Christ is the Mystery no. 51
The very Character of Christ expressed in you is
John
Brian Kocourek
This morning I would like to read some more from
brother Branham's sermon Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed and I
would like to begin reading from paragraph 140.
140
That's why they're blind, same as it was in the days Christ was on earth. Oh,
my. They stagger the same way. They said, "He's Beelzebub." They seen
He could do it, so they said, "He was born an illegitimate child,
and kind of a odd fellow. He's just got possessed with
some devil. He's a Samaritan over there, and he's got a devil in him. That's
how he does that."
Notice that brother Branham
is illustrating how the intellectual explains away the works of God that Jesus did which
works of God was His identification of what Seed He actually was. And if the
works of God identified the God-Life that was in Jesus Christ the son of God
back then, won't the works of God also identify what Seed is in you?
Oh, you say, "well, no
that's not right because only one person is to do those works." Now, if
you think those works are the discernment, you are right that no one else is to
do that, but you are absolutely wrong if you think the discernment is the works
of Christ that Jesus was talking about in John 14:12. The word "works"
that Jesus spoke here was was translated from the
Greek word "ergon" which means labor.
Discernment is not a labor,
it is a viewing, which is passive in it's nature. But
once you have viewed it as in a vision, or dream, and then you step into it and
do it, that is ergon.
So Jesus says if you truly
are a believer in me, then the works that I am doing you will also be doing,
because the evidence that you are a believer lies in the works you do. Remember
he told us, "by their fruits you shall know
them".
In fact Jesus told the
Pharisees that he doubted they were the children of Abraham because they did
not do the works of Abraham.
Turn with me to John
Now, what is Jesus saying here? He's
actually teaching from Genesis 1:11 that if every seed must bring forth after
the image of the original seed, then if you were seed of Abraham that would
mean you would live and act like Abraham lived and acted.
In fact in John
So in this instance Jesus is telling them
that the works that the father was doing in him at that moment was actually
speaking to them, and He tells them it is the father who is literally speaking
out from him because these are not my own words but the father who is speaking
out from me, they are his words. Then he says in verse 11 " Believe me that I am in the Father, and the
Father in me:" And if you can not believe my explanation then
"believe me for the very works' sake."
So we see here that the very works that are
being expressed through his very own vessel actually are identifying the life
or nature of the one who is living in Him and doing them.
Then he says in verse 12 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He
(and we know from the original he is actually
saying, "whosoever" or "whoever that") believes on me, the works that I do shall this
believer do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto
my Father."
So Jesus is telling us there is a way that we can be certain of
identifying those whoa re truly believers in Him. He tells us the works will
identify whether you are a believer or just a make-believer. But then he tells
us how this will come to pass. He let's us know that it is not what we can
produce but rather what is leading and guiding us that does it.
13 "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the
Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing
in my name, I will do it."
So Jesus is telling us that it is not us
that actually will be doing the works, but He will be doing them, just using
our body as a vessel or conduit to channel the work through.
Then he tells us in verse 15 "If ye love me, keep (or focus your attention on) my commandments."
Now, this word commandments comes from the
Greek word entellomai which means to enter
into the conclusion
of an act or state. In other words this
word "commandments" speaks of "the direction you are being led into
by him, and the end results or goal that he is directing you into.
As God said to Moses, Speak and go forward,
thus if Moses would have only spoken, nothing would have happened, but he had
to speak first and then walk into that water in order for the water to
separate. So too Jesus is saying that if you will follow his directive for you
in your life and step into that directive, and rest in that process, then your
end result will be the same end result that He ordained for you to come into.
Just like Jesus saying, "the Father worketh", that's the vision, that's the
commandment, "and the son worketh hitherto", that's the son's
obedience in order to bring about the fulfillment of the vision, which is
"the word expressed" or
"the word made manifest",
which means "the Word coming alive".
Then in John 5:36
Jesus explains, "But I have greater witness than that of John: for the
works which the Father hath given me to finish, (you see? That's
the commandment, that's the vision.) the same
works that I do, it is those works
that bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
Again notice that the works is the
identification of the Father's hand in what he is doing.
And then Jesus tells us in John
And then Jesus ties whether we should
believe the person not based on what they say, but what works they do, or what
expression is living itself out from that person.
John 10:37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
Now, let's put it this way... If you claim
to be a Christian and the Life of Christ is not living and expressing itself
through your vessel, then why should I believe your testimony? Christian means
Christ Like.
If you tell me that you are a mechanic and
you can't even change the oil in your car, don't tell me you are a mechanic,
because why should I believe your testimony when you can't produce results of
your testimony.
Again we read in John
Now, you might ask what is the first thing
we can do? Well, you have to believe first, that is
the first sign you are a believer is that you believe. John
Now, these boys who are fussing at William
Branham because he
got some dates mixed up don't realize they are proving themselves to be
unbelievers. Because the first sign you are a believer Jesus said is to believe
on Him whom God has sent. And they need to declare themselves whether they
believe God sent him or the devil sent him, and I predict they will come to the
conclusion that the devil was behind the works that he did. Because
they have already called him a liar and a false prophet.
And so we come to
paragraph 141 from Brother Branham's sermon, Christ is the
Mystery of God Revealed, and he says, "Jesus said,
"I'll forgive you for that."
See, calling the Word of God, the works of God an evil spirit, He said,
"I forgive you for that, but someday the Holy Ghost will come,
and one word against It will never be forgiven, neither in this world or the
world that is to come (or that great day); it
will not be forgiven." So you see, that's written plain in
the Scripture; so when people come to that day, no matter how intellectual,
how big a denomination they belong to, it's condemned; they have to be. They've
blasphemed the Holy Ghost, calling it holy-roller and something another
that has an un-tasty name or something like that. And God's Church had
to bear it all the time.
142
Even Paul before Agrippa said, "In the way that's called heresy
(which means crazy), that's the way I worship the God of our
Father." That great intellectual scholar had
to come to that place in the way that's called heresy. Why? It was revealed
to him. That Pillar of Fire hanging before said, "I'm
Jesus, the great God that was in the wilderness yonder with Moses; I am He. And
it's hard for you to kick against the pricks." Then Paul standing
there knew that the life was laying at stake, he said,
"The way that's called heresy, that's the way I worship the
God of our fathers." It was called that, because to him
what the great truth of Christ was. And today people say, "It's
a denomination."(no it's not...) It's
Jesus Christ, the new birth revealed in you that He has the preeminences, that He might express His Words.
And anything that He's promised in this last days,
He can bring it to pass through His Body as He's working.
Amen. It's just exactly the Word of God made manifest.
Now, what is brother Branham saying here? Notice he says, The new birth
revealed IN you that you have come to the place where He has the total
preeminence in your life until you come to the place where he might express His
Words or anything that He has promised for these last days, that he can bring
those things to pass through His Body that He's working through. That is how
God manifests His Word to be alive, because it is alive to you and living
though you. Now, that brothers and sisters is a great revelation.
Now, let's read from
paragraph 143 Notice.
All right, same as in the days of Christ... God holds the key to this
revelation of Christ Himself.
Now, what's he saying here?
he's saying you can't be taught this as hard as he was
trying to get this across to you. But this revelation is not an intellectual
understanding, it's an event and that event is taking place in you. Remember,
revelation means to manifest that which was hidden, so we are talking about
manifestation or expression here. God expressing Himself in
and through you. And he can't do that until he has the preeminence in
you.
Your Life in Christ, the Christian life, cannot be explained in any other way than to
say it is Christ himself living that life out of your vessel. If you as a professing
Christian can define your life in terms of you - your personality, your
willpower, your gifts, your talents, your finances, your courage, your own scholarship,
your own dedication, your own sacrifice, or your own anything - then although
you may profess to live Christian life, you are not living it! ...The word
Christian means Christ like, and that means that you are absent and Christ is
preeminent. How do you explain a Christian? You see Jesus.
How do you claim to be Christian? Not I got a little gift and nobody
wants it, but Christ has allowed me to die to self, and He has taken over this
body. I have loaned it to him, given it to him, that
he might get out of it whatever He chooses to do with it. When you have come to
that point then you have died to self, and Christ has been born into your being
and has the preeminence in your life, because it is not longer your life but
His life.
The Apostle Paul said in
Galatians 2:20 20 I am crucified
with Christ: (Not I once was
crucified with Christ, But I am dead to myself, I have crucified myself along
with Christ, and crucifixion is not an easy death, and this death that I have
died to myself is a most unpleasant thing, it is a most painful dying process,
nevertheless, I am dead to myself) Yet I am still
living; yet it is not I that is living in this body, but actually it is Christ who
now lives in me: and the life which I am now living in the body of this flesh,
I am living by the faith (the revelation) of the Son of God, (who also learned to die to his own self,
and let God use His body for whatever purpose God so chose to do in it, and I
know so, because I know) who loved me, and gave
himself for me. And he could not have done that without dying to
himself and his own desires and allowing the Life of His Father to take over
control of that body to bleed and die for my sins.
Now, remember, we had just
read where brother Branham said theology could never teach you this dying to
self, and this coming alive as Christ occupies your vessel instead of you
occupying it. And so he then says, "You believe that? Schools
of theology can never find it. Jesus said so (if you want to read it
now) in St. Matthew
Oh, brothers and sisters, you can't get this under theology, he said
God alone holds this key, so if you want it, then you can do just one thing and
that is die to yourself, and let God who holds the key come in and live it for
you.
144
He expressed the same thing in a previous Scripture awhile ago when I read it,
when He said, "Who does man say I the Son of man am?"
And Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living
God." He said, "Blessed
art thou Simon, the son of Jonas. Flesh and blood never revealed this to you.
My Father which is in heaven... Upon this revelation here alone, I'll build My
Church. The gates of hell will never prevail against it."
See?
Flesh and blood never
revealed this to you, you never got it from a school of the prophets, you never
got it from a teacher, or professor, or some man who could really teach, no,
no, no, that's not how you get it. You got to go to God to get this what he's
talking about here. You can't get it from listening to tapes,
you can't get this from some Friday night talk session. You're not going to get
it from paying attention in church. No, no, no, that ain't
how you get this. You get it by going to God to get it, and you can not
approach God and live. Jesus said, no man can approach God and live, so then
how you going to get it? You got to die first and then approach God as a dead
man to get this new life in you, his life.
Look, God is the author of
Life, he doesn't kill. God ain't going to kill you,
you've got to kill yourself first, and then as an empty vessel with no money,
with no ambition, with no talent, with no personality, with no position, with
no motives with no objectives, you've got to come to him empty, so He might
fill that empty vessel with His Life, His Character, His talents, His gifts,
His purpose and His motives and His objectives.
You know we sing that song, "Nothing in my arms I bring,
simply to thy cross I cling."
That is why brother Branham
said in paragraph 145 Now.
You see? So therefore, there's no school, no theologian, no
teachings of the Bible, among any school that knows anything about it. They
cannot know nothing about it. It's impossible for them
to know anything about it. God has hid the senses of knowing it from the very elected teachers and everything else. It's a
personal, individual affair with the person that Christ is revealed to them.
And if you say, "He has been revealed to me," and then the Life
that Christ produced here in the Bible (that same Life that was in Him) does
not produce Itself in you, then you got the wrong
revelation.
Oh, brothers and sisters, can't you see
this is what I have been trying to get across to you for the past 7 years? Not
theology, not how well you can explain it, but have you died to self,
completely died to self so that Christ can live your life for you.
Take a good look in the
mirror. Especially you sisters who want to dress as close to border line as you
can. Take a good look at your soul my brothers, my sisters. Do you see Jesus
Christ living out your life for you? Or do you still resist him in your shoes,
and your dress length, or your choice of what you watch on the screen?
Brother Branham said in his sermon called, Life 58-0512 P:8 "Now, the Christian church should have real character then.
And if the Life of Christ is in the
Brother Branham also said in his sermon, Identified Christ of all ages 64-0401 P:11
And so Divine healing, the main thing
is Divine healing of the soul. The Body of Christ, it needs healing worse than
anything that I know of, is the Body of Christ. It's been so broken up by man's
theology and denominational differences until it's a sick body. And I tell you,
it needs healing, great healing.
And so in closing let's
read from paragraph 146 where brother Branham said,
"If I put a life of a pumpkin into the life of a pear tree, it would
bear pumpkins. "By their fruits you shall know
them." It's exactly right. And if the first you put a tree (a grape
vine), and it put out a bunch of grapes (the first shoot it put out, brought
grapes), the next one brought out lemons, the next one brought out pears, the
next one brought out apples, there's some kind of a grafted affair in there that's
bearing its own life. Every denomination will bear a life of itself. But if
that original vine ever puts out another shoot, it'll bear grapes like it did
the first time. And if the life, the Life of Jesus Christ ever puts out
another body of believers, it'll bear the fruit that the first one
did; they'll write a Book of Acts behind it, 'cause it'll be the same, the
same Life. See, what I mean? You just can't get away from it.
It's the Life of Christ in you, been injected in you by the
Holy Spirit Itself, living Its Life through you. Blind
leaders of the blind...
Isn't
that exactly what I've been preaching all these years? Then why don't we see
the results? Because you just don't want to die. Your idea is "Jesus and
Me", and that won't work, it's got to be Jesus alone. Christ in you is
your hope of Glory? Not Jesus and me, no, no, no. Jesus alone, that's what will
do it. That's what will bring about the change of the body. Christ alone.
The Apostle Paul said in Colossians 3:3 For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. That's the key to the kingdom right there. That's the key to eternal
life.
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; fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Now, notice in paragraph 147 brother Branham said,
"Notice, God holds this key alone. No theologian can tell you.
It's not known; it's hid from them. They know nothing about it. So the
schools... "Well," you say, "I got a Ph. LL.D." You only
make... To me and I believe unto God and to any real, true believer, that means
you're just that much farther away; you just backed off. God is not known by
education; He's not known by how to explain it. God is known by
simplicity and of revelation of Jesus Christ in the most
illiterate person. See? Not your theology; it's a revelation of
Jesus Christ. "Upon this rock, I'll build My Church."
No other rock's accepted; no other thing's accepted; no other Roman
rock; no other Protestant rock; no other school; no other nothing; but on
exactly the revelation of Jesus Christ in a new birth. He is born
in there and injects His own Life, and
your life is gone, and the Life of Christ is projecting Itself
through you with the preeminence's to the people that they see the very
Life, and works, and signs and wonders that He did is doing the same thing through
you. Outside of that, the rest of it's not even called to at all.
Therefore, what we have been trying to get
across to the people is that John
From his sermon, God
identifying Himself 64-0320 P:33 Brother
Branham said, "The
pouring out of the Holy Ghost in the last days upon the common people has
identified God's characteristic with the people. He promised it. It's
the Word. He said He'd do it. Nobody can take it back. He said He would do
it. So all these things that He's promised, that's what He does. It
identifies His characteristic. Yes, sir. "Don't believe it, don't believe My claims, if My characteristic
isn't that of God." Now, notice in John 14:12, "He
that believeth on Me,"
He said, "has My identification, My characteristic. He that believeth on Me, the works
that I do shall he do also." That
identifies that the character of Christ is in him, displaying the
characteristics of Him. Amen.
So there you have it brothers and sisters. When
we come to the place that God allows our lives to express the works of Christ
which is John
And notice he said if our life doesn't express what we profess then we
don't have to believe that person.
From God's gifts always find place 63-1222
P:36 brother Branham said, "Notice now, we find that if
He identified... The works that He did
identified that He was Deity,
showed that He was. For He said, "If I do not the works of My Father, then
don't believe Me." And could not the Christian say today, "If I do not the works of my
Savior, believe me not"? See?" As the Father sent Me, so send I you." And if you did the works, creation works of the Father that sent Him, then
it's a creation... The Christ the Creator that sends us, does the works of
Christ the Creator. See? "As the Father sent Me,
so send I you. And if I do not the works of My Father, believe
me not." Then the
Christian today has got to do the Life that Christ did or we have a right to
say, "It's not so."
Now, you may say, the creation was greater works, and that only applied
to william Branham. Now,
hold on there, that's not so. Br. Bosworth had creation in his ministry as
well. Did not br. Vayle
tells us seberal times that Br. Bosworth looked
forward to having people with no ear drums come into his prayer line, because
God gave him a certain anointing where people who had no rear drums received
eardrums after his prayers? And we saw with brother Branham the little girl in
Man can't do that but God the creator sure can.
And from his sermon, The Fundamental Foundation for Faith 1953 brother
Branham said, "Now, if we
could throw yourself completely to
God and to His will and be lost to our
own thoughts, and just let
the mind of Christ be in us,
them same operations of the Spirit
would work through us just as
the natural things does, just the same thing.
And from his sermon, Stature of
a perfect man 62-1014M P:60 he said, "And
now, we're supposed to do His work.
He said, "He that believeth on Me..."
(
So it is not a matter of how hard you try to
do the works of God, unless you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in
God you might as well forget it. All you need to do is learn to die to
yourself. Let us pray...