Christ Revealed in His Own Word #84

Integrity of God’s Book

Sunday, March 8 1997

Brian Kocourek, Pastor Grace Fellowship

 

 

This Morning I would like to continue with our series in Christ Revealed in His Own Word,  this is #84 in our series. I would like to look again at Paragraph 98 where Brother Branham said, ...

 

98 Now, we notice then, it makes It a Book of God and not a book of man. If It was of man... Now, let us look how It would express Itself. Look how It exposes sin of the men who wrote It. Notice the men who lived in It's day, Abraham for instance. He's called the father of the faithful. Notice how that... Do you think Abraham would've wrote this Book on himself of his own cowardliness? How do you think that he would've wrote that he lied to the king that morning and said that was his sister when it was his wife? Would It write of his cowardly deeds that he done? Sure, never done that.   How about Jacob in his deceit, a little deceiver that Jacob was? Would a man, a Hebrew writing of his Hebrew brother that in him that all of Israel was called, would he dare to write the deceit of the very father of the whole nation? In Jacob come forth the patriarchs; from the patriarchs come forth the tribes. And the foundation stone of all of it, the Bible exposes him as a deceiver. That right? You think man would wrote that? No, sir.

 

  100 How about a man writing of the greatest king they ever had here on earth, as crowned king David and his committing adultery? Would those Jews ever wrote of their most noble king being an adulternous? Oh, we have history like George Washington never told a lie, things like that. We say--call that history, but this is a man--a Bible that calls David an adulternous, and he was the king of Israel, an adulternous who was to be the son... Jesus to be the Son of David, the very Headstone, and His father according to flesh was an adulternous. Jews would never wrote a Book like that. Would man write this of his own self? Certainly not.

 

Wednesday night we began to look into these thoughts that Brother Branham is laying out for us here and the magnitude is such that I don’t feel we can really do these thoughts justice by just taking one look at them and then moving on. So now, I want you to notice that He is telling us the reason we know this Book was written by God and not man is because has a habit of trying to hide the bad things, to cover them over and try to paint such a picture perfect image of it’s leaders that the real truth of the situation becomes horribly distorted.  He uses George Washington as an example of how man would write history, even tot he point that for ages the people of this country have been taught that George Washington never told a lie. Now we know that is not true because the Bible tells us that man by his very nature is born a liar.

 

In [Psalm 51] we are told that “we are altogether, everyone of us, born in sin, shaped in iniquity and came forth to the world speaking lies.

 

Again in [Psalm 14:2-3] we read, “The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

 

And again in [Romans 3:10] “As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

 

 And [Isaiah 64:6] “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness, are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee: for Thou hast hid Thy Face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay and Thou our potter; and we are all the work or Thy hands.”

 

I think it is very evident, then, that man does not have the truthfulness and genuine integrity within himself to tell things like it really is. And that is why we hear Brother Branham driving this point home. He let’s us know, that if this was a book written by man it would never contain the things that showed the humanity and error of the ones that they want you to follow. All we have to do is look among us today at the President of the United State. He lies, cheats, commits adultery, and other immoral acts, as well as using government office and property for his own monetary gain. Yet do you think the Liberal press  will print anything about it? That is why even moral men like Judge Bork will tell you this nation is headed for Gomorra. Things that the people were shocked by 10 years ago make no difference to them today.

 

But will the liberal media tell us the truth about what goes on in the White house? Absolutely not. And why won’t they? Because it would interfere with their Liberal agenda. Now, I am not saying that it is only the Liberal press that with holds the Truth. They all are guilty. The Right Wing with hold the Truth about their guys in Congress and the Senate. How many right wing radio talk show hosts will tell you that Oliver North is a cut throat Sleaze bag who took upon himself to run money cocaine deals to get money for hostages. So they get money to buy back some political prisoners from Iran, and how do they get the money? By selling arms to the contra’s in exchange for cocaine so they can sell it to the youth in America and launder it into clean green stuff called money. So, they sell out their own youth in America for the sake of some political prisoners who should not have been in Iran to begin with.

 

It’s all corrupt. Yet do you think that the Books, and movies are going to tell you completely what is going on? Oh, you might get one man here and one man there to tell what they know, but the total picture will never be fully known, for if it was, too much blood would be shed in revolution against the governments of this world.

 

But. just remember, Jesus said, [John 18:36] “My kingdom is not of this world, if My Kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence.”

 

But what we see today is the fact that the people have become very gullible. Yet we are warned that this is the condition that the people will be in at the end-time. In the Wuest translation we read from                 [2 Thessalonians 2: 10-12] “that the deception will be geared to the gullibility of those who are perishing, this gullibility being caused by the fact that they did not accept the love for the Truth to the end that they might be saved.Do the people want the Truth today? Absolutely not.  The Bible tells that they don’t.

 

Remember, brother Branham told us to watch what is happening and compare it with what has been revealed. Then you will know the Truth. Now in the Book of Romans Paul tells us the condition of those who would turn away from the Truth and believe a lie.

 

[Romans 1:25-32] Now if this is not the main condition of the people today, what is? And the reason they possess all of these deplorable attributes is because they have turned the Truth into a Lie, and they are receiving the just reward for their actions. They have become reprobate concerning the Truth. There is no way that they will ever listen again and turn to God. This nation is doomed for destruction, and if God does not destroy it, then He is obligated to raise up Sodom and Gomorra and apologize to them.

 

Now, notice again what Brother Branham tells us concerning the saints of God, the Elect of God, and why we know that God wrote it and not man. He told us how man would make these men like David and Abraham, and Moses and Paul, and Jacob, and Isaac, and the rest out to be so holy that they never sinned  and were perfect before God. And what about Noah. Huh?

 

Abraham, the Father of Faith... A coward. Lied to the king of Gerar to save his little neck. He whimped out in a time when his wife needed Him most. He let the King have his wife, and he was afraid to stand up like a man, to save his wife’s virtue, and would have allowed another man to take his wife had God not intervened.

 

And what about that wonderful man Noah whom we read that he was perfect in his generation. well, the legalist would have you to know that if Noah could be perfect then you and I should be perfect too. They will say, if it can be done by one then it can be done by us too. And yet, when we read that he was perfect in his generation, we have a profit of God who taught us what that meant. We know that Noah was perfect in his lineage going back to Adam, and therefore back to God. we know that Noah was the last man who was pure Son of God and not part animal, like the rest who had the mix in them. And was this man who had perfect lineage perfect in his flesh? Absolutely not. He was a direct descendant of Adam who fell in his flesh and thought more of gratifying his lust with his wife than obeying the Word of God about that. And then tried to pass the blame onto his wife when he was caught.

 

And what about Jacob? He was a mamma’s boy who hung around the camp with the women folk instead of out hunting with the men folk. And a liar on top of it. He lied in order to get the birth right. Not only did he lie, but he purposely planned to deceive his father. I can see a person getting backed into a corner, and then lying to try to get out of it. That doesn’t make it right, but it is at least understandable. But not Jacob. He planned deception. He put the hair on his arms and tried to mask his voice to sound like his brothers. He even put on smelly clothes that smelled of his brother’s BO knowing that his father could not see. Then when his father took ahold of him by the arm, to feel his hairy hands, he said, “the hands are the hands of Esau, but the voice is that of Jacob, and so he asked again, are you surely Esau? And Jacob said, “I am.” [Gen 27:19-29]

 

What about Isaac? You say, He was a type of the obedient Son even unto death. He was perfect, wasn’t he? And the answer is no sir! He lied to the same king that his father did, for the very same reason. He was a liar and coward. At Least Abraham and Sarah were half brother and sister, but with Isaac and Rebecca it was not so.  [Genesis 26:6-13] And yet he received a hundred fold from what he sowed in that land. God blessing a liar and coward. What about that great man Moses?  [Exodus 25:11-15] Moses killed a man in cold blood. He looked this way and that to make sure he wouldn’t get caught. He planned it before he did it. Then he buried the man in the sand to cover up his deed. And then what did he do? He acted like nothing had happened until Pharaoh heard about it, then he headed for the hills like an outlaw. Real hero!

 

And what about, Samson, a womanizer and playboy. And Paul? A murderer.  And what about Peter? A coward and liar, who denied Jesus three times in a row.  There’s your Elect! There’s your Army of the living God. King David, the greatest king in the history of man, and yet he was a womanizing, murdering, self-righteous, liar who committed adultery and then had the woman’s husband sent out to the battle front in order to have him killed so that the baby Bathsheba was carrying illegitimately would not bring a reproach against him. He took another man’s only wife when he had five hundred of his own. Lustful, lying, adulterous murderer. And yet God loved him. Do you realize that all those saints that we are looking forward to spending our eternity together with are murders, and adulterers, and fornicators, and liars, and deceivers, and you name it and that’s what they were. Yet God has done something for every one of them, that they in no ways deserved.

 

101 How would that proud nation of Israel (You know how proud they were.)--proud nation of Israel, went and wrote about their own idolatry, wrote about their rebellion against their God, wrote against the dirty, filthy things that they did, wrote out in a Book? They'd have sure hid that. They'd just showed the good things. But this Bible that--tells what's right and what's wrong. It's... Anyone knows that the Jews would've never wrote a Book like that about their own uncleanness, and idolatry, and failure, and everything they had. They'd have never wrote that. Oh, no. Then who wrote It? The Bible said in Hebrews 1:1: "God in sundry times in divers manners spake to the fathers through the prophets." Then it wasn't the prophets. It wasn't mortal. God, not prophets in sundry time, but, "God in sundry time in divers manners spoke to the fathers through the prophets."  I got a Scripture wrote down here. I don't know what It is; I can't refer to It. Usually when these thing I'm referring to, I'm looking at a Scripture. I'm going to look it up just for a minute; you excuse me. It's II Timothy 3:16. I--I--I thought I would remember that, but I'm sorry. I'll just stop a minute to find out what it is. 102  "God in sundry times and divers manners spake to the fathers through the prophets." Now, II Timothy 3--3:16. Let's see what it says in 3:16.  All Scripture... (Yeah.)... is given by inspiration of... (Prophets? No. Inspiration of what?)... God, and is profitable for doctrine, and reproof, and correction, and instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may stand perfect, thoroughly furnished to all good works.  All right then, all Scripture is wrote by inspiration. Jesus here on the earth said that heavens and earth would pass away but His Word wouldn't. He said all Scripture must be fulfilled. So then, the Book is not a book of man's writings; It's a Books of God's writings. 104  Now, we know God chose by predestination His church, His place, His prophets, and all about it. By foreknowledge He predestinated His prophet. And when the age arrived, He had His prophet arrive at the same time and inspired him as He wrote the Bible by him. Now, God wrote the Bible only using the prophet, because that's His way of doing it. So see, it is not the word... So see, It is the Word of God and not the word of man.

 

I love these words of comfort and assurance that we hear in this last paragraph. God’s predestination. Because if my salvation depended upon my own righteousness, or how well I can keep the Laws of God, then I’m already lost and on my road to hell. But He never said our salvation depended on how nice we are, or what lovely spirit we seem to have, or how well we can get along with others. No! He said in [Ephesians 2:8-9] “For by Grace are ye saved, through Faith; and that not of yourselves : It is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast.

 

God doesn’t leave it up to us because he knows we will never be able to live up to His  standard of righteousness.  [Romans 4:14-16] “For if they which are of the law be heirs, then faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect. Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is , there is no transgression. Therefor it is of Faith, that it might be by Grace; to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed.; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all”

 

So what we are looking at here is this. He said that in order for the fulfillment of the promise to be by Grace, it had to come in such a way as to totally have nothing to do with our abilities. I like that, because although sometimes we seem to live a victorious life, we can even go a few days or a few months or even a few years living in what would be considered a victorious living, but all it takes is one bad day, or one bad moment when our tempers flair and we would completely loose everything we strove for in terms of earthly perfection, if our perfection came by the flesh. [Romans 11:6]”And if by Grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But, if it be of works, then it would not be of Grace, : otherwise, work is no more work.”  And believe me, what we have been hearing here tonight from Brother Branham is that God wrote this Book, and God is the One Who has made the Covenant of Grace with us. And had it not been for Him, no one would have been saved, because no one could live in this flesh without falling some time. Had it been merely a book written by man, then who would really know and therefore be certain that it is true. But knowing that God has not only written it, but He has personally come down to vindicate his Word, then we can have assurance.

 

[Romans 5: 1-6] Our access to the Grace of God comes through Revelation of His Word, and we know that Revelation comes from Him. He told Peter that flesh and blood can not reveal, but His Father which is in Heaven is the One Who reveals.  That is why in [Romans 12:1-3] we read that we are to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice, yet if we read on, we see that we are not to get puffed up just because we do offer back to God our bodies in service to Him and His family. And the sacrifice is nothing to be ashamed of. Neither is the Gospel that He has given to us. We should never be made to feel ashamed of the Shout. It is our ticket out of this pest-house. Those who do not understand it, are the ones who should be ashamed. Because they have missed the very Appearing of the Lord in this hour.

 

[2 Timothy 1:8-10] “Be thou not therefore, ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partakers of the affliction s of the Gospel according to the power of God; who has saved us and called us, with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and Grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the Appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and  immortality to light through the Gospel.

 

As we see hear by this verse, that the Appearing is the evident token of His Love for us. And a confirmation of His promise to us.  He said, “an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and Grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the Appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” and then Paul goes on to say, that this Appearing and confirmation of His promise is what brings Life and immortality to Light. How can we be sure then of our own immortality? By the fact that He that raised up from the death shall also quicken our mortal bodies. And the One who raised up Christ from the grave has come to do the same with us. And so if He is here, then it does not matter if we die or live, for He is here to ensure that we shall be raised up incorruptible just as He did for Jesus His only begotten Son.