Spoken
Word no. 159
The
Character of Christ
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
May 2,
2010
Galatians
2:20 I
am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Colossians
3:1 If
ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God.2 Set your
affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For
ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.4 When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Let us bow our hearts and our heads in prayer. Dear
Loving Father, it is with reverence that we approach Thee this morning, knowing
that had it not been for the love gift of your Son Jesus who shed His precious
blood for our sins, you would not even look down upon our wretched lives, but
now it has been made possible by His shed blood that when you look at us, you are
looking through the blood of Your firstborn, and see our crimson sin as white
as snow, and as wool. Help us Father to die to self, that the Life of Your Son
that was shed on
Now, this morning I would like to read again from
paragraph 174
of The Spoken
Word is the Original Seed because brother Branham said something
that bears more looking into, so let’s read from pp. 174… Now, others
will go by and say, "Well, you know
what, I believe I'll try it a while."
You'll choke. That's right. See? But when you really empty out, say, "Lord Jesus, no more of me, but You from this on," (See?) then it's going to bring forth a
hundredfold. You believe that? I believe it too.
Now, the purpose of my reading this again is because
brother Branham is talking about an attitude that we must have. Not just a
lackadaisical effort that says, well I’ll give it my best effort, no that’s not
what he wanted from us. What he is talking about is a full and complete
surrender of self. A complete dying to self that Christ might live again in our
vessels.
And sometimes we just do not
know what it means to 2 Timothy 2: 12 If we suffer, we shall also
reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: Now,
we know in Romans 8 that it is the chapter where Paul deals with our son-ship
and thus our relationship to God as our Father and Jesus as our Eldest brother
in a vast family of brothers. But not only that, but this is the chapter where
Paul deals with our coming into full manifestation as sons and daughters of
God, and to do so he tells us we must be conformed
to the Image of the first born son, and to get to that place Paul
tells us in Romans 8:17-18 what I
wish to focus on this morning, he says, "And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that
we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us."
Notice that we are told that
if we suffer with him we shall also be glorified together with him. Now, the
word glorified was translated from the Greek Word sun-doxazo which is a combination of two words, the word “sun” meaning “united
together or union” and the word “doxazo”
which means to magnify the doxa
or “to magnify or manifest or express
in our flesh the very opinion, values and judgment” of God.
When Jesus prayed to God in John 17 that we would be one with God even as He
and God were one he said the following words… In JOHN 17:11 he
prays, “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. And how is it that we might be One even
as which means in the same manner as Jesus and His Father were One?
Jesus said, JOHN 17:14 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.
Notice that Jesus tells us we become One with God
through the same Word that He became One With God. JOHN 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them
also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one;
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. 22 And the glory which thou
gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Therefore it is
very apparent that we become One with God and Christ Jesus by receiving the
same Word which brings us into the same Glory or same mind as the Father. Notice
his words, And
the glory (the doxa, the opinions, values, and judgments) which thou gavest me
I have given them; that they may be one,
even as we are one:
Now, in his sermon, HARVEST TIME PHOENIX AZ 64-1212 87 34 Brother
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. 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 you see, if we accept the
same Word that Jesus accepted, Jesus told us that we will br rejected by the
world just as he was rejected. But don’t worry about that, because if we are to
gain his character we must go through the suffering and rejection that he went
through.
From the Church Age Book Chapter 4 - The Smyrnaean Church Age P:18 brother
Branham in quoting the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:17-18 said, said, “Romans 8:17-18 "And if children, then heirs, heirs of
God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so
be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I
reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
“Unless we suffer with Him we cannot reign with Him. You have to suffer to reign. The reason for
this is that character simply is never made without suffering. Character is a
VICTORY, not a gift. A man without character can't reign because power apart
from character is Satanic. But power with character is fit to rule. And since He wants us to share even His throne on the same basis that He
overcame and is set down in His Father's throne, then we have to overcome to
sit with Him. And the little temporary suffering we go through now is not
worthy to be compared to the tremendous glory that will be revealed in us when
He comes. Oh, what treasures are laid up for those who are willing to enter
into His kingdom through much tribulation.”
Notice when James and John came to Jesus with their
mother and asked if they could sit at his right hand and at his left hand when
he entered in to His Kingdom, I want you to notice what Jesus replied to them.
Let’s turn in our Bibles to
Matthew 20:20 and
read, 20 Then the mother of James and
John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully
to ask a favor. 21 “What is your request?” he asked. She replied,
“In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you,
one on your right and the other on your left.” 22
But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup
of suffering I am about to drink?”“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”
23 Jesus told them, “You
will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit
on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has
chosen.”
And I want you
to know that James had his head cut off and John was boiled in oil and sent to
the isle of
Notice in the next verse how upset this made the other disciples and how
Jesus used this to illustrate the right kind of attitude that we must have if
we are to correctly follow his example. 24 When the ten
other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 25
But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this
world lord it over their people, and
officials flaunt their authority over
those under them. 26 But among
you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.
28 For even the Son of Man came
not to be served but to serve others
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
And Paul tells us in
Philippians 2:1 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition
or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only
to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same
as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, in His very nature was as God, did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking
on the nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a
man, he humbled himself even more and became obedient
to death, even death on a cross!
So this
is the nature of the character of Christ Jesus and the Bible says that he
learned obedience by the things that he suffered. And I think if we are honest
with ourselves we will find that most of our suffering comes at the hands of
those we love most. And it is not the suffering that God is looking at, but how
we handle it that really matters to Him.
The prophet Isaiah prophesied of his
suffering more than 400 years before the birth or our Saviour, Isaiah
53: 5
But he
was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed.
Look, the
wounding wasn’t for him, but for us, the bruising was not for him but for us,
the chastisement was not for him but for us, and the stripes was not for him
but for us. That is what real suffering is all about.
In the
Book of Zechariah we see prophecy about Jesus Christ and how he would be wounded,
and when asked where he received those wounds, he said, in the house of my
friends. That is where you will receive your greatest wounds, in the house of
your friends.
ZECHARIAH 13:6 And one shall say
unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands?
Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded
in the house of my friends.7 Awake,
O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that
is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite
the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will
turn mine hand upon the little ones.8 And
it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith
the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and
die; but the third shall be left therein. 9 And
I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine
them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold
is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear
them: I will say, It is my people: and they
shall say, The LORD is my God.
But why must that be? Because to take rejection from
people you do not even know, would mean very little to you, but from those who
you love most, it hurts the most, and you live with it daily and weekly and
perhaps for years. So where can you expect your greatest wounds, and suffering
to come? From those you love most. And how will it come? By not showing you the respect that they give others.
By their scrutinizing every move you make, and assessing their own motives for
everything you do, they remind you constantly of your humanity.
And dear friends, let
me say this, consider first your own motives and your own imperfections before
you critique your loves ones. Do not evaluate others with the same evaluation
you give to yourself. As br. Marconda once said, “if you are going to be a
legalist, be it to yourself, but don’t be a legalist to others.” And
Jesus said, John 7: 24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge
righteous judgment. And what is righteous
judgment? It is judging by the Word, not by what you think is correct for the
occasion.
Now, in closing I want to look at how Jesus Christ
handled personal attacks on himself. Because he told us that we must suffer
with him if we are to reign with him.
Let’s turn to the book of Matthew and read the entire
chapter on into verse 15 of chapter 23. Here I want you to see how he came back
to the Word of God every time when men tried to attack him with words.
Matthew
22 15Then the Pharisees went
out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16They sent their disciples to him
along with the Herodians.
So
first of all let’s look at this scenario. Here you have the Pharisees who were
the professors and teachers of the law in that day. Men who knew the letter of
the law like no other. Now, I do not know for certain if this is true or not, but
I was told 30 + years ago that the Pharisees were so well trained in the law
that they had to know the location of each and every jot and tittle in the Law,
so that you could pass a pin through one letter in the law and they could tell
you each letter it would pass through on it’s way through the scroll.)
And
notice how when men are against you, they do not care who their bedfellows are.
They will join up with their enemies just to strike you down. And that is what
we see here. The Pharisees joined together with the Herodians, which were those
who looked up to Herod. These were very worldly people, so you have the most
self righteous men coming together with the most worldly men to find something
to find fault with the words Jesus had to say.
Now,
look how they talk so sweet to try to get him off his guard, and our lesson is
this, how many times have you fallen off guard yourself when someone used this
approach to get you off your guard and then hit you with a question you were
not looking for? That’s one of the tricks the democrats use all the time. And
that is how they tricked Sarah Palin into not being ready for their questions.
They talked so sweet to her and then bang, they hit her with some pretty
ludicrous questions, and she wasn’t yet street savvy enough to see what was
being done, so she didn’t do so well. But that is the tactic of the devil, and
we are shown here in Scripture how they do it. So be listening up and you will
see how to overcome these kind of attacks.
And Jesus said in Luke 6: 22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall
separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name
as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
And again in Matthew 5: 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Now, in getting back to our story, let’s read again
from verse 15 so you can see his day develop for yourselves, and notice the way
Jesus handles it…15Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they
are. (See how they are building him up before they try to tear
him down?) 17Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to
Caesar or not?" 18But Jesus, knowing
their evil intent, said, "You
hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought
him a denarius, 20and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose
inscription is this?" 21"Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them,
"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's,
and to God what is God's." 22When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and
went away.
Now, here’s the thing, He was aware of their motive for asking the
question, and that is what we should always come back to when someone tries to
trip you up with a question, ask them what their motive is? Why this question,
and what does this question mean to them? Put it back on them. I don’t know how
many times, I guess more than I can think of that the enemy has laid a snare to
try to trip me up when I am over seas teaching the doctrine. They plot and
plan, but if you just don’t try to use your own mind to answer, and let go then God will take over.
The Apostle Paul said in, Philippians 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
So learn to wait on God, and He will give you the answers. I
will never forget way back in 2001 someone in Peru asked me to explain Isaiah 9:6
because he said, it calls the one who is born the mighty God, and the
everlasting father. But I did not answer right away, I asked my Father for the
answer reminding Him what he told us in Philippians 3 that if we be any other
wise minded he would reveal it to us. And then the answer came back when he
told me to just read it very slowly and take it one thought at a time, and so I
did.
And it reads Isaiah 9: 6 For unto us a child is born, And I said, if he is born then he has a beginning, and if he has
a beginning he can not be the everlasting or eternal God…And if he is born then
someone had to be there before him to give birth to him. And if he is born then
this suggests pedigree and lineage, and if he is born this also suggests that
someone had to carry him, and give birth to him, as born suggests to bring
forth
Then I said,
let’s look at the next thought here. unto us a son is given: And I said, if he is given then he is a gift, and the
giver is always greater than the gift. And if he is a gift then who gave him? And
the answer is in John 3:16 for God so lover the world that he gave his only
begotten son. So God is
the giver of the Gift of his son Jesus. Then we reads on, and the government shall be upon his shoulder: Now, in
order for the government to be on this ones shoulder, he would have to be
elevated to that place, and we find the Scripture tells us in the Book of Acts,
2:36 that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ. Now, if God made Him Lord then he wasn't Lord to
begin with. ACTS 5:31 Tells us, Him
hath God exalted with his right hand [to be] a Prince and a Saviour, for to give
repentance to
The
next thought I read was, his
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace. Now, I said, let’s examine this last portion which
deals with the name of this child, this Son that will be born: It said he shall
be called Wonderful, (is
wonderful a name? No.) It said he will be called Counselor, (is
counselor a name? No. It is a title.) It said he shall be called the Mighty God, (is Mighty
God a name? No.) It said he shall be called The everlasting Father, (is father a name? No,) It
said he shall be called The
Prince of Peace (is Prince of Peace a name? No.) Now, there is only
one name of the Ever Lasting Father, there is only one name of the Mighty God, there
is only one name of the Counselor, etc. And that name is Jesus.
And
Jesus told us in John 5:43 that I
come in my Fathers name, and Paul told us in Hebrews chapter
1 that Jesus received that name by inheritance.
So then I asked them what
does it mean when it says, His name shall be “called”.
This word “called” what does it mean?
Well, it was translated from the Hebrew word qara which means “to proclaim”. So we see His name
shall proclaim the Mighty God, His name
shall proclaim the Everlasting Father, for it is the Father’s
name. And Jesus himself told us that no man knew the father but the son and he
came to declare the father.
In John
17: 26 we hear Jesus in
his prayer to His father say, “And I have declared unto them thy name, and
will declare it: that the love
wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. In other words, I
have proclaimed unto them Thy name and will proclaim it. That is the
fulfillment of Isaiah
9:6.
And in we hear the Apostle Paul quote the Old testament, saying.. Hebrews 2: 11 For
both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are
all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in
the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
So we see that Isaiah 9:6 tells us that the Son of God will come
and He will be born and given as a gift and He will proclaim the name of His
Father, the mighty God, the everlasting Father. And that is exactly what Jesus
did. He did not come to declare Himself, He said, the Father worketh and the son worketh
hitherto.
Now,
in getting back to our story of Jesus as we see him attacked by one group and
then the next, I want you to notice how He keeps going to the Word of God for
His answers.
23That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no
resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 "Teacher," they said, "Moses told us that if a
man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have
children for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married
and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the
second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection,
whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to
her?" Now, notice how Jesus handles this attack… 29 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know
the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in
marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. And
then knowing these are Sadducees who do not believe in the resurrection, he
adds the next verse to set them straight on their doctrine… 31But about the resurrection of the dead, AHH
HMMMM!!!! You guys are Sadducees are you not, and you do not believe in the
resurrection from the dead, so he answers them by adding “have you not read what God said to you, 32 'I am, (Not I was, But I am) the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead but of the
living.” 33When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his Doctrine.
Now,
this didn’t stop the conniving Pharisees, they didn’t like it that he had
gotten the best of their last dialogue, so they come back with another plan to
catch him off guard.
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got
together. (O how the devil likes to get his ministers
together to plot and plan against the anointed of God) 35One of them, an expert in the law, put him to the test with this question:
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love
your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang
on these two commandments."
Then
after he answered their question, notice how he took the opportunity to ask
them one himself. 41While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 "What do you think about the
Christ? (What is your opinion about Christ?) Whose SON
is he?" "The son of David," they replied. 43 He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the
Spirit, calls him 'Lord'? For he says, 44" 'The Lord said to my Lord:
"Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under
your feet." ' 45 If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?" 46No one could say a word in reply,
and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. Notice how Jesus took his battles back to the
Word of God each and every time.
We
see the same thing when he was put to the test by the devil himself when he was
fasting in the dessert.
Luke
4:1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned
from
Now to continue with our
story, and as we do I want for you to notice how Jesus tells us of the motives
of the Pharisees, and what their objectives are. So let’s move forward from
Matthew 22 to Matthew
23: 1 Then
Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2" The professors of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses'
seat. 3So you must obey them and
do everything they tell you. But do not
do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4They
tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a
finger to move them.
5"Everything they do is done for men to see:
(notice
how he is showing up their motives) They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the
place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted
in the marketplaces and to have men
call them “The Teacher” 8 "But
you are not to be called 'The Teacher' for you have only one is your Teacher and you are all his brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for
you have one Father, and He is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called 'teacher,'
for you have one Teacher, the Christ. 11He who is the greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself
will be exalted. 13 "Woe
to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! (now, the word hypocrite means a
play actors, acting on the stage of life, playing out the part of someone you
are not.) You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces.
You yourselves refuse to enter, nor
will you let those enter who are trying to. 15 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you (play
actors, acting on the stage of life, playing out the part of someone you are
not) You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as
you are.
So you see, Jesus did not spare them
at all but He used the Word of God to set them straight each and every time.
Because after all he said everything he spoke, he was commanded by His Father
what to say. An he is our pattern.
John 12: 50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I
speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
John 12: 49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he
gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
John 14: 10 the
words that I speak unto you I speak not
of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
And one final word for you to
remember as you depart. Matthew
12: 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth
forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil
things.36 But I say unto you, That every idle word
that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words
thou shalt be condemned.
Matthew 5: 37 But let your communication be,
Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Ecclesiastes
5: 2 Be not rash with thy mouth,
and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in
heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
Let us pray, …