Doctrine
number 2
The One in
Whom he reveals Himself through
Brian Kocourek,
Now, let's move
along to point number 2) Secondly, there must be one that God
reveals Himself through, In other words there must be a vessel of God's
choosing. And seeing that He promised that He would do nothing lest He reveals
it through His Servants the Prophets, it must be a prophet that brings the
correct teaching first.
Now, we already
showed you in our first sermon on Doctrine in this series, that there must
first be one Who Reveals himself, and the doctrine therefore in order to have
Life must reveal that One, which is God.
Now, the second
point we are looking at is that the there also must be one that God uses to
bring forth the teaching or the revelation of Himself. And this one must be a
good steward of the Word of God, because the Word is the Light that brings
Life. And al doctrine must be Word based or forget it.
Now, brother Branham said in his sermon, The
Mighty conqueror 56-0401 P:4 "Now, the
first thing, I
believe that all doctrine must come from God's eternal blessed Word,
for faith cannot rest upon the shifting sands of theology of man. It must be
based upon the unmovable Rock of God's Word. Therefore, a person can rest assure that if
God has said it, God will perform what He said.
I would like for you
to listen to the following Scriptures
very closely, and you'll find that above all signs that a man can come forward
with, there is only one sign that vindicates the man as God's prophet and that
is "Thus Saith the Lord" that
does not fail. Too many have tried to place the Sign of Messiah above "Thus Saith the Lord". But God does not tell us to fear a man
that comes with vision, nor does he tell us to fear a man who can discern,
because we are all taught to discern right from wrong according to Malachi 3:16.
We are also shown in
1 Corinthians 12 that there is a gift of
the Holy Ghost which is discerning of spirits, and the word of Knowledge. These
are not The sign of Messiah
because the sign of Messiah is the Word of God Itself, and that is a category
all to itself. There were many prophets that came with "Thus Saith the Lord" but only very few
that have shown the sign of Messiah. The two who used it the most were Jesus
and William Branham. But Samuel shown it on occasion, and Paul. William Branham
used it more than all together though, so it holds a special place among Message
believers.
The Sign
of Messiah is Hebrews
Notice, it is the
Word of God that discerns the thought and intentions and motives of the heart,
and all creatures are naked in His sight. That is not Deuteronomy 18. The sign of Messiah like all
visions had to be checked by the Word.
Brother Branham said
he had to check every vision by the Word. And Deuteronomy
18 is not a vision. It is God Himself
doing the speaking through His designated mouth piece, which is His prophet.
Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto
thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me;
unto him ye shall hearken;
He doesn't say
the Lord thy God will raise up a five fold ministry and you shall hearken unto
them. He does not say you must hearken to any Bible teacher, or any pastor, or any
evangelist, or any apostle, nor any five fold prophet. But you had better hearken
to the prophet that comes with "thus saith
the Lord".
Let's continue to read. 16 According to
all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the
assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God,
neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17 And
the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that
which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a Prophet
from among their brethren, like unto thee, (like unto Moses) and I will put my words in his mouth;
and he shall speak unto
them all that I shall command him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto
my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet, which shall presume
to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak,
or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. 21 And
if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD,
if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is
the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but
the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
Notice these guys who speak in His name and do not say what He said, they
don't come with "thus saith the Lord", but they
do come speaking in His name, and these are the same men you see in Matthew 7 who are told "depart from me for I never
knew you".
Matthew 7: 15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you
in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits.
Brother Branham taught us the fruit is their teaching for the season. It's
what they are teaching.
From his sermon, Anointed ones at end time 65-0725M
P:42 Notice.
But it's what they produce that tells you the difference. "By their fruit," Jesus said, "you shall know them." Man does not gather grapes off of
a thistle even though the thistle be right in the grapevine. That could be possible, but the
fruit will tell it. What
is the fruit? The Word for the,
fruit for the season; that's what it is, their teaching. The teaching of what? The
teaching of the season, what time it i, -man's doctrine,
denominational doctrine, or God's Word for the season.
Jesus
said in Matthew
In other words, a corrupt tree will bring forth
fruit for another season, a wrong season, like teaching Moses message in Jesus
day.
Identified Christ of all ages
64-0401 P:10 So the Bible is perfectly true
and that's what we stand on: the Bible. It must be THUS SAITH
THE LORD. Now, we do believe that God can
do things that's not written in His Word, because He's God. He does whatever He
wishes. But yet, I like
to see anything, when it comes in a line of a doctrine come out of the Bible;
because I believe that the Bible is the full revelation of Jesus Christ,
the Bible said. That's what it is. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. And nothing
is to be added to It or anything taken from It. So I like to stay right
into what It says and what It promises. If He'd just do what He promised,
that's all I care to see anyhow. Then I know I'll see Him.
18 "A
good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit," Now that doesn't mean
for one minute they are infallible, if they are men they are capable of making
mistakes, that is why we are commanded to say what is on the tapes and only
what is on the tapes. Just like Paul said in Galatians
1:6 "if any man teach any other
Gospel than what I've already taught, let him be accursed."
God keeps His Word 1 57-0306 P:9 The Urim Thummim has been done
away with, 'cause that priesthood ended. But God's Urim Thummim today is
God's Word. The Word is His Urim Thummim. Woe unto him that'll add or take
away anything from this Book. This is God's eternal truth. And in the day where
there's people saying, "Oh, we don't need the Bible. It's been translated
fifteen times or more; how do we know its right?" Till heavens and earth passed
away, God's Word will never pass away. Every doctrine and everything else of the Bible, that we have in the
church, must be based upon the Word of God, must come from the Word.
Not just one place, but from Genesis to Revelation it must say the same thing,
'cause we cannot base our thoughts upon one little Scripture. For the Bible
said, "In the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be
established."
Matthew
Now, if it is a corrupt tree it will have the
teaching for the season all mixed up.
Faith once delivered to the
saints 57-0610 P:68 Every mortal must give away to
immortality. Don't disregard those words because it comes from an uneducated
person. Don't regard it because the person that I am. But regard it because
this, that it's the Word of God, and that God Himself, if I've
told the truth, will vindicate it to be the truth. If I'm false, then
my preaching's false, then my doctrine is false, then I'm false with it. And
if I preach a perishable doctrine and a perishable Christ, I'll perish with it.
But if I preach the imperishable Word of God, and an imperishable God, I'll
live forever with Him. That's right. I've done my best. I can't do no more.
It's up to God to shake your hearts to believe. Once more I ask Him in Christ's
Name to let this happen again tonight for the glory of God.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth
good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits (their teaching) ye shall know them. 21 Not every
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but
he that doeth the will
of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied (preached)
in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils?
(in other words, they will have Mark 16
working for them) and in thy name done many
wonderful works?
Now, these "works"
are dunamis, and not ergon as in John
14:12. This is not the life and nature of Christ expressed in their
own lives, but this is miracle working power that is exhibited, just like Judas
went out healing the sick, and Jannes and Jambres did some of the things Moses
did. These are men who can pull themselves into a sphere or spiritual state where
the supernatural exists, but they do it with wrong motives, but God allows it
to prove and test you.
Convinced and then concerned
62-0521 P:30 Remember, that today, because
that you see the church moving up from one great thing to another great
thing... And those people sometime draw a little fence. If Luther had never
drawed a fence, he'd be Pentecostal today. The Pentecostal church today is the
advanced Lutheran church. That's exactly right. Now, we draw fences. If we
would make our organizations, and end our doctrine with a comma, "We
believe this, plus as much as God will give to us," that would be
fine. But they end it with a period. "We believe this. And you
believe it, or you don't come around us." So therefore, God... you
just shut yourself off. Right. We must be willing and open to receive God,
and whatever God's got for us, with an open heart. We must receive it. And
therefore, when the nations here turned down the Word of God, there's
heathens yonder that's ready to receive It. And the Gospel will go from
this intellectual nation to the heathen that don't know right hand from left.
And that's what's taking place right now. That's exactly. It's a leaving.
23 And then will I profess unto them, I
never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. And we know that "iniquity is to know to do right and you won't do
it".
But Deuteronomy 18 on the other hand tells us that if the man does
come in the name of the Lord and he speaks in the Name of the Lord and "it comes to pass what he said", then he is the
guy you fear, because it's not him speaking but God Who is speaking through
Him.
I think it's interesting that William Branham's detractors all seem to
say the same thing. They all say they never saw one "thus saith the Lord fail", yet they couldn't
stand his doctrine. These men don't know their Bible very well. They are so
indoctrinated into their schools of theology that they have missed identifying God's
mouth piece for this age, because he
didn't come preaching what they already thought they knew and understood.
So God tells the people in Deuteronomy 13 that He will send
men with delusions to take out those who are not ordained to Life. And that's exactly
what we read last week in Matthew 13 where Jesus said
he spoke in parables because not everyone is ordained to understand and thus be
converted.
Three kinds of believers 63-1124E P:19 Peter, this unlearned person of
a--standing near, when he had saw the thoroughly a-vindicated Word of the
day, that God promised in that day that there would be a one rise up which
would be a prophet among them... And Simon was hard to believe it because there
been so many impersonations of it, but when he seen the genuine unfolded Word
of that age and hear Him properly identified, he was certainly convinced Who He
was. And he was the one, said, "Lord, to whom would we go?" when it
was asked him, when the crowds was separating between the believers, and
unbelievers, and make-believers. There was all three of them standing right
there in that one company of people: believers, make-believers, and
unbelievers, right found in this chapter right here. And because that Jesus
had spoke the Words the way He had, it separated His congregation, but it must
be done. He was a great Man as long as He healed the sick, but when it
come down to the doctrine and the prophecy, that's what separated the chaff from
the wheat. See? The chaff only wraps around the wheat; it's not the wheat;
it cannot be used. There's nothing in it, no life in it. It's the husk, and it
cannot stay with the wheat. It won't be heir with the wheat. And so it's got...
Just the grain is what we're talking about, the heart of the grain of the
wheat.
Just think of it, if you are ordained to Life you will believe, because
you are ordained to believe. That's what Acts
Now, in getting back to Deuteronomy 13 God speaks to the
people and says, "there are going to arise some
men with signs and wonders but I am going to allow them to come and entice you.
So be very careful, because I will allow
this to happen in order to put you to the test, to see if you will chase after
that which is not my word or not".
Deuteronomy 13:1 If there arise among you a prophet, or
a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And
the sign or the wonder
come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after
other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou
shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of
dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye
love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep
his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and
cleave unto him. 5 And that prophet, or that
dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you
out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to
thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So
shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. 6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or
thy friend, which is as thine own soul,
entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou
hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from
thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the
other end of the earth; 8 Thou
shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity
him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal
him: 9 But thou shalt surely kill him;
thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand
of all the people.
Look,
God doesn't mess around. And we should take our example from our Vindicated
prophet who was approached by a man one time, who said to him, "if you are of God like you claim you are, then smite me
blind," but brother Branham responded to him saying, "Sir, I can't smite you blind, because you are already blind".
So we do not need to physically kill that person, as they were commanded under
the law, but we should consider those people as already dead to yourself, and we must learn to just move
on without them. God said, "I am actually going
to allow men to rise up with signs and wonders, and even great teaching
ability, and I am going to put you to the test to see if you will stay with
"Thus saith the Lord", or whether you will just chase after
new objects of worship."
Now,
listen, in the old testament it was false prophets that arose to take out those
who were not ordained to Eternal Life. But the Bible teaches us this is the age
where teachers are ordained to rise up and draw away many disciples after
themselves.
And
it's no wonder that this Message is loaded with teachers. So be aware and be
very careful. Because the only ministry you should fear is that which comes with
"Thus
Saith the Lord", and that alone, because God is obligated
to back up His own Word. And if God didn't say it, then He is obligated to make
sure it does not come to pass if someone says he said it, and he didn't say it.
2 Peter 2:1 But there
were (Notice
that speaks of past tense) there were
false
prophets also among the people, even as there shall be (that speaks
of future tense) even as (or in the same
way as back then there were false prophet, even so there shall be) there shall be false
teachers (plural) among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, (bring them in
from where? Bring them into The Message, from where? Well if they will bring
them in, then the damnable heresies will have to come from other than the
message itself. From outside the Message itself. In other words, they will come
with their own theology, and their own words and say it is the Word of God, the
Message of the hour. And in doing so they will even
deny the Lord that bought them, (they will have a oneness mindset
for they will deny the one who bought them, and Jesus the son of God paid the
price, not God the son, so they will be oneness, and deny the son of God.) and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
Now, verse 2
will give you another clue. 2 And many shall follow
their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. (So these guys will be
popular and in doing so they will bring the truth to be evil spoken of.)
3 And through
covetousness (that's
their greed showing) shall they with feigned
words (those are made up words) make
merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their
damnation slumbereth not.
Now,
listen. Their motive is to make merchandize of the people they are speaking
too. That is the same Organization Spirit you see in the great whore of Revelations 17 and 18.
Now,
let me read this from the Wuest Translation:
But as
there arose false prophets also among the people, even as also among you
there shall be false teachers who will be of such a nature as to
bring alongside of
true doctrine
destructive heresies even denying the Lord who purchased them, bringing upon
themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow (these guys will have a
big following) their licentious conduct to its
consumation; on account of whom the way of truth will be reviled.
These
men will come into the Message and give a wrong understanding of the Word of
God
and the people will be caught up into what these men say as evil interpreters
of the Word of Truth.
3 And in the sphere of covetousness with fabricated words they will exploit you,
from whom: for whom from ancient times their judgment has not been idle.
The Message 2 Peter 2: 1-2 But there
were also lying prophets among
the people then, just as there will be lying teachers among you. They’ll
smuggle in destructive divisions, pitting you against each other—biting
the hand of the One who gave them a chance to have their lives back! They’ve
put themselves on a fast downhill slide to destruction, but not before they
recruit a crowd of mixed-up followers who can’t tell right from wrong. 2-3 They
give the way of truth a bad name.
Now, listen? It wasn't a Baptist preacher, or a Pentecostal
Preachers, or even a Catholic priest who was labeled by the American press as the
most racist preacher in
Message Bible cont'd. "They’re only out for themselves. They’ll
say anything, anything, that sounds good to exploit
you. They won’t, of course, get by with it.
They’ll come to a bad end, for God has never just stood by and let that kind of
thing go on."
Now, let's read it from the "The Voice" translation, because I really want
this to stick in your minds, because we are at the end time, and only the elect
will not be deceived, which means all others will fall by deception.
The Voice 2 Peter 2:1 Just as false
prophets rose up in the past among God’s people, false teachers will rise up in the future among
you. They will slip in with their destructive opinions,
denying the very Master who bought their freedom and dooming themselves to
destruction swiftly, 2 but not before
they attract others
by their unbridled and immoral behavior. Because of them and their
ways, others will criticize and condemn the path of truth we walk as seedy and disreputable. 3 These false teachers will follow their greed and
exploit you with their fabrications, but be assured that their judgment was pronounced long ago and their destruction does
not sleep.
Expanded Translation 2 Peter
2:1 There used
to be false prophets among God’s people. That's Deuteronomy 13:1–5; deuteronomy
18:14–22;
and Jeremiah 28. Just as you will have some false
teachers ·in your group among you;because we see it in Jude 4. They will secretly ·teach which means
they will bring in; or introduce
things that are wrong teachings, that
will cause people to be lost. Destructive
heresies, Destructive opinions, and destructive factions. They will even refuse to accept, in fact they will even deny the Master Jesus who bought
their freedom for them; as a master
purchases a slave; which Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 6:20; and Peter tells us in 1 Pet. 1:18. So they will bring quick ruin, destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their evil depraved;
debauched; licentious ways and say evil things about, even maligning; and
slandering the way of truth. 3 Those false teachers only want your money, so In their greed they will use you and exploit you by telling
you lies with deceptively false words. Their judgment spoken against them long ago is still coming and is not idle, and their ruin is certain and does not sleep.
Now, let's continue in our study of the vessels that God uses to reveal
His true doctrine by opening our Bibles to Amos 3:7 Surely the
Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the
prophets. 8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear?
the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
The Voice translation,
Amos 3:7-8 The Eternal Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His
servants, the prophets. They are His
spokespeople.8 The lion
has roared; who is not afraid? The Eternal Lord has been heard; His prophets can’t
help but prophesy.
The Message translation Amos 3:7-8 The fact is, God, the Master, does nothing without
first telling his prophets the whole story. 8 The
lion has roared, who isn’t frightened? God has spoken, what
prophet can keep quiet?
Acts 3:22-23 22 For Moses
truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto
you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things
whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23 And it shall
come to pass, that every soul, which will not
hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
Acts 13:40-41 Beware therefore, lest that
come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; 41 Behold, ye despisers, and
wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no
wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. There's God's vessel
again, it's always a man and always will be a man.
Revelations 10:3-7 3 1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a
cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his
face was as it were the sun, and his feet as
pillars of fire: 2 And he had in his hand a little
book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his
left foot on the earth, And cried
with a loud voice,
as when a lion roareth:
You
see, this is Amos 3:8 8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the
Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
And
this is also 1
Thessalonians 4: 16-18 where
the Lord comes down with a Shout which is a "loud
Voice".
Revelations 10:3 and when he had cried, seven thunders
uttered their voices. 4 And when the seven thunders
had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and
write them not. 5 And the angel which I saw
stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created
heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that
therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there
should be time no longer: or
as some of the versions say, Time no longer delayed.
7 But in the days of the voice of the
seventh angel, when
he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished,
as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
Malachi 4:4-6 Remember ye the
law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all
Again we can see that Jesus himself taught us that he was just a vessel
for God, His Father to work and speak through. John 14:7-9 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from
henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip saith
unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus
saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet
hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and
how sayest thou then,
Shew us the Father?10 Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak
not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11 Believe
me that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
Therefore in
closing, we examined point number 2 conernig Doctrine, and that is that there
must be one to reveal. Point number 1, there must be One who reveals, and point
number 2 there must be one who is used to reveal. In other words, God always
has used a vessel to reflect or echo his Word from, His Doctrine, what he wants
taught, and that will bring us to point number 3 which we will examine Sunday
morning, and that is there must be ones in whom the doctrine is revealed too.
And that is you and
I brothers and sisters, and we will examine on Sunday how that we know that we
are the ones God has revealed Himself too.
Let us pray.