Rising of the Son no 56
Conformed to His Image no 2
April 5, 2017
Brian Kocourek,
Pastor
This Evening we will continue in our study
of the Rising of the Son, and we will read from paragraph 113 through 118.
113 Remember.
The Quickening Power... Look what we seen in this day. The Quickening Power
has come to us to open the Seven Seals. What was that? The intelligence of
a man? No, the
Quickening Power of God. See? The Quickening Power of God foretold this would take place.
See? But the Quickening Power of God made the world testify to It, it's the
Truth. The Angel of the
Lord, what I told you was around, that Pillar of Fire, Quickening Power, let
the world testify that It's the Truth. And in that, they
didn't know what It was, and we who just look this way... and It's our
Lord up there. You see?
114 He is the One Who opened those Seals; He is those Seals.
For the whole Word of
God is Christ, and Christ is the Seals that was open. What is
the opening of those Seals then? Revealing Christ. And the very seven
Angels which represented the Seven churches was all completed, and we couldn't
even see It. They did, they took the picture, not us.
Seems to me that is the way
the Lord does things. I was the last one to find out about the three rainbows
that converged over my meetings in Mbanza Ngungu. Notice he says, we couldn't even
see It. They did, they took the picture, not us.
And there He is standing there, supreme Judge, showing that He is Alpha and
Omega, the Beginning and the End. What identification. Quickening Power did that to
us. Quickening Power lets us see His coming. Quickening Power snatched us
from death to Life. Quickening Power gives discernment
to know what's wrong with you, and what to do, what you have done, and what you
ought not have done, what you should have done, and what you will be.
Quickening Power. All these things.
115 Our Lord Jesus is so full of Quickening Power,
He was all of It together. He was so full of Quickening Power, He said this:
"You destroy this body and I'll
raise it up in three days." Talk about
confidence in Quickening Power."Destroy
this body, this temple, and I'll bring it up in three days." Why? Why'd He say that? He knew that it was
written of Him (See?), that it was written Him by the Word of God which could
not fail. The Word said, "I will not suffer
My Holy One to see corruption; neither will I leave His soul in hell." And He knowed that Quickening Power would raise
Him up, that there wouldn't be one cell corrupt. He said, "You destroy this temple and I'll bring it back again
in three days." Why? It was prophecy,
the Word of God. And prophecy,
if It's true Word of God, cannot fail. And the same prophecy and
Word of God that said He'd raise Him up, says that we are already raised
with Him. No wonder He said, "Fear
not." And it is written that the
Spirit that is now, was in Him, now in us also quickens our mortal bodies. Fear not, friend, the S-o-n is up. The Son is up.
No.
116 Now, look at transfiguration. We was every one represented
there. There was the living saints that had raptured, there was
Elijah standing there; and there stood Moses, the dead saints...?... Also, both
of them had Quickening Power. Whether the one died and the other didn't die,
they're all there. Notice. Oh, look what we're now seeing in these last days.
The same thing that He promised, John 14:12.
Notice he is showing that
whether they had already Raptured up or whether they had died, the same
quickening power of God brought them to mount Transfiguration for Jesus
adoption so there would be witnesses of both the old and new testament saints.
Bothe the Raptured saints and those who had died. And talking on the quickening
power hwe then brings up John 14:12.
"both of them had Quickening Power. Whether the
one died and the other didn't die, they're all there. Notice. Oh, look what
we're now seeing in these last days. The same thing that He promised, John 14:12."
Br. Branham continues, "Now, look.
Certainly. People say, "You claim to have power?" "No, no, no.
We're just like them at Mount Transfiguration." See? Certainly, we do not claim power,
but we, like they was on the Mount Transfiguration, they wasn't saying, Moses
say, "See who I am," and the disciples say, "See who I am, see
who I am." You know what happened? Notice. They seen Jesus glorified. That's
all they wanted to see represented, Jesus glorified.
Notice he is telling us John 14:12
is not about us, It' about seeing Jesus Christ
glorified again.
117 And
so is it today. We don't try to be some big person. We don't care what
the people say about us. Our name ain't nothing; it's His Name.
Our life is nothing; it's
His Life. It's His power, not our power. And there's only one
thing that we love to do, is see Him glorified. And how can it be? When He's glorified in us by His
resurrection that's in us. We see Him represented again as He was, today.
Did you get that? See? Our desire is not to be glorified. Our
desire is not some big name. Our desire is not boost some church, or make more
in the Sunday school, or try to bring in, hogtie, push in, offer picnic party,
or bring stars, buttons, or something else like that. That's not our desire. Our desire is to see Him
glorified. Glorify what? Not with self-pride, but in us, our lives, to prove that
He is alive and living in us. If I can get myself out of the way, so when William
Branham not even thought of, and you not even thought of, till we can see Jesus
glorified among us, see Him, that's our desire. That's the quick, gives
us the Quickening Power. And it gives us joy to know that we are with Him, both flesh and bone of
Him, being the Bride of Him, and seeing His same vindicated methods proving in
us that He is now risen from the dead. See? No wonder He said,
"Fear not."
118 For now (Notice.), we are redeemed by Him and now risen with Him.
That's what Easter means to the people: risen with Him. Notice. Now, we have His
Spirit in us, the Abstract deed, fully paid. No. You don't say, "Well, I
hope I make it." You've
already made it. Not, "I will make it"; "I've already made it."
I never made it; He
made it for me. See? Not me, Him."Well, Brother Branham,
they say..." I don't care what they say there; He made it for me. That's
all I want to, I'm caring about. I just want to see Him manifested. How can you do it? Call
Him down? No. He's
in you. See? He's in you. "Well then, Lord, if I can get myself out of the way, You can manifest,
... myself. How can You do it? Because You ordained it so: 'All that the Father has given Me will come'" Notice. Glory.
Therefore we are looking at the very Life
that was in Christ Jesus coming back upon the believers and manifesting Himself
in the believers, doing the same things he did when he was here in the body of
His first born son. Now, if we are
looking at the very Life
then we
cannot be looking at self. That would never do. That would never be
acceptable. He is talking about Christ Himself manifesting Himself, and Paul
said "you are dead and your life is hid with Christ...in God."
So it is not about you, "you are
hid". It's all about him.
It's about the very life that was in Christ
Jesus and that very same Life or Spirit has come
back to indwell you as a believer. Not manifesting your life, but manifesting His Life. The
manifesting of the sons of God is not about showing off what the sons of God
have, but it is about humbling down so much that The Son of God is manifested.
Therefore if the
very life that lived itself out in Christ Jesus was released from His body in
order to come into your body, then the
life that is living in you is not your own but His. And if that is so,
then we are only stewards of this body the same as Jesus was only a steward of
the Body he lived in which became God’s Body when God took over that body.
Now, if we could
ever get that across in our thinking then perhaps we might start to allow His
Spirit to have control over what we do, and what we say, and even what we allow
to come into our minds and think.
That is exactly
what the Apostle Paul said in, Galatians 2:20
I
am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; (he says I am dead, I have
been crucified, yet I am alive. That i a paradox. But then he explains what he
is saying.) yet it is not I that is living, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I
live by the faith (and Faith is a revelation, so the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Revelation)
of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God:.
Then Christ is My life.
And it’s not just a nice saying, or a nice thing to think about, but it is a
fact if you are born again, and the Life of Christ is living itself out in your
vessel. That’s what Paul said to the in Colossians
3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Let me read this to you using my own words. "When Christ Who has become
my very Life, because he indwelt me and is continuing to live out His Life only
using my vessel. And when He shall come to manifest Himself openly, it will be
because he is at that time using my vessel to manifest Himself openly through."
That is what William Branham said, in True Easter Seal 61-0402 P:121 Now, I don't know
you. That's me, me and my spirit; we don't know you. But He knows you.
But He wants to borrow my body to prove that He's the
resurrected Christ. I'm so happy to loan it to Him, give it to
Him, anything He can get out of it. Therefore, Paul continues,
And then the apostle Paul continued by saying in verse
5 Mortify
therefore your members which are upon the earth.
In other words, when Christ comes to
manifest Himself through your vessel, then it is only natural that you will die
out to the things of this world, and to the pulls of your own flesh, the pulls
of self, that He might have pre-eminence in your vessel that He has come to
manifest Himself to the World through.
That is why Paul
told us in Romans 12:1-3 I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.
Instead of
the words "which
is your reasonable service" the NIV says, "Which is your spiritual act of worship"
2 Therefore, be
not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove (manifest openly) what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to
every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think
soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
So Paul said,
when you see God taking over your vessel, as you yield yourself to the
Revelation of Christ, don’t let it go to your head, but rather it should humble
you even as it humbled Christ to the place where He yielded His vessel to the
point of death on the cross.
I hope you see
the necessity between this manifestation of Christ Life in the believer and the
humility that must be there in order for that manifestation to take place.
As I have often
said when someone asks me about the manifestation of the sons of God. When they
want to know what it is. I usually ask them the question, How did Jesus
manifest Himself as The Son of God?
If they say by
the miracles, then I say well, Balaam had miracles. Jannes and Jambres had
supernatural. Then I show them what the
Apostle Paul said in Hebrews 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered;
He learned
obedience by the things he suffered. And this same Apostle Paul said in Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death
of the cross.
Obedience
is the act of humbling yourself. You have to humble yourself to become
obedient.
And Jesus said in Matthew 18:4
Whosoever
therefore shall humble himself as
this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Because God has a law that stands
forever. And Jesus told us this law in Matthew 23:12 And whosoever
shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
That is why the
Apostle John could say in 1 John 3: 2-3 2 Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: (In other words, "beloved, we are already sons of God, but it is
not exactly showing in our flesh that we are",) but we know that,
when he shall appear, ("we know that when he shall openly manifest His Life in us"
then ) we shall
be like him; for we shall see him as he is. ("for at that time we shall see Him as he truly is, because we
will see Him living out His life in our very vessels."
And then
John in the next verse says just exactly what the Apostle Paul said in Colossians 3
after he tells us that "Christ is now our Life because we are dead and our life is
hid with Christ in God". And the Apostle John follows up what
he said about being sons of God and
becoming manifest as sons at His Appearing, and then he says 3 And
every man that hath this hope in him,
purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
And Just as John
tells us if we have Christ living in us, and want him to reflect Himself
through us, then we must purify ourselves even as He is pure, and in the same
way the Apostle Paul told us in Colossian to "mortify the deeds of self by putting off the
deeds of the flesh."
In other words,
when Christ comes into you and takes up residence, you must humble yourselves
to His Life and therefore put of the deeds of your life.
From the version
called The Message we read from 1 John 3:2-3 But
friends, that's exactly who we are: children of God. And that's only the
beginning. What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we'll see him, and
in seeing him, we will become like him.
All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity
of Jesus' life as a model for our own.
Again Paul said, in Romans 8:29-30 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. 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.
The eldest Son
received his Life from the Father, according to John
5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so
hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
And if the first born son came into the
world full of God-Life, and thus was birthed with the very image of His Father,
then it is essential when the other sons of God come forth, they too will by
necessity conform to the image of the first born who was in the image of the
Father, that God may be all in all.
So what we are
looking at is the purpose and plan of God in manifesting His very life, not
only in His uniquely born son, but it was His purpose and plan all along to
manifest His own Life in His other sons as well.
And that is what
I believe the purpose of and the importance of understanding the Doctrine of Christ is all about. "For he that hath the son
hath Life". "He that echoes the son echoes the very life of the son of
God."
Then we can see
from 1 John 4:15 the importance of our
confession of Jesus Christ. "Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God."
Now, many people
do not understand just what it means to confess that Jesus is the Son of God.
The fundamentalist bases his whole salvation on his own confession, (his own
words) and that is why the fundamental churches are full of people who have not
been born again. They have made a "confession", but not according to
the Scripture.
They think that this
simply means that if they make a declaration with their mouth that Jesus is the
Son of God, this will fulfill the requirements of this Scripture, and that is
so far from the truth.
I’m afraid that
right in this Message we have churches full of people who believe just the same
as the fundamentalist. People will quote Br. Branham and say the evidence of
being filled with the Spirit of God is to "believe the message for your
hour". And that may be true, but just what does it mean to believe the
message for your hour? And so we have some questions here that need answering,
because many have not sought after the new birth because they think they are ok
since they believe that God sent a prophet. But that is not what the Message of
the hour is.
No message from
any hour was that “God sent a prophet”. If a prophet even came forth declaring himself,
he would have been a false witness of God. Even Jesus said in John 5:31 If I bear witness of myself,
my witness is not true. And if any
prophet would come on the scene declaring himself, he would be a false witness
of God, because he would be witnessing to himself and not to God. The purpose
of a prophet is to declare the things of God. As a messenger, he humbles
Himself to obey the Message that God gives him to deliver to the people. And
that Message is never about himself. It is never pointing the people to himself,
but rather it is to point the people to the One that sent him. To God Himself.
So that is the
first mistake people do when they say, “The
evidence of being born again is to believe the Message of the hour",
because they more likely than not do not understand what the message even s.
And so we see the same mistake made among the fundamentalists, whether they be
Baptist, Evangelical, Pentecostal or whatever their brand of organization. They place the full evidence of their new
birth in their own understanding and thus their own confession.
They go to 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. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Now the
fundamentalist will take this scripture and combine it with 1 John 4:15 "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God,
God dwelleth in him, and he in God",
and they place their salvation and
belief that they are filled with the Holy Ghost in their own understanding of
these two scriptures, and because they misunderstand what these two scriptures
say, they stop moving forward with God and yet they think they’ve got it.
They think, “If I just tell people that God raised up
Jesus from the dead, and if I confess that Jesus is the Son of God, then I am
saved and filled with the Holy Ghost." And if you question whether
they are even born again, they say, you are the one who does not believe the
Bible.
But to prove
that you can confess that Jesus is the Son of God and not be filled with the
Holy Spirit is very easy. Because in the Scriptures there was a man who was filled
with many devils, and yet that man identified Jesus as the Son of God, and was
afraid that Jesus had come to torment him.
Luke 8: 28 When
he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice
said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus,
thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.
This man knew
exactly who Jesus was, or at least those demons that possessed his body.
And this where
the fundamentalist stop reading. Because he believes the calling upon the Lord
is the confession that is being made. So we must examine what it means to confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, for in knowing what this confession is all
about, we will also understand why God will come into them that make this
confession, and we will also avoid the trap that has beset so many
fundamentalists into believing that the confession is merely some magical words
that are said by a believer.
Now, the word "confess" was
translated from the Greek word Homo-Logeo
or Homo-logos, and just about all Christians know the word Logos
speaks of The Word of God.
We know that "in the beginning was
The Logos and The Logos was God." John said that is
John 1:1. So we see that the word for confession is made from two Greek words, the word Logos
which speaks of The Word, and the other being the Greek word homo which
means the same.
We use this word
homo
in the English language as a prefix with many words. We say homo-centric
which means having the same center, or homo-gamous which is used in
botany and means being
of one kind of flower on the same
plant, or homo-genous which means having a similar nature and comes from the two
words homo meaning the same and genous which speaks of the genes. So it speaks of having the same genes.
So you see the
word homo-Logeo
means “having
the same Word”. So if we are to read this verse of Scripture
correctly we must read it as follows: Whosoever shall say the same words as what was originally said concerning
the Son of God, God will dwell in him, and he in God.
Now, it says,
whosoever will say "the same words", and we must know who
first said those words, and then we have a clue as to the author of those
words, and thus whose Life is expressed through those words. For Jesus told us “as a man thinketh in his heart so is he, and
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”.
Then really what we are essentially and what we are intrinsically
is what we think in our minds or our hearts. And our actions must first come
from what we think, and then when we do what we think, it brings our thoughts
into some form of expression. So when we
read the statement, Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, we are thus saying, Whosoever shall think and thus say the same
Word, “that Jesus is the Son of
God”, He it is that God’s Spirit
indwells.
That is what Paul said in 1Corinthians 1:2
10 But
God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for
The Spirit (God’s Spirit) searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of
man which is in him? even so the things
of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God knows. 12 Now
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that
we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. 13 Which
things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself
is judged of no man. 16 For
who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
And having the mind
of Christ is only possible if we have the spirit of Christ
living itself out in us. Now, William Branham taught us that confession means to say the same
thing. And the reason he could tell us that is not because he was a
prophet, nor is it because he just arbitrarily decided to call it that and we
must believe it because he was vindicated. But the reason he could say that is
because that is what the Greek word homologeo
means. It means the “Same-Homo, Word-Logeo”.
Now in the
sermon Christ 55-0221 P:49 William
Branham said, You're not using your own thoughts; you're using His thoughts.
"Let the mind that was in
Christ be in you." See? Think His way of thinking; say what He says. "Confession" means "to say the same thing." Confess is to confess the same
thing, say the same
thing. Then don't confess your own mental conception. Be born
again and confess His Word, confess what He said. That's confession. Say,
"By His stripes, I was healed." By His stripes, I
have a right--by His wounds, right now, I have a right for salvation. I have a
right for the Holy Spirit. He promised it to me. Said, 'It's
in you and your children, and them that is far off, and as many as the Lord our
God shall call.’” I believe it. It's for any generation.
"Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world."
He died that He might raise again and be with His church all the way to the end
of the world, to confirm the Word with signs following. How far was that to be?
"Go ye..." Did it end it with the apostles? Mark 16 said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the
Gospel to every creature." It's never met there yet, just
about one third of it. God's depending on us.
And again from his
sermon Be not afraid it is I 62-0629 P:9 William
Branham told us how to just say the same Word. He said, “I
just believe the Word and just stay right with the Word. And any level thinker
will know that that Word is right. It's just got to be right. See? And I don't put any interpretation to it. I try to just read it the way it reads, then say the same thing. That’s
confessing. "Confess"
means the same thing, like, "He's
the High Priest of our..." Well, King James puts it "profession."
But "profess"
and "confess"
is the same thing. See? So then "to
confess,"
that means "to say
the same thing He did."
"By His stripes I am healed."
I'm confessing. See? I am confessing the
same thing that He said. See? I'm making a confession. That's what it is in
court. You have to say the same thing. Now, I am … To my great High Priest, for
He sits at the right hand of the Majesty to make intercessions upon my
confession.”
So we are
looking at a promise of God that is promised to us, that if we have the same
confession that God gave to us, then He promises to come into us and indwell
us.
In the book of Luke 12:8, and in Matthew 10:32 we read, "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the
Son of man also confess before the
angels of God:" Here we find Jesus telling us if we say the same Word
about Jesus before men, then He will say the same Word before His Father about
us.
And in 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, that is not talking about
going to the confessional and telling your sins to the priest. Neither does
confessing your sins mean that you should talk about your sins. No, it doesn't
mean that. But how many people would rather deny what the Father says, and try
to justify their own actions instead of repudiating their own actions as God
has repudiated them. It means to say the same thing about your sins as God says
about your sins.
How many times over my 43 years in this
Message have I met people who have had two sets of rules for conduct. They have one set of rules for themselves, and they have another set of rules for
everyone else. But Jesus said we must say the same thing
God says of us and of our sins.
Thus as Brother Branham said, "we must not try to
interpret the Word for ourselves, we must say what God said," and
that means we are to repeat His words, just
like an echo. And if you hear an echo it sounds just like the original,
only it repeats it over and over again. And when you echo, you must have the
same expression in the echo as in the original Word, otherwise it is not an
echo, and it is not a confessing of what he said, but rather it is just a recital.
The Apostle Paul
tells us in the Book of Romans chapter 10, that our confession is most important if we
are to place into action what we actually do believe.
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.
Not just with the mouth, but with the
heart the confession is made, and the confession is heard in heaven. Anyone who reads history knows that Jesus died on the
cross, but it is our confession that turns that self-less act into a saving act
for the believer.
The Apostle Paul is not saying, he that confesses Jesus Christ is one thing, but
to believe in your heart is another thing. For
Scripture teaches "For out for the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
So if
you believe in your heart, then your mouth will say the same thing. And
the formula Paul is speaking of here is essential that we say the same thing that
God says about His Son.
"That if thou shalt say the same word
with thy mouth about the Lord Jesus, and
shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
In 1 John 5: 10 we read, He that believeth on the Son
of God hath (echoes) the witness in
himself: he that believeth not
God has made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son.
So God has a record, and that record
declares to us that God raised up His Son. So we have One being the Son of God
who needed to be raised from the dead, and the other being God Himself who did
the raising up of His Son, and that is
the record, and there are 18 Scriptures
that speaks of God
raising up His Son.
And if you do not believe God’s record, you are making Him a liar in
your own eyes. Paul said, “he that believeth
not God hath made him a liar.”
Now, that we have established that the
confession is an all important act of faith towards God in believing His report
concerning His Son, let’s look now at the second half of our text where we are
told that if we have the right confession concerning the Son of God, we will
receive a promise from God that "He will come into us
and we into Him".
1 John 4:15 Whosoever shall confess
that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells
in him, and he in God.
Now, notice the
promise is, “that
if we make this right confession, if we say what God Himself says
concerning His Son, then God Himself will come into us, and indwell us”.
Now, this takes
us to John chapter 17 where we find Jesus praying in the garden
before he is taken to finish the work that He was sent to do on the cross.
John 17:1 ¶ These words
spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Now, if Jesus
and God were one like your finger is one, then this prayer is pretty
ridiculous, because why would he ask for something he already had, and why
would he ask to begin with. Why ask if you already have what you ask for? And
why ask if you are talking to yourself?
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3. And this
is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent
Now, if Jesus is
declaring here that God has given him power, then he did not have it before God
gave it. And notice here that he shows us what eternal life is, "to know God and to
know His Son."
4. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do.
Now, why would
God give him a work to do if He and the Father were one like your finger is
one.
5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own
self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 6. ¶ I
have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world:
thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
Notice here that
He does not say they have kept my word,
but they have kept Thy Word.
Showing that God is the Word, and it is His Word that Jesus came and spoke to
them, not his own word.
7. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou
hast given me are of thee. 8. For I have
given unto them the words which thou gave to me; and they have received them,
and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that
thou didst send me.
9. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for
them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10. And all mine are thine,
and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
I see my doxa in
them, my opinion, my values, my judgments, the same ones I received from you, I
see them manifesting in them.
11. ¶ And now I am no more in the world, but these are
in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name
those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Now, again we
see here that Jesus is asking the Father to make us one with the Father in the
same manner as he and the Father are one. So if you are not a hypocrite, then
you must believe that God has made us One with Himself in the same manner as He
made Himself and His Son Jesus one. And if you believe it in any other way, you
are not confessing the same thing Jesus confessed here.
In John 17:14 Jesus said, "I
have given them thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15. I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from
the evil. 16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17. ¶
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth."
Therefore he is
saying here that the Word is what
sanctifies the believer.
18. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have
I also sent them into the world. 19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself,
that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Remember, he
also said, "Thy Word is Truth", so the Word of God is what sanctifies
us.
20. ¶ Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
That is you and
me who have believed the Word of God that was written for our admonition.
Now, here is the
essence of what confession is all about. It is entering into the same mind-set
that we might become one through that same mind-set. Now, listen to what Jesus
is petitioning the Father for. 21. That they all may be one; as (and
the word as means in the same manner or in like manner) as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Now, notice the
context of the prayer is that God may grant to us oneness as he did with His
Son and in the very same manner as He did with His Son. And the next verse
tells us how this is made possible.
22. "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given
them; that they may be one, even as we are one:"
Now, I want you
to pay close attention to the Words of Jesus here. He says, "the glory which thou
gavest me I have given them"…
Ok, so there is
something about this glory that we should know about because the same Glory that
God gave to Him, He has given to us, and what is there about this glory? Notice
he continues, "that they may be one, even as we are one:"
So we see that
it is the glory that was given to Jesus from God that made Him One with God,
and in the same Manner he has given us this glory that we might also be One
with God and one with Him. "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that
they may be one, even as we are one:"
Therefore in
order to make the same confession or to say the same thing, we must know what
this glory is that we all share together having received it from Jesus and He
from His own Father, God. And once we
know what this glory is, then we should be able to see how it is that we become
one with God even as the Son of God was One with God.
Now, the Greek
word that this word glory was translated from is the Greek word Doxa which
means "the
opinion, judgment or assessment of"… And the word assessment
speaks of the value.
Therefore, if we are to receive the same opinion Jesus has and He received the
same opinion God had, this is what makes us one. Thus we receive not only the
same opinion,
but the same judgment,
and the same values
that God possesses, and the same values, opinions, and judgments that He gave
to His Son and Jesus here in this prayer tells the Father that He has passed
these along to us that we might become one with the Father even as He and the Father
were One. Thus the very
mind of God in the believer makes us one with the Father the same way that
Jesus was one with the Father.
From the sermon Harvest Time 641212 87 034 William
Branham said, "Jesus said, "That they might be one, Father, as You and I are one." Not for some man to be over something, it never will
work; one denomination wants to take over the other, and one man over the
other. But that you might be one with God, like Christ and God was one;
that's what the prayer is. That... He was the Word, and Jesus prayed that
we might be the Word, reflecting Him. That's His prayer to be answered.
See how Satan scruples it up in the carnal mind? But that wasn't Jesus' prayer,
at all, that we might all congregate together and all have a certain creed and
so forth. Every time they do it, they go further and further from God.
He wants us to be one with God, and God is
the Word. Each individual in his heart must
be that one with God."
So we see in brother
Branham’s own words that the Oneness that Jesus had with the Father and that he
prayed that we would have is that we might be one with the Word even in the
same way Jesus was One with God’s Word, for God is the Word. And that is how God will come into us when we
say the same thing. When our confession is His confession. When our thoughts
are His thoughts, “let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”
What more can a man ask of
his wife than to have the same mind-set concerning the family and the raising
of the children. What greater oneness than to share the same values, opinions,
and judgments. And what more could a Father ask of his children than for them
to share His values, opinions, and judgments. And that is what Jesus prayed
for.
Gifts 56-1207 E-30 Now, notice closely. Now, God
dwelling in Christ used His voice to speak by. Jesus said in His miracle,
"Verily, verily, I
say unto you, the Son can do nothing in Himself, but what He sees the Father
doing, that doeth the Son likewise." Is that right?
And why do you think we have
had to wait 50 plus years since God took home His prophet. He’s waiting for us
to get ourselves out of the way, that God might have the pre-eminence, and that
we might think God’s thoughts, and do His actions, and speak only His words.
That’s what He’s waiting for. And adoption cannot come until the son has the
mind of the father.
From the sermon, Show us the Father and it will Satisfy 60-0731 E-15
Brother Branham said, "'The works that I do, shall you also.' And seeing the same results by human
beings so submitted to God, until the Holy Spirit
can work through those human beings just like the Holy Spirit worked through
Jesus, Who just has confessed that,
"I and My Father
are One. My Father
dwelleth in Me. He doeth the works.
It's not My words; it's His words."...
See? He was so
submitted to God."
And from the sermon, Unveiling of God 64-0614M 257 Brother Branham said, "Jesus once said, "When you see Me, you see the Father." See? God and His Word is One.
Now you understand? When the Word is manifested, what is It? Right. See?
260 Jesus said, "Search the Scriptures, you think you have... You believe in
God, believe also in Me. If I do not the works of My Father, then don't believe
Me. But if I do do the works, I and My Father are One. When you see Me, you
have seen the Father."
And when you see the
Word made manifest, you see the Father God, because the Word is the Father; the Word is God. And the Word made manifest is God Himself taking His
Own Word and manifesting It among believers.
Nothing can make It live but believers, just believers."
Now, when brother
Branham is talking about God manifesting His own Word in the believers, he is
talking about God who is doing the manifestation of Himself through the
believers. God manifesting Himself in the flesh, your flesh…
Now, in getting
back to
That day
on Calvary 60-0925 P:38 He
was just one Man, the perfect Man. He gave His life, and He made an
example for you. Now, what must we do. Now, the first thing I
want to say is: Jesus never lived for Himself. His Life was spent for others.
That's perfectly Eternal Life. When you say you go to church and you do good
things, that's fine. But when you live your life to yourself,
you haven't Eternal Life. Eternal life is living for others. It proved it when
He come in the Lamb of God. He lived and had Eternal Life, because He did not
live for Himself. He lived for others. And you receive Eternal Life by
receiving that day, and you don't live for yourself no more. You live for
others.
Spoken word original seed 62-0318M P:91 Then
the works will be manifested in Him are
the same, for it is the same Seed Word of God. God's Son was
His example Seed. And what His Life was when the Spirit poured
upon Him after His baptism and the Holy Ghost come upon Him, the very Life that
He produced will, that same watering Spirit of the Holy Ghost will bring forth the same kind of a Life, doing the same
thing that He did; if it's the same Seed. Son of God Seed
will bring forth a Son of God Seed.
Let us pray...