The
Doctrine of Christ no 38
“The Life of Christ no. 1”
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
December 18th,
2011
Then we are commanded by God’s prophet to lay in the
this knowledge of the Son of God that he calls laying in the presence of the
Son, (the light of God upon His Word) until we sweeten up in our own spirit. I believe
that we have not been laying in this Presence as we should because there is yet
too much of the world in the believers everywhere. On the one hand we have that
millennium call, but on the other had we feel the pulls of
The Apostle Peter said in 2 Peter 1:2 Grace
and peace are multiplied unto you through the
knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, (in other words if you
want grace in your life for others, and you want the Peace of God to fill your
heart you will only get it through laying in and focusing on that relationship
between God and His Son.) Notice he adds,
3 According
as his divine power (that’s his Word
because in Romans 1:16 we are told the power of God is His Gospel. And this
Word of God) has
given unto us all things that pertain unto life
and godliness, (that’s God-Life and Godlikeness that can only come) through the knowledge of him that hath called
us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: (you see,
promises are his Word, he has promised us certain things, He has given us His
Word) that by
these ye might be partakers of the
divine nature, (That’s the very nature of God) having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 And
beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to
virtue knowledge; 6 And
to knowledge temperance; and to
temperance patience; and to patience
godliness; 7 And
to godliness brotherly kindness; and
to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you,
and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, (miserable and
naked and doesn’t know it, that’s Laodicean in nature) and cannot see afar off, (that mena
you are short sighted, you can’t see the full picture) and hath forgotten
that he was purged from his old sins. (That means he has actually forgotten the cross and
suffering of Christ.) Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence
to make your calling and election sure:
for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: (Now, how are we to
make our calling and election sure? Let’s find out what this means beginning
this morning.)
Colossians 3:3For ye
are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear,
(shall phaneroo, shall manifest in
his true character) then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
(Then shall
you also phaneroo, then shall you also manifest in your true character with him
in Glory, with him in the same doxa, the same opinion, values, and judgment of
God). Let us bow our heads in a word of prayer.
In his sermon, God's
Gifts always find Place 63-1222 P:79 brother
Branham said some very notable words. Listen carefully as I read them to you,
because I want very much for us to come to this same mindset as well. “Now,
if you'll bow your heads again, I want to wish each one of you a very merry
Christmas: May the great Christmas Present, the first one and the only and the
original and the only one there is, Jesus Christ, be afresh in your heart
tonight. May the Holy Spirit come to you and bring you ministering gifts and
things from God, a gift that you might
live a better life. That's what I want. I would rather have the Life of Christ in me to live sweet and
victorious than I would all the gifts of healing, the gifts of prophecies, all
them other gifts; just give me Jesus. Let
me live the Life. The Life is
what I want to live. I want to live so others will know. That's my desire
at Christmas, and I pray that's your desire. And I pray that God will give us
His desire.
And so we find this Christmas season, the same
desire on our heart to know Christ in the power of His Resurrection, and to
know the Love of Christ, not only his love for myself, but to know His love for
you and for everyone who comes across the same path I am walking in this life.
Not only did the apostle Paul keep bringing to our
attention the importance of the Life of Christ being manifested in our own
vessels, but so did the Apostle John and Peter, and James, etc.
The Apostle Paul said in 2
Timothy 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of
our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel:
Again in 2 Timothy 1:1 Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in
Christ Jesus,
And in Philippians 2:16 he
said, Holding forth the word of life;
that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither
laboured in vain.
Romans 8:2 For
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the
law of sin and death. And what is
this law of the spirit of Life Paul is talking about here? It is none other
than the Law of Life in genesis 1:11 that tells us that all seeds will
come forth in the image of the original
seed. And since Christ Jesus is the Royal Seed of Abraham, the Father of our
Faith, and the son of the Only True God, then if we have that same son of God
seed, we will also produce in these vessels son of God life.
And the Apostle Paul tells us how that seed life
will come froth. He says we must first die to self, then the life in the seed
can begin to manifest the real Life nature within it.
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: (In other words, I am dying to self daily) nevertheless I am alive;
yet it is not I that is living, but Christ 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.
And in his letter to the Romans he tells us the same
thing. You must first die to self that the life of Christ might live in you. Romans 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of
righteousness.
Romans 5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by
one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness shall reign in life by one,
Jesus Christ. You see we are made
alive by the life of that one man, Christ Jesus who died that we might live,
and now we are to die that He might live again, in us.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. And how did brother
Branham describe eternal life? He said eternal life is living for others.
And again the Apostle Paul address this thought of dying
to self that Christ might live in us in Romans 6:4 where
he says, “Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life.”
And the apostle John tells is the same thin in John 20:31 But these are written, that ye
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
And so we find this Christmas season, that same
desire in our hearts to know the Love of Christ and to live the life of Christ,
not only for ourselves, but desiring to see this Life and Love of God expressed
to each and everyone we come across in our own lives. And to see that Life of
Christ in others, as we saw it in Christ Jesus Himself.
From his sermon, Is your
life worthy 63-0630E P:122brother Branham said, “But Paul, when the Light
struck him, let's compare his life
and see whether it's worthy. What happened? When Paul, the Light struck him, he
forsook all of his knowledge and got away from that intellectual group, and he walked in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
(Glory to God.) But as smart as he was, he never even used big words. When he
come from amongst them Corinthians, he said, "I
never come to you with the wisdom of men. I never come to you with swelling
words, because you'd put your faith in that, but I come to you in simplicity,
in the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that your faith would be in
there." There's a life.
Watch it. He never used his education. He
never walked with the intellectual bunch. He walked in the Spirit of Christ, humble, obedient to the Word of God
when It was very much contrary to their creeds. But Paul saw the Light and walked in it (That right?), letting the Life of Christ reflect Jesus
Christ to the age that he lived in, that the people might see the Spirit of God
in him. And the humble believed it so much till they even wanted to bring
handkerchiefs in. They'd take them off of his body. And they believed it so
much... He was such a representation of
Jesus Christ till whatever he touched they believed was blessed. Yes. What
a man that was. Give his life, his riches, his everything he had, his
education, forgot all to walk down with fishermen, and beggars, and bums on the
street, to let his lights reflect the love of Jesus Christ. He said, "I've
been striped across the back forty and nine times. Don't bother me, 'cause I
bear in my body the marks of Jesus Christ.” The poor little fellow in
such a terrible condition, he said, "I bear in my body the marks of
Jesus Christ.” What a different from this great
dignitary with the priests all around him.
That day on
Identification 63-0123 P:51 We've
got to take the entire full Gospel. We must... And now, being that we have
identified ourselves as full Gospel people, let's mold our character. We're
invited to be molded in His Image, that we might reflect His Presence.
"And the works that I do, shall you do also. The Life that I
live, so shall you.” We're invited by God to take Him as an Example, and let our character be molded like His.
What a thing. My. Then when we let His
character be in us, then we have become sons by having the mind of Christ: mind, which is His character. Your mind makes your character.
"Let the mind," Paul said, "of
Christ, this mind that was in Christ be in you." Let
that mind of Christ be in you. It
molds the character of a son of God.
Hebrews Chapter 1 57-0821
P:21 And now, Paul, he just loved the Word. So before he would ever witness this
great experience that he had, he went down in
And so in 2 Corinthians 11:23 we see the Apostle Paul give
us a run down of what sort of Life he had in Christ Jesus, and he names the
many times he was beaten and suffered in the flesh, not to mention how many
times he suffered within himself knowing that he had no support from the
brothers in Jerusalem. 23 “Are they ministers of
Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors
more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice
was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night
and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeyings often, in
perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen,
in perils by the heathen, in
perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in
perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and
painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in
cold and nakedness. 28 Beside those things that
are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is
offended, and I burn not? 30 If I must needs
glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed
for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.”
So we can see the dedication
and consecration that was an evident token in the life of the Apostle Paul. He
wasn’t just a weekend warrior of sorts. He didn’t just come to church on
Sundays to do his religious duty. He was sold out 100% to God and the Life of
Christ. He didn’t just wear his religion on his shirt sleeves as we would call
it, but Christ’s Life was his Life.
That’s what he said in his letter to the Collossians,
“when Christ who
is our Life shall manifest, then shall we manifest with him in the same values,
and the same opinions, and the same judgments.” And so we see his
life devoted, yes, consecrated to dying daily that Christ might live through
him in order to manifest himself to the world to prove that he has not died,
but was resurrected and is alive forever more.
Paul taught us how to be servants of Christ. In Philippians 2:1 he
said, If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any
comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and
compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same
love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do 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,
being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, (the KJV says, He made himself of no
reputation) taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
to death-- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest
place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my
presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation
with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act
according to his good purpose. 14 Do everything without complaining or arguing,
15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in
a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the
universe 16 as you hold out the word of life--in order that I may boast on the
day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17 But even if I am
being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from
your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad
and rejoice with me. 19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon,
that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. 20 I have no one else
like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. 21 For everyone looks
out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
Now, we could actually take the entire service this
morning to speak of the apostle Paul, but let’s look at another example of the
Life of Christ living itself out in a vessel of flesh in the life of Martin of
Tours who was such a godly sainted man so filled with the Holy Ghost that his
life was indeed the Life of Christ living itself out and being expressed in his
body. I have sent this book in PDF format to each of you via email, so if I you did not
get this book, it is because I do not have your email address.
Now, brother Branham spoke of Martin with these
words from the sermons on the 7 Church Ages. He said in his sermon on the Pergamean church age 60-1207 P:31 The
life of
Notice
brother Branham said “that night that act that he
did began his career” as
a man of God. You see, you do have a part in it. There is something that you
can do. The act had to be first in his heart, but then there had to be a
willing heart to do it. And the Scripture tells us in Philippians 2:13 “For it is God which
worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
Therefore,
all we need to do is to “let go and let God”,
yield to the Holy Spirit Who is wanting so much to lead you into this life of
self crucifixion and love for your brethren.
The
Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless I am living; yet it is not I that am living, but Christ
Who is living in me: and the life which I now live in this flesh, I am living
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
The
Apostle John taught us that we can not say we love God unless we truly love our
brethren. Let me read a few other things he said about this Love of God.
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love
is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any
time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in
us. 16 And
we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he
that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 20 If a man say, I love God, and
hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he
hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we
from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because
he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren. 17 But
whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up
his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
And
so this love for people is what began the Life of Christ manifesting itself
through this man Martin of Tours. And brother Branham told us the reason his own
ministry was so successful was that he loved the people. In his sermon,
God projecting His love 57-0806 P:26 brother Branham said, If
ever I had a time of success of praying for anyone, is when I could enter into
the fellowship with them, feel their infirmities, feel their conditions. Then
something in you goes down beyond the reasoning and prays the prayer of faith
for the sick. You've got to feel for a man. You've got to sympathize with him.
You've got to be with him before you can help him. Then you enter into some
sort of a deepness; it's the love of God. It's beyond human love. I'm going to
tell you something. You may class me a fanatic after this. But I feel like I
want to tell you anyhow. Many things happen like that. Frankly, all my ministry
has been wrapped around that one thing. If I can love that, or fall in sympathy
with it...
And again in his sermon, Expectations
and what love is 54-0228A P:46 he said, And you can't do that until
you have love. Perfect love casts out all fear. If I want to contribute
anything to my success in the ministry amongst people, is this: I'll admit I've
had to butcher up meetings because I just couldn't set it and--and... routine,
like ministers do. And many times I've had to promise this, and take this back,
and do this, and do that. Because God will make me do it. But if there's one
thing, is because that I have loved people. And people knows that. You take a
little baby three months old, he ne... he don't know nothing. He's got a mind,
but it isn't developed. He don't know who, or nothing. The doctors say they can
see a light, might see your hand, but they can only follow it. And he will just
be kicking his little heels, and screaming to the top of his voice. Well, here
comes some kind woman, comes along passing him, say, "Well, well,
dear." He just kicks right on. He don't know who the woman is. He don't
know nobody.
That
is why Brother Wayne Jenkins in
Let
me just share a few things this sister in Christ said, She said, “I see God in every
human being. When I wash the leper’s wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord
Himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?” She also said, “we think sometimes
that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being
unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our
own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. For there is a terrible hunger for
love. We all experience that in our lives-the pain, the loneliness. We must
have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own
family, find them, love them.”
Now, in getting back to Martin of Tours, brother
Branham also said in his sermon You must be born
again 61-1231M P: 109 I
was reading in the history of the church. I believe Sister Arnold back there
"amen'd" me the other day on something about the history of the
church, that she had been reading it. I seen where one night there was a boy in
a monastery in the days of
110 But
the old bishop didn't go for it just right. It wasn't the Word. Prophets are
not made; they're predestinated. And a
prophet wouldn't act like that in the beginning. The fruit of it proved that it wasn't. See? The fruits proved that it wasn't a prophet. See? So he said, "We'll spend the rest of the night in
fasting, and praying, and singing of hymns." A day or so passed. After
while the old bishop, praying, said, "Lord, that boy..." That
garment, to look at it, they'd never knowed nothing, seen anything like it.
Writers come and looked, and they never seen anything like it. There it was.
Finally, they knowed one man that was a prophet; that was Martin. They said, "All
right, one thing now you do to prove to us. Scripturally you're wrong. How
about going over to Martin and stand before him and tell him that?” See? He
said, "Oh,
I am forbidden to stand before Martin.”
111
He that's got good gold don't dread going to the testing machine (Uh-huh,
that's right.), he that's got the Truth. That's the reason I make a challenge.
Any man come and show me where the baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ is
wrong. Show me this birth that you got
to die, and if you still got the world in you, you're still of the world.
Show me these things. Don't have to worry about it, take it to the testing
machine. Here's the Testing Machine. See, see? That's right. So they said,
"You're going anyhow." And
a bunch of the brothers picked him up, and the robe vanished. See? Wouldn't
Pentecostal people eat that up today? Oh, my. It looked like the real thing,
but it wasn't according to the Word.
112 Martin
said Satan appeared to him one time, great golden crown on, three or four decks
of stars in it like that, glistening and beautiful, great big fellow, nice,
handsome, correctly combed and groomed, a great beautiful robe on, and his
shoes on his feet was gold, walked out and said, "Martin,
do you know me?” Now, people that don't see visions, -you
might not understand it (See?), but how things come to you in different
spirits, and how deceiving they are. The Bible said they would deceive the very
elected if it was possible. See? The elected, that's those who are
predestinated and born for that purpose. See, see?
113 So
he come to this elected; he said, "Martin, do you know me? I
am Christ.” He said, "Will
you recognize me?” Martin hesitated: seemed strange, he
waited a minute. And he said again, he said, "Don't
you see me? I am Christ. Do you recognize me?” He said it three or four
times to him. Christ said, or Martin said, "Satan, I know you. My Lord is not crowned yet, but His saints shall
crown Him.” There's the Word back. That's where that Roman church got so much dogma, evil spirits coming in
contrary to the Word, and they had to deny the Word to take their dogma and get
away from the Bible. Stay with the Word. That's the string of Life today. There'll be spirits rise after while
that'll deceive everything nearly. The Bible said so. "As
Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so will these men of reprobated mind
concern the Truth,” perform miracles and do all kinds of
signs. But stay with that Word.
The Word of the Lord came to the prophet, and they brought It forth, and we
believe the prophets. Notice, yes, he said, "I know you, Satan." Said, "My Lord is not a big man like that. My Lord went away with a rugged old
garment on, with nail scars in His hand, uncrowned, with bloody locks. And when
He returns, He'll come like that, for the Bible said He'll return in the like
manner as He went.” And the thing vanished from him. Oh, my.
And another testimony about Martin from his sermon,
Investments 63-0126 P:109 Not long ago, looking on The
Martyrology, I asked for the card of
And so I would like to read some from a book written
by a man named Sulpitius Severus
who lived during St. Martins time, and who was both an eye witness to many of
the miracles that are written in the book, or else he talked to the people in whom
those miracles took place who were eyewitnesses to the genuine miracles that
God did in this man’s life. The book is call, “The Life of Martin of Tours”.
Chapter
3: Christ appears to
Chapter
7: Martin restores a catechumen to life. Martin having established
for himself a monastery not far from the town. At this time a certain
catechumen joined him, being desirous of becoming instructed in the doctrines
and habits of the most holy man. But, after the lapse only of a few days, the
catechumen, seized with a languor, began to suffer from a violent fever. It so
happened that Martin had then left home, and having remained away three days,
he found on his return that life had departed from the catechumen; and so
suddenly had death occurred, that he had left this world without receiving
baptism. The body being laid out in public was being honored by the last sad
offices on the part of the mourning brethren, when Martin hurries up to them
with tears and lamentations. But then laying hold, as it were, of the Holy
Spirit, with the whole powers of his mind, he orders the others to quit the
cell in which the body was lying; and bolting the door, he stretches himself at
full length on the dead limbs of the departed brother. Having given himself for
some time to earnest prayer, and perceiving by means of the Spirit of God that
power was present, he then rose up for a little, and gazing on the countenance
of the deceased, he waited without misgiving for the result of his prayer and
of the mercy of the Lord. And scarcely had the space of two hours elapsed, when
he saw the dead man begin to move a little in all his members, and to tremble
with his eyes opened for the practice of sight. Then indeed, turning to the
Lord with a loud voice and giving thanks, he filled the cell with his
ejaculations. Hearing the noise, those who had been standing at the door
immediately rush inside. And truly a marvelous spectacle met them, for they
beheld the man alive whom they had formerly left dead. Thus being restored to
life, and having immediately obtained baptism, he lived for many years
afterwards; and he was the first who offered himself to us both as a subject
that had experienced the virtues of Martin, and as a witness to their
existence. The same man was wont to relate that, when he left the body, he was
brought before the tribunal of the Judge, and being assigned to gloomy regions
and vulgar crowds, he received a severe sentence. Then, however, he added, it
was suggested by two angels of the Judge that he was the man for whom Martin
was praying; and that, on this account, he was ordered to be led back by the
same angels, and given up to Martin, and restored to his former life. From this
time forward, the name of the sainted man became illustrious, so that, as being
reckoned holy by all, he was also deemed powerful and truly apostolical.
Chapter
8: Martin restores one that had been strangled. Not long after these events,
while Martin was passing by the estate of a certain man named Lupicinus, who
was held in high esteem according to the judgment of the world, he was received
with shouting and the lamentations of a wailing crowd. Having, in an anxious
state of mind gone up to that multitude, and enquired what such weeping meant,
he was told that one of the slaves of the family had put an end to his life by
hanging. Hearing this, Martin entered the cell in which the body was lying,
and, excluding all the multitude, he stretched himself upon the body, and spent
some little time in prayer. Ere long, the deceased, with life beaming in his
countenance, and with his drooping eyes fixed on Martin’s face, is aroused; and
with a gentle effort attempting to rise, he laid hold of the right hand of the
saintly man, and by this means stood upon his feet. In this manner, while the
whole multitude looked on, he walked along with Martin to the porch of the
house.
CHAPTER
XXVII The wonderful piety of
Martin. No on ever saw him enraged,
or excited, or lamenting, or laughing; he was always one and the same:
displaying a kind of heavenly happiness in his countenance, he seemed to have
passed the ordinary limits of human nature. Never was there any words on his
lips but Christ, and never was there a feeling in his heart except piety,
peace, and tender mercy. Frequently, too, he used to weep for the sins of those
who showed themselves his revilers-those who, as he led his retired and
tranquil life, slandered him with poisoned tongues and a viper’s mouth. And
truly we have had experience of some who were envious of his virtues and his
life- who really hated in him what they did not see in themselves, and what
they had not power to imitate. And O
wickedness worthy of deepest grief and groans! Some of his calumniators,
although very few, some of his maligners, I say, were reported to be no others
that bishops! Here, however, it is not necessary to name any one, although a
good many of these people are still venting their spleen against myself. I
shall deem it sufficient that, if anyone of them reads this account, and
perceives that he is himself pointed at, he may have the grace to blush. But
if, on the other hand, he shows anger, he will, by that very fact, own that he
is among those spoken of, though all the time perhaps I have been thinking of
some other person. I shall however, by no means feel ashamed if any people of
that sort include myself in their hatred along with such a man as Martin. I am
quite persuaded of this, that the present little work will give pleasure to all
truly good men. And I shall only say further that, if any one read this
narrative in an unbelieving spirit, he himself will fall into sin. I am
conscious to myself that I have been induced by belief in the facts, and by the
Love of Christ, to write these things; and that in doing so, I have set forth
what is well known, and recorded what is true; and, as I trust, that man will
have a reward prepared by God, not who shall read these things, but who shall believe
them.
He that is in you 63-1110E
P:99 But He that is in you is Christ. And if
Christ is in you, the works of Christ you'll do, if Christ lives in you. He
said so,