Christ Revealed in His Own Word # 6

Born in Sin to begin With

Sunday Easter Morning April 7, 1996

[ Brian Kocourek, Pastor Grace Fellowship]

This morning being that it is Easter Sunday Morning, we are again reminded of that great morning when Jesus Christ , God's only begotten Son arose from the grave to bring hope for each one of us that there is Life beyond the grave, and that the stinger of death has been pulled out, and we have a promise of Eternal Life.

This morning we want to look at Easter and the Resurrection in light of what effect it has upon us as sons and daughters of God. We know that Easter is a time we celebrate the Resurrection of our Brother Jesus and we know that without this resurrection, the very God-Life that was in Him would not have been released from His Body to come back upon us and therefore we would have no hope of immortality, and in fact no hope of our coming into the Image of our Father, God - that has been prophesied through out the Scriptures to take place in our bodies in this last day. Jesus Himself told us in [ John 16:7] It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send Him unto you. And so we see the necessity of The Death, Burial and Resurrection of our Brother Jesus Christ to open the way that the very God-Life that dwelt in Him might come back upon us.

Þ [ Gal 2: 20] Read

Þ [ Col 3: 4] Read

Þ [ Acts 17: 28] Read

And so today we want to examine this God-Life that was in Christ and contrast it with the Hybrid life we possess in the bodies of this death, the life that so easily besets us as we live out our humanity.

Now, with this in mind, I would like to read from Brother Branham's Message, Christ Revealed in His Own Word, the first 5 pp.s

1 CHRIST REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORD V-4 N-10 65-0822M 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.

And, now, before we read any further, I want you to notice this thought here. We are all born short of the perfection that we would so desire in this life. We were all born in sin and unbelief through the sexual desire of our parents and as a result we bear in our bodies a humanity that is ridden with faults and short comings and sin. And I want you to notice that in this prayer request that brother Branham is making, he is calling upon God to heal us in both our faults and in our sin which we know is unbelief. And so He is asking our Heavenly Father to heal us in our bodies and in our spirits where we have need of. I hope there is no one here among us this morning that thinks himself or herself to be faultless, and yet that is the impression we give to God, you know.

[ Rev 3: 14 - 17] Here we find the condition of the Laodicean church. These people have a certain mindset that is full of faults and yet they are unaware that they have any. The scripture tells us that they are Luke warm, even spiritually naked and yet they are blind to their own condition. They just don't get it. And that is Laodicea. They think because they are rich and increased with goods that they really have need of nothing, and yet they are so unaware of their many short comings. What a condition to be in.

And so we hear brother Branham pray for the people in his opening prayer to God. He prays that God will cleanse us from all our faults and our sin. Now what are faults... What is he praying for when He asks God to cleanse us of al our faults. What is a fault.... The word fault comes from a Latin word which means to deceive or fail. In other words, a failing or falling short and yet through our own deception we do not recognize where we come up short. In essence you can see that in 20th century English it means to come up short, to miss the mark, and that is exactly what the word sin means in the Greek. To miss the mark. And always remember, one word off is satan's kingdom.

Webster goes on to tell us that the word fault originally means : failure to have or do what is required; to lack; default or neglect. Something that mars the Appearance; Character, structure, etc; flawed; failing, imperfection; defective. Guilty of error and deserving of blame..... Webster continues by saying the word fault refers to a definite, although not strongly condemnatory imperfection in our character, ( and then he illustrates by giving us this example : her only fault I stubbornness.)

And I think we could say that of the people of Laodicea in this hour. Their biggest fault lies in their stubbornness, an inability to change their minds and receive the Truth and walk in it. Now the word stubborn means an innate fixedness of purpose, course or condition, that is strongly resistant to change. In other words, unable to repent, and remember, to repent means to change your thinking. So to be stubborn means you are so fixed on your own thinking, that you are unable to change it. And so in order to be able to change your own thinking, the first step is to recognize that your own ways have gotten you no where. As far as God is concerned, stubbornness is worthy of death.

Þ [ Deut 21: 18-21] read

Þ [Psalm 78: 1- 8 ] read now always remember, that when scripture speaks of the heart it is speaking of the understanding. These people were stubborn because they would not change their understanding to that understanding which comes from God and is right.

Stubbornness - where does it come from. Why is God so against it that He commanded the people to put to death by stoning, any son who was obstinate and stubborn? Well, we say, "that person is as stubborn as a mule." Why do we say that? Why is a mule associated with stubbornness? A mule is a Hybrid. As brother Branham said, " a mule doesn't know his mammy or pappy, he's unsure of himself, so he won't move from the place where he has taken his stand. And that's the attribute we call stubbornness. Therefore stubbornness is a characteristic of a hybrid nature. Brother Branham said, " a real thoroughbred knows who he is and knows his pedigree. He's sure of himself. He's not like the quarter horse that is so high spirited and mean. He said, a quarter horse may wait his entire life to get back at you. He's got that stubborn nature, but a real thoroughbred has a gentle nature and takes training much better and without a lot of fight. And how we take correction shows what pedigree we have. Do you believe that?

Þ [ Hebrews 12: 1 - 15, & 17 ] Read The scripture tells us that a son who will not take correction is a bastard born son. He's outside of God's kingdom and isn't fit to enter into it. We are told that Esau was an example of this stubborn characteristic or stubborn nature. Stubbornness is not an attribute that is found in God - Life. We read in scripture that Jesus Himself, God's only begotten was obedient, even to His death on the cross.

Now if Jesus is God's only begotten Son and we are also God's Son's, then you might ask, what is the difference. If we are Sons, then why does the scripture tell us that Jesus was God's ONLY begotten Son? What does this mean? Good question.. First let me explain it like this. A son gets His Life from his Father. The Life is in the male, and therefore what life the Son has came down from the Life that is in the Father. Do you believe that? Even science tells us the Life is in the Sperm, not in the egg.

Þ [ John 5: 26] read

And so we see that the life of every son comes from the Father, and yet why was Jesus said to be the Only begotten of God? Well, the answer lies in the body. The scripture tells us that Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost which is God Himself. And bother Egg and sperm were God's creation. Brother Branham taught us that the blood cell was created by God Himself. It had to be.

E-44 CHRIST -- 55-0221 God, Immanuel, creating around Himself a Blood cell that brought forth the Son, Jesus Christ.

From the Message Paradox pg 6 he said, God created a blood cell and then came and lived in there. And yet the body was not God but the Son of God. And as a Son Jesus had His own personal identity, just as you and I as Sons do. We'll get into this a little later on.

E-12 BLIND BARTIMAEUS -- 56-0414 He was the Son of God. And God Himself, was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. The Body, the Man was Jesus, the Son of God; but the Spirit in Him, was Jehovah Itself, tabernacled here in human flesh, in order to take away sin.

How can the Catholic church call Mary the Mother of God. If she was the Mother of God then who was God's Father? She was only an incubator for the God seed, that was placed within her.

[ Acts 20: 28] It was God's own blood. We were not saved by the shedding of Jewish blood, but the Blood of God Himself through the body of His own son.

And this brings u to the point where Jesus was the only begotten of God. He was the only one whose body was brought forth through the instrumentality of purely spoken Word. Others were a child by a promise but a physical act had to take place between the husband and wife to bring forth the promised child, like Isaac, and Samuel the Prophet and even Joseph Branham. In fact there have been many children born into this world that the parents knew of the child's coming even before it came. That's why the pencil test can do what it does. It is no great miracle to speak of a child coming before it comes, but Jesus was not only spoken of but God Himself begat this Son whereas you and I came through a sexual desire of our parents and therefore we suffer in this flesh because Noah was the last man that was genetically pure a Son of God in the Lineage of Adam and Eve. All others had already received the mix in the bodies when the son's of God saw the daughters of man that they were fair to look upon, and they took unto themselves a these beautiful looking but hybrid creatures.

And that should be a warning to you children when you are looking at a marriage partner. Only a Real True Believer is worthy of bringing forth your children into this world. You marry some serpent seed boy and your chances of serpent seed kids is far greater. That's why God condemned those mixed marriages and commands us not to be yoked together with unbelief.

Any way, I hope you can see where the stubborn nature comes from. It is due to the hybrid nature in these bodies of death we live in. But we find that since God directly begat Jesus, that He showed another nature all together the opposite of the hybrid nature. And the opposite of stubborn is obedient.

Þ [ Hebrews 5: 8 - 9 ] read

Þ [ Phil 2: 8 - 16 ] read in verse 14 the word rebuke her is translated as the word fault. Children without fault, and that is what Brother Branham is praying for in His opening prayer. And how does a young man cleanse himself? By taking heed to the Word of God. It is the Word that cleanses.

Þ [ 1 John 1: 7]

Þ [ Proverbs 25: 12] read and [ Acts 5: 32 ] notice the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God's Word. And this goes even beyond obeying the Word of God. Paul tells men to obey their masters, that's their bosses, over in the book of Ephesians and we are not to talk back either. Just do what is expected of you as long as it does not go against the Word of God. As long as it is not immoral, unethical or illegal, you are to just obey and do your job.

Þ [ 1 Peter 1: 14, & 22 ] read

Þ [ Romans 5: 19, 16: 26]

Þ [ 1 John 2: 25, 3: 14, 5:3]

Þ [ Rev 3: 19] read

And so we definitely see a difference between the Laodicean spirit and the God - Life spirit. One is stubborn and the other is obedient to the Word of God.

2 And we believe that we're ending up this world's history now, and soon time will fade into eternity; and we want to be ready for that hour. That's why we have assembled here this morning, is to prepare for that time. I am told that there are many of the telephone hooks-ups this morning across the nation, from coast to coast. Wherever our voices is coming, may that little group be blessed. Heal the sick that's among them. And I pray that You'll cleanse their souls from all evil. Help us here this morning at the Tabernacle that we also may enjoy that great privilege.

3 And we ask that You'll speak to us today through Thy written Word, and may the Spirit reveal to us the things that we have need of, as we have gathered nationwide now, feeling that we are a small people, but have a place among the redeemed, because we have believed on Jesus Christ.

4 Grant these things to us, Lord, and when we close the service and we go to our different homes across the nation, may we say like those from Emmaus, "Did not our hearts burn within us as He spoke to us along the road?"

5 Now, Father, I know that whatever I would say would be certainly insufficient. With the--the fine Christians throughout the nation now that's tuned in, it wouldn't be--it wouldn't be adequate. It would not be something that I could say that could do any good, because we're all in the same category. We're human, mortals, but let the great Holy Spirit speak; may He take ahold the Word and just reveal Himself. We're waiting on Him now, in Jesus' Name. Amen. (May be seated.