God’s Only Provided Place of Worship # 85
Brian Kocourek,
October 11, 1995
In Him Laid every age
Sunday morning we continued speaking from pp. 251
where brother Branham said, "you become a new creation, to the
Word. and You're
a creation of the Word. We took this to the scriptures and used as
our text [Ephesians
4: 23 & 24] where Paul said, "
Be renewed in the Spirit of your mind: and put on the new man,
which after God is created in Righteousness and True Holiness."
We
broke this Scripture down
into 5 basic points which were as follows:
POINT # I. Be renewed in the Spirit of your
mind
POINT # II. Then you put on the new man
POINT # III. which after God is created
POINT # IV. In
Righteousness
POINT # IV. True
Holiness
We spent both Wednesday night and Sunday reviewing
these 5 points and taking them to other scripture to verify there soundness.
In examining POINT # I. "Be
renewed in the Spirit of your mind" we found the word [renewed] is a Greek word that means "to be
recently born, or young again". And shows an
element of innocence and cleanness and freshness. So we see that Paul wanting the Bride to be
renewed in the attitude of her mind. He wanted her to create within her an
atmosphere that is conducive to walking in the Spirit. We found that he is
telling us to create an atmosphere that is conducive for the Holy Spirit to
bring forth a change of the mind first, because the word for mind here is also
used in scripture for the word understanding. So we must be changed in the
Spirit, attitude, or
atmosphere of our understanding and this will then allow word upon word to then
take over our bodies, which is Romans [Romans 12: 2] And be not conformed to this world: but be
ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that
good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.
So then we move from point number 1 which is
"to Be renewed in the Spirit of your mind" to Point
number II. "put on the new man". This
process Paul speaks of in [Ephesians 4] is to bring forth a change of
the body which will bring forth a change of the mind as we also see in [Romans
12] and [Romans 8: 29] "
For whom he did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of His son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."
Brother Branham said, "when
Word is piled upon Word upon Word, it will take a hold of every fiber of your
body." So we are actually talking about a new creation of the Word
by the Word, and this is also confirmed in [Colossians 3: 10] And have put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after ( or according to) the Image of Him that created him: So we see that this new man that we
are to put on is the Word which then takes hold on every fiber of our bodies
and we thus are transformed by the
renewing of our minds.
Now
these first two points must
be complete in order to go in the Rapture.
The next three points then dealt with not the process of change but the
change itself, and it's characteristics, attributes
and nature.
Point # III. In speaking about this new man, Paul said, "and
put on the new man, which after God is created" And we know this means "in the image of
God". The Weymouth translation says, " clothe
yourselves with that new and better self which has been created to resemble God
in the Righteousness and Holiness which comes from the Truth." And brother Branham told us we are to be
clothed in "The Word of God!" The Amplified version, says " Be constantly renewed in the
Spirit of your mind, having a fresh
mental and spiritual attitude; And put on the new nature created in God's
Image, Godlike in True righteousness and holiness." But how can we
put on any nature that is not our own, because that would be like a crow putting on
peacock feathers to be like a peacock. And we know that is only make believe.
[ 2 Peter 1: 3-4] According as His Divine Power (which
is the Word according to [Romans 1: 16]) hath
given unto us all things that pertain unto Life and Godliness (or God
likeness, which comes ) through the knowledge of
Him that hath called us to Glory and Virtue. That by these, ye
might be partakers of the Divine Nature, ...
God’s Only Provided
Place of Worship # 85
and when did we receive these Divine Promises? Ephesians
One tells us we received them while we were yet in Him before the World was
even framed. Just like a seed we received these promises which contain the very
Life of God. And what is our nature, but the attributes of our Life. So
there we have it. 5 Steps toward our Glorified condition. Step one), we must have a mind
change, this mind change then brings forth step two), a body
change which step #3) mind
and body must both bear the image of the of God Who is the Word, which
alone contains God Life. Then this Image will reflect step #4) True
Righteousness which we know is right wise ness, and this right wise ness
will be called by God step #5) True Holiness which we know is a
correct attitude and relationship toward God. Then we thoroughly covered
chapter One of the Book of Ephesians.
Now, tonight I would like to move ahead in the
Message, "God's only Provided Place of Worship,
and we shall begin at pp. 252 And upon this come
stone upon stone, in each age, to vindicate that Word that's coming up,
just exactly as Jesus did in His age, which is the Capstone of it all. In
Him laid every age. In Jesus was Moses. In Jesus
was David. In Jesus was the prophets. Is that right?
Look at Joseph, sold for almost thirty pieces of silver, throwed
in, supposed to be dead, taken out, went and come to the right hand of Pharaoh.
Look, exactly, Jesus was... Joseph was in Jesus.
Now before we go any further, I want to stop here and
focus our thoughts on this short little paragraph. Here, we find, brother
Branham tell us that upon this come stone upon stone, in each age,
to vindicate that Word that's coming up." Now, first we must ask,
"upon what?" Because he says,
upon this, so we ask, "upon what?". Now,
remember he had just said in pp. 250 & 251, "your life is hid
in God through Christ, sealed by the Holy Ghost. "Then
you become a new creation, 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." And so now, he is saying and upon this
Creation of The Word that actually began before the worlds were framed, and is
now by the Word coming forth into manifestation, in you and taking over your
mortal being, bringing forth a relationship and building upon this relationship
by the Word and "upon this," or on top of
all this "come stone upon stone, in each age, to vindicate that
Word that's coming up."
Now, what are the stones that come up through out each
age? He said the stone that was in us was the foundation stone that was placed
in us before the world began. So what other stone can there be that is placed
one upon another but what Paul said, in [1 Corinthians 3: 11] For other Foundation can no man lay than that
is laid, which is Christ. And in
[Ephesians 2: 20] Paul further defined this foundation as being a stone which
was rejected, "Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief corner stone."
He is the Corner and the Cap stone, The Headstone, and the Rock of Offense as
well as the Rock of Ages, for He is the all of it. And when Peter answered
Jesus Question as to who He is, Jesus said it was
revealed to Him not from man, but from God, and He called this "Revelation
a Rock".
And so we find brother Branham speaking about this
stone coming forth throughout the ages as One Word is piled on top of another
and another until the building is being built throughout the ages. And he then
says, that this was done to vindicate the next age that was coming forth. Now,
this truly shows forth predestination because, he is telling us that as each
age brought forth a little more of the Word of God, it was all laid out
strategically just as you must use strategy to build a building. You must lay
out the foundation first. But you can not lay out the foundation unless you
have a finished plan, because your foundation is what you build upon or on top
of, and if the foundation is a different size than what you want the building
to be, then you are sunk.
So you must first know what dimensions your building
will have. Then you must lay it out in segments, foundation first, then cap that. Next you add structural walls and then you
must cap that. Each time you cap a segment of the building, you are adding a
floor. So we find that in every age, the Word of God comes forth and builds
upon the last age. So then as he said, "come
stone upon stone, in each age, to vindicate that Word that's coming
up." Then as each stone or
each Word, or further Revelation of Jesus Christ comes forth in each
age, the next age then builds upon that. And so then the Word for the age
previous, according to what brother Branham is telling us here, vindicates the
Word for the next age, because it fits together like a building that is coming
forth that has been laid out according to the plan.
I was going to say that "it fits like a glove",
but we saw in this recent murder trial that you can't always go by how a
glove fits, because when it was soaked in blood, it shrank and didn't fit the
anymore. Which is actually a good thing, because after all,
it goes to show that the blood does change things. And so we see that
God did receive witness even in a trial that was marked by shame and
disgrace.
So what we see here in this paragraph 252, is that
brother Branham is telling us how the Word down through the ages has in each
age affected the Word for the next age, and has been placed in such a way as to
vindicate the next Word that was to be opened and revealed to the people. That is why he said, in the Masterpiece,
"The Life that was in the husk, in the stalk, in the tassel, in the
husk, all gathers in the seed. And the Life that was in the stalk,
went - - one went to make the other. Justification made a way for
sanctification, and Sanctification made a way for the Baptism of the
Holy Ghost, and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost made a way for the Holy
Ghost Itself to come right down in perfection , back to the Word again to
manifest Itself."
So we see in pp.
252 where he said, "And
upon this come stone upon stone, in each age, to vindicate that Word
that's coming up, just exactly as Jesus did in His age, which is the Capstone
of it all. In Him laid every age." And of course that has to be True
because if He is the building. Then if
he is the building, each part of the building had to be just a part of Him.
Maybe, we should put this in simpler terms. He is the Word and He is the Life.
Then if He is the whole of it all, and out of Him comes forth a part at a time,
then what comes forth from Him can not be all of Him. So then what we saw a
glimpse of is a portion of the Revelation of Christ coming forth in each age,
and as each age brought forth a little more light, then each succeeding age
added light to that light to bring forth a brighter Revelation, or one
that becomes clearer and clearer all the
time until at the end time the picture will be complete even as the building
shall become complete. So then, as we see in [1 Corinthians 13: 10] when
that which is Perfect or complete shall come, then that which is in part shall
be done away. So we do not glory
in the first floor being capped when we have the whole house finished. Now, I want you to notice how he went on to give
illustrations of this by saying, Christ was in Moses and in David and in
Joseph and in all the Prophets. So it was Christ, or a part of Christ,
(Who is the Word, and the Life is in the Word), that was in each of
these men.
Now, there is one more thing he is telling us here in
this pp. 252 He
says, " just exactly as Jesus
did in His age, which is the Capstone of it all. In Him laid
every age."
He is telling us here that in Jesus laid every
Word for every age. And He is comparing what was in Jesus
and how it was manifested,
to the way it was declared or manifested and thus vindicated in
all the other ages. Now, Vindication is the key here. He said, the Word
for each age vindicated the Word that came for the next age, and then he says, Just like Jesus did in His Age. We know that there were
literally thousands of
Scriptures that were fulfilled in Jesus own Life while here on
earth. And we know that almost 2/3's of them were fulfilled in the last few
days He spent walking the shores of Galilee.
So then if He is telling us that each age vindicates
or proves the succeeding age, and He likens this to the same manner in which
Jesus own Life was a declaration or a revealing of the Word of God in it's
entirety, then we must look closer at what he is bringing to our attention
here, because if we don't then we could be missing out on a very important
point.
He said, "upon this come stone upon stone, in
each age, to vindicate that Word that's coming up, just exactly as Jesus
did in His age,". So again, we
see brother Branham point us to this thought on vindication. Now Webster says
Vindicate is to " Clear from
criticism, blame or guilt" which would tie in beautifully with our
last few sermons. But he also says, vindicate means to
"uphold by evidence or argument, which is to serve as a
justification for." And we also find that the word vindicate means
"to lay claim to or to establish possession of something for oneself
or for another."
Then if this is true, we can rest knowing this, that
this message of the Shout, which God spoke through brother Branham's lips was vindicated by God Himself. Then if this is so, then
God's own presence was the very means by which God backed up His own Message
and is also the means by which He is
laying claim and establishing possession of what is rightfully His. So then, no man outside of God's own voice
can indeed claim vindication because it is God who vindicates, not the man, but
the Message.
The One Who sends a Message is not obligated to back
up and justify or even uphold the Messenger if the Messenger comes bringing a
different message than what He was sent to bring. But the One Who sends the
Message is obligated to back up His Message. And this is what Vindication is.
God Vindicated His own Message. As brother Branham so many times, said,
"If God made the Promise, then God is obligated
to back up the promise!" He is not obligated to back up anything other
than what He promised. And as long as
the messenger is speaking the message, God will back up what is said.
In 1933 when he Pillar of Fire came down and a voice
spoke out of it, the Voice did not say, "As John the
Baptist foreran My first coming, so shall you forerun My second coming." Nor did the voice, say, " As
John the Baptist foreran my first coming, so shall your ministry forerun my
second coming." But what
the Voice did say was this, " As
John the Baptist foreran my first coming, so shall your Message forerun my
Second Coming." So then it
is neither brother Branham, nor is it his ministry, but it is A Message that
was vindicated, and therefore our absolute. And this is the essence of
vindication. That is why we must be so careful when we use this term. Because
some have used it too loosely and have tried to make members of the five-fold
ministry out to be vindicated by God. This is error. God has come down
according to scripture, [1 Thessalonians 4: 15 - 18] with a Shout which
we know is a Message. And it is this Message that God backed up with His
Presence. And Jesus said, "As
a man thinketh in His heart, so is He." And He also said, "And
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." So then what you speak is what you are. Then
when God descends with a shout it is to declare Who
and what He is. And we know that He has come forth as Judge in this hour. So
then what God will vindicate is His own shout, and that is exactly what He has
done.
God is not here to vindicate anything else other than
what He has said that He will do. He is not in the habit of vindicating men. He
vindicates His Word. In fact we should
be very thankful that he has said that He will do just the opposite, because he
said, "there is none righteous, no not one." And then
in [Romans] He tells us that it is not what you do, that means anything, but rather what
He promised. Paul said, " Blessed is the man in whom the
Lord will not impute sin." Not that you didn't do it, but He just
doesn't even look at that when He considers you. He doesn't look at you and he
doesn't look at what you do, but He only looks at His own Word, and what He
said about you. So do not ever look at vindication as something that God is
doing to prove this one or that one to be God's only man. Look at vindication as
what God said, He will do and the vindication then is "God is Here to back up His own Word". Therefore, those who
would try to vindicate any man are in error. God vindicates only His own Word.