TD Jakes - The Cryptology of the Cross
See, that’s what I love about sisters. When sisters get behind something, they really support it. Men might say, «Yeah man, that’s nice, that’s nice,» but that’s because they’re evolving. They don’t want to evolve without you evolving. We have to evolve together. Anyway, Woman Evolve is coming! They’ve got great speakers: Dr. Anita Phillips, Grow with Jo, Crystal Renee, Hazlet, Priscilla Shirer, and of course, Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts. It’s going to be a shift! Tell your neighbor, «It’s going to be a shift.» You will not want to miss it! It’s going to be at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, from September 26th through the 28th. Let me tell you something: when women get in there, they pack that place out!
I want you to go to the Gospel of St. Luke, 12:48–50. This is a very unusual scripture, and I say it’s unusual because I seldom hear it preached. I’ve only heard it once in my life. Maybe you have, but I haven’t. It’s Luke 12:48–50. When you have it, say, «Amen.» Amen.
«But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.» God said, «I’m not going to do much to him because he didn’t know any better.» He committed things worthy of stripes, but he shall be beaten with few stripes. I’ve had a few stripes myself. «For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask.» Now, notice God didn’t say He did; He said they will ask for more, because men think that the more they have given you, the more they can ask of you. Yeah, and this is how they say, «We hold you to a higher standard.» How do you get to hold anybody to a higher standard? Who are you to hold anybody accountable? But the Bible says that’s what they do.
Okay, He what He did is to him that knew not what to do; He beat them with few stripes. All of us have gotten a few stripes, right? Okay, next verse: «I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I if it be already kindled?» Here it is: «But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straightened till it be accomplished?» I want to read that again: «But I have a baptism—this is what Jesus said—to be baptized with, and how am I straightened» (the King James says, «How shall I be straightened») «till it be accomplished?» Can you say, «Amen»? Amen.
Now I’m going to talk tonight about the cryptology of the Cross. I know you all are trying to Google the cryptology of the Cross, but you’re not going to have to Google for it.
Holy Spirit, we invite you into this moment. We seize this moment to saturate us, to drop us down into the well of your Word, all the way down to the bottom where Joseph lay. Drop us down into the well of your Word and let us be engulfed by the revelation, the power, and the truth of the text in such a way that we go from glory to glory and from faith to faith. We trust you for things that seem insurmountable as we decode the encryption of the Cross and begin to understand the significance of the Cross, though it is hidden metaphorically through examples beyond human comprehension. Bless us now and we will be blessed; keep us and we will be kept. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray. Somebody shout, «Amen! Amen!»
You may be seated. Well, I sent my notes to the television people, and they got creative. They made a little video out of my notes to prepare you for what we’re going to talk about. Take a look at this, and then I’m going to teach. Cryptology is the study and practice of encoding and decoding information to ensure it reaches only its intended recipient. Encoding information is called encryption, and it consists of converting ordinary information, such as text made of words and sentences, into unreadable information, like a string of seemingly random letters or symbols.
This conversion is done using a code called a cipher. Only those who possess this secret key, the cipher, can unlock or decrypt the encoded information, returning it to its readable form. This process of encryption and decryption can enable a message to be hidden inside something that may appear to be something else. The practice of protecting and concealing important information through encryption is ancient; its first known possible use dates back almost 4,000 years to Ancient Egypt. Throughout history, cryptology has been used wherever secret communications were required—in war, espionage, diplomacy, and commerce. Even ancient Hebrew scribes were known to use what’s called an Atbash cipher.
Today, cryptology in all its forms is used virtually everywhere information is transmitted or stored, making possible many advancements of our digital age. Throughout history, it has become clear that information is power. The ancient art and modern science of cryptology is one way we preserve, protect, and harness that power. So then, we understand—yeah, yeah, yeah—that was interesting, wasn’t it? Whenever we have a message and want to send it in such a way that only the recipient can receive it, we use the same root word when we say it is encrypted. Sometimes it is letters, sometimes it is symbols, but it is used to convey a message that the sender only wants a specific receiver to be able to decipher. If you can decode the sentence or statement, it means you might want to pursue a career in cryptography because you possess the ability to break down the essence of things.
When something is encrypted, you’re passing it in such a way, particularly in times of war and battle, where you want to get a message out but don’t want everybody to receive it. It kind of drives me a little bit crazy with our media today. When we have conflict with other countries, they report what we’re going to do before we do it. See, I wouldn’t say anything; I would just come up like a submarine. You just look up, and I’d be standing right here at the top. Come on, somebody! There wouldn’t be any op-ed, no press release, no notice. It would just happen.
Have you ever opened up your phone and had to prove you weren’t a robot? That’s a way a cryptologist is able to decode the fact that you are legitimately human. It is becoming more and more difficult to prove your humanity in the face of artificial intelligence. It has become almost unrecognizable to see yourself, because someone can take an image of you, lift it up, and put it anywhere. In fact, somebody just told me yesterday that they had a Zoom meeting where they made four images of themselves and were having a conversation, unable to detect the difference between any of the images. They were asking questions spontaneously, each person answering and looking just like the original because the technology has made it difficult to determine what is real and what is fraudulent.
That’s some scary stuff for me. You know, I don’t recognize the world we live in today because there are so many ways they can produce content that looks like you. You have to be careful because your voice can be duplicated, your image can be duplicated. It used to be said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but you can’t trust a picture today because people will impose upon an image and make it do whatever they want it to do. There are all kinds of challenges we are dealing with.
I told a friend of mine that I don’t recognize the world I’m living in now, nor the country I live in. We’re having debates about things that I don’t even understand how they could be debatable. Come on, talk to me, somebody! It’s not just America; it’s all over the world. Messages are flowing through the air as we speak right now, while we’re having Bible class. We are being attacked by various influences from outside, attempting to break into our systems. We need all kinds of protections—almost like Israel’s Iron Dome—over our systems to keep us safe. There are people, even from foreign countries, trying to break through our codes or get your credit card or Social Security number, pretending to be who you think you are. One lady said she thought she owned a house, but they had bought it out from under her, and she got put out of her own house because they were able to get into her system.
Now, in order to have reliable communication and to ensure it reaches the appropriate person, there is encryption that is used. Encryption is good until you encounter a cryptologist. A cryptologist is someone who knows how to break through the encryption, and any encryption can be decoded. That’s why they’re making you prove that you’re human before they go further and legitimize that it’s you. Sometimes, they will give you a specific code and send it to your phone, and you have to input that code to open it. We’re having to go to greater lengths to determine the real from the fraudulent, the authentic from the fake, the legitimate from the illegitimate, and encryption is designed for battle. Say that with me: encryption is designed for battle.
Now, if I only talk about it from a scientific, technological, linguistic, or international perspective, it really doesn’t bring it home. In theology, we call it shadows and types. God has always used shadows and types because He encrypted His plan in such a way that the enemy didn’t see what He was going to do before He did it. I used to read the New Testament because it was easier for me to understand. Then I began to realize that the Old Testament is the New Testament only encrypted. Once you become a cryptologist, you can find Jesus in Genesis, in Exodus, in Leviticus, in Deuteronomy, in Numbers, in Ruth, in Esther. It’s encrypted. You might not be able to see it because it’s in code, but He’s there in between each line of pain and glory, showing Himself in shadows and types.
In the New Testament, there’s encryption. Jesus hands out what looks like bread and what looks like wine, but He doesn’t call it bread or wine. He says, «Take, eat; this is my body.» Are you hearing what I’m saying? «This is my body that was broken for you.» Well, it didn’t look like a human body; that would be kind of gross—sitting here trying to eat a knee or a toe. It looked like bread, but it symbolized His body. It was an encrypted message. In the Old Testament, it symbolized the Passover lamb. Now the encryption has changed its meaning from the lamb in the Old Testament to the real Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, and He says, «Take, eat; this is my body that was broken for you.»
Are you following what I’m saying? I’m just getting warmed up; just give me a minute—I’m going to get there. I grew up in a little Baptist church on top of a hill in a community called Velia in Charleston, West Virginia. I went to First Baptist Church of Velia as a child under Reverend Paul Gilmer. I remember the Easter Sunday I was supposed to get baptized. I don’t know why I was supposed to get baptized, but maybe it was because it was Easter, and I was 12. At the age of 12, they decided to baptize me. So, I got ready to get baptized, and I came down to the water. I’ll be honest with you: I was not thinking about Jesus, heaven, the cross, eternal life, blood atonement, or justification. I was thinking about drowning.
I told them I wanted to get baptized, but I wanted my brother by the pool. Remember that? I insisted that my brother be there because I didn’t trust Reverend Gilmer to get me out of the water. I knew my brother loved me and would pull me through. Come on, somebody! They baptized me in the water; they took me down, and the water engulfed me. I came up out of the water supposedly to be walking in newness of life, but I’m not sure it worked real well on me because I was so focused on snatching my brother that I don’t know if it «took.» So, later, I did it again at an older age in another church, and I had an experience with God that changed the rest of my life. Are you hearing what I’m saying?
Jesus says, «I have a baptism to be baptized with; how shall I be straightened until it be accomplished?» We’re going to look at this a little bit that we might begin to understand what in the world He’s talking about. There is an encryption both in Scripture and nature that teaches us the significance and power of baptism. Like water, when a baby is born, it passes through the birth canal, or as it gets near the birth canal, and when the woman’s water breaks, the baby passes through the water to ease the labor pains and give birth. Nature is revealing something to us: coming out of the water signifies that life awaits on the other side.
When the earth was created, the Bible says, «In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.» The Bible states that the Spirit of the Lord moved upon the face of the deep. Many people, theologians, place a gulf between what’s called The Gap Theory, between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. In Genesis 1:1, God created the heaven and the earth in a state of perfection, but by Genesis 1:2, the earth has gone into chaos and is submerged beneath the water. The Bible states that the Spirit of the Lord moved across the face of the waters, and when the Spirit moved across the waters, it brought the earth up out of the water. All of a sudden, birds began to sing, plants began to grow, and fish began to swim. But life didn’t happen until it came out of the water. We see the Spirit hovering over it, and that’s powerful, but the earth had to come up out of the water. The Bible says He separated the firmaments above the waters from the firmaments beneath the waters, separated the land from the sea, and said that it was good. This is God baptizing the new earth so it can be inhabited, initiating a new beginning.
He allows Moses to catch a glimpse of it by writing the Pentateuch. Moses wrote the Pentateuch after being on the mountaintop with God. The Bible says in the King James Bible that he saw God’s back parts. It doesn’t mean he saw God’s rear, as God doesn’t have a beginning or an end. When it says he saw His back parts, he saw His history; he saw His beginnings. Moses wrote, «In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.» Look at how long man existed before we had any written word from God at all. It only comes through the revelation that Moses received while on the mountaintop with God.
Moses writes the Pentateuch—are you hearing what I’m saying? The first five books of your Bible are called the Pentateuch, and it existed for years, giving us glimpses of Jesus in an encrypted form from the very beginning. It gives us Jesus encrypted in the Garden of Eden when Adam had sinned, and the voice of the Lord walked— that’s Jesus right there! The voice of the Lord walked. The word was made flesh—the voice of the Lord walked through the cool of the garden. When the voice of the Lord walked and asked Adam, «Where art thou?» that’s Jesus right there! The word made flesh is Jesus, but you don’t see the name Jesus because it’s encrypted—are you hearing what I’m saying?
Let’s go a little further. The Bible says he found an innocent animal and offered it up as a sacrifice—again, that’s Jesus, but the text doesn’t say Jesus. That sacrificial lamb, that animal is Jesus in encrypted form because He doesn’t want the enemy to detect the plan He has. He encrypts it in a nameless animal and covers Adam’s nakedness and sin with bloody skins. Blood running down his leg, the sin in Adam is covered with the blood of an innocent animal, which had nothing to do with the sin in the first place. Christ, who knew no sin, became sin for us that we might be the righteousness of God. Now, His blood covers my wickedness, nakedness, weakness, and frailties, revealing glimpses of who He is in encrypted form.
When the Hebrew children fled from the Egyptians and came to the Red Sea, they were slaves on the run from their master, who was chasing them with 600 chosen chariots. He thought he was going to get them back—just like he thought he was going to get you back. But the Lord fixed it! Hallelujah! The Bible says they went into the water as slaves, but they came up as sons. You didn’t get that. They went in as slaves; they came out as sons. We go in as sinners; we come out as saints. We don’t recognize it even as baptism; we see it as an escape. But it was a good escape because they had taken the wealth of Egypt and placed it on their backs. There was so much wealth they couldn’t carry it; they had to place it on their children—that’s generational wealth!
The problem with us is that every generation starts out broke; you’re on your own. But in biblical days, the parents put the wealth on the backs of the children. The weight of the silver and gold was so heavy that had God not sent a northern wind to blow the bottom of the river dry, they would have sunk like Pharaoh in the mud. But isn’t it amazing? When God makes a way for you, He will indeed make you able to walk across on dry land.
The land that was dry when the Hebrew children walked across the Red Sea became wet again when Pharaoh tried to follow them. The Bible says that when Pharaoh’s chariots got into the water, they got stuck in the mud. What God has for you—y’all didn’t hear me. Let me tell you, what God has for you is for you. And when God makes a way for you, I don’t care what’s chasing you; it won’t have the dry ground to be able to get you out because God is getting ready to make a transfer. The wealth of the unjust is laid up for the just, and there’s going to be a wealth transfer. It’s going to be heavy, and you’re going to need some children to help you carry it to get it where it needs to go. Are you here? And God said, «I’m going to make the ground dry so your children don’t get stuck in the mud,» but every enemy that’s been chasing you is going to get stuck in the Red Sea.
The Bible said that when they got across, God allowed the waters to collapse, and Pharaoh drowned in the Red Sea. Miriam grabbed a tambourine a minute ago; grab it and beat it for a minute for me. Miriam grabbed the tambourine and started beating it to the glory of God. The more she praised God, the more Pharaoh drowned in the Red Sea. Dead horses were lying over here; dead soldiers were lying over there. But the Hebrew children were dancing in the Holy Ghost. You’ve got to learn how to dance over dead stuff. Y’all don’t hear what I’m talking about; you’ve got to learn how to dance over dead stuff.
I know it’s kind of messy; I know it doesn’t look good; it may even smell bad. But when God puts a dance in your soul, you’ve got to learn how to dance anyway. Do you hear what I’m saying? The Bible said that Miriam and a group of women got together, and they broke out and started dancing while the devil was drowning. Isn’t it amazing to think that your dance could drown the devil? That your dance could shut him down? The more you praise him, the more Pharaoh goes underwater. It makes me want to dance right now; it makes me want to holler right now; it makes me want to run right now; it makes me want to leave right now. Every time you break out dancing, you’re drowning some enemy in your life. Glory to God!
Touch your neighbor and say, «I’m getting ready to drown something. I’m getting ready to drown something.» I’m not always dancing because I’m happy. I’m not even always dancing because I’m anointed. Sometimes I’m dancing because I need to drown something. I need to drown it so hell knows you will not get me back; you will not take me under custody; you will not handcuff me; you will not shackle me; you will not hold me down; you will not stop me from moving. What God has for me is for me. I feel the Holy Ghost creeping up in here. I wasn’t expecting him to come so soon, but take 30 seconds and give God a praise in this place! Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God!
Now, some people will think you’re dancing because you’re emotional, and some people will think you’re dancing because you might be Pentecostal. Some people will think you’re dancing because of your ethnicity, and some will think you’re dancing because you’ve got rhythm. But touch your neighbor and say, «I’m dancing 'cause I’ve got something to drown. I’m going to dance till he gurgles; I’m going to dance till the bubbles stop; I’m going to dance till he goes down and doesn’t come back. I’m going to dance till I get loose; I’m going to dance till my identity is changed. I’m going to dance till I’m emancipated; I’m going to dance till I’m liberated; I’m going to dance till I’m set free. I’m going to dance till hell knows he whom the Son has set free is free indeed!»
You’ve got 15 seconds left! Woo! You better shout it! Tell your neighbor, «My dance is encrypted! My dance is encrypted! You don’t even know what it means! You don’t even know what I’m dancing about, but every now and then I’ve got to send him an encrypted praise because when praises go up, blessings come down!» Shout yes! Somebody! Y’all sit down; y’all sit down; y’all going to mess me up; y’all going to mess me up; y’all going to mess me up! Y’all going to make me act up in here! Y’all going to make me cut up in here! Y’all going to make me get crazy in here! Y’all going to make me get loose in here! Y’all going to set it off in here! Y’all going to make something happen in here! Y’all going to receive—yes!
Come on! We’ve just started; I’ve got a long way to go! Yeah! I’ve got a long way to go! Y’all got to sit down; y’all got to, y’all got to, y’all got to! Y’all came to see everything in the spirit. Everything in the spirit is encrypted. That’s why the Spirit gives you tongues; for the Bible says, «We know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself makes intercessions for us with groanings and moanings that cannot be uttered.» They cannot be in language because sometimes I have to talk to God in encryption. Hallelujah! I have to talk to him encrypted because I can’t trust myself to send through a regular text. I’ve got to go encrypted to get the message to God to get a breakthrough. That’s why he gave me a prayer language. Do you hear what I’m saying?
I’m going to get to the cryptology of the Cross, but I want you to see the significance of coming up out of the water, sparking newness of life—coming out of the womb, water breaking, sparking the newness of life! The Earth coming up out of the water, sparking the newness of life! I see a pattern going on here between going down and coming up. I see a pattern here between water and life. I see God teaching us something because when the Hebrew children— the second generation—got ready to get to the Promised Land, they thought they were going to get the promise without going through the water because they had left the Red Sea back there with their fathers. But when they got to the Promised Land, they had to go through the Jordan; and the Bible said that when they came to the Jordan, Joshua didn’t get the breakthrough that Moses got. Because Moses lifted up his staff and the waters parted, but Joshua had to go down into the water.
Sometimes you’ve got to get your feet wet; sometimes you’ve got to be willing to get your feet wet. It doesn’t work for you the way it worked for your father. You’ve got to be willing to go to the next level. Joshua stepped down into the Jordan, and then the waters parted, and they walked through on dry ground, but they had to go through the water. And the Earth had to go through the water, and the baby had to go through the water. And there’s something that God is trying to teach us about water, and the encrypted message that he is delivering to us is so profound. I’ve taught on the Tabernacle for years and years because the Tabernacle is important to me; it’s the hinge of the Bible.
If you don’t understand the Tabernacle, you are missing part of the Bible. When you read it, you won’t fully appreciate that we have not a high priest who cannot be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. Do you understand that in the Tabernacle, there was a thing called the laver? The first piece of furniture in the Tabernacle was the Brazen Altar, and the next piece of furniture was the laver. Before you could go in, you had to stop by the laver because the water was what released you to be able to go into the next dimension. Are you hearing what I’m saying? In the outer courts, you had daylight; in the inner court, you had candlelight; in the Holies of Holies, you had divine light. In the outer court, you had daylight; in the inner court, you had revelatory light, which comes from the word of God: «Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway.»
But when you got into the Holies of Holies, we don’t need candlesticks; we don’t need sunshine; the glory of God lights up the Holies of Holies, and there is no other light in there at all. Somebody just shout glory! Glory! You know when God said, «Let there be light,» and there was light, and it was good? It had to be glory! If there was light on the first day, it had to be glory because, according to the Scriptures, the sun wasn’t created until the fourth day. That means that things don’t have to get better on the outside for God to create light on the inside. Are you hearing what I’m saying? I’m showing you encryption, and when it’s all over, we’re not going back to the fourth day; we’re going back to the first day because in the Book of Revelation, the Bible says that the Lord’s face will light up the heavens.
There’ll be no sun there; there’ll be no night there because the pure glory is going to be strong enough to light up all of the heavens. We’re going back to the first day of creation when the light came out of his mouth. When God spoke his word, the light came out of his word. Oh! What you say? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him, not anything was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Jesus has enough light in him that if there is no light around him, he is still light all by himself. He’s a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. Are y’all getting this?
This is encrypted. The demons can’t get this; the witches can’t get this; the horrendous can’t get this. You have to be a believer to get this. I’m dropping nuggets in here, and it’s coming out encrypted, but if you’ve got something on the inside jumping in your belly, it’s because you’ve got the key. So don’t be surprised if somebody jumps up around you; it’s 'cause they’ve got the key to get the encryption of the power of the revelation. Are you hearing what I’m saying? When Naaman the Syrian soldier was covered with leprosy, the Bible says that Elijah told him to go dip in the Jordan seven times, and when he came out the seventh time, he came out clean. I see a pattern. If it worked for Naaman, if it worked for Joshua, if it worked for Moses, if it worked for the newborn baby, if it worked for the Earth, there’s something to this baptism that we need to understand.
Jesus said, «I have a baptism to be baptized with; how shall I be straightened until it be accomplished?» The disciples were asking him who will sit on the right side and who will sit on the left. He said, «Can you stand to be baptized with the baptism that I’m baptized with?» Over and over again, Jesus tells them that there is a perpetual baptism that is in front of him. Yet we understand that Jesus had already been baptized. If Jesus says, «I have a baptism to be baptized with,» he’s not talking about the baptism he got in the Jordan with John because that was the beginning of his ministry. We are coming up to the end of his ministry, and he’s still referring to baptism, but it’s encrypted: «I have a baptism to be baptized with; how shall I be straightened until it be accomplished?»
Listen, that «until it be accomplished"—I thought it was a one-time experience! No, baptism is not a one-time experience. Baptism is an encryption that continues to perpetuate itself throughout your life. You keep going through deaths, burials, and resurrections. There are several iterations of baptism in your life. You got a little bit older, and you went through it again on another level, and you went through another death, burial, and resurrection. Are you hearing what I’m saying? And if you don’t believe it, go out in your yard and drop an acorn, and it will go through death, burial, and resurrection. Grow some mustard seeds, and they’ll go through death, burial, and resurrection! This principle perpetuates itself in nature, in science, in technology, in theology, in life. It perpetuates itself over and over again.
Jesus knows that this is important: «I have a baptism to be baptized with; how shall I be straightened until it be accomplished?» That means my baptism is still working! Yeah! Come on, sir! He told Nicodemus, «Ye must be born again of the water and of the Spirit!» Are you hearing what I’m saying? He’s letting him know anytime there’s going to be a rebirth, there’s water attached to it. Amen? Are you hearing what I’m saying? It’s dangerous for a woman to have a baby if her water doesn’t break. It doesn’t ease the passageway for the baby to be born. Water eases the passageway for the new you to come out of the old you. Can I go deeper with this? Jesus was literally baptized in the Jordan River. And John, when he saw him—do you remember the text? John saw him from afar and looked out in the crowd and said, «Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world!»
In that one moment when John pointed him out, he went from obscurity to notoriety. You don’t have to point yourself out; God will send somebody else to do that. So go on your Instagram page and take down all those descriptions: «I’m a scientist, I’m a doctor, I’m an artist, I’m a technologist, I’m a life coach.» No, no, no, no, no! If you have to say all of that about yourself and nobody else is saying it, something is wrong. There ought to be somebody pointing at you, saying, «He’s a scientist, he’s a doctor, he’s a life coach.» If you have to keep announcing, «I’m the head of the house,» guess what? You’re not the head of the house. If you have to keep saying, «I’m the pastor of this church,» then guess what? You’re not the pastor of the church, because that is obvious and doesn’t need to be explained.
Can I go deeper? This is Bible class now. There are two ordinances in Orthodox Christianity that are observed continually in most churches around the world. One of them is communion, which represents eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ, though it is not really blood; it is blood in a symbolic form. And it is not literally His flesh, although the Catholic denomination teaches that it literally becomes His body. We understand that it symbolizes His body and not necessarily His flesh. Are you hearing what I’m saying?
The reason I know this is because I bought the wafers. If I bought the wafers and picked up the wine, then I know that the wine is not blood. I know the difference between the taste of blood because I have licked enough wounds to know what blood tastes like. But it is encrypted; He’s telling us something in a form that we need a key to decipher in order to understand it. These two ordinances make up the New Testament. When I use the term «ordinance,» it can mean a lot of things; in law, it can refer to a legal term like there is an ordinance that you must be in by 6:00. But in a religious context, the word «ordinance» means an element or expression of worship.
The Bible provides, in the book of Deuteronomy, laws and the Ten Commandments. It gives judgments: if a brother is overtaken in a fault, that’s a judgment on how to handle it. It gives ordinances: this is how you worship, and worship is an ordinance. The two ordinances look like the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Unleavened Bread; all of the Feasts of Pentecost were ordinances in the Old Testament. The two remaining ordinances in the New Testament are communion and baptism, and some people even add foot washing as a third ordinance in the New Testament.
These ordinances commemorate something with a deeper message, but it’s encrypted. I wish I had time; I would wear that out. See, when Jesus laid aside His garments, the Bible says that, at supper being ended, He rose from the table, laid aside His garments, and wrapped Himself in a towel. The reason the Bible gives us so much detail is that He is acting out on Earth what He did in heaven when He laid aside His pre-existent glory—glory to God! He came down and left His omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience. He came among men, entered Mary’s womb, girded Himself with a towel, and came to serve us. He is acting it out again before us, but you don’t see it. You just think it’s ceremonial because you don’t understand that it’s encrypted.
Are you hearing what I’m saying? Okay, so we’re going to begin to go deeper. I haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet! These ordinances express higher messages. Jesus decodes both of them like a cryptologist. A cryptologist deciphers hidden messages that aren’t obvious to most observers. That’s why the Bible is living—because we can all read it, but we don’t all see it. Everyone in the first half of my message read those verses, but not everyone saw the revelation because it is encrypted.
From the water covering the Earth in the Book of Genesis to the sea of glass in the Book of Revelation in front of the throne, at every stage, you had to go through water to get to life, to the next dimension, to experience the newness of life. God is trying to tell us something important, and it’s my job tonight to share with you the cryptology of the cross. The Tabernacle is another encryption of the cross, and if you understand the Tabernacle—and I’ve taught on it before, but I have many new members now—then at some point, I would love to do a series.
The Tabernacle is crucial; I believe it is the hinge that opens up the door to the gospel in the Old Testament. You won’t fully grasp true revelation until you understand the Tabernacle, because the Tabernacle is an encrypted message of the cross. You will see it in the door when Jesus says, «I am the door; if any man enters in, he shall find green pastures.» You will see it in the colors on the door. The Tabernacle is surrounded by white badger skins, but the door is made of blue for the grace of God, crimson for the redemption of God, and purple for the majesty of God. It was distinctly lit up, set apart from all other parts. When Jesus says, «I am the door,» understanding the Tabernacle helps you realize what He means: «I am the point of access, the point of entry, the point of adoption. I bring you into the royal family; I make you the seed of Abraham.» It doesn’t matter what your DNA says; I’m going to adopt you into the family of Abraham where I am the seed of Abraham.
I am born of God, adopted, whereby we cry «Abba, Father.» He has adopted us into the family. The truth of the matter is, Elder Pastor Johnson, when you married your wife, you adopted her into your family. Marriage is an adoption. She was not a Johnson; what was she before you got married? She was a Coleman. But when she married you and took on your name, she became a Johnson. That means you adopted her into the family, and all of your descendants that come from your union are a result of her adoption into the Johnson family; therefore, she is an heir and a joint heir through Jesus Christ.
Marriage is a right of adoption. So if something happens to you, whether you like it or not, it will go to her because she is a joint heir with you. Even though she didn’t come out of your mother’s womb, she has been adopted into your family. So on one hand, she is your sister in Christ, but on the other hand, she is your wife. Like Abraham, she is your sister-wife. Let me stop. Can I go deeper?
When you get into the Tabernacle… now, I don’t have time to delve into the Tabernacle because that’s a big subject. But I do want you to understand that the placement of the furniture—the brazen altar, the laver, the altar of incense on this side, the table of showbread on that side, the veil in the middle, and the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies—all tell you about Jesus.
Let me tell you about the veil quickly, can I? The veil in the temple is so high and thick that it prevents you from being able to see the glory of God, because it is hidden behind the veil. This is true of Jesus. We beheld the wonder of His glory, the only begotten of the Father, full of truth and grace. Yet Philip says, «Show us the Father, and it suffices us.» The reason Philip couldn’t see the glory is that the skin of Mary was the veil. I’ll prove it to you: when the Roman soldier pierced Him in His side, the veil in the temple was rent from the top to the bottom, because what was the skin on Jesus is an encryption of the veil in the temple.
After He showed Himself alive for 40 days with many infallible proofs, He went beyond the veil into the heavens. So there is the heavenly veil, the human veil, and the fleshly veil, all in the Tabernacle. Look at my diagram; you’ll see the furniture aligned in the same line of the cross. He is the table of showbread, the candlesticks, the Ark of the Covenant, the brazen laver, and the brazen altar. All of that is in Him, and all of it in the wilderness is Jesus in an encrypted form before He was born, before Mary met Joseph. He is the Eternal Son of God.
God has given us encrypted messages of His masterful plan. God is not making this up as He goes. He has had a plan from the very beginning. God doesn’t wait until you are in trouble and then try to figure out how to get you out. God has made the way of escape before you even get into trouble. This is a picture of the Lamb that was slain from the foundations of the world. God already had the solution before Satan asked the question.
God is playing Monopoly with Satan; He already has the answer. He already knows the way; by the way, He already has your answer. You think God is sitting up in heaven trying to figure out how He’s going to get you out. There is no temptation taking you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful. With the temptation, He will also make a way of escape. So if you have a problem, you have to have an answer, because you can’t have a problem without the answer being made to accommodate it.
Right now, slap somebody and say, «He’s got the answer.» Jesus is the answer for the world today. Above Him, there’s no other; Jesus is the way. Jesus is the answer for the world today. Oh, above Him, there’s no other; Jesus is the way.
Go to your Bibles to Romans 6, at least verses 1 through 6. I might go further, but go to Romans 6. «What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?» God forbid! God didn’t create grace so that you would have a license to sin. He created grace so that if you sinned, He would not have to come to the cross again.
Y’all didn’t hear what I said. If you sin, He doesn’t have to get up off the throne and go to the cross. That’s why when He died on the cross, He said, «It is finished.» I died for that which was past, present, and future. There is nothing you could ever do that the blood isn’t strong enough to cover. When Jesus said, «It is finished,» it is forever settled. But He does not want you to use His grace as a license to be lascivious. The word «lascivious» means unrestrained action, so being a Christian means being restrained.
Yeah, and being restrained is uncomfortable. If you have ever been handcuffed—no, I’m not going to get into that. I don’t know where that might lead. But especially those plastic handcuffs I used today? They’re not designed for your comfort. Watch this: they’re designed for your constraint. So, being a Christian means being constrained by the grace of God.
Have you ever thought about what you would be? I mean, even as bad as you are now, have you thought about how much worse you would be if God hadn’t constrained you? Have you thought you might be dead if God hadn’t constrained you? Have you ever thought that the boyfriend you broke up with, cried about, and almost lost your life over was about to give you AIDS? But God constrained you, and it was good for you that you were afflicted, for had you not been afflicted, you would have been killed!
Have you ever thought about that? Sometimes, God says no and constrains you for a divine reason. Hallelujah! Sometimes God didn’t mean for you to get that job, and you’re sitting there with a pouty face, all upset because you didn’t get the job. But God knew that job was going to drive you crazy, and God’s got something better for you. Being a Christian means being constrained.
God forbid! How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein? We can do it, but we can’t live in it. Let me make this plain: a lamb can fall into the mud just like a pig, but when the lamb gets in the mud, he cries. When the pig gets in the mud, he wallows again. They fell into the same mud, yes, they did the same thing, but because they have different natures, the pig can’t get enough of the mud. Yet the lamb, no matter how much he tries, cannot be comfortable in the mud, because it’s not in his nature. With his wool on his back, which is heavy, it’s not in his nature to be happy in the mud.
Can be happy in the mud because pigs don’t have much hair, but lambs have woolly hair, and when they get in the mud, it weighs them down. God will put something in you that will weigh you down until you come back and say, «I’m sorry. I’m sorry about what I did to you. I’m sorry about what I said to you. I’m sorry about how I treated you.» I’m sorry because I didn’t speak to you. Give God praise for Dr. or Le in the house! Yes, yes! I saw you; I know who you are. I have my glasses on, honey, I can see well. Let me tell you something: there are some of you right now who keep falling into it, but you can’t stay in it because how can we who are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?
Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life. There goes that process again—coming up out of the water, walking in the newness of life. You must be born of the water and of the Spirit so that you can have eternal life. There goes that process again: the earth coming up out of the water, and all of a sudden, life begins to emerge. There goes that process again: the water breaks, and the baby is born. There goes that process again: the Red Sea parts, and the children of Israel escape all bondage. They escaped all bondage; they escaped all debt.
It was supernatural debt cancellation because they had borrowed the gold from the Egyptians, so they left in debt. But when the debtor died, then all the debts were paid, and they were set free. I see supernatural debt cancellation coming in this room for some people here. God’s going to do things in your life that will change your credit score, change your debt, change your status, and put you in a new place. All you have to do is keep following Him. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. So that means I go down with Him, I come up with Him, and now I’m walking in the newness of life, knowing this: that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed.
I have a baptism to be baptized with. How shall I be straightened until it be accomplished? He’s killing me, sir, sir, sir! Little by little, day by day, He’s killing me. That’s what baptism is about—death, burial, resurrection. Killing my temper, killing my pride, killing my stubbornness, killing my lasciviousness, killing my perverseness—He’s killing me. It’s not dead yet, but He’s killing me as I continue to go through stages of death, burial, and resurrection. That’s why you’re judging me from over here, but now I’m over here. You understand what I’m saying? And while you’re running your mouth, I’m moving over here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, because every day He’s killing me. My outward man is perishing so that my inward man might be renewed. It’s perishing.
I’m still bad, but it’s perishing. I’m still a little hotheaded, but it’s perishing. I still want to go off on a brother every now and then, but it’s perishing. He’s killing me. There was a time I wouldn’t have been caught dead in church on a Wednesday night, but He’s killing the old man. He’s killing the old man, and now I’m coming to church on a Wednesday night. How many of you can praise God that you are coming to church on a Wednesday night? Tell somebody, «He’s killing my old man.» Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. So I’m no longer a slave to sin; I went from a slave to a son when I came up out of the water. I’m going to tie it all together before I sit down: for he that is dead is freed from sin.
I will never forget when my mother passed away. They called my house, and I wasn’t in too good of a mood, and they called about an ambulance bill. They said, «Is Mrs. Jake here? Mrs. Old Jake here?» I said, «No, she’s not.» They said, «We’re calling about this bill that she owes for an ambulance ride.» I said, «I don’t know how you’re going to get it. She’s not here, but I know where you can find her. She’s over there in La-La Land, and if she wants to write you a check, she can, but I’m not O. Jake!» He that is dead is freed from sin. He’s killing me.
Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more. Death has no more dominion over Him, for in that He died, He died unto sin once, but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Now I’m going to bring this home; I’m going to try to make this real to you so you can see. I’m going to give you the same Paul who wrote that scripture. We’re going to give you two scriptures that show you what it’s like to perpetually go through the metamorphosis of death where you grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ on a daily basis. Paul says, «I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind me and reaching for those things before me.» You know I can’t reach and look back at the same time.
So if you’re watching me online right now, you have to decide: are you going to look back or are you going to reach forward? Is anybody in here going to reach forward? The only way you can reach forward is to stop looking back. If you keep looking back, you can’t reach forward because your arm won’t let you look back and reach forward at the same time. I can look to the side, but I can’t look back. I can’t see any of the preachers in the pulpit because they’re back there. I might have saved you some therapy money if you stop talking about what your grandmother did and who didn’t raise you and what happened when you were three and what you went through and how your daddy yelled at you and your mama whipped you with the belt. She doesn’t have any sense, and there you are, 35 years old looking back, turning into a pillar of salt when you could be looking forward.
Now I’m going to show you two scriptures, and then I’m gone. Romans 7:17–20: If you’re enjoying this Bible class, type it online. Yeah, if you’re enjoying this class, give Him a praise in this room. Now, some theologians say that this is before Paul got saved; I personally don’t agree with that. I think this is in the early stages of his walk with God, but he says, «As it is, it is no longer I myself who did it, but it is sin living in me.» Come on. «For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I want to do, this I keep doing.
Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who did it but it is sin living in me that does it.» Are you hearing what I’m saying? Now I want you to go to Galatians 2:20 and see him as he matured in Christ and see what he has done as Paul comes into deeper revelations of the cross. When Paul first got saved, he didn’t even recognize Jesus on the road to Damascus: «Who is it? Who is it?» And Jesus said, «It is Jesus whom thou persecuted.» Okay, and he was blind for days. When he first started writing, he started writing about the second coming of the Lord. The further he went on, he started writing more and more about the cross. He started saying, «I count it all but dung that I may win the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ,» because God is killing his old man.
He’s killing him while he’s walking; he’s constraining him. He’s dying daily. Stuff is falling off of him—Judaistic pride and arrogance are falling off of him. He sends him to preach to the Gentiles. He lets him get stoned and left for dead; he lets him get shipwrecked; he lets him get snake-bitten. All this stuff is happening in his life, and the more things happen to you in your life, the more you come to know who God really is. Let me do a test: don’t the scriptures look different to you now than they did 25 years ago through the things you suffered? It’s the same Bible; it’s the same scriptures, but as He continues to kill the old man, all of a sudden, the encryption opens up, and you cipher it better.
You get keys into deeper revelation, and that’s why I wouldn’t take anything from my journey right now. It cost me too much to know what I know about it. I went through too much. I’m not just talking about going to school; I’m talking about going through life. Yeah, you’re not going to get this by reading somebody’s book. You’re going to get this by going through life. As you go through life and pain and sorrow and grief and turmoil and confusion and heartbreak and disappointment, you come to know, «Oh, that I may know Him in the fellowship of His suffering and the power of His resurrection.» I can’t know Him in the power of His resurrection if I don’t know Him in the fellowship of His suffering. So now in Galatians 2:20, we’re looking at a seasoned soldier, and he says this, and I’m about to close: «I am crucified with Christ.»
The «I» that I couldn’t control, the «I» that would never behave, the «I» that was at war inside of himself all the time—he said, «I am crucified with Christ, and I no longer live.» I no longer live—it’s not about me anymore, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh or in the body, I live not by my faith, sir, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Watch the life that I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Draw a line between «live» and «give.» He loved me and gave Himself for me—a line between love and giving.
Don’t tell me you love me if you never give anything. It’s not that you have to—I don’t believe that you have to give. I don’t believe that. Shut up! What you’re telling me is that you don’t love because love will always seek a way to express itself. It’ll send a note; it’ll send a flower; it’ll send a card; it’ll spray an envelope with perfume and hope the perfume doesn’t come off at the mail, at the post office. Come on, come on, come on, talk to me! Where are my real people at? Where are my real people at? Where are my real people at? Love will find a way. It will lay away something for a year to get it out to give. Love will always find a way to give because giving is about loving. It’s not about duty; it’s not about bondage; it’s not about pain; it’s about transformation. The transformation of the human soul is what causes this text to be meaningful.
Now I’m getting ready to close, but I want you to understand this. You stay right where you are; I’m coming. I want you to understand this: what I’m teaching on is the cryptology of the cross. The cross was settled from the beginning; it was there from the beginning. Jesus said, «For this purpose came I into the world. I have a baptism to be baptized with. How shall I be straightened until it be accomplished?» How can we wait until it be accomplished? It’s got to be accomplished! So you got saved, you joined the church, but you’re not through dying. You haven’t reached the point: «It is no more I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me.» And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me.