Spoken Word no. 188
God Demands Obedience not Works
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
September 12th, 2010
Matthew 19:16- 20:16 And,
behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do,
that I may have eternal life? 17 And he said unto
him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if
thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18 He
saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not
commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. 20 The young man
saith unto him, All these things have I
kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Notice that he did
everything that he thought was required by God but yet he still felt empty, and
he knew that he was still lacking something. And you know what it was? Jesus
knew that his accumulations had become his god. And he needed to empty himself
of that which drew him away from Christ.
21 Jesus
said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect,
(if thou shalt be of full age and
fully mature) go and sell that thou hast, and give to the
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. 23 Then said Jesus unto his
disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the
kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say unto you, It
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to
enter into the
Chapter
20:1 For
the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out
early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2 And
when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And
he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the
vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth
hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh
hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why
stand ye here all the day idle? 7 They say unto
him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the
vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
8 So
when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the
laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9 And when they came that were hired about the
eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10 But
when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and
they likewise received every man a penny. 11 And
when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought but one
hour, and thou hast made them equal unto
us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13 But he answered one of
them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will
give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15 Is it
not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I
am good? 16 So the last shall be first, and the
first last: for many be called, but few
chosen.
And that is exactly what both of these Scriptures
show. Many are called but only a few are chosen. We read that several times in
paragraph 40 from the Spoken Word is the Original Seed and paragraph where
brother Branham really emphasized that if the Scripture says few it means few.
Now, this morning we will continue in reading from the Spoken Word is the
original Seed and pick up at paragraph 42 "Oh, you know, we used to be Pentecostal. We stood down on the corner with a
tambourine in our hand and prayed;
and the women standing there and their long hair hanging down and praising God
and things like that." Oh, my, goodness, you know better than to do that.
They'd laugh right in your face, a real Christian would. Standing out there
with a pot of bobbed hair up like that and a big pan of paint on like that and
a dress looked like a skinned-down wiener, and going out like that, and. So
does the world know better than that. Shame on you. You had better stay off the
corner... If you can't produce no more than that. I'm not critical, I'm not
beside myself. I'm telling you the Truth, and you'll find out in the days to
come that... But it's just like it's always been; it'll always go over and then
they won't see it till it's too far. They've did it every time. They've done,
done it.
43
Jehovah's bride wanted to go whoring
after the rest of the people, like the rest of them. That's what Jesus'
bride wanted to do. Old Samuel, who the Word came to... who did the Word come
to? the prophets. Why, that old prophet walked up and said, "Now, just a
minute, children. Why do you want to go out after that for?" Said, "Have
I ever told you anything in the Name of the Lord but what come to pass?"
Remember that? How many ever read that? Sure you have. "Have
I ever told you anything in the Name of the Lord but what come to pass? And
another thing, did I go out holding big campaigns, or so forth, and taking all
your money away from you? Did I," he said, "I
ever beg any..." I'm talking about Samuel now,
somebody the Word of the Lord came to. He said, "Did
I ever ask you to take--to put in so much and do such-and-such?"
"No," they said, "no, you never did
that. You never did tell us anything but what was right." He said, "Then
why would you want to go out after that?" And he said, "Samuel,
you're so right, but we want it anyhow."
44
That's just exactly what the Pentecostal church done. That's the reason I don't
join them. Sure, I want to stay a virgin
before God with His Word. Whether they... I don't have to have no great big
shows and things like this; I've refused it. I didn't want to get myself tied
up. That wasn't my wisdom; that was God's wisdom. If I had to go out so I
could--had to "sucker around" with the people and the devil and tell
them, "Yes, I have to have so much for a telecast, and I have to have so
much of this; you got to pay for it," I'd have to pull strings like that
too. But I've never told you nothing in
the Name of the Lord but what would come to pass. I've never told you nothing
but the Word. Judge yourselves. Have
I ever asked you for anything? No, sir. No, God's taken care of that. I don't have no big programs to support.
I wouldn't have one. Everyone that
belongs to God will hear God. Just feel led of the Spirit where to go and what
to do and do that. That's all that's necessary. Keep that, not a great big
money making program with millions of dollars in it-- millions and millions and
millions, and some of them now building millions and billions of dollars in it.
45
I don't feel bad about criticizing; It's due criticism. I don't want to hurt
nobody's feelings, but I'd rather hurt some man's feelings to hurt God's
feelings. If He commissions you and sent
you out here to do these things and proved it amongst the people, then you
ought to hear it. I'm telling you the Truth. God's proving it's the Truth.
Not only signs, but He's proving it by His Word it's the Truth. It's exactly
right.
46
So Jehovah's bride went whoring, and what did she do? she brought forth a bunch of illegitimates again. Is that right?
We know it's the Truth. Even had to be taken away by King Nebuchadnezzar and so
forth. Christ's Bride's done the same.
What's the matter? Can't wait. Oh, no. Huh-uh, just can't wait. They have to manufacture something. They can't wait for the Holy
Spirit to come and get into the church. See, they have to get more in their
denomination. If it'd stayed the way it was back yonder a hundred years ago, or
fifty years ago, when Pentecost first started out in this latter day, when the
Word begin to be preached, if it'd
stayed like that, she
probably wouldn't have had over fifty members today. That's right. But they
would be blood washed. They'd had
the power of God in them. The world
would be shaken under her tremendous impact of the Word flesh being spoke
word by word. But today, why, it's a sounding brass and a tinkling
cymbal. That's right. Just become
nonsense, a laughing block, a disgrace to the world, a disgrace to God.
Let’s see this story
for ourselves about Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:1 And it came to pass, when
Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over
So, let’s see what
happened to the people after a year or so of this king ruling over them that
they just had to have.
1 Samuel 12:1 And
Samuel said unto all
Now, to me that is the
real test of any five fold minister of God as well. If you are true to God and
know that you will answer to the Judge who is standing in our midst, you
wouldn’t think of pulling a deal on the people, or using them for your own
gain. Now, that is not to say, that you can’t make a living, it just means that
making a living is not what motivates your decisions. For God promised to bless
you if you hearken to His Voice and to curse if you do not. So if you are
blessed, that is the fruits of hearkening to the Voice, but if your motive is
wealth, then you are serving the wrong God.
And so having received
the testimony of the people, Samuel, instead of pulling back any punches, he
let the people have it. 5 And he said unto them, The LORD is witness against you, and his
anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found ought in my hand.
And they answered, He is witness. 6 And Samuel said
unto the people, It is the LORD that advanced
Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the
And of course what happened? King Saul did wickedly
and God took him off the scene and delivered the people into the hands of the
enemy. Now, as Saul got bigger and bigger in his own eyes, I want
you to notice how he began to interpret the commandments of God to his own
liking. Just like the serpent did to Eve, and she accepted it so easily enough.
In fact that is what Paul warned the Galatians about
how they also were behaving, themselves. And if you will notice the
similarities between Paul and Samuel, then you will notice also the
similarities between Paul and William Branham, because Paul is the pattern for
every true minister of God.
Church
Age Book Chapter 3 - The Ephesian Church
Age P:20 Paul
founded the church at
23 I Corinthians 14:36-37, "What? came the Word of God out from you? or came it unto you
only? If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him
acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the
Lord." 24 Notice that Paul
was unorganized, but Spirit-led, as when God moved upon Moses to lead Israel
out of Egypt.
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:)"
Galatians 2:3-5, "But neither Titus, who was with me,
being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who
came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they
might bring us into bondage: To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for
an hour; that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you." Notice how Paul called
out their wrong motives.
25 Secondly, his ministry was in
the power of the Spirit, thereby demonstrating the spoken and written Word.
I Corinthians 2:1-5, "And I, brethren, when I came to you,
came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the
testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in
much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith
should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."
Acts 14:8-10, "And there sat a certain man at
Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never
had walked: The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and
perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice, Stand
upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked."
Acts 20:9-12, "And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus,
being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down
with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul
went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for
his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread,
and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. And
they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted."
Acts 28:7-9, "In the same quarters were possessions
of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and
lodged us three days courteously. And it came to pass, that the father of
Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and
prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. So when this was done,
others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed."
II Corinthians 12:12, "Truly the signs of an apostle were
wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty
deeds."
26 Thirdly, he had the evident
fruit of his God-given ministry.
II Corinthians 12:11, "I am become a fool in glorying; ye
have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am
I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing."
I Corinthians 9:2, "If I be not an apostle unto others,
yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostle-ship are ye in the
Lord." II Corinthians 11:2, "For I am jealous over you with godly
jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a
chaste virgin to Christ."
Paul had been the means of
bringing in multitudes of the Gentile sheep; he fed them, and cared for them,
until they brought forth righteous fruit and were prepared to meet the Lord as
a part of the Gentile bride.
In fact we see Paul speak just like Samuel in 2
Corinthians 11:1-3 I would like to read it from the new Translation
called The Message, because the wording is so easy to understand here. Paul
says in verse 1: Will
you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The
thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion
of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented
you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the
Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the
simple purity of your love for Christ.
4-6 It seems
that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But
if you put up with these big-shot "apostles,"
why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I
don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses
you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking
about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything.
7-12 I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming
God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you
wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It
turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free
ride. Not once during the time I
lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the
believers from other countries. I was careful never to be a burden to you,
and I never will be, you can count on
it. With Christ as my witness, it's
a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to
protect you from what your neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love
you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us.
12-15And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me
in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as
something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers,
crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time,
dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his
servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything.
They'll pay for it in the end.
16-21Let
me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to
sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and
let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no,
it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring
preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the
judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an
occasional fool who happens along. You
have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off,
steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to
you, but my stomach isn't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.
21-23 Since you
admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old
friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being
Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they
servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these
things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.)
23-27 I've
worked much harder, been jailed more
often, beaten up more times than I
can count, and at death's door time
after time. I've been flogged five
times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed
in the open sea for a night and a day. In
hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend
off robbers, struggle with friends,
struggle with foes. I've been at
risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and
lonely night without sleep, many a
missed meal, blasted by the cold,
naked to the weather.
28-29 And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When
someone gets to the end of his rope, I
feel the desperation in my bones.
When someone is duped into sin, an angry
fire burns in my gut.
30-33 If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll
brag about the humiliations that make me
like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus
knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in
Yeah, that’s the man God
sends. That’s the man God uses. It’s not an easy road, but one that is fraught
with hardships and loneliness, and brothers pulling deals on you and using you
to make a gathering so they can glean from it. That was Paul’s Life, that was
William Branham’s life and that is the life of any true minister of God who is
walking in the pattern that Paul laid out before us. And Samuel was that way.
1 Samuel 15: 1 Samuel
also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his
people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of
the LORD. 2 Thus
saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to
4 And
Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred
thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of
Notice, they
destroyed the vile and refuse and those things that they wouldn’t have wanted
anyway. But God said destroy everything, the good with the bad, the young with
the old. But did Saul and the people do what God had commanded? No! They did
what they were going to do anyway. Because that is what people do.
They do what they are
going to do because what they do is what the seed in them calls for them to do.
Why? because every seed must bring forth after its own nature.
10 Then
came the word of the LORD unto
Samuel, saying, 11 It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and
hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried
unto the LORD all night. 12 And when Samuel rose
early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to
Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on,
and gone down to Gilgal. 13 And Samuel came to
Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be
thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
What a liar… God said
he didn’t perform what He had told him to do. But you see how deluded people
can get? They think they are doing God a service when they totally go against
the Word of God. And how many times does God have to tell you to do or not do a
certain thing? Once, just once is all.
One time Br. Branham
had told the brethren that sister Shakarian was going to die, and the next day
in service someone got up and said, “thus saith the Lord, she will not die”. After
the service br. Billy Paul said to his dad, “Why
didn’t you tell that person that they were wrong and they didn’t hear from God?”
And br. Branham said, “Because I already told them what God said, and I don’t need
to tell them again.” So how many times do you think God has to tell
you when you are not listening to him…Don’t think you are above His Word. If
God said in His Word, Let the wife be in
subjection to her husband, He means just what He said. Listen, Meda Branham got
angry with her husband and spoken ill towards him just that once and that is
all it took for her to come down with a tumor the size of a grapefruit.
Now, listen sisters,
The Bible calls for a certain conduct from you, and it calls for you brothers
to run your household. It calls for you to keep
your children in line, and it calls for you children to obey your
parents. So don’t think you can get away with back talking your parents, or
showing them disrespect. YOU will reap what you sow. And so Saul said, O
welcome thou blessed servant of the Lord, How are you doing today…I am so glad
to see you, yeah, uh huh? Oh, I have done just like God told me to do, I have
done all that he asked from me to do…. But look what Samuel said, ….
14 And
Samuel said, What meaneth then this
bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
Notice this big hunk
of a man start to blame the others even though he was in charge. I mean after
all he was their king. He let them do what they did, and did not even try to
stop them.
15 And
Saul said, They have brought
them from the Amalekites: for the
people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto
the LORD thy God; and the rest we
have utterly destroyed.
16 Then
Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will
tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him,
Say on. 17 And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the
head of the tribes of
Oh, Samuel, look what a great thing we did. We
kept the best for God? we want to give Him a great big sacrifice for giving us
such a one sided victory. And I can see him now, squirming and trying to hide
the gold and silver that he had put on his wrists and fingers, and he probably
put his hands behind his back to try to get the stuff off his finger sand
wrists, hoping that Samuel wouldn’t notice.
22 And
Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice, and to hearken than
the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Now, I hope you are all listening to this, because
this is the word of the Lord. He said, For rebellion is as
the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. So
if you have a stubborn spirit you had better die brother, sister whoever you
are. You had better crucify that stubborn spirit, that rebellious spirit little
girl, little boy, or God is going to reject you. You rebel against your mother
or father and you might as well rebel against God, because, God set them over
you for life, not just until you are 18 or out of the house. The Bible commands you to honor your father
and mother, period, so not just as long as your father and mother are alive you
are to honor them, but even after their death. So you had better die to self,
and learn to honor God’s Word, because that is “Thus Saith the Lord”.
Then Samuel said, Because thou hast
rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. 24 And Saul said unto
Samuel, (ok, ok, ok) I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the
LORD, and thy words (notice, not God’s words but thy words…but
you see I had an excuse, the people made me do it. That’s what he says here.) because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I
may worship the LORD.
O what a shyster he is. Just like so many I have seen over the years,
you tell them where they went off the Word, and they try to act so Holy, as if
they had some great epiphany and hocus pocus and Now I get it, now I will do
the right thing. But do they? Hah! If you believe that then I have some swamp
land I would like to sell you. But how those who fall into sin, think they can
just cry crocodile tears and everything will be ok. Everything is forgiven… But
is it?
David said in, Psalms 66 : 18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will
not hear me:
So you pray with all
your might my friend but I don’t think God will hear your prayers. If you
premeditate to do wrong thinking if you get caught you can always ask
forgiveness, then you have doubly sinned, because you have committed iniquity
on top of our sin.
As the Apostle Paul
said, I might be
kind of simple in my speech but I’m not stupid. I wasn’t born yesterday.
Now, getting back to 1 Samuel 15:26 And
Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return
with thee: for thou hast rejected
the word of the LORD, and the LORD
hath rejected thee from being king over
Let us pray,
Dear father we have read some very stirring words
today, and stories of your great sovereignty. Help us o God to be ever obedient
to your Word, and to never be pulled to the side by others no matter how right
their motives might be. If you call for us to be doing, then help us to be
doing. Help us to be like your obedient Son Jesus. Help us to be conformed to
the image of Jesus your first born son, and help us to become obedient in all
things, for we ask this in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.
God bless you…