Unveiling
of God no 4
Entering
into the Veil and Forgiveness
March 14 2018
Brian
Kocourek, Pastor
This evening we
will pick up at paragraph 12 of brother Branham's sermon "The
Unveiling of God" where brother Branham goes into 2 Corinthians 3
as his second text for this sermon.
12 Now, if we shall turn now over to II Corinthians the 3rd chapter, we will begin with the 6th verse, and reading this to the 18th, and down to part of the 4th chapter...
Now, as we read
this portion of Scripture the Apostle Paul takes us back to the book of Exodus chapter
34
where we find the scene of Moses having come down from the mountain where he
had been alone in the Presence God for 40 days and night, and when he came into
the presence of the people Moses face was glowing with the Shekina Glory of
God.
2 Corinthians 3:6 Who also has made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
Now, these words
we just read are ever so important. because religious people had the letter of
the law, sure, but when The Spirit came to them indwelling His son, they tried
to kill the son thinking they could do God a service. And how many people have
that killer bulldozer attitude that you got to see it their way or you aren't
seeing it all.
I get emails all
the time from people who write trying to fuss and fight and saying I am
misleading people into hell because I teach that Jesus was not his own Father,
and that the body was not deity but deity dwelt in the Body, and that the way
that God and Jesus were one is that God is the Word and Jesus expressed that
Word. Jesus himself said in John 17:20 Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through
their word; 21 That
they all may be one; as thou, Father, art
in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And
the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as
we are one: 23 I
in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the
world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved
me.
And you can show
them quotes and Scriptures until you've sent hundreds and hundreds, and they
don't even bother to read them, they just want to argue and call me names, so I
don't bother no more. I've taken down my search engine, and I am scaling back,
and they can search the message for themselves. I am not obligated to pull
everyone that is stuck in the muck and
mire out. I will do as Jesus did, "they have the law and the prophets, let
them hear them. That is what I have had to do.
So you will see
a different man here from here out, instead
of studying and putting 50,000 pages of sermons and studies on the internet,
I'm going to learn to go fishing. I said "learn to" because I know
how to fish but I don't know how to relax. And it is about time I do like God's
servants do, just go to the wilderness and get away from the stress and strain
of trying to save the world.
Oh, I won't
shirk my calling, and I will continue to study and preach the Gospel, because
when I get in my study and get alone with God, the stimulation of revelation is
life to me.
When my websites
were down for 4 days, I was getting emails from brothers saying "why
is our restaurant closed'? "We can't get our food". So we
will continue to break the bread of life as long as God is doing the breaking,
but as for trying to convince the naysayer, I am through with that. They can
believe whatever they wish, and that is what I have told them. "Let's
agree to disagree" but they don't want that, so I just have to block
their emails so I don't have to deal with it their irreverent spirits. Brother Vayle
always warned us of that Oneness spirit, it is nasty. It is that oneness spirit
in the Jews that put Jesus to death. It is that oneness spirit in the Muslim that
puts to death anyone that disagrees with them. And let's face it, the Catholics
Trinitarians have that same oneness spirit which says there is one way and that
is our way, and if you disagree with us you are a heretic. So forget them all. And just walk with God and if you have to walk
alone, then at least you can have peace for He is our Peace.
Now, notice the Apostle
Paul was telling us of Moses coming down and when we see this scene in Exodus 34
we see that Moses had been pleading with God for the peoples sake, and yet in this
next verse we see the Apostle Paul calls it the administration of death.
2 Corinthians 3:7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones, was
glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfast behold the face of Moses for the glory
of his countenance; which glory was to
be done away; 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit
be rather glorious? 9 For if the ministration of condemnation be
glorious, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10
For even that which was made glorious has no glory in this respect, by reasons
of the glory that excelleth. 11 For if that which is done away was
glorious, much more hath... which remaineth is glory. 12 Seeing then that we have
such a hope, we use great plainness of speech.
And so then Paul
speaks of how Moses had to veil himself to the people etc.
Now, let's skip over
to the book of Exodus
to read the story for ourselves to catch the scene .
Exodus
34:1 And
the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto
the first: and I will write upon these tables the
words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. 2 And be ready in the morning,
and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in
the top of the mount. 3 And
no man shall come up with thee,
neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks
nor herds feed before that mount.
In other words when God deals with his prophets it is
not a social affair, and it is not a group affair but it is a one man ministry. God didn't
care if you had the character and ministry of a man like Joshua, as great a man
of God as he was, He was not God's ordained man for the job, he was not God's
prophet, he was a general. So no matter what kind of character he had, and what
kind of life he lived, he was still were not permitted to go into God's
Presence directly when God was breaking His Word to His prophet. I want you to
think about that, because malachi 3:6 tells us "I am the
Lord and I change not". And Hebrews 13:8 tells us Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday, today and forever. And according to Amos 3:7
God has a certain way and that He reveals his plans to man, and it is always
through a prophet that he vindicates.
Malachi 3:7 Surely
the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the
prophets.
Exodus
34:4 And
he (Moses) hewed two tables of stone like unto the first;
and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the
LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. 5 And the LORD descended in the cloud,
And
never forget the same one who descended in a cloud with Moses has descended
with a cloud in this day. The same one who showed himself in a pillar of fire
in Moses day, is the same One who showed himself in this hour in that same
pillar of fire. So Alpha must repeat in the Omega.
5 And
the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there,
and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed by
before him, and
proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful
and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no
means clear the guilty; visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children,
unto the third and to the fourth generation. 8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
Moses was no dummy, notice he immediately bowed
himself to the earth and worshipped God. But in this hour the well spoken
proverb says "fools will walk with hobnailed shoes where angels fear to trod"
And that is the attitude of this godless generation.
They think Christian people are stupid, but let me tell you who is stupid. The
fool is stupid, and according to Psalm 14:1
"the
fool has said in his heart, there is no God".
Now, back to Exodus34:9 And
he said, If now I have found grace in
thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us;
Notice
that Moses is pleading with God to remain with his people that they might walk
and live in His presence. and certainly that would be our prayer as well this
evening.
And
the reason that Moses is pleading with God to take not His presence away from
the people is as he says, "for it is a stiffnecked people; These
were according to the Hebrew word used here "a hard hearted, stubborn, and an obstinate
people."
Now,
what does that mean? It means they did what they thought was right regardless
of what God said was right. They had their religion and their ideas of what was
right and wrong and how to deal with it and no one could persuade them any
different.
The
word obstinate means: firmly or stubbornly adhering to one's purpose, opinion, etc.; not yielding to argument, persuasion, or entreaty. 2. characterized by inflexible persistence
or an unyielding attitude;
inflexibly persisted in or carried out:
3. not easily
controlled or overcome:
In
other words you can talk to them until you're blue in the face but they will
not listen to the Word of God has to say, because in their mind they have it all
figured out right, they think they know what is right and so they take their
stand and right there they spiritually die, right there the Holy Spirit takes
it s flight, because they have hardened their hearts to God's provided way.
These
were a hard hearted people, hard of heart and cruel in judgment and lacking
mercy and grace when dealing with each others. And they dealt with sin in a
very cruel way, and yet their own hearts were not soft and supple towards God
and their fellow man, but hard and unyielding. Don't ever get that way people,
because the minute you lose grace and mercy for your brothers and sisters you
have gone out from the Presence of the Lord.
Getting in the spirit 61-0428
P:47 I don't care if the man's wrong. If he's wrong and sincere in his
heart and you're right in your belief and you're wrong acting the way you're
acting. I'd
rather be in his place than be in yours. That's right. I'd
rather be wrong in my doctrine and right in my heart. God will respect it
more. So if
a man is wrong, what of it? Help him. He needs help.
Love him. If you can't love your enemy the same as you love those
who love you, you're no better off than the publicans. That's right. That's what the Church has
failed to get. I hope you get it tonight. I hope you see what
I'm talking about.
From that time 61-0415B P:24 And notice,
another thing I'd just like to say, amongst the Pentecostal people. There's one
thing that we're forgetting friends, is our Pentecostal courtesy.
See? Parking in lots... Sometimes I've noticed our Pentecostal brethren, when
you could really pull in and give somebody else a chance to park by the side of
you, just drive in it anyway; cause somebody, really makes what we call "a
boo-boo" on the road, you fly loose and tear down. Listen. That's
not the way to be a Pentecostal Christian. See? Let's consider
the next man. If he's wrong, let him be wrong. If
you pattern after him, then you're wrong. See? Let's think of the other
fellow. And just try
to do right, and think right.
Why are we not a
denomination? 58-0927 P:128 If a man's in
the wrong, go
to him and be reconciled. If you can't be reconciled, take somebody with
you. No wonder God can't discipline His church, 'cause you're not doing it right.
Instead of getting on the phone and talking about this one, what taken place,
and little cults and so forth, around like that. Instead of doing that, why
don't you do what the Bible says? If some brother's been overtaken in a
fault, go to him and see if you can't get reconciled with him. "Well, now
he did me..." I don't care what he did, go to him anyhow. It
didn't say for him to come to you. You go to him if he's wrong.
You say, "Well, he was in the wrong, he ought to come to me." That's
not what the Bible said. The Bible said for you go to him. If he's wrong, you go to him. And then if
he won't listen to you, then take somebody with you as a witness. And then if he
won't see that witness, then, say, now I'll take your pastor. Then you tell
him, say, "I'm going to tell it to the church, and in thirty days from
now, if you brethren haven't made that up... This brother here's willing to be
reconciled. You won't do it. And if you won't make that up within thirty days,
then what's going to happen, you're no more one of us."
Why are we not a denomination?
58-0927 P:81 Charlie, like they said about Brother Allen about
the fire they--the blood in the hands. I said, "Never, never did I
disregard A. A. Allen." I said, "If I could preach like A. A. Allen,
I'd never even have a healing service." Now, when it comes to disagreeing
upon blood as being the evidence of the Holy Ghost in your hands, I'll disagree
with that. But when it comes to brotherhood, he's my
brother. I stand shoulder to shoulder with him in the battle. That's
right. If he's wrong, I'll try to help him. And if he's not wrong, if
I'm wrong, I want him to help me. And that's the way we'll get it'.
Now,
that does not mean you have to allow sin in the camp, but let's define sin as
what God defines sin as. Being dumb and doing dumb things is not sin, it is
just a lack of wisdom and knowledge. But sin is a willful disregard for the
Word of God.
And
so Moses continues to plead with God and says, and pardon
our iniquity and our sin,
and take us for thine inheritance.
Notice he says, Pardon (forgive)
our iniquity and our sin, And iniquity
is knowing to do what is right and you won't do it, or knowing you shouldn't do
something because it is not right and you do it anyway. and then he adds, and our sin which is our unbelief and
then he pleads with God "take us for your inheritance".
What a thing to ask. Lord, I know we are a bunch of
misfits, and I know that we are a hard hearted people, but forgive us anyway
Lord and take us as your inheritance.
But God will not forgive you if you are not willing to
forgive others.
Jesus said in showing us how to pray that if we are
not willing to forgive neither will our father forgive us.
Luke 11:1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying
in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord,
teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2 And he said unto them, When
ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily
bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil. 5 And he said unto them, Which
of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto
him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his
journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall
answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with
me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 I say unto you, Though he will
not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity
he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be
given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh
receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be
opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of
any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish
give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg,
will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy
Spirit to them that ask him?
Now, remember Moses has gone into the presence of the
Lord to receive the Word of the Lord and the very first thing he asks of God is
forgiveness for the people because they are obstinate and stiff necked
and hard hearted.
Listen, they don't know they're that way. They think "we
are the people of God" but the Bible tells us that "every man did what
he thought was right in his own eyes" But it wasn't Right
according to the Word of God. But that is not the way that man of God saw them,
he saw them as sinful and disobedient and hard in their hearts. Now how would
he know that? Jesus said "by their fruits you
will know them."
And yet he pleaded for God's mercy and grace for that
people. Remember that quote I've read so many times, where brother Branham
said, "so
what if he's wrong pray for him."
And let me tell you, no matter how bad you think
someone has crossed the line, there is only one thing that is unforgiveable and
that is to blaspheme the Holy Ghost which means to make fun and mock the things
God's Holy Spirit is doing.
Questions and answers COD 59-0628E P:110 Calling the Spirit of God that was doing these
miracles in Christ, they said it was the Spirit of the devil doing that; Jesus
said it is the unforgivable sin. And if you see a man... Pray, don't pray for him if he's
making fun of the Holy Ghost and talking against the Holy Ghost, you are
forbidden to even pray for such a person. You understand it? For
there is a sin unto death. There's only one sin. Jesus said "all
manner of sin shall be forgiven the sons of men, but to blaspheme the Holy
Ghost shall not be forgiven".
Now people say, "Well, blaspheming the Holy Ghost,..." What is
"blaspheme?" Means "to talk about, ridicule, make fun of, blaspheme."
All right. What did they blaspheme Him? Telling that Holy Spirit that was
within Him, making Him act and do the things that He was doing, they said,
"He's possessed with Beelzebub, the Devil. And that's the Devil, a
fortuneteller in Him making Him do those things. Seeing the secrets in the
people's heart, and telling Philip He knowed where he was at before he come
to the meeting, and casting out devils, and doing those things there, He does
it by Beelzebub, and He is a devil." And Jesus said that
sin shall never be forgiven, so
that is the unpardonable sin never to be prayed for. It can never be
forgiven. A
man and a woman that does that has eternally sealed themself from the Presence
of God forever and forever: no forgiveness.
And we see that today, where we have these people who
claim to believe the sign but call the voice of the sign a liar and deceiver
and every evil that could come out of a man's mouth. Don't even pray for them,
they are lost and will never be forgiven. But everything else, just pray for
the person.
I just wish we would open our Bibles everyday and look
into the Looking glass of God's word and see exactly how we are measuring up to
God's Word and the life of Christ, because if we claim to have the Holy Spirit
living in us, then we will live accordingly.
And the fruits
of the Spirit Paul said are Ephesians 5:9 (For the fruit of
the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
Galatians
5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith,
And if you have these being expressed through your
vessel, then you will know it, and if you do not, then you are missing the Holy
Spirit somewhere, my brothers and sisters.
And you can
grieve the Holy Spirit so that he will go out on a limb, and not come back in
until you make things right with God and whoever it is you are fussing with.
That is why the Apostle Paul warned us. Ephesians 4:30
And
grieve not the holy Spirit of God, where by ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Notice that you are sealed, so you won't lose His Holy
Spirit but if you grieve him He will step out from your control tower and just
let you stew in your fuss until you get so miserable with yourself that you
come back to him with a repentant heart.
Is
your life worthy 63-0630E P:74 Don't fuss. When the family gets in a fuss, don't fuss
with them. Your mother said, "I ain't having you go up there to
that old church anymore. What are you... All you're thinking about now, you're
letting your hair grow out; you look like some old grandma." Don't fuss with her.
Say, "Okay, mother. That's all right, I love you just the same, and
I'll be praying for you as long as I live." See? Now, don't
fuss. See? Temper
breeds temper. First thing you know you grieve the Holy
Spirit away from you and you'll be fussing back. Then the Holy Spirit takes Its
flight. That's right. Temper breeds temper, and love breeds
love. Be full of love. Jesus said, "This
will all men know you're My disciples when you have love one for another." That's the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love.
God
testifying of His gifts 52-0713E P:29 The
faith that taken away unbelief, will resurrect it again. When you take your
stand for Jesus Christ, stay there and die by it. What God says is the truth,
and don't you fear what... Satan hasn't got anything to do about it. Don't
argue with him; don't fuss with him. Just ignore him and walk away. If you fuss with him, he will
keep you fussing day and night. See? "Well," he will
say, "You know you're not healed."You'll say, "Well, now, look, Satan,
I want to tell you something." Don't say it. Just say, "Get away,
I don't want to hear nothing about you." And walk on, and say, "Thank
You, Lord." Go on. See? Don't pay any attention to it.
Forsaking
all 62-0123 P:5 So I said,
"Brother Bosworth, I wouldn't want you fussing. Christ don't want us Christians
to fuss with each other. If the man's an unbeliever, why,
he's just an unbeliever, that's all. There's nothing you can do about it."And
so, he said, "Well, what it is," said, "if we leave after them
putting that in the paper," said, "they'll say that we're just a
bunch of... you know, don't know what we're talking about--just a worked-up
emotion." He said, "I wish you'd give me the opportunity." And I
looked at him standing there almost eighty years old, and just as confident in
that Scripture...I said, "Well, Brother Bosworth, if you'll give me
your hand and promise you won't fuss..."He said, "Oh, I won't
fuss." So downstairs he went to tell the reporter. And 'course, you
know how the papers can...?... "Ecclesiastical fur will fly,"
you know.
Adoption
or placing 60-0522E P:11 Oh, they might
disagree, and fume and fuss a little about it, but they don't mean it.
They really don't mean it. They're all right. They go to fussing at you,
just remember, they don't really mean it. They don't mean it. They just maybe
been taught something, and they just hang to that, so you can see their
idea. Don't fuss with them; don't fuss with no one, but just love them right into It.
Then pray for them.
Now, that does
not mean that you become tolerant of wrong, it just means that you can take
your stand and be civil about it. Agree to disagree. because there are certain
things you should never let down the bars concerning.
Look how brother Branham explains this in for a question he gets from a
sister in the church. Questions and answers COD
64-0823M P:72 244. Brother Branham, what do you think about our sisters in
the church wearing such short dresses? Doesn't it mar our testimony and set the
wrong example for our young people in this our church? It seems so to see a
grown woman wearing a dress so short that it shows her knees when she walks. Ever
who you are, sister or brother, whoever it is, I agree with you one hundred
percent. It's a
disgrace, but tell me what to do about it. See? I preach it
just as hard as I know how to preach it; they do it the same. So it's their
judgment, 'cause the Word's went forth. Yes, I'm certainly against them
little old skintight dresses that look like... I constantly fuss at my kids,
Becky and Sarah. I don't care how little they are, I just fuss
at them all the time. I think they even wear their dresses... Meda
takes Becky apart every day about it. See? Dresses plumb up... 'Cause kids,
you can expect that in kids, and you have to correct them; but when
it comes to a woman, there's something wrong there. See?
Now, in getting back to Exodus 34 let's pick up where we
left off at at verse 10.
10 And
he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels,
such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the
people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is
a terrible thing that I will do with thee. 11 Observe thou that which I command thee this
day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the
Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12 Take
heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the
inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: 13 But ye
shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: 14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous
God: 15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do
sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee,
and thou eat of his sacrifice; 16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons,
and their daughters go a whoring after
their gods, and make thy sons go a
whoring after their gods. 17 Thou shalt
make thee no molten gods.
Let us pray...