The Doctrine of Christ no 44

“The Life of Christ no. 7”

Status and State no 2

Brian Kocourek, Pastor

January 18th, 2012

 

Now, in continuing our study on our Status vs our State or standing, I wish to bring out Romans 8:28 again.

 

Romans 8:28-29 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

 

Now, as we read the other day the first part of that shows your standing or your current state.  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. So we see this working together for the good is the process that you are now undergoing. It shows progression towards a goal somewhere and that goal is the status whereby God saw you and ordained for you to be, even before He made the Universe. to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

 

So we see then that everything you are going through is working together to get you where God ordained you to be. And that is why Peter told us in 1 Peter 1:7 that the trial of your faith is to be more precious to you than Gold or silver.

 

1 Peter 1:5-7 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: 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:

 

Now, the Wuest translation words this verse in a way that is even more positive than the wording of the King James version. The Wuest Translation says, "In which last season you are to be constantly rejoicing with a joy that expresses itself in a triumphant exuberance, although for a while at the present time if perchance there is a need for it, you have been made sorrowful in the midst of many different kinds of testings in order that the approval of your faith, which faith was examined by testing for the purpose of being approved, that the approval being much more precious than the approval of gold which perishes,…

 

So we see that God uses all these trials and tests to work into our flesh what he ordained to be there when he took his snapshot of how we were to end up. And we also know that all sons who come to God must first be tried and chastened.

 

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?

 

Proverbs 3:11 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:

 

Proverbs 19:18 Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

 

2 Samuel 7:14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

 

Deuteronomy 21:18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:

 

We even see the same rule applied to Christ Jesus, who learned obedience by the things that He suffered. Hebrews 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

 

Jesus Christ the eldest son fought a good fight, and he ran with the patience the course that was set before him, and Henceforth there is laid up for Him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give Him at that day: and not to Him only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

 

So the trial of your Faith is not just for you, but scripture tells us, “every son who comes to God must first be tested, so each of us must endure the trial of our Faith.  And those trials are meant to bring us to the place of your status, where God saw you before the foundations of the world.

 

And so we have our course set before us just as Jesus Christ the first born son had his course set before him,  but we are fortunate to have the pattern already set, so we do not have to cut that pattern ourselves. You know the trail blazed is the person who cuts in the trail so that others following will not have such a difficult time following. And Jesus by Faith, trail blazed our path, and laid down each step for us that we might not stumble and fall.

 

1 John 3:22  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. So what is this purification? We are told in Psalm 119 that a young man purifies himself by taking heed to the Word. So there is a purging that must go on and God lays that on us for our free moral agency to allow.

 

Look, God doesn’t beat you over the head or push you through a tube and then say blessed is he that overcomes.

 

Brother Branham said that you know. In His sermon, Marriage of the lamb 62-0121E P:28 Brother Branham is reading from the book of Revelations and says, We know that there is going to be a bride, and there's going to be a wedding supper served in the sky. That's just as sure to be as God is, because it's His Word. And we know that those that are going to make up that bride is going to be His church, and they're going to appear before Him without spot or wrinkle. And they have the material on earth now to make themselves ready. If you notice, it said, "She has made herself ready." So many says, "If the Lord will take this evil spirit from me, from drinking, or from gambling, or from lying, or stealing, I'll serve Him." But that's up to you. You got to do something too. "They that overcome shall inherit all things," they that overcome. You have power to do it, but you must be willing to lay it down. See? She has made herself ready. I like that Word. You see, God could not push us through a little pipe, pull us out on the other end, and then say, "Blessed is he that overcometh." You had nothing to overcome; He just pushed you through. But you've got to make decisions for yourself. I have to make decisions for myself. In doing that, we show our faith and respects to God.

 

And then in showing our Faith to God we can come boldly to His throne or mercy and Grace.

 

Ephesians 3:12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

 

Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

 

Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

 

So we see that we have access through Faith which is Revelation. And this access to God’s mercy and Grace helps us to find our way through the trial of our faith.  

 

Now, we see that Faith begins it all. Faith brings us into grace, and remember, in 2 Peter our Grace is multiplied by the knowledge of God. And so we see that Faith gives us access and faith is a revelation. And this revelation is the Word of God revealed to us and never forget this Word of God is a seed. Then when the Life that is in the Word is made known, it is released back into our lives and it takes over. It must bring forth after it’s own kind, and that kind or nature is the very nature of the author of Life, which is God.

 

That is why Peter told us also that everything we have need of pertaining to Life comes from the Word. He even said for us to receive God’s Divine nature, it must come through His Word.

 

Now, in Romans 4 we are told that not only does faith bring us access to the grace and mercy of God but it brings us character as well, therefore purifying us in the process. And this let’s us know that the trials which we are going through are only but indicators of the current standing in our path to Adoption. And the trials have no relevance as to our status as we are already justified, sanctified and glorified in the mind of God our Father. And the only way that this could be possible is that we are indeed the seed of God.

 

Now, this brings us to the place of all things working together to produce in you that glorified position or condition that God ordained for you before the foundations of the world.

 

God uses the sowing and reaping and all the circumstances and trials and tests that we go through to produce in us that glorified condition that he ordained for us before he even created one molecule or one atom.

 

And it all began to come to pass because God came down to bring it all about with His shout. Is not that what the apostle Paul told us? He said, they without us can not be made perfect, and William Branham said they have got to have this Message. So it is this Message that changes us first in the inner man, and as Paul said in Romans 12 we receive our transformation by the renewing of the mind.

 

Look, we didn’t even know we were sons. We never had a clue as to seed and God-life coming forth in that seed.  No one spoke on seed like William Branham did. Like brother Branham said, we all thought that we would leave this earth and go to heaven and sit on clouds and have harps and such silly notions as that. But now we understand that we are coming back to earth in bodies that are commensurate with our glorified mind. Yes, our glorified mind. That is why he comes to earth in this hour to be glorified in His saints. Because your mind must be glorified before the body can be glorified. And that word Glorified is endoxazo which means in the same values in the same opinion expressed. En eaquals in doxa is the values and opinion of God and zoe is the life expressed. IN DOXA ZOE. Doxa expressed in us. Hallelujah, praise our God.

 

And so the whole process begins by Faith and that Faith gives us access to the Glory of God, to His values, to his opinion, and Faith is a revelation. And so he is now, making changes in the body of this death bringing you from mortal to immortal.

 

The Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. So He is here doing it, brothers and sisters, and that which He has began he will perform it unto the end.

 

1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, (he can not disbelieve) because he is born of God.

And remember, as long as that God-Life is in you through seed, through the new birth, you have access to the Divine nature, for the Divine Nature to express itself through your mortal body.

 

In Matthew 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

 

The fruit is the teaching of the season, and therefore, a good tree can not bring forth bad teaching, but just because you recognize  a ministry that is right and try to imitate it, doesn’t mean that you have it right yourself. As brother Vayle has told me so many times concerning certain one, he said, “Brian, they’ve got it but they don’t got it.   Now, how can you have it without having it? Because although you might say the same words, you don’t have the same spirit and inflexion in those words. Remember, and never forget the Words of Jesus Christ Himself. “The Word killeth but the Spirit giveth life.”

 

Look, those people filled with demons knew who Jesus Christ was better than the priests did. They said, “o son of God have mercy on me”. That’s Matthew 8:28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29  And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

 

It was a palm reader on the bus that recognized the Pillar of Fire over the head of William Branham when others could not see it. So just because you may recognize a servant of God and try to say the same thing he says, it doesn’t necessarily mean you know what you are talking about. And it’s very apparent that there are many who have not a clue.

 

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit (his teaching) in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.  4  The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind (doctrine) driveth away. 5  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6  For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

 

John  10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

 

Then if no man can pluck them out of His hand then what are you afraid of. Look, they can try to put you out but they will never be able to do it. Your status is locked in, and it is just your current standing that is able to be moved. You sow wrong brothers and sisters and you will reap what you sowed wrong.  As the proverb says, you sow to the wind and you will reap a whirl wind. But that won’t take you out of God’s purpose and plan. It just means you will have a harder time obtaining the promise, and you will certainly struggle with it a lot more.

 

And what you sow here you will reap not only here but over there as well. Did not Jesus say,  if you give up family and houses here you will receive not only here but over there as well?  Mark  10:29  And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, 30  But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

 

Did not the prophecy over William Branham says, Because thou has chosen this harder way, you've chose it, you have chose it by your own choosing. ('Course we know that, Moses had to make his choice. Said) This is the precise and correct way, because it's My way. And what a glorious decision you've made. (Said) Because of this, a large portion of heaven awaits you. And this in itself is that which will make, and bring to pass, the tremendous victory in the Love Divine. All three was the same. I thought I had that in my Bible tonight (I looked in there, but I didn't.), the original copy of it.

 

You sow and you will reap. Sow, then and keep sowing and you will reap abundantly. Now, you have a status that was in God’s mind before the world was framed, but you’ve got to sow to that calling for it to produce, because brother Branham said, being in the family is just the beginning, but you’ve go to be the right kind of son to be adopted. Now, you could never do away with your son-ship, but you can do away with your inheritance.

 

2 Timothy 2:19 19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.  20  But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. 22  Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23  But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. 24  And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,  25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

 

Serpent's seed 58-0928E P:22 We're not here as a bunch of illiterate crack pots; we know where we are standing in the Word of God.

 

Now, brothers and sisters, you’ve go to know where you are standing in this word. I don’t care how much you identify with the man William Branham or the man Lee Vayle. I know brothers who claim to follow both and have for more than 40 years and ran into error concerning something as simple as the right formula for baptism. Let me read this whole quote from br. Branham’s sermon Serpent Seed just so you have the context of what he was saying. 

 

Serpent's seed 58-0928E P:22 So if we are teaching baptism in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it's false prophecy. Now, I don't want to hurt you, but I got to pin this down so this church will know what... We're not here as a bunch of illiterate crack pots; we know where we are standing in the Word of God. See, we know... I challenge anybody to show me one place where anybody was ever baptized in the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Now, are you going to listen to false prophecy or the truth? Search the Scriptures. It's up to you. Show me where one person in the Bible, where a church was ever ordained a denomination in the Bible. Show me in the Bible where they ever ordained a woman preacher. Show me in the Bible where all these things that we been talking about ever was ordained in the Bible. They're not there. Tell me one place.

 

Now, come on, brothers and sisters, let’s face the issues. We have people in pulpits that are there only because someone laid hands on them to make them a minister when they have no more a call from God than nothing. Your fruits shows what you are. Your actions and what you teach. And the ones who laid hands on them are no better than the ones who went to get hands laid on. Didn’t Simon the sorcerer go to get Peter to lay hands on him? He even offered Peter money to do so. And what did Peter tell him? To hell with you and your money.

 

Brother Branham said in his sermon Does God change His mind 65-0427 P:64 I do not believe that you lay hands on people and give them gifts. Gifts and callings are without repentance. They are predestinated of God, to meet the age and the time of that age. Any Bible student knows that's the truth.

 

And these same preachers went into error concerning baptism of all things. And the Apostle Paul said that baptism is one of the elementary things. It is one of the principle things concerning the Doctrine of Christ. And they lead brothers astray and are still leading brothers astray concerning other Scripture as well, teaching that the fullness of the Godhead is in the Bride and taking Ephesians 4 for their Bible text. Shame on them. And then fussing over the fact that William Branham said if you have the Spirit of Christ in you, you will have the nature of Christ and you will do the works of Christ, and then fussing with someone whop would quote a vindicated prophet concerning The Life of Christ in a believer doing the same thing that life did when it was in Christ?. Brother, you better know where you are standing because if you don’t there will come along something to take you out of the way.

Christ 55-0221 P:23 The church is the only one that'll live today and not go out into universalism and so forth, (let me just stop here for a moment and tell you I know certain preachers right in this Message that teach or have taught Universalism from their so called message pulpits. They even say the devil will be saved because they don’t understood the Scripture when it says that Elijah is to come and restore all things. Listen, “all things” refers to the saints. We are all things in Christ Paul said.

 

So brother Branham continues, …) and out into this modernistic, social Gospel, (And don’t’ tell me there aren’t churches that preach a social Gospel. Afraid to teach the doctrine of Christ, and so it’s Focus on the Family… And if that isn’t a social Gospel I don’t know what is. And so brother Branham continues…) The church is the only one that'll live today that won’t go after those things, because she is the one who's got the Blood on the doorpost out here, of the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ: born again. They know where they're standing, if they're really born again. They'll not be entangled with every yoke, and every doctrine, and tossed about here, and there, and every cult. They know where they're standing: in Christ, through the Blood.

 

Uncertain sound 55-0731 P:39 Jesus, standing on earth, He knew where He stood. He knew Who He was. He said, "I have power to lay My life down. I have power to take it up again." No uncertainty about that. "I have." Hallelujah. "I now have the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it up." Yes, sir. No one holds Me. Any man or woman that's born of the Spirit of God knows where they stand, regardless of what takes place, or how many says yes or no. They know where they stand. There's no uncertain sound. Hallelujah. Oh, my.

 

Hear ye Him 58-0209A P:37 if the new life that you think you've received doesn't pattern with God's Word, you've got the wrong life in you. The life of Christ will produce the works of Christ, will produce the faith of Christ, will make you act as Christ, make you love Him. He will be first in your life. Your objectives, your motives, and everything will be all-together different. It'll be for the glory of God.

 

Jehovah Jireh 58-0127 P:36 And the same Holy Spirit that was in Jesus Christ, will have to be operating in His church to make them coincide together at the rapture, or it won't go up at that time. The Spirit that was in Jesus, will have to be in His church, or the two pieces won't dovetail together, the life of the church and the life of Christ cannot dovetail together. The body's setting there to make reconciliations, to make intercessions upon our confession, and the Spirit's in the church.

 

And in closing, from the sermon, Seven church ages 54-0512 P:65 brother Branham said, Lukewarm, that's a horrible condition for the church to be in. You don't watch, the Branham Tabernacle's got in that same sway. Listen, you know these things. It's been taught year after year, after year, after year, over this platform, warning you of these things coming. When the Bible said there would be a time they'd go from east to the west, and north and south, trying to find the true Word of God, and fail to find It, you'd better get anchored, where you know where you're standing. Let us pray,