WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC #12
Sovereignty #2 Love, Mercy and Grace
Brian Kocourek
1 Chronicles 29:11 "Thine,
O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the
majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the
kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all"
This morning I
want to continue in our study of "Who is This Melchisedec" .
This will be number 12 in our series and number 2 in our mini series
on the sovereignty of God. Now, in this
message "Who is this Melchisedec" brother Branham is bringing
to us a mighty powerful revelation of Who this Person of Melchisedec was and
is. Without our understanding of Who this Person is, we will never understand
the Godhood of God and thus we will misplace the Godhead or misappropriate it
and place it where it should not be placed. In other words, placing the Son of
God in the Godhead instead of the Godhead in Him.
Remember the three
things we must not do that brother Branham warned us would bring us into a
false worship. Brother Branham said, Now, you must not misinterpret the Word.
You say, "Well, I believe it means this." It means
just what it says. It needs no interpreter. And you must not
misplace the Word. And you must not dislocate the Word. And if we
would do either of these, it throws the whole Bible in a confusion and in a
chaos.
Now, I believe the reason there are so many people in
confusion and chaos concerning the Godhood of God is because they have
committed at least one of these three errors in assessing the Scriptures.
#1) We must not Misinterpret God's Word: This
means to interpret wrongly, to
understand or explain incorrectly.
#2) We must not Misplace God's Word: Which means to put it in the wrong place. To wrongly place or to improperly
place. To take away from the proper, or natural
position, time, or character.
#3) We must not Dislocate God's Word: Which means to upset the order or
connection of the Word.
Brother Branham also told us he only said what Paul had said, and Paul said "We must rightly divide the Word of Truth," and in the Second Church Age, Ireneaus said; "there is an importance to the order and connection of the scripture." Therefore, we must keep the True meaning of Scripture, and not render our own interpretations to it, hoping we have found some great deep secret of scripture that is not really there.
WHO IS
THIS MELCHISEDEC 65-0221E 32 So He was not just a priesthood order, neither
was He a myth; He was a Person. And the Person is eternal. If you
notice, He had no father, He had no mother, He had no time He ever began, and
He had no time He ever ended. And ever Who it was is still alive tonight,
because the Bible said here that He had neither father, nor mother, beginning
of days or ending of life. So it would have to be an eternal Person (Is that
right?), an eternal Person. So it could only be one Person; that's God, 'cause
He's the only One that's eternal--God.
Now,
in I Timothy
Now, notice
that brother Branham said He was a person and he is eternal. Then if He is
eternal He can not change. Then He must be the same yesterday, Today and
forever.
Now, if we are
to understand what Brother Branham is describing here we must read for
ourselves the scripture he is referring to.
I TIMOTHY 6:15 Which in his times he shall show, [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] honor and power everlasting. Amen.
Sunday we
examined this ONLY POTENTATE and saw that Paul was referring to the sovereignty
of God.. We then went on to examine the Sovereignty of God in Creation. This
morning I would like to further examine the sovereignty of God. Our subject
this morning will be "Understanding the Godhood of God".
Without
understanding the Godhood of God we will never understand His Sovereignty, and
without understanding His Godhood we will never understand God. Who He is and
Why He does what He does. Our conception then of God becomes only one that is
made up in the minds of men. The God of our imagination.
How different is the God of the Bible from the God of the
modern So called Christian church! The conception of Deity which prevails most
widely today, even among those who profess to believe the Scriptures, is a
miserable distortion, a blasphemous mockery of the Truth. The God of the
twentieth century church is a helpless, effeminate being who commands the
respect of no really thoughtful man. The God of the popular mind is the
creation of a over-sentimental sappiness. The God declared in many pulpits today, is an object of pity rather than of awe
inspiring reverence. To say that God the Father has purposed the salvation of
all mankind, that God the Son died with the express intention of saving the
whole human race, and that God is now seeking to win the world to Christ; when,
as a matter of common observation, it is apparent that the great majority of
our fellow men are dying in sin, and passing into a hopeless eternity: is to
say that God is disappointed and God is defeated. There is no escaping the conclusion.
To say that God is "trying his best" to save
all mankind, but that the majority of men will not let him save them, is to
insist that the will of the Creator is impotent, and that the will of the creature
is omnipotent. To throw the blame, as many do, upon the Devil, does not remove
the difficulty, for if Satan is defeating the purpose of God, then, Satan is
Almighty and God is no longer the Supreme Being.
To declare that the Creator's original plan has been
frustrated by sin, is to dethrone God. To suggest that God was taken by
surprise in Eden and that His plan of redemption was an after thought to the
Eden fall, is to make God some bungling halfwit, who is now attempting to
remedy this unforeseen disaster, and
degrade the Most High to the level of a finite, erring mortal. To argue
that man is a free moral agent and the determiner of his own destiny, and
therefore he has the power to checkmate his Maker, is to strip God of
Omnipotence.
To say that the creature has split open the bounds
assigned by his Creator, and that God is now practically a helpless Spectator
before the sin and suffering entailed by Adam's fall, is to repudiate the
express declaration of God's Eternal Word, namely, "Surely the wrath of
man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain" (Psa.
76:10). In other words, to deny the sovereignty of God is to enter upon a path
which, if followed to its logical conclusion, is to arrive at blank atheism.
The sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute,
irresistible, infinite. When we say that God is sovereign we
affirm his right to govern the universe, which he has made for his own glory,
just as he pleases. We affirm that his right is the right of the Potter over
the clay, i.e., that he may mold the clay into whatsoever form he chooses,
fashioning out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto
dishonor. We confirm that he is under no rule or law outside of his own will
and nature, that God is a law unto himself, and that he is under no obligation
to give an account of his matters to any.
In understanding the True Godhood of God we must come to
the conclusion that Sovereignty characterizes the whole Being of God.
He is sovereign in all his attributes. Thus…
#1. He is
sovereign in the exercise of his power. His power is exercised as he wills,
when he wills, where he wills. This fact is evidenced on every page of
Scripture. For a long season that power appears to be dormant, and then it is
put forth in irresistible might. Pharaoh dared to hinder
Many other instances might be given as a reason of proof
that could illustrate the sovereign exercise of God's power. Take one other
example; God put forth his power and David was delivered from Goliath, the
giant; the mouths of the lions were closed and Daniel escaped unhurt; the three
Hebrew children were cast into the burning fiery furnace and came forth
unharmed and un-scorched.
But God's power did not always interpose for the
deliverance of his people, for we read: in Heb.
God is sovereign in the delegation of his power to others. Why did God endow Methuselah with a vitality which
enabled him to outlive all his contemporaries? Why did God impart to Samson a
physical strength which no other human has ever possessed?
In Deuteronomy.
#2) God is
sovereign in the exercise of his mercy. And this of necessity must be so,
for mercy is directed by the will of him that shows mercy. Mercy is not a right
to which man is entitled. Mercy is that wonderful attribute of God by which he
pities and relieves the wretched. But under the righteous government of God no
one is wretched who does not deserve to be so. The objects of mercy, then, are
those who are miserable, and all misery is the result of sin, hence the
miserable are deserving of punishment not mercy. To speak of deserving mercy is
a contradiction of terms.
God bestows his mercies on whom he pleases and withholds
them as seems good unto himself. A remarkable illustration of this fact is seen
in the manner that God responded to the prayers of two men offered under very
similar circumstances. Sentence of death was passed upon Moses for one act of
disobedience, and he besought the Lord for a reprieve. But was his desire
gratified? No; in Deuteronomy 3:26 he told Israel, "The Lord is wroth with me for your sakes, and would not
hear me: and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee". But notice the second case: — In 2 Kings 20:1-6 we
read, "In
those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz
came to him, and said unto him, `Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order;
for thou shalt die, and not live'. Then he turned his face to the wall, and
prayed unto the Lord, saying, `I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have
walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which
is good in thy sight'. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, before
Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to
him, saying, `Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, thus
saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have
seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up
unto the house of the Lord. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years'".
Notice, Both of these men had the sentence of death in
themselves, and both prayed earnestly unto the Lord for a reprieve: the one
wrote: "The Lord would not hear me", and died; but to the other it was said, "I have heard thy prayer",
and his life was spared. What an illustration and exemplification of the truth
expressed in Romans 9:15 — "For he
saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion."
The sovereign exercise of God's mercy — His pity shown to
the wretched — was displayed when The Father tabernacled Himself in His Son,
and came down among men.
Brother
Branham, in referring to the sovereignty of God, often used the illustration we
see in John 5:3-9 we read, "During
one of the Feasts of the Jews, the Lord Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He came to
the Pool of Bethesda, where lay "a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind,
halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water." Among this
"great multitude" there was "a certain man which had an
infirmity thirty and eight years." What happened? "When Jesus saw him
lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him,
Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man,
when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming,
another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed,
and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and
walked" Why was this one man
singled out from all the others? We are not told that he cried "Lord, have
mercy on me." There is not a
word spoken in this Story which tells us in any way that this man possessed
some qualifications which entitled him to receive special favor. Here then was
a case of the sovereign exercise of Divine mercy, for it was just as easy for
Christ to heal the whole of that "great multitude" as this one "certain
man." But he did not. He put forth his power and relieved the wretchedness
of this one particular sufferer, and for some reason known only to himself, he
declined to do the same for the others.
Oh, how Jesus
understood the Godhood of God. In fact brother Branham comments in the Message WE WOULD SEE JESUS
59-0422 E-24, that
Jesus was so yielded to the Fathers sovereign will is the reason He did not
heal the others. He said, Well,
this man was laying on a pallet, little blanket or something laying there. And
when He passed by, Jesus knowed that he'd been in this condition all this time,
and healed him, and went on His way. What if He did that here in San Jose
tonight. Tomorrow morning He'd have the same criticism He had then. Why didn't
You heal this one, that one, and this one, and that one. See? Jesus said,
"I only do as I see the Father
doing. The Father worketh, and I worketh hitherto."
Again, we see in Romans 9:15 —
"I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
#3) God is
sovereign in the exercise of his love. Ah! That's a hard saying, who then
can receive it? In John 3:27 we
read, "A
man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven". When we say that God is sovereign in the exercise
of his love, we mean that he loves whom he chooses. God does not love
everybody; if he did, he would love the Devil. Why doesn't God love the Devil?
Because there is nothing in him to love; because there is nothing in him to
attract the heart of God.
Nor is there
anything to attract God's love in any of the serpent seed, for all of them are,
by nature, "children of wrath,
and children of disobedience".
And even amongst the fallen sons of Adam, who because of the fall live out
their lives in a polluted body of death, there is nothing worthy of Love. If then there is nothing in any member of the
human race to attract God's love, and if, notwithstanding, he does love some,
then it necessarily follows that the cause of his love must be found in
himself, which is only, another way of saying that the exercise of God's love
towards the fallen sons of men is according to his own good pleasure.
God does not love us because we loved Him first, on the contrary,
the Scripture tells us, we love him because He first loved us. Then, in the
final analysis, the exercise of God's love must be traced back to his
sovereignty, or, otherwise, he would love by rule; and if he loved by rule,
then is he under a law of love, and if he is under law of love then is he not
supreme, but is himself ruled by law. "But", it may be asked,
"Surely you do not deny that God loves the entire human family?" We
reply, it is written, "Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated" (Rom. 9:13). If then God loved Jacob and hated Esau, and that before
they were born or had done either good or evil, then the reason for his love
was not in them, but in himself.
That the exercise of God's love is according to his own
sovereign pleasure is also clear from the language of Ephesians 1:3-5, where we read, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
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 having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will." It was
"in love" that God the Father predestined his chosen ones
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, "according"
— according to what? According to some excellency he discovered in them? No.
What then? According to what he foresaw they would become? No; mark carefully
the inspired answer — "According to
the good pleasure of his will."
#4) God is
sovereign in the exercise of his grace. This of necessity, for grace is
favor shown to the undeserving: in fact, to the Hell deserving. Grace is the
antithesis of justice. Justice demands the impartial enforcement of law.
Justice requires that each shall receive his legitimate due, neither more nor
less. Justice bestows no favors and is no respecter of persons. Justice, as
such, shows no pity and knows no mercy. But after justice has been fully satisfied,
grace flows forth. Divine grace is not exercised at the expense of justice, but
"grace reigns through righteousness" Romans 5:21, and if grace reigns, then is grace sovereign.
Grace has been defined as the unmerited favor of God; {d}
and if unmerited, then none can claim it as their inalienable right. If grace
is unearned and undeserved, then none are entitled to it. If grace is a gift,
then none can demand it. Therefore, as salvation is by grace, the free gift of
God, then he bestows it on whom he pleases. Because salvation is by grace, the
very chief of sinners is not beyond the reach of Divine mercy. Because
salvation is by grace, boasting is excluded and God gets all the glory.
The sovereign exercise of grace is illustrated on nearly
every page of Scripture. The Gentiles are left to walk in their own ways, while
Israel becomes the covenant people of Jehovah. Ishmael the firstborn is cast
out comparatively not blessed, while Isaac the son of his parents' old age is
made the child of promise. Esau the generous hearted and forgiving spirited is
denied the blessing, though he sought it carefully with tears, while the worm
Jacob receives the inheritance and is fashioned into a vessel of honor. So in
the New Testament, Divine truth is hidden from the wise and prudent, but is
revealed to babes. The Pharisees and Sadducees are left to go their own way,
while publicans and harlots are drawn by the cords of love.
In a remarkable manner Divine grace was exercised at the
time of the Savior's birth. The incarnation of God's Son was one of the
greatest events in the history of the universe, and yet its actual occurrence
was not made known to all mankind; instead, it was specially revealed to the
Bethlehem shepherds and wise men of the east. And this was prophetic and
indicative of the entire course of this dispensation, for even today Christ is
not made known to all. It would have been an easy matter for God to have sent a
company of angels to every nation and announced the birth of his Son. But he
did not. God could have readily attracted the attention of all mankind to the
"star"; but he did not. Why? Because God is sovereign and dispenses
his favors as he pleases. Note particularly the two classes to whom the birth
of the Saviour was made known, namely, the most unlikely classes — illiterate
shepherds and heathen from a far country. No angel stood before the Sanhedrin
and announced the advent of Israel's Messiah! No "star" appeared unto
the scribes and lawyers as they, in their pride and self-righteousness, searched
the Scriptures! They searched diligently to find out where he should be born,
and yet it was not made known to them when he was actually come. What a display
of Divine sovereignty — the illiterate shepherds singled out for peculiar
honor, and the learned and eminent passed by! And why was the birth of the
Saviour revealed to these foreigners, and not to those in whose midst he was
born? See in this a wonderful foreshadowing of God's dealings with our race
throughout the entire Christian dispensation — sovereign in the exercise of his
grace, bestowing his favors on whom he pleases, often on the most unlikely and
unworthy. {e}
Grace is more than "unmerited favor." To feed a tramp who calls on me is "unmerited favor", but it is scarcely grace. But suppose that after robbing me I should feed this starving tramp — that would be Grace, then, is favor shown where there is positive de-merit in one receiving it.