I've Got a Secret to Tell You

Have any of you seen the book The Secret? If you go to Costco, usually, you'll see a book that was on the bestseller list, but the book called The Secret. I think there was even a film called The Secret. It was written by Rhonda Byrne. Apparently, she was very impoverished. The stories go about people who write such books. She was very impoverished. As a result, she learned this secret. The book is called The Secret. It's been highly popular in the world. About 20 million copies of this book have been sold around the world. It's been translated into 46 different languages. Unbelievable how very popular this book has been in the world. Let me clue you in, brethren. There is no secret to The Secret. I'm going to save you even having to look at the book, by the way. Simply stated, the basic gist of the book is, your thoughts control the universe. I didn't realize it had that much power, but your thoughts control the universe. What she calls, through the law of attraction, you manifest your desires. Basically, it's like placing an order from a catalog. You manifest your desires and your thoughts. Again, control what happens. Now, of course, you must believe what you want is yours the moment you ask. You see yourself in affluence and wealth, you attract it. It comes to you. It's, of course, very appealing, isn't it? Many of us, of course, have seen people that have similar approaches in different ways through the years. If you ever have to stay up late at night and you see these fellows that are on television, if you buy this book, it will tell you how to become a super stockbroker. If you buy this book, you'll become a real estate magnet. Multi-millionaire, if you buy this book, kind of pull yourself up by your own boots, perhaps, ideology, connected with also maybe some practical things that do work. But, you know, this is the way it is. But, again, if you just merely want something, you think something, you believe it, and by the law of attraction, it will come to you. Anything that is our money, power, a comfortable pair of shoes, you know, it's yours by wanting it enough. Well, brethren, the title of the sermon today is, I've Got a Secret to Tell You. I've got a secret to tell you. You know, and I don't care if, in fact, everybody knows the secret. And we had, of course, Jesus Christ came nearly 2,000 years ago, or 2,000 years ago, and He had secrets, but He didn't care who listened to them either, who heard them either. In fact, He wanted people to hear. I'm not going to tell you the secrets of the world, brethren, because oftentimes they're nothing but pipe dreams. You get people excited about something, and, you know, and they read it, and there's always a big letdown, you know, after you've read it. I mean, because a lot of people don't want to have to put any work into anything, right? But I'm going to tell you the secrets that have been hid from the foundation of the world. And in reality, they're not secrets that have really been hidden at all. And I'll talk about that a little bit later on. Let's go to Psalm 25. Psalm 25 in verse 12 here, here in the Psalm of David. Notice what He says here. He says, Who is the man that fears the eternal?

Him shall he. In other words, God is going to teach in the way that He chooses, or the way He should go.

And verse 13, He Himself shall dwell in prosperity. And it's certainly true, brethren, if we are abiding by God's laws, His commandments of the statutes, and we're diligent, God will make us prosperous. He may not make us ultra-wealthy, but we'll live comfortably in this life. I like to put it this way, that God will feed us on the heritage of Jacob, our Father. But going on, it says, But notice in verse 14, The secret of the eternal is with those who fear Him. And I think that we see here why it is that God does not open the secrets up to just everybody. It's opened up to those that fear God. Now, God does not want us to have a cowering, craved fear of Him, but He wants us to highly regard Him. And, you know, the Bible gives us basically a proverb that, you know, we shouldn't cast our pearls before swine. Well, God doesn't do it either. So if we don't respect God, if we don't highly regard God, we cannot come to know the secrets of God. And the word secrets, by the way, here means basically councils, the councils of God. What are the councils of God? What opens up the doors, brethren, in our lives where we can prosper and be successful? Like I said, most people are not fearful of God. They're not respectful of God. They do not honor Him. Isaiah 45. Let's go over to Isaiah 45 over here. In Isaiah 45 and verse 6, you know, God plainly over here says, in fact, what I've mentioned to you, that God hasn't hidden His secrets. He really hasn't. He's not hidden them at all. They're right here in this book, brethren. Right here in this book. One thing I learned when I was first being called, I remember I told you that I got angry when I was starting to read the Bible. I couldn't understand it. And I got angry, in a way, with God. And I said, God, I am going to understand this. I mean, I had taken a number of very difficult courses through high school, through college, and some things were not easy. But I had learned that if I devoted my attention to anything, that I could come to understand it. But not this book. I just read this over and over and over again. I didn't get it.

And not until, brethren, I told God in my prayers, I said, OK, God, if you will reveal to me what this book means, I will do it. I promised God I would do it. And you know what? That's when the light went off. I began to understand.

That's what happened to me. But God does reveal His counsels, His secrets, to those that respect Him. And will not only just talk the talk, as people often do, but are willing to walk in His counsels in the secret things that God has. Secret, at least from the world, and a world where, in fact, people do not highly regard God. In fact, they want to somehow cut God out of the picture altogether.

But in Isaiah 45 down here, and down in verse 16, notice it here. And it says, This is the world, describes the world, that you and I are living in right here, brethren. The world basically is worshipping and making idols of one kind or another.

You know, they go from one fad to another. And quite frankly, in the Bay Area, people really, for the most part, are very humanistic in their thinking, worldly in their thinking. And in some cases, many cases, money is their God. But notice what God says. He associates confusion in people's lives. They wonder why things are the way they are in the world. They can't figure out things. You know, people are confused. And, you know, God said this is going to happen because they're makers of idols.

Now, on down here, let's notice down in verse 19. But this is what God says. He says, I have not spoken in secret. It's like Jesus Christ. When Christ came, He didn't speak in secret. In fact, He said, look, I was daily teaching in the temple. You heard exactly what I was saying. I've not spoken in secret or in a dark place of the earth. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, seek me in vain.

I, the eternal, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. God declares to us the truth, tells us the truth. And the fact of the matter is, you know, you and I are not really that special. The only thing that, you know, different about us is at a given point we decided we would obey God. God opened our minds enough that we could see that. Now, I don't think we deserve any credit for that, but it's God's Spirit that helped us to come to see that.

But maybe there was an attitude in us, a certain attitude that God said, okay, I'm going to let my Spirit rest upon this person. And we had a certain change of heart that affected what we did in our lives. But God's secrets, by the way, otherwise are very plain, like I said, right in this book right here. All you've got to do is read it. And everything God is going to do is there. The problem is, with mankind, is he doesn't believe this book. In a second, Mr. Armstrong used to talk about the two hardest things are, number one, to repent, and number two, to believe, to truly believe.

And I think the third hardest thing is to change once you've repented and believe. But he said that so many times, all of us remember, again, what he said. But God has made it plain to people who are willing to receive it. And young people, young adults, remember this. You're the same as any other person out here. You can sit here, you know, in this auditorium, week after week after week, God expects you to also be of a mind to receive it. And he'll open your mind and you'll see things that you've never seen before. You may think you understand, but you know, the truth of God can penetrate very deeply into us, and there's always more to see.

Well, brethren, what are the important secrets, you know, that are made plain to the open mind within the Bible? What are the important secrets? I think one of the most fundamental questions that any human being has is, What is man? Wouldn't you agree with me that this is the most fundamental question? I mean, why else are archaeologists trying to dig through all the bones everywhere, and every once in a while find somebody that goes back a little further?

Of course, they think it's man-evolving. But one of the most important secrets in the Bible, brethren, is the secret of man. The secret of man. And there are many who think that they have unlocked the understanding of the origin of man. In fact, when Charles Darwin came up with the origin of the species, they thought they had the answer. Then. But even Darwin was smart enough to understand that he didn't have all the understanding about how the infinitesimal things in the body, in living creatures, were.

For instance, he didn't see to the cellular level. But those who have embraced the theory of evolution, by the way, when they're able to look in at a cell, they come to conclude that this is designed. This is designed. It's like a little mini-factory with conveyor belts and duct trucks and all kinds of things. It has a dock. You think about it. It does have those things. Because you and I need sugar to live, don't we?

And our body converts these, has all these processes that are in the human body to make it possible for one cell to live. And so man has come to see that, and those who have, by the way, that embrace the idea of evolution, say, no, no, I'm sorry, there's something designed here. And we know, brethren, it's divine design that we're talking about.

Intelligent design. The world may not want to admit to that. There are others who think that they have unlocked the understanding of the origin of man. Many believe that man was seated upon the Earth by aliens from other star systems. I don't know if you've ever heard anybody talk about these things. They're really sold on this idea that we were seated by aliens from another star system. And when these aliens came to the planet Terra, as they often say, they took their DNA and they took the DNA of apes.

Of course, they don't explain where the apes came from. But they took the DNA of the apes and they took their own DNA and they formed what became man. Now, there are a lot of people who actually believe this, brethren, in the world. You may have heard of the fellow named Zacharias Citchett, who's written a number of books on this topic. And he talks about how, in fact, these aliens that came to the Earth were called the Anunnaki.

And that they came from a planet or a system called Nibiru. I don't know if you've followed any of this at all, but Nibiru apparently is one of those planets, the 12th planet, that has a revolution that comes through, according to Citchett, every 3600 years. It's called the 12th planet. And every 3600 years Nibiru comes through and you have all this... Of course, this is where the flood came from and other stuff, because Nibiru came through our solar system and caused all this problem.

But Citchett says that this combination of an ape's genetic code and their code together made man, and that man was created to be a slave. And that the reason they needed slaves is because they needed gold to mine gold.

And this gold apparently was used to revive the atmosphere of their planet, their dying world. Now, don't ask me to explain how that was supposed to be. And he claimed that this was contained in the ancient Sumerian cuneiform tablets. Now, I don't speak Sumerian. I have no idea. Some of them are secret, apparently. I guess the question is, how did he know them if they are secret?

But you know what, brethren, think about this. Charles Darwin's origin of the species, the one thing it did is it denied God. And you know, when people like Citchett and others who believe a lot of this kind of thing, the story has in common with the origin of the species and Charles Darwin, that it denies God as the Creator, the divine Creator. And man likes that. That's why they eat it up with a spoon.

That's why a lot of universities, if you don't teach evolution, then of course you basically are dog meat. You're not going to be at that university very long if it's a highly reputable university. However, brethren, what is actually the secret of mankind? Why was man created? Why was he brought on the scene? Did God create man as a worker slave for himself? Is that what God did? Now, we know that God is our master, no question about that. But you know, you can have a good master and you can have a bad master.

And Satan is certainly a slave master, but God is a different kind of master. He does allow us to have freedoms as a people. The only freedom he does not want us to have, and that is to live a wrong way of life. He doesn't want us to have that freedom. Although he did not deny man the ability to choose for himself what he was going to do and what he was going to suffer. But let's go to Genesis 2. Genesis 2. Let's answer the question, did God create man as a worker slave for himself?

Genesis 2 and verse 7. It says, the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground. You know, Adam was formed from apparently red clay. And in fact, Adam means, basically, red clay. And so he was formed from the ground. And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Now, if you have a King James Version, it says, living soul. And religionists have really come up, you know, they believe that in fact that the word, referring to a soul, that man has a soul.

He's not. But we see clearly here that God said that man was a soul, not that he had a soul. Remember the Greek word, or the Hebrew word here in verse 7, for living being, is from the Hebrew word, nephesh. And it means a living, breathing creature. The whole creature, not the soul that religionists believe that dwells within. Now, man did have, as we know, a spirited man that imparted intellect to him. We see that talked about in the book of Job and over in the Corinthians, and Peter as well. That man has the spirit in man, there's a spirit in man, and there was a spirit of God as well that we receive when we are baptized.

But we see here in verse 7 that God gave man life, and he was formed from the dust. He wasn't a combination of apes and his own DNA, but he formed him from the dust to the ground, we see here. Let's go over to chapter 1 in verse 26. It says, Now what kind of dominion do they have here?

Now, you notice it doesn't say, let them be slaves. It doesn't say anything about mining gold, for that matter. But here we see, let them have dominion over what? You know, we see here that they were to 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 man was given dominion over everything. And so far from being a slave, he was given a great deal of latitude and a great deal of dominion. Now, when Adam and Eve were created, remember, they were more or less empty vessels. You know, God must have given them, you know, at least enough knowledge, you know, in their minds in order to comprehend.

Remember, Adam named all the animals. So God gave them certain knowledge, and that spirit in man would allow them to think and to reason. But one thing they did not have, and were not given, was God's Holy Spirit. It was a spirit in man. It's been described in the church, brethren. The spirit of man is like a marble that you swallow. Know that the spirit in man is in you, but it's not of you.

And I've heard it explained that somehow the spirit of man is hooked to the human mind. And only with that spirit of man, see, God can give us an appropriate time. He can give us his divine spirit. Because the spirit, the Holy Spirit, you know, must be united with spirit in the human mind.

But anyway, so they were perfect physical specimens, but they lacked two things. They lacked the character of God, and they lacked the Holy Spirit. But God put them in the Garden of Eden, and let's notice here, down here in chapter 2 again, and down in verse 8. And the Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had to form. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree to grow that was pleasant, to the sight and good for food. And there was a tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now, brethren, we need to be perceptive enough to know that he calls these trees differently, doesn't he? He calls one the tree of life, and he calls the other one the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So the one tree, which was the combination of good and evil, had to do with knowledge. It had to do with knowledge. While the other tree was called the tree of life.

So conversely, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the tree of death. But what did the tree of life symbolize? Because it wasn't just a fruit that one would eat. It symbolized something. It symbolized revealed knowledge. It symbolized God's spirit, if you will. A man ingesting God's spirit, and that it would be a part of him. But Adam and Eve never came to that point where they would receive the revealed knowledge at all. We know the story in the account of what happens. In chapter 3, of course, in the first few verses here, we see that Eve is tempted. But the serpent is very subtle. In this case, we need to understand here, this is not a snake wrapped around a tree. A lot of people have this idea, don't they? Here's the serpent, a talking snake, in the tree. Actually, the word in the Hebrew indicates it was a charismatic being that talked to her.

And very persuasive. I don't know whether Satan showed up in a zoot suit or what it was, but he had something very appealing. And certainly appealing to Eve, so that she went ahead and did what God told her not to do. And then, as you know, Adam came along and took her the fruit, too. And you may remember that Satan, or the serpent, as we clearly see in the Bible, that this is Satan that was deceiving them, said that in the day that you eat of this, you're not going to surely die.

Eve apparently never heard the word surely there. And the word games that Satan was playing with her. But in the day you eat it, you're going to be like God, knowing good and evil. And really what he meant by that is you're going to be like God, and you're going to choose for yourself what is good and what is evil. And, brethren, man has been doing that for the last 6,000 years, choosing for himself what is good and evil.

And you know what happened to Adam and Eve is they were driven out of the Garden of Eden, and the way to the Tree of Life was barred from them, so that they could not take of the Tree of Life. So they couldn't have, in other words, revealed knowledge from God. And the reason for it is they could not have God's Spirit that would work with them to cause them to understand it.

And from Adam on, man began to drift further and further away from God as time went on. And consequently, man has gone the wrong path. And God, essentially, probably after driving them out of the Garden of Eden, God must have said to Adam and Eve, because you've rejected me, and you decided to listen to this serpent over here, and you don't want to live what I've asked you to do, what I've taught you to do.

You go your way. You choose for yourself. And go your own way. Form your own governments. Form your own ways of life, your own societies. But he warned them. He said, I reserve the right to call whomever ever I choose to come and warn you. My servants are going to come and warn you. And so he did. And remember what happened to Abel. Abel was bludgeoned to death according to Jewish tradition by his own brother. We go to the time of Enoch. And Enoch was probably killed, and his body was taken out of the way. And then we come to the time of Noah.

And we have the different preachers of righteousness that 2 Peter 2 talks about. And there were a number of them even before the flood. All we have, of course, is a thumbnail of Enoch and Noah. Now, brethren, unless we misunderstand, the Bible is written. You know what, brethren, the purpose of the book of Genesis is? Really, the purpose is not to tell you about the origin of man. That's sort of a perk of it, to show where man came from. You know what the purpose of Genesis is, brethren? The purpose is to tell us where Israel originated.

Where Israel originated. And why it is that God worked through a man called Abraham, and going all the way up until, of course, you hear, you'll hear the other part of it. But from that time, when Adam and Eve rebelled against God, their minds were blinded by the devil, and they couldn't see. 2 Corinthians 4, 4. Paul says that Satan the devil is the God of this world, and he blinds the minds of those who are upon the earth, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine unto them.

And you know, brethren, the purpose for man, that God's purpose for man, is a part of the gospel. And unless you understand that, unless we understand that, we really don't understand the gospel.

And people have not really conceived of the gospel. You have to know the origin of man, why God put man upon the earth, really, and that begins in the book of Genesis here. That we read about these things. But you know, God intended, what he intended for Adam, if Adam had obeyed God, and Eve had obeyed God, you know, they would have received God's Spirit, God would have revealed his knowledge to them, and they would have been changed from physical to Spirit, eventually.

That's what God intended. And that would have been the way things have been for the last 6,000 years, instead of the chaos we have, and the destruction, and death, and suffering that we have in the world. But man rejected God. And for the past 6,000 years, you know what? Man has been proving he cannot rule himself, apart from God. God expected Adam to live righteously and to inherit eternal life and become a part of his family. And that same purpose, brethren, we have, as well, today, as God's people. But like I said, the book of Genesis is the story of how Israel came about.

You wouldn't know if it wasn't revealed. And it's the story of Noah, it's the story of Abraham, it's the story of Isaac and Jacob, it's the story of Moses, you know, and actually not Moses, but leading up to Jacob. I meant to say Jacob rather than Moses. But it's the story of the family that became Israel and how the name Israel came about. And so we see this again in the pages of the Bible. In the book of Exodus, by the way, the book of Exodus is also a book that really explains another part of the story. That, unfortunately, is a secret to a lot of people, that they don't see, they don't grasp, they don't understand.

But remember, in the secret concerning Israel, so we've talked about the secret of man. Remember God told Abraham, I want you to get out of your country, away from your people, and go to a place that I'm going to show you. You can look in Genesis 12 about that, by the way, if you'd like to. But remember, Abraham was 75 years old when God told him to do that.

75 years old. And so he did an unusual thing. He believed God. And he did it. Not the average thing that somebody would do. It was not really until Abraham was 99 that in reality he was converted. Think about that. God said, I want you to do this. And when he was 99, he was converted. Let's go to Genesis 17. Genesis 17. In verse 1 it says, Abraham was 99 years old.

The Eternal appeared to Abraham and said to him, I am Almighty God, walk before me and be blameless. And that word in the King James is perfect. Walk before me and be perfect. Don't be like the world, but be perfect. And notice what it goes on to say here. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. And then a brahm 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.

So there are going to be nations that are going to be emanating out of you. Abraham, so we see here God saying this to him, and I'll make you exceedingly fruitful, and I'll make nations of you, and kings shall come from 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.

Boy, what promise has God made to this man Abraham, or a brahm as he was called then. And also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, the land of Canaan. So here we find out about the Promised Land. Going clear back to Abraham, God was giving them a Promised Land. In an everlasting possession, and 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 which you shall keep between me and you, and your descendants after you.

Every male child among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. So God said, okay, if you obey me, a sign of your obedience is circumcision. So all males had to be circumcised, and that was to be an outward sign of their obedience to God.

They were unique people upon the face of the earth, this family of Abraham. Quite interesting. So here we find that God expected him to be perfect, so then is when he was supposed to be converted, as it were, in his life. He was supposed to be converted. And God said, I'm going to bless you, I'm going to greatly multiply and increase your descendants. And God also not only made these incredible promises of prosperity to him, to his descendants, but he made him certain promises concerning rulership. And the scepter promises, as we call them. So you have the birthright promises, you have the scepter promises, or the promise of kingship.

In fact, he was promised that in Genesis 12 as well, that these things would occur. And you know the account, brethren, of how, when, in the case of Abraham, Abraham did not withhold his only son Isaac. Remember he was going to offer him as a sacrifice? That God, you know, after that, said to Abraham, because you haven't withheld your only son. He says, now I know. I'm going to fulfill everything. So God made unequivocal promises to Abraham about his descendants. Incredible, you know, story, incredible account. It's kind of interesting, you go down the line to King David, and God made incredible promises to him too.

And David said that, you know, God, you've made promises about my children being kings way off in the future. So you see, God was keeping that promise even during the time of David that was repeated, in fact, to David. Now, you remember in the case of also, Abraham and Sarah had Isaac, but Abraham passed these blessings on to Isaac. Because he was considered to be the firstborn, even though Ishmael was. God said that, you know, God would provide a descendant from Adam, not Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah.

And so Isaac was born. Then later, we know that Jacob, remember, who was also not the firstborn, but he was the secondborn among twins. But God gave him those same promises and blessed him abundantly in his life. Remember when he went over to retrieve a wife with his family of Laban? You know, Laban would have robbed him blind. He did, in fact, try to do that with Jacob. But you remember the count that when Jacob came out of Laban's household, he was a very wealthy man, and his descendants were multiplied incredibly.

But you remember that here he had this long entourage, and he found out that Esau was coming. And he was fearful that Esau was going to kill him. And so what he did is he divided his family into different companies. And the Bible says that when he was left alone after everybody had departed, that he wrestled with an angel, with a big A, you know, an angel. And as he, remember, wrestled to the breaking of the dawn, the Bible says. He realized he'd been wrestling with the one who was God.

It was the one, probably, that became Jesus Christ. And, you know, the being that wrestled with him says, because you have prevailed with God, your name is going to be Israel. So here we have the story of where Israel, this is the first mention of Israel in the Bible. And so Jacob was Israel. And, of course, Jacob had 12 sons. So you have from those 12 sons, you know, Reuben, Judah, Issachar, Asher, you know, go through the whole list of those 12 sons. And they make up the 12 tribes of Israel.

And they make up Israel. And so this is how Israel came to be. Also, we find, you know, that in the story of the book of Genesis, how Joseph was sold into slavery. And he rose up to be second in command in all of Egypt.

And during the time of famine, you know, Jacob's sons, you know, go down to Egypt to retrieve, you know, food. And lo and behold, Joseph's already on the throne, basically, with all this power, as God intended him to be. And so we have the story of how they ended up, you know, in Egypt. And so that's what the story of Genesis is about, by the way, Israel. And how they came to be in Egypt. And then the book of Exodus, brother, is a story of how they got out. They had greatly multiplied. We find that in the first chapter of Exodus.

And you remember, there were so many that the Pharaoh thought, well, you know, they could rise up against us and throw us out of the land. Or if there was a battle with a country, they could team up with that country and defeat us. You know, so they had cruel taskmasters, as, of course, the Bible says there. Then in chapter 2, it talks about how Moses, as a baby, was put in the Nile and retrieved by, you know, the princes of Egypt.

And the story of Moses, you know, growing up in Pharaoh's household and so forth, you know, is within the story. But again, the whole book is about Israel coming out of Egypt. Because you have other nice things that you find out about to where the Ten Commandments came from.

You know, and all that. And who was given those commandments. But, you know, what happens is they come out of Egypt, and then they go into the Promised Land that God had promised to Abraham 600 years before, basically. Because he was 75, remember, when God told him to get out and go to the land of Canaan? That was something almost 600 years later before Israel actually did go into the Promised Land. And so this is what we have, brethren.

I'm not going to go to it, but in Genesis 48. We see that there Joseph's sons received the birthright promises. You know, and all the promises that were made to Jacob were passed on to Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Now, it's important for us to know these things because of the fact that many people believe that all Israel is is a little tiny country over in the Middle East. But how could Abraham's descendants be as the stars of the heavens? If the only Israelites there are over there in the Middle East and, you know, in that little country called Israel.

I don't know. It used to be there were more Jews in New York than were in Israel when I was there, by the way, back in 73. There were more Jews in New York than lived in Israel.

But, you know, we had this story, this secret about Israel and how Israel came to be. So that the modern-day descendants of Israel are the United States and Britain who received, you know, the birthright promises such that in 1950, you know, this country and Britain, the British Empire, upon which the sun never set. That's how big the British Empire was, possessed two-thirds of the world's wealth. That's astounding to think about. That was an accidental. It was because God promised it, you know, to Israel or to Abraham, and he gave those blessings to Israel. In Genesis 49, I encourage you to go through there. It talks about, you know, prophecies that were given. I did want to read verse 1 of this particular chapter, but in Genesis 49 verse 1, let's do this over here, where Jacob is very old and he calls all of his sons together.

But notice what it says right here in verse 1 of chapter 49.

So these are things that are going to happen to you. And you notice that here, Reuben is mentioned as the firstborn. Typically, the firstborn would have received the birthright promises, but not here. Reuben became a tribe, many nations as it were, in the days of, you know, Joshua.

But Reuben today is represented in France, in the nation of France, you know. Like I said, the United States, Manasseh, and Britain, Ephraim. Some of the other nations also. But you can notice on down through here, I don't know if I marked it or not, but in verse 10, here to Judah, notice it says, The scepter shall not depart from Judah. In other words, the scepter, the symbol of kingship, shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes. And to him shall be the obedience of the people. Interesting that Judah make up the Jews, and the Jews are the only ones, by the way, that in fact retain their identity, because they kept the Sabbath. Israel, on the other hand, you know, the other ten tribes, called the lost ten tribes of Israel, that were to the north, you know, when they divided during the days of Rehoboam, and Judah was to the south. Remember, they were taken to the captivity, into a Assyrian captivity, and they lost their identity. They were taken to the shores of the Caspian Sea, and then eventually migrated on up from there, into Europe, and on up into England, and over, you know, to what is, of course, the United States and Canada. So this is where, you know, the descendants of Abraham, you know, multiplied, Israel multiplied in terms of number. When God said that Abraham's seed would be like the stars of hell, he meant exactly what he said. You know, you have Australia, you have Canada, you have the United States, Britain, you've got, you know, South Africa and nations of Europe, as well, that are Israelite descent. But we have these promises here. Judah would never cease to have, you know, a king. And it is our belief, by the way, that England has always had a descendant of David on its throne. If you ever go over to Scotland, you can see, by the way, what is called the Stone of Scone or the Jacob's Pillar Stone. And there are legends, I don't have the history here in front of me, but there are legends that there was a white-haired patriarch that took two of the daughters of Zedekiah, who was, of course, of Judah. You know, he took these daughters to Mary up in the British areas. And remember, if some of you have been around a little bit longer, you may remember that there was a prophecy that the throne would be overthrown, overturned, overturned, overturned three times. It's kind of interesting if you haven't read the US and BC and prophecy to go through those things. But, you know, in other words, there's a connection. There's a connection between the British throne and the throne of David. Remember, God made these incredible promises to David, you know, that basically his descendants would be kings. And that is exactly what has happened in history. And that throne would never be vacated, never ceased to have someone who would be on a throne who was a descendant of David. I guess Britain will be over if that ever happened, but I don't think that's going to happen. I know God is going to keep that promise. So anyway, we see these prophecies right here, brethren. It says that Joseph is going to be a fruitful bough. God says you're going to be a very fruitful bough. And the vines are going to go over the wall. You're going to be amazed at how much prosperity is going to come your way. And so we see these things in the Bible. And you have the secret, brethren, of Israel. That the world, frankly, you don't have to put even the patience to listen to it. You know, the sermons, they want to hear about 20 minutes long. And certainly don't want to hear someone talk two minutes about something that might require them to read the Bible. Far be it from them to read the Bible. Unfortunately, some people do. I realize that, brethren. But as you know, and I know that most people do not.

Another secret, brethren, besides the secret of Israel and the secret of man is the secret of the church and the secret of the kingdom of God that is going to come. What is the church about? You know, why is there a church? Most people never ask that question. Christ said, though, I will build my church and the gates of the grave will never prevail against it. It would never die. And so there's always been God's church, brethren. Sometimes it may have got down to a few that were holding fast to God's way, but it is always there. Let's go to Hebrews 2 and verse 5. I want to hurriedly go through this particular point. But in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 5, notice it says, It says, For he has not put the world to come, of which we speak in subjection to angels. So God never made any promises He was going to give rulership and dominion to angels, but He did make that promise to Adam and Eve. He gave that to man. But one testified in a certain place, saying, What is man that you're mindful of him, or the son of man that you take care of him? You made him a little lower than the angels. You've crowned him with glory and honor. Far from being a slave, as some people think that man was, God has crowned him with glory and with honor, and have set him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet. Notice that? Put all things under subjection, under his feet. For in that, Paul goes on to say, he put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that is not put under him, but now we do not yet see all things put under him. So this is the incredible potential of human beings. God's going to have them rule in the future, into all eternity. And they're going to be a part of his tremendous family.

And it says, but we see Jesus, who has made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, may taste death for everyone. For it is fitting for him, speaking of Christ again, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, and honor that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

He's a captain. He's called a captain of our salvation. He's going to bring many sons of the glory. Not just a few, but many. This was the original intent of man being created, the secret of man being created. That's what the church is about, brethren, bringing many sons into glory. Most people, again, don't even conceive of that. When Jesus Christ came, he was the second Adam. Adam didn't do such a good job. You know, it's interesting. Think about it. I guess Adam could have been the first and second. If he had done the right things, you'd have a physical Adam, and you would have a spiritual Adam. But Christ was the second Adam.

And you know, Paul talks about how you have bodies that are terrestrial, and you have bodies that are celestial, or heavenly. And he says, as we have born the earthy through Adam, we will bear the image of the celestial through Jesus Christ. We'll be like Jesus Christ. 1 John 3, 1 and 2 say that we're going to be, we don't know what we're going to be, but we're going to be like Christ because we're going to see him as he is. So, brethren, that's what the Church of God is. The kingdom of God, by the way, is the family of God.

You know, that in fact the Church of God is the embryo of. We're not born yet. We're begotten right now. The word gatnaho, remember, in the Greek and the New Testament means begotten of God, as we understand the Spirit is given to us. And when Christ returns, we're going to be changed. I'm not going to go there, but you might want to write these Scriptures down. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 45 through 50. Talk again about terrestrial and celestial heavenly bodies over there.

But in verse 50 it says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So you're going to have to be spirit to be born into the family of God. So that's what the Church is about, brethren, to bring many sons into glory. Of course, you know, Christ and God the Father are doing this and not us.

So, brethren, these are the great secrets, the important secrets of God. The secret of man, the secret of Israel, where Israel came from, where Israel came to be, and the secret of the Church and the kingdom of God. Those three great secrets we need to know. But what remains for us, brethren, that we know these three great secrets? We know where Israel came from, and God worked through Abraham. We know that Abraham, when he was 99 years of age, God said, I walk before me and be blameless or be perfect. We know that's what God commanded him, and that they were to be circumcised as an outward expression of their inward intent to obey God, to be obedient to God. What remains for us, brethren? Well, what remains for us, brethren, is God calls upon us to do the same thing. Walk before me and be you perfect, blameless.

You know, we've got this incredible history, brethren, and it really is the most incredible thing. It's the most incredible story. You'd think there'd be a hundred million people who want to read a story like this. You'd think there'd be seven billion, in fact, that would want to know these things. When Jesus Christ came along, they began to teach. What did he tell his disciples? He gave them, remember, the Beatitudes in Matthew 5? What did he say to them at the end of that particular chapter in chapter 5 and verse 48? After he'd spoken to them, the Sermon on the Mount, he says, Therefore you shall be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Brethren, that's what remains for us. Just like God said to Abraham, walk before me and be you perfect, he says that to his disciples today. Walk before God and be perfect.

So, brethren, now that you and I have these secrets, which have been hidden from the foundation of the world in plain sight for everybody to know, God hadn't spoken in darkness, but openly. Let's make sure we're all making the most of our callings right now. This opportunity that God has given to each one of us to be a part of his great family, brethren, in the future, may never pass by you again. Make sure you make the most of it. Walk before God and be perfect. It's a simple command, isn't it?