The Masterpiece 95
Omnipresent by Omniscience
November 12th, 2006
Brian Kocourek
1. This morning
we’ll examine paragraph 177-178 of The Masterpiece. The
other day standing up here at the Christian Business Men... Many of you, I
guess, was there. When I heard that Lutheran priest (or preacher, was supposed
to be) stand up there and say that ridiculous thing, and make fun of what we
believe in... And them Full Gospel Business Men having that man there, and
saying that... He wore his collar turned around. Lots of them do now. He said,
"Now, the people ask me why I turn my collar around." Said, "How
can they tell you from a Catholic priest." He said, "There is no
difference, and there shouldn't be." He said, "We're all God's
children." He said, "I know a Catholic priest that's omnipresent
(See?), that could be present everywhere."
178 Now, you cannot be
omnipresent without being omniscient. God's not even omnipresent; God's omniscient, omniscient, which
makes Him omnipresent (He knows all things). But in order to be a being He has to be in one being. But being omniscient He can be omnipresent,
'cause He knows all things, and knowed it before the... He knowed before
the world begin how many fleas, lice, how many bugs, and how many times they'd
bat their eyes, and everything about it (See?), 'cause He's omnipresent. And you can't be omniscient without being infinite.
See? There's only one thing infinite:
God. Amen.
2
Genesis
1:1 In the beginning God…
And in John 1:1 we read, ”In the beginning was the Word … and the Word
was God”…
3. And brother Branham said in his sermon,
WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC 65-0221E PP.46 Now, in the beginning
God dwelled alone with His attributes as I spoke of this morning. That's His
thoughts. There was nothing, just God alone. But He had thoughts.
4. So few people today taken any time to really
come to an understanding of the God they claim to be deriving. Most people do not know, nor do they
understand who it is that they claim to worship. Like the Greeks, Paul said
they worship a God they know not. And so they speak of a God who is Omniscient,
yet they seldom stop to think in terms of what that really means.
5. They say that God is
omnipotent and yet they place limits upon Him and His power because of their
own limited understanding of what omnipotence really means.
6. They limit God because they
are limited. They view God in terms of their own finite comprehension because
that is what they know. They place boundaries upon a boundless God because they
themselves ourselves are bound.
7. The very first Word God speaks to us from His Holy
Scripture tells us "In the beginning God”, period.
In other words, in the Beginning, God dwelled alone, and there was nothing else
period.
8. Therefore if God was before
any creation, and there was not anything created that God did not create, then
there was nothing but God, period. To understand that nothing existed before
God is to understand God dwelt alone. There was nothing, Just God alone, but as
brother Branham said, God had thoughts.
9. The Word of God continues
by saying, In the Beginning,
God said…and therefore if
He spoke, then thought must come before the speaking, for we are taught by this
same Holy Scripture, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he, and
out of the heart the mouth speaketh”. So God had to think His thoughts before He spoke them. Therefore, we can rest in the knowledge that
in the beginning God dwelled alone with Himself and His Thoughts.
10. Then to understand what it
means for God to dwell alone is so incomprehensible to the finite mind which we
possess, that our thoughts could never do justice to what that statement tells
us.
11. Therefore, God is Solitary. He is solitary in His grandeur. He is a
solitary God.
12. In Exodus 5:11 we read, "Who is like unto the Thee, O Lord, among
the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in Holiness, fearful in praises, doing
wonders."
12.
Again in the book
of Job 37: 23-38:41 we find many
questions concerning God and His creation that can not be answered. 23 Touching
the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in
judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict. 24 Men
do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart. 38:
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 2 Who
is this that darkeneth counsel by words
without knowledge? 3 Gird up now thy loins like
a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. 4 Where
wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast
understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if
thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 6 Whereupon
are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the
sons of God shouted for joy? 8 Or who shut up the
sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? 9 When
I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for
it, 10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and
set bars and doors, 11 And said, Hitherto shalt
thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed? 12 Hast
thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his
place; 13 That it might take hold of the ends of
the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? 14 It
is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment. 15 And
from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken. 16 Hast
thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of
the depth? 17 Have the gates of death been opened
unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? 18 Hast
thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all. 19 Where
is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place
thereof, 20 That thou shouldest take it to the
bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof? 21 Knowest
thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is
great? 22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of
the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, 23 Which
I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted, which
scattereth the east wind upon the earth? 25 Who
hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the
lightning of thunder; 26 To cause it to rain on the
earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; 27 To
satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb
to spring forth? 28 Hath the rain a father? or who
hath begotten the drops of dew? 29 Out of whose
womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? 30 The
waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. 31 Canst
thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? 32 Canst
thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his
sons? 33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?
canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? 34 Canst
thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? 35 Canst
thou send lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are? 36 Who
hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or 37 Who
can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven, 38 When
the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together? 39 Wilt
thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions, 40 When
they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait? 41 Who
provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander
for lack of meat.
13. In Psalm
19:1 we read, "The Heavens declare the Glory of God; and the firmament
sheweth forth his handiwork, " and
yet how can any man know God intrinsically, or in His essentiality by His
creation?
14. A man can pick up a hand crafted watch and
study it in every detail, and yet through the studying of that watch we could
never know the maker. Now, there may be certain attributes of that maker that
show forth in that creative work; such as it's precision, it's detail, it's
beauty, it's craftsmanship, and these all speak of the watch maker, but they do
not describe him, though they may declare his carefulness to detail ad his
precision eye to hand control, or his artistic talent or his ability to
conceptualize and bring forth from his mind into a finished product. But to
know him? Impossible.
15. Yet in the beginning we know by God's Own
Word, that He lived in a solitary existence. Genesis 1:1 In the
Beginning God...
16.
There
was a time when no time existed . There was a time when no earth existed. There
was a time when no universe existed. There was a time when no heaven existed.
Nothing existed. There was only God and He dwelled alone. God in His solitary
Excellency, dwelling alone with nothing but his thoughts, which is His Doxa,
His Glory. God alone in all His Splendor and Glory Alone, period.
17.
There
was no heaven to contain Him. There was no earth to amuse him. There was no
universe for Him to uphold, and maintain by the Word of His Power.
18.
There
was nothing. No One! No Thing! No Angels! Not even an atom to make anything.
Not even space, nor any dimension. There was nothing, period, except God
Himself.
19.
No one,
no thing, no space, no time, no elements, no cosmic dust, no atoms to make
cosmic dust, there was nothing but God. Now, think of that. Nothing but God and
he dwelt alone. Not for a day. Not just for a week. Not even for a year or a
decade, or a century or a millennium. Not for just a thousand years or a
million years. No, there was nothing but God for an eternity in the past. Yes,
an eternity in the past.
20. Now, brother Branham said
God is infinite. And infinity runs in two directions, past and future.
Therefore God was eternally, infinitely present in the eternal past as he will
be in the eternal future. And God dwelt
alone for this past eternity, and He was satisfied. He was self contained, He
was self efficient, and He was in need of nothing.
21. Now, if you can
not comprehend God in this way, then you do not know Him. And therefore you can
not respect Him in the way He should be respected and worshipped.
22.
Webster said “Worship comes from two words.
Worth and Ship”.
And the word “Worth” means the value we place upon something and the word “Ship”
is the state or condition of that value. Hence to worship is to place the right
and proper value on the thing or person that we are worshipping. That is why
Jesus said the people worship God in Vain, because they are not placing the
right and proper value on God that should be placed on Him.
23.
And Jesus said, “Howbeit they worship God in vain,
teaching instead of doctrine, the commandments of men.” And He also said “John 4: 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the
true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24. So to try to worth ship God outside of applying the right value
which is the true value, which is truth, such worth ship is worthless, when it
comes to God accepting that form of worship.
25. And If God dwelt alone for
an eternity in the past before He even created anything then God needs nothing.
Before God was even God, He was the great Elohim, the self existing one,
because the word “God” means an object of worship. And if God dwelt an eternity
in the past before He created the angels to worship Him, then we can say that
God is a solitary God and needs nothing. No angels, no humans, nor even space
in any way or He would not have waited an eternity to create them but would
have created them an eternity ago. T
26. Therefore, creating them
when He did added nothing to His essentiality, for God changes not”, that’s Malachi
3:6.
27. Therefore Gods essentiality, that is The
intrinsic or indispensable properties that serve to characterize or identify
Who he is, what He is and His intrinsicality,
which is His inherent nature, And by living alone with Himself for an eternity
in the past proves that by His very nature that He can not be augmented nor
diminished in any way by anyone, or anything, Because God is Sovereign and He is solitary.
28. God was under no obligation, no constraint, no
necessity to create. That God chose to create was
purely a sovereign act on His part. Neither was there any reason or cause
outside of His Own will that pressed Him to do so.
29. Ephesians
1:11 tells us His reasoning for doing so was that He predestinated us according to the Good council of His own
will.
30 That God created anything was simply out of His Own
desire to do so. That this world exists was out of
his own desire to create it. That He maintains it by His Word is of His own
choosing, and not yours or mine. That we exist is because of His desire that we
exist.
31. God is solitary, and God is
sovereign. You and I can gain from the praises of others, but for God, what can He gain?
32. God does not need your
praises, and yet He enjoys them, and He inhabits the Praises of His people. But
they add nothing to Him, and yet He is pleased by them.
33. God does not gain from
your worship, and He doesn't gain from your praise. He does not gain from your
good works, nor does He gain from your holiness, or your righteousness. Then
what is it that moved God to predestinate His Elect? It was "The praise of the Glory of His Grace?" His Own Word tells us it was “His Good pleasure of His Own will”. Ephesians 1:5
35.
Therefore, it is impossible for God to be
brought under obligation to His own creation, for He
gains nothing from us.
36. In Job 35: 5-8 we read, Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which
are higher than thou. 6 If thou sinnest, what
doest thou against Him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what
doest thou unto Him? 7 If thou be righteous,
what givest thou Him? or what receiveth He of thine hand? 8 Thy
wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the
son of ma
37. The NIV says it like
this. NIV 5 Look up
at the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds so high above you. 6 If you sin, how does that affect God? If your sins are many, what does that do to
him? 7 If you are
righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand? 8 Your
wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only the
sons of men.
38. In other words, there is nothing you can do
that could hurt God, nor is there anything you could do to bring gain to Him.
Now, that is why I just can not understand these people who get mad at God
because something doesn’t happen the way they thought it should? God is
entirely sovereign and needs nothing out side of Himself. That ought to tell
you right there that everything we have is because of Him, and He does it for
our own Good. Did not He promise that “all things shall work together for the
good of those that love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose.
So God does all for our sakes, not His. That is why Brother Branham could says,
we need to come to the place where we so Love God, that if it pleased Him that
we should have to go to hell, then we
would love him there too.
39. Brother Branham sad from his sermon,
Divine love 57-0305 P:48 Could
you think, my brethren, these little stories which are amateur, how I could
tell you things that I know He's done that would startle you. In my life has
been a mysterious one; that's true. People don't understand, but it's been that
I loved Him. When God seen fit to take my wife, baby, and everything I had.
They never thought of my little baby when I... My wife was a corpse, and my
little baby started dying, I run down into the hospital and fell down before
God. I said, "God, don't take my little darling. Don't do it, Lord."
And I looked in front of me, and a black sheet letting down, I knowed He was
going to take her. Then Satan spoke to me; He said, "Yonder in the morgue
lays your wife, twenty-three years old. Here's your nine month old baby, and
He's taken that. You mean you'll serve Him?" Then I looked down; I said,
"Though He slay me, yet I'll
serve Him." For there was something happened
down here in my bosom that made a love for Him that the Bible said, "There's nothing present, neither
trials or nothing can separate us from the love of God that's in Christ." If
He would send me to torment at the day of the judgment, He's still just. And if
I have the mind that I have now, while I'm in hell, I'll still love Him. It's
part of me. That's what it is. That's what it is to you, friend, that loves the
Lord. That's what I want Him to be, a part of you, love.
40. And Jesus said in, Luke 17: 7-10 7 But which of you, having a servant plowing
or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field,
Go and sit down to meat? 8 And will not rather say unto
him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I
have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? 9 Doth
he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I
think not. 10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done
all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we
have done that which was our duty to do.
41. In other words, all that we do to and for the Lord
is not for His Good, but for our own. We praise Him, and worship Him, and do
service to Him not that He will gain by it, but we are the ones who gain. For the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.
42.
Let's
take this one more step. I know this may offend some, especially those in the
international community of the message that might read this on the website, but
let me say this. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the first born Son of
God, He added nothing to God in his
intrinsicallity, and His essentiality. He added nothing to God's innate nature
and Glory. Neither by what He did, nor by what he said. Nor by any sacrifice
that He performed even though He laid down His own Life. Nothing that He
suffered added anything to God. Nor, did anything that was done to Him by those
wicked hands that crucified Him could do anything to take away from God.
43. It is true that Jesus the
Son of God manifested His Father’s glory unto you and me, but then what does
that add to God? It added to you and me, for we are the beneficiaries of such
words, and such deeds, and such suffering, and such obedience even to the point
of His own death. But to God, it added nothing to Him. In fact everything He
did do and say, He said that He was either taught to say it by the Father or He
did it in response to the Father showing Him what to do. So all that he did and
said were because He was obedient to His Heavenly Father. It was not God that
died on the cross? God is immortal, He can not be killed? It was His Son that
died on the cross, of which the Scriptures teaches us that He is our eldest
brother in a vast family of brethren. Romans 8:29
44. On the other hand, let me ask you this.
What did Jesus have that God did not give Him? Jesus Himself said, “the son can of Himself do nothing, but
whosoever the son seeth the Father do, that the son doeth likewise.” He also said, “the Father worketh and I worketh hitherto.” He also said, “I
came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me.” And,
Father, it is my will that you
take this cup from me, but not my will but thy will be done.” He also said, “The doctrine I teach is not mine, but the
Father’s that sent me.
And he also said, “The things I teach the Father commanded me
what to say. “ So Jesus
understood very well that God is God, He alone is sovereign, and He alone is
Solitary.
45.
And if Jesus words were not his but the Fathers”. And if “His Doctrine was not His Own, but was the
Fathers that sent Him.
And if His works were not his own
original idea, but He simply did what he saw the Father do. Then let's face it, his own life was not his Own. For the Father not only dwelt in Him, but
did so pre-eminently. As the Apostle Paul said, "I am a prisoner of Christ."
46. He did not even bring forth His Own Will,
for He said, "I came not
to do my own will but the Fathers Who sent me." And the Apostle Paul said of the
Son of God, "for it is
written in the Book, "I have come to do thy Will O God."
47. It is true that God receives both honor and
dishonor from man, but that speaks only of man's recognition or lack of it. But
it adds nothing to God intrinsically. If God had no desire, He would still be
dwelling alone and no worse off for it. So let’s face it, if God dwelt alone
for an eternity in the past, before He created any angels, before he brought
forth an only begotten Son, before He made the heavens and the earth. Before He
created the Universe. If God dwelt alone for an eternity in the past, then He
was content to do so, because there was no one to force him, nor could they if
they tried, and if it was not His will to dwell alone, then He would have
brought forth those things an eternity ago.
48. In Isaiah
40:15-18 we read, 15 Behold,
the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of
the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. 16 And
49. There is no
comparing of God to anything. As Pharaoh found out a little too late, that God
is God! And He is neither dependent upon anyone nor is he dependent upon any
thing, nor is He at a loss by anyone or anything. God can not gain to Himself
anything, because he created all things. Nor can He loose from Himself
anything, nor as a result of anyone or anything outside himself. And since he
created everything, then He did it for “His own good
pleasure”.
50. We also read in Isaiah 40: 22-23 22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of
the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth
out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh
the judges of the earth as vanity.
51. Then who is going to
argue against Him? Who can find fault with Him? Paul said, Can the clay say to
the potter, why hast thou made me thus?
Truly all such railings are but vanity.
52. In 1
Timothy 6:15-16 we read, 15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is
the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in
the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see:
to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
53. Such a God then is to be
feared. Such a God then is to be revered. Such a God then is to be Worshipped. For He is
solitary in His majesty. He is unique in his Excellency, and he is without
equal in His perfection. Yet He sustains all, but is in need of none. He gives
freely to all, and yet is not enriched by any. And you cannot find This God by
searching.
54. Psalms 145: 3 Great is
the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
55. Romans 11:33 33 O the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his
judgments, and his ways past finding out!
56. Ephesians 3:8-10 8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all
saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ; 9 And to make
all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of
the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10 To
the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might
be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
57. God therefore can only be known and revealed to,
to those whom He has chosen to receive Himself to. Though His creation declares
Him, yet He is still the unknown God to most of the world.
59. We read in Job 26:14 ,14 Lo, these are parts of his
ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power
who can understand?
58. Nor can God be known by the
intellectual. Isaiah 55:8-11 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain
cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth
the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the
sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word
be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto
I sent it.
59. You cannot know God by
experience. You cannot know God by His
creation. You cannot know God by intellect. You can
only Know God if God reveals Himself to you.
60. And without having God's own Spirit
life living in you, you will never know Him, nor perceive Him in anyway.
62. And unless you
have been chosen by God Himself to receive this great Revelation of Himself, there
is no way you will ever know Him.
63. Matt 13: 10-17 10 And
the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is
given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it
is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him
shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore
speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them
is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and
shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For
this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and
their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed
are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17 For
verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see
those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things
which ye hear, and have not heard them.
64. Mark 4:10-12 10 And
when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the
parable. 11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is
given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are
without, all these things are done in parables: 12 That
seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not
understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins
should be forgiven them.
65. Luke 8:10 10 And he said, Unto you
it is given to know the mysteries of the
Let us pray…