Benefits of the Son of God
to us no. 16
Having The
Same Faith
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Rev. Brian Kocourek
The sixteenth benefit or promise of God to us concerning our believing in
His Son is that it allows us to Live by the same Faith that Jesus lived by. And
remember the just shall live by faith,
but not just any faith will do.
As we see in Galatians 2:20 the Apostle Paul said, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ is living in me: and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Now, the Apostle Paul is
not telling us here that we are to live by faith. To the casual reader it may
appear that way, but notice how specific the Apostle chooses his words. Notice
he said, “the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the
Son of God”.
Now, there are many times
in the Scriptures that Jesus says the Words, “Thy Faith
hath saved Thee, or Thy Faith hath
healed Thee, or Thy Faith hath made
the Whole, or Thy Faith hath made
thee well.… And in all of these the same Greek Word sozo is
used. It has both a spiritual and physical meaning. We see the same word used
for healing, saving, and making well in the following scriptures.
MATTHEW 9:22 But
Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good
comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.
And the woman was made whole
from that hour.
MARK 5:34 And
he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made
thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
LUKE 7:50
And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved
thee; go in peace.
LUKE 18:42
And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.
ACTS 14:9
The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that
he had faith to be healed,
The Greek word sozo means: to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger
or destruction/ And it also means to save from injury of peril, suffering from
disease, to make well, heal, restore to health; to preserve one who is in
danger of destruction, to save or rescue to deliver from the penalties of the
judgment.
So we must ask ourselves what is this faith that sozo’d them?
For people can have faith in a tree to heal them, and by believing they get
healed. So what then is the difference between thy faith and The Faith which
Paul said he was now living by?
You may use your faith to
receive healing, but Paul is telling us in our text today that he is living by
the Faith of another, specifically, the Faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is
His Faith that matters, not yours and mine. When it come to this, God does not concern
Himself with your faith. In fact He is not even interested in your faith when
it comes to receiving eternal Life.
Nor does your faith bear
any substance with God, even though faith is the substance of things hoped for.
And unless your Faith is the same Faith that God gave to His Son, then it means absolutely nothing to God.
Because we are told in Ephesians 4 that
there is only One Faith.
Ephesiians 4:5 Paul said, “One Lord, One faith, One baptism,” and that one baptism is
Holy Ghost Baptism. That is what Paul is speaking of there. For he also said
in, 1 Corinthians
And William
Branham said the same thing in his sermon called, God's
Only Provided Place of Worship 65-1128M P:114
One Lord, one
faith, one baptism, that's Holy Ghost baptism. The water
baptism just put you in fellowship with the people, that you recognized that
you have accepted Christ. That's true. But it's Spirit baptism. I can call the
Name of Jesus over you and baptize you; that doesn't make it so. But when once
that Holy Spirit really genuine Word comes into you; the Word, Jesus, then, brother, the message
is no secret to you then; you know It, brother; It's all lit up before you.
Hallelujah.
Therefore Paul is speaking of only ONE faith, and he tells us it is
the faith OF the Son of God.
In fact William Branham says this very thing in the sermon, Palmerworm locust
caterpillar 59-0823 P:47 You might have a faith, but we want the faith. Earnestly "contend," that's "argue for
it, stand up for."... earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. When were they
called saints? When they were sanctified. The Holy Spirit sanctified them; they
were called saints. Now, Jude says, a brother, foster brother of Jesus, "I
want you to earnestly contend for the
faith that was once delivered to the saints." Don't never let that faith drop. And the faith of the saints was not in
creeds, not in denominations, not in church buildings, not in associations, but
it was in the Presence of the living God.
They had faith to heal the sick, cast out devils, do miracles. All the great
promises that Jesus made, that first church held onto that. It was the
lifeline.
EPHESIANS 2:8 ¶
For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any
man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Then your faith is not what does it, but that faith
which is a gift of God to you. And that is revelation, something that has been
revealed to you.
II TIMOTHY 1:9
Who hath saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, And so we see it is not what we do or can do, but
what He did for us.
ROMANS
26 To declare, [I say], at this time his
righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. 27 Where [is] boasting then?
It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the
deeds of the law. In other words, it is nothing you have done or could do, but
simply what God has already done for you, and to you and in you.
Now, what concerns me is
that the people over time come to the place where they have lost sight of The Faith of Christ and look
to their own faith as the important thing with God. But God is never and
has never been impressed or moved upon by man’s faith, except when it comes to
healing and some things in that nature. But even in the bible you see many
people who never do get saved are healed because they have faith for healing.
But when it comes to God life, God is impressed and moves upon His own Faith,
and that Faith is a Revelation. And if Faith is a Revelation, then when they
loose sight of The Faith, they are loosing sight of The Revelation. And brother Branham taught us the greatest of
all revelations is the supreme deity of Jesus Christ.. So you must understand
by revelation the Godhead in order to understand the relationship between the
Father and his Son and how you also have the same relationship with Him as your
Father and you as one of His sons. And
then by that revelation you live, and are made alive.
Rapture the 65-1204 P:40 But to the church,
the Bride, the rapture is a revelation
to her. It's revealed to her, that the revelation, the true Bride of Christ
will be waiting for that revelation of the rapture. Now, it is a revelation,
for the revelation is faith. You cannot have a revelation without it
being faith. Faith is a revelation, because
it's something that's revealed to you. Faith is a revelation. Faith is something that has been revealed
to you like it was to Abraham, that could call anything contrary to what
had been revealed to him as though it wasn't so. That's what faith is, is the revelation of God. The church is built
upon a revelation, the whole entire body.
Works is faith expressed
65-1126 P:46 Now, "faith" is a
"revelation from God." Now, "faith" is a "revelation." There's where I want to
stay there just a moment. It's a
revelation. He has revealed it to you by His grace. It's nothing you did. You didn't work yourself up into faith. You never
had faith; it's give to you by the grace of God. And God reveals it to you;
therefore, faith is a revelation. And the
whole
Anointed ones at end time
65-0725M P:38 What is faith?
Faith is something that's revealed to you, that is not yet, but you believe it will be. Faith is a revelation of the will of God.
So by revelation...And the churches today don't even believe in spiritual
revelation. They believe in a dogmatic teaching of some system. "By revelation Abel offered unto God a
more excellent sacrifice than that of Cain, which God testified he was
righteous." Amen. I hope you see that. See where we're living, see the
hour?
Invisible union of the bride
65-1125 P:68 What is a revelation? Jesus
said, "Upon this Rock I'll build My church, and the gates of hell can't prevail
against it." Faith is a revelation,
because faith has been revealed to you. Abel, by faith offered by revelation (faith) offered to God a more excellent
sacrifice than that of Cain.
Works is faith expressed
65-1126 P:50 In a audience of people, where a prayer line comes through, you'll
find some... And they were all good people, we'll say. There's some that's
trying hard to believe it, trying to
work themselves into it. Some just can't do it at all. And others, it's
just by grace; it's just given to them. Now, there is the difference. See? That
does it. That's the real revelation, because faith is a revelation from God. It must be revealed first.
Therefore, we should never under estimate
the importance of revelation, for by revelation we are saved, and by revelation
we are justified, and by revelation we are sanctified, and by revelation we
receive the Spirit of Christ. and by revelation we are given birth into the
family of God, and by revelation we have access to God, and by revelation we live
and move and have our being.
Church Age Book Chapter 1 - Introduction - The Revelation of
Jesus Christ P:9 The importance of revelation by the Spirit to a true believer can
never be over emphasized. Revelation means more to you than perhaps you realize.
Now I am not talking about this Book of Revelation and you. I am talking about
ALL revelation. It is tremendously important to the church. Do you remember in Matthew 16 where Jesus
asked the disciples this question, "Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? And
they said, Some say that Thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others,
Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I
am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father
Which is in heaven. And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it." The Roman Catholics say that the church is built upon Peter. Now
that is really carnal. How could God build the church upon a man so unstable
that he denied the Lord Jesus and cursed while doing it? God can't build His
church upon any man born in sin. And it wasn't some rock lying there as though
God had hallowed the ground at that spot. And it isn't as the Protestants say,
that the church is built upon Jesus. It was the REVELATION. Read it the way it
is written: "Flesh and blood hath not REVEALED it, BUT MY FATHER HATH
REVEALED IT, and UPON THIS ROCK (REVELATION) I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH:" The
church is built on Revelation, on the "Thus Saith the Lord".
And there is One Faith,
which mean there is One revelation, and that revelation is what justifies you
and gives you access to God. And what is that Revelation? Paul said, there is
One Lord and One Faith (Revelation), and one Baptism, and that baptism is in
the name of That One Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that One Baptism is the
baptism of the One spirit by which we are all baptized into that one Body. So
the revelation of that One Lord allows us to baptize in His name. And with that
baptism in water we have a promise to receive the baptism which is of and by
the Spirit of the One Lord. And that brings with it justification from our sin,
and forgiveness and all the divine promises of God.
And if the
church has lost sight of The Revelation of Christ, then they are without God,
for the apostle John said, 1 John 5:10 He that
believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not
God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of
his Son. And 1 John
2 John 1:9 Whosoever
transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that
abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
Notice what the
Apostle Paul tells us in Hebrews
Romans
In Galatians
And not only by
revelation, but more specifically by THE Revelation as we see in Galatians 2:16 he tells us, Knowing that a
man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be
justified by the revelation of Christ, and not
by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified.
And notice how even
Jude the brother of Jesus spoke on the
importance of taking a stand for the revelation of Jesus Christ. Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you
of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you
that ye should earnestly contend for the
revelation which was once
delivered unto the saints.
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from The Revelation, giving heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Now, if the warning is that some shall
depart from The Revelation, then why do they continue to fight the
understanding of the Godhead? Because they are ordained to depart from it.
Philippians 3:9 And be found in
him, not having mine own right-wise-ness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the
revelation of Christ, the right-wise-ness which is of God by revelation.
And the Apostle
Paul makes it pretty clear in Ephesians 4, that you can not truly have a unity
of The Revelation except by the knowledge of the Son of God. Ephesians 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the revelation, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ:
In 2 Timothy 4:7 Paul let’s us all know that the main
thing is the revelation, and that is the only thing worth fighting for. I have fought a
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the revelation.
And in 2 Timothy 3:8 The apostle
Paul warns us that there will arise men who are perverse because they are
reprobate concerning the revelation. And the word reprobate means unapproved
and worthless. So we see that these men resist The Truth because their own
revelation is worthless. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do
these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the revelation. Reprobate
concerning the revelation of what? Remember there is only one revelation and
that is The Revelation of Jesus Christ. And what do they do? They say the body went
back to gases or some such silly notion as that. But do not worry about them,
and don’t even fuss with them. The apostle Paul made it clear in Romans 3 when
he said, Romans 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their
unbelief make the revelation of God without
effect?
Now, we should
never underestimate the power of Revelation, because by revelation God framed
the worlds, and by revelation we are justified and we have access to God. The
Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 3:12, In whom we have boldness
and access with confidence by the
revelation of him.
Finally in
closing, we read from 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine
yourselves, whether ye be in the
revelation; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus
Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
Let us pray…