^71-217 The 7th, and 8th, and 9th, 10th chapter, from there in, oh, my. Have your pencil and paper, and everything ready, for I believe the Lord is going to give us a great time.
Now, we're... Paul is exalting and placing positionally, the Lord Jesus. Now, if we get through this tonight, Sunday morning... Which the most of this is going to blend right in with Sunday morning's message, because it's separating the Sabbath. That's a great question amongst Sabbatarians today. And I would invite you all to come for Sunday morning. For, which is right: Saturday or Sunday for worship? What does the Bible say about it? And so then, whether the--the... This Book is separating law and grace, and It's placing each one to its place. The Hebrews was raised by the law, and Paul was telling them to what grace played with law.

^71-219 Now, now, let's get just a little background now. We're going to start back.
And by the way, I got me some reading glasses. Maybe I can... If I happen to make a--a spill tonight, I got them. You know I'm all... I just lack two years of being fifty years old, and I don't see like I used to close to me. When my sight... I begin to notice the words blurring; I thought I was going blind. I went for an examination, and the doctor said, "No, you're just past forty, son." Well, he said, if I live to be old enough, it might come back again, and get that short sight back again. He said, "Now, you can read your Bible if you push it out from you?"
I said, "Yes."
Said, "After while your arm's not going to be long enough."

^71-223 And so I--I hope now in this studying, that I... This little Collins Bible has a good-sized print in it. I can make it out pretty well. But when we get over in the big, deep places where we got to take the New and Old Testament and blend together, I got a small Scofield. And I'm used to the Scofield Bible, its markings. I don't read the Scofield notes now, because I don't agree with Scofield on many of his--his theories. But I--I do like the way it's set up, because it's... I've had it for a long time and read it and so much till I kinda know how to find my subjects.
This is all new to me, and--teaching, and I'm not much of a teacher. But you put up with me for a little while; I'll tell you the Truth as far as I know It, anyhow.

^72-225 Now, this Book is... Paul, you remember, he was... How did we find him? He was a great teacher to begin with--or a great scholar. And he was trained in the Old Testament. Can anybody tell me now, who we found his teacher was? Gamaliel, one of the noted teachers of the day.
And then Paul, we find out, one day before he was called Paul... Can anybody tell me what his name was? [Congregation answers "Saul"--Ed.] Saul. And he was a great authority in Jerusalem; a religious authority. And he come up as a--as a real trained, religious man. He could speak four or five different languages, and a very smart man. Well, did his education and smartness help him? No. He said he had to forget all he knowed in order to learn Christ.
So we find out then, it doesn't take a smart man or an educated man. It takes a--a man that's willing to humble himself before God, regardless of how...

^72-228 Did you know Dwight Moody was--was so uneducated till, honest, his writings were poor as--as I don't know what. They had to fix up his messages all the time, he a--he was such a poor writer, very uneducated.
Did you know that Peter and John of the Bible were so unlearned till they couldn't even write their own name; and wouldn't know it laying before them? The Apostle Peter, who had the keys to the Kingdom, wouldn't know his name signed before him. Think of it. The Bible said that he was ignorant and unlearned. So that gives me a chance. Amen. Yes, sir, that goes right on down, to find that God could do that to a man.
Now... and we find out as soon as Paul had a great experience... I want to ask you: "Is it an experience to come to Christ? Does everybody have an experience?" Yes, sir. Yes sir, it's a birth. It's an experience.

^72-231 And so we were in a Lutheran College not long ago, I had the privilege this afternoon, late, supposed to be there at twelve o'clock for dinner with--with Tom Haire. How many ever heard of him, the famous, Irish, prayer warrior? And he's been with this Brother Epp on his program, and appeared here in many places in America. And I had dinner with him today. And we were... I was just about three hours late; was about three-thirty, a quarter to four when we eat, but it was all right. And we were discussing on these things of how that Jesus Christ is the Head of all things.

^73-232 Now, when Paul found this out, he had this experience... And then before he would accept this experience, it must be back to the Bible. And we find out that he--that he left and went into another nation, and there he stayed for three years, searching the Scripture, to see if his experience was right.
Now, we realize that he had a great thing to face. He had to come back and tell his church and all the people the very things, that he had persecuted was right,
Did you have to do something like that? Certainly, we nearly all did; have to go back and say, "Them people that we called holy-rollers, come to find out, they were right." See? That's it. We just had to turn around. And the things that we once hated, we now love. It's a conversion, a strange thing, odd.

^73-235 Now I made that statement off "holy-roller." There is no such a thing. There's no such a thing. But they call people that (holiness people). But there's no holy-rollers. There's no such a thing. There's no record of any church ever recorded like that, as far as I can see, of the nine hundred and sixty-something different denominations. There is no such a denomination as holy-roller. It's just a--a name that the Devil tacked on the church.
But they called them, in that day,... How many knows what they called them in the day of Paul? Heretics. You know what a heretic means? "Crazy!" It's crazy people. So I just soon be called a holy-roller as a heretic. Wouldn't you? So if they--if they was called that and rejoiced... And what did Jesus say for us to do about it? He said, "Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted the prophets before you." They did it.

^73-237 Said to be exceedingly glad. Anything exceedingly is lifted way up, real happy. And the disciples, when they was found worthy to bear the reproach of the Name of Jesus, they rejoiced with great joy that they could bear the reproach of His Name.
And today, many people today, if they happened to call them a holy-roller, they'd cow-down: "My, maybe I was wrong to begin with." But they was happy about it, oh, my, to bear the Name.
And now, in the second century, they called them crossbacks. And that's when the Christians used to pack a cross on their back to show that they were crucified with Christ. They call them crossbacks. Now, I know the Catholic calls themselves that, but that wasn't the Catholic church. It was the Protestant church before it was called Protestant church. It protested nothing but sin. The reason it's called Protestant church today is because it protested the--the Catholic dogma. But it's a... it's... Still it was non-sectarian at that time, when they were called crossbacks.

^74-240 Just get you a history of Josephus, and the other writers, and Hyslop's "Two Babylons," and so forth, and you'll find out that that's right; that they was not no church. The first organized church ever was, was the Catholic church, about three hundred years after around of the--of the last apostles. About three hundred years later the Catholic church was organized. And a persecution set in, and forced the people into the Catholic church, and they had church and state united.
That was after, what was so-called, the conversion of Constantine from paganism to Catholicism. But if anybody ever read his history, he wasn't converted, the things that he did. Oh, my. The only thing he ever done religious was put the cross on the St. Sophia church. That's the only thing he ever done that acted even religious. He was a--a reprobate. But they call it his--his conversion. This about compares with some so-called conversions today.

^74-242 Now... But we find out when Paul got converted, and had this real experience, he was absolutely turned around. And you know, "conversion" means to be "turned around." You're going this a-way and you turn and start back this a-way. Yes sir, it's a turn-around, about-face.
And Paul, as soon as he was converted, before he could ever make his experience... Now, he had a marvelous experience. Now, I believe when you accept Christ just as your personal Saviour, it is an experience. I believe the joy of knowing your sin's forgiven just thrills your heart through and through.
But then when the blessed Holy Spirit comes down, that's an experience (that new birth) that you'll never forget. You become a child of God. And here's what does it,... "How do you know it, Brother Branham?"

^75-245 Now, these are teaching lessons. Many people... The Methodists try to say, "They shouted when they got It." Well, that's all right. If you got It and shouted, okay. Because you shouted, wasn't a sign you had It; 'cause a lot shouted and didn't have It.
The Pentecostals said, "When they spoke in tongues they got It." That's all right. If you spoke in tongues, and got It, all right. But you could speak in tongues and still not have It.
So--so you see, after all, it is the experience of passing from death to Life; when all the old things die, and all things become new; Christ becomes real, the old things drop away. The old roots of carnality... You know how to dig a root out? We used to take a grubbing hoe and just get down at it, and dig it till there wasn't a speck left in it. And they said, "If there be any root of bitterness spring up into you, root her out." And that's right. And that's what the Holy Spirit does--root out all the roots. Dig it out; pile them up; burn them; get rid of them. You get a good crop then, if we do that.

^75-248 Now, Paul knowed that something happened, so he goes back down into Arabia and there he studies for three years on all of the Old Testament prophets, how they prophesied. And he come to find out that It was absolutely the truth.
Now, compare that with today (See?) on this experience that we had here at this little church of the Morning Star appearing yonder; that great Light that come down, that would foretell and show things to happen. You know, that's marvelous. But my ministering brother told me it was of the Devil. And I--I couldn't understand it.
So, I didn't say nothing about it until one night, there was an experience happened up yonder at Green's Mill, Indiana, when the Angel of the Lord walked across the floor, and stood there, and proved it by the Scripture. Then it set fire. Then it started going.

^75-251 No longer than last Sunday, we seen the infallible marks of Jesus Christ, Who can take a man that hasn't walked and get even... his balance nerve gone; when the Mayo's and the best doctors said, "It's finished forever," and setting blind, raise up and walk out of the building, pushing his wheelchair down the steps; could walk and see like anybody else. That shows that it's the power of the resurrected Lord Jesus. There it is: He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
So aren't we a happy group tonight to know that God has vindicated this great experience that we have to be compared with this Bible and with the promises? Therefore, we ought to be exceedingly glad. And we realize then that in the 2nd chapter, we find out we should not let these things... We should not neglect these things. We should hold fast those things. And how are we going to escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
What are we going to do, in the light of God's Word, when we stand at the judgment bar? You can't say, "I never knew any different." Oh, yes, you did. "Well, now, Brother Branham could have been wrong." That's true. But God isn't wrong. His Word isn't wrong. And just think of the same thing (the Bible), that once lived in the apostles, are living again. Oh, blessed be the Name of the Lord.

^76-254 When I think that I'm forty-eight years old, nearly fifty, and my youthful days are gone and so forth; to know that since a little boy that I had this blessed Promise, and have declared It to my brothers and sisters; and to see the literally thousands of those that's come out of darkness; to know that we are going to our eternal home, to the blessed. And if this earthly tabernacle be dissolved before I get through preaching, there's one waiting yonder for us. Hallelujah. To know that there's dozens of people setting here that if they should leave this life right now, before we could get their body to the undertaker, they would be in that glorious body yonder, rejoicing with the saints of God already in the Presence of God, to live forever with the perfect (absolutely vindication that it's so). Amen.

^76-255 Oh, that would make the Presbyterian shout. Did Sunday, didn't it? Them people were Presbyterian. Certainly it would, to think... Oh, no wonder people get emotionally. Why if you get emotionally from batting a ball or throwing one in a basket, how much more will it making you emotionally, to know that you've passed from death to Life; that you're a new Creation in Christ. You know it by the way your spirit leads you away from malice, and guile, and enmity, and all the things of the world; and your heart sets centered on Christ. That's your motives. That's all that you think of in your mind, on your heart, all day and night. When you go to bed at night, and put your hands behind you like this, and just lay there and praise Him till you go to sleep. Wake up, of a morning, still praising Him. Amen. Oh, my.

^77-256 I've tried to praise Him of a morning; we've been getting up about four o'clock, Brother Wood and I, a-going out early in the morning to go squirrel hunting. I praise Him under every tree, I believe, I come to. I can't see a tree without praising Him; think, He growed that tree. See a little old grasshopper fly up, He knows that grasshopper. Oh, you say, "Nonsense, Brother Bill." Oh, no, it isn't. He knows where every squirrel is. He knows where every butterfly is.
Why, at one time, He needed some money, and He said, "Peter, there's a fish awhile ago swallowed a coin (just enough, as much as we need). Go cast a hook in, I'll send him over there. Take that coin out of his mouth, 'cause he can't use it himself. Go pay him our tithing and tribute." Amen.

^77-258 And a few weeks ago I seen a little fish killed laying on the water. (All of you heard the story of it. There's Brother Wood, and his brother, and them there to witness it.) And that little fish laying dead for a half hour on the water, with his entrails pulled out of its mouth, and the great Holy Spirit swept down after He said, the day before, "You're going to see the resurrection of a little animal." And the next morning about a little after sunup, we saw that little fishy, not over that long; when the Spirit of the Lord came down and said, "Little fish, Jesus Christ makes you whole." And that dead fish, that been floating on top of the water for practically a half hour, come to life and swam away just as hard as he could. Oh, blessed be the Name of the Lord. How wonderful He is.

^77-259 No wonder Paul could say, that He was in the order of Melchisedec. He was Melchisedec. Melchisedec had no beginning of days. He had no ending of years. He had no beginning of life or ending of life. He had neither father nor mother. So He couldn't have been no one else. Ever Who He was, He's alive yet tonight. So He's... Only one type of Eternal Life, and that belongs to God.
Last evening when we were having a discussion, a brother could not understand the trinity of God, and how we were talking about it, how that Jesus stood there, a Man of about thirty years old, and He said... They said, "Oh, our fathers eat manna in the wilderness."
He said, "And they're every one dead." But He said, "I'm that Bread of Life that come from God out of heaven, that a man eats and don't die."
"Oh," they said, "our fathers drank from the rock in the wilderness."
He said, "I'm that Rock." A man of thirty years old... Said, "Abraham rejoiced to see My day."
"What," said, "now you mean to tell me that you're as old as Abraham, and you're not fifty years old yet, and mean to say that you've seen Abraham who's been dead eight hundred years? We know that you got a devil now; you're crazy." That's what's--that's what a "devil" means, "crazy person." Said, "You got a devil and you're mad."
He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM."
That's Who He was. He wasn't just merely a man, neither was He a prophet; He was God, God dwelling on earth in a body of flesh called Jesus, the--the incarnate Son of God. That's exactly Who He was.

^78-267 Now, we find Him over here, that... In the last part, now, of the closing of the 2nd chapter, which I wanted to get to, beginning with the 16th verse--or the 15th verse:

^78-269 But now, of course, we, being human, walk in these dark elements here. We--we do not understand it as we should. And of course, when the choking pangs of death comes, it makes the very saintest of us fear and draw back. It made the Son of God say, "Could this cup pass?" It's a horrible thing; don't get it wrong, because we... It's a penalty of sin, death is, and it's got to be horrible. But if we can look just beyond the curtain, yonder. There's where it passed (Blessed be the Lord.)--just beyond the curtain. That's where man desires to look tonight. Little Anna Mae Snelling and them used to sing a song here: "Lord, Let Me Look Past The Curtain of Time." Everybody wants to see that.

^79-270 Now--now here we are in the 16th verse.

^79-274 In Africa they baptize you three times face forward: once for God the Father; once for God the Son; once for God the Holy Ghost. Now, that's a error. There's no such teachings of that in the Bible. See?
And now, that's--that's what they taught. It come down through Luther, out of Luther into Wesley, on down into the ages as it rolls on. But it never was a Bible teaching. It was always been a error, since it was begun.

^79-276 Now... So God was in the beginning. Before there was any light, before there was ever a atom, before there was ever a star, before there was any visible thing, God filled all space. And in That was nothing but purity: pure love, pure holiness, pure righteous. It was Spirit. He covered the whole space of--from eternity. Well, we can't fathom it. It goes beyond anything that we could imagine.
Like through that glass, we could see a--a hundred and something million years of light space. Think of it. A hundred million years of light space... And light--light travels about eight thousand miles per second. And a hundred million years of light space... Just think how many million miles that would be. You couldn't even numerate it. You could just take a row of 9's and run it around Jeffersonville, and still you wouldn't have it broke down in miles--of miles. Think of it. And beyond that is still stars and planets. And God, before one of them was, He was. See?

^80-278 And now, the Logos that went out of God, which was the--the Logos, all this begin to form into a--a body shape. And this body shape was called in the scholar's teaching, "Logos," the Logos that went out of God. In other words, a--a better word for it was a--what we call a theophany. Theophany is a human body that's glorified, not exactly with flesh and blood like it will be in its glorified stage, but it is of a form of a human body that doesn't eat, neither does it drink, but it's--it's a body, a body that's waiting for us as soon as we leave this one. Now, in there, we enter into that body. And that's the kind of body that God was. For He said, "Let Us make man in Our own image and in our likeness."

^80-279 Now, when man become into that body, he had control of all the fishes, and fowls, and--and beasts of the field. And then there was no man to till the soil (Genesis 2). He done made male and female, but there was no man to till the soil. Then God made man out of the dust of the earth. He give him a hand like a--like a chimpanzee, give him a foot like a bear. He give him... He made him on the image... And this earthly body is in the image of animal life, and it's made out of the same kind of material. Your body's made just the same kind of material as a horse, or a dog, or anything like that. It's made out of calcium, potash, petroleum, cosmic light. You're just no... All flesh like that is... Not the same flesh, it's different flesh, but it's made out of the dust of the earth where it come from. But the difference between an animal and a man, God put a soul in a man and He didn't put it in the animal, because the soul that was in the man is that theophany.

^81-280 Oh, I've... I--I'll never get to the--this lesson, but I've got to get this. Look. Don't you remember, when Peter was in prison and the Angel of the Lord came and opened the doors?
We was going through the supermarket up here, the other day, and the door opened in front of us. I said, "You know, the Bible had that first." See?
Now, the swinging door is by itself. And when Peter came out, walking by these guards, they were blinded to him. He passed the inner guard, the outer guard, out into the courts, through the walls, out into the street. And none of them know who he was, and didn't pay any... They thought he was another guard or something. They... He just passed by, and the door opened by itself as he went out, and shut behind. And when he got out there, he thought he had a dream. And he went down to John Mark's house, where they had a prayer meeting, and he was knock... [Brother Branham knocks--Ed.]
[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... to be among them. Oh, He's glorious; He's wonderful.

^81-283 Now, all... "He wasn't made in the form of an Angel, but He took on the Seed of Abraham." God became the Seed of Abraham.
Now, if we had time to go back and show how he did it in the covenant, you've heard me preach on it many times; how that he took those animals and cut them apart, and throwed the turtledove and pigeon in. And then he looked and he noticed a little smoke of black horror: death; next, a smoking furnace, hell. But beyond that went a little white light. And that little white went between each piece of that cut sacrifice, showing that what He would do. And He took a oath when He did that, and He wrote a Covenant showing what He would do.
And He, Jesus Christ come to the earth (God, Emmanuel: God in flesh). And at Calvary He was torn apart. And His Spirit come back on the Church. And His Body was lifted up and set on the throne of God. The throne of God? The One that's on the throne is the Judge. We know that. Well, where is the judgment? The Father has given the... He judge no man. But the Father has commit all judgment to the Son. So He is... And His Life is the High Priest, setting there with His own body as a sacrifice to plead our confessions. Amen. Brother, that puts something in you.

^82-286 Notice, He took on the Seed of Abraham. He become a man: God made flesh among us to redeem us. In other words, God became sin that we sinners might become partakers of Him. And when we partake of Him, we partake of His... We were time-space people, three score and ten. And God came down and become one of us (three score and ten) for His 'lotted time, that we might partake of His Eternal Life. And when we're borned again, we're sons and daughters of God, and have Eternal Life and shall never perish. Oh, what a--what a--what a blessed Saviour. Oh, there's no way to write it. There's no way to explain it. It's just beyond explaining. No one can explain how great it is. And--How Great Thou Art! How Great Thou Art! is right.

^82-288 Next verse, listen at it here.

^82-289 Now, did you ever notice when we vote for a president, every farmer will vote for a president that's been a farmer, for he knows the hard part of a farmer's life. See? He wants some man who understands.
And before God could ever understand (Him being that great holiness)... How He could ever understand, after He condemned man... By His holiness, He condemned man. And the only way He'll ever know how to justify a man is to become man.
And God overshadowed the virgin and she brought forth a body; not Jewish blood, not Gentile blood, but His Own Blood, God's created Blood, no sex at all in it at all, no sexual desire. And this Blood Cell, created in the womb of this woman, brought forth the Son. And when He was baptized by John the Baptist, John said, "I bear record, seeing the Spirit of God like a dove a-coming down and abiding upon Him."

^83-292 No wonder Jesus could say that "all powers in heaven and earth is given into My hand." God and man became One; heavens and earth embraced each other; and He was the One Who could give reconciliation for our sins. That's the reason that in His Name healing takes place. He knows your pains. Did you ever hear this little, old song?

^83-295 Listen at the last verse now. All right.

^84-297 Remember when I preached the other night on "The deer, the hart thirsts for the water brooks, so my soul panteth after Thee, O God?" If the deer's wounded and living, losing blood, he's got to get to water or he'll die.
I was shot, down in the field, when I was fourteen years old. And I was laying there. And my legs blowed over me, like hamburger from a twelve-gauge shotgun. And I screamed for water: "Oh, give me a drink." I numb; my lips was numb.
My buddy run over to an old pool, had all kinds of little old wiggletails--swamp. I didn't care what it was. And he raked it full of water, and I held my mouth open, and he squeezed his cap out like that in my mouth. Yeah, I had to have water.
He was bleeding. He said, "Give Me a drink." And they give Him vinegar on a sponge, and He rejected it, and refused it. He was God's Lamb dying in our stead to bring reconciliation to the human being. What was it? The God of heaven.

^84-301 Billy Sunday once said that every bush had Angels setting in it, saying, "Just pull Your hand loose and point Your finger, we'll change the situation."
And that sassy bunch of religious fanatics, called some big educated scholars of D.D., Ph.D., walked by Him and said, "Now if you are the Son of God... You saved others; yourself you can't save. Come down off the cross and we'll believe you."
They didn't know that they was paying Him a compliment. He could've saved Himself. But if He saved Himself, others He could not save. So He gave Himself. Blessed be His Name. He gave Himself that I could be saved and you could be saved. Oh, what matchless love.

^85-304 He didn't have to be sick; that precious virgin-born body didn't have to be sick. But He became sick that He might know how to intercede for me when I was sick. He didn't have to weary, but He did weary.
I read a little history one time on it, I don't know whether it was authentic or not: "When He raised that boy from Nain there, up from the dead, He set on a rock and groaned with a headache;" 'cause He had to bear our sickness.
He had to bear our sin, and there He died. And on Calvary when that old bee and death once anchored its stinger... Anyone knows when a bee anchors its stinger, it can't sting no more. When the bee flies away or any insect that stings, when he anchors his stinger, he pulls the stinger out. He's still a bee, but he hasn't got a stinger. The only thing he can do is buzz and make a lot of noise.
That's the only thing that death can do to the believer, is make a lot of noise. But, hallelujah, blessed be the Name of the Lord, He anchored that stinger of death in His own flesh. Emmanuel did it. And rose up again on the third day, shook the stinger out of there, and is immortal tonight. And His Spirit is in this building. And He proves Hisself alive among us. That's our Messiah. That's our blessed Saviour. Make...