Token no 18
Witness
of The Spirit no 5
The
New Birth
September
6th, 2015
Brian
Kocourek, Pastor
Colossians 3:3 "For ye are dead and your life is hid with
Christ in God."
and if you are dead then
what kind of an expression does a dead man have? A dead man doesn't retaliate does he? Dead horses don't kick, and dead men don't fight back. Then if
you want to know if you are truly dead to self and your life is covered over by
Jesus Christ's life, give yourself the Word test.
This morning I
would like to continue with our thoughts that we left off on last night from
brother Branham's sermon The Token, and we will continue from where we
left off reading last night at paragraph 65. Therefore we will begin reading at
paragraph 66.
66 What
if there was one Jew standing there stirring the blood as the lamb was
bleeding, saying, "This is Jehovah."And there stood a priest saying,
"Yes, sir, I believe that's true." But on his own house, it hasn't been applied. He don't want to
identify himself out there with that group (No, sir.), with this fanatics with
the blood on the door. He don't want that identification; no matter how much priest he was, how much he knowed the Word, how well
he had been raised, what works he had done, how much he give to the poor, how
much he'd sacrificed..Paul said, "I give
my body to be burned as a sacrifice, give all my goods to feed the poor, I have
faith to move mountains and so forth, and speak in tongues like men and angels;
and all these other things," and said, "I'm
nothing until the Token's been applied."Until this
Token (That's what I'm speaking on tonight, the love. See?), now, until this
has been applied, I am nothing. See?
67 I
don't care. You might've cast out devils; you might've healed the sick by your
prayer of faith. You might've done all these things, but if that Token's not there, you're under the wrath of God. You might be a believer. You might stand in the pulpit and preach
the Gospel. "Many will come to Me in that day and say
'Lord, Lord, have not I prophesied in Your Name? preached in Your Name. Have
not I cast out devils in Your Name?' (That's both Methodist,
Baptist and Pentecostals.)" Jesus said, "Depart
from Me, you that work iniquity; I never even knew you. But when I see the
Token, I'll pass over you." It's God's requirement
of the hour. The evening time message is to apply the Token.
68 Satan's
throwed all kinds of counterfeits of shaking hands and evidences and everything
like that. Forget it. The hour has
arrived that the Token Itself, not some counterfeit, make-believe
substitutionary, anything; the hour is
here when the Token Himself is identifying Himself right among us and proving
that He's the same Jesus yesterday, today, and forever, and He's right with the
Word. It's got to be applied. A man that
says that he's got the Token, deny this Word, then what about it? See, you
can't do it. The Token's got to be there.
When I... "The Blood shall be a Token unto you."
Now, the Holy Spirit, the Life that was
in the Blood is a Token unto you. (Get to it in a moment. See?) The Holy
Ghost is the Token. The case is closed. Yes, sir.
Notice that brother Branham is saying, no matter
how much He is here, if you do not apply it you are out. If you do not live
like He is here, it will do you no good knowing he is here.
69 Now,
remember, and it doesn't matter what you are, how good you are, how many times
you jumped up and down, how many churches you've joined, how many good things
you've done; it won't mean one thing to you, if the Token isn't
applied. This is the evening time. That worked all right in the days
of Luther. That worked all right in the days of Wesley. But it don't work
now. No. Yeah, keeping up the lamb was all right then. Those who
died then before the lamb was applied, the blood, it was different. Yes, sir.
They went on because of good conscious. They'd be judged whether they were... If they were predestinated, it struck them. If it didn't, it don't.
That's all. It's just God. He
justifies who He will, have mercy on who He will, and He condemn who He will.
He's God. That's all. He has mercy on whom He has mercy and condemns who He
wants to condemn.
70 A
Jew could plainly show by the circumcision, that he is a believer. There's many
men, fundamental men who can take this Bible, say, "I am a believer."And Jesus said, "By
faith we are saved." And, "I am a believer, but
that baptism of the Holy Ghost is nonsense." Then the Token isn't applied, no matter how much he believes; it's
annulled. Just like the circumcision of the Jew. He said, "I'm a Jew. Why
do I have to go out there and act like that other bunch of fanatics."
71
Moses standing up and down the streets said, "The evening message is here.
It shall come to pass, at the end of the fourteen days, you shall gather the
congregation together and kill the lamb. The whole congregation of
72 The
blood was a token. Now, the Spirit is
the Token. "You shall be filled with the Holy Ghost
not many days hence." And when the Blood was shed, the
Token was sent down on the day of Pentecost like a rushing mighty wind. That
was the theme of every apostle. That was... "Have
you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?"
"Repent everyone of you and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ,
for the remission of sins, and you shall receive this gift of the Holy Ghost,
for it's a Token (Amen!) that you've passed from death unto Life."
There you are.
73 When
the Jewish church faded out, the Gentiles taken it over in that perversion like
that, now she's come out to get that remnant of the Gentile for His Namesake:
the Bride. See, what I mean? See what the Scripture's speaking of here? If the Token was not displayed, then the
covenant was not effective. See? It must be; because if you say you
believe, and you don't follow the instructions of the Word, then you don't
believe. See? Though you be circumcised, though you join, though
you're baptized, you've done all these things like that, that still isn't the
Token. The Holy Ghost...
And that is the pathetic truth we see all over the
Message today. So many claim to believe but you can't tell their life from a Baptist
life.
we read last
night in the Church
Age Book Chapter 2 - The Patmos Vision P:60 "Those who heard and wouldn't listen will be judged by what they heard. Those that rested in it saying they
believed it, but didn't
live it, will be judged."
But brother Branham said you must follow the instructions. From his sermon,
You Must Be
Born Again 61-1231M 28 brother Branham said, "I want to take
the subject this morning of Jesus' first doctrine. The first doctrine of Jesus
was, "You Must Be Born Again."
That was His first doctrine… 29 And we find out that there is so many different meanings that people put to it. Nearly
all churches say that you must be born again, but each one has their different interpretations to that, what it means
to be born again. I might go to the Methodist church this morning; they say,
"We believe that you must be born again." How do you interpret it? I go to the Baptist church, "And we
believe you must be born again." How
do you interpret it? And I would go to each church, and we'd find, if we
went to all the nine hundred different denomination of churches, there'd be nine hundred different interpretations.
So seeing that there is so many
different interpretations, and yet a Bible doctrine, there must be, and is, a truth somewhere. 64 Now, there is approach to this birth. And to approach this
birth, you have to go through a process, just like anything
that lives. Anything that lives again has got to die first.
And you cannot keep your same spirit. You cannot keep your same habits. You cannot keep your same thoughts. You got to die. You've got to die like He died. You got to
die on His altar, like Abel did with his lamb. You got to die with your Lamb. You got to die, die to your own
thinking to be born to His thinking. Let the mind that was in Christ be in you. You got to think His thoughts.
And now, brother, sister, let me say this as intelligent as I know how to say
it. How can you think His thoughts and deny His Word,
and yet claim you're born again? Just ask yourself that
question. How can you do it? You can't. If you're born
again, you got His thoughts. If the mind of Christ is in you, then you are a
new creature. The Bible teaches that.
And if any brother would like to, where you find that creature, look that word
"creature" up in the Lexicon, and you'll find out that the
word "creature" there
is interpreted or translated, "a new creation,"
because you are a one creation, a human being born in sexual desire here on
earth, and now you're a new creation born by Spirit.
Your own thoughts are dead. They're so dead until they're crystal like
the brass serpent, or like He died when the heavens and earth and
everything witnessed He was dead.
Notice
brother Branham said there is an approach to this birth, so we need to know
what that approach is and we must know if we have come God's provided way. And
that way is the way of death. You must die, and not only die, but you must die
so bad that you rot to your own self.
You must be born again 61-1231M P:73 And
if you still love the things of the world, you're
deceived; your sacrifice hasn't been
accepted yet; your nature hasn't
been changed. Now, do you know what it means to be
born again? See, your
nature's changed; you become a new creature. You got to die
first and then be born again.
You must be born again 61-1231M P:56 Now,
it must die. Now, that don't mean
turn a new page now, this new year. You say, "Brother Branham, I've been
coming here for a long time. I've been a member of the church. This New Year's
I'm going to turn a new page and start new. That don't mean that. Not turn a
new page, but actually die and be born
again. See? You've got to feel so
guilty when you stand in His Presence. Whether you go the Methodist way, or
the Baptist way, or whatever way you go, you've
got to be so guilty and feel so guilty till you... It'll kill you. That's
right. You, it'll kill you. Your worldly life will die right there.
You've got to reckon yourself so guilty
in the Presence of God until your worldly life dies right there. The sin question's over for you when you're standing in His Presence.
When you look like that, you're sure to live, because you
die. And the only way you can
live again is to die first so you can live again. Now, you see what I'm
coming to, don't you (See that?), what the birth is, the new
birth. First, to die, in order to be born again... And if you still got the things of the world in
you, you're not born again. And how you going to claim to be born again and
still with the things of the world hanging on you? See? How can you do it?
Remember,
brother Branham told us there is an order, there is a process in order to be
born again. And in his sermon, You must be born again 61-1231M P:54 He tells us what that process is. "Yes, to be born again you must go
through a process of death; everything does. You take a grain of
corn; if that corn ever expects to live again, it's got to die first. If a grain of wheat ever expects to live
again, it's totally impossible for... That corn, that wheat, that flower, that
tree, that grass, that vegetable, everything
that expects to live again must die first. Then how you going to escape it?
You got to die first. You got to die. Die how? To yourself, die to everything, so that you can be born again.
You've got to do that. If you don't die,
you can never live again.
You must be born again 61-1231M P:51 Now,
the approach to this birth, there is
approach to it. And to approach this birth, you have to go through a process,
just like anything that lives. Anything
that lives again's got to die first. And you cannot keep your same spirit. You cannot keep your same habits. You cannot keep your same thoughts. You got to die.
You've got to die like He died. You got
to die on His altar, like Abel did with his lamb. You got to die with your Lamb. You
got to die, die to your own thinking to be born to His thinking. Let the
mind that was in Christ be in you. You
got to think His thoughts. And now, brother, sister, let me say this as
intelligent as I know how to say it. How can you think His thoughts
and deny His Word, and yet claim you're born again? Just ask
yourself that question. How can you do it? You can't. If you're born again, you got His thoughts. If the mind of Christ is in
you, then you are a new creature. The Bible teaches that. And if any
brother would like to, where you find that creature, look that word
"creature" up in the--the Lexicon, and you'll find out that the word
"creature" there is interpreted or translated, "a new
creation," because you are a one creation, a human being born in sexual
desire here on earth, and now you're a new creation born by Spirit. Your own
thoughts are dead. They're so dead until they're crystal like the brass
serpent, or like He died when the heavens and earth and everything witnessed He
was dead.
Sirs we would see Jesus 61-1224 P:96 If he's a true disciple of Christ, he'll lead you to the cross.
"Oh, Brother Branham, I went out and spoke in tongues." That don't
mean nothing; a mule did that one day. Yes, sir. That's... Yeah, I don't mean
to make fun of God's holy Word. I believe in speaking in tongues, but devils
speak with tongues. A people can speak in tongues and live any kind of a life.
But I mean that the devil's got a copy of everything that God did. And he can copy everything but the genuine
birth of Christ; and he can't do that, 'cause you have to die first,
then the Word raises you up. How do you know when you're alive? When that Word, every word of It's made flesh in you; everything that the Bible says, you say the same thing, and it comes to
pass, just exactly like He said it. That's when it is. When your spirit agrees with Him (He is the
Word.), when your spirit agrees with what He said and the Spirit makes Itself manifest through His Word, then you're living.
See? You're through shopping then, and swapping, and all the rest of it. It's
all settled.
Why 60-0309 P:73 Oh,
in the hour of your death, in the hour of your death, how you long to hear
that. Let the water and the blood, from Thy flowing wounds supply, be for sin a
double cure, safe from wrath and make me pure. You're here to die now. The
only way you can be borned again is to die first, so that you can be borned
again.
Why? 59-0813 P:30 But as long as there's any hopes for it not to
rot, new Life won't come. That's why we get up from the altar so many times
without the Holy Spirit, because we
don't rot enough to our own ideas. We
got to meet God on His level. I like to meet Him there, because that He
never has failed me. The new birth is
no different from any other birth; it's
a mess. You ought to seen what mess I was in when I got It. And every once
in a while when It comes upon me again, I get messy again with It. I cry, and
boo-hoo, and carry on till I guess I don't look very good to look at, but it...
I got something on the inside of me that's taking me on and on and on and on
and on. It's new Life. I don't care
what It looks like; I want to know what It is. That's the main thing.
Way back the 62-1123 P:40 You
know the reason they do it? They're
afraid of that new birth, I mean the
real new birth. Oh, everybody say, "Sure, I believe you must be born
again. Yes, sir." Yes. But when it
comes to the real birth... They believe the new birth by shaking hands,
saying a bunch of creeds, or something another. They call that the new birth. That ain't the new birth. They're afraid of the new birth.
Listen. Any birth is a mess. I don't
care whether it's in a pigpen, or where it's at, it's a mess, any birth. And so is the new birth. It'll make you do
things that you didn't think you'd ever do. But it brings life. And before
you can have life, you have to have death. Before a seed can reproduce itself, it's got to die in order... And not only die, but it's got to rot. In order to get new life out of it, it's got to die and rot in itself.
And so does every sinner. And every man, no matter
how highly he's educated, and how much he's polished, how many degrees he has
in the church, or so forth, how many of these things, how many colleges he's
educated out of; he's got to die to his own theory. He's got to die to himself.
He's got to die to everything to be reborned again by the Holy Ghost. It'll make
him cry, and "boo hoo," and speak in tongues, and jump up and down,
and carry on like a maniac. But he's got
new life. That's what it takes to do it. He's got to have new life. They're
afraid of the new birth. The new birth is a mess.
It is I be not afraid 62-0726 P:89 Now,
if that Light doesn't do the same works
that It did when It was in the Son of God, then It isn't the same one. It
isn't. But if It does do the same works...
Just like I said, if you could take all the life out of a apple tree, every bit
of the life, and transfer the life of a pear tree in an apple tree, it would
bring forth pears (See?), because the life's
in it. That's what it bears. The fruit is in the life, of course. And
that's the same thing here. If you put
the Life of Christ, and take the life of a sinner out, he has to die first. And then when the Life
of Christ comes into him, then
he will produce the Life of Christ because that's what's living in him.
See? If... "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also,"
'cause His Life is in him.
Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with him in glory.
Water of separation - 55-0121
You've got to absolutely accept the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And not
only that, but you've got to die yourself. you've got to die to every thought of the
flesh so that you can receive the mind of Christ and walk from henceforth, not
of your own, but of His mind: the mind of Christ in you. That's the only
way you can stay alive. That's the only way I can stay alive. That's all I live
by, is by the Holy Spirit.
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. 12 Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors, not to self, to live after self. 13 For if ye live
after self, 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.
Then when we die to self does that mean
forever we are dead men? No! Because he said, "Because I live ye shall
live also."
In one sense you are dead to self, but
in another sense you have become a new creature in Christ Jesus. Didn't the
Apostle Paul say, "For
ye are dead"; but
notice he went on to say, "For your life is hid with Christ in God";
and how can you then be in reality a dead man when you have a hidden life? It's
not possible.
But since I have become one body by
being baptized into one spirit then I am one with Christ, am I not? Then I am
what Christ is: as the Life I am now living in this flesh, I am living by the
Life of Christ in Me.
I am crucified with Christ, that's what I have done to the old
man. I have killed it off. But Paul went on to say, that although I am
crucified with Christ, yet nevertheless, I am living, I am alive, but it's not
me that living, but Christ himself that is living in me. And as brother Branham
said, if he is living in me then the works he does I will do.
let us pray