Durch Glauben wurde Mose
Datum:
58-0720M
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Dauer:
-
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Übersetzung:
BBV
Jeffersonville, Indiana USA
E-1 Thank you, Brother Neville. Good morning, folks. It's good to be here today in the Tabernacle. And I thought, maybe, if I got Brother Neville to speak this morning, I'd try tonight. And then, I was looking back then to a Sunday School lesson for this morning. And what a... The Lord willing, we'll try to--to have this Sunday School lesson.
E-2 Now, it has been two weeks now, about, since I have gotten in. And been very nervous, as you understood, that on the field I got real, real worn out and could hardly go any farther. And then I had to come in for just a little rest. And I taken about three days down to Wolf Creek Dam, down in Kentucky, where I was born. I thought, "Oh, I feel just wonderful now. I'm fine. And I got back home, and the first little thing met me in the face was some sort of a governmental affair with an income tax. I went all the way to the bottom again. So I realize it's going to take more than just a week or two to rest me up.
E-3 And my ministry, fixing to make the change, now... And I have no meetings scheduled, and that's the reason that I just kinda come aside and thought... And now, for the next few weeks I would just take a rest, complete rest, and wait on the Lord. And many of you people in here, that's old timers that's been with us so long, remembers that what the Lord has said to us. He has always performed that, what He said He would do. You remember when, in the very beginning in the church here, the morning that we laid the Tabernacle stone, how that He... It's wrote and laying in the stone... On the fly leaf of my Bible that morning, that great vision, said, "This is not your Tabernacle." I said, "Where is it, Lord?" And He set me out under the sky. And a voice came. And I looked and seen them three crosses, like the trees and the fruit of them, so forth. You know what the vision is. It's been wrote out for years.
E-4 Picking up, the other day, an old book, up there, reading some of the things that the Lord had told, foretold, already come to pass: about this juvenile stuff, and about how the war would come out. And all those things has hit--just the two things left. And one of those great prophesies; that is, for cars to be on the road with remote control, looking like a egg, only you don't drive it; it controls itself. And then, there'll be a great woman rise up, 'cause America is a woman's nation. And it'll... A great woman will rise up and be president, or something like that in the nation, and then there will come a total annihilation, the entire nation will be wiped out. And that, I predict--now this is not the Lord saying this--the other about the woman and this, is the Lord. But I predicted in 1933 that the world would be total annihilation before '77. So I didn't know then that they had something that could annihilate it, like they got now, but I seen the nation in total annihilation--just stumps of trees and things like that left. So it's on it's road.
E-5 And if all these other things has come to pass, just as He said, that will be also. As just as He said in the Scripture here, what He says... If Christ came the first time, He will come the second time. And all the things that He said will come to pass. And duly seeing this, and knowing that we're--our number is just about to be called as a nation, knowing that the church is about to take it's rapture, it moves the heart of a minister or any of the laity to know, that we're in this day and time that we're living. It's the greatest time that any person ever lived on the earth, is right now--that is, for the church. So I certainly desire your prayers.
E-6 And then I seen in the Tabernacle, and I see that they'd... was going to have some re-elections and everything in the church for some of the board and so forth... And some... And the church needed a little meeting, a little stirring, and you've always been kind to me, and blessed me, and my... me being here, seem, has been a blessing to you, and I'm sure it'd be with you, has been a blessing to me. And you've always accepted what I said to be the truth, as I seen it through God. And I--I appreciate that. So then, I started in, and then I was to find out and get our church straightened up in it's boards, and then for the elections and so forth, and then the... Then I thought after that, I went out and got a little rest before I go back on the field again.
E-7 Keep it among yourselves, now; it's not for outsiders. It's for this Tabernacle. We want a meeting with this Tabernacle, so that everything, and every mistake, all things that's been carrying on, and--and maybe, little feelings from one to another, those... I'm going to get every one of them and bring them right face to face. So if you don't want to face it, you better leave the country, 'cause you're coming face to face with every bit of it, like we used to do here at the Tabernacle. And all will be smoothed out, because we are brothers and sisters, who's broke communion, the body of Christ, across the table of blessings. And there's nothing but the devil would make anything that would be wrong, and would cause feelings, or tear up, or anything like that. And I'm taking our Brother Neville, and we're going from place to place, and bring people to people together, till the old Tabernacle is back, established again on its feet, to go along for the kingdom of God.
E-8 Now, this... Is the reason I've said this, is because it's with our own little group here this morning. And now, I'm going to get some rest and get back just as quick as I can. Then I expect to leave to the field again. And this time, the Lord willing, I want to take what little we have accumulated in funds, and so forth, of myself, out in the... this foreign missions program, and get me a new tent, and some new equipment, and start on the field, not from church to church, but for going in our own meetings. Now, not no disregarding to brethren, who had invited me, which is wonderful, but most all of it, you find out, these conventions, they say you're going to be there. And then all your friends come in, and then there's a whole lot of big drumming for money--just drains those people down. I just begin to find that out. You see? So that's--that's not right. We want to have a place where we can bring them; you don't have to bring your money; just come along yourself and--and serve the Lord. See? And a...
E-9 So now, and my ministry is taking a change right now. You remember when I used to take a hold of a person's hand, and just stand there, and the Lord would tell me what was their trouble. Said, then it would come to pass, you'd know the secret of the heart of the people. Everyone of you know that's happened perfectly, the way it's said. Now, this is the next step which has been prophesied and foretold, which is going to be far beyond any of it. You see? And it's right now in the change, and that's the reason Satan's fighting me with the income tax, trying to tell me--the government, that I owe income tax on every penny I taken up as a minister, since about twenty-seven years ago I entered the ministry. It's not so, 'cause it passed through the church, here. I am the trustee of this church. That's exactly right. It's on the records here. So then, if I am the trustee-treasurer of this church, then there's nothing in the world... government don't have nothing to do with it. They're not questioning the church; they're questioning me being the treasurer of the church. And the trustees has signed a paper, that's in the bank, yonder, that all my funds...
E-10 Instead of having a foundation of my own, I passed it through my church here, 'cause it's automatically a foundation, anyhow. And to do that, helps me to keep from running away from the church, and leaving it, and go on out, and being nothing here, after I promised the people that I would return to the church, time after time, and help them. That's the reason I kept it like that, because I made a promise to you people. That's why I stay with it that way, instead of having a individual thing. If you do that, it throws it to an organization, and I'm firmly against organization. So I--I'll keep it just the way it is in the hands of God, so that we can move on for the kingdom of God.
E-11 Now, this morning we want to study this blessed old Word, and believe... Now, I want to say, too... I see Brother Eagan and many of a... some of the trustees settings here, after we had our trustee meeting the other night. It is true, I... It's publicly before the church, that each one of you all are no longer appointed trustees; you are elected trustees, and your name is on the books. All right.
And now, they're going to have some more election of--of--of deacons and so forth, and Brother Neville is--will be calling those immediately after this service. All right. It's for the treasurer and so forth, as we set the church up, and get it all... the backgrounds ready, then we can have a revival as it comes on.
E-12 Now, just before we turn back to the pages here for a Sunday School lesson, to this great Word of the living God, let us just bow our heads, a few moments, as we speak to the Author of this Book. And now, lay aside every thought, everything that's contrary, to keep you from having a blessing, let's pray. Most holy and righteous God, into Thy blessed, august presence we come now offering to Thee, our lives, and our--our souls, and our bodies, and our services, and our talents; and all that we have, we present them to Thee. And as You look upon us, Lord, if there is any sin, naked and unconfessed, we would ask Thee, O Lord God, that You would apply the Blood of Thy Son, Jesus, to such a place. For realizing that we, in ourselves, are insufficient, and there it is impossible for us to ever be self-sustaining. But we rely completely upon His precious Blood and His grace to apply it to our account, that we, unworthy sinners, might come boldly some day into Thy presence, bringing before us this Blood of the Lord Jesus, which Thou in the times past has recognized it to be the Blood of Thy only begotten Son, and has made the promise, that through Him, if we confess our sins, we shall be justified by His grace.
E-13 And now, we would ask, Lord, that You would forgive us of any mistake, any sin of trespass or omission, transgression, that of any evil thought has a pierced our soul by the fiery dart of the devil, that You would drive away this evil enemy of Thine and of Thy people. And we would ask, that You would send the Holy Spirit to take a hold of the Word at this time, as we yield ourselves as instruments, that You would speak through us and hear through us Thy Word. And may we in return, receive it as from Thee, and leave this place today, feeling that we have been readjusted to the cause of Christ, that we might be better fit for the service of tonight and tomorrow, because of the visitation of the Holy Spirit. Bless our brethren everywhere, the churches across the world, who's holding forth the Word of Life in this evil day. We feel that there is not much time left to work, for the night is swiftly coming. The war-clouds are floating again. Evil is at hand. And we pray that You'll let us work as never before. Rest our tired bodies, Lord, and send us back into the battle, for we ask it in the Name of the Lord Jesus and for His sake we pray. Amen.
E-14 As we open this morning, the Bible to the--the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews... Wednesday night, we were speaking on the 7th chapter of the book of Hebrews, of Melchisedec, being without father, and without mother, without beginning of days or ending of life. And I thought, maybe this morning, it would be appropriate to open again this wonderful Book, being that we have the backgrounds to what we wish to say in the former reading. And skipping over the 10th chapter and the 9th chapter, which is the sacrificial laws, we would come into a spot of faith. And here in the book of Hebrews, the 11th chapter, and beginning with the 23rd verse, we read it like this: By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he came to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer the affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt... and had recompense unto the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisibly. I want to take the subject, this morning, "Choosing by Faith." And I want to take for a text, the first three words of the 23rd chapter: "By Faith Moses."
E-15 And choosing by faith, most everything that we do, we have to choose by faith. And all that we find that Moses did--that's worth repeating--was by faith, not by sight, but by faith. And the reason that I have selected this this morning for the church in this state, has been, that in our--even our schools and around, we have had so much of scientific teaching. Because of this, we have drawn the people away from faith. Now, faith is not proved by science. Faith is what science doesn't see. And we, if we ever lose this great faith, then we are totally in darkness. It don't matter how well we are educated, how we could explain the Word of God to suit our own way of believing, there is no way to ever please God--only by faith. The Scripture plainly states it that way. And it's by faith. And without faith, says the Scripture, it is impossible to please God. So if faith disagrees with science, and science disagrees with faith, that puts them at--at edge at each other, then we must take a choice as Moses did. By faith we believe.
E-16 Now, if we lose faith, then we will never get a prayer answered by God. "For He that cometh to God must first believe that He is, and a rewarder of those that diligently seek after Him." So if we lose faith, our prayers are annulled; we get nowhere. So if all that we can think of this morning is the hold onto faith. Then if we lose faith, all our hopes is gone. And if we lose faith, all our spiritual reality is gone. For you cannot have faith in things that you see. For the things that you see are all perishable. If we look at some great person, or great minister, or a great congregation, they will all perish someday. And if we look at a great nation, our great weapons, they'll all perish someday. And then we must live by faith of those things that science does not declare. It's by faith that we believe.
E-17 Now, we lose our glory, if we lose faith. Now, if we get away from faith, then we take the church into an intellectual realm. And many times, it's been thought amongst people, that because a congregation was large, and they had great churches, great steeples, and a great lot of well-dressed and groomed peoples, and a lot of finances, that they could afford such things, we many times, thought that was inspiring--that this certain church must be inspired. Or we've often referred to different ministers, who get out on the field and have great gatherings of crowds, and we think, sometimes, that they are the signs of inspiration. But that's not altogether the truth. That's human inspiration. But the real inspiration comes by doing the will of God (See?), whether it is a one or just a handful. Whether it is a big church or a small church, it matters not. Whether he is a great eloquent speaker or just a man that hardly knows his ABC's, it doesn't matter. It depends on the message that he brings, whether it is inspired by the Word of God or is it inspired by intellectuals conceptions of human inspiration. Some people can be inspired because of an eloquent speaker. That doesn't make it right. Sometimes they're inspired, because the man is so trained, till he could put his point over. That doesn't mean that it's of God. See? It's only through God's everlasting, eternal, blessed Word can we receive inspiration, and that's given by the Holy Ghost. By faith we receive it.
E-18 Now, we would think of Moses and this great time of his life. And we read back, of his birth, and how that God had cared for him. But there come a time in Moses' life, to where there had to be a choosing time. If we read right, we find out that he was the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and was the heir to the throne, and would have been the next Pharaoh in Egypt. So he would notice as he looked around, after he'd become of age and of accountability, and there would be those slaves, working out in the slime-pits. And Moses, as he looked through the windows of the palace upon the same slaves that Pharaoh looked on, but what a difference there was in the looking. I want to base that thought, this morning, for a few minutes, and may the God of heaven drive it home to every heart here: it's how you look at anything, what makes the difference.
E-19 The great evangelist John Sproule, which was a convert of Brother Bosworth's ministry, who many of you remember, years ago, of the old glory barn. He said, one day he was taking a trip, before the deceasing of his beloved companion and wife. They were in Alsace Lorraine, France. And I had the privilege of visiting the same place. And the guide was taking them out through the gardens and showing them the different things, and they come upon a certain statue of the Lord Jesus, the crucifixion. And Mr. Sproule was standing off, looking at it, he and his wife, and in their hearts were criticizing, what the artist must have had in mind, or the sculptor, rather, when he hewed out of a stone such a horrible looking thing to be--to represent the suffering, and the love, and the pity of the Lord Jesus, and how it was all crudely and chopped-up looking.
E-20 And the guide came to Mr. Sproule, and he said, "Sir, I suppose that you are criticizing this statue of the Lord Jesus?" And he said, "I am." And he said, "I am not a bit surprised, because most people that look at it first, they do criticize it." And Mr. Sproule said, "Why, I can't see any pity or any inspiration from looking at such a thing. So I'm wondering why the sculptor every made it like this." And the sculptor said, "Mr. Sproule, the statue's all right. And the sculptor had the right thing in his mind. But where the trouble is, is with you; it's the way you're looking at it." And he took he and his wife by the hand, and led them down to a--a altar at the foot of this said cross. And he said, "Now, Mr. Sproule, look up, now." And when he looked up, he said his heart like to have failed him.
E-21 What a difference it was to stand off there, and look at it that way, and to get down and look at it the way, that it was made to look at. And that's the way that God is. That's the way that faith is. It's the way you look at it. If you looked at it as some sort of a historical Bible, of something that was in the days gone by, you will never be able to get the real value of the Bible. You are supposed to get on your knees, and obey the commandments of this Bible, and look at it through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. I would ask this audience this morning: what good does a historical God do us today, if He isn't the same God? What good does a God, that would take Moses and do the miracles with him that He did, what good would it do us to read of such a God, if He isn't the same One today?
E-22 What good is a God, that could deliver from the fiery furnace, the Hebrew children, if He isn't the same God today? What good is the God, that would judge between right and wrong in a day gone by, and punish the wrong, and bless the right? If He isn't the same God today, what do we go to church for? Why do we abstain from things of the world, if He isn't the same God of the same judgment and the same opinion that He always was? What good would it be for God, Who could touch a woman's hand with a raging fever, and the fever stop, if He isn't the same God today? What good would it be to serve a God Who could call His friend from a grave, after being dead four days, if He isn't the same God today. By faith, we believe that some glorious day He shall call us from the earth, though we be a spoonful of ashes again. How do we prove it? We do not prove it; we believe it. We're not asked to prove anything; we're asked to believe it. By faith Moses did such-and-such.
E-23 And as Moses, as a young man looked through the palace window at the slaves, he saw the same bunch of grimy, dirty, muck-ridden slaves that Pharaoh saw. And when Pharaoh looked upon them--and the Egyptians--they wasn't nothing but a bunch of slaves. That's all they were good for, just to be human mud-daubers, to make muddy bricks for the benefit of the cities that Pharaoh was building. That's the way the Egyptians and Pharaoh looked at the slaves. But Moses, when he looked at them, it was a different look Moses had. When he seen, passing by the window, the great ditches in their face, the tears that run down their cheeks, and their bent bodies, he looked upon them as the people of God. He didn't look upon them as slaves; he looked upon them as the chosen people of God.
E-24 Oh, as I go about from country to country, and from nation to nation, preaching since I left the doors of this little Tabernacle (that's a interdenominational institution, with no law but love, no book but the Bible, and no creed but Christ), I've tried to look upon God's children and upon the rejected, as being God's chosen and elected people. I don't ask them if they belong to the Branham Tabernacle. I don't ask them if they're Methodist, or if they're Presbyterians, or if they are Pentecostals, or Nazarenes, or Pilgrim Holiness. I just want to look upon them as the people of God, and seeing their doings, and their actions that they are the servants of the Lord God; and my heart desires fellowship with them. No matter what brand they got, I just long for their fellowship. I love them, because I know they are people of God.
E-25 When I see a woman, coming down the street, with a long skirt, and her hair done up neatly in the back, and--and a descent looking dress on, and I see another young lady, maybe the same age, with a little pair of shorts on, she maybe in--looks twice as pretty as the woman with the long hair, according to the looking of the world, but I'd take my side with that girl that's dressed like a Christian. Though they'd be laughing at her and calling her a fanatic, yet I'd take my side. She might not be as pretty as the other girl, featurely, but she sees something. By faith she sees Him Who is invisible, Who is guiding her life. When I see the man on the job being called, "deacon," or "preacher," or a "fanatic," because he refuses to smoke, and to drink beer, and to go to dances like the rest of them, and he's called a fanatic, my heart goes out for him; he is my brother...?... on in this Egypt soil, that makes our heart long to embrace him, and say, "Brother, we are pilgrims and strangers of this land, and I long to fellowship with you."
E-26 Moses had to make a choice: choosing by faith. How many young men would've jumped at the opportunity to become the son of Pharaoh's daughter? How many young men would have jumped at the opportunity, that Moses had to enjoy all the pleasures and the glamour of the world, to become the king of Egypt, to have the whole world at his feet. What a foolish thing, that the young men of his days, must have thought, when Moses chose to take his place with the afflicted and suffering people of God. Why did he do it? By faith. When he lifted up his eyes, he looked beyond the glamour of this world. He looked beyond the pleasures of sin. And the Bible said that he endured as seeing Him Who was invisible by faith, and he made a choice to serve that God, regardless of what took place.
E-27 It has not changed. Many of us could go to what we would call a better building. We could enjoy it, maybe the fellowship and pleasures of setting in a better pew. We might be more popular to drink, and to smoke, and to dress, and to act like the world, but what's the matter? You've lifted up your eyes, and by faith you see Him Who is invisible, and have took your stand with the rejected and so-called holy-rollers of the day. For by faith we see Him Who is invisible, choosing to suffer the persecutions and the afflictions. I wouldn't say to people, that they should choose to be afflicted. I don't say, that you should choose suffering. It would not be the human thing to do. But if suffering lays in the path of duty, then let's take it as it comes.
E-28 I don't want you to do something, for somebody to make fun of you. I wouldn't want you to say different things that, "I'm a... I belong to a church that doesn't believe in so-and-so in the worlds and things like that," just to get people to make fun of you. You're bringing that on yourself. I wouldn't say for you to get out here, and carry on, and do something that was radical. I wouldn't want you to do that, so that somebody would say that you are a fanatic. You bring that on yourself. But if it lays in the path of your duty towards God, let the world say what they want to say. You live on. You make a choice. Every man and woman has to make this. What if Pharaoh could've saw what Moses saw? He saw the sufferings of the people. He knew what the price was to pay. But by faith, he chose it, rather than to have the pleasures of sin.
E-29 Is--maybe a little young lady setting here, a glamorous young women, the world would like to say to you, "Do thus and thus. You are beautiful. Your body is so pretty shaped; you should show that." But my sister, raise up your eyes and look beyond that, to Him that said it's an abomination for a woman to put on a garment that pertains to a man.
If the men... of the people in your community, if the women that you associate with, said, "Cut that long hair off; it would be cooler. It would be this, that, or the other," or, "It would become you better." don't you listen to that; you lift up your eyes and by faith saw Him that said that a woman's hair is her glory, and she shall not cut it.
E-30 If they say it'd be popular, you would stand in better with your job, or with your boss, if you'd take a sociable drink; if you would smoke cigarettes like the rest of the women, you would stand in more sociably in you neighborhood, by faith raise your eyes and look to Him Who said, "Defile this body, and I will destroy it." By faith we believe those things. It's nothing that you seen. It's something you believe. By faith, Moses did. And in this faith walk there comes a time there has to be a choice. Lot made that sad mistake that we make. A lot of times we choose for our own good. We choose things that would be a better... Sometimes if there's a little squabble comes in the church, and someone would say, "Well, the deacon or the pastor's on this side..." Don't look at that, look at what's righteous. Get that thing out and bring them both together if that's godly.
E-31 There's a choosing, and we choose for ourselves. We choose something that's for our own good. But Moses chose the afflictions and the disgrace, that he might walk with the people of God. Think of it, now. Listen to it: "Chose the afflictions of the people of God and counted it a greater treasure, for he endured seeing Him Who was invisibly." Now Lot, one time, had to make a choice. And it may be this morning, that there'll be men and women setting here, that'll make your final choice. You are today what you are, because several years ago you chose to be what you are now. And what you choose now, will determine what you'll be five years from today. Five years from today you may be a missionary. Five years from today you may be a renown Christian. Or five years from today you may be in hell, because you made the wrong decision. Five years from today you may be cleaning spittoons in a barroom. Five years from today you may be a prostitute on the street. Or you may be a man or a woman, that's a--that's a credit to any society, because of your choice for Christ. Five years from today you may be in glory, gone in the rapture, because you made your choice today. But you've got to choose. And don't look at what you see; choose what you see by faith. That's the only thing that will count, is what you choose by faith.
E-32 Lot, as he had to make a choice, Abraham give Lot his choice. And God gives you your choice. "Choose you this day who you shall serve." In the garden of Eden there was a tree of--of knowledge and a Tree of Life. Man was given the privilege to choose either one he desired. And so is it today; you're given your privilege, as free moral agents, to choose whatever you want to choose. My advice to you is, don't look at the modern things around you, and the popularity, and the glamour that you could be, but choose rather, by faith Him, that give the promise that someday He will come and will righten all wrongs, and will give you Eternal Life, and raise you up. No matter if you take the despised way with the Lord's few, make that choice.
E-33 If there is troubles in the hand... If there's troubles in the land, if there's troubles in the church, if there's troubles in the home, no matter where it is, make your choice, "By faith "I'll serve God. I'll humble my heart in His presence. I'll take the way with God's children. I see them despised, and rejected, and drove out, and made fun of, but I'll still take my post of duty. I'll stay right by them, and when they cry, I'll cry with them. And when they're sorrow, I shall sorrow with them. The way they live, I'll live."
Like Naomi said--or Ruth said to Naomi, "Your ways be my ways; my ways be your ways; where you live, I'll live; where you go, I'll go; the God that you serve, will be my God." Take that choice, though it pulls the very skin off of your conscience, of thinking that you're somebody. Skin yourself down and take your way with the Lord's despised few, and stay loyal on the field of service and at the post of duty.
E-34 Lot looked around; he said, "I got a choice." And he looked towards Sodom. He saw the good grassy fields were better than what Abraham saw and where Abraham was. He saw the opportunities to graze his cattle, to have fatter and better cattle.
I hope I'm not hurting anyone's feeling, but that's been the stand of too many preachers, to compromise with the Gospel, thinking that they get more money out of it, a meal ticket. I'd rather live in the barren land, eat--drink from a branch, and eat soda crackers, than to compromise upon the conviction of my faith in the Word of the living God. I'll take my way
Some of them said, "Billy, what's the matter with your meetings, as there's too many Pentecostals at it." A great denominational minister said that.
I said, "Will your denomination sponsor my meeting?"
E-35 Not long ago in the "Look" magazine, I believe, there was an article. And the writer said there's... talked about the Pentecostal people. He said, "The Pentecostal church is the fastest growing church in the world today." Why, is because men and women has raised up their eyes and looked far off. And the writer also complimented the Pentecostal people. "Oh, of course," he said, "there was some of them that went radical and so forth, but the Methodists worship a creed. They worship God by a creed. The Baptists does the same, and the Presbyterian, but the Pentecostal worships by his Bible." By faith we see the promise. I'll take my lot with them; no matter how much they're despised, I'm still one of them. Though they be made fun of, and have they're ups-and-downs, as Israel did, I'll never want to stand with the false prophet on the hillside, a Balaam, and try to curse what God has blessed, because in that camp is a smitten Rock, and a bloody Sacrifice, and a Pillar of Fire. No matter what their in, it's leading them on to victory. And they've got to come to it, because they are the promised people, that's walking by faith.
Though they be not a denomination, they were wanderers around, and so is the people of God. But I want to take my way with them, join up with them in their ranks, not in their denomination, but in their fellowship around the oracles of God's eternal Spirit, which by faith, I have received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. God help me to always have that attitude.
E-36 Notice, as they moved on, we find that Lot saw the opportunities for a fatted cattle. Many see the opportunities of a fatted pocket book. Many sees the opportunities of a better social standing. He saw the possibilities of a few extra dollars. He saw the possibilities of being the mayor of the city. Being a stranger and a pretty smart man as he was, "Maybe I will become the chief man of the city." He saw the possibilities, because they were laying before him. But he did not see the fire that was to destroy the land. He did not reconcile himself, that the land was full of sin and God had to destroy it.
And today, people try to reconcile themselves by saying, "Are you..." I said, "Are you a Christian?"
They say, "I'm an American." That has no more to do with it, than try to say to a crow that he was a frog. It has nothing to do with it. She's going to be destroyed, because God is just. And if America gets by with her sins, the just and sovereign holy God will be duty-bound to--to resurrect Sodom and Gomorrah and apologize to them for burning them up because of their sin, if He let's us get by with it.
E-37 If He let's you get to heaven on your injustice works, He will have to raise up Ananias and Sapphira and give them another opportunity. He certainly would, but He's just. Ananias saw his money; Peter saw Christ. Oh, my. Lot didn't see the destruction of his children in that place.
And many of you today hold around these old formal creeds and things, you don't see the juvenile delinquency and the destruction of your children. You don't see your daughter in a prostitute house. You don't see your son a drunkard or at a card table somewhere, because she's well-watered in sin and is not touched.
He didn't see his wife, the head of all the societies, turned to a pillar of salt when he was looking. He didn't see him escaping only by the edge of his teeth to a little city somewhere for his life. He didn't see that, because he only looked at what he saw in front of him.
E-38 But Abraham, he didn't notice the well-watered land, for he lifted up his eyes and saw the tomorrow; for he'd inherit all things.
The real Christian, today, lifts up his eyes and sees the promise of Christ: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit all things; they shall inherit the earth." The real Christian, by faith, looks up and sees that. Call him what you want to, He lifted up his eyes, and when he did that, God said, "Abraham, walk through the land; she's all yours." By faith Abraham did this, the same faith that Moses had.
It was wrote by one commentator, that said this--and I thought it was most beautiful words--that Abraham--Moses took the best of the world and put it in one scale, and the worst of religion and put it in the other scale, and the worst of religion outweighed the best of the world.
So is it today, that if we be called anything we want to be called, fanatics, or divine healers, or holy-roller, or whatever they want to call, the worst that we are will outweigh the best the world can afford. You want to be called old fashion, old foggy, fanatics; it'll outweigh the best thing that the devil's got to offer you. It most surely will.
E-39 Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ... He foresaw Christ. Later he spoke some mighty inspiring words about Him. See? "The Lord your God shall rise up a Prophet like unto me." He knew he foresaw Him, and re... esteemed His reproach greater riches, than all the glamour of the world.
Christian friend, today, can't you do that? But all the glamour and popularity of the world... By faith we see Him Who promised. And the worst of the church today in all of it's condition, yet it'll outweigh everything the devil can offer you. If we are tore up, if we are broke to pieces, if we are confused, and broke up in denominations, and fanaticism, it'll outweigh anything the devil can offer you. Certainly.
He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. Then he had to do something. He forsook Egypt. Oh, I love that word. He forsook Egypt. See, he was looking through the same window, but he was looking different from Pharaoh.
E-40 What if Pharaoh could have seen his end? What if Pharaoh would've seen his nation drowned. Moses saw it. How? By science? By faith Moses saw it. Everything that he did was by faith, because God promised Abraham, his father, that He--He would visit this nation, after four hundred years, and would bring them out. And by faith, Moses believed the Word that God said, and knowed himself, as by faith, to be the chosen leader to bring them out. He knew where he was. He took his place in the slime-pits of the mud-dauber and counted the reproach of Christ, greater riches, than to set on the throne of Egypt. He took...
He never did say, "I sympathize with them..." He took their place and went with them. Glory to... He took their place. We went with them. No wonder the inspired writer said, "I'll take the way with the Lord's despised few. I've started in with Jesus, now, I'm going through." I'm on my way to Canaan's land. Sure.
E-41 Moses... It was said by one, that Moses had rather, when he could've been the son of Pharaoh and have the glamour of the world, he'd rather be a son of Abraham, than to be the son of Pharaoh--a son of Abraham, the despised, than to be son of Pharaoh, the king.
I'd rather be the son of the Lord Jesus, and His fellow servant, and take my place with the rejected people of this world, than to be president of this great United States of America, or to be an Elvis Presley, or a Pat Boone, or whoever you want to make it. I'll take my way.
E-42 Young ladies ought to take their way, instead of being a Mary Pickford, or some great movie star, some glamour girl; take your way with the Lord's despised few. I'd rather be a preacher in the pulpit, preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ, than to be a Hollywood movie star, or the greatest person on the earth. If I had to eat meager, beg, or whatever I had to do, I'll take my way with the Lord's people; by faith I do that. I've been offered opportunities, but by God's grace I still receive by faith. By faith I can see it afar. And our Father waits over the way, to prepare us as dwelling place there.
E-43 An income tax man said the other day, "Why did you turn your home to that church? What made you give a twenty-five thousand dollar home to that little old rubbish looking Tabernacle?"
I said, "It wasn't the church, that I did it. It's the people that's there." I have not none of this world's goods. Every penny of money I ever took is turned to this church. Why? My faith is on God and not on the things of this world. My affections are above, and I believe you all's are the same, if you're right with God. It's true that you are. We by faith receive. We by faith believe God.
E-44 Moses, he had to make a choice. And then he had to, after making the choice, he had to fight the faith then, for he feared not the wrath of the king. Now, humanly he had a right to fear the wrath. He had a right to fear the wrath of the king, but he didn't. He did not do it, because he had a job to do. And he was in a line of duty. And he didn't care what the king said about it; he took his way just the same.
Now, Pharaoh, of course, when he sees he's defeated, he wanted to give Moses and the children... He said, "All right, I tell you what I will do; you all just stay in the land and go out and sacrifice to your God." That's the way the devil works. "Oh, you can be religious. Why don't you go over and join some church. You don't have to do all these things."
E-45 A man says to his wife, "A hu..." The wife says, "Husband, I got saved: no more manicure, or lipstick, and stuff, no more of this, no more parties, no more of these society things; I'm out of it. I will put my time to reading the Word, taking care of home."
"Now look dear, you--you can be religious all right... Now, look, you--you go over here; you got the wrong church. Now, we make sure you're the right one." If you got a preacher will preach that to you, you better stay with them. Search back through the Scriptures and find if that's right. "Oh," said, "go over here. They don't--they don't have to do that over here. They don't do this over here." That's the way; just go so far. But he don't want you to get out of the land. That's the way the devil does. He don't want you to get out of the things of the world; just bring the world in with the church.
E-46 The other day, coming down the road, I turned on my radio. And there was a--a song, and I kept listening. I had to take nearly the song through, before I could tell whether it was, absolutely, a religious song, or the devil is trying to bring down the things of God to the level of the world. You can't do that. God be merciful. I don't care how many albums Elvis Presley writes, of all the good religious songs, he's still possessed of the devil. He's sent more children to hell, and all the moves I know of, in all the world this day. Pat Boone and the rest of them, even belong to the Church of Christ, and Elvis Presley, a Pentecostals are Judas Iscariot in the form of those men. The devil's trying to bring the high things of God so that they can mix them down here. The people won't look up above this; they just look here, say, "Why, it's all the same." It isn't the same. Get out of the land.
E-47 Said, "You can just go a few days. And you go, stay in the land..." Sure, he knowed they'd be back. Then he found out that wouldn't work, so he thought something different. He said, "I tell you what you do: you go on out anywhere you want to go, but you leave all your wives, and all your children, and all your cattle back here. You leave them here and you go out..." 'cause he'd knowed they had possession back there that would lure them back. And that's what the devil says to you. Just long as you leave some of the things of the world hanging on you--you still want to smoke, you want to drink, you want to dress like the world--that's as good as the devil wants.
I hear so much about backsliding. I don't believe there's as much backsliding as people thing they are. They just leave too many possessions in Egypt to lure them back. That's all. Backslidings are not what has been...?... say it is. You left too much the world back there that lures you.
E-48 Brother, I'll tell you, when Israel got ready at midnight, they had everything they had in this world packed up and ready to go. God send us a revival like that. We pack up everything and get ready to go. The midnight cry is a coming, "Go ye out to meet Him." You better have everything packed up. You better not have nothing of this world luring you back, any strings to hold you down. Pack up; let's get ready; we're going. And you know what? I tell you they was so true to God, till Pharaoh got so excited at midnight, he said, "Get out! Get out and get going. Take everything you got and go!" I'm so glad that a man can live so close to God, till the devil don't know what to do with him. That's right. "Get out! Get going!" Obeyed God. By faith he saw the promise. Mud dauber or no mud dauber, he taken his way with the Lord's despised few. Pharaoh said, "Take all you got and get out of here. I don't know what to do with you." He was so true to God by faith. Faith will work miracles, if you'll stay true to God. By faith we see Him.
E-49 Our time is up--past time. But by faith, this morning, lift up your eyes. Don't see what's around you--this modern world--but look and see Him Who give the promise. The Bible said we do not see all things perfectly now, but we do see Jesus. You look at Him this morning and your ways will be changed. While we bow our heads just a moment for a word of prayer. May the Lord add His blessings to the message. Think in your heart now, have you been looking on the things of the world? By faith, do you see Jesus? Are you looking at your popularity, your church, what your social standing is with the world? Or do you see Jesus Who, in pity, placed Hisself at the right-hand of the majesty on High, Who suffered as a martyr, the just for the unjust. Can't you raise up your eyes and see that Tree of Life yonder? Then leave this tree of science and knowledge and serve Him.
E-50 Would you like to be remembered in prayer before I pray, raise your hand for any request, that you might have need of. God bless you. He sees all your hands. If you're a sinner, raise up your eyes and look now. If you've been indifferent, if you've had little squabbles and little things, what difference does it make. You're going to die one of these days. What day? Maybe today. You don't know; an hour from now you may be in hell or you may be in heaven. But you've got to choose now. If there's anything in your life that isn't right, you choose, now. By faith...
You say, "Well, if I can just get even with her; if I can get even with him..." No matter what they've done, choose life. Choose life, for Jesus said, "If from your heart, you don't forgive every person their transgressions, neither does your heavenly Father forgive you." So just get that close. If there's one ought in your heart against any person, sinner or saint, you're in danger of hell fire.
E-51 Now, lift up your eyes. What do you see, your enemy or do you see your Saviour? What are you looking at this morning? If you're sick and your doctor says that you can't get well, lift up your eyes to the cross, where He was wounded for our transgressions, with His stripes we were healed. Don't look at what the doctor says; He's working in science. Faith works in the realm of spirit and God. Let us think of these things now, while you've raised your hands. God's seen them. Let us pray.
E-52 O Eternal God, in the quietness of this worship now, after the message has gone forth, do not let those seeds of Thy Word, Lord, fall upon stony ground. Do not let the message, Lord, fall in briars, thorns, that the cares of this life--like Lot--might choke it out, unto the end, become a castaway. But O, blessed God, let it fall on good fertile grounds, on penitent hearts, and on mine also, Lord, that we all might look through God's glass of looking and see the rejected church of the Lord Jesus, the rejected people, the rejected way. And may we walk in this glorious way as Moses. He didn't know where he was going. The people didn't know where they were going. They didn't know which a way to go. They just started. And O, Lord God, as this beautiful hymn is being played, by faith we can see that land afar. Let it be, just now, that men and women in here won't think of what the world's going to say, or how they're going. May they just rise in their spirit and go. Moses followed the Light, and It led him to the land of promise, not knowing where he was going, but he just walked in the Light to that land that was fairer than day.
E-53 Grant, Lord, today, that many here will walk in the light of the Scripture, and in the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, and with the church--the church, the firstborn, the new born babe's that's received Christ and been filled with the Holy Ghost, led by the Spirit. May we walk in this fellowship together around the oracles of God, serving Him in baptism in obedience to His death, burial, and resurrection. May we serve Him in His command, "Tarry ye at Jerusalem, until you're endued with power from on high." May we serve Him in Divine healing, praying for the sick. May we serve Him in communion, breaking of bread with singleness of heart, fellowship around the Word of God. May we serve Him in all of His divine oracles, until the land comes in sight. Grant it, Lord. Hear our prayer as we commit it all to Thee now, in the Name of the Lord Jesus.
E-54 Now, with our heads bowed, quietly, slowly, let's just sing this song. Now, this is worship. The message is over. No one leave. Just be quiet. Let's worship. The message is the correcting. Think over, now, what you've done, what you should have done, what made you what you are today. What makes you condemned today, is because you did something yesterday. What will it be tomorrow? Make it right today, and you'll be free tomorrow. See? You must make a choice. How can you do it? "By faith I now let loose of everything. I now let loose and someday I'm going over there."
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that (Just worship the Lord in your spirit now.)
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet (That despised church, hard going, but we'll meet someday.)...
To our bountiful Father above,
We will offer our tribute of praise,
For the glorious gift of His love,
And the blessings that hallowed our (With the Lord's despised few, by faith, I choose.)
In the sweet (in the sweet) by and by (by and by)
We shall meet on that beautiful shore (by... )
In the sweet (in the sweet) by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
There's a land that is (Just worship Him. This is the worship.)... faith I can see (By faith I make my choice.)... ther waits (I see all... the Lord over there. Brother George, Brother Seward, all the saints.) us a dwelling place there. (Yes, Lord.)
... sweet (There's dad, Howard, Edward, all the old sainted friends who took the way back yonder a long time ago.)
In the... (Yes, Lord.) by and by (by and by),
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
We shall sing on that beau... (Oh, God... )
The melodious songs of the blessed (Glory to God.)
... shall sorrow no more.
Not a sigh for our blessings of rest. (Restful place.)
In the sweet (sweet... ) by and by (by and... )
We shall meet... that beautiful shore
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
E-2 Now, it has been two weeks now, about, since I have gotten in. And been very nervous, as you understood, that on the field I got real, real worn out and could hardly go any farther. And then I had to come in for just a little rest. And I taken about three days down to Wolf Creek Dam, down in Kentucky, where I was born. I thought, "Oh, I feel just wonderful now. I'm fine. And I got back home, and the first little thing met me in the face was some sort of a governmental affair with an income tax. I went all the way to the bottom again. So I realize it's going to take more than just a week or two to rest me up.
E-3 And my ministry, fixing to make the change, now... And I have no meetings scheduled, and that's the reason that I just kinda come aside and thought... And now, for the next few weeks I would just take a rest, complete rest, and wait on the Lord. And many of you people in here, that's old timers that's been with us so long, remembers that what the Lord has said to us. He has always performed that, what He said He would do. You remember when, in the very beginning in the church here, the morning that we laid the Tabernacle stone, how that He... It's wrote and laying in the stone... On the fly leaf of my Bible that morning, that great vision, said, "This is not your Tabernacle." I said, "Where is it, Lord?" And He set me out under the sky. And a voice came. And I looked and seen them three crosses, like the trees and the fruit of them, so forth. You know what the vision is. It's been wrote out for years.
E-4 Picking up, the other day, an old book, up there, reading some of the things that the Lord had told, foretold, already come to pass: about this juvenile stuff, and about how the war would come out. And all those things has hit--just the two things left. And one of those great prophesies; that is, for cars to be on the road with remote control, looking like a egg, only you don't drive it; it controls itself. And then, there'll be a great woman rise up, 'cause America is a woman's nation. And it'll... A great woman will rise up and be president, or something like that in the nation, and then there will come a total annihilation, the entire nation will be wiped out. And that, I predict--now this is not the Lord saying this--the other about the woman and this, is the Lord. But I predicted in 1933 that the world would be total annihilation before '77. So I didn't know then that they had something that could annihilate it, like they got now, but I seen the nation in total annihilation--just stumps of trees and things like that left. So it's on it's road.
E-5 And if all these other things has come to pass, just as He said, that will be also. As just as He said in the Scripture here, what He says... If Christ came the first time, He will come the second time. And all the things that He said will come to pass. And duly seeing this, and knowing that we're--our number is just about to be called as a nation, knowing that the church is about to take it's rapture, it moves the heart of a minister or any of the laity to know, that we're in this day and time that we're living. It's the greatest time that any person ever lived on the earth, is right now--that is, for the church. So I certainly desire your prayers.
E-6 And then I seen in the Tabernacle, and I see that they'd... was going to have some re-elections and everything in the church for some of the board and so forth... And some... And the church needed a little meeting, a little stirring, and you've always been kind to me, and blessed me, and my... me being here, seem, has been a blessing to you, and I'm sure it'd be with you, has been a blessing to me. And you've always accepted what I said to be the truth, as I seen it through God. And I--I appreciate that. So then, I started in, and then I was to find out and get our church straightened up in it's boards, and then for the elections and so forth, and then the... Then I thought after that, I went out and got a little rest before I go back on the field again.
E-7 Keep it among yourselves, now; it's not for outsiders. It's for this Tabernacle. We want a meeting with this Tabernacle, so that everything, and every mistake, all things that's been carrying on, and--and maybe, little feelings from one to another, those... I'm going to get every one of them and bring them right face to face. So if you don't want to face it, you better leave the country, 'cause you're coming face to face with every bit of it, like we used to do here at the Tabernacle. And all will be smoothed out, because we are brothers and sisters, who's broke communion, the body of Christ, across the table of blessings. And there's nothing but the devil would make anything that would be wrong, and would cause feelings, or tear up, or anything like that. And I'm taking our Brother Neville, and we're going from place to place, and bring people to people together, till the old Tabernacle is back, established again on its feet, to go along for the kingdom of God.
E-8 Now, this... Is the reason I've said this, is because it's with our own little group here this morning. And now, I'm going to get some rest and get back just as quick as I can. Then I expect to leave to the field again. And this time, the Lord willing, I want to take what little we have accumulated in funds, and so forth, of myself, out in the... this foreign missions program, and get me a new tent, and some new equipment, and start on the field, not from church to church, but for going in our own meetings. Now, not no disregarding to brethren, who had invited me, which is wonderful, but most all of it, you find out, these conventions, they say you're going to be there. And then all your friends come in, and then there's a whole lot of big drumming for money--just drains those people down. I just begin to find that out. You see? So that's--that's not right. We want to have a place where we can bring them; you don't have to bring your money; just come along yourself and--and serve the Lord. See? And a...
E-9 So now, and my ministry is taking a change right now. You remember when I used to take a hold of a person's hand, and just stand there, and the Lord would tell me what was their trouble. Said, then it would come to pass, you'd know the secret of the heart of the people. Everyone of you know that's happened perfectly, the way it's said. Now, this is the next step which has been prophesied and foretold, which is going to be far beyond any of it. You see? And it's right now in the change, and that's the reason Satan's fighting me with the income tax, trying to tell me--the government, that I owe income tax on every penny I taken up as a minister, since about twenty-seven years ago I entered the ministry. It's not so, 'cause it passed through the church, here. I am the trustee of this church. That's exactly right. It's on the records here. So then, if I am the trustee-treasurer of this church, then there's nothing in the world... government don't have nothing to do with it. They're not questioning the church; they're questioning me being the treasurer of the church. And the trustees has signed a paper, that's in the bank, yonder, that all my funds...
E-10 Instead of having a foundation of my own, I passed it through my church here, 'cause it's automatically a foundation, anyhow. And to do that, helps me to keep from running away from the church, and leaving it, and go on out, and being nothing here, after I promised the people that I would return to the church, time after time, and help them. That's the reason I kept it like that, because I made a promise to you people. That's why I stay with it that way, instead of having a individual thing. If you do that, it throws it to an organization, and I'm firmly against organization. So I--I'll keep it just the way it is in the hands of God, so that we can move on for the kingdom of God.
E-11 Now, this morning we want to study this blessed old Word, and believe... Now, I want to say, too... I see Brother Eagan and many of a... some of the trustees settings here, after we had our trustee meeting the other night. It is true, I... It's publicly before the church, that each one of you all are no longer appointed trustees; you are elected trustees, and your name is on the books. All right.
And now, they're going to have some more election of--of--of deacons and so forth, and Brother Neville is--will be calling those immediately after this service. All right. It's for the treasurer and so forth, as we set the church up, and get it all... the backgrounds ready, then we can have a revival as it comes on.
E-12 Now, just before we turn back to the pages here for a Sunday School lesson, to this great Word of the living God, let us just bow our heads, a few moments, as we speak to the Author of this Book. And now, lay aside every thought, everything that's contrary, to keep you from having a blessing, let's pray. Most holy and righteous God, into Thy blessed, august presence we come now offering to Thee, our lives, and our--our souls, and our bodies, and our services, and our talents; and all that we have, we present them to Thee. And as You look upon us, Lord, if there is any sin, naked and unconfessed, we would ask Thee, O Lord God, that You would apply the Blood of Thy Son, Jesus, to such a place. For realizing that we, in ourselves, are insufficient, and there it is impossible for us to ever be self-sustaining. But we rely completely upon His precious Blood and His grace to apply it to our account, that we, unworthy sinners, might come boldly some day into Thy presence, bringing before us this Blood of the Lord Jesus, which Thou in the times past has recognized it to be the Blood of Thy only begotten Son, and has made the promise, that through Him, if we confess our sins, we shall be justified by His grace.
E-13 And now, we would ask, Lord, that You would forgive us of any mistake, any sin of trespass or omission, transgression, that of any evil thought has a pierced our soul by the fiery dart of the devil, that You would drive away this evil enemy of Thine and of Thy people. And we would ask, that You would send the Holy Spirit to take a hold of the Word at this time, as we yield ourselves as instruments, that You would speak through us and hear through us Thy Word. And may we in return, receive it as from Thee, and leave this place today, feeling that we have been readjusted to the cause of Christ, that we might be better fit for the service of tonight and tomorrow, because of the visitation of the Holy Spirit. Bless our brethren everywhere, the churches across the world, who's holding forth the Word of Life in this evil day. We feel that there is not much time left to work, for the night is swiftly coming. The war-clouds are floating again. Evil is at hand. And we pray that You'll let us work as never before. Rest our tired bodies, Lord, and send us back into the battle, for we ask it in the Name of the Lord Jesus and for His sake we pray. Amen.
E-14 As we open this morning, the Bible to the--the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews... Wednesday night, we were speaking on the 7th chapter of the book of Hebrews, of Melchisedec, being without father, and without mother, without beginning of days or ending of life. And I thought, maybe this morning, it would be appropriate to open again this wonderful Book, being that we have the backgrounds to what we wish to say in the former reading. And skipping over the 10th chapter and the 9th chapter, which is the sacrificial laws, we would come into a spot of faith. And here in the book of Hebrews, the 11th chapter, and beginning with the 23rd verse, we read it like this: By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he came to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer the affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt... and had recompense unto the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisibly. I want to take the subject, this morning, "Choosing by Faith." And I want to take for a text, the first three words of the 23rd chapter: "By Faith Moses."
E-15 And choosing by faith, most everything that we do, we have to choose by faith. And all that we find that Moses did--that's worth repeating--was by faith, not by sight, but by faith. And the reason that I have selected this this morning for the church in this state, has been, that in our--even our schools and around, we have had so much of scientific teaching. Because of this, we have drawn the people away from faith. Now, faith is not proved by science. Faith is what science doesn't see. And we, if we ever lose this great faith, then we are totally in darkness. It don't matter how well we are educated, how we could explain the Word of God to suit our own way of believing, there is no way to ever please God--only by faith. The Scripture plainly states it that way. And it's by faith. And without faith, says the Scripture, it is impossible to please God. So if faith disagrees with science, and science disagrees with faith, that puts them at--at edge at each other, then we must take a choice as Moses did. By faith we believe.
E-16 Now, if we lose faith, then we will never get a prayer answered by God. "For He that cometh to God must first believe that He is, and a rewarder of those that diligently seek after Him." So if we lose faith, our prayers are annulled; we get nowhere. So if all that we can think of this morning is the hold onto faith. Then if we lose faith, all our hopes is gone. And if we lose faith, all our spiritual reality is gone. For you cannot have faith in things that you see. For the things that you see are all perishable. If we look at some great person, or great minister, or a great congregation, they will all perish someday. And if we look at a great nation, our great weapons, they'll all perish someday. And then we must live by faith of those things that science does not declare. It's by faith that we believe.
E-17 Now, we lose our glory, if we lose faith. Now, if we get away from faith, then we take the church into an intellectual realm. And many times, it's been thought amongst people, that because a congregation was large, and they had great churches, great steeples, and a great lot of well-dressed and groomed peoples, and a lot of finances, that they could afford such things, we many times, thought that was inspiring--that this certain church must be inspired. Or we've often referred to different ministers, who get out on the field and have great gatherings of crowds, and we think, sometimes, that they are the signs of inspiration. But that's not altogether the truth. That's human inspiration. But the real inspiration comes by doing the will of God (See?), whether it is a one or just a handful. Whether it is a big church or a small church, it matters not. Whether he is a great eloquent speaker or just a man that hardly knows his ABC's, it doesn't matter. It depends on the message that he brings, whether it is inspired by the Word of God or is it inspired by intellectuals conceptions of human inspiration. Some people can be inspired because of an eloquent speaker. That doesn't make it right. Sometimes they're inspired, because the man is so trained, till he could put his point over. That doesn't mean that it's of God. See? It's only through God's everlasting, eternal, blessed Word can we receive inspiration, and that's given by the Holy Ghost. By faith we receive it.
E-18 Now, we would think of Moses and this great time of his life. And we read back, of his birth, and how that God had cared for him. But there come a time in Moses' life, to where there had to be a choosing time. If we read right, we find out that he was the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and was the heir to the throne, and would have been the next Pharaoh in Egypt. So he would notice as he looked around, after he'd become of age and of accountability, and there would be those slaves, working out in the slime-pits. And Moses, as he looked through the windows of the palace upon the same slaves that Pharaoh looked on, but what a difference there was in the looking. I want to base that thought, this morning, for a few minutes, and may the God of heaven drive it home to every heart here: it's how you look at anything, what makes the difference.
E-19 The great evangelist John Sproule, which was a convert of Brother Bosworth's ministry, who many of you remember, years ago, of the old glory barn. He said, one day he was taking a trip, before the deceasing of his beloved companion and wife. They were in Alsace Lorraine, France. And I had the privilege of visiting the same place. And the guide was taking them out through the gardens and showing them the different things, and they come upon a certain statue of the Lord Jesus, the crucifixion. And Mr. Sproule was standing off, looking at it, he and his wife, and in their hearts were criticizing, what the artist must have had in mind, or the sculptor, rather, when he hewed out of a stone such a horrible looking thing to be--to represent the suffering, and the love, and the pity of the Lord Jesus, and how it was all crudely and chopped-up looking.
E-20 And the guide came to Mr. Sproule, and he said, "Sir, I suppose that you are criticizing this statue of the Lord Jesus?" And he said, "I am." And he said, "I am not a bit surprised, because most people that look at it first, they do criticize it." And Mr. Sproule said, "Why, I can't see any pity or any inspiration from looking at such a thing. So I'm wondering why the sculptor every made it like this." And the sculptor said, "Mr. Sproule, the statue's all right. And the sculptor had the right thing in his mind. But where the trouble is, is with you; it's the way you're looking at it." And he took he and his wife by the hand, and led them down to a--a altar at the foot of this said cross. And he said, "Now, Mr. Sproule, look up, now." And when he looked up, he said his heart like to have failed him.
E-21 What a difference it was to stand off there, and look at it that way, and to get down and look at it the way, that it was made to look at. And that's the way that God is. That's the way that faith is. It's the way you look at it. If you looked at it as some sort of a historical Bible, of something that was in the days gone by, you will never be able to get the real value of the Bible. You are supposed to get on your knees, and obey the commandments of this Bible, and look at it through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. I would ask this audience this morning: what good does a historical God do us today, if He isn't the same God? What good does a God, that would take Moses and do the miracles with him that He did, what good would it do us to read of such a God, if He isn't the same One today?
E-22 What good is a God, that could deliver from the fiery furnace, the Hebrew children, if He isn't the same God today? What good is the God, that would judge between right and wrong in a day gone by, and punish the wrong, and bless the right? If He isn't the same God today, what do we go to church for? Why do we abstain from things of the world, if He isn't the same God of the same judgment and the same opinion that He always was? What good would it be for God, Who could touch a woman's hand with a raging fever, and the fever stop, if He isn't the same God today? What good would it be to serve a God Who could call His friend from a grave, after being dead four days, if He isn't the same God today. By faith, we believe that some glorious day He shall call us from the earth, though we be a spoonful of ashes again. How do we prove it? We do not prove it; we believe it. We're not asked to prove anything; we're asked to believe it. By faith Moses did such-and-such.
E-23 And as Moses, as a young man looked through the palace window at the slaves, he saw the same bunch of grimy, dirty, muck-ridden slaves that Pharaoh saw. And when Pharaoh looked upon them--and the Egyptians--they wasn't nothing but a bunch of slaves. That's all they were good for, just to be human mud-daubers, to make muddy bricks for the benefit of the cities that Pharaoh was building. That's the way the Egyptians and Pharaoh looked at the slaves. But Moses, when he looked at them, it was a different look Moses had. When he seen, passing by the window, the great ditches in their face, the tears that run down their cheeks, and their bent bodies, he looked upon them as the people of God. He didn't look upon them as slaves; he looked upon them as the chosen people of God.
E-24 Oh, as I go about from country to country, and from nation to nation, preaching since I left the doors of this little Tabernacle (that's a interdenominational institution, with no law but love, no book but the Bible, and no creed but Christ), I've tried to look upon God's children and upon the rejected, as being God's chosen and elected people. I don't ask them if they belong to the Branham Tabernacle. I don't ask them if they're Methodist, or if they're Presbyterians, or if they are Pentecostals, or Nazarenes, or Pilgrim Holiness. I just want to look upon them as the people of God, and seeing their doings, and their actions that they are the servants of the Lord God; and my heart desires fellowship with them. No matter what brand they got, I just long for their fellowship. I love them, because I know they are people of God.
E-25 When I see a woman, coming down the street, with a long skirt, and her hair done up neatly in the back, and--and a descent looking dress on, and I see another young lady, maybe the same age, with a little pair of shorts on, she maybe in--looks twice as pretty as the woman with the long hair, according to the looking of the world, but I'd take my side with that girl that's dressed like a Christian. Though they'd be laughing at her and calling her a fanatic, yet I'd take my side. She might not be as pretty as the other girl, featurely, but she sees something. By faith she sees Him Who is invisible, Who is guiding her life. When I see the man on the job being called, "deacon," or "preacher," or a "fanatic," because he refuses to smoke, and to drink beer, and to go to dances like the rest of them, and he's called a fanatic, my heart goes out for him; he is my brother...?... on in this Egypt soil, that makes our heart long to embrace him, and say, "Brother, we are pilgrims and strangers of this land, and I long to fellowship with you."
E-26 Moses had to make a choice: choosing by faith. How many young men would've jumped at the opportunity to become the son of Pharaoh's daughter? How many young men would have jumped at the opportunity, that Moses had to enjoy all the pleasures and the glamour of the world, to become the king of Egypt, to have the whole world at his feet. What a foolish thing, that the young men of his days, must have thought, when Moses chose to take his place with the afflicted and suffering people of God. Why did he do it? By faith. When he lifted up his eyes, he looked beyond the glamour of this world. He looked beyond the pleasures of sin. And the Bible said that he endured as seeing Him Who was invisible by faith, and he made a choice to serve that God, regardless of what took place.
E-27 It has not changed. Many of us could go to what we would call a better building. We could enjoy it, maybe the fellowship and pleasures of setting in a better pew. We might be more popular to drink, and to smoke, and to dress, and to act like the world, but what's the matter? You've lifted up your eyes, and by faith you see Him Who is invisible, and have took your stand with the rejected and so-called holy-rollers of the day. For by faith we see Him Who is invisible, choosing to suffer the persecutions and the afflictions. I wouldn't say to people, that they should choose to be afflicted. I don't say, that you should choose suffering. It would not be the human thing to do. But if suffering lays in the path of duty, then let's take it as it comes.
E-28 I don't want you to do something, for somebody to make fun of you. I wouldn't want you to say different things that, "I'm a... I belong to a church that doesn't believe in so-and-so in the worlds and things like that," just to get people to make fun of you. You're bringing that on yourself. I wouldn't say for you to get out here, and carry on, and do something that was radical. I wouldn't want you to do that, so that somebody would say that you are a fanatic. You bring that on yourself. But if it lays in the path of your duty towards God, let the world say what they want to say. You live on. You make a choice. Every man and woman has to make this. What if Pharaoh could've saw what Moses saw? He saw the sufferings of the people. He knew what the price was to pay. But by faith, he chose it, rather than to have the pleasures of sin.
E-29 Is--maybe a little young lady setting here, a glamorous young women, the world would like to say to you, "Do thus and thus. You are beautiful. Your body is so pretty shaped; you should show that." But my sister, raise up your eyes and look beyond that, to Him that said it's an abomination for a woman to put on a garment that pertains to a man.
If the men... of the people in your community, if the women that you associate with, said, "Cut that long hair off; it would be cooler. It would be this, that, or the other," or, "It would become you better." don't you listen to that; you lift up your eyes and by faith saw Him that said that a woman's hair is her glory, and she shall not cut it.
E-30 If they say it'd be popular, you would stand in better with your job, or with your boss, if you'd take a sociable drink; if you would smoke cigarettes like the rest of the women, you would stand in more sociably in you neighborhood, by faith raise your eyes and look to Him Who said, "Defile this body, and I will destroy it." By faith we believe those things. It's nothing that you seen. It's something you believe. By faith, Moses did. And in this faith walk there comes a time there has to be a choice. Lot made that sad mistake that we make. A lot of times we choose for our own good. We choose things that would be a better... Sometimes if there's a little squabble comes in the church, and someone would say, "Well, the deacon or the pastor's on this side..." Don't look at that, look at what's righteous. Get that thing out and bring them both together if that's godly.
E-31 There's a choosing, and we choose for ourselves. We choose something that's for our own good. But Moses chose the afflictions and the disgrace, that he might walk with the people of God. Think of it, now. Listen to it: "Chose the afflictions of the people of God and counted it a greater treasure, for he endured seeing Him Who was invisibly." Now Lot, one time, had to make a choice. And it may be this morning, that there'll be men and women setting here, that'll make your final choice. You are today what you are, because several years ago you chose to be what you are now. And what you choose now, will determine what you'll be five years from today. Five years from today you may be a missionary. Five years from today you may be a renown Christian. Or five years from today you may be in hell, because you made the wrong decision. Five years from today you may be cleaning spittoons in a barroom. Five years from today you may be a prostitute on the street. Or you may be a man or a woman, that's a--that's a credit to any society, because of your choice for Christ. Five years from today you may be in glory, gone in the rapture, because you made your choice today. But you've got to choose. And don't look at what you see; choose what you see by faith. That's the only thing that will count, is what you choose by faith.
E-32 Lot, as he had to make a choice, Abraham give Lot his choice. And God gives you your choice. "Choose you this day who you shall serve." In the garden of Eden there was a tree of--of knowledge and a Tree of Life. Man was given the privilege to choose either one he desired. And so is it today; you're given your privilege, as free moral agents, to choose whatever you want to choose. My advice to you is, don't look at the modern things around you, and the popularity, and the glamour that you could be, but choose rather, by faith Him, that give the promise that someday He will come and will righten all wrongs, and will give you Eternal Life, and raise you up. No matter if you take the despised way with the Lord's few, make that choice.
E-33 If there is troubles in the hand... If there's troubles in the land, if there's troubles in the church, if there's troubles in the home, no matter where it is, make your choice, "By faith "I'll serve God. I'll humble my heart in His presence. I'll take the way with God's children. I see them despised, and rejected, and drove out, and made fun of, but I'll still take my post of duty. I'll stay right by them, and when they cry, I'll cry with them. And when they're sorrow, I shall sorrow with them. The way they live, I'll live."
Like Naomi said--or Ruth said to Naomi, "Your ways be my ways; my ways be your ways; where you live, I'll live; where you go, I'll go; the God that you serve, will be my God." Take that choice, though it pulls the very skin off of your conscience, of thinking that you're somebody. Skin yourself down and take your way with the Lord's despised few, and stay loyal on the field of service and at the post of duty.
E-34 Lot looked around; he said, "I got a choice." And he looked towards Sodom. He saw the good grassy fields were better than what Abraham saw and where Abraham was. He saw the opportunities to graze his cattle, to have fatter and better cattle.
I hope I'm not hurting anyone's feeling, but that's been the stand of too many preachers, to compromise with the Gospel, thinking that they get more money out of it, a meal ticket. I'd rather live in the barren land, eat--drink from a branch, and eat soda crackers, than to compromise upon the conviction of my faith in the Word of the living God. I'll take my way
Some of them said, "Billy, what's the matter with your meetings, as there's too many Pentecostals at it." A great denominational minister said that.
I said, "Will your denomination sponsor my meeting?"
E-35 Not long ago in the "Look" magazine, I believe, there was an article. And the writer said there's... talked about the Pentecostal people. He said, "The Pentecostal church is the fastest growing church in the world today." Why, is because men and women has raised up their eyes and looked far off. And the writer also complimented the Pentecostal people. "Oh, of course," he said, "there was some of them that went radical and so forth, but the Methodists worship a creed. They worship God by a creed. The Baptists does the same, and the Presbyterian, but the Pentecostal worships by his Bible." By faith we see the promise. I'll take my lot with them; no matter how much they're despised, I'm still one of them. Though they be made fun of, and have they're ups-and-downs, as Israel did, I'll never want to stand with the false prophet on the hillside, a Balaam, and try to curse what God has blessed, because in that camp is a smitten Rock, and a bloody Sacrifice, and a Pillar of Fire. No matter what their in, it's leading them on to victory. And they've got to come to it, because they are the promised people, that's walking by faith.
Though they be not a denomination, they were wanderers around, and so is the people of God. But I want to take my way with them, join up with them in their ranks, not in their denomination, but in their fellowship around the oracles of God's eternal Spirit, which by faith, I have received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. God help me to always have that attitude.
E-36 Notice, as they moved on, we find that Lot saw the opportunities for a fatted cattle. Many see the opportunities of a fatted pocket book. Many sees the opportunities of a better social standing. He saw the possibilities of a few extra dollars. He saw the possibilities of being the mayor of the city. Being a stranger and a pretty smart man as he was, "Maybe I will become the chief man of the city." He saw the possibilities, because they were laying before him. But he did not see the fire that was to destroy the land. He did not reconcile himself, that the land was full of sin and God had to destroy it.
And today, people try to reconcile themselves by saying, "Are you..." I said, "Are you a Christian?"
They say, "I'm an American." That has no more to do with it, than try to say to a crow that he was a frog. It has nothing to do with it. She's going to be destroyed, because God is just. And if America gets by with her sins, the just and sovereign holy God will be duty-bound to--to resurrect Sodom and Gomorrah and apologize to them for burning them up because of their sin, if He let's us get by with it.
E-37 If He let's you get to heaven on your injustice works, He will have to raise up Ananias and Sapphira and give them another opportunity. He certainly would, but He's just. Ananias saw his money; Peter saw Christ. Oh, my. Lot didn't see the destruction of his children in that place.
And many of you today hold around these old formal creeds and things, you don't see the juvenile delinquency and the destruction of your children. You don't see your daughter in a prostitute house. You don't see your son a drunkard or at a card table somewhere, because she's well-watered in sin and is not touched.
He didn't see his wife, the head of all the societies, turned to a pillar of salt when he was looking. He didn't see him escaping only by the edge of his teeth to a little city somewhere for his life. He didn't see that, because he only looked at what he saw in front of him.
E-38 But Abraham, he didn't notice the well-watered land, for he lifted up his eyes and saw the tomorrow; for he'd inherit all things.
The real Christian, today, lifts up his eyes and sees the promise of Christ: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit all things; they shall inherit the earth." The real Christian, by faith, looks up and sees that. Call him what you want to, He lifted up his eyes, and when he did that, God said, "Abraham, walk through the land; she's all yours." By faith Abraham did this, the same faith that Moses had.
It was wrote by one commentator, that said this--and I thought it was most beautiful words--that Abraham--Moses took the best of the world and put it in one scale, and the worst of religion and put it in the other scale, and the worst of religion outweighed the best of the world.
So is it today, that if we be called anything we want to be called, fanatics, or divine healers, or holy-roller, or whatever they want to call, the worst that we are will outweigh the best the world can afford. You want to be called old fashion, old foggy, fanatics; it'll outweigh the best thing that the devil's got to offer you. It most surely will.
E-39 Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ... He foresaw Christ. Later he spoke some mighty inspiring words about Him. See? "The Lord your God shall rise up a Prophet like unto me." He knew he foresaw Him, and re... esteemed His reproach greater riches, than all the glamour of the world.
Christian friend, today, can't you do that? But all the glamour and popularity of the world... By faith we see Him Who promised. And the worst of the church today in all of it's condition, yet it'll outweigh everything the devil can offer you. If we are tore up, if we are broke to pieces, if we are confused, and broke up in denominations, and fanaticism, it'll outweigh anything the devil can offer you. Certainly.
He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. Then he had to do something. He forsook Egypt. Oh, I love that word. He forsook Egypt. See, he was looking through the same window, but he was looking different from Pharaoh.
E-40 What if Pharaoh could have seen his end? What if Pharaoh would've seen his nation drowned. Moses saw it. How? By science? By faith Moses saw it. Everything that he did was by faith, because God promised Abraham, his father, that He--He would visit this nation, after four hundred years, and would bring them out. And by faith, Moses believed the Word that God said, and knowed himself, as by faith, to be the chosen leader to bring them out. He knew where he was. He took his place in the slime-pits of the mud-dauber and counted the reproach of Christ, greater riches, than to set on the throne of Egypt. He took...
He never did say, "I sympathize with them..." He took their place and went with them. Glory to... He took their place. We went with them. No wonder the inspired writer said, "I'll take the way with the Lord's despised few. I've started in with Jesus, now, I'm going through." I'm on my way to Canaan's land. Sure.
E-41 Moses... It was said by one, that Moses had rather, when he could've been the son of Pharaoh and have the glamour of the world, he'd rather be a son of Abraham, than to be the son of Pharaoh--a son of Abraham, the despised, than to be son of Pharaoh, the king.
I'd rather be the son of the Lord Jesus, and His fellow servant, and take my place with the rejected people of this world, than to be president of this great United States of America, or to be an Elvis Presley, or a Pat Boone, or whoever you want to make it. I'll take my way.
E-42 Young ladies ought to take their way, instead of being a Mary Pickford, or some great movie star, some glamour girl; take your way with the Lord's despised few. I'd rather be a preacher in the pulpit, preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ, than to be a Hollywood movie star, or the greatest person on the earth. If I had to eat meager, beg, or whatever I had to do, I'll take my way with the Lord's people; by faith I do that. I've been offered opportunities, but by God's grace I still receive by faith. By faith I can see it afar. And our Father waits over the way, to prepare us as dwelling place there.
E-43 An income tax man said the other day, "Why did you turn your home to that church? What made you give a twenty-five thousand dollar home to that little old rubbish looking Tabernacle?"
I said, "It wasn't the church, that I did it. It's the people that's there." I have not none of this world's goods. Every penny of money I ever took is turned to this church. Why? My faith is on God and not on the things of this world. My affections are above, and I believe you all's are the same, if you're right with God. It's true that you are. We by faith receive. We by faith believe God.
E-44 Moses, he had to make a choice. And then he had to, after making the choice, he had to fight the faith then, for he feared not the wrath of the king. Now, humanly he had a right to fear the wrath. He had a right to fear the wrath of the king, but he didn't. He did not do it, because he had a job to do. And he was in a line of duty. And he didn't care what the king said about it; he took his way just the same.
Now, Pharaoh, of course, when he sees he's defeated, he wanted to give Moses and the children... He said, "All right, I tell you what I will do; you all just stay in the land and go out and sacrifice to your God." That's the way the devil works. "Oh, you can be religious. Why don't you go over and join some church. You don't have to do all these things."
E-45 A man says to his wife, "A hu..." The wife says, "Husband, I got saved: no more manicure, or lipstick, and stuff, no more of this, no more parties, no more of these society things; I'm out of it. I will put my time to reading the Word, taking care of home."
"Now look dear, you--you can be religious all right... Now, look, you--you go over here; you got the wrong church. Now, we make sure you're the right one." If you got a preacher will preach that to you, you better stay with them. Search back through the Scriptures and find if that's right. "Oh," said, "go over here. They don't--they don't have to do that over here. They don't do this over here." That's the way; just go so far. But he don't want you to get out of the land. That's the way the devil does. He don't want you to get out of the things of the world; just bring the world in with the church.
E-46 The other day, coming down the road, I turned on my radio. And there was a--a song, and I kept listening. I had to take nearly the song through, before I could tell whether it was, absolutely, a religious song, or the devil is trying to bring down the things of God to the level of the world. You can't do that. God be merciful. I don't care how many albums Elvis Presley writes, of all the good religious songs, he's still possessed of the devil. He's sent more children to hell, and all the moves I know of, in all the world this day. Pat Boone and the rest of them, even belong to the Church of Christ, and Elvis Presley, a Pentecostals are Judas Iscariot in the form of those men. The devil's trying to bring the high things of God so that they can mix them down here. The people won't look up above this; they just look here, say, "Why, it's all the same." It isn't the same. Get out of the land.
E-47 Said, "You can just go a few days. And you go, stay in the land..." Sure, he knowed they'd be back. Then he found out that wouldn't work, so he thought something different. He said, "I tell you what you do: you go on out anywhere you want to go, but you leave all your wives, and all your children, and all your cattle back here. You leave them here and you go out..." 'cause he'd knowed they had possession back there that would lure them back. And that's what the devil says to you. Just long as you leave some of the things of the world hanging on you--you still want to smoke, you want to drink, you want to dress like the world--that's as good as the devil wants.
I hear so much about backsliding. I don't believe there's as much backsliding as people thing they are. They just leave too many possessions in Egypt to lure them back. That's all. Backslidings are not what has been...?... say it is. You left too much the world back there that lures you.
E-48 Brother, I'll tell you, when Israel got ready at midnight, they had everything they had in this world packed up and ready to go. God send us a revival like that. We pack up everything and get ready to go. The midnight cry is a coming, "Go ye out to meet Him." You better have everything packed up. You better not have nothing of this world luring you back, any strings to hold you down. Pack up; let's get ready; we're going. And you know what? I tell you they was so true to God, till Pharaoh got so excited at midnight, he said, "Get out! Get out and get going. Take everything you got and go!" I'm so glad that a man can live so close to God, till the devil don't know what to do with him. That's right. "Get out! Get going!" Obeyed God. By faith he saw the promise. Mud dauber or no mud dauber, he taken his way with the Lord's despised few. Pharaoh said, "Take all you got and get out of here. I don't know what to do with you." He was so true to God by faith. Faith will work miracles, if you'll stay true to God. By faith we see Him.
E-49 Our time is up--past time. But by faith, this morning, lift up your eyes. Don't see what's around you--this modern world--but look and see Him Who give the promise. The Bible said we do not see all things perfectly now, but we do see Jesus. You look at Him this morning and your ways will be changed. While we bow our heads just a moment for a word of prayer. May the Lord add His blessings to the message. Think in your heart now, have you been looking on the things of the world? By faith, do you see Jesus? Are you looking at your popularity, your church, what your social standing is with the world? Or do you see Jesus Who, in pity, placed Hisself at the right-hand of the majesty on High, Who suffered as a martyr, the just for the unjust. Can't you raise up your eyes and see that Tree of Life yonder? Then leave this tree of science and knowledge and serve Him.
E-50 Would you like to be remembered in prayer before I pray, raise your hand for any request, that you might have need of. God bless you. He sees all your hands. If you're a sinner, raise up your eyes and look now. If you've been indifferent, if you've had little squabbles and little things, what difference does it make. You're going to die one of these days. What day? Maybe today. You don't know; an hour from now you may be in hell or you may be in heaven. But you've got to choose now. If there's anything in your life that isn't right, you choose, now. By faith...
You say, "Well, if I can just get even with her; if I can get even with him..." No matter what they've done, choose life. Choose life, for Jesus said, "If from your heart, you don't forgive every person their transgressions, neither does your heavenly Father forgive you." So just get that close. If there's one ought in your heart against any person, sinner or saint, you're in danger of hell fire.
E-51 Now, lift up your eyes. What do you see, your enemy or do you see your Saviour? What are you looking at this morning? If you're sick and your doctor says that you can't get well, lift up your eyes to the cross, where He was wounded for our transgressions, with His stripes we were healed. Don't look at what the doctor says; He's working in science. Faith works in the realm of spirit and God. Let us think of these things now, while you've raised your hands. God's seen them. Let us pray.
E-52 O Eternal God, in the quietness of this worship now, after the message has gone forth, do not let those seeds of Thy Word, Lord, fall upon stony ground. Do not let the message, Lord, fall in briars, thorns, that the cares of this life--like Lot--might choke it out, unto the end, become a castaway. But O, blessed God, let it fall on good fertile grounds, on penitent hearts, and on mine also, Lord, that we all might look through God's glass of looking and see the rejected church of the Lord Jesus, the rejected people, the rejected way. And may we walk in this glorious way as Moses. He didn't know where he was going. The people didn't know where they were going. They didn't know which a way to go. They just started. And O, Lord God, as this beautiful hymn is being played, by faith we can see that land afar. Let it be, just now, that men and women in here won't think of what the world's going to say, or how they're going. May they just rise in their spirit and go. Moses followed the Light, and It led him to the land of promise, not knowing where he was going, but he just walked in the Light to that land that was fairer than day.
E-53 Grant, Lord, today, that many here will walk in the light of the Scripture, and in the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, and with the church--the church, the firstborn, the new born babe's that's received Christ and been filled with the Holy Ghost, led by the Spirit. May we walk in this fellowship together around the oracles of God, serving Him in baptism in obedience to His death, burial, and resurrection. May we serve Him in His command, "Tarry ye at Jerusalem, until you're endued with power from on high." May we serve Him in Divine healing, praying for the sick. May we serve Him in communion, breaking of bread with singleness of heart, fellowship around the Word of God. May we serve Him in all of His divine oracles, until the land comes in sight. Grant it, Lord. Hear our prayer as we commit it all to Thee now, in the Name of the Lord Jesus.
E-54 Now, with our heads bowed, quietly, slowly, let's just sing this song. Now, this is worship. The message is over. No one leave. Just be quiet. Let's worship. The message is the correcting. Think over, now, what you've done, what you should have done, what made you what you are today. What makes you condemned today, is because you did something yesterday. What will it be tomorrow? Make it right today, and you'll be free tomorrow. See? You must make a choice. How can you do it? "By faith I now let loose of everything. I now let loose and someday I'm going over there."
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that (Just worship the Lord in your spirit now.)
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet (That despised church, hard going, but we'll meet someday.)...
To our bountiful Father above,
We will offer our tribute of praise,
For the glorious gift of His love,
And the blessings that hallowed our (With the Lord's despised few, by faith, I choose.)
In the sweet (in the sweet) by and by (by and by)
We shall meet on that beautiful shore (by... )
In the sweet (in the sweet) by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
There's a land that is (Just worship Him. This is the worship.)... faith I can see (By faith I make my choice.)... ther waits (I see all... the Lord over there. Brother George, Brother Seward, all the saints.) us a dwelling place there. (Yes, Lord.)
... sweet (There's dad, Howard, Edward, all the old sainted friends who took the way back yonder a long time ago.)
In the... (Yes, Lord.) by and by (by and by),
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
We shall sing on that beau... (Oh, God... )
The melodious songs of the blessed (Glory to God.)
... shall sorrow no more.
Not a sigh for our blessings of rest. (Restful place.)
In the sweet (sweet... ) by and by (by and... )
We shall meet... that beautiful shore
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
