Christ Revealed in
His Own Word # 2
Two kinds of Faith
Sunday
Morning March 24, 1996
[ Brian Kocourek, Pastor Grace Fellowship]
This Morning I
would like to continue to study this Message of Brother Branham's He called
"Christ Revealed in His Own
Word" . Last Sunday as you know we began the study of this Message
after listening to Brother Branham preach the first half of it the previous
Wednesday night. Now, As we review last
Sunday's message, you'll remember that we were promised in [ Malachi 4: 5-6 ] that at the
end-time God will send Elijah the Prophet to restore the hearts or
understanding of His Children to the
understanding of the Apostolic Fathers. In other words, Omega will look to the Alpha, as Brother
Branham put it Himself, as he said, "I
am only teaching what Paul taught". Now [ Mal 4: 5-6] literally reads, "See, I will send you the Prophet
Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. He will turn the
hearts of the Fathers to their children, ( Which we
know happened in John the Baptist's ministry as He also came in the Spirit and
Power of Elijah as we read in God Holy Word.
[Luke 1: 17] And he shall go before him in the
spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared
for the Lord.
Notice, the
scripture tells us that the angel of God told Zechariah that John was to come
in the Spirit and power of Elijah to turn the Hearts of the fathers to the
children but he never said anything about John turning the hearts of the
children back to the fathers. And so we
find in [Malachi 4:6] that this
end-time Elijah will " he will
turn the hearts of the children to their Fathers; or else the Lord Himself will
come and smite the earth with a curse. Now the question is, "what is this heart of the
children that will be turned to the fathers?" And, "who
are these children?"
Þ Now, remember,
in his message [PP 37 Inter veil 56-0121]
Brother Branham taught us that "There is an intellectual faith. And there's a faith that
comes from the heart. And so
we are looking at this Faith or Revelation that comes from the heart. We've read in [Ezekiel 36], that God gives us a new heart which is a new
understanding first, then He gives us a new spirit which is a new desire and
finally after we have received this new desire or welcoming Spirit, to welcome
the Word of God, then He gives us His Spirit which is His Word. Now let's just
read this for ourselves...
Þ [Ezekiel 36:26-28] A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put
within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you an heart of flesh. And I will
put my spirit within you, and cause
you to walk in my statutes, and ye
shall keep my judgments, and do
[them]. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye
shall be my people, and I will be your God.
And so you
will notice that this new heart and new spirit and finally His Spirit entering
into us is to bring about one thing, and that is that we will walk in His
statutes, which is His Word, and we shall do the things that His Word speaks of
for us to do, which then brings about
our actually becoming the Word of God manifested in flesh.
Þ From the
Message, IMPERSONATION OF CHRISTIANITY-Brother
Branham said, " God had to give you a new heart, not a patched up one, a new heart.
That's your intellects that you think
with, a new way of thinking. Then He give you a new way of thinking,
"Yes, that's right Then He said after that, "Then I'll give you a new
spirit." What's that? A new desire,
... After you get a new heart and a new spirit, He said, "Then I'll put My
Spirit..." His Spirit, part of
the Logos in you controlling your emotions"
Now,
furthermore, we find Paul speaking of this condition of the heart in [ 2 Cor 3: 15 - 18] But even unto
this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the
Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is],
there [is] liberty. 18 But we all, with
open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the
same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.
We see that a
veil still covers the hearts or understanding of those who do not look to the Word
of God, but who look rather to their church or the traditions and creeds they
are familiar with instead of God's Word only.
But we are also told that one day there will be a people who will look
to the Word of God and these are the people in whose hearts (or literally their
understanding) will change. And when it
does change, then God will Unveil Himself to them. And I believe this Message
of Christ Revealed in His Own Word is part of that Great Unveiling of God to us
in this Hour.
Now in
beginning with the Message [Christ
Revealed in His Own Word] And
reading from PP. 1 we shall examine
the opening prayer of Brother Branham again as we did last week. So let's read
it together, "Let us bow our heads. Lord Jesus, the Shepherd of the great
flock, we are so in debt to Thee, Lord, that we could never pay Thee for the
love that Thou has shed abroad in our
hearts. We feel so unworthy as we bow our heads and stand in Thy Presence. We
ask You to cleanse us from all faults
and all sin. We pray that You'll strengthen our bodies today. Many are sick
and afflicted, as it shows here of handkerchiefs and requests coming in on the
phone and everywhere."
Now, I want
you to notice how Brother Branham
begins this Message by going to prayer, and that is not so unusual for men of
God to do, but I want you to also notice carefully the content of his Prayer.
After He asks us to bow your heads, he begins praying, ... "Lord Jesus, the Shepherd of
the great flock, we are so in debt to
Thee, Lord, that we could never pay Thee for the love that Thou has shed
abroad in our hearts. Now
as I mentioned last Sunday morning, that in this little preamble of prayer, we
already see two very distinct thoughts and scriptural identifications being
brought forth by God's Servant.
The first
thought and scriptural identification which we see is the thought, "Lord
Jesus, the Shepherd of the great
flock," which we know was addressed by St. . Peter in [ 2 Peter 5: 4] "And when the Chief Shepherd shall Appear, you shall receive a Crown of
Glory that shall never fade away." Now, here we
find two things, namely this: Number one, He is addressing the Lord Jesus
Christ by this title that Peter gives Him where He calls Him the Chief or Great
Shepherd. And secondly, we see Peter
speaking of this Chief Shepherd in association with the Appearing of the Lord.
So then We should be able by scriptural
identification, see that brother Branham's Message of Christ Revealed in His Own Word is pointedly identified to
this Great Appearing of the Chief Shepherd. And that the Appearing of the Lord
is, and must be, considered as part of the Revealing of Christ. For if He is
not here, then how can He be Revealed.
Secondly, we also find Peter speaking of this
Appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ as The Chief Shepherd, and Peter tells us
that When Christ does appear, we are to receive a Crown that will never fade
away. We also find Paul speaking of this
Crown as being a crown of righteousness, or Right-wise-ness in which the Righteous Lord, or rightly wise Lord
shall give us at that day as we read in [ 2
Tim 4: 1-8] In the Presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and
the dead, and in view of His Appearing and His Kingdom, I give you this charge:
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and
encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come
when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires,
they will gather a great number of teachers around them to say what their
itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and
turn aside to myths. But you keep your head in all situations, endure hardship,
do the work of an evangelist, discharge all your duties of your ministry. For I
am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my
departure. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept
the Faith. Now there is in store for me the Crown of Right-Wise-ness, which the
Rightly Wise Judge shall award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also
to all those who have longed for and Love His Appearing.
Now this ought
to tell you how important the Parousia or Appearing of the Lord is to us. For
God Himself let's us know that there is
a crown of Right-Wise-ness that awaits all those who love His Appearing. Now,
we should all know by now that Brother Branham taught us that there is a difference
between the Coming of the Lord and the
Appearing of the Lord. In fact from the Message, FROM THAT TIME PP 227, brother Branham said, "How
many knows there’s a difference between the Appearing of Christ and the Coming
of Christ? It’s two different words, Now’s the Appearing; the
coming will soon be. He’s Appearing in the midst of us, doing the works
that He once did, in His church.” And then in the same breath just after
he said this He also said those most notable words, "My ministry is to declare Him,
that He is here.” And so we see
there is a two fold work involved in brother Branham's Ministry, # 1 To declare Christ, and # 2 to declare that His presence here
among us.
So we see in
this Message Christ Revealed in His
Own Word, brother Branham is setting the stage for what this Revealing
of Christ is all about when He opens in Prayer and Quotes from [ 2
Peter 5: 4] "And when the Chief
Shepherd shall Appear, you shall receive a Crown of Glory that shall never fade
away." Now we have
already pointed out that Paul spoke of this Crown also as pertaining to the
Appearing. Now, this is important for you to understand. Why would Paul and
Peter and even James all speak of this Crown of righteousness that is to be
given to us at the Appearing of Jesus Christ?
Now, because I believe there is a great significance to this scripture
and the association of our receiving a Crown of righteousness at the time of
the Appearing or in association with the Appearing, I would like to examine this thought this morning. What is
this crown any way? What is any Crown ? Just what exactly is a crown?
WEBSTER CROWN = from the Latin word
Corona meaning garland and the Greek word korone meaning wreathe. In the scripture
the word used is in reference to a Loral wreathe which is a reward or honor
given after victory. It is worn on the head and brings pre-eminence to the
head.
Then I would
like to ask the question, what is this Crown of Right-Wise-ness, any way? And
why is it stated in several scriptures that we receive it at the Appearing of
Christ? What then does it have to do
with the Appearing? Well, First of all we know according to [ 1 Cor 9: 25] That we are
not to receive a corruptible crown but an incorruptible One. Now we find
according to [St. Peter 1: 4 ]and [1: 23 ] That this incorruptible crown
is actually part of our inheritance and if it is incorruptible, it can only be
one thing and that is the Word of God.
In fact we read in [Isaiah 40: 8]
tells us, The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the Word of the Lord shall
stand forever." In fact Jesus Himself said, Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle of Gods Word shall fail." And so if this
Crown according to [ 1 Peter 5: 4 ] is incorruptible and can not fade
Away, then it must be One thing and One thing only, The Word of God! In [ 1 Thes 2: 19 ] Paul tells us
this Crown has to do with the very Presence of the Lord Himself. And in [ James 1: 12] it is called
the Crown of Life. So here we have a
crown that is promised to us and it is called a Crown of Life, a Crown of
Glory and a Crown of Right-wise-ness.
And in all passages of scripture it is identified with the Appearing of the
Lord. And in examining these three Crowns, we must ask ourselves, since these
are all three associated with the Appearing of the Lord, are these three
different Crowns? Or are they these three actually the same Crown but called by
different terms or descriptions. A [Crown
of Life, a Crown of Glory and a Crown of Right-wise-ness.]
To find out we
must first ask ourselves "Now what is a crown any way?" A crown is a
head-piece that is worn on the head to bring preeminence to the head. Now, let
me repeat that. A crown is a head-piece
that is worn on the head to bring preeminence to the head. That is why we are
called the jewels of His Crown in [Malachi
3: 16 - 18]. So what we are looking at here is something that is to happen
to the Elect that will bring preeminence to the Head, which is God. And we find
it in 2 Thess 1: 10 where we are told that He will come to be
Glorified IN His Saints. Now we know that this word GLORY is the Greek word DOXA
which means "the opinion, assessment or judgment of".
In fact we can
read of this Crown of Glory that was prophesied to come even back in the book
of [Isaiah 28: 5 - 6] Notice that
He will not only be our Crown, but The
Spirit of the Judge will be upon His People in that day. And why is that?
Because as He is so are we to be in this World. And if He is here as Judge,
then if we are to come into His Image and become reflectors of what He is, we
too will become Judges, or discerners of the Word of God. So we see then that the very mind of God is to come into the Elect
in this End-time because we believed Paul's Report in that day which is this
day. And didn't brother Branham tell us that He only preached what Paul
preached? And so we see that at the
Appearing we are to be like Him for we shall see Him as He really is and by
seeing Him as He really is we are to be changed to be like Him. Let's just follow this through in scripture.
1 John 3: 1-3 ¶ Behold, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him;
for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Colossians 3: 4 When Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with him in glory.
1 Cor 13: 9-12 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is
come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I
understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put
away childish things. 12 For now we
see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then
shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity,
these three; but the greatest of these [is] charity.
1 John 4: 17 ¶
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of
judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
Notice it
tells us that in this world we are to come into a confidence because of His
Love. And this Love also ties in with the next part of brother Branham's
prayer. But before we actually get into that part of Brother Branham's prayer,
I want to examine further this thought of the Crown.