Kenneth Copeland - How the Law of Faith Works
Of course you begin with Mark 11. Let's turn over there. Now, I want you to notice this. When Jesus... "And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet". Chris, would you play that in the Classic Amplified, please. Something I want to show you, they have a note about that. "And seeing in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it for in the fig tree, the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves". Can you see that?
That's the same time of the leaves. "But when he came up to it, he found nothing but leaves. But the fig season had not yet come". Well don't you think he would have known? That's none of my business. He walked over there to see if there's any, there were leaves there. He walked over there to see if there was anything on it. Now notice this. He answered. He spoke back to that tree. That tree said: You're not getting any food here with me today. "No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever". Nine words. "And his disciples heard it". Seeing a fig tree afar off... They heard him say it. He shouted at that tree.
Now, what was the clothing the first couple tried to make to clothe themselves. So I present to you that the fruit was not an apple. They didn't sew apple leaves. It was a fig leaf. It was a fig. And I have to pretty well agree. Oh, those things are good. Oh, it's very tempting just to load up on figs. And in the Middle East, the only fig trees I've ever seen have been quite small. But in the Middle East they get huge. They're great big trees. And he just spoke to it and left. I want you to notice this, "Hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it and they came to Jerusalem". He just turned his back on it, it was over. It was not his decision about how it died.
I want you to get this now. There just wasn't anybody ever going to eat fruit of it again forever. If that tree was still standing there today and leaves on it every year, there would never be another fruit, not one more fig on it forever. He spoke to it and turned his back and walked away. Now he went on to Jerusalem and he went into the temple. Now he had gone in there before, the day before. "And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:"
Now let's put this together. He was hungry. You suppose he didn't eat before he left Bethany? I don't know it just said he's hungry, but I know him. He went into that temple and walked around in there listening to his father about, I'm not so sure they knew he was there. He just walked in there and observed, and I can't prove this, you can't prove he didn't, but we can follow his fundamental example. I expect he got up very early and prayed about the message he was going to preach in that temple the next day because he had something to say. And he had the scriptures, he said, "Is it not written?"...
He had a text for everything he preached, and so he left early and the time he got back he was hungry and he walked up to that tree and then he went on to the temple, "and began to cast out them that bought and sold, overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. And when even was come..."
That's my kind of guy, he preached all day. I've only done that a few times, but it seemed like he did that a lot. When evening was come... The cleaning of the temple, that was not the assignment. The cleaning of the temple was to get it out of there so you could preach there and set it straight that it's a house of prayer. It's the temple in Jerusalem. Are you listening to me? Do you think that they walked past the man at the Beautiful Gate? Of course they did. And that's the reason when he looked at Peter and John, he looked at them expecting to receive something because he's thinking, "Here are my boys, they've always done that. They've always given to me as they walked in here" and Peter said, "Silver and gold, have I none but such as I have I give you in the name of Jesus, get up and walk".
Hallelujah. Amen goes right there. Connect the dots, go widescreen with it. Spend some time meditating on these things and tie them together. "And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him..." Now there's 12 hours there... "And Jesus answering saith unto them, 'Have faith in God.'" Cross-reference says, "Have the faith of God". So he demonstrated faith to them on that tree. It cost that tree its life. But here was a grand opportunity to put straight what happened in the garden. Amen. So "Have faith in God or have the faith of God, for verily..." Did you ever wonder what verily means? Have you? Why didn't you look it up? I keep telling you about the Blue Letter Bible. You know what it means? Amen. Amen. And two verilies: amen, amen.
What's that mean? So be it. So be it. You listening to me? So be it. Verily, amen, I'm telling you. Glory to God. Say: amen. Say: verily. "For amen I say unto you, whosoever..." This is a whosoever thing, "whosoever shall say onto this unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith". I live in that all the time. I use it a lot, a lot, a lot about a lot of things in my daily life. But he's not done yet. I want you to notice here now, immediately. That is a fundamental principle of faith. Immediately David, he used it. I say unto you, whosoever shall say to the mountain, I say to you whatsoever thing you desire when you pray, you believe you receive it, and you will have it.
And when you stand praying, you forgive if you have ought against any... Amen. He put that fundamental into motion and then he said it. And when he did that, he set up a fundamental principle of the laws of faith, amen. And you take away any of that and it doesn't work. When you stand praying forgive. Well, Brother Copeland, that's going to take a while. How long are you going to stand? Two weeks, three weeks? You can't sit down now. You have to stand. No, don't be going to the house and going to sleep. It's all part of that same system. It's connected.
And so verse 23 is dependent on verse 24 and 24 dependent on 25, and 25 is dependent on 26. Now this, he is establishing all of these things had already been written, but he is establishing... Now think about this. He is training a group of men. He's going to turn the world over to them. They don't know it yet. They think we're just going to kick Rome out and set up the Kingdom of God. They didn't have a clue about what was about to happen, but he does. He knows exactly what he's doing. And so he's setting things in order. And as they went, then seventy more.
Now turn with me to the 10th chapter of the book of Matthew. Matthew, Chapter 10. "And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power, authority against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease". Then it gives their names. "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves:" No, no. "The workman's worthy of his hire".
So that's very simple. He said, "You're my staff now you're going to work for me". And in the book of Luke, we got down to the end and he said, "When I told you not to take anything, did you lack anything"? They said, "No, Lord we lack nothing". And at any rate, I wanted you to see his priority, look where he put healing. Luke, Chapter 10. "After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also," One translation said he ordained another 70 and sent them two by two... "And go your way. I send you forth as lambs among wolves, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. Then he said, And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us," and so forth...
"He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me. And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you". Glory to God. He's training people. There's coming a time when he is going to defeat hell. He's going to take that, he said, "I saw the devil fall".
Just rejoice, your names are written in the Book. Well, our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, Glory to God. Hallelujah. So now Gloria and I had salvation here and healing somewhere along here. And it hit us. No, no, no, no, no. First Peter 2:24. "He bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live under righteousness by whose stripes we were healed". It was all at the same time. He bore our sins and our sickness and diseases at the same time. It was on the same day, on the same cross. So we're obligated to not only just preach salvation. I'll tell you what, in churches where they preach salvation, that's what they have.
Preachers, where they preach salvation and the baptism of the Holy Ghost, they have both. Where they preach the gifts of the Spirit they have both. Where they preach healing, they have all three. But you're only going to get there what you preach there. When you read that in Hosea 4:6, "My People are destroyed for a lack of knowledge". Don't read one verse. Read it all. It was because they rejected knowledge and the reason why, the priests weren't preaching it. So whose fault was it? Not God's, not the people's, the priests. There's going to be some pastors and evangelists that should be preaching it and are not.
Now, there are those that obviously, that believe that, but are not called to preach that. And I could go on into that because I know the background and so forth. So every person is responsible before God about what they preach. I used to just jump up and preach nearly anything I'd see in there and the Lord said, "I didn't tell you to do that". Oh, okay. And now these are the things I'm going to hold you responsible for. I'm going to hold you responsible for the laws that govern prosperity and success, spiritual prosperity, physical prosperity, financial prosperity, and all the things that the blessing of Abraham covers. Can you say amen to these things? These are the fundamentals of faith, and they work. So stand up with me, please. Lift your hands. Say:
In the name of Jesus, I call myself strong. I call myself well, I call myself thrilled over the Gospel. I'm strong in faith. I stagger not at the promises of God, but like Abraham, I'm strong in faith, giving glory to God. I believe his Word. I'm a believer. I'm not a doubter. I'm a child of the King. I am a child and a prince of the Lord. He is King of kings. I'm one of the kings he's King of.