Now this is just a little formal message that we usually base the first night. And then from there on then, we’ll just see what the Lord will grant to us. In St. John l2:20 we read these words: And there were certain Greeks among them, that came up to ... the feast: The same came to ... Philip which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. St. John 12:20. In Hebrews, the l3th chapter and the 8th verse, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and for ever.” 37 Now there’s a great statement: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now these Greeks was just as hungry as anyone. Their desire ... they had heard of Jesus, and they wanted to see Jesus. And I don’t believe that anyone can ever hear about Jesus but what longs to see Him. Is that right? Now, if I say something, you say, “Amen,” that won’t scare me a bit. It’ll encourage me. Now how many here would love to see Jesus? Let’s see your hand. We would love to see Him. 38 Now, as I have just made my statement, I believe the Word to be the truth. Now, these Greeks came desiring to see Jesus, and got to do it by one of his servants. Well, now, if He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and we desire to see Him, what about it? There it puts God’s Word to a showdown, see. If we desire to see Him, and He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever; and one of God’s servants brought these Greeks in the presence of Jesus, then we should have the same thing today if He is the same. Now we believe it, that He is the same as He was then. Now, how would we know Him if we saw Him? Now, if we were going to say, “Well, now, how would He part his hair? Did He have long curls down his shoulders? Did He have red hair? Was it blonde? Did He have hair at all? Was He bald-headed? Was He blue-eyed, brown-eyed? Was He a large man, small man?” Why, we’d just discuss that all hours, and each one have a different opinion. So we couldn’t meet on them basis. 39 Well, then, what if I’d say we go out here in the city tonight, and we’d find a man that we could actually find nail scars in his hands, both hands, and thorn prints around here, and a scar in his side, just under his heart. And He would be wearing a robe, and meet our specifications, still that could be... Really, if we’d picked up such a person, it wouldn’t be Jesus. At his second coming, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. And when his corporal body returns to the earth, it’ll be like the sun shining from the East to the West. You believe that? Sure. It wouldn’t be. 40 How would we know Jesus then? The way I think that we would know Him would be by his nature, what He was. Now, if I go to asking, “Does the Baptist believe it’s their church? Presbyterian?” “Yes.” “Catholic, Protestant, Jewish?” “Yes.” Or what not. Jewish, ‘course they don’t believe in the Lord Jesus being the Son of God. But our different Pentecostal brethren, the different organizations of them, they’d say, “Yes, it’s in ours. It’s in ours,” and so forth. But now, let’s just say that’s good; that’s in all of them. Let’s just believe it. But now surely, there’s so much difference that there ought to be some way to declare positive what He is, see, for the Bible said He is the same. So one of them, say, “We believe in saying, repeating prayers.” The other one has the doxology. The other has a certain creed that they go by. One says, “I believe if you speak with tongues, that would be Him.” The other one said, “I believe if you danced in the Spirit, that’ll be Him.” And, we have all kinds of sensations, and everything else. 41 But then, in that there’s such a disagreement. One will say, “Well, I don’t believe you do this,” and the other one say, “Don’t...” But there ought to be some way that we could come to a spot to know really who He is, and what He is. See, there ought to be some way, see. One say, “Well, I shouted.”; the other say, “I danced in the Spirit.”; the other say, “I spoke with tongues.” Those things are fine. They’re all right. But yet, see, it causes a difference. One say, “I got it this way”; one say, “I got it crying”; another say, “I got it with chills, shaking”; another one say, “I seen a light.” See, there’s so much difference. There ought to be some way that we would know sure, so there’d be no question in our mind. And the Bible said He’s the same. So there ought to be some way of knowing. Don’t you think so? I think there ought to be some way of knowing it. 42 Now, I don’t believe that the Bible said those things, and made those promises, without being able to fulfill it. Don’t you believe that? Abraham, whose seed we are... If we be in Christ, we’re Abraham’s seed. And Abraham was fully persuaded (Romans 4) that He was able to keep, or to perform, that which He had promised to do. And if God makes a promise, and doesn’t stand behind it, then He’s not God. And if He makes a promise, He’s able to stand behind it or He would never make the promise. 43 Now, I’m finite, and He’s infinite. So He cannot make a mistake. I can. You can. Our brethren can. We can all make mistakes. We’re finite. Today, if I don’t know more than I did last year, I’m not progressing any. But God cannot progress, because He’s perfect to begin with. And every decision is perfect. 44 Now listen. If God is ever called on the scene to make a decision, when He once makes that decision that settles it eternally. He can never come back and say, “I was wrong there.” And if He doesn’t act each time the way He acted the first time, He acted wrong the first time. See, He’s perfect. Therefore if He’s ever called to do anything, and his decision once made, that’s settled forever, eternal. 45 Both heavens and earth will pass away, but that Word can never fail because it’s a part of God. You see it? Therefore, look. When God was called on the scene to save a lost man, his first way of bringing that man to salvation was by the blood. He’s never changed it. Men are only saved... 46 There’s only one place to fellowship with God, and that’s under the shed blood. It’s never been by creed, it’s never been by church, it’s never been by organization, it’s never been by nation. It’s by the blood. Israel met under the shed blood, and all through the ages, and we’re still meeting under the shed blood. If we don’t, we can’t have fellowship. That’s right. 47 Fellowship is only restored to God through the blood, for the human race can only meet God as a blood sacrifice stands there for Him. Amen. That gives us assurance, soundness-not some mythical something that was prophesied in the last days here, everything would come around, and all kinds of things. But we believe the Word to be God’s truth. Therefore, it never will fail. And God’s first decision was to save a man by the shed blood, and every man that has ever come to God comes that same way each time. 48 And God’s provision for divine healing was on the basis of faith. And that’s the same way He heals them tonight, is the basis of faith. No matter how great a man... If Christ, Himself, was standing here on the pulpit with this suit that He gave me, if He was standing here in this suit, He could not heal you. Not at all. He’s already done it. He might do something to convince you, or point you to the Word, and that would be convincing. And He might show through some divine gift that He was Christ. But He could not heal you, because He’s already done it. 49 How can you redeem anything after it has already been redeemed? Amen. See what I mean? If redemption is complete, it’s completed. If I had my knife down here in the pawn shop, and I bought the knife back, and paid the price, and got the ticket, how’s that man going to charge me for it again? I’ve got his own receipt. It’s already redeemed. I’d say, “I want to redeem my knife.” “You’ve got the receipt in your hand.” Oh, my! 50 And when any man or woman comes to Christ in the fullness of the assurance of his death, burial and resurrection, and is the beneficiary to every redemptive blessing that Jesus died for... And He gives you a checkbook with Jesus’ name wrote on the bottom of every one of them. “Ask the Father anything in my name. If ye abide in me and my words in you, ask what you will and it’ll be done for you.” You get afraid to cash the check. Don’t do it. 51 I’ve often said I meet two classes of people in my times around the world in mission work. I meet two classes of people. One of them is Pentecostal, the other one’s fundamental. 52 The fundamental positionally knows where he stands. He takes it by the Word. “I am a son of God by my confession,” see. He positionally takes that stand, but he’s got no faith in what he’s talking about. The Pentecostal has a lot of faith, but don’t know where he stands. He don’t know who he is. It’s just like a man’s got money in the bank, and he don’t know how to write a check. And the other one can write a check, and ain’t got no money in the bank. 53 If you could ever get those two together... If I could get Pentecostal faith and fundamental doctrine, or vice versa ... make the Pentecostals realize who they are. They’re sons and daughters of God, already dead, buried, rose again, and sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Not “You will be.”; “You are!” 54 Sometimes I think... The other day I happened to hit something that sounded profound to me, and it’s very seldom I ever hit anything that I make anything out of. But I was thinking-just before I reached down to get this, what I’m going to try to say to you-I was thinking of Israel, down in Egypt. And they were slaves, and yet they were children of God. We all know the story. 55 And they ... if they throwed them molded bread, they had to eat it; if they ravished their daughters, if they killed their sons, or whatever they did, it was just done-they were slaves. And yet, them were the chosen elected of God, with a promise waiting until the time of fulfillment. But there come a day. They’d got so far away from it, till they didn’t recognize it. They didn’t know when the time come. But God always is on time. And that’s what’s the matter with the Pentecostals today. They don’t recognize that the time is here. The time has come, God’s promise to be fulfilled. 56 Now, one day stomping down out of the wilderness come a prophet with a pillar of fire over him, guiding him. He performed miracles, and so forth, and told them that there was a land that was flowing with milk and honey. Nobody never been there, none of them. They just heard of it. Faith cometh by hearing. So away they went with this prophet through the wilderness. 57 And they came to a place called Kadesh-barnea, that was once the judgment seat of the world. And there when Israel camped ... and there was where it was judged, the sin. And Joshua, a great warrior (and the word “Joshua” means “Jehovah Saviour”)... This great warrior crossed over the Jordan. None of them had ever been before. Crossed over the Jordan to this promised land, and came back with the evidence that it was a good land, and it was true. What was he doing? Confirming God’s Word, see, showing that what God had promised, God had done. See, the covenant is unconditional. 58 God made three covenants. One with Adam-he broke it. Another with Noah-it got broke. But when God made the covenant with Abraham, it was not, “If you will...” He said, “I have...” It’s God’s unconditional covenant that He made with Abraham and his seed. And we become his seed when we are dead in Christ. 59 Now notice. And in this great time when he brought back the evidence, Israel moved over into the land, and there they didn’t have to be under slaves. They could have their own gardens, and raise their children, and raise their churches and everything. But finally old age begin to catch up with them. After awhile in that lovely promised land there were tombstones on the hillsides everywhere. 60 Then down from glory came the greatest of all the warriors, another Jehovah Saviour: Jesus, the Son of God. And He said that there is life after death, where there is no tombstones and graveyards. “For in my Father’s house is many mansions. If it wasn’t so, I would have told you. And I’ll go and prepare a place, then come again to receive you unto myself.” 61 He came to save the dying human race, and He came to his Kadesh-barnea (Calvary) judgment, where ... not only the judgment seat of the world, but He was judged for the world. There He bore the iniquity and the sins of us all, at Calvary. And He died, until the sun and the moon and the stars wouldn’t shine. And He crossed over the Jordan that we call Jordan, “death.” 62 But on that third day He rose again, bringing back the evidence like Joshua did. “The land is there. I’m He that was dead, and alive forevermore, and have the keys of death and hell.” He is not dead; He is risen. 63 Then we have an earnest of our inheritance. He told the church, “Go up there to Pentecost, up to the ... ten days up at Jerusalem, and wait up there so long. I’m going to send you the earnest of this great land.” And we confess our sins, and we die to ourselves, and we rise with Him, and we got the evidence. 64 Look where we were. Look where we are. Amen! See, we were once down there. Now we’re up here, already holding the evidence that we are dead and buried in Christ, and raised again in the resurrection; and sitting tonight with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Oh, my! Every devil, every sickness, every disease, everything is conquered by Him. He’s that mighty conqueror. You don’t have to conquer anymore. It’s already conquered. We’re already dead. We’re already risen. Amen! Already raised from the dead. How many in here feels that way tonight? Just look here. Already raised from the dead! You once were dead in doubt, trespasses, doubted the Word of God, doubted it to be true. 65 Now you say, “Some people are just religious.” They just quit stealing, quit lying. That’s not Christian; that’s just people pretending. There’s always three classes of people everywhere: that’s believers, make-believers, and unbelievers. You have them in every group. They’re always there. So people just... But, profession: come up and say, “Well, I professed religion a long time ago.” Miserable, see. The thing you want to do is die to yourself, and then be buried in Christ, and raised with Him in his resurrection, and sit now in heavenly places, see. Then your unbelief passes away. 66 How can the Spirit of God dwell in you, and deny the Word, when the Spirit of God wrote the Word? See, you can’t do it. If you deny the Word, there’s something in you tells you it’s not so. Then it’s unbelief. You’re still in sin. Look at those priests and Pharisees, how religious they were. Holy men, as we’d call it today, and Jesus said, “You’re of your father, the devil, and his works you do.” What? Doubting the Word. You’ve kept your traditions, and made the commandments of God of none effect. Oh! If He was here tonight, it would be the same thing. Our traditions has made the Word of God without any effect on the people. We’ve got to get back to that Word, back to it. 67 Excuse me, my colored friends. (I preach to them everywhere.) An old sister gave a testimony not long ago in a meeting, said, “I wants to make a testimony.” “All right, sister. Go ahead.” She said, “I want to say this. I hain’t what I ought to be, and I hain’t what I want to be. But there’s one thing I’m sure. I hain’t what I used to be.” I think that’s a good idea, see. “I ain’t down there no more. And I’m not as good as I want to be, and not as good as I ought to be. But I’m one thing sure: I’m not down there anymore.” That’s a good philosophy. Yes, sir. I’m not what I used to be. That’s right. 68 Now, what would we look for in Christ, then? Now if He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever, we have to find out what He was yesterday to know what He is today. Is that right? For ... I may have said in these chopped-up words that He is the same. The Bible said that, and I’m trying to tell you the infinite God cannot change his way. He has to remain the same. Therefore, what He was... 69 Now, that was in the days of Paul, writing the book of Hebrews here (We believe it to be Paul.), and He was telling those Hebrews that Jesus Christ was the same yesterday. Now we know that Jesus Christ was the one who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. We all believe that. The pillar of fire, it was Christ. Certainly it was. The Bible said in Hebrews 11 here, I believe, that Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, see. He followed Christ. And anyone knows that that pillar of fire, light, that took Israel through the wilderness was the angel of the covenant, which was Christ. 70 If you’ll understand, He was ... that was God above us. And then, when He became flesh and dwelt among us, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and now He’s in the church, see. Same yesterday, today, and forever, see. Now notice what He was yesterday. We would see Jesus. Now, if we saw Him in the same way He was then... 71 Now let’s take ... we’re reading out of St. John, and St. John, the first chapter here said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Then what is it? The Word. If we found Christ as He was yesterday, He would be the Word of God, because in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Now, He would be the Word of God. 72 When He was here on earth He was so perfect of it, so convinced, He said, “Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they that testify of me.” Amen! “If I do not the works of my Father, then don’t believe me.” They couldn’t understand this man being no more than just an ordinary man. Well, fleshly He probably wasn’t, but He was virgin borned. But yet, He was a man. He eat, drank, slept, and so forth as we do, but yet, inside of Him was God. 73 He said, “It’s not me that doeth the work; it’s my Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the work.” In St. John 5:19, He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing in Himself. But what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son likewise. I always do that what pleases the Father.” Why? He never did till He heard ... the Father showed Him what to do. Oh, if we could only wait like that (yes, sir) till we found... 74 See, He said the Son does nothing within Himself, or can do nothing but what He sees the Father doeth. The Father worketh, and the Son worketh hitherto, see. In other words, He just acted out a drama what God told Him to do. Now, He would be the Word. And that’s... 75 I believe that this Bible, this Word right here, the Bible, is God in print form. And I believe that the Bible is a seed. Those words are seeds. Jesus said a sower went forth sowing seeds. This is it. The Word of God is a seed. Jesus said it was. 76 Then, if it is God in print form, and you receive it into your heart, and then the Holy Spirit waters that seed, it brings forth what it’s promised. Any kind of a seed you sow, it’ll bring forth that kind of a crop. Exactly right. We’ve sowed in this great revival going by a lot of intellectual seed. We’ve got a intellectual crop. That’s right. If we would sow gospel seed, we’d have a gospel crop. We need to get back to the principles, and the Bible teachings-back to the Bible, back to the Holy Spirit upon the Word of God that makes the Word of God live. That’s exactly what it was. 77 Now He was the Son of God when He was born. But when He was baptized by John on the Jordan, they saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, and remained upon Him. And Him being the Word, then the Word began to show itself. Amen. The Word began to manifest itself. Why? The Holy Spirit was in there speaking the Word of God. 78 Now, we find out that in Hebrews, the 4th chapter, the 12th verse, the Bible said that the Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, cutting asunder, and so forth; and it is a discerner of the thoughts of the heart. Hebrews 4:12. The Word ... now don’t forget that now. We’re going to need it after awhile. The Word, the Word of God, is a discerner of the thoughts of the heart. 79 Now Deuteronomy 18, Moses, the great prophet, priest, king, whatever he was, that led Israel, he said, “The Lord your God shall raise up a prophet liken unto me. It shall come to pass that whoever will not hear that prophet shall be cut off.” 80 You remember when John came? It had been four hundred years since they’d had a prophet, since Malachi. And when John came he stirred the region. And they came to him and said, “Are you that prophet that was to come?” He said, “I am not. But He’s coming after me.” 81 Now John was just preaching, see. He was a prophet, but a preacher of the Word is a prophet. But Israel was always taught to believe their prophets, for the Word of the Lord comes to the what? Prophets. That’s right. “The word of the Lord came to the prophet,” Isaiah. “The word of the Lord came to the prophet,” Jeremiah. The Word of the Lord came to the prophets. 82 Hebrews 1: God, in sundry times and in divers manners spake to the fathers by the prophets, in this last days through his Son, Christ Jesus. Notice. They came to the prophets, and Israel were taught to believe their prophets. 83 Many of you know Lewi Pethrus, a very personal friend of mine. He sent about a million New Testaments down, when they brought up those Jews from down in Iran, giving them these New Testaments. You know the Jewish Testament, you read from the back to the front. And these Jews reading this, they never heard about such a thing as Jesus being Messiah. 84 They’d been taken down there in the Roman captivity. You’ve seen it in the “Look Magazine” here a few years ago, when they returned back. And I’ve got a picture of it, them returning in. Wish we had time we could throw it on a screen some night, and show you. We call it “Three Minutes Till Midnight”-see these Jews returning, packing their loved ones on their backs, off of planes, and so forth. They’re saying... They said, “Are you coming home to the homeland to die?” They said, “We’re coming to see the Messiah.” My, when that fig tree puts forth its buds, there she is: a nation with her own money and everything else-currency, own army, and everything-the first time for 2,500 years, see. Jesus said, “When you see it putting them buds forth...” Now we’re at the end time. Notice. Now they was ... when they went to get on those planes, they was afraid of those planes. So the rabbi called them out, and said, “Remember, our prophet said we’d be taken home on the wings of an eagle.” That was it-the plane. So they come on. And there they are, sitting in their homeland today. They believed their prophets. 85 Now therefore, when Messiah was to come He was to be a God-prophet. He was to be a prophet-plus, more than a prophet. But He was to do the works of the prophet. 86 Lewi Pethrus, when he sent those Bibles down there, they said, “If this Jesus was Messiah, then He is not dead, you say, but He’s raised again. Let us see Him do the sign of the prophet, and we’ll believe it.” Oh, my! When that happens, Gentiles are finished. You know that. All you Bible readers know that. That’s the end time right then when... Just let them Jews get it again, so... Just a perfect thing for just a little time off now. While we’ve got the doors open, God has the Gentiles ... receive the rest that’s coming in, to come-doors of mercy. 87 Now, let’s see what He was. We find Him then being the Word, baptized, went into the wilderness; come out after tempted forty days of the devil. And immediately his fame began to spread. Yet, I guess He wasn’t a minister that would be ... hear his voice like ours out in the streets, and so forth. But there was something about Him that was different. 88 And we notice, as soon as He got his ministry started, there was one named Andrew (St. John here), one... I’m staying right in St. John for the rest of my notes for just now. One named Andrew stayed all night with Him, and was thoroughly convinced that He was the Messiah. He goes over to Simon. Now if any... That’s his brother. 89 If anyone ever read the history of Peter and Andrew, as we know them, their father was a great believer. He told those boys, “Some day ... I’ve always thought I would see the Messiah. Every Jew has longed for that since Eden. And so they said, ‘Some day the Messiah will come.’ I thought I would see Him, but perhaps I’m getting old, and won’t. But, boys, just before that coming Messiah, remember there’ll be a whole lot of things that will come up.” There’s always messiahs coming. We know that, everywhere. Still having them everywhere-messiahs. Well, if all the false messiahs come up, it shows there’s got to be a true Messiah somewhere. Before there can be a bogus dollar, there has to be a good one for it to be made off of. That’s the reason it’s bogus. 90 Notice, he told his sons, said, “Now, don’t you forget. Stay with the Scripture. The Messiah, according to Moses, the one that we followed all these years, said, ‘The Lord our God shall raise up a prophet among us. He will be a prophet. Messiah will not be just a scholar, educator, some high priest, some dignitary; but He will be a prophet. [Now, we are going to hunt for Him now, for just about ten minutes now, before we start praying for the sick.] He will be a prophet.” And Andrew goes and finds Simon, his fisherman brother, and said, “Come see who we’ve found. We’ve found the Messiah.” I can imagine Simon saying, “Oh, yes. Uh-huh. We’ve had them everywhere.” 91 But he come walking up in the presence of Jesus. And as soon as Jesus saw him coming, He said ... He spoke to him, and said, “Your name is Simon, and you are the son of Jonas.” That got it. He knowed right then. Not only did He know who he was, but He knowed that godly old father of his. “You are Simon, the son of Jonas.” Right then, to Peter that was the Messiah, because He’d proved exactly what the Scriptures said He would be. 92 Not because He was fine dressed, had so many degrees out of college, spoke his words politely, had a great influence amongst the people. That wouldn’t be a prophet. Prophets are very much hated, and so... The people don’t like them. Revelation 11 said when the two ... the nations hated those prophets. They’ve always done it. 93 Jesus said, “You’re the ones who stoned the prophets, and you whitened their graves.” Said, “You’re the ones that put them in there. Which one of the prophets that God sent that you didn’t stone?” They always are contrary, and against the religious systems of the day. And we find out that they stand out boldly. And here was Jesus standing out there. And they seen, though, that He was doing the sign of a prophet, and Simon said ... confessed Him to be the Son of God. 94 There was one standing there by the name of Philip (Right ... just a couple of verses below it here), Philip. And he had an associate. If you ever studied Philip’s life, he had an associate which ... they sat and had Bible studies together. We do that lots of times-sit, and study about different things. And ministers, and brethren, lay members-we all study the Bible, get our Bible at home. Boyfriends, and girlfriends, when they’re Christians; and husband and wife-we have a little Bible study. 95 Nathanael and Philip had been studying the scrolls together, and they’d been convinced, because they were both believers, that Messiah ... it was time for Him to come. So when Philip saw that happen, he took around the hill to find Nathanael. 96 Now, if you’ll mark it, if you’re ever there, from where Jesus was preaching to where he found Nathanael in that grove, was about fifteen miles. He probably went one day and came back the next. And he found Nathanael. We know the story. He was out in his orchard praying, under the fig tree, praying. And I can imagine seeing Nathanael ... or Philip, standing there waiting until he got through praying. And maybe he was praying something like this: “O Lord, we are ready for the deliverer. Lord, we have been in Roman captivity all this time. Your people is suffering. O God, they have all gone astray. And looks like the churches has all let down. We are praying, O Lord, send us the deliverer. Send us the Messiah. We’ve longed for Him. We’ve prayed... Here the days are getting past now for me, and I’ve wanted to see the Messiah. Amen.” 97 When he raised up, Philip said, “Come see who we have found.” Not, “How’re you getting along? How is the chickens progressing, and the eggs are all right? And how’s the milk cows?” No, no. How they all was; no, straight. That’s the trouble today. We got too much nonsense mixed in Christianity. Straight to the point! “Come see who we have found. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” That’s the way to take the message. 98 Now let’s just drama for a little bit for the children. I can imagine Nathanael, a scholar of the Scripture, you know, stood up and said, “Now, Philip, you and I have studied the Scriptures for years, since we were boys out of school. And you must have went off on a deep end somewhere (as we’d say it today). What do you mean, a scholar as you are in the Scriptures? And you’d say, ‘We’ve found Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, being a Messiah’? Why, it’s impossible. Nothing good could come out of there.” Now I think he give him a very good answer. He didn’t say, “Stay home and criticize.” He said, “Come see for yourself. Come find out for yourself. Come and see.” I can imagine them going along the road the next day. Why, I can hear Nathanael say ... or Philip say to Nathanael, “You know what? Do you remember that old ignorant fisherman...?” 99 Now, you remember, Peter, the bishop-the hierarchy of the first church-didn’t have enough education to sign his own name. The Bible said he was both ignorant and unlearned. But it pleased God by his faith to recognize who he was, see. He even give him the keys to the kingdom, without enough education to sign his name. I can hear him say, “Do you remember that old fisherman that you bought that fish from that time?” “Oh, yes. They call him Simon. Yes, I remember him. His daddy’s Jonas. Sure. He used to be an old Pharisee up there, deacon in the church, you know, and so forth.” “Yeah. You remember, you bought them fish, and he couldn’t sign that receipt.” 100 “Yes. He came up before this fellow, Jesus, this young prophet of Galilee. And He told him what his name was, and told him who his father was. You remember how... Why, it wouldn’t surprise me if He don’t tell you who you are when you get there.” “Oh, if I can see that!” “Now, we know that we both studied the scripture. We’re in agreement that Moses... We have to take his word, because he was God’s great signpost, and he said when Messiah would come He would be a prophet. Now, we’ve just got to remember He’s a prophet.” And he said, “Oh, yes. Sure, Messiah’s a prophet.” “Well, how did that man know who Simon was, or who his father was? His father’s been dead for years.” Now he said, “Well, I’ll just go see.” And when he walked up in... Well, maybe Jesus had a prayer line coming, or maybe ... walked up and sat down in the audience, or whatever it was. 101 After awhile, Jesus turned and looked at him, and said, “Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile.” Now you say, “Well, of course, the way he was dressed...” No, no. The Egyptians-all of them wore beards, and so forth. “An Israelite in whom there is no guile.” He didn’t call him an Egyptian. He said, “an Israelite in whom there is no guile.” He could have been a murderer, cut-throat or anything, you see. But he said, “There’s a Israelite in whom there is no guile.” That just deflated him. He said, “Rabbi [which means teacher], when did you ever know me? I’ve never seen you before.” He said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you.” That was it! That was Jesus yesterday, amongst the Jews. Said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you.” 102 Listen. Maybe the bishop was standing there for all I know, but quick... That didn’t make any difference to Nathanael. He ran up and fell down by Him, and said, “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel.” Amen! Now was that Jesus yesterday? That’s how He was making Himself known to the Jews? 103 Now, there were those great, high, scholarly men standing around there, with big turbans on, turned-around collars, you know, and so forth. They said... Well, they had to give an answer to their congregation-there it was done. So they said, “This man is Beelzebub.” That’s a devil, fortune-teller, see. And He said ... doing that through Beelzebub, a devil. And Jesus said, “I forgive you for that. But some day the Holy Spirit is going to come to do the same thing. To speak one word against it will never be forgiven.” That’s right. 104 Now, there is three races of people. You might not want to believe it, but there is. If we believe the Bible, they all sprang from Ham, Shem and Japheth, Noah’s children. Now watch. 105 When Peter had the keys to the kingdom, he preached at Pentecost (the Jews); they received the Holy Ghost, what was there. And Philip went down to preach to the Samaritans, only they hadn’t received the Holy Ghost yet. And Peter came down and laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And then, at the house of Cornelius (the Gentiles), Peter went up there, was sent by a vision up there. And while he yet spake, the Holy Ghost fell on them. And then all the races had it, see, the three races. That was Jews, Gentile, and Samaritan. 106 Now, the Gentile, we Anglo-Saxon, we wasn’t looking for no messiah. We were worshipping idols, a club on our back, and heathens in our people. But Messiah only comes, and makes Himself known, to those who are looking for Messiah. He never pushes his way on anybody. You must want Him. And so He said... He came... (Now, we’ll take it a little later, ‘cause we don’t want our time to get away. We got just a few minutes left.) 107 Notice. When He came, He made Himself known to the Jews by being a Messiah, by showing that He was the prophet that Moses rose up ... that Moses spoke of, rather; that He was the Messiah, because He did the sign of the Messiah. And they knew that was Messiah. He perceived their thoughts. That’s the Word, sharper than a two-edged sword, a discerner of the thoughts of the heart. Is that right? And He was the Word, and here He is, discerning their thoughts. 108 Then, one day He was going down to Jericho. That’s right straight down from Jerusalem. Instead of going there, He had need go by Samaria. Watch. The Samaritans were looking for a Messiah, too. So He came to a city called Sychar, and He sent the disciples away to buy food. And while they were gone, a little woman came out there-probably a pretty little woman. Maybe the child was turned on the street by parents, and let her go any way-about like today. They talk about juvenile delinquency. It’s parent delinquency. It’s exactly what it is. Maybe that child had the same thing. Her mother let her do anything. She turned out to be a woman of ill fame, and she couldn’t come out... 109 Now, I’ve been in the Orient, and preached in there to the ... well, the biggest audience I ever had was 500,000. That was at Bombay, there, see, and there... And I know their customs. Now, the immoral and moral can’t associate together. So the virgin... Well, they couldn’t ... none of them come out there while the virgins was there, so she had to come out later. About eleven o’clock she came out, and maybe she had her hair all done up on top of her head, and she was... Maybe been out all night, too, you know. And she came out to get a bucket of water. 110 And their buckets are pots. They got handles on them. And they can set a... They look like to me they hold about three to five gallons. They can set one of those pots on top of their head, and put one on each hip, and walk and talk to one another just like ladies can, and never spill a drop of water. I don’t know how they do it-just go along, and talking, and laughing-them little bitty old girls not that high, just packing about fifteen gallon of water, going on. And so... They have a windle there, and they take these hooks and put it right around these handles. Like a pitcher, we’d call it. Let it down into the well, and get the water, and then windle it back up with the windle. 111 Then, this woman come out to let her bucket down to get the water. And when she did, she heard a man sitting over kind of a panoramic like this. It’s a well, still there. And said, “Woman, bring me a drink.” And she looked. And there was a segregation in the land between the Jews and Samaritans. So they said ... this woman said, “Sir, it’s not customary for you, being a Jew, asking me, a Samaritan woman, of such a thing.” 112 Now, He just looked like an ordinary Jew. He was dressed like an ordinary man. I don’t believe you have to dress funny, and be different to be a Christian. I don’t believe you have to act funny. I believe you just need to be a person. Just be a Christian (that’s all), and nothing peculiar. Just something inside of you has took place, you see: happiness, joy, and peace, satisfaction, long-suffering, gentleness, peace. People can talk about you; don’t bother you a bit, see. That’s fruits of the Spirit. 113 So, then this man was sitting over there, a little robe on, just like the rest of them had. Dressed just like the ordinary man, but... He was about thirty years old, but He must have looked a little older. You know, in St. John 6 [8], they said, “You mean to tell me that you saw Abraham, and you’re not over fifty years old?” See, they judged Him about fifty. His work might have done that. 114 And He said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” So that cut the feathers down again, you know. But there He looked about maybe fifty years old, sitting reared back there, and said... 115 “Why,” she said, “it’s not customary for you Jews to ask we Samaritans such things. We have no dealings with one another.” He said, “But if you knew who you were talking to, you’d ask me for a drink.” 116 And you know, then they got the mix-up there, you know, about where she worshipped. Now watch this woman. She said, “Sir,” she said, “our father Jacob...” Now see, that was their Jewish father, too. “Our father Jacob dug this well. He and his cattle drank from it.” He gave it to Joseph actually, what he did. But said this, “Our fathers drank from this well. And you say you’ve got water that’s better than this?”, and so forth. Then after awhile... 117 What was He trying to do? He was contacting her spirit, because what is the Word of God? A discerner (Let’s say it.), discerner of the thoughts of the mind, see. What is He doing? He’s talking to her, contacting her spirit, and He found her trouble. How many knows what it was? Sure, we all do. He said, “Go get your husband, and come here.” She said, “I don’t have any husband.” He said, “You have said well, for you have had five husbands. And the one you’re living with now is not your husband. You said well.” 118 Watch that woman. Watch these Pharisees, and trained up-and-ups, see. They said, “This man is Beelzebub. He’s a devil.” Look when that light flashed across that little predestinated seed there. When it struck that real seed of God that was... Before the foundation of the world, probably, name was put on the Lamb’s book of life. When it struck that, quickly she recognized it. In her condition, she recognized it. Brother, I say that woman knowed more about God right then than half the people in the United States. Right! Yes, she recognized. Why? She was ordained before the foundation of the world. When that light struck it... 119 Them Pharisees, they were educated, and had a lot of theology and stuff. But they didn’t know the Word. She said, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.” Whew! What a difference between that, and that high priest and all of them. “I perceive that You are a prophet. We know, we Samaritans, we know when Messiah cometh, that’ll be his sign.” Oh, my! The Jew; now the Samaritans. “We know when the Messiah cometh He’ll tell us these things. 120 He said, “I am he that speaks with you.” That was Jesus yesterday. See what He was? Not his different dress, not his different look, not his different nothing. He was what was inside of Him manifesting Him. Hallelujah! I started to say “Excuse me, but I couldn’t say that. I’d be sacrilegious. I may act a little crazy, but I feel good this way. So just let me alone. I feel better this way. 121 Notice. When she said, “You must be a prophet,” she knew they hadn’t had a prophet for hundreds of years. Said, “You must be a prophet. We know when the Messiah cometh we’re taught that. We know it by the Scripture, that when Messiah cometh He’ll tell us these things. That’ll be the things He’ll do.” Jesus said, “I am He that speaks with you.” 122 And from that she left the water pot, and ran into the city. Listen at her message now. Now remember in the East, it’s practically the same way. They won’t listen to a woman of ill fame. But the man on the street... But you couldn’t stop her. She’d done found something. She ran into a city. They had to listen to her, like a house on fire. They had to give heed to her. She ran in the city and said, “Come see a man that’s told me the things I’ve done. Isn’t this the very Messiah?” And the Bible says that the men of the city believed on Him, because of the testimony of the woman. 123 That was Jesus yesterday. Is that right? He’s the same today. (Have we got time for one more statement, just...? And then I’ll start the prayer line; just one thing now.) Now, remember, the way He vindicates Himself at the close of each age, He has to do it each time. Now that was the closing of the Jewish age-the literal seed of Abraham, we know, which was from Isaac. But now, there’s a royal seed came through Christ. That’s the church. Do you believe that? All of us believe that. Now watch. That’s the way He showed Himself when He closed off on the Jews and Samaritans, in that age. 124 Notice. Now, Jesus said in St. Luke that, “As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man.” As it was. Now watch this prophet. 125 Now let’s see. Let’s see what kind of a day Lot had. Now, there was your unbelievers-Sodomites; lukewarm, denominational Christians-Lot; and Abraham, the elected church, called out. It wasn’t in Sodom. They were out of Sodom. They wasn’t in Sodom to begin with. So they were having things a little rough, but they were still out of Sodom. That’s one good thing. 126 So Abraham was sitting in the door of his tent, one hot morning, maybe about eleven o’clock. And three men came walking up, dust on their clothes-just men. Came walking up. Abraham looked: “You know, there’s something about it. You can ... I don’t know.” He knowed there was something strange about them fellows. And he ran out and said, “My Lord, come by. Let me fetch a little water, and wash your feet, and give you a morsel of bread. And then you can go on your way.” And he ran in and told Sarah to get some bread ready. And he went out and got a little fat calf and dressed it, and brought it out, and fed them. 127 Did you notice? Two of those men, they were actually... What it was, was Almighty God. That’s right. Now the Bible here ... Abraham called Him in Genesis 18 here, called Him, “Elohim.” That’s the same name that God appeared in in Genesis 1: all-sufficient one. Elohim. Elohim, in flesh, see. 128 Someone said to me not long ago, a minister brother, he said, “You don’t believe that was God?” I said, “Sure, I do. Abraham said it was, and I believe the Bible.” He said, “Now, how could God be in that place, eating meat, and stuff like that?” I said, “You just forget who He is. Now, He wanted to investigate Sodom, so He just...” 129 The human body is made out of about sixteen different elements, you know. That’s ... I think it’s potash, and petroleum, cosmic light and so forth. He just grabbed a handful of it, and, “Whew”, stepped into it; and blowed another handful for Gabriel, and one for the other one, and come on down. That’s all. I’m glad I know Him like that. Don’t you? Yes, sir. He can make anything to serve his purpose. So He stepped down (That’s right), stepped out of it. 130 I’m so glad that some day there might not even be... I got about two or three hairs left, and I was combing them here not long ago. And wife said to me, she said, “Billy, you’re getting completely bald-headed.” I said, “But I haven’t lost a one of them, Honey.” She said, “Pray tell me where they’re at.” I said, “All right, sweetheart. Tell me where they was before I got them. Ever where they was then, they’re waiting for me to come to them.” 131 He said, “Not even one hair of your head...” Right! That’s our God. No matter if I’ve turned back to cosmic light, and whatever I may be, He’ll speak and I’ll come forth on that day because I believe Him. Amen! That’s right. Resurrection ... raise me up in the last days. He said you’d lose nothing. “I’ll raise it up again in the last day.” Sure. 132 There He was. That’s our God we’re believing on. That’s the God I’m talking about. And here He was sitting here. And notice, Sodomites, churchites, and the elected church. Watch. Two of them-a modern Billy Graham, and so forth-goes down into Sodom, and begins to preach the gospel. No miracles, but just smiting blind-and preaching the Word makes the unbeliever blind. So he went down, and preached the gospel that called that lukewarm church out, see, because destruction was coming. Fire. That’s what’s coming next, is fire. But one angel stayed back with Abraham. Did you ever notice? 133 Let’s go down through the age since then. Tell me whenever you ever seen a man go out into Babylon... Now Abraham received that sign, and look at them angels that went down there. And today the messenger to the lukewarm church, the denominational church, is spelled not A-b-r-a-h-a-m; but G-r-a-h-a-m. We’ve had Sankey, Finney, Knox, Calvin, so forth; but never anything ending with a h-a-m to that church, see. 134 Now the angel stayed back to show his identification, which was God Himself in human flesh, showed his identification here. He said, “Abraham,” [Now, just a few days before that he was Abram.] and said, “where is thy wife, S-a-r-a-h?”, which, just a day or two before that, she was S-a-r-a-i. “Where is thy wife, Sarah?” And now the angel said ... Abraham said, “She’s in the tent behind you.” Now, women acted a little different then than they do now, see. So she was in the tent behind Him. 135 So He said, “I’m going to visit you according to the time of life.” Now look, “I,” that personal pronoun again, you see ... see who it was. He had made the promise, “I’m going to visit you according to the time of life, and you’re going to have this child of promise,” and so forth. And Sarah, inside the tent, laughed up her sleeve. 136 Now, she was old, well-stricken as... You listen to your doctor; I’m your brother. Its ... family relationship had probably been fifteen, twenty years, see. Said, “Me, an old woman, have pleasure with my lord, and him old, too?” and she laughed to herself. 137 And the man sitting there with his back turned to the tent said, “Why did Sarah laugh?”-in the tent. What about that? See, Jesus said as it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man-that God would manifest Himself in flesh, human flesh again. See, God above us (the pillar of fire), God with us (Jesus Christ, the Son of God), now God in us-the Holy Ghost in the last days in human flesh. 138 Abraham come through the days seeing signs and wonders of God, but never did he... Just as he saw that sign, immediately after that the fire fell and burned up Sodom. The last sign that Abraham seen of God before the fire fell, the last sign that Israel rejected, was the same sign. 139 Now the Gentile church has come to their time. Now we’re looking for a Messiah. And if that’s the way He acted before that, in that day, He has to act the same today. If He lets us go in without it, then He isn’t the same. And then He doesn’t act the same, and He’s a respect of persons. See what I mean? He’s got to do the same thing again. So that makes Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. 140 Civilization has traveled with the sun. We all know that. Oldest civilization is China and constantly... And as civilization comes, sin heaps up, keeps heaping. And now it’s hit the West Coast. There’s a sound barrier, or an iron curtain separating the east and west. There’s no more people out there in the ocean. You go plumb on over till you get to east again. And sin has constantly came. 141 When the Indians lived here he had no sin. He had little tribal wars. But the white man ... he come, he brought whiskey, women, murder, everything else. And sin has constantly heaped up. And as sin heaps up... The Bible said when the enemy comes in like a flood, God would raise up a standard against it. The Word of God would raise up a standard. The Word would be more manifested, more manifested. 142 The Holy Ghost struck first on the West Coast-some cross-eyed colored man, down here in California. Holy Ghost struck on California with speaking in tongues. Then came divine healing campaign, and here we are at the end time. Hallelujah! Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever! Do you believe it? Let us bow our heads just a moment. 143 Heavenly Father, we are grateful to know that we are living in this last day, just before the coming of that Just One, that wonderful, glorious, loving Son of yours, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who we love. And we know the Bible speaks of an appearing before the coming, and there’s a great difference in the word “appearing,” and then coming. Now, Father, we realize that the church has come through the stage of justification, come through the stage of sanctification, come through the stage of receiving the Holy Spirit. Now the stones are being honed down for the fitting of the ministry of Jesus Christ, to blend right in to take the church. We thank Thee for this, Father. So glad that You ... we can put trust in You. What your Word says is true. It can never fail because You are the Word. You said, “Heavens and earth will pass away, but my Word shall never fail.” I pray, Father, tonight-the opening of this revival. I’ve been lengthy speaking; nice group of people to talk to. 144 Now, God, we’re looking for a revival. We’re looking for just these little, short, few, nights we got here, for You to send the fire off the altar. These people, Father, great many of them are believers, received the Holy Spirit. Surely the Holy Spirit would know the Word. I pray, heavenly Father, that You’ll confirm it again tonight. Let it be known that Thou art God, and the time is drawing nigh. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen. God bless you. I want to have your undivided attention for about ten minutes. We have plenty of time, now. We’ve got four nights to pray for the sick. We’ll get them all prayed for. I believe that Billy said he gave out prayer cards... He gave out a hundred prayer cards. A’s. We’ll pray for every one of them. But now, we can’t bring them all up here at one time, and we haven’t got time to bring them all tonight. You may have to wait awhile for your turn to be called, but... 145 What if you had to go to Mayo Brothers, and wait to see what was wrong with you? You might wait three or four months before you got an appointment. Then when you go in, you stay in there for a week or two, and they search you through. And if they find it, they tell you, and then you’re just where you started-only you know what’s wrong with you, see. But can’t wait just a few days on God, or a few hours, a few minutes. Let’s be real soldiers. Every one of us put on a full armor of God, now, and stand right out here and wait like real soldiers. I don’t know that He will do this, but look here. I want to ask you something. As plain as I’ve tried to make it, I’m not an educated person. My speech is bad, and I have a bad voice, and there’s nothing about me that’s any good. But, see ... but, if God will just... What I have told you, do you believe it to be the truth? Is that the way you would know Jesus? All right. 146 Let’s call some of these prayer cards up. Let’s just start from number one. Who has...? If you can get up now, when I call your number... Number 1. Who has prayer card ... what letter was that? A? A number 1, hold up your hand, ever who has the prayer card. This lady here? Come down. Number 2. Who has prayer card number 2? Prayer card A number 2. Back there? All right. Come right here, lady, right around this way. Number 3? All right, lady, you come right this way. Number 4? Number 4. Would you hold up your hand, ever who has it. Is that lady...? All right. 4, raise your hand. We, Brother Moore and I, are watching. Number 4? Number 5? Over here? 6? All right, just take your place right... Number 7? Number 7? All right. Number 8? I do this to keep them from racing over one another. 8, 9? Who has 9? Number 9? 147 If you can’t get up now, just tell somebody next to you. Raise your hand. We’ll pack you up here. We’ll see that you get up here. Somebody say nine in Spanish. How do you say it (nine) in Spanish? Nuevo, 9. Number 9. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Number 9? Sorry. I’m sorry, sister. Number 9. Number 10, 11. Come right down here, sister. Prayer card 11. Is the lady standing up there 11? 12, 13, 13, 14, 14? I didn’t see it, I don’t believe. 14? 15? Prayer card 15, would you raise your hand. Prayer card 15? How many we got? Let’s start right there. 148 Now, every one of those people could raise up and walk. Now, for instance, I don’t see any cripples sitting here, unless it’s the lady sitting there in the chair. If I said the lady ... which, I know her... If I’d say that lady’s crippled, why, you’d say, “Sure.” What about this lady sitting here? or this one here? Now, how many of you do not have a prayer card in the meeting, and yet you believe Jesus Christ will make you well? Let’s see you raise your hands. All of you. Everybody’s that’s got prayer cards, just everywhere. Now look. While they’re getting those people together, I’d like to have your attention. One day there was a lady passed through a group of people. And, say, she didn’t have a prayer card, but she believed if she could touch the border of his garment, she’d be made well. How many knows the story? We all do. Sure, that’s fine. If she could touch the border of his garment... And she made her way through, and she touched his garment. And now, I don’t believe He could have felt it physically, because the Palestinian garment holds... It’s got an underneath garment, and then it’s a robe that hangs out like that. And she touched the border of it. 149 And Jesus turned around and said, “Who touched me?” And Peter rebuked Him. It sounded not like a ... not an intelligent question. Said, “Why, Master. Everybody is touching you.” (“Hello, Rabbi. Glad to see you.” “Hello, there, prophet. We’re glad to see you,” like that.) He said, “Who touched me?” He said, “You speak strange.” He rebuked Jesus. Jesus said, “But I perceive that I’ve gotten weak. Virtue, strength, has gone from me. I got weak.” And He looked all around through the audience, and He found the little woman. How many knows what was wrong with her? She had an issue of blood, and had had it for many years. And He said, “Thy faith has saved thee.”
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 14:06:05 +0000