God’s Only Provided Place of
Worship # 76
Brian Kocourek,
Falling
Away from THE Faith
Wednesday night we examined paragraph 240 where brother Branham referred to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. We
examined this chapter of the book of Corinthians and we found it to be quite
enlightening as to the Gifts that God has placed in the church and as to the
attitudes we should have concerning them. We began by examining what Paul
started out by saying in verse one: I
Corinthians 12: 1 & 2
Now concerning spiritual [gifts], brethren, I
would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were
led. We found this to be an
interesting way in which Paul begins to teach about the gifts because, he begins
by telling the people not to be ignorant or misinformed about them. He then
tells them the reason why he does not want them to be misinformed is because
they were not taught right when they were Gentiles, and as Gentiles they chased
after every little whim that would come their way. In fact notice how the scripture reads very
carefully. He says, "as Gentiles, Ye
were carried away of these dumb idols."
So then we must ask the question, "What dumb idols?" And He says, these dumb idols, and he is
talking about spiritual Gifts. We went on to examine verse 3 as follows:
3 Wherefore I give you
to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth
Jesus accursed: and [that] no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the
Holy Ghost. Now, remember, he began by saying not to go too
overboard about these gifts and be led astray by every wind as you were led to
serve gods that were not gods back when you were gentiles. So too, I believe
here Paul wants us to be careful how we view gifts. Because he is warning us
here that although someone would show or manifest one of these gifts that he
will mention, he is warning us up front that the gift is no evidence that you
are even borned again. He says, no man that is truly borned again could ever say that Jesus is accursed. Now
this word Accursed here is anathema which means to be devoted to God with no
hope of being redeemed. So something that worships God knowing full well
it will not do you any good. What a terrible thing it would be, to be in this
condition. Worshipping God apart from a new Life. Then
Paul says, No man can call Jesus Lord except by the
Holy Ghost. Now, brother Branham told us the True interpretation of this
statement. He said, "you might say that He is, but just because you say it
doesn't make it so, your Life must be a witness to it." It must be manifested in your Life, then your Life is the Vindication that The Holy Ghost is
Lord of your Life. So we see Paul
set forth a warning before he tells the people about the gifts of the Spirit, because
people can get caught up into a false security by having the gifts and not yet
being born again. Now we all know this is true about tongues, but let's see what other
gifts Paul is speaking of here that could give you this false security.
Now as we worked our way through this chapter of the
Book of Corinthians, and specifically the administration and operation of the
Spirit of God working in and through the various gifts that He placed in the
body, whether they be gifts of Wisdom, Knowledge, Healing, Tongues or whatever
more, the main focus must be upon the Word of God and the Giver Himself. And
this is where Paul began by warning the people first because, as little
children, if they do not place the gifts in their proper place, whether they be
the gifts of men in a five fold ministry or individual gifts in individuals in
the church, if they are not kept in their proper place and perspective, they
will do more harm than good, and he is telling us that all these gifts in the
church are to help the church and to edify and uplift the Church and to cause a
hunger and thirst in the Church for the
Spirit of the Living God which is
His Word.
13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized
into one body, whether [we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we be] bond or free;
and have been all made to drink into one
Spirit. So, don't ever forget
this. We have all been made to drink of that One Spirit. So what he is saying here, is that although God may choose to place a gift in a
certain person, that gift is to cause all to drink of the Fountain which is
Christ. The main focus then of these gifts in the church, is to try to get His
body to hunger and thirst for more of Him. We are not to worship or elevate the
ones with these gifts, but the purpose then of these gifts is to create within
us a thirst which will cause us to want to drink from the fountain of His
Spirit which is His Word. And this Fountain is Eternal and is the Source of
Life. Eternal Life. The True &
Real Fountain of Youth.
Now this morning I would like to continue with pp. 241
as we shall read, 241 Notice Ephesians 4:30: ... "grieve not the holy Spirit of God,
whereby you are sealed until the... (next
revival?)... until the day of your redemption. ... grieve not the
holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed until the day of your redemption. 242 ... whereby you're sealed
until the day of your redemption. 247 Notice! Now this
might pinch just a little bit, but look (don't fall out with me).... Now
before we go any further, notice he is quoting a scripture here that gives us
our current condition. That of being sealed in.
Now, a Seal is used to indicate security and permanency. The Greek word used here is SPHRAGIZO which
was used of the
sealing of sacks of grain that were transported from one area to another. The
seal was to ensure
that the full contents that were placed in the sacks would indeed be the same contents that met their
destination. So you can see that in
viewing Paul's use of this word, when he is speaking of the Baptism of the
Spirit of God upon a believer, He uses this word Sealed, with thoughts of
Security over the length of a journey.
We find this sealing comes via the Word of God, as we see in Ephesians
1: 13.
Ephesians 1: 13b "In whom also
after that ye believed, ye were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of
Promise".
Now, when we see this word, promise, immediately we
should think in terms of Word, because the word Promise means word, as in,
"I promise is the same as I give you my Word." And that
is exactly what God has given to us and this is how He then seals us in for the
journey. For Paul continues in verse 14
saying, "Which sealing in, is the
earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession"...which
we know is our Body, Soul and Spirit. In other words, our
complete being. So again we see
the word "until"
which signifies that the seal is good for the entire journey. It is to protect the contents from any one
coming and sifting out the goods and disrepleting the
vessel of it's contents.
Remember what Jesus Himself said, " All that the Father has Given me are Mine, and no man can pluck them out
of my hand." So, then he quickens them by His Word, to His
Word, for He is the Word. And this
quickening then, seals them in for the journey.
1 Peter 1: 23 " Being born again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which Liveth
and Abideth for ever." Now, the fact that this being born again is
by a seed that has a certain type of Life that will never die, ensures you that
this Life will indeed endure through out the journey; for he says, 'Which Seed Life liveth
and abideth for ever," and this word Abideth is used in reference to (1) time
and (2) condition. In time it shall continue, it shall survive,
it shall endure, it shall not perish, but it shall Live. And in
reference to condition, it shall remain as one and it shall not be altered or changed to
another. So it can not be hybridized
nor can it become perverted. So then, for all intents and purposes it is said
to be sealed in.
And now, if we were looking at 1 Corinthians 12, and the reason for the gifts is to cause a
thirsting after this great fountain of Life, it is because we are sealed in for
the journey and it is essential that we drink from the Fountain of Life and eat
from the Tree of Life in order to sustain the Life that has been sealed in. So
then, God places gifts in His Church to not only cause a thirsting, but to
quench that thirst by watering it with His Spirit, which is His Word. Jesus said in John 6: 63, "The Words
that I speak, they are Spirit and they are Life." So then we see the importance of those gifts,
and yet we see that Paul warned us not to just run foot loose and fancy free
after these gifts, because as we said before, the whole purpose for the gift is
to bring us to the fountain, and so we must never just stop at the gift
itself. That is where the men who followed John made their tragic mistake. When
John pointed the people to the Fountain of Living Waters, they did not move away from the messenger
to the fountain, but were so caught up into the man (John) that they did not
drink from the waters of Life. And today, we see a repeat in the Message of
this hour.
Now let's continue with this thought and see if what
we are looking at when we focus on this seal, is correct with the way brother
Branham is using it in his illustration from Galatians 4: 30.
Let's continue at paragraph 248
"When
Notice how brother Branham substituted the words, " whereby you go in and don't go out anymore
until" for " whereby you are sealed until". So he is telling us that the sealing
in is to keep us from going out. Then we know that those who "depart
from the faith" in this last hour were never really sealed in to
begin with. They could not have been sealed in if they went out. That is what
is so important to
know and understand in this hour and that is one reason why Paul warned the
people about being misinformed about the gifts that God has placed in His
Church. Because he said, that when the people were back in their Gentile days
of ignorance they were just led about any which old way. But this is Word time
and we must take every thing back to the Word of God. Brother Branham who had
vision after vision after vision come to pass exactly, even right down to the
hat being on the chair, said himself that he had to take every one of those
visions back right to the Word of God to make sure it was truly from God and
not a deception of the Devil. And if all things must come back to this Word,
then it should be no strange thing if it is by this Word, and through this Word,
that we are Sealed in. Now, remember, we are living in
the end-time, and it is very apparent that one of the main attributes or
characteristics of the end-time is that there is to be a falling away, which
shows that those who fall away were never sealed in to begin with.
2 Thessalonians 2: 3 " Let no
man deceive you by any means": ( not by letter, nor by spirit, nor
by word) "for that day",
( The Day of Christ, His Parousia)
"Shall not come except there come a falling away first," So we see the earmarks of the Parousia of
Christ is that there must be a falling
away. And notice that this falling away is at the time of a gathering unto Christ at the time of
His Parousia as Paul states in verse 1.
"Now we beseech you,
brethren, by the Parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering
together unto Him, that you be not soon shaken in your minds, nor be troubled
in your spirit by any word or letter as supposedly from us," and then
Paul tells us to watch for these earmarks of a falling away. Then we shall know
that we are indeed at the time of this great Parousia of Christ.
We find in the book of Timothy the same warning. Here
we find out where they are falling away from. It is THE Faith. Not just faith,
but THE Faith. And there is
only One
Lord, And One Faith, and that is THE
Faith. And Since Faith is a revelation, then
they will be departing from THE
Revelation. And since their is only one revelation and that is THE Revelation of Jesus Christ,
then we must concur that these who are falling away from THE Faith are those who have become aware of His Presence
and yet they fall away any how. This is of Course Hebrews 6, where it is said, that these people "were
once for all enlightened, (which is Revelations 10, for the book is only opened at this hour ) and they have
tasted of the Good word of God, and were
made aware of the power of the age to come, (which is the millennium), and
they were even made companions of the Holy Ghost Himself." Now what other people could this be speaking
of but those who saw the Millennial powers exhibited in God's Prophet with bees
being talked to and a mad bull understanding the words of God's servant and opposum's
coming for prayer, and even violent storms being turned back by the words of a man. And to clinch the nail, we see that
these people were even made companions of the Holy Spirit just as the people
who fell in the wilderness of Sin were made aware that they were following the
Pillar of Fire, and yet they also fell away, because although they did not
return to Egypt, yet their hearts had already turned back and they had the
desire to do so, and
so God just let them die off one by one in the wilderness of Sin.
1 Timothy 4: 1- 2 " Now the
Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from The Faith, Giving heed, ( paying
attention to) seducing Spirits and doctrines of Devils; And Also Speaking Lies
in hypocrisy; ( what lies? these are
lies that they know better and are even doing differently in their own actions,
but they speak them to the people any how, because these are hypocritical lies) and the reason they do this is because
they have no consciences, their consciences have become seared with a hot
iron." Now, this is not just the church because
in Laodicea, it says, that
the church is naked and blind, but they
don't know it. But these know it and
do it any way because they are hypocritical liars.
We also see in 2
Timothy chapter 3: That the last days
will be perilous time, times of great stress and troubles, hard to deal with
and hard to bear, because although they will have a form of God likeness, they
will turn down the power which is the Word according to Romans 1: 16. So then, these will be a people who are ever learning but they will never be
able to understand the Truth and it even says, they will resist the Truth by
trying to do the same things that Vindicated the Truth when it came. The paradox about these people who fall away, is that they want the
Truth, and yet they reject it because it doesn't come like they want it to come.
So then, we see that what they really want, is a Truth
that is convenient for them, and the rest of it they reject. The Scripture
calls these people reprobates concerning THE
Revelation. And this word reprobate is a
Greek word adokimos
which means, "Not having stood the test."
Now, this leads us to another thought about this
sealing in. Because we find there is a group of people who will be sealed in,
and then their will be another group who are not sealed in, and yet both will be aware of
the Presence of Christ or the Parousia of Christ, in the last days. Yet the
Ones who are sealed in will not be deceived, and they will not go out from the
presence of Christ, but those not sealed into the Presence of Christ will not be able to stay in His Presence as
we see in 2 Thessaloninas
1: 7 - 10 these two groups. It calls
them reprobates, and this word means as we said, "those who do not stand the test." And since this reprobate condition is said to
be concerning THE Faith,
which is THE Revelation of Jesus
Christ, then the test must also be concerning THE faith or THE revelation of Jesus Christ.
Now, if we would open our Bibles to 1 Peter 1: and read verse 5 we will see that there is to be in the last times a Faith or Revelation
that will bring forth salvation which is a deliverance. And then in verse 6 we see that there is to be all sorts of testing go on
concerning this Revelation. Now, how does God ever test His People? The
same way we are told to try or test the Spirit. Give them the Word test. And so
the test of our Revelation will result in the Elect, a condition of Praise,
which has to do with our lips acknowledging this Revelation. And then a
condition of Honor, which is a sense of value or a high estimation, and so we
see that those who speak this Word also will esteem it of great value. In
fact, they will esteem it the greatest value in their lives, and this will
bring them to the place of Glory, which is the Doxa
of God, His
very mindset in the Elect.
Now if those who are considered reprobate concerning THE Faith, or THE Revelation of Jesus Christ
and His Parousia with us, then this means that they have failed the test, which
also means that although they know it is True, or The Truth, yet they will not speak it, and thus it shows, and the
reason they do not speak it is because it has not the value to them that it has
to the Elect. Hence, they will never receive the Mind of God which is His Doxa or Glory. And how could they ever receive the mind of
God? For they are not sealed. So
then as a broken cistern, they would only leak out what Living Waters they had
poured in any way. That is why in
Matthew 13 Jesus said, "To Him
that Hath will I give, but to them that have not, I will not give, because what they
do have already is being taken away. It is leaking out and they are loosing
what they thought they had." So
now, we should see the importance of what brother Branham is telling us here in
this Message of God's Only Provided Place of Worship.
Now, let's continue with the next paragraph number 250.
250 You're sealed in there, you're beneath the Blood. You don't go out no more. And
then what are you? God's son in God's family, sealed in by the Holy Spirit. The Devil couldn't get you if he had
to; for you are dead, your old husband part is dead; and you are buried, and your life is hid in God through
Christ, and sealed by the Holy
Ghost. How's he going to get you? How
you going to get out? You're there!
Glory! Now, I will leave that alone; just enough so you'll know what I'm
talking about.
Now, remember, "if you walk in the Light as He is also in
the Light, then the blood of Jesus Christ His Son Cleanses you from all sin (disbelief).
And so then, as long as you are walking in the Vindicated Word, you are under
the protection of the blood. We are told
in Romans chapter 4, that Faith is counted for righteousness.
And so "Blessed is the man in whom
God imputeth righteousness without works, saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, and whose sins are covered, and blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. " Now,
he never said that you didn't do it, but he just tells you here that God just won't give you credit for it. This doesn't mean that we have license to go
out and freely sin, but it means when you have fallen, it is the Grace of God
which causes you to get up and move forward again, all the while forgiving you
seventy times seven in a single day. In
1 John 3: and verse 9 we read,
"He that is born of God, ( He that has been sealed by God) Does not commit sin;" Now, this word commit is a word which
means to initiate and habitually
practice. You may backslide daily, but there is no willful intention to do
so. You just got yourself into a trap. And so we see the Seal of God go
unbroken. Why? Because it says, "His Seed remains in you."
The Seed, His Seed is sealed in, and in Psalm 37 we read, " The
steps of the righteous are ordained of the Lord: and the Lord delights in your
way, although you may fall, you shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord
shall uphold you with His own Hand of Power." In the next Paragraph brother Branham tells us
we become new creations in Christ by the Word not by any thing that we do, but
because we are predestinated to it.
251 Then a
new creation, not to a denomination but
to the Word. You're a creation of
the Word. Because the foundation stone was laid in you before the foundation of
the world, predestinated to be sons
and daughters of God. It is all a work of Grace and Election. He seals us in,
and we are sealed. So we mustn't ever desire to go out, but if you have His
mind, how could you have such a desire? Remember, The
greatest battle takes place in the mind and you have no thoughts coming. Your
mind is only a filter and either God's thoughts or satan's
thoughts will filter through your mind down to your inner man. That is why the
Token is so important. And the Life in that token must be displayed. Finally in
closing let me read to you from the Token.
28-1 TOKEN.THE JEFF.IN.
V-2 N-19 63-0901M
Oh. Oh, it should make us be--should make our hearts... Oh, apply it, church. Don't--don't fail. Will you not? Don't--don't--don't let the sun set.
Don't--don't--don't--don't--don't rest day or
night. Don't take no
chance; it won't work, children. It won't work. You must have the Token. You say, "I believe, yes. I go...
Yeah, I believe the message." That's all right, but... That--that's good. But you must have the Token. Do you hear, Branham
Tabernacle? You must have the Token displayed.
Without it, all your believing's
in vain. See? You'll live a good life; you listen to what the Word says;
you go to church; you try to live right; that's fine, but that's not it. "When I see the Blood," that's the
Token, and the Token here is not... 'cause what did... He had to see the actual
chemistry, because the life had gone, he--had gone from it. It was an animal. But here it's His Own Life that was in
the Blood, and the chemistry was only a signal, or
sign of sanctification. But the Life
Itself is the Token. For without the
circumcision, without the Token, you're not even in the covenant. The whole
thing works together. If you say you're circumcised to the Word,
and It only, then you'll believe the Word. If you believe the Word, then the Token's got to come. ( and
remember, he said the Token is the Life of the Word).
For He said, "Repent, and be
baptized everyone of you in the Name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost." There you are. Oh, my. Notice, then the preparation for His
promised land people... Notice, what he did. First, He had a people that He had
made a land for them. He had prepared a land for them. And now, He sent down
there a preparation for it, for the promised land
people. It was only for those who were
predestinated to that promised land. Right. And
how He done it, He sent a prophet
with a message, identified it by a Pillar of Fire, and gave a token that they
could rest assure that It was right. That's right.
It was for consolation. Israel coming out of Egypt then was a type. This is the
antetype of the church coming out of the
denominations. Now, not all denomination... I mean the Bride. See? Some people,
there's some of the independents are just as had as the denominationals,
sometimes worse. I'm talking about the
applied Token. The Token agrees with
every word. See? It's got to, because it is the Word. It's the Life that was in the Word. "My Words are
spiritual; they are Life," said Jesus. See?
So we see then, that it all comes back to this one
thing. If you are sealed in by the Word of God which is a Seed, then you are
quickened by the Life of that Seed which is the very Life of God Himself, and
you will not only recognize your day and it's Message, but you will be a part
of it. For every Messenger that brings a Message, there has to be someone to receive that Message. As brother Branham preached the message
called, "HEARING, RECOGNIZING
and ACTING on the WORD of GOD", we must also hear it, and that is to
recognize, or understand it, and then if we do, then we shall act upon it.
We are sealed in by the very Life of God Himself. So then, as
brother Branham quoted the Apostle Paul, he said, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed until the day
of your Redemption." And what
does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit of God?
The word grieve means to cause deep sadness. Why? Because you are going to get clobbered
for what you do that is outside His will. I hate to have to discipline my kids,
but when I have to I'll do it, because I love them. And God hates to have to
discipline you as well. It hurts Him as a Loving Father to do it, but if you
sow, you shall also reap. And what Parent would like to see his kids have
problems in their life. What Parent likes to look in on their kids and see
marital problems, or financial problems, or alcohol problems or sexual problems. No, sir. I want the best
for my kids. And I want them to have a Life that is prosperous and full of joy
and peace and rest in the Lord. I want them to be happy and have positive
thoughts about this journey we are on. I don't want them to get side tracked
for one minute. They might miss out on the beauty He's created for them, and
the wonderful things He has for them.
Remember, He said, "No eye has seen , and no ear has heard, what
He has in store for those who love Him." Brother Branham even said, that because God
knew that some of His Kids would like mountains, He created them for our
enjoyment. And because some of His kids would like the lakes and rivers and
oceans, he created them for our pleasure. So if He will go to that much
trouble to fulfill our desires and fulfill our pleasures and give us joy, won't
He do what He can to keep us sealed in? Remember, we have a promise. "He
will keep us in perfect peace who's mind is stayed on
Thee."
Let's just bow our heads and our hearts in prayer as
we approach Him in thanks giving for this Word of Life and the Hope He has
given us this morning.