Benefits of the Son of God
no. 20
We See What God Sees
Rev. Brian Kocourek
This morning we will
speak on The Twentieth benefit or promise of God to us concerning His
Son and that is that we are given a mind
to see what God sees, and thus we can bare record of The Record. We will take
our text from John chapter 1 and verse 34.
John 1:34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
Now, that is
quite a statement coming from John because it bares record to The Record that
God indeed has a Son. Not everyone can claim to bare Record to The record that
God has a Son. God Himself has come down in this hour with a Shout which is a
Message and that Message was to declare Himself, and in declaring Himself He
set in order the understanding of Hid Godhoodedness, the Intrinsicality and essentiality
of God being God.
Yet with all
the definitive and declarative statements that God gave us concerning Himself
through His prophet whom He Himself vindicated by His Own presence, yet men
still wish to fuss and stew and deny the Message that he gave of himself. But
God Himself prophecied that it would be that way.
In Acts
Now, to see where this is to take place
we see in 1 Thessalonians
I THESSALONIANS
Now this tells us The Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven. It does not say another
will descend from Heaven with a shout. It does not tell us that Jesus the Son
of God will descend with a shout.. No, Not Jesus the Son, But Jesus the father
of the Son comes with a Message.
And He gives that Message to a messenger
to declare it. Though a man declare it, yet ye will not believe, see? It tells us The Lord, He Himself, not
another, but the One and only Lord will descend with a shout. “Hear O Israel, “The
Lord thy God is One.” And this
Lord will descend from Heaven with a Shout, a Voice and a Trumpet.
Now we know that the Shout is the
Message. William Branham prophet of God told us this in his Rapture sermon.
Rapture the 65-1204 P:82 The first thing
come when He starts descending from the heaven, there's a shout. What is it?
It's a Message to get the people together. A Message comes forth first. Now,
"Lamp trimming time. Rise and trim your lamps." What watch was that?
The seventh, not the sixth, the seventh. "Behold the Bridegroom cometh.
Rise and trim your lamps." And they did. Some of them found they didn't
even have any oil in their lamp. See? But it's lamp trimming time. It's Malachi
4 time when you come... It's Luke 17. It's Isaiah... All those prophecies that it can perfectly
set in order for this day in the Scriptures, we see it living right there.
Then the next thing is the Voice which is
the resurrection. Them without us can not be made perfect, see? Rapture the
65-1204 P:88 a shout, and then a
voice, and then a trumpet. Shout, a messenger getting the people ready... The second is a voice of the resurrection.
The same voice that, a loud voice in
Now, notice he said the same voice that
raised Lazarus from the dead. Now there is an error being taught among us in the
Message that the voice will be in the bride and she will call forth the
resurrection, and that is an error. He said the same Voice that raised Lazarus
from the dead will raise the dead and gather those which are alive. Now, we
know that brother Branham distinguished between the Voice of God and the Voice
of the Son of God when he talked about Lazarus being raised from the dead. He said when he wept that was a man but when
he said “Lazarus come forth,” that was more than a man, that was God.
Show us the Father 61-0521
P:74 I said, "He went to the grave of Lazarus; He wept like a man. But when He stood there and pulled them little
shoulders together, and said, 'Lazarus, come forth.' And a man that'd been dead
four days, his nose had already fell in, the skin worms eating in his body. His
soul was four day's journey somewhere.” I don't know, and I don't believe you
do either. But his soul had been gone from him for four days. His body...
Corruption had set in. And He said, 'Lazarus, come forth.' And a man that had
been dead four days stood on his feet and lived again. "Brother, that was
more than a man to do that. That was God
in a
man. Sure, He was a man when He come down off the mountain that day,
hungry, looking around on the trees to find some figs to eat. He was hungry. He
was hungry like a man. But when He took five little biscuits and two fishes and
fed five thousand people, that was more than a man. That was God in a man, Who could break that bread and multiply loaves and cook fish,
produce it. That's right. He was more than a man.
So you see he was a duel being, but the voice
that spoke and Lazarus arose was not the voice of the Son of God but it was the
Voice of God in His Son. And so if that same voice will speak in this hour and
the resurrection of the dead will take place then it is the voice of God, not
the voice of the Son of God. And certainly not the voice of the bride. That is
just simply error all the way, and it shows they do not understand sovereignty
or they would not say such things.
And on top of it that is pride, pure
pride. Nothing more and nothing less. And we know that pride cometh before a
fall, and certainly we have a fall-ing away because of it.
16 For The Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, (and
what does arch angel mean? It means chief messenger) and with the trump of God: Now,
notice what takes place after the voice? and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Notice they rise before we get our
change o the body and are gathered together with them. They rise before we get
our change. Notice it says, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 17 Then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore
comfort one another with these words.
So if there is a shout or message to
gather us together, and then a voice to raise the dead, and then a trump which
is the catch us up to meet Him in the air, then it is not His Shout, Voice and Trump
but it is said to be the Shout, the Voice and the Trump of God Himself, the
Lord Himself. So we see that God Himself
came down in this hour and performed the miraculous and drew the attention of
all mankind to His Prophet. Now, He did not draw the attention of all mankind
to His prophet that the Prophet might be lifted up. That is contrary to how God
works. He drew the attention to the Prophet because that prophet was more than
just a prophet, for He was the Messenger to a Gentile Bride, and he came with a
Message, “Thus Saith the Lord,” a Vindicated
Message, and yet no one seems to want it.
Now a messenger does not bring His own
message, but comes with the Message of one that is greater than himself. And no
messenger comes bearing witness of Himself, for if he did then his witness is
not true.
John 5:31 If I bear
witness of myself, my witness is not true. 32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the
witness which he witnesseth of me is true. John 5:36 But I have
greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me
to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath
sent me. 37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any
time, nor seen his shape.
Now, the Message is to do something for
those that receive it. It brings a special dispensation of Grace that is to
change our minds first and then our bodies next. And when our minds are changed
then we will see what God sees, because we will think what God thinks.
Romans 12:2 And be not
conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Now, as I said there is a special
dispensation of Grace that is to take a hold of our minds and renew us in the
inner man. And
without the Shout there will be no change of the mind which then there could be
no change of the body which then there could be no resurrection of the dead nor
could there be a catching away. So the Shout starts the whole thing in motion.
And Jesus said, "As a man thinks in His
heart so is He and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
So then if God Himself comes forth with a shout, this can only be a declaration
of Himself. And that is exactly how we are to receive our change. In [1 John 3: 2] the scripture tells us, " Beloved, now we are the sons of God, but it does not Appear
what we shall be, but we know that when He Appears ( At His Appearing) We shall be like Him for we shall see Him
as He really is. "
So
we see here that we receive our change by seeing Him as He really is. In fact
in
So
we see again that it takes His Appearing to bring out of us who we really are.
This Appearing then is instrumental to our change. Seeing Him changes us.
Earlier we quoted Br. Branham telling us when that which is perfect comes and
he told us He has come. It is God in the form of the Word. Now in 1 Cor
So
we see that the Word is what brings about our change and if we are to receive a
change that is incorruptible it must come by a Word which also is
incorruptible. That is why it is so important for God Himself to come down. Br.
Branham told us that Christ Himself is our Elijah of today. He said, Christ is
the Messenger to this Age. And as we know he speaks to us through the lips of
His Prophets. So God comes down with a Shout which is a Message which is a
declaration of Himself. As He is, so He
speaks. And we are caught up into the Revelation of God Himself, and this
brings about our change. In Ephesians 1: 17 Paul tells us that God will send forth
the Spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Him, that we might know
what the hope or earnest expectation of this calling from God is. Br. Branham defines
this for us in the Sermon, Seventy
Weeks of Daniel pp. 67 where he said, "The Spirit of Wisdom comes into
the church by the Revelation of the Holy Ghost bringing the church in and
revealing what day that we are living in. Just the same as Gabriel come to
Daniel, the Holy Spirit comes to the church in the last days to reveal these
great deep secret things. Do you understand now?"
In
1 Corinthian 1: 4 - 10 we see that Christ
sends us a special dispensation of Grace also spoken of in 1: Peter
Therefore
the emphasis is not on the baptism any more but the Baptizer, Himself, for Paul
speaks of this Spirit of wisdom and revelation in Ephesians
1: 15 - 17 that come to ones who were already prepared by the
baptism of the Spirit which he spoke of in verses 13
- 14. So then we can see the Message brother Branham spoke in this
hour takes us beyond the baptism of the Holy Ghost right into the very Presence
of the Baptizer Himself, Who is the Holy Ghost. In fact that is why there is so
much flack amongst the Pentecostal element in this Message.
Br.
Branham warned us this would come in Q
& A on the Holy Ghost pg. 19 "Now, when the Holy Ghost comes in and reveals the Truth of
anything and proves it by His Own Presence and by His Word, you can't expect the Pentecostals to agree
with it. You've got to stand alone like Luther did, like Wesley did, like
the rest of them did."
Now, this
mind-change and thus body-change are not for everyone. It is only for those who
are able to receive Him, only for those who are sons.
JOHN 1:10 He was in the
world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came
unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received (Lambano, to lay hold of,
to appropriate to oneself, to give one access to oneself, to experience. As
many as were given access and thus were able to appropriate what was given to
them by) him, to them He gave power (exousia
= authority, right, judicial decision or judgment, in other words, the ability
to make a right decision, a right choice. Thus we were given an ability to make
a right decision. Now contrast that to all other men. The Bible teaches us
there is a way which seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof is the way of
death. So man will always take the way which seems right but it leads to death.
So we must be thankful to God for giving us this special endowment of Grace to
allow us to think as He thinks.)
to them He gave
power to become (to
ginomai, power to come to fulfillment as) the sons
of God, (now as I already
mentioned the word to become was translated from the Greek word ginomai, which
means to become or to come to fulfillment. But another thing I want you to
understand is that this word gino-mai has it’s roots in the word “gino” which
is also the root word for “gino-sko” which means “to learn to know, perceive or understand”. Thus the word to become
is a learning process that can only take place by a teaching from the Holy
Spirit, a child training, a Message declaring who He is and why He is here. HEBREWS 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things
which he suffered;)
JOHN 6:45 It is written in
the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
12 to them He
gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (This tells you it was not your choosing,
neither did you have anything to do with it, but simply you were chosen and
ordained by God to be fulfilled as Son of God). And further more, we see that those who receive Him are those who are
called sons of God. Therefore unless you are sons you are reprobate and can not
come to an understanding of the truth.
II CORINTHIANS 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the
faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus
Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? to be of opinion, think, suppose
Notice
Paul is telling us here that if we do not have the spirit of Christ in us we
must be reprobates. Now the word reprobate comes from the Greek word adokimos
which has its root in dokeo which means “to think or suppose, to seem,
to think, or to judge. Thus a reprobate is one that cannot make a right
decision, and thus can not make a correct judgment because there is nothing in
Him by which to judge. He has no discernment of the Word because there is no
Word in Him”.
Jesus
said, JOHN
So
you see it all comes down to seed. Only the seed of God can receive mind of
God. And thus only the seed of God can understand the thoughts of God.
ISAIAH 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD,
and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways,
saith the LORD. 9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the
rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but
watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to
the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So
shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me
void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the
thing] whereto I sent it.
Notice
that we are told that our thoughts are
not His thoughts and we are incapable of knowing His thoughts unless we repent
of our own thoughts. But it is not in man to do this unless God intercedes on
our behalf and that will not happen as Jesus said unless we are seed of God.
For unless we are God’s seed we have no place for the Word, and thus we are
incapable of understanding the mind of God.
So
then who is Paul speaking to when he says in PHILIPPIANS 2:5 Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
He
is speaking to the elect, the seed of God, for only the seed of God can receive
the Spirit of God, and thus know the mind of God.
I CORINTHIANS 2:6 ¶ Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: (that
means of full age) yet not the wisdom of this world,
nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: 7 But we speak the
wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained
before the world unto our glory: (notice that the Wisdom which was
kept hid since before the world was created
was kept safeguarded for our glory.)
8 Which none of
the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his
Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
That
is why when you are born again by the spirit of God you can’t get enough of the
Word of God. Because the Spirit of God that is in you searches the things of
God to know the things of God and there is such a desire in you to understand
the things of God that you hunger and thirst after right-wise-ness. And then he
tells us that unless you have the spirit of God living in you, you will not
know what to search for.)11 For what man knoweth the
things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of
God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
In
other words, the Spirit of God knows the things of God and unless you have the
Spirit of God living in you, you will never know the things of God. That is why
so many that were in Pentecost and came to this message while they were in
Pentecost do not understand the Message, because they thought they had already received
the Spirit of God because of the gifts. They thought the gifts were the
evidence of having His Spirit, and thus they left off seeking the baptism of
the Spirit because they already thought they had it based on gifts. But gifts are
not the giver. And yet if they have the true baptism of the Spirit there is an evidence
which a vindicated Prophet of God came and told us it is to know and understand
the Message for the day in which you live. But if you do not know, and neither
do you understand what that message is, then you had better be praying to
receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, because you don’t have it. For only those
with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit are able to receive the Spirit of Wisdom
and Revelation in the Knowledge of Him. That is what Paul tells us in Ephesians
1: 13-18,
1 Corinthians
Unless
you are willing to forget everything you ever knew when you came to this
message, you are not fit for being filled with the Spirit of God, because you
are more interested in self vindication than in true vindication which can only
come from His Presence. Brother Branham taught us that the most treacherous
thing is to think you have it when you don’t because as long as the devil can
make you think you have the baptism of the Spirit you will not look for it.
WHAT DOES TAKE MAKE CHRISTIAN
LIFE 57-0113 E-32 Now, I want you to listen for a few moments
before closing. I want you to notice one thing and watch closely now. Watch the
order of the Scripture, "I will take away the stony heart and give
you a new heart." Now, the heart is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
"And I will give you a new spirit." I want
you to watch the order. Now, many people get mixed up there. They think they
got the Holy Ghost, but they just get a new spirit. Watch. "I'll give
you a new heart, and a new spirit. And then I will put My spirit..."
Now, the new Spirit... God had to give you a
new spirit, but that's a new spirit God give you so you could get along with
the Holy Ghost. With that old spirit you had, you couldn't get along with your
neighbor; you couldn't get along with yourself; so you know you couldn't get
along with God; so God gives you a new spirit. And many times under enthusiasm,
and if you'll watch the life that it bears... I hope I'm not hurting, but I
hope I'm uncovering. See? A lot of times you'd think that you'd have the Holy
Spirit. "Oh," you said, "I sung; I spoke in tongues."
Certainly. Being that close to it you might do all of that, but that isn't the
Holy Spirit yet. See? The Holy Spirit bears record of Jesus Christ.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all
things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, that he may instruct him? But
we have the mind of Christ.
Why? Because we have been
given His Spirit in order to know and to understand His Mind.
Let us pray.
Dear Father we are so
grateful that you have been with us to teach us this morning, to know without a
shadow of doubt that the evidence of the new birth is to receive the Spirit of
Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of yourself, for that is what Paul
taught and that is what Your prophet has taught us in this hour. For we must
have the new birth if we are to receive your mind and if we are to be able to
know your thoughts and reflect your thoughts.
Therefore, we pray Heavenly
Father to be filled with your Spirit that we might know Thee in the power of
your resurrection, for you are the resurrection and the Life. And this was
evidenced to us when you raised up your Son Jesus from among the dead.
Grant us Father an
in-filling that will change our minds, and change our thinking and then it will
begin to build within us that new body which is a Word Body to get us ready for
the catching away, for we ask it in the wonderful name of your Son Jesus
Christ, amen.