WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC #22
September 30, 2000
Brian Kocourek
This evening we will take our
text once again from paragraph 50 of Brother Branham's sermon, Who is this Melchisedec, where brother Branham
said, God's
sovereign in His choosing, did you
know that? God's sovereign.. This will be number 22 in our Melchisedec series
and number 11, in our mini series on the Sovereignty of God. Tonight We will examine "The Role of the indwelling Holy Spirit in Salvation."
In our
examination of the Sovereignty of God in salvation we have examined the eternal
purpose of the Father. We titled that message the Role of the Father in
salvation. We next studied the Role of His Only begotten Son in Salvation, and EPHESIANS 3:11 Best sums up the role that
the Son of God played in our salvation when it speaks not only of the Fathers
Eternal Purpose, but then speaks of the role of the son. In EPHESIANS 3:11 Paul says, "According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ
Jesus our Lord: 12 In whom we have boldness and access with
confidence by the faith of him. This boldness and access is unto the
Father and it comes through His Son and the Once for all sacrifice of His Son.
In Romans 9:11 we are told,
"that the purpose of God according to
election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;" We know then, that the
purpose of God stands in Election.
Tonight I
would like to further study the sovereignty of God in our election and
Salvation. I would like to examine the role of the indwelling Holy Spirit which
is given us by the New Birth.
My reasons for
this study are that we might understand Romans 8: and how all things are
working together for our good.
ROMANS 8:28 And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his]
purpose.
This scripture tells us that
ALL things are working together, not separately, but they are working together.
The eternal purpose of the Father stands in
election, the death of the Son made it possible, and the indwelling Holy Spirit
works the operation of God's eternal purpose in our very being, and we see how
all three are in perfect accord.
If the Father
chose certain ones before the foundation of the world and gave them to his Son,
and if it was for them that Christ gave himself as ransom, to pay a debt he did
not owe, then the indwelling Holy Spirit is not working in us to "bring
us to Christ." No, the mission of the indwelling Holy Spirit oday
is to apply the benefits of Christ's sacrifice for our redemption.
THE TOKEN
63-0901M 8-3 Then the blood was a token of our
identification. The blood identified that the worshipper had slain the lamb,
and accepted the lamb, and applied the token to himself, that he was not
ashamed. He didn't care who saw it. He wanted everybody to see it. And it was
placed in such a position, that everybody passing by could see that token. See,
many people wants to be Christians, and they--they--they like to do it
secretly, so nobody would--would know that they were Christians. Or the--the
associates they run around with, some of them would think, "Well now look,
I want to be a Christian, but I don't want so-and-so to know about it."
See? Well now, you see, that's not Christianity. Christianity has to display
its Token (See?) publicly, in public life, at the office, on the street, when
trouble is around, anything, in church, everywhere else. The Blood is the
Token, and the Token must be applied (See?), or it's not--or even the covenant
is not in effect. The blood was a token or an identification, identifying this
person has been redeemed. The question which is now to engage us is not the extent
of the Holy Spirit's power — -on that point there can be no doubt, it is infinite
— but what we shall seek to show is that, his power and operations are directed
by Divine wisdom and sovereignty.
THE TOKEN 63-0901M 35-3 Notice, they were not just yet come together
to talk about the message. They come together to apply the blood, to apply the
token. That's what you must do. Pastor Neville, and to this congregation,
trustees, deacons, to you brethren, it's time that we laid aside all the
foolishness of the world, time we laid aside everything else. We've seen enough
now, that we're positive, sure, and 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.
THE TOKEN 70
If the token, or the blood, in the time of Egypt's coming out, their
exodus, if the token was so the supreme sign... Now if... The token was not no
good unless the token was displayed. The token had to be displayed, not a
sympathizer with the token; but the token must be applied. And no matter how
much anyone could prove that He was a Jew, and a covenant Jew by circumcision,
that didn't do anything about it at all. The... It took the token, not the
covenant. He never said, "When I see the covenant sign," but,
"When I see the token." So today you might be a professed Christian;
you might be a covenant--with covenant with Christ; but unless that Token is
displayed in this late hour that we're coming to now, there is no way for Him
to pass over. The Token must be displayed. It must be on.
Notice that Brother Branham
points back to Egypt and shows that in that Hour the Blood of the Lamb was the
Token, and it had to be displayed or the people would perish. Then we find him
telling us that the Holy Spirit is the Token that the Blood has been applied in
this hour. And he says unless you display it, unless you apply it, you will
perish. He said it is not just a coming together to talk the message, although
that is important, but that is not applying it. That's just talking it. He
said, 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.
Now the question then is
this. How does what brother Branham is telling us here align itself with The eternal Purpose of God
which stands in election. And Paul answer that in Romans
8:29, where he says, " ¶ For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he
also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified,
them he also glorified. 31 ¶ What shall we then say to these things? If
God [be] for us, who [can be] against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us
all things? 33 Who shall lay any
thing to the charge of God's elect? [It is] God that justifieth. 34 Who [is] he
that condemneth? [It is] Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who
is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? [shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed
all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us. 38
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore you can only apply
what you have been given. You can not apply the indwelling Spirit of God, if
you have not received the indwelling spirit of God. You can not apply what you
do not have. You can not walk in the Light if you are not in the light.
I JOHN 1:7 But if we walk
in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Therefore we must walk in
the light. He said we have got to walk in it. But notice he also says, we have
got to be in it first. You can not walk in the light if you are not in the
light. And he associates the Light with the Presence of God. He said, But if we walk
in the light, as He is in the light, and the He that John
is referring to here is God the Father, because John later says, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. Therefore
the He and His speaks of the Father.
Now, just any light will not
do. It must Be His light, the light of his presence. He said, if we walk in the light, as He is in the light,, Therefore this is
speaking of the Light of His Glorious Presence.
In ISAIAH 50:11 we are told, not just any light will
do. "Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass [yourselves]
about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks
[that] ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in
sorrow".
Therefore it can not be
light that comes forth from us, but Light that is given to us from God alone.
II CORINTHIANS 4:3 But if our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we
preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants
for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have
this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may
be of God, and not of us.
Therefore we see that the
Light must come from god first, and then we are to simply apply what God has
given to us. And that is where the indwelling spirit of God takes over. The power and operation of the indwelling Holy Spirit are
directed by Divine wisdom and indisputable sovereignty. To prove this we
need look no further than John 3:8: "The wind bloweth where it listeth,(the word
listeth here is a Greek word which means wheresoever it pleases or purposes or
wills to) and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is
born of the Spirit."
In this scripture, Jesus
compares the indwelling Spirit of God with the wind. Both the wind and the
indwelling Spirit are sovereign in their actions, and both are mysterious in
their operations. Notice that Jesus said the Spirit leads where it pleases,
where it purposes or plans, or wills to go, and then He said, and you can not tell where it is leading. In
other words it is sovereign, and the tabernacle that Houses the Spirit of God
does not have charge of that Spirit, but rather the spirit has control of that
tabernacle, therefore it is sovereign.
"The wind
bloweth where it pleaseth ... so is every one that is born of the Spirit." You don't know when the wind
is coming and you don't know where it is going next. You can not see it, nor
can you control it. It doesn't ask your permission, neither does it wait on you
to decide what is should do. And So is it with the Indwelling spirit of
God. It is God's Word and God's Life dwelling in you and you can not control
it, nor regulate it. Like the wind, it is an invisible force that moves you,
and all you have to do to apply it is set your sails out and let go and let
God.
As the wind blows when it
pleases, and where it pleases, and as it pleases. So
it is with the Spirit. God regulates the
wind by His wisdom, it is absolutely sovereign in its operations as far as man
is concerned. The same way with the Spirit.
Sometimes the wind blows so
softly it scarcely rustles a leaf; at other times it blows so loudly that its
roar can be heard for miles. The Spirit
of God works within us in much the same way. Sometimes the Holy Spirit deals so
gently, that his work is not even perceived by those who may be onlookers. On
the other hand, The indwelling Spirit of God nay bring forth actions that are
so powerful, so radical, so revolutionary, that his performance is so evident
to many.
Sometimes the wind is purely
local in its reach, and at other times becomes wide spread in its scope. And the
same thing with the Spirit: Today he might lead you to speak to one or two
souls, and tomorrow he may, cause you to evangelize an entire country. Remember
how the Spirit of God moved on brother Branham to walk down a certain street
until he met the aunt Gemima? And then that same Spirit moved Him to go to
India and preach before 300,000 people.
But whether He works on few
or many, he consults no man. He acts as he pleases. Logic does not enter into
the picture. And sometimes people, even those closest to you think you are
going crazy because He leads you to do things which you don't even understand
why you are doing them.
Our new birth is due to the
sovereign will of the God. Every role that God has played is concerned with our
salvation. As the Father it is predestination; within His Son it was our
propitiation; and within us, His Spirit brings forth our regeneration. The
Father chose us; His Son died for us; and His Spirit quickens us. The Father
was concerned about us; His Son shed his blood for us, and His Spirit performs
his work within us.
Ø
What the Father did was
eternal
Ø
What the Son did was
external
Ø
What the Spirit does is
internal.
It is with the work of the
Spirit we are now concerned, with his work in the new birth, and particularly
his sovereign operations in the new birth.
Ø
The Father purposed our new
birth;
Ø
His Son has made possible
our new birth;
Ø
But it is The indwelling
Spirit that effects our new birth
JOHN 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
The new birth
is solely the work of the Spirit of God
upon man, and within man, and man has
no part in it. Not even the performing of it. PHILIPPIANS 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that
he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus
Christ:
God calls it a
New Birth, because the word birth excludes altogether any idea of effort or
work on the part of the one who is born. A Person has no more to do with his
spiritual birth than he had with his natural birth.
In John 5:24 Jesus said 24 Verily, verily, I
say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from
death unto life. 25 Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. 26 For as the Father
hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and, clearly,
resurrection is altogether outside of man's ability.
No corpse can
bring life back to itself. Jesus said, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing" John 6:63.
But the Spirit of God does not "indwell" everybody, nor
does it quicken everyone. Why? Because we are born again by the Word of God
being revealed to us. And Faith is a revelation, and a revelation is something
that is given to us. And if given then it is a gift. Something that is revealed
had to be covered up or hidden in order for it to be revealed. Then the very
word to reveal suggests to us that it is something that is shown to us and opened up and uncovered to us. Then to
reveal is not something you can do for yourself, but it is something that is
done for you by another. I can not
reveal to myself anything of myself. I already know it, therefore, how can I
reveal what I already know. But faith is something that has been revealed to
you. Not out from you but TO you. It is Revealed TO you, showing it comes as a
gift from another. Then the new birth
is some thing that is sovereignly given.
If faith were a
natural product of the human heart, then every man would have it. But the
scriptures tell us "All men have not faith" 2 Thess. 3:2. And we find
in HEBREWS 11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him. And in
Romans 8:8 we read, "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God"
In 2 Thess. 2:13 we are told, The work of the
Holy Spirit actually begins before we come to believe. "God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and
belief of the truth." Notice that the "sanctification of the
Spirit" comes before our "believing
the truth."
Notice in EZEKIEL 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new
spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments,
and do [them].
IMPERSONATION.OF.CHRISTIANITY_ JEFF.IN
SUNDAY_ 57-0120M E-42
Now, when you do that, and don't bear the fruit of the Spirit, then
you're in the new spirit. You didn't used to do that; that's right. But God had
to give you a new spirit. Why, the spirit you had, you couldn't even get along
with yourself. So how are you going to get along with God? So God had to give you a new heart, not a
patched up one, a new heart. That's your intellects that you think with, a
new way of thinking. Then when He give you a new way of thinking,
"Yes, that's right. The Bible looks to be reasonable. I used to didn't
believe that. I believe it now." Now, there's your great revival.
See? E-43 They say, "Yes, sure I don't want to go to hell. I want to
accept Christ." That's all right. That's good. That's just your
first...?... Then He said after that, "Then I'll give you a new
spirit." What's that? A new desire, "I want to do right."
"Now, I know I'm a Christian, I got to... I'll smoke one more and then
I'll throw it away. See? And I'll--I'll--I'll just see... I--I--I'll just stay
home tonight, and you know, I'll just..." all these little just, just,
that's exactly... Eve stopped just for a moment. That's all she had to do. But
now, that's the new spirit. Then notice the order of the Scripture. After
you get a new heart and a new spirit, He said, "Then I'll put My Spirit..."
See? Oh, what? That's the what the Scripture says here. That's the order, the
numatics and numerical order of the Scripture: a new heart, a new spirit,
and then My Spirit.
And there's your new birth.
God sanctifies your spirit before he gives you the new birth. You may have sat
in a church where hundreds heard the same Word being preached, but you alone
believed. Why? Jesus said the Son of Man would sow seed and much of it would
perish. Some by the dry ground, some by the way side that would get picked off
by the birds, and yet some would be sown on fertile, tilled soil. Now, the soil
doesn't till itself. Another had to prepare that soil to receive the seed. And
that is the Work of the eternal purpose of God prior to giving you of His Word,
His Life, His Spirit to indwell you.
The seed sown fell into
ground that had been prepared by God; you believed and went forth rejoicing
that your name was written in Heaven. You've been "born again".
2 Thess. 2:13: "But we are
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." Notice the order set forth here
Ø
First, God's eternal choice.
Ø
Second, the sanctification of the
Spirit.
Ø
Third, belief of the truth.
Precisely the same order is
found in 1 Pet. 1:2 "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ."
The obedience here is the
same as Paul spoke of in Romans 1: 5
which he called "obedience of faith" So then before the obedience (of faith, cf.
Heb. 5:9, there is the work of the Spirit setting us apart, and behind that is
the election of God the Father. The ones "sanctified of the Spirit"
then, are they whom "God hath from the beginning chosen to salvation"
2 Thess. 2:13, those who are "elect according to the foreknowledge of God
the Father" 1 Pet. 1:2.
The objective of the
indwelling Spirit then has a threefold purpose.
CHRIST IS THE
MYSTERY 63-0728 22-5 Now, if He had this threefold purpose... We
want to find out what is this threefold purpose. The first thing was that God
wanted to reveal Himself to the people. 24-5
First, to express Himself completely: God in Christ. Second, to have the
preeminence by this in His Church (which is His Body, Bride) to... He could
have the preeminence to express Himself through them. All right. And thirdly,
to restore the Kingdom to its rightly position that fell by sin by the first
Adam, back to where He walked in the cool of the evening with His people, talked
with them, fellowshipped with them. And now sin and death had separated them
from His Presence and His entire expression. Do you read it? Before the
foundation of the world to express all of His attributes, what He was...
A.W. Price said, God is
sovereign in his operations and his purpose is confined to His elect: they are
the ones he "comforts", "seals", guides into all truth, and
shows things to come. The work of the
Spirit is necessary in order to accomplish the Father's eternal purpose.
Speaking hypothetically, but reverently, be it said, that if God had done
nothing more than given Christ to die for sinners, not a single sinner would
ever have been saved. In order for any sinner to see his need of a Saviour and
be willing to receive the Saviour he needs, the work of the Holy Spirit upon
and within him were imperatively required. Had God done nothing more than given
Christ to die for sinners and then sent forth his servants to proclaim
salvation through Christ, leaving sinners entirely to themselves to accept or
reject as they pleased, then every sinner would have rejected, because at heart
every man hates God and is at enmity with him. Therefore the work of the Holy
Spirit was needed to bring the sinner to Christ, to overcome his innate
opposition, and compel him to accept the provision God has made. We say
"compel" the sinner, for this is precisely what the Holy Spirit does,
has to do.