The Masterpiece 94
Conditions
November 5th, 2006
Brian Kocourek
This morning we will examine paragraph 174 from
The Masterpiece The great masterpiece of a family, the Second
Adam and the Second Eve now ready
for the garden, the millennium
(Amen.) back on the earth. Hallelujah. The Great Sculptor didn't leave them lay
there. He took time as He did through the millions of years molding the first
perfect couple. And they fell. Now it's been through thousands of years; He's
molded again; and now, here they are ready. 175 The Masterpiece was come and
struck down. From His side come forth
the helpmate. And she's brought up
in the same process. Now, here she
is back again with all nature, the Bible, and everything else showing here we
are. Nations are breaking;
176 Notice
the great masterpiece of the family. The husband and wife cannot be truly a family unless they're one. They
have to be. If they're not, they're not
a good family. Wife pulling one way and the husband another, that'll make
an awful family. But in agreement with
love one to the other, that's a family. And now, that was God's
masterpiece; and all the true family here portrays that. See? And now, the
masterpiece family has come again: Christ and His Bride ready to come. The
Second Adam, Second Eve, ready now to
return back to their home. The whole picture's been redemption, from where
it was, bringing it back (See?), just exactly, bringing it back again.
These are some very tremendous thoughts that Brother
Branham is expressing here. And we could
take several sermons because there are several topics that are being brought
forth.
Number
One, he talks of The great masterpiece
of a family, and he speaks of this masterpiece of a family in
both paragraph 174 and 176.
Number
Two, he defines what makes this family the great
masterpiece of a family when he says, The husband
and wife cannot be truly a family unless they're one.
So we will take a look at these two points this
morning and we will see how there is a certain thread that ties them both
together. Therefore, let’s begin by looking at point number One, This great
Masterpiece of a Family.
Now, that should tell us that the Masterpiece is not
just about Christ Jesus God’s great Masterpiece, but the reason Christ Jesus
did what he did was for a higher purpose than just showing his obedience to the
father.
Now, that is not to
say that His obedience was not a great thing. Because it was, and it defined
his sonship. And
Being a Son, He learned obedience by the things that he suffered. And that should define our sonship
as well. It is defined by our obedience to God.
We read in 1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight
in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold,
to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of
rams.
Now the opposite of
obedience is rebellion. And Samuel said to Saul, 23 For
rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and
stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Now, God had commanded King Saul to go up and slay all
the inhabitants of Amalek. 1 Samuel 15: 1 Samuel also said
unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be
king over his people, over Israel: now
therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.
Notice that the
anointing was given based on a condition, and that condition was that Saul
would “hearken to
the Voice of the Lord God.” In his sermon called Investments
1-26-1963 pp 8, brother Branham said “the promises of God are based upon a condition.”Elisha
was promised a double portion of the same spirit that was upon Elijah, but that
promise was based upon a condition, he had to be with Elijah when he was taken
up.
Second handed robe 56-1206 P:40 And Elijah turned around. The only thing that
he wanted to know was, he could ever get that promise. That's all he wanted.
And he said, "Now, I'm going to ask you what--tell you what my desire is.
I want a double portion of your Spirit to come upon me. What are you going to
say?" Elijah, the anointed prophet, turned around and said, "Thou
hast asked a hard thing, but this will
be given to you on a condition." So is the Holy Ghost given to you on a condition. See? "On
conditions, if you can meet the condition; that is, if you can see me while I
go away, you'll have what you ask for." That's all Elisha wanted was the
promise. If he knowed the promise and the conditions of the promise, then he
kept his eye right on Elijah.
Jacob wanted the
birthright, but he knew it did not belong to him, but he knew that the he could
receive the blessing of his Father if he could present himself as the first
born. You see there was a condition to
be met in order to receive the blessing of the Father. He had to put on the
first born. So Jacob dressed like Easu,
and had to feel like Esau, and he had to sound like Esau. And he had to smell
like Esau, and he had conformed to the Image of the firstborn so much, that
there was only one thing he had left to do, and that was to take on the name of
the first born son.
Then after all that he
could freely come into the presence of His father and he was assured of
receiving the Father’s blessing.
And the apostle Paul said in Romans 13: 14 But put ye on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts
thereof. And again he said in Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put
on Christ.
And again we read in Romans 8: 29 where the apostle Paul said we are to
be conformed to the image of God’s eldest son. For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren.
And in Romans 12 we see that
in order to be conformed to the image of God’s eldest son we must be able to think
the same thoughts as the son of God thought.
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.
And again in Philippians
2:5 Paul said, Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus: And that is why Jesus said in, John 17:22 And the glory (that is the doxa, the
opinion, the assessment, the judgment) which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one,
even as we are one:
And so we are looking at the promises of God are based
on conditions. Even the blessings of the first born from the Father have
conditions, as well as our receiving the Holy Ghost is a promise from God based
on a condition being met. “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Acts 2:38.
Notice the conditions Repent which is a change of
the mind. God requires that we are willing to change our way of thinking, and
then when we are, then we must be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and then we shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Look, even the
blessings from God and the cursing from God are based on conditions.
In Deuteronomy
28 we read, Deuteronomy 28:1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the
voice of the LORD thy God, to
observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that
the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And
all these blessings shall come on thee,
and overtake thee,(you won’t even se
them coming) if
thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. And then notice in Deuteronomy 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe
to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day;
that all these curses shall come upon
thee, and overtake thee: And you won’t even see them coming
either.
So God’s blessings and cursing is based on conditions.
Well, you say, then what about salvation? I thought it
is a free gift, for
by Grace are we saved. Well, it may be true that we are saved by
Grace but that grace is conditional as well. Either we were ordained to it from
the beginning or we weren’t. Therefore by election are we saved. And the
condition there is that we had to be a part of God’s thinking in the first
place, because if we did not have representation back before the foundations of
the world, then we most certainly do not have it now, and never will have
it. So all the blessings and promises of
God are based on conditions.
Now in getting back to
our story about the anointing to be King, we se that he was told as long as he
would hearken to the Voice of the Lord God he would remain King. And so we see
what took place and why he was rejected as king.
1 Samuel 15: 1 Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent
me to anoint thee to be king over his people,
over Israel: now therefore hearken thou
unto the voice of the words of the LORD. 2 Thus
saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which
Amalek did to
So we see how upset Samuel was because this man who
was king did not hearken to the voice of the Lord God. And he said to not
hearken might as well be called rebellion and is a s bad as witchcraft.
So we see that all the promises of God are based on
conditions, and that leads us up to the second thought where brother Branham
was talking about the great masterpiece of the family, and he said, “Notice the great masterpiece of the family.
The husband and wife cannot be truly
a family unless they're one. They have to be. If they're not, they're not a good family. Wife pulling one way and
the husband another, that'll make an awful family. But in agreement with love one to the other, that's a family. And now,
that was God's masterpiece; and all the true family here portrays that.”
So we see the condition for the Bride and Groom to be
united together as One is that they must both have the same mind and the same
purpose. The husband
and wife cannot be truly a family unless they're one. And he
said, If they're not, they're not a good family. Wife pulling one
way and the husband another, that'll make an awful family. But in agreement with love one to the other,
that's a family.
So we see the condition to be Husband a wife, Bride
and Groom is that there must be one purpose and one mind. Tat is why in the
natural setting thee can only be one head in the home, and let me clue you in
here in this Laodicean age, the head can not be the woman. The head is the man.
He is the head of the house. And I know women today like to say they are the
head, but they are only fooling themselves, and you can not fool yourself
unless you are a fool.
And just in case some
of the sisters might have forgotten, let
me read what the Apostle Paul said about this in, 1 Corinthians 11: 3 But I would have you
know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
Ephesians
5: 23 For the husband is the head of
the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church:
and he is the savior of the body.
So we see that this is the conditions God has placed
upon us that if we are to be united with Christ, we must be united with and to
the Word of God for God is the Word. Let
this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. And He is our head, and as the
head we must then let him do our thinking for us.
Philippians
3:16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk
by the same rule, let us mind the same
thing.
1
Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no
divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.