SNT 0293 Jeremiah
Jeremiah
August 2, 1964
Exhortation to get out and move the Word so that once again men can say ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ for the Word will be foremost (Advanced Class Opening).
SNT – 293 68:32
Format: audio
Publication Date: 08-02-1964
Victor Paul Wierwille was a Bible scholar and teacher for over four decades.
By means of Dr. Wierwille's dynamic teaching of the accuracy and integrity of God's Word, foundational class and advanced class graduates of Power for Abundant Living have learned that the one great requirement for every student of the Bible is to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Thus, his presentation of the Word of God was designed for students who desire the in-depth-accuracy of God’s Word.
In his many years of research, Dr. Wierwille studied with such men as Karl Barth, E. Stanley Jones, Glenn Clark, Bishop K.C. Pillai, and George M. Lamsa. His formal training included Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from Mission House (Lakeland) College and Seminary. He studied at the University of Chicago and at Princeton Theological Seminary from which he received a Master of Theology degree in Practical Theology. Later he completed his work for the Doctor of Theology degree.
Dr. Wierwille taught the first class on Power for Abundant Living in 1953.
Books by Dr. Wierwille include: Are the Dead Alive Now? published in 1971; Receiving the Holy Spirit Today published in 1972; five volumes of Studies in Abundant Living— The Bible Tells Me So (1971), The New, Dynamic Church (1971), The Word's Way (1971), God's Magnified Word (1977), Order My Steps in Thy Word (1985); Jesus Christ Is Not God (1975); Jesus Christ Our Passover (1980); and Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed (1982).
Dr. Wierwille researched God's Word, taught, wrote, and traveled worldwide, holding forth the accuracy of God's "wonderful, matchless" Word.
Jer 1:4, 11, 13; 2:1,13; 8:20, 22; (Jer 46:11); 15:16
(Jer 15:16); Jer 36:1-16
Jer 15:20-23
Phi 4:13
“Jeremiah”
Victor Paul Wierwille
– Sunday Night Teaching 0293 Transcript –
I want you to take your Bibles tonight and turn to Jeremiah, chapter 2. By tomorrow night, those of you anticipating taking the Advanced Class must read the first 28 chapters of Jeremiah. Not only must you read them by, before the session tomorrow night, but you must mark them according to the instructions I now give you.
I want you to take your Bibles and as you're reading tonight or tomorrow, when you get to a prophecy that Jeremiah prophesies, take the verse and put a mark through it, like this. Put a mark through the verse. It says number 4. That’s in Chapter 1, number 4 is the beginning of the first prophecy in Jeremiah. Mark those. Then when you get through with the 28 chapters, count up how many prophecies you've had.
You see, most of the prophecies will begin with words like verse 4 of chapter 1.
Jeremiah 1:4a:
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, . . .
This is usually the clue. It isn't always in Jeremiah, but usually. Verse 11 is the second one.
Jeremiah 1:11a:
Moreover . . .
I'm in Chapter 1.
Jeremiah 1:11a:
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, . . .
See that? In verse 13,
Jeremiah 1:13a:
And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,
That's already the third prophecy in the first chapter of this particular book.
In chapter 2, verse 1.
Jeremiah 2:1a:
Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
This is the fourth one. And through those verses, I want you just to put a checkmark. Anything so that you recognize it’s, it’s the beginning of a prophecy, and you can just count them up; one, two, three, four, five, so on and so forth.
These 28 chapters of Jeremiah, the first 28 will have to be read tonight and tomorrow and be read, in other words, before the opening of the session tomorrow night. Then Tuesday, of course, we will do the last chapters; 51 or 52 chapters in Jeremiah.
You see, the Book of Jeremiah, if you begin reading it, you will find it most timely. You will discover in the Book of Jeremiah the words of the Lord addressed to our nation and to our peoples in many respects if you will understand the operation of the church. I know to whom the Book of Jeremiah is written, so don't lecture me. I want you to know to whom it's written.
But remember, as I've taught you in the Foundational Classes, that that in the Old Testament which can be applied in context to the church in which you and I live, we still give ear to, because the same God who wrote to Israel also wrote to the church. And the Word in Jeremiah will be timely for this class because this is the most opportune class, the most needful, it's the most urgent class that I have ever taught. The times are such that you people who have the opportunity of sitting in this Advanced Class may find it the most opportune time and the most timely time, because I am not sure that the time will be such that we can have another one within even twelve months.
The hour is dark, the days are beyond anything that any of us in here, I believe, realize tonight. We still go around our daily work. We still go around figuring out how we can improve our businesses and shops and factories. And I'm saying to you that time is over with if you only knew it. You ought to be spending every ounce of strength you have to try to figure out, what can I do with the things of God? How can I help people? What can . . . can I learn more about the Word so I can help myself to stand? So that I can help my family?
This is the most crying and urgent need of this hour, ladies and gentlemen, far beyond what we realize in this auditorium here tonight. It is desperate. The hour is late, the time is almost shocking! And only God, by His mercy and by His grace, has again favored us and privileged us to once again, to begin in the unfolding of this class, Advanced Class on Power for Abundant Living.
I begin the Foundational Class every year, or every time I teach it, with the 13th verse of this particular second chapter of Jeremiah. And I wondered tonight, when I asked you to read Jeremiah, if any of you recalled that this is where is the Foundational Class really begins? Where I use this 13th verse,
Jeremiah 2:13:
For my people [God’s people] have committed [what?] two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Also, here in the Book of Isaiah, in your reading of this wonderful Word of God, you will discover that it is in Isaiah that these favorite and wonderful words come forth.
Jeremiah 8:20:
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. I have never felt the cry in my heart as I do again tonight to say these words to you,
Jeremiah 8:20a:
The harvest is past, the summer is ended . . .
The freedom that you have had to mess your life up with, and to run around and do as you fool please, has terminated. The day is over with. The day is done.
The freedoms that you have experienced in these our United States are at an end. They’re finished. So quit stewing about it. Quit fretting. Quit worrying about it, because it's over with. It's done. What you have to find out is this class is, “How can I tap the resources of God for the more abundant life that I can stand in the midst of all hell, in the midst of all slavery, in the midst of all persecution; that I can still stand?” That’s what you’re in this class for.
The harvest is ended, class. The summer is over with. And for you men and women who are still concerned about making money to buy another farm, God have mercy on your soul. You'll just have to fry it out in due time. You don't need it. You've got more than abundant now. What you need above all is the greatness of God’s Word, the greatness of the power of God, for ladies and gentlemen, you will need this in your life.
Also, in this Book of Jeremiah, you will find these wonderful words on which a song is written, parts of it:
Jeremiah 8:22a:
Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician [among all of God's people]? . . .
And you'll find the answer in Jeremiah that there is a balm in Gilead. There is a physician for God’s people. You will find that in the midst of all these negative surroundings with which we are engrossed, and the world situation in which we are encased, and the local community environment in which you are . . . sir, with which you are surrounded; even in the midst of all this, there is still balm in Gilead. There is still a physician to speak to God's people. For as long as there is God’s Word, and as long as there is a man of God who believes God’s Word, there will be balm in Gilead and there will be a physician to minister to God's people.
Also, in this same Book of Jeremiah, the tremendous figure in there and how it speaks about these people; ministers, pastors it says, shepherds. Ministers supposed to be pastors of God's sheep, God’s people. It says how their tongues are bent like a bow. They bend their tongue like a bow to shoot lies.[1] Isn't that a beautiful picture? They bend their tongue like a bow to shoot lies.
You see, when you get to Satan’s power and how Satan possesses, and how Satan utilizes men and women – as we will in this class – and take all the paraphernalia off of this stuff and begin unfolding exactly how he operates, how he manifests himself through people, you would find that, in order to manifest himself abundantly, he has to pick the top men in the church, in the organization, in the institutions thereof. He has to pick the top leaders in society. Because these are the men and women who control people's lives.
And when these people look up to them, and these men make a statement, then they all follow along. This is why he said that their tongues are bent like a bow and their . . . they shoot lies. They shoot forth lies.
In the 15th chapter of Jeremiah, we have the record of how this Word of God had been lost. It had been covered up under the debris of the dirt in the temple, and they just, they just had no Word of God left. All they had left, occasionally, was a man like Jeremiah in whom the Word dwelt. They had a lot of preachers. They had a lot of pastors. They had a lot of so-called shepherds. They had a lot of the tribe of Levi, the priests coming down. They were loaded. They were not at all like we are at some places where there is a minister lacking in a pulpit, you know. They had all the churches filled with all the preachers they needed. But all lies. All lies.
The Word of God was not among the people. They acted religious, they looked religious, they walked like they were religious, they worshiped like they were religious, but they were just lies. Just counterfeits. The Word of God had been covered up, just like today. It’s lost. The best that people think they know the Word of God, you give them a simple little question, a little examination, they flunk her right down the line. Questions like I'm going to make you do – write out the Old Testament, write out the New. Or, say the old, say the new. If you flunk on those things, you see, man, oh, man, how little we really love the Word.
You can write a letter because you know the alphabet, right? If you didn't know the alphabet, could you write a letter? Well, don't ask to get in the Advanced Class if you don't even know the Old Testament. This kind of stuff.
Here they were. Here they were, time of Jeremiah, no Word of God. No Word. But they acted like it. But you see, all used to deceive people. Because it's the Word of God that sets men and women free. And Satan doesn’t want the Word to men and women, he simply wants men and women to think they've got the Word, and then enslave them, then beat them, right down the line.
This goes for individuals, and of course nations are made up of individuals. So, when you get enough people under the influence of Satan and possessed by him and controlled by him, the whole nation is controlled. And this is what had happened to Judah and Jerusalem – to Benjamin and Judah. This is what had happened to the northern 10 tribes.
The Word of God was gone, but there was still a man there. A man who believed. A man who loved that Word. A man whom God had called, the true God had called, and who stood faithful. He had no friends, he had only enemies, basically. He had no one to stand with him, to support him. He had no one to build him a building. He had no one except his believing in God. And yet that man stood.
Then, one day, out of that debris and that mess down there in the temple, they dug the Word of God. They literally dug it out. And when they found this Word of God, it says in verse 15 or 16,
Jeremiah 15:16a:
Thy words were [what?] found, and I did [what?] eat them; . . .
After they found this Word of God, he chewed on them, spiritually speaking. He ate it, he drank it, he slept it. And this is a thing I've said to you a little while ago. You've got to get to the Word. Eat it, sleep it, drink it. Get this Word. Pound it in your hearts, your souls, your mind, wherever you need it pounded. Just get the Word, because it's only the Word that will ever keep us in the midst of the trials, the afflictions, the situations, and the devilishness of our society; and the future of it tomorrow and the day thereafter.
Jeremiah 15:16b:
. . . and thy word[s were] unto me the joy and rejoicing of [what?] {mine heart}: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
Isn't that wonderful? He ate the Word. This is what we're going to do in this Advanced Class. You're going to eat the Word until it sticks out of your ears. You're going to eat this Word night after night and day after day. So that if you are a man or a woman of God called by Him, if you believe in Him, then you are going to have to have some of the Word.
The stuff that we have dug up out of the dirt, we're going to feed to our people. Because this Word of God, if you really love the Word, the Word should be the joy and rejoicing of your heart. Else, you have no right to be in the Advanced Class. If you are in the Advanced Class because you want to see how people look up to you, how you can run over to Billy Graham’s meetings, and Oral Roberts, and all the rest of them, and do the baloney – no Advanced Class for you. No interest in you. That’s right.
I want this Word of God, professor, to so live in men and women’s hearts first, foremost, and always. And not a show of it; just because I have the Word I can run around downtown and say, “Here, I can help you, or I can help . . .” No! The Word.
The Word has to become the joy and rejoicing of your heart. Not the, not the actions associated with it. Not the actions. That’s secondary. Salvation is so secondary. The primary is the Word, Mr. Alexander. The Word, the Word, and nothing but the Word.
The Word has to be the joy and rejoicing or your heart. Then when somebody gets saved, hallelujah! When somebody gets healed, hallelujah. But ladies and gentlemen, if nobody gets saved, if nobody gets saved, if nobody gets healed, this is quite a constant, it is still His wonderful, matchless Word. That’s right.
It’s still His Word! Everybody acts concerned about, “How can I dance in the street for the Lord? How can I get somebody saved? How can I get somebody healed?” That's wonderful, but that's not the Advanced Class. That’s right. The Advanced Class is designed for men and women who want the Word, and to whom the Word is the joy and rejoicing of their heart.
In Jeremiah's day, how many got saved? Nobody. Nobody. That's right. How many got healed? Nobody. That’s right. Yet the Word was the joy and what, rejoicing of his heart.
That's why, Mrs. Alexander, the Word and nothing but the Word – in season, out of season, upside down, backwards, forwards. Doesn't make any difference. It’s the Word, the Word, the Word, and nothing but the Word.
This is the greatest thing you can build in your life. Both men and women are still concerned about how they can get enough of the Word so they can get everybody else taught. I'm not. Never have been. I am concerned about the Word being the joy and rejoicing of my heart. I am concerned about how this Word of God can live within me. How I can so know the Word that God can talk to me. That's what I'm concerned about.
Then, as I share it, if I'm given an opportunity to share it, then somebody else can get blessed. They can get saved. They can get healed. All this stuff. That’s wonderful. We're truly grateful for it. But nothing equals the Word, class. Nothing. Nothing. For the Word must be the joy and rejoicing of our hearts. The Word. The Word.
Not what people think, not what they say, not what's the false shepherds say. Not what the false pastors teach. Not what the National Council of Churches says, or this other outfit – they're just as wrong on the other side. What's their name? Make any difference? You know, the baloney side on the other side. All you have is one stands here and the other one stands there. And ladies and gentlemen, in between, ladies, God’s Word. Nobody pays any attention to it. Just talk about it.
See, we pull the bow, we stretch it forth, but we shoot lies. Because this Word of God, ladies and gentlemen, is God’s Word whether you agree with it or I agree with or anybody else. It’s still God’s wonderful matchless Word.
Oh, bless your heart when this begins to gel in your soul, it does something for you. So many of our people today are still running off their . . . something or other. Just running, running, running. “Where can I run to a meeting tonight?” “What meeting can I go to tomorrow night?” “Who can I visit tomorrow night and give both barrels to?”
Again, the Lord is moving by a cloud and a pillar of fire. And the Word said when the clouds stood still, they stood still. And when the pillar of fire stood still, they stood still. But today we don't stand still, we run, run, run, run, run, run, because we're not hearing the Word of the Lord. We're making it up in our little two-bit mind and blaming God for it. We say, “The Lord said to me to do so and so.”
He didn't do any of the kind. Most generally, He didn't. Because all it is, is run, run, run. How much time you spend studying the Word of God? How much time? How much do you give to the Word of God? If you spend more time running than the Word, you're way off. How much time to the Word? Are you hiding this Word in your heart? Are you being transformed by the renewing of your mind? Are you letting this Word of God dwell in you richly, or are you letting what somebody wrote, or the newspaper, or their salvation or their healing, is this what's taking your time more than the Word?
This has to be built in your heart and mind beyond anything. This has to be the joy and rejoicing of your heart. This has to be the thing that you must come to, to let this thing live deeply in your own soul.
In Jeremiah, the 36th chapter . . . Jeremiah 36, verse 1, you have the record. After the captivity had taken place in part . . . you know that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon . . . there were two captivities of the southerner tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Twice they came for them.
The first time they came is this record, or it's after that that this record here in 36 is written. Nebuchadnezzar had come, and he had removed from Judah and from Benjamin – from Jerusalem – all the young men and young women, the able-bodied ones, in which he included Daniel. Daniel was among those young men that he took from Jerusalem over to Babylon. And after he had taken these, or when he took them, he allowed the Jews, the rest of them, to stay there and they put somebody in control. He put somebody. . . Nebuchadnezzar put some Jew there from . . . Some Judean. He was the son-in-law of the prophet Jeremiah. Later on, he takes his own son-in-law . . . I mean his own father-in-law and gives him the works, you know. Great son-in-law.
But anyway, the point that I want to make in Chapter 36, this begins the record here in part of this captivity which had just been completed under Nebuchadnezzar, when the young men were taken.
Jeremiah 36:1-5:
And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Take thee a roll of a book, [this is a scroll. Take a scroll, a roll of a book] and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against [what?] {Judah}, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.
It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I [propose] to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll [as a scroll] of a book.
And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:
This “shut up” does not mean God told him to shut up. It does not mean that he was in jail. He was not shut up. This is why he could not go into the house of the Lord. But Jeremiah had to go into hiding for his life because of the Word that he dared to speak. And so, he could not go into the house of the Lord at that time.
Now you say, well, with all that God fearing in him, why couldn't he go? Wasn't God with him? Sure. That just sounds as stupid as you are, to say those dumb things. See, that’s right. Just plain stupidity.
The Lord said to him, don’t go where? House of the Lord. That settled it. So, the Lord said to him, go hide here underneath the tree or something. I don't know where he was, didn’t say so, but the Lord had told him where to go and hide himself. And how in the world can the Lord speak to a man except by revelation, word of knowledge?
And so, he writes out. Jeremiah has Baruch to write out the Word of the Lord, but Jeremiah doesn't go into the house of the Lord. Jeremiah stays someplace and brews himself a pot of tea. You know this.
Well, now,
Jeremiah 36:6-8a:
Therefore [verse 6] go thou, and read in [the scroll] the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD'S house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.
It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against [His] people.
And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, . . .
Isn’t that something? And yet Jeremiah just sounded like Jeremiah, just sounded like all the words of Jeremiah. Well, it was. But do you remember that New Testament epistle in which Paul said, I thank my God that,
1 Thessalonians 2:13a:
. . . when ye received the word of [the Lord] which ye heard of us, [you did not receive it as it was the word of man], but as it is in truth, the word of [what?] {God} . . .
Yet, it was Paul who spoke it. It was Paul's vocabulary. It was Paul's personality. It was Paul's eyeballs that flipped. All of that, and yet they said it is the word of what?
Here was Jeremiah, the only believing man of God in all the nation. And the Word of the Lord came to him and said, I want you to write. So, he got this fellow to write it, and after he had finished writing it, he said, “Now you go read it.” You know what that man could have said? He said, “Oh, that can't be the Word of the Lord, Jerry. Oh, no. No, no. Can't be. After all, I know you, Jerry. I've worked for you for 30, 40 years. I know as much about this as you do. Jerry.”
The Word said, according to the word of Jeremiah he went in that old temple, and he read them the works, right? According to the word of Jeremiah. See, all these others are just tricks of Satan. What verse was I? {Nine} Nine.
Jeremiah 36:9a:
And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim . . .
You know, back in verse 1, it was what year? {Fourth.} Now it's what? {Fifth.} He left her lay a while. He didn't take her in the first day he’d written it. Time had passed, and it was in the fifth year that he finally takes this Word to God and brings it to the people.
Jeremiah 36:9b:
. . . the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, . . . they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto [what?] Jerusalem.
What was that, what was that particular fast that they proclaimed at that time? My friend Rachel in here? Rachel Wynn, art thou here? Like, the Lord looking for Eve. I’d like for some of you Bible scholars to define that, that particular piece for me. I see Audrey, you’re here. I cannot, I cannot find . . . I want to say this to you. I cannot find in the Word of God where this feast was the real McCoy. It doesn't fit with the requirements of the Word, as I understand it, to have a feast at this particular time. And yet here were these boys having one. I wonder if they were so far out of order in Israel that they'd even forgotten when they're supposed to have their feasts. This is what I wonder about, because the time is not right, Mr. McNabb. The time is off – as far as I understand the Word. But if you can find me a time for the feast that fit it, I'd be glad to know.
Well, anyways, it didn't make any difference. They were off on everything else, even if they were off there. The point is that Jeremiah had ordered the Word to be read in the temple when they got there, when the people got there.
Reading in the book of words, the Lord . . . It came to pass, verse nine, the fifth year. So, I read that, didn't I? Ten. Verse 10.
Jeremiah 36:10-12a:
Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD'S house, in the ears of all the people.
When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD,
Then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, . . .
Verse 13.
Jeremiah 36:13-14a:
Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, [you know, from the lips of this man that Jeremiah had sent out] when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.
Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of [so forth] . . .
Jeremiah 36:14b:
… Take in thine hand the [scroll, verse 14] wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. . . .
They wanted it. They wanted it from the temple over among the President with his cabinet and his chief advisers. The whole bunch was there.
Jeremiah 36:14c-16:
So Baruch the son of Neriah took the [scroll] in his hand, and came unto them.
[verse 15] And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our [what?] {ears}. So Baruch read it in their ears.
Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these [wonderful] words.
They were scared to death. Afraid. Why were they afraid? Because they were living just the opposite of the Word of God. And here was old Jeremiah had written the Word, and when they read this, they got afraid because they still knew it was the Word of God.
Just like today. The pastors, the ministers, the shepherds, so to speak, the men who sit at high places, when they hear the Word, they know it's the Word. They can still recognize that it's the Word, because there is still a God. Even if the church says that God died, if the church says the Bible is a bunch of baloney, if the church declares that he is never coming back. All of that. Baloney. When they still hear a man say, “Thus saith the Lord,” and the man is speaking for God; they'll still know it's God, and they'll be scared to death.
So, you know what you’ve got to do when you're scared to death? You've got to figure out how to cover up. You've got to figure out how you can change this around so that you make yourself continue to be the big boy and everybody else’s not. That’s right.
Well, verse 20.
Jeremiah 36:20-22a:
. . . they went in to the king into the court, . . . they laid up the [scroll] in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.
So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the [scroll]: and he took it out of . . . the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, [he got an earful] and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king.
Now the king sat in [this] winterhouse . . .
Counting all his money, the queen was in the parlor . . . Every time I read this, I think of that.
Jeremiah 36:22b-23:
… the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.
And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, [columns, columns, you know – columns on the scroll. When he had read three or four columns,] leaves], he [the king, took out his boy scout knife or something, and he] cut it with [his] penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the
fire . . . was on the hearth.
Now, isn’t that nice? Heh! Here was this wonderful Word of God. This Word of God that would have set Israel free. This Word of God that would have kept the rest of Israel from ever going into cap… This was Judah and Jerusalem. Would have kept them from going into captivity. All of this as how God would forgive them for their backsliding and everything else. How He would again put them on their feet. When it got over to king’s house, they read it to him, he took out his knife – his penknife was sitting there in front of the hearth at wintertime. He took out his knife. And he read it. He just took it, chopped her up, pitched it in the fire. Read another column, pitched . . . chopped her up, pitched it in the fire. That something?
Today, we're still hashing the Word of God to get to pieces with penknives. That’s right. You know why? Because every person basically believes what he wants to believe. And if he doesn't like something, he chops her out, or he gets his theology and makes it agree with what the Word says; and then he still chops it into pieces. Isn’t that right?
All over our nation today, everywhere, men and women are still at the Word of God with their penknives of their intellectual stupidity, or some other way. Anything to chop the Word to pieces.
Now, when we look at this Word of God, we feel rather proud. We say, “Well, I haven't done it.” Yes, you have. So have I, in past times. You see, we think it's sort of bad that he did that. Well, it was bad. But think of it today. We're still doing it. Taking the matters of high places. We're still chopping the Word of God to pieces. Just making a laugh.
A couple years ago, we had a president inaugurated – never belonged to an organized church or anything else until after he got to be president. Then he trounces over and gets taken into membership. Isn't it something? Boy, and how stupid we can be to follow that kind of leadership. How stupid we can be to work for that kind of cause. I tell you, people, it's always the Word of God being chopped to pieces.
Remember in Genesis, in the Foundational Class, that I show you in the third chapter of Genesis how that Satan is always after the Word of God. He’s after the Word of God. Because if he can get rid of the Word of God and get people to think that they still have it, but they're rid of it, then they'll be real religious – as a matter of fact, we can have a wonderful inquisition and everything can move along beautifully because it's all in the name of our God. And today, of course, we call it Christianity. A bunch of baloney. And an individual basis, that’s right.
And most of the places you'll go, you'll find they'll still chop it to pieces with a penknife. I wish I were called to do what I'd like to see someone do, which I knew if God really call them could be done. I'd like to give up this Way headquarters. I'd like to move out. I'd like to stomp the country right now. I'd begin with every state capital, and I'd get myself a soapbox. And I would stand on the lawns of the state capitals of our United States and I’d cry my heart out, “Thus saith the Lord.”
No criticism. No criticism of any particular group or individual, but again the Word of the Lord to the king and the priest alike. To the president, the governors, the secretaries of state, and right on down the line. And again, speak the Word of the Lord, “Thus saith the Lord,” to our nation at our day and our time.
Sure, they’d throw you in jail but, so what? They’d throw bottles at you, so what? They’d try to knife you, so what? They’d try to destroy you, so what? You must be willing to lay down your life if it's necessary for the Word of God. The Word.
There has never been a time in the history of our nation when one man or one woman or somebody needs to stalk our nation in a most humble and most wonderful way. And this is it. Where you can stand at these places and again speak the Word of the Lord for this hour and for this day.
I know what the religious people say. I know what the councils would say. I know how the preachers would all get together and try to throw you out. I know all that. But you see, that's exactly what's written in the Word. If you can learn the Book of Jeremiah and properly acclimatize it with the Word of God in your heart and mind to the things that are going on in our nation today, you could again stop these our United States and say, “Thus saith the Lord.”
We've got a lot of religion today, people, but very little of the Word of God. There is a dearth of the Word of God. There is a dearth. And I believe that there are still some of God's people, like there have been throughout all the centuries, some here and some there and some yonder, and these are the ones who should hear the Word of God. They're the ones that must hear it.
You see what we get all concerned about when you’re losing the Word of God? The next thing you get concerned about is whether we should wear shoes or whether we shouldn’t. Lipstick, beads, earrings and all this other junk to go through. I've got a dandy piece of literature. I'd like to show you, but I'm not going to – it’s just too good to show you. At least it is tonight. But I tell you, one religious outfit in this country who really thinks they know the Word of God has designed a new bathing suit for you ladies.
You ought to see it. It is really something. And they called it God’s Word for morality, or something. It’s a dandy! I think in the Advanced Class I’ll show it to you people sometime. You’ll like it. It just came out a couple of weeks ago. And of course, this denomination is marketing this now among their people and saying that, unless you wear this kind of bathing suit when you go to the beach, God no longer loves you anymore and you just don't have the Word, see. {laughter}
This is the kind of stuff we get into because no word prevailing, you know, just a sense. And now, mind you, this comes out of an ardent, fundamentalist Bible believing group. They say they believe the Bible. You know how much they believe? Exactly what they want to. The rest they cut up with their penknives.
And then they come up and they sell for a little over $10.98, I think it is. $10.98. Cheap. The amount it covers, it's tremendously cheap, or something. I think these others that cover so little are expensive . . . ah, but . . .
Anyways, I just picked this up this weekend. It was given to me. I thought to myself, boy, this is something. Just before I open the Advanced Class, all this information comes in. It's really interesting how little we really know the Word; how little we really love the Word. But anything to propound an idea, anything to argue about. Anything to do that which detracts or somehow or other from the Word, but do it in the name of the Word, you know. Do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all a bunch of baloney.
That's why we're still cutting it up with a penknife. In this class, Advanced Class, I’m not concerned about cutting it with a penknife. I'm concerning again hearing the Word of the Lord. What's the Word? What's the Word? And if Mrs. McNabb don't like it, I don't give a hoot whether you do or not. The door swings both ways, in and out. That's right. If Grace Bliss doesn't like it, the door swings in and out. If Mr. Newbauer doesn't like it, the door swings in and out. That’s right!
This is the point you have to come to, that it’s the Word that counts. The Word. The Word. This is the thing. And that it has nothing to do with you or with me, except that it's to be the Word. Whether I like it or not is not important. You know that? Whether you like it or not is not important. Is it the Word?! And if it's the Word of the Lord, we again ought to speak it. Whether anybody believes it or not doesn't make a hill of a bit of difference in a hail storm. Just but speaking it, Alexander. Talking it. Well, you talk about everything else. Sure. Why not the Word? Why not the Word?
I got a testimony letter I was going to read you three of them. Just came up here a little too late tonight else I would have read them to you in part tonight. When they came up, Father said, “No deal, too late.”
But one of them in there, bless my heart, Jean, starts talking about you, and how this person had been shocked by what you told them. That's right. And then after they got over the shock, they finally believed it was God’s Word and got delivered. But, had she done what the letter said, she said she was used to people always agreeing with her. Any time you said that you were sincere and that this was Christian, then you agreed, people usually agreed with you. And here she had made these statements in the presence of Jean Debergen, and Jean had said to her, “Well, now that isn't quite what the Bible says, is it?” And then she proceeded to tell her what the Word was, and it shocked her to death that somebody dared stand against you when you said, well, this is in the name of Jesus Christ or in the name of the Word. And she said she just got used to the shock, so she stayed in The Way ministry, one after the other.
How? The Word. The Word. Had Jeanie not faithfully given that Word that night, that woman wouldn’t have heard it. But she gave it. Whether the woman believed it or not wasn’t important; she gave it.
Supposed she’d had been a good friend of Jeanie's, and Jean would have given her that Word, and her friendship would have terminated. Then what? So what? Let it terminate. That's right. This is the point you have to get to. If you're not willing to do that, there is no place for you in the Advanced Class.
This goes between husband and wife. That's right. In a husband and wife relationship the Word comes above both of them. And when the husband believes and the wife doesn't, bless God, husband walk! When the wife believes and husband doesn’t, bless God, woman walk! Because a man or a woman is first responsible to God and His wonderful, matchless Word. Because as husband and wife it’s only in the flesh anyway, not in the hereafter. And the Word of God is for the present and the hereafter. That is why this Word of God must be spoken, whether people believe it, doesn’t make any difference.
In the Advanced Class, as we move along, I will give you the Word of God as God has put it in my heart. Whether you believe it or not doesn't bother me very much, but I want to tell you if you're in the Advanced Class to argue about it with me, Lord, just don't come because I'll pull your hair out for you. So fast, it’ll make your head spin.
Because the Advanced Class is not designed . . . In the Foundational Class I don't mind fights. I don't mind them at all. When they jump on account of the four crucified with Jesus, I just bring her around another way till I get them hooked [inaudible] on the Word or anything else. But when I get to the Advanced Class, I'll never do this to you. Because if that's what you're going to want me to do, no Advanced Class, as far as I’m concerned. I want to teach you, Mr. Alexander, the greatness of the Word I have in my soul. And if you haven't come far enough along, if you want me to prove to you every step of the way how I know this is true, no place for you in the Advanced Class. I’ll teach you the greatness of God’s Word, Mr. Barnett, then you try it out after it's over with.
This is the thing Mrs. [inaudible]; the Word, the Word, the Word! Get the Word to people! No argument about it, just the Word! And the best way to find out if it works is try it out. Quit arguing about it. Do it! That’s right.
[inaudible], your letter was a tremendous inspiration to my soul. I had tears in my eyes when I read it last night after I came in. A wonderful thing. I’d like to get more letters like you. I get the other kind too frequently. But her son, arm busticated, right? Leg? Or what was it, anymore? Leg. That’s right. And smithereens, right? The doctors thought it was a heck of a deal. And I don't recall when this was now, but she can tell you at coffee time. Ask these people, troop over here. One night we ministered to that boy across the miles, and by the grace of God, the boy’s delivered today. Right?
Amen. Tremendous thing! Here was a woman stood faithful on giving someone the Word, and changed their life. Here was another one who believed, and for her son we ministered, and things happened. Why not? The best way to find out if God is a liar is to try it out. The best way to find out if His Word works, Don, is to do it. Try it out. Try it out.
Sure. Quit cutting it to pieces with penknives. These fellows out here in the communities that they want to chop her to pieces, all right. If you're stupid enough to listen to them, go on and be stupid. That’s right. I wouldn't spend five minutes in a church any longer where the minister would chop the Word to pieces. And if you do, you're working for the wrong God. Right. Because you still have freedom. You can walk out, and your walking out is a testimony. You're shaking the dust off of your feet and having it over with.
Oh, I know what you argue. I have them in The Way ministry argue all the time. Argue all you want, it’s still Word. They argue and say, well, maybe I'll win somebody. Maybe I'll be able to reach people through this medium. You’ve been there for 150 years; it's getting less and less and less! When are you going to wake up! Right!
People, the Bible says, come apart and be ye separated! Walk with the power of God! The Word, the Word, the Word! Haha.
Shoot. We had a guest here this week Some gal from the East. She said, a year or so ago, after teaching in a Sunday school for twenty-five or thirty years in this denomination which begins with an M, she said, “We got a new minister in. A graduate . . . a Boston boy, graduate of Harvard, and he believed absolutely nothing of the Word.” And she said, “I got an official letter from the official board asking me to kindly refrain from making application to be a Sunday School teacher because they no longer solicited my interests or services in teaching Sunday school.” And I said to her, “Well, honey, what's the matter? Why didn't they like you? Thirty years go by, you can teach them.” And she . . . you know what she said down here at dinner table, one day? She said, “Because I still believe the Bible is the Word and I was teaching them the Word as I understood it. And they no longer wanted that, so they asked me to leave. So now we talk about the birds and the bees and the hunting season. How we can paint pictures, and how we can do this and how we can do that.” And I said to her, “Well, you still go to church?” She said, “Yeah, I still go every Sunday morning.” And I looked her in the eyeball, and I said, “How stupid can you get?” That’s right.
You know why? Hey, if you worked for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and they wrote you a letter and said your services are no longer needed; I suppose you're going to go back every day and go back to work, huh? Isn't that something? Isn’t that something? Here they wrote her a letter and said we no longer want you, but she's just so… You know why? Because we put our money in there. We've been there so many years, that our lives are all set and patterned that way. We can't break out of the mold, is what we think.
Well, where is your God? He died. Does the Word of God come first or the associations we have? Lord, when they said to her, we don't want you, you know what I’d have done? I’d have shaken the shoes off of my dust, or the dust off of my shoes or something, and I’d have got me out on that street corner someplace, and I would have said, “Thus saith the Lord, this outfit is going to hell!” It's already gone there! That's right! I’d . . . But you see? No God! No God!
Ladies and gentlemen, if you haven’t got this kind of guts, there’s no place in the Advanced Class. Because I want men and women who are willing to stand on the Word no matter what they say in your community. Men and women who will take a stand for the Word of God, come hell or high water! Don’t make any difference. Stand for the Word! If you've got to stand on a street corner and declare it, you declare it. If the elders tell you they don't want to, you tell the elders, go fly a kite; and tell them why – that, thus saith the Word! Thus saith the Word!
I've served here for thirty years in this church, teaching the Word of God the best I know. Then you tell me you don’t want the Word? What's the matter with you elders and deacons? You aren't “deacking” and you aren't eldering. You’re talking for the devil!
This is the kind of holy boldness it takes, ladies and gentlemen. All the time we’re concerned about whether somebody likes me. Sure, I like for people to like me. You like for people to like you. But when you get right down to brass tacks, it's not important whether you like me, or I like you. Whether the Lord likes us. That’s important.
Whether we are doing the will of the Lord. Whether we're walking on the Word of God and whether we're not. That’s right. Because it's the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever, not V.P. Wierwille. It's the Word of God that sets men and women free when they believe it, and this Word of God is the greatest thing in the world today. Turn to Philippians. Philippians chapter 4.
Philippians 4:13:
I can do [what? Verse 13] all things through [whom?] {Christ} [through] Christ which [strengthens] me.
It does not say Christ through Paul, because if Christ did it through Paul, Paul would have to be what? Say it. Possessed. Right. So, don't anybody come in the Advanced Class and tell me you’ve got Christ through you is going to do this. I'll jump through the ceiling, most likely. Paul said, “I . . . I can do all things through . . .” Via. By means of Christ who strengthens me.
It wasn’t that Paul was possessed of the Lord Jesus Christ. No. God never possesses you. God never possesses you. He gives you His gift. He lays these things out and then you receive them by the free will you have. By your believing, they receive. And after you've got it, ma'am, it's yours. The utilization thereof is your obligation, your believing, your operation. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ,” who gives him the strength or the ability to do it.
I can do it. Paul, by way of the power of Christ which was in him, was able to do it. And this is the key in this Advanced Class. That you, first of all, have to know who you are and what you are. And of course, this is all taught in the Foundational Classes. Your sonship rights; body, soul and spirit; flesh and spirit. You understand all these.
Once you understand all those and you're operating, you're work, now we move into a category as to how can I do all things through Christ who strengthens me? How can I so walk that I can receive revelation from the Lord? How can I apply this in life? How can I utilize the things which God has made available for me? The gift, as you know, is pneuma hagion. holy spirit.
It is the gift, ladies and gentlemen, that is special. Not the doing or the working thereof. The gift to you is special because, who gave it? God. This is why it’s special. The gift is always special, but the working, the operation thereof, is nothing special. That’s you. You do it. You do it by your ability. The God-given ability you have, which is now your ability. You do it by your believing, by your actions, by your doing it.
And, in this class, the Advanced Class, we are concerned to find out beyond a shadow of a doubt exactly as to what the Word says we can do, and we have a right to do, and that He expects us to do, being His sons and daughters. Then the individual must operate these manifestations according to his own believing faith. And the greater you can believe God’s Word, the further these things can be put in operation.
Another thing that we do in the Advanced Class, as the time permits, as the opportunities present themselves, and as the guidance of the Lord is within my heart; I lead men and women into the operation of these manifestations according to the Word of God. To get you started. This is why The Way headquarters is a Bible research center. This is a teaching center. How can you help people unless you can teach them? How can you teach them unless you demonstrate? How can you teach them unless they themselves start to working? That’s right.
This is why it's the Word of God plus your believing. “I can do all things,” and this is all I've been interested in the opening session of this Advanced Class. To set before you again the great urgency of getting the Word of God out. This is it. To get the Word of God to people.
Secondly, that this can be done only as you believe. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And the strength that he gives you is not particularly in this verse concerned about the physical; and I'm not concerned about that, because the strength I’m concerned about is that this man of body, soul and spirit is fed this way. That’s what I’m concerned about. This category over here is the man of believing.
Now, what we're concerned about in the Advanced Class is how we can get God's revelation from up here, down here. That's what we're concerned about. So that we can always know the will of the Lord. That doesn't mean you're always going to do it, because the doing of it depends in this category. Right? The doing depends on your operation. Sometimes I know the will of the Lord, but don’t do it anyway. I know what I could do in a given situation, but maybe somebody comes, and they talk me out of it; or they get me to change my mind, or they do something else. That's not walking on the Word.
What I'm concerned about in this class is primarily not your walk on the Word, but how to get the Word to you, because you know enough about the walk. Our Foundational Class takes care of that. Teaching our people how to believe and all this junk. Remember? They know enough about that. I not going to teach you that.
I want to teach you the Word so that this Word of God will dwell in you richly to end that God will give you revelation. The carrying out on it, you’ll have to operate just the same as I do. If you get caught short, you breathe deep, and start over again. This kind of stuff. Sure!
But the big thing is the Word. The Word. And, ladies and gentlemen, this I can show you by God's grace from His Word. That I can make living and real. That I can show you and read to you; line by line, word by word, precept by precept, as the book says. That is why this is the Advanced Class. And it's advanced far beyond what people think.
It is advanced, advanced, advanced. It is for men and women, as I stipulated in the letter, number one, who want to know the Word of God and, number two, who want to do something with it.
This is the purpose. This is the plan. This is the thing that God has set within my soul. This is why I am so grateful again, that another year has gone by to the end where we can have at least one more class on Power for Abundant Living, the Advanced Class. Because what happens next year, by this time, I don't know yet. And none of you in here know either. But I know one thing, that we’ve started the Advanced Class tonight. And I know that I am grateful to God that we have this privilege of, again, setting ourselves down and to rightly divide the Word so that we can stand approved before Him. As workmen who need not to be ashamed. Rightly dividing what? The Word of truth. Isn’t that's something?
That's why class, these Advanced Classes the most outstanding things in the world. Nothing equals them. Because into this class come only men and women, basically, who are hungry for the Word. Who want to learn the keys, the operation thereof. You know, the fight’s all out of us. It’s been out of us for a couple of years. After the first Advance Class, we got . . . Foundational Class, we got rid of a little of it; and as the period went on, we maybe took the second Foundational Class, we got rid of most of it for that time.
So, all the fight’s out of people as far as trying to battle for the Word or our theology. We’re only interested in one thing; can we hear the Word of the Lord? What saith the Lord? So that we can again say, as men and women,” Thus saith the Lord.” And then walk with the power of God in our lives to make it living and real for us.
Well, that's all for tonight.
[1] Jeremiah 9:3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.