when God's going to give more abundant honor to those parts which lack that there be no schism in the body but that the members should have the same care one for another people say oh if we could just do away with the divisions and with the schisms and so you get a strong handed apostle come in and says this is the way it is and this is how you've got to do it and this is what we believe and so you have unity, but you don't you've got human control but God says when he puts more abundant honor on those parts which lack that the members will have the same care one for another that there be no schism in the body there's God's solution for schisms in the body God putting abundant honor on those parts which lack, expect him to do it he's going to do it when nobody out there is going to rise up and heal the sick don't make up your card and get on the road traveling as a healer stage your job whatever you're doing, if it's washing dishes or hammering nails, stage your job until God sees fit to send you forth if he wants to send you forth but you're the church and God's going to put abundant honor on the insignificant members of the body of Christ who sit there in the pew Sunday after Sunday after Sunday hearing sermons longing for God and longing for reality wishing they could be used of the Lord God's going to do it and that's going to put an end to the schisms when member has concern for member when all the members have the same concern one for another, that's going to end the schisms as long as you're supporting a soul system that says I'm going to build up this kingdom I'm going to take God's people I'm going to mobilize them I'm going to make them to be footmen that run before my chariot I'm going to make their women to be cooks and confectionaries in my house, in my palace I'm going to take their servants I'm going to take their ties and build up my kingdom you're laying the basis for the destruction of the very thing you're building up and God knew that when he anointed Saul, I'm not saying that God hasn't anointed that, he anointed Saul, because the people wanted it and God gave it to them and if you pray hard enough and long enough and loud enough about anything, God may well give it to you but it may not be his will they ask for a king and Samuel says let me tell you, that's not God's desire that's not God's desire, God wants to be your king they say, I know, but make us a king so we can be like the nations Samuel was grieved over and he went and talked to God about it and God says, don't grieve over Samuel it isn't you they've rejected just to think of it, if it was a prophet of God who had a clear word from God for every contingency the Bible tells us that not one word of the Lord fell to the ground under the ministry of Samuel the prophet talk about prophets today, I don't get excited about too many of them I'm not saying they don't have a prophetic gift I'm saying they haven't got the new name that God wants to write upon this stone Samuel had such a clear word from the Lord way back there in the days of the law which we all know to be an inferior dispensation such a clear word from God that not one word fell to the ground now we're satisfied if a prophet prophesies a lot of things and half of it comes true we say, well this happened and this happened, what about the other 50% that failed, oh well we don't always hit it, one man said one prophet always hit it right Samuel always hit it right it was a clear voice from God way back in that the dim light of that dispensation can you not see that if God would do that way back there in that order which was far inferior to the church that God is going to raise up a prophetic voice in the earth that's going to be the clear infallible pure word of God but it must be through a people who are prepared of him whose names he has changed who have had that confrontation with the Lord such as Jacob had Jacob had the vision for many many years, you remember when he fled from his brother Esau how he slept there in the open field and gathered the stones together for his pillows and slept during the night and it was in the time of his sleeping, there it is again that God came down and revealed himself and showed Jacob the angels of God ascending and descending upon the ladder ascending and descending on the ladder while Jacob slept God was saying I've got a great work for you Jacob I've got a great thing I'm going to do but I have to have you here senseless on the ground in order to show you what I'm going to do he had to lay there senseless in sleep as far as his natural faculties were concerned that God might show him his own plan it took a long time it takes a long time for God to bring into being that which his purpose and his people because our hearts are so slow to correspond to God's ways but God's purpose was in Jacob and though it took time it took much frustration it took much hard work on the part of Jacob but God was leading him he had to flee from his brother Esau and God was going to bring him back to the promised land and he did he was afraid to go back because he knew he would face the wrath of his brother Esau and then he got word that his brother Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men and he was fearful God had Jacob in a box God had him in a fix God had him in a hard place God had led him to this hard place God was going to bring about such a confrontation with Jacob that he would be able to change that man until he would no longer be the conniving usurping scheming plotting Jacob but he would have another nature and a new name you know the story when they came to the brook Jebok Jacob received the fearful news of his brother coming against him how he sent everything across the brook everything, the bands that he had and the camels and the cattle and the sheep and finally his own family finally his wives and Jacob was left alone after all these many years of accumulating and getting and getting finally God had him in such a position that he had to give it all back so let us thank the Lord for any dealings that come if so be it means getting rid of ourselves that we might find him and Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him till the breaking of the day there beside the Jebok which means pouring out when Jacob had poured out all and was empty God came down the God that he had seen many years before at Bethel for when Jacob arose from that vision he had at Bethel in the morning oh he says God is in this place and I knew it not and he called it Bethel which means house of God but it was just a vision it wasn't the house of God it was a heap of stones but somehow with prophetic insight he says it's the house of God and that became a great thing in his eyes, a great vision and the house of God has become a great thing in the eyes of God's people all over the land, we've got to build God's house we've got to build God's house we've got to build God's house and they've got to hear what God is saying about it except the Lord built the house they never in vain had built it on the return trip back to Bethel it was all different he had another vision by this time the God who was at the top of the ladder out in the open fields when he saw the vision and the angels of God ascending and descending and were told God was at the top of the ladder did you ever read that? I missed that for years and I read it one day God was at the top of the ladder he came down from the ladder and he confronted Jacob face to face on the fields in the dark of the night beside the river Jabbok and after much wrestling smote him in the hollow of his thigh until he was knocked a cripple, knocked out he was a cripple and as a cripple the angel of God changed his name from Jacob to Israel he was called Prince of God cripple as far as I know walked a cripple the rest of his life halting upon his thigh he didn't arise from that confrontation call the children of Israel together and come out from the curtain and say I'm God's man of the hour he walked a cripple the rest of his life how many of you heard that tape by Anthon Sawyer her her recent tape sister that the Lord sent from South Africa to come to America and to tell America to repent oh who am I she said I'm a housewife they won't listen to me God says you go and just speak the words that I put in your mouth whether they will hear or not but among other things God showed her showed her various things concerning the church and the believer and the army of God and he showed her this group of people she says they were all wounded crippled maimed their flesh was wasting away in one way or another completely devastated and she says Lord who are these and God said this is my army she says God your army doesn't have a chance it looks like an emergency ward to me God said this is my army the time is at hand when the church of Jesus Christ is going to know that it is not by might it's not by power but it's by my spirit saith the Lord because the battle is the Lord's it's not ours God's going to pick up the crippled and the maimed and the blind and I'm talking naturally but spiritually those who have been feeble and helpless and weak and despised and rejected as if they were in some kind of spiritual emergency ward and God is going to clothe them with his word and with his glory and with his strength and they're going to learn the secret of the cross and the world is going to discover that it's not in might or in power but it's in the working of the cross that victory is attained and when Jesus conquered over death it was on the cross that he defeated Satan and death it was on the cross until you and I become identified with that cross in whatever way the Lord may lead us for there is an individual cross for everyone so I can't pinpoint it for you I can only say to you that as you commit yourself totally to do the will of God you'll find your cross don't sit back with iron folders and say well if God tells me to do anything I'll do it he might not tell you to do very much if you say Lord I desire to be with you, I desire to be like you I desire to be conformed to your image I don't want to settle for second or third best, I want to go all the way God will lead you in the way that will bring about a cross in your life and your ministry will become your cross if God gives you a great ministry or a small ministry don't rejoice in that but just recognize that though God might be blessing people that same ministry that is blessing people will become your cross for it is as Jesus did the will of the Father that he was led to Gethsemane your ministry will become your cross your vision will become your cross that which God shows you that he's going to do in you or in others or in the church will become your cross because it will mean rejection it will mean reproach it's in the stone that God would write a new name God wants to change us until we can be called by something else a new name which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it a new nature a new character having new hopes new desires no longer building a name for themselves but content to let their name be dragged into the dust that the name of Christ might be exalted may the Lord bless this word here in our hearts Lord Jesus Lord Jesus we just stand Lord we just bless your people here in Goa my Lord Lord we know that even in this city there are many hungry hearts Lord we're crying out for you, longing for you longing for reality weary of the kingdoms of Saul weary of the building programs weary of the church programs, looking for reality but not knowing where to turn yet Lord even as in the days of Saul you had a David in his company banished from the kingdom whose hearts were set on you and who carried the anointing but who also because of the anointing bore great reproach we thank you for the anointing upon your people and we pray Lord in the time of their reproach and in the time of their suffering you'll sustain them, uphold them and keep them and lead them Lord in thy paths for you said the time would come, the time would come that he that was feeble in the midst of your people would be as David and the house of David would be as God so Lord Jesus we thank you for your faithfulness we know Lord you've spoken great things for this city, this area we pray that you will keep your people, may they not lose the vision may they not sacrifice their vision for some immediate gain whether it be natural or spiritual but may they commit themselves totally unto you that once again you might come down from the ladder and wrestle with your people with that confrontation of the most high that will change them until you can write upon them a new name where they are no longer able to walk as they walked in the past walk as cripples clothed upon with the armor of God in Jesus name we pray