God’s Only Provided Place of Worship # 78

Brian Kocourek, September 17, 1995

Hid In God Through Christ

Wednesday night we looked at paragraphs 248 through 250 and we saw brother Branham emphasize that when you are sealed in by the Holy Spirit, that means you are in to stay, and you won't go out any more. We emphasized the falling away and how it involves a people who are in at some time, but who do not stay in by their own choice. They actually resist the Truth. And this can occur by two different means. #1) Outward opposition and #2) Just plain ignoring it. [ The Bible says, resist the Devil and He will flee]. Just ignore Him and he will tire of you and go on to somebody else, you see?

Now, we know that Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses by trying to impersonate his vindication. In other words, these men recognize what he had, but they thought that what they had was just as good. The second way in which they resist the Truth is that they teach it wrong. And you'll notice that Jannes and Jambres began by trying to match Moses miracles with their own bag of tricks, because that is what they could not receive vindication and so they tried to compete with it. But eventually they could go no further and Moses miracles swallowed up their tricks. So we see that these who resist the Truth will be those who do not understand it themselves and so they then teach it to others in a wrong manner, and because of their own pride and professional jealousies, they will not humble themselves to receive it from those who do actually understand it. No, they will not stand for this, so they go ahead and teach it wrong. They are deceiving others because they themselves are also deceived, and this way they can be ever so sincere and yet so far from the Truth. In fact sincerely wrong. Remember, brother Branham is the one who taught us that people can be sincere and yet be so sincerely wrong that they will go to hell thinking they are right.

Þ [ 2 Timothy 3: 8 - 10 & 13 - 14 ] Read [KJV] first then, Resist 2 words, 1) Anti = opposite + 2) histemi = to cause to make a stand, to have a balance, to be immovable and firm, to be of a steadfast mind, one who does not hesitate and does not waiver. So we are looking at men who cause others to waiver, to be unsure and therefore they will not take a strong stand on anything. This is just the opposite of those who will "Live , die, sink or drown. " So we see a group of men who cause great damage in the church because they move the people away from Faith which is immovable to a theory which is much less certain, and which is very weak in it's conviction because it is not based upon vindication, but upon their own understanding which is in error.

Þ [Amplified:] Now as Jannes and Jambres were hostile to and resisted Moses, so these men are also hostile to and oppose the Truth. They have depraved and distorted minds, and are reprobate and counterfeit and to be rejected as far as the Faith is concerned. But they will not get very far, for their rash folly will become obvious to everybody, as was the case of those men. Now, you have closely observed and diligently studied my teaching, conduct, purpose in Life, faith, patience, Love, steadfastness, persecutions etc.,...(skip to verse 13) But wicked men and impostors will continue to go on from bad to worse, deceiving and leading astray others and being deceived and led astray themselves. But as for you, continue to hold to the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced, knowing from whom you have learned them.

Now, notice how these men are deceiving and leading others astray but Paul also gives us something else which we can hold onto. He let's us know that the teaching, Conduct, Purpose in Life, Faith, Patience, and persecutions of one who is vindicated by God is our absolute in how we must also conduct ourselves and teach and be taught. So we are not left here without truth. Paul tells us, even warns us of the impostors, but he also gives us assurance of the Real, in that we have been given an example whereby to follow. So we see the Twins again cropping their heads. Vindicated Teaching which brings forth a Life and faith which is immovable, and then impostors who try to imitate, but can only vacillate in their stand, because actually they have no real stand. They are blown about by every wind of doctrine. Because after all, they are able to deceive and lead astray because they also have been deceived and have been led astray and they appear to be so sincere. That is why he says, "you must know of whom you have been taught."

Now, as I said last week, there are two principals of Doctrine that brother Branham was opposed on more than any others, and that was Principal #1) Vindication. Which is this, "God is here to back up one man, so "be still and know." Or in other words, "shut up and listen." In Psalm 103: 7 teaches vindication this way, " He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel." And in Psalm 95 we see that because the people did not know God's ways, they erred in their hearts concerning what God was doing. [Psalm 95: 8 - 11] Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known My ways: So I swore in My wrath that they shall not enter into My rest." But remember, Moses knew God's ways, but the people didn't. They only saw His acts, but they could not put it together like Moses could.

And so, the Clergy opposed brother Branham because He knew he was vindicated by God and he taught as One who had been vindicated by God. And he taught that God back's up only one man. And God vindicates that man to bring forth a message. The clergy did not like that because they wanted to be somebody as well, just like Dathan and Korah wanted to be somebody. And yet, brother Branham let you know right quick because of His position with God before the people, that as far as God was concerned, he was still a nobody, and he was expendable with God. He even said, "stick your finger in a bucket of water, and the hole it leaves when you pull out your finger is how much God needs me." Yet men because of professional jealousy, did not want to acknowledge brother Branham, and therefore they rejected his ministry by either trying to do the same things he did, or they just would not acknowledge his ministry and thereby through an absence of speech they ignored him and thus they resisted him. We find this spoken of in the Scripture in the following verses:

Þ [Matthew 23: 13 ] "But woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, you are pretenders and hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of Heaven in men's faces, preventing them from entering: for you neither enter into it yourselves, nor do you allow those who are about to go in to do so."

Þ [ Romans 1: 18] " For God's Holy wrath and indignation are revealed from Heaven against all ungod-likeness and un-right-wise-ness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder The Truth and makes it inoperative. " Now the word, to hold down or resist means to hold back the Word from or to show restraint in allowing the Word to be given and thus the Word can not become operative and effectual in the people.

Now, let's continue on with God's Only Provided Place of Worship, and this is number 77. Let's pick up at Paragraph number 250 where brother Branham said, 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.

Today, we want to examine this thought here, "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!

We find there are three things that brother Branham is telling us here: Point number 1) Your Life is Hid in God through Christ. Point number 2) You are sealed in so the Devil can't get you. Point number 3) You are sealed in so how do you think you could ever get out or be lost?

Now, let's begin first with Point number 1) "your life is hid in God through Christ" Now, when something is hidden, it doesn't mean that it is not there. It just means that it can't be seen. The word hide according to Webster, means "to keep out of sight, to conceal from the knowledge of others, to put in a place where it can not be easily seen or found." And notice where that place is! It is in God through Christ which is the anointing. So we are concealed or covered up in God by the Anointing of His Spirit. Like Ruth was concealed away until the morning by Boaz blanket that He spread over her. It kept the others from seeing her in His Presence. So we see that in order to hide there must be a means of concealing or covering.

And, remember, [1 John 1: 7] tells us, "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 in a sense veiled from view to the world, but are made manifest in our true character while we are in Him. Now, this is a real paradox, because on the one hand we are Hid in God through Christ And yet we know according to various scripture, as in [Colossians 3: 4] which says, 'When Christ who is our Life shall Appear, then shall we Appear with Him in Glory." We also know in [1 John 3: 2] That at His Appearing, we become like Him because we see Him as He really is. And also in [2 Corinthians 3: 18] we see how our change takes place. We are changed from Glory to Glory by His Spirit, when we see Him in His Vindicated Word. And we know according to [Romans 12: 1-2] that this change or transformation comes by a renewing of the mind. So it is not something that can be seen by the world, but only by those who have become hid in God through Christ. In fact in [1 John 3: 1] we are told that this is something that the world knows nothing about. He says, "Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not."

So then, if it does not know us, then we are hid from them because this word knoweth is a Greek word Ginosko which means to understand or perceive based upon experiential knowledge. Mary used the same word when she said, "How can I be with child having known no man." So we see that to the world we are hid. They have no understanding or perception what is going on with us. We see how this concealing takes place in [2 Corinthians 4: 3 - 4] (read). It tells us that satan blinds their minds that the Light can not shine upon them. Now, remember, we are walking in the what? The Light. And the Light blinds. Try staring into the sun. Within a small fraction of a second, you can't see anything but spots. (I don't recommend that you do this, but if you must do it very quickly and then try to look at someone very fast and you will not see them. Your eyes will still be trying to focus. And so is it when we are hid in God through Christ the Anointed and Vindicated Word for the hour.

Another way in which you are hid and concealed is that you can look at what is happening in the world today and you know by scripture what is really taking place. But to the world, they have no clue. They see the chaos and they are fearful because they do not understand what is going on. They think some big sinister world power is being formed behind closed doors and they do not realize the catholic church is behind it all. But because you know what is happening because it was revealed in God's Word and spoken by His Prophet long before these things have taken place. So the real picture is hidden to the lost but to you it is not. I believe that is why brother Branham told us the Third pull would be for the Elect, but to the totally lost.

Didn't Jesus say in [ Matthew 13: 16] "Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear."

We are also 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, He never said that your sin or unbelief would not be there, 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.

Now, notice he said, "your life is hid in God through Christ, and

Point number 2) Your life is sealed by the Holy Ghost. Now, we covered the sealing in last week, so let's move ahead to :

Point number III ) How you going to get out? You're there! Glory!

Now, this is quite a statement because he is telling you that you can't even get yourself out from under that seal once God has sealed you in. Jesus said Himself, "No man can come unto the Father except by me, and all that the Father has Given will come, and no man can pluck them out of My hand." So if no man can remove the Elect from His Possession, then you can not even move yourself out from His Possession. No Man means No Man. And that includes women too because the word man is not speaking gender but of specie. He is not talking about baboons, He is talking about Elect.

And we find In [1 John 3: 9] we read, "He that is born of God, ( He that has been sealed by God by the Incorruptible Seed of Life) 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 goes 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."

Þ [Psalm 1: 6] " For the Lord knoweth the way of the rightly wise: but the way of the ungodly shall perish. " Now when this scripture says, "the Lord knoweth the way of the rightly wise, it uses the Hebrew word yada which means to know by investigation, and proving, by reflection and consideration: Therefore The Lord knows because He actively participates in the way of the righteous, but notice with the ungodly it is not the same. It says "But with the ungodly, they shall perish." This word perish is a Hebrew word A-bad which means to wander away, fall away or to lose oneself, and in it's strongest sense means to die off or cease to exist in terms of life. Which is interesting because we also found the same thing in 1 Peter 1: 23 when speaking of the corruptible seed, to the seed which is made to perish.

Þ [Peter 1: 23] (read) When speaking of a corruptible Seed, the word "corruptible" is a Greek word "phthartos" which means something that is liable to decay or perish and the root word is "Phtheiro" (fthi-ro) which means a destroying by means of corrupting, ( in other words, death - doomed) and refers to the withdrawal of life, but the word Incorruptible means just the opposite, so it means, an ever increasing Life.

Now, remember, in [Psalm 1: 6] it tells us that the ungodly are left to themselves and they shall perish.

We also find that in [Proverbs 16: 25] There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death. So this tells us that there is no such thing as free will involved in your salvation. It is entirely based upon election. You have no more to do with it than nothing. You had no more to do with your natural birth than you did with your Spiritual second birth, or new birth.

Now to prove that you have nothing to do with being sealed in, let's look further into the scriptures.

Þ [Ephesians 2: 8] " For by Grace are ye saved through Faith; and that not of yourselves: It is a gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast. Now if it is Grace that saves us, then it is a gift, nothing that we can do on our own. And notice it is by Grace but through Faith which is a revelation. So, though it is freely given by God to us, we do not receive without Revelation. But always remember this, it is Revelation, not something you mentally do, but God reveals it to you.

Þ [Romans 4: 16] " Therefore it is of Faith, that it might be by Grace; to the end that the promise might be sure to all seed; "Now, remember, Faith is Revelation. And Revelation can only come from God above. Jesus told Peter, Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but My Father which is in Heaven. So revelation or Faith must come from God and this is by Grace . "Therefore it is by Revelation, that it might be by Grace."

Þ [Romans 5: 2] " By who also we have access by Faith into this Grace wherein we stand, and therefore we are made to rejoice in the Hope of obtaining the Glory of God." So here we see that Faith or Revelation gives us access into the Grace of God. And as we said, the Revelation is given out by God Himself, so we see that Revelation opens the way or gives access to understanding the Grace of God

Þ [Romans 9: 11 - 16] For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to Election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I love, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For He saith to Moses, I will have Mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." So then your free will has nothing to do with it. It is not he that wills, so it doesn't matter whether your will is a free or not, it means nothing concerning salvation.

Martin Luther said, In His Bondage of the Will which was a response to the Diatribe by Erasmus, "A man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsel, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of another - God alone. As long as he is persuaded that he can make even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God; but plans out for himself ( or at least hopes and longs for a position, an occasion, a work, which shall bring him final salvation. But he who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to Grace for his salvation. "

Now notice how he speaks of a final salvation. He tells us that man has nothing to do with His final salvation. This is true of course because we find out in [1 Peter 1: 5] speaks of a Faith or Revelation that leads to salvation in the last time. So it is again Faith or Revelation that brings about salvation. So we see that we have nothing to do with the sealing in. We can not unseal ourselves. And whatsoever God does, can not be undone by man. [Ecclesiastes 3: 14] " I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him." Now, that let's you know something. When God seals you, there ai'nt no power in heaven or earth that can unseal you. Now in closing, let's read [Romans 8: 28 - 39]

Let's just bow our heads in thanksgiving and in prayer.