Christ Revealed in His Own Word #104

Casting Down all that Opposes The Word

Wednesday, May 21, 1997

Brian Kocourek, Pastor Grace Fellowship

Tonight I would like to pick up where we left off on Sunday. I just ran out of time and had a full page of notes left, so tonight, let’s begin with paragraph 125...

[125] Look at David crying in the Spirit, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? My bones they stare at me (at me, David.). They pierced my feet and my hands (David.). They pierced my feet and my hands, but Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither will Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption," as though David was speaking of himself being holy. It was the Son of David, that germitized, spiritual Seed coming down through there. Though David himself was a cocklebur, but on the inside of there was a wheat grain. You get it? So the whole Bible is not the word of man, neither was It wrote by man, brought by man, or neither can It be revealed by man. It's God's Word, revealed by God Himself, His own Interpreter. Christ revealing Himself in His own Word.

Now, this is very important for us to comprehend. Because Brother Branham said, it is not man’s word, therefore man did not write it and since man did not write it, how then can he interpret it. It’s impossible, he can’t. That is why I can’t understand how so many people who disagree with what has been vindicated, will time and again say, our differences are just a matter of how we interpret the Bible. But, how can you interpret what you know nothing about. Either God vindicates His Word by bringing it to pass or He doesn’t. And if He doesn’t, then it’s up for grabs, and if that is so, then anything goes. But thankfully we don’t have a God who is an idiot like so many religions have. Our God knows exactly what He’s doing. [1 Cor 2: 1-16] We are totally dependent upon God for what we know of Him through His Word.

And furthermore, what we are dealing with in God’s Word is the Revelation of Just Who He is. Now, most people don’t believe that. They believe the Bible is just some kind of book that was in some parts of it somehow inspired by God. They don’t believe the entire Book is the Absolute Word of God. Many like the Catholic Church believe God’s Word is just the history of the church. But God is the Word, and therefore the Word is the Revelation of Who He is. Jesus said, “As a man thinketh in His heart, so is He.” Therefore, God is what thinks< and what He thinks is what He is, and His Word is those thoughts in an expressed form. Therefore the Word is God. Therefore, when that Word took over the Prophet, or shall we say, when the Spirit of God took over the Prophet, He could do nothing except what that Spirit said, do, and if the Spirit that took him over is the Word of God, then he could do nothing except speak the Word of God, which is “Thus Saith the Lord.” [Numbers 12:1-8] “with Him I will speak mouth to mouth.”

[126] Look at Christ standing back here in David. David couldn't even think now. His mind had gone from him, as it were. And he was hanging on the cross, like you see the statue here, hanging on the cross crying, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? All my bones, they stare at Me. They pierced My hands and My feet. They thrust My side." See? "Why art Thou so far from Me? All the bulls of Bashan compass by; they wag their heads, saying, 'He trusted in God that he would deliver him; now, let's see if He will deliver him,'"--speaking the same words. So you see, when God was made manifest on earth here, He said the same words David did. You get it? So you see, It's not the word of man, it's the Word of God. That was God in David. That wasn't David; he didn't know what he was saying; he was just so in the Spirit. That's the way Moses was. He was so in the Spirit, passed out of the dimension that he was living in, and stood there face to face and that burning bush, talking to God Himself. Said, "Take off your shoes. The ground you're standing on is holy ground." I'd imagine when Moses left there, he thought, "What happened? What taken place? What was it?" Said, "Go down in Egypt; I'll go with you." He said, "It's so real to me, I must go." He got his wife and his children, and his child, rather, and his stick in his hand, and took off down to Egypt to deliver the people. See? God speaking Himself through the prophet.

Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? Now, before we read further, I want you to notice in verse two, that we are reading of a future tense situation. Verse two speaks of something in the future which is understandable seeing that Isaiah was written 900 years before Christ walked the streets of Galilee

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him.

Now, as we read the third verse, we begin to see the scripture speaking to us in the present tense. [Isaiah 53:3] He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: {Now watch the Word at this point begin to go into the past tense}. and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither [was any] deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put [him] to grief: when Thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong [his] days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Before we go any further, I just want to also reflect upon what we just read. I think sometimes when we are in the midst of our trials, that it may appear to us at the times of testing that the question often arises in our minds, “will this testing ever stop?” And the answer we can see by this scripture is, yes, it shall. All the trials and testing that we go through is for the maturing of the saints, and yet sometimes I can look at myself and ask how much have I changed? How far along have I come? Because there is always the question of this flesh, and as long as I am a prisoner of this flesh, I guess I will always have the same struggles of overcoming, because this flesh has many attributes that simply put, are not from God, and are not desirable even to me as a human being. So the struggle goes on for victory, but Paul said the last victory we shall have is one over death itself. And I might ad, that if Jesus Christ can give us the victory over the body of this death, then the victory over death itself should be a piece of cake. Then his ought to tell us that, the prophets, being made of the same flesh as we have been made, also suffer in themselves the same desires and frustrations as we do. Then it would appear to me that anyone who thinks they can’t fall short in this body is either completely naive or possibly insane.

[127] See, they're absolutely... It isn't the prophets; it was God, 'cause the prophet of themselves, they couldn't say those things. "Who has believed our report?" Isaiah saying. You see? "Who has believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He shall grow up before us as a calf in a stall..." And how that... "Yet He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity, chastisement of our peace upon Him; with His stripes we were healed." We were healed way over here in this age here, in Isaiah, back yonder eight hundred years before Christ. See? "By His stripes we were (past tense) already healed." Oh, my, how the Word of God's so perfect. Trust in It, folks; It's the only thing that can save you. Now, we read all these things in Isaiah which was 900 years before the coming of Christ and yet we see them spoken in the past tense as though these things had already taken place instead of the future tense as though these things were at this time still way off in the future. But don’t we read also in the Book of Revelations that The Lamb of God, None other than Jesus Christ, was slain before the foundations of the world? [Rev 13:8].

[128] All other words, I don't care how well they're placed, who they come from, what denomination they come from, or how smart the man is, is to be absolutely ignored, anything contrary to the Word. If you want to put that Scripture down, that's [Galatians 1:8](read). See? Paul said, "Though we or a angel from heaven would preach any other thing than this that you've already heard, let him be cursed."

In other words, if an angel would come to you from heaven, a bright shining angel, and would stand... Boy, that would be bait for this day, wouldn't it? A bright shining angel come up there, and stand, and say things was contrary to the Word, you'd say, "Satan, get away from me." That's right. If he's a bishop, if he's a whatever he is, don't you never believe him if he doesn't speak exactly with that Bible, word by word. Watch him, he will carry you with the Bible now. He will carry you to a certain place and then hook it right there. When you see the Bible saying one thing and he bypasses that, watch him right there. See, that's the way he done Eve. He come right down and said everything just exactly. "Well, God said this. That's right, Eve. Amen, we believe that together." "Well, God said this." "Amen, we believe that together." "God said this." "We believe that, sure." "Well, but God said we'll die." "Well now, you know, He's a good God." He didn't say He wouldn't you know. "But surely..." Oh, me. There he is. And if he was deceitful like that, and the Bible said in the last days he would deceive the elected if it was possible, where ought we to be today, friends. Now, these little Sunday school lessons should be carried pretty close, you know, to our hearts, to see... We ought to listen real close and see how deceiving that thing is.

[130] Notice, we cannot; we must not, listen to any other man's word. We don't care how smart, how educated. The Bible in Proverbs says we must cast down reasonings. See? Now, here in this second realm... First realm is your senses of see, taste, feel, smell, and hear; that's in your outer body. On the inner body, which is the spirit, is reasonings, and thought, and so forth. We must cast all that down. Can't reason, say, "Now, wait, if God is a good God..." And we're told so much today that He is.

Why? because Eve was seduced! That’s why. And anything that is contrary to this Word is not the Word of God.

We are warned that the deception will come from within and from among us. That men who were ordained to condemnation will bring in alongside of truth, destructive heresies, even to the point where they will deny, that means to say no to the one that bought them, which is God. They will say no to God, and He is the Word

[ 2 Peter 2: 1-3] But as there were false prophets among the people, even shall there be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious [destructive] ways; by reason of whom the way of Truth shall be evil spoken of. {This sentence can best be translated this way: And many shall follow their destructive ways; and for this reason the manner of thinking about the Truth shall be brought into such a reproach that many will blaspheme the Truth on account of these men and their wrong understanding of the Truth}. And through covetousness {greedy desire to have more} shall they with feigned words, {Falsely molded and formed words} make merchandise you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Notice how these men have a motive other than the teaching of the Truth. And that motive is the make merchandise of the people. That word merchandise is a word which means to travel for gain and to use the people for personal gain. And that is what they do. They send out their tapes and travel the globe searching for one more proselyte, and Jesus said, when they find them, they make them a two fold more child of hell than they were to begin with.

[Matthew 23:15] Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him two-fold more the child of hell than yourselves.

[1 Tim 1:7] Desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm{assert confidently}.

[ 2 Tim 4:3-4] For the time come when they will not endure sound doctrine {teaching}, but after their own lusts, shall they gather to themselves teachers who will speak what the people want to hear. And the people shall then turn away their ears from hearing the truth, and she be turned unto fables { stories and fiction or falsehood}.

[Jude 1:3-4] Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

[II COR 10:5] Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

[Mark 2:5-12] When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this [man] thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, [Thy] sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

[Matthew 16:5] And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, [It is] because we have taken no bread. [Which] when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake [it] not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade [them] not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

[Matthew 22:41-46] While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, [The Son] of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any [man] from that day forth ask him any more [questions].

[Isaiah 55:8-9] For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

[I Cor 9:10] Or saith he [it] altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, [this] is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

"If He is a good God, then if I be sincere, though I can't see that in that Bible being right, though I be sincere, I'll be saved." You'll be lost. "If I go to church and just do the things that I believe it's right and try to hold up for what I think is right, well I..." You're still lost. "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death. See? You won't be saved; you'll be lost. See, see? It must be that inside control man.