Christ is the Mystery no 185
Chrst-Life
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
Christ is the Mystery no 58 One Vine with many branches
Our text is one which Jesus
spoke, and William Branham expounded upon many, many times.
John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every
branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch
that beareth fruit, he purgeth
it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through
the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more
can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye
can do nothing. 6 If a man
abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather
them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If
ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it
shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father
glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Christ
is the Mystery pp. 106 Notice in the seer how that
when, you know, he's coming forth, he's divinely a-vindicated by foreseeing and
it comes to pass. "If there be one who's a prophet, will speak
to you and tell you certain things that's going to happen, and if it don't
happen, don't listen to him. But if it does happen, then I'm with Him. You
better fear him, because I am with him." See? That's exactly.
There's the a-vindication. There, where you know whether it's the truth or
whether it isn't. God is speaking back through His Word to His people, by
people. See, God only speaks through man. "I
am the vine; ye are the branches." The vine doesn't bear fruit. The
branches bears the fruit of the vine. Notice, it's
always been that way.
Philemon 1:1 Paul, a prisoner
of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and
fellow laborer,
Ephesians 3:1 For this cause I
Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
Paul used a certain word to describe this
relationship as a prisoner, which was the Greek word Desmios, which means
to be chained to, or to be a captive to, and the
root word actually means figuratively to be a limb of. In other
words, Paul understood his position in the body of Christ, that Christ is the
head, and Paul considered himself just to be one of the limbs in the body. In
fact that is what he said in Ephesians 3, so let's read it again.
Ephesians 3:1 For this cause I
Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, Notice, not
The prisoner for me, for my sake, but for you
Gentiles sake. Now,
you say, what does that mean? He is a prisoner for our sake. Well, in letting us know that He was not a prisoner of
Paul was saying I am the Desmios of the lord Jesus Christ. I am a limb of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when the
head says run I run, when the head says lift up your hands I lift up my hands,
because I am Him and He is me. We are one for by one spirit we have been all baptized into
one body. Those are words the apostle Paul also said in 1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into
one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have
been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Notice, not drinking of that one
Spirit, but all have been made to drink into one Spirit. Drink into, like in Ephesians 4, not grow up
unto Christ, But we are made to grow up into
Christ. not side by side with Christ,
but we are in Him, thus we grow up into Christ, we grow up to enter into
Him. become a part of Christ. Who He is and what he
does.
Notice Paul said baptized into one Body and we drink into one
spirit. And his own
life expressed this drink offering as he said in 2 Timothy 4:6 6 For I am already being poured out
like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me
the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to
me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who long for and love his
appearing.
And Paul could not have His life, His
Spirit poured out like a drink offering if he was not a part of that one Spirit
which could be poured out. Paul had poured out his own life for the brethren,
and thought nothing of putting their needs before his own needs. He poured out
his life for the brethren like David when the men who sacrificed life and limb
to bring him water, cutting their way through the enemies
lines just to bring him some cool water. And David was so humbled by their
genuine desire to be of service to him, that they would risk their own lives so
that he might not thirst, that there was no way he could drink it, so he poured
it out as a drink offering to the Lord. That what these men did he gave it to God, so they would get credit before their God
for sacrificing their own lives in the service of their King.
Oh, how beautiful to see that selfless
attitude of those brethren, who saw the need and risked everything to fulfill
that need in the body.
And that is what Paul is saying here, is
that by looking no further than our own body, we ought to be able to see that
our own body has many parts, or limbs, and we have many organs and cells within
our own body, and that all those parts of the body function together as one
body, for one purpose and that is the edification of the body. Therefore no
matter how many parts you can name in your body, and they all have a function
in the body and for the body, yet no matter how many parts we have in our body
we are still just one body. And that is exactly the same with the body of
Christ. By means of His one Holy Spirit, we all can say good-bye to our partial
and piecemeal lives.
In fact that is the sole reason for the
five fold members is to edify which means to build up the body of Christ. And
yet why is it that the five fold or so called five fold we have today does just
the opposite? They tear down the body to build themselves up. That's not what they
were called for.
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles;
and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, (That word perfecting means the
maturing or the equipping of the saints) for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying (For the building up) of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all
come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect (a mature) man, unto the measure (the metron,
the portion) of the stature (or character) which is the fulfilling of Christ:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
God is not coming for a bunch of babies, he's coming for a mature bride. What man wants to
marry a child bride that he has to raise up to become a mature bride. No, a man wants a real lady that knows her place, and
her role in the family, and doesn't act like a child wanting to always have her
way in matters that don't even pertain to her role. The virtuous woman knew her
role and she performed it well, and she did not try to usurp her husband in his
role, or give him advice where he never asked for it. And that would be good
advice for the bride of Christ. Don't give out your advice unless you are asked
to give it out, then if asked you have a right to express your opinions, out if
you do, keep it Scriptural or forget it, because brother Branham said, the bride
has thus saith the Lord or she will keep still. That means the bride knows when
to talk and when not to talk.)
And Paul continues on about the five
fold ministry in verse 15 where he says, " But speaking the truth in love, (and if the truth is not given in love
then it is not given scripturally, and if done in love then it is so the
church) may grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ:
Now, notice it did not say grow up unto
him, as thought you are growing up unto, but this says that we may grow up into Him in all things, in everything we say or do, or think,
because after all He is our head, even Christ. And if he is our head then he must
do our thinking for us. For it is God who is working in us to
will and then to do.
Now, notice what Paul says in verse 16. " From whom
the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself
in love.
How beautiful to see the whole body
working together as one body to the building up and maturing of that body and
he says it is love for every part of the body that will do it.
And that brought us to Christ is the Mystery no 59 He
lived so Godly. When you do not live for yourself, but you live for
Him, you will live so Godly, because you do not live for your fleshly passions,
but to please Him.
Believest Thou This? 50-0716 81 It's your approach to a Divine gift what
brings the results. It's the way you come to it. Isn't that right? The way you
approach anything..
Ministry of Christ
53-0607 62 But,
brother, let me tell you something now. It's your attitude towards any Divine gift, your approach to that attitude determines what you're
going to get out of it.
Proving His Word 65-0426
31 It's your
approach. The attitude is what it takes. And that's what it is tonight, dear
friend; it takes the attitude. We are, and believe that we are in the Presence
of Jesus Christ, but it's your attitude that brings the results. The mechanics
is here and so is the dynamics. If you can just get started, God will do the
rest.
And we find that it is the attitude you
take that brings the results.
Paradox a 63-0801 P:11 You thinking you have, and having It, is
two different things. You might be able to try to say you have; you
might be able to show some evidence of some emotion; but unless your life is
vindicating what you're professing to have, you still haven't got It. No matter how many emotions, how much you jump, run,
sensations, speaking in tongues, or shouting, or whatever you might lay it upon
(which is all right, I believe in all that too.), but unless your life copes
with your testimony, then you haven't got It. 'Cause the fruit of the
Spirit vindicates what you are, just like the fruit of any tree tells what it
is. Jesus said, "By their fruit you shall know them."
And that brings us to Christ is the Mystery no 60 Christi-Life
Hidden life with Christ 56-0213 P:50 That's what the
church needs today, is a hidden consecrated life. You can't be dittle-dabbling along with the world, and impersonating,
and acting like them, and hid with Christ, 'cause you're trying to fashion
after the world. You're trying to live like the next church. You're trying to
belong to a better organization, wear better clothes, do
so-and-so. That's not comply with Christianity.
Christianity is a sacrificed life, hidden life with God through Christ, sealed
by the Holy Ghost. Amen. That's what the real Christian life consists of: Not
of how well you can do this, or how well you can sing, that's all right, how
well you can preach, that's fine. But that isn't it. It's a hidden life,
consecrated, the veil, curtain's dropped around you,
and you're dead and you're buried, and you're hid in God through Christ and
sealed in there by the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the
right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on
things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For
ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in
glory. 5 Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth;
Romans
Notice,
brother Branham said about Paul, "He lived so godly until they seen Jesus Christ in him so much, till
they wanted his handkerchief to take it and lay it upon the sick.
That's exactly Matthew 9: 20-21 And, behold, a woman, which was
diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the
hem of his garment:
21 For she
said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. 22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her,
he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the
woman was made whole from that hour.
And this lead us to Christ is the Mystery no 61 Where
is the God of Elijah?
Here we looked at the
days of Elijah and saw the comparison to the hour in which we live. the Apostle Paul goes on and says, 14 But
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.
Paul then
says, 15 But
he that is spiritual judges all things, and that means to examine, scrutinize and then discern all
things. But then Paul adds,
yet he himself (the man that is filled with God's
Spirit) is judged (examined, scrutinized nor discerned) of
no man.
Why can not
they discern you? if you are Spirit filled? Because unless you have the same Spirit you don't even have a clue
as to what is going on in the mind of a Spirit filled man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he
may instruct him?
Paul is asking the question here. Who
can even know the mind of God, and then he answers, only those, like us who
have the mind of Christ, because we have the same God-Life living and abiding
in us.
Now, for those who are not born again
could never understand the mind of Christ in order to think like Christ, or
live like Christ, or speak like Christ, or act like Christ or do the works of
Christ. So they will say no one can, except one man only, and that man is
William Branham. Only he can do the works of Jesus Christ.
They say that because that is all they
know. They have not done the works of Christ and so they think no one else can
either. In fact that is such a strange concept to them because they do not
think like Christ. After all, Jesus Christ himself said, I can of my own self
do nothing, but it's not me. The things my Father doeth
and shows me, those things I do.
John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he
seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise.
And so they say, "see? Jesus said
of Himself that he himself can do nothing, so we do
nothing." But that is not what Jesus said here.
He said, "of mine own self I will do nothing. Not that I
can do nothing, I will not do until I see the Father do, so I wait on him to
show me what to do that I might do.
But you brothers do not believe that you
can do so you do not wait, you just do nothing and are content in doing nothing.
Therefore I am actively seeking my father to know what to do, And I am not just sitting idle like a knot in a tree, but I
am constantly in prayer to know what my Father wants done. You have all seen me
steal away from you to go into the hills to pray, or out into the woods, or
into a secret place to pray like Elijah went to his cave and Moses went up into
the mountain to pray, until he knew the mind of God the Father so that when he
did do, it was according to what God wanted done.
I seek instruction from my Father and
then I do as I am instructed to do. You do nothing and you anticipate nothing,
because you are void of the same spirit as me, and if you have not the spirit
of God then you can not in any way, shape or form understand what God has
ordained His sons to do.
Now, verse 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shews him in visions all things that he Himself is doing
and wants done: and he will show him even greater works than these, that you
all may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises
up the dead, and quickens them; even so the Son quickens whom he (the Father)
wills.
And that
leads us to what brother Branham says in paragraph 152 "The same works that Jesus did, Paul did the
same.
Now, look
brothers, I didn't say this, Brother Branham vindicated prophet of God said it,
and if we are spiritual enough to receive it, he is talking of John
Well, if
you agree with what he is saying here, then that ought to tell you that
"he" is not singular as though it speaks of only one man, and that
you are wrong to make it singular.
And then
brother Branham says, And they seen God,
Now, how
did they see God? Because they saw God working in Paul to will first then to
do...God in Paul doing what God wanted done, the same as they saw God in Jesus
doing what God wanted. The Father working, then Paul working, just like Jesus said "the father
worketh, and the son worketh hitherto: John
5:17"
Listen again
to this thought here as God's vindicated prophet lays it out for us in. Paragraph 152 "The same works that
Jesus did, Paul did the same. And they seen God, the great Father, that had
demonstrated in the burning bush, had demonstrated It to Paul, and here it was
being demonstrated; and He's the same in every age. God's
threefold manner: yesterday, today, and forever. What? Redeemer in His Church; pre-eminences in the coming Kingdom.
Amen. You see it? Just as perfect as it can be.
From
brother Branham's sermon, The Wedding supper 56-1006 P:31 brother
Branham said, "In
a type, the robe that Elisha, which was the old prophet, a type of Christ,
Elisha that followed Him, succeeded Him, was the type of the Church. For the
Elijah done four, I believe out... (It might've been eight, four or eight. I
don't know for sure now.) outstanding miracles. And
Elisha, the Church, asked for a double portion of his spirit: a double
portion. And he said, "Keep your eyes towards heaven then, and if you see me when I go up,
you'll have it."
And as Elijah was caught up in a whirlwind, a cloud of fire, and was received
out of the sight of Elisha, Elijah threw back his robe; and Elisha put it on,
walked down to the Jordan and struck, said, "Where is the God of Elijah?" and done twice as many miracles as
Elijah did. Jesus told the Church, "These things that I do shall you also, and
more than this,"
a double portion of this. And they went up to the day of Pentecost, scared,
powerless, helpless, and waited after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and He threw back, sent down from heaven the very same power, the very same
robe that He wore come back and fell on the Church. The Holy Ghost, the robe...
And this brings us to Christ
is the Mystery no 62 God the revealer of
Divine Truth, where brother Branham said, 153
Oh, notice. The Holy Ghost is the only Revealer of the Divine revelation of
Christ. There's no school can do it; no scholar can do it, no man, how well
educated, how godly or anything else; there's no man can do it. I could sting
hard here. How many's Christians, born again (raise
up your hands), filled with the Holy Ghost? All right.
Here we go then. All right. Notice, and He will
only do it to the predestinated. That's exactly. "All the Father has
given Me will come, and no man can come except the
Father give him to Me first."
Then he said, "Who did the Word of the Lord come to? Prophet alone. That's right. Is that right? And the prophet
had to be vindicated first. Not 'cause he said he was a prophet, because he was
born a prophet and proved to be a prophet, and everything he said was exactly
on the Word and come to pass, then everything else let go."
And finally he said, "Notice, and He will only do it to the predestinated.
That's exactly. "All the Father has given Me will
come, and no man can come except the Father give him to Me first".
So we are looking at three statements in
these two paragraphs that make up the who what when
where and why of God revealing Himself to the people and using a prophet to
bring froth that revelation. Therefore we see these three things are:
#1) One who reveals, Which
we know is God alone.
#2) one through Whom
He reveals which we know must be a vindicated prophet
And finally #3) The Ones to whom He
reveals. which we know are His elect for that age. And Brother
Branham taught us that, "God selects the man, the message, the age and the
people."
He also said God selects the Message and
even the Words and the Way that the Messenger is to say that Message.
And we know that God even selects "the Messengers nature, and the way that the Messenger
will act, and even the way that the Messenger dresses, and even his ambition
has been ordained by God, that everything about him is ordained and given by
God, in order to be received by a people who are also ordained to receive it."
Therefore if the prophet is ordained in
his nature, his dress, and his ambition, and in what He says is ordained by
God, and even how he says it is ordained by God, and even the manner in which
he says it, and the manner of his actions and everything else is ordained of
God, then the same can be said of those who are ordained to receive it. Because he also said, just perfectly selected for that certain
people that He'd call for that certain age.
Then if there is a certain group of
people for a certain age, then there must also be certain attributes that will
make up the nature of that certain group, for the word "certain" implies uniqueness and peculiarity as we see in the
following Scriptures.
Notice God selects the man and the age,
He selects the Message and even the way that the Messenger will say it, and how
he will say it, and He selects the Messengers nature, and the way that he acts,
and even the way he dresses, and it is God that gives him his ambition, and
everything about him. And we find brother Branham telling us that God does all
of this for a dual purpose, and that is to catch the attention of a certain
ordained group of people and to blind the eyes of every one else.
Then what we are looking at here is
predestination in it’s highest form, because the age
is set, the message for that age is set, the messenger for that age is set and
even the people to receive that message are set, which means they are put in
place, in order for the time and season to brake forth. Therefore, anything
outside of this plan will not, and can not, accept the
plan of God, for they are not ordained to receive it. Therefore what happens
outside of this setting, or this plan of God, is not important to us, and is
only significant as it may pertain to the over all plan of God for the age. Now
think about that.
Nothing that is going on in this world,
with all the politics that is happening, and all the setting up of a new world
order, and all the power struggles that are going on, and all the immoral
living which is swallowing up the entire world. All these things don’t have one
thing to do with you and me.
We were ordained to live in this day,
and in this age, for one purpose, and one purpose only, and that is to be
united to the Message that God has brought for this hour. No one else could
have done it. Luther's age and His people could not have received it, it wasn't
for them. Wesley's people in his age could not have received this, it wasn't
for them. Not yet anyhow.
Therefore, only the Bride of Christ will
have the proper focus, and therefore the correct eyes to be able to filter out
every thing else that is going on in this world. Should we then care about the
new world order? Should we then care about who is President of the Untied
States? Should we then get involved with all the moral issues that have grabbed
hold of the evangelical churches? Should we then be concerned about the many
issues that have engulfed the conservative and fundamental Christians? The
answer to all of these questions is definitely NO! At least
not in the way that they view these problems.
Christ is the Mystery no 63 Predestined to Know
Matthew
Now, in Verse 11 it tells us something
was given to certain ones in order for them to know and understand the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them on the outside this thing was
not given to them and thus they could not understand.
In other words, it is given to you as a
gift to know, but to others it is not given to them as a gift to know. The word
given here was translated from a Greek word didomi
{did'-o-mee} and it means "to give or
grant, of one's own accord to give one something, to his advantage; to bestow a
gift."
Notice then that the thing that Jesus is
telling them is that these things He is telling them is for their advantage. It
is for their benefit but it is not for the benefit of those on the outside.
12 For
whosoever hath, (For whosoever echoes) to him shall be given, and he
shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, (echoes not) from him
shall be taken away even that he thinks he is echoing.
Whosoever is
made in such a way as to be able to reflect or echo back what is given to him,
the same shall have more abundance, because an echo is receiving and giving
back more than just once. It is a repetition of the same thing with the same
accent over and over and over again.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: Well, who is them that he is speaking of
here?
In Mark 4:10-11 he answers that question for us 10 And when he was alone, they
that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. 11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to
know the mystery of the
In paragraph 159 or 333 in your books, we read, "Look, John the Baptist would never
had known Jesus if it hadn't been for the Holy Ghost pointing Him out. That
right? John the Baptist, that great prophet that come forth and said,
"There's One standing among you right now. There's an ordinary man
standing here somewhere, that's the Lamb of God." John said then, "I
bore record--I bare record I saw the Spirit of God (the Holy Ghost) descending
from heaven like a Dove, and It went upon Him, and a Voice said, 'This is My beloved Son in Whom I'm pleased...'" What was it?
The Holy Ghost said, "I'll point Him out." 160 That's the only way you'll
know Him today, only way you'll get the threefold revelation of God is for the
Holy Ghost... And the only way it can ever be, is you're predestinated to see
it. If it don't, you'll never see it. If you're not
predestinated to see it, you'll never see it, 'cause that Light can flash and
you'll go away and make fun of it and explain it away by some intellectual conception
when the very God Himself manifesting Himself and proving it. See? But if it
ain't upon you to see it, you won't see it.
What brother Branham is talking about
here is election pure and simple, for if God doesn't reveal it to you there is no way you will ever be able to hear it, recognize it,
and then act upon the Word of God.
And remember, he's using these
illustrations of John the Baptist to show you that concerning the three fold
revelation of Christ, that unless God has predestined you to see it, you will
never see it. and let us not forget that in the
beginning of this study we saw where brother Branham said the three fold
revelation of the Mystery of Christ is first God was in Christ revealing
Himself to the world. second, he would come into His
church and use them to reveal himself to the world. and
third, to restore us back to that fellowship we had with him in the beginning
where we walked together and talked together like it was in the garden.
Let us pray