Christ is the Mystery no. 68

The Attributes of The Believer

March 3, 2013

Brian Kocourek

Ephesians 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Romans Chapter 8 Verse 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Now, this morning we are going to look at a few paragraph from Christ is the Mystery of God revealed and then go to the Scriptures. Our focus will be on the predestinated seed. Brother Branham mentions Moses, Paul and John and talks how they are predestined to see what they saw in the age they lived in. So with this in mind, let us examine the next 7 paragraphs from brother Branham's sermon.

  163   Jesus said, "If you can receive it, this is he who was spoken of, 'I send My messenger before My face (Malachi 3) to prepare the way before Me.'" See? Sure he was predestinated to see that Message. No wonder he could look yonder and see that Dove coming down, that Light that was in the wilderness with Israel, coming, moving down, the God Himself saying, "This is My beloved Son in Whom I'm pleased to dwell in," God and man becoming One." I bare witness," John said, "I beheld Him, the only Begotten of the Father. I'm a witness of it." Amen. There you are. Simplicity. When an old preacher... His father was a great theologian, you know. He come out of school. Look like he would've went back to his father's denomination. That wouldn't be in the will of God.

  164   When God touched him at his birth back there and he received the Holy Ghost three months before he was born. Yes, sir. When Mary went up there and little John was six months old in his mother's womb and hadn't ever--them little muscles had never moved yet, and Mary was afraid. The little muscles were growing, but she couldn't feel no life--Elisabeth, his mother, rather. And when Mary come up and grabbed her and hugged her, put her arms--laid hands on her... That's it. "God has spoke to me, and I'm going to have a baby too." "Are you and Joseph married?" "No." "Mary, how can this be?" "The Holy Ghost shall overshadow me, and there'll be created in me. And I shall call His Name Jesus. He will be the Son of God." And as soon as that word "Jesus" spoke, little John begin to leap and shout, jumping around in his mother's womb. She said, "Blessed be the Lord God, for whence comes the mother of my Lord." The mother of my Lord... Oh, my. "Whence comes the mother of my Lord, for as soon as your salutation come into my ears, my baby leaped in the womb for joy."

  165   No wonder he didn't want no seminary, something to indoctrinate him with something another. (Now, listen, brother Branham is speaking of that little seeds nature coming into manifestation. It could not take an organizational spirit, and could not take falsehood.)

He had a important job. He was a man of the wilderness, went out into the wilderness and waited. God told him out there, said, "Now..." and revealed to him. (Oh, there's your revelation again.) "And I'll tell you Who He is. You're a prophet. The Word's to you. You know who you are. You've got to come." (That answers the question from last Sunday. See?) "You know who you are, John. Keep yourself quiet. Don't say nothing. Go on out there, and when you see this One, there'll be a sign coming from heaven like a Light; a Dove will come down. That'll be Him when you see Him."

  166   That's the reason when Jesus walked out in the water, John looked over, and he seen that Dove coming down, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God. There He is. He's the One that'll take away the sin of the world." Jesus walked right straight out in the water to him. Them two eyes of John met them two eyes of Jesus. (They were second cousins by flesh. Mary and Elisabeth were first cousins.) Their eyes met one another. There was God and His prophet (Amen.) standing there. John said, "I have need to be baptized of Thee. Why come Thou to me?" Jesus said, "Suffer it to be so now; but remember, thus it behooveth us to fulfill all righteousness."

  167   Why did John do it? Because He was the Sacrifice (John was a prophet; he knew), and the Sacrifice has got to be washed before It's presented. Oh, and he suffered Him, and he baptized Him. And when he did, lo, the heavens opened. Oh, my. And that Dove come down upon Him, and a voice said, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I'm pleased to dwell in." King James puts it "in whom I'm pleased to dwell," so it just any way you want to turn it around: same thing, dwell in or... "This is My beloved Son in Whom I am pleased to dwell" (or to dwell in, either one you want to put it--same thing). All right. We see then it was revealed to him. Others standing there didn't hear nothing about it. The Holy Ghost alone reveals it.

  168   Same when He reveals Himself to Paul, another predestinated seed... There was Paul going around... He might said, "If I get a hold of that bunch, I'll tear them to pieces, because I'm Dr. Saul. I come up under Gamaliel. ('I come from the Moody Bible, or some other one.' See?) I'm a scholar. I know what I'm talking about. I'll tear that bunch of holy-rollers to pieces. And I tell you, great holy father, you just give me the permission to go down there, and I'll arrest every one of them noise makers down there. All this divine healing stuff, we'll stop it." Put it in his pocket and said, "I'm on my road down." And that day, my, about 11 o'clock in the day, a Light showed in his face, and he fell to the earth.

  169   Why? He was a predestinated Seed. God said, "I have chose him. And I'm going to show him what great things he'll suffer for My Name's sake. I'll send him to the Gentiles and disgrace him in every way that they can be disgraced, but yet he'll bare My Name." Paul went down there till he got all of his ecclesiastical stuff cut off of him, down at the backside of the desert for three years and a half, down there in Arabia, until he learned the Word and the Word become he, and he become a prisoner. Here he come back in chains of love, "All my seminary experience is gone. I'm a prisoner to Jesus Christ. (Amen!) Philemon, my brother, I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I only can speak and say what He tells me."

Now, at this time I would like to go into the attributes of what makes up that seed of God vs the attributes which make up the serpent seed.

The First attribute of the Believer is: All who are ordained to Life, believe God's Word

End time sign seed 62-0319 P:85 You can only do it as you're predestinated to believe it. You remember, although Jesus done so many miracles, the Pharisees couldn't believe it. They couldn't get it in their head, because they wasn't to be that way. And if your heart is so hard that you know right there that that Word of God's not working itself through you, and then you won't raise your hands to God to ask for mercy, what are you going to do on the day of judgment? All right.

Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

Jesus Christ same 61-0516A P:3 How can men believe unless they were ordained to believe? There were many people in His days who did not believe it, but He came to those who did believe it.

1John 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The First attributes of Serpent Seed is: they have no place for the Word

John 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

1 John 4:5-6 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

1John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

The Second attribute of the Believer: These love the True Word of God, the Revealed & Vindicated Word for their season

Way to have fellowship 55-1009 P:16 I love the Word, don't you? And you know why you love the Word? You have the Holy Spirit in you. For the Bible said that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. So the Holy Spirit feeds on the Word. And then when you hear the Word... Everyone wants to hear It, no matter... Every little piece of literature they can pick up, they read it. And they listen to the radio, and they go to church and so forth, because they are longing for that fellowship around the Word.

Ephesians 4: 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: This shows their motive is Love, and nothing phony.

Modern events made clear by prophecy 65-1206 P:39 And when a man or woman has set under creeds and cold, formal religion, if he's ordained to be a son of God, and he sees the Word of God preached in Its power, and God vindicate It; he's an eagle to begin with, he'll run to It as sure as two twos is four. He can't help it, because his very nature loves the Word of God. I don't care what anybody else says, when he sees the Word of God being made manifest, he flies to It because he is a little eagle.

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

Questions and answers COD 64-0823M P:121 257. Dear, Brother Branham: Do you believe that signs should follow all who have the Holy Spirit? (Jesus said so, Mark 16.) If so, what about the people who believe the Message with all that is in them, yet they have not these signs? Are they unbelievers or do they need the Holy Spirit? If so, please instruct us today, how to receive the Holy Ghost. We believe you are God's mouthpiece for our day. Your brother. Thank you, my brother, for regarding me as your--your brother, and I think that that's a very good question. Friends, yes, it is a little slack. I'd like to deal a little bit longer on that if I could. See? It is slack. Look. Some of you... See? When--you cannot receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost without having an experience when it happens... Now, if you believe "every speck of the Word," you say... You say you believe every speck of It, then the Word is laying in there waiting for the Holy Spirit to put It to work; but it takes the lighting of the candle. Here's the candle with the wick in it, and with all the tallow, and everything it has to have in that candle; but until the fire comes on it, it will not shine any light. No matter how perfect the candle is, and how perfect it'll burn and everything, it's got to be litten, and then it burns. And when you believe and are made up of the instructions of what the Holy Spirit is, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness,--the fruits that It bears out, until the Holy Spirit with a fiery experience comes down and lights that candle, then you haven't received the Holy Ghost. See? You've got to have the experience to have the Holy Ghost.

The Second attribute of Serpent Seed is: These do not love the True Word, but hold to the word for another age.

2 Thessalonians 2: 10-12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The Third attribute of the Believer: These come to the Light (Revealed Word) and do not walk in darkness

Isaiah 60:3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Psalm 56:13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

Psalm 89:15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

John 3: 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

John 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

The Third attribute of Serpent Seed is: These do not come to the Light and try to keep others from it.

Mt 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

John 3: 19-20 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

John 12:35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

John 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Isaiah 50:11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.

1John 1:5-6 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: