The Doctrine of Christ no 29
“Until Christ be formed in you”
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
November 9th, 2011
Romans 8:18 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. (Look, this is the
hour that the Glory, the doxa, the values, opinions, and judgments of God are
to be revealed in us.) 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God. 20 For the
creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who
hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the
creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth
and travaileth in pain together until now. Look, it’s
groaning and travailing because it is not in the condition it was meant to be
in. 23 And
not only they, but ourselves also,
which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even
we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of our body.
Now, we are not going to focus tonight on what this manifestation is
because I have already taught on that 5 years ago in the Masterpiece series.
And to basically fill you in on what I taught, I showed how there is only one
verse of Scripture that actually speaks on the manifestation of the sons of God
and that is verse 19 of Romans 8. However you can not understand this verse
without first reading verse 18 which speaks of the doxa of God being revealed
in us.
In other words, you can not have manifestation which is something outward
without first having some inward take place. So The apostle Paul speaks of Some
thing being revealed in us then he speaks of that something manifesting itself.
Now, many people chase after the idea that the manifestation of the sons
of God is some great super duper expression in the Bride, and I believe it is
just the opposite. It is the nature of the Son of God being first revealed to
the Sons of God and then being revealed in the Sons of God by the new birth.
Brother Branham said, Christ is the mystery
63-0728 P:12 Look, Christ
in you makes Him the center of Life of the revelation. (now, what’s that brother Branham? He said Christ in you makes Him the center of Life of the revelation. So
what does that mean? It means you’re not even in the equation. It means you are
dead and your life is hid with God in Christ Jesus. In fact that is exactly
what the Apostle Paul taught in . Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Let me continue
reading what brother Branham has to say about the new birth from Christ is the mystery 63-0728 P:12 Look, Christ in you makes Him the center of Life
of the revelation. See? Christ's Life
in you makes Him the center of the revelation.
Now, notice he says
that twice for emphasis. First he says Christ in you , but just in case the
people did not understand how Christ could be in you, he then says, Christ's Life in
you makes Him the center of the revelation
Now, if you still have
a problem with having to be the center of attention, you have not died to your
self yet. William Branham is explaining the new birth that it is a revelation
that takes place within you. And Since he is talking about the revelation of
Jesus Christ, we might as well add what the apostle John said as well about the
revelation of Jesus Christ. In 2 John 9 he said, for John said in 2 John 9 Whosoever
transgresseth, (whosoever goes beyond the limits) and abideth not in
the doctrine of Christ, (and remains not in the doctrine of Christ) hath not God. He
that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
Now, simply put, if
you do not have this revelation of Jesus Christ revealed in you, somewhere you
have ventured outside the boundaries of the doctrine of Christ and thus you do
not have God and neither are you echoing God. Because that word hath was
translated from the Greek word “echo” which means the same thing as the English
equivalent.
Now, back to brother
Branham’s quote about the new birth. He continues “Christ in the Bible, makes the Bible a complete revelation of Christ”. Now, I
hope that is not too deep for you, because this Bible is His Story. It’s all
about Him. And then he says, “Christ in you (remember
he is talking about Christ-Life, so Christ-Life in you) makes
you the complete revelation of the whole thing.
Now, don’t take his
words wrong and run with them. It’s not all about you, it’s all about him
living his life out through you. You are dead and your life is hid remember?
Then he says, ‘See, what God's
trying to do? What is the new birth
then? You say, "Well, Brother Branham, what is the new birth?" It is the revelation of Jesus Christ
personally to you. Amen. See? Not you joined a church, you shook a hand;
you done something different; you said a creed; you promised to live by a code
of rules; but Christ, the Bible... He is the Word that was revealed to you. And
no matter what anybody says, what takes place, it's Christ. Pastor, priest, whatever it might be... It's Christ in you. That is a--the revelation that the Church was built
upon.
Again, he is still
talking about Christ’s very life living itself out in you. That is exactly what
the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet it is not I that am living, but Christ-Life is living 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.
Now, we all know that faith is a revelation, so he is living by the
revelation of Jesus Christ.
Leadership
65-1207 P:59 And
like a baby formed in its mother's womb, when the baby comes into the--to the
mother's womb, by the little germ, it crawls into the egg. It doesn't form one
cell a human, the next a dog, and the next a cat, and the next a horse. It's
all human cells because it's building off of an original human cell. And when a
man has been born again by the Word of God, predestinated to Eternal Life,
called the Elected, it'll be Word of God
on top of Word, Word on Word. Not a denominational creed and then a Word,
and a creed; and it won't work. You can't have that leaven in It. Only one Eternal Life, Jesus Christ the
Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelled among us."
From his sermon, Divine Healing 54-1219M P:59
Brother Branham said, “Now,
you notice those people who set and say, "Well, I accept the Lord."
You take their word for it. I would too. I can't judge. God does. But in ten years from now, they've never progressed a bit, just
staying right in the same old place. See? We grow daily. Each day our
heart hungers, keeps moving on. There's something growing inside of you. Amen.
You get bigger, spread out, can take
more, …Paul told the Corinthians church, said, "You're
maturing growing. But when you ought to be teachers, you're still babes needing
teaching (Is that right?)
when you ought to be teachers," something in there growing out,
pushing out, making bigger, the Holy
Spirit, growing. The new birth... If
a birth is born from the inside out, the child, it grows if it lives. If it
doesn't, it remains. Is that right? Well,
when a birth is on the inside, shouldn't it grow? The Christ in your heart
ought to be growing daily, getting bigger, more powerful, understanding things
better, forgiving, walking on as God would, till Christ be formed in you,
the hope of glory.
So let’s take a look at these last two statements he says here. The Christ in your heart ought to be
growing daily, getting bigger, more powerful, understanding things better,
forgiving, walking on as God would, till Christ be formed in you, the
hope of glory.
The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in
birth again until Christ be formed in you, Now, to understand what this means if you will read the entire book to
Galatians and especially the 4th chapter, But has been teaching them
how that Christ is to live out his life in each of us, and as we grow in Christ
His own Life is forming in us.
In his sermon, Queen of Sheba 61-0119E P:80 brother Branham
said, “As I said this morning, if the first branch of the vine
brought forth a Pentecostal church, every real branch out of that vine will
bring forth another Pentecostal church. But we got a lot of grafted branches,
and they bring forth after their kind. We got Methodist branch grafted into it, Baptist branch,
Pentecostal branch, every other kind of
branch. It bears its own fruit. You can take a orange tree and put a
grapefruit in it. It'll live off the life of that tree, but it'll bear grapefruit. Put a lemon in there, it'll bear lemon, not
an orange, yet it's living off of orange
life. See, any citrus fruit...Any
church professing to be Christian thrives off of the glory and praises of
Christ. But it can't bear the fruit.
It won't bear the Life of Christ until
Christ puts forth that branch Himself.
And who do you believe
has come down in this Hour to do just that?
Then it'll
write another Book of Acts behind it (that's right), because it is the acts of the Holy Spirit in the
church. See? That's the way it is tonight, Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today, and forever.
Now, listen you can
crow at me all you want but those are the words of a vindicated prophet of God.
I am sorry, but if you think the Message is that God came down just to
restore the doctrine you aren’t seeing the entire picture. He is not coming for
an intellectual Bride, he is come for a Bride that is conformed to the image of
Christ.
Is your life worthy 63-0630E P:65 A
Christian is not a tool or some kind of a mechanical wrench to a great big
religious regime. That's right. A
Christian's not some kind of a tool that keeps a religious organization moving.
A Christian... That is not a Christian. A
Christian is to be Christ-like. And a
Christian cannot be a Christian until Christ comes into the man, the Life of
Christ in him. Then it produces the
Life that Christ lived, and you do the things that Christ did. What am I talking
about? Personal relationship to Christ.
What is it? Is your life worthy of the Gospel?
The people were fussing in Galatians and Paul said when you ought to be
teachers you are still babes fussing and fighting with one another. And he
said, Galatians 4:19 My
little children, (not adults, not
elect ladies, but little children) of whom I travail
in birth again until Christ be formed in
you,.
Now, the word “form” here
was translated from the Greek word “morphoo”,
which means to shape you. Paul was looking for the Holy Spirit to mold and
shape the elect into mature sons and daughters of God, not a bunch of
infighting little children.
From his sermon, Modern events made clear by
prophecy 65-1206 P:47 he said, “Pentecost,
that's why Luther lost his message. That's how Wesley lost his message. See? If
the Wesleyan church would've went on, they'd been Pentecostals. If the
Lutherans went on, they'd been Methodists. See? And now, if the Pentecostals go
on, it'll be the Bride. If you hang back and keep going back in the
world like you're going now, you'll be lost. It'll only be the shuck and the
stalk, is to be burned. You know that. He'll gather His wheat into the garner. But the husks He'll burn
with unquenchable fire, although it was a carrier. It certainly
carried it, but the Life left it as soon as it become a leaf, it went on out to
make something else until it come to its full statue. And so will the church
come through justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost
(restoration of gifts), right on into the
formed image of Christ. Christ is the Bridegroom; the Church is the
Bride; and the Bride is a part of the
Bridegroom. It'll have to be a Word
church, not a denominational church. It'll
be the Word church, the Word that's made known by the vindicated Word of
God.
Which I might add, can
only become formed through this vindicated Message.
Brother Branham said in his sermon, Marriage of the lamb 62-0121E P:45 When
you come into Christ, you're no more of the world; you are of Christ. You care not
then for the things of the world. They're dead to you. "For he that loves the world, or the things
of the world, the love of God's not even in him."
(You see?), you can't be a artificial Christian. You can be a artificial
professed Christian, but you can't be a
Christian until Christ injects Himself
by the baptism of the Holy Ghost into you. Then you're connected with Him, and you're no longer twain; you are one. Christ promised to be in us, as the Father was in Christ. "I
and My Father are One. You and I are One," (See?) Christ in us.
Then why do we think
we are one just because we have the right doctrine? That is just one fruit in
the woman’s head dress. But there are 9 others as well, and why is it that we
hardly see those nine fruits of the spirit in the people today?
Images of Christ 59-0525 P:38 Lord,
may we receive His Spirit tonight. May that be the hunger of every heart in
here. You seen the hands that went up, Lord. Not to say creeds, or not to join
churches, or fuss upon these things or that, but to be humble in our hearts, to be made conformed to the image of God,
may it be done by the Holy Spirit, Lord. May God's Holy Spirit make us, not by intellectual's conception that
we should be and we'll act like it, but... That's adopted baby. But, Lord, may it really happen by the Holy Ghost in a
new birth, that transforms us by the renewing of our spirit to make us like Him.
Hear my prayer, Lord. It's feeble; I know, Lord. It's feeble. Not only am I
praying for those who held their hands, but for my own hands who went up. Make me like Him. God, no matter what
You have to do to me, what planes I have to come on, make me like Him. I want to
be like Jesus in my heart. Grant it, Lord. And not only me, but make all
these here tonight thus. Grant it, Father, for we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.
And that is exactly
what William Branham vindicated prophet of God said in Questions and answers COD 59-0628E P:115 And if you have not received the Holy Ghost, and your life does not feel sweet, no
matter if you spoke in tongues, if you've shouted, if you've jumped
up-and-down, if you've laid hands on the sick and they recovered, if you have
done all kinds of miracles and signs, if
you haven't got the fruits of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
goodness, meekness, gentleness, patience, faith and all these things in you,
then I command you and constrain you in the Name of Jesus Christ to not cease
praying until the Holy Ghost comes on you. No matter how much you've spoke
in tongues, how much you've shouted, how long you've been a church member, if
you've been here, what all you've done will have nothing to do with it until
Christ, the Holy Spirit, takes His place in your heart and you're dead to the
things of the world and live anew to Christ.
Images
of Christ 59-0525 P:39 brother, to be a Christian means to be conformed to
the image of Christ. We want to be
living images, not pack an image, but be an image of the Lord Jesus. There's
a little song that I want you to help me sing right now. I don't know; I can't
sing it, but I'm sure you all can. "Help
Me To Be Like Jesus." How many ever heard it? I know we all want to be
that way. So let's sing it to Him. I'm conscious that the great Holy Spirit is
here. You couldn't hide. David said, "I make my bed in hell, yet He will
be there." He's--He's going to be everywhere. So, He's right here tonight.
He knows every move, every action, everything that we do, every look, every
thought. He knows all about it. Don't you believe that? So to be like Jesus, to be like Jesus, On earth I long to be like Him;
All through life's journey from earth to glory I only ask to be like Him.
Identification 63-0123 P:89 Or
do you find yourself identified with His true disciples? Amen. That's where we
want to be: true to Him, true to His Word. Stay
up in the face of critics. Amen. Is that where you find yourself identified
tonight? Thank the Lord. Amen. Letting
the Life of Christ flow through them... Yes, sir. They had been sanctified
by His coming. And a sinful man, upon confession... And sanctification had
cleansed them, and their hearts were so
centered to God until Christ poured Himself into them and reflect His Presence
to the world. In the face of critics
they stood like He did. They stood true to the Word, even till one said,
"Thou almost persuadest me to be a Christian,"
one of the critics.
Now, in getting back to our text, Paul spoke of travailing with our
childbirth until Christ be formed in us. And not only did Paul travail, but we
also read that the whole creation is groaning and travailing together for the
sons of God to finally manifest themselves as sons of God and not like little children.
Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20 For
the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him
who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now. Look, it’s groaning and travailing because it
is not in the condition it was meant to be in. 23 And
not only they, but ourselves also,
which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even
we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of our body.
Notice, groaning and travailing. Now we saw why Paul was travailing for
the children of God, because of all the cat fights they were having. And instead
of getting caught up into the little squabbles here and there, just forget
about it and give it over to God. One of the brethren overseas asked why I
didn’t fight with a certain preacher who was lambasting me from his pulpit, and
I told her “because
I don’t fight with children”. And let’s face it, the behavior of
little children is almost comical when they are having their little disputes.
Have you ever stopped to realize how little the issues usually are? And
even in families, the kids fussing or amongst siblings, most of the fussing is
over such trivial things. And I blame the five fold ministry because their job
is to bring the children to perfection which is maturity so that they are no
longer tossed to and fro by every wind. But usually they are the ones who start
the whole mess.
Brother Branham said in his sermon, Inner man
53-1212 P:12 Would you like to know what I think the
greatest need of the church today? Would you like to know What
I think... Where I think the lacking is?
Is a no soul travail. The people are not broke up enough. There's no burden seemingly. And you give me
someone that's just so tore up about lost souls that they just cry and are
wanting a revival so bad till they can hardly eat, just simply can't...If
you'll read the history of the world and the religious history, you'll find out
it always taken that kind of a spirit to
bring a revival. That's right. See? When
And all creation is groaning watching the childish nature of the sons of
God. Why? Because they know they are waiting on us to be restored to our
rightful place that we lost in the garden.
Breach
the 63-0317E P:45 Now, something's
lost, and it's groaning. It's trying to get back to be back to its original
condition. Would you imagine someone falling from the earth down into a
deep pit somewhere, and was struggling, climbing, pulling... They must, by some
means, get out of this pit. They're not in their original state, and
frantically they're screaming; they're clawing the walls, making a noise or
doing some way. They're groaning because
that they want to get back to their original state.
Revelation
chapter 5 pt 1 bruised serpent 61-0611 P:45 But now, now, they've been
all those years until now, now we have the Earnest of our inheritance. Oh, my,
my. What do we have? We have the evidence that God lives. We have the evidence
that God is with us. We have the evidence that God has not forsaken us, that we
are His and He is ours, because we, in our bodies we now tabernacle the Holy
Spirit of God that cries out, "Abba, Father." And there's nothing can
ever take that away. We are anchored in Christ. Now, the trees does not have it; nature does not have it; but yet we
are still groaning with them because as yet we haven't received the fullness of
our adoption. But we have the Earnest of it, that we were picked up from
the things of the world and now become sons and daughters of God. What kind of
people should we be? Oh, my, when we think of that... Think of it. Now, we have
the Earnest; our spirit's groaning for
the full adoption, but now we have the Earnest of it. As we receive the Holy Spirit, It is the Earnest of our complete
adoption or complete salvation. Oh, how beautiful. I just love that. All
right.
Christ is the mystery 63-0728 P:85 Now,
that's when He can express the preeminences. You see? He's got the man or the
person so that he knows nothing but
Christ. You get what I mean? All right. That's secondly. First, to express
Hisself completely: God in Christ. Second,
to have the preeminences by this in His Church (which is His Body, Bride)
to... He could have the preeminence to
express Himself through them. All right. And thirdly, to restore the Kingdom to its rightly position that fell by sin by
the first Adam, back to where He walked
in the cool of the evening with His people, talked with them, fellowshipped
with them. And now sin and death had separated them from His Presence and His entire expression. Do you read it?
Faithful
Abraham 61-0312 P:70 And all
the world is groaning, waiting for the manifestations of the sons of God,
waiting for the church to get back in its place again, sons of God to be made
manifest, waiting for that hour. Hope that don't hurt, but I just had to
say it. See? The church is so far away
from its place. It needs to be back
to be sons of God again: rulers, governors of the earth, under the
spiritual reign it will be someday, when the chief One comes, Jesus Christ, the
great millennium. Nature's groaning for that day.