God’s Only
Provided Place of Worship # 82
Foreknown to be Conformed
Let's remain standing and read from [Epheisians 4: 23 - 24 ]
Let's bow our
heads in Prayer.
Last night our communion message focused on pp. 251
again where brother Branham said we are a new Creation of the Word because He
has placed The Chief cornerstone of The Foundation of our faith in us which is
His Word, in us before the World was even framed, and because of this, we were
also predestinated to come to the place of being called the Children of God.
We had been studying from pp. 250 of God's
Only Provided Place of Worship where
brother Branham said, "your
life is hid in God through Christ, and sealed by the Holy
Ghost. And last Sunday morning, we moved onto PP. 251 where brother Branham continued this thought,
saying, , "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."
So in essence we could break his thoughts down into 3
principal statements.
#1) He says, You are a
New Creation, a Creation of The Word.
#2) Because the Foundation
stone was laid in you before the foundation of the world.
#3) Through the
intermediary agency of predestination,
you are also Sons and Daughters of God.
We examined Point #1) " You are a New Creation, a
Creation of the Word in which Webster's Dictionary says, a creation
is "a being created", and the word create means 1> to
cause to come into existence; to bring into being.... so we see that
there is an aspect or characteristic which His Word is to bring forth in us at
this great hour of His Appearing.
We found in our study of this new creation by the
Word, that we are actually looking at a new beginning which is what His Word
produces in us. So we began to trace this thought in His Word and we found that
we are to come forth into His Image at this Great hour of His Appearing. Now,
as I said before, it all began according to brother Branham, before the world
was even framed. God at that time to ensure the end of those whom He foreknew, placed a
Seed in each one, The Seed of His Word which is His very own Life as Jesus
Himself said in [ John 6: 63 ] "My Words are Spirit and they are
Life!"
So we see how that God wanting to ensure our
destination, He placed in us a Gene Seed of His own Life and then He set the
predestinated law into existence that every Seed shall bring forth after it's
kind as we see in [Genesis 1: 11-12]. And God said, 'let the earth
bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit
after it's kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And
the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after it's
kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself, after it's kind:
and God saw that it was Good.
Now, what we have here is God placing into existence the law of
reproduction in verse 11 and then establishing that law in the earth and
watching it manifest itself, in the various forms of Life as we see in verse 12. Now then we also find God is not any greater
than His Own Word, and in verse 26 & 27 He brings forth after
His own kind offspring. [ Genesis 1: 26
& 27 ] And God said, let us make man in our Image, after our likeness:.....(27) so, God created man in His
own Image, in the Likeness of God created He him;... And so we see here a
repeat of verse 11 & 12 where God spoke His Law and then set forth and
established that law by bringing it into manifestation.
Now we know that in [John 1: 1& 4] that The
Word was with God from the very beginning, and in verse (4) we
see that this Word was a seed because it was a carrier of Life. For [ in
Him was Life and the Life was the Light of man]. And in verse And so, the Word being spoken, we
begin to see in verse (14) that it also had to come into manifestation,
[ and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us].
So then we find in [Romans 8: 29 - 30 ]Paul telling us the same
thing when he said, "For whom
He did foreknow, those who were in His mind before there was ever a spec of
star dust, He did predetermine their outcome, that is, the very Elect would be made in such a way as
to possess the attributes that would make it possible to be conformed to the
very likeness of His Eldest Son, who also came forth in the very Image of the
Farther. And because He loved us even before we exited, He placed in us His own
Gene Seed that would cause us to become in His very Image. And so those whom He
predestinated, He justified, and those Whom He
justified, He has already (past tense) Glorified. So there you have it. So #1) "You are a New
Creation, a Creation of The Word." #2) Because
the Foundation stone was laid in you before the foundation of the world. Point #3) Through
the intermediary agency of
predestination, you are also Sons and Daughters of God.
Now remember, in Genesis 1: 26 God said, [ let us make man after our Image, after our Likeness.] And
as we have quoted brother Branham so often on this where He said, [Who was that,
The father and Son.]
That is why the Weymouth translation pins it down so
beautifully when it says in [Romans 8: 29]" For those whom He
has known before hand He has also predestined to bear the likeness of His Son,
that He might be the Eldest in a vast family of brothers;"
Now last night
we began to examine this [predetermined Likeness] that we are predestined to come into. And so,
we began by examining various scriptures that tell us at the Appearing we are
to come forth into manifestation of Him, in His Likeness. Now notice how
similar this is to [Genesis 1: 11 - 12] where God sets forth the Law of
Reproduction first, and then brings forth the manifestation of it at a later
time to prove His Law. We also found that in verse [1: 26 - 27] that God
was letting us know that with His own Seed and offspring, there is no exception
to His Law. And aren't we thankful for that.
So last night we examined [ 1 John 3: 2 ] That
tells us that at His Appearing we are to become like Him for it is at this time
we shall see Him as He really is, and remember, according to [John 1: 4]
He is Life and this Life is the Light of man. And so we find that this
Light sparks off in us the very same Life, because according to
[ 1 John 4: 17] As He is so are we in this world. And in [ 1 Corinthians 13: 12 ] we shall know even
as we are known. Now we also know
according to [Romans 12: 1 - 2] that we receive our transformation by
the re-newing of our minds.
So we know that at His Appearing the process of
transformation begins, and the Law of reproduction takes over in us. According
to bother Branham, God placed in us the foundation stone which was His own Seed
in us at the very beginning, way back even before there was one spec of star
dust or anything. And though the great plan of redemption, He has determined
how the manifestation of this Seed was to come forth. And it is interesting to
note that God placed the same Law over nature, and the catalyst He used in
nature was the SUN. But now, for His Own Seed, the Catalyst is the Light of His
Own SON. And So the very one that He spoke to and said, let us make man
in our Image, is the very One Who's Spirit has come forth identified by
a Light, A Pillar of Fire. And brother Branham said, from the Message [Man
that can turn on the Light] pp. 95 - "There's nothing that can give
you life but the spoken Word of God," and then he followed this by
saying, "Life can only come by Light".
Again from [ A Man
that can turn on the Light pp. 75 ] He said, "Light brings Life.
Plant the wheat out here, it'll grow. Put it in a basement and cover it over
and it'll never bring forth anything, because it can't. There's no light there.
But as soon as light strikes it, then it'll bring forth Life if it's a germatized Seed. And that's the same thing it is in the
Word. See? The Word is God, and when the Light strikes it, it brings the Word
to Life again. And from the [Indictment
pg. 4] He said, "And, today, by the light of the Gospel reflecting from
a Light, a Pillar of Fire visibly among us.." And so we see that this is what the
Appearing is all about. The Law of Reproduction needs Light to bring into
manifestation the Seed Gene.
Now with this in mind we were examining this Seed Gene
last night and when we think of any seed we automatically think of the
manifestation of that seed. In other words, when I say wheat you think in terms
of golden grain. And this is as I said, what the
Appearing is all about. The Pillar of Fire is here to bring into manifestation
the Sons of God according to [Romans 8].
And so to find out what this manifestation will bring
forth, let's turn again to scripture. Because if we were something in Him
before the world began, planted in Him as a seed Gene of Him, then we must
become the very same thing when we
manifest because every seed shall bring forth after it's kind.
[ Ephesians 1: 3 - 5 ] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us already with all Spiritual blessing in
Heavenly places when we were in Christ. According as He hath Chosen us while we
were yet in Him before the foundations of the world, that we should be Holy and
Blameless before Him (which means while in His Presence). And how did He do this, verse 5 says, In Love He has
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to His own good pleasure of His own will.
So there you have it. This image is to be Holy and
without Blame as it stands in His Presence. Now if we come to this end, then we
had to be there to begin with, right?
And remember, we read in the book of [Job] the question that was
asked, "where were you when I
laid out the foundations of the world and the morning stars sang together and
all the sons of God shouted for joy?" And I am here this morning to tell you
that as you were there, so are you here this morning as a representation or
manifestation of the Gene Seed that was placed in you to begin with. So then
what were we before the foundations of the world. Were we the sons of God shouting for Joy? And
notice it uses the word shout which we know the Shout is a Message. Then our
joy came forth as a shout then, right? The Shout was a reflection of our
extreme joy, right? So, then if it was then, so shall it be now, for If we are
in Him and He is the same yesterday, today and forever, then is not His descent with a shout a
manifestation of His extreme Joy? So then the shout is a message, and what is
the message the shout is trying to portray?
That we are back in His Presence again. [ The Spoken Word is the Original See]. What we were in Him
back then, we are now in Him again. The shout expressed our joy then, and our
echoing the shout again reflects or expresses our great joy now.
If you don't believe me, just open your Bibles to [ 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?
So we see then the mere fact that we are in His
Presence is to us a great joy just as it was before the world was even
framed. And notice what this signifies
to us. For in
the book of [ Hebrews 12: 14 ] we read,
"follow peace with all men, and Holiness, without which no man
can see the Lord:" And so which
Lord can be seen ? The Lord said
unto My Lord, sit thou down at my right hand. , The Lord Himself has descended
with a shout. The very fact that
you can see which Lord it is that came down and the very fact that you can
discern the Godhead, and that you know who is here, let's you know something. That you see Him. And there is no way you could see Him
without Holiness. So this ought to tell us something. We are at the end of our
journey. Our manifestation has come upon us, and as the blessings are described
in [Deuteronomy 28] They have come upon us and are
overtaking us. The Word is taking a hold of every fiber of our body. The Word
of God is being fulfilled in us.
He said in, [ Ephesians
1: 3 - 5 ] According as He hath Chosen us, that we should be Holy and
Blameless before Him (which means while in His Presence). And how do we know that we are blameless, and
Holy before Him while we are standing in His Presence?
Is it by what we have done? Is it by some great effort we have been able to
perform? No! I tell you it is because He said it would be that way.
In [ 1 John 1: 7 ] He said, "If we
walk in the light as He is also in the Light, then the blood of His Son would
apply on our behalf and becomes
efficacious for us, and through it we are Holy and Blameless."
He also told us in [Jude
1: 24 ] "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and
to preserve you faultless before The Presence of His Glory with exceeding joy.
" So can you see why we have such great Joy at His Appearing. He says here, He will keep us from falling, He will preserve us as faultless in His Presence.
And this is what brings great joy.
That is why Paul again speaks of this condition
of Holiness that we shall possess at the Parousia of Christ. [ 1
Thessalonians 3: 13 ] " to the end that He may establish
your hearts unblameable in holiness before God"
[That's in His very Presence], Then he says, "even our
Father, [what identification]
and when does Paul tell us this will happen? "At the parousia of our Lord Jesus
Christ with all His saints." And notice [ 2
Thessalonians 1: 10] tells us, "He comes to be glorified in His
saints" at the time of the Appearing.
Let's just sing that song together, {Standing on Holy
Ground] [We are standing, on Holy Ground, and I know that there are Angels
all around; Let
us praise, Jesus now: We are standing in His Presence, [ on what ground?] on Holy Ground.]
As I walked through the Door, I sensed His Presence.
And I know that this is the place, where Love abounds. For you are the temple that holds, the Lord God almighty. And we are
standing in His Presence on Holy Ground.
[We are standing, on Holy Ground, and I know that
there are Angels all around;
Let us praise, Jesus now: We are standing in His Presence, [
on what ground?] on
Holy Ground.]
We sing, we are standing in His presence and I
know that this is the place where Love abounds. Why? In [ 1 Corinthians 13: 9 ] we read,
When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part
shall be done away. And we know that brother Branham said, there
is nothing perfect but God and God is Love, and He is the Word. So we see then that Love has something to do
with the perfecting of True Holiness as Paul tells us in [ 2 Corinthians 7: 1 ] "
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and Spirit, [perfecting holiness]
in the fear of God. " Bringing Holiness to it's pre-destined end,
whereby we may be found unblameable and in Holiness
in the Presence of God even our Father at
the Parousia of Christ with all His saints [1 Thes 3: 13].
And then if that which is perfect has come, then how can we do
anything to add to that which is perfect? And that includes perfecting
holiness. What can we do? We can yield ourselves to it and become a
vessel for Him to move in and live though and express His Joy and Peace and Love though. [ Acts 17:
27] " For in Him we Live,
and Move, and have our being; as certain also of your poets have said, for we
are also His Offspring." And
Jesus said, " I have come that you might
have Life, and that you might have it more abundantly."
So then how can we be perfected in holiness? [ 1 John 4: 16 - 17 ] "And we have known and have believed
the Love that God hath to us. For God is Love; and he that dwelleth
in Love, also dwelleth in God, and God in Him. And
herein is our Love made perfect and complete, it is evidenced by the fact that
in the day of judgment [ when the Judge is Here ] we shall
have a confidence that brings rest and relaxation [ a parrhesia ], because as He is, so are we in this
world." And if He is Love, then so are we.
Let's us bow our hearts and our heads in a word of
Prayer. Dear Gracious Father, we are so thankful today to know thy way of
Holiness, and to know that there is no way that we could ever through our own
efforts perfect anything much less holiness . But we know that You have said, our perfection comes by your presence that
ripens us and brings us to our completion. And in this we place our hope and
trust, in Jesus Christ name, your beloved Son. Amen!