E-1 Morning, friend. Certainly happy to be here this morning, on this beautiful winter morning; the sun shining bright; our hearts happy. As I was sitting in there with Rev. Mr. Beeler, while he was making recordings, of the Holy Spirit falling over the building, and the people rejoicing, children happy. We are thankful to be alive and among those who can come out today in the services. Now, we are grateful for each and every one of you.
E-2 And as the ushers back there, when someone come in, they got some seats around here, they can sit backward on the altar, and another part of a bench here, in the front, too, if—if people come in a little later.
E-3 Now, this next week we start for the year’s tour now, another world tour. Beginning next, the—the 12th, that’s this coming Wednesday, in Chicago, at the Philadelphian church and in campaign. And then I suppose, from there, we, this morning, from…Beginning on the 3rd of February, we begin then at Lubbock, Texas, in the—the Cotton Bowl Auditorium there in Lubbock, Texas. Then, from there, to Phoenix. And then to the stock exhibit between Los Angeles and South Gate, in California. And then, if the Lord willing, we are wanting to go to Honolulu, from there.
E-4 Now, I certainly appreciate all the people that prays. If they would just ask the Lord, each day, a little prayer for my—my health. I…You hardly will ever know, this side of Eternity, how much I depend on you a praying for me when I’m gone.
E-5 I was thankful to hear Brother Tommy, this morning, in his testimony, of how that God, having His arms open, always willing to receive you. No matter what you’ve done, He is still with His arms out to receive every repentanted soul that will come to Him, regardless of what you’ve done or how great the sin is. He is always willing to forgive. God bless you, my young brother.
E-6 Now, I was noticing the results from last Sunday’s meeting, the people that was prayed for. We have a little interviews, privately, to get the people…
E-7 I tell you, you see, friends, the reason we don’t have healing services here, you understand, we don’t have any adequate room to take care of the people. That’s the way it is. It’s never announced, healing services at the tabernacle here, although we pray for the sick each time that I’m here.
E-8 And auditoriums are hard to find, and so forth. And you strangers that’s at different parts of the country, coming in, there is not too many full Gospel people right in the community or, however, or in the vicinities here. But they…Not all that sponsor the meetings, or cooperate in the meetings, rather, are full Gospel people, because there’s many of them which are different churches. We do not try to represent any certain church organization. Only, we try, by God’s help, to represent the Lord Jesus Christ, and—and free to all, everybody.
E-9 I just, for one, noticing, at last Sunday in the room, there was a—a colored brother who had just recently been saved, a few months ago, and his beloved wife. And she was a cripple, on a support. And he was hideously ruptured. And while speaking with him in private terms, in the deacons office, with a private interview, as he had called ahead and got the arrangements made. Each Sunday, we have so many we can get each Sunday. I feeling, while sitting there, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, why,…
E-10 A lady had just went out there, she was on crutches, that had let…went out, walking without them.
E-11 And this man, very definitely believing the Lord Jesus, why, was prayed for, with a great hideous rupture. And I told him, I said, “Now, that rupture will start, from this very moment, going back to its place.” I said, “Now as it—as it goes back, then you watch it as it moves back, which will give you more faith.”
E-12 See, faith has got to be based upon something, not just mythical thought. It’s got to have something, basically, to stand on; faith does. And that’s the reason we believe that the Word of God teaches Divine healing, deliverance of the soul, deliverance of the body. And we base it upon God’s Eternal Word.
E-13 And I said to the brother, “Now, that you might know that I have told you the Truth.” For, seeing him before me in the vision, I said, “You take, when you go home, and tighten around that rupture, a string, and measure it. And then cut that string off, and don’t touch it anymore till next Sunday. And before you come up, take that, take another string and wrap around that, and bring me the difference that shrunk in the strings.”
He said, “I’ll do it.”
E-14 Well, here is the string, about an inch and a half cut off of it, like that. Here sits the man, the man, just so that you could see that what has happened.
E-15 Now, something has taken place. I have never, in my life, seen any time that God ever said anything, or told it by a vision or a revelation, but what it was exactly the way God said it would be, see, just exact.
E-16 His wife, last Sunday, coming, was walking on support of a crutch, or stick, cane. And I noticed her today. She, in there, she couldn’t walk, hardly. She, I told her that the Lord would make her well. She had a—a limb that was stiffened. And I seen her walking up, she had took her cane to her shoulder in there. And here she is today.
E-17 [A sister says, “Praise the Lord. I’m the lady.”—Ed.] There, there is another lady, another one of them from down…Who? That was…She was in such a fix, with so many diseases, last Sunday, and crippled up. And she lives way down somewhere around Georgetown, isn’t it, lady, or somewhere down in there? [“Georgetown, Indiana.”] Georgetown, Indiana.
She said, “But, Brother Branham, I’m old.”
E-18 I said, “But Abraham was, too, a lot older than you, when he was asked to believe something that was impossible.” And she accepted it, and there she is.
E-19 And here is the other lady sitting right behind the lady I was talking about, right behind her husband here. The colored lady, sitting right here; and the other lady, back there.
E-20 The strings, for evidences. The crutch is gone, for evidences. Jesus Christ lives and reigns, for the supreme evidence that He arose from the dead and is with us this day. How we thank Him from the depths of our heart, that He still lives. He is not dead. He rose from the dead, and living amongst mortals today, ever willing, able to do the exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could do or think. We praise Him with all of our heart, for His loyal goodness to us.
E-21 Now see if there…Is there more benches in there? [Brother Neville says, “There’s some large ones back there.”] All right. They got some more, that we could just bring them out here and sit them on the platform, if you wish to.
E-22 Now, for the Sunday school lesson, we’ll…It’s been my lot, teaching, just a little on the Sunday school lessons. And we’re going to, if God willing, to try to finish up a subject that we started a few days ago, here in the—the church, a few Sundays ago.
E-23 And now, Brother Junior, perhaps, maybe they would bring…Wonder if you’d rather sit up here on the platform, and just let some of the ladies…You can bring it right back here, perhaps, and make it a—a better than what it would be, take it up in the front. And as soon as the Sunday school class is relieved in that room, there’ll be some more seats, more seats ready.
E-24 Now, if someone that’s…maybe someone affiliated with the church here. It’s a little, maybe, embarrassing or something for strangers to come up. But if someone is affiliated with the church, would come and get those seats, which will probably give someone else a seat as they come in.
E-25 Now, today, we are studying in God’s blessed Word. If you remember the last Message, was in the Book of Hebrews.
E-26 Marvelous, to study the Word of God! It gives us Eternal Life. Jesus said, “Search the Scriptures, for in Them you think you have Eternal Life. And They are They which testify of Me.” And how lovely to know that He has blessed us, to give us the living Word. God is in His Word.
E-27 Now, all of you turn in your Bibles, to Hebrews the 7th chapter.
E-28 And we’ll try not to take too much time this morning, but just a little exaltation of Christ, by the Word, that we might let you see what He is and why we’re here today, why Christianity is what it is, by speaking of the Word. “And faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God.” The Word!
E-29 Now, we are able to take the pages and turn them back like this. But there is only One that’s able to open the Word, that’s Christ. For, they seen Him in the vision, as, “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” when John looked. And there was no one in Heaven was worthy to open the Book, or could, or to loose the Seals thereof. And he seen a Lamb, as though It had been slain from the foundation of the world, Who came and taken the Book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the Throne, and opened the Book and loosed the Seals.
E-30 Now, He is the Author of the Book. Shall we speak to Him just a moment before we turn into the Book.
E-31 Our kind Heavenly Father, with great hearts of deep love we come today to offer our tribute of praise and thanksgiving unto Thy glorious Name. Being so mindful of us, “As while we were yet sinners, Christ died in our stead, the innocent for the guilty. Bearing upon Himself the sins of us all, taking them away,” and paid the supreme price; satisfied God. “And rose again for our justification, sitting at His right hand today, ever living to make intercessions upon our confession.” O how we thank Thee for this solid hope that we have! When all around us is giving away, even mortal life itself, our hearts are set on that Eternal, blessful hope.
E-32 Many here are needy, this morning, Father, for their spirit’s sake, for their soul. We pray that You will save the unsaved. Grant it, Lord. Give a closer walk for those who are indifferent towards Thee. And we pray that You will heal all that’s sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by our Lord Himself, “These things that I do shall you also.” And that He said that we must “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel; lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
E-33 And to see here in this little building, this morning, many peoples who were on crutches a few days ago, walking today without them, normally. Lifted up and held up by the undergirding of the everlasting arms of our Lord Jesus Christ, walking! Those who were dying with cancer, are here, well. Your servants, the doctors, giving statement, they can’t find it no more. It’s gone. We thank Thee for these things.
E-34 Forgive us of our shortcomings, and fill our hearts with love. Speak to us through Thy Word now, for we ask it in His Name. Amen.
E-35 Just a little preview, to get the sentiments of our Scripture lesson this morning. It’s, we been talking about the assurance of the hope that’s in us, very beautifully given here in the Hebrew letter. After reading how God dealt with His people, Israel, in the days gone by, then we see that the promise was extended to us, it gives us a great assurance as we see that all those things that happened back in those days were examples of what God is doing for us today, to His believing children.
E-36 And now just a little preview of the previous Sunday’s lesson, of the 6th chapter of Hebrews. We’ll begin about the 12th, or 13th verse here.
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
E-37 I’m sure the class can remember of how that we taken that in, to see what God had done, how He had promised Abraham that He would give him this covenant, and make it with him and his Seed, forever after.
E-38 And God swore by an oath. And anyone swearing by an oath, swears by someone greater than they are. So, God had no one greater than Him, Himself, to sware by, so He swore by Himself, that He would keep this covenant with Abraham. Then, how firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord!
E-39 If we’ll approach this subject today, real sensibly, calmly, never be excited. Faith never gets excited. Faith never rushes itself. Faith knows what it’s talking about.
E-40 You never seen our Master excited about anything. Standing by the grave of a dead man, He was just as calm as He was when He sit on the mount and looked over Jerusalem.
E-41 Standing on the trouble, on a ship in the troubled seas, and the waves tossed about, He was so completely rested in God, until it never even paid any attention to it enough to wake up. Always undisturbed, faith is.
E-42 Now, we find here that the reason that we can be undisturbed, because it was given to our father Abraham and to his children. And God, Who gave the promise, swore by an oath that He would confirm it and keep it. And that He has done.
E-43 And we find, the children of Abraham are not Jews outwardly, which was the tribe of…out of the lineage of Abraham. But, through Abraham come Isaac; through Isaac come Christ; through Christ, blessed the world. For it said, “Unto Abraham and to His Seed, which was Christ.” And through there, that, all the tribes of the earth was to be brought into this covenant.
E-44 And the covenant was given to Abraham unconditionally. Not, “Abraham, if you will do something, I’ll do this.” But, “I have already done it.” See?
E-45 It isn’t what we do; it’s what He has done for us. Nothing that we could do to merit anything. Who could we, the unrighteous ones, ever do anything to merit something before the great Jehovah God, and His great supreme holiness? See? We, only thing we can do is accept and be grateful for what He has already done for us. Oh, it’s so simple. Isn’t it?
E-46 And I’m positive that many times, in people’s thinking, that they try to make Divine healing, and so forth, some great outreaching, something way away, “If I could only reach it!”
E-47 Could you imagine Jesus saying, “Now let Me check My faith and see if I’ve got enough faith to do this. See if I’ll have to fast a while, to see if I’ll have enough faith to do this”? He was perfectly unconscious of the faith that He had. He just spoke it, and knew that it would be so.
E-48 Just like you are come from your homes today. You probably want to return to your homes. Told your wife, or your loved ones, “I’ll be back, some time right after noon.” How do you know you are? You don’t try to wonder, “Have I got faith enough to go home? Have I got faith enough to drive my car?” You just unconsciously turn your key on, drive on away, and go home. See? It’s the unconscious faith that does it.
E-49 That’s the way it is in Christ. We just unconsciously just say, “That’s His Word. That just settles it. There is no more to it,” and go on. That’s how they get help.
Now, “God swearing by Himself, no greater.”
E-50 We’ll hurry up and get down, for our subject today is on Melchisedec: Melchisedec, The Great Prince And King.
E-51 Now the 14th verse says:
Saying, Surely blessings I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
E-52 Cause, He was to be multiplied to every nation. And the Gospel, through Christ…Now, it could not do it under the dispensation of the law, because it didn’t reach out that far; only to the circumcised, and that was the Jew. But in the Holy Spirit realm, He has circumcised every heart, see, all nations. He would multiply Abraham to all nations.
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
E-53 How we dwelt on that, how, “Abraham, patiently enduring.” Enduring, is seeing (what?) the invisible God as though He were visible, standing before him. “And after his endurance, after he had endured the hard fight, he inherited the promise.”
E-54 Now isn’t it strange? Look like God could have just reached down and give him the promise right then, and done the work right then. He could have done it.
E-55 Hannah, when she was at the temple, and she was praying. And Eli came out, and thought she was drunk. And she said, “I am not drunk, but I am praying that God will take away my reproach.”
He said, “The Lord God grant unto thee thy—thy request.”
E-56 Now, God could have placed little Samuel right in Hannah’s arms. All of us knows that. He is a Creator of all things, just speaks it into existence. He could have put it right in Hannah’s arm. But, instead of doing that, it was the regular procedure of nine months before the little baby come along. He could have done it instantly, but He didn’t do it instantly. He just give her the promise. And she inherited the promise.
E-57 When God told Moses, when he started out, to go into the promised land, “All that promise,” He said, “I give Abraham years ago, it’s all walled up with Philistines and all kinds of great people over there, warriors.” He said, “Now it’s all yours.” There was the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and all those over there, and Hivites, Jubinites, Philistines, everything in Palestine. Now God said, “I have give it to you. It’s yours. Now go and possess it.”
E-58 Oh, I hope you see it, people. It’s something that I want to get to you, to put your faith where it belongs. Many people, as I find, can…They’ve got faith, if they only knowed how to put it to work.
E-59 When Benjamin Franklin first found electricity, he said, “I got it. I got it.” But he didn’t know what he had.
E-60 Along come Thomas Edison, and said, “It’ll work for us.” And he didn’t care how long it took; he tried ten thousand wires. But, yet, he found a wire that would finally carry the electronic, or the electricity, into the wire. He knowed it was a power, and that power would work in our benefit.
E-61 And now we found salvation, that will save us from sin; that will take the vilest woman or man, drunkard, prostitute, and make them a child of God. Well, that same faith…That same power that will lift up a fallen man or woman of that, it’ll work for us in many different ways. It’ll heal our bodies, if you can just find the right approach. You’ve got to find how to do it.
E-62 Like, if I had a—a farm over on this hill, full of good corn, and it’s just about dead on account of water. And I got an artisan well on this side of the hill. Well, I can’t make that artisan well throw the water down here, and up this side of the hill, to water it. But I’ve got to survey that land and find out how that water will take its own current and course, and come around and water that crop. It’ll do it if I’ll just let it run in its own channel.
E-63 And that’s the same thing the Holy Spirit is, and God’s promise. If we’ll just let It run Its way; and not us get in the way, not us throw our doubts there, ’cause this didn’t and that didn’t. Just let God’s Holy Spirit working, and you rest upon the promise, It’ll do just exactly what God said It would.
E-64 Abraham was an old man, a hundred years old, when God appeared to him in the name of Almighty God. The “Almighty,” there, comes from the Hebrew word of the El Shaddai, which means “the bosom, or breast of a woman.” Now he was old. His strength was gone. But El Shaddai is the Almighty, “the strength-giver.” And all Abraham had to do to obtain this promise, was lay right on that promise. Other words, like the baby to its mother; and nurse from the mother, strength for the baby.
E-65 And we do the same thing when we come to God and see His promise. We just lay right to Him and draw from His Word, the strength of God, given in Its course, not taking our own mind; just believing It.
E-66 “After he had endured, he obtained the promise.” Oh, I just love that! Now, the same thing works for salvation, same does it work for Divine healing. How God, in His great love and infinite mercy, give it to us! Now:
Saying, Surely…I will bless thee, and…will multiply thee.
And so, after he had patiently endured, he endured the promise.
E-67 16th verse:
For men verily swear by a greater: and the oath is confirmation, confirmed, is to them an end of all strife.
E-68 In other words, if the oath is sworn, then that’s the end of all things. If you come and say, “Brother Branham, I, as a Christian, put my hand upon the Bible and solemnly swear that I’ll do a certain thing. If God let me live to do it, I’ll do it.” All right. Then, to me, that’s the end of all doubting. See? You have swore to me that you would do it.
E-69 And God swore to Abraham that He would keep this covenant with him and of his Seed forever. God swore by Himself, that He would do it. And in doing so…
E-70 Under the old law, when you made an oath under the old law, you killed an animal, cut it in two. And then the two men on which the oath was taken by, stood between the animal, and they wrote out on a piece of paper a certain contract. And that piece of paper was torn apart, and given to one and the other man. And they took an oath over this dead animal, that, if they broke that covenant between them, let them be as this dead animal.
E-71 So, God, having no other to sware by, He swore by Himself, and He took the oath over the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, foreseeing it in a shadow. And in the covenant, when He took Christ to Calvary, He tore His body and soul apart. And He lifted up His body, to sit on His right hand; and sent back the Holy Spirit, to be in the Christian, to do the same thing here in the Church that He did in Christ when He was here on earth. And proving, by that, that He’ll raise us up in the last days, to sit with Him and be with Him in His Kingdom.
E-72 And, today, to see the same Holy Spirit, that was upon Jesus Christ, working in the Church, confirming everything that God said! What a marvelous hope it builds up in us, to think that we are His children, and blessed of His Presence! And now He is here with us, as the infallible proof that He is the Lord God Who made the promise to Abraham.
E-73 Now listen, the 17th verse.
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
That by the immutable things,…which is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
E-74 What a marvelous promise, “Two immutable things!” God cannot lie, and be God. Now, if God has made a promise in His Bible here, we believe the Bible to be the infallible Word of God. And if God has made a promise in this Bible, we have this consolation and know that it’s impossible for God to lie. Therefore, when we see He promised it in the Bible, we believe it, soul, body, and spirit. It’s impossible for Him to lie. Now if there’s any fault, it’s in us, not in God. For, God is obligated to His Word, for He has sworn by His Word. Oh, my!
E-75 I’m sure, when we get to seeing it in that light, things begin to shape up and heap up different than what they used to be. Healing of the body doesn’t become a fiction. It becomes a reality. The baptism of the Holy Spirit doesn’t become an emotional, worked-up substance. It becomes a reality, of the indwelling Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, to change the life.
E-76 A few nights ago, in a prayer meeting, a man said to me, “The Holy Ghost wasn’t given…Only to the ten, or the twelve, on the Day of Pentecost.”
E-77 I said, “Well, then, what about the hundred and twenty was there at the same time, that received It? How about on down at the house of Cornelius, when the Gentiles received It? Thirty-three years later, when Paul asked the—the Baptists if they had received the Holy Ghost since they believed; and he laid his hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost. Setting the church of Corinth in order, ‘He also set in the Church, apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, gifts of healing,’ and all those marvelous gifts, years and years beyond Pentecost.”
E-78 Then, It’s today, to every believer. “Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” How far? “All the world.” How many? “All the people.” “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: in My Name they shall cast out devils, and heal the sick, and so forth.”
E-79 There you are. It’s God’s promise, that He swore He would do it. No matter how much rises up to try to counterfeit or impersonate It, how many things raise up to try to contradict It or take It down, It’ll go on and on and on, forever, for God has swore by Himself that He would keep it. If I fail to preach It, and let down, God will raise somebody in my place to go on with It. If you fail to believe It, they’ll be somebody stepping in your place, to believe It, instead of you, for God has sworn He would do it. Oh, what a consolation that gives us!
E-80 And the beauty part about it, my Christian friend, is to think, that now we have the evidence of It. We have It here in blessing. We have It in power. We have It in miracles. We have It in signs. We have It in a picture. We have It in every way that God has promised It, even more than He promised to give it to us. And it’s infallible, the Truth. The truth, not of man, not the truth of some teacher or philosopher, but it’s the Truth of Almighty God. And what a hope It gives us! No wonder we can sing:
My hope is built on nothing lesS
Than Jesus’ Blood, with righteousness;
When all around my soul gives way,
Then He is all my hope and stay.
For, on Christ, the solid Rock, we stand;
All other grounds is sinking sand.
E-81 Whether it’s popularity, whether it’s our church, whether it’s our friends, our associates, whoever it may be; whether it’s our doctor, whether it’s our priest, whether it’s our preacher; all other grounds is sinking sands. Christ, alone! And every man that’s ever amounted to anything in this great battlefield of strife, has been men and women who stood alone on them convictions. When everything else failed and fell around them, they still stood.
E-82 Abraham Lincoln, of old, was convinced that he was right. He stood alone, on his convictions, but he proved it and sealed his testimony with his own blood.
E-83 Jesus Christ stood alone, in His day, as an example that every man, upon his convictions of God’s Eternal Truth, that will take his stand positionally, and stand, will stand alone. But, not alone; with God! The invisible companion Who follows us through life’s journey, down through the shadows, of the valleys of shadows of death, and into Eternity. He’ll still go with us, and be God.
E-84 Then what is our hopes built on this morning? Cause, God swore that He would do it to Abraham. Swore not only to Abraham, but every one of his Seed. Who is the Seed? Is the…You who have had the invitation to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Seed of Abraham. Certainly, there is people who isn’t called. But, to every one of you here this morning, that’s had the call.
E-85 Why are you here at church this morning? [Brother Branham knocks on the pulpit three times—Ed.] Something told you to come. You know it wasn’t the enemy, to try to get you to do wrong; try to get you to do wrong, to come to church. You couldn’t do that. When you come to church, you’re doing right.
E-86 And Jesus said, in His Own Words, that, “No man can come to Me, except My Father draws him. And all that comes, I’ll give them everlasting Life, and raise him up at the last days.” Think of it, that every person that comes on the invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ, is promised Eternal Life and the resurrection in the last days; by the Jehovah God Who swore by an oath that He would do it, and send His Son and confirmed the Word. And He swore He would do it; give it in a type, to Abraham; fulfilled it in Jesus Christ, raised Him up!
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
Someday He’s coming, O glorious day!
E-87 There you are. Our justification! Every time you hear the clods drop upon the casket; saying, “Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, earth to earth,” our faith looks away into another land yonder, to where there’s an empty tomb; that, some glorious day, He Who promised to come, will come. And as sure as Jesus rose from the dead, we’ll rise with Him in the resurrection. What a beautiful hope we have!
E-88 Now, right on down, quickly. Our time will get away from us before we know it. Now, I believe it’s the 19th verse.
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast,…entered into that which is in the veil;
E-89 The anchor of our soul, that’s went into the veil, beyond the veil, and anchored!
E-90 You know, a ship, sometimes…Servicemen and so forth, know it, and you who have been on the sea. When, really, the waves gets to dashing too hard for the boat, they anchor it. And it’s got a line that lets down, that holds it. And it may flip it around this way, and around that way, but that anchor holds it. The anchor! They cannot see land, anywhere. But they drop the anchor beyond the veil, which is the water, and that anchor goes down into the bottom of the sea, top—top of some big mountain somewhere. And drags till it catches on that mountain, holds into that crevice there, and all the sea can’t move it no more. It’s anchored, out of sight.
E-91 And every person that has received Jesus Christ as personal Saviour, been born again of the Holy Spirit, you’ve dropped anchor. If you are sick, and your hope is built on Christ, you’ve dropped your anchor. The doctor may say this, that, or the other; but, as sure as your faith looks yonder! The waves, sick spells, fever may rise, and everything like that, but your anchor holds within the veil.
E-92 Somewhere out yonder in the mystic land, say, “What have you got your hopes built on? The doctor said it’s gone. The medicine says it can’t do nothing. The surgery has failed.” But my hopes is not built in that.
E-93 We have our hope within the veil. What veil? Through the shedding of His Blood, that tore His Spirit from His body. And, in between that veil there, the anchor has caught a hold of Something.
E-94 I seen a ship, one time, when it was tossed out there. And I thought, “What’s holding that ship in that same spot?” I couldn’t understand. “Setting out there in the sea?” And I noticed the waves would carry it around this way, and back around this way, but it didn’t move from that place. I could not see nothing. But there was a little wire, a rope, that run down from the bow of that ship, onto an anchor that had caught unto something beneath my…where I could not see, beyond the waters. And it was a holding there. And I said, “Praise be to God!”
E-95 Yes, one day, I found an anchor. I read down here, It said, “Whosoever will, let him come.” I cast that anchor beyond something I couldn’t see. Something caught a hold. And when the battle is a raging, the Anchor holds within the veil. When infidels rise, and troubles arise, and all around me gives away, our anchor holds within the veil. Where is it at? I don’t know. But it’s beyond the veil, somewhere yonder, anchored into the Rock of Ages. “Our anchor is stedfast, unmovable. It holds in, within the veil.”
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast,…
E-96 “Sure and stedfast.” Oh, if we only had a little more time, to get what assurance means. “Sure-ance,” something that you know, and your assurance. What’s assurance? “God swore by an oath He would do it.” That’s the assurance.
E-97 Here sometime ago, a man come to me, and he said, “Billy, I want to sell you an insurance policy.”
E-98 Now, insurance is all right. I don’t have any, myself. I guess I went to extremes with it. A—a company had beat my poor old dad, one time, out of a lot, ’cause he was too illiterate to read the policy. And a Philadelphian lawyer couldn’t read one straight, anyhow. So he said…He sold him this policy. And he paid for it, for my brother and I, for twenty years. Come, said, “It’ll be worth five hundred dollars at the end of the time.” And through the depression and things, the poor old fellow working! At the end of it, they told us they had read the policy wrong. “It was worth seven dollars and fifty cents.” So, it kind of bittered me. Now, they’re not all like that. There is insurance agents sitting right here now.
E-99 Many times, people has come and said, “Billy, I want to sell you insurance.” Now, I guess it’s perfectly all right.
I said, “Look, I have insurance.”
E-100 And he said, “What kind of insurance do you have?” Said, “What policy do you hold?”
I said, “Eternal Life.”
He said, “Eternal Life?” I said, “Yes, sir.”
Said, “Who sells them policies?” I said, “The Lord Jesus.”
He said, “And you have insurance?”
I said, “Yes, sir.”
Said, “What kind is it, really? What is it, Billy?”
I said, “It’s insurance.” He said, “What?”
E-101 I said, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory Divine!”
E-102 He put his arms around me; a boyhood chum. We was standing right across the street here. He said, “Billy, that will not put you in the grave yard up here.”
E-103 I said, “I know. But It’ll get me out. I’m not worried about getting in there. But It’ll take me out.” That’s right.
E-104 I could think of my insurance policy when I was sick, but it did me no good. But, my insurance, of Jesus, I had an anchor, “stedfast,” the assurance that, “God swore by Himself,” He would keep every Word He promised.
E-105 When Mayo said, “There’s not a hope for you,” not a hope for me to live; I had a gurgitation that would finally kill me. But my anchor held within the veil. “Well, what do you see?” I don’t know what I see. There is something that I know.
E-106 That’s what it is. You know it. It’s not by works. It’s by faith. We believe it.
E-107 What kind of an assurance did Abraham have from the doctor, the medical association of Ur-i, or anywhere else? When he was a hundred years old, and Sarah ninety, they was going to have a baby. But his anchor held within the veil, for God give him the promise and he rested upon it. “And called things which was not as though they were,” because knowing that God was able; here it is, God was able to perform that what He had promised.
E-108 He made the world. He made me. He made everything. He made you. He made all, everything, by His Word. And His Word will do just what It says He, It’ll do.
E-109 Now, oh, how, what hope! “Which hope we have, assurance of the hope, within the veil.”
E-110 We’ll have to hurry now because we got a big prayer line coming.
E-111 Notice, “Whither…” Oh, my! All right, looky, everyone now. 20th verse, just look at this.
Whither the forerunner is for us entered in, entered, even Jesus,…
E-112 The forerunner of what? The forerunner of our salvation, physically and spiritually. “For He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity, the chastisement of our peace upon Him, and with His stripes we were healed.” The forerunner of our salvation has already entered in. “The assurance, already entered, even Jesus.”
…made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
E-113 Now we’re coming to where we want to get this text right quick now and get into it.
E-114 All these great promises, we bottleneck it down to one thing, that, “Jesus, our forerunner, Who was the Seed of Abraham,” through the Holy Spirit has called us to this blessed hope that we now have, “an anchor of the soul, stedfast and sure, anchored within the veil.” This Jesus, being made a forerunner, who was in the order of Melchisedec.
E-115 Now, this great Man, Melchisedec, we want to speak on Him for the next few minutes. Hurrying up, the next ten or fifteen minutes.
E-116 And then, for the prayer line, build your faith now. Don’t let the devil rob you of anything. You’re here this morning, in this little building, where Almighty God will come into this humble abode here. You say, “It looks pretty bad.” But He come to a manger.
E-117 He’ll come to any humble heart that’ll open up and say, “Yes, Lord Jesus, I believe It. I might not even understand It, but I believe It, anyhow.”
E-118 This blessed hope we have, “Christ, the forerunner, has already come.” You know what a forerunner is? Something that runs before, or goes ahead of. Christ, being the forerunner, then, of our salvation, came to the earth; and to be an example of the Church, that the Church was to finish His works, or continue His works, after He had completed His sacrifice on Calvary. You see it? Notice.
E-119 Then, He was born in humility, right in a manger. He was made fun of; as you would be, or anyone else who serves Him. But while on earth, He, “Who had no respect of person,” He loved all. He, He healed all. He blessed all. He did good wherever He went. He gave His life as a sacrifice; died, buried. Rose, ascended up, as the forerunner to us.
E-120 And the very Spirit that was upon Him has come back to be with the Church, to lead and guide It. Speaking, “A little while and the world seeth Me no more. Yet, ye shall see Me, for I…” “I” is a personal pronoun. “I will be with you, even in you, to the end of the world.” As, directing our minds to His great supreme sacrifice, as the forerunner of our blessed hope we have within the veil now.
E-121 Then, by faith we believe It. Our anchor goes out there, and the points of It, in the Word of God, sticks within the veil. And, a prayer line through here, holds us stedfast to the promise. “Not wavering about, tossed about, with every wind of doctrine. But stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the grace of the Lord, for as much as you know your works are not in vain in the Lord.” What a hope!
E-122 Now, this Melchisedec, just speaking of Him here, right out…Paul speaking to the Hebrews, of the Old Testament, of a type.
E-123 Let’s turn back to Genesis, the 14th chapter, and read just a little bit before we go on, Who this Melchisedec was. We read in the 14th chapter of Genesis, and the 14th verse, beginning.
E-124 Abraham, you know, had been called out of Chaldea, the land of—of Ur…the city of Ur, rather, the land of Chaldea. And God told him, “Separate yourself from your people, and come apart.” Let me put emphasis on that.
Oh, if we had more time on this, today! It’s so limited.
E-125 “Separate yourself from your people, and come apart, and I’ll bless you.” See?
E-126 And in order to obtain this same promise that Abraham has, you have to separate yourself from all worldly contacts, all the things of the world. Your sinful desires, your lusts, passions of the world, and all these things, separate yourself from the thing. Come apart, into a strange land, a land that you’ve never been in before, to walk not by sight, but by faith.
E-127 For, Abraham had nothing. And, look, he…No one had crossed this river Euphrates and sojourned into this land. “But Abraham, by faith, forsook his own, and went forward, separating himself.”
E-128 As the Blood of Jesus Christ, today, by the Holy Spirit, separates us from the things of the world, to walk in a new life; criticized, made fun of, called “holy-rollers,” misunderstood, but our anchor holds.
E-129 Hebrews 11 said, “They wandered about in sheep skin and goat skins, was destitute, and places, for they believed that they were seeking for a City Whose Builder and Maker was God.” Something within them, told them, “There was a Land, a City, Whose Builder and Maker was God. And they sought that, not knowing where they were going.”
E-130 That’s the way with every pilgrim today. He is seeking something that he can’t put his hands on, but he sees the evidence of It coming all around him. “What made me do this? What made this crippled woman walk? What made that crippled woman walk? What makes this rupture go off the man? What made that cancer leave the woman? What made those deaf ears come open the other night, here, eighty-two years old? What did it?” It’s supernatural attributes, that the anchor…That City Whose Builder and Maker is God, that we look for, yet can’t see where It’s at, but there is something that anchors up yonder. “The anchor within the veil. Our hopes are stedfast, unmovable.”
E-131 And Abraham left the land, sojourned, called himself a stranger and a pilgrim.
E-132 And, look, Abraham, as all mortals; not an immortal man, not a man that can’t make a mistake, but constantly made mistakes. But no matter how many mistakes he made, his anchor still held, for he had the promise.
E-133 So, he took with him, Sarah. He took Lot. He took his daddy. And as long as they was with him, God could not bless him. The old man finally died, and they buried him. He went on up a little farther, and Lot backslid. And you know what happened there. And then he separated himself from him. Then God appeared to him again, said, “Now, Abraham, look all over the ground. It’s all yours.” When he had made the right choice. That’s it. Separate yourself from everything.
E-134 I’ll have to say this. Look. I hope It finds its resting place, ’cause I never thought it, premeditation.
E-135 Maybe that’s the reason some of us are not getting along so well. We’re holding onto things that we ought to let go, in the separation. A little doubt, a little wonder, a little skeptic: “Wonder if It’s right. Could This be? Could That be? How could It be?” Cut loose, this morning!
E-136 Hebrews 12:1, said, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin doth so easily beset us.” The “sin,” what is that? The “unbelief” that does so easily beset us. “And let us run with patience the race that’s set before us, looking to Christ the author and finisher of our faith.”
E-137 Notice Abraham here. Then, he got in trouble, Lot went down to Sodom and Gomorrah. You know the story.
E-138 We’ll have to hurry, pressed. We can’t get to it. The 14th verse.
E-139 And first thing you know, all the Gentile kings come down there, come into Sodom and declared war, and took Lot, and Abraham’s nephew, and took him on, Lot’s wife, and the children, and all the rest of them, and left the country.
E-140 And one of the kings of Sodom, when he started to run, he went into the slimeflats out there, and fell dead. Slime is what they made their bricks and mortar, and built their cities out of.
E-141 Just for a little pre-reading of this. You can read it when you get home. But because of the time being limited, we’ll have to hurry. And the 14th verse:
And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive,…
E-142 Brother, I like that, “his brother,” and look what Lot had done to him! But, yet, there was some kind of a tie that binds, if the brother has backslid. Like the young man said a while ago, the young minister here, that he had backslid and gone away. Yet, somehow, the Holy Spirit still calls for that person. When he’s in trouble, He is right there with him.
…Abraham’s brother was taken captive, and he armed his trained servants, and bore them on his…born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
And he divided himself against them, and he and his servants, by night,…smote them, and pursued them to Hobah, and there on the left…to Damascus.
E-143 Abraham taken all of his servants and armed men. Just think of the man that had been a pauper when he left the land down there in Chaldea, of Ur, had three hundred and eighteen armed men as servants. Say God don’t bless you? “Three hundred and eighteen.”
You say, “Well, is that right?”
E-144 That’s what the Scripture said. He had enough servants to fight an army. And he overcome! Notice, “And he brought…” He pursued them; took everything they had.
And…brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after he returned from the slaughter…and the kings…of—of the valley…and the king’s dale.
And Melchizedec king of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and gave him: and he was the priest of the most high God.
E-145 After all these Gentile kings had come in and took away his brother, Abraham took his servants, pursued after them and went down and got them; and returned with them (and slaughtered the kings), and brought them back.
E-146 And, notice, the king of Sodom come out. King of Gomorrah was killed. But the king of Sodom came out, and brought him forth, and said here, “All of the goods that—that you have taken, that these people took away, I’ll give them to you.”
E-147 Later on, in this chapter, we find Abraham said, “I won’t take no thread, to a shoelatchet; that you might say you made Abraham rich.”
E-148 But the thought we want to get to, is right here.
And Melchizedec king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abraham of the most high God, possessor of heavens and earth:
And he blessed him, and he…
And blessed be the most high God, which has delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him a tithe of all.
E-149 I love it. Notice now, after Abraham, the spiritual picture here, Abraham; “his brother” that had gone astray. A picture of the true Church, or the true believer of God, that’s blessed of God, and has the promise of God, has the covenant of God, and has faith in the covenant.
E-150 Now think. If you’ll count here, there was around ten or fifteen kings went out there, and, probably, how many servants did they have?
E-151 But Abraham counted what he had that was faithful, “born in his own house.” Oh, my! The faithful, “born in his own house.” It was his servants who he had circumcised, that was included in the same promise that he was. And he went after his backslidden brother, and pursued with a little handful of men, of three hundred and eighteen men; after the kings, and overcome them, and took them and slew them. And brought back all that was lost.
E-152 Perfect picture of Christ! And the Church, the Holy Spirit leading the faithful that’s born in the same house of the Holy Ghost where Christ was born, pursuing after the wayward and backslidden. And slaying every evil thing that’s overcome them. Amen! Overcoming sin, laying aside all the weights. Speaking to the people about their lusts and the things they’re doing; cut it off! Their sicknesses and all; preaching to them the Gospel, and bringing them back into full fellowship with God.
E-153 Notice. And when he returned, Melchisedec met him. Who was this Melchisedec? And notice, the first thing, now. Melchisedec did not offer him any money. Melchisedec only offered him “bread and wine.” Melchisedec was a Priest of the Most High; the King of Jerusalem.
E-154 It was then called Salem. Here is the Cruden’s. I thought, if it would be questioned afterwards, I can prove it, that Jerusalem was first Salem. J-e-r-u-s- -l-e-m, see, Salem, Jeru-salem. See? It was first called H-i- -r-u- -a- -m, Hieru-salem, that’s right, which, when it was in Gentile possession. Oh, I hope you get this now. Jerusalem was first in Gentile possession.
E-155 “And the King of Jerusalem, or Salem, which was meaning the King of peace, the King of righteousness, met Abraham as he returned. And give him,” the communion, “bread and wine,” thousands of years, or hundreds of years, before bread and wine was ever an ordinances in the Church. And He was the King of Jerusalem. Amen.
E-156 Who was this great Man? Back to our text now, 7th verse…or, 7th chapter.
For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God,…
E-157 He was not only a King, but he was a Priest.
…who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
E-158 Blessings only come from someone higher. Watch. “To whom al-…”
To whom also Abraham gave the tenth part of all; being first by interpretation King of righteousness,…after that…the King of Salem, which is, the King of peace;
E-159 Who was this great Man, way, many years ago? Who was He? Listen. Let’s read a little more of Him.
Without father, without mother,…without beginning of days, or without ending of life;…
E-160 If He had no father, He had no mother, He had no beginning of days or ending of life, Melchisedec still exists. Is that right? [The congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] “Made in order…Having no father, no mother.”
…but was made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
E-161 He can’t…He had no beginning. He has no end. He had no father. He had no mother. Yet, He was a Man, and He came from Salem. Peace, He was the King of peace. He was the King of righteousness.
E-162 He was not only a King, but He was a Prince. And He is the Prince of Peace. He is the Rose of Sharon. He is the Lily of the Valley; the Morning Star; the Alpha, Omega; He that Was, Which Is, and Shall Come; both Root and Offspring of David. He was before David, in David, and after David.
E-163 Who was this Priest? None other than the incarnated Lord Jesus Christ, in His magnificent power. He was the same One, a little later on, after He had met Abraham. And gave him, as being a covenant people, the communion. Then, now, through that same covenant, we take…And He was in a shadow. That Melchisedec, when He become a Man of flesh, would be cut into part. And the communion will be given, the fragrance of His broken body, as we take today.
E-164 There that Melchisedec met Abraham, and Abraham paid tithes to Him. Amen. Abraham, the greatest man on the face of the earth, paid tithes to Melchisedec: the King of peace, the King of Salem, the King of righteousness.
E-165 And He was a Prince. And He was—He was a Prince. He was a King. And He was the Servant of the Most High, which Jesus was.
E-166 And when Abraham, few years later, or not long after that, when Lot had backslid, and Sodom had been burnt. And Abraham was left alone, with Sarah, out on the barren grounds. When there was…Their cattle was all dying, from starvation. And it looked like God had failed him. But he had strong faith, to believe.
E-167 And one day he was sitting in the door of his tent, under the big oak. It still stands in a memorial today, as it’s charred-over and held. And there, Abraham, sitting in the door of his tent, seen Melchisedec coming to him; three Men walking.
E-168 And I just imagine Abraham saying, “I’ve seen Him before.” And He comes up. And he said, “Let me just…Come by, my Lord, and let me fetch a little water for Your feet.” Somehow, way down, that covenant man, down in his heart, knew that That was Somebody more than a man.
E-169 He said, “We are strangers.” Said, “We’ve come from a foreign country.” Their clothes were dusty. Yes, They was, all the way from Glory. And so They walked up there, and said to Abraham…They brought them a little stuff, and washed. And Abraham begin to look at them.
E-170 He slipped back in the tent, and said, “Sarah, stand here just a minute.” Out through the herd he went, and got the fattest calf he could find. And he killed it, and brought it back.
E-171 And gave this Man some meat, and bread, and milk, and butter. [Blank spot on tape—Ed.]…eat.
E-172 Now, when Melchisedec, the King of Salem, the Priest of the Most High, the King of peace, which was none other than the fore part of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He met Abraham, He fed Abraham the communion, and blessed him. And here he, Abraham, meets Him on His journey to Sodom, and feeds Him meat and bread.
E-173 Oh, don’t you see the connection between the men? He promised. Our bread and water is sure. And God will do it, just as certain as we are setting here. And every Divine promise He has made, He is obligated to do it.
E-174 And when the two Angels went on towards Sodom, Abraham stood there. And he looked around, with the Man. He said, “If I find so many, and so many,” as he kept saying, down to ten. And when He left; then the Angel, or the Man who was standing by him, disappeared and vanished, by the sacrifice. And Abraham said, “I’ve talked face to face with Almighty God.” Melchisedec, and, Christ in the foregrounds.
E-175 How, friends, this morning, if we could take this veil here, that’s before our eyes, as flesh has blinded us, and rip that veil back like this and just look beyond the curtain of time, to wonder what it would be. I used to sing a little song:
I’m heart-sick and blue, and I want to see Jesus.
I want to hear the sweet harbor bells chime.
Yes, if I could only see Him, and just look a-past the curtain of time,
It would give my…me more faith, and would do all, and do all my strength,
If I could only look a-past the curtain of time.
E-176 Who was that there, in this Jerusalem on earth right then, “That had no beginning of days, or no ending of years,” and come out and give the communion to Abraham who had the promise? And the promise is extended to us, this morning. It’s to every one of you.
E-177 We could have had more time, I wish we did, on this great subject; maybe some day, after this journey is over.
E-178 As I go across the nations now, to the foreign lands and around, preaching the Gospel, let me leave this thought with you, my beloved children, my brothers and co-workers in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be not weary. Take new courage this morning. Lift up your heads. Lift up the feeble knees and hands that once hung down. Look unto the author and finisher of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has give us these promises. This thing that I have tried to preach to you, through revelation that was given to me by the Lord Jesus Christ, while I’m yet ignorant and uneducated, illiterate, yet Almighty God has placed It before the world, for It’s infallible.
E-179 Sitting here, this morning, is those who were crippled and afflicted, last week, and this week are normal and well. There are those who were deaf, standing here a few nights ago; are standing here now, hearing just as good as the rest of them. What is it? It’s God’s unconditional covenant that He made with Abraham and his Seed. He promised He would do it, so therefore let us believe it this morning with all of our heart.
E-180 As a people, some of us sitting here, old, some of us getting gray. Some of us, before we meet again, there may be some of us pass beyond the veil. But whatever you do, whatever life produces, if it produces sickness, if it produces anything in the world, keep your anchor within the veil. Keep looking to the author and finisher yonder, the Lord Jesus Christ. Call those things, which seem to be, as through they were.
E-181 There is three elements that a man follows. First, is humanistic; second, is Divine revelation; third, is a vision, it’s THUS SAITH THE LORD. Many times, we are down in here, and never climb into this. If you’re not down in there, cast your hopes through that veil, up here to THUS SAITH THE LORD. Though you don’t see the vision; though the revelation doesn’t come; though, when you’re prayed for, you say, “I just wish I could believe.” That doesn’t make any difference. Cast your anchor down there, and call it so, anyhow.
Abraham couldn’t see. He said, “How can it be?”
E-182 Mary couldn’t understand. How could she have a baby, “not knowing no man”?
E-183 He said, “But the Holy Ghost will overshadow you. He’ll bring it to pass.”
E-184 She said, “Behold the handsmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me.” How was it going to be done? She didn’t know. But she cast her anchor beyond the veil, and went forth testifying she was going to have a baby, before she felt life or anything. She called those things which were not, as though they were.
E-185 Abraham, when he was seventy-five years old, God give him the promise. And Sarah, sixty-five years old, gave the promise. And twenty-five years elapsed before it ever come to pass. “But Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving praise unto God. And calling those symptoms, and things which was, as though they were not.” And testified only what God said was true, because he had the promise.
E-186 God be merciful. Oh, my! Does your faith set still this morning? When the troubled winds are blowing, the nights are dark, and the winds and lightnings are flashing, does your anchor hold? Build your hopes this morning on nothing less than Jesus’ Blood with righteousness. I know it’s a hard. It seems hard. But take it one time, and take God at His Word, and see what a blessed hope it is to just march forward in faith.
E-187 In this great faith battle, as I’ve tried to fight it, I’ve come some awful obstacles, been over some rough roads. It shows on me. I have. But it’s been the most blessed thing. I wouldn’t trade it for nothing in the world.
E-188 And here is my greatest victories, the greatest pleasures I have, is when I come up against something. I can’t see over it, around it, or under it. I just keep walking towards it, believing this, that God will make a way when I get there. I’ve never come this year, this far, any…And all this distance I have come, I have trusted Him. He has never failed me.
It’s grace that taught my heart to fear,
It was grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
And through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
It was grace that’s brought me safe thus far,
It’s grace that’ll take me on.
And when we’ve been There ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun;
We’ll have no less days to sing His praise
Than when we first begun.
E-189 When we rally There, with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, those who were heirs of the promise, looking forward to us not to fail, “for without us they cannot be made perfect.” And how they’re depending on us, this morning! Let’s not fail. Keep your anchor in Christ.
E-190 If you’re a sinner, you don’t have to come to the altar. It’s customary to do so. But if you don’t want to come, and not room for you to come, say, “Lord, I cast all the worldly things aside, right now. I lay myself before You, bare and naked as I am, and I’m a shame and disgrace. But I cast my anchor on You. And I believe in You. Nothing I can do but what You’ve done for me.”
E-191 If you’re sick, the doctor says there’s no way at all for you to ever be well, there is nothing can be done. Just look in this taber-…this little group of people this morning, when, this is a—a little handful, not even a dot of the thousands that’s been healed in the last few weeks, around the world.
E-192 Great campaigns! The world is in a roar, with Divine healing campaigns; men of faith going out, daring to take God at His Word. The Gentile days are ending. This is a sign. Look at it. Don’t wait too long.
E-193 They waited too long, to recognize Elijah. And the disciples even said, “Why do the scribes say, ‘Elijah must first come’?”
He said, “He has already come, and you didn’t know him.”
Said, “Who was he?”
Said, “John the Baptist.”
“Well,” they said, “sure, that was him.”
E-194 Jesus came, and they didn’t know it. After the Roman had crucified Him, when it was too late then to do anything, He said, “Truly that was the Son of God.” Though He was a malefactor, though He was—He was spit upon, though He was made fun of and persecuted, yet God a vindicated Him with signs and wonders.
E-195 Today, let’s not wait too long. This is the ending of the Gentile dispensation. We’re ending.
Nations are breaking, Israel is awakening,
The signs that the Bible foretold;
The Gentile days numbered, with horrors encumbered;
“Return, O dispersed, to your own.”
The day of redemption is near,
Men’s hearts are failing for fear;
Be filled with the Spirit, your lamps trimmed and clear,
Look up, your redemption is near!
E-196 Our Father, we thank Thee this morning for this blessed hope. Oh, some glorious day, when You stand upon the earth again, it’ll be said, “Was not it written in the songs, ‘Your redemption draweth near’?” When You was here the first time, You said, “Wasn’t it written by David, in the songs, these certain things?”
E-197 And when we think of that song, “There is going to be a meeting in the air,” for all the prophets, and the redeemed, and little David, and Moses, and all the patriarchs, will be present There. Then we’ll say, “Wasn’t it written in the song, that we would see this?” And the redeemed of the ages shall rejoice together.
E-198 Father, forgive ever wayward man or woman, boy or girl this morning. May this be a new day in their life, the time that, by faith, they accept the Lord Jesus as personal Saviour and be sealed in the Kingdom of God, by the Holy Spirit.
E-199 Take these few, hurried up words, Father, and sink them down in the hearts of the people, just as they have need.
E-200 Just in a few moments now, the people will be coming by here, to be healed. There will be those here, Lord, who are blind, afflicted, and crippled, and sick, and all kinds of diseases upon them. Satan done this evil thing, Father. Them poor people, Lord, they won’t come here if they didn’t believe they could be healed.
E-201 You said, “We overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and our testimony.” And here lays strings here on the platform. Crutches and things has been piled up, and hauled away from here; and wheel chairs, and, oh, cots packed out, and beds. And men and woman has walked from here, Lord, from all kinds of diseases and afflictions that Satan had put upon them. Not because it’s the place, but it’s because their faith met Your requirement right here.
E-202 I pray, God, that every sick person in here, that their faith will be sufficient, this morning, now, to remember that great Melchisedec back yonder, Who had no beginning of days. He never had a father, nor a mother. He never had an end of life; that still lives today. Then, was incarnated, called Jesus Christ, became flesh; died, went back to it again. He is still the King of peace, the King of righteousness, promising us these great Eternal things. Who He…It’s been swore by God, to Abraham, that He would keep the covenant, the promise, through Him and His Seed, forever. Help us, today, to walk forward to this platform now, with undying faith.
E-203 Some of them here, Lord, are bound with unclean habits, old filthy habits of the flesh. God, as the Bible said, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that does so easily beset us.” God, may they flash it aside, this morning, and look to Jesus Who cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Grant it, Father.
E-204 And when we leave today, may we go with a heart full of love, and rejoicing. Bless this little church. Bless our dear Brother Neville, Lord, as he pastors, and labors daily and nightly here, trying to make a—a place for the people to come and worship, to see the Lord Jesus in His manifestation of love and power.
E-205 Bless tonight’s service, Lord. Bring a great blessing to us. And, Father, we pray now that You’ll get glory out of all things.
E-206 And someday, when all of life is over, the last sermon has been preached, the Bible’s closed; the taps has been sounded, arms has been stacked, the battle smoke is drying away, the sun set; then, Father, receive us into Thy Kingdom. May we come like old battle-scarred veterans. Grant it, Lord, so we can receive a new body, where we’ll never be sick no more, nor have a heartache or sorrow.
E-207 But let us be faithful in all these things, while we’re here on earth now, to believe, and call those things which are not, that’s contrary to God’s Word, as though they were. For we ask in Jesus Christ’s Name. Amen.
E-208 Anybody here would just feel like, say, “I’d just like to accept the Lord Jesus Christ. I’ve never done it before. I just want to raise my hand.” Say, “I, by raising my hand, I accept Him.” God bless you, sister. God bless you, brother. God bless you. God bless you. That’s…God bless you, brother. “I want to accept the Lord Jesus Christ.” God bless you, sister. God bless you. And God bless you. God bless you. That’s right.
E-209 You think He don’t hear that? He knows your heart. He is the One Who told you to do it. Someone else say, “I—I now want to believe. I—I now say, ‘Lord, I want to accept You right now. I want my anchor tight, yonder in the veil, so it’ll never move. I’m accepting You as my Saviour.’” Would you raise your hand, someone else? God bless you.
[Blank spot on tape—Ed.] What then?
When the great Book is opened, what then?
When the ones that rejecting this Message today,
Will be asked to give a reason-What Then?
E-210 May the Lord bless you now. As you…we’re going to have…How many here is to be prayed for, with sick? Let’s see your hands, anywhere in the building, that’s sick.