The Benefits of the Son of God no. 45
The Supreme Benefit, being conformed to the Image of
the First Born Son
Brian Kocourek
This
morning I would like to speak on the 45th benefit of receiving the true
understanding of the Son of God and his relationship to the Father, and that is
that God has promised us that
we will be conformed to the Image of His eldest Son, Jesus.
ROMANS 8:28 And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his]
purpose. 29 ¶ For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Let us pray,
Dear Father we come with great respect and
thankfulness for what you have done for us through your Son Jesus Christ whom
you anointed with your Great Spirit. And as we read this verse of Scripture we
see that it was in your purpose and plan that we are to be conformed to the
same image of your eldest Son Jesus, for you said the reason for our becoming
conformed to his image is that you might place him as the fist born among many
brethren, and so we realize that if there are many brethren then Jesus is
our Older brother, and you Dear God are our Father in the same manner as He was
your only begotten son. You also told us dear Father that by One spirit, we are
all baptized into one body, and that baptism by that One Spirit is your Spirit
which has given us new birth into your family oh God, which makes you our
Father.
Therefore, dear Father we want to come as Jesus came
and we know that if we are to be conformed to His Image, then we know that it
must come the same way that He came. For you created the character that was so
represented in your son through the trials and sufferings that he had to go
through. He learned obedience by the things that he suffered, and we know that
we must suffer with him if we are to reign with him.
Therefore, Father, as Jesus your eldest son prayed
that we might be one with you even as He was one with you, we pray also that we
might be one with you in like manner as our older brother Jesus. And now,
Father we commit this service into thy Keeping, in the blessed name you gave to
your Son Jesus, we pray , amen!..
Now, this morning we will examine this principle of
becoming conformed to the image of His eldest Son, Jesus. Just think of that.
We have been ordained to be conformed to the image of His eldest Son Jesus,
that Jesus might be the eldest in a vast family of brothers.
Notice the Scripture tells us that those whom He
foreknew, He did Predestinate. Now, what does it mean to foreknow? The word
foreknow was translated from the Greek word, Proginosko, which is made up of
two words. Pro- which is a prefix meaning to be before hand, and the word
ginosko which means to know, not just by a mental conception but to know also
in an intimate way. The same word ginosko was used by Mat when she said, “How
can I be with child having known (ginosko) no man. So we see that this word not
only has to do with a knowing but more intimately with knowing by relationship.
¶ For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Notice then those that were in the mind of God
before the world was even framed, he did predestinate to be conformed to the
same image of Hid eldest Son.
Notice he said predestinate. Now to many that is a
dirty word. They do not like that word because the word pre-destinate comes
from two words pre meaning before hand and destinate which has its root in
destiny. Therefore, it speaks of knowing and planning the destiny before hand.
The Greek word used is the word proorizo and it comes from two Greek words, pro
meaning before hand and horizo which means to determine or to ordain. In other
words to mark out the boundaries and limits. That means to appoint before hand.
Now, this doctrine of predestination is not well
liked by the legalist, because he has a hard time holding you in bondage when
you have been set free by the doctrine of predestination. It also speaks of the
one who is doing the ordaining in contradistinction to the one who is being
ordained. Thus the emphasis is on the Supreme and Sovereign God who plans out
before hand your destiny, rather than on your ability to make a right
decision.
You don’t have a decision in the process. Either He
chose you or you have no representation in the first place.
Paul said in Ephesians chapter 1:3 that he chose us
in Him before the foundations of the world.
EPHESIANS 1:3 ¶
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (So we see here that Jesus had both a God and a
Father) Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (and now he is going to tell us something
about this God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ) Who (Notice he is still talking about
the one who is both God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ) Who (God,
the Father of Jesus ) hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ: (Now, what or who is this Christ that we
are reading of here? Now, always
remember, when you see the word Christ it comes from the root word Chrio which
means anointing and therefore either speaks of the one who is doing the anointing
or the one who is being anointed. He is
not speaking of Jesus the son of God here for we were not in Jesus the Son of
God before the world began or Jesus the Son of God would have to be our Father
and God the Father of Jesus would have
to be our Grandfather. And we know that God is not a grandfather, and he does
not have any grand children. Therefore this Christ that we were in before the
foundations of the world is Christ the Anointer which is God Himself, and it
was while we were in Him that He chose us which means that he selected us out
to be holy and without blame.) 4 According as he (God) hath chosen us in him (or Himself,
that is speaking of God) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before him. (God, and who is God? In the beginning
was the word and the Word was God.)
Now, notice then the next thought that Paul tells us
here in Ephesians chapter 1.
EPHESIANS 1:5 In Love Having predestinated us (that means it was his love that set forth and ordained our destiny even
before we were sent into the world. ) In Love Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, (Oh,
how I love this, Notice he set forth our
adoption even while we were still in Him, and the reason why he did this Paul
tells us) according
to the good pleasure of his will, (God so loved you even before you
came to this world that he set forth your adoption because it was pleasing for
him to do this. Then it has nothing to do with you or with any thing you can
do, but it is totally God’s doing, and you have no say in it whatsoever.
Notice) 6 To the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath (notice
hath is past tense, it is already a done deal. And what is already a done deal?), wherein he hath
made us accepted in the beloved. That word beloved was translated
from the Greek word agapao which we recognize as Divine Love, but this is not
speaking of an adverb here, but it is speaking of a group of people, those that
are beloved. Which means those that are loved. Loved by whom? Those that are
The Loved by God.
This then let’s us know that if there is a group of
predestinated people that are loved by God, then it also tells us that not all
are in that group. And we find in Chapter 9 that God loved Jacob while he hated
Esau.
ROMANS 9:11 For [the children (He is speaking of Jacob and Esau) being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to
election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; 12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve
the younger. 13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 14
¶ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15 For
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So then it is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I
raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be
declared throughout all the earth. 18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will
[have mercy], and whom he will he hardeneth.
Therefore it is
not what you choose, but what God chose in Himself before the world even was
framed.
Divine healing 54-1219M P:49 Listen. It's not him that wants to get saved,
that's saved. It's him that's saved by God's choice. Esau wanted to get
saved too. He wept bitterly, and couldn't find no place to repent. He wanted to
get saved. It ain't 'cause you want to get saved. God said, "I've hardened
who I will harden. I have mercy on whom I want to have mercy." That's
right. He said, "Before Esau or Jacob, either was born, not knowing right
and wrong," God said, "I love Jacob and hate Esau.'" And Esau
tried to get right with God and couldn't. Pharaoh tried to get right with God
and couldn't do it. So it's not you, not
what you want. It's what God has ordained for you to do. That's right. Paul
said in the 9th chapter of Romans there, "Hasn't the potter got power over
the clay to make an honored vessel or a dishonored vessel, to show His glory to
those who He has honored?" You didn't know that, did you? That's what the
Scripture says. Pharaoh tried his best to repent. He was kindhearted. He said,
"Sure, I'll let you go. Go on.” God said, "No, you ain't. I'm going
to harden his heart so you can't do it." 'Cause God's Word has to be
fulfilled. And if we're living in this day when formalities and things has
broken the church down, broke away; why, it's God's Word being fulfilled. As
sure as God said, "These signs would follow them that believe," as
sure as God said these churches would be like they are now, God also said this opposition would meet
it. So the same God that ordained
signs and wonders, ordained that these should be persecuting against It. So
there you are. If you're on the other
side, I feel sorry. And I want you not to be that way, but maybe you can't
help it. See? God might've fixed it that
way.
So you see that they are condemned through representation.
In Adam all die, but in Christ are all made alive. Condemnation through
representation. And we might add we are conformed to the image of His Son by
representation as well. Either we had representation in Him to begin with or we
will never have it.
A PARADOX 63-0801 90 If the church could only realize what you're here for... If the
Pentecostal church could only realize what you're here for, what's your
representation: Why did you come out of these things to be what you are?
So we see that Paul tells us that we are to be
conformed to the image of His First born Son, and we know that if we were not
in Him to begin with we could never be conformed to His first born son because
we would not have any representation to begin with. In other words, Jesus was
made in the image of the Father.
That is HEBREWS 1:3 Who being the
brightness (or the reflection) of his glory(and don’t ever forget the word glory
was translated from the Greek word Doxa which means the opinion, estimation or
judgment which then is the very mind of God. So we see he was the very
reflection of the mind of God ), and the express image(the Greek word for
express image is the Greek word Charakter. So we see he was the expressed
character of the Father, the Father’s character expressed to the world) of his person (in
other words the very nature of the person of God was on display through His
Son), and
upholding all things by the word of his (this his speaks of God, for
Jesus had no Word but the Father’s Word, and he did nothing but what the Father
Showed Him to do. ) and upholding all things by the word of God’s power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Therefore, if Jesus was the expressed Image of the
Father, and we are to be conformed to His Image, then what image are we to
become conformed to? To the Word for God is the Word.
Now, then, what does it mean to be conformed to the
image of the Eldest Son? It means to be conformed to the Word because God is
the Word. And Jesus learned Obedience to the Word of God by the things that he
suffered.
HEBREWS 5:8Though he were a Son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered;
FUTURE HOME 64-0802 37-4 Now, you say, "Well,
look at this priest; wasn't he a son of God?" It proved he wasn't; he
couldn't recognize what? Did he say, "I believe the Bible?" Sure, but
he couldn't recognize the expressed Word of the hour. He only had a
intellectual learning from some group that'd been back before him. And it's
the same thing today. See? I know that's strong but it's the Truth. There
was the Word, as spoken exactly for that day, and he... Yet he was a scholar;
yet, he was a renown person, but he could not recognize It. Why? No
matter how scholarly he was, anything like that, he still didn't have
representation of predestination. See? Only the predestinated will only
be the one that does it. Only can be. And you only can do it because look;
it proves predestination, 'cause if you've got Eternal Life, you had to be a
part of God all times 'cause He's the only One that's eternal. You see it?
Oh, my. Think of it.
Therefore the only way you can become conformed to
the image of the Son is by predestination, and that means you had to have been
foreknown by God and in order to have been foreknown by God you had to be in
God to begin with. Now, just think of that. Conformed to the image by
representation. God ordained you to it before you ever were even born into this
world. In fact He ordained you to the adoption of sons while you were still in
his mind before he even created the world. So if you did not have representation
there you will never have it at the end, and thus if you were not in Him and a
part of Him then how can you inherit
anything?
HEBREWS 1:4 ¶
Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they.(God never gave the angels His own name. But He gave
it to His Son Jesus. And He also has given it to His other Children as well.)
EPHESIANS 3:14 ¶
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in
heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the
riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner
man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to
comprehend with all saints what [is] the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height; 19 And to know the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness
of God. 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him [be]
glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen.) 5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son,
this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he
shall be to me a Son? 6 And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into
the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
So I hope you see this morning that we are to be
conformed to the image, the same image that Jesus was conformed to and that is
the Word. And the only way we can do that is if the very Life or Spirit that
was in Jesus be in us, and we know that by One spirit we are all baptized into
one body, and we know that we had to be in God in the beginning if we are to
ever come into His image. And if we are to come to the place of adoption we
must have the mind of the father even as Jesus did nothing but what the Father
showed him first. That is the spirit of adoption, and that is the image we must
and will come to if we were in Him to begin with.
Now, just to be in the Message is not enough, you
must have been in Christ before the world was even framed. You had to have had
representation in Him then or you never will have it. For God is eternal and
changes not.
In his sermon JEHOVAH
JIREH 3 64-0404 E-6 brother
Branham said, “Now, He had seventy ordained preachers with
Him. He thought He had a little too much crowd there, so the crowd walked away
from him. So He had the ordained ministers setting there; He'd sent them out,
seventy of them. He said, "What will you say when you see the Son of man
ascending up into heaven, from whence He came?" Now, He never explained
it. Them preachers said, "This man ascending
up into heaven from whence He came? Why, we know him. We know his mother. We've
been to the stable where he was born, We've seen the cradle he was rocked in.
We've fished with him. We're laying out here on the banks with him. And this
'Son of man ascend up from whence he come'? He come from
And they walked away from Him. He never explained it. He never... He didn't have to explain anything.
God don't have to explain nothing. He's God. He just does it, 'cause He
promised it. He don't explain it. Then His... Only twelve was left. He turned around and looked at them,
said, "I chose twelve of you, and one of you's a devil." He said,
"Do you want to go too?" Then Peter said those great words, "To whom would we go, Lord, for
we are sure that Thou has the Word of Life." They had seen it so clearly
a-vindicated. No matter what the priest said, what anybody else said, they knew
right there that He had the Word of Life. Said, "You have the Word of
Life." E-7 And now, we notice no
matter what the others done, how they walked away, those disciples were
predestinated. They were ordained to Eternal Life. No... They couldn't
explain it. They couldn't explain it no more than the rest of them could, but there
was something in them. That representation in heaven, a thought
that God had of them before the foundation of the world had manifested itself
here. And they were connected with God, and were sure that was God's
promise vindicated. And nothing's going to change it from them. That's real,
genuine Christianity.”
And in his sermon, FUTURE
HOME 64-0802 21-4 Brother
Branham said, “Now, "In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us." The three stages: it
was an attribute first, was in God that He thought of Himself as being
human, and that transmitted Him down to be Jesus. And now, if you'll ever be
there, you was with Him then. For there's only one form of Eternal Life; that's
God. And you had to be a part of God at the beginning. It's not what you
just chose down here; He chose you. "All the Father has given Me will
come."
21-5 Now, look at this priest here. We find his
bottom part here, his back life, back behind him, his predestination back
here is sinful. Here's hell down here. Now, this little part in here (looks
like the blackboard), that represents his purity. He was a priest; he was an
honorable man. That represented this. He was also had to be a good man or he
couldn't be a priest. But you see how he got it? With intellectual learning.
22-1 Now this little woman, her first life up
here, she was a prostitute. She was all marred up, but way down in her here
was just a little bit of understanding: "I know when the Messiah
cometh..." See? That was there. Notice, when Jesus came and manifested the
Word, because the Word discerned the thoughts that was in the heart (as Hebrews
4 says It will, 4:12 that He would... The Word was a discerner of the thoughts
of the heart, and He came as the Son of man, the Prophet. What happened? This
priest with only intellectual learning said, "It's a devil," because
that's what his denomination called it. What did it do? He had no
representation, so it blacked him out.
22-3 But this little woman had nothing to
present; she was as filthy and dirty as she could be. But notice, way down
in her she's got representation...?... And then, she was looking for this
to be made flesh, and when He said, "Go, get your husband and come here."
She said, "Sir, I have none." Said, "You said the truth, 'cause
you got five, and the one you have now is not yours. You've had five; that
makes six you have." She said, "Sir..." not... You're not
Beelzebub." No. "I perceive that You are a Prophet. Now, we know the
Messiah, which is called Christ will come; and when He does, He will do
this." He said, "I'm He." No more doubt. He didn't
have to explain it. She saw it; she believed it; and away she went. Why?
What did It do to her? It redeemed her. Now watch, He came to be a
Redeemer. Is that right? What does redeem mean?--bring back. Why
didn't He get the priest? He never was up there. See? He had no representation.
He came to redeem
that which had fallen. In the fall this got messed up of that
girl, but God had her in His thinking before the foundation of the world,
and He come to cleanse her. Then He has to have Eternal Life. See?
22-8 Where the priest... What did it do to
him? It sent him right back to his destination. He had nothing to
begin--only intellectual learning. Now listen, friend, if the only thing you've
got is just intellectual learning, you get something different from that. And you'll
never be able to get it unless you got representation. That's the reason I
believe you come from the east and west, north and south: the Word, living,
made manifest.
23-2 Notice, now, how He makes
His Way known by His prophets in the beginning. He's never changed it.
[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... salvation: He justified a man, sanctified him,
sent the Holy Ghost and Fire, and burnt the sin out him, and dwelled in him
Himself. He does the earth that He's going to use in a plan of redemption the
same way. It repented and was baptized in water in it, by Noah. Jesus come and
sanctified it by dripping His Blood upon it and claimed it. And in the new
earth that's to come, it's to have a holy fire baptism to clean it of every
devil, every germ, every sickness, everything that there is, and make it anew.
"I saw a new heaven and a new earth." You become a new person
(Amen.), not just an old one patched up by joining church or trying to turn a
new page, but you are a complete brand new unit. God takes the old man and
burns him completely out with the Holy Ghost and Fire and comes Himself, sends
down your representation. "No man can come to Me except My Father has
drawed him. And all the Father has given Me will come to Me." You see it?
Same plan, same way.
So you see this morning that the only way we can be conformed
to the image of God’s only begotten Son is to become conformed to the Word of
God. The word conformed in the Greek means to shape the nature which is to
develop the character. Therefore when we are conformed to the image of His Son
we will have our nature and thus our character changed and the character of God
Himself will take over our mortal being bringing us into a oneness with God and
His Word.
For Jesus prayed that we would be one with God in
St. John 17 and brother Branham told us that the oneness with God is to be one
with His Word even as Jesus was one with God’s Word. And that can come only if
you had representation in Him to begin with. If you did not, then something is
going to take you out of the way. And if you did not have representation in God
to begin with, if you were not chosen in
Him to begin with then you are not a part of him and then you will not inherit
his name nor will you be adopted as Sons.
In
JOHN 17:11
¶ And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I
come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast
given me, that they may be one, as we are. And how is it that
we might be One even as which means in the same manner as Jesus and His Father
were One? Jesus said, JOHN 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them,
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Jesus
tells us we become One with God through the same Word that He became One With
God. JOHN 17:20 ¶ Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou,
Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that
the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou
gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Therefore
it is very apparent that we are one by receiving the same Word which brings us
into the same Glory or the same mind as the Father. And
the glory which thou gavest me (remember glory is doxa and it is the opinion,
assessment and judgment, so “the opinion thou
gavest me” ) I have given them;
that they may be one, even as we are one:
And from HARVEST TIME 641212 87 034 Brother Branham said,
“Jesus
said, "That they might be one,
Father, as You and I are one." Not for
some man to be over something, it never will work; one denomination wants to
take over the other, and one man over the other. But that you might be
one with God, like Christ and God was one; that's what the prayer is.
That... He was the Word, and Jesus prayed that we might be the Word,
reflecting Him. That's His prayer to be answered. See how Satan
scruples it up in the carnal mind? But that wasn't Jesus' prayer, at all, that
we might all congregate together and all have a certain creed and so forth.
Every time they do it, they go further and further from God. He wants us to be one with God, and God is the Word. Each individual in his heart must be that one with God.
Let us bow our hearts and our heads in a word of
prayer.
Dear gracious and loving Father, we have seen
Scriptural proof this morning that if we are to be conformed to the image of
your son it is because it is the good pleasure of your will and you chose us to
be conformed to the image of your son, and we know that he was conformed to
your image, your nature, your character. And we know that he learned obedience
by suffering, and we know also Father that this is your way for us to take on
your nature and character as well.
Therefore, Father, may we yield to your spirit, and your word, and when
you choose for us to suffer, may we know that you are working in us the
character of your eldest son Jesus, and we thank you for allowing us to be despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
Father, we ask that you would bless us and so we
shall be blessed, transform us and we shall be transformed. Love us and we
shall be loved, adopt us and we shall be adopted. Grant to us Thy loving mercy
and tenderness of spirit for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s name, that wonderful
name of your son that he received by inheritance, and that we too shall receive
by inheritance, amen!
In closing let’s sing that song from 2 timothy1:12, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I have committed, unto Him against that
day.”