I Got a Secret to Tell You

I wanted to tell you something. Come here. Come here. Come in. I've got a secret.

I want to... Come on. Come on in. Can't have others listening in on what's going to be said here. You never know who is listening. And so I want to tell you a secret. Now, I'm going to hold off right now and talk about some other things, but I've got some secrets I want to tell you today.

Have any of you seen the book The Secret? You know, this book called The Secret that is out there. Not only I understand it's a book, and also there's a film called The Secret. It seems like a lot of people in the world have a desire to know secrets. There are secret societies of all genre that are out there, but somebody came along, a lady by the name of Rhonda Byrne, and wrote a book called The Secret. Very attractive book. If you've been to Costco, I'm not sure it is as popular now as it was, but there have been over 20 million copies of this book called The Secret that have been published around the world. 20 million! And I understand it's been put into nearly 50 languages. This book called The Secret. You know, people want to know the secret to everything. And I understand also that this is more of a franchise now, of The Secret has earned over 300 million dollars worldwide. And supposedly this woman who wrote this book herself was in poverty. Usually that's the story, isn't it? I was in poverty. It's like the fellow writes a book about the stock market. You know, I was living in my car, and I came up with The Secret. And then I, all of a sudden, you know, now I'm a wealthy person. And, you know, I'm a wealthy person because I'm telling people how to increase their wealth, you know, in the stock market or whatever it is. And, you know, The Secret is that most of them are getting wealthy because they're selling people books. That is where the key is. But this book is called The Secret.

And the truth of the matter, brethren, there are no secrets in The Secret. So if you haven't read the book The Secret, there is no secret to The Secret. And it simply states this. This is what the book states, by the way. So save you having to buy it and save you having to read it, or going to Barnes and Noble and reading it, you know, as you drink a Starbucks cup of coffee. But simply stated, the book says this, that your thoughts control the universe. Your thoughts control the universe. And through what they call the law of attraction, you manifest your desires and you attract it.

You know, that's very appealing, isn't it? No wonder she's made over 300 billion dollars on this particular one. You know, anything you desire, money, power, a new pair of comfortable shoes, it's yours by just wanting it enough. If you desire it enough, if you want it enough, it can be yours, as long as you apply The Secret. Well, brethren, I thought, well, I think it'd be a good idea to give you some secrets, because, I mean, if 300 million bucks have been made on a book called The Secret, my sermon today, the title of it, is I've Got a Secret to Tell You.

I've Got a Secret to Tell You. Now, I'm not going to tell you the secrets the world often has or claims to have, because mostly they are pipe dreams that this world has. And in the end, you know, you're just the same as, in fact, when you, quote-unquote, learn the secret. You know, it is the way it is in this world and in this society. Let's go over to Psalm 25 and see what the Bible says about secrets. Over here in Psalm 25 and down in verse 12 here, notice what here David writes in the Psalm of David in Psalm 25. It says, Who is the man that fears the Eternal? And, of course, let's understand, brother, in this word, fears, here, means greatly respect. God does not want us to have a cowering, craven fear of Him. But who is the man who fears the Eternal? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. And it says, He Himself shall dwell in prosperity. You know, if we, in fact, are obeying God, God has promised to feed us on the heritage of Jacob. Now, it doesn't mean that you're going to be a wealthy man, but you'll be prosperous if you're doing what God commands you to do. And, you know, if you're diligent in those things. And His descendants shall inherit the earth. But notice in verse 14, the secret of the Eternal is with those who fear Him. And so, if you want to know a secret, brethren, do you fear God? Do you respect God? Do you highly regard God? And notice it says, and He will show them His covenant to those people, brethren, that fear God. We see here that God reveals His deep counsels, His secrets to them. And, of course, we know that He also reveals His covenant to them who fear Him and greatly respect Him. Unfortunately, in the world today, brethren, most people do not fear God. And what Mr. Armstrong said often, by the way, the two hardest things to do are to, number one, to repent and number two, to believe God.

And the world, quite frankly, has done neither of those two. And most simply do not fear God. They don't believe God. You know, it's like Christ said in the Pharisees, you know, that they sought to kill Him who is a messenger of God.

But in Isaiah 45, let's go over to Isaiah 45 and verse 16 over here. Isaiah 45 and verse 16.

The Bible is a word that actually is unlocked, and it unlocks itself. There are no secrets, quite frankly, in the Bible. It's all right there, you know, for us to read. It's all right there for us to see, right before our eyes.

It is a coded book in the sense that if you do not have the Holy Spirit, you cannot understand it. But again, the evidence is right here in front of us. And it's just a matter of believing what God says. But in Isaiah 45 and verse 16 over here, it says, This world, brethren, is a confused mess. It really is. And it's because people do not worship the true God. They worship idols.

And so they are in confusion altogether. But in verse 7, And Israel shall be saved by the eternal with an everlasting salvation, And you shall not be ashamed or disgraced for ever and ever. And so here's the promise that God makes to Israel. And on down here in verse 19, And it says, So God says, And certainly Isaiah did not speak in secret.

But it says, And remember, Daniel himself in the book of Daniel said that God was a revealer of secrets. If you want to know, all you've got to do is ask Him, and He will tell you. But don't expect, brethren, for God to unlock everything for us, you know, whether or not we fear Him or respect Him or believe Him. You know, the Bible also says that we should not cast pearls before swine. Is God going to cast his pearls before people who will not believe? I don't think so.

You know, He would follow certainly that same wisdom of not giving to man something He simply will not be of a mind to believe. And so many, again, do not believe God.

But there have been, brethren, things hidden from the foundation of the world that have been revealed to the saints of the Most High, but are made plain, again, right in the pages of the Bible, if we are open to receive it and to believe it. And you know, one of the first things that I remember before God really started opening this book to me when I first started, you know, back in the 60s, is when I told God I would do what it said, then He opened it up to me. But not before that. Not only would I believe it, but I would do it. It's not good enough to just say, well, God, I'll believe it, you know, if You'll open it up to me. We've got to be willing to do it. We've got to be willing to live it. Well, brethren, what are some of the most important secrets right now on the earth? What are the most important secrets that this world is not, you know, has not understood, and yet is hidden in plain sight, as we put it, but it's understandable by someone who has an open mind? Well, brethren, one of the great, great secrets that this world has not fathomed, that this world has not understood, is the secret of man, of who man is.

Now, of course, I use the term man to speak of men and women. The secret of man and the origin of man. Where did man come from? What did God intend for him? You know, there are many who think that they have unlocked the understanding of the origin of man. It's like when Charles Darwin, you know, first presented his origin of the species. You know, of course, he didn't understand the complexities of the cell at all. And, you know, now, of course, it's been clearly demonstrated that the human cell is not an accident. It was designed. It was by divine design. A grand design that made the human cell, that brought about, you know, human beings. And, you know, when you see all these little factories that are carried on, and, you know, we have multiple billions of cells in the human body, but every little cell is carried on like a little factory. You know, you got conveyor belts, you got trucks backing up, and inside your cell, you got all these miniature, you know, quote-unquote trucks within your cells that are hauling things. You know, there's loading docks, as it were, in a cell, because, you know, your body's got to supply the needs of the cell. And some have studied this, and they realize this couldn't have just evolved. It just couldn't happen. But Charles Darwin, you know, had his origin of the species, and man is eating it with a spoon. You know why, brethren? You know why man likes it so much? It's because it denies God. It takes God out of the equation. That man climbed out of a primordial soup, anciently, you know, like two lovesick amoeba, you know, and they had all the little amoebas, and, you know, and the amoebas, you know, became somehow changed. I guess they developed ears and nose and all that stuff. So they got kicked out of the amoeba world, and they became something else. But anyway, you know, this is the concept that man has accepted. You know, we used to joke about how that if you'll believe that, you know, I've got a sale on the Brooklyn Bridge that you should not pass up. But there are many people that have other theories as well, brethren. There are some who think they've unlocked an understanding of the origin of man. You know, brethren, that many people believe that man was seated here upon the planet earth, Tara, as they, I'm sure, would refer to it. We were seated by aliens from other star systems. You know, that's how man got here. And then the aliens engineered man by combining the genetic codes of an ape and themselves. And so this is how man came about, that man was formed. Now, some of you may have actually read about some of this, but there's a fellow by the name of Zachariah Sitchen.

Who's written a number of books claiming that aliens, and the aliens, by the way, from this other star system, are called the Anunnaki. How many of you have ever heard of this, by the way? Am I the only one that has heard some of these things? Raise your hand if you have. I'd be interested in knowing how many people. But the Anunnaki, apparently, that he says, they're the ones that came, and they, again, combined the genetic code, and as a result, man came about. And according to Sitchen, the reason why that man was created was for the purpose is they basically needed some grunt labor to mine gold. Now, I know a lot of people would mine gold. They wouldn't have to be a slave or anybody. They would do that. But anyway, these Anunnaki invented man for the purpose of mining gold. And the reason, he says, is that their planet, they call it Nibiru, Nibiru was dying because the atmosphere was going bad. So what they're doing is they're using the gold in the atmosphere. And so anyway, they're loading their spaceships up and hauling them back to Nibiru. Because, supposedly, this Nibiru comes through every 3,000 years, something like that. It's a sort of a floating system of some sort. And this is what man was for, that man came about. And Citroen says, by the way, this is what's contained in the ancient Sumerian cuneiform tablets.

And you know what is also appealing to people about this, brethren? Is it denies God, too. Just like evolution does, it denies God. That we're talking about aliens from other planets, basically. We're talking about beings from other star systems. Again, the story denies God, and hence it's very appealing to people. Because the important thing for, it seems, for human beings is to leave God out of the picture. To leave the creator God out of the picture, like evolution does. However, brethren, what actually, what actually is the secret of man's origin? What is it? Why was man created? And did God create man as a worker slave for himself?

Is that what God did? Did he create a worker slave for himself?

Well, let's go to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2. It's been a while since we've gone to Genesis 2 and talked about some of these things, but all of us are very familiar, you know, with the Hebrew, you know, for the word soul over here.

Actually, I think in the New King James it may render it a little better.

Yeah, it does. But if you have a King James, you know, that man became a living soul here. But notice it says, The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. So it's a better translation, by the way, than the King James. But the word here, living being, comes from the Hebrew word nayfesh. And what that means is a living, breathing creature. Now, the Protestants get it all wrong. They think we have souls, and the fact of the matter is the Bible says we are souls. We are souls. And so nayfesh, you know, actually means that, a living, breathing creature. And so man became a living, breathing creature. But let's go over here to verse 26 of a first chapter here in verse 26. It says, then God said, let us make man in our image.

Now, we need to understand, brethren, there are only two beings that are set apart that, you know, the Bible reveals that are divine. And that is, of course, as we understand them, now the Father and the Son. Jesus Christ, as we know, the Lord and God, the Father, are the only two spirit beings. And, you know, they are the only creators, by the way, as well.

But this is why it says, let us make man in our image. Remember that it was God and the Word, as John 1.1 brings out to us. But notice, according to our likeness, not according to angelic likeness, but according to our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. And so God brought into existence mankind to make him a slave, or so people say. But did you see the word, brethren, right here in verse 26, dominion? Man was given dominion. And later we will see Paul actually corroborating this, that man was given incredible dominion over the entire earth. In fact, it says right there, in verse 26, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth, everything. Man was given this dominion. Doesn't sound much like he's a slave to God here, to me. And in fact, we do not see that, you know, in the Garden of Eden, that man is a slave of God.

But God is like a father to Adam and Eve. And so Adam and Eve were created in the image of the likeness of God, and God gave them dominion. The thing about Adam and Eve that the world has really never understood is that while man was given what is known as, in the Book of Job and other places talk about this, known as the Spirit in Man, which imparts intellect to the human mind, the one thing man lacked was the Holy Spirit.

One thing he lacked was the character of God, God's character. Remember, he was virtually an empty vessel, you know, when he was created. He was neutral. In essence, Adam and Eve were neutral when they were created. No, they had the ability to think and reason. We can see that, you know, in fact, here in the Book of Genesis, that he had that ability. But let's go on here in Genesis 2 and down to verse 8, down here. And it says, And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed, and out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow, that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food.

And the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, so there was a tree of life. And notice here, it doesn't say it was an apple tree here. Neither one of them doesn't say what kind of fruit it had on it. You know, the tree of life over in the, by the way, over in the New Testament, you know, when New Jerusalem comes down, it bears 12 men or a fruit.

So it's kind of an interesting tree, isn't it? But then there was another tree. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, the Bible uses wording, brethren, for a purpose. The true, two trees, as we see from the second tree, which was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is a tree of knowledge. And in the case of the second tree, it was a tree of knowledge of good and evil.

You know, everything that man knows is not wrong. Everything he does, quite frankly, is not wrong, but unfortunately is oftentimes tainted with evil. But the tree of life symbolizes the knowledge, too, brethren. It symbolizes the knowledge that would be revealed by God. God would reveal it to mankind. It pictured revealed knowledge. And, you know, conversely, by the way, you're looking here, one is called the tree of life, and the other one called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Conversely, if the tree of life, a tree, was a tree of revealed knowledge, and it was called the tree of life, then the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, brethren, was a tree of death.

And man has been eaten off that tree for the last 6,000 years. And this is what human beings have been doing. But remember, as we look over at the count over here, let's go to Genesis 3 over here. So man was put in the garden, and he had the, you know, the true trees there. And remember, God told man, he said, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, lest you die.

And it's like most kids, they tend to only hear what they want to hear, you know, and they begin to analyze, you know, what God said and reason within themselves, and they did what God commanded them not to do. But notice in verse 1, it says, now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, have God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. Of course, God didn't say you couldn't touch it, did He?

But He said, stay away from it, you know. But it says, then the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. Of course, Eve never heard the word surely, did she? There. And maybe didn't have clues of what it meant. Now, apparently, this serpent, by the way, was not a snake wrapped around a tree. As a lot of people, you see a lot of art depictions of this. In fact, the word can mean very charismatic, you know, kind of a very smooth type operator, you know, I don't know whether, you know, you know, Satan showed up in a soup, you know, some sort, you know, and how he may have looked. But anyway, you know, he played word games with her. For God knows that in the day you eat, your eyes are going to be open, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw the tree was good for food, it was pleasant in the eyes. The tree desirable to make one wise, she took of it fruit it ate, and she also gave to her husband with him, with her, and he ate. I guess Adam didn't even have to think about it, and he did it. Maybe when he battered her eyes, he forgot, you know. But it's just that the eyes of both of them were open, and they knew that they were naked. Apparently, they didn't know that before, but their eyes were open, you know, and they knew they were naked, and they sewed thick leaves together and made themselves coverings. So these were rudimentary coverings that were made here that they made for themselves. Later, God made them, in fact, you know, the clothing himself. But in verse 16, let's go down here. You know, so they confront God, and God was, of course, walking in the cool of the day, probably on the Sabbath. These are things that were taking place, and, you know, and so, you know, God called for them, and he couldn't immediately find them, and finally did.

And, you know, we see in verse 14, so the Lord God said to the serpent, because you've done this, you know, this is the curse that's going to be put upon you. But verse 16, and to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Amazing what it must have been like, or would have been like, had this not ever occurred.

You know, wouldn't it be wonderful, ladies, if childbirth was painless?

Wouldn't it be wonderful, men, if when, you know, babies are born, your wife didn't, you know, say you're the reason for my pain? You know, if she hangs on to your hand and the blood starts being cut off, wouldn't it be wonderful if these problems were not there? Well, you know, this is what God said. And then to Adam, he said, because you've heated the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree which I commanded you, saying you should not eat of it, cursed is the ground for your sake.

And it says, in toil you shall eat of it. All the days of your life, both thorns and thistles, it shall break forth you, and you shall eat the herb of the field, and in the sweat of your face shall shall eat bread till you return to the ground. And out of it, for out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return. Remember, Adam was made from red clay. In fact, Adam means red clay. God used that to make it. And so this is what happened to man. And on down in verse 22, notice, and it says, you know, well, in chapter 3 here, down in verse 22, it says, The Lord God said, Behold, a man has become like one of us, to know good and evil. And basically what this means, by the way, brethren, as we've often said, is that to know good and evil, in other words, that they could choose for themselves what was good and what is evil. You know, not that man probably would ever know the real difference, but he would choose for himself. And he wouldn't be listening to God. He wouldn't be doing what God commanded him to do. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and even live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. And he drove out the man, he placed care of them at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. And so this is what happened. And Adam rejected God, and he did it for all of his progeny after him.

You know, sometimes people say, well, is that fair? Is God fair in doing that?

You know, that all the progeny faced the same curse. All the progeny were thrown out of the garden of Eden? Well, usually, you know, when you have a husband and wife, and you have children, you know what? We have an old saying, the nut does not fall very far from the tree. And that's been happening to human beings the last 6,000 years. So was God fair? Yes, he was fair, because when Adam took of the tree, when he wasn't deceived, the Bible says that Eve was deceived, he chose for all mankind. So Adam rejected God, and then he was denied access to the tree of life. Like I said, was a tree of knowledge, too. Revealed knowledge. So man was cut off, brethren, as it were, from God's counsels. He was cut off from God's secrets.

And also, by the way, the tree of life symbolized the Holy Spirit, which man could not have. He would not be given the Holy Spirit because it was cut off from revealed knowledge.

He was cut off from it, and again, the Spirit was necessary to open the mind to see what God has revealed. God had already revealed to him something, and he had rejected that. And he did it for all mankind. And consequently, you know, since he's done that, for all mankind, we find that Paul, I'm not going to go over to 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, he says over there in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, that Satan, the devil, has blinded the minds of human beings, basically, lest the light of the glorious gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God, should shine unto them. And so people have been blinded, and they've been blinded for the last 6,000 years.

And, you know, the gospel of what God intended for man, what he intended for man, was hidden from man, because man doesn't want to believe God. Remember that, you know, Christ said, you Pharisees don't believe me, because you seek to kill me. And, you know, so they did not believe, and mankind has not believed ever since Adam. And God basically, in a nutshell, this is what God said to man. He said, since you have rejected me, and you've turned away from what I've commanded you to do, you go your own way, then. You form your own governments, you know, you form your own systems, you know, your medical systems, your legal systems, you live your ways of life, but I reserve the right to send my servants, the prophets, to warn you of the air of your ways, and the way that you're going, where it's going to end up. And so, brethren, this has been happening ever since Adam. We see, you know, prior to the flood, the Loation flood, that there were prophets that came and warned. You know, prior to the flood, Enoch was, remember, a man of God, and he warned, we can read that, in fact, over in the book of Jude. One of the things that, you know, Enoch warned is that God is going to send punishment upon those who do their ungodly deeds. You know, we see him preaching about that prior to the flood. Now, by the way, the Book of Genesis, it's an interesting thing to know this, what is the Book of Genesis about, anyway?

Well, we see it here at the beginning. It talks about the origin of man, but do you know, brethren, that the Book of Genesis, brethren, is about not just the origin of Adam, but the Book of Genesis is about the origin of Israel. Where Israel came from answers the question about where Israel came from. You know, we see in the Bible that there were righteous people that were a part of the lineage that, again, extended, you know, through Adam, through Enoch, down to Noah. On the other side of the flood, we have Shem, after him, and then who comes on the scene? Abraham, all right. Then who comes on the scene? Isaac. Then you have Jacob. Then you have the twelve sons of Jacob. In essence, this is what the Book of Genesis is all about to tell you where Israel came from.

The secret of man is just a part of the story of where man originated. So we'll understand where, in fact, Israel came from. So that's another secret, brethren, that the Bible talks about, that the world just doesn't understand, doesn't grasp. So now you have heard a secret. The first one I told you is the secret of the origin of man. The next secret, brethren, is the secret of Israel. The secret of Israel. By the way, Israel was not an afterthought of God. God didn't say, well, you know, I've just not done so well on human beings. I guess I'll go ahead and call these fledgling group of people. Yeah, I see them down there. They're down in Egypt. I think I'm going to use them. I've tried other nations, but they didn't listen to me. So I'm going to try these rag-tab group of people that are down here in Egypt. No, Israel, brethren, was not an afterthought, but a well-thought-out plan from ancient times. So God, again, outlined it long before.

In fact, God started talking about Israel, brethren, 600 years before Israel ever came to be. It's a nation. Before they ever came, you know, into their own land. In fact, God promised him 600 years before. Now, think about that. Three times the length of time that the United States just about has existed 600 years before. You know, God was talking about with Abraham what he was going to do with him. Let's go to Genesis 12. Genesis 12 over here. Genesis 12 over here.

And it says, Now the Lord had said to Abram, here he was called Abram, Yet you honor a country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I'll make you a great nation. And by the way, here he was 75 years old. And in reality, Abram was unconverted at this particular time.

That would really not truly happen until much later. But it says, Get out of your country, away from your family, and I'm going to make you a great nation and will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And so Abraham did an unusual thing. Abram did an unusual thing. He did what God said. One of the hardest things for human beings to do, believe God. Well, he did. He believed God, not just on this one occasion. And so he went, you know, and he took his wife, Sarah, with him. And they went to the place that God guided him to. And over here, though, in Chapter 17, let's go over in Chapter 17, over here, Genesis 17, in verse 1. And when Abram was 99 years old, the Eternal appeared to Abram and said to him, I am Almighty God, walk before me, and be blameless. Do you have a King James and other translations say perfect? Walk before me and be perfect. So at 99, here is when God is saying, okay, time to now become perfect, to be perfect. And we know he did. He obeyed God's commandments and statutes and judgments, as it says later on in the book of Genesis. And I will make a covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly. Remember, God said, I'm going to make you a great nation, and multiply you exceedingly. Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham. For I've made you a father of many nations. And I'll make you exceedingly fruitful, and I'll make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. Not just one nation, but a multitude of nations are going to come out of you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you. And I'll give you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, and everlasting possession I will be their God. And God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. And this is my covenant with you, which you shall keep between you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

And so this whole promise is sealed with the descendants of Abraham being circumcised.

Circumcision was merely an outward expression of Abraham's obedience and the obedience of his descendants and whether they would walk in his way. That was necessary, of course, for them. But God would bless him and greatly increases descendants.

And circumcision, an outward show of the obedience of God, would be done. And God made promises, he made him scepter promises of kingship, he made him birthright promises of prosperity. And we find that, in fact, God absolutely confirms these things when Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac, and he was willing to go through it. And God, you know what God said to Abraham? He said, now I know that I can bring to pass every last thing I have said about you. You can read about that in Genesis 22 over there.

And so God, you know, made this unequivocal promise to Abraham. He was going to bless him, that he was going to multiply him, that, you know, he would have promises of nations coming out of him and a great number of descendants. Now, a lot of people today, by the way, think that the only descendants of Abraham are right over in the Middle East right now. The Jews. I don't know how many Jews there are, but it used to be that there were more Jews in New York City than were in Israel.

What about these descendants that were going to be as the stars of the sky? Of the heavens. Well, God made the promise, brethren, and he kept the promise.

Now, interestingly, the concept of birthrights, and that is the firstborn receiving the birthright promises, you know, came apparently, may or may not have been originated through Abraham, but in Israel, at least, it came from Abraham, the birthright promises. And so, when Isaac was grown, he was 40 years of age or around there after he married Rebecca, Isaac was conveyed the birthright promises. And Abraham promised him or conveyed these promises to him that God had made to him. You know the story and the account of Isaac, you know, when he was, you know, had Esau and Jacob. Typically, Esau should have received the firstborn promises, but we know the story and account is that Jacob received those birthright promises. When Isaac was very old, of the memory, he made these promises, he passed these blessings on to Jacob. And, you know, it's a long story, but we find that brought out here in the book of Genesis, of how that God worked with Laban, you know, in spite of his way, you know, in fact, you know, even though Laban would have probably cheated Jacob out of every last thing he had, if he could have. After, you know, the marriage of Jacob, you know, to Rachel and Leah, remember he leaves Laban a very wealthy man, very much blessed. And as he was going out, remember he was coming upon Esau, who had sent a large entourage out to him. And so, remember the story about how Jacob divided his people up, hopefully as a diversionary tactic to mollify his brother. But when he did done that, remember Jacob was left alone, he wrestled with God to the breaking of the day in the story. And, you know, God at that point, because he prevailed with God, God named Jacob Israel. So again, that's in the book. So here's where the term Israel comes from.

And because Abraham or because Jacob prevailed with God. And you know the story about how Jacob had 12 sons, 12 sons, and these 12 sons made up the descendants of the man called Israel. And consequently, they were called Israel. And so this is how Israel came to be.

And in the book of Genesis, we have the stories of Jacob. What happened to Jacob? What happened to Joseph when he was down in Egypt? Lo and behold, there was his own brother who sold him into slavery, and he was sent down into Egypt. Then afterwards, we have the story of Jacob's son, sons coming in, the other 11 boys that come into Egypt. And we remember again that there were roughly about 70 or so that came down into Egypt of Jacob's family. But then, brethren, we come to the end of the book of Genesis, and we're told not necessarily about what's going to happen to Israel next, but what is going to happen to Israel in the future in our time that we're living in, although some of the things I'm sure applied to that time as well.

And so here, this is what the book of Genesis is about. Then we come to the book of Exodus. What is that about? Okay. In Genesis, we find out how Israel got in Egypt. In the book of Exodus, the whole story, brethren, is about how Israel was brought out of Egypt. And among other things, it reveals where the commandments were given and all of these things. So the book of Exodus is about Israel's exodus out of Egypt. And so that's about Israel, as I said. We have the story of Moses opening up. And of course, the story of Israel multiplying and the midwives and all that. But chapter 2 about Moses being thrown into the Nile in the pitched basket and the princes retrieving them and raising Moses and so forth. We again have a snippet of that particular story. And then, of course, we see there Israel crying out. And so we find, again, in the book of Exodus, this is what it's talking about. It's talking about Israel.

And also there we have Israel being brought out to the foot of Mount Sinai where the Ten Commandments were given and where God makes His covenant with them. But remember, they had to be circumcised as a sign of their obedience, just like Abraham was told to do. And they were given other signs. One of the other signs, of course, was the Sabbath. And the Sabbath is important to point out, to know about, brethren, is because as long as Israel retained the Sabbath, they never lost their identity.

And so we see these things discussed in the book of Exodus. But we find, brethren, particularly when we go from Exodus into the book of Joshua and elsewhere, that everything God promised to Abraham came to pass.

God did what He said He was going to do. We know that there's going to be a former fulfillment in a latter-day fulfillment. But everything basically God promised to Abraham, He did. He did for Israel. And, you know, God brought them out of Egypt and He brought them into the land of Canaan. He gave it to them. So like He had promised to Abraham. And so Israel began to increase. And I'm sort of giving you a synopsis, basically, of these events. But you have the 12 tribes of Israel, or Jacob, that have settled in the Promised Land. And everything went well up to the time of Solomon, basically. And in the days after the death of Solomon, Rehoboam emerges, you know, as a successor. Remember, Rehoboam was a young, upstart king of Israel. And he didn't listen to the men who were experienced, the elders of the land, but he listened to the young men of Israel. And, you know, basically, you know, Rehoboam told the people, the elders of the land, basically, that, look, you thought my dad was tough with taxes. You haven't seen anything yet. My little finger is going to be stronger than was Solomon's. I'm going to tax you more. You remember this story in the count, Brethren, how that consequently, ten of the tribes, of the twelve tribes of Israel, separated, you know, from Israel. And so you have a group that is in the northern area of what is Israel, forming what is called Israel or Samaria. And then we have Judah that comes about to the south. So you have these two kingdoms. And Jeroboam rules the kingdom of Israel to the north, and Rehoboam rules the kingdom of Judah to the south. Jeroboam with ten tribes, and Rehoboam with Judah and Benjamin, those two tribes. And Jeroboam, who was a very evil king, instituted the feast in the eighth month. He was fearful that the northern kingdom people would come down to Jerusalem, being enticed to rejoin and become a part of Judah. And so he instituted the feast of Tabernacles and the feast days in the eighth month. And rather than the seventh day or the Sabbath, he instituted the eighth day, or what we call Sunday today.

And so what happened is they began to get farther and farther away from God.

And in 721 BC, God allowed Israel, the northern kingdom, to go into captivity. And so they were sent into captivity, and then Judah remained in the land.

And Israel to the north was taken captive to the shores, the southwestern shores, of the Caspian Sea. And that is where they were taken by the shores of the Caspian Sea. And over time, they began to migrate. They began to migrate on up into Europe, up into Britain. And of course, there's a whole other story about how they migrated over to what we know is the United States of America today. But like I say, they basically gave up on the Sabbath. They gave up on the feast days. And consequently, what happened is they lost their identity of who they were. Now, of course, we know the identity of the lost ten tribes, but the world does not know that, brethren. It's a secret for them. They simply do not know. But Judah remained in the land for a space of time, over, in fact, a hundred years more. But later, they turned away from God as well. And they went into a captivity, into a Babylonian captivity. Israel went into a Syrian captivity. Judah went into a Babylonian captivity. But one thing they did that Israel did not do, and they retained the Sabbath. And after 70 years, they returned, many of them, back to the environs of Israel. And a member of the story, they rebuilt the temple and the wall and all that. That's a whole story, their oven by itself. But Israel, again, lost its identity. Those ten tribes to the north lost their identity. And today, those people, by the way, are located throughout Europe and Britain and the United States. I'm not going to go over to it, but you can read about how those blessings, those great blessings were conveyed in Genesis 48 and Genesis 49.

We know that Reuben is probably the inhabitants of northern France.

We know that Joseph is Ephraim of Manasseh. Britain is Ephraim, and the United States is Manasseh. We know that also God made a promise. He said that the scepter would not depart from Judah. In other words, that that kingly line would not depart from Judah. And, you know, there are histories that we're told, by the way, about a white-haired patriarch journeying up to Britain with Jacob's pillar stone within. If you ever get up to Scotland, you can go and look at that pillar stone, or at least the one that they feel is Jacob's pillar stone. But remember, God said the scepter would not depart from Judah. And so we look at the throne of Britain, and, you know, definite connection between, you know, David, King David, and the kings of Britain. And, of course, Jesus Christ himself is a future descendant, as it were. He was born to be a king, as the Bible says, and we know that he's going to return as the king of kings and lord of lords. But God conveyed these birthright promises to Ephraim and Manasseh. Read about that in Genesis 48. You know, we look at Israel today, and Israel possessed, at one time, back in about the 50s and the 60s, two-thirds of the world's wealth.

Incredible wealth. And so we have these secrets, brethren, that are in the Bible. The world does not understand, does not grasp. And I just gave you about six hours' sermon, you know, in about 15 minutes. You know, but unfortunately, I couldn't turn to some of the scriptures, because you just don't have time. Another secret, brethren, is the secret of the church.

The secret of the church and the coming kingdom of God. In Hebrews 2, Hebrews 2, Hebrews 2 and verse 5, let's know this over here. Hebrews 2 and verse 5. You know, Christ said, I will build my church. And He said, the gates of the grave would not prevail against us. The gates of Hades would not prevail against us. And so His church is around, and we know that God has a purpose for the church. Not just a place to go on Sunday morning. You know, of course, man is deceived about when to get together. No wonder He didn't know who He is. No wonder He doesn't know where He's from, or where He's going, for that matter. But it says in verse 5, for He has not put the world to come, of which we speak in subjection to angels. So God has not promised the world to come, or the kingdom of God, to angels. But notice going on, but one testifies a certain place, saying, what is man that you're mindful of Him, or the Son of man that you take care of Him? How do you even care about man? You've made Him a little lower than angels. You'll crown Him with glory and honor. Far from being a slave, you'll crown Him with glory and honor, and set Him over the works of your hands. And you put all things in subjection under His feet.

For in that He put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. See, does that sound like that man is a slave of God? Now we know philosophically, you know, you can have a bad master. Satan is a horrible taskmaster, or a good master. God is a master to us. And in that sense, I suppose you could say we're slaves, but we're slaves to righteousness. But now we do not yet see all things put under Him. It hasn't happened yet. And so, brethren, that's what the Church is about. And that's what the kingdom of God is about. When everything is going to be put under man in the future. And of course, under God's leadership and under the leadership certainly of Jesus Christ. But we see Jesus, who has made a little lower than angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God might taste death for everyone. For it is fitting for Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons into glory. That's what the Church is about. That Adam, this lump of red clay, brethren, God fully intended for Him to be born right on into God's divine family, and to be a part of those who are going to rule God's coming kingdom with and under Jesus Christ.

Know the Apostle Paul, I'm not going to go there, but you might want to write this down. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 45 through 50. Because there it says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So you and I, brethren, you know, the Bible talks about being born again. You know, we know that the word ganahom means basically to be begotten from above. So right now we're not born again, you know, in the sense of, as we shall be, we're going to be born into the family of God as spirit beings. Right now we're begotten, and we're going through a gestation period. And so, you know, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But Christ said there are bodies that are terrestrial, and then there are bodies that are celestial. And He talked about how that there are bodies that are earthy, and that there are bodies that are heavenly. And Adam was earthy. He was an earth man, as it were. But Christ was the second Adam, and he was heavenly. He was heavenly. And that we're going to be heavenly, brethren. We're going to be like Jesus Christ. Now, 1 John 3, verses 1 and 2 tell us that it does not yet appear what we're going to be, but we're going to be like Christ because we're going to see Him as He is. We'll be like Jesus Christ, born into the family of God. That's what the church is about, brethren. Calling people, you know, into the church who are going to be a part of that family in the kingdom of God. We are, as has been said many, many times, the kingdom of God, an embryo, yet to be born as God's people. Another name for the church is the Israel of God, because remember, the circumcision was an outward expression of obedience. But, brethren, you and I are not circumcised.

And, you know, the Jews and us have something in common, is they do not circumcise little girls. If you notice, we have women in the church.

But that does not let you off, ladies. You've got to be circumcised, but in the heart, because circumcision is the heart.

And so, we are spiritual Israel. We're the Israel of God. So, brethren, knowing these secrets, the secret of man, the origin of man, knowing the secret of Israel, and where Israel came from, and what God's going to do with Israel, of course, there's a lot more to the story, and knowing the secret of the church, why the church was built by Jesus Christ, and he said it would never die, in the kingdom of God. Brethren, what remains for you and me? I'm not going to go to it, but in Matthew 5, verse 48, Jesus said it this way, brethren, and he said this to his disciples early on, brethren, before they ever received the Holy Spirit. It's like God said to Abraham, walk before me and be you blameless or perfect. Walk before me and be you perfect. Well, God is saying that to us, brethren. And Jesus Christ said this to his disciples, and he says it to us, therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. So, brethren, that's what remains for you and me. Like Abraham had to be perfect, brethren, or blameless, in an evil generation, we have to do the same. So, brethren, now you've got the secrets I wanted to tell you today, which have been hidden from the foundation of the world in plain sight, especially today because we're right here in black and white, before our very eyes, brethren. But if we have a mind, brethren, to listen and to hear, brethren, let's make the most of what we know now while we can. And Christ said, walk before me, as he told Abraham, and be you blameless or perfect. So, let's make sure, brethren, we do that, and we will see you when we get back.