Christ
is the Mystery no. 72
The
Attributes of a Son of God no 5
March 17, 2013
Brian Kocourek
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets;
and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For
the perfecting of the saints, (for
the equipping of the saints,) for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying (or the building up) of the body of Christ:
He's not talking here about building up an
organization called the church. He's not even talking about building up a
church. He's talking about the very body of Christ. One Body, many members, and
Christ is the head of that body.
13 UnTil we all come in the unity of the
faith, (And in verse 5 he said
there is only One Faith because there is only One Lord. And that Faith is the
Revelation of that One Lord.)
And so there must come
through the five fold ministry a uniting of the Body, the Body of Christ and it
is to come by the Revelation of Christ, and (he says, and we know the word and is a
conjunction which joins two independent clauses, and so He is tying together
the Revelation of Christ and) the knowledge of
the Son of God, (and in
bringing these two independent clauses together it will bring us to the place
as he says, as) unto a perfect man, (a
mature man, a completed man, a fully grown adult and in this state we it will
bring us) unto the measure...
This word measure was
translated from the Greek word "metron",
which means the portion or as Paul is presenting it, "the measure of your Faith". And he says
we are to come to this measure of the stature
(which we know stature is the quality or status that
is gained through growth or development or achievement, and that in these terms
Paul is speaking here is the very character)
which is the very fulfilling of Christ: (or the body of Christ. Because if we are looking at
one body, the Body of Christ, and Christ is the head, then the body must be one
hundred percent compatible and yielding to the head which is Christ. and once the body is completely yielded to the head, he says
we will no more be children, we will be adults ready for adoption and
inheritance. And that is the hold purpose of what we
are going through at this time. All the trials and tests are not to separate
brother from brother but to make us yield to God and His Word only.
Notice he says, 14 " That we henceforth
(and that means from here on out) be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, (or
the deceit of men) and cunning craftiness
(or trickery of men), whereby they lie
in wait (with the purpose) to deceive;
Now, one thing we have to get past is this thinking
that there are just not anybody out their who is not
plotting and planning to deceive you. Because we as Christians are taught to
believe all things we have a tendency to be a little bit too gullible at times,
and we don't like to think there are men out their who will use cunning
trickery to deliberately deceive you, but that is what the Bible says, brothers
and sisters. All you have to do is look at the political scene and know that
these men are trained to lie. That is their profession. They are trained to say
things so that their true agenda is never really known openly. And so they like
attorney's will use words that twist and turn until
their words are very slippery and you just can't seem to nail down what they
are saying, because they can make it go in any direction they want it to go for
that given moment.
You and I could read what they write and think it
means a certain thing, but if they are caught, they can recite their own words
and you would think they meant altogether something different from what you
first heard them. That is the spirit of the devil in those men, because we
wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers.
But this being built up into a mature adult in Christ
he tells us will result in 15 But speaking the truth in love, that
we may grow up into him (him who? Him-Christ, that we might grow up
into Christ Himself) in all things, which is the
head, even Christ:
What is Paul saying here? He saying, look there is
only one Body, and that is the body of Christ, and that body has but one head
and that Head is Christ Himself, and He is the Word. And as you are a member of this one Body which
Christ is the head of this Body, then all you do as a member of this head will
be governed by what the head calls for you to do. All actions of the body are
governed and controlled by the head.
And he tells us in verse 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined
together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth,
according to the effectual working in the measure (in the metron, in the
limited portion) of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying
of itself in love.
In plain English he is telling us, there is only one
body, and that we are part of that one body, and the head of that body is
Christ. And every joint, every cell,
every atom which makes up every cell, no matter what limited portion we may be,
we all work together for that good of this one body in order for this body to
function or operate correctly. In other words, every single vessel in this body
is fitted for the purpose of bringing energy to the rest of the body. All the
vessels, all the capillaries, all the arteries work together with the heart to
supply energy to the rest of the body, making all things working together for
the good. And we are the "all things in
Christ". And all members working together he said to the
"effectual working" which is the "energeia"
or the energizing of that one Body so that the Body may manifest the Life of
Christ.
17 "This I say therefore, and testify in the
Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity
of their mind,"
And what is the vanity
of their own minds? it
actually means the emptiness and the idolatry of their own minds where they
have put their own thoughts ahead of all other thoughts.
Now, before we begin
this morning, I really want to apologize up front if I loose control of my
emotions this morning, because i could not but weep
as i sat in my study and began to look at the
wonderful things that Brother Branham tells us concerning the Life of Christ
lived out in His Bride in this end time.
All the things I have
been preaching for the past twenty plus years I see coming together in this
series. I thought that the last series on the Spoken Word is the Original Seed
was pointing us to This, but this Sermon Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed
all points to this one thing in an even deeper way, and that is why Billy Paul
said it so beautifully to me when I said, "Br. Billy, All I want to
accomplish in my ministry while here on earth is to get the people to see that
the very same God-Life that was in His Son expressing Itself in is the very
same God-Life that was in your father, expressing itself, and that is the very
same God-Life that is supposed to be in us the Bride of Christ expressing
Itself to the world", and he said, "Brother that is the Great Revelation of this Hour".
John 5:26 For as the Father
hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself;
1John 3:1-2 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is.
And when we read some
of the things Brother Branham says in this Sermon, Christ
is the Mystery of God Revealed, I can not help but to weep because I
see it so clear that, that is what he was trying for
us to get.
Remember, Jesus said
in John 17 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be
sanctified through the truth.
and we saw how brother Branham sanctified
his own life in expressing the Life of Christ so that others would be drawn to
that Life of Christ as well, and in the process their own lives would becomes
sanctified by the washing of water by the same Word that sanctified His own
Life. And in doing so they would be filled with the same God-Life he was filled
with.
Now we could end the sermon this
morning and feel we had come into God's presence with thanksgiving and joy, but
we are just beginning the Message this morning, and this brings us to The
Seventh attribute of a son of God: And that is They have eternal Life
which is God's very own -Life, and thus will express His very nature,
because that is the law of life or as Paul said, the Law of the Spirit of Life
that the very life must express the nature of that Life. And we are talking
about God-life, Eternal Life this morning.
In Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed way back in
paragraph. 11 Brother Branham quotes from John 5:24 and he says, St.
John 5:24 said, 'He that heareth
My words...' 'He that heareth
(it's already yours) My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me...'He's passed from death unto Life, and shall no more
come into condemnation or judgment.'"... See that
predestinated Seed laying there? Yes, sir. See, as soon as the Light strikes
it, it comes to Life right quick.
Notice, he didn't say it
comes to life thirty years later, he said when the light strikes it, it will come to life right quick.
Then in paragraph 115 he says, "It's not an expression
of some church that we should express something. It's a life that you
don't live yourself, but He comes in you and lives by Himself, and
you become a prisoner to any human intellectual being at all. You're led by the
Spirit. And how do you know?
Don't you see that brothers
and sisters? It's not how much you can know, nor is it how much you can do this
or that or perform this or that. It's simply a dying to yourself, Just rotting out to yourself, and having nothing in the way
so that the God-Life that is in that Word Seed that is within you can begin to "grow
up INTO
him in
all things." Paul said growing up into Him. INTO, not unto, as though you
are two separate persons, but growing up into as one person, one objective, one
motive, one LIfe for by one spirit, By one
life are we all baptized INTO ONE body.
That's exactly Colossians 3:4 When Christ, who is
our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
That is why I can not
understand all these churches wanting to fuss with one another. Are we one body
and Christ is the head. My arm doesn't fight with my legs? My hands don't fight
with my feet? If my leg's itch my hands come tot he rescue and scratch them. If
my hands can't reach the itch my foot will try to do what it can. And if my
hands and feet can not reach the itch, I will use my whole body to lean up
against a door jamb until I can satisfy that need.
In paragraph 120
brother
Branham said, "Look, Christ in
you (Christ in who? He said,) Christ in you makes
Him the center of Life of the revelation. (And remember revelation or
to reveal, to reveal how? To reveal as in to manifest or express the life)
See? Christ's Life in you (that) makes Him the center of the revelation. (that
makes him the center of the expression) Christ in the Bible, makes the Bible a complete revelation of Christ.
Christ in you makes you the complete revelation (or expression) of
the whole thing. See, what God's trying to do? What is the new birth then?
You say, "Well, Brother Branham, what is the new birth?" It is the
revelation of Jesus Christ personally to you. Amen. See? Not you joined a
church, you shook a hand; you done something different; you said a creed; you
promised to live by a code of rules; but Christ, the Bible... He is
the Word that was revealed to you. And no matter what anybody says, what
takes place, it's Christ. Pastor, priest, whatever it might be... It's
Christ in you. That is the revelation that the Church was built
upon.
O my
brothers and sisters, this sermon was preached coming on 50 years ago in just a
few months. 50 Years and we have been waiting for our Jubilee,
well I tell you it is here. There is nothing mysterious why you have come here
at this time. It's the year of Jubilee.
This coming Monday will be
the fiftieth year since the Seals were opened. The first Seal was preached on
Monday March 18th, And each day this coming week is
exactly the same day of the week that the Seals were preached fifty years ago.
The same day of the week and the same day of the month and everything is the
same. And so are we looking for a jubilee brothers and sisters, and our jubilee
is a rapture.
In paragraph 145 brother Branham said,
"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 was in Him) does
not produce Itself in you, then you got the wrong
revelation.
Now, I do not know how any
words could be more plain than that. And yet that is
what we are fought against by so many. How can you not see that? Please someone
come and explain to me how that could not mean "the
things that I do shall you do also." The same actions I do, the same works that
I do, the same words that I speak, the nature that I have...Tell me please
where he is not saying that. You can't because that is exactly what he is
saying here. And if you have the very life of Christ you can't help doing it
and living it, because it is not you doing it, it is Christ in you doing it,
and living it.
In 1 John 5:20 we read, "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us
an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in
him that is true, even (or in
the same way He was) in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. And
this is what God wants for us as well, John 14:20
"At that day ye shall know that
I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you."
And then he says in
paragraph 146
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--or 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...
And isn't
that exactly what the Apostle John taught?
1 John 5:11-13 And this is the record, that God hath given to
us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath (echoes) the
Son hath (echoes) life; and he that hath (echoes) not the Son of God hath (echoes) not life. 13 These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that
ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on
the name of the Son of God.
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.
1 John 1:1 That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have
looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was
manifested, and we have seen it,
and bear witness, and shew unto
you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also
may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is
with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
John said we heard it, we
saw it, It was God Life manifested in His son, and as
he heard it he received it and now he manifest that same God-Life and so he
then expressed it to us so that you can hear it and receive and then manifest
that same God-Life.
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 knowed
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 knowed that was God's identification of a prophet. And they knowed that he was God's prophet.
You couldn't shake them from it at all.
155
But this woman was not a hybrid; she said, "Sir, I perceive..." I can
see her big pretty eyes shine up like that, tears running down her cheeks,
said, "Sir, I perceive that You're a prophet. I'm
looking for a Messiah, and when that Messiah comes, He'll do this very same
thing. He'll tell us these things." He said, "I
am He." "Oh, Lord..." She left her pot, "Here
He is. Come see a Man Who's told me the
things..." What was it? That Light struck that Seed. That Life was
there. It come forth.
And that
is the problem we have today, so many who call themselves five-fold who do not
have this God-Life expressing Itself from their lives, but expressing another
Spirit, have preached another Jesus, and another Gospel, and they have so muddied
the Good news until it has become bad Good news to so many. So many Scarecrows
have been placed in front of the people, that the people are afraid to enter
into the promise for this hour that God has for us, and so because they won't
enter into it themselves, they work hard at keeping others away as well. But
the promise for this hour is that the very same God-Life that was expressed in
Christ and was expressed in William Branham is to be expressed in a Bride. But
they will say, O, no, that is for William Branham only.
1 John
2:25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
And so we come to paragraph
177 of Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed
where brother Branham says, "Watch.
What was Jesus manifested for? To show God. He was God; He had to
be. No man could die. No prophet could die. He was God. He was the God of the
prophets. He was the prophets. He was the kings. He was the history. He was He
that was to come: He that was, He that is, and He that's to be in this day, the
same yesterday, today, and forever. He was manifested for that purpose. And
through that purpose He achieved a Church, that He, the Fullness of God might
bring to pass every promised Word of God in these last days when He gets the
preeminence, preeminence in the Church, the position, His place in the Church.
Jesus said, "He that believeth on Me,
the works that I do shall he also, even more than this shall he do, for I go to
My Father." See? That was His purpose. There
was the manifestation.
178 And now, today He wants to get
somebody that can so see it, that they can let the Word... See, Jesus so
seen it, was so perfectly born for the day, until God expressed every move
that He made. He was God's revelation, God revealed. Now, He sanctified
with His Spirit and Blood a Church, that He might make
every promise in this last day be revealed.
179
Now, it's easy to go back and pick up what these other fellows has left off
here in the last days, and by His Holy Spirit reveal all the mystery of the
Seven Seals. See? He's expressing Himself. That's His purpose. That's why He
died. That's the second fold of His threefold manifestation. First, to
express Himself in Christ and then He expressed Hisself through the Church, and the same thing, Christ was
the Word. And the church becomes the Word when it lets the Word go through
them. But when they accept the hybrid denomination, how can the Word go
through it? It's grounded; then it causes a short and blows a fuse. See? But
when the current is flowing freely, the Word of God, It expresses Itself. "The works that I do shall you
do also." And in the last days it shall come to
pass, "Behold I send to you Elijah, the prophet, and he shall turn the
hearts of the children back to the faith of the fathers."
195
Now, Christ... "The works that I do shall you do also"
See, see, the same God. See? "The works that I do shall you
do also, more than this, for I go unto My Father." The Church will be
a little longer in Life (See?) vindicating His promised Word as God did His
promises in Christ's Body, so is Christ doing His same works in
Christ's Body, the Church. See? Now, making His mystery known to His
Bride Tree here in the last day, bringing forth the fruits that was in the Tree
at the beginning.
198 Now, remember, He is that Tree of Life
contrary to the serpent's seed. You see? He's that Seed, the woman's
Seed, the Tree of Life in the garden. And unless they put forth their
hands and move this Tree, they'd eat that Tree and live forever. And He's
the only Tree that can be taken that you can live forever. His Word is
Life. And that be the Word then, the Word of God which Eve turned down in
the garden of Eden, then here's Christ, the Word made manifest; and when
He come on earth, He was the Tree of Life. Do you believe that? And Rome, what
did they do? He had to be chopped down. And He was put on a tree of disgrace
("Cursed is he that hang on a tree"), become
a curse for the human race. And now through that, He brings forth a Bride
Tree, which will be the Tree of Life restored back to Him as Husband and
Wife in the garden of Eden (Oh, glory to God.), by the same Word and the
same God made manifested as Husband and Wife: the same Bride Tree back
again (notice), making it known.
216 Listen closely now again as we go on, going back to
the original Eden. Then when we are borned of Him,
we are filled with Him. See, your life... His Life is in you.
Then all of our actions should declare Him. It's like taking life
out of one tree and putting it into another. Taking life out of a pear tree and
put it in an apple tree, it'll bear pears. It's got to, 'cause the sap, the
life in it, the germ is pear tree. All right. Then
all of our actions should declare Him. We have His Name. Is that right? We
should bear His Name.
217 And remember, we are now as His Bride, pregnated with His Spirit. Oh, my. The
Church bearing children (See?), pregnated by His
Spirit with His Name, bearing His Name, bearing His Life, bringing forth the
signs of His Life evident with the preeminences, evidence
of His resurrection showing that He is not dead, but alive forevermore.
This is Eternal Life. And a-vindicated--vindicates to the world that we are
alive in Him. Whew!!!
As Peter said in John 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
In closing let me just read a few
more Scriptures about This God-Life which is eternal life. Hebrews 7:16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal
commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
1 Peter1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth
for ever.
John 10:28 And I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of
my hand.
John 17:3 And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent.
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.
Romans
6:23 For the wages of
sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
On Wednesday night we will look at The
Seventh attribute of Serpent Seed which is that: Their
life is only temporary, earthly, sensual And
we will contrast that life to This God-Life which is full of Love and joy and
all the fruits of the Spirit.
Let
us pray,