In this sermon, the speaker shares his personal journey of realizing that God wants His people to expect and take more from Him. He emphasizes the need to believe, take, expect, and claim what God has for us. The speaker encourages the audience to enlarge their vision and recognize that they have been called to be cooperators with God in His purposes. He also mentions a man who had a revelation of what God is doing in the book of Revelation, which brought him great excitement and assurance that God is in control and working everything out according to His schedule.

What has God done in the last 5 or 6, 7, 8, 10 years? Whatever it is, I'm not sure. A little bit of review. Some of you were not here last night, but your wives did a good job, I understand. And I hope you can do the same job for your wife now when you get home tonight. We were talking about the glory of the impossible. I am constantly amazed at how it seems the Lord delights to work in what are impossible situations. And I don't think He sets them up, but He finds them all around. He knows how to use them. And we were making some distinctions. I have a growing conviction that one of the greatest needs in this hour is for discernment. I wish you could get it by the laying on of hands. I mean, I wish it could come in a moment. I believe in discerning of spirits. I believe there's a gift. But the discernment that's needed today in this hour, I believe will come out of a relationship, a union with the Lord, in which God has taken men through things. And they've come to experience the difference in things. And as we were saying last night, I just sort of feel like oftentimes if I can make a distinction between some things, the Lord sharpens it. For example, we were talking about whether we're really pilgrims, or whether just wandering, whether we have come to grips with the goal that God has, or whether we're just interested in getting to heaven, a destination. We were dealing with Moses in the school. Tonight I'd like to go on to the one whom God used to carry on the work of Moses. His name is Joshua. And I'd like to talk about the possibilities of the glorious. That's the other side of the coin. The glory of the impossible, but the possibility of the glorious. Can I just say to us, I believe that God has called a people to really be so alive to Him, that with a very positive way, they can stand with God for the full measure today. And in the hour when everything looks so difficult, and people are panicking, and there's a sense around us of the emerging time, we should not cave in to that spirit. We belong to the Lord, and His Lordship is going through. I got a hold of some cassettes. I'll just talk for a little while, if you don't mind. I've always enjoyed the book of Revelation, but I've never preached from it very much. Because all I saw was antichrist, and beasts, and plagues, and all these things. And suddenly, I heard a man give on the cassette, as he sat with the Lord, and he saw what God was doing in the book of Revelation. And suddenly, it became alive to me. I thought, Lord, you're really in control. I'd only seen the underside of the rug, and it had seen me. And when I began to get a glimpse of what God was doing in the book of Revelation, I thought I'd share it here, but we won't get to that. My heart was thrilled, really thrilled. Lord, you're in control. You know what is taking place. Well, there's something today that I sense in the hearts of those who are really going on in the line of purpose with God. They're not disturbed by what's taking place. God is in control. He's working everything out, and it's on schedule. Isn't that wonderful? Now, I don't know what the schedule is, but I know he's on schedule. I want us to turn to the book of Joshua tonight. And I'm just going to put quite a few things together, since we only have three times with you, and this is what my wife calls the hash message. But she isn't here, so we won't tell her. Joshua chapter 1. We bow before thee tonight, Lord. We don't need more words or more knowledge. You have been so good to us. What we really need tonight is a ministry of thy life, thy own encouragement to our hearts. Thou wilt enlarge our vision. Thou wilt help us to see that we've been called to be cooperators, participators with thee, in much, much more than we realized. O God, O God tonight, I pray for my brothers and sisters. Thou wilt give the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Thou wilt give us a heart to be so identified with thee, so one with thee, so alive to what you're really doing in this hour, that we can stand in the midst of the battle, we can stand with thee for fullness. How many times these weeks and months you've pressed me in a new way to claim that we'll not settle for that which is good or better, but to stand with thee for divine fullness in this hour. Help us to see what you see, and we'll be sure to give thee the praise, and we'll claim that you will help us to live in your expectation of what is going through, the divine possibilities of the glorious that you're working out in this universe. O God, we bow before thee, and we announce anew tonight what we behold of your purposes, causes us to stand breathless as we say, God, you're wonderful, and your ways are wonderful. We thank you for this. I thank you for every heart you've gathered tonight. May you have a word of encouragement, and we'll be sure to give thee the praise, and the honor, and the glory. For we ask it in your lovely name, and everyone said, Amen. Joshua 1, verse 1. Now the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass, after the death it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you. As I said unto Moses, from the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shall thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee, Be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare your biddles, for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. Your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan, but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them, until the Lord hath given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them. Then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it with Moses the Lord's servant, which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sun rising. And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go, according as we hearken unto Moses in all things, so we will hearken unto thee. Only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that doeth that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words, and all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death, only be strong and of a good courage. I think what I want to share with us tonight in enlarging and in bringing us into a little fuller understanding of what God has called us to is this sense that it is one thing very wonderful to know that which God does by grace. And it is something else to know which God wants us to qualify for, to qualify in. If there is any real need that I see in lots of groups today, it's first of all for people to be clear about grace. There's an awful lot of fuzziness when it comes to the clear issue of what grace is, what grace really involves. And I find until this is clear in the minds of people, you can hardly take them very far. They do not know the way of grace and what God is giving by grace. Let me just say, in making this first distinction tonight, it's helpful then to understand what we mean by that which God gives by grace, but that which He leaves for us to qualify for, and that which requires our real cooperation and participation. The tragedy is that once people really get a hold of a sense of the grace of God, they park there and make it all of grace. And you can hardly say don't because there is such a very need, a definite need for His people to know what God gives by grace. But I find that that group of people need to really understand that there are some things that God is expecting His people to qualify for. Paul says, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of the outcalling of God, which is in Christ Jesus. And so you get a war. You've got the people who say, all of grace. And really I'm a part of that camp except that God says, there's room to qualify. Then I move over the people who only talk about qualifying and they're hanging on for dear life unless they lose out or they don't know what grace is. And I say, Lord, if you ever get the two groups married, could you ever help them to see that which you have given, but that which you want us to really possess? I don't know if I'm making touch with anybody. Do you know what I'm saying? Well, here in chapter 1 now, we have some statements that I think bear this out. He says, for example, in verse 2, unto the land which I do give. He gave them the whole land of Canaan. And it was given to them. He goes on to say, every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. And he goes on to talk about some things that they need to really possess. How can you explain to people that they need to possess what they have? Some people think they have it. They do. It's in the bank account. Not doing them a bit of good. So there comes a time in which there's a qualifying and God is making real to us. There's the possessing, the reaching out. And here's the land of Canaan. And God has now taken Moses off the scene. And I just have to pause for a moment and say that if there's been any one thing that's been encouraging and real to my own heart through these last 15 years or so, it's what I call the continuity of God's working. I call it the as-so principle. As-so. As I said unto Moses, so I'm saying unto you. How many of you know we really stand on the shoulders of the previous generation? If you don't have any shoulders to stand on, you're in bad shape. It's wonderful if you had a father, a spiritual father, a group of people that you can, so to speak, have the privilege of standing on the past. Some things you have to go through individually. Make real for yourself. But there are many things you can stand on the shoulder and God seems to take you on from there. And I see this in Moses and Joshua. Moses has been God's vessel. Joshua's been in training. Moses moves off the scene. And there's something of divine continuity. I am always concerned when somebody comes along with something totally new that God showed them. And they're an isolated little something out here with a special revelation. And if I didn't know this principle, I'd say, Lord, if I know you're working, there's continuity. As I said, there's something of roots and history in the background. Do you follow that? Thank God for the flow of the divine purpose. Look for the line of purpose in God's working. I don't know how to call it, the thread, that line of divine purpose. Lots of things are being done that are good today. Lots of work for God. Hallelujah! I believe Barnabas did something for God. But somehow when he separated from Paul, he was not in the line of what? The line of purpose. Are you following me? Do you know what I'm trying to say? I don't know. You know, you can't help but move around in various areas. And after a while, you become conscious of the fact that lots of good is being done. Lots of building for God. Paul says, I thank God Jesus Christ is being preached. But something in my own heart keeps crying, Oh God! Oh God! If I've seen anything, don't let me veer from or come short of the unique line of purpose that you're working out. And I see this in what's passed on from Moses to Joshua. And I suppose God has been quickening all anew to me. I've been emphasizing grace so much to people who, so few people are clear in grace. But I tell you, there's a lot to qualify for. God wants the people who are pressing on under the very fullness of what He really is working out. And so, I'm just underlining to you something I'm sure that's already been very real to your own hearts. He says then, in these chapters, There are some things that I've given you, but I want you to move in to begin to possess. I was thinking this afternoon as I was praying, I'd hate to tell you how many times I've taken my shoes off and literally tread around places, lots of time in ignorance, but just claimed every place the sole of my foot shall tread. Lord, I'm taking this for you. And I didn't understand it. Just read a verse. Sounded good. I remember when I was many, many years ago in Seattle and a very godly man I was working with in King's teens had a real good ministry and he'd been moving in a circle with need for a place and I came back from Missouri to Seattle where he was. He met me at the door and he said, Get in the car and I'll tell you on the way. And we drove out to the edge of the city to a great, big, old, abandoned place called Furlance, which later became King's Gardens. Many books have been written about it. And Mike said, God's going to give me this. I stood aghast and he said, 360 acres of choice land, 40 buildings. The tuberculosis sanitarium moved to a new place and God's going to give it to me. And Mike and I took our shoes off and we didn't walk all 360 acres but we went over a lot of it claiming it for God. He in belief and me in bewilderment. I do not explain it. And the more he talked, I was just utterly amazed at how God had spoken to his heart. Two years later, after much litigation, he got it for a dollar. Someone said it was worth over $10 million at that time. Everybody wanted it when it came up in the King County Court. Everybody was wanting it and it didn't look like he would get it but God. But God. Well, it's become quite a place. Mike has been with the Lord a number of years now but I was thinking of this and I go back to... We won't go into that. A few other places I marched around in. But the principle is true, folk. How many of you know that God really wants us to expect and take more for Him? Really? Really? You know, these are things that very few people have heard me say because back in Indiana they say, CCC Framke. Cautious, conservative, consistent. And I'm always... Now, let's get the principle and be careful. But God's been opening a new chapter to my own heart the last couple of years saying, believe, take, expect, claim. Take your shoes off. Walk around. There's more I want to give God's people. And I just want to encourage you tonight as you're closing out chapter 3 or 4 and moving to the next place. I'd just like to encourage you. I believe God is working. And don't think too small. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. Not presumptuous. But having our roots. Not roots. Roots in the Lord. I got adjusted today. Do you sense what I mean then? The difference between saying I have everything in Christ. God has given to me. But the increase of it has not been really wrought out and worked out in my life. I've shared this before years ago. There are those things that God gives us. But there are other things that He has to develop within us. For example, you know that He gives us divine life when we are born again. But He has to develop character in us. That's what we were talking about last night. Wouldn't it be wonderful if God could just give you an endowment of character, integrity, and truth, all these qualities? Just laying on of hands. I impart to you. I tell you it would be a long line and I'd be first in line if it could come that way. And I thought as my own son has been growing up, Lord, it's so wonderful to see You work, take people through developing. Some things have to be developed. There's a qualifying involved. Other things God can give you. He can give you, for example, relationship. There's the relationship of father and son. But fellowship is a developing. Fellowship according to a measure. I remember when Devon was just a baby and I had to fellowship with him on the basis of blocks. Our relationship was father and son. And I played blocks for a couple of years. I was glad when he grew up to enjoy Tinker Toys. I mean, you can really build something with Tinker Toys. And that was a real improvement. One day the Lord spoke and said, now you know the problem I have. Father and son, but he comes all the way down to my level of fellowship. Do you understand this? And I've been saying for years, oh Lord, I can hardly wait for Devon to get interested in Ephesians. I got news for you tonight. He's on the way. He's moved home. Just amazing as we sit every morning and he has hard drinks. He says, Dad, I didn't understand it. Tell me more. It's really something. Fellowship increases. Fellowship grows. First you have a relationship. And that's given, it's established. There's a father-son relationship. There's a bride and bridegroom relationship. I think John writes about this over in his first epistle when he says, I write unto you little children. What are little children's fellowship about? Two things he says. You know he's your father and you know your sins are forgiven. How many of you can remember your first lisping? Father, I'm a father. And you talked about, I feel clean, I'm forgiven. That's fellowship in that first level. Then he says, I write unto you young men. And he fellowships with young men on another basis. What do young men talk about? He says, oh, you know the Word of God and you know how to overcome the wicked one. Are you fellowshipping with him on that basis? You see? The increase of fellowship. Little children. Young men. Then he says, I write unto you fathers. I want to ask you, what would two fathers fellowship about? Huh? What would fathers talk about? What does John say? I write unto you fathers, for you have known him who is from the beginning. And that wasn't meaningful until I realized that fathers talk about purposes for the family. Going way back to the beginning of things. He was from the beginning. And of course, Father, God has come to deal with Abraham in talking about divine purposes. So our fellowship increases as we go on. And it's something of the Lord's working. Well, there are 20 of these. We won't go into those tonight. Just let you know that there are some things that God gives by grace. How many of you know that He gives you rest in your spirit first? Rest in your spirit. He says, Come unto me all you that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you what? Rest. It's in my spirit. And I was puzzled for years because the very next verse says, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest. And I was puzzled. Lord, you gave me rest in verse 4. What's there to find? Except that this is a different rest that's developed, you see. And this is a rest. He says, You shall find rest unto your what? Well, you all know this, but I need to underline it for you. Rest unto your soul is something we learn to qualify and it's developed as we go on with the Lord. This being true then, God is awakening, I believe, many people to see today that while we've sort of settled down and resting in all that's been given to us, God says, There is more to possess. I want to develop more quality, more in your life. And you say, Lord, I'm ready, give it to me. It doesn't come that way. It's wrought out. In the school, he says in that little verse, Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly, and you shall find rest unto your soul. You know where his classroom meets? In the wilderness. One subject. One subject. Learn of me. Knowing more of him. Well, I want to get on to what is involved here. This is kind of delicate, what I want to share with you now. And I pray that the Lord will help us to receive it. But, I pray that we will recognize here in this little portion that there is something that that God begins to develop in us or to really work in us in bringing us into a life that claims and takes more. You will notice, for example, in the Scripture, it says over in Romans 12, I think maybe we'll read that. I'd like for you to notice it for yourself. Romans 12, beginning with verse 3, For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Are you the Lord's tonight? Then God has given to you a measure of faith. A measure of faith. You're a believer. The seed has been planted. The measure of faith is there. The tragedy with so many of God's children today is that they do not go on to, I call it 2, 3, and 4. They do not go on to the proportion of faith and the substance of faith and the reward of faith. He says down in chapter 12, a little bit further, verse 6, he says, Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us for the prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith. I don't know. Maybe the Lord will help us see this tonight. It was such a real help to me in understanding that we have a deposit, a measure of faith. We're not a believer. We don't belong to Him. I have a measure of faith. What is God doing? I believe that He is trying to work within me a union with Himself and roots in the Lord so there's an increasing proportion. A proportion of faith. A proportion. That I might really out of this union or this relationship with Him, I might be able to speak a word of faith. Has anything touched the Richmond area that goes something like this? If you just confess it, you can have it? Or is that only in our area? Well, I guess they mustn't. You see, the tragedy tonight is that we tend to overreact the hard-line faith and some of the extreme things in faith and so we overreact and I've found many a group just throwing the baby out with the backwater. They don't believe that you can claim very much or expect very much. And it's a delicate line in knowing that which is really wrong but what's right. Everybody today is telling me what's wrong. I'm going to say, well, where is the discerning line? What's right? God wants us to take more. Some of the groups in our own area that are abounding just seem to be what I call hard-line faith more. They are claiming and God says, well, you know they're wrong. Why don't you do what's right? Are you following me? And then one day the Lord began to open this and it was encouraging to me and I just share it with you tonight. I see the measure of faith that Joshua had. And all of the history of his life and the background, he should have been trained with Moses. I believe God was developing an increasing proportion of faith. An increasing proportion. It wasn't just instant faith growing out of some new revelation. But there's a whole background that we get over here in his life. And God, I think, gives us the history and the background in Joshua. And here he's speaking in chapter one in verse seven, where he says, verse eight it is, This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. I believe God develops a union with us and out of that union, there's one thing he's after and that's to bring us into the oneness of his own mind so that there comes a time when we're so much one with the Lord, you can speak for the Lord. Let me show you what I saw. I got this through Reese Howells in the book. And here in chapter one, after all of these verses, finally you get to verse ten, where it says, Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the land and command the people, saying, Prepare your vittles, for within three days you shall pass over this Jordan. And I stopped and I said, Lord, did you tell Joshua in three days they were going to go over? I call this the in three days principle. You don't find any place where God has said, Joshua, tell the people in three days we're going over. Do you know what I really believe? I believe he'd come to move in such oneness with the mind and the purpose and the sense of what God wanted that he could speak for the Lord. And he goes to the officer and says, Send the word out. In three days we're going over. Joshua, where did you get that? And I almost hear him saying, God allowed me to speak it for him. Let me read over in John 15 where it says, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, he shall what? He shall ask what? Oh, Lord, that's too dangerous. May he ask what I will? But it's all contingent on what? If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, you become so much one with the mind and the purpose and what God wants. He seems to say, Okay, you declare it. I'll stand with you. Now you see why I said it's delicate and dangerous. Because somebody's going to say, Hallelujah, I've been wanting a new Cadillac, Lord, I take it. Except that they don't come that way. Are you out there? I'm not sure I'm getting through. You mean, Brother Frankie, that God wants to so bring us into a union with his own heart and mind and we become so one in abiding in him that he doesn't have to say take your handkerchief out, blow your nose, tell the people. You can almost begin to say with the Lord, folk, get ready. Three days, we're going over Jordan. I'm saying then that there has been a measure given to Joshua and I believe an increasing proportion of faith that's been growing in his heart until finally it takes substance. The substance of faith. Faith is the what? How do you explain that? It's just something that rises up within you and becomes substance and he says, folk, get ready. Three days, we're going over. Now you can say I'm reading into this, but when I heard you, I thought, Lord, I've known that principle. There's something wonderful about being so one with God in what you know he's after that you can speak and God says, I'll back it up, go ahead. You say, that's dangerous. I know it. That's why I'm afraid to tell you. But I believe it. Three days. And you know what happened? They started getting ready and they sent some spies over into the land and they came into the city of Jericho and they met a woman over there whose name was Rahab. You ought to read that. If you haven't, I'd like to have you just notice a couple things of what that lady said. Chapter 2. Chapter 2, verse 9. Listen to what this Rahab said. And she said unto the man, I know that the Lord hath given you the land and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you for what we've heard. And here they are out there fearful about going and taking it. And the city back here is fearful about them coming. And verse 16 says, And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers, they knew that there were some men that had gotten in and the word was around and they were hunting for these spies. And so she says, You get over to the mountains, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourselves there. How long? Three days. Until the pursuers be returned, and afterward may we go your way. After the three days are up, they get back and the three days they've been in preparation. Are you following me now? The spies get back. How did Rahab know three days? Verse 23, So the two men returned and descended from the mountain and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun and told him all things that befell them. And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord hath given, hath delivered into our hands all the land. For even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us. Joshua says, Three days, I call it the substance of faith. There comes a time when my oneness in relationship with the heart of the Lord and my fellowship with Him, God says, Go ahead, declare it. I stand with you. This is speaking out of a union with Him. Prophesying according to the proportion of your what? Faith. Take substance and the reward. Three days later they come back and they say, Yeah, they've already fainted. Let's go in and take them. And the reward of faith is that which God gives. This was made doubly real to me this summer when my parents were getting ready to move to be with my sister down in Florida. Mother and Dad lived at Winona Lake, Indiana. They planned to retire and finish out their years there. And the Lord began to change things and I knew that they needed to be with my sister and we needed to sell their home. We looked around the community and found there were 33 homes for sale. For several years, couldn't sell. And as I sat with Mother and Dad they're in their 80s now and we were praying. My sister was going to come, the whole family. Everything was contingent upon selling the house and getting them moved. And one morning as we were sitting and we were praying, I said to Dad, I said, Dad, we're going to sell and leave here by August 15th. You phone my sister and tell her to come. Be here ready to leave by the 15th. Then I backed up. Who said that? But there was an assurance in my heart. Mother said, we'll have to rent the place. Nobody can sell a home around here. All the people are having difficulty in interest rates and all the rest. And the Spirit whispered, in three days. It was that three day principle. Are you following? And then I began to think and reason and analyze. How many have an analyzer? Of all the possibilities and the problems and all the family coming and all that. But I had really spoken the word. The 15th of August. The 15th of August. Well, to shorten the story. The 14th, we moved out, got down to Indianapolis. But what was involved in it, the Lord had to help my parents to see that if they were praying and standing with God in the line of what He wanted, God could move and He would. And I said to Dad, I said, Dad, we really need to pray that one of the household of faith, somebody who's praying someplace for a house, that God will bring things together. And that quickened faith. Because every house I've ever sold before has been to somebody in the household of faith. And that's always meant that I had to bring the price down where I couldn't pray, Lord, you skin them and help me. And He couldn't answer their prayer, Lord, you help me and skin them. It had to be mutual. So I said to Dad, you know, God will really honor and God will really bless if we just pass it on because all blessing comes from the Lord. Suppose you have to cut it down. And it came down, the last two days we had two buyers, actually three contracts. All three Christians. Love the Lord. But the one who God, the morning that the Lord awakened my dad and He said, it's a young preacher who's moving here from Pennsylvania who needs it. And God sold and we moved the 14th. And my sister says, as she looks back, I don't know how, it's the in three days, the speaking the word of faith and the reward of faith comes. Oh, Lord. That's such a feeble little story. If I were really a man of faith, I'd give people real good examples. But it's real to my heart tonight. Do you follow? How many of you ever dared to speak a word of faith? Do you know why? Because you knew you were in the line of purpose. You knew it was for God's glory. You knew that it was going to be a blessing to somebody else. And that God was so much in it, He couldn't help but say, go ahead. Three days. Passover, Jordan. All right. I'll leave that with you. Anyway, it's been more real to me these last since August as I've come to sense. God is saying, I want a people who are so one with me, they can speak for me. And I will be glorified. And I will demonstrate my own hand through them. In this, I begin to see another distinction that's been helpful through these last years in my own heart. One of the problems that most of us have today is we've never distinguished. I'll just put this in a little different format. We've never really distinguished the difference between a principle and a rule. A principle, as I'm using it tonight, a principle is something that's built in. It's a very fabric of things. It's what we call a built in. A rule is sort of imposed upon the situation. It'll unfold in just a minute. A principle is something more inward in its nature. A rule is more outward. Let me see if I can illustrate it this way. When I was a boy, growing up in a Christian home, mother had established a little rule when we sat down to the table to eat. The rule was that none of us could start eating until we had said the blessing. We had grace or whatever you call it. Are you following what I mean? And as far as I knew, it was just a rule. Mother never seemed to bother to give me the principle back of it. For a hungry boy, it was a hard rule. I expect if somebody had asked me the reason for the rule, and that day I would have said it was depression, I'd say, well, so everybody gets a fair start. Food was scarce, you know. Do you know there are lots of parents that tell children what to do, but they don't get to the why back of it? So you've got a whole generation that react toward rules and laws and the outwardness and never gotten a hold of the principle back of it. The principle is the way God has built things and they're made to work. I came to realize that the rule we had, which was say the blessing or say grace, but the principle back of it was what? Now, let's just see if you're with me. What is the principle back? You can give me a verse. In everything giving thanks for this is the will of God concerning you in Christ Jesus. What is God really after when He's working the principle out in our heart? He's saying, I want to bring you into a union, into a heart with me of thankfulness. It isn't that you impose these rules and laws. It is to bring you into a constant appreciation of me. I say to a lot of people who have digestion problems, you thank the Lord and then grumble. No wonder it doesn't digest. When I came back from New Zealand, the first time I stopped in a hippie commune out in San Francisco. I was thinking of this as a big home like this. They didn't have any furniture. They all sat on the floor. They invited me for a whole week to be with them. A whole group, about 20 young fellows just met the Lord and hadn't left their old lifestyles but were on the way. It was a wonderful week but very different. I remember sitting at that lovely long table that first night. They did have a table and chairs. We sat down and they gave me a place. I bowed my head and I waited for them to say the blessing or to say the grace. There was a silence and all of a sudden I heard a brother say, Hallelujah! Lord, I'm so hungry for potatoes. Thank you. I looked up and the fellow over here said, Lord, beans. I love string beans. Thank you, Lord. They just went around just sort of expressing their thanks to the Lord. I suddenly realized I was going through my little ritual fulfilling the rule. But they had gotten a hold of the principle. They were thankful to the Lord. And then the Lord said, Who said you had to bow your head and close your eyes? Who made that rule? Are you following? I remember Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Thank you, Father. Isn't it amazing how many things we do? Little rules, laws. And we miss the principle of the thing. The principle puts really back of it. And I believe that when you don't understand the principle, it brings you back to the person of the Lord Himself who is the one who governs and controls all the principles. It brings us back to Him. And suddenly I began to make some real search through the Word because I became convinced that most of our religious battle today centers in people who are living in rules and the outward. They've gotten a hold of this and never pressed into the principle. And so often back in Indiana when some of the young people come and they've all enthused about something and I know they've gotten a hold of a little detail. They've gotten a hold of a little rule. They've gotten a hold of something external. And then I smile and I say, you've missed the principle. I know that it's wrong because if you know what the principle is, you know what rules or what works out of the principle. Well, let me just take you on to another little aspect of it. Young people, there's some young people and some parents here tonight. Pretty soon you'll have this real problem. Some of you have babies. There's so many young people today who have had their parents say to them, now you're going out tonight with the friend and the date and so forth. Don't, don't, don't. And the emphasis is giving them some rules of what to do or what not to do. But so seldom do we press back to give the principle back of it. What's the built-in? What's God really after? Bill Gothard, you know, speaks of the fact that you don't boil a kid. I mean, that's a little goat in its mother's milk. Now, that's a rule, isn't it? Have you ever read the commentaries on what they try to explain as the principle for that? If you want to laugh, really do it. It's amazing how people miss the principle back of why you shouldn't put dairy products and meat products in your tummy at the same time because they digest at a different rate. One commentary, I think it's Berkeley that says, imagine taking that little goat and boiling it in its mother's milk. I mean, it really feels beyond your emotions. Miss the principle. It's just a rule. We have all done this, you see. And the whole religious world is in collision because of rules and details and externals and miss the principle. And I believe that as God takes His people into the principle of faith, then we're not wrapped up in the techniques and the methods and the principle of faith. But let me give you this just in passing. Turn to 1 Corinthians 7. Let me ask you of this. How many have ever had people throw verses at you? I mean, the context isn't important. What it means is just a rule. Just a verse. This is it. Believe God's Word. Going to stand upon it. Versiology. Anyway, suppose one morning, suppose one morning you say, Lord, I think I've said to folk, read two verses and really meditate and get them. You won't need any more. That will be enough for the day. And so you start in chapter 7 with verse 1 and 2. And you start reading. Verse 1, Now concerning the things where you wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. You say, Lord, I didn't know that was in the Bible. You say, I think one verse is enough for today. Don't touch. And you meditate for a while and you think, Lord, I'm going to obey Your Word. Every jot and tittle, I am going to be abandoned utterly faithfully to Your Word. I didn't know that was in the book before. But I promise you. And, you know, you get to work and an hour later as you're walking into the office, suddenly you see the sister you haven't met for a long time and you reach out your hand and say, Mary, excuse me, how are you? And suddenly you remember the what? The verse. The rule. Now, you say, Vern, don't exaggerate. How many of you know people handle the book like that? They really do. I've had verses, rules, externals thrown at me and if you don't know the principle back of it, you're really in trouble. Well, you say, Vern, what's the principle back of that? This will help you, parents. Years ago, I never ceased to thank God for an elderly man who said to me one day. He said, do you know that God inwardly has built and wired the male and the female so very differently that the female is aroused and stimulated and excited primarily by touch and the male is aroused, stimulated, excited, primarily by sight? And I began to see the way God has built things, the way God has planned, built in the very fabric. In the last 20 years when I've shared this on campuses with sometimes fellows, I've been utterly amazed to have them say, oh, that's why Mother said, Dad said. But now they were beginning to get the what? The principle back of it. Now, the whole world is much wiser than a lot of us. Have you ever noticed when they're selling mousetraps or automobiles or wholesome bread or whatever you have down here, what do they catch the eye with? Some girl in a bikini, don't they? That's right. It's to capture the eye of the male. You never see them put a fellow with knocked knees and hairy legs in a bathing suit. Do you? Why? Women are turned on by what they see. Really. I'm not wanting to be, I'm just simply saying tonight to get at, I'm utterly amazed how many hidden principles there are. Mother came to me some time ago and she said, Brother Byrne, I'm so disturbed. Why is it all the wolves are chasing my sweet little daughter and the nice boys don't come around? And I turned to that mother and I said, Mother, do you really want to know? She said, Do you know? I said, Well, I know some things. I know that your daughter has some for sale signs out. And that mother was a spiritual woman in some ways. And I said to her, Mother, you wouldn't break a law and a rule, but you are violating principles you don't even know about. Can you see the difference? There's many a hard line fundamentalist who'd never break a rule or a law and yet unwittingly violate principles. And I finally said to her, The way your daughter dresses, she is violating some built-in principles that I believe God is teaching His people. And she couldn't believe, couldn't believe what was involved. I didn't plan on this, but we bought our fellowship house and a lovely big swimming pool. And what was wonderful became a real opportunity for God's children. And I have some deep convictions but also some deep principles. And it took a couple of months for me to be able to say to them, Now, we wouldn't break any rules or break any laws, would we? But maybe we might violate some principles if we don't know what principles are. And I thank God that the group really came to oneness of heart and mind as we said, We'll let families check it out and use the swimming pool, but we're not going to have a lot of mixed bathing. I don't know who this is helping or hurting, but I just, well, it's just something to consider. Why? Simply because, simply because, you'd be amazed how the eye is captured. And the devil out today, the devil is out today to capture and principles are violated. You pray your way through on it. What does this say in this little verse down here? I think the lovely principle is this, that I would not, I would not defraud anyone. He says, defraud ye not one another. In our fellowships throughout Indiana, we have a lovely way of embracing one another. I think God's people love people. We love one another. I don't have any problem with embracing. But I often say to the young fellows, and I say, if you sense in your spirit you might be defrauding, can I give you a definition of defraud? Defraud is to arouse or to stimulate and not be able to righteously fulfill. To arouse or to stimulate and not be able to righteously fulfill. Well, how many of you can see then that the battle that rages in the religious world is that some people tend to live by the rule and the letter. And you know what we call them? Rigid fundamentalists. Jot, tittle, this is what it says. And how many of you know those who embrace the principle and get back to the deep meaning of the thing? You know what they call them? Well, if you don't know, I won't tell you. It's basically a liberal. That's what it is. Except that we are neither, are we? Liberal or what are we? People who know the right marriage of both in their right place. Thank God for principles. But thank God also for the rules that rightly grow out of principles. I feel like I've lost most of you. We'll go on. All of the collision that's going on in the religious world, I just find it being settled when people get through to some bedrock principles. And they're not all the time boggled with details and little externals. Do you believe this or that? And I just say, hallelujah, I got caught with the principle. Do you read the book, meditate, live in it, to know the mind and the deep-rooted principle? I call it the ways of God. The ways that He has made things to work. And I believe this is true. When you see here in 1 Corinthians, obviously, we don't say, don't touch. That wouldn't mean I couldn't shake hands. But I would never defraud a sister. And sisters would never defraud a brother by anything that they did once they've come to a little insight of the principle of the thing. I keep pleading with parents, as quickly as you can, bring young people, bring children to an understanding of the principle back of it. When a godly man said to me years ago, this little verse in Job, I made a covenant with mine eyes. Why then should I think upon a maid? Your eyes see and it grabs hold and your mind begins to follow through. It'll be a real help because this is a wicked world today, folks. And apart from knowing something of God's way, we fall into lifestyles and the pattern and all that's going on in the world. I believe God wants to raise up a counterculture of a people when community are beginning to be alive unto the Lord and they stand with God for what He wants and don't have to be all the time open to the invasion from that which is outside. But we have to know where we are and what we stand for in ourselves. Oh, my. Come back tomorrow. We don't have messages. We'll finish it out. But let me say this in conclusion tonight. If God is leading His people to take more, to claim more, to be more positive, not negative, don't, don't, don't. Just say, yes, yes, yes. I know the principle. You know, once you get started in this, you can go back into so many places in the Scripture and you can find where God has hidden some very, very lovely principles. Turn over Deuteronomy a moment. I'll show you what I mean. Deuteronomy 22. In beginning with verse 9, you have what's called the law of separation, the rule for separation. Do you know that God has built into the very fabric of what He's doing a principle of separation? And out from it, we develop certain rules or laws. Well, here's the rule. Here's the law. Verse 9. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seeds, lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled. Well, let me ask you, why wouldn't you sow mixed seed? Your turn now. Why don't you sow mixed seed? They fight. When the harvest time comes, let's just imagine it's oats and barley. They mature. You have great difficulty in harvest time. One day when I was pondering this, the Lord said, Well, Vern, if you would sow less of your own words and more of my seed, there wouldn't be so much mixture. And I knew what He meant. Law, the pure seed of the Word. I read the next verse. He says, Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. Why don't you put an ox and an ass in the same yoke? They have a different gait, different stride, different temperament, different strength. And they both will have a raw neck by evening if you put them in the same yoke. And then the Lord began to whisper and say, This is why my children don't go out and try to yoke up and get into service because the principle here is that the ox is the one who is broken. The ass is the one who is unbroken. How can two people really flow and move together in service and work unless there is a brokenness wrought out in their lives? I got a hold of a verse in my early years about going out in twos. And the first ten years I always took someone along. I remember the first brother who went along. After about three weeks, you know, you begin to... And I was praying in my room, Lord, break Spence. He's really precious, but he really needs to be broken. And one day I overheard him praying, Lord, if you don't break Vern, we won't be together very long. Break the unbrokenness in him. This is our problem and all are flowing in service together. God isn't just talking about an ox and an ass. He's saying that there's a necessary separation until I've been able to bring a brokenness in life. Then I read where Isaiah said, The ox knoweth his owner. The ass knows his master's crib. One knows who he's submitted to and the other knows where he gets fed. The Lord, we've got a lot of folk who need to know more than where they're fed. Are you following? Lord, help us to be able to work together, to get the principle of it, not just say, don't yoke, don't do this with... You see? Well, read the next verse. He says, Thou shall not wear a garment of diverse sorts as of woolen and linen together. Ladies, it's your turn. Why don't you put wool and linen together in the same garment? Wool shrinks, linen holds it. What else? The principle back of it, I think that God is saying here, and you know, that wool is always the picture of that which has sweat in it. Linen is always a picture of that which represents a righteousness. And I was praying over this, the Lord said, so real one day, He said, sure a lot of sweat tonight in your message. The Lord, what do you mean? He said, you know. And I realized why, when the priest went back into the holiest place, he wore only the linen, no garments of wool. And I've been claiming so much in the new way, Lord, I know that there's a difference between the ministry of linen, that is that which is the endowment, the anointing that comes, and that which has lots of sweat in it. You see? What I'm trying to say is, don't get stalled in verses and apply verses to people. But go back to the principle. I'm not going to answer this one. I'm just going to read the rule and let you hunt for the principle. It says over here in verse 22, The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment, and so on. Is that a rule or a principle? You ask God to give you the principle in it. Next time I come, ten years, we'll see how far, or meet you up there someplace. I'm interested. I'm utterly interested how many folks struggle over what that verse means, because they have a rule and they don't know the principle. But I will say this, just to give you some little clues. It's very wonderful how God in His separating makes things distinctive. And the devil's master strategy is to obliterate all lines of distinctiveness. That's why his strategy is today for a unisex haircut. Sorry about that, but make male and female alike. Don't let there be any distinctiveness. Bring the world in to the church and the church into the world, and pretty soon, we'll all be Christianized. Don't let there be any distinctiveness. God is calling a people, not to just outward separation, as it were, but to know the principle. We are a distinctive, unique creation that belong to Him. So, if you... Alright, you've got the clue. I'll leave it with you. Lord, take us to so live in your words that we get more than in our meditating rules and verses. Are you catching what I'm trying to say? Bring us the place where we get the principle and the inward reality of a thing. And then you can cause our hearts to flow together. And there's something of a new positiveness we can take more for the Lord. Father, tonight, I claim for my brothers and sisters that thou wilt so bring us into knowing your mind, to knowing your ways, that which really built into the fabric of the universe, how you've designed it and planned it, how wonderfully you've made us, and the uniqueness and the distinctiveness with which you've made us. And even as new creatures, those who belong to you, that we might be more effective in our fellowshipping, in our working together, in our planting of the seed, in our knowing the garment that we wear as we go forth. Oh, God. Oh, God, tonight. You just create a new hunger in your people to really so live before you that your mind and their mind becomes one. They know the inward principle of a thing. And thus the principle of faith can operate, and they can dare to claim and to stand in three days we're going to take. It becomes substance, and you bring reward. But I've not been able to get through to them tonight. I claim you will make real. And encourage our hearts to believe and expect more. And we'll be sure to give thee the praise and the honor and the glory. Oh, we ask it in Jesus' lovely name. And everyone said, Amen.