Token no 23
Preparation
October 4, 2015
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
This evening we have an
interesting message that we find in paragraph 94 of brother Branham's Token
Message preached on September 1, 1963. It deals with the topic of preparation,
and the way God prepares the people to receive the promise for the hour.
Token
Sep 01, 1963 p. 94 Notice, then the
preparation for His promised land people... Notice, what he did. First, He had a people that He had made a land for them. He had prepared a
land for them. And now, He sent down
there a preparation for it, for the promised land people. It was only for
those who were predestinated to that promised land. Right. And how He done it, He sent a prophet with a message,
identified it by a Pillar of Fire, and gave a token that they could rest assure
that It was right. That's right. It was for consolation. Israel coming out
of Egypt then was a type. This is the ante-type of the church coming out of the
denominations. Now, not all denomination... I mean the Bride. See? Some people,
there's some of the independents are just as bad as the denominationals,
sometimes worse and... I'm talking about
the applied Token. The Token agrees with every word. See? It's got to,
because it is the Word. It's the Life
that was in the Word. "My Words are spiritual; they
are Life,"
said Jesus. See?
Notice brother Branham begins this paragraph speaking
of the preparation for the children of God to get to the promised land.
He says there are several things here we must
consider, first of all God had to prepare a people for a place, so both the
people and the place were predestined to be.Then God had to prepare a way for
the people to get to the place he had predestined for them to be.
Then he shows us how God does it, by sending a prophet
with a Message vindicated and identified by the Pillar of fire. The people had
to receive that Messenger, that Message, and enter into it. They had to apply
the Token which was the literal identifiable characteristic that the Life of
the Innocent lamb had been slain, and applying the blood which was the physical
chemistry of the life, they showed by doing that they were identified with the
Life.
And today, by putting on Christ, which we have to be
buried with him in baptism first, which means we have to die to self first,
then when we are filled with the Spirit, we are putting on Christ, because
Christ means anointing or anointed. And when we are putting on Christ we are
putting on the anointing that anointed Jesus the Christ. And God is the Christ
which anointed His son, and He anoints us with His same Spirit.
"For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body".
And "if the
Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit
that dwells in you."
Now, we've talked about preparation for the last few
years, not only being prepared for the natural events which we see are coming,
but also for being prepared for the Spiritual things which are on their way as
well. And we know them as a resurrection and Rapture for the elect.
In other words, we have enjoyed the Shout, which is
the4 Message. And we were not even prepared for the shout in our own minds, but
God
had prepared us for it before the foundations of the world.
Now, in the natural, when we prepare for an oncoming
storm, we should prepare for the worst and yet be hoping for the best. Well, this
evening I would like to speak to you about this preparation process that's
become such an important part of our lives. But I want to speak of this
preparation, not from the aspect of the physical preparation for what is coming
in the natural, but for what is
happening in the spiritual realm, because after all, if we are a prepared
people for what God is doing and about to do, then we won't have to worry about
what's coming upon this earth in the natural either.
Nineteen years ago I spent seven sermons on a mini-series
I called the end-time neurosis which I believed would come upon the
earth. I believe this end-time neurosis has now arrived,
and is affecting everyone on earth. Now, God showed us His thoughts concerning this
end
time neurosis for a reason.
God gave us that warning to help us in order that we
might have a balance in our preparations, and how we prepare. Now, if we did
not have a promise of deliverance, then we would have reason to worry. But we
have a promise that the Bride will not go through the judgment, so we must keep
reciting those words of promise as we approach the meltdown of the world's
financial system. We must not let the devil rob us of the peace and joy of
Christ's Presence, for God's Word tells us "our joy comes from His Presence"
and Knowing "He will never leave us nor forsake us." God has always
been there when His children needed Him most, but He doesn't always let you
know it, until the very last second. All we have to do is look at Shadrack,
Meshack and Abednego, and how they went right up to the mouth of the furnace and
into it before the Son of God appeared with them. And yet the men that marched
them to the furnace all perished outside the furnace because of its extreme
heat. But they walked right into it.
In brother Branham's sermon, Preparation 53-1111 21 he said, "Man has always tried to prepare himself. Oh,
yes, sir, he tries to prepare himself.
When he first sinned in the beginning, the first thing you know, he went out
and prepared himself an apron: fig leaves, wrapped it around him. He's making
himself... Now, the word "religion" means "covering." And
Adam and Eve made themselves a religion, a covering. But when God called them
and they had to stand face to face with God, they realized that their manmade
religion wasn't no good. And if you're
anything short of the Holy Spirit and death strikes your body, you'll find
out that manmade religion won't stand in the time of death. Oh, don't tell me,
I've stood to the hospitals and seen the doctors shoot hypos in the arm when
there was deacons and everything else. That's right. Hear them scream and
say... call to their pastor, "You deceiver of man. Why didn't you tell the
truth?" It'll tell when you get down at the end of the road. So the best thing to do is make preparation
for it right now. Get the thing straightened up. Get right with God.
We read in Hebrews 11:7
By faith
Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of
his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith.
Noah by Faith
saw the judgments coming and He didn't just sit there, he did something about
it. He spent 120 years preparing for those judgments. he weighed out the cost
and his decision reflected Gods plan of salvation for him and his family.
We read also in I Peter 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the
longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were
saved by water.
And again in Proverbs 16:1 The
preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the
LORD.
Malachi 4:1 For,
behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble:
and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it
shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Now, the whole world knows this is coming, but God in his
infinite mercy gives those who are righteous a way out. He has this all
prepared long before the actual time He warned the people which was more than
2500 years ago.
2 But unto
you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in
his wings; (he shall begin this
deliverance with healing campaigns) and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. Notice the
characteristic of these people. They are able to grow up. Not like most people
today who seem to never grow up and mature, this speaks in contrast to what we
see in this world today. These are ordained to grow up, and in fact Paul tells
us in Ephesians
4:15 that is what God has given a true five fold ministry for, is to
help the people, the righteous saints of God, "to grow up into Christ in all things."
3 And
ye shall tread down the wicked; for they
(not you God's righteous seed, but
the wisked) shall
be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the
LORD of hosts.
So it is really not about you or I at all, but about
God fulfilling His plan to make ready a prepared people for the Lord.
4 Remember
ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all
Israel, with the statutes and
judgments. 5 Behold, I
will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great
and dreadful day of the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of
the fathers to the children, and the
heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse.
And according to Luke 1:17 God sends the Spirit of Elijah to the people to
make ready a prepared people.
So we see in Scripture that God sends us a message of
how to flee the wrath to come, because God always makes ready a people who have
been prepared for the Lord. In fact that is what the message and ministry of Elijah
is all about. To
make ready a prepared people.
Now for a better
understanding of How God makes read a prepared people vs those who are not
prepared let's turn to Romans 9
for our answer
Romans 9:21 "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to
make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22 What if God, willing to shew his
wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction: 23 And that he might make known the
riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
I want you to notice
the difference between God's elect which he has prepared before the foundations
of the world to receive His Glory which is His "doxa",
which is His opinion and his values, and look at these prepared vessels in
contradistinction with those who are not prepared by God. It says they are
fitted for the destruction. They fit themselves.
Notice again verse 23
"And that he
might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared unto
glory."
The point in this
verse which we should pay close attention to is the fact that these "vessels of mercy" are said to be "before prepared unto glory".
Notice that the
previous verse 22,
which speaks of the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction: does not say
these vessels of wrath were before prepared
unto destruction, and from this omission shows us these non-elect fit
themselves to the time and season of their destruction.
Now, this fits
perfectly with Psalms
1:6 For
the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall
perish.
Now when this scripture says, "the Lord knoweth the
way of the rightly wise," it uses the Hebrew word yada
which means "to know by investigation, and proving, by reflection and consideration":
Therefore The Lord knows because He actively
participates in the way of the righteous.
But this is not said of the ungodly, or those who are
not godlike. Notice this scripture tells us "with the ungodly it is not the same".
It says "But
the way of the ungodly, shall perish." This word "perish"
is translated from a Hebrew word "Aw-bad" which means "to wander away, fall
away or to lose oneself", and in its strongest sense means "to die off or cease
to exist" in terms of life. Which is interesting because we
also found the same thing in 1 Peter 1:23 when speaking of the corruptible
seed, it is a seed which is made to perish.
Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth for ever. 24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of
grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25 But the word of the Lord
endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto
you.
Therefore, in reading what Peter is telling us, life
in general, and seeds in general, are made to live and then die and perish,
just like the grass and other seed life. But the One with incorruptible seed is
like the eternal Word of God and shall live forever because as the word of God
is God breathed and thus comes from God so does this incorruptible seed birth.
Therefore, when speaking of "a corruptible Seed", the word
"corruptible"
was translated from the Greek word "phthartos" which means "something that is
liable to decay or perish" and the root word is "Phtheiro" (fthi-ro) means "a destroying by
means of corrupting", ( in other words, death - doomed) and
refers to "the
withdrawal of life", but the word Incorruptible means just the
opposite, so it means, "an ever increasing Life".
So we see that God has been preparing us all along,
and in fact since the foundations of the world. But God has left those who are
ungodly to their own choice, and in their own choice they will always doom
themselves to destruction.
Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
From his sermon, Looking unto Jesus 64-0122 brother
Branham said, "Noah looked. We find out here, there was another man
looked by the name of Noah. He looked and saw the justice of God, upon a wicked Word-denying generation, was
being poured out. In his vision, as Noah was a prophet, God had give him a
vision of how to build the ark, and instructed him how to make the
construction, how it must be built. In this, how could Noah, unless this vision
being the Word of God, when he seen this wrath and making a way of preparation... Always, before coming judgment, there is a preparation made.
It always is the Word of God. And when he was constructing the Word of God
together, bearing record that his vision was true and he believed in it,
scoffers made fun of him, and so forth. But Noah had looked ahead and seen the
justice of God had to require the judgment upon the people, and he constructed an ark to save his own
household. When he looked, he saw
the coming wrath of God, and he made preparations for the people to
escape this thing. So did John the Baptist, he made preparation for the
escape. And so is the Holy Ghost, today, forerunning the coming of Jesus
Christ, is making a construction, the Body of Jesus Christ. We are baptized into
it, not by a creed, not by denomination or a handshake, but by the Spirit of
God we are baptized into the Body of Jesus Christ, a construction that'll stand
the judgments; because It's already been judged. "When I see the
Blood, I'll pass over you." Yes. Noah, he looked and he saw what was coming.
I Corinthians 2:9
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love
him.
II Timothy 2:21 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.
Hebrews 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he
saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
Hebrews 11:16
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is
not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Revelations 8:6 And the seven angels which had the seven
trumpets prepared themselves
to sound.
Hebrews 21:2
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband.
Ephesians 6:15 And
your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
I would like to stop here this morning and focus our
attention on this thought that brother Branham just laid out for us. He said,
"Now,
"Preparation" God, before
He does anything, He always prepares for it. How could we... The Bible
speaks of a King that goes off to war,
it says before he does that he must prepare for it.
If a couple is planning to get married, they must
prepare for that time, you have to have preparations. And before you come to
church you should be preparing to meet with God. You need to have a way to get
you there, or have someone drive you here. You don't go to the store without a
shopping list do you? You know you need such and such items to eat during the
week, so you make a list of what to get. Otherwise when you get there you are
not going to go home with the right items. And Brother Branham said, "God always prepares the people for
the events that's just about to happen."
The Webster's dictionary tells us that the word "preparation" means "to set in order
and to make ready".
Luke 12:42-7
And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord
shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due
season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so
doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he
hath But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and
shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to
be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for
him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will
appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his
lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall
be beaten with many stripes.
Our whole life is about preparation. we
spend at least 12 years of our life going to school to prepare ourselves for a
career. Some go another 2 or 4 years to better prepare themselves for the life
that lays ahead of them. That is what preparing for life is all about. We
consider the cost of what life will be with or without an education or skill
set and we weigh out the cost of school vs the cost of obtaining a skill set and
then make our decisions based upon our value systems.
In fact before every mission trip I spend
many, many days preparing for the meetings, making sure I have the right
sermons that God wants me to preach and also having volumes of Scriptures and
quotes available as back up for questions and answers. I would not be a proper
steward if I just hopped on a plain and went without much preparation.
In fact I have to even plan my clothing down to how
many pairs of socks and shirts and other pieces of clothing to bring with me,
and how many helps I can bring like laptops and books for the ministers.
Therefore there is much planning for each and every trip.
There are many things to prepare for when you make
mission trips. Not just the sermon material which I have nearly 40 sermons
available each time I go, but what would happen to my children if the Lord took
me home at this time? Therefore, I have had to make preparations for them as
well. And then are my tickets ok, do I have my passport, have I the proper
inoculation card, does the country require a visa, can I get it in time to go
or can I get it when I arrive? so many things to prepare for each trip.
Then what about our souls. We are about to undertake a
journey that will take us out of this world, literally. Have we got our
passport to heaven? Have we applied the token, are we clothed in His Word, do
we have on us the full armor of God which we will need to undertake such a
journey into another dimension? And on and on it goes.
Now in getting back to our text for this evenings
message, we had read in Romans 9 that those who are sealed in are protected
from the judgments that are to follow, and those who are sealed out, are fitted for destruction.
They fit themselves. Notice Romans 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power
known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: Now,
what does this word fitted to destruction mean? The word fitted to
is a Greek word which means they are prepared for. If I fit something to something
else, then what I am doing is preparing that thing to match the other.
Then the judgment matches the judged?
Remember, where there is a deep calling there is a deep to respond. Brother
Branham said, that there couldn't have been a fish with a fin until there
had been first a water to swim in. Then who prepares them? God made
them for destruction. But He has left them with a free moral agency to
prepare themselves. And how do they do they prepare themselves for
destruction? Proverbs 14:12 says, There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death. They take their own way
above God's way. And therefore, they are preparing themselves for their own
destruction.
Oh, how many people today are looking for the
tribulation to come before the rapture. That is their revelation and that is
what they will receive. "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he" and out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh". And so their
revelation is "they will go through the judgments", while the
revelation of the Elect is the same as the revelation of the son of God, He that believeth on me shall not go through
the judgment
Preparation 53-1111 16
I believe
that the people are in the preparation of the last great destruction this world
will ever know. I believe we're at the end. You can speak to people; you could
put a Billy Graham in every city in the United States; they'd drink whiskey and
smoke cigarettes and laugh at you and everything else just the same. They are
in the spirit of the last days. And God
cannot send destruction before the people are in the spirit for destruction.
God never did destroy anything. Man always destroys himself. The Message
Trumpet is declaring, Grace and Mercy for all that would receive it, and to
reject Mercy leaves only judgment.
So let me
close with one final quote from the prophet so that you leave here with
assurance. From his sermon, Thy house 61-0808
P:53 When Christ died, He
committed His Spirit to God before He left the cross. He said, "Into
Thy hands I commend My Spirit." And the Bible said His
soul went to hell and preached (that's His conscience and what He
was... ) to the spirits was in prison and His body
went to the grave. Now see, He was behind a barricade of
Scriptures. He couldn't rise for three days. And His Spirit was back up here in
the Presence of God. Now, after three
days, that barricade was taken down, because the Scripture was fulfilled.
And His Spirit went to the soul, and the soul went to the body, and He rose up.
He said before He died, He said, "I have power to lay My life
down. I have power to take it up again." Now, think of it.
Every one of you in here, as far as I know tonight is Christians. Now, look. The thing that's in you now, the Spirit
that's in you now is the same Spirit that will raise you up. You have power to lay your life down. You're doing it right now for
Christ. And then you have power to take it up again. See? You
have power to lay it down and power to take it up. For it's
the very Spirit of God that's in you that raises you up, is the very Spirit of
God that was in Christ that raised Him up. So, you have power to
lay it down; you have power to take it up.
54 And when you
die or and your loved ones or somebody goes on ahead of us, they're not dead.
Their spirit's with God. Their soul is under the altar of God. Their body's in
the grave, and they know right where it
is at. So, what happens? When the Scripture's all fulfilled, like in the
Bible it said, "These souls are under the altar, was crying,
'Lord, how long, how long?" They want to come back to earth
and be in bodies. He said, "Just a little longer till your fellow
servants has suffered like you have for the testimony of Christ."
Then you see when that Scripture is fulfilled, then them spirits descend right
straight under the altar there and take up that soul. That soul goes right down
and picks up the body, and there you are, raised again. Think of it. The Holy
Spirit that's right in this building tonight, the Holy Spirit that's right here
in my heart will raise me up at the last day.
Look brothers and
sisters, that is 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."
55 This Holy Spirit that's in me now, will see
to it that I have a young immortal body and never go with... The Holy
Spirit that's in you will see that the gray hairs will fade away and whatever
it is. And the old age, if you're so old, and whiskers down, and walking like
that, it don't make one bit of difference. That same Holy Spirit, He will just
snap it right back at that day, just at
a young man and woman. That's the Bible. That's right. The Spirit that's in us right now, right now. Not one that will come, the One that's
in us now. It's God in you
now. And He will raise... You can raise yourself up. And why can't you do it now? Because see, there's
Scripture holding you; you got to wait till the rapture. See, there you
are. You got to stay right there. See? You're not allowed to get this high. If
it would be, why, I'd say we'd build us a little private world. You'd be living
over in one world and me on the other one, and then there would be no coming of
the Lord Jesus. And what would it be? See?
56 But you have power to do it. Just the least little shadow of God could do anything.
'Cause see, He's omnipotent. You know what
omnipotent... (to save time let's skip
forward to pp. 58)
58 See, people try to
think, "Well, I'm a Christian. I guess I'll have to be dogged
around." No, you don't. You're a
Christian, brother. That's a high... You're
a son of God. Our Father is King.
Certainly. Amen. And our Father being King, we're His sons. We're prince and princess (Amen.) to a King. See? The highest there is, highest can be. The very Spirit of our God is in us. That's it. So, what do
we care about what happens here. See, there is the place that counts. This is just a testing time. When
Father is finished, let's go. Let's go home. See? So, what difference does it
make.
59 So, then in that, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. If your children isn't saved, until
they get saved. And Jesus said (now, remember, Saint John 5:24), "He that heareth My Words and believeth on
Him that sent Me, hath Everlasting Life and shall not come to the judgment."
Then if he don't come to the judgment,
where does he go? In the rapture. See? 'Cause that's the judgment after the
rapture. See? "Shall not come into the judgment, but has
passed from death unto Life." Because he's believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isn't that wonderful? So
your children will be there with you. Your loved ones will be there with you.
And I hope I'm there with you. Amen.
QA God being
misunderstood COD 61-0723E P:26 140. Now, were the five of the virgins lost? I
presume that they are asking the question, "the five virgins," the five wise and the
five foolish. Now, if you were with us in the last teachings in Revelation, you
find out there that those virgins, the
five foolish virgins were not lost; but they were not permitted to go into the
wedding supper, but they suffered
persecution, and was martyred, and raised again at the general resurrection in
the last day. Those are the
people where He separated the sheep from the goats (See?); they stood
before judgment. You say, "Well, Brother Branham, don't we stand, the
Church?" No, sir. We do not stand before the judgment. We are now standing before the Judgment.
God put our sins upon Christ, and we... "He that heareth My Word (St. John 5:24) and believeth on Him that
sent Me has Eternal Life, and shall not come into the judgment but has passed
from death unto Life." No
more judgment for the Church, it's took up in the rapture, and comes back to
pass judgment upon the people who did not receive the Holy Spirit. Does not
Paul say that he dares any of us to take a matter to the court, to the unjust
magistrate, when, "know ye not that the saints shall judge the earth?" We will set with Christ and judge, kings,
and priests, and judge these people that we preached to and told them about the
baptism of the Holy Ghost and they refused to receive It. Think of it. No,
they were not lost, but they will never be in the Bride. They were come in the
second resurrection, but never be in the Bride, to be judged according to the way they treated the Light that they
received. Now, that part will be up to Christ. They were not lost though.
What Holy Ghost was
given for 59-1217 P:87 You cannot go to judgment. "He that heareth My words
and believeth (No man can
believe until he's got the Holy Ghost.)--and believeth on Him that sent Me (when the Holy Ghost has testified of His
resurrection) hath Eternal Life, and shall never come into judgment,
but has passed from death unto Life." What? You'll never catch the judgment. You'll
never stand at the white throne for judgment; you meet your judgment right here.
You've passed your judgment when you've passed and say, "I'm no good, and
my learning is no good. Lord, come into
me, and take me, and lead me, Lord. I don't care what this crazy world
says. Lead me, Lord, by Your Spirit." You've
judged then. Judge yourself as a fool for Christ. And in His righteousness
that day we'll stand immortal in His likeness.
Faithful Abraham
59-0424A P:32 Now, remember, this Angel did not go down into
Sodom. Sodom would not have believed that message. But He talked to these up
here who believed the supernatural, Abraham and his group, out from the fire,
would not go into the destruction. We cannot go into the judgment.
If we do, God will be unjust to do it,
for Christ stood our judgment. We have no judgment. He took our
judgment. See? We're free from judgment.
"He will not come into condemnation or judgment, but have passed from
death unto Life." Correct, Saint John 5:24. Think of it, like
a handful and two dozen eggs. See? Saint John
5:24. "He that heareth My Words and
believeth (not make-believeth, but) believeth on Him that
sent Me hath (present tense) Eternal Life and shall never come
into the judgment, but's passed from death unto Life." That's His
own Word. That has to be so.
Ten virgins 60-1211M
P:23 Now, don't get the
rapture of the church and the white throne judgment mixed up. Because the rapture of church, there is no
judgment (See?); you done met it
right down here. That's right. For they which are in Christ are free from judgment.
Jesus said, "He that heareth My Words and believeth on Him that sent
Me has Eternal Life and shall never come into the judgment, but has passed from
death unto Life."How do
we do that? We come into Christ
and are baptized into one body (I Corinthians 12), one body. We're baptized into the body of Jesus Christ, and God has already
judged that body. He could not stand us in judgment again, because He's already judged that body. And by
the permission and grace of Christ He brings us into Himself: I Corinthians 12. By one Spirit we're all
baptized into that one body, and free
from all judgment, 'cause He's done stood the judgments. Oh, aren't
you so thankful for Him. He took the judgments for us: no more judgment. But
those who refuse to come into Him, that body, the mystical body... How do we
get into it? By shaking hands? No. By letter? No. By some sort of baptism,
water? No. By one Spirit, Holy Spirit, we are all baptized into
that body.
Ark the 55-0522 P:35 Notice. Oh, my.
Another thing that the word meant, when it said, "Pitch, pitch it,"
tar it, or soak it with resin, it means "to atone." Now, the word
"pitch" means "to atone." Over in Leviticus, the
same word that was used for pitch in Genesis, in Leviticus is used as an atone,
to make an atonement. Well, now, atone
is to stand between. And the pitch that was in the gopher wood in the ark, was
to keep out, or to atone the believer
from the wrath. You see it? Noah
could not get into the wrath, the waters of judgment. Oh, I see it now. You
get it? Look. He could not come into the
judgment, because there was an atonement between him and the judgment. And
the judgment was the water of the world. And the believer in Christ is safely
secured. Amen. Not upon the merits of
himself, but on his obedience, obedience to walk into the ark. The only thing Noah had to do was get in
the ark.
May I just add this to what brother
Branham just said here? The same Message Noah preached for 120 years, all
he had to do was step into it. Hallelujah, and the same Message you
have been believing all these years, all you have to do is to step into it,
walk in the light as He is in the light, claim it as your own, and let Christ
live it for you, through you.
"He
didn't even have to shut the door; God
did that Himself. Walk in; that's all the believer does is walk by
faith in Christ. God takes care of the rest of it.
"He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath
Everlasting Life, and shall not come
into the judgment, passed from death unto life, in the ark, safe
forevermore. Amen. Let the judgment rock her if it wants to. Why,
I imagine sometime the ark was standing on the end, and up-side-down, and
everything else. But Noah was safe.
The pitch stood between him and the
judgment. And today the Blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, stands between us and all the judgment. Amen. "... shall not be condemned,
or come into judgment, but passed from death unto Life." Amen. Why?
Because he is in the ark. What a perfect picture.
And how do you know the blood stand
in the gap for you? Because the very life is in You and has sealed you until
the day of your redemption.
Have not I sent thee
62-0124 P:24 And tonight we're safely, completely resting in the
atonement that our Lord made for us, knowing this, that when the judgment
comes, that we'll float above the judgment. We'll be taken out of the world and
will not have to stand the judgment, for our Lord promised us in St. John 5:24, "He that heareth My words, and
believeth on Him that sent Me, has Eternal Life, and shall not come into the
judgment; but has passed from death unto Life." Not a wandering soul when we die; we're in the Presence of God. Not
a wandering through a endless eternity, lost, to know we have to return back
and be judged according to the deeds done in the body, but, Father, tonight we
have settled that at the altar, and our sins has gone on before us, and been
justified by the Blood of Jesus Christ, with the proof of it, God poured back
the Holy Spirit upon us, and we're
sealed now unto our eternal destination.