Token no 2
Without Christ's Life we've lost everything
Brian Kocourek,
This morning we will continue in our study of brother
Branham's sermon "The Token",
because it is a very important sermon for us to study at this time. We left off
last night at paragraph 17 so we will pick up at paragraph 18 this morning.
18 Now, we
don't know; when I watch the clock, and when it gets time, well, these... Or I
got many, many Scriptures wrote down here. So not knowing that I won't
be with you for a while... And how do we know that this won't be the last time
that some of us will ever meet together. So let's try to approach It just as reverently... I know that it's hard. The Lord's
gave us a nice morning now for the service, just nice. And let's try to
concentrate now on everything as we speak of, so that if there's anything in
there that the Lord would want you to know, that it would be given to you.
19 And we
don't stand here just to be seen. We never come here just so others could see
what clothing we were wearing, We come here for one thing, as our brother
prayed that prayer: (he's referring
to br. Vayle here) "We are here for to hear
the Word, the Word coming to us." We want that, 'cause that is
the only thing that's going to mean anything to us, anything that's going to be
substantial, anything that's going to help us.
20 And we are a dying people.
All human beings are headed towards eternity. And then we got this much time to
make our decisions on which way we're going to head. And the road is before us.
We can take either side we want to choose. That's the way He put Adam and Eve,
and that's the way He puts us. We must remember that no matter what we do or
how successful we are in life, without Christ, we've totally lost
everything. See?
This morning I would like to look at this statement
brother Branham made here, "without Christ we've lost everything."
We find the Apostle John make a similar comment in his
Second Epistle, which we call 2 John.
2 John 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we
have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
The Voice translation puts it
this way, 8 Ensure that you do not lose what we have worked for so
that you will be fully rewarded.
And the NIV translation
says almost the same thing: 8 Watch out that you do not lose what we have
worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.
And I would like to
read one more version if you don't mind. From the
Wuest translation we read, "Ever be
keeping a watchful eye upon yourselves in order that you do not loose the
things we accomplished ,
but that you might receive a full reward."
So the Apostle John is
letting us know that we are quite capable of loosing everything that we seem to
have accomplished, if we're not careful. And in the next verse he tells us how
that we can loose it all.
He says, 9 Whosoever transgresses, and abides not in the
doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abides in the doctrine of
Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
The Wuest translation reads
this way: Everyone who goes beyond the limits
of true doctrine, and does not remain in the aforementioned doctrine of
Christ does not possess God. The One who remains in the doctrine of Christ,
this one possess both the Father and son. If, as is the case, a certain
one comes to you and this teaching he is not bearing, stop receiving him into
your house . And stop giving him greeting. For the one
who gives him greeting is a partner in his works which are pernicious.
So the Apostle John is showing us that as long as we
stay within the confines of the doctrine of Christ we possess both Father and
son. And He's talking about the life of the father and son.
Now, the actual Greek uses the word "echo" whereas the English translated it
as the word "hath" or the Wuest translated it as the word "possess"...
In either case we see that this word echo as strictly used, speaks of a living
reflection of Father and the son. Thus the life of the Father
and the Life of the son reflecting in the individual that "echos"
both the Father and Son.
Now, this is critical, because he first warns us that
we can loose this reflection, and thus the Life of the reflection if we go
beyond the limits of the doctrine or teaching of Christ.
In other words, we could if we are not mindful and
careful in our echoing of the Doctrine of Christ, it is possible for us to come
to the place where we are no longer echoing or reflecting the Life of Christ,
but we've come to a place where we are just merely repeating it as though it is
a learned intellectual understanding.
And when that happens we've lost what we've worked
for. When we repeat it as though it is mere theology and not life, we have
somehow lost the boundaries or limits of the doctrine, and we have relegated
the doctrine of Christ to mere intellect and not the actual reflection or echoing
of the Life that is in the Father and Son.
Notice
we see the same thing in 1 John
And since this word hath was translated from the
Greek word echo, then we are looking at the fact that if there
is a genuine echoing of the son of God, then
their will be a genuine echoing of the very life that projects forth from the
son of God. So we are not dealing here with a mere intellectual recital or
repeating of words. we are dealing with the very Life
of Christ projecting from our vessels.
Notice the words, He that hath the Son
hath life;
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
This
is quite a statement that the apostle John has given to us. And
since we believe that "the Word of God is
God breathed", then these words were not the words of John,
but rather the Words of God given to us through Gods servant John.
Now,
this takes us back to 2 John 8 where the
promise is that if we remain within the limits of the doctrine of Christ there
will be a genuine echoing of
Father and Son, and hence a true reflection of the very life of Father and son
projecting forth from us.
Notice
however that the Apostle John is speaking to us here concerning two types of
people, or shall we say twins. Notice he contrasts those who remain in the
doctrine of Christ and those who go outside the limits of the doctrine of
Christ, and thus they no longer echo,
but merely are theologically based in their understanding of the doctrine. John
is contrasting the difference between these two different peoples, and whether
they echo or they do not echo, which is whether they are truly reflecting the life of they are just mimicking
the life. One has Life and the other does not have Life, so one echoes that life while the other does not echo that life that was in the son.
First
of all he speaks of those who would transgress and not abide in the doctrine.
Now, the word transgress used in
this verse of Scripture was translated from the Greek word para-baino which is made from two words
coming together. The word "para" which speaks of "location, proximity, or vicinity."
And the word Baino
means to walk or keep pace with. Placed together it speaks of "not keeping pace with, or going beyond the limits."
Therefore
we can read this verse as "Whosoever does not
keep pace with, or goes beyond the limits of the doctrine of Christ, echos not
God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he echos
both the Father and the Son."
So
we see the comparison John is speaking of here has to do with those who would abide in which means to remain in, verses those who will not keep pace with and thus will not abide in or remain in, and thus they
fall out of line, so to speak, and they are no longer walking in the light,
because the light has moved on and they have stayed still.
The
danger I see is that the foolish virgin once had oil in her lamp, but it has
run out. They once walked in the light as He is in the light, but somehow they
stopped moving forward with the Light, and what Life they had has become
stagnated and transformed from echo
to recital.
Brother
Branham said in his sermon, Anointed ones at end
time 65-0725M P:168 Now, you go back and try to live again... What if that life
took back down... You think that Life would ever talk,
go back after that old shuck's dried up, ever go back and live in it again? It
never does. "For it is impossible for those
which were once enlightened and didn't move on with the Word as it come to pass..." They're
dead, gone. "And the thorns and
thistles which is nigh unto rejection, whose end is to
be burned..." Is that right?
And
if they are dead then the life that once was in the shuck has left it, right?
Therefore
to "go beyond the limits of the doctrine of
Christ" tells us that these do
not keep pace with or remain in the doctrine of Christ as it is
coming to pass as brother Branham said. Therefore they do not echo God, nor are
they reflecting His life present tense. The Oil has gone out of their vessel.
They once had oil but it is gone. They once walked in the light as it was
breaking, but now they are fixated on the light from 20 years ago although the
light is still moving on with Him who is Light. So to put it bluntly, they once
walked in the light and while they walked they had life, but they stopped to
look back, and the light kept moving on but they did not, because they stopped
to look back.
On
the other hand those who remain in
the doctrine of Christ, are those who echo
present tense, which is to reflect the life of both Father and Son
present tense, because the pillar of fire is still leading us into the
millennium.
Now,
the word hath is what we wish to
examine here this morning because we find this word hath used in both of our texts, and this most
important scripture of 2 John 9
concerning the doctrine of Christ. is actually opens
up to our understanding because it is identified with what John also says in 1 John 5:12.
And
once you understand what this word hath
means you will understand that the same thing is being spoken of in both of
these Scripture, showing the consistency of the Word of God.
In
examining this word hath we find the word was translated from the
Greek word echo
and is used over 600 times throughout the Scriptures. The Greek word echo
has various application of usage, including to have or to
hold, kind of like in our wedding ceremony, we say, "will
you so and so, take this woman "to have and to hold".
So it shows possession.
But
no matter how you slice it, both meanings of the word echo, show possession or relationship, and so we can see
that the root meaning of this word speaks of relationship, whether directly or
remotely, and thus the main strength of usage concerning this word has to do
with continuity of relationship,
or to make it simple, continuing in the
relationship.
So
if you continue to echo you continue in the relationship, but if you do not
continue in the relationship then you are no longer echoing.
Matthew
Brother Vayle knew
Doctor Hoyer who was perhaps the best Student of the Greek Language this
country has ever had, and he said this verse should be translated, "I used to know you as my wife, but I do not know
you as my wife any more." In other words, it speaks to us
of the great divorcement. And this is no different than those who walked in the
light and had some echo and reflection of life for a season, but who stopped
walking.
In the same way Jesus
says, 24 " Therefore whosoever hears these sayings
of mine, and doeth
them, (in other words,
those people who
"hear, recognize and then act upon the Word of God. He says)
I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his
house upon a rock: (revelation.
In other words, if you hear, recognize and then act upon the Word it is because
it is revealed to you. That's revelation.) 25 And the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house;
and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. (revelation) 26 And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, (in
other words, they may have heard, but because they did not recognize, then they
did not act upon it, because it was not truly revealed to these people) shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house
upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and
great was the fall of it.
The same rains came, and the same winds came, and the
same floods came, but the One built upon revelation weathered those storms
because it was revealed to them, and therefore it was life to them. The others
did not weather the storm because although they heard with their ears, the did not understand with their hearts, because it was not
revealed to them. And that is exactly what Jesus taught us in Matthew 13:10-17.
Matthew
Then Jesus says, 12 For whosoever hath,
(there's
that word echo again. For whosoever is made of
such a nature as to be able to echo) to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: And why
more abundance if you echo? Because an echo gives the same
Word over and over and over again. In other words, it is life and life
is constantly reproducing itself over and over again. That's called cell
growth, and only living cells can do this.
"but whosoever
hath (echoes)
not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath
(is echoing). 13 Therefore speak I to them in
parables: because they (the ones who echo not, because they are the ones who
do not have the Spirit living in them. Well) seeing
yet they see not; and hearing they
hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is
fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and
shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people's
heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of
hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time
they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should
understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I
should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see:
and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say
unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see
those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and
have not heard them.
Now
we stated earlier that the word echo speaks of "continuity"
and the word continuity means 1. The
state or quality of being continuous.
2. An uninterrupted succession or flow; a coherent whole. 3. a. A detailed script or scenario consulted to avoid
discrepancies from shot to shot in a film.
And
as you can see all these descriptive meanings show the attributes of what an echo
really is. And the purpose of an echo
is to bring about continuity, and
an "uninterrupted succession", or "flow",
so to speak, "to avoid
discrepancies from shot to shot or from voice to voice", if we are
to be more scripturally accurate.
In
other words, the promise is "if you walk in the
light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin."
That's
God's promise to us in 1 John 1:7. So it
is essential that we continue to walk in the light as he is walking in the
Light. If we stop, we can no longer echo. You can not echo what
was said yesterday. You can repeat it, but to echo it must be present tense.
Now,
we might remember things that were said yesterday, and thus we can repeat and
possibly through memorization, we might say those things he once said. But that
is not the same as echoing. To Echo
shows present tense. The source has to be present for it to be echoed. Quoting
shows we are just repeating something that was once said in times past, but to
echo, the Literal Voice must be present to echo it, and there is a big
difference between echo and repeat.
Thus
echoing is reflecting, and not merely reciting as the intellectual will do.
Thus
you can see that an echo will keep
the continuity of thought and speech, because an echo not
only will say the same thing, but will bring forth the same
inflections, and dynamics of the original speech time and
time again as it proceeds forth in its course of life. That is why we are taught in
scripture that faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the Word of God.
Because when you hear, you not only hear the word, but also the inflection and
spirit how those words were said. But just reading the Word does not bring
Faith. Hearing brings faith, because only in hearing are we getting the Spirit
reflecting in the tone, inflection, an all characteristics associated with the
Spoken word.
Thus
the Spoken Word we know is the Original Seed,
and as a seed is subject to the commands of God concerning all seeds,
which is spoken of in Genesis 1:11, that every seed must bring forth after its kind
or nature.
Thus
in each seed that comes forth from the original seed, there must be an ability
to echo or reflect what nature
that is in that seed. And if the Original Spoken Word is a Seed, then that
spoken Word Seed must bring forth after its kind.
Thus
an ability to echo will guarantee the continuity that each time that Word
is repeated it will not only say the same thing, but the same thought as the
original will be behind it, because the expression or dynamics of that
word will be the same from generation to generation as it repeats itself over
and over again, and the repetition being reflected from echo to echo, will carry along with
it the same expression and dynamics, and will sound exactly as the original
seed sounded.
Marriage and divorce 65-0221M P:34 Now, listen. Do you see? One
interruption spoils the entire program. Now, when human beings
was running in continuity with God, with one man and one woman, this
woman sinned. And it throwed the whole earthly
program out of continuity
with God. Therefore, one word added to this Book or one word taken from It
throws a Christian out of continuity with God, throws the church out of continuity with God,
throws a family out of continuity with God. Every believer can be throwed
out by not accepting every Word of God.
And
the beauty of what we are looking at here is that an echo is a continuity, of
the original word. That's why you can
hear God's prophet speak the Word of God and then you can come to church and
hear God's voice speak the same words all over again. Because there is only one
Voice, even though their may be different vessels speaking the same words. And
that is how you know whether that ministry is true, because it speaks exactly
as or echoes exactly what the Voice of God to the age spoke.
156-2
When
it is the Voice of God speaking it will say the same thing, the same way from
echo to echo to echo, always the same way and the same meaning. But quoting or
a repeating by memory is not so. When man begins to move from walking in the light as He (God) is in that same light,
he moves away from the Living Word, and he moves to an intellectual repetition.
In other words, an echo is a
living reflection whereas just repeating the doctrine is based on
memory and intellect, and is not living but is theology, and it is dead. "The Word killeth but the Spirit maketh alive."
Years
ago I heard brother Vayle preach a message called the
Omega Reflection, and in it he
spoke about when Moses came down from the mountain and his face were aglow from
the presence of the Lord. And the people made him put a veil over his face
because they were afraid of his face glowing from the shekinah glory of God. And Br. Vayle went on to speak
of how the Prophet is in direct
line with the Light or pillar of fire and as he reflects it, if we
would stand there in that same light, pretty soon we would reflect ourselves
that same light.
Now,
this is a very good thought and it has inspired my studies throughout the past 30
years.
And
a true echo will say what has been
said in the same way that it was said.
Now
that we know what the Greek word is that was translated for the word hath, lets read the two verses of Scripture
over again and see how our understanding changes as we read them.
2 John 9. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in
the doctrine of Christ, he hath
both the Father and the Son.
Now,
again lets plug in our understanding of what this Scripture is saying, and use
the actual wording that best fits this Scripture.
Whosoever does not keep pace with, and therefore goes beyond the
limits of
the doctrine of
Christ, echoes not God. And why is that? Because if you do not keep pace with then you are either speeding
up or slowing down, and an echo can not speed up nor can it slow
down, it must say it just like it was said. That is why Brother Branham said, "say what is on the tapes, and only what is on the tapes, and
say it like the tapes say it".
Because
he was saying it on those tapes just like God said it, because
that was God speaking lip to lip with his prophet as he promised to do. And
John continues, He that abideth (which
means to remain) in the doctrine of Christ, he echoes both the Father and the
Son.
Now,
lets examine this in light with our next text verse this morning. 1 John
Then if you can not
echo the son you can not echo the Life of the son, and God is Life. For you see when Jesus
came he said, It is written in the volume of the
Book, I have come to do thy will o God, and Jesus also said, in
And so we see that the Son of God reflected or echoed the Father in every detail, and thus he that can echo
the son will echo
Life for God is Life. And he that will remain in
the Doctrine of Christ will echo both the Father and the
Son.
For if Jesus echoed the Father and we echo Jesus then we also
will echo
the Father. For an echo is not a one time event,
but happens over and over again. Thus Jesus the first fruit was the first
repeat the Father to us, and as we catch the vision, and are conformed to the image
of the Son, thats Romans 8, then we also
will do nothing unless the Father show us first, which is John
14:12 and what we teach are the commandments from the Father,
given to us through the first echo of His Son, and thus as we echo them to others, they are repeated again and again and again, showing the word is Living and abiding in us as a continuity of His own
Life.
Just like your heart pumping shows you are alive, and notice it is called an
echo- cardiogram, because it is based on the
echo of your heart, so to your echoing the Word of God
again and again shows you are alive in Christ. And just as in the natural
the heart pumping the blood (which the life is in the blood), and thus the
pumping of the heart is the evidence that you are alive in the natural, so too in the spiritual, the
echoing of the life of Christ in your heart, and the heart represents our
understanding, then thus as the understanding echoes the Word of God again
and again, it is an evident token that you are alive in Christ, and the life that was in
the Father and given to His Son quickens you also showing that you are alive and His Life in you today,
is the same as it was in yesterday, and in God before that. And it is the same life, yesterday, today and forever..
That is why Paul could say in Galatians 2:20 I am (present
tense, today) crucified with Christ: nevertheless I'm
living; yet it is not I that is living, but Christ is living in me: and the
life which I am now living in this flesh, I am living by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. In other words, Paul
is saying, Since I was crucified with Christ, I am living by His Faith, His
Revelation, and thus as a result of the Life by which He lived, I too am living
by that same Life. And thus we see the Life which was in the Father
being passed along to His Son which is John
And so we see that whosoever
is of such a nature as to be able to echo the Son of God will also echo the Father who is
Life.
Now, lets look again at this word hath in reference to the effect it has upon
those who possess the ability to echo verses those who can not.
Matthew 13:12 For whosoever hath, (whosoever echoes, or is of such a nature as to be able
to echo) to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: (and
why is that? Because the very nature of an echo
is to have more and more and more of the same) but whosoever
hath not, (whosoever is not of such a nature as to be able to echo) from him shall be taken away even that he hath (is
able to repeat).
Now,
the term Hath Life is used 23
times in the New Testament, but in my examining each usage of the tern hath Life I found that the word hath was not always translated from the Greek
Word echo. And to my amazement,
the only times it was not taken from the word echo
is when it referred to something God did. And why is that? Because
God does not echo. His Spoken Word is the Original, it is not
an echo. But each time that Word
reflects from one to the next, it is echoing. Therefore, the source of Life
does not echo, but we echo what He said.
Notice in 1 John
But as we examine 1 John
We have already seen the usage in this verse. 1 John
Acts 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified
God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles
granted repentance unto life. Now, the Greek word that the word hath was translated from was not echo but didomi which means to give, thus then God gave to the Gentiles, but no where here
does it say that God echoes.
John
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath (echoes) everlasting life: and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath (echoes)
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation;
but is passed from death unto life.
John 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath (echoes) everlasting life.
John 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood, hath (echoes) eternal life; and
I will raise him up at the last day.
Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear, (echoes, he that is of such a nature as to be able to
hear and thus echo) let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree
of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
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 (echo) life through his
name.
John 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is
coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God:
and they that hear shall live.
Let us pray...