Melchisedec, the Great Prince and King



1 Certainly happy to be here this morning on this beautiful winter morning, the sun shining bright, our hearts happy. As I was sitting in there with reverend Mr. Beeler, while he was making recordings, of the Holy Spirit falling over the building, and the people rejoicing, children happy. We're thankful to be alive and among those who can come out today in the services.
Now, we are grateful for each and every one of you. And if the ushers back there, when someone comes in, they got some seats around here, they can sit backward on the altar and another part of a bench here in the front, if people come in a little later.

2 Now, this next week we start for the year's tour now, another world tour. Beginning next ... the twelfth, that's this coming Wednesday, in Chicago at the Philadelphian Church in campaign. And then, I suppose, from there we... This morning... From beginning on a third of February, we begin then at Lubbock, Texas, in the Cotton Bowl auditorium there, in Lubbock, Texas. Then from there to Phoenix, and then to the stock exhibit between Los Angeles and South Gate in California. And then, if the Lord willing, we are going to go to Honolulu from there.
Now, I certainly appreciate all the people that prays, if they'll just ask the Lord each day a little prayer for my health. You hardly will ever know this side of eternity how much I depend on you praying for me when I'm out.
I was thankful to hear Brother Tommy this morning in his testimony, of how that God having His arms open always willing to receive you. No matter what you've done, He's still with His arms out to receive every penitent soul that will come to Him. Regardless of what you've done, or how great the sin is, He's always willing to forgive. God bless you, my young brother.

3 Now, I was noticing the results from last Sunday's meeting. The people that was prayed for... We have little interviews privately to get the people... I tell you, you see, friends, the reason we don't have healing services here, you understand, we don't have any adequate room to take care of the people. That's the way it is. And it's never announced healing services at the tabernacle here, although we pray for the sick each time that I'm here. And auditoriums are hard to find and so forth.
And you strangers that's different parts of the country coming in, there's not too many full gospel people right in the community, or however, or in the vicinities here, but they... Not all that sponsor the meetings ... or, cooperate in the meetings, rather, are full gospel people, because there's many of them which are different churches.
We do not try to represent any certain church organization, only we try by God's help to represent the Lord Jesus Christ, free to all, everybody.

4 I just for one, noticing ... last Sunday in the room there was a colored brother who's just recently been saved a few months ago and his beloved wife, and she was a cripple on a support. And he was hideously ruptured. And while speaking with him in private terms in the deacon's office, with a private interview that he had called ahead and got the arrangements made... Each Sunday we have so many we can get each Sunday.
Feeling, while sitting there in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, why, a lady had just went out that was on crutches, that had went out walking without them. And this man very definitely, believing the Lord Jesus, was prayed for with a great hideous rupture. And I told him, I said, "Now, that rupture will start from this very moment going back to its place." I said, "Now, as it goes back, then you watch it as it moves back, which will give you more faith."
See, faith's got to be based upon something, not just mythical thought. It's got to have something basically to stand on, faith does. And that's the reason we believe that the Word of God teaches divine healing, deliverance to the soul, deliverance to the body and we base it upon God's eternal Word.

5 And I said to the brother, "Now, that you might know that I have told you the truth..." For seeing him before me in the vision, I said, "You take, when you go home, and tighten around that rupture, a string, and measure it, and then cut that string off. And don't touch it anymore till next Sunday. And before you come up, take another string and rap around that, and bring me the difference that shrunk in the string.
He said, "I'll do it."
Well, here's the string, about an inch and a half cut off of it, like that. Here sits the man, the man. Just so that you could see that what has happened. Now, something has taken place. I have never in my life seen any time that God ever said anything, or told it by vision, or a revelation, but what it was exactly the way God said it would be, just exactly.
His wife, last Sunday coming, was walking on support of a crutch, or stick, cane. And I noticed the other day, in there, she couldn't walk, hardly. I told her that the Lord would make her well. She had a limb that was stiffened. And I seen her walking up; she had took her cane to her shoulder in there, and here she is today.

6 [A woman speaks in the congregation.] And there's another lady that, another one of them, from down ... that was... She was in such a fix with so many diseases last Sunday and crippled up, and she lives way down somewhere around Georgetown, is it, lady, or somewhere down in there? Georgetown, Indiana. She said, "But, Brother Branham, I'm old."
I said, "But Abraham was too, a lot older than you, when he was asked to believe something that was impossible." And she accepted it, and there she is. And here's the other lady, sitting right behind the lady I was talking about, right behind her husband here, the colored lady sitting right here, and the other lady back there. The string's for evidence, the crutch is gone for evidences.
Jesus Christ lives and reigns for the supreme evidence that He rose from the dead and is with us this day. How we thank Him from the depths of our heart, that He still lives; He is not dead. He rose from the dead and living amongst mortals today, ever willing, able to do the exceedingly abundantly above all that we could do or think. We praise Him with all of our heart, for His loyal goodness to us.

7 Now, see if there... Is there some more benches in there? All right, they got some more, if we could just bring out here, and set them on the platform if you wish to.
Now, for the Sunday school lesson, we'll... It's been my lot, teaching just a little on the Sunday school lessons, and we're going to, if God willing, to try to finish up a subject that we started a few days ago here in the church, a few Sundays ago.
And now, Brother Junior, perhaps maybe they'd bring... Wonder if they'd rather sit up here on the platform and just let some of the ladies ... and bring it right back here perhaps and make it better than what it would be take it up to the front.
And as soon as the Sunday school class is relieved in that room, there'll be some more seats ... some more seats ready.
Now, if someone that's ... maybe someone affiliated with the church here, it's a little, maybe embarrassing or something for strangers to come up... But if someone's affiliated with the church would come and get those seats, which will probably give someone else a seat as he come in.

8 Now, today we are studying in God's blessed Word. If you remember, the last message was in the book of Hebrews. Marvelous to study the Word of God, It gives us eternal life. Jesus said, "Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me." And how lovely to know that He has blessed us, to give us the living Word. God is in His Word.
Now, all of you turn in your Bibles to Hebrews the 7th chapter. And we'll try not to take too much time this morning, but just a little exaltation of Christ by the Word, that we might let you see what He is, and why we're here today, why Christianity is what it is by speaking of the Word. And faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God, the Word.
Now, we are able to take the pages and turn them back like this, but there's only One that's able to open the Word, that's Christ, for they seen Him in the vision as a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
When John looked and there was no one in heaven was worthy to open the book, or could, or to loose the seals thereof, he seen a Lamb that as though it had been slain from the foundation of the world, who came and taken the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne, and opened the book, and loosed the seals. Now, He's the Author of the book. Shall we speak to Him just a moment before we turn in to the book.

John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Revelation 5:3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

Revelation 5:4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

Revelation 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

Revelation 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Revelation 5:7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

9 Our kind heavenly Father, with great hearts of deep love we come today to offer our tribute of praise and thanksgiving unto Thy glorious name. Being so mindful of us, as while we were yet sinners Christ died in our stead, the innocent for the guilty, bearing upon Himself the sins of us all, taking them away, and paid the supreme price, satisfied God, and rose again for our justification, sitting at His right hand today, ever living to make intercessions upon our confession.
Oh, how we thank Thee for this solid hope that we have. When all around us is giving away, even mortal life itself, our hearts are set on that eternal, blessful hope. Many here are needy this morning, Father, for their spirit's sake, for their soul. We pray that You'll save the unsaved. Grant it, Lord. Give a closer walk for those who are indifferent towards Thee.

Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

10 And we pray that You'll heal all that's sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by our Lord Himself, "These things that I do shall you also." And then He said that we must go into all the world and preach the Gospel, lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.
And to see here in this little building this morning many people who were on crutches a few days ago, walking today with out them, normally, lifted up and held up by the undergirding of the everlasting arms of our Lord Jesus Christ--walking. Those who were dying with cancer are here well, Your servants the doctors giving statement they can't find it no more, it's gone. We thank Thee for these things.
Forgive us of our shortcomings, and fill our hearts with love. Speak to us through Thy Word now, for we ask it in His name. Amen.

John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

John 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

John 16:18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.

11 Just a little preview to get the sentiments of our Scripture lesson this morning. We've been talking about the assurance of the hope that's in us, very beautifully given here in the Hebrew letter.
After reading how God dealt with His people Israel in the days gone by, then we see that the promise was extended to us, it gives us a great assurance as we see that all those things that happened back in those days were examples of what God is doing for us today, to His believing children.
And now, just a little preview of the previous Sunday's lesson of the 6th chapter of Hebrews, we will begin about the 12th or 13th verse here.
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,

Hebrews 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,

12 I'm sure the class can remember of how that we taken that into see what God had done, how He had promised Abraham, that He would give him this covenant and make it with him and his seed forever after. And God swore by an oath. And anyone swearing by an oath, swears by someone greater than they are. So God had no one greater than Himself to swear by, so He swore by Himself that He would keep this covenant with Abraham. Then how firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord.

Hebrews 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,

13 If we'll approach this subject today, real sensibly, calmly, never be excited... Faith never gets excited. Faith never rushes itself. Faith knows what it's talking about. You never seen our Master excited about anything; standing by the grave of a dead man, He was just as calm as He was when He sat on the mount and looked over Jerusalem. Standing on a troubled ... on a ship in a troubled sea, and the waves, tossed about, He was so completely rested in God, until He never even paid any attention to it enough to wake up. Always undisturbed, faith is.

14 Now, we find here that the reason that we can be undisturbed, because it was given to our father Abraham and to his children. And God who gave the promise, swore by an oath that He would confirm it and keep it. And that He has done. And we find the children of Abraham are not Jews outwardly, which was the tribe out of the lineage of Abraham, but through Abraham come Isaac, through Isaac come Christ, through Christ blessed the world. For it said, "Unto Abraham and to his seed (which was Christ)..." And through there, that all the tribes of the earth was to be brought into this covenant.

Genesis 12:7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

Romans 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

15 And the covenant was given to Abraham unconditionally, not, "Abraham, if you'll do something, I'll do this. But "I have already done it." See, it isn't what we do, it's what He has done for us. Nothing that we could do to merit anything. Who could we, the unrighteous ones, ever do anything to merit something before the great Jehovah God and His great, supreme holiness, see?

Genesis 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

16 Only thing we can do is accept and be grateful for what He has already done for us. Oh, that's so simple, isn't it. And I'm positive that many times, in people's thinking, that they try to make divine healing and so forth, some great outreaching something, way away: "If I could only reach it."
Could you imagine Jesus saying, "Now, let Me check My faith, and see if I've got enough faith to do this, see if I'll have to fast awhile to see if I'll have enough faith to do this." He was perfectly unconscious of the faith that He had. He just spoke it and knew that it would be so.

17 Just like you come from your homes today, you probably want to return to your homes, told your wife or your loved ones, "I'll be back sometime right after noon." How do you know you are? You don't try to wonder, "Have I got faith enough to go home? Have I got faith enough to drive my car? You just unconsciously turn your key on, drive on away and go home, see, it's a unconscious faith that does it. That's the way it is: in Christ we just unconsciously just say, "That's His word; that just settles it; there's no more to it" and go on. That's how we get well.

18 Now, God swearing by Himself, no greater. We'll hurry up and get down, for our subject today is on Melchisedec, Melchisedec, The Great Prince And King. Now, the 14th verse says:
Saying, Surely blessings I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
Because he was to be multiplied to every nation, and the Gospel through Christ... Now, it could not do it under the dispensation of the law, because it didn't reach out that far--only to the circumcised, and that was the Jew. But in the Holy Spirit realm He has circumcised every heart (see), all nations. He would multiply Abraham to all nations.
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
How we've dwelt on that, how Abraham patiently enduring. Enduring at seeing what? The invisible God as though He were visible, standing before him. And after his endurance... After he had endured the hard fight, he inherited the promise.
Now, isn't it strange? Looked like God could've just reached down and give him the promise right then and done the work right then. He could've done it.

Hebrews 6:14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

Hebrews 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

19 Hannah, when she was at the temple, and she was praying, and Eli came out and thought she was drunk, and she said, "I am not drunk, but I am praying that God will take away my reproach."
He said, "The Lord God grant unto thee thy request."
Now, God could've placed little Samuel right in Hannah's arms. All of us know that. He's the Creator of all things, just speaks it into existence. He could've put it right in Hannah's arms, but instead of doing that, it was a regular procedure of nine months before the little baby come along. He could've done it instantly, but He didn't do it instantly; He just gave her the promise, and she inherited the promise.

1 Samuel 1:15 And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.

1 Samuel 1:17 Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.

20 When God told Moses when he started out to go into the promised land, "All that promise," He said, "I gave Abraham years ago, it's all walled up with Philistines and all kinds of great people over there, warriors." He said, "Now, it's all yours."
There was the Amorites, the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and all those over there: Hittites, Jebusites, Philistines, everything in Palestine. Now, God said, "I have give it to you. It's yours. Now go and possess it."
Oh, I hope you see it, people. It's something that I want to get to you to put your faith where it belongs. Many peoples I find can ... they've got faith if they only knowed how to put it to work.

Exodus 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Exodus 23:31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

21 When Benjamin Franklin first found electricity, he said, "I got it! I got it!" but he didn't know what he had. Along come Thomas Edison and said, "It'll work for us." And he didn't care how long it took. He tried ten thousand wires, but yet he found a wire that would finally carry the electronic ... or, the electricity into the wire. He knowed it was a power and that power would work in our benefit.

22 And now, we found salvation that will save us from sin, that will take the vilest woman or man, drunkard, prostitute, and make them a child of God. Well, that same faith, that same power that will lift up a fallen man or woman with that, it'll work for us in many different ways. It'll heal our bodies, if you can just find the right approach. You've got to find how to do it.
Like if I had a farm over on this hill full of good corn, and it's just about dead on account of water. And I got an artesian well on this side of the hill. Well, I can't make that artesian well throw the water down here and up this side of the hill to water it, but I've got to survey that land and find out how that water will take its own current, course and come around and water that crop. It'll do it if I'll just let it run in its own channel.
And that's the same thing the Holy Spirit is in God's promise. If we will just let it run its way and not us get in the way, not us throw our doubts there, "'cause this didn't and that didn't," just let God's Holy Spirit working in you, rest upon the promise, it'll do just exactly what God said it would.

23 Abraham was an old man, a hundred years old, when God appeared to him in the name of Almighty God. The "Almighty" there comes from the Hebrew word of the El Shaddai which means "the bosom or breast of a woman." Now, he was old; his strength was gone. But El Shaddai is the Almighty, the strength giver. And all Abraham had to do to obtain this promise was lay right on that promise--other words, like the baby to its mother, and nurse from the mother, strength for the baby.
And we do the same thing when we come to God and see His promise. We just lay right to Him and draw from His Word the strength of God, given in its course, not taking our own mind; just believing it. "After He had endured, he obtained the promise." Oh, I just love that!

Hebrews 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

24 Now, the same thing works for salvation; same does it work for divine healing. How God in His great love and infinite mercy give it to us. Now:
Saying, Surely ... I will bless thee, and ... will multiply thee.
And so, after he had patiently endured, he endured the promise.
Sixteenth verse:
For men verily swear by a greater: and an oath is confirmation [confirmed] is to them an end of all strife.
In other words, if the oath is sworn, then that's the end of all things. If you come and say, "Brother Branham, I, as a Christian, put my hand upon the Bible and solemnly swear that I will do a certain thing; if God will let me live to do it, I'll do it." All right. Then to me that's the end of all doubting, see. You have swore to me that you'd do it.

Hebrews 6:14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

Hebrews 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

Hebrews 6:16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

25 And God swore to Abraham that He would keep this covenant with him and with his seed forever. God swore by Himself that He would do it. And in doing so, under the old law, when you made an oath under the old law, you killed a animal, cut it in two. And then, the two men on which the oath was taken by, stood between the animal, and they wrote out on a piece of paper a certain contract. And that piece of paper was torn apart and given to one and the other man, and they took an oath over this dead animal that if they broke that covenant between them, let them be as this dead animal.
So God, having no other to swear by, He swore by Himself, and He took the oath over the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, foreseeing it in a shadow. And in the covenant when He took Christ to Calvary, He tore His body and soul apart. And He lifted up His body to sit on His right hand and sent back the Holy Spirit to be in the Christian, to do the same thing here in the church that He did in Christ when He was here on earth, and proving by that, that He'll raise us up in the last days to sit with Him and be with Him in His kingdom.

Hebrews 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,

26 And today, to see the same Holy Spirit that was upon Jesus Christ, working in the church, confirming everything that God said, what a marvelous hope it builds up in us to think that we are His children, and blessed of His presence, and now He's here with us as an infallible proof that He is the Lord God who made the promise to Abraham. Now, listen to the 17th verse:
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
That by two immutable things in which is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

Hebrews 6:17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

Hebrews 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

27 What a marvelous promise! Two immutable things: God cannot lie and be God. Now, if God has made a promise in His Bible here... We believe the Bible to be the infallible Word of God. And if God has made a promise in this Bible, we have this consolation and know that it's impossible for God to lie. Therefore, when we see He promised it in the Bible, we believe it soul, body, and spirit. It's impossible for Him to lie.
Now, if there's any fault, it's in us, not in God; for God is obligated to His Word, for He's sworn by His Word. Oh, my. I'm sure when we get to seeing it in that light, things begin to shape up and heap up different than what they used to be.
Healing of the body doesn't become a fiction, it becomes a reality. The baptism of the Holy Spirit doesn't become an emotional, worked-up substance. It becomes a reality of the indwelling Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ to change the life.

Hebrews 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

28 A few nights ago in a prayer meeting a man said to me, "The Holy Ghost wasn't given only to the twelve on the day of Pentecost."
I said, "Well then, what about the hundred and twenty was there at the same time that received it? How about on down at the house of Cornelius when the Gentiles received it? Thirty-three years later when Paul asked the Baptists if they had received the Holy Ghost since they believed, and he laid his hands upon them and they received the Holy Ghost... Setting the church at Corinth in order, he also set in the church apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, gifts of healing, and all those marvelous gifts, years and years beyond Pentecost."

Acts 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

Acts 19:2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

1 Corinthians 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

29 Then, it's today, to every believer: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. How far? All the world. How many? All the people. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe. In My name they shall cast out devils and heal the sick...", and so forth. There you are.
It's God's promise that He swore He would do it. No matter how much rises up to try to counterfeit or impersonate it, how many things raise up to try to contradict it or take it down, it'll go on and on and on forever, for God has swore by Himself that He would keep it.

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Mark 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

Mark 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

30 If I fail to preach it and let down, God will raise somebody in my place to go on with it. If you fail to believe it, there'll be somebody step into your place to believe it instead of you. For God has sworn He'd do it.
Oh, what a consolation that gives us. And the beauty part about it, my Christian friends, is to think that now we have the evidence of it. We have it here in blessings. We have it in power. We have it in miracles. We have it in signs. We have it in a picture. We have it in every way that way, that God has promised it even more than He promised to give it to us. And it's infallible, the truth: the truth, not of man, not the truth of some teacher or philosopher, but it's the truth of Almighty God.
And what a hope it gives us. No wonder we can sing:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood with righteousness.
When all around my soul gives way,
Then He's all my hope and stay.
For on Christ, the solid Rock, we stand,
All other grounds is sinking sand.

31 Whether it's popularity, whether it's our church, whether it's our friends, our associates, whoever it may be, whether it's our doctor, whether it's our priest, whether it's our preacher, all other grounds is sinking sand: Christ alone!
And every man that's ever amounted to anything in this great battlefield of strife, has been men and women who stood alone on them convictions. When everything else failed and fell around them, they still stood.
Abraham Lincoln, of old, was convinced that he was right. He stood alone on his convictions, but he proved it and sealed his testimony with his own blood.
Jesus Christ stood alone in His day as an example to every man upon his convictions of God's eternal truth, that will take his stand positionally and stand, will stand alone, but not alone: with God, the invisible companion who follows us through life's journey down through the shadows ... of the valleys of shadows of death and into eternity, He will still go with us and be God.

32 Then what is our hopes built on this morning? 'Cause God swore that He would do it to Abraham, swore not only to Abraham, but every one of his seed.
Who is the seed? You who have had the invitation to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. The seed of Abraham? Certainly there's people who isn't called. But to every one of you here this morning that's had the call, why are you here at church this morning? Something told you to come. You know it wasn't the enemy to try to get you to do wrong, try to get you to do wrong to come to church. You couldn't do that. When you come to church, you're doing right.
And Jesus said in His own words that "No man can come to Me except My Father draws him. And all that comes I will give them everlasting life and raise him up at the last day." Think of it: That every person that comes on the invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ is promised eternal life and the resurrection in the last day. Father, Jehovah God, who swore by an oath that He would do it and sent His Son and confirmed the Word. And He swore He would do it (given in a type to Abraham), fulfilled it in Jesus Christ, raised Him up.
Living He loved me, dying He saved me,
Buried He carried my sins far away,
Rising He justified freely forever.
Some day He's coming, Oh, glorious day!

John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

John 6:39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

33 There you are. Our justification... Every time you hear the clods drop upon a casket, saying, "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, earth to earth..." our faith looks away into another land yonder to where there's an empty tomb and some glorious day He who promised to come, will come. And as sure as Jesus rose from the dead, we'll rise with Him in the resurrection. What a beautiful hope we have.

34 Now, right on down quickly, our time will get away from us before we know it. Now, I believe it's the 19th verse:
Which hope we have as a anchor of the soul, both sure and, steadfast ... entered into that which is in the veil; [The anchor of our soul that's went into the veil, beyond the veil, and anchored...]

Hebrews 6:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

35 You know a ship sometime--servicemen and so forth know it, and you've who been on the sea--when really the waves gets to dashing too hard for the boat, they anchor it. And it's got a line that lets down that holds it. It may flip it around this a way and around that way, but the anchor holds it. The anchor... They cannot see land anywhere, but they drop the anchor beyond the veil, which is the water. And that anchor goes down into the bottom of the sea, top of some big mountain somewhere, and drags till it catches on that mountain, holds into that crevasse there, and all the sea can't move it no more. It's anchored out of sight.
Every person that has received Jesus Christ as personal Saviour, been borned again with the Holy Spirit, you've dropped anchor. If you're sick and your hope is built on Christ, you've dropped your anchor. The doctor may say this, that, or the other, but as sure as your faith looks yonder, the waves, sick spells, fever, may rise, and everything like that, but your anchor holds within the veil.

36 Somewhere out yonder in this sick land say, "What have you got your hopes built on? The doctor said it's gone. The medicine says it can't do nothing. The surgery has failed." But my hopes is not built in that. We have our hope within the veil. What veil? Through the shedding of His blood that tore His Spirit from His body. And in between that veil there, the anchor has caught a hold of something.
I seen a ship one time when it was tossed out there, and I thought, What's holding that ship in that same spot? I couldn't understand, sitting out there in the sea. And I noticed the waves had carried around this way and back around this way, but it didn't move from that place. I could not see nothing. But there was a little wire rope that run down from the bow of that ship onto an anchor that had caught onto something beneath where I could not see, beyond the water, and it was a holding there. And I said, "Praise be to God. Yes. One day I found an anchor."

37 I read down here, it said, "Whosoever will, let him come..." I cast that anchor beyond something I couldn't see; something caught a hold. And when the battles are raging, the anchor holds within the veil. When if the devils rise, and troubles arise, and all around me gives away, our anchor holds within the veil. "Where's it at?" I don't know, but it's beyond the veil, somewhere yonder anchored into the Rock of Ages. Our anchor is steadfast, unmovable; it holds within the veil. "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast." Sure and steadfast!
Oh, if we only had a little more time to get what "assurance" means. "Assurance," something that you know in your assurance... What's "assurance?" God swore by oath He'd do it. That's the assurance.

Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

38 Here some time ago a man come to me and he said, "Billy, I want to sell you an insurance policy." Now, insurance is all right. I don't have any myself. I guess I went to extremes with it.
A company beat my poor old dad, one time, out of a lot, 'cause he was too illiterate to read the policy. And a Philadelphian lawyer couldn't read one straight anyhow. So he said... He sold him this policy, and he paid for it for my brother and I for twenty years. Said it'd be worth five hundred dollars at the end of the time. And through the depression and things, the poor old fellow working... At the end of it they told us they'd read the policy wrong; it was worth seven dollars and fifty cents. So it kind of bittered me.

39 Now, they're not all like that. There's insurance agents sitting right here now. Many times people'd come and said, "Billy, I want to sell you insurance." Now, I guess it's perfectly all right.
And I said, "Look, I have insurance."
And he said, "What kind of insurance do you have?" Said, "What policy do you hold?"
I said, "Eternal life."
He said, "Eternal life?"
I said, "Yes, sir."
Said, "Who sells that policy?"
I said, "The Lord Jesus."
He said, "Do you have insurance?"
I said, "Yes, sir."
Said, "What kind is it? Really, what kind is it, Billy?"
I said, "It's insurance."
He said, "What..."
I said, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine."
He put his arms around me (a boyhood chum); we was standing right across the street here. He said, "Billy, that'll not put you in the graveyard up here."
I said, "I know; but it'll get me out. I'm not worried about getting in there. It'll take me out." That's right.
I could think of my insurance policy when I was sick, but it did me no good. But my insurance of Jesus... I had a anchor, steadfast, the assurance that God swore by Himself He'd keep every word He promised.

40 When Mayo said, "There's not a hope for you." Not a hope for me to live. There was a regurgitation that would finally kill me. But my anchor held within the veil. "Well, what do you see?" I don't know what I see. There's something that I know. That's what it is: you know it! It's not by works, it's by faith. We believe it.
What kind of assurance did Abraham have from the doctor, the medical association of Ur, or anywhere else, when he was a hundred years old and Sarah, ninety, they was going to have a baby? But his anchor held within the veil, for God give Him the promise and he rested upon it, and called things which was not as though they were, because knowing that God was able (Here it is!), God was able to perform that what He had promised. He made the world; He made me; He made everything; He made you; He made everything by His Word. And His Word will do just what it said it'll do.

Romans 4:21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

41 Now, oh how... what hope, which hope we have, assurance of the hope, within the veil. (We'll have to hurry now, because we got a big prayer line coming.)
Notice, "Whither..." Oh, my, looky, everyone now, 20th verse. Just look at this: "Whither the forerunner is for us entered in, entered, even Jesus..." The forerunner of what? The forerunner of our salvation, physically and spiritually: "For He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we were healed." The forerunner of our salvation has already entered in. The assurance ... "already entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec."
Now, we're coming to where we want to get this text right quick now, and get into it.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Hebrews 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

42 All these great promises, we bottleneck it down to one thing: that Jesus, our forerunner, who was the seed of Abraham, through the Holy Spirit has called us to this blessed hope that we now have, a anchor of the soul, steadfast and sure, anchored within the veil. This Jesus, being made a forerunner, who was in the order of Melchisedec...
Now, this great man, Melchisedec, we want to speak on Him for the next few minutes. Hurrying up next ten or fifteen minutes and then for the prayer line... Build your faith now. Don't let the devil rob you of anything. You're here this morning in this little building where Almighty God will come into this humble abode here. He said... Looks pretty bad, but He come to a manger. He'll come to any humble heart that'll open up, say, "Yes, Lord Jesus, I believe it. I might not even understand it, but I believe it anyhow."

43 This blessed hope we have, Christ the forerunner has already come. You know what a "forerunner" is? "Something that runs before or goes ahead of." Christ, being the forerunner, then, of our salvation, came to the earth, and to be an example of the church, that the church was to finish His works ... or, continue His works after He had completed His sacrifice on Calvary. You see it?
Notice, then He was born in humility (Right?) in a manger. He was made fun of as you'd be, or anyone else who serves Him. But while on earth, He who had no respect of persons: He loved all; He healed all; He blessed all; He did good wherever He went. He gave His life as a sacrifice, died, buried, rose, ascended up, as a forerunner to us. And the very Spirit that was upon Him has come back to be with the church to lead and guide it.

Romans 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

44 Speaking: "A little while and the world seeth Me no more. Yet ye shall see Me, for I ('I,' is a personal pronoun), I will be with you, even in you to the end of the world." As directing our minds to His great, supreme sacrifice as a forerunner of our blessed hope we have within the veil, now.
Then by faith we believe it. Our anchor goes out there and the points set in the Word of God, sticks within the veil. And a prayer line through here holds us steadfast to the promise, not wavering about, tossed about with every wind of doctrine, but steadfast, unmovable. "Always abounding in the grace of the Lord, for as much as you know your works are not in vain, in the Lord..." What a hope.

Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

John 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

45 Now, this Melchisedec, just speaking of him here, right out... Paul speaking to the Hebrews of the Old Testament of a type...
Let's turn back to Genesis, the 14th chapter, and read just a little bit before we go on who this Melchisedec was. We read in the 14th chapter of Genesis and the 14th verse, beginning... Abraham, you know, had been called out of Chaldea, the land of Ur ... the city of Ur, rather, the land of Chaldea. And God told him, "Separate yourself from your people and come apart." Let me put emphasis on that. (Oh, if we had more time on this today. It's so limited.) " Separate yourself from your people and come apart and I will bless you," see.

Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

Genesis 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

46 And in order to obtain this same promise that Abraham had, you have to separate yourself from all worldly contacts, all the things of the world. Your sinful desires, your lust, passions of the world, and all these things, separate yourself from the thing. Come apart into a strange land, a land that you've never been in before, to walk, not by sight, but by faith. For Abraham had nothing; no one had crossed this river Euphrates and sojourned into this land.
But Abraham, by faith, forsook his own and went forward, separating himself, as the blood of Jesus Christ today by the Holy Spirit separates us from the things of the world to walk in a new life. Criticized, made fun of, called holy-roller, misunderstood, but our anchor holds.

47 Hebrews 11 said, "They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, was destitute, and places..." For they believed that they were seeking for a city whose builder and maker was God. Something within them told them there was a land, a city, whose builder and maker was God. And they sought that, not knowing where they were going.
That's the way with every pilgrim today. He's seeking something that he can't put his hands on, but he sees the evidence of it coming all around him. What made me do this? What made this crippled woman walk? What made that crippled woman walk? What makes this rupture go off the man? What made that cancer leave the woman? What made those deaf ears come open the other night here? Eighty-two years old... What did it? It's supernatural attributes, that's a anchor, that city, whose builder and maker is God that we look for, yet can't see where it's at. But there's something that anchors up yonder, the anchor, within the veil. Our hopes are steadfast, unmovable.

Hebrews 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

48 And Abraham left the land, sojourned, called himself a stranger and a pilgrim. Now look, Abraham as all mortal, not an immortal man, not a man that can't make a mistake, but constantly made mistakes. But no matter how many mistakes he made, his anchor still held, for he had the promise. So he took with him Sarah. He took Lot. He took his daddy. And as long as they was with him, God could not bless him.
The old man finally died; they buried him. They went on up a little farther, and Lot backslid, and you know what happened there. And then he separated himself from him. Then God appeared to him again, said, "Now, Abraham, look all over the ground; it's all yours." When he made the right choice...

49 That's it. Separate yourself from everything. I'll have to say this: look (I hope it finds its resting place, 'cause I never thought it, premeditation...), maybe that's the reason some of us are not getting along so well; we're holding on to things that we ought to let go. It's separation: a little doubt, a little wonder, a little skeptic, "Wonder if it's right? Could this be? Could that be? How could it be?" Cut loose this morning. Hebrews 12:1 said,
... let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us [The sin... What is that? The unbelief] ... that doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that's set before us,
Looking to Christ the author and finisher of our faith...

Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

50 Notice, Abraham here, then he got in trouble. Lot went down to Sodom and Gomorrah; you know the story. (We'll have to hurry, press. We can't get to it.) The 14th verse...
And first thing you know, all the gentile kings come down there, come into Sodom, and declared war, and took Lot (Abraham's nephew), and took him on, Lot's wife and the children and all the rest of them and left the country. And one of the kings of Sodom when he started to run, he went into the slime flats out there and fell dead. (Slime is what they made their bricks and mortar and built their cities out of. Just for a little pre-reading of this, you can read it when you get home, but because of the time being limited, we'll have to hurry.)

Genesis 14:8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim;

Genesis 14:9 With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five.

Genesis 14:10 And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.

Genesis 14:11 And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.

Genesis 14:12 And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

51 The 14th verse: "And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive..." Brother, I like that ... his brother... And look what Lot had done to him. But yet there was some kind of a tie that binds. If the brother has backslid, like the young man said awhile ago, the young minister here, that he had backslid and gone away, yet somehow, the Holy Spirit still calls for that person. When he's in trouble, He's right there with him.
Abraham's brother was taken captive, and he armed his trained servants, and bore them on his ... born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, and he and his servants, by night ... smote them, and pursued them to Hobah, and then on the left to Damascus.

Genesis 14:14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.

Genesis 14:15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

52 Abraham taken all of his servants and the armed men... Just think of the man that had been a pauper when he left the land down there in Chaldea of Ur, had three hundred and eighteen armed men as servants. (Say, "God don't bless you?") Three hundred and eighteen... You say, "Well, is that right?" That's what the Scripture said. He had enough servants to fight an army. And he overcome. Notice.
And he brought ... [He pursued them, took everything they had.] And ... brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after he returned from the slaughter ... and ... the kings ... the valley ... and the kings dale.
And Melchisedec king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and gave him ... and he was the priest of the most high God.

Genesis 14:16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

Genesis 14:17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale.

Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

53 After all these gentile kings had come in and took away his brother, Abraham took his servants, pursued after them and went down and got them, and returned with them, and slaughtered the kings, and brought them back.
And notice, the king of Sodom come out. The king of Gomorrah was killed. But the king of Sodom came out, and brought him forth, and said, "Here are all the goods that you have taken, that these people took away; I will give them to you." (Later on in this chapter we find Abraham said, "I won't take from a thread to a shoe latch, that you might say you made Abraham rich.)
But the thought we want to get to is right here.
And Melchisedec king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heavens and earth:
And he blessed him, and he...
And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him a tithe of all. [I love it.]

Genesis 14:16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

Genesis 14:19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:

Genesis 14:20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

Genesis 14:21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.

Genesis 14:22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

Genesis 14:23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

54 Notice now, after Abraham... The spiritual picture here... Abraham ... his brother, that had gone astray... A picture of the true church or the true believer of God, that's blessed of God and has the promise of God, has the covenant of God, and has faith in the covenant.
Now, think. If you'll count here, there's around ten or fifteen kings went out there, and probably... How many servants did they have? But Abraham counted what he had that was faithful, born in his own house. Oh, my. The faithful, born in his own house... It was his servants who he had circumcised that was included in the same promise that he was. And he went after his backslidden brother, and pursued with a little handful of men, of three hundred and eighteen men, after the kings, and overcome them, and took them, and slew them and brought back all that was lost.

55 Perfect picture of Christ and the church, the Holy Spirit leading the faithful that's born in the same house of the Holy Ghost where Christ was born, pursuing after the wayward and backslidden and slaying every evil thing that's overcome them. Amen. Overcoming sin, laying aside all the weight... Speaking to the people about their lusts and the things they're doing. Cut it off. Their sicknesses and all, preaching to them the Gospel and bringing then back in the full fellowship with God.

56 Notice. And when he returned, Melchisedec met him. Who was this Melchisedec? And notice the first thing, now, Melchisedec did not offer him any money. Melchisedec only offered him bread and wine. Melchisedec was a priest of the most high. The king of Jerusalem. It was then called Salem. (Here's a Crudens. I thought if it would be questioned afterwards, I could prove it, that Jerusalem was first Salem: J-e-r-u-s-a-l-e-m. See? Salem, Je-ru-salem. See?) It was first called H-i-r-u-a-m, Hi-ru-salem. That's right. Which once was in Gentile possession. Oh, I hope you get this now.
Jerusalem was first in Gentile possession, and the King of Jerusalem, or Salem (which was meaning, "the King of peace, the King of righteousness,"), met Abraham as he returned and give him the communion, bread and wine, thousands of years ... or, hundreds of years before bread and wine was ever an ordinance in the church. And he was the King of Jerusalem. Amen.

57 Who was this great man? Back to our text now: 7th verse, the 7th chapter:
For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, [He was not only a king, but He was a priest] who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; [Blessings only come from someone higher. Watch.]
To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; being first, by interpretation King of righteousness ... after that, the King of Salem, which is, the King of peace.
Who was this great man, way, many years ago? Who was He? Listen. Let's read a little more of Him.
Without father, without mother, without ... beginning of days, nor without ending of life...

Hebrews 7:1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;

Hebrews 7:2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;

Hebrews 7:3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

58 If He had no father, He had no mother, He had no beginning of days or ending of life, Melchisedec still exists. Is that right? Having no father, no mother, but was made like unto the son of God, abides a priest continually. He had no beginning. He has no end. He had no father; He had no mother, yet He was a man.
And He came from Salem: peace. He was the King of peace. He was the King of righteousness. He was not only a King, but He was a Prince: and He is the Prince of peace. He's the rose of Sharon. He's the lily of the valley, the morning star, the Alpha, Omega; He that was, which is, and shall come, both root and offspring of David. He was before David, in David, and after David. Who was this Priest? None other than the incarnated Lord Jesus Christ.
In His magnificent power He was the same One a little later on, after he'd met Abraham, and gave him, as being a covenant people, the communion... Then now, through that same covenant, we take... And He was in a shadow, that Melchisedec, when He become a man of flesh, would be cut into part, and the communion would be given the furtherance of His broken body, as we take today.

Hebrews 7:3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Revelation 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

59 There that Melchisedec met Abraham. And Abraham paid tithes to Him. Amen. Abraham, the greatest man on the face of the earth, paid tithes to Melchisedec, the King of peace, the King of Salem, the King of righteousness. And He was a Prince, and He was... He was a Prince; He was a King, and He was the Servant of the most high, which Jesus was.
And when Abraham, a few years later, not long after that, when Lot had backslid, Sodom had been burned, and Abraham was left alone with Sarah, out on the barren grounds when their cattle was all dying from starvation, it looked like God had failed him. But he had strong faith to believe. And one day sitting in the door of his tent, under the big oak... (It still stands in a memorial today as a charred over hulk.) And there, Abraham sitting in the door of his tent, seeing Melchisedec coming to him--three men walking.

60 Now, I just imagine Abraham said, "I seen Him before." And He comes up, and he said, "Let me ... just come by, my Lord. And let me fetch a little water for Your feet." Somehow, way down, that covenant man, down in his heart, knew that that was somebody more than a man.
He said, "We're strangers." Said, "We've come from a foreign country." (Their clothes were dusty. Yes, they was: all the way from glory.) And so they walked up there and said to Abraham... They brought them a little stuff and washed... And Abraham begin to look at them. He slipped back in the tent and said, "Sarah, stand here just a minute." Out through the herd he went and got the fattest calf he could find, and he killed it, and brought it back, and gave this man some meat and bread and milk and butter... [Gap in the audio.]

Genesis 18:4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:

Genesis 18:6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.

Genesis 18:7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.

61 Now, when Melchisedec, the King of Salem, the Priest of the Most High, the King of peace, which was none other than the forepart of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when He met Abraham, He fed Abraham the communion and blessed him. And here He... Abraham meets Him on His journey to Sodom and feeds Him meat and bread. Oh, don't you see the connection between the man... He promised... Our bread and water is sure and God will do it just as certain as we're sitting here. And every divine promise He has made, He's obligated to do it.
And when the two angels went on towards Sodom, Abraham stood there and he looked around with the man. He said, "If I'll find so many and so many," as he kept saying down to ten... And when He left, then the Angel (or the man that was standing by him) disappeared and vanished by the sacrifice.
And Abraham said, "I've talked face to face with Almighty God." Melchisedec.

Genesis 18:26 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

Genesis 18:27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

Genesis 18:28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

Genesis 18:29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake.

Genesis 18:30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

62 And Christ in the foreground... How friends, this morning, if we could take this veil here, that's before our eyes (as flesh has blinded us), and rip that veil back like this, and just look beyond the curtain of time, to wonder what it would be. I used to sing a little song:
I'm heartsick and blue, and I want to see Jesus.
I want to hear the sweet harbor bells chime. (Yes.)
If I could only see Him and just look past the
curtain of time.
It would give me more faith and renew all my strength
If I could only look past the curtain of time.
Who was that there in this Jerusalem on earth, right then, that had no beginning of days or no ending of years, and come out, and give the communion to Abraham, who had the promise? And the promise is extended to us this morning. It's to every one of you.

63 We could have more time (I wish we did) on this great subject. Maybe, someday, after this journey's over, as I go across the nations now to the foreign lands and around, preaching the Gospel, let me leave this thought with you: My beloved children, my brothers and co-workers in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, be not weary. Take new courage this morning. Lift up your head. Lift up the feeble knees and hands that once hung down. Look unto the Author and Finisher of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has give us these promises.
This thing that I have tried to preach to you through revelation, that was given to me by the Lord Jesus Christ. While I am yet ignorant and uneducated, illiterate, yet Almighty God has placed it before the world, for it's infallible.

64 Sitting here, this morning, is those who were crippled and afflicted last week, and this week are normal and well. There are those who were deaf standing here a few nights ago, are standing here now, hearing just as good as the rest of them.
What is it? It's God's unconditional covenant that He made with Abraham and his seed. He promised He'd do it so therefore let us believe it this morning with all of our heart. As a people, some of us sitting here, old, and some of us getting gray, some of us... Before we meet again, there may be some of us pass beyond the veil. But whatever you do, whatever life produces (if it produces sickness, if it produces anything in the world), keep your anchor within the veil. Keep looking to the author and finisher, yonder, the Lord Jesus Christ. Call those things which seem to be, as though they were.

65 There's three elements that a man follows. First it's humanistic. Second is divine revelation. Third is the vision that's "Thus saith the Lord."
Many times we are down in here and never climb into this. If you're not down in there, cast your hopes through that veil up here to "Thus saith the Lord." Though you don't see the vision, though the revelation doesn't come, though when you're prayed for you say, "I just wished I could believe," that doesn't make any difference. Cast your anchor yonder and call it so anyhow.

66 Abraham couldn't see. He said, "How can it be?"
Mary couldn't understand how could she have a baby, not knowing no man. He said, "But the Holy Ghost will overshadow you. He will bring it to pass."
She said, "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me." How is it going to be done? She didn't know, but she cast her anchor beyond the veil and went forth testifying she was going to have a baby, before she felt life or anything. She called those things which were not as though they were.

Genesis 17:17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Luke 1:38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

67 Abraham, when he was seventy-five years old, God give him the promise (and Sarah sixty-five years old), gave the promise. And twenty-five years elapsed before it ever come to pass, but Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving praise unto God, and calling those symptoms and things which was, as though they were not, and testified only what God said was true, because he had the promise.

Romans 4:20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

68 God be merciful. Oh, my. Does your faith set still this morning? When the troubled winds are blowing, the nights are dark, and the winds and lightnings are flashing, does your anchor hold? Build your hopes this morning, on nothing less than Jesus' blood with righteousness. I know it's a hard ... it seems hard, but take it one time, and take God at His Word, and see what a blessed hope it is to just march forward in faith.
In this great faith battle, as I've tried to fight it, I've come some awful obstacles, been over some rough roads. It shows on me: I have. But it's been the most blessed thing. I wouldn't trade it for nothing in the world. And here's my greatest victory, the greatest pleasures I have, is when I come up against something I can't see over, around it, or under it; I just keep walking towards it, believing this: that God will make a way when I get there. I've never come this far, all this distance I have come, I have trusted Him; He has never failed me.
It's grace that taught my heart to fear.
It was grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
And through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come.
It was grace that's brought me safe thus far;
It's grace that'll take me on.
And when we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We'll have no less days to sing His praise
Than when we first begun.

69 When we rally there with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, those who were heirs of the promise, looking forward to us not to fail, for without us they cannot be made perfect. And how they're depending on us this morning. Let's not fail. Keep your anchor in Christ.
If you're a sinner, you don't have to come to the altar. It's customary to do so, but if you don't want to come and not room for you to come, say, "Lord, I cast all the worldly things aside right now. I lay myself before You, bare and naked as I am, in shame and disgrace, but I cast my anchor on You, and I believe in You. Nothing I can do but what You've done for me.

70 If you're sick, the doctor says there's no way at all for you to ever be well, there's nothing can be done, just look in this little group of people this morning, and this is a little handful, not even a dot of the thousands that's been healed in the last few weeks, around the world. Great campaigns, the world's in a roar with divine healing campaigns, men of faith, going out, daring to take God at His Word. The Gentile days are ending. This is a sign. Look at it. Don't wait too long.
They waited too long to recognize Elijah. And the disciples even said, "Why did the scribes say, 'Elijah must first come'?"
He said, "He's already come and you didn't know him."
Said, "Who was it?"
Said, "John the Baptist."
"Well," they said, "sure, that was him."

Matthew 17:10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?

Matthew 17:12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.

Matthew 17:13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

Mark 9:11 And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come?

Mark 9:13 But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.

71 Jesus came and they didn't know it. After the Roman had crucified Him, when it was too late then to do anything, he said, "Truly that was the Son of God." Though He was a malefactor, though He was spit upon, though He was made fun of and persecuted, yet God vindicated Him with signs and wonders. Today, let's not wait too long. This is the ending of the Gentile dispensation. We're ending.
Nations are breaking,
Israel's awakening,
The signs that the Bible foretold;
The Gentile days numbered,
With horrors encumbered;
Return, O dispersed, to your own.
The day of redemption is near,
Men's hearts are failing for fear;
Be filled with the Spirit,
Your lamps trimmed and clear,
Look up, your redemption is near.

Matthew 27:54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

Mark 15:39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

72 Our Father, we thank Thee this morning for this blessed hope. Oh, some glorious day when You stand upon the earth again, it'll be said, "Was not it written in the Psalms, 'Your redemption draweth near.'" When You was here the first time, You said, "Was it written by David in the Psalms, these certain things?" And when we think of that song, "There is going to be a meeting in the air," when all the prophets and the redeemed and little David and Moses and all the patriarchs will be present there, then we'll say, "Was it written in the song that we would see this and the redeemed of the ages shall rejoice together."
Father, forgive every wayward man or woman, boy or girl, this morning. May this be a new day in their life: the time that by faith they accept the Lord Jesus as personal Saviour and be sealed into the kingdom of God by the Holy Spirit.

73 Take these few hurried-up words, Father, and sink them down in the hearts of the people just as they have need.
Just in a few moments now, the people will be coming by here to be healed. There'll be those here, Lord, who are blind, afflicted, and crippled, and sick, all kinds of diseases upon them. Satan done this evil thing, Father. Them poor people, Lord, they wouldn't come here if they didn't believe they could be healed.
You said we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and our testimony. And here, lays strings here on the platform, crutches and things has been piled up and hauled away from here, and wheelchairs, and cots packed out, and beds. And men and women's walked from here, Lord, from all kinds of diseases and afflictions that Satan has put upon them. Not because it's a place, but it's because their faith met Your requirement right here.

Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

74 I pray, God, that every sick person in here, that their faith will be sufficient this morning, now, to remember that great Melchisedec, back yonder, who had no beginning of days; He never had a father nor mother; He never had an end of life; it still lives today, then was incarnated: called Jesus Christ, became flesh, died, went back to it again. He's still the King of peace, the King of righteousness, promising us these great eternal things who has been swore by God to Abraham that He would keep the covenant, the promise, through him and his seed forever. Help us today to walk forward to this platform now with undying faith.
Some of them here, Lord, are bound with unclean habits, old filthy habits of the flesh. God, as the Bible said, "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us." God, may they flash it aside this morning and look to Jesus who cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Grant it, Father. And when we leave today, may we go with a heart full of love and rejoicing. Bless this little church. Bless our dear Brother Neville, Lord, as he pastors and labors daily and nightly here, trying to make a place for the people to come and worship to see the Lord Jesus in His manifestation of love and power.

Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

75 Bless tonight's service, Lord. Bring a great blessing to us. And Father, we pray now that You'll get glory out of all things. And someday when all of life is over, the last sermon's been preached, the Bible's closed, the taps has been sounded, arms has been stacked, and the battle smoke's drying away, the sun sets, then, Father, receive us into Thy kingdom. May we come like old battle-scarred veterans.
Grant it, Lord, so we can receive a new body where we'll never be sick no more or have a heartache or sorrow. But let us be faithful in all these things while we're here on earth now, to believe and call those things which are not, that's contrary to God's Word, as though they were. For we ask it in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

76 Anybody here would just feel like, say, "I'd just like to accept the Lord Jesus Christ. I've never done it before. I just want to raise my hand, say, 'By raising my hand, I accept Him.'" God bless you, sister. God bless you, brother. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you, brother. "I want to accept the Lord Jesus Christ that..." God bless you, sister. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. That's right.
You think He don't hear that? He knows your heart. He's the One who told you to do it. Someone else say, "I now want to believe. I now say, 'Lord, I want to accept You right now. I want my anchor tight, down there in the veil so it'll never move. I'm accepting You as my Savior.'" Would you raise your hand, someone else? God bless you. [Gap in the audio.]
........ what then?
When the great book is opened, what then?
When the ones that's rejecting this message today,
Will be asked to give a reason--what then?
May the Lord bless you now as you... We're going to have... How many here is to be prayed for, was sick? Let's see your hands. Anywhere in the building that's sick...


“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” — 1 Corinthians 16:23