How Jesus was Despised and Rejected
April
7, 2002
For the past couple sermons we have looked at Isaiah 53 where it speaks
of the despising and rejecting of Jesus. I would like to take one more look at
this Scripture this morning to show us just how it is that the people despise
and reject Him. Because most people
that are despising Him do not even know they are doing it. They are blind and
naked and know it not. How many in that day will say unto Him, “lord, Lord, did
not I do this in your name and that in your name and He will reply, Depart from
me ye that do iniquity, for I never even knew you. Now, can anyone tell me what
iniquity is? Iniquity is to know to do right and you don’t do it. That’s what
unrighteousness is. It is a doing of what is not right. And today we will
examine this wrong doing and show you how in the wrong doing or the failing to
do what is right, how it is the very thing that despises Christ.
Therefore, let’s turn in our Bibles to this wonderful passage from the
Book of Isaiah.
ISAIAH 53:1¶ Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the
LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a
root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see
him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He IS despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with
grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we
esteemed him not.
Now, to make this a little more appropriate language for this hour, let
me read this from the AMPLIFIED VERSION: Who has believed – trusted in, relied
upon and clung to our Message of that which was revealed unto us? And to Whom
has the arm of the Lord been disclosed, and revealed?
It is the Message that is being called into question here? It is the
Message that is being asked of Whom it is that believes it, and supports it,
and clings to it, and trusts in it, and relies totally in it? That is what this
scripture is telling us. He says, “who is there among you that will trust in
it? Who is there among you that will rely upon it? Who is there among you that
will cling to it and remain in it? And that is the question I pose to you this
morning. Does this question coming from God pointed to you? Is this a question
from God concerning you? I certainly hope not. But He is asking the question
rewgardless of whether you think it is for you to answer or not. And the
question is, “Who will believe our
report”, “Who will believe our Message?” And then He said, 3 He is despised
and rejected of men; Not He was
despised. NO, it does not say that. It says, 3 He is despised and rejected of men; This
does not look backwards as though we can say they who lived 2,000 years ago did
it and not us. No, this is spoken of in the present tense and tells us the
despising and rejecting is still going on. And it asks the question, “are we among those who are despising and
rejecting the Lord?” And
we might ask ourselves how does this despising and rejecting come about. What
constitutes this despising, and rejecting.
“a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” The word esteem means to regard with respect, to prize or place a high value upon. Then, how do we despise Him? By not placing a very high value upon Him. And who is He? He is the Word! The word despise means: de·spise 1. To regard with contempt or scorn 2. To dislike intensely; loathe 3. To regard as unworthy of one's interest or concern: Now this last definition is the one I want you to pay close attention to.
Notice, To regard
as unworthy of one's interest or concern: Therefore, when we despise the Lord is when
we show a lack of interest in Him, and when we do not put Him first. That is
why they esteemed him not.
Then how do we reject Him? The word reject means: re·ject 1. To refuse to accept, To refuse to submit to, To refuse to believe, or To refuse to make use of. 2. To refuse to consider, or in simple terms it means to deny, or say no to. 3. To refuse to recognize or give affection to (a person). 4. Therefore the manifestation of rejecting is to discard as defective or useless; to throw away. 5. To spit out or vomit. Then how do we reject Him? By not accepting what He tells us. By refusing to obey Him. By refusing to make use of Him. And by failing to consider Him first. And Who is HE? He is the Word!
HEBREWS 6:4 For [it is] impossible for those who were once for all
enlightened, (Now, what is
the once for all enlightenment? It is today when God Himself has descended with
a shout!) 6 If these once for all enlightened ones
shall fall away, it is impossible for them to renew themselves again unto
repentance or change of the mind; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of
God afresh, (the Manifested Word) and put
[him](Christ the manifested Word) to an
open shame.
These are the ones who crucify the word all over again. Now last week we shoed you the three reasons
they despised and rejected Him back then. These three reasons were doctrine,
doctrine and doctrine. The Godhead, the Presence and Twins. Jesus prerached
them all and they hasted Him because of it.
They were a oneness believing people. Kind of a “Jehovah only” as we
have the Jesus only today. They could not believe that God would lower Himself to
have a Son. And Jesus preached a Father Who was Sovereign. And the people do
not like that. They did not like it then and they do not like it yet today. In
His teaching He pressed upon men the sovereignty of God. There are few things
so distasteful to the proud human heart as the Truth that God does as He
pleases, without consulting any, and that he has mercy on who He will and Who
He will he hardens their heart. Man cannot accept a God who would harden the
heart of man. To them it is an immoral thing, but to God it is according to His
purpose and plan. The Apostle Paul said, He shows mercy on whom He will and He
hardens whomever he wills. Therefore, no man is justified in God’s Sight. It is
God that gives of His grace. It can not be earned, and it cannot be purchased.
It is simply up to God.
And the second doctrine that they hated was when Jesus preached the
Presence of the Lord, for they did not like being held accountable for their
sin. And you cannot come into the presence of the Lord without your sins being
uncovered. For He is the Word and the Word is a discerner of the very thoughts
and intents of the heart. And it exposes sin in our lives. And we know that sin
is unbelief. And when Jesus brought
them into the Presence of the Lord, it exposed their sinful nature and they
hated him for it then just as they hate him for it today. And Who is He? He is
the Word. Jesus not only upheld God’s Law, but he pressed them upon the hearer
of his Message. He said in Matthew 10:34, “Think not that I am come to destroy
the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Unregenerate
men hate to be told what they can and cannot do. They resent any restraints
being cast upon them, and they want to be a law unto themselves.
In Psalm 2:1 we read, 1 Why do the heathen
rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers
take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast
away their cords from us.
The Word to them is all legalism. They do not want a God whom they must submit. They do not want a Lord over them. NO, they say away from us, we will not have you to rule over us. Then how can they come in that day and say, “Lord, Lord have we not done these things in your name?” Notice in Matthew 7, Jesus does not deny that they did things in His name, He simply denies them. Why? Because they are claiming Him as Lord when in reality they did not treat Him or respect Him as Lord. Let’s turn to Matthew 7 for a moment and read it for ourselves.
Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. (Now, remember, William Branham taught us that the fruit is the teaching of the season. But notice the next verse.) 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (Now, I want you to notice here that first of all he tells us that the tree will be known by what he teaches, but then he says, and every tree that does not produce fruit, or bringeth forth fruit is cast down and thrown into the fire for burning. Now the emphasis in this verse is not the fruit but what you do with the fruit. It says you must bring it forth and the Greek word here is poieo which means to make or do, which shows action. It also means to execute, exercise or fulfill. Thus it is speaking about applying the doctrine. You must Apply what you have been taught. And brother Branham said you must apply the Token, for without applying it, it will not do you any good.)
From the Message THE TOKEN 63-0901 p:63 Brother Branham said, The hour has arrived that the Token Itself, not some counterfeit, make-believe substitutionary, anything; the hour is here when the Token Himself is identifying Himself right among us and proving that He's the same Jesus yesterday, today, and forever, and He's right with the Word. It's got to be applied. A man that says that he's got the Token, deny this Word, then what about it? See, you can't do it. The Token's got to be there
The Token 63-0901 p: 113 the Token must be applied.
Without it, you're going to perish; you must perish. That is
the only thing. Oh, don't come together, say, "I believe it." Get beneath it. Get into it. How to do
it? By one Spirit we're baptized into the Body of Jesus Christ. Everybody believe with all your heart.
See? He was not responsible for any out from beneath it.
Notice Jesus said in Matthew 7: 20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (Notice it’s not what you say that counts, it’s what you do. He said not everyone that says it, but he that doeth my fathers will.) 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Notice here he says, ye that do iniquity, not ye that say iniquity, but ye tha do iniquity. And we all know what iniquity is. If not let me read to you what God prophet says it is
From the Message Angel and Three Pulls 51-0414 P:18
Jesus said, "Many will come and say, 'Lord, have not I...'" He
said, "I didn't know
you." No, you never... See? Many will confess and say, "I have cast
out devils in Thy Name, and in Thy Name I prophesied," preachers and so
forth, and everything. He'd say, "Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I didn't even know you." Some people
might've went out and had some kind of a fleshly idea, tried to get popular, or some big
education, or could speak a few swell words and made some money out of it.
Jesus said, "You workers of iniquity,
I didn't even know
you." And iniquity
is something that you know
that you ought to do and will not do it. That's right. And every man knows that he's got to be borned again by the Spirit
of God. You've got to
receive the Holy Ghost. To
turn It down is just the same as to
turn Jehovah of the Old Testament, down in that day, or Jesus in His day: Same
penalty and worse if you turn down the Holy Ghost. And it's not very well
thought of.
Now, notice again
Jesus continues speaking of this lack of doing. 24 Therefore whosoever
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise
man, which built his house upon a rock:
Now, I am not saying that passive faith is left behind at this point. No, absolutely not. But if your passive faith never comes to an active faith, if it is never applied, then you don’t have passive faith. All you’ve got is a bunch of talk, and talk is cheap. Anyone can talk the talk, but are you walking the walk. He didn’t say, if you talk in the light as He is in the Light, He said if you walk in the Light as he is in the Light.
You young people have got to come to the place where you realize that you are not going to go in on your dad or mothers coat tail. You are not going in a rapture because your parents are. God does not have grandchildren. You have got to experience a new birth just the same as your parents had to. And if you do not receive the new birth, you will be left behind for the tribulation period, and you will either have to give your life for this same message or you will compromise your soul and be lost for ever. It’s one or the other. You can’t have it both ways. Some of you want to claim the benefits of being a Christian without really being one.
Especially you young men. The
girls in this message suffer for their faith a lot more than you do. The girls
stand out in public just by the way they dress, and the hair they wear. But
they do for God, and they are stronger in faith than you young men because they
have been through the trials by fire, and you have not. You young men, you don’t have to suffer
that way. You are not put on the spot
like they are? People come up to them
all the time and say stupid, hurtful things about the way they dress.
You can go skiing and enjoy yourselves. But let the girls go skiing and
the looks and stares and the comments pour forth. They think you are crazy
skiing in a long dress. And yet you young men don’t ever see those taunts, and
teardowns. I will say this without hesitation, that I see in this message the young
girls have a lot more character that is Godly than the young men in this
message. Most of the girls in this Message would never think of dating an
unbeliever, and yet the young men run around like a bunch of dumb driven cattle
with your tongues hanging out looking for girls who are not believers. And why
is that, when there are at least 2-3 times as many girls in this message who
have kept themselves pure and clean before God, for every young man being
raised in this message.
That’s right. There are about 2-3 times more girls in this message than
there are young men. And yet most of the young men are off panting with their
testosterone raging and because they haven’t had to suffer for their faith they
have no character. And as long as you parents give in to everything junior
wants, you can be assured of one thing. They never will develop any Christian
character.
II TIMOTHY 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with [him]:
if we deny [him], he also will deny us:
I PETER 5:10 ¶
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by
Christ Jesus, after that ye have
suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle [you]. (
Notice you must suffer before you mature, receive strength and become settles.
The word perfect means mature, and I am sure that is the reason why most of the
young men in this message are not as mature as the young women in this message
is because they have not suffered enough for their faith. If you don’t put
anything into it, you will get out anything out of it, because you get out of
life what you put into it. You reap what you sow.)
117-1 SMYRNAEAN
CHURCH AGE - CPT 4 His purpose is that after we have suffered awhile we would
be made perfect, be established, strengthened
and settled. As Job said, "He
puts strength in us." (Job 23:6b) You see He, Himself, suffered. He learned obedience by the
things that He suffered. He was actually made perfect by the things that He
suffered. Hebrews 5:8-9, "Though He were a Son,
yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; And being made
perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." In plain language, the very character of Jesus was perfected by suffering.
(And I would like to add, if God’s own Son had his character perfected by
suffering, then how do you think your character will come some other way? Huh?
If you don’t suffer you never will mature, nor will you ever become stable.
You’ll always be chasing your tail around your legs, or chasing your
testosterone across the country looking for a false hope.) And according to Paul He has left His church
a measure of suffering that they, too, by their faith in God while suffering
for Him, would come to a place of perfection. Why did He want this? James 1:2-4, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers
temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But
let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting
nothing." (Let patience have her perfect work, and what
does that perfect work produce, one thing…contentment. That means you don’t
chase every skirt that you so desire to chase, but you sit back and look for
character because you know that love and marriage are a life long commitment, and
not just in this world but in the world to come.)
Unless
we suffer with Him we cannot reign with Him. You
have to suffer to reign. The reason for this is that character simply is never made without suffering. Character is a VICTORY, not a gift. A man without character can't reign because
power apart from character is Satanic. But power with character is fit to rule. And since He wants us to share
even His throne on the same basis that He overcame and is set down in His
Father's throne, then we have to overcome
to sit with Him. And the little temporary suffering we go through now is
not worthy to be compared to the tremendous glory that will be revealed in us
when He comes. Oh, what treasures are laid up for those who are willing to
enter into His kingdom through much tribulation. "Think it not strange concerning the
fiery trials that are to try you." That is what Peter said. Is it strange
that God wants us to develop a Christ-like character that comes through
suffering? No sir. And we all have trials. We are all tried and chastened as
sons. Not one but goes through that. The church that is not suffering, and is
not being tried, hasn't got it--it isn't of God. Heb. 12:6, "For whom the
Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. But if ye
be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and
not sons."
He is despised and rejected of men. How? By turning Him down. By esteeming Him not. By looking elsewhere for your treasure. By saying no to Him. And Who is He? He is the Word. Today, men everywhere say no to Him. They will not apply the token. They don’t even want the Token, and yet it is their only assurance of a life full of joy, and peace and contentment.
Why was
Christ despise and rejected of men? Because His Presence requires inward
purity. The religions of the world do not require inward anything, but are
merely external. The difference between true Christianity and the other world
religions is that the world religions, everyone of them demand an external performance,
but true Christianity doesn’t look on the outward but looks first to the inner
man. The world looks at conduct externally, while the True Christian looks at
the source of conduct and deals with the source. In 1 Samuel we read 16:7 “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but
the Lord looketh upon the heart.”
This make Jesus Christ the Word unpopular today as he was back then. He
said, MATTHEW
23:25 Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of
the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26 [Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse first that [which is] within the cup and
platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men's] bones, and of all
uncleanness.
Why is Christ the Word despised and rejected today as he was 2,000 years ago? Because He demands repentance which is a real change of the mind and heart. Repentance is taking sides with God against yourself. It is ceasing to love and tolerate sin. It is ceasing to excuse yourself for your sinful behavior and nature. It is mourning before God in deep contrition because of your transgression. That is why Jesus Taught, “except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish.” And that is why that same Holy Spirit spoke through William Branham in this hour and said, “Repent or Perish!”
Why is Christ despised and rejected today as He was 2,000 years ago? Because he preaches a Gospel of self denial. He does not want us indulging self nor does he want us exalting self. Even William Branham was rebuked by the Angel of the Lord for telling a story to his elevating himself and Daniel Boone to an important status. Jesus said “If any man will come to me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me.”
And finally, How is Christ the Word despised and rejected of man? In many ways and in different manners. In both words and actions, or lack of action. How do the young men despise him, by looking at girls in shorts, and in pants, and with cut hair and who are not Born again Christians, and who are not believers in the end-time message of God. And thinking it’s ok with God to do so, when Jesus said if you even look at one and lust you have committed adultery already with her in your heart. Brother Branham said, Does GOD Change His Mind like a man choosing a wife to marry, why, he's got to have faith in that woman, he marries her, he certainly is fixing himself for a lot of trouble. See?
SEAL OF GOD: Seth never went to the land of Nod to get his
wife; God gave him a wife. But Cain, with the mark of the beast on him, went
out and got him a wife from the land of Nod, and Seth took God's choice. Perfect
type of the denominational church today, going out, taking in anything. But the
true church of the living God, Christ's body, only takes what the Holy Ghost
seals: perfect. God has set in the church.
LEADERSHIP 65-1207 178 You have a choice of conduct. How you
conduct yourself, that's up to you. You have a choice of wife. You go out and take
your wife. You want to take a wife, you want to take one that's complementary
to what you want, you plan your future home to be. Could you imagine a man, a
Christian man, going out and taking one of these modern Rickettas for a wife?
See? Could you imagine? What's the man thinking about? What kind of a home is
he going to have if he takes a striptease, a burlesque off of the street out
here, a street prostitute. "Oh," you say, "now, wait a
minute." How does she dress herself? See, see? Wear shorts and things,
she's a street prostitute. "Oh," you say, "now, Brother
Branham..." Oh, them little old tight skirts, look like you're poured
into: street prostitute.180 Jesus said, "And whosoever looketh upon a
woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her in his heart."
Then he's got to answer for that. And what'd she do? She presented herself.
Who's guilty? Think of it.
How do the girls despise and reject him? By looking at the worldly fashions and thinking nothing is wrong with them when God said stay away from the things of the world. By looking at the boys outside the message, and having any thoughts of life together with someone who is an unbeliever, when God said, “be not yoked together with unbelief”, and you say, maybe they will change, and he said don’t do it to begin with.
343-4 Laodicean
Church Age -CPT.9 Now I know that the women don't set the styles. Hollywood
does that. But listen ladies, they still sell yard goods and sewing machines.
You don't have to buy what's in the stores and then use that as an excuse. This
is a deadly serious matter that I am going into. Have you not read in Scripture
that when a man looks on a woman and lusts after her in his heart, he has
already committed adultery with her in his heart? And suppose you dressed in
such a way as to cause that? That makes you his partner in sin, even though you
would be absolutely unaware of it, being a true virgin with no such desires. Yet
God holds you accountable and you will be judged.
He said, JEREMIAH 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the
leopard his spots? [then] how can they
do good, who are accustomed to doing evil?
And how do parents despise and reject him? By letting your children do things that you know are wrong while living under your roof. Don’t you know that you are held accountable for the actions of your children as long as they are living with you. Even the state laws will stand behind that. Brother Branham said from the Message SEED IS NOT HEIR WITH THE SHUCK. “Every man and woman, boy or girl in here has to go that way. And we will be accountable for what we do with the Word of God”.
Hear Ye Him We'd never have
juvenile delinquency till we have parent delinquency. You used to love to go to
prayer meeting and pray till twelve and one and two o'clock, lay on the little,
old cottage floor somewhere under the Spirit of God. You used to love to pray
all night long. But since you got your television, you like to stay home and
watch some old vulgar picture, "Who Seen Lucy" or "Who Loves
Lucy," and stay home from prayer meeting. Something happened.
LIFE: God gave you them children to take care of them yourself, and it's your responsible to God. We don't have juvenile delinquency; it's parent delinquency.
WAY TO HAVE FELLOWSHIP 55-1009
E-40 What brought on juvenile
delinquency was parent delinquency, the parent failing to take care of the
children.
Joshua said, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” JOSHUA 24:14 Now therefore fear
the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which
your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye
the LORD. 15 ¶ And if it seem evil unto
you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods
which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the
gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we
will serve the LORD. 16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we
should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;
And how do the preachers despise and reject him? By not preaching all the word for fear it might sting someone in the pews. You know there is a new book out called “The pagan in the Pews”, but I think I might just preach a message called “The pagans in the pulpits have made the Pagans in the Pews”. I think it might be a real barn burner, but that is what we need.
GOD'S SERVANT JOB 55-0223 E-30 That's what's the matter tonight, preachers
has let the congregation get by with any thing. They need a little child
training. That's right. That's what's the matter with the world today, the
reason they got so much in the natural, juvenile delinquency; we need some
child training. I think it's a lot of parent delinquency. My daddy, he really
believed in that child training. He had a switch laying up over the door, and a
razor strap hanging on the wall. We know what it meant. It's too bad we ever
got away from it, isn't it? Yes. Child training... We need preachers that'll
preach the Word, tell us the truth about it, tell us we must be borned again,
and bring us on the basis of the shed Blood to Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
introduced all the good things that God's got for us. That's a fact, sir. There
it is. That's the kind you get the vitamins from. Might be in a barn, or
mission, but just so you're getting fed is the main thing.
How do they despise and reject him? Paul tells us in the book of Titus and Timothy.
TITUS 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works
they deny [him], being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work
reprobate.
II TIMOTHY 3:1 ¶ This know also, that in the last days
perilous times shall come. 2 For men
shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection,
trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are
good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of
God; 5 Having a form of godliness,
but denying (saying no to) the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort
are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins,
led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth.
II TIMOTHY 4:3 For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they
shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto
fables.
I TIMOTHY 4:1 ¶ Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in
the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits, and doctrines of devils;