Christ Revealed in His Own Word #33

“Perfection”

Wednesday Evening, July 31, 1996

Brian Kocourek, Pastor Grace Fellowship

[Jude 1: 24] Unto Him who is able to keep you from falling... Prayer. . .

For the last few weeks we have focused our thoughts on the neurotic condition of man in this last hour and we saw how the cares of this world are actually a trap that has been laid out by Satan to change our focus from a Christ Centered one to that of one that is caught off guard and caught up in the every day hustle and bustle of just maintaining a living. We saw how that God had cursed the ground back in Genesis 3 and as a result man has had to labor and toil to stay alive. We also saw how that Satan has taken advantage of this curse for his own benefit and he is using this curse to get man to focus on it rather than on Worshipping God in Spirit and Truth. As Satan knew that the greatest characteristic that God had placed in His angels was a desire to worship, Satan used this desire to get the angels (1/3) of them to worship him. And just as he was able to manipulate the angels into converting over to his religion and worship of him, so has he been able to manipulate man through a curse that God actually placed upon man and his environment. And isn’t it strange that man and the ground was cursed as a result of man’s being manipulated by Satan to begin with.

So we see he is a great manipulator and he has been able to gain the focus of man on his form of worship rather than on God’s. Now we worship God in Spirit and Truth, but Satan’s form of worship is through the construction of a better society and a better and bigger kingdom.

E-59 Let Your Light So Shine Before Men 61-0903

Do you know what caused the first battle in heaven, was when Lucifer set up a greater class of people, got a better class of angels, he thought, build a bigger kingdom, a more brighter, shinier kingdom than Michael had. And he was kicked out of heaven. See where class comes from? Stay away from class. The hungry don't want class; the hungry wants food. Yes, sir.

[Isa 14:12-14] “How art thou fallen” “You who said I will ascend up above the sons of God”

[Ezek 28: 11 - 18] Notice that the iniquity had to do with his merchandising. And the word Iniquity used here in the Hebrew is a word which means an injustice by deeds or speech. And so we know that it was the tale that he told , a bigger and brighter kingdom for the angels. Isn’t the same thing found in [Rev 3:17] concerning the Laodicean Church at the end time?...“They think that because they are rich and increased with goods that they have need of nothing, yet in reality they are spiritually blind and miserable and even naked, but they don’t even know it.”

And so we see the lure of Satan comes through material possessions and the lure of a better life so called. And so we found that the scripture Prophesied that in the end-time the people would be caught in this trap and they would loose their focus on the Presence of the Son of Man which is the only thing that can keep them from falling into this trap. We are speaking of our FOCUS. In [Hebrews 9:28] we read, “And unto them who look for Him shall He appear the second time...” And so we see that our focus is all important to us in this end-time hour where the trap has been laid to ensnare us into a wrong focus. As I said before Satan first gets our focus off The Appearing of Christ, and he does it by using the economy which affects all mankind. Then you begin doing irrational behavior and soon the irrational behavior becomes habit forming and as you keep feeding it becomes an obsession which is a devil possession. This then grows into a fear which has a penalty and that penalty is that you begin to stop your forward movement in the Word and the depression sets in which the Bible evidence of depression manifested is loosing your desire to eat, which then weakens you and you cut off fellowship with others who are eating. Then the last stage of this Spiritual neurosis is a total conversion in your doctrine and Religion. And this is when the people have made a full scale move from worshipping God in Spirit and Truth ( which is His word) and they worship Satan through material possessions. God warns us that “If we love the world and the things of the world, the love of God is not even in us.” [1 John 2: 15-20] (read) I want you to notice in this scripture that they start out by loving the world but eventually depart from Fellowship in the Word.

And then the full conversion has taken place. A falling away from the Truth. Now this evening I would like to move ahead once again in this wonderful Message of [Christ Revealed in His Own Word], as we pick up at pp. ( pp. 23) and read, “And last Sunday when we was going into those cycles about how that the five senses on the outer realm... That's the inlet, five senses to the body. There's only one way you can get into the body, that's by those five senses: See, taste, feel, smell, and hear; there's no other way to contact the--the body. (24) On the inside of that man is a man called spirit. And he has five senses: Think and thought, and love, and conscience, and so forth. All right. (25) Now, you can't think with your body; you think with your mind. And in there is where too many of Christians only stop. And they can, just like the corn in the field and the weed in the field, they can be anointed with the same Holy Spirit that the real believer's anointed with. But down on the inside of that next realm, the third realm, is the soul; and that's predestinated by God. There's where the real seed-germ lays, is in there. (26) And remember, if I'd take a cocklebur and cut it open, graft into it the heart of a wheat and put it there, bury it, it would bring forth a wheat out of the cocklebur, no matter what the outside is, what the emotions. (27) Today's so confused about the evidence of the Holy Ghost and so forth. Satan can impersonate any kind of a gift that God's got, but he cannot bring that Word, word by word. That's where he failed in the garden of Eden; that's where he's always failed. That's where them... The tape on false anointed ones or anointed ones... They can be anointed with the Spirit, speak in tongues, dance, shout, preach the Gospel, and still a devil. It's the inside. Now, remember, Jesus said. "All the Father has given Me, will come to Me. No man can come except My Father draws him first." Now, we taken through the lesson to show that you were in your great, great, great grandfather all the way back, physically speaking. Then that's what you are in physical being, nature. Sometimes a child will be born in a family red-headed. It astonishes the father, 'cause there's nobody he knows of his people red-headed, or the mother's. But if you'll go way back to several generations, you'll find out somebody was red-headed. That seed keeps coming on down, and you come the nature of one from way back. Like Hebrews the 7th chapter said, that Melchisedec... Abraham paid tithes to Him when he was returning from the slaughter of the kings. And Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for he was in the loins of Melchisedec or the loins of Abraham, rather, when he met Melchisedec.

(28) Now, the same thing is this: If you are a son of God, and if I am a son of God, or a daughter of God, we were in God at the beginning. And when Jesus became the Fullness of the Word, then we were in Him, germ form. When He was crucified, we was crucified in His body. When He rose from the dead, we rose with Him. And now, since we have recognized it, now we set together with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. See? For He... We, if we are sons and daughters of God, we are God's children; then we're attributes of God. Then we got Eternal Life. And God is the only Eternal Life there is. Then we were in Him from the beginning. And when Jesus became all that Word, then we were part of Him then. Amen. There you are. When that's in there, there's no devil, no powers, no nothing can ever move it. That's the tie post of the soul.

(29) You can be anointed out here in this spirit, and desire, and do all these other things, but when it comes to this tie post to that Word, you'll never move from there. It'll hold right steady and true to that Word as it can be. Outside of that, regardless of what you do, you're still lost.

(30) That Laodicean church age, naked, blind, miserable, don't even know it... See, it's not--it's not anointed, anointed with the real Spirit. See that Holy Spirit can fall upon a man in his spirit, but his soul is his germ. That germ is the Word. See? And how... I don't care how much you preach, how well you do this, and how much you love... That's one of the inlets the spirit. You can't love with your body; you love with your spirit. That's one of the inlets. And you can love and even love God, and still not be right. You can cast out devils, and preach, and do these things, still not be right. Jesus said so; said many would come in that day. That Word settles it. [John 1: 1] “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [14] And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us,...

These thoughts that we just read from PP. 23 through 30 are so tremendous that we may just have to take another mini series here because what we are dealing with is not only Predestination, but we are also dealing with the entire make up of our mortal and immortal existence and when we are dealing with not only our Soul and Spirit but our body as well we must then deal also with the sin question. And that in itself is of great interest to me because I feel as though I am the chief of sinners and I know my humanity and I do not like it and I do not say this to be humble, I say it to be truthful and open before God. I am eternally grateful for what God has already done for me. Since The Lamb was slain before the Foundations of the world, it was then at that point that God began to apply the Token for His own Kids, with me included. Then He had to Display the Token for you and I. In this hour He has brought back that Token for us.

I think that most of us, if we could have come another way we would have chosen to not bypass our theophanies, in hopes that we would constantly have victory through pure omniscience. But God did not place us here to act out omniscience, He sent us here to be tried and tested. And that is why we constantly backslide daily. But remember, He does not look upon you and I, He only looks upon the body of His Son. And when He sees the sacrifice of His dear Son He does not see our own unbelief. He sees only perfection.

E-33 LAW 55-0115

But the Blood in Christ was perfect. Now, I will never be perfect. And you will never be perfect. I will never be perfect in your sight. You will never be perfect in my sight. But let's lay that aside. What about in God's sight? I look at you as a human. I look at you as a brother. But God looks at you through the Blood of His Son as a redeemed one. Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." And not what you've done, you have nothing to merit it, but it's what Christ did for you

Þ Remember that we read to you [Isaiah 1: 18] which tells us; “Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord, Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimsom, they shall be as wool. ( Show illustration of looking at red through red. How it appears white!

E-30 Testimony and Inside Life 50-0823

"Be ye therefore perfect." How can you be perfect? Not in yourself, but in Him. God don't look at you then; He looks at Him.

28 Israel at the Red Sea 35-64 53-0326

God has already glorified His church. Those who He justified, He also glorified in the church, in Christ. If you're justified in Christ, you're glorified in Christ already, as far as God is concerned. Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." How could you ever be perfect? But in the sight of Christ tonight, every born-again Christian is perfect. I'm just as perfect in God as Christ was. You are too--every other believer. For it's not my holiness, it's His holiness. God can't accept mine; I have none. But I come in Christ, by faith. And by Christ I'm in Him, and perfect in the sight of God.

E-14 Waters of Separation 55-0121

God looking through the Blood, He doesn't see you no more as a sinner, He sees you redeemed. Amen. You're redeemed because He only sees you through Christ. That's the reason we can be perfect. Not perfect in the sense of sinless, we're perfect in the eyes of God when we're in Christ. That's the reason He said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." Paul in the 10th chapter of Hebrews trying to explain the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things could never make the comer unto perfect, because God was looking through animal blood. But now He looks through the Blood of His Son. Perfection come by Jesus Christ. Now, I'm not perfect in your sight. You may not be perfect in my sight. But what about in God's sight? There's where it lays. And if you're borned again into the body of Christ, then God looks upon you as a perfect as Christ was Himself. Amen. Nothing you can do; it's not by any works you can do at all. It's by grace God has give you this offer, and if you've accepted it, in the sight of God you are perfect, redeemed, washed in the Blood of the Lamb, Without fault, without blemish, without spot. Isn't that marvelous?

E-61 Infallible Word of God 56-0406

And you can't be perfect, but as long as you're in Christ, you are perfected by His vicarious suffering and death at the cross. God doesn't see your sins. He sees nothing but one perfect Person, the body of Jesus Christ. He can't. That's the reason Balaam, the hired prophet, thought surely God would curse Israel, because look at the things they had done wrong. But he failed to see the smitten rock, and the brass serpent going before him, making atonement. God couldn't see through the atonement, His blood that answered its place. See?

Now with these thoughts in mind I want to focus on PP. . (27) tonight. This may be a little different from our usual staright forward way of studying the Message but we have occasionally jumped ahead and then went back in order to gain a better understanding of what Brother Branham is trying to tell us. And so this evening I want to read again from [PP. 27] “Today's so confused about the evidence of the Holy Ghost and so forth. Satan can impersonate any kind of a gift that God's got, but he cannot bring that Word, word by word. That's where he failed in the garden of Eden; that's where he's always failed.”

Now this ought to send chills up and down your spine because what we are hearing here is that although Satan can impersonate every gift that God has given His church, there is one thing that Satan can not do and that is to bring the Word, Word by Word. And I am so grateful because after all, I can’t count on any thing that I could do to appease the wrath of God for my UN-Holiness. But I do believe that I do have an evidence that I can look at and count for something and that is the fact that I am receptive to God’s Word, Word by Word by Word. My body may not be manifesting it fully as yet, but in my spirit and in My Soul I believe it just as He says it. And not only that But He has given unto us a gift to be able to take it and apply it Word by Word by Word. And that is about all I have to show for myself.

170-177 Super Sign 63-1129

Many people wanted to accept Jesus. They thought they'd do it, "in some other convenient time," one said. They want to accept Christ, but they put it off too long. Some of them tried to get Him off their hands, and tried to wash it off with water, pass the buck on to somebody else, but it backfired. It's on your hands tonight, throwed right back in your lap. Hebrews 13:8, regardless of how many Council of Churches we have, still remains as Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. "The works that I do..." If His Life is in you, it'll manifest Jesus Christ. Amen.Now, you all can't be that one, but you can be a part of that with your faith. All of them couldn't be a Jesus, when they was on earth, but they could believe Him and accept the message. There was one Moses, one Elijah, one Noah, on down, always been that, but the rest of them could accept it. And they would've had no ministry unless there'd been somebody believe it. Jesus would've had no ministry 'less somebody believed it. Paul would've had no ministry 'less somebody believed it. The Holy Ghost has got no ministry by the Word today unless somebody's willing to get away from their creed and come back to the Word again, no matter how well it's here and how real it's here. It's here now. I know it's here. I feel it. I know it's here. The Word says it's here. "Wherever two or three are gathered in My Name, I'm in the midst of them." And I truly believe that He's here, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Oh, if I could get this little tabernacle... I love you. And I don't believe there's a man on earth that I could say I loved any better than Jack Moore, and that's right, Young Brown, and Lyle, and these men here. I read a article today that Anna Jean wrote; I was going to ask her permission to reprint it again of the nice things that they can say. And--and, look, but if you don't wake up quickly, it's going to be too late. The Life Tabernacle, I'm part of you, and that's the reason I cry out. Year by year, I find it cooling. You might not notice it; you live right in it; but stay on the field and then return back with the memories of the year before. Didn't I tell you that out there in that little tent one night, "From this hour on"? What'd I say about Shreveport when that woman give me that dirty write-up that time? Remember what I said that time about the United States, three or four years ago, five, then run all through the papers? I said, "This year the United States will accept the Gospel or they'll never do it." They've declined since that time. And there'll never be a--a big revival in America no more like that. If you believe me to be a prophet, you remember that's the Word of the Lord. See? Just watch and see if it isn't dying. The churches are dying. They're withering away. And it kills me, inside of me to know that men and women that I love better than I love my own life, that I've given my life. I've come among you as your brother, not your God; your brother, not your enemy; your brother. I've told you the Truth, and God's declared the same. With every word I've preached, He's declared it to be the--exactly the Truth. Then why not accept it, brother, sister? In the love of Jesus Christ, why don't you accept It? If you'll just believe that to be the Truth, just accept It to be the Truth, that's all I ask you to do.