Token
no 43
Living
God-Living works-Living signs
December 16,
2015
Brian
Kocourek, Pastor
Ephesians 2:10 For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 11 Wherefore
remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in
the flesh made by hands; 12 That
at that time ye were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far
off are made nigh (near) by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made
both one, and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us; (he has broken down
that wall, that dimensional wall that separates us in this carnal human form
from Him in that heavenly Spiritual form). 15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances; for to make in himself of
twain one new man, (notice from twain, from God and man made
into the God man)
so making peace; 16 And
that he might reconcile both unto God in
one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17 And came and preached peace
to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18 For through him we both
have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of
God; 20 And
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building
fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in
the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded
together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Hebrews
9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood
of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God?
Let us pray...
Now, if
we are to purge our conscience from dead works to serve the Living God,
then won't there be living works that will replace our dead works? And what are those dead works? That we are
purged from?
This evening we will pick up at paragraph 154
from brother Branham's sermon The Token preached September 1, 1963. I want you to listen closely to what he brother
Branham is saying, because there are many Whose God has died, and no longer
shows signs and wonders. To them, the days of miracles are past, and to them, God
only works through one man to do signs and wonders, and therefore, any signs
from God or any miracles that God actually does today they do not agree that it
is from God, and they want to assign it to the devil. Or they say it is really
not God doing it, but some imagination in the minds of the people.
Tell that to Br. Samuel Otagets
daughter who was just healed of typhoid fever and ulcers through prayer. Tell
that to a young couple in Uganda who had tried to have a child for eight years
and couldn't have a child, but then after we laid hands on the couple they have
4 children now. Tell that to Br. Cliff who had his heel amputated and God grew
it back after prayer. Tell that you the man who was paralyzed in Minnesota with
two rotten deteriorated disks, who God grew back new ones. Tell that to the man
who was raised from the dead in Jeffersonville a few weeks ago.
Now, tonight I would like to read very carefully
what brother Branham is telling us here as we continue in our study of the
Token, as we pick up at paragraph 154.
154 If
you wanted to read that, read something here, my Scripture I got wrote down for
this is read Ephesians Chapter 2 and verse 12, and if you want to
put that down. Notice in Ephesians 2:12 when you read it, it
says this that "we
don't serve dead works, but we serve a living God, with living works".
Amen. Oh, my. "With living works, living signs"...
You believe in living signs? Also put down Hebrews 9:11-14, if you want to put that
down. "Living signs, living works, apply that". Not
dead creeds. "I'll take my boy over to the
church, and see he joins the church." Some fine Christian boy here, a good
friend, old buddy, a real fellow, he come down here, was baptized. His mother
said, "I wished you'd went to a bigger church, if you wanted to be baptized."
See, see? He just didn't want old dead creeds and things.
See?
155 We
don't serve dead creeds and dead gods. We serve a living
God, Whose Blood was shed back there, and the Token's been applied to us that we live also. Amen. Yes, sir. Don't serve some dead creed. They even deny such things as the Token. They say the days of miracles is passed. There's no such thing as the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Why join something like that? See? Don't do that. Apply the Token, then serve the living God, for living works, living
signs: signs that heal the sick, raise the dead, foretell things, speak in
tongues, interpret every time perfectly right, prophesies and says this and
such a thing will happen, show signs in the heaven above and on earth, signs
and wonders. Amen. Speaking exactly what the Bible said would take place...
Serve the Living God. Apply the Token.
156
Don't go to them churches, and join them old
dead works and things like that, 'cause they don't even believe in such things as signs, but we who believe
(Amen.) know that...They say there's no such a thing
as a sign. That... "Oh, that's nonsense, what they talk
about up there is crazy. Why, there's no such a thing. Why, you women, all of
you... Why, you don't... What you're dressing..." It does; the Bible said
so. "What your hair have any..." The Bible said so. That's just the
differences. See? Touch not; handle not; taste not; He's God. See? Now, it does
mean something.
157 Now,
they think it's crazy, but to us who
believe and know the truth, we know It is His living Presence,
for It does the same things that He did when He was here on earth.
Amen. Oh, they say, "They just
imagine they see that Pillar of Fire." Oh, no. Oh, no. We don't imagine nothing. They thought
Paul imagined it too.
Now, I
would like to examine this thought brother Branham is quoting the apostle Paul
here concerning the dead works. Notice brother Branham said, "it
says this that "we
don't serve dead works, but we serve a living God, with living works".
Amen. Oh, my. "With living works, living signs"...
You believe in living signs? Also put down Hebrews 9:11-14, if you want to put that
down. "Living signs, living works, apply that". Not
dead creeds.
So
brother Branham is defining these dead works here as dead creeds. And brother
Branham calls that dead works.
Now, the American heritage dictionary defines the
word creed as: any system, doctrine, or formula of religious belief.
2.any system or codification of belief or of opinion.
Therefore,
as creed is man's ability to codify, or theologically explain his beliefs.
Now,
The Apostle Paul had been showing us in Ephesians 2
and Hebrews 9 that all the religious
rituals and doctrines of the old testament that dealt with the slaying of bulls
and goats that somehow brought peace to the believer and allowed access to God
were now considered dead works in the light of the fact that the very Blood of
Jesus Christ being shed has now given us access to the very same Spirit of God
that dwelt in him.
Now,
let's read further about these dead works, what Paul considers dead works, as
we turn to Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the
doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and
of faith toward God,
So we
are looking here at "Dead Works" and we want to know what they are.
In his
sermon, Hebrews Chapter 5 and 6 57-0908M P:86 Brother
Branham says, "Heavenly
Father, they're coming by faith through grace. There's about a dozen hands went
up, it's the fruits of the message. They come to You. They believe. I believe
in them too, Lord. I believe that truly the Holy Spirit spoke to them. And by
faith they're coming right up Jacob's
ladder now, right up to the foot of the cross, there laying down all their
sins, and saying, "Lord, it's too much for me. I just can't bear it any
longer. And will You take away my load of sin, and take the desire out of my
heart to do so? And let me by faith, this day, receive You as my personal
Saviour. And from henceforth, I'll follow You every mile of the way to the end
of the journey. I catch a glimpse of
what it means to go on to perfection, not going into church, and the
roots of dead works like baptisms and so forth. But I want to go on
until I can be no more, and Christ can live in me."
Now,
notice that brother Branham is telling us that the dead works here are things
like Baptisms, and traditions of the church. But I do not want to stop here or
we will get a wrong understanding of what he is telling us.
Hebrews
Chapter 5 and 6 57-0908M P:81 I said,
"But, sister, I don't care; the Blood's still around you. This world's
covered over with Blood." If It didn't, God would kill us, every one.
He... When that Blood's moved, look out
for judgment. But now, if you die
without that Blood, you go
beyond that place; then there's nothing to act for you. Today the
Blood acts in your stead. I said, "Lady, sure, the Blood's still got you
covered. As long as you got breath in your body, the Blood has you covered. But
someday when the breath leaves here, the
soul goes out, you'll go beyond that Blood, and there's nothing but judgment. While you got a chance for
pardon..."And I took her by the hand; she was crying, said, "Mr.
Branham, I'm drinking."I said, "That don't hurt. Something another
has warned me to come tell you." I said, "God, before the foundation
of the world, called you, sister. And you're doing wrong, and you're only
making it worse."She said, "Do you think He would have me?"I
said, "Absolutely, He'd have you."And there on her knees, we got down
in the middle of that floor, had an old fashion prayer meeting. And that police
took off his hat and bowed on one knee. There we had a prayer meeting in that
place. Why? God's sovereign... "Laying aside these dead works, let us go on to perfection." Let's move into
that realm where there's, "I
belong to church. And I belong to that," that's all finished. And
let's go to perfection.
Ok, so
we are getting a little bit closer to seeing what he is laying out for us as
the dead works. It's church going, and belonging to this
or that.
Again
from Hebrews Chapter 5 and 6 57-0908M P:51 Now, I Corinthians 12. How do we get into that Body? "By shaking hands?" No, sir. "By joining the church?" No, sir.
"By being baptized backward,
forward? In the name of the Father,
Son, Holy Ghost? the Name of Jesus
Christ? the name of Rose of Sharon,
the Lily of the Valley, Morning Star? anything
that you want? That has nothing to do with it,
just a answer of a good conscience towards God. And yet we fuss, and
stew, and argue, and split, and make differences. That's right. But all those are dead works. We're going to
perfection. That's things that I done. A minister baptized you. Whether he
baptized you face forward, backward, or three times, four times, or one time,
or how he did it, that has nothing to do with it.
You're just baptized into the fellowship
of that church anyhow, proving to that church, you believe the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ. Laying
on of hands to heal the sick, that's wonderful. But it's all natural, and that
body will die again just as certain as you're living. It'll die again. Now,
let's lay aside all those things and go on to perfection.
Ok, now notice he not only calls
baptism in water dead works, but healing and laying on of hands, he calls that dead
works as well, and he calls all the church associated things that we do in
church dead works, and he says those things are alright, we believe in those
things, but those things are not where perfection lays. He says those things
are where all the fusses are over, whether you used the right formula for
baptism, or the right method, and all, but as good as those things can be, they
are not where perfection is at?
Hebrews
Chapter 5 and 6 57-0908M P:49 We
could take it verse by verse, each one
of those things. Baptism, we believe it.
"There's one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism." We believe that there's a baptism. We believe
in the resurrection of the dead: absolutely. We believe
Jesus died and rose again. We believe that.
Laying on the hands for the sick, that's what it said: "These signs shall
follow them that believe. If they lay their hands on the sick, they shall
recover." We believe that. But what is that? Paul
said, "It's all dead works." It's something that you do. Now let's go on to perfection. Oh, my.
In other words, it's not in the
things you do or cannot do. It's not in the method, it's not in the formula,
it's not in the creeds, or the doctrines you believe. Perfection is in none of
these things. And yet those are the things that the churches hold onto in such
a way that they rule everyone out who doesn't do them the way they do them.
he continues saying, "We're
coming into the Tabernacle, not the foundation, the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle
Itself. That's the foundation: the law,
and the righteousness, and joining church, and being baptized, and laying
on of hands. Them's all orders of the church, but now let's go into
perfection. And there's only One that is
perfected; that's Jesus. How do we get into Him? Through the
Methodists? No. Pentecostal? No. Baptist? No. Through any church? No. Roman
Catholic? No.
Oh,
brother I hope that tonight we are going to strip you bear to the bone, so that
you have no baggage that is going to hold you down again. All these things are
important to doing what is right, and thus what is righteous. But they are all
important to help you to understand the things of God, and help us find our way
along this life's journey toward the perfection, but just remember, you could
have all thee things right down pat, and still not
make it to perfection. They are tools like doctrine is a tool, but they are not
what perfects us.
And we
are going to find out tonight what will bring us into perfection.
Again
we read in Hebrews Chapter 5 and 6 57-0908M P:39 Now, he says:... leaving... all
the doctrine of Christ,...All the
theologians, and all the
theology that we know, all
about the Deity of Christ, how He was God made flesh, all these other things, Paul goes on
to explain it all here just in a few minutes. Let's just read it, just a little
bit 'fore we get to it.... laying
again the foundations of repentance from dead works,... (Now, we believe that.)...
and faith towards God, (we believe that). And of the doctrine of baptisms,... (And just how you must be baptized, we believe that.)...
and of laying on of hands,... (We believe in
laying on of hands, don't we? See, all that. Sure)... and of the resurrection of the dead,... (We believe that.)
You
see, almost everything that any church stands for, Paul says, lay it aside, He's
not saying, don't disbelieve it, but just lay it aside, because that is not
where God is taking us. He is taking us into the perfection, and perfection is
only in Christ. All those thins are part of this
tabernacle of this church. But that is not our goal. That is not where we will
end out journey. Our journey here is to take us right into Christ, right into
the presence of God Himself.
Again brother Branham says, "43 Now, but God
then became in another type of a tabernacle. And that Tabernacle was Who? Jesus. And God was inside of Jesus,
and He was hid; but He was reconciling
the world to Himself by His expression. Christ revealed God. He said, "It's
not Me that doeth the works; it's My Father that dwelleth
in Me. I do nothing in Myself but what I see the Father doing. The Father in
Me, showing Me these visions, and then I go do just what the Father told Me to
do." You get it? God was inside of
a human body, not behind goat skins dyed, but was a living,
moving. God had hands; God had feet; God had tongue; God had eyes;
and it was Christ. There He was. Now, He went away, and the Spirit come in
that, that through His
death He might perfect the Church and bring the Church submissive.
And then the same Spirit that was in Christ is in the Church, doing
the same things Christ did, "A
little while and the world won't see Me no more, yet ye shall see Me, for I'll
be with you even in you to the end of the world."
let's continue, 44
Now, listen to this. But Christ becoming a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; (He wasn't made of
hands. How was He born? Virgin birth.) Neither by the blood of goats and
calves,... (was this body ever sacrificed or sanctified)... but by his own
blood... You know that the blood comes from the male sex. And then somebody
said, "Oh, Jesus was a Jew." He was not a Jew. "Oh, we're saved
by Jewish blood." No, we are not. If we were saved by Jewish blood, we're
still lost. Jesus was not Jew; neither was He Gentile. He was God: God the
Father, the Spirit, the unseen One, "No man has seen God at any time, but
the only begotten of the Father has declared Him." He manifested God, what
God was.
45 Now,
His Church is supposed to
manifest God, to show what God is. See? What do we do? Organize
ourselves, and "I'll have nothing to do with them; they're Methodists;
they're Presbyterian. I don't want nothing to do with them. I'm Baptist. I'm
Pentecostal." Huh. You're lost with them kind of a
motives. Right. Who can
brag? Who can say anything? Look at the disgrace the Presbyterians has
brought. Look at the disgrace the Baptists. Look at the disgrace, the Catholic.
Look at the disgrace, the Pentecostals, Nazarenes, Pilgrim Holiness. Look at
the rest of them. But I challenge you to point one hand in disgrace at That.
Yeah. Point one finger, when God Almighty said, "This
is My beloved Son in Whom I'm pleased to dwell in; hear ye Him." There He is. That's the perfect
One.
47 Listen now. For... the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of... heifers
sprinkled, sprinkle the unclean, sanctifeth through
the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Passed
from death unto Life.) What do you care what the world
thinks? What do you care what your neighbor thinks? Our conscience has died, and we're
regenerated and born again by the Spirit of God to serve the true and the living God. There you are.
Passed
from death unto life, passed from dead works unto living works. Passed from
creeds to actually becoming alive in Christ. Passed from doctrines, to a living
Epistle known and read of all men.
Now,
let me read again from the Token, this time the one preached in Token the 64-0208 P:60 We read in Ephesians 2nd chapter and 12th
verse, about what God said about it when we applied this Token. Notice, serving the living God with living works, and with living signs, with a
living Token; not dead works, and carnal, not dead works. Hebrews
9:11-14
tells us again the same thing, not dead creeds, but a living
Token. These creeds deny that
there is such a thing as a Token. They don't even believe there is such a
thing as a Token, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. But we who believe the Word
know better, know it. And it's His
living Presence for us in this day. We separated from dead works, and the Holy Ghost comes in to confirm the Word and
make it so. Hebrews 13:8 proves
that to us, proves that God has raised Him up for us according to His promised
Word. Thousands of years has passed; two thousand years almost has passed.
But what is it? The Token still holds that God raised Him up on the third day.
If you just got the Word, that's all you got. But when the Token is applied, then Christ is reality to you. And He
does today like He did then. So it
throws it right back in their lap again. They can't get around it. God promised
it, and here it is that the Token's got to be applied. He takes the Token
and when...
So
where is this to take us? From a church person to a son and daughter of God
filled with the very nature, and the very life, and the very character that was
in Christ, and then reflecting the very same God-Life to the world that He
reflected.
Now, we
know that when brother Branham went into a vision, he actually saw into another
dimension. And don't forget, what you are here is what you are somewhere else.
And he said in his sermon, Looking for Jesus
54-0228E P:45 Now,
what is the seer? What is a vision? It's
another dimension.
So we
are in the process of leaving behind all the churchianity, we are leaving
behind all the doctrines and creeds, and forms and order of the church and we
are moving into perfection, because we are moving into Christ.
Brother
Branham said in his sermon, Questions and
answers COD 64-0823M P:54 His faith sets his
destination,
where he's headed for. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things you do not see, taste, feel, smell, or hear. But by faith,
when he catches the Word, It sends him
into a dimension (See?) that makes
It so real to him, till he's just as good as got it in his hand. He knows
it's going to happen.
And don't forget what the Lord
showed us, "Now,
Faith (Revelation) is the substance of things hoped for, it is the hupostasis, it is the person that we hope for, and it is the
evidence that we can not see, because it is the life
of that person in us, and we know him by the power of His resurrection in us.
That is how His Spirit bears witness with our Spirit,
because it is the
same Spirit that raised up Jesus and it is the same Spirit that is quickening now our
mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in us.
Enoch,
a type of the Bride of Christ, walked with God and had this testimony, that his
life was pleasing to God, and so he walked with God until He just walked right
into that higher dimension. Notice after 32 years walking with God, brother
Branham became a changed man, and knew no fear any longer, and just think,
after speaking to the storm, after watching all that power move at his word,
and go away, Then God said to him, "walk with me". That's it, "if we walk in the
light as he is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses us of all our sin."
Brothers
and sisters, you've got to start walking sometime, so today is as good as any
to start that walk until you walk right out of here. Get your eyes off of
everything that so easily besets you and turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Countdown
62-0909M P:59 Now,
do you know what, astronauts is no really no new thing. What about Elijah? If
he wasn't an astronaut, I never seen one. He
went where John Glenn never did think about going. Why, you know, they had
one took off in slow motion one time. His
name was Enoch. He just walked on
up, but he was an astronaut. Sure. He was pressurized; he didn't have to be changed, nothing. No, he was already pressurized when he started walking. He just walked right on out of all the
dimensions and everything, walked right into the Presence of God. And so
one old fellow was tired and couldn't walk very good anymore. He had fussed
with Jezebel and her short hair and paint and everything, until God just sent a chariot down, said,
"I'll just let you ride up through the clouds this afternoon":
astronaut.
From
that time 60-0716 P:96 And
I looked and here come a bunch of men, looked like millions of them coming from
this a way. And they was all had on white robes and they had like, shaggy hair
hanging around their neck. And they was grabbing me and screaming, "Our
precious brother."I said, "I don't know." And I turned around; I
looked and there I was laying on the bed. Now wherever it is, it ain't very far
from here. If it's another
dimension or what, I can't
say. But I looked back, and I seen myself laying on the bed; I looked this
way, and here was these people. And that...If I'd say "perfect" that
wouldn't make it. If I'd say "superb," I can't find the English word.
There was no yesterday, no tomorrow; it was all now: no sickness, no sorrow, no
sin, no tiredness. They didn't eat nor drink; they didn't sleep (They didn't
have to.), but yet they were beings. And they put their arms around me, I feel
it just the same as I feel my own hands like this.
Let's
bow our heads in prayer.