Kenneth Copeland - Hearing God's Voice and Following His Commandments
— Hello, everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. This is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. And, of course, Professor Greg Stephens. Now, we know that from what we read from Classic Amplified that Jesus went into hell with that song. And he gave up his Spirit. They didn't kill him. In fact, Pilate and the rest of them were, they were a little, you mean he's dead already? He wasn't pilote. He's Pilate. I'm a pilote. I mean it. Pilate. So, the book of Hebrews, please. And chapter 1, we're going to do chapter 1 and chapter 2. I want you to pay careful attention to this, class because you'll see these are the words that God used.
Now, we know what Jesus did in the pit of hell. These are the words that his Father, God, used to raise him up out of there. I mean, you see it. It's written right here. God, who at sundry times and in different manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being in the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, listen, upholding all things by the Word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, and set down on the right hand of majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Now, watch this. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son this day. Do you get that? This day. This day have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a Father. Ha ha ha. And again, when he brought in the first begotten into the world, he saith, Let all the angels of God worship him. And to the angel he saith, Who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. You've loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with all of gladness above all thy fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning has laid down the foundation of the earth, and in the heavens the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but you remain. And they wax old as a garment. And as a vesture thou shalt fold them up, and they shall be changed. And you are the same, and your years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation?
Now, now remember, we've used this over and over and over. Jesus said, "The field is ripe, but the harvesters are few. Lord, send laborers across their path with the Word of their salvation. Open their eyes with light". And that's right there. Transgression and disobedience receive a just recompense of reward. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Which is the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard him. God also bearing them witness with both signs and wonders and different miracles, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will.
Now, that's not the gifts of the Spirit, that's dispersion anyway. But in a certain place, testifying, 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, and didst set him 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... Oh yeah, the devil's a fallen angel... 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.
And so the Lord has instructed me to do this. And I've heard so many people, particularly a couple of people I'm thinking about widows, but look at that. To taste death for every man. So taste. You can't taste it when you die. You can't hear it when you die. You can't see it when you die. And you can't feel it if you know Jesus. If you don't, you can smell it, feel it, because you're smelling hell. And Brother Hagin said, "Horrible smell coming out of that place". Because he said, "I had an arm pulling me down in there". You can just smell it. Well, For both he that's sanctified and they that are sanctified are all of one, which is not a shame to call them brethren. Glory to God. Glory to God.
And so, well, at Brother Roger's homegoing the other day, I was reading that. And I forgot to tell John, my son, what I was going to do. Most of the time I tell whatever it is. And I was saying, you know, I came to there and suddenly I just dropped my hands, dropped my coat. Oh no. I died right in the middle of this message. Man, they all looking at me. I said, "John, I need some help". I said, "Come on, help me. Put that coat back on me". And he did. And I said, oh, thank You, Jesus. Now I've been resurrected. And I didn't taste a thing. A night, Halloween night, 1961. Horrible car wreck. Terrible car wreck. Just, we were coming to Marshall, Texas. And this Ford station wagon, and there was a caution light right there.
So he's going to wait, you know. I got right there and he pulled out in front of me. Man, those cars came together and bounced off my car, went down in a ditch. Looked like later had a head-on collision. But anyway, we were all in the hospital. And I was just sitting there. And glory to God. Because I was disobeying God. I knew I was supposed to go to Oral Roberts University. But Brother Sutton said, Kenneth... that's the first year. He said, that's going to really be a good school, but I can teach you any... I was going to Houston and running from God. And I was sitting there. John's arm was broken, and he's up here laying on my chest. And that orthopedic surgeon said, "Don't move him. He's a little baby, and he won't move. Just hold him like this".
And Kellie was the only one. She was in the back seat. And she was just, Gloria had the flu, and she's over there sick. I was sitting there praying. I said, oh God. I don't know what got me but it didn't get me good. And I just started repenting all over the place. And all of a sudden, there's two men there praying in tongues. I don't know anybody in Marshall, Texas. Of course, I'd call my dad to come pick us up. I looked down here, and this one has house shoes on, and this one over here was barefooted. Oh, they're just praying in the Spirit, praying in the Spirit. I felt all of a sudden, honey, warm honey. I could taste it. And I started repenting. I did it on purpose. Here is what I want you to get. I was laying there with John. I was just laying there, tears in my eyes because of this whole thing. I was sore and beat up.
Anyway, I won't go in all that. but... This man said, "You Pentecost"? I said, "Yes, sir". He said, "Well, I had a truck wreck. And my insurance said I got to stay in the hospital over three days. Ain't nothing wrong with me, but I lose insurance on my truck. But I'm down there praying. And this old bad nurse, she got mad at me for praying. I got this here church crash, but I was born again and born again. But the Lord said, I have a family here I want you to pray for". I mean, God was so far ahead of me. He just... Anyway, to bring me to my point, that car was completely destroyed. And so we got in the car the next morning. And Gloria is in the backseat with my mother. And she's holding John, Kellie, this little girl, and I'm up in the front seat. And my dad's...
Now, Class, here's what I want you to get. He said, "Kenneth, you know, your mother and I are partners with Oral Roberts". I said, yes. And he said, "And you know, they have seminars there, you know, from time to time. But Kenneth, we got two invitations. We got two invitations this time. I wondered if you and Gloria would like to go". I said, yes, sir. Well, there... And I'd never heard such grace and power, but I had an open vision. They all had gone in there and I stayed back to watch him lay hands on these people. All of a sudden, they all disappeared, but him. This is my point. Class, I saw the inner man. And they were emaciated, looked like holocaust survivors. And their heads were big and grotesque looking, looked terrible. I just began to weep. I can see it right now in my mind's eye. I just started bawling. I couldn't contain it.
So I went in there and Tommy Tyson was there and I knew him. I said, "Tommy, come over here". And I said, "I can't go home. I can't do it". He said, "No, wait a minute. He said, "Now just go home and take care of all your business and come back in January. We'll find a little place for you here and you can come on back. Okay, class, little did I know, January the 24th, 1967, the night before I was in the floor praying, I had $24,000 of bad debt. And I didn't know what I was going to do with it. That's the reason I didn't want to go. I just laid in the floor the night before just praying as hard and fast as I could in the Spirit.
And I thought, I wonder if I'll just be quiet here. Boy, in my spirit almost audible. Well, it's about time. I couldn't get a word in edgewise. Get up on your feet. I was standing there in a military brace, man. I was shaking all over. He said, "I sent you here and I'll take care of you here. They can't make a minister out of you. Oh, I've already made a minister out of you. All they can do is train you". I got out. She said, "What happened all night long"? I told her what he said. Okay, here we go. So here's the lesson. I was sitting in Mrs. Campbell's office. She's writing out the first quarter of my bill and I don't have a dime. I said, "Mrs. Campbell, may I make collect call"?
— Yeah. So I called my dad. He said, "Where are you"? I said, "I'm in the registrar's office". He said, "Eddie Matthews came by". Eddie Matthews is in the construction business. Eddie Matthews came by and left a check and said, it's for your ministry. I said, "How much is it"? $375.15. He said, "I put it in a bank. I thought you might need it". So I said, "Glory to God". I wrote the check, had 15 cents. I thought, well, we'll just buy a candy bar and go broke. To make a long story short, you've heard many times, I got out front, the Lord stopped me, went upstairs. And within about 15, 20 minutes after that, I was second in command on that airplane. And the rest is history. And that was 58 years ago. And then came Kenneth E. Hagin. I said, "Oh, glory to God. We have to have everything this man has". Thank You, Jesus.
— So that transference has just continued. Now you're transferring that same thing. Kenneth Campbell Bible School. Let me point out something. All week long, there's been a theme. And we didn't plan this week. This was been by the Holy Spirit. And a lot of it has been by hearing. We went into the first week, last week, we went into the Ten Commandments, reading between the lines of them. But in this one, it's hearing. But it's hearing who? Hearing the one that perfectly fulfilled them. And following his lead in this. That's what you did at ORU. Let me just show you this. In Hebrews chapter 2, back to where we were, therefore, we ought to give more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. And then you get over here in verse three, at the very end of verse three, and was confirmed or spoken. Well, I'll just start with verse three. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him? And here it is again, down in verse 10. For it became him for whom all things, and by whom all things in bringing many sons of the glory. Remember, they backed up from the glory. They hid themselves from the glory. Moses had to veil his face from the glory. But the glory that was set before him, Jesus. For the joy that was set before him. There wasn't any joy going to the cross, but he could see past that. So the joy set before him. What was the joy? This right here, bringing many sons unto glory.
— I have heard this from the Lord many times, and it just came up in me again right then. To do a book of Hebrews teaching, verses, and verses, and verses. Necessary the patterns of things in heaven should be purified by these. And you come down to where it's not having a sin consciousness, but a righteousness consciousness. It's all right here in the book of Hebrews. And accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, once he received him in a figure. So Abraham saw it, and he was looking forward to seeing him be raised from the dead, because he had a promise from God. And the angel stopped him. Why? What was the call for that? There would come a time when his son would say, "If there is any way, let this cup pass from me". And God would say, "No, my covenant partner, Abraham, was willing to do it, and I can't back out".
— That's right. He was committed.
— He is committed totally. And Jesus did that. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
— We closed yesterday in Mark chapter 11. And let me show you the 10 commandments with that fig tree. Jesus is undoing what Adam did. The first thing Adam did after his fall is he sowed fig leaves together to cover himself, because he was in fear. The second Adam, the final Adam, walks past that fig tree and goes, "No, no, no, no more covering. This thing had leaves on it, but no fruit". No, he's going to provide the fruit. We're not going to cover sin anymore. I'm going to become sin. That happened in the last week of his ministry. But let me show you in Mark 11, verse 22, Have faith in God, first commandment. I am Lord your God. Up here in verse 17, And he taught saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of all nations of prayer. What's that one? Remember the Sabbath? In everything that he's doing, in every teaching he's doing, it's those commandments, but it's all centered around Jesus.
— I have seen beautiful pictures. One, the famous one. It's a long table. That's Jesus. Which is just a matter of not knowing the Word of God. I'm an artist. It's good. But I've seen it. Oh, I can't. The last one, it's the part that's supposed to be beautiful work of art the original... And I looked, and both of them had navels. No way. Man is with me. I looked and he went... And then she's holding an apple. It was a fig tree because he sowed fig leaves. That was the sweet in the middle of the garden.
— Jesus is better. He's so much better. This has been a good two weeks. Praise God. It takes time to meditate. I didn't do all this marking in the book of Hebrews in one read through.
— That's right.
— But you have to read it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. And I mark it like that because in my memory, I see it in my mind where it is on the page and so forth. And the ones and underlined in red. And that's it. And we'll be back in just a moment.