ONENESS # 17
Oneness is Saying
the Same Thing
November 22, 1992
Rev Brian Kocourek
Last week we
left off our study of Brother Branham's message about ONENESS
with
God, where he said in
pp. 97
" Paul
had never seen Peter, but the same Holy Ghost, in that same union
(glory!), caused
him to say
the same thing."
" Have you
received the Holy Ghost since you believed?" He said, "We
don't know whether
there be." Said, "How was
you baptized?" Said, "Unto John." Said, "You have to be
baptized over again, in the Name
of Jesus Christ." And they received the Holy Ghost."
99 ONENESS 62-0211
" What was it? The union, saying
the same thing God says! And that's the confession. Confess
means,
"say the same thing." And He's the High Priest of our
confession, to act upon what He has
said. We say It's the Truth, and He acts upon It[1]. Oh, my! There
you are. [1]There
is the conception.
There you
are. What did he say the
Doxa.
Now you'll notice he
never said we are the ones to act upon what Jesus said, but brother
Branham said [1]he
says it[1],
we receive it, but He acts upon it. That's the conception.
That's the
MATTHEW.10:32 <read> " Whosoever therefore shall confess me
before men, him will I confess also before my Father
which is in
heaven."
This word confess that
is used here is a Greek word "HOMO-LOGOS" and is
actually two words put together
to give a meaning. The Greek word HOMO which means "the
same" and the Greek word "LOGOS" which means "the expression
of the thoughts or Words".
So what we
see that Jesus is saying is those who are in this condition
of having come into a Oneness with
Him will be confessing or saying the same thing and just as
we will be saying the same thing about Him He will also be saying the
same thing about us. ONENESS!
You can't help focusing upon Him as He can not help but to focus
upon you. In fact the AMPLIFIED BIBLE puts it very beautifully.
MATTHEW 10:32 <AMPLIFIED>
" Therefore, every one
who acknowledges Me before men and confesses Me (out of a state of
Oneness with Me), I will also acknowledge before my Father
Who is in heaven, and confess my (abiding) in him."
MATTHEW 10:33 "
But whosoever shall deny and disown me before men, him will I also
deny and disown before my Father which
is in heaven."
Now here is the key. If you are living in such a union or ONENESS with Christ,
your confession of Him will come forth genuinely and automatically, from
the depths of your heart. You can't help yourself
from saying the same things that Jesus says. You will have
the Word of God abiding in your heart. You could no
more deny Him than you could deny yourself.
My girls are bone
of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Though they may do things that
displease me sometimes, I could no more deny that they are mine than I
could deny this is my hand. And neither can they deny that I am the
life source that begat them. They have come forth from me and out
of me and are the very expression of me. How then could I deny or disown them.
I can't. And neither can your heavenly Father deny you. You are part of Him.
When you
come to realize this, your relationship with
your heavenly Father will not be a put on. Neither will it be from
a motive of fear. Nor will it come forth from a motive of gain. It will simply be a response that comes forth from
within you that you will enjoy and be happy that it is coming forth
and you will feel privileged and honored that he has looked down upon you
and has chosen you and brought you forth to be His child.
Now, I know that
every child longs to have this kind of an open and intimate relationship
with their parents. This is the way it should be, ( natural). But
sometimes not only as a child but as an individual, we feel boxed
in and as a result of fearing the unknown, we make rash decisions. Then
after we have made our rash decisions we hope that in doing so,
after the fact, that we
won't cut off our relationship with our parents, but rather, we
hope that our parents will be understanding and still
loving toward us.
You know, we very
rarely see this relationship in a home today because we are human
and we can not look out beyond today to see tomorrow. We only see our
destiny one day at a time. But with our heavenly Father it is
not so. He knows our end from
the beginning. And "it is His
Good pleasure to give us the kingdom."
He loves us in spite of
what we do or don't do. We're His Kids.
Now, in this scripture
that Jesus says, "He who would deny me or disown me before men, him will I disown before My Father which is
heaven." It is interesting to note here that this is the
same setting that took place back in the garden.
The woman said to
the serpent, "The day we eat thereof, that is the day we
shall die." And do you know what the serpent said? Just one
word off. He said, NOT! That's all he said. NOT.
And isn't it striking
that in this day, The catch word today is what? [1]NOT[1].
It just goes to show that it is later than you think.
So Jesus said he
that will deny me before men, I will deny him before my Father.
Do you know what that
word deny is? "NOT"
VINES = DENY
= ARNEOMAI = signifies "to say...not".
Or to contradict.
The ultimate denial.
"NOT!"
He that will
say, NOT to me and my Word. There you are. We're here.
I thought it
interesting to read an article this week where the Governor of
MISSISSIPPI is being brandished and crucified for calling
this nation a Christian nation. Even though he is wrong, this nation is
no more Christian than an infidel could be called a Christian, yet
the fact is that he has been blasted all over the media for even
trying to claim roots for this nation that tie to Christ.
This nation
rejected Christ in 1956 and is now showing her true nature.
Now that
brings us to this ONENESS, or lack of ONENESS we are talking
about.
To say the same
thing as Christ brings or shows ONENESS, right? Then to not say the same
thing shows denial. If you don't say the same thing then what you're saying is
NOT the same thing.
Now, the problem
with people who claim to be Christian is that they don't know
what a Christian is. So how can you claim what you don't even know.
That is the problem we
even see in this message. People claim the Message but don't even know what the
Message is. To be Christian people think is a code of ethics. Do's
and Don'ts. Do this and you are and don't do this. But
that is not it. That has never been God's way of operating. He
doesn't judge by what you are or are not on the
outside. He judges what comes forth from the heart. It's your
heart that He is looking upon.
From CHRIST IS THE MYSTERY OF GOD REVEALED, pages 63 - 65 brother Branham said, So many people's got the wrong conception.
To convert people to Christianity and to its government is not God's
thought at all. You say, "We
make converts to Christianity by His government." That's not it. "Well, they're not supposed to drink; they're
not supposed to lie."Do you know the Mohammedans can
outshine... Do you know the heathens in
" Amongst the tribe of the Shungai If a
young girl isn't married by a certain age, she has to leave
the--leave the tribe, and Before she's married, she has to be
tested for her virginity. She be found guilty of committing adultery with
some man, she has to tell who it is, and they're both killed
together."
" Oh, they can--they can outshine
what these so-called... What if you did that in so-called Christians?
Ninety-nine percent of 'em would die before daylight. That's right.
Right. Both man and women. You know that's right.
" We're
not suppose to make converts to Christianity
by a government, but by the
revelation of Christ in you as God was in Christ. As God was
in Christ, Christ in you. What God did in Christ, Christ does
in you."
" Jesus said at
that day (that's this day) (when this revelation is made
known) you will know that I am in the Father,
and the Father in Me, I in you, and you in Me--when
the revelation is made manifest. At
that day, ye shall know that I and the Father are One. I'm in the Father,
and the Father's in Me. Then when the revelation comes forth, then
it's I in you and you in Me."
There you
are. That is the ONENESS we're trying to get you to see.
That's what I want you to come into.
Look! I don't want
to see you become a bunch of stuffed shirts who can outshine
all the other churches in this Message when it comes to doing
the law. I don't want that. I don't care about that. Because
if your heart is not in it then it don't mean one thing to God
anyway. All I want is for you to fall in love with Him and His Word
so much that you will automatically do what is right not even knowing
that you are fulfilling the law in doing so.
That is true
justification. Let me read you what Martin Luther said in His book
on the Book of ROMANS.
"God judges
what is at the bottom of the heart. and for this
reason, His law makes it's demands on the inmost heart and cannot be satisfied
with works, but rather punishes works that are done otherwise than
from the bottom of the heart, as hypocrisy and lies."
He goes on to say,
in quoting Paul, "No one is, in his works, a doer of the law."
"For although
you keep the law outwardly, with works, from fear of punishment or
love of reward, nevertheless, you do all this without
willingness and pleasure, and without love for the law, but
rather with unwillingness, under compulsion; and you would
rather do otherwise, if the law were not there."
" The conclusion is
that at the bottom of your heart you hate the law. What matter, then,
that you teach others not to steal, if you are a thief at
heart and would gladly be one outwardly, if you dared?"
ROMANS 5: 20 -
21
<READ>
Now, Paul
isn't saying here that the law entered that sin may increase.
But what he is saying is the more awareness men have of the law, the law which
no man can do, the more they hate the law.
So if no man can perform
the law then what is it for?
ROMANS 7: 14 <read>
Martin Luther
said, "If the law were for the body, it could be satisfied
with works; but since it is spiritual, no one
can satisfy it, unless all that you do is done from the
bottom of your heart. But such a heart is given only by God's
Spirit, who makes a man equal to the law, so that he acquires a
desire for the law in his heart, and henceforth does nothing out of
fear and compulsion, but everything out of a willing heart."
In 1
JOHN 4: 18 "There is no fear
in Love. But perfect love drives out fear. Because fear
has to do with
punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect and complete in
Love."
So God must place
something within us to bring us to this place of perfection and lacking
fear.
In Ezekiel we see why
God says, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. It is in order
for us to be able to from our heart fulfill His Word and His
Law.
EZEKIEL 36: 23
- 29
<read>
EZEKIEL 11: 19
- 21
<read>
"Where the spirit is not in the heart, there sin
remains, and displeasure with the law, and enmity
toward it,
though the law is Good and just and holy."
Then to do the
works of the law and fulfilling the law are very different in nature.
Although in both you are acting out what the law calls for, yet in fulfilling
the law you may not be aware of the law yet you are out of the good
treasure of your heart living in accordance with it. But whereas to
do the works of the law means that you must be not only aware
of the law but that there is a motive for doing what it says.
The works of
the law is everything that one does, or can do toward
keeping the law of his own free will or by his own powers. But since
under all these works and
along with them there
remains in the heart a dislike for the law and the compulsion to
keep it, these works are all wasted and have no value.
That is why
God says in EZEKIEL 11:21 "But as for those whose heart
yearns for and goes after detestable things and
their loathsome abominations (associated with idolatry) I
will repay their
deeds upon their own heads, says the Lord." Sin in the
scripture,means not only the outward works of the body, but all the
activities that move men to the outward works, namely the inmost heart.
"How shall a work
please God, if it proceeds from a reluctant and resisting heart?"
"To fulfill the law, however, is to do
its works with pleasure and love, and to live a godly life of one's own
accord without the compulsion of the law."
That is why I will
never ride heard on you. If you do not come and worship and
eat from this Tree of Life which God has given us, then that
is your problem. I do not dictate to you what you must or must not
do. If you come only because you feel that you are afraid not
to, or because you are afraid
of what might happen if you don't, then you have not yet
received the new heart and new spirit the scripture tells us that we need.
In fact if I may
say this in my own crude manner of speech. If you are
relying upon me out of fear to guide you and tell you what is
right and wrong and if you are dependent upon me for your direction and
approval, then you are not even made sure your
salvation yet. Now that might be blunt, but that is the
truth according to the scripture. But if you come here to hear the Word of
God and to seek His counsel through His
Word, and you are coming out of a willful
and happy heart expecting to receive from
God, then your fulfillment of the Word is taking shape.
"This pleasure and
love for the law is put into the heart by the Holy Ghost. But
(as we have studied so thoroughly), the Holy Ghost is not
given except in, with, and by faith in Jesus Christ, and faith does not come,
save only through God's Word."
"Faith alone
makes righteous and fulfills the law; for out of Christ's
merit, it brings the Spirit, and the Spirit makes the heart
glad and free, as the law requires that it shall be. Thus works
comes out of faith."
ROMANS 5: 1 -
11
<read>
Now what could bring you
into this condition of joy and peace and happiness except it come
from something greater than the law. Because all have sinned and
come short. So there has to be a way that elevates us to the level of God
life in order to enjoy the full blessings of the Law of God. How can you enjoy
something you don't even understand.
In ROMANS
What he is saying
is that without faith which is revelation, we would have no hope of ever understanding
the requirements of God much less being able to do it. But when
revelation comes in us, we do what God requires with out even knowing
that is what we are doing. The very Mind of God begins operating within
you taking over your own thoughts and replacing them with His own
thoughts. The law then is established or fulfilled.
As Luther pointed
out, "when Paul says, we establish the law by faith" that
is we fulfill it by faith."
He continued, "As therefore faith alone makes
righteous, and brings the Spirit, and produces pleasure in
good, eternal works, so unbelief alone commits sin, and
brings upon the flesh, and produces pleasure in bad external works. Hence
Christ calls unbelief the only sin."
Now, one final thought I
want you to see about what faith, a real genuine faith in God's Word will
do for you. And that is Grace. Faith and Grace must work together.
ROMANS
AMPLIFIED: Therefore,
<inheriting> the promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely
on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of
Grace which is unmerited favor, to make it stable and valid and
guaranteed to all his descendants; not only to the devotees and
adherents of the law but also to those
who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus, the Father of us all."
"God is so
favorable and gracious to us that He will not count the sin
against us or judge us for it, but will deal with us
according to our faith in Christ."
ROMANS 5: 1 -
2
<read>
Now if we are
justified by faith then because of this faith we are said to
have never done it in the first place, because the word
justified means as though you never did do it in the first place.
ROMANS 4: 8 <read>
You may have done it,
but the Lord won't give you credit for it.So happy and blessed are you because
of this Grace gift.
ROMANS 5: 1 -
2
<read>
"Faith is
not that human notion and dream that some hold for faith.
The reason people can not accept the Token by Faith and the
other Divine promises of God is because they see faith
as something which it is not. Because they see that no betterment of life
and no good works follow it, and they can hear and say much about
faith, they fall into error, and say, "Faith isn't enough; one must
do works in order to be righteous and be saved,"
"This is
the reason that when they hear the Gospel, they fall into
the same old trap and make for themselves, by their
own powers, an idea in their hearts, which says, "I
believe". This they hold for true faith. But it is only a
human imagination and idea that never reaches the depths of the
heart, and so nothing comes of it and no betterment follows it".
"Faith,
however is a divine work in us. God places it there. It is
not our belief, It is His Revelation that He has in Himself
and by Grace He gives it to us."
Ephesians 2: 8 <read>
And that not of
your own, it is not your faith, it is the faith that is the gift of God.
It is His Faith that He gives you.
GALATIANS 2:
16, 20
<read>
" Martin Luther
said, "Faith, however is a divine work in us. It changes us and
makes us to be born anew of God <John 1>; it kills the old
Adam and makes altogether different men, in heart and spirit
and mind and powers, and it brings with it the Holy Ghost. Oh, it is a
living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith; and so it is
impossible for it not to do good works incessantly. It does
not ask whether there are good works to do, but before the question
rises; it has already done them, and is always at the doing
of them. He who does not these works is a faithless man. He gropes and
looks about after faith and good works, and knows
neither what faith is nor what good works are, though he
talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works."
In other words, as
brother Branham said, "just saying you believe every word doesn't
mean any more than being able to read."
Faith is not just
believing the truth. That may be only skin deep as I've seen so many. But it is
a genuine believe in the revealed word of God. Not just a belief
but a genuine belief (from the depth of the heart).
Martin Luther said
many will talk it and try to perform it, but that don't mean they got it.
Brother Vayle told me
the same thing. He said not all who talk it have it. He said, "a person
can have it and not really have it."
A lot of people talk
this Message and can use all the right Words but when it comes right down to it
they haven't got a clue as to what really the Message is all about.
"Faith is a living,
daring confidence in God's Grace, so sure and certain that a man would stake
his life on it a thousand times. This confidence in God's Grace and
knowledge of it makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and all
His creatures; and this is the work of the Holy Ghost in Faith."
ROMANS 5: 1-4.