The Doctrine of Christ no 53
“He that believeth no 7”
Should not abide in darkness
Brian Kocourek
This morning we will look at the seventh blessing or
promise of God to the believer for believing in the son of God.
For our text this
morning let us open our Bibles to John 12:46 I
am come a light into the world, that “whosoever
believeth”(ὁ πιστεύων) on me should not abide in darkness.
Now, the word abide means to remain. None of us can
say that we came into this world already walking in the Light, for Christ alone
is the light of the world. The Bible tells us we all were born in sin and came
to the world speaking lies. So you with little children, you can expect them to
naturally lie when they are hard pressed, because it is a natural thing for the
carnal man to lie. That is why you need to instill in them honesty and
integrity. You are not born honest and you are not born to hold forth
integrity. Those attributes of Christ, honesty and integrity are antithetical
to the natural birth.
I remember dealing with parents years ago as a Junior
high school teacher. Sometimes I had to call parents to inform them of the
conduct of their kids. I would call a
parent to tell them their child had worn certain clothing that I was sure no
parent would let their young daughter wear to school. The parent would say, “oh
not my Susie, she would never wear clothes like that. And I would say, O yes,
your Susie does wear clothes like that. Then they would say, I saw her leave
with other clothes on, and I said but you didn’t look into her lunch bag which
she brought other clothing in and changed into when she got to school. So, yes
your little children as sweet as you thin they are, were born a liar to begin
with, but God gave that child to you to bring up in the way God wants them to
go, and when that child shall get old the Bible says he will not depart. So you
are responsible and you have a stewardship of that Life, and you are the one
who will answer to God for that life.
So we have a promise as believers that we should not
abide in darkness, which means we shall abide in the Light. And if we walk in
the Light as He is in the Light, we are blessed with the blood of Jesus Christ
cleansing us from all our sins. And since Jesus is the light of the world, and
the principle property of Light is to bring forth life and scatter darkness
from it's presence, then once darkness has been scattered, the light can bring
forth life.
In order for any seed to manifest what it is, it needs
light. You keep any seed out of light and it will not germinate. They found
some time back seeds that had been placed in the garner in the times of Joseph.
And the garner or silos that he had erected kept out the Light and those seeds,
stayed in seed form for all these thousands of years but when exposed to the
light they were able to germinate. That is the law of Life and the law of Light
which brings life.
Ephesians
5:13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the
light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. 14 Wherefore he saith, Awake
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Now the NIV translation read this way, Ephesians 5:13 But everything
exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for it is light that makes everything
visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."
And the
Now, the fact of the matter is that there is a Light
and there is the Light. And we find that John was said to be a bright and
shining Light, but He was not The Light. [John 5: 31-38] & [John 1:1-34]. Now the thing I want
you to notice is that there has to be a light that bears witness to The Light.
And if John was a light that was to bear witness to The Light, then if Alpha
has become Omega, we must see that God had to do the same thing in this hour.
Therefore we could easily read verses William Branham's name into this in the
place of John's name.
John
1: 6 - 8 There was a man sent from God, whose name was
John. We could even say in
this hour the same words. There was a man sent from God, whose name was William
Branham. The same came for a witness, to
bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was
not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
And so here we find that God had to send someone to
bear witness or reflect the True Light. We are told that although John was not
the True Light, he was sent as a reflector of that Light so that all who were predestined
to receive the True Light might be sparked off or quickened.
In John 1: 5 we hear that this light shineth in a
dark place and in Zechariah we read that the hour would be dark as well. Again
we see in 2
Peter 1:19 that this light would shine in a dark place until the day
star would rise which means until it would take the preeminence. 2 Peter 1:19 We have also a more
sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place,
until the day dawn, and the day star arise
(where?) in your hearts:
In 2 Corinthians 4:4-7 we see that the light is to
shine but those who do not see this light have been blinded by the god of this
evil age which is satan. And in verse 7 we see that this light is in earthen
vessels. 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the
minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them.5 For we preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out
of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory (doxa, values,
opinion, & judgment) of God in the face (or
presence) of
Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of
the power may be of God, and not of us.
2 Corinthians 3:1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves?
Now, what’s Paul saying here. What does he mean by
saying, Do
we commend ourselves? What does this word “commend” mean? The dictionary definition tells us
it means to qualify ourselves, or to recommend our own selves, which means to
approve your own self, Sounds like the politicians doesn’t it.
“I’m the only one who can turn this nation around” I’m
the only real conservative” or I’m the only one who will bring you change”.
Well, let me tell you something, they can keep their change, and their form of
Hope, but my hope comes from Jesus Christ. My hope is built in Jesus Christ
alone.
So Paul continues, or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of recommendation from you?
In other words, he was saying that the church had
already come to the place where men trusted in the words of men, instead of the
Presence of Jesus Christ.
You know in Romans 8:11 The Apostle Paul
told us, 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. 12 Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.13 For
if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do
mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.14 For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.15 For
ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received
the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God:17 And if children, then heirs;
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Does God’s Spirit bear witness with your spirit? Now
if that is so then you will know it. It’s not a feeling you get, it’s a
manifestation of His Presence showing He is an integral part of your life. And
it is not something you can do, its supernatural evidence you are a Christian,
and He is with you.
Paul said, has the church gotten so low that they can no
longer discern whether a person is filled with the Holy Ghost and is walking
hand in hand with our Savior? Or has it become so lame that it is dependent
upon letters of recommendation from some uppity up, some bishop or some great
dignitary?
In other Words he is saying, can people feel the
presence of Christ with you? Can they see the supernatural Indication that God
is walking with you and that you are walking with Him?
When brother Branham walked into the pulpit, people
could feel that august presence of God with him. Is that same presence with
you? Do people tell you that when they are around you, they can feel God’s
presence with you? Or do they say they can sense God is near? They did with
brother Branham all the time.
Brother Branham said in his
sermon, God Hiding in simplicity 63-0317M P:21 “When a minister walks into a congregation
of people praying in the anointing of the Spirit, you're bound to hear from
heaven. That's just all. There's no way to keep from it. But if you walk into
confusion, then you're so confused, the Spirit's grieved. We don't want that,
no. We want to come here to worship. We have lovely homes that I'm going to
speak about just in a minute and so forth at home, where we visit our friends
and take them. This is the house of the Lord.”
Can I ask you here this
morning, or you out their across the world who are watching this service on the
hookup, when is the last time you prayed for an hour? Now, I’m not condemning,
I’m asking you to reflect on your own dedication and consecration to your
service to your King, who is King of Kings.
Or might I ask this. Have
you ever even prayed for an hour? You know we sing the song, “sweet hour or prayer, sweet hour of prayer,
That calls me from a world of care, And bids me at my Father’s throne Make all
my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often
found relief, And oft escaped the tempter’s snare, By thy return, sweet hour of
prayer!
But honestly how can
the church of the living God sing that song unless they know what they’re
talking about. How much do we do as Christians without even thinking about it.
How much of our Christian walk is just tradition? How much of it is just going
through the motions. But Paul here is saying, we shouldn’t get so low down that
we need letters of recognition, or letters of recommendation in order for
people to know that we are Christian. We should never get to the place that the
only way that people will know you are a pastor is because you wear a turned
around collar. And yet that is where the church has fallen to today. But Paul
says,
2 You
are our Epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
He’s saying people ought to be able to talk to you and
know you are Christian by not only the words that come out of your mouth, but
by the life you live.
It saddens me to look on the face books of young
people in this Message who have more worldly things on their face book than
they have “identifiers” that they are Christian.
Jesus said, “If you love the world or the things of the world, the love of
God is not even in you.” If we are being transformed into the image
of Christ then we have an image to uphold. But I challenge you, check out the
face books out there and you can see what is preeminent in the minds of the
your people.
Paul goes on by saying,
“3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the
epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit
of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
In other Words, Paul is saying, “look. Your, your life is not your own, you
belong to Christ. And God has given me a ministry to take a hold of His Spirit
in order to etch into your souls His Word of Life that you too might reflect
His Glory, His Values, His opinions.”
I can go overseas to
And we Westerners, where will we stand at the white
throne judgment when we can’t even get into our luxurious cars by those peoples
standards and drive across town to hear the same word those people travel days
to hear.
In
Yet, we had people in
3 Forasmuch
as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by
us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables
of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.4 And
such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 5 Not
that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our
sufficiency is of God;
Notice Paul gave all the credit for the people being
written epistles back to God even though
God had given Him a ministry that could take every spirit under his control for
the glory of God.
6 Who
also hath made us able ministers of
the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter
killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
Notice not just ministers, but able ministers. So what
does that mean brother Paul? It means God has made us enabling ministers, men
who through the Word of God enable the people to become what God ordained them
to become, and it doesn’t come because they use nice words. It comes because
they are guided by God’s Spirit to use the Word of God as a razor sharp sword
to sculpt out a masterpiece from Ohio clay, and Indiana clay and Australian
clay, and Canadian clay, and Iowan clay, and Norwegian clay, and polish clay,
and Welsh clay and Indian clay, and Swedish clay, and South African Clay, and
European clay for Jesus Christ.
Then Paul gets more specific
how this ministry works, and he goes back to the days of Moses to tell us how
God used Moses back then. 7 But if the ministration of
death, written and engraven in stones, was
glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face
of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8 How shall not the ministration
of the spirit be rather glorious?
In other words, he is saying, look, if the ministry
under the law so so glorious that when Moses came down from meeting with God
with tablets of the law in his hands, and the people looked upon His face and
saw the Shekinah Presnence still glowing from his face, and yet this was “law”
that he was bringing and which “law” was only a temporary thing which was to be
done away with the arrival of Christ. But what about now, when God has revealed
His own self using the body of the man Jesus, that veil that God used to make
clear the revelation of Himself. And now that Christ sent back His Spirit to
enter us, to live itself out in us, how much more glorious should it be now,
brethren when it is not a light shining from your face alone but from your
speech, and from your actions, and from your motives and from your objectives.
“How shall not the ministration of The Spirit be rather
glorious?"
Notice he is not talking about gifts in the church
here. He is not talking about the ministration of spirit, but the ministry of
The Spirit. Look, God came down in this hour to minister to us in a greater way
than He came down in Moses day. Because in this day He came down with the book
open. No more mysteries. No more hidden things, but the entire Word has been
fully revealed brothers and sisters.
9 For
if the ministration of condemnation be glory,
much more doth the ministration of righteousness (right-wise-ness) exceed in glory.
10 For
even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of
the glory that excelleth.
So he is saying there is no comparison to the glory
which The Spirit has come to minister to us. Remember, Glory is God’s Doxa, His
values, His opinions, and His Judgments. And this is the hour where the mighty
God has been unveiled before us.
11 For
if that which is done away was glorious, much
more that which remaineth is glorious.
So there is no comparisons to what God did in this day
to that of Moses day. Yet the people haven’t hardly a clue to what God is still
doing at this present moment. But if there is an adoption of Children that is
predestined for this hour, then there has to be a children that will be there.
Then what manner of people ought we to be?
Seeing
then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And so Paul didn’t beat around the bush. He beat what
was behind the bush. I means he didn’t mince words, he said what he meant and
he meant what he said, That is why Brother Branham said, “say what is on the
tapes, and say all that is on them.”
13 And not as Moses, which
put a veil over his face, that the children of
Look, Moses had been up there alone with God for forty
days and when he came back down to the people, his face radiated with the
shekinah presence of God, and the people couldn’t take it, they feared Moses
now, so they made Moses place a veil over his face to cover up the Glory, To
cover up the Doxa, the values of God, the opinions of God, the judgments of
God.
Exodus 34:27 And
the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these
words I have made a covenant with thee and with
And notice what Paul
says of their placing this veil over the face of Moses.
14 But
their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away
in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ. 15 But even unto this day,
when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Now, remember the heart always speaks of
understanding, So the veil was over their understanding he says.
Notice what Paul says next, 16 Nevertheless
when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now, what’s he talking
about, when what shall turn to the Lord? When the heart shall turn to the Lord.
When Elijah comes to restore the hearts of the children to the fathers, when
the hearts, the understanding, shall turn to the Lord. And how is that to
happen? When the focus of the children’s understanding is focused on one thing,
and one thing only, The Lord God. Then the veil will be taken away from their
understanding.
Then Paul tells us how
it will be done. 17 Now
the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty. And what is liberty?
It is “the right and power to act, to believe,
and to express oneself in a manner which is fully natural or innate within that
individual. As brother Branham said, I can do anything I want to do, but all I
want to do is to please my Father.
And now we come down
to how it is to be accomplished in us. 18 But we all, with open face (that means an unveiled face, no traditions, no creeds
binding us because that is exactly what Brother Branham said it was.
Unveiling of God 64-0614M P:132 The veil, tradition of
unbelievers, taken away, you see God. When the veil of traditions has been removed,
you can see that God is still God of His Word. He still keeps His Word. He's
the--He's the God, Author of His Word that is hid behind skin veils to others.
Yes, that is right. To those who cannot go behind the veil, He's still behind
skin veils.
Unveiling of God 64-0614M P:174
But now as Revelation 10 is revealed, the mysteries of God
is made manifest, known, as the seven-sealed Book promised. Now, let your faith
in Him Who is the Word... 'Cause in Revelations 10 it says--or in Revelations
19, rather... I had it wrote down here, Revelations 10, to go to it; but it
ain't 10, it's 19. When He comes, He's going to be called the Word of God,
riding upon a white horse, and the followers of heaven will be behind Him. Break
the denominational veil of education. Break the denominational veil of
tradition. Break those veils that's hiding Him from you. Break those veils of
pride, you women; you're--you're a King's daughters; act like it; live like it.
Break every veil. No matter what Ph.D. and LL.D. says; if it's contrary to that
Bible, break through that veil; for we've crossed the riven veil. We're on the
other side now, on the other side. And you will see, if you'll just do that,
break those old traditions and things and come to Him, you'll see Him standing the
Mighty Conqueror, the Word of promise for this age made manifest. You'll see
the mighty God unveiled, see Him right among us here, unveiled, the mighty God,
unconquered by traditions.
Unveiling of God 64-0614M P:120 Notice, all the Glory that is
in God is in the Word. All the blessings that's in God is in the Word. It's hid
to the unbeliever by traditions. See what I mean? But It's all in Christ. All
that God was, He emptied Himself ("kenos") and came into Christ; and
we, into Christ are behind the veil..."Well, I'm into Christ," you
say. And then believe there's three gods? Baptize in the name of "Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost"? Believe in all these traditions and things that you
believe in, of the elders? No, you're still behind the veil. See? Come into the
veil; He, Christ is the Word. How? "I don't believe in Divine healing. I
don't believe in these miracles and things like that." Well, you see,
you're--you're not in the--inside the veil; you don't know nothing about it.
See? Christ is the Word. And when we're in the Word, we're in Christ. And how
can I be in Christ, denying Christ? It's He that said, "Not one word shall
be added to or taken from." How can you take from and add to then? See, it
shows you what veil that's got you veiled away. See?
Unveiling of God 64-0614M P:108 Now in this age, when the old
denominational and traditional veil has been rent from the Word of God, so It
can be manifested. You see what I mean? The tradition says, "All those
things are past." (Let it soak a little bit.) "The things are
past." But in this last day that traditional veil has been rent apart;
here stands the Pillar of Fire. See? Here He is, manifesting the Word for this
day. The veil's rent. Now, the world, still they don't believe it. No matter
what, they don't see it. They don't see it. It wasn't sent to them. Remember,
the Son of God was not revealed to
Unveiling of God 64-0614M P:82 Now, notice, God warned any
persons not to try to follow Moses into the veil of Fire. Moses was to be
veiled; he had to come out of there. Moses went in as Moses, went into this
Pillar of Fire; and when he walked back out, he was veiled, for he went into
there, out of his traditions, the traditions of the elders. He saw the Pillar
of Fire, but now he goes into the Pillar of Fire. See? Amen. And he come forth,
veiled: God's Word in a man, veiled, here he come walking out. Oh, my, I can
see it. Warned nobody else to try it, nobody even impersonate that. You better
not. See? Even a priest or a holy man, whoever it was, cardinal, bishop,
anything else, tried to go in that veil, died. God warned them. We'll have no
impersonations.
Unveiling of God 64-0614M P:59 Could it be possible that the
Gentiles has hit the same thing? (Oh, God.) When they've had the church ages of
the Son of God, but when now the veil of this denominations and things, this
veil of tradition that we've got since Pentecost, when the church traditions
has been rent, the things that the people said, "Days of miracles is
past," and these things, and God has took the veil off of it and brought
It in plain view, and they're ready to crucify It again. Just exactly right.
Mighty God unveiled 64-0629 P:64 And we find out here that God
has always had skin on Him. When Moses seen Him, He had skin on Him; He looked
like a man. When God was behind the curtains, He had skin on Him. And God
tonight in His Church is veiled in His Church with skin on Him. He's still the
same God tonight. We find that. But now, as ever, the skin veil is what catches
the traditions. They just can't believe that that's God making them people act
like that. See? It's because God's veiled in His church, in skin, skin on It.
That's right. He's hid from the unbeliever and revealed to the believer. Yes,
sir.
Unveiling of God 64-0614M P:94 How about the people who say
that they are veiled in the Presence of God and preach some church tradition
(Oh, mercy, goodness.) which adds to and takes from, and everything else, like
injecting their own subjects and their own thoughts, and not the Word of God?
See? What kind of a veil? That's got an ecclesiastical veil. God tore that veil
wide open. They say, "There is no such a thing as prophets. There is no
such a thing in these last days as apostles and prophets. There is no such a
thing as Divine healing. There is no such a thing as seers anymore. There is no
such a thing as Mark 16 being fulfilled. Apostolic age is done." They
veiled It from the people, but God walked right out with His Holy Spirit of
fire and rent that thing from the top to the bottom. God has rent the veil.
Now, in the next verse we will see how the Apostle
Paul tells us how the veil will be rent in two, as it was when it exposed Jesus
Christ behind the mercy seat.
18 But
we all, with open face (no traditions and creeds or dogmas to hide behind) Beholding as in a
glass (a mirror) the glory of the
Lord, (the doxa of the Lord, his value, his opinions, his judgments)
are changed into
the same image (what image? God’s values, God’s opinion, God’s
Judgment) from
glory to glory, (from values to values, from opinion to opinion,
from judgment to judgment) even as by the Spirit of the
Lord.
Now, look, what Paul is saying here is that we are
looking in a mirror, the mirror of the Word of God. And yet we no longer are
seeing ourselves, but what we are seeing is Christ. Now, look, stand before a
mirror at night, and shut the door and turn off all lights, and you won’t be
able to see anything even though you hose is almost touching that mirror. Now,
open the door a little bit to allow some light in, and you will be gin to see a
small reflection perhaps first on your forehead or nose, or white shirt. Like
the mines who dress in black and have their faces painted white, and white
gloves on.
You can’t see anything but the white, because white
reflects light. And the bride of Jesus Christ is to be dressed in a garment of
the Word that is pure, a white garment with no spot or wrinkle, in other words, like a projector screen so
the more pure, the fewer the wrinkles of spots the purer the image can be
reflected from you. Because Moses was a reflector, all of God’s prophets are
reflectors, and if those people would have stood still long enough that
reflection of God’s glory, God’s shekinah presence would have begin to reflect
itself from the people as well.
Jesus said in Matthew 5: 13-17 Ye are the light of the
world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a
candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light
unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven.
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law,
or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
Ephesians 4:17 This
I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
From THE PATMOS VISION - 60-1204 2E Brother Branham
said, "And
a true minister of God don't reflect some flashlight, some match stem, some
shuck a-burning; he reflects the golden rays of Christ to the Church, that
"He's the same, and He's alive, and He shine on me." Amen! That's the
Light he reflects. The star reflects the light of the sun, see, so we're
reflecting the Light of the Son of God. Doing the same thing He did, giving
Light.
God predestinates a man to reflect that Word for each
age. Now this is more important than we give credit for, and I see a trend away
from this in those who claim to believe the Message of Malachi 4. It is True that our
emphasis should be on the True Light and not the reflector. However, if not for
the role of the reflector you and I would not see the True Light, because God
is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. So
you must have the Truth or True Light which can only come through an ordained
and predestined reflector which the Word of God declares to be a Prophet. And
so we see John explain this in the following verse,
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! That calls
me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare, By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of
prayer! sweet hour of prayer! The joys I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there, And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of
prayer! sweet hour of prayer! Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face, Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care, And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of
prayer! sweet hour of prayer! May I thy consolation share,
Till, from
This robe of flesh I’ll drop, and rise To seize the everlasting prize,
And shout, while passing through the air,“ Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of
prayer!”