Romans #17, 2:5-11
Sunday February 28, 1998 (Actions speak
Louder than Words)
Brian Kocourek
Last Sunday we spoke from
Romans 2: 5-11 where Paul said, 5 But after or according to thy hardness and unrepentant heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against
the day of wrath and revelation of
the righteous judgment of God; 6 Who
will render to every man according to his deeds: 7 To them who by patient
continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 8 But unto them that are contentious, and do
not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, wrath, tribulation
and anguish, upon every soul of man that
doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the
Jew first, and also to the Gentile: 11
For there is no respect of persons with God.
We spoke on our status with God vs our current standing in which we now find our
selves. We saw here that although God had chosen us in Him before the
foundations of the world that we should
be holy in His presence, yet we do not always see this reflected in our present
condition. Therefore, not seeing what God sees we can get discouraged.
Therefore, last Sunday we
looked at our status with God vs our present condition or standing that we now
find ourselves in. We then can see that if God chose us to be a certain way
then He had to have a plan to get us there. This is call predestination and is
different from election in that election is the choosing out and positionally
placing as sons whereas predestination is the plan to get you their and the
implementation of that plan. Now, this evening I would like to continue in our
study of the Book of Romans and we shall begin at verse 12 of chapter 2.
Romans 2:11 For there is no respect of
persons with God. 12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law:
and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; 13 (For not the hearers of the law [are] just before God, but the doers of
the law shall be justified. 14 For when the Gentiles,
which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these,
having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the
law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and [their]
thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
Here Paul is teaching us
that it is the Jew who would say, we know the law and therefore we do the law
and they go before God with an attitude that says, we are the seed of Abraham
and therefore we should reap the inheritance of Abraham and anything contrary
we do not think that we should reap. Now, the gentiles have a different
argument against receiving the judgment of God and that is the gentile would
say, we never knew the law therefore we can not be guilty of breaking the law.
And Paul’s answer to both of them is that it is not what you know or do not
know, but it is what you have sewn that matters. In verse 6 he said that God
will render unto every man according to the deeds that have been done in the
flesh. He is telling them that although they have never received the revealed
law as did the Jew, they did however receive the law of God written in their
own hearts and they can not escape the fact that they did not know better,
because they did.
You can go into heathen
countries like Japan and they have laws against killing and against lying and against stealing and against committing adultery and against fraud
and against libel and slander and etc., etc., etc. They do not have these laws because they
believe in the One true God, but they have these laws because God had written
them in each man as part of His great creation. Notice back in chapter one, He
said, Romans 1: 19 ¶ Because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them;....Man was
created in the image of God and therefore they are without excuse. They don’t
believe not because they haven’t had the opportunity, but because they refuse
the light and turn it down.
Let’s turn to [John 3: 18-21]
Notice also in [1 John 2: 19-23] This goes for all the
Truth. They leave it because they do not believe it, and thus they say no to it
and turn against it.
Brother Branham told us that
when God gave him his commission it was from [2 Tim 4 1-5] Notice that at the end-time they shall turn away their
own ears from hearing the Truth. I
don’t see anyone out here twisting arms. We’ve had people leave this church,
and the message entirely and I don’t recall one person being told to leave. A
few I would rather did not come back once they left, but noone was forced to
leave.
Romans #17, 2:5-11
Sunday February 28, 1998 (Actions speak Louder than
Words)
But they willfully turn away
from the Truth. It is in their will to do so or not do so and they chose to do
so, therefore the onus is on them and noone is responsible except for
themselves. Now, in [1 Tim 4:1] we are told that at the
end-time some will depart from THE FAITH, and we know it is because they will
take heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. But they are not forced
to do so. (Read)
Notice in brother Branhams
commission verse 3 the scripture says that they will heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears. Now this does not tell us that the teachers have
itching ears, but the people have itching ears and they heap to themselves
teachers who will scratch their itch. The Wuest translation says, “For
the time will come when they will not endure our wholesome doctrine in that
they will hold themselves firmly against it, but, dominated by their own
personal cravings, they having ears that desire merely to be gratified, shall
gather themselves together an accumulation of teachers. In fact from the truth
they also will avert their ears, and as a result, they shall receive a moral
twist which will cause them to believe that which is fictitious.
The Weymouth Translation
says, “For a time is coming when they will no longer tolerate wholesome
instruction, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will turn away from
listening tot he truth and will turn aside to fables.
And the Amplified version
says, For the time is coming when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and
wholesome instruction, but having ears itching for something pleasing and
gratifying, they will gather to themselves, one teacher after another to a
considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the
errors that they hold.
[Hosea 4:9] And there shall be like people , like
priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
The scripture plainly tells
us here that God will allow to be raised up a ministry that will speak to the
people the things they like to hear. You know, that is everywhere you look
today.
And let’s face it, when
brother Branham said, “How we ought to love one another, you that
love thins Word.” He was just speaking of the principal or the law of
reproduction. Like things will gather together with like things. Birds of a
feather will flock together. And that
is every where. There are hardly any wars which are not brought on by religion. The Baptist love the
Baptist, and they call one-another Brother. The Methodist love Methodist. The
Pentecostal love Pentecostal. The Muslim loves Muslim, and Catholic loves the
Catholic. Why even the agnostic gathers around other agnostics. Why? Because
every seed must bring forth after their own kind. There really is no mystery
here.
And why are we here tonight.
Let’s face it. You are here because you believe that God is here. We believe
this message the same way. We find ourselves hearing brother Branham telling us
things in a way that we don’t hear repeated in the other local churches. You go
to Middletown and you won’t hear this Message brought out the same way. You can
go to Fairborn and the same thing applies. Why? You tell me.
Does that make us something?
No, it doesn’t. We believe we have the Truth, and they believe that they have
the Truth. The Catholic believes that He has the Truth, and so does the Muslim.
But then who is right? And that is why we are different. we focus on
vindication. Yes, vindication. Not as others teach it that we are vindicated.
But we believe that God Himself does the vindicating by His very presence, and
that He has spoken through a vessel, a prophet who was so yielded to His Divine
Word that He spoke Thus Saith the Lord. Now the Muslim believes they are
following a prophet of God, but they do not understand vindication. The
Pentecostal believer in this Message believe they are following a prophet, and
so they are and yet because they do not understand vindication, they do not
know what to believe except that God sent a prophet.
In Moses day the Egyptians
followed their priests and their leader pharaoh, which brother Branham called
him pastor pharaoh, but the children of Israel followed a prophet that was
vindicated by God’s Presence among them. After a while some of the men who also
wanted to be leaders rose up and they pointed to themselves just as Lucifer did
in the beginning. They saw the Exodus as an opportunity to be something more
than what they were called to do, and so they rose up and defied Moses.
Romans #17, 2:5-11
Sunday February 28, 1998 (Actions speak Louder than
Words)
For you see, they had to
first depose Moses in front of the
people in order to elevate themselves. Lucifer had to exalt himself above the
stars in order to make himself more important and give himself a position that was beyond what he was
called to do.