Doctrine no 20
Building upon the correct foundation
Brian Kocourek,
This
evening I would like to spend some time looking at Doctrine and how it must have
the correct foundation, or you will build upon that foundation in vain. To
begin with let's turn in our Bibles to The Gospel of Luke, and we'll examine
something Jesus speaks of concerning building a correct foundation.
Luke 6:47 Whosoever cometh to me, and
heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged
deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose,
the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was
founded upon a rock. 49 But he that heareth,
and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house
upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately
it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
Notice
Jesus tells us that a foundation that is dug deep, and
founded upon a rock will weather any storm that comes its way. He tells us this
is the sure foundation, and notice also this rock Jesus is speaking of is
Revelation,
That
is what the Apostle Paul said us in 2 Timothy
Brother
Branham makes it very clear in his sermon, The Rapture, that
the Rock Jesus was referring to was Revelation.
Rapture the 65-1204 P:42 In the Bible... Cain and Abel didn't have a
Bible to read, but it was revealed to Abel by faith, which is a revelation. Abel offered unto
God a more excellent sacrifice than that of Cain, which God testified that he
was righteous. When Jesus was asked here in Matthew
So
the church is built upon a sure foundation,
and that foundation is the Revelation of Jesus
Christ. Now, let me take you to another Scripture where Jesus speaks
concerning doctrine, and notice he compares the doctrine of the Pharisees to
the Doctrine of Christ.
Matthew
So
what we are looking at is having the correct foundation to build the church of
God upon, and that correct foundation is Jesus Christ and Him Crucified as Paul
tells us in Ephesians 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
This
same Apostle also speaks of this in 1 Corinthians
Notice
this same apostle also said in Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation...
Therefore
we are commanded not to try to lay another foundation upon that which has
already been laid. That would be really stupid if a man is building his house
and he lays a foundation, and then another builder comes along and says, I have
a better plan, and so he lays another foundation on top of the one already laid
down.
That
would weaken the entire foundational structure, because the foundations must be
laid upon a footer, to keep it from sinking or settling or cracking from
settling, and thus weakening the entire structure. Anyone who lays any other foundation other than
what has already been laid will not be building up the church but will be
building himself a different building altogether.
Paul
said in 1 Timothy
So
the foundation he laid out for us as a master builder,
was Jesus Christ and Him crucified, which is a good foundation, that leads to
eternal life.
That
is why Paul was very critical of anyone coming along and not saying what he
already said. The same with Moses and with William Branham.
Deuteronomy 31:25 That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the
ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, 26 Take
this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the
LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. 27 For I
know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you
this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much
more after my death? 28 Gather
unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak
these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record
against them. 29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way
which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days;
because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger
through the work of your hands. 30 And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of
Now, this which I highlighted, hold in your memory
because we will come to it again in the New testament.
Acts 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous
wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of
your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away
disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch,
and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one
night and day with tears.
Deuteronomy 31:1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 My doctrine shall
drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon
the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: 3 Because
I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 4 He is the Rock, his
work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just
and right is he.
So
when we hear Jesus speak of building the foundation upon a Rock, he's speaking
of building it upon the God Rock, and the revelation of that God and How he was
in christ reconciling the world to Himself.
God's only provided place of worship 65-1128M P:37
Now, the word "Deuteronomy," the word itself means "two laws," the word "Deuteronomy." And God has two laws. The
two laws: one of them is disobedient to the Word and die; and the other one
is obedience to the Word and live. That's the two laws, and "Deuteronomy" means those "two laws." They have both been absolutely
displayed to us in the Scripture. One of them is death; the other one is Life: Life and death.
God deals only in Life,
Satan only in death.
So
we have seen, Moses, Jesus and Paul tell us that no other Rock can be built upon
for the foundation of the church except the One true
God who is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Deuteronomy 32:45 And Moses made an end of speaking all
these words to all Israel:
46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words
which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to
observe to do, all the
words of this law.
And
we heard Moses warn the people that after he left people would deviate from
what he had said, and we heard the apostle Paul make the same warning and even
said if they did they would be cursed in Galatians
1:6-9. And we hear Jesus in
the last chapter of the Book of revelation make the same promise.
Revelations 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the
words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God
shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And
if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God
shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city,
and from the things which are written in this
book.
And
from his sermon, Thinking man's filter 65-0822E P:53 brother Branham tells us that the curse upon
man came because man did not believe All the words of God as He said them. In
other words, by calling into question the meaning of the Word, brought on the
fall as we see also in brother Branham's sermon. "Notice. Oh,
my. Esau thought that that birthright didn't mean what God said it did, that it
was the difference between life and death. And so like Eve and like Judas, sold
their birthrights for a satisfaction of the taste of the knowledge..."
And
from his sermon, Marriage and divorce 65-0221M P:6 Now, we realize in
making these statements, somebody, if it's only one person, will hang on to
it like it was between life and death. There's many of you here will go
away believing. 'Course,
many of you, perhaps, won't. But I know in my ministry there's
people who come to listen at me, listen to what I've got to say, from, well,
they're setting right here this morning internationally, from many of the
United States, Canada, and across the sea. And you can imagine the strain that
it puts you to know that that man's eternal destination lays in your hands,
'cause he's going to hold on to what you say. So God would make me answer
for it. And I want to approach this just as sincerely as I can.
Now,
if brother Branham says that God will make him answer for what he says, and then
you believe that he deliberately told us things he really didn't believe himself,
then what kind of an idiot do you think the prophet is? He is going to be held
accountable for telling us the truth, and then you say, he didn't mean what he
said, and he didn't say what he meant? To me that would be a total delusion on
your part to think that.
From
his sermon, Going beyond the camp 64-0719E P:7 Therefore, knowing
that you are my responsibility and on my hands by the Gospel, I'll always want to keep you
right in the pages of this Bible. ... ..."So when I
say it, I want to be dead earnest that it's right with all I know. And
then when He speaks to me, I can just say what He showed me."
So now, I want to get to my point in this sermon, and
to do that let's turn in our bibles to
1 Corinthians 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 5 ¶ Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
Now, I hope that you will notice that the Apostle Paul was telling us that if we are focused on the vessel that God is using to feed you, then you are carnal.
Paul is telling us here that
he saw how the people had become carnal because they were comparing one minister to another. One vessel to another vessel.
Now, that may be ok in sports, or in music, but he's telling us here that's carnal when you're dealing with the Word of God, because what have we got that was not given to us from God? He reminds us where they came from, and says, "Did you get those things on your own?" If a man thinks his ministry is successful based on any merit of his own, then he's not too mature in the things of the Lord. That's what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 4: 7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
And in 1 Corinthians 14:1 he also said, ¶ Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. 6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and [to] Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. 7 ¶ For who made thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
17. The apostle Paul said in
Romans
18. Now in getting back to what the Apostle Paul said, in 1 Corinthians 3 and: 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that waters (is anything); but God that giveth the increase is (everything). 8 Now he that plants and he that waters are one (and Why are they one? Because they are planting and watering with the same intention, and that is for the purpose of bringing forth or imparting God-Life.) and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are laborers together with God:
I like that. He's telling us we don't act alone, but rather our actions are in accordance with the plan of God and if God doesn't give an increase we could plant all day long and we could water all day long, but if God's not there to bring the increase then all our efforts are in vain. So it is all dependent upon what God’s will is. That is why even Jesus himself said, “The son can of himself do nothing, but whatsoever the son seeth the father do, that the son doeth likewise.)
Then The Apostle Paul adds. ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. 10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds there-on. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. 11 ¶ For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
In other words don’t get too puffed up thinking you or your church or your preacher is top dog, because it will all come out in the wash one day when every man’s work will be judged by fire.
14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. and if it is a genuine work that God is doing and using that man then there will be genuine results. Maybe not all in one place, but there will be results wherever that ministry is taken to if God is the one taking it.
15 If any man's work
shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself
shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 16 ¶ Know ye not that ye
are the
From his sermon, The Masterpiece 64-0705 54 he says, "I asked Mike, my nephew, to ring that bell in thirty minutes, but he's not doing it, and I've already been thirty minutes. We'll continue on a little bit. See? Now, I don't want to break these rules; I made these rules. See? And here's breaking your own rule."
Now, A "rule" is an authoritative, prescribed direction for conduct. That is one definition, but notice the next definition, A "rule" is "The body of regulations prescribed by the founder of a religious order for governing the conduct of its member."
Brother Branham continues in pp 61 of the masterpiece
by saying, "Now, watch. Every masterpiece is put on a foundation of
sculpture. Angelo's
Now, I think it's interesting that the official English definition of the word "rules" refers to the body of rules prescribed by the founder of a religious order, because a founder according to the American Heritage Dictionary is the One who establishes something or formulates the basis for something: And the word basis means A foundation upon which something rests. So you can see what brother Branham said about rules ties perfectly into what he's speaking about concerning the foundation piece for the Masterpiece to rest upon.
Greatest news flash in history 61-0424 P:27 They wasn't going over to argue their religious points. They were going over to say, "I know He's alive. I know Him because He appeared to us, and we seen Him do the same thing He did before He died, before they killed Him up there. And they never stole His body away. And the women is exactly right because He did raise from the dead, because it was Him." Then they looked at one another when they stopped, somewhere to rest a little bit. Said, "Did not our hearts burn within us?” We ought to have knowed that was Him. Why, it went all the way back in the Scripture. “Didn't our hearts burn within us as He spoke to us along the road and opened up the Scripture?" Said, "Fools and slow at heart to understand. Ought not Christ to have suffered and entered into His glory," as the Scripture said. See, they knowed that was Jesus, because He lined straight with the Scriptures no matter what the others said. And sooner the church gets to a place it'll line up with the Scripture teaching instead of trying to take some manmade theology, quicker you'll find the resurrected Christ. That's right, my brother. God builds on no other foundation than what's already a laid by the apostles. That's right. Oh, yes they were happy.
So we see that there is only one foundation and that foundation was laid by the Apostles and that foundation was Christ, and if we preach anything but Christ Jesus then our preaching is in vain. And the apostle Paul said if we preach anything that he had not already preached then we are cursed. So don’t tell me that this preacher is great or that one is great, because all they can do is say what has already been said. and if they deviate even one word off from "thus saith the Lord" then what they are building has gone off the foundation, and is in danger of having to be torn down and rebuilt.
Let
me tell you something, the county building inspectors can make you tear down
your building and rebuild it if it deviates from the blueprint. And if your
building deviates from it's foundation, he has a right
to make you tear it down and start all over again.
And
from his sermon, You must be born again 61-1231M P:41 brother Branham said, "Brother Lee had a dream. And he'd always debated with
me about the water baptism in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't
believe it. And he was a contractor. So he said, "Brother Branham, I just
dreamed a dream." And he said, "I dreamed I went up to
So
brothers, if God's mouthpiece said, that the "he" in John 14:12 is
everybody that believes, or anybody that believes, and whoever believes, or
every person that believes, who are we to say the blueprint is not the way we
like it so we are going to change what the voice of God told us what the word
"he" means. who
are we to say it is singular and speaks of only one when the blueprint, the
Voice of God said it means more than one person. and
who are we to argue with a vindicated prophet about anything. who are we to say, "that's not what the bible says, the
Bible says "he", and he is singular. When we do that we are placing
our own mind and ability to reason above the Voice of God to us, and that is a
very dangerous position to be in, because that thing will have to be torn down
before it can be built upon again.
From
his sermon, Satan's
We see this problem today best illustrated in sports. People idolize the winner and they loathe the looser. They get behind the ones that have the biggest stats. No one wants to follow the man that doesn’t have the biggest bat, or the most home-runs, or the greatest strike out record, and in the spiritual world it’s no different. The bigger the congregation the better it is people think. The bigger the missionary program the more we think God is in it. But what about that man that God tells to go to a place that is not big? Does that mean he is all washed up.
Brother
Branham said in his sermon, Rejected king 60-0515M
P:27 Now, that's the kind of man that the people like to choose
today. The people does not seem to be satisfied with the way that God placed
His church to be governed and controlled by the Holy Spirit. They want
somebody, some man, some denomination, some certain
people to govern the church that they're not able to throw themselves
completely into God's hand to be spiritual to be led by the Holy Spirit. They
want somebody to do their religion for them, somebody that will tell
them just how to do it and all about it. So this man seemed to suit the
place exactly, because he was a very intellectual man. And it's a whole lot
like today. We like to choose such people too, to control our churches, to
control the
Jehovah Jireh 61-0209 P:50 "God will raise up all kinds of things if the church will just get in condition to receive it, but He will never build His foundation upon something man has laid. "For there's no other foundation can be laid than that which is laid, Christ Jesus, the Son of God," and the revelation He'd build His church upon of Christ Jesus. Yes, sir. Make Him the same yesterday, today, and forever."
To whom shall we go 60-0604 P:30 Now
listen, many times education leads to the demon of education, and that demon of education leads you to
a know it all. And when you get there, then you become an infidel and deny
Christ. So you can't build upon the foundation of education. Neither
can we build it upon political powers. You say, "Well, my... I'm so
interested; I'm Democrat." "I'm a Republican; I'm..."Both parties is rotten. There's only one Foundation; build upon Christ! This
nation don't need to build upon any other foundation but Jesus Christ.
That's right. No other foundation is laid; no other foundation can get you
to heaven. No other foundation is secure, but the
Foundation of Jesus Christ.
From the Message, It was
not so from the beginning 59-0405A P:12 Brother Branham said, And
Jesus found those people, the Jews, perverting the Word of God, making the
commandments of God of non-effect. He said, "You, with your traditions, take the Word of
God and pervert It into making It saying something that It does not say.
And when someone says that the Word of God does not teach Divine
healing, they are saying something that the Word does not say. And when they
say the Word does not teach the baptism of the Holy Ghost for believers in all
ages, they are saying something that the Word does not say. They are substituting something
to take Its place.
When we try to say that shaking hands, or membership, or some of those things, which are all right, but it'll never take the place of the Holy Spirit in the church. That's God's foundation, and there can be no other foundation laid. We can hear the Author of this Book so solemnly warn, "Except a man be born of the Spirit, he will in no wise enter into the Kingdom."
That’s it. Its not how much education you have, but do you have the Spirit of God living in you. Moses was educated, Paul was educated, Daniel was educated. But they knew how to die to self, and receive "thus Saith the Lord", and they accepted what God said above their own education. They held the Word of God above all worldly wisdom. And how do you know if you have the spirit of God living in you? Jesus said, “he that hungers and thirsts for righteousness, (right-wise-ness) shall be filled.” So I ask you this evening, are you hungering and thirsting for the Word of God? Are you listening to the word of God or reading it every chance you get? Or is it something you do on Sundays when you come to church. Let me ask you the question, where do you keep your Bible? Is it with you all the time, or do you keep it in your church pew, or the car so you won’t forget to bring it to church.
44. And what about listening to the word of God? We all have access to MP3’s with the entire Message of 1200+ sermons, and I ask how many are you listening to each day? Ask yourself how many movies you watch a week, or how many television programs do you watch, or how many radio programs you listen to each week, and then ask your self how many sermons are you listening to with intent to understand better your own role as a son or daughter of God. That will tell you what preeminence you have for God’s Word.
Why do you think Judaism failed? They were building
the foundation, and they kicked out the very cornerstone that becomes the head
of the corner, which was Jesus Christ. When He came, instead of using the chief
cornerstone to build upon, they said, we don't need you, we have Moses, and he
said if you believed Moses you would receive me, because I am the one He was
pointing to."
Jesus said in John
Notice they were involved in the very same thing
Paul talked about. Men currying favor with other men, and yet
claiming to be the elect of God for their day. They could quote Moses
alright, but they missed the very one Moses spoke of because they were building
upon a foundation that was not the Foundation Moses laid.
Look, there is no other foundation but Christ. And
the very one they looked for they missed because he did not come like they
thought he should come.
So what foundation are you building on? What are you
learning about? What are you studying? What are you spending so much of your
waking hours doing?
We spend so much time tending to the 1/3 part of us that is flesh and we starve the 2/3’s part of us that is spirit. It just doesn’t seem to make sense.
Matthew
24 Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Making a way 56-0304 P:38 But,
brother, God made a way of escape, and you'll have to come to God's terms, and that's through Christ Jesus our Lord. No
other foundation is laid but that which has already been laid.
No, no one to build upon any other foundations, like stubbles and mud, the
floods will wash it away and great will be the fall. But Jesus said, "Upon
this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it." What is it He built it upon? On the spiritual revealed truth that He is the Son of God. "Who
does man say I, the Son of man am?" Some say, "Elias, and some say
Moses, and some say John the Baptist, and so forth." "But Who do you say I am?" Without
hesitation, without taking a second... Listen sinner, that's the
way you receive it. He'd been with Him, he knew what He was. And then before he
could even think a second time, the Holy Spirit got a hold of him, and he said,
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Said,
"Blessed art thou,
Let’s bow our heads in prayer