Christ
is the Mystery no. 15
“Bound
by Fear or set Free by Love” part 2
July 29, 2012
Brian
Kocourek
Let’s open our Bibles this morning to…
Romans
8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the sons of God.
Now, notice Paul is
talking about sons of God. Not children here, sons. We know that the apostle
Paul told us that when we are born again, or born into the family we are
children of God. Then after the new birth or the baptism of the holy spirit, we
receive the earnest of our inheritance, which is the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
It is then that we are endued with what Paul calls “the Spirit of Adoption” as
we will see in the next verse. And he speaks of them that have received this
spirit of adoption “sons” and he speaks of sons as having not received a spirit
of fear, but a spirit that will identify with their heavenly Father.
Now, there is a series
or events in the lives of the believer where he begins as a child of God, then
grows into a son, and finally into an heir, or joint heir with Christ.
Now as a child he still
has fear; he cries when he’s hungry because he doesn’t understand the hunger
pains. He cries when he’s thirsty, because he doesn’t understand thirst, and
how to get a drink for himself. He cries when his diapers are dirty, because he
doesn’t know how to change himself. You
see he is still at the place of lacking understanding and therefore has no confidence
in his own leading abilities to eat and drink and clean his diaper. He is
strictly a dependent child, dependent upon others to feed him and give him drink,
and change his diapers, and shelter him, etc. But when that child begins to
grow he enters into a condition where he takes on knowledge of how to get food,
how to get drink, how to use a toilet, and as he grows in wisdom, he also
realized there are others in the family beside himself. That is when he begins
to go from a child and enter into son-hood.
As I have said before,
the most self centered people are little children, because when they are hungry
it is all about them, when they thirst it is all about them, when they mess
their own pants it is all about them, and they do not know what patience is,
they want what they want, and they want it now.
That’s the child in
the family, and the child of God. Very self centered, very me-first. But as
that child begins to grow, the little girl sees mother tending to baby and they
step in to help with baby, with preparing the family meals, helping in the
kitchen and in the laundry and in the house. The young boy goes outside with
dad and begins to work with him doing chores around the yard, cleaning outside,
fixing and repairing things that the family needs.
1 Corinthians 13:9 Paul said, For we know in part,
and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is
perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake
as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a
man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a
glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know
even as also I am known.
Now, at this stage
they are entering into son-ship, and as brother Branham said, “where Pentecost
went wrong is that they thought just being born into the family was it, that was
enough. But He said you must be the right kind of a son if you are to receive
inheritance.
From Hear ye Him 57-0807 P:14 Brother Branham said, “Now, when a son was born into the family,
he was a son at birth. And there's where
you Pentecostal people jumped the fence. You thought that when you were
born again that settled it. That only was the beginning. That's right. You are
a son, surely, when you're born. But when this son was born, he wasn't heir of all things yet. He had to go through the testings and
trials to find out if he was the right type of son to fall heir to all things.
And listen, God's Word said, that every
son that cometh to God must first be tried and chastened, child-trained, before he could be adopted into the
family.”
And in his sermon Blasphemous names
62-1104M P:57 You've
heard me preach "Hear Ye Him," that sermon about a year ago, that
become so popular, "Hear Ye Him." The placing of a son in Ephesians
1:5 also: "God has predestinated us unto adoption of
sons." See, a family... When a son is born into it, it's a son then.
But that son had tutors to raise it. And
if that son never did come to be the right kind of a son, he never become heir.
But if he was the right son, and the son
that would obey his father, then that son was adopted or placed positionally. He become heir of what the father had.
Hear ye Him 57-0322 P:43 We're children of God, but we're losing our inheritance by our conduct,
the things that we do, and the things that we permit to be done,
and the way that we live and act and so
forth. We're living millions of miles below our privilege. And then someone
can see the work of God being done, and Dr. So-and-so, Dr. Jones says it's
this, and the other doctor says it's this; and we believe it instead of looking into the Word. The Word verifies what's
sheep-food. It comes out of the Word.
And if that isn’t the
way the churches have become. Instead of looking at what God’s word says about
it, they look at what our church says about it, and right their they die.
Hear ye Him 57-0519A P:20 Some of we ministers, we should be ashamed
of ourselves, as we keep our
congregation way below their privileges. The whole Christian church today is living thousands of miles below
their God-given privilege, because of just so half asleep, dismal like... Take the promise; believe it. God said
so; that settles it forever. No matter
how long it takes to materialize, Time doesn't mean nothing to God. It's His Word that we take and we believe.
Abraham waited twenty-five years for that child to come. But it arrived.
Certainly. We believe it, because God said so.
Now, as he said, we live so
far below our privilege as sons and daughters of God. When we ought to be the
mighty
Thy house 61-0808 P:33 As I said the other day, when we're born of the Spirit of God,
God isn't weak in one place and strong in another. If you've got a little
shadow of God in you, just the littlest
speck of God, then you've got all power. You got enough power in you to make a world and go out and live in it.
But of course, that power is controlled
by faith. If it wasn't, we'd all have us a world out there, living in it.
But if you're a son of God or a daughter
of God, you've got the power of God in you. See?
And from his sermon, Ever present
water 61-0723M P:70 brother Branham said, if you had enough of God in you, till It
was just barely a shadow, that's enough power to make a new earth. That's
enough power to make a new moon and a new system. It's God, and it's strong.
And right now in every believer in here has Life Eternal, which is God's Spirit
in you; enough power that'll raise up
the dead, that'll heal the sick,
that'll set orbits in conditions. But It's controlled by a law, that Spirit that's in you. You are sons
and daughters of God. That same Spirit
that you've got in you, will raise yourself up at the day of the resurrection.
And not only that, but Paul said, Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he
that raised up Christ from the dead shall
also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. And
quicken means to make alive. Alive to what? Alive to the Word of God for the
hour in which you live. Alive to the power of God to make His word a reality to
you and in you.
So if He that raised up
Jesus lives in You then whose living in You? It is the same spirit that raised
up Jesus from the dead. Right? And that means He is living in you and you are
already raised from death unto life. But you have to die first or you can’t be
raised up.
As brother Branham said, said in Christ is the mystery 63-0728 P:120 “Look, Christ in you makes Him the center of Life
of the revelation. See? Christ's Life in
you makes Him the center of the revelation. Christ in the Bible, makes the
Bible a complete revelation of Christ. Christ
in you makes you the complete revelation of the whole thing. See, what
God's trying to do? What is the new
birth then? You say, "Well, Brother Branham, what is the new
birth?" It is the revelation of Jesus Christ personally to you. Amen. See? Not you joined a church, you
shook a hand; you done something different; you said a creed; you promised to
live by a code of rules; but Christ, the Bible... He is the Word that was revealed to you. And no matter what anybody says, what takes place, it's Christ. Pastor,
priest, whatever it might be... It's
Christ in you.
Broken Cisterns 65-0123 P:33 What it
is, it's got to be a fellowship, and not a fellowship of some creed. But a
fellowship in Christ by the power of His resurrection, that's the thing that
brings Life. It brings birth. And before birth can come, we realize
there has to be death before birth. And a birth is a mess; I don't care
what kind of a birth it is. If it's in a pig pen, or wherever it is, it's a
mess. And so is the new birth, it makes you do things that ordinarily you
wouldn't think you would do. But when you're ready to die to yourself,
then you're born again, a new creature in Christ Jesus, then things open up and
life becomes a new sight to you, because you've accepted the Person of Jesus
Christ, and not some theory or some creed. Or even to the written Word,
It's got to be quickened by the Holy Spirit. No matter how much theology you've
got, it's laying there dead. I could have a handful of wheat; until it gets
into the process to where it can be quickened, the wheat will never live. And
you can have a doctor's degree, Ph., LL., whatever you wish to; but until
the Holy Spirit comes upon that and quickens it to you, as a personal
experience with God, then the wheat does no good. Your learning is in
vain.
From his sermon, Water of separation
55-0121 P:10 brother Branham said, You've got to absolutely accept the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only that, but you've got to die yourself. You've
got to die to every thought of the flesh so that you can receive the mind of
Christ and walk from henceforth, not of your own, but of His mind: the mind of
Christ in you. That's the only way you can stay alive. That's the only way
I can stay alive. That's all I live by, is by the Holy Spirit.
The Way back 62-1123
P:41 It takes death to produce
life. You've got to die to your own thinking. You've got to die to your own theology. You've got to
die to your own self, to your own human ways. You've got to be
regenerated, a new creature, a new creation. Before you can be that... You
can't be two at the same time; you got
to die to one in order to be born in the other. It brings a mess, and it
causes a mess too. But you're got new life. What difference does it make? You got to do it.
You must be born again
61-1231M P:51 Now,
the approach to this birth, there is approach to it. And to approach this
birth, you have to go through a
process, just like anything that lives. Anything that lives again has got to die first. And you cannot keep your same spirit. You
cannot keep your same habits. You
cannot keep your same thoughts. You got to die. You've got to die like He died. You got to die on His altar, like Abel did with his lamb. You got
to die with your Lamb. You got to die,
die to your own thinking to be born to His thinking. Let the mind that was in Christ be in you. You got to think His
thoughts. And now, brother, sister, let me say this as intelligent as I
know how to say it. How can you think
His thoughts and deny His Word, and yet claim you're born again? Just ask
yourself that question. How can you do it? You can't. If you're born again, you got His thoughts. If the mind of Christ is in
you, then you are a new creature. The Bible teaches that. And if any
brother would like to, where you find that creature, look that word
"creature" up in the--the Lexicon, and you'll find out that the word
"creature" there is interpreted or translated, "a new creation," because you are a
one creation, a human being born in sexual desire here on earth, and now you're
a new creation born by Spirit. Your own
thoughts are dead. They're so dead until they're crystal like the brass
serpent, or like He died when the heavens and earth and everything witnessed He
was dead.
Why
62-0622E P:41 You Say, "Well, other people do this." Well, you're not like
the other people. You
are dead, and your life is hid in God through Christ and sealed by the Holy
Spirit. See, you didn't try the
toxin. It's just because the people don't want to try it. Now, you've got to die. You've got to rot.
That's the trouble of people, instead going up to the altar and get some kind
of sensation, jump up, and shake hands with the preacher, go out and get some
kind of a dogma or creed and recite it, and say, "I belong to So-and-so. I
belong to So-and-so." "Are you a Christian?" "I'm
So-and-so." A Christian is to be
Christ-like. Christ-like is to believe the Word. If you don't believe the Word, then he can't be Christ-like. How can you say you're a Christian and deny
half of the Word? If the Holy Spirit wrote the Word, the Holy Spirit
confirms the Word. And the Holy Spirit is the Word. And the Word abiding in you brings God's promises to every believer.
Sirs we would see Jesus 61-1224
P:83 A real disciples says, "You've got to die." "How do I know when I'm dead?" When you recognize all this Word to be the
Truth, then the Word begins to live in you. "Well," you say,
"but our church teaches..." I don't
care what your church teaches; it's what the Bible says.
Questions and answers COD
54-0103E P:71 You've
got to repent and die daily to live in Jesus Christ. So every day, every day, you've got to die every day to live in
Christ Jesus.
Greater than Solomon is here 62-0628
P:21 If you want to be a
Christian, you be born again. Die to
yourself, and start from the bottom and come forth. … … I
believe that you've got to die so dead till you're no more yourself. That's
all. And then, be borned again new, a new creature in Christ, built from the
very bottom of your soul all the way through, a real born again Christian. Then
the Holy Spirit knows what kind of load to put in you.
Uncertain sound 61-0315
P:39 The word "church,"
means "the called out, the separated." And two people can't live in you the same time. You've got to die out
to the things of the world to serve God. You can't love God and mammon at the
same time. And as long as the love of the world is in the believer's heart, he crowds out and deprives himself from the
privileges that God's give him. God don't want you to be underprivileged.
He wants you to have every privilege that He died for. Every privilege He gave
the church, He wants you to enjoy it; it's yours.
Questions and answers COD 59-1223
P:83
you've
got to die and be born. And you cannot have birth without crucifixion. You
can't have resurrection; you must be crucified to the things of the world in
order to be resurrected in Christ.
Water of separation 55-0121
P:27 As long as you have your own
thoughts, your own ways, your ways are
contrary to God's ways. And you cannot be right and think your own
thoughts, for you've got to die to your
own thoughts. Do you know that? Your thoughts, as long as you look at it,
you look at it materially; you say, "Oh, well, that can't happen. It's
just not reasonable. It's not sensible to even think such a thing." As
long as you do that, then you'll stay in your same condition. [Blank spot on
tape. Ed.] You get to a place where you
cannot think your ways, but come into Christ and think His way of thinking.
Take His words. Then things begin to shape different. For you are dead and your life is hid in God
through Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:1,
"There is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh
(what the flesh says), but walk after the Spirit.
Romans 8:14
For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not
received the spirit of bondage again to
fear; but ye have received the
Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Now, Paul said this
spirit of fear is not from God. He said the spirit God gives us is one which
identifies with the Father.
But Fear is a four
letter word and God hates it. There is far too much fear among the people in
this Message and it ought not to be even numbered among us.
Because we also read
in 8:28 That
“we know that all things work together for good to
them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Therefore if All things are to work together for our
Good, then how can we abide in fear?
You know that a 22
year old girl that was shot in the face by that murderer in Aurora Colorado
last week, but did you know the shot gun blast that hit her face, four beads
hit her body, but one bead went through her nose and passed right through her
brain without even hardly touching the brain itself. When the doctors examined
her they found that she was born with a passage in her brain that was just
large enough for that bead to pass right through without it even touching or
doing any damage to her brain. The doctor called it a brain defect, I call it a
predestined act of God. Because if God had not predestined her to be born with
that passage through her brain at that exact location in her brain, that shotgun
blast that hit her, would have done great damage. But it didn’t, it just passed
right through her without effect. Now just think of it. Her head was at the exact
angle to receive that bullet to go up through her nose and pass through her
brain without even touching it and without leaving any scar tissue and without lodging
in her brain and killing her. The exact size, the exact angle, the exact
timing, every thing exact and perfect, and we sit here in fear of what some man
might say about us? Get a hold of your self.
Now, if God can do
that for that little girl who is not even a believer in this wonderful Omega
Revelation of Jesus Christ, what can he do for you and me?
Therefore we had
better ”know that
all things are working together for our good
to them that love God, to them who
are the called according to his purpose. 29 For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate…
And this little girl had a predestined path for a
predestined bullet to pass through her without doing damage to her. That
reminds me of George Washington and how the Indians laid in wait to shoot him,
and several Indians did shoot him, but the bullets passed through his coat and
not one of them touched his body.
Now, we serve a mighty big God brothers and sisters,
and for little men to try and use fear as a tool to control people, to get
people to fear them, I just don’t get it.
God Himself doesn’t even use fear to force you to love Him, and obey
Him? The Bible says, “We love him, because
He first loved us!!”
That’s 1 John 4:19. That’s what my Bible teaches. And I
hope when you read your Bible you read the same thing. But the problem we have
is that too many people do not know how to read their Bibles. Brothers this
Bible is God’s Words in print. And I don’t care what any man will tell you, My
Bible, God’s Word says, God said, 'Let every
man's word be a lie and Mine be true.' Paul said, 'Though an Angel from heaven come with anything else but
what's here, let it be accursed.'”
Listen to these words from Brother Branham in the Church Age Book
Chapter 2 - The
And listen to this quote brother Peter
Gatchell sent me the other day. Brother Branham said in his sermon, The Unity Of One God In The One Church 58-1221E God sets on the throne of your heart in His control
room, controlling your
emotions, and controlling your
powers, controlling your
conceptions, and making you
one with Him in fellowship and in love. And God fills you with love. He
fills you with power. He fills
you with the Spirit. He fills you
with His own Divine Nature, and He
changes your carnal nature into His Nature. Then, in this, you become a
new creation in Christ.
Now, too many men think they are a new creation in
Christ because they can quote the Message, or because they claim to believe the
Message. Listen, Brother Branham, vindicated prophet of God said, you’ve got to
die to yourself in order to be born again.
Questions
and Answers COD
64-0830M P:120 354. Do
your children have to have an experience to have the Holy Spirit? If they see
the end-time Message, do they have the Holy Spirit? Every one
must have an experience. Your children cannot go in on no other
way but the same way you do. See? They've got to be born again.
There's no grandchildren in the
Be not
afraid 63-0607 P:72 Brother, that ain't Bible doctrine. Paul found a bunch of good
thoroughbred Baptists up there, and he said, "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you
believed?" Not
when you believed, but after you believed have you received the Holy Ghost.
It's a personal experience that comes.
And when that great unchangeable God sent His message down, it never changes.
Amen.
From
that time 62-0713 P:44 You see them wonders of God. Some people
would do that. And just because of theology, some church creed or something,
you'll walk away and shun God to keep from receiving the Holy Ghost. You see
people down at the altar praying, see them women get up, and men, and their
faces washed with tears, and screaming, and walking up and down the building,
some of your friends on the outside laughing. You say, "If that's new
birth, I don't want nothing to do with it. Our church believes in new birth,
and we just put our name on the book." You're
afraid of It. Let me tell you this. I
don't care what kind of a birth it is; it's a mess. If it's in a pigpen, or
in a hospital room pink decorated, it's a mess. And the new birth is nothing less, but it takes that to bring Life. You've
got to die in order to be borned again. It's true.
Letting
off the pressure 62-0518 P:67 Now,
you can't come through some creed or something like that. You've got to die and come to it. You got to walk into it, and die to yourself, and raise anew. And
then every word of God becomes a reality...Could you imagine a man having the
baptism of the Holy Spirit, that wrote the Bible, and then say, "The days of miracles is past"?
Could you imagine a man, no matter how deep he is in theology, or what-more,
deny the very Word of the Bible, that the Holy Ghost wrote, and say the Holy
Ghost is in him?
If God
be with us 61-1231E P:109 You said, "I was baptized in the name
of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." That ain't fully obeying. See? You say,
"I joined the church." That's not obeying. See? "I repeat the
Apostles' Creed." That still isn't obeying It. "Oh, brother, I quit
my lying and stealing. I don't do anything mean." That still ain't
obeying. It's got to be a birth. There's got to be something happen. You've got to die, and Something be born in
you.
Luke 24:49
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of
Is that not what Jesus told them to do? He told them to tarry, that means
to wait until… wait until when? NO! Wait until What!!! Wait until
ye be endued with power from on high. Could you image them saying, well, we’ve
waited long enough, we’ve waited nine whole days, certainly we must have it by
now… I guess we got it? But He said until!!! And that is the problem with the
people today, they are not willing to wait until….
Until what? Until you are endued with power from on high. So where is
that being preached in our pulpits? I am asking the question because it
deserves to be asked. Most churches teach the evidence of being Holy Spirit
born is that you believe the doctrine of that church. But that is not what our
prophet taught, He taught us if you have the spirit of Christ you will live
like Christ, talk like Christ, act like Christ and do the works of Christ,
because you have the mind of Christ. And brother Branham said, …
Hear ye
Him 62-0711 P:25 And now, before you can be filled with the
Holy Spirit, you've got to die to yourself first, in order to be born again.
Having
conferences 60-0608 P:33 you can no more clean yourself from sin by
joining churches and taking creeds, then a leopard could lick his own spots of
him. No, sir. The more he licks them, the brighter they get. You've got to die to yourself, your own
thoughts. Give up, and let the Holy Spirit cover you with His Presence and His
power.
Great
warrior David 55-0118 P:39 When God can ever get the Church together
again in one accord so He can endue it with power from on high...
Power what? To believe His Word, to make
it come to pass.
Go tell
my disciples 53-0405S P:75 And till
a man is equipped by the Holy Spirit, not by education, not by theology,
not by church membership... Amen. been to
Return
and Jubilee 62-1122 P:68 What kind of an inheritance did He
leave?" "Wait ye, in the city of
From the
beginning it wasn't so 59-1125 P:42 They was commissioned not to
leave
Oneness
of unity 58-0128 P:45 A
witness has to know something. A
witness has to have an experience. And
you cannot be a witness of Christ until the Holy Ghost has baptized you.
God's
provided way 53-0613 P:60 Acts 1:8. "But
you shall receive the Holy Ghost after this the... You shall receive power
after this, the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You'll be witnesses of Me in
Mary's
belief 59-0409 P:20 When Jesus told them to wait in the city of
Faith
58-0315 P:25 In the days of our Lord, before He left the
earth, in Luke
24:49 He said, "Tarry
ye in the city of
Now, this word endue
means to put on like you would put on a garment. But this says you will put on
power, dunamis, miracle working power. You will put it on, like a
garment, because it is an anointing upon you.
Acts
1:8 says, "You
shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you."
And let's notice. There was a bunch of little cowardly people, one hundred and
twenty in a upper room, and they had the doors locked because they were afraid
of the threats of the Jews. And then all of a sudden, there came a sound from
heaven like as a mighty rushing wind and filled all the house where they were
setting. Oh, they were afraid a few minutes before that, but here they were all
out into the street magnifying and glorifying God. They'd had an experience that had set them a-fire that could burn
the whole world in that day. They had an
experience. That's what we need.
Experience accompanies faith.
29 For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate…
to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also
called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them
he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be
for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's
elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who
is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed
all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
Wednesday night we spoke on the subject Bound by Fear but
set free by Love. We took our text from Ephesians 1 tells us that
after we receive the spirit of adoption, God wants to make known to us our
inheritance and the power that comes with it.
Church
Age Book Chapter 2 - The
God
testifying of His gifts 52-0713E P:49 So
don't fear; fear is of the devil. Everything Jesus would say, "Fear not,
fear not," constantly, "fear not, fear not." Is that right?
Always, "Fear not." Now, God don't want you to fear; He wants you to
believe.
John
9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from
his birth. 2 And his disciples asked
him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born
blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath
this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made
manifest in him. 4 I must work the works
of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the
light of the world. 6 When he had thus
spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed
the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by
interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came
seeing. 8 The neighbors therefore, and
they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat
and begged? 9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said,
I am he. 10 Therefore said they unto
him, How were thine eyes opened? 11 He answered and said, A man that is called
Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of
Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. 12 Then said
they unto him, Where is he? He said,I know not. 13 They brought to the
Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. 14 And it was the sabbath day when
Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. 15 Then again the Pharisees also
asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon
mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. 16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees,
This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said,
How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among
them. 17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he
hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet. 18 But the Jews did not
believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until
they called the parents of him that had received his sight. 19 And they asked
them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? How then doth he now
see? 20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and
that he was born blind: 21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who
hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for
himself. 22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for
the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he
should be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore said his parents, He is of
age; ask him.
Now, let's stop
here for a moment and look at what has just taken place. Here we see two
parents that were not even permitted to enjoy the miracle that God had just
performed on their son who had been blind his entire life, and suddenly can see
for the first time. What caused this fear that was placed upon these parents?
Stupid Jealousy by those religious leaders that were jealous of what Jesus was
doing and saying. And what did they do s a result of this jealousy? They used
the power of the pulpit to hold down the people, and keep them from seeking
further light. They held down the people by causing them to fear being expelled
from the church for seeking out greater truth than what they wanted them to
know and understanding.
And isn't that same devil still
controlling the churches today? Claiming to believe the Prophet of the hour and
yet forbidding the people they shepherd to examine the Doctrine that William
Branham taught concerning the Presence of Christ and the relationship between
the Father and His Son because it isn't endorsed in their camp.
Now, I like the
guts that this young man showed to these Christ Rejecting Pharisees. He wasn't
going to down play what had just taken place in his life for nothing. Let's
read it.
24.
Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the
praise: we know that this man is a sinner. 25 He answered and said, Whether he
be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now
I see. 26 Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine
eyes? 27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear:
wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? 28 Then they
reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. 29 We
know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he
is. 30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing,
that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. 31 Now we
know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and
doeth his will, him he heareth. 32 Since the world began was it not heard that
any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. 33 If this man were not of
God, he could do nothing. 34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast
altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.
Oh, how that devil doesn't like to be given back
scripture. He hates to be taught. He hates to be shown up by he Word of God.
But I love this man's attitude. He saw what had just happened to his parents
and how they were coward into avoiding talking about this great thing that had
happened to their son. And I will bet that his righteous indignation flared up
at watching his parents being put on the spot and watching them in a way deny
this greatest thing that had happened in their family since he was born. So he
spoke up to these religious leaders and let them know that he wasn't going to
be coward by their sharp tongues like his parents had just been treated. And he
took out the Sword of the Word and let them have it to the point that they
gnashed their teeth and kicked him out of the church. They excommunicated him
for disagreeing with the pastor, so to speak.
Now, I would like to know where in the
Bible a man can be put out of the church for disagreeing with the Pastor or the
church elders. There is a certain thing called church order and there is a way of
dealing with someone that sows doubt. But for a person to say I disagree, then
he ought to be given an opportunity via the Word of God to show the pastor
where he is wrong.
8-0927 Why we are not a Denomination V-11
N-7 16
People come here to the church, and this becomes their home church, if they wish to come as long as they
live. 17 And they can come here and disagree with everything that we preach.
That's perfectly all right. You
still, as long as you are a Christian,
you've got fellowship and a hand out just the same as the rest of them. See? If
I said I believe in baptizing by immersing by water, and you believed in
sprinkling, and stayed right on it, we'd still be just the same as we was if we
both agreed. We might not be able to see eye to eye alike, but as long as you are a Christian brother or
sister, you're perfectly welcome (See?), everybody.
So if brother Branham was open enough to accept people
in his church who disagreed with everything he taught, then who are we to do
others wise? I am not saying that we should invite a bunch of unbelievers to
the church to fill it. That would be ridiculous, but any person that would come
and sit is either eventually going to have their eyes open or they will not
stay for very long, because what they are hearing will eventually either cause
them to come in or go out. But he is not even talking about the other person
here, he’s talking about our own attitude being in check with the Holy Spirit’s
nature of a dove.
Jesus Christ same 61-0516A P:73 Remember,
search the Scriptures. Bring your papers
and take down the Scriptures that I quote. If they're not right, you're solemnly obligated to come to me and
show... I don't want to be wrong. But I'm
not wrong as long as the Scripture says it's so and God confirms it. A man
can say anything he wants to; that's a man. But when God speaks, dare anybody
to doubt it? It's eternal separation from His Presence forever. So we just leave it up to God,
not ourselves to determine who is who.
Now in getting back to our story in verse
35 we
read, Jesus heard
that they had cast him out; and when
he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 36 He
answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that
I might believe on him? 37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen
him, and it is he that talketh with thee. 38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And
he worshipped him. 39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world,
that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said
unto him, Are we blind also? 41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye
should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
And let's face it, the seed of the serpent do not want
the truth to be taught. Because in John 8:37 Jesus told the Christ Rejecting religious
leaders, "The
reason you can not hear the truth of the Word is because there is no place for
the Word of God in them." And then in verse 43 Jesus
said, 43
Why do ye not
understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father
the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of
it. 45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 46 Which of you
convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 47 He
that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are
not of God.
There’s another story I like concerning
this attitude and I read it in a book entitled, "THE DEVIL IN THE
CHURCH AND HS SNARES LAID TO DESTROY OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS copyright 1902. The
article was called "Enough Scripture
to Poison a Parish". And the story goes like this.
A little girl, being asked by a priest to
attend his religious instruction, refused, saying it was against her father's
wishes. The priest said she should obey him, not her father. "Oh, sir, we are
taught in the Bible, 'honor Thy Father and thy Mother.'"
"You have no business to read the Bible," said the priest. "But sir, our Savior
said, 'Search
the Scriptures' " (John 5:39) " That was only to the Jews, and
not to children, and you don't understand it," said the priest in reply.
"But, sir, Paul said to Timothy, 'From a child thou hast
known the Holy Scriptures,' " (2 Tim 3:15) "Oh'"
Said the priest, "Timothy was being
trained to be a bishop and taught by the authorities of the church."
"oh, no,
sir," said the child, "he was taught by his mother and grandmother."
On this the priest turned her away, saying “she
knew enough of the Bible to poison a parish."
And so we see where that spirit comes
from that would try to control the people through fear rather than through
teaching them the truth of the Scriptures, and letting them make up their own
minds concerning the Scriptures.
The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore seeing we
have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2 But have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 But if
our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this
world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your
servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
I like the way the
And the Wuest translation says, "we have renounced
the hidden things of shame, not ordering the manner of our lives in the sphere
of craftiness, nor even adulterating the Word of God by an admixture of error,
but by means of an open declaration of the truth commending ourselves to every
variety of the conscience on men in the sight of God."
The problem we have today, even among us
in this Message, is that the people in the churches do not judge others by what
kind of Life they are living before God, but rather they are judged by whether
or not they are loyal to the "powers that be" in their
church.
From his sermon, "Thinking Man's
Filter" 65-0822E P:32 Brother Branham said, "No, she isn't a
thinking woman. If she was thinking she'd know the church isn't going to judge
her at the last day. The church is
judging her now by her membership, her loyalty to the circles that she
belongs to and the societies. They're judging her now by that. But God's going
to judge her at the last day. So she
isn't thinking."
From Proving His Word 64-0816 P:85 brother Branham
said, "Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth
of God." What? How does he live? "By, well, if you'll just take some
of God's Word, he'll live?" Now, that wasn't what He said. Did you notice
"e-v-e-r-y- every Word"? How does he live?... "Well, he, belongs
to church; he believes everything but That?" He's still dead. Do you get
it? "He can only live by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
the high priest? the bishop? the cardinal? the pastor?" God! Every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. How do we know
it's God's Word? He says so, then He
proves It. He proves His Word.
Notice. Then if that be so, your confession will not make you live. Your church
membership will not make you live.
So when any religious leader tells you that "you've got to believe what they say just
because they say so, and after all they are a five fold minister so you've got
to believe them." Let me tell you that, that is so childish and
shallow that it's thinner than the broth made out of a chicken that starved to
death. You don't have to believe so just because your pastor tells you to
believe something. You believe it because God's Word says so.
And so any ministry that used fear to
control you is not of God. We are promised by God Himself that He has not given
us a spirit of fear but a sound mind.
2
Timothy 1: 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;
but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Therefore if you
fear man more than you fear God, then you haven't got what God said he would
give you.
In 1 John 4:18 we read, There is
no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath a
penalty. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. And the penalty of fear
is that when you fear, you begin to freeze, and you stop moving forward with
God, and what God is bringing you into.
Fear is a dangerous tool of the devil,
because it has a penalty. When a person is afraid they become bound by those
fears. We read in 1 John 4. That perfect or mature Love will cast out fear because fear has a
penalty, it has to do with your freezing and crystallizing in your
thinking. You see, in the Bible we read where Joseph was engaged to marry Mary,
but when he found her to be pregnant, even though she told him how it happened,
that God Himself overshadowed her, yet his fear stopped him, and he was
privately mindful to put her away. In other words the penalty of fear caused
him to stop the plans that he had to marry her. Joseph feared that Mary had not
been faithful, and because of that fear he made plans to stop the marriage.
So God sent His Angel to Joseph, and told
him, "fear
not" to take Mary as His Wife. What had fear done to Joseph? It
caused him to doubt that God wanted him to marry Mary. And it caused him to
stop moving forward with the plan of God for his life.
Luke 21: 25-27 25 And there shall be
signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth
distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26 Men's
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are
coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Notice the Scriptures tells us that men
will see things that will bring on perplexity which is doubt and anxiety
feeling they will have no way of escape, and then what follows? Fear, then fear
follows shortly thereafter. In 1 Kings 18:21
Elijah said to
the people, how halt ye between two opinions? How long will you be lame and stopped in your
forward movement? Amplified Version How long will you be halt and limp between two
opinions? NIV: How long will you waver between two opinions? NAS How long will you
hesitate between these two opinions? So you see that fear will cause
great damage in your walk with God because it causes you to stop your moving forward
with him. And you know, according to 1 John 7: "if you walk in the Light and He is in the
Light, you not only have fellowship with one another but the blood of Jesus
Christ cleanses you from all your sin”. As long as you are walking in
the light, your sins are covered and you are having fellowship with the One Who
is in the Light. And you will if you let your fears take control of you.
Therefore, any ministry that puts the people into a state of fear is not from
God.