Christ Revealed in His Own Word # 7

Stubborn Laodicea

Wednesday Evening April 10, 1996

[ Brian Kocourek, Pastor Grace Fellowship]

Sunday we spoke from brother Branham's opening prayer again where he asked God to cleanse us of our faults and sin. He said, in speaking to our Heavenly Father, "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 so we must ask ourselves what are these faults that He is praying for. What is he praying for when He asks God to cleanse us of al our faults. What is a fault.... Webster tells us "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 so we looked at stubbornness as a fault that is very predominant in this Laodicean age that we live, and it is expressed in their 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 We read from [ Deut 21: 18-21] where a stubborn child was to be put to death and that way the evil that is associated with a stubborn will would be kept away from others, because naturally a little leaven will soon leaven a whole lump.

We examined Stubbornness and where it comes from. We say, "that person is as stubborn as a mule." Why is a mule associated with stubbornness? Because a mule is a Hybrid and therefore we can see that stubbornness is a characteristic of a hybrid nature. 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.

Þ [ John 5: 26] read And we know that Jesus was God's Only Begotten Son. In other words, He was the only One that God directly begat in a physical sense of the Word. His Body was created by the spoken Word of God. His body was created by God-Life, God-Seed. But your body and mine were not and this is why we have so much problem with our Flesh. I am thoroughly convinced that in this Body, although we have received the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and although we are to receive the very Glory or Mindset of God while in these bodies, yet we shall never see perfection in these imperfect vessel. We read in [ 1 John 4: 17] that as He is so shall we be in this world, but that does not speak of our flesh, but of our Soul.

And so we see that the life of every son comes from the Father, and yet we know that Jesus was the Only begotten of God in His body. Our new birth affects the body only in that the Soul governs the body through our Spirit. In other words, when we are born again we are quickened to the Word of God in our Soul. The Word of God, the Logos of God then controls our thought pattern in our Soul. As brother Branham said, we have but one function in our Soul and that is to believe the Word of God. Then when our Soul becomes subject to the Word of God, it brings into control our Spirit. Once our Spirit is also controlled by the Word of God it then brings our bodies under it's control. But Jesus own body bypassed sinful nature because it was created and did not come by a sex act. You reap what you sew and if we reap a body because of an act that was done in the flesh, then the body will gravitate toward the flesh. But Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost 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.

[ Acts 20: 28] tells us It was God's own blood.

And this brings us to our next thought as we examine this cleansing of our faults. In order to understand why we have so many faults and why Jesus did not succumb to the same faults although He was tested in every point, we have to only look at the source of our bodies to find our answer.

[ Gen 3: 7 ] Now why did they know they were naked? How can eating an apple or any fruit make someone to know they are naked? And why fig leaves to cover up only a certain part of their body. Why ? I think we all know the answer was sex. Now let's turn to [ Gen 3: 13 - 16 ] Now if the sin was not sex then why did the punishment of the woman have to do with child bearing? And what about the seed of the serpent being at enmity against the seed of the woman? The Fleshly nature of the serpents life at war with the true Human nature we were meant to have as Sons and daughters of God.

That's why we see in [ Gen 6: 5 - 9 ] that man's minds became full of corruption? Why? Because sons of God began to intermarry with serpent Seed women who were very beautiful and with this inter marriage there came forth a hybridization of the human nature, and it became corrupt in it's thinking. And so we see that Noah was the last genetically perfect man who was true Human being, Son of God. All others including his wife were of a mixed nature. And that is why we struggle so much in our bodies as Paul speaks of n Romans 7.

[ Romans 7: 14 - 26 ] Notice the contrast we see between the body of this death and the Mind. We are told that in the mind we serve God but in the body of this death or as the NIV states, in the body of the sinful nature we serve the law of sin. So we see a tremendous difference here between the body of Jesus and the Body of this death. And yet both are spoken of as the humanity of the vessel, and yet when I think of our Lovely Saviour Jesus Christ in His Humanity, All I can think of is , "Oh, what a humanity to behold." Not born in Sin and not shaped in iniquity and not coming to the world speaking lies. And to top it off, having the fullness of the Godhead indwelling it. What perfection! Just think of that. And that is why Brother Branham quoted [ 2 Cor 5: 19 ] so often, "That God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself."

Jesus 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.

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.