The Doctrine
of Christ no 33
God proving His People
November 23, 2011
Brian Kocourek
Deuteronomy 18:
15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the
midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me (Moses); unto him ye shall
hearken; (The word hearken means to listen carefully to, to be
attentive, be diligent to consider. Notice the promise is made that of thy own
brethren shall the Lord raise up a prophet from thy very midst. In other words
if God is dealing with the Jews that prophet will be a Jewish prophet, and He
is dealing with the Gentiles, that prophet must be a Gentile. Look, Moses was
raised up from the Jewish race although he was educated as a Gentile. The Jews
would never have received him if he were Gentile. Paul was Jewish although raised
up in a Greek home. He knew the ways of both Jew and Greek, and was able to
communicate to both, and thus was able to take the Gospel to the nations. But
at the end-time, God has sent a Gentile prophet to a Gentile people. A
Christian prophet to a Christian people. And notice God said, )
16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb
in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD
my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. (Now this took place in Exodus 33 and 34. Here we find
the people are camped at
Exodus 33: 1
And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people
which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I
sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give
it: 2 And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite,
the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the
Jebusite: 3 Unto a land flowing with
milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a
stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way. 4 And when the people heard these evil
tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. 5 For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto
the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the
midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy
ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. (let's skip tp vs 9
to save some time) 9 And it came to
pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and
stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. 10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar
stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every
man in his tent door. 11 And the LORD
spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned
again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed
not out of the tabernacle. 12 And Moses
said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou
hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know
thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. 13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have
found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may
find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. 14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee,
and I will give thee rest. 15 And he
said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16 For wherein shall it be known here that I
and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with
us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are
upon the face of the earth. 17 And the
LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou
hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. 18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy
glory. 19 And he said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before
thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on
whom I will shew mercy. 20 And he said,
Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a
place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put
thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou
shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
34:1
And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first:
and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables,
which thou breakest. 2 And be ready in
the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself
there to me in the top of the mount. …
Now let's skip ahead to vs 29 And it came to pass,
when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in
Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the
skin of his face shone while he talked with him. 30 And when Aaron and all the children of
Now that we
have the background let's continue back in Deuteronomy 18 and pick up at vs 17 And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken
that which they have spoken. 18 I will
raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put
my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that
whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will
require it of him. (In other words, you had better listen or else.) 20 But the prophet,
which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him
to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet
shall die. 21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which
the LORD hath not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD,
if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD
hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not
be afraid of him.
Now, in John chapter 4 we hear the story of
the woman at the well, and when Jesus discerned her life "She said,
"Sir, I perceive that You are a Prophet." She said, "We haven't
had one for four hundred years. And I would like to ask the
question, how long has it been since God Himself has come and stood Mouth to
Mouth with a prophet? Remember, Wesley was not a prophet. He did not have Thus
Saith the Lord. Luther was not a prophet, he did not have Thus Saith the Lord.
Columba, Martin and Ireneaus were not prophets, they were Messengers, with a
Message to the church, but they were not Vindicated Prophets.
In the Book of
Deuteronomy God tells us the difference between someone whom God simply
speaks to, and a Prophet that He stands behind or vindicates. We've already
seen such a prophet spoken of in the Book of Deuteronomy
chapter 18.
God promised such a prophet and said if
you do not listen to that Prophet surely he will require it of you. Now, many
will say that, that was speaking of Jesus. But we are told in the book of acts
that it is yet to come.
ACTS 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the
Lord; 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ,
which before was preached unto you: 21
Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things,
which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world
began.
Now, notice these words
until the restitution of all things, so this has not happened yet by Paul's
day, for it speaks of the day coming where all the entire Word will be
restored.
22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord
your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in
all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.
23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that
prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
Now that did not happen in
Jesus day, but we know the wrath of God is on it's way, and in fact is in the
earth now just waiting for the Elect to be taken out of the way, that the wrath
of God will belch forth like never before, because this 7th Angel brought for 7
last vials which are the seven plagues, and they are here now, ready to come
forth upon all mankind. Remember, when Moses called for the plagues, so did
Jannes and Jambres, but Jannes and Jambres could bring on the plagues but they
did not know how to get rid of them. And so with the Governments of the world.
Brother Branham said they are manufacturing germ warfare in the nations labs,
and will user them one day on each other.
Brother Branham said from GOD ONLY POROVIDED
WAY FOR HEALING 42, Listen, did you
know the Bible predicts that in the last days, that they'll be a germ warfare?
That diseases will break out upon the people, and will fall on everyone without
the baptism of the Holy Spirit? But with the Angel or who had charge over these
plagues was given orders to touch no one on whom the mark was. Why, how much,
kind of teachers have we got to be, brethren, to get the church in order to be
in that condition? Immune.
Planting the
vine and where to plant it 59-0920 14 Moses
called for plagues, and they could call plagues too. But they could not take the plagues away. They couldn't heal, because God is the only Healer. But they could
cause plagues to come; then Moses took them away. And then, the final showdown
came where Moses did just as God told him to do. And I know all this that's
dividing the world today is finally going to come to one great showdown
someday, 'cause the Bible said, "As
Jambres and Jannes withstood Moses; so will men with reprobate mind concerning
the faith withstand in the last days. But their follies will be made manifest.”
It's a prophecy that must be fulfilled. And you can see both sides a rising
now.
Now we are
looking at the fact God has sent a prophet and he said if you will not hearken
to His words, God will require it from you. And God also promised to test our
faithfulness to His Word.
First of all let's look to Deuteronomy 13
to see what the main objective is in the servants of God.
Deuteronomy 13:1 If there arise among
you a prophet (Now, I hope we all understand what that means. It
means if there comes forth someone, anyone from among you that comes as a
prophet), or (He says, and this word
OR is a big word, because he is saying not only someone claiming to be a
prophet, but anyone who comes forth as a ) a dreamer of dreams, and Now here is that word AND
again, so we know it is going to link two things. Therefore, he’s linking the
fact that this person has dreams with this person also having some form of
manifestations as well. AND giveth thee a sign or a wonder, (in other
words we are talking about anyone, whether they are male or female, young or
old, Teacher, Pastor, Evangelist, Apostle, or even a legitimate Prophet and he
comes with any kind of a sign or signal, something that shows an outward
manifestation, or some sort of indication and then God qualifies this
manifestation or indication by saying, or (and here is that big word OR again,
OR he brings you) a wonder (a miracle)
2 And (Now, remember, AND is a conjunction which links two
things together) AND
the sign (the signal, the outward manifestation) or the wonder
(the miracle) come
to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which
thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer
of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD
your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Now let's just
stop here a moment. God is speaking here, and He is telling His people that if
any man, woman or child comes and seems to have some sort of spiritual
manifestations in their life, and they point you to any other Object of Worship
other than the One True God, He is telling us that He not only allows this to
happen, but He purposely does this in order to test you. And He says in verse
3, Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of
dreams: (Thou shalt not hearken which means to intelligently listen in order to
obey that prophet or dreamer of dreams, and then He tells us why.) for the LORD your God
proveth you,(The Lord will put you to the test. And fore what
Purpose will the Lord do this?) to know whether ye
love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
(He's checking two things here. First He's checking your heart, which is your
understanding, and secondly but no less important, He's checking your soul
which is the very essence of your nature, or who you are.)
Now in the next
verse God tells us what He expects from us. He says, 4 Ye shall. Ye shall what? That
means there is something God wants for you to do. Ye Shall
#1) walk after the LORD your God, and
#2) fear him, and
#3) keep his commandments, and
#4) obey his voice, and
#5) ye shall serve him, and
#6) cleave unto him. (That means to follow closely to
and hold onto dearly. Up through this point it looks like there are only six
things here that God requires from you concerning Him, but if you will
carefully notice there is one more thing, and it is this thing that the people
fail to do. Notice He said… And, and that is number seven.
#7) And we know that SEVEN is completion,
it's the all of what God requires… And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to
death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which
brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of
bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to
walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
This has been the big
stumbling stone not only in this message, but even in this church over the
years. Notice in the next verse we see that God tell us, "I don't care who
it is, and I don't care what sort of relationship you have to that
person".) He says,
6 If thy brother,
the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom,
or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us
go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7
Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or
far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the
earth;
8 #1) Thou shalt not consent unto him,
#2) nor hearken unto him;
#3) neither shall thine eye pity him,
#4) neither shalt thou spare,
#5) neither shalt thou conceal him:
9
#6) But thou
shalt surely kill him;
#6A) thine hand shall be first upon him to put him
to death, and
#6B) afterwards the hand of all the people.
10 #7) And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he
hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out
of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
11 And all
#1) hear, and
#2) fear, and
#3) shall do no more any such wickedness as this is
among you.
Look, we have
seen the people time and time again fail to take heed to this seventh
expectation from the Lord our God. Why? Because, most people believe that blood
is thicker than water. Oh, surely not my kid. Kill My kid? Maybe my wife, or
maybe my husband, but my child? Now, look how he says to kill them… God tells
us,
#1) Thou shalt not consent unto him, What does that
mean? They have no say anymore. They have no hold on you, they have nothing to
offer, period.
#2) nor hearken unto him; This means don't even listen
to what they have to say. Don't let them even have a platform to speak in their
defense. They have nothing to say, period.
#3) neither shall thine eye pity him, Oh, if this
hasn't been the straw on the camels back. You feel sorry for the child that
speaks heresy, and so by feeling sorry for them, you do not allow the Word of
God to become effective in that child's life. You keep trying to undo what God
is doing. Brother Branham said character comes from suffering but you will not
let your child suffer, and therefore have stifled any character development in
that child.
#4) neither shalt thou spare, We know that the
Scripture tells us to spare not the rod, or you will spoil the child.
#5) neither shalt thou conceal him: 9
#6) But thou shalt
surely kill him; How much plainer can it get. This means if they are
dead to you, you can not hear them, you can not spoil them, you can not give in
to them, etc. In other Words, there is nothing you can do for them, period. And
then he says, this is how you are going to do it…
#6A) thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, You
are supposed to be the first to make this child or whoever a non person. You
don't hear their complaints, you don't try to make excuses for them, you don't
try to spare, conceal, pity, listen to or give consent to. And once you have
done this first, then you are to pass it along to the rest of the believers so
they will deal with them as you are doing.
#6B) afterwards the hand of all the people.
You know there was a time in this country when people worked that way. If I got
in trouble while at my friends house, his dad spanked me and then when I got
home my own parents did the same all over again. If I did wrong in school,
first the school got a hold of me and then my parents did the same, so I always
got it twice, because 2 is a witness. And the whole community showed agreement
that way. The community ad standards and that is how they were enforced.
#7) And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die;
That person whosoever it be is stoned. Put to death, no longer having any
influence in the community. Not in your home, and not in the community. Dead is
dead. You've heard the old expression, "Dead horses don't kick,"
well, a dead son, or daughter, or friend, has no voice, has no influence, has
no rights, has no say at all. You don't spare because there is nothing there to
spare. You don't conceal because there is nothing to conceal. You don't pity
because there is nothing to pity. You don't consent to nor hearken to because
there is no-one there to consent to nor hearken to, because they are dead to
you.
If some of the
people I have known over the years would have done this to their children, they
would still be walking with the Lord today. How, do you expect God to correct
what you are covering up for, consenting to, pitying, listening to, and trying
to spare. Just let go, and let God have His way.
12 If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy
God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, 13 Certain men, the children of
Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of
their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; 14
Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if
it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;
15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the
sword,(And what is sharper than any two edged Sword? It's the Word. You slay
them with the Word.) destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the
cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. 16 And thou shalt gather all the
spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the
city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall
be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again. 17 And there shall cleave
nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the
fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee,
and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; 18 When thou shalt
hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I
command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy
God.
Now we all know
that God wants us to
#1) walk after the LORD your God, Because he said if
we walk in the Light as He is in the Light, we not only have fellowship with
Him, but the Blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all our sin. We also
know that He wants us to …
#2) fear him, for the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom, and we know He wants us to …
#3) keep his commandments, For Jesus said, if we keep
His commandments, He will come to us and manifest Himself to us. John 14:21 He
that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he
that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will
manifest myself to him. And we know that God wants us to…
#4) obey his voice, which is His Word by His
Prophets, and God want us to…
#5) ye shall serve him, and how do we serve Him? How?
Romans 12:1 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. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you,
brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine
which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18 For they that are such serve not our
Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches
deceive the hearts of the simple. And…
#6) cleave unto him. That means to never let Go of His
Presence, for not reason, none whatsoever.
So we se that
God places us all in a place of testing to see how we are going to respond to
those tests. Hebrews
12:5 And
ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My
son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art
rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with
sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave
them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of
spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their
own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his
holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but
grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time. 6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial
of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it
be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the
appearing of Jesus Christ: 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now
ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Jehovah Jireh 56-0224 23 You believe God tests you?
He's tested me a many time, and He will test every son that comes to Him, no
matter who it is, not any exceptions. He will... Every one that comes must
first be tested, child-trained, brought up. You know that's what makes a good
child sometime, when you give him a little testing, you know. Papa used to give
it to me with the--with the hickory switch, about this long, you know, with all
the ten commandments wrote on it. When I... All of them, you know, that was the
golden rule at our home. And he sure knowed how to use it right too.
Their eyes were
opened 57-0421E 16 And those discouraging times comes to
every believer to test you, and to try you, and to see if you really do
believe. "Every son that cometh to God must first be tested,
child-trained. "There'll be some of you here tonight, no doubt, will go through
that same testing.
Reaction to an action 59-0810 21 Isn't it strange how God
does things? He will let us get right down to the last, the last mile away. You
know, He likes to do that. He did it with the Hebrew children. He knew who He
could trust, so He let them boys walk right up to the fiery furnace, till they
could almost smell the fire, and He never moved. But when it comes time, He
will move. He will move, but He waits till His own time. He wanted to see what
kind of a reaction they'd have. He knew they'd made their stand. And when He
knows that you make your stand... He will let Satan take you to the last mile
of the way. But just remember, He's still there. He wants to see if you really
mean what you're talking about. "Oh, I believe God's a Healer. Yes, I sure
believe it." And the next day, you still got your pain. "Well, maybe
I never got it." Sure you got it, He just wanting to see how you're going
to react on what you said. You say, "Oh, praise God, I believe in the
baptism of the Holy Spirit." The first little temptation that comes along,
you fly off like a buzz saw. He's trying to see your reaction on your action.
He's trying to test you. "Every son that cometh to God must first be
chastened, tested." Every child that comes to Him, He puts him through a
test to see how he will act.
1 Peter 4:12 Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though
some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye
may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14 If ye be reproached for the name of
Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on
their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. 15 But let
none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody
in other men's matters. 16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be
ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 17 For the time is come that judgment must
begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of
them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be
saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 19 Wherefore let them
that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to
him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.