Kenneth Copeland - Faith in God's Covenant Promises
Father, we come before You, standing here at the throne of Grace, boldly receiving the anointing... Praise God, to deliver Your covenant words in faith. Open the eyes of our understanding. Open our hearts and minds. What a privilege and honor it is to take this place on this holy desk and deliver these words. We thank You for it in Jesus' name, Amen.
I want to bring your attention to something, in the 23rd chapter of Genesis. "And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah". And she died. I won't take time to read all of this, but he wanted a place to bury his dead. And they said, "You are a prince among us". And they weren't covenant people. They wanted to give him the place. We give it to you. He said, "No, tell me the price". And so they told him, and he just simply said, "Give them the money". He wouldn't take it as a gift. He paid for it and he mourned her. Well, you would think that's where the story would end. But in the 24th Chapter. "And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things". And chapter 25... "Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah..." and he had six more sons and lived to be 175 years old. You think faith doesn't work?
Now we know from the 4th chapter of Romans, so let's turn over there. Romans Chapter 4. "What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found"? Or the key of life... Verse 4. "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt". Look over at the 16th verse. "Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace". Look at this. Now we're talking about covenant promises here. Blood-backed covenant promises. "To the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before him or like him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken... according to that which was spoken... So shall thy seed be".
Now where did he do that? We read it. That was over in the 15th chapter. But the 17th chapter he entered into the covenant of circumcision. But there's blood all the way through this. And that's the point. These are covenants of blood which makes them everlasting. "According to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. Being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification".
The connection here was faith. I'm going to read you something that Peter wrote. "Simon Peter, a servant or a slave, an apostle of Jesus Christ, who then obtained like precious faith with us..." You have the same faith that the Apostle Peter and the Apostle John. We find it in the book of Hebrews. Jesus is the author of our faith, it's all the same faith. It's all the same God and it's all the same devil. God will never change and the devil can't. A skunk is a skunk, a thief. He's a thief. Forgive me, Father for saying that. I had no right to rail against him. But he is a thief. Jesus called him a thief. He comes but for it to steal, to kill and to destroy. But I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly, whew. "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:" Listen now... "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature..."
All of this, all of these things, are covenant promises. They belong to us. So what's the first thing that you should do? Well, glory to God. I have his divine nature, and I've had people... Brother Copeland... Do you believe it, or do you not? Yes, he's alive in me. Now it's vitally important. What happened after Moses was gone? Joshua took over and the Lord told him, "You meditate in my Word day and night, and there you will observe or you will see how to carry out what I've told you to do". Amen. So instead of sending out ten spies, he only sent out two. Amen. And that's when Rahab came in and she was covenanted into the family of Jesus.
So now we're here in the 9th chapter of the Book of Hebrews. People say... and it says the letter from the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews, and then others will come on and say, "We really don't know who wrote that". Get over it. He talks about Timothy. It's his style, and he's a Hebrew of Hebrews and sat at the feet of Gamaliel. Highly, highly educated man. And besides that, when Jesus appeared to Brother Hagin, he asked him, "Did Paul write the book of Hebrews"? And Jesus said, "Well, of course he did". So it's wonderful. Chapter 9, "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary".
Now remember what we're talking about, we're talking about the sin problem and now it's no longer a problem. It's still there because the devil still here. Oh, yes sir, I'll do that. Hold your place there. Come over here to the 2nd chapter of the Book of Hebrews and come down to verse 6. "But one in a certain place..." He was talking about angels here. Look at the 14th verse. "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard..." Now, you come over here, "But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour..."
Now, in another place it said, you made him a little lower than God... "Over the works of thy hands: Thou hast 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. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man".
I was meditating on that one day, and the glory of God just flooded my spirit. He tasted death for every man. Well, what about the women? Oh, dear Lord. When you see words like that, he's talking about mankind. The race of mankind. He's not singling out men, women, skin color. For whom did he die? All people. So we're talking about people here. So you can't taste it when you die. You can't smell it, you can't see it, you can't hear it, and you can't feel it.
Now, my captain, Bob DeWeese, he was captain of the airplane of Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association. He had a massive heart attack. And so he was telling Gloria and me about it, he and his wife, Charlotte were there and he was on a handball court, and he said, "I have no remembrance of that at all. Suddenly I was in a place. It was absolutely gorgeous". And he said, "Kenneth, I never felt such power" and Bob's always an athlete. In fact, he's playing handball, if I remember right when this happened and he said, "I was on this little road and there was a fence on each side. And I walked over and looked at it, it looked like hand-carved mahogany. Then I saw the lights of the city. I started running". And he said, "Kenneth, I've never felt such power in my legs".
He was not aware that he didn't have a physical body at all. But then he said, "I began to bog down" and then he said, "I came back" and well it was at the City of Faith, you know and they hit his heart a couple of times and with the paddles. And Charlotte said, "Do you want to know what he said? Did he say, 'Charlotte, thank you for saving my life?'" She said, "No, he looked up and said, 'Charlotte, what did you do that for?'" He didn't want to come back and it pulled on him all the time after that. I remember one day we were visiting and he said, "Kenneth, it's hard to stay here now. I've been there. I want to go back". He tasted death for all every man.
Now, come on over to the next... just to finish this. For as much... 14th verse. "The children are partakers of flesh and blood". What? Partakers of flesh and blood. That's you, that's me. "He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy..." Another translation says that he might paralyze him that had the power of death. That is that devil. The Amplified said he brought him to naught. He brought him to nothing. He made him a zero and put him under our feet... "And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God".
Okay, let's go back over here at this 9th chapter now. There's some other things that we want to come back and get into. But this is our assignment right now. "The first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle or a tent made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;"
Now there in Jerusalem, in the temple, that veil was four inches thick, 40 feet wide and 20 feet high when Jesus said it is finished redemption wasn't finished. But that first covenant was because his blood is being shed forever. That veil was split from the top all the way to the bottom. Some big angel just grabbed that thing and ripped it apart. Why was that? Because the Holy of Holies is now on the inside of us. Hallelujah. Oh, yes, amen. Because that first covenant was finished. The new one in the blood of Jesus was taken care of. "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood"... Are you reading this now, look at this carefully. "By his own blood. he entered in once into the holy place".
Now hold your place right there. Put your marker or something there and go back to the writings of John in the 20th chapter, 11th verse. "But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, And seeth two angels in white sitting. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith Mary. He saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples".
Now, that's what we're reading here in the book of Hebrews. "Much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, or the New Covenant is actually what the Scriptures say, that that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise..."
Now see this said first covenant so it's the same word. The King James just mixed it around. "Might receive the promise of internal inheritance for where a testament is..." Now this, I'm satisfied, they were trying to get over to us, Testament. Will and testament. They're trying to get over to the reader that this is the will of God. But in doing so, it lost the command power of the word covenant.
"For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people..." He sprinkled both the book and the people, "Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission".
Now remission: release from bondage, forgiveness or pardon of sins, letting them go as if they had never been committed. That's remitting, atonement of the animals covered it. We went through that. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself".