Are You In The Book?
This is one of my favorite messages, and it wouldn’t have come about if I hadn’t been driven to dig deeper into these scriptures after being asked to leave a church for my uncommon beliefs. Ah, the good old days! I actually wrote a mammoth book after proving the subject, but never made an effort to have it published. Maybe that’s next on the list.
*Please note that this was transcribed directly from the live audio message ten years ago and has not been edited for grammar, relevance, or content.
Please turn to Genesis 3:15. This is the classic story of the serpent’s departure from garden of Eden. Adam and his wife have eaten from a tree that they were not supposed to. Consequently, God shows up and ultimately deals with the serpent in verse 14, “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
We’ve been studying this scripture in several different messages. This is the same statement the New Testament refers to as “before the foundation of the world.” Churches for millennia have taught that this statement referred to the life of Jesus, God’s only begotten son. The seed of a woman would eventually bruise the head of the serpent. And of course, it would bruise the boy’s heel, and of course, Jesus was crucified. This is revealed in the Book of Revelation as, “the lamb slain before the foundation of the world”. Doing the math, we find then that Genesis 4:1 is when “the world” was founded. “Inhabitants” is the correct translation of the word “world” in the King James Bible. Let’s recap: Adam knew his wife Eve, and they started making people. This was the foundation of the world.
Genesis 3:15 is the beginning of the word about this man who became Jesus. We’ve correctly assumed that Jesus is the Christ, and that Jesus was the one sent before the foundation of the world. But what we’re going to start seeing today, is what our part is, in 1999, in these prophecies. Things didn’t just stop when Jesus was crucified or when he was resurrected. Things didn’t just stop when he sent the disciples. Things kept going, obviously, or I wouldn’t be preaching about them today. It had to continue for at least 60 years after the resurrection to get the entire book completed. So, things didn’t stop, although Jesus did. There is no record of Jesus talking to anyone in the New Testament after he is recorded kicking Saul of Tarses off his donkey in Acts Chapter 8 or 9. That’s the end of Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus is spoken about, but in terms of his actual contact, it’s been a long time since we’ve heard from Jesus.
Let’s read verse 15 again, And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. We’re talking about the Messiah.
Let’s go to John 1:1 In the beginning was the word. For today, I want you to not think back on what you were taught this meant. If you weren’t taught anything, fine; just believe this as one of a multitude of answers about this. In the beginning was the word. This is the reason why it’s important for you to think about this as a unique situation for today’s message. I want you to think about the beginning time of the word to be Genesis 3:15. I don’t want you thinking it was where God said, “Light Be”! I want you to be thinking regarding Genesis 3:15 where God spoke a word, and then read verse 12 of John, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
This is what I want to present today for the sake of this understanding. I want to go to the beginning part of Genesis 3:15, because that’s the first place where God spoke the word about this guy who became Jesus. Are you with me? I want you to understand the idea that a word was spoken, but until God said, “There is one coming”, there wasn’t one coming. The word became flesh. And if you don’t find before Genesis 3:15 that He spoke a word about that thing becoming flesh, then it wasn’t the same word. It was a different word. So the word that became flesh here was what we know as this man, Jesus. Now, there were also other words.
I want you to hold your place in John, but go back to Isaiah Chapter 10. Now here’s another word. Verse 27 says, And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. That might not seem like it has anything to do with this right now, but what God is referring to… remember He told the serpent, This is what’s coming. It was a word to the serpent of what was coming. The serpent had taken the authority of man. God says, Let’s make man in our image, and let him have dominion over everything. So He gives man dominion over the dirt, the carpet, the chairs, the horses, the cats and dogs, the cars, everything; but unfortunately, this man does his own little deal with this demon possessed serpent and gives up his authority, He says, Hey, let me borrow your keys, I’m just gonna take the car around the block. But the guy gets into an accident, with your car, with your keys, and now everything has come down, and you have to pay the bill.
That, in effect, is what happened. God’s out of the deal. He had already given the earth and the fullness thereof over to man. God speaks to the serpent, and curses him, but the curse involves the man. The ultimate part of how to get through the curse is to try to get a saviour on the scene so that all the other people can be saved from the curse. Isaiah 10:27 talks about, There is coming a day, and when this day-with the Genesis 3:15 prophecy-comes to pass, then the burden and yoke, (like an oxen’s yoke), that man is stuck in because he lost his dominion… You see, when you lose your dominion, you’re a slave. When you lose your ability to choose, when your will no longer works for you, you’re a slave. When you can’t say, “I won’t do it”, and you don’t, when you say, “I won’t do it”, and then still do, you are a slave. It says, that burden, that yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing. The word “anointing” is actually the word in the New Testament translated “Christ”. That’s where we get Jesus Christ; as in, he was anointed. But he also had an anointing. That’s where we get the word Christ-ians, little Christs, little anointed ones. This prophecy is fulfilled by a man named Jesus, who indeed, bore the curse.
Turn now to Acts Chapter 10, which more or less sums it up. Let’s read verse 36, and listen to it carefully, thinking about that first scripture in Genesis Then the word became flesh, and then the anointing destroyed the yoke, and the burden; and the bondage that came because of the disobedience. Verse 36, The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed (that word is “Christ”) Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; (the serpent in the garden) for God was with him. Well, in a nutshell, that’s the completion of Genesis 3:15. That’s what happened.
The word became flesh. We’ve got a word in Genesis, we’ve got a lot of them in Isaiah, we’ve got other prophets prophesying, There is one coming. And Jesus, by his own testimony, said from the foundation of the world, that all the prophets had been slain, starting with Abel. Remember, Abel was Cain’s brother. Jesus called him a prophet from the foundation of the world.
The devil looked at Genesis 3:15. He looked at what God had told him about having his head bruised by an anointed one, but he didn’t know which anointed one. God didn’t say, His name will be Jesus Christ, social security number XXX-XX, so he just looked at anyone who was anointed, at anyone who had a burden-removing yoke-destroying power, at anyone whom God worked through. The power of God moved on Samson, Jephthah, Deborah, Moses, Ehud, Joshua, Caleb… There were a bunch of anointed ones, a bunch of Christs, if you will, throughout history. The Book of Nehemiah called them saviours. But the devil, and all the demons (those sneaky and stinky spirits) had no idea which anointed one God meant. Therefore, none of the stinky spirits had any idea which one wasn’t the one. So they went out and did what they could, moving through men, and said, Kill him, kill him, kill him. That’s what they do! And eventually it evolves to where someone thinks, “I must be called to kill him”.
It was written that there is an anointed one coming. Obviously, this anointed one came, and his name was Jesus. He went about doing good, didn’t he? Now, what about this “word made flesh” business? There are words that talked about this guy who was born as Jesus. Mary’s body had a lot to do with his flesh, right, but the word became what it said. Now it’s not just words in Genesis 3:15, and Isaiah 10:27, and Isaiah Chapter 7. Now the words written have become flesh, and it’s loose in the community. Now the very word is laying hands on the sick and they recover. Now the very word is handling bread and fish, and multiplying loaves and fishes. The word became flesh. The word became this individual. The word was made flesh. First John reads that our hands have handled of the word of life. The disciples walked with this guy. Every time Jesus sat down, John went over and laid his head on Jesus’ chest. I just love you, Lord.
Let’s go to Galatians 3:16, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. Here’s where I really want to make sure you know this scripture. You guys are the brethren. Got it? And the Apostle Paul is speaking here in verse 15, Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. There is a promise made to Abraham, a written word, that kings would come from him, along with all these other promises…that he would have a child in his old age. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
I always looked at that and thought it was just talking about Abraham’s seed, which is Christ. But, No! He’s talking about… to the brethren’s seed…to your Christ, and to your Christ, and to your Christ. Well, some people might think that’s blasphemy. But is it really blasphemy? How many of you have ever laid hands on the sick. Jesus, by his own mouth, in Mark Chapter 16, says, Go ye into all the world, and preach this gospel to every creature. And he that believeth and shall be baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe.
Were those words from Jesus? Yes! Then they were words from God. He said, They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Well, I have laid hands on the sick. Right? And they have recovered. Vicki, I know you have, too. We have laid hands on the sick and they have recovered. So do you know what happened? If Lance was sick, and I laid hands on him and God healed him, do you know what just happened? Those words became flesh. And we no longer have a sick Lance in the house. We have a healed Lance. The words “sick Lance” got ejected by these new words “healed Lance”. The word became flesh.
How many of you guys are born again? Well, there are words about that. In John Chapter 3, Nicodemus said, Hey, I know God’s with you, but what’s up with this? And Jesus said, Unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He cannot understand the kingdom of God, meaning God’s system. How does it work in this kingdom. Unless a man be born from above (literal Greek), he cannot see God’s way of doing things. But if a man can see God’s way of doing things, if you understand what I’m talking about, you must be born again.
How are you born again? Turn to 1 Peter l:19. But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, There’s that verse in Genesis 3:15, but it wasn’t just for him to be born. Those scriptures are still alive. If you watch the Discovery Channel, or Nova, or the programs where they’re talking about outer space and stuff like that, they have learned that every sound that ever left this earth is still moving. It’s still going through space. They know that when they send a signal and then wait for that signal to get back, that’s how they calculate how many miles away the stars are. So the very words of Genesis 3:15 are still working, still moving, still alive in the universe today. now. We can’t hear them, or lock onto them right now, but you can with the proper equipment and the proper understanding.
Verse 20 again, Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Those words were made flesh for you. Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. How many of you believe in God? and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your soul in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, those that truly love God and believe in Him, those that see the kingdom of God, have been re-born. Something in them has changed. They are not who they started out. Born again not of corruptible seed It’s talking about you, not about Jesus here. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, Wait! Are you born again? The word became flesh. So you aren’t who you were before. You were born again. 2 Cor. Chapter 5 says you are born again. The word became flesh. And this is new flesh. It’s new flesh! Now, if you see someone who just got born again five minutes ago, just because he still looks the same doesn’t mean that that he doesn’t have a new flesh; it just means that you think he’s old flesh because your senses aren’t good enough to discern the difference. But as soon as you become born again, you become new. And a change will begin throughout the rest of you…the purifying of your soul, the Bible says. We just read it there. But the word, here, became Lance. Lance is in the book. He was in the book, but now, the new and improved Lance, is walking down the streets of Las Vegas. The word became flesh, and here he is. And when I got healed by the word… when the word “healed” in Isaiah 53:5, and in 1 Peter 2:24, “By his stripes you were healed,” were planted in me and sprouted up, then I became healed. I became what the book said. I became new living faith flesh. The word became flesh.
It also says that any man who is in Christ is a new creature. Wait! There’s that “Christ” word again. They called them first Christ-ians in Antioch. I believe Acts Chapter 11 quotes that. So, other scriptures pertaining to the Christ must be talking about you, too. One more show of hands- How many of you have laid hands on the sick, and they have recovered? A lot of you. How many of you have cast out devils? How many of you drink deadly things and it didn’t hurt you? “Hey, just last night, man, and I had the worst headache”...
Genesis 3:15 is now a scripture that speaks about you. Be careful not to just substitute the name “Jesus” into every scripture that only said “There’s one coming”. There was no “Jesus” or “Savior” in Genesis 3:14, and that’s why the devil didn’t know which “one” of the “saviors” it would be that God sent though the ages. Is it Samson, is it Jephthah, is it Ehud, or Deborah, or is it Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Samuel, Solomon, David? Who is it? Is it Ezekiel, is it Jeremiah?
Turn to Luke Chapter 1 verse 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. That word Jesus actually means “saviour”. It comes from the Hebrew, Y’shua, We’ll call his name Joshua. What it means is more valuable than what it really says. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Matthew 1:21 says, She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. All this was done that it might fulfil that which was spoken of the Lord (word becoming flesh) by the prophet saying, “Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.” Now we’ve got a different name. Emmanuel means, “God is with us”. So, let’s keep Lance as our example. Any man who is in Christ (Lance) is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold all things have become new and all things are of God. So, if the word became flesh in Lance’s body, then God is with us. Some people might think, “Oh, we can’t say that, brother”. Well, it was the Bible that said that. The word became flesh. And if the word was made flesh, that’s how the Bible translators said God is with us. Isaiah Chapter 7 says that “You will call his name Emmanuel, for God is with us”.
Why doesn’t God work on the earth unless there be a man of God sent? Why do people have to die in Pakistan until some preacher finally gets sent to Pakistan? Because God is not in Pakistan, he’s in men, now. It’s the Holy Ghost, which is in you. 1 Corinthians 6 says, And ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. That’s why.The words are still moving; the words are still in the earth. The words are still the prophecies, and if we are going to be the people of God, we must embrace the prophecies in our generation until they are fulfilled. People could say, “Well, that was Jesus, the son of God” But doesn’t Romans 8:14 say, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. First John 3:2, says, Now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know when He shall appear, we will be like Him. As He is, so are we in this world.
Until you start plugging yourself into those prophetic scriptures, you cannot become like him. Sure, you’re born again, but you might still smell like those onion bagels. So we need to start putting ourselves in the book. You can visualize yourself in everyone else’s books, right? I can sure see myself sailing that 18’ catamaran. A lot of the children of Israel only saw themselves as the “lambs for the slaughter”. But thank God, in the end of the Book of Romans, Chapter 8, Paul said, Nay, (which means “no way), Nay we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Genesis 3:15 said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Those of you that raised your hands that have cast out devils, healed the sick, and more; You have done the very same things that God said he anointed Jesus for, by the Spirit of the Lord. An empowered Jesus went about doing good; healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. Well, if you have done that, you have already fulfilled that verse yourself. You’ve already become Genesis 3:15, haven’t you.? You’re in the Book! The word was made flesh in you, but now we can add more names to these scriptures besides just Jesus.
Jesus wasn’t even the only one that ever raised the dead. Elisha and Elijah raised the dead. David wrote Psalm 103 which said, “He heals all my diseases”. Moses healed the sick. It’s all right to have a Jesus Fan Club, but Jesus’ idea was trying to get YOU to get busy working. We’ve got some work to do, but we’re not going to do it unless we get the word, and then start becoming what the word says. That’s where the power is to make things happen. If someone was sick, and you laid hands on him, and they got free from sickness, wasn’t the burden of sickness removed by your hands? You laid hands on them, the power of God moved, the anointing moved to remove it. Right? So now you are Isaiah 10:27, right? The burden will be removed in that day because of the anointing. Well, it happened at your hands, because I didn’t see Jesus anywhere.
God is with us. And God is closer than we thought He was. It’s not this outside relationship, like the people in the Old Testament saying, When will God ever show any mercy? and all the while, Moses is in the camp. And they murmur against him. I was reading this morning in Numbers 16 where the judgment came down on Dathan and friends who were murmuring against Moses, saying, Why does God only talk to you? Well, because Moses was the only one listening for God! He says, God, what are you going to do? Don’t kill all the people. And God says, All right, just stay away from Dathan’s house. If you happen to get a word not to go over to the onion bagel’s house next week, don’t do it. God, don’t just take him out with a cough and some flu symptoms, Moses says. I expect it to be in a totally different way; a way that they’ll know it’s YOU. Sure enough, the earth opened up. Under just his house.
Turn to Mark Chapter 16 verse 14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief Why? Because the disciples thought like we did. They were hiding out in the Upper Room waiting for Jesus to deliver them. They were waiting for Jesus to do something. Jesus shows up and says, What are you doing here? Was it only women that believed that I would be raised from the dead? There were four Mary’s at the tomb. The disciples didn’t believe the testimony of the women when they came back and said, He’s alive! Well, the women were at the tomb expecting him to keep his word. He said, I’ll be back. When they told the disciples, they said, No, he’s dead. They’re gonna come and crucify us next. Sure enough, Jesus appears and says, I’m back. They said, Oh, Jesus, Jesus, and he upbraided them for their unbelief. He said, Didn’t you get the message? Here’s what you are gonna do. He upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, (new words coming out) Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. It’s where he remains today. In a very comfy chair. He’ll be there for as long as it takes us to get our act together. But if you think about it, we are really two thousand years late in understanding the message of Christ. We’re just understanding, No, now I’m supposed to be the one doing the things that Jesus did because the words say so. It isn’t me, I’m just obeying His words. Who do I think I am??? Well, who do I think I’m not, if I’m not obeying Jesus? Do I think I’m like someone who can just stand there and NOT do what he says? We’ve already got the rest of Christianity calling on Jesus to do their job all the time:
Turn to Romans Chapter 10. We need to re-read those prophecies concerning Jesus, and if they don’t say the word “Jesus” in them, then they apply to anyone who believes his words. Verse 1 Brethren, My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Why does this hinge on my righteousness? You don’t have to go around trying to be so good before you do anything. Just believe my words. You’ll eventually get good. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith (remember, he upbraided them for their lack of faith) speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) Don’t say, Jesus, please come down and heal me. And then it says, Don’t do this. Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) Remember, he died. So don’t say, Jesus, come up and help me. But what does it say? But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
That’s not praying to Jesus, that’s just saying, Jesus is Lord. Those words activate every one of those scriptures, and the word regarding your situation becomes flesh. The Bible says, “Let the poor say, I’m rich.” If you keep saying, I’m poor, then you’ll keep getting poor and the “rich” part of the scripture will never become flesh for you. The Bible says, “Let the weak say, I’m strong.” But people still say, I’m too weak for that, I’m too uneducated, I’m this, I’m that. The doctor says I’ve got three problems. Let’s not believe his words, let’s believe words that actually produce flesh, not just words that comment on your current situation. We need some words that make flesh, and we’re the ones today that the word is talking about.
We are not supposed to say, Hey Jesus, these words now apply to you. No, he’s done. He’s handled his deal, he’s made his deal work so that we could do it, so that it’s not just one Christ. Now there are a whole body of Christs. And now we ought to be out there looking to lay hands on the sick any time we can. If someone coughs or sneezes, just be obedient. Cast out devils in the name of Jesus. Then go on your way like nothing has happened. But don’t go looking for deadly things to drink. The kids today are doing that as we speak.
Turn to John 14:12, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Go discover your Bible again, and stop subconsciously popping Jesus into every scripture. Start putting your name in there, and see if lightning comes down and gets you. If it does, I was wrong! Only kidding! I’ve done it, and I’m still here, and I am not Jesus. OK? Just let it be known on all the tapes, I am not Jesus. But I’ve done a lot of the greater works, because I had the guts one day to put up my shield to block the lightning, and then I just put myself into the verse. And the word was made flesh. I don’t even get sore when I work out, any more. Which means, that if you are a woman, you don’t have to have pain having children. You don’t have to have pain and cramps. What you’ve got to do, though, is get yourself into the right verses. Plug yourself into some superhuman verses, and get rid of your mortality. Put on immortality. Start becoming a son or daughter of God.
Does everyone see what I’m getting at? The only way you can get something out of The Book, is to be “it”. Just be it. Just say, I am. I will. I am what I am by the word of God.
Let’s close in prayer. Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name, we know that there are some specific verses for the people in this room, not just the ones we’ve read today. Show them their verses. Show them where they belong in that book, so that the word becomes flesh, and so that the word becomes the fullness of Christ in them, the hope of glory. We agree to that, in Jesus’ name. Amen