<TITLE>16. Par -</TITLE>L-22-3 Now, I must hurry. Now--now, they might have said, "Father of Nations, we heard you twenty-five years ago say you was going to have a child by Sarah, and--and out of that was going to come nations of people. Just how many children do you have at this time, Father of Nations?" See, see? That's that same old critical spirit that would criticize. What did Abraham? Said, "He staggered not at the promise of unbelief."
"Why, here you prayed for so-and-so, and they didn't get well." That doesn't matter. If I prayed for ten thousand tonight, and ten thousand die in the morning, tomorrow night I'd still anoint the sick and praying for them. God said so: doesn't stop it a bit. God promised it; I believe it. Certainly. Don't make any difference what they say.
Still--but they'll scoff. That's the reproach of the Word. Abraham standing on God's Word--finally It was fulfilled. Oh, my.

L-22-5 Watch the scoffness of barrenness, being scoffed, the reproach of barrenness first. They had... She had to stand the reproach of being barren for all those years. She was nearly a hundred years old... She was ninety. But the Word of God that said she would also be princess--a mother of this child. And she and Abraham barren, both of their bodies as well as dead, but yet they never doubted that Word one bit. But they had to stand that first, and then (Hallelujah.) God kept His Word in that dark hour. Isaac was born, and his seed is like the sands of the sea or the stars of heaven. See, God always answers His Word. Yes, barrenness first then Isaac.

L-22-6 Zacharias and Elisabeth likewise, that old man and old woman still holding on. When Zacharias come up there, and could write out on his slate, and said, "An angel met me, told me I'd bring forth a child by Elisabeth, my old wife here. I can't talk no more; I'm dumb, and I will be dumb till the day the baby's born. But there's coming a baby, and he's going to be the prophet of the Highest. He will introduce the Morning Star. He's a forerunner of the Messiah."
How could it ever be? Some said, "Poor old fellow. Oh, I--I guess he's kind of got a little bit off at his head, you know. There's a little something... Look at old--old Elisabeth out there, around eighty, and look--look--look at Zacharias, way old and shaking. And then he's going to say such a thing as that. Well, poor old fellow." But he had the Word of the Lord. Such a reproach till she hid herself for several days. But he stayed with the Word. Oh, my.

L-23-2 Refusing popularity, refusing popular opinion, refuse the polish of the day and the styles and things of their day. They refused it. They refused to walk with the crowd of unbelievers. They refused the things of the world. They had to do it to stay with God's Word: had to do it.
So is it today. You separate yourself from everything but you and God. It's not what the church does; it's what you do with God, you as an individual.

L-23-4 Yes. But look what God gave him. When Jesus Himself come, Zacharias was gone and Elisabeth too; but when their son came in the wilderness with THUS SAITH THE LORD, Jesus said, "There never was a man born of a woman as great as he is." Amen. What? She suffered the reproach of barrenness. She stayed on the Word and delivered such a son.
Like Sarah of old, like Abraham of old, the old couples held on to it. Look, most that was ever born, like the sands of the sea. There's not a race of people in the world as many as the Jews. Like the sands of the seas or the stars of the sky.
What did happen? It happened in the minority. One child, now, you see where I'm going. One child, that's all it took. It took one child to shake the nations and point to the Messiah. It took one obedient. That's right. God just needs one man. That's all He needs, somewhere He can have a voice. That's all He wants, to get just one man in His control. Oh, how He loves to get one man.


<A HREF="P17">Next Page</A>