For the perfecting of the Saints
February 10, 2002
EPHESIANS
1:2 Grace [be] to you, and peace, from
God our Father, and [from] the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. 7 In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; 8
Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9 Having made
known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he
hath purposed in himself: 10 That in the dispensation of the fullness of times
he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven,
and which are on earth; [even] in him: 11 In whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the
praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 13 In whom ye also [trusted],
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom
also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the
purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Let us pray, "Dear
Father, we are so thankful for Thy Great Purpose that you have made known unto
us by the Revelation of Jesus Christ,
that you have declared through your end-time Shout. We recognize Father, the
relationship that you had with your Son Jesus, and we now recognize the
relationship you have to us. We are no
longer a fearful people, that see through a glass darkly, but we now see you
face to Face, and for this we are grateful. For we have come to recognize Who
you are, and in this we do now recognize who we are and the relationship we
have with Thee, not only as our Great God, but now also as our Father of Glory.
And in this we recognize our destiny. Not to be mere mortal men, but our mortal
is being swallowed up in immortality, until Life is taking over our mortal
bodies bringing Eternal Life and Eternal Attributes of You dear Father into
every Fiber of our being. And for this we will through an eternal age to come
be thankful and full of gratitude. Now, bless our study once again in this
great sermon on "Who is this Melchisedec," that your prophet William
Branham brought to us before he departed into Thy Presence, for we ask it in
Jesus Christ's name, Thy only begotten Son, amen.
Wednesday night we arrived
at paragraph 112
of WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC 65-0221E
where Brother Branham said, Now, we see here
plainly the complete secret of our lives in journey, and death, and where we
go after we die. Also predestination is in plain view here. Now, listen as
we teach this, closely. The stages of the eternal purpose He had in His
secret has now been revealed.
We have been feasting on this
thought for the past couple weeks, how he said, " we see here plainly the
complete secret of our lives in journey, and death, and where we go after we
die. And in our study we found these words of Brother Branham to
be ever so perfect and ever so accurate in understanding, the stages of the eternal purpose He had in His secret has now
been revealed.
A week ago Wednesday we began by reviewing what brother Branham said in the Church Age Book.
CHURCH
AGE BOOK CPT 9, Listen to me,
"Naked (physically) we came into the world, but naked (spiritually) we
will NOT leave it." Oh no, we are going to take something with us. What
that something is, is ALL we can take with us, nothing less and nothing more.
So we had better be real careful now to see that we take something that will
make us right before God. So, then, what will we take with us? We will take
our CHARACTER, brother, that is what we will take with us. Now what kind
of character will you take with you? Will it be like HIS Whose character was
molded by suffering in the fiery furnace of affliction, or will it be the
softness of this character-less Laodicean people? It is up to each one of
us, for in that day every man will bear his own burden."
We found in the Scriptures much evidence that we will not only receive a body change but we have already a celestial body waiting the change of this body to join together with it to bring forth the glorified body we will have throughout the rest of eternity.
II
Cor 5:1 ¶ For we know that if our
earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this
we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from
heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4 For we
that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be
unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
I CORINTHIANS 15:51 ¶ Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality.
We examined this mortality
being swallowed up of life as Paul suggests to us in these verses of Scripture.
We found the process of this God-Life taking over our mortal life, comes by a
renewing of the mind as we see in ROMANS 12:2 where
Paul spoke of our transformation of the body coming through a process which
involves, first a renewing of the mind, or inner man. 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.
In II
CORINTHIANS 4:16 we read, For which cause
we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward [man] is
renewed day by day. To be
accurate in understanding what this renewing is, we find that the Greek word
Paul chose here for "renew" is,
"an ak ai no o", which means to cause to grow up. So we are looking at a
process of growing into maturity. Therefore, we must realize then that the
process of receiving our transformation and change of the body is fully
dependent upon our coming to a fully mature adult in the inner man. And Paul
further taught that this renewing or maturity in the inner man comes through
the process of maturity coming into the mind first. That is why he said in EPHESIANS 4:23, "be renewed in the spirit of your
mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness.
Again we see then this new man, is to be created in right-wise-ness and true holiness. This then should clue us in that a wrong understanding will not bring froth this change.
In fact Paul also said, in Romans 10 that to hear a wrong word is to not hear at all.
ROMANS
10:13
For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear
without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is
written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace,
and bring glad tidings of good things!
If you will notice in verse 14-15 there are four statements
that Paul makes that follow together in such a way that one leads to the other,
until the last forms the foundation on which the others rest. Thus Paul said,
"it is impossible for men to preach who are not sent, and if they have not
been sent, then it is impossible to hear without a preacher, and it is impossible
to believe who do not hear, and thus it would be impossible to call upon the
name of the Lord who do not believe. And thus if they have not heard, then they
can not believe for what would they be believing. And if they do not believe,
then they cannot call upon the right God. Then it would be impossible for them
to be saved.
So then, the entire source and origin of salvation rests on this, that
God sends out someone. And if God sends
him, he is a truly sent minister of the Word.
1. If He does not send out any, then they who preach, preach falsely, and their preaching
is no preaching at all. In fact, it would be better for them not to preach.
2. Then also they who hear, hear error, and it would be better
for them not to hear.
3. Then also they who believe, would believe false doctrine, and
it would be better for them not to believe.
4. Then also they who call upon Him would call falsely (upon a
false Lord), and it would be better for them not to call at all, for their
calling would be to a false Lord.
1
For such
preachers do not preach,
2
such hearers do
not hear;
3
such believers do
not believe;
4 such callers do not call;
5
they will be
damned because they would be saved by falsehood.
Then tell me that having a wrong understanding of the Godhead doesn't make any difference. Thus we should see by this that in order for us to ever get out of here we must come to the place that we receive a true word which will bring on the renewing of the inner man, and thus a change of the outer man, or a change of the body. Thus true doctrine brings with it maturity, which means we are fully child trained. And we found out Wednesday night that this right-wise-ness and true holiness are the essential ingredients that will precipitate our change of the body.
The Apostle Paul further stated
in COLOSSIANS 3:10 that putting on of the new man, or the coming forth into view of
the new man will come only as a result of our inner man being renewed by a
specific type of knowledge. He said, "put on
the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that
created him:
Here, we see the renewal of the mind, and thus the inner man begins by receiving into our minds a specific knowledge. And not just any knowledge will do, because the word Paul use here is the Greek word epiginosis which means a precise and correct knowledge.
therefore he is speaking of what takes place when this precisely correct knowledge of God comes into our mind. This is the reason that understanding the Godhead correctly and having a precise understanding is so crucial to our receiving a body change. For without having this precise and correct knowledge of God, we will have no way to receive a change in our body. Our Body change then is totally dependent upon receiving this precisely correct understanding of the Godhead. He said, when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. Therefore we need a perfect understanding to put away this imperfect flesh, and to bring on the change of the body that will take on the perfect Glorified condition that was in the perfect mind of the perfect God before the earth was formed.
Brother
Branham taught us this new body is formed one cell at a time just like any
earthly body. From the message, MODERN EVENTS MADE
CLEAR BY PROPHECY 65-1206 78 when
that one cell goes in there, another cell builds on top of that. It's not
one cell of a human, the next of a dog, and the next of a cat, and the next of
something else; it's absolutely, straightly, human being. And when a man's
born of the Spirit of God, he don't inject anything into his life; It's
unadulterated Word of God vindicated for that hour. He takes the full Word of
God; he don't put no creeds, nothing else into It. It's purely
unadulterated God's Word made manifest among us.
Again from his sermon, "TRYING TO DO GOD A SERVICE" 65-1127B 335 he
said, "And if you were ordained from the beginning of the earth to
that Word, every Word will come right on top of the Word. Like a human
cell will not have one human cell, and the next the cell of a dog, and the next
the cell of a cat; it'll be human cells. But it's got to have a cell first to
start with. Is that right? say, "Amen." Well, if it is the Word cell to start with, the other Word
cells are ordained to make it a full body.
And from
his sermon entitled, THE RAPTURE 65-1204
91 he said, When a germ comes
into the womb of the female, You didn't become a human germ from your father,
and then the next thing you become a germ from a dog, and the next thing from a
cat, and the next thing from a chicken; it was all human germ. And the Body of
Jesus Christ. The Bride, will be part of His Body which will... He was the
Word, and the Bride will have to be the Word, Word added to Word added to
Word. Luther's justification, Wesley's sanctification, Pentecostal's
baptism with the Holy Spirit, restoration of the gifts, and all the rest of it
goes with it. It's got to be Word on top of Word, germ on top of germ, life
on top of life, to bring out the full statue of the Bride of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
From the sermon, God Rich In Mercy 65-0119 42Brother Branham said, Now, if you've
got Eternal Life tonight, if we have Eternal Life, then we always were, because
there's only one form of Eternal Life. We always were. And the reason we were,
because we are a part of God.
Therefore, we should now be
able to see what brother Branham meant in his statement from paragraph 112 of WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC 65-0221E where he
said, Now, we see here plainly the complete
secret of our lives in journey, and death, and where we go after we die.
Also predestination is in plain view here. Now, listen as we teach this,
closely. The stages of the eternal purpose He had in His secret has now been
revealed.
And thus we should now
understand that The stages of the eternal
purpose He had in His secret has now been revealed.
Now, there is one more thing I
want for us to understand concerning this maturity of the inner man in order
for us to receive our body change. This process was not finished when God took
His prophet from the scene. Now, remember, this process is fully dependent upon
a specific knowledge of God as the Apostle Paul declared in COLOSSIANS 3:10 where He said, "put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after
the image of him that created him:
Here Paul is speaking of
what takes place when this precisely correct
knowledge of God comes into our mind. And we found out that the
renewal process is a maturing of the inner man. And if it also is a process
then there must be some channel that God uses to bring about this, the Apostle
Paul tells us what this channel is in Ephesians chapter 4.
EPHESIANS 4:5 There is One Lord,
one faith, one baptism. One God, and Father of all, who [is] above all, and
through all, and in you all. 7 But unto every one of us is given grace
according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Now to understand what Paul is
saying here, he is telling us that although there is One Lord, and "One
Faith" which is the "One Revelation" of
that One Lord, yet not everyone will understand this. In fact in other of
Paul's Epistles, especially in 1st Corinthians chapter 1, we find Paul
speaking of this Grace as a certain ability to comprehend the Revelation of
Jesus Christ. Let's read it for ourselves.
I CORINTHIANS 1:4 I thank my God
always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
Now, if you
watch closely the construction of this sentence, you will note that Paul fist
tells us that he is thankful for the grace of Christ that has been given to us.
Now, if it is given, then it is a gift. Notice, then that Paul goes on to tell
us what this grace will do for us. 5 That in every
thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and [in] all knowledge; Therefore
this grace is given with the sole purpose in mind to enrich us in all Logos and
all knowledge. Specifically, he is speaking of that knowledge that he also
spoke of in Colossians 3:10 which precise
and correct knowledge of God is to bring forth the maturing process that renews
our mind and inner man. Now this
enriching is like pouring fertilizer on a plant, and we do that for the sole
purpose of that plant attaining full maturity and ripeness. Notice his words in
I CORINTHIANS 1:6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7 So
that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ:
Notice then, this grace is
to give us a "charisma, a spiritual endowment or
understanding" that we might be able to comprehend the coming,
"apokalupsis" or unveiling of Christ.
Now in getting back to the 4th
chapter of Ephesians, the apostle Paul tells us there is One Lord and One faith
or, "one Revelation of that One Lord". And then he tells us a little
further on how this One Lord and One Faith will bring us to maturity.
EPHESIANS 4:11 And he gave
some, (and
if He God gave some, then these are gifts from God to the Church. And remember,
he had just spoken of a different measure of Grace, which is an ability to
understand the knowledge of God. And now he is telling us that he placed other
gifts in the church to help them to further understand.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and
some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (Why did God give
these gifts to the church?) 12 For the perfecting of
the saints, (now, wait just a minute. What does that mean, for the
perfecting of the church. The word perfecting here is a Greek word katartismos,
which means to furnish off, equip or complete. In other words, to bring to
maturity or completeness.)
Then Paul continues, for the work of the
ministry, (and this simply means for the laboring in the ministry,
or for the doing of it. But then he adds,) for the edifying of the body of Christ: (Now,
this word edifying is from a Greek word oikodome which means, for the building
up, and notice he is speaking of the body of Christ. Therefore this ministry if
for Adding word upon word upon word, cell upon cell, upon cell. For how long?) 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man,(the word perfect
here means full grown or fully mature) unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: (In other words,
until we come forth with a body change). 14 That we
[henceforth] be no more children, (notice the purpose of the
fivefold again? It is for the building up of the body until we are no more
children. And when are we no more children? When we are fully grown and
mature.) 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; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, [even] Christ:
And there we have it. The
purpose of the five-fold ministry is to bring forth maturity in the body of
Christ. Then what of those who do not believe in a five fold ministry? If they
do not receive the true Five-Fold ministry of God, will they come to this
maturity? Is it then any wonder why they cannot seem to understand the Godhead?
Is it a wonder that they seem to be tossed about by every wind of doctrine?
EARNESTLY
CONTENDING 55-0815 E-34
He has raised from the dead. He's here tonight. Now, what does He do? He
works through individuals as He has called. "God has set (not the church
has set), but God has set in the church: first, apostles; second, prophets;
teachers; evangelists." All kinds of gifts God has placed in the church
for the perfecting, or drawing together.
THEN JESUS
CAME 57-0302 E-34 But God has sent
in the church five different gifts: apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists,
pastors. Those are for the perfecting of the church. That is His proof, His
ministering Spirit to the church to bring the body of Christ together.
Now let's read a few quotes
from Brother Branham pertaining to this ministry to perfect the saints.
Results of
decision 55-1008 And God sends
some in the Church, first apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, sets gifts
in His Church: speaking with tongues, interpretations, all kinds of signs and
things, for the perfecting of the Church, to bring the people together, and
let them know that He is the living God, living among His people.
Perseverance
62-0608 Now, I believe that there's a church coming into that perfection,
that ministry of perfection, where the offices, where apostles, prophets,
teachers, pastors, evangelists for the perfecting of the church, them
pastors, and teachers, and so forth, will be so with the Word until the whole
thing will work right up to the coming of the Lord. I believe that, and I
believe we're nearing that time now. I believe it's so.
Blind
Bartimaeus 56-0407 E-55 If Jesus has risen from the dead,
the Bible said He ascended up to the throne of God. We all believe that. And He
sent gifts back to men. And then, He sent back and put in the Church, first
apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastors, all for the
perfecting of the Church, drawing It together. And now, in here He claimed
that in His Church, He would be the same always.
Blind Bartimaeus
56-0414 E49 Apostles,
prophets, teachers, evangelist, pastors, God set in the Church for the
perfecting of the Church. That's Divine gifts that God foreordained and set
into the Church. See? Those are for the perfecting of the Church. Jesus
speaks through His pastor, speaks through His teacher, speaks through His
seer, His prophet, speaks through His missionary to the countries, and so
forth. That's His gifts that He's put in the Church.
Jesus Christ the
Same 56-0426 E-49 Now, His corporal body sets at the right
hand of God. You believe that, don't you? But the Holy Spirit is here working
through His sanctified vessels. And God has set in the church what? First
apostles, then prophets, then teachers, then evangelists, then pastors (Is that
right?), for the perfecting of the church. God has did it. It's not the
preacher that preaches; it's God preaching through him. It's not the
prophet that sees the vision; it's God speaking through him. "I do nothing
except the Father shows Me first what to do."
Their eyes were
opened 57-0421E 77
And God set some in the Church, first apostles, then prophets, teachers,
evangelists, and pastors, all for the perfecting of the Church. How could we
turn one down and say the other one isn't so? God does it Himself. It's
nothing in the world but just yielding yourself to the Holy Spirit. And the
Holy Spirit takes over from there, and you don't know what you're doing. It's
the Holy Spirit's sovereign work.
JESUS CHRIST THE
SAME 62-0718 E-89 The Bible said that God has set in the church five
different gifts. Is that right? God has. Now, there's nine gifts in
the--in the local church just on one or the other, but five ministerial gifts:
apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists. Is that right? Five
spiritual gifts. Now, those gifts are for the perfecting of the church, to
keep the church in order--pastors, and teachers, and evangelists, and
prophets, and so forth. Now, it's gifts. Now, no matter how much these men
here are gifted to preach, you've got to also believe what they preach, or it
isn't going to do one good. They could just preach on and on, and on, you'd
never get saved. You'd die right in the pew, and be lost (That's right.),
setting right there. That's right. You've got to believe what they're saying.
Well, no matter what God would do here in a way of a prophetic gift, you have
to believe it too.
So our conclusion to this
matter is that God sends out someone, one of his five-fold gifts to the church,
and that ministry is ordained to bring forth a maturity in the Elect, and this
comes because this gift of God declares a certain Knowledge which is so precise
and correct that it begins to take hold of the Elect in the inner man, bringing
forth maturity, and a renewing process which then begins a cell upon cell of
that Word feeding the growing body until the body change comes forth into manifestation.
When will that be? When we are fully child trained and ready to receive our
celestial body, and then meet our older Brother Jesus somewhere in that higher
dimension.
So
then, salvation and the body change rests on this, that God sends out someone. If He does not send out any, then they who
preach, preach falsely, and
their preaching is no preaching at all. In fact, it would be better for them
not to preach. Then also they who hear, hear error,
and it would be better for them not to hear. Then also they who believe, would believe
false doctrine, and it would be better for them not to believe.
Then also they who call upon Him would call falsely (upon a false Lord),
and it would be better for them not to call at all, for their calling would be
to a false Lord.