Christ is the Mystery no. 52
The Revelation of Christ in you is the life of Christ
expressed
January 6, 2013
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
147-148.
147 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 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 preeminences 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.
Now, I think we need to read
that over again, so we don't let what he said slip by.
Notice brother Branham says,
the
revelation of Jesus Christ in a new birth.
Ok so we are looking at what
he is going to talk about here. He is talking about the Revelation of Jesus
Christ in the new birth. Then he says, He (who is he? He's talking about the life of Christ, that's who. And
notice what He says about Christ. He says, )He born in there
and injects His own Life, and your life is gone,
Whoa now, hold on there!
What was that he just said? He said Christ Jesus, His very own Life has been injected into
the believer and He, Christ is born into your vessel. And on top of all that, he
says and your
own life is gone.
And how does he say we
receive this injection
of Christ -Life into our vessel in order for that injected Life to come to birth in
our vessel? He says God injects it by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
So think in terms of the
revelation of Jesus Christ as being an inoculation. God takes His Word which is sharper than any
two edged sword and injects into you the very life of His
own Son. And it comes by receiving the revelation of Jesus Christ. And remember
we have shown you that the word "revelation" means manifestation of
Divine truth. In other words revelation is not an intellectual affair, but a
Divine truth in manifestation or expression. Therefore it must express itself
in order for it to be revealed to you.
And brother Branham says, He (Christ's very own Life) born
in there (in where? in you) and injects His own Life (injects his own life where?
In you) , and your life
is gone, (it is not you and Jesus, it is Jesus alone.)
As we read last Sunday that
Paul said in Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Now, when Paul tells us that
our life is hid with Christ the word hid was translated from a Greek word that means to hide by covering,
hidden as though covered. So Christ Jesus, His own Life expressed in your hides
your own life that was born in sin, shaped in iniquity and came to the world
speaking lies. Then it is not just as though we join up with Jesus but it
actually means this union with Christ takes you out of the way, and brings his
life into the preeminent position and expression in your being.
And after all, he said 3 For ye are dead, and if you are dead then what kind of an expression does a dead man
have? A dead man doesn't retaliate does he? Dead horses don't kick, and dead
men don't fight back. Then if you want to know if you are truly dead to self
and your life is covered over by Jesus Christ, give yourself the Word test.
(3) Ye are dead, and your life is hid (covered) with Christ in God. And if your life is covered with Christ it is
because you have put on Christ. And who is Christ? He is the Word.
Galatians 3:27 For as many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Then he says, 4 When Christ, who is
our life, shall appear, (Shall phaneroo, which means to manifest in ones true identity) then shall ye also appear (phaneroo to manifest in your true identity) with him in glory. With him in doxa, with him in the same opinion, with
him in the same values, and with the same judgments. Mortify therefore your
members (See? That means 'kill', 'put to death', 'crucify'. What?) fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.(Notice what he said about 'covetness'-it's idolatry-worshipping money. See?
6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the
children of disobedience:
7 In the which also you walked
sometime, when you lived in them.
8 But now you put off all these
things: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication.
"What is that a sign of, brother/sister? It's a sign
of when those things come against us, we're dead to them…let them come. We
don't get mad anymore…why? Just take it and let it come. See? Get it out of the
way. See?" LV
9 Lie not to one another, seeing that you put off the old
man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him That created him.
Notice n these verses we
read where Paul shows us how to die to self. Now that we have died to self, and
our life is gone, as brother Branham said, Paul then teaches us what the Life
of Christ living in us will do... 13 Forbearing
one another, forgiving one another.
If any man have a quarrel
against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do to them.
So what is that? That's the
cross of Christ! Where Paul said I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I am
living. That's not a man saying, "Well, I'm going to get back at that guy, because he did
me..." no, no , no. You are dead and your life is hid with christ, covered over by the life
of Christ, and the life you are now living in this body is not your life, but
Christ’s life projecting itself out from your vessel. And that is what brother
Branham said next...
“and the Life
of Christ is projecting Itself through you with the preeminences
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.
Now, the word “project” that brother Branham used here
means “to
reproduce outwardly,” or “to
display outwardly”.
So what we are looking at
here is a life that covers over your own life and this new life projects itself
out from your vessel like a projector projects what is on the film outwardly
for all to see, and the whole purpose of the projecting of what is on the film
is to make visible to all what is hidden within the projector.
That is why Jesus said in John 12:36 that
we are the children of the light and we are like a light on a hill projecting
forth that light that is in us for all to see.
In Matthew 5:14 Jesus
said, “You are the light
of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do
they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand,
and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Now, what are these good
works that men are to see that they may Glorify God in what they see? well Jesus said in verse 3.
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.You know I never knew what before how
you could be poor in spirit and be called blessed, until I found that the less
I have of me, the more room I have for Christ in me my hope of glory.
So what Jesus is
saying here is that "You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope and have nothing left
to offer, for With less of you there is more of God..
In other words, when you have finally died to
yourself, and your life is covered by Christ there is
nothing left for you to show the world of yourself, and the only thing you have
worth showing the world is Christ Himself who gives you the victory.
Notice
the second place to find ourselves blessed. Jesus says in verse 4 Blessed are they that mourn:
for they shall be comforted. Let's read that this way... 4 “You’re blessed when
you've finally come to the place where you’ve lost what you thought was most
dear to you, yourself, Only to find you now reflect the One most dear to
you.
Did not God promise to turn our
mourning into joy? Well that's how He does it.
Our third blessing comes with these words, 5 Blessed are the meek (that's the humble): for they shall
inherit the earth. In finding our place in God's word, we find our true
humility, for brother Branham said, "true humilty is knowing your place in the
Word", and if the Word is God, then it is knowing your place
in God. And when we knowingly embrace our Sovereign God, it is then we realize
how little we are, and when we enter into this true humility, is when we die to
self and let Christ have the preeminence in our life. That is when we become
truly rich and as he said, those who enter into this condition are those who
will receive their inheritance.
The next
blessing comes as Jesus tells us 6 " Blessed are they which do
hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." And that is the oppostite of the laodicean
condition who feel they are in need of nothing. No, brothers and sisters, when
we hunger and thirst it is because we long to have more of Him and acknowledge
that we do not have enough.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for
they shall obtain mercy. When you have come to the place where
you are more concerned for others than you are for yourself, then you have come
to the place when you have not only obtained mercy, but you are projecting
mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart:
for they shall see God. Pure in heart, pure as in nothing in
the way that would pollute what you see and what you hear. And when you look
with the eyes of God and hear with the ears of God, then you shall see God. For
you have become like God because you are projecting God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers:
for they shall be called the children of God. “You’re blessed when you can show people how
to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you
really are, and your place in God’s family. That is when you have come to
maturity as a Christ-Like person, a true Christian which means Christ-Like.
10 Blessed are they which are
persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “You’re blessed when your commitment to God
provokes persecution from others. Because God uses that persecution to drive you even deeper
into His will and mind and reflection.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you,
and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely, for my sake. In other words, count yourselves blessed every time people
put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit the
reflection of me they see in you. What it means is that the truth is too close
for comfort and has made them uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens for
though they don’t like it, That is God they don't like
that they are seeing in you! And all heaven is watching and applauding. And you
must know that when this happens you are in good company. God's prophets and
witnesses have always found themselves in this kind of opposition.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in
heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
In other words,
instead of looking at the opposition, your focus should be on the reward.
Then jesus says, 13 Ye are the salt of
the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?
it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under
foot of men. in other words, you are here to be a salt-seasoning to brings out
the God-flavors in this earth, and if you lose your saltiness, how will people
taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
And then jesus says, 14 Ye are the light of the world. You are here to be light, bringing out the
God-spectrum in the world. As public as "A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid,
so uyour lives are to be open and on display for all to see, for when they see
you and your life is hid in Christ, they will see Christ only and Him crucified. 15 And
if men do not light a candle, to put it under a bushel, why would you
think I would do so? No, I've made you a candlestick; and your candlestick
gives light unto all that are in the house to see. 16 Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see your good works, and that they
through seeing your good works might glorify your Father which is in heaven,
because when they see you, they will only see me. 17 Think not that I have
come to destroy the law, or the prophets: No, I have not come to destroy, but
to fulfill the law, and my light in you and my Life working in you to will and
to do will bring to fulfilment the Law of God written not with ink but written
with my Spirit living and abiding in you.
Now, in getting back to
paragraph 148 of Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed, brother Branham says, "Watch
God's great revelation unfolding. By lack of
this revelation is why we have so many different divisions among us and so much
mockery, so much division among us, is because the people
lack that revelation. See, they lack
that revelation: the teachers. Paul, after his great revelation of Christ,
said in I Corinthians the 2nd chapter... Be sure to read that as you write it down. Watch. Oh,
he said, "I never come to
you with wisdom." Look at
that man who did have the wisdom. Look at that man who had the scholarship.
"I never come to you with them kind
of a word." (I Corinthians, the 2nd chapter of I
Corinthians.) Oh, I
wish... Well, let's just read it. Can you stand a minute, and let's read just a
verse or two? I'd just like to read it so you wouldn't be... It'd get even the
people on the tape to turn back to it anyhow, it'd give them a chance: I Corinthians the
2nd chapter. Listen to
this great apostle here, Paul, the
intellectual servant of God. Let's looky
here. ... I, Paul,... when I come to you, came not with excellency
of speech,... of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God... (I never said, "I'm Dr. So-and-so. See?) For I am determined not to know any thing
among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
... my speech and my beseeching was not with enticing
words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and... power--of the power:
149 There,
see there's the Gospel. See? Jesus said, "Go ye in all the world and preach
the Gospel." Didn't say, "Go teach,"
He said, "Go preach."
In other words, demonstrate the power, and these signs shall follow them.
Just teaching doesn't do it. It takes the actual Spirit Itself
demonstrating these signs. Listen to this. "That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man, but in
the power of God". Oh, my. See, to change the man... Not what I can explain away and say,
"He's
not the same," when He is the same. If I do
that, it shows to me. It, it... Surely a man tell me that, it would show me
he don't have the revelation, the threefold revelation of God. See? Now... And howbeit... in
weakness... among you that are perfect:
yet we're not with the wisdom of the
world, but of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
But we speak the wisdom of God in... mystery,... (See, the threefold mystery of God)... even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world
unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew:... (None of the priests,
rebbise, rabbis, pardon me, or anything knew
anything about it)... for had they known
it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory: You say, "You're wrong about rabbis and preachers
there." Who crucified Him? Oh,
on and on and on we could go; read it (See?) on... save time, 'cause we got
just... Not getting late yet, but we just got plenty here to say if the Lord
will help us.
150 Now, lack of this, now... And Paul, this great intellectual man, never tried to express his great
theological terms upon the people. He humbly accepted the Word of the Lord, and he lived the Word so that it expressed
It. He lived so, 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. There's the Life of Christ. Not
what some... "Oh, you see, Elijah done that a long time ago, laid his
stick, but oh, that was the days of Elijah." Now, the world thought that. The intellectual priest and things, and
churches of that day thought that, but to them believers, they knew
different. They seen the revelation of Christ that was in
Elijah: same thing was in Paul, expressed the same kind of Life, 'cause he was a prophet.
See? He foretold things that happened exactly the way it was, and they knew
that was God's identification of a prophet. And they knew that he was God's
prophet. You couldn't shake them from it at all.
Now, listen brothers and sisters, Elijah was a man filled with the
spirit of Christ and when he laid his body upon the body of that dead boy, and
placed his hands on the lads hands and his lips upon the boys lips, and
breathed into that body the breath of life, that boy came to life again. And
when Elisha was so full of that quickening power in
him, that when he finally died himself they threw a man's body one day upon his
bones that laid in that grave and up scrambled that man out of that pit because
his lifeless body had come into contact with that quickening power of God and
made him alive again.
And we have a promise from God himself in 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 we know the body that is dead is a corpse
not a mortal body, so Paul is talking about this body that we live in now which
is capable of dying. He's not talking about the millennium, he's talking about
the body of this death, that God living in the body of this death, can so
quicken this body that it will change from mortal to immortal. And why not, if
the only immortal kind is living in your body, do you think the body is greater
than the life governing that body?
That's
why he continues, 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to self, to
live after self. 13 For if ye live after self, ye shall die: but if
ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of self, ye shall live. And oh, what a life
you shall live.
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. 16 Therefore,
The Spirit itself will bear witness with your spirit, that you are the children
of God:
And how does God's spirit bear
witness? He lives and abides and uses your body as his own.
151 Even when they seen Peter foretell those
things that come to pass, they said, "Just
let his shadow pass over me." Amen.
That's the Church. That's the ones that believe it. Yes, sir. It was
revealed by... Why did Paul say? "Because I got a Ph., LL.D., so forth
they believe me"? No, he said, "I
forgot all those things. The wisdom
of man" said, "had to die.
And I know Him in the power of His
resurrection. That's what
I come to you as, with the demonstration of God's power." What was it? Making Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today, and forever.
152
The same works that Jesus did, Paul did
the same. What? What are you talking about
brother Branham, we all know that John 14:12 the works of Christ was only for
you to do. How can you say that Paul did them? Hi-yi-yi,...
You know the more we read from this sermon of Br. Branham's the more I
am thoroughly convinced that these men who oppose what we believe concerning
John 14:12 haven't even got a clue to what this Message is all about. And I genuinely feel sorry for them, because
they are blind leading the blind and they will all fall into the ditch.
How can you make a statement that "he" is a personal pronoun
and speaks of only one person. And then use that to
make a doctrine that totally contradicts the teaching of the prophet of God. He
said right here "The same works that Jesus did, Paul did the same."
Now, show me where Paul didn't. And if you
believe Paul did then why do you hold onto your theology that John 14:12 speaks
of only one person William Branham. And
brother Branham himself said the works Jesus did Paul did the same works. Let
me read it again... "The same works that Jesus did, Paul did the
same".
Now, you all have the books, is that not what he said? But did Paul have the discerning of the spirit
like William Branham and Jesus? He cast
out spirits, I know that. But when did Paul talk to someone like Jesus did to
the woman at the well and read the thoughts and intents of the heart. Show me where,
because I am waiting to be corrected.
Discernment is not the works of Christ. Discernment is in the mind and
heart, it is anot an action. The works are "ergon", that means work,
labor, something you do. Not something that is shown you in vision. That's
Hebrews 4:12 not John 14:12. But that
just goes to show they haven't got a clue to what God is doing and has ordained
to fulfill in a bride in this hour. Our life is dead, and hid or covered by the
life of Christ, and thus the bride is to become a perfect reflection of the
very life of Christ to this generation.
When we look back at men like Columba and
Martin who saw something in the life of Elijah that those men themselves laid
their own bodies upon dead men and those dead men came back to life, and
William Branham even laid his body upon a man who had died with tuberculosis
and laid his hands upon his hands and his mouth upon that dead man's mouth and
God breathed the breath of life back into that man.
Oh, brothers and sisters, are you so afraid to
let God use your body when He longs to do it. I've laid hands on men and women
full of tuberculosis on my first trip to Africa and how can you do it if you
fear man more than you fear God?
I've had to break ice in Minnesota to baptize in January up their and
not get sick, and show me one person that has been baptized in a cold lake or
stream that got sick because they had to break water to baptize them. Then what
are we so afraid of?
Brother Branham said, "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; preeminences in
the coming Kingdom. Amen. You see it? Just as perfect
as it can be.
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."
So what's the use to
fuss with them. Don't fuss with them, just let them go on the blidn leading the
blind, and pretty soon they will manifest their blindness by falling in the
ditch.
Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft I would have
hovered you like a hen doth her brood but ye would not. So he just let them go.
But God has an elected seed that will grasp the light of the hour, and the
threefold revelation that brother Branham is talking abou there, and all have
have heard and undertsood will come.
Let us bow our head in prayer.