The Masterpiece 124
The Doctrine of Christ or the Doctrine of
Balaam
April 28th, 2007
Brian Kocourek
This evening we will again
speak from the Masterpiece Message of Brother Branham’s and we shall again look
at paragraph 214 where brother Branham says,
THE
MASTERPIECE 64-0705 214 Heal all the sick people here, Lord. We did
esteem Him, smitten and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. God's Masterpiece was smitten. And He was
wounded for our transgressions; with His stripes we were healed. Heal the sick,
Lord, in Your Divine Presence now, while
we know that You're here. Cleanse
our souls, our hearts from all evil,
all bad thoughts, all evil communications; all things that's wrong, cleanse us.
And we pray, Father, that You'll heal our sickness, and let us leave here
feeling that we are Your sanctified children. And with the Blood over us, we
speak through the Blood, the Word. Grant it, Lord. We ask in Jesus Christ's
Name. Amen.
Now, last week we took the subtitle “Making ready for the Rapture by being cleansed by The Word”.
We spoke how that there is absolutely nothing that you can do for righteousness
that will amount to anything with God.
In the book of, Isaiah 64:
6 we read, But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the
wind, have taken us away.
Now, all means all,
and therefore nothing we do can merit anything with God, not even our own
choice as the Baptists would have you to believe.
Jesus Himself
said in John 15: 16 Ye
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go
and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye
shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
So it is not even our
choosing, but His choosing that merits anything with God. For God chose us
before the foundation of the world. Even before we had any chance to do good or
evil.
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory
of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. of course my
first thought whenever I here words spoken about cleansing of our hearts
And last week we saw
just how we are cleansed and made ready for the rapture and it comes through
the Word of God and that only.
David said in Psalms 119: 9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed
thereto according to thy word.
And also the Apostle
Paul’s words in Ephesians 5: 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
water by the word,
And of course what
Jesus spoke himself in John 15: 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have
spoken unto you.
You see, although we
could do the very same acts of righteousness as the next person, that is not
what makes us righteous before God.
The apostle Paul said
in, Galatians 2: 16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in
Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the
works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
And again in Galatians 3: 11 he said, But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by
faith.
And then he said in Romans 3: 28 Therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
And again in Romans 5: 1 Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Now, as we mentioned,
righteousness is from the old English word Right-wise-ness. And to be righteous
means that you are rightly wise, and that means as the Apostle Paul said, it
must come by Faith. And Faith is something that has been revealed to us, as we
learned through the teaching of William Branham. Therefore, Faith is a
Revelation. It is something that has been revealed to you. And since it is
something that has been revealed to you, then you did not discover it as though
you had some great breakthrough on your own, but it is a gift from God.
Therefore as the
Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2: 8 For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
In Romans 3: 27 we read, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By
what law?, of works? Nay: but by the law of faith”.
Now, what I would like
to focus on this evening from this paragraph of Brother Branham’s is where he
said, Lord, in Your
Divine Presence now, while we know that
You're here. Cleanse our souls, our hearts from all evil, all bad thoughts,
all evil communications; all things that's wrong, cleanse us.
Now, notice that he is
asking God to cleanse us from all evil in our hearts and thoughts. Now, that
can be just the ordinary sinful thoughts of the human race, but it can go much
deeper than that. And that is what we want to examine this evening, are what is
actually called evil by God?
Let’s
begin by turning to 2 John:8 Look
to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have worked for, but that
we receive a full reward. 9 Whosoever goes beyond
the limits, and remaineth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that remains
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
So we see here that the real test at the end-time will
be whether we remain in the Doctrine of Christ or whether we go out from it and
are tempted with the Doctrine of Balaam.) 10 If there come any unto you,
and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your
house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that
biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil
deeds.
Now, this is quite a
statement from the Apostle John because it is very strong language concerning
the Doctrine of Christ and our behavior towards them that do not believe it.
And John says if you even bid God speed to those who do not have this doctrine,
you are participating in their evil deeds.
So what are these evil deeds John is speaking of here? And why is he so
strong in his language towards those who oppose the doctrine of Christ?
The word John used
here for “evil” was translated from the Greek word “Poneros” Now, this word “Poneros” speaks of
“evil in effect or influence, and
differs from other Greek words for evil which have to do with the essential character as well as those
words which speak of degeneracy. This
word “Poneros” also is used to refer to the devil himself, and thus his influence
upon others.
So what John is saying is that those who do not have the doctrine of
Christ are teaching contrary to the Doctrine of Christ, and if you assist them
in any way you are in essence assisting the devil himself. That is why brother
Vayle is so careful not to assist with funds those who teach wrong concerning
the Godhead which is the doctrine of Christ. Why? Because, to fund heresy or one who
preaches it, is to assist the spread of it.
Now. Let’s take a further look at this word “Poneros” as John used it in 1 John 3:12
Notice here he says, Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one (and that word for wicked one is the Greek word “Poneros” again, ands it speaks of the
person of the devil himself. ), and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because
his own works were evil, (notice that Cain’s works are said also to
be “Poneros” which means that if he
was “of”
that “Poneros” “one”, then the influence
of that “Poneros” “one” also has affected his sacrifice to God, and thus has made
that sacrifice itself evil. But notice it is said that Abel’s sacrifice was
righteous.) his
brother's righteous.
Now, we know that this
word righteous means Rightly Wise”. So we see that Abel’s offering was based upon
Revelation which is Faith, and that is something that comes from God alone.
Thus, by this Revelation
he offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Cain’s sacrifice was not a wrong sacrifice. In
fact Cain had a Biblical sacrifice, as we see in Deuteronomy 26, for it was a first
fruit offering, which was a harvest offering, which represented the time of Rapture.
But it was evil because it was out of season. “For without the shedding of blood there’s no
remission of sin.” Hebrews 9
In the Book of Jude we are warned at the end-time there will be those who
depart from “The Faith” and
who go in “the way of Cain”.
Cain was the first on earth to depart from “The Presence of the Lord”, and those
that depart from the presence of the Lord will be religious just like Cain was
and they will make great sacrifice to God like Cain did but their sacrifice
will be considered evil just like Cain’s was.
Notice further, that Jude describes these men as not only following the
way of Cain, But notice also that Jude warns
us these men shall also follow after the “error
of Balaam” and they will do it for money just like Balaam did.
Jude 1: 11 Woe
unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward,
(Notice that they run greedily. In other words, these are greedy men. And they
run after the error of Balaam because of their greed. So what was the error of
Balaam that men will run after it because of greed? The error of Balaam is a
message of unity. Bring everyone together for after all are we not all the
same? and
perished in the gainsaying of Core.
What was the
gainsaying of Koreh? Korah led a rebellion against Moses and said, we are holy
too, and all the people are holy, and why do you take it upon yourself to rule
over us. There’s plenty of room for more than one to rule. We are holy too. You
see it was the gainsaying of Koreh. There was something in it for him to gain
from what he said. They didn’t want a One Man Message from a One Man ministry.
So they rebelled using the multitudes of people to stand with them against the
movement of God. And they are doing that same thing today, saying “we are five
fold ministry, we got something to say as well, “God doesn’t speak through one just one man!” And right there they
separate themselves from the true Five Fold ministry who will only say what the
vindicated prophet has told them to say.
Notice how Jude
continues to describe these false ministers at the end-time. 12 These
are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding
themselves without fear (Notice he says when they feast with you, so
these are those who come right into this message and start eating with us from
the Spiritual Food in Due season that was laid up for us. But the message did
not go out to them, they came into the Message. And then notice that Jude
further describes these men by saying,) clouds they are without water.
Now a cloud without
water is one without rain. And Paul calls witnesses of what took place clouds.
He calls them “clouds
of witnesse”. So Clouds represent people who have witnessed this
end-time ministry but those without water are those who are witnesses with the
doctrine.
Paul spoke in Hebrews 12: 1 Wherefore seeing we
also are compassed about with so great a cloud
of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Yet Jude speaks of
these clouds as having no water. These clouds are without water, Therefore clouds
without rain. Now, why is this so significant? Because God said in Deuteronomy 32:1-2 Give ear, O ye
heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my
mouth. 2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall
distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers
upon the grass:) carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 Raging
waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is
reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
So if these are clouds, which are witnesses, think it not strange that there
are so many witnesses to the ministry of William Branham who haven’t a clue to
the doctrine he taught? We are warned here in scripture and in 2 Peter of the same, as well as the Apostle Paul.
Notice here that Jude said clouds, not cloud. Now, this brings us to the
fact that there are two doctrines which are predominant in this hour. The
Doctrine of Christ for which if you do not have that Doctrine, you do not even
have God. And then there is the Doctrine of Balaam which we are warned about
that will come in among us. And notice we are warned that men will run after
the Doctrine of Balaam because of their greed.
Now, the doctrine of Balaam is not that he went for money, but the
doctrine of Balaam is that he tried to unite the people of God with those
people who are not of God. And in order
to do that they must forsake the right way, which is God’s way.
2 Peter 2: 15 Which
have forsaken the right way, and are
gone astray, following the way of Balaam
the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of
unrighteousness; Notice he loved
not the wages, but the wages of un-right-wise-ness. In other words the wrong
understanding pays. In other words, there’s more money in preaching error than
truth.
Now, the doctrine of Balaam is explained further in the book of revelations.
Revelation 2:
14 But I have a few things against thee,
because thou hast there (Thou hast there where? Right in the Message that’s
where. Right in the end-time Church of the Living God, there are those who
regard the Doctrine of Balaam because of their greed.) them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who
taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of
Now, how is it possible that the Doctrine of Balaam could come right into
this message? Just the same way it came into the Pentecostal movement.
From Brother Branham’s sermon called, Who do
you say this is? 64-1227 P:80 See,
that's what he done to the Pentecostals. They said a few years ago, when you
all start up, "You wouldn't go nowhere. There wasn't nothing to you. You'd
burn out. You just a bunch of fanaticism." But every time they tried to
curse you, you come right on back again. God
kept revealing His Message. Down from the old Assembly, way back in the
beginning, the General Council. Then He brought in when they received the Name
of Jesus Christ for water baptism. Then one jumped this way, and one the other,
and one went off organized this and that. God kept blessing. Now, when he seen he couldn't curse you (See?),
so what's he going to do? He's going to organize you. Bring you, "Oh, we're all one anyhow. (See?) We all believe in the same God."
So that's just what Balaam did. And didn't Jude warn us of this? They erred in
the doctrine of Balaam and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. Doesn't Jude,
the foster brother of Jesus, warn us of this in the Bible? They're like Cain,
from the beginning, the hireling, the one that went to church and built
churches and built a altar and sacrificed. They err in the way of Cain. They
run in the way of Balaam, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. Jude lays
the whole thing out just like we're doing it this morning here before you, like
we've been doing it. The whole thing lays there. 81 They
perished in the gainsaying of Korah. Just think of that, how bad that was. Just
to think of what that Korah... See, he said, "Now, we'll all go up to a feast. We're all one." The Moabites believed in God. That was
82
Balaam come out, he looked down, said, "Well, my, I know one of them
ministers married another man's wife." All these other things, oh sure,
they had plenty. He forgot to hear The Shout
of the King in the camp. He
never seen that smitten rock, and that brass serpent hanging there for an
atonement. He didn't realize that they
wasn't hooked up to any organization. They was hooked up to God's covenant,
and were walking in that. See? And Balaam said (fundamentally), "Build me
seven altars." That's what Jehovah required. That's what Jehovah got on
both sides. "All right, put seven calves upon it." That's what they
was doing down there in that camp. "Put me seven rams on it because
there's coming a Messiah someday." All right.
83
See, fundamentally, they were both right: fundamentally. See? But one day when
he seen he couldn't get him on that, he said, "If we just organize ourselves together then." And that's where
they made their mistake...And that's
just exactly where Pentecost made its mistake, when it organized back like the rest of the churches. I'm not your
enemy. I'm your brother. Some of these days you're going to find out that
that's the truth. May take a little while yet (few turns of the sun), but
someday you'll see that that's right. Then Balaam's doctrine hit them just...
That's what they wanted. "We're all
one." See? So there they went. All of their prophets and all went
right with them. And was at the feast, the same said, "And we all believe that there's one God.
Let's believe it." Just what they would been looking for, just exactly.
2 Peter 2:1 But
as there were false prophets among the people, even so shall there be false
teachers among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord that bought them, (that’s
the Son) and by
doing so, shall bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And
many (not a few, but
many) shall
follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil
spoken of. (In other
words, by what they do and teach shall bring the real truth which is the
message into disrepute or a bad reputation.) 3 And through covetousness (we all
know what that is. It’s the greed that Jude said was the motive behind the
doctrine of Balaam. So for money) shall they with feigned words (those are words
that they just make up, which are nothing but lies, and so with their lies
shall they ) make
merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their
damnation slumbereth not.
Now notice verse 12 But these, as natural brute beasts,(in other words they are not born again. They have not
God. Therefore they have not the doctrine of Christ. And they are) made to be taken
and destroyed,(and it is these men who will) speak
evil of the things that they
understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
Now, remember, at the end time there will be a vast influx of these evil
men. They shall wax worse and worse as Paul warns us in 2 Timothy 3: 13 But evil men (“Poneros”
men. Now, if the devil Himself is called “poneros”,
then these are his children or offspring.) But evil men and seducers (and isn’t seduction
the method that the serpent used on Eve. Now, seduction is not rape. It is not
a forced thing. It is a very cleverly disguised way to get what they want, and
it is called seduction. And these evil men and seducers
shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. (Or able
to deceive because they too have been deceived themselves so they appear to be
very sincere in what they believe, and they are very convincing to others to
come together and the larger the group the better for they believe that safety
is in numbers.)
But we can be thankful because as God’s seed we have been given an
ability to be able to understand according to John
1:12 and 1 Corinthians 2: 1-10. That
is why the apostle Paul can say in Hebrews 5:14 But
strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of
use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
And we see the same thing in Malachi 3;16-18. 16 Then they that feared the LORD spoke often
one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it,
and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD,
and that thought upon his name. 17 And they shall
be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels,(In that day when I come to assemble my people Lamsa translation); and I will spare
them, as a man spares his own son that serves him.(so we are looking at a relationship between
father and sons here. And because we are
sons we know as we are known, and we will know the difference between
righteousness (Right-wise-ness) and that which is error.) 18 Then shall ye
return,(return where? To where you began at. The starting point. And
where was that? When we were in Christ before the foundations of the world. In
other words, we will return to the Original Word. And you can not return unless
you were there to begin with. And when we have returned to the Original Word,
we shall) discern
between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serve God and him that serves
not God.
And that is where we are at this evening. Ephesians 4;14 That
we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and
fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to
deceive;
And just remember, it is not of your doing, but His doing that counts. For
the Apostle Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 3: 3 But
the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil. The Lord shall keep you from all “poneros”. He shall keep you from being influenced by
the wicked one and his devises. Philippians 1: 6 Being confident of
this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ:
Let’s bow our hearts and
our heads in prayer. Dear Father we are so grateful for your
loving hand as You watch over us and protect us and keeping us from all evil.
And we thank Thee Loving Father in the name You taught to pray, and that You
gave your son, our Lord Jesus Christ.