The
Parables of Christ no. 31
The
Suffering of Christ
“How should we contemplate the suffering of Christ?”
Easter
Rev. Brian Kocourek
This morning I feel led to
examine the Passion of Christ and His sufferings in the light of what God said
about it. It seems to me that since there are three kinds of believers in the
churches, then we will have three views as to what the suffering of Christ or
what we call His passion is all about. Therefore if we have three kinds of
Believers who profess Christianity, then there must be three views concerning
the suffering or passion of Christ.
As you know brother Branham
in describing these three kinds of believers, called them Believers, make
believers and unbelievers. He said the Believer simply believes. He may not be
able to explain it, but by Faith He can see and thus He believes. On the other
hand he said the unbeliever just looks at the Word that is manifesting Itself
and says, there is nothing to it, and thus walks away quickly. But the make
believer is the one to watch out for, because he is the one that is hanging
around and is just looking to find some fault.
BALM.IN
Now, remember, last Friday
we showed you that the attitude is what God looks at in the servant, and the
attitude is what distinguishes what kind of believer you are.
WHAT WENT YE OUT TO SEE 59-1001 E-18
But those who knew John, those who believed him, they went out to see
something that was real. There divides today, as it was then, in three
different classes: the world, the church, and the real true believer. That's the
way the world stands today: The world, the unbeliever; the church, the lukewarm
member; and then the real true believer. Some people go out into
churches to find fault with that church. And some people go out to be a social
standing, or what they would think a better class, or a get-together. Others go
out to find peace, go to find God and something real. That's the one that gets
the benefit of the meeting. I've always said that the Gospel produces
three types of people: the unbeliever, the make-believer, and a believer. And
it's always been that way. It just depends on what you go for, the attitude
that you have.
Then if we have three kinds of believers, then there must
be three different views concerning the suffering and passion of Christ. And if
this is so, then there must be a true belief or a true view concerning his
suffering, because we have true believers who have received the mind of God.
Then there must also be make belief view which is a view that will try to find
fault with something, and finally there must be a complete unbelief view which
Brother Branham said is a social view. Brother Branham called the unbelievers, social
believers.
I heard such a view from a
woman recently who said, “I can not believe a Loving Father would allow His son
to suffer like Mel Gibson’s movie showed Jesus suffering.” But this woman who
has apparently not read her Bible failed to understand that in Isaiah 53
we are told that It pleased the Father to crush His son.
Now, if there are three
kinds of believers and therefore three views concerning the suffering and
passion of Christ, then that means that
two of those views will be false views, and only one view will be the correct
view.
THE
FALSE VIEWS OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS
The recent movie on the Passion of Christ has brought
these false views into the public limelight more than any other event in
history of man. The only problem concerning al the hoopla that this movie
brought forth is the fact the true view concerning the suffering of Christ is
no where to be seen or discussed in public today.
And why is it that the true view concerning the suffering
of Christ is no where to be seen today? Because none in the media know the true
view concerning the suffering of Christ, nor do the modern day clergy teach the
True View, because they do not know it, and neither are they capable of
understanding the true View of the suffering of Christ because they are not
ordained to know it nor are they ordained to understand it.
Therefore, the debate has come and went with two side
of the issue being spoken and yet the third view which is the Perfect View,
because it is God’s View has not even been presented.
So we must ask, what are these false views concerning
the sufferings of Christ?
Well, the make believer become angry at someone. And
that is because their nature is to find fault. Therefore, some get angry at the
Jews. Those who hate the Jew already look upon the passion as all the fault of
the Jew while others who look to justify their own selves, will use any
scapegoat they can find to render themselves guiltless concerning the passion
and suffering of Christ. Others will want to blame you and me and everyone that
is alive or has ever been alive for what was done to the body of Christ.
Others who are make-believers, may not blame the Jew,
but since the nature of the make-believer is to find fault, they will look for
someone else to blame. Others looking for something to blame will look to the
church leaders and cast all the blame upon them. Or those siding with the
church leaders will cast all the blame on some individual like Judas so they
can cast all their contempt and anger upon them. And still others will look at
the politicians like Pontus Pilot and place the blame on government. And yet
the Word of God has been crucified afresh in our day, and we see the same scene
acted out and the same Make-believer is still finding others to blame and so
they will blame government, or the church, or an individual, or even a race of
people, and they have missed the point all together. Such mental contortions that are being done
to justify self, and find another to blame may be looked upon as a meditation
by them who do so, but you can not honestly say they are meditating on the
suffering of Christ, but rather their meditation is more upon the wickedness of
Judas, or the Jews, or the wickedness of government, or even the wickedness of
the church. And thus they have missed
the mark altogether concerning the right view concerning the suffering of
Christ..
Concerning the unbelievers view which we know to be
the social view, they look to the social benefits and fruits that spring forth from
identifying with the Passion of Christ. And so they talk about it as though by
doing so they are understanding it, or they try to do things such as some sort
of penance, as though their own superficial views and deeds will somehow isolate them from the
true suffering of Christ. For they seek in their own actions, and in their own
talk only their selfish interest. Therefore they load themselves up with pictures,
and artifacts, and mementoes, and other such paraphernalia, and they think is
they can be identified with the books, or tapes, or some piece of his clothing
or possess one of the nails, they thus imagine these things somehow will
protect them from peril, and suffering, and rejection. And in this way, the
suffering of Christ is to work in them an absence of suffering, which is
contrary to its nature and character.
These are they who so sympathize with Christ that
they weep and lament for him because he was so innocent. I have heard this comment
the most from those who have seen the Passion.
They all look with the wrong view, and come out
weeping, and they are no different than the women who followed Christ from
LUKE
Such are they who come out as Christians during the midst
of the Passion season, and come forth on Easter to show the world that they too
believe, and yet after it is over they never get any farther into a relationship
with Christ. For what help is it to you, that God is God, if he is not God to
you? What benefit is it to you if eating and drinking are in themselves
healthful and good, if they are not healthful for you, and what good will it do
for you to have a view concerning the passion and suffering of Christ if your
view is the wrong view. Therefore we should fear that we shall never grow better
by reason of our many Sunday visits to church, if we fail to seek the truth
when we go?
Romans 10: verses 9-11 the following words, "9
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth
on him shall not be ashamed."
Now, if we examine these words, especially in verse 9
Paul is telling us that there is a certain belief that must be believed and
there is a certain confession that must be said in order for you to be saved. We
can not just take any view concerning the suffering of Christ and be saved. We
can not believe just anything and we can not just confess anything we want. For
there is but one view that is True, and all others will not bring forth
salvation, though they sound good.
He said, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and
shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
Therefore we see the importance
of having the right confession. He said you've got to believe that God raised
Jesus from the dead. He did not raise Himself, but God raised him up. There are
a dozen and a half Scriptures which tell
us that God raised Jesus from the dead. Therefore, we must know what God said
about His Suffering, and we must know what God said about His resurrection, if
we are to have the right view, because the right view is God’s own view.
II. THE TRUE VIEW OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS.
We can not know, nor can we understand, nor can we
possess the True View of the Suffering
and the Passion of Christ without knowing, understanding, and thus possessing
what God’s thoughts are concerning the suffering and passion of His Only
begotten Son. For God has said,
ISAIAH
55:6 ¶ Seek ye the LORD
while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will
have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my
word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but
it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing]
whereto I sent it.
Therefore we must have the mind of God. That is we
must know what is that God thinks about the suffering of Christ in order to
know and understand the right view of this passion.
In ISAIAH 53:1 we read, ¶ Who
hath believed The Message? And that is the question God is still asking
mankind. Who has believed The Message and to whom has the
arm of the LORD been revealed?
Now, brother Branham read this
scripture in his sermon God in simplicity, and said, In other words, if you have believed our
report, then the arm of the Lord has been revealed. See?
Now, notice how God describes
his Son in the following way,
2 He (The son of God) shall grow up before him like a tender shoot, and
like a root out of dry ground. (Now, what is a root out of dry ground?
It’s all shriveled up and deformed looking. God’s own Word speaks of His Own son brought forth
in His exact Image with these words..) He had no beauty or majesty to be attracted to him, nothing in his appearance that one
should desire him. 3 He
was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with
suffering.(Now, if you are familiar with something you know it well.
And God tells us of His Son that he is familiar with suffering.) Like one from whom
men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Like
one whom men hide their faces from. That means they loathed him so bad they
could hardly stand to look at him. Now, I know what it is to be that way. I saw
a woman in the restaurant one day, that was so disfigured from a fire that they
had reconstructed her face in such a way, that I could hardly look at her. Not
that I wanted to despise her, but she was so disfigured, that it was only a
natural reaction to do so. And I felt so sorry for her, I wanted to cry within.
And a few months later I saw this woman on a billboard against drunk driving,
and she had been such a beautiful young woman at one time, but was hit by a drunk
driver and her car burst into flames and disfigured her face so bad you could
not have recognized that this was once a beautiful person.
And God says, that His Only
begotten Son is looked upon with the same disgust and He is despised, and that means,
and that is not a pleasant thing to go
through.
The word despised means: 1. To regard with contempt or scorn: 2. To
dislike intensely; to loathe: 3. To regard as unworthy of one's interest
or concern: despised any thought of their. And not only was He despised but
we esteemed Him not. We did not value him. He was considered worthless to us.
That is the condemnation that is upon mankind. And yet God tells us, he was
disfigured not for nay reason of his own choosing. Nor was it because he was at
fault. But He was disfigured for our sake.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our
sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. We thought surely this one that
God is allowing to be beaten so badly and to be whipped so much with such cruel
scourging, using whips that had balls and hooks in them so when they hit his
body they would grind his flesh to a pulp, and when they pulled back the whip
it would tear out great chunks of His flesh, until we turned as it were our faces
from him. We could look on no longer for the scene was so bloody, and cruel
that we could not watch whether we wanted to or not.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, Thos whips cut deep into his
flesh, and those thorns sank deep within his head until they can out into the
eye socket. And Isaiah continues to tell us, he was
crushed for our iniquities; He was CRUSHED… the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, The PUINISHMENT THAT
BROUGHT US PEACE…WAS UPON HIM…He paid the price, not for anything he had done,
but for what you and I have done… and by his wounds we are healed. Let me repeat that… by his wounds we are healed. Therefore, every time you
have a need for healing, I want you to think about those beatings he took, and
the crushing of every blow to his body that he took, and then think about your
healing, and don’t ever forget it was made possible by his suffering.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has
turned to his own way; and the LORD has
laid on him the iniquity of us all.
I will never forget as long as
I live, when I was a child if one of my brothers did something wrong, we all
got it unless the one who did wrong came forth to confess his wrong. I will
never forget, how many times I took the lash of the belt because of one of my
brothers did something and didn’t have the guts to step forward and tell the
truth. And I will never forget that on several occasions I stepped forward to
take the belt because I did not want my brothers to get it, even though I knew
one of them had done the act but was too afraid to fess up. But that was just a belt, but Jesus took the
whip with bones, and sharps and balls in it that not only tore his flesh, but
crushed it to ground meat.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, (That means hw was not only
beaten and crushed but when he was stripped of his clothing, he was humiliated
in every way man can humiliate.) yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his
mouth. Oh, my and when someone just says a mere word about you, you
get all upset and start talking bad about them.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who
can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he
was stricken. 9 He was
assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in
his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the
Lord's will to crush him and It was the
Lord’s will cause him to suffer, (Did not Jesus ask God to take this cup away from Him?
Did not he plea with God to spare him from having to go through this? And yet
He finally came to a resolve, and said, “Father not my will but thy will be
done…” ) and
though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and
prolong his days, and (notice now) the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light
of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge
my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Not his own but ours… RISING
OF THE SUN 65-0418M 34-5 When
God looked down upon the body... (The Spirit left Him in the
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life
unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.
If we are to have the right
view concerning the suffering of Christ
we must say what God said. It pleased God to crush Him. Why? For your sake and
mine…
And what else did God say
about it? ROMANS
10:9
That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
ACTS 2:23 Him,
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the
pains of death: because it was not possible that he
ACTS
3:14 But ye denied
the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;15 And
killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are
witnesses.
ACTS 3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up his
Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his
iniquities.
ACTS 4:10
Be it known unto
you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, [even] by him doth
this man stand here before you whole.
ACTS 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus,
whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
31 Him hath God exalted with
his right hand [to be] a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to
ACTS
ACTS 13:29 And when they had fulfilled all that was
written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a
sepulchre 30 But God raised him from the
dead: 31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee
to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. 32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how
that the promise which was made unto the fathers, 33 God hath fulfilled the
same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is
also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee.
ACTS 13:37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no
corruption.
I CORINTHIANS
GALATIANS 1:1 ¶
Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and
God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
COLOSSIANS 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also
ye are risen with [him] through the faith of the operation of God, who hath
raised him from the dead.
I PETER
ACTS 2:30
Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath
to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise
up Christ to sit on his throne; 31 He
seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32 This Jesus hath God
raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33 Therefore being by the right hand
of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy
Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
HEBREWS
11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried,
offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only
begotten [son], 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be
called: 19 Accounting that God [was]
able to raise [him] up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in
a figure.
Now, Paul said, "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. And
if you do not believe that, you are lost. Now, that may seem like a rather bold
statement to make, especially in this hour where the people are so morally
bankrupt, and so afraid to speak up for the Word of God sake, but that does not
change the facts any.
That is a very important
statement to make, and seems awful harsh,
but, it is perfectly in line with other statements which Paul has made.
In GALATIANS 1:6 Paul said, ¶ I
marvel that ye are so soon removed ( or fallen away) from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another(heteros) gospel: 7
Which is not another(allos); but there be some that
trouble you, and would pervert ( turn backwards)
the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we,
or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we
have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If
any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him
be accursed.
The Wuest translation
says, "In fact, even if we or a messenger from heaven should preach a Gospel to
you which would go beyond that which we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Even as we have said on a previous occasion,
indeed, now again I am saying, If as is the case, anyone preaches a
Gospel to you which goes beyond that which you took so eagerly, and hospitably to your hearts, let him be
accursed."
We find John say the same
thing in 2 John 9 "every one who goes beyond the limits of
ture doctrine and does not remain in the aforementioned teaching with reference
to the Christ, does not possess God. The one who remains in the aforementioned
teaching, this one possess both the father and the Son. "
NIV 2 JOHN 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of
Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father
and the Son. 10 If anyone
comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house
or welcome him. 11 Anyone
who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.
Weymouth 1:6 I marvel that you are so readily leaving Him who called you by
the grace of Christ, and are adhering to a different Good News. 1:7 For other
“Good News” there is none; but there are some persons who are troubling you,
and are seeking to distort the Good News concerning Christ. 1:8 But if even we
or an angel from Heaven should bring you a Good News different from that which
we have already brought you, let him be accursed. 1:9 What I have just said I
repeat — if any one is preaching to you a Good News other than that which you
originally received, let him be accursed.
KJV 10 ¶ For
do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased
men, I should not be the servant of Christ. 11 But I certify you brethren ( or make you brethren to understand) that the gospel which was preached of me is
not after man. 12 For I neither received it of man, neither
was I taught [it], but by the revelation (apocalypses) of Jesus Christ. And if it took the Pillar of fire and an apocalypses
then to understand the Gospel, it will take the same thing today. Alpha has got
to repeat in Omega.
Now,
let's read again from Romans 10:
verses 9-11 to see if we have a better appreciation of these words Paul is
speaking to us here. "9 That if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with
the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
Then Paul tells us, we not only have to believe it in our hearts,
but we must confess it with our mouth.
Because if we just believe it and do not confess it we really don't
believe it. For Jesus said, "for out of the Abundance of the heart
the mouth will speak." Therefore, if you truly believe it, it will swell
up within your heart to the place that you can't hold your peace. Maybe I can say it a little plainer.
If you really believe it,
you can't wait for the opportunity to speak it.
But if you are not sure you believe it, then you don't have it yet.
Because the Word of God is a fountain that runneth over. It is not still water,
but a living water than keeps coming forth and renewing itself and ever
increasing within you and you can't help but to open your mouth and speak his
Word and identify with what He is and what He is doing.
Romans
Now, here's the key, He says, "For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. In
verse 9 & 10 he said, you've got to believe first in your heart that God
raised up Jesus from the dead and then you've got to confess it. And now he
says, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Therefore, this believing and confessing is your calling upon the Lord. AT THY WORD LORD 54-1207
E-48 Only by your confession can you be saved. That's the most powerful weapon that God
put in the hand of man, is a committal and a confession. It'll do it every
time, if you'll believe it, accept it on those basis, and believe it and
stay with it. Keep confessing it. When you confess it...
But what if you are not sure of what you believe? Can you be saved?
CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH
55-0220E E-66 Jesus said, "Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the Kingdom." You can't understand it. It's a
mystic, mythical thing until you're born again. There the very Life of
God comes in you. Everlasting, Eternal Life, Zoe, God's own Life comes in you,
and then you're a part of God. You're a Son of God or a daughter of God. And
then you see as God sees. You believe as God believes.
This is the real issue
then. How do you really know you are calling upon the right Lord? The Word Lord
simply means master, Jesus used the same
word Kurios when he said MATTHEW
Therefore, how will we know which Lord, Which Master to call upon? Paul answers this question as we shall see in
the next few verses.
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 (Even though they say they hear, thy boast
in vain, unless they hear true preachers; for to hear false prophets means as
much as not to hear. They hear and they do not hear; They have ears, but do not
hear, nor do they preach the Word of God. ? 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! ? This is directed against all conceited
teachers and arrogant instructors .
If you will notice in verse 14-15 there are four
statements that Paul makes that of which follow together in such a way that one
leads to the other, but so that the last forms the foundation on which the
others rest. Thus we see from what Paul said, that it is impossible that those
preach who are not sent, It then is impossible for those to hear who are
without a preacher, and it is impossible for them to believe who do not hear,
and thus it would be impossible for them to call upon the name of the Lord who
do not believe. And thus it would be impossible for them who do not call upon
the name of the Lord to be saved.
So then, the entire source and origin of salvation rests
on this, that God sends out someone, ( A true 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.
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 we would see what is spoken of in Proverbs
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel.
For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. The true, revealed, and
vindicated Word of God.
Then can you see the importance this morning of
receiving a vindicated Ministry? Because if it is not vindicated, then how do
you know what you are hearing is not error? And if it is error, then you would
be believing error, and if you believe error, then you would be calling out to
a wrong God, and if you call out to a wrong God, then how could you be
saved? Therefore, God has come down to
vouch safe His own Presence among us. We know that we are the elect of God
because He said so. It is not just something we have read in a book, but God Himself
has come down and has spoken through the lips of His Prophet whom He has
vindicated and that is what I am standing on this morning.
Can you imagine the mess the Mess-Age would be in if
all of God's True Five fold ministry were to be called off the scene? It is
going to happen one of these days, and when it does, you talk about a famine.
UNCERTAIN SOUND 61-0429E E-51 One day God said, "Now, you
prophesied enough against them, come on out of the field, and I'm going to let
the judgments of your prophecy rain down on them." So Elijah went up on
top the mountain, up there for three and half years, or three years when they
was all 'bout gnawing their tongues for pain, but he was setting by a little
brook. Little spring, had the spiritual revelation all the time, waters of life
pouring up. The rest of them... And
listen, brother, sister, let me tell you. One of these days when God is, just get enough of this around here, and
He will take all the true off the field and then you'll want a revival. It has
to come to pass. The prophet said there would be a time in the last days,
when there would not be a famine only for bread and water, but for hearing of
the Word of God. And the true servants will be taken off. And there'll be a
famine in the last days. It sure will be.
II. THE TRUE VIEW OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS.
We can not know, nor can we understand, nor can we
possess the True View of the Suffering
and the Passion of Christ without knowing, understanding, and thus possessing
what God’s thoughts are concerning the suffering and passion of His Only
begotten Son. For God has said,
ISAIAH
55:6 ¶ Seek ye the LORD
while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have
mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my
word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but
it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing]
whereto I sent it.
Therefore we must have the mind of God. That is we
must know what is that God thinks about the suffering of Christ in order to
know and understand the right view of this passion.
We must have the right view which is God’s View or
else we have but a satanic View.
MATTHEW
16:21¶
From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto
his disciples, how that he must go unto
You must never think for one minute that if you were
there in that day that you would have done everything in your power to stop
what God had ordained. For all that Jesus went through was not for his benefit,
but for yours and mine.
Let us pray…