Christ is the Mystery no 190

Understanding Doctrine

Brian Kocourek, Pastor

 

This morning we will not be reviewing any particular sermons in this series but more explicitly we shall focus our thoughts on exactly what does it mean to understand doctrine. we take our text from Brother Branham's sermon, Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed and read from pp 191.

 

191 "Well," you say, "now wait a minute, Brother Branham, you're talking about the Old Testament." He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's the full revelation of God. If God ever says anything, He can never change it. He always magnifies it, not change it. The law was magnified, not changed: magnified. "Whosoever commits adultery shall be guilty of death, but whosoever now (magnified) looks upon a woman to lust after her..." He never changed the commandment; He magnified it. "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy," one day in the week. Now He magnified it. The rest comes from keeping the Spirit of God. "Precept upon precept, and line upon line, here a little and there a little; hold fast to that what's good, for with stammering lips and other tongues will I speak to this people. And that is the rest. That's the refreshing from the Presence of the Lord. And yet they would not hear it," and wagged their heads, and walked away to their denominations. Uh-huh. This is the refreshing (See?), magnifying the Sabbath day, to you Sabbatarians and so forth. Oh, my. He don't change; He magnifies it. Hell has spread her gates to receive them.


Now, don't forget that thought because we are going to have to come back to it, if we are to understand what it takes to understand the doctrine. Because if you add one word or take away one word that changes the meaning you can only do that because you do not have a correct understanding of the doctrine.

 

Now, the Scripture that brother Branham is referring to in this paragraph 191 is from Isaiah chapter 28.

 

Isaiah 28: 9-13  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to  understand doctrine?

 

These words are very applicable to this hour because the people just do not seem to grasp the doctrine of Christ correctly, even among those who say they believe their is one God who had a Son. But notice, God is saying here "who can I get to understand doctrine?"  So there's a question mark. He says,  "to them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts?"

 

Notice another question here. He is inferring here that these people are incapable of understanding. Then what does that tell us about this hour when we have people who have sat under a vindicated prophet and an anointed teacher and still don't understand the doctrine.  

 

In fact the Apostle Paul told us it was not to be fulfilled in his age either, because he said in Hebrews 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13  For every one that uses milk is un-skilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.  14  But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

 

So then the understanding of the doctrine could only come in an age when the Elect have come to full maturity that can only come from a Full and complete Word. When that which is perfect has come then that which is in part is done away with. 1 Cor 13:10

 

Now, in getting back to Isaiah 28 we will pick up at verse 10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 

 

Now a precept is: a command or principle intended especially as a general rule of action. And notice He said, For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept...

 

Not precept then we change the precept and give you a different precept. But He said,  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept...

 

As brother Branham said, If God ever says anything, He can never change it. He always magnifies it, not change it. The law was magnified, not changed: magnified.

 

And that means that line shall be upon line, line upon line. In other words, if I write the Words out on a line, and I echo them, I must write the same words on top of the other words that are already written. Line up on line. Precept up on precept.

 

I can not say in one place Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, And then preach that there are two or three Lords.

 

I can not say Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him and said, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And then tell you that I am teaching the Doctrine of Christ and tell you there are two Lords or Three Lords as the Trinitarians teach. That would not be line on top of line, and precept on top of precept. The precept is, "There is One Lord". And to teach Two Lords is not in line with the precept. That is why brother Vayle in Godhead number 7, called the teaching of Two Lords a fallacy. He said, "You know, people don't understand about two lords. Well I'm going to tell you about two lords. Two Lords is actually a fallacy." And then he said, "That's why It says in Ephesians, "one lord." But people, they can't think for themselves. They just don't know, when the word... "Oh, Vayle's preaching two Gods." You know, Paul said, "Stupidity only requires one answer-stay stupid." That's Lee Vayle. Paul said "ignorant."

 

So when brother Vayle corrected the error concerning those who were teaching a "Two Lords" doctrine, he said people are just going to stay ignorant because they just can't think for themselves.  And that about sums it up. And he called it a fallacy, and the word fallacy means: a wrong belief: a false or mistaken idea: the quality of being false or wrong. So if it's wrong and they still preach it after being told it is wrong, what can I say?

So we are talking about the principles of the doctrine of Christ, and notice that the sole purpose for these principles are for the general rule of action or conduct. But what if our doctrine brings forth no action? And how can it if it is not based upon previously taught precepts. because precept must be upon precept and line upon line in order for it all to line up correctly.

 

And that is why wrong doctrine can bring forth no action. Therefore if no action results from the doctrine then either one of two things exist.

 

1) Your doctrine has no life

2) You do not understand the doctrine itself, because the precepts of the doctrine or principles of the doctrine are supposed to produce an action, for that is their sole purpose.

 

Then we are told in verse 11  For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people.  Now, what is another tongue except it is another language. So we have a promise here that at the time of adulthood, when the children of God are grown up and ready to receive the Doctrine, there will come  one speaking another language than what the people of God knew at that time. A language that is not common to man, but a language that will bring with it the rest that comes from the presence of the Lord. Because it will line up precept upon precept and it will line up line upon line. And this will bring the rest, for as brother Branham knocked seven times on the pulpit and said there is relaxation under the seventh seal, so there must come a final rest for the believer in Christ and His Word, and that rest comes from the fact that the He, God will come down with a Shout, A Message, and speak to the people in a language that the scholars do not understand, nor the theologians, but the Elect Seed of God shall understand and they shall find rest in that Voice that Speaks from heaven in the form of a shout.

 

12  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

 

So even though this one who will come from the very Presence of the Lord will come with words or basically a Message, and that in a language they are not accustomed to hear, those Words are supposed to bring rest, because He that brings them is our rest, and yet the people will not hear them. They will not understand what is said. Because hear means to understand.

 

Hear recognize act on word 60-0221 P:18 First, faith cometh by hearing, hearing of the Word of God. Then the believer hears It, recognizes It, and acts on It. The carnal man will hear It, the sound of It, but never... "Hear" means to "understand" It. Look at, is looking at something; but to see it, is to "understand" it. "Except a man be borned again, he cannot see or understand the Kingdom of God."

 

If people will not hear or understand the words that bring rest, then they are not at rest and can not be, and they will always be looking for something else.

 

NIV Isaiah 28:11 but they would not listen, so then, the Word of the Lord to them will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there - so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured.


Again, let me read this also from the New American Standard  Here is repose," but they would not listen. So the Word of the Lord to them will become, "Order on order, order on ¨order, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little here," That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snare, and taken captive.


In other words God comes down with a Shout, a Message, and the people will not stop to listen, and not only that, but they will not take what the Scripture says, the precept, and place the message upon that precept. So the Message to them becomes just a bunch of conduct, order, and doctrine. And the very purpose of the Shout is to bring rest and relaxation under the Seventh Seal. And rest comes from total trust, and thus because there is a lack of trust that this vindicated Word says the same thing as the precepts of the Bible, and because they can not take a line from the Message and place it on top of a line from the Bible, that the two seems to be at odds, when they are not. It is just the people have not been trained to know their Bibles, and so when they hear the message they think it is a new Message, when God came to restore that Word which the palmer worm and locust denominational spirits ate away through the ages.

 

God did not come to bring a new message, He came to restore the Message Paul brought.

 

Even Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 1:10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. And this same Apostle Paul who said His testimony would be believed in the day when God would come to be glorified in His Saint,  in other words the endoxazo in doxa, Zoe, The opinions, and values magnified in the Zoe, the Life of the saints. And in that day he said, he said, is when they will finally believe what I have been teaching.

 

Now, this is the same Apostle who said in Galatians 1:6 "If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."

 

"If any man does not line up precept with precept, and line with line, let him be accursed".

 

Therefore it is imperative that the very first principle in understanding the doctrine of Christ is that we must line up precept with precept, and line with line if we are to understand the doctrine correctly. And those who do not do so, will not understand the doctrine at all and they will therefore produce a very mixed up understanding, and this will cause them to go and fall back into what they came out of, just like Israel because they did not understand the message of their day wanted to go back to Egypt where they came out of.

 

"So the Word of the Lord to them will become, "Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little here," That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snare, and taken captive.

 

Did you ever stop to think what takes them captive here? It's because they did not receive the life of the doctrine, so the doctrine becomes to them just more rules on top of  rules, and more church order on top of church order, until the people completely fall away from the Doctrine that was sent to bring them rest, assurance and trust.

Instead of being set free by the Life in the Doctrine, they become ensnared and are taken captive by the rules of men instead. So the same Word, the same Message that was sent to free a people, to bring them rest is the same Message that will ensnare them and make them captives.

 

That is what we read in 1 Timothy 4.  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly(that means the Spirit speaks for the expressed  purpose) that in the latter times some shall depart from The faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;  

 

Now, is not just departing from faith in general, but from THE Faith, and he said there is only One Faith, and that is the faith of that One Lord. In other words, the revelation of Jesus Christ. So in departing from The Faith they must also depart from The One Lord.

 

From his sermon, Earnestly contending for the faith 55-0123E P:2 The faith, not "a" faith, but "The" faith, .. .Now, many people say, "Well, I would go down to that meeting, but it's against my faith." There's only one faith: one faith, one hope, one Lord, one baptism. You believe it? One faith, and that faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

So we are warned that at the end time some shall depart from The Faith. Now, listen they had to be in The Faith, or as brother Branham put it, they had to have "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, in order to fall away from it. So the question is, what will take them away from the Faith of Christ, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, The Doctrine of Christ. What will take them away from the Doctrine?

 

We are told in verse 2. they will Speak lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;  

 

Now, what does that mean? It means they know better but they say something other than what the precept said anyway. They will say it one way, but when they are pressured by others they will say it a different way than what they said it the first time. So they are liars but they actually know better. And a hypocrite is a stage actor, one who plays with different masks on.

 

So when he talks to you he's your friend, and when he talks to your enemy he's not your friend, and with these kind you never know where they stand. And the political world is full of them, and so are the churches.

 

And so Paul now tells us what it will be that they will turn to when they turn away from the Doctrine. He says, 3. Forbidding to marry, (splitting up people who were joined by God where the vow says, What God put together let no man put asunder.) Threatening spouses that if they do not believe it my way they do not believe it at all, and therefore we can not stay together which is totally against what the Apostle Paul said, when he said, "if the unbelieving spouse wishes to remain with the believing spouse they can be sanctified by remaining together." But they do not care what Paul said, because they can not place precept upon precept, and so they hear something they think is new and they depart from the original precept, which is antichrist to do so.

 

Notice Paul says this will take place at the end time. They will fall away from The Faith, The Revelation, The Doctrine of Christ, and when they do they will turn to things like abstaining from eating meats.

 

And notice in the reading of 1 Timothy 4 he tells us they will preach these false doctrines because they will depart from THE FAITH. So they have to be in The FAITH to depart from it.

 

In Isaiah 29: 8-9 we read8  It shall even be as when an hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats in his dream; but when he awaken, his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreams, and in his dream he drinks; but when he awakens behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite:

 

Now, let's continue to read in Isaiah 29:9  Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.  10  For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. 11  And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:  12  And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. 13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

 

NIV verse 13 ..."Their worship of Me is made up only of rules taught by men."


New American Standard Their reverence for me consists of tradition learned by rote,"


Amplified " Their fear and reverence for Me are a commandment of men that is learned by repetition (without any thought of the meaning);" 

 

And so no matter how well they were taught it will all become as though they had never been instructed in the first place.

 

14  Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men (teachers) shall be hid. 15  Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?16  Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? 17  Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? 18  And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. 19  The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel 
 
Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed   "Now, you can see now the end time Message, why It's rejected. Can you? Now, no denomination, but the revelation of His mystery. See? No denomination, the revelation. God's not known by denomination. He's known by revelation. Look, God in His Body, Christ, and Christ in His Body, the Bride (Oh, my.) God made manifest in Christ; Christ made manifest in the Bride. And as God took from the body of Adam the woman and she fell, then God has took from the Body of Christ, His flesh, His Body, which is His Word, and is bringing a Bride out that won't fall by denomination or creed. No, sir. But She's coming back to the pure unadulterated Word of God being manifested. I hope every man that hears this tape and every woman will understand that. See? She's the second Eve, but She's not breaking and spoiling Her skirts of purity and holiness to Her Husband. She'll stay with this Word regardless of what anybody says. You can have all the ecumenical moves you want to and all the affiliations.


  193   And they're going to bring a persecution on pretty soon and shut up all the churches. You see that. And churches like this who's not in denominations, they'll use them for storehouses then. And if any man goes and offer a prayer for anybody else that don't belong to the economical movement will be shot on the spot. It's already. That Lutheran minister, the head of it, said so. It's right here. You can read it right here in your magazines. It's right. Don't make any difference what they say; that Church will stand true in this Light. She's already proved it back yonder, and She'll do it again in the face of everything. It's the Word of God. And let all ecumenical movements and everything else will be gone. She's going to be there without spot or wrinkle. Right. She'll stand there."

 

Now we hear Jesus speak of knowing a man by his fruits, in the book of Matthew 7:15-20. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16  Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.20  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

 

Now, what does He mean by this? You will know Him by his fruits?

 

William Branham taught us what the fruit is in The Anointed ones at the end time. 65-0725M  P:42 He said,  "What is the fruit? The Word for,  the fruit for the season; that's what it is, their teaching. The teaching of what? The teaching of the season, what time it is, man's doctrine, denominational doctrine, or God's Word for the season."

 

Closer examination of this scripture, allows us to see that you will be able to tell who and what a man is by his fruit, his teaching, what he teaches. Does he have precept lined up with precept and line lined up with line? Is he able to take the Message back to the Bible and line up what the Scripture says with what the End-time Message of God tells us? can he show us from the Scripture what the message says? Is he lining up the principles and precepts, and line of the Scripture with Line of the Message?

 

Or is his teaching scrambled and all over the place. Therefore it is the fruit, what they teach that identifies and declares the man. Now remember, he begins by warning us about false prophets. And he calls them wolves in sheep’s clothing, but then talks about their fruit. He's using metaphors to get a point across. We must ask ourselves what is a teaching but the very thoughts of this person made known through words.

Therefore if we break down this thought of what a man’s fruit is, we find that it is his thoughts, what he is thinking. And we find a righteous man will have righteous thoughts, which are rightly wise thoughts or correct thoughts for the season he lives in. Or better said, A righteous man will have thoughts that are a correct match for the season.

 

And that is why John 14:12 is so important for this season of adoption. John 14:12 is not the Sign of Messiah. Hebrews 4:12 is the Sign of Messiah. "The Word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." And that is the Sign of the Messiah, because that is the Sign of God the Word, who is the Messiah, the Saviour, and there is no Saviour outside of God.

 

Isaiah 43:11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

 

Hosea 13:4 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.

 

Jesus Christ the same 61-0118 P:68 The elected church, not the lukewarm (They got theirs.), but the elected, called out church... Can you read between the lines? See? Called out Church will receive that sign, and that was the sign of the Messiah. It's the sign of the Messiah among us. We're not Messiah, but the Messiah lives in us which "Messiah" means "the Anointed One," and it's got to anoint all of us. If it anoints one with a sign, and the other one doesn't believe it, what good would it do? It's got to be all of us together. And together, if Jesus Christ will appear here tonight and do the same Messiahic signs that He did back there before the Jew and the Samaritan, would you receive Him as your Saviour and as your Healer? Would you? That's a big statement. Receive Him as your Saviour. Now, remember He cannot heal. His first thing, He wants you to believe it.

 

Abraham's grace covenant 61-0317 P:59 Notice, He changed his name, and then give him a sign that the end was at hand. Abraham then went out, set one hot morning in the tent door, about up around noontime, and he looked and he saw three Men coming. And Abraham knew that there was something strange about them, so... run out... Somebody said the other day, a converted Jew, said that them three men was Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Nonsense. He didn't say, "My Lords." as a heathen, he said, "My Lord." Lot was the one called the two Angels, "Lords." The backslider down there, shows exactly where that same class lives today, make God four or five different people. God's one God. Right. "My Lord," said Abraham. Lot said, "My lords." for two of them, but there's three of them there. And Abraham recognized that there's one God in them. "My Lord." Look at it. And remember, it wasn't little "lord" here, it was Elohim, "My Lord." Elohim, Jehovah, walked up to the tent. Oh, listen to this. Everybody was trembling. And the first thing you know, first thing you know they set there and started a conversation. (Wish I had time to just stress it. You just read it in the 18th chapter.)

 

Be not afraid 60-0609 P:25 But Abraham, the elect, there was an Angel stopped with him too and performed the very same sign that Jesus did, the sign of the Messiah. He never had seen that... Abraham, he was a stranger. The two angels was going on into Sodom. But he set with his back to the tent. And he said, "Abraham, where is your wife, Sarah?" How did he know that he was married? How did He know he had a wife? How did He know her name was Sarah? Abraham said, "She's in the tent behind you." He said, "Abraham, I ('I,' a personal pronoun), I'm going to visit you according to the time of life. And this child that you've held on to my promise, I'm going to see that it's born." And Sarah back behind him, back behind the flap of the tent, kind of sniggered, we'd call it, went...?... in herself; she laughed within her heart. And that angel said, "Why did Sarah laugh?" Hallelujah! "Why did Sarah laugh in the tent behind me?" What kind of a telepathy is that? What kind of a sign was that? It was a sign for the people to flee quickly, because this thing was going to burn up.

 

And from his sermon, Micaiah the prophet 61-0426 P:66 Well, if that was sign of Messiah yesterday, then... You can't find one Scripture where He did that before the Gentiles, or to the Gentiles, now, 'cause the Gospel hadn't yet gone to the Gentiles. But He did promise that at the end of the Gentile age, when the Gentiles now are looking for a Messiah... Are we? Well, then, if He appears in a different form than He did then, then it isn't the same Messiah. So He's got to come to the Gentiles in the same thing. And Jesus said He would. Said, "As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man." And we find out that when the Lord came down in human flesh before Abraham, the elected church... When a modern Billy Graham and them went down and preached down in Sodom down there, to bring Lot and the church down there out... But to the elect bunch, the Angel set with His back turned to the tent and told what Sarah was doing in the tent. Is that right? And Jesus said the same thing would take place just before the coming of the Son of man.

 

So we see that the sign of Messiah was to be displayed before us before the return of Jesus Christ the Son of God which we call the second coming of Christ.

 

Now, people get this sign of Messiah mixed up with John 14:12, and it is not John 14:12.

The sign of Messiah is the sign of the Word itself in our midst, which is Hebrews 4:12. The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than a two edged sword, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."  That's your sign of Messiah.

 

Visions are not the sign of Messiah, because God promised us through the prophet Joel that He would pour out His spirit upon all flesh, and the young men would see visions and the old men would dream dreams. So visions are not the sign of Messiah. And healing is not the sign of Messiah, for even Judas went forth with a healing ministry. And miracles are not the sign of Messiah, because 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that miracles are gifts to the church.

 

1 Corinthians 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5  And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. (that's Lord singular) 6  And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 7  But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8  For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9  To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10  To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11  But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 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. 14  For the body is not one member, but many.

 

So we see, miracles, and healing, and even Word of Knowledge, and discerning of spirits are not the Messiac Sign. And Hebrews 4:12 is not discerning of spirits, it is discerning the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. That is much greater than to discern a persons spirit whether they are Christian or not. Hebrews 4:12 is the Word of God made manifest.

 

In fact brother Branham said, "I can talk to a man for three minutes and tell whether He has the Holy ghost or not, and you can too." So here he is not talking about reading the thoughts and intents of the hearts, here he is talking about what spirit motivates a person.

 

But Hebrews 4:12 speaks of knowing the very thoughts and intents of the heart.

 

But John 14:12 is not Hebrews 4:12 because for one, it is not a work, and John 14:12 is a work, an action, something that is done. Hebrews 4:12 is the Word of God Itself.

 

John 14:12 however is essentially being so full of the same Life that was in Christ that you think His thoughts, and thinking his thoughts, you say what he says and you do what he does. That is it in a nutshell. If the Spirit of Jesus Christ is in you, it will quicken your mortal body and that is this body that you are now living in.

 

And if we are to be conformed to the image of the first born son in this hour, we must have his mind in order to think his thoughts in order to say what he says, in order to do what he does. Other wise we are not conformed to His image, but we are doing and saying and acting according to our own mind, our own thoughts. And that will get you nowhere with God real quick.

 

Those who were Elect in Moses day did not look to Noah’s Message for the bread of life in their day. They received Moses Message in Moses day.

 

In Jesus day, those who were looking to Moses message missed Him when He came, and yet Moses said how he would come. He said, the lord thy God shall raise up unto Thee a prophet from the midst of Thy brethren like unto me, and this is the guy you must hear."  But did they believe Moses? No way. Oh they fussed about what he said, and were so tight in their circles that if you believed what Moses said in a way they didn't believe they wanted to put you out of the synagogue.

 

They had spent hundreds of years trying to figure out precept upon precept and line upon line of what Moses and the prophets wrote, and when Jesus came quoting line upon line, and precept upon precept, and identified as a prophet by doing the sign of a prophet, and vindicated by God,  they turned him down flat because he wasn't in their camp.

 

They went plumb into legalism and the law instead of listening to how Jesus weaved the Law and prophets together to bring forth a Message of rest, hope and Life.  

He taught precept lined up with precept and line laid up upon line. But because their doctrine and their creeds were already established in their own minds by what they thought the law and prophets taught they missed the Messiah when he came.

 

The very God they claimed to worship was in their midst and they knew it not. And cast aside the man Jesus in Whom God used to openly declare Himself to the people.

 

And so unless line is upon line, and precept is upon precept, you will have no clue as to what this message is all about, and you will die in your legalism, and self righteous creeds.

 

In closing, we see in Psalm 1 the righteous man, and how he keeps himself watered in the Word daily.

 

NIV Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked nor stand in the way that sinners take nor sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the Word of the Lord,  and who meditates upon his Word day and night. 3 That person is like a tree that is planted by streams of living water, and he yields his fruit in the right season and his leaf does not wither, in fact  whatever he does prospers. 4 Not so the wicked!  They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,  nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,  but the way of the wicked is left to himself and leads to destruction.

 

"For precept must be upon precept and line must be upon line. For this is the rest."

 

Let's bow our heads and our hearts in prayer.