God’s Only
Provided Place of Worship # 22
Brian Kocourek, January 29, 1995
Worshipping Sincerely in Vain
Mark 7: 1 - 9, 13 ( read)
Now here we see a group of men who worked very hard at being religious
and doing every thing just right, but yet Jesus told them their form of Worship
was in vain. In other words, it would do them no good because God rejected it.
Notice also how He said, " For
laying aside the Word of God, you hold the teachings of men." And
then He said, "You have a fine way of setting aside the Word of God in
order to observe your own teachings."
This is the text of what we shall study today from brother Branham's
sermon on God's only provided place of Worship. This is number 22
in our series. So keep this thought in the back of your mind.
Last Sunday we left off with paragraph 67 and our
focus was on the One way, the One entrance that is a
sure entrance, and that is through God's revealed Word which must come only by
and through his Prophet. Today I would like to again look at this paragraph 67
and follow through with the next few examples brother Branham gives us. As I
read on I could see where we could actually take about 20 more paragraphs and
keep the same continuity, but somehow I feel if we take too many paragraphs at
once we will somehow dilute the real meaning of what is being said. It's just
like preaching. Brother Branham said the perfect sermon is about 25 minutes
long. You hit the point and give some illustrations to support it and hopefully
with the Word and examples, the message will click with the people. But if you
preach for hours and hours at a time you will wear out the people and lose
their train of thought. Then they will remember less with the long sermon than
they do with the short one. And so,
before we pick u at paragraph 67 again, I would like to first tie together
what he has been driving at in the paragraphs just preceding this, and to do so
I will need to again read from paragraph 49. Then we shall tie paragraph 49
together with paragraph 67 & on
49.... there
is a possibility of a person to worship God in vain, with sincere worship. God
has all these things fixed out for us, but the thing of it is, we
have to search to find where they are.". And then again in pp. 67.... But, remember, in all that, if there's something in a
man's heart or a woman's heart that they believed that that is
"right," then there's got to be somewhere that is right. As
I've often said, "When the deep calleth to
the deep, there's got to be a deep to respond to that call."
68 You
know, we've been told that--that a seal once walked upon the bank of the--of
the sea, with legs. But now he doesn't have legs, they turned into flaps
because he could... had need of the flaps when he took it from the land, a
fur-bearing animal to the sea; nature formed him some flaps instead of legs,
'cause he could swim more than he did of his walking.
69 I
can't think of this great man now that went to the south pole. What was his
name? Byrd. They say that he had coats made for some cattle, on this
exposition; that he'd taken the cattle for milk. And he made fur coats to keep
them cattle from freezing to death. But when he got there, they didn't
need any fur coat, nature had growed them one.
See? Why? Before there was a fin on a fish's back, there had to be a water for him to swim in or he'd a-never had a fin.
There... Before there was a tree to grow in the earth, there had to be an earth
first for it to grow in, or there'd been no tree.
70 GOD'S.PROVIDED.PLACE.WORSHIP - SHP.LA - V-7 N-4 -
65-1128.1M
So, you see, as
long as there's something in the human heart a-calling for something, there's
got to be something out there to respond, to satisfy that call.
I) "When the deep calleth
to the deep, there's got to be a deep to respond to that call."
"As long as there's something in the human
heart a-calling , there's got to be something out
there to respond, to satisfy that call." Now what I would like to show by this
statement is that we are all a product of our nature. That is why the new birth
is so crucial. Our nature has got to
change. And only those who are ordained to it will be changed. So then all others will end up seeking after that which fulfills
there own nature.
Acts 13: 48 & Jude 4 (read) ordained ( Tasso) to assign or position to
a certain lot) Now remember, in pp.
49.... there is a
possibility of a person to worship God in vain, with sincere worship. Yet we find they are ordained to do what
they will do. I believe it is the
ordained nature that is within you that God places in you before you ever were
born that gives you the disposition and desire to serve God in the capacity in
which you do. If there is no hungering
in you it is because you are not His.
In Matthew 5: 6 He said, "blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be
filled." So if there is in
you a hungering and thirsting for righteousness, then there has got to be a
deep to respond.
ISAIAH.45:19
I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the
earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD
speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
So we see here that only those who are ordained to
Life can believe and those who then are ordained to be filled will hunger for
righteousness. Now there are those who are hungering for religion. But there is
a difference. He said in Isaiah, " I The Lord
speak in righteousness for I declare the things that are right. Even Scofield pointed out that righteousness is old English for
Right - wise - ness. So if you hunger for right wise ness, then you hunger for
the True. That which is right. And then it is
impossible for you to hunger for that which is not true. The Elect can not be
deceived for they do not hunger for it. Remember brother Branham just told us
in PP. 67 that Admiral Byrd had made coats for his cows that he took to the
South Pole, and then he said, But when he got there, they didn't
need any fur coat, nature had growed
them one.. Where
there is a deep call there is a deep to respond.
In 2 Thessalonians 2 : 12
(read) the Wuest translation tells us that those who
are turned over to believe a lie and become damned by believing the lie are
turned over by God Himself because they did not have a love for the truth, it
says that when the anti Christ comes, he will come with deception and this
deception is in the form of miracles geared to the gullibility of those who are
perishing. So if the anti-Christ
deception is geared to the gullibility of the gullible, then that is their deep
calling, and the deception and lie is the deep that responds to their calling.
They are getting what they want in their hearts. ( And
if you are not sure of your place in Christ this morning that can be a very
scary thing.) Let's look at some examples of this in scripture.
a) Matthew 3: 7 - 10 Pharisees Hebrew ( to separate) After the ministry of the post
exile prophets ceased, godly men called Chasidim ( saints) arose who sought too
keep alive reverence for the law among the descendants of the Jews who returned
from the Babylonian captivity. This movement as all movements degenerated into
the Pharisaism we see in Jesus day.
A letter strictness which overlaid the law with traditional interpretations
held to have been communicated by the Lord to Moses as oral explanations of
equal authority with the law itself. Matt
15: 1 - 2, Mk 7:13, Gal 1: 6-17 NIV
The Pharisees became strictly a sect. A member was a chaber, which means united and was obligated to remain true
to the principles of Pharisaism. They were moral zealous, and self-denying,
but self righteous and destitute of the sense of sin and need. And although
they were the most pious and religious, among the Jews they also were the
greatest persecutors of Jesus Christ.
b) The Saducees were a Jewish sect that denied the
existence of angels, spirits, and
miracles, especially the resurrection of the body. They were religious
rationalists ( The denied revelation but made
great pride of their reasoning ability) and they were strongly entrenched in
the Sanhedrin and priesthood. (In other words :
Politics) They are identified with no affirmative doctrine, ( in other
words they had no doctrine that they would stand by as live die sink or swim,
but they were open to discussion of doctrine perse',
but would take no real stand on their own pertaining to the doctrine.).One
thing they had in common is that they were simply deniers of the
supernatural..
II) "there is a possibility of a person to
worship God in vain, with sincere worship"
Now remember, Admiral Byrd was an example of a man who did something in
vain. He did something he didn't need to do. If he only understood nature he
would have known this. But what then is the thing that is in vain. It is man
trying to do what God only can do. " As many as were ordained to Life believed." The
others couldn't believe. Jesus told us
Himself in Matthew 13: 10 - 17 that not every one is ordained to
understand the Word. Only those who have been chosen and ordained to it are
made in such a way as to be able to reflect it back ,
to understand it, to perceive what it is all about and to allow it to take over
every fiber of their bodies. (Read) and notice when the same parable is told in
Mark 4:11 & Luke 8: 10
He says, "to you it
is given to know but to those who are without, to those others, it is not given
to even know or understand and perceive what this is all about." So
we see here a deep calling means there is a deep to respond. A what a privilege
to have a deep stirring in our hearts to know Him in the power of His
resurrection. That is why I am so thrilled when brother Branham says, "My
ministry is to declare Him, that He is
here!"