We thank you, Lord, for these people tonight; for each and every one of them. We thank you for the written, living word. We thank you that this is the hour for the living word to be inside of us that we might be a witness of your love, your peace and joy to a world that doesn’t know you. Give us the word that you have for us, today, and the understanding. We thank you that your way is right and pure and mighty.
We roll back every power and principality of the enemy and release your Spirit to rule in this place and in each and every person. We thank you for what you are doing in each of our lives and we know that it is you, Lord. Now, Lord, put your blessing in these people, in Jesus name. Amen.
I’d like to read a scripture to you in Isaiah. The Lord gives us several things that He wants us to do and if we don’t we’re in trouble. When it says ‘in that day’ God is referring to a definite time. I believe here He’s talking about today. I want you to see it in Isaiah 28 where He’s talking about a people drunk with wine.
- “Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty [is] a fading flower, which [are] on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
- Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, [which] as a tempest of hail [and] a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
- The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
- And the glorious beauty, which [is] on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, [and] as the hasty fruit before the summer; which [when] he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
- In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
- And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
- But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble [in] judgment.
- For all tables are full of vomit [and] filthiness, [so that there is] no place [clean].
- Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? [them that are] weaned from the milk, [and] drawn from the breasts.
- For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little:
- For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
- To whom he said, This [is] the rest [wherewith] ye may cause the weary to rest; and this [is] the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
- But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
- Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which [is] in Jerusalem.
- Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
- Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner [stone], a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
- Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
- And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
- From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only [to] understand the report.
- For the bed is shorter than that [a man] can stretch himself [on it]: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself [in it].
- For the LORD shall rise up as [in] mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as [in] the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
- Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
- Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
It’s pretty rough on most of you here. There was a day when we first started that we didn’t have any work for you. God has to prepare us for what He has called us to do and we realize that some of us aren’t prepared yet. So, it’s hard on you because some of you have never worked before and you don’t know how. We are saying to you that God is speaking through His word.
“In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people…” He’s choosing out a people that are going to be for Him a crown and diadem of beauty. He’s going to prove who He is!
But you see in this time ‘many are called’ and there are a lot of problems and He’s had to turn some people out of the way; but He decides to bring in the residue of His people. They are not the majority, only a few people. He says that some of you have a covenant with death and hell. And what God plans on doing with us He is going to do. Some of you think “We have a covenant with death and we have an agreement with hell and whatever you do isn’t going to effect us. We’ve made lies our refuge and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.”
But the Lord says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone…” right in the middle of this debris, in the middle of this drunken crown of pride and all of this, He laid a stone. A tried stone, a precious stone, a sure foundation and he that believes will not be disturbed.
It was utterly impossible because the people were in total rebellion. They were drunkards, they were everything but what God wanted. He is talking about the priests and the prophets and He had to lay it all aside. He has a stone and Jesus is that stone and this is the stone He lays in Zion. This stone He has given you, this precious stone, it’s a sure foundation and it will never fail. Jesus has redeemed us with His precious blood and He’s brought us into a relationship with Him; but He still has training for us.
He said, “Judgment will I, also lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet.” He’s going to sweep away the refuge of lies and the covenant with the devil and with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with hell won’t stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through you will be trodden down by it. He asked, “Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts.” Now a precept is a rule.
10. “Precept must be upon precept…” (This is a little different training here) “…line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little:
11. For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.”
To whom He said, “This is the rest where you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing.” But they would not listen. God is still giving us precept upon precept and line upon line that we may know Him. But He is interested in our lives being built the way He wants them built. He’s preparing a people for His glory and a people with His beauty. He’s preparing a people to be filled with His Spirit, a people with stammering lips and another tongue. But they didn’t want it and they didn’t want the rest that He wanted to give them.
All through the centuries God pleaded with the children of Israel to come and enter into His rest but they wouldn’t. Now He said, “I have to have a people that will enter into My rest so I’m going to send My Son into the world and I’m going to give them rest through Him.” He’s causing the weary to rest.
He has purposed for us that we hear what He is saying for He’s not taking the wise of the world; He’s taking us. He’s asking us to let Him pour out His Spirit upon us. He’s not going to send us out there like a lot of us want to do the minute we find the Lord and get filled with the Holy Ghost. I see some of it here, but it doesn’t work.
I grant you the training at Sommer Haven is rough, but its God’s training. Maybe you aren’t used to the way we do it. In the early days we had a lot of leisure time. We don’t have that time any more. Remember that He wants to teach us something, He wants to give us knowledge and understanding.
No one was listening or understanding so He said, “Come on, I’ll give you Jesus and I’ll lay that foundation in you.” That doesn’t mean we know it all. It means it’s the beginning. We still have to learn by precept upon precept. That’s what the children of Israel didn’t want to do. Most people today don’t want to do it that way. He’s saying, “This is the way, the foundation is Jesus Christ.” We have to let Him put this in us for He can’t teach you everything in one day, you can’t absorb it. He wants it to go line upon line, and precept upon precept.
But you say, “That isn’t what I want. I want to do it my way.” God says, “I want to give you understanding and knowledge.” “But, God, I already know it.” What happens then? So, the Lord decided to give them other tongues, but they still wouldn’t do it and division perished and they went their own way. God is saying to us that it must be precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little. They wouldn’t do it, so they went away from it.
He said, “I want to give it to them so they can enter into my rest and they can cause the weary to rest.” We have a very weary world today. What are we going to give to them? He said, “I want you to enter into my rest.” This rest means that we must come to Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit, be baptized in water and know Him and know that He has called us. The rest He gives us is His rest. If we don’t have it, we can’t help others rest. If we don’t have this refreshing, we can’t give refreshing to others. He’s still saying, “The word of the Lord is precept upon precept; rule upon rule, here a little and there a little. He is perfecting a people in Jesus, that we will be filled with His glory. We will be able to have this glorious beauty of Jesus Christ. God is speaking to our hearts, “This is your time of preparation.”
We want you perfected in what God Has for you. God is calling us into a different walk; a walk of His spirit, a walk where we realize that He lives in us. We aren’t our own we’ve been bought by a price. There was a time we didn’t have the work we have now.
I want to tell you what God wants to do now. He wants to bring you His rest and His Spirit and if we grumble and complain we will lose it. If we murmur and complain we will lose it. Whatever you do you do it unto Him. There is one man here that washes dishes almost 24 hours a day. I think He thinks He’s the only one that washes them. But if He does it unto the Lord He will be blessed; but if He does it because He has to do, then he loses His reward. If we do it unto the Lord it’s a joy.
I remember the story of Nehemiah when they were building the wall they had to carry the guns in one hand and work with the other, but God gave them a mind to work. They had to be watchman and after the walls were put up they had a day of celebration in which they were weeping and weeping for this was a day of rejoicing. The Lord sat a table before them and they ate and enjoyed it because the walls were built. They hadn’t yet built their houses, but the Lord said, “Take time to worship.” They had been through all the battle with the enemy coming at them and now it was time to worship the Lord for He was their strength.
In this place, though you work very hard, the joy of the Lord is going to be your strength. God is going to show you something so mighty. Tonight we have the foundation laid in Jesus Christ; but He still requires something of us. He’s getting ready to do a marvelous work and a strange act. God is moving on this earth today; He’s moving by His spirit. Joel says He’s going to pour out His spirit on all flesh. We want to be trained by Him and know that we have put rule upon rule in our lives that we might know exactly what He wants us to do. The joy of the Lord is our strength and we will not falter.
He has given unto us a covenant: if you will obey me and let me train you I will be your God and you will be my people. It’s not our training, it is God’s training. He wants to make us strong, ready to go out and face the world for Jesus Christ. Are we ready to be trained by Him and lay aside things that we prefer to do and let Him make us what He wants us to be? We can’t train ourselves; we can only be trained by Him.
I wouldn’t have chosen the way God has trained me, but I did it and did it gladly. I knew He called me to go to the ends of the earth. I couldn’t go with this gospel unless I had permitted Him to train me precept upon precept, line upon line; here a little, there a little. It isn’t so bad when you get down to the little things is it? Bye this time you are pretty well trained. “Lord, it wasn’t so bad after all!” We forget what we had to go through because of our own will and our own ways.
So you say, “Lord, we want to be trained by you.” I know it’s simple to go through it fast. But that is not what the Lord is saying: “Come unto me all ye that labor… and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28) “This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest.” It is wonderful, tonight, the way of the Lord. Some of you have come out of a lot of things; but don’t try to get it overnight; don’t be stubborn or rebellious or full of pride against what God wants. Yield to Him and He will give you His rest and you will cause the weary to rest. “Come unto me all ye that labor and I will give you rest.” His yoke is easy and He will give you rest.
We praise God for each of you. Don’t get discouraged. It might not be simple and yet it might be. If you take it badly it will be hard on you. We have a responsibility before the nations. You are here at this hour when we have outreaches around the world. Think about what it means to have a part in it.
So what if we call on you? You have to be ready. God gives you strength. He gives you strength to meet the needs of the world. Every privilege we have to walk with Him and to be trained by Him is so we can meet the needs of the people here and other countries. More than anything when these needs are met they are going to know that God did it and know that Jesus loves them. And it’s that love that they are going to experience. They are going to come to the Lord. You have a part in the harvest of souls. Don’t be weary in well doing. If we let Him build His character in us and let Him take out the things of the world, He will bless us with the blessing of the word.
Lord, we thank you for the word. Cause us to flow in it and in the lives of the multitudes. We pray, tonight, that it burns like in us to obey you. Bless these people and bring your counsel and the joy of the Lord to them. Bless these people by your Spirit. Thank you, Jesus, for teaching your ways, move by your spirit in our lives to allow us to arise in you. We thank you, Jesus. Amen.
February 10, 1996
