Faith
no 35
Faith
is knowing the will of God
Sep 20, 2017
Brian
Kocourek, pastor
This evening we
will examine
how that are Faith is based upon knowing and understanding the Will of God.
From
his sermon The Spoken Word is the Original Seed 42 brother
Branham tells
that our Faith must be based upon God’s
Word, and knowing
the will of God is found only in His Word. "It's there, the Truth, all the
Truth, and nothing but the Truth, and
our faith rests right there, right there on what God said. Don't try to interpret
It; just say it the way It says it. Don't put any private interpretation,
..."
Now, this evening I would like to speak concerning Faith
and how that it must be based on an understanding of God's Word. Because we are told in Hebrews 11: 6 that without
faith (revelation) it is impossible to please God: for he
that cometh to God must believe that he
is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him.
So not only is our
Faith based on our belief, but also on an understanding that God rewards our
believing.
Now
the word believe is defined as: having confidence in the truth, the existence,
or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof
that one is right in doing so:
Therefore
having faith is essential to the Christian experience with God and is necessary
to have in order to please God. In other words Faith is an assurance and a
confidence and a trust in God and What God says in His Word. And therefore without Faith we are told that “without faith we can
not please God.” Why? Because
if you do not trust someone then you do not value that person, nor do you
believe that person is right. Therefore if we are to receive anything from God
we must first have faith and believe God for what we seek.
But the
reason people do not have faith concerning receiving from God is because many
times they are not certain if what they are asking is even the will of God to
begin with. The reason they are not sure
what the will of God is, is because they do not know what the will of God is.
In order
to have faith then, we must first have knowledge of what God’s will is
concerning the matter we are wishing to have faith for. Before one can have
faith for any circumstance in our life we must first know what God’s will for
us is in that area that we are seeking faith for, whether it be for healing or
finances, or for other more specific blessings. “So then, Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
the Word of God” Rom 10: 17.
Therefore this evening we are going to examine what we can do in our
life to increase our Faith. We need to understand that God has placed more than
800 promises in His Word for our benefit and all it takes to receive those
blessings is for us to know that they are there and that God wants us to have
them.
You see, we must have the mind of Christ in us, and we must know the
mind of our Father and His mind must be in us as sons and our minds must be
brought into harmony with the mind of God if we are to receive what God has in
His mind for us to receive.
Let me rephrase that to simplify what I am
saying. If you do not know what God's will is, then you cannot ask according to
his will because you simply do not know his will.
So the very first principle we must come to in
building up of our Faith is to know what God said about our need. Br. F.F. Bosworth said in Christ the Healer Those
Needing Healing, before people can have a steadfast faith for the healing of their body, they must be rid of all
uncertainty concerning God's will in the matter. Appropriating
faith cannot go beyond one's knowledge of the revealed will of God.
Before attempting to exercise faith for healing, one needs to know what the
Scriptures plainly teach, that it is just as much God's will to heal the body a
sit is to heal the soul.
And
that goes for every other promise God has given us in His Word which is His
Will.
Now, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:11 For what man knows
the things of a man, except the spirit of man is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God knows. So unless you have the Spirit
of God in you it is literally impossible to understand the things of God, and
thus appropriate the Faith of Christ in your Life.
Now, concerning Faith in God’s word, in Romans 10:17
Paul tells us how to appropriate our faith. He said, “Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Br. Branham took this one step further and preached a sermon entitled,
hearing, recognizing and acting upon the word of God.
So you see, faith comes by hearing the word of God, what God
says about it. Then if you hear and recognize it to be God’s Word, then you
appropriate that by acting upon what you hear.
Brother Branham taught us that Faith
begins in the mind and then when we receive it into the heart, then God
can come down and anoint that faith and it becomes a dynamic revelation. So you
must first fill your mind with His Word.
The Word of God must first come to the Mind, before it settles down
into the Soul. So we see that first we have a mental faith or recognition of
the word of God. Then when God anoints His Word in our Mind by His Holy Spirit,
it moves down into our Soul and becomes a Spiritual or dynamic Faith.
In fact Brother Branham said in the Message Blasphemous Names , pg. 23, Coming to your
mental faith, right here, comes the Holy Spirit, coming down into your mental
faith making it a Spiritual Faith. Then the Spiritual Faith only recognizes the
Word."
Now, this evening I want to talk to you about how to appropriate Faith
in God’s Word, because many people say they believe but when it comes to Faith
it is more than just believing. You must step into it or it is not yours.
You must hear it, and faith comes by Hearing the word of God, therefore
to really know whether you heard it or not, you must recognize what it is that
you heard. Because many who hear do not recognize nor do they perceive what it
is that they are hearing. So you must hear which means to understand it,
then you must recognize it, and the word recognize means To know to be something that has
been perceived before: recognize a
face. 2. To know or
identify from past experience or knowledge:
So then we must ask, if to recognize has to do with knowing
because of an experience of the past, then we must ask Whose
past? Because Faith is the
Substance of things hoped for, and yet Hope that
is seen is not hope. That is what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8: 24 For we are saved by
hope: but hope that is seen is not
hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
But let’s look at this thought from Hebrews
11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen. So Faith is
The substance. Now, in order to understand this we must ask ourselves
what is this substance that we call Faith? Is it matter like in science and
physics? Is that what the words substance means? The English Dictionary defines
substance as 1. a. That which has mass and occupies space;
matter. b. A material of a particular kind or
constitution. But this is not what it means, so let’s look at what else
the dictionary defines Substance as being. 2. a. Essential nature; essence. Now,
that is more like it. Therefore if Faith is the nature of something or shall we
say someone, or the essential nature,
then it is the essentiality and intrinsicality of God.
And I can prove it by God’s own Word. The Greek word for Substance in
which Faith is The Substance is
the Greek Word “hupostasis” which literally
means: essence, confidence, assurance
and person. In other words, this word “hupostassis”
is translated here as the word substance
and it is the same word that is translated as the word “person”
in reference to God.
Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory,
and the express image of his person,
(hupostassis)
and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
So Jesus being the express image of God’s very “person”,
is the express image of the very “substance”
of God, which is what Faith is all about, expressing the very mind of God.
That is why substance which is what Faith
is, is not substance as if it is matter, but it is the essence
of Who and what God is. Faith is the very
out-raying or expression of the Divine will of God.
The same word “hupostassis” is also translated
as the word “Confidence”
as we see in Hebrews 3:14 "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the
beginning of our confidence
steadfast unto the end;" Notice, not hold fast the beginning of confidence, but our
confidence. Our confidence referring to
our being, and our trust. Faith has to do with trust. and you trust people not
things. When you trust your breaks, you are not trusting the metal or material,
but you are trusting the people who designed them and put them on. We do not
place our trust and confidence in things, but in people.
And so we see that Faith is the substance.
Faith is the Person we hope for.
And Christ is our Hope. That’s what the
Scripture teaches us.
1 Peter 1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope (How?) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Titus 2: 13 Looking for that blessed hope,
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what is our
hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ
at his parousia?
1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of
love, and patience of hope in our
Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory: Doxa. Christ in you by being baptized by one Spirit
into one body is the hope or the earnest expectation of receiving
the doxa of God, his opinions, values, and judgments.
1 Corinthians 15: 19 If in this life only we
have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
So Faith is the substance of Christ that we hope for.
So Faith has to do with Christ, and since this substance is also the person, then Faith is the nature and
essentiality of Who and What God is.
Now, let’s look at this a little bit closer
in. If Faith
is the substance or person of Christ, then faith, genuine
Faith is based not on what we think, but what God thinks.
Faith then, is
knowing what God said. Then to appropriate Faith we
must first find out what God said concerning any Divine promise, and then recognizing His will concerning that
Divine promise, and then we must plant them as seeds into our mind, and
water them by His own Word, and we do that by reciting them over and over again
until they settle down into our heart and then when that happens, the
nature of that Word Seed takes over and does what it was intended to do.
The nature of the seed, (God’s Word
Seed) takes over.
In Galatians 3:13 we read, “Christ hath (past
tense) redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.”
Notice
that the Word of God speaks to us of the Divine Promises
as though they are already done. God places them in the past tense, not
future tense. And our Faith comes into
manifestation when we do the same thing that God did, placing his promises in
past tense as though they already are.
God wants us to appropriate the past tense of
His Word regarding any Divine promise. For
what God thought before the foundations of the world is already finished in His
mind as though it has already materialized. When God puts a promise to us in the past tense He expects us to do the
same. That is having the mind of God concerning that promise. You cannot appropriate something that is in
the future, you can only appropriate that which is already given. The
word appropriate means: To take possession of or make
use of exclusively for oneself, often without permission:
Why do
you have to ask permission when He has already promised it to you. Therefore
the words, “if it be thy will o Lord”
shows you don’t believe that it is His will for you. And therefore it
negates His Promised Word to you by your unbelief.
If I
give you something, you do not need my permission to use what I have given you.
And God does not expect us to counter His promise with the words, “if
it be thy will o Lord.” Those are not Faith appropriating words,
those are faith diffusing, faith negating words. God wants
you to know His Word and when you know it and know that it is His will for you
to have it, then it is already done. Then appropriate that promise. Take possession of it, claim it as your own, make exclusive use of
it. That is what Appropriating Faith is all about. The things hidden
belong unto God but those things revealed belong unto us and to our children
for ever….
So what
God has given you let no man take away from you.
Jesus
spoke of this when he said, "the father
has given them to me, and therefore no man can plick them out of my hand."
In Mark 11:24
Jesus taught us Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire, when
ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Believe they are yours. First
believe the promise that God has given you, and then believe that He wants you
to have it, and then believe that you have already received it, and only then can
you appropriate that promise, and make use of it for yourself.
We need
to only begin praising Him and thanking Him for what He has already given to
us. The farmer must get his seed into
the ground, and before he can receive his harvest he must have a past tense sowing of the seed into good
ground. But once that seed of the
Word is planted into your mind and heart, then you need only to look for the
harvest to come, and it will come in its proper timing. And not even that
is a mystery. The timing of the sowing and harvesting is not a mystery to anyone
who has studied and understands sowing and reaping. The farmer knows that when
he sows, he shall reap. So he sows in a certain season knowing he shall reap in
the proper time for the seed to gestate and go through it’s cycle. Human seed
takes 9 months, horses 11 months, and elephants 22 months. All seeds have a cycle time for sowing and reaping…
In John 12:24 Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn
of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it
bringeth forth much fruit.
Believing what God said and giving back to God
what He said is how we get the Seed of His Word into the proper soil. And when we do that, all we need to do is wait on the law of
reproduction to bring into materialization the Word seed that we planted.
Remember,
when Lazarus was laying there rotting in that grave? What were the words of
Jesus concerning those circumstances? He said, John 11: 41-42 “Father,
I thank thee that thou hast heard me.” (notice that He is speaking
of the past tense. He has already prayed for the raising up of Lazarus. He already sowed the Word Seed into good
soil. Now, he is only acknowledging
what he has already sowed. Look at the next verse ) 42 And I knew (past tense) that thou hearest me
always: but because of the people which stand by I said it,
that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
And John said in 1 John
5:14 And this is the
confidence that we have in him, that, if
we ask any thing according
to his will, he hears us:
Notice
what he said here…And this is the confidence that we
have in him. There you are. Our confidence is in Him… Faith is
the substance…Faith is the person… Faith is
the confidence we have in Him…. What He already thought and What He has already spoken, is already a
done deal.
Solomon
put it this way in: Ecclesiastes
3:15 That which hath been is
now; and that which is to be hath
already been; and God requireth that which is past.
Faith then can rejoice before seeing any
change in circumstances. Because Faith does
not look to circumstance, Faith looks to the Word of God.
If God said it, then Faith considers it is
finished. It’s all over. It’s done…
Faith refuses to even look at anything that is
contrary to the promise.
The Apostle Paul in speaking of Abraham, said in Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it
might be by grace; to the end the
promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the
law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us
all,
And the reason it might be by grace is because it is already done in
the mind of God even before you ask.
17 (As it is
written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even
God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though
they were. 18 Who against hope believed in hope,
that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, (past tense) So shall thy seed be. 19 And being not weak
in faith, he considered not his own body
now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet
the deadness of Sara's womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully
persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written
for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But
for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered
for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Now, look, what I am trying to say is this. Faith
looks at what is already done in God’s Word and knows God's Word is God’s
will. Because God would not have promised if he did not mean what he said. Therefore
if God said it, it is as good as already done. It is finished.
Faith is
taking God at His Word. Faith is believing what God said before you see the manifestation of
it. Faith is the sixth sense and it does not need the other senses to
appropriate the promise.
I do not
need to see you to know you are here in this church. I do not need to hear you
to know that you are alive in your seat right now. I do not need to physically
go out there and touch you to know that you exist. I do not need to smell you
to know you are here. And I do not need to taste either. So then why do we rely
so heavily upon our five senses when it comes to believing what God has said?
In fact you don't have to rely on even one of your five senses to believe what
God said.
When God
told Mary that she was to become the mother of His Son, she didn’t say, "I
can’t believe what I'm hearing". She said,"Be it done unto me according to Thy Word".
"Be it done unto me according to what you have promised." That’s
it, hearing, recognizing and acting upon the promise of God. That is
appropriating what God said for yourself.
Look we also
had an angel from the Lord come down from heaven, stand before groups of men,
and tell us that we are the Elect Bride of
Jesus Christ. And we are the ones that will be conformed to the image of the first born son.
Now, my question is this? You have heard it, but have you recognized it is a
promise of God to you personally? If so then are you begin acting upon it.
When
Jesus went to Gethsemane, brother Branham said that God was waiting on His Son
Jesus to make up His mind.
Brother
Branham said that the cross was not the victory, but the battle in Gethsemane
is where Jesus received the victory. For had it not been for the Faith He received
from the Father, there could very well have not been a Calvary experience. For
after wrestling with his own mind, and his own will that night, he obediently
declared, Father it is my will that you take this cup from me, but
nevertheless, "not my will, but Thy will be done."
He never said if it be thy will, but he said, "not my will
but thy will be done." And that is the Victory right there.
When Jesus gave over his own will to the will of the Father.
Communion
57-0418
14 Now, if God did
not spare His Own Son from the cruel testing, then He will not spare you or I
from the cruel testing. And Jesus was here confronting the greatest
test that He had ever had. Gethsemane laid just before Him, where that once and
final all-sufficient test must come, when the burdens of the entire world laid
upon His blessed shoulder. There was no one in all heavens or earth could ever
stood it but Him. And to know that all of the sins, of past sins, and present
sins, and future sins, rested upon this decision. And it was one of the most
greatest victories that Christ ever won or proved His great Messiahship, as
when He said to God, "Not My
will; Thine be done." That was
the greatest victory He had ever won. All the demons of torment was
around to tempt Him and try Him. And when
we get right with God, when our hearts become pure and the Holy Spirit has taken
Its place in our heart, it's the most glorious thing to have testing. The
Bible tells us that our
testings and trials are more precious to us than silver and gold of this world. So we
should be thankful.
Conference
60-1125 43 Now,
Moses cried to the Lord and the Lord said, "Rise up and go forward."
And when Moses went right straight and stepped his foot into
the water, when that taken place, the Red Sea opened back, and
Israel crossed over to a great victory. They had a conference. That's the way we always have to do, is
have conferences. Now, I want to speak of another one right quick. There was a
conference. There's many of them we could speak of, but let's just not pass
this one by. There was a Gethsemane conference one time. When it had to be brought
after a victorious life had defeated sickness, defeated everything in the
world, He came to Gethsemane, and
Father had to check up to see if He really wanted to go through it or not.
So you see when Jesus looked at the promise of God that God had this
lamb that was slain in God’s eyes before the foundations of the world, and when
he stepped into that role, then he could say at the cross, “it is finished.”
Why are we not a denomination? 58-0927 P:145 Now, the
Bible said that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God. Now, listen real close, so if
some of you won't be in tomorrow to hear it finish up. The Bible said that
Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. Is
that right? When was He slain? From the foundation.
That's the world, if it's made out of a bunch of broken up atoms, pulled off
the sun yonder, before it was that. Then before there was an atom ever first
broke in the sun, if this was a meteor off the sun, which would be a hundred
billion trillion trillion trillions of years back before there was even one
light meteor, Christ was slain. When God's great mind settles on one
thing, it's a finished product. When God said, "Let there
be," it's already finished if it taken a hundred billion years to run out,
it's already finished as soon as He said it. And when the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, the same
Bible, the same Spirit wrote and said, our names were put in the Lamb's Book of
Life before the foundation of the world. So the man that wrote the
song, "There's A New Name Written Down In Glory," he had good
meanings, but he was unscriptural. See? That name was wrote down in glory when
before the world ever begin. When the Lamb was slain, our names were put on the
Lamb's Book of Life.
Then you
say, well what about me brother Brian? All I can say my brother and sisters, is
let’s read Ephesians
1: in closing… It’s all there, and it is as much
finished in God’s own mind and it ever will be. The question is. Do you believe
it? Can you see yourself there? Do you believe this is personally about you? I
can tell you, I do…
Ephesians 1: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According
as he hath (he’s already done it, so it is finished in God’s eyes…) According as he hath chosen us in him (there’s your eternal life) before the foundation of the world, that we should be (that means
that he has already set it in motion. He has ordained it to be that you are) holy and without blame in His Presence. Then in love He has (past
tense) predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
So you don’t have to ask Him if it is His Will, you know it is the Good
pleasure of His will, o hallelujah!!!) 6 To the
praise of the glory of his grace,(that
means now, even before we see it with skin on it we should be praising God for
what he has already done…) wherein he hath
(past tense) made us accepted in the beloved.
It’s not you making yourself acceptable. He made you acceptable while
you were still in Him before there was even one atom to fashion the world into
existence. He already has done it, so start planting that seed. Start praising
Him for what He has already done. So don’t look at the circumstance…Look at His
promise…
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; 8 Wherein he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9 Having (past tense) made known unto us the mystery of his will,(so you know His
will, and it is no longer a mystery…) according to his good
pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (and
He is so happy to have made known His Will to us by His Shout, by His Message to us…)
10 That in
the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all
things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 11 In whom
also we have obtained an inheritance,(notice we have already obtained an inheritance…How? By) being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: (Notice
again he is telling you that this is all His own Will and He is so glad to let
us in on what His will for us is. And the response we should have is to praise
Him…)
12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first
trusted in Christ.
Then he
tells us in verse 13 how this is all to come about, but we do not
have time to get into that this morning, but we know that He gives us the
earnest of our inheritance when we receive the baptism of His Holy Spirit, and
then in verse 17 – 20 he tells us that when God Himself comes down with a
shout, it is to give us the very mind of God which gets us ready for the
placing of sons, for we can not be adopted and placed as sons and receive the
inheritance itself until we have the mind of our father. So He comes down with
the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Himself so we as sons
can receive our Father’s mind that we might know His mind and know His Word and
His will and thus do only what His will desires. Because we are sons, He has given us the
spirit in our hearts that we might cry abba Father, and Beloved, now are we
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that,
(that’s His Great Appearing among us in this hour)when he shall
appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. and by
seeing Him as he truly is, we come into His image and are like Him,. That’s His
plan…That’s His will. Do you see yourself in it? Then can you step into it?
Let us
pray…