Desperation no 29
Bible examples
June 12, 2016
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
This morning we will be
entering into a mini series of examples from brother Branham's sermon
Desperation where he shows many characters that we find in the Bible who got
desperate before God and then God gave them the desires they had upon their
heart. And we read last week that God will not meet us until we are desperate.
We must meet his conditions before he will step on the scene for us and meet
our needs. So let's begin our reading from paragraph 63.
63 The Bible said, Hebrews the 6th
chapter, "The rain
falleth on the just and the unjust," just the same.
That is found in Matthew
5: 43 Ye
have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate
thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use
you, and persecute you;45 That ye may be the children
of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil
and on the good, and sendeth rain on the
just and on the unjust.
Notice here that we are to
take up the example of our Father in Heaven who sends rain upon the just and
unjust.
QA God being misunderstood COD 61-0723E P:40 This, if a person is setting in a
congregation, a spirit can fall upon that person, and yet you know that they
are wrong and they don't live the right kind of life, be careful what
you say about that spirit, it might be the Holy Spirit. Don't judge the
spirit by the person. The person may be wrong; but, now, does not the Bible
say, "The
rain falls on the just and the unjust"? Did not Jesus say, when the fields was
planted, "Let
them all grow up together, the tares and the wheat together. Don't you try to pull up the tares. Don't
you try to judge them; just let them grow together. And at that day the angels will be sent forth; they will
take all the tares and burn them, and the
wheat will be
gathered
into the garner"?
But by their fruits we know them. You can know in your heart. Keep trying
to deal with that person.
QA Hebrews part 3 COD 57-1006 P:115 The Bible said that the wheat and tares come
together. The little old wheat's said... It's starving for rain, and the briars
is too. When the rain come, the briars is just as happy to get the rain as the
wheat is. "But by their fruits, you
shall know them."
Now, back to
desperation paragraph 63 Now, you take wheat and take weeds and put them
in the field. And the rain is actually sent for the wheat, but the rain falls
on the weeds the same as it does the wheat. And the rain... And the weeds is just as happy about the rain
as the wheat is, and it's the very same rain. The very Holy Ghost can fall upon an unbeliever and make him act just
exactly the same way a believer acts, but by their fruits they are known. That's what I'm speaking of; that's the Token.
64 And Jacob in desperation he said, "I know, I feeled You; You're here with me,
but I'm not going to let You go." Somebody sees it fine, the first little sensation, get up
and jump up-and-down, and run up the aisle, and say, "I got It, I got It,
I got It." Oh, no, huh-uh, no. Jacob
stayed there until something happened that made him walk different, made him a
different person, because that he stayed until that happened, and he
was able... The Bible said he held until he prevailed. How can a man prevail over God? But you
can do it. You can do it. A man can prevail over God.
Now let's examine this
story from the Bible that brother Branham is pointing out to us as an example
of a man that comes into desperation and meets God in that condition.
Genesis 32:1 And
Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And
when Jacob saw them, he said,
This is God's host: and he called the name of
that place Mahanaim.
Now, place yourself in
Jacob's place. He had fled Esau because of his using deception and trickery on
his father Isaac to gain the blessing for the first born. And he had to flee
when Esau found out into a foreign country, and there he met a beautiful girl
named Rachel. He fell in love with Rachel and wanted to marry her, but her
father Laban used deception and trickery tricked on him getting him to marry Rachel's
sister Leah first, by substituting her at the wedding for Rachel, (remember
they wore veils over their face in those days.)
Then after the
ceremony and the reception Jacob went into the tent to consummate the marriage
with his wife, and to his horror, the next morning when the sun came up, he saw
that he had married and consummated his marriage with the wrong person. He was
very upset. And that is the way of the carnal man, they can dish it out but
don't realize what goes around comes back around. "What you sow you will surely reap."
That is what the Bible tells us.
Jacob had used
deception to gain the blessing of the first born son of Isaac, when his brother
Esau was entitled to that blessing, then he himself is deceived by his Father
in Law into marrying the wrong sister after having worked so hard for seven
years for his father in Law.
No, he was so mad at
Laban that Laban used trickery again and made a contract with Jacob that Jacob
could have Rachel also in marriage if he would work another seven years for
Laban, because Laban's flocks had increased so much under Jacob's nurturing.
So Jacob devises a
plan to get even with Laban. and Jacob against resorted to trickery by causing
only the ring streaked sheep to populate while the other sheep would not
leaving Laban with fewer sheep than Jacob walked out of the camp with.
Now at this point
Jacob had to flee Laban, because now, not only Laban was upset but all Rachels
brothers were upset with Jacob because he had deceived them as well seeing that
Laban's flocks were their inheritance.
So now we see a man
without a country. A man who used deception to gain the blessing of the birth
right from Esau, and now using trickery and deception to gain the inheritance
of his brothers in law. This is the human nature of Jacob, and you can see this
same nature today in the Wall Street Jew, because it is the nature born, carnal
born nature of their ancestor Jacob.
And notice the
deception pattern.
1. Jacob deceives
Isaac His Father into blessing him instead of Esau. This deception hurts his
Father and his brother whose inheritance depended upon that blessing of the
first born. Jacob has to flee.
2. Then Jacob gets
deceived by His Father in law into
taking Leah instead of Rachel.
3.Then Jacob deceives
His Father in Law in return for having deceived him, and this deception also hurt
his brother in Laws and reduces their inheritance. Jacob has to flee.
Now, they say insanity
is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Finally Laban catches
up with Jacob, and they work out a
solution. But now he must face Esau his brother whom he stole the birth right
from.
Genesis 32:3 And
Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the
country of Edom. 4 And he commanded them, saying,
Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have
sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: 5 And
I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have
sent to tell my lord, that I may find
grace in thy sight.
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to
thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: (so what doess Jacob do? what any deceiving coward
would do) and he
divided the people that was with him, and the
flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands; 8 And
said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then
the other company which is left shall escape.
What a coward. He
sends a group first to test the waters. He considers these others as
expendable. What a nasty character this Jacob has. No real leader would
consider people under himself as expendable. And that same spirit of cowardice
exists today among the Edomites, the descendents of Esau. They hide behind the
skirts of the women and children.
9 And
Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto
thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:
Look at his prayer.
Lord, I am blaming my problems on you. You told me to return home and now look
at what I'm up against. But he failed to see that his problems existed because
of his own behavior. But then he gets spiritual and says, ...
10 I am not worthy of
the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto
thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become
two bands.
Then notice what he says
next...11 Deliver me, (not deliver my two groups of people, but deliver me.
Notice to this point it is all about self. Why? He doesn't have the Holy Ghost.
He is just a carnal man.)
Now, let's continue to read his prayer. "I pray thee,
from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me,
and (oh, yeah, and I forgot Lord, he
might smite my wife and children also) the mother with the children. 12 And thou saidst, (and
you said Lord, you said to me, and Lord you have to keep your word now, and you
promised me) I
will surely do thee good, and
make thy seed as the sand of the
sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. 13 And
(in that miserable condition) he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came
to his hand a present for Esau his brother; 14 Two
hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, 15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty
kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.
(Now notice that in
that condition Jacob begins to reflect back on how he had used deception and
trickery to rob his own brother of the blessing, and so he decides, I better
give back to my brother much of what I stole from him by way of the blessing,
and so he partials out what he considered as restitution.)
But notice he is
still a coward and sends someone else to bring this restitution to Esau.
16 And
he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves;
and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove
and drove. 17 And he commanded the foremost, saying,
When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? 18 Then
thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a
present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us. 19 And so
commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying,
On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.
20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward
I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.
21 So went the present over before him: and himself
lodged that night in the company.
Look at his
cowardice. In his cowardice he realizes his wrong, and so in an act of
contrition he sends what he feels is a proper gift to his brother for the wrong
he had done, but he stays behind because if Esau rejects his gifts and slays
the bearers of those gifts, then at least Jacob still saved his own skin. 22 And he rose up that night, and
took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed
over the ford Jabbok. 23 And he took them, and
sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.
Finally he sends his
own wives and children before himself still fearing for his own skin.
24 And
Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled
a man with him until the breaking of the day.
25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him,
he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the
hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26 And he said, Let me go, for
the day breaketh. And he said, I will
not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And he said, Thy name
shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with
God and with men, and hast prevailed.
29 And Jacob asked him,
and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask
after my name? And he blessed him there. 30 And
Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for
I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him,
and he halted upon his thigh. 32 Therefore the
children of Israel eat not of the sinew which
shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh,
unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that
shrank.
Now, notice the conditions
of Jacobs desperation came as a result of his own lacking in character. So no
matter whether it be Job who was desperate do to the lack in character of his
own children, or whether you see a lack of conforming to the Image of the first
born son in your own life, desperation is what brings us to a reckoning of the
lack of character.
Now, lets pick up this
story from Brother Branham's Message Desperation and see what he had to say
about this.
Desperation 66 Jacob
stayed there until the blessing came and changed his name from "a deceiver" to "a prince with God." Even the
nation was called by his name. Yes, sir. What was it? The results was because
he got desperate about the thing. And the next day when he met Esau, he didn't
need any guards. He walked right out and met him. See? Why? He had got in
desperation till he got the assurance. And you get desperate until you get the
assurance. If you don't, don't even come to be prayed for. Don't even come to
go at the altar. Wait till it's between life and death to you, then something
will happen. Certainly. Desperation.
Now, let's continue on with
the Bible examples of men who were desperate before God and God hearkened and
heard their petitions to him. The next man we will look at is Hezekiah.
65 One time there was a man named Hezekiah, had been told by the prophet, "THUS SAID THE LORD, you're going to die." Hezekiah turned his face to the
wall, and in desperation he wept out, "Lord, consider me. I've walked before You
with a perfect heart, and I need fifteen more years." After God had told him that
something was going to happen; he was going to die. And in desperation he changed the program of God. Desperations, he wept bitterly in desperation.
Isaiah
38:1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.
And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus
saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall,
and prayed unto the LORD, 3 And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I
have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
Hezekiah was not praying in tears for himself, he was
ready to die. he had lived a wonderful God fearing God living life and was
ready to go into the presence of God. But his concern was for his family. He
felt he needed more time with them to straighten them out and turn their hearts
toward God.
Resurrection of Jairus daughter 54-0302 P:48 There's a prophet by the name of Isaiah, went up and
told Hezekiah that "THUS SAITH THE LORD, you're going to come--die right
there. You're not coming off the bed." And Hezekiah turned his face to the
wall, and wept bitterly, and said, "Lord, I beseech Thee to consider me.
I've walked before You with a perfect heart." And he wanted fifteen years
extension. And the prophet...Now, why didn't God talk--why didn't God talk to
Hezekiah? He was the greatest man in the whole Israelite kingdom; is that
right? He was a king. And do you believe he was talking to Jehovah? The Bible
said he was. He was ta... Why didn't Jehovah talk back to him? God has ways of
doing things.Instead of telling Hezekiah, Hezekiah standing face-to-face with
Jehovah, saying, "Jehovah, if You'll spare me
for fifteen years... Consider me, will You?" With tears running down his cheeks. "I
know Your prophet has just come told me I was going to die. So I know he is a
prophet, and I know what he says is Your Word. And I pray for You to spare me,
because I've got something I want to do for Your Kingdom," and so forth.
He reasoned it out with Him, like you would with any man. And God, instead of
speaking right back to the king over His people, He stopped the prophet. Said,
"Go, tell him I heard him."
Thou knowest all things 52-0716 P:15 Look at Hezekiah when...?... and the prophet went up
and said, "All right, Hezekiah, you're not coming off the bed. God's done
said you was going to die right there where you're at."And Hezekiah
studied it over, if he just had fifteen years longer... Now remember, you've
got to give God a cause, a reason. Now, he didn't say, "Just because I can
get out there and ride around in a chariot, and show the people I'm a
king." No, he wanted to rebuild the altars of the God; and a few things
had to be done to get the kingdom in order right. And he prayed that God would
give him fifteen years longer, and he wept bitterly, just wept to God. He said,
"God, I beseech You to consider. I've walked before You with a perfect
heart."How many of us can say that tonight, we've walked before Him with a
perfect heart?"I've walked before Thee, Lord, with a perfect heart. And I
ask You to consider me. Now, I want..."And God Almighty, Jehovah,
reconsidered that man's case, because he prayed. Think of that. Almighty God, that
had pronounced death upon the man, reconsidered His case. My, that's too much
for me. Great Jehovah, to a mortal, to one of the earth, would reconsider His
Word that He'd said to him.
Expectation 61-0207 P:10 And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and wept bitterly,
and said, "Lord God, I beseech you to consider me; I walked before you
with a perfect heart. I need fifteen years longer to get my kingdom in
condition." And you know, looks like that God would've wanted to say
anything, He'd have told him while he was talking to him. But God has ways of
doing things. You have to come God's ways and God's means of doing things. As
long as we try to get in it ourself, then it won't work. And we just can't
pattern after one another; we've got to live individually before God.Now, the
greatest man in the land, of course, was the king. The greatest Person in
heaven was God. There was the greatest man on earth talking to the greatest Man
in heaven--the greatest in heaven, and yet the great powers of heaven couldn't
talk back to the king. Because he wasn't meant to be that; he was just a king.
And then He talked to Isaiah (That was His prophet.) and said, "Go tell
him that I've heard his prayers and I'm going to spare him them fifteen
years." Now, how do you think that prophet must've been embarrassed coming
right back, "What are you coming back for, prophet?""THUS SAITH
THE LORD, going to live." And just left the gate saying, "THUS SAITH
THE LORD, he's going to die." Come back, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, he's
going to live. THUS SAITH THE LORD, he's going to live." Why? What changed
it? Prayer. That's the secret. Prayer opens the door: prayer. "Whatsoever
you ask in prayer with faith believing, you shall receive it. Ask abundantly
that your joys may be full."
Stand still 57-0518 P:53 Now, in reverence before the Holy Spirit, let's just
be reverent, real... a moment... You pray and ask God. You say, "Now,
Lord, I know that that man standing there is just a--a man. He's... When he was
here not long ago, he was just a boy, but now he's turned to a middle-aged man.
He's dying by degree like all of us are, like a candle burning out. Someday his
days are over. But I believe that today, that You have people that's pastors,
and teachers, and prophets, and evangelists and so forth."Look, when
Hezekiah was told by the prophet, "You're going to die; set your house in
order."...And that king, the greatest man in Israel, turned his face to
the wall, and wept bitterly, and said, "Lord, I beseech You to consider
me. I've walked before You with a perfect heart. Spare me fifteen years."
Why didn't God Jehovah, the King of heaven, talk to His king of Israel? He
didn't. He talked to His prophet.He said, "Isaiah, you go back and tell
him."There was the king standing right exactly in front of the pro--the...
God talking to him, asking for this. God could've talked right back to the
king, but He didn't make the king up that way. He had a prophet down there. He
spoke to the prophet, said, "Go, tell him I heard his prayer and going to
spare him for fifteen years."
Isaiah 32:4 Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD,
the God of David thy father, I have
heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days
fifteen years.6 And
I will deliver thee and this city out of
the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.7 And this shall
be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that
he hath spoken;8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the
sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by
which degrees it was gone down.
Notice brother Branham told us sometimes in our
desperation when we cry out to God it will even change the very plan of God.
And notice that the sign that God would honor this change was that the shadow
would run backwards 10 steps.
The Earth Tilted: King Hezekiah This illustration will attempt to show how the shadow
moved ten steps for King Hezekiah. When Planet-7X (7 x Earth Diameter) passed
between the Earth and Moon. Earth North pole had a magnetic attraction to
Planet-7X as it passed near Earth, effectively causing the tilt of 26-28 deg.
9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when
he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:10 I
said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am
deprived of the residue of my years. 11 I said, I
shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the
land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.12 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me
as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off
with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt
thou make an end of me. 13 I reckoned till
morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my
bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.14 Like a crane or
a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me. 15 What shall I say? he hath both spoken
unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go
softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.16 O
Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover
me, and make me to live.17 Behold, for peace I had
great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered
it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy
back. 18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death
can not celebrate thee: they that go down into
the pit cannot hope for thy truth.19 The living,
the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this
day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.20 The
LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing
my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of
the LORD.21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a
lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the
boil, and he shall recover.22 Hezekiah also had
said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the
house of the LORD?
Let us pray