Unveiling no 58
That you may Know that you echo
life
October 21, 2017
Brian
Kocourek, Pastor
1 John
5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name
of the Son of God; that ye may know that
ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of
God.
Let us pray...
Notice that he said, "that
ye may know that ye have eternal life" now, this is different than
just to echo life, as we see in 1 John 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath (echoes) the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made
him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the
record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Therefore, He that hath (echoes) the Son hath (echoes) life; and he that hath (echoes) not the Son of God
hath (echoes) not life.
Now, notice in verse 10 he tells us that if we believe on The Son of God
we echo the witness of the Son of God life in us, and then he tells us in verse
11 this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, (what is the record that God has given us eternal
life? That we are echoing The Witness in us. And then he says) and this life is in his Son So we see that the very same life that lived
in HIs Son lives in us if indeed our life is an echo of his life. Then in verse
12 he says, He that (echoes) the Son (echoes) life; and he
that (echoes) not the Son of God (echoes) not life.
Now, this in itself is a very important thing to understand, but verse 13
is even more important because in verse 12 we are looking at the ability to
echo the son of God in speech and in life, but in verse 13 we are given an
ability to know and to understand that we are echoing the son of God in both
our speech and life.
And this ability to know you have life is so very important because that
is what gives you rest.
And if
we know we echo His Life our whole nature is changed and we know
it, and thus our relationship with God has changed, and we know that also, and
thus we have entered into such a peace that no man could ever rob you of your
confidence in your relationship to God as your Father and Jesus Christ as your
eldest brother.
Again we find that the
word "have"
used here as well was also translated from the Greek word echo. "These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have (that
you echo) eternal life, and that ye may believe
on the name of the Son of God."
So we are not looking
at just the fact that you may echo the very life of Christ but also the fact
that you know that you are echoing his
life. And if we know that we echo Life, then we know that we are most certainly
a part of God who is the great fountain of Life.
You know an echo is
not just something that is done out of a rote type learning, as though you are
able to simply repeat something, because to just repeat does not mean that you
truly know and understand what you are repeating. But to know
that you are echoing back the same words as the Son means that you also understand what those words are that
you are saying.
We spent several
sermons showing you the importance of not only believing but knowing what you
believe. And this is just that. It is one thing to echo but a far greater thing
to know that you are echoing.
Because many people
can quote the scriptures verbatim and not even know what it is that they are
saying. The denominational world is full of such people. And Jesus faced those
kind of people all the time.
From his sermon Who do you say this is?
64-1227 P:34 brother Branham said, "And again, the church seen
Him in His great power of manifesting. Manifesting what? Not manifesting a
creed, He was manifesting the Word.
He was the Anointed Word, Himself.
And when they seen that taking place, the
manifestation, the anointed
Messiah, they turned It down. They
didn't want It. It wasn't in their taste. That's the pitiful part.
Remember Paul tells us
in 1 Corinthians
2:7 But
we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom,
which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the
princes of this world knew:
for had they known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
So their very reaction
to the manifested Word showed they did not know nor did they understand the
Written Word, for when the very written word was manifested in flesh they
turned it down and even crucified it.
And that was the
difference between the elect who saw it
and knew it verses those who saw it and did not
know or understand it.
That's 1 John 1:1 That
which was from the beginning, which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and
our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may
have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is
with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
Both professed to
believe the written Word but when it manifested itself in the form of God life
in the Son of God, one group received it while the other group turned down the
manifestation of the revelation. And never forget the Bible is of no private
interpretation, as Peter said in 2
Peter 1:20 Knowing this first, that
no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. because after all God interprets
His own word by bringing it to pass. So when the Word manifests itself , it is
the correct interpretation. And one group accepted God's interpretation of His
own Word by accepting His manifestation of it, while the others denied God's
interpretation of it because they denied the manifestation of it. and that
shows they just did not know even though they claimed they did.
Then brother Branham goes on to
say,
"Just think of it. Just as in other days. See, each had their
own interpretation of the Word. That's what the reason Israel didn't recognize Moses. That's the reason the world didn't recognize Noah.
That's the reason all the prophets wasn't recognized.
They had their own interpretation of the Word.
But God in every age has had His Messiah. See? To reject Noah's Message was to rejecting God. To reject Noah was to perish. To reject Moses was to
perish. It was... They were the
anointed messiah's for that age, the Word that was promised for
that age. And when Jesus came, He was the Fullness of the Word, God,
Himself, made into a man's structure, with bones and flesh; the anointed One. And they should've seen that. But you see, their church world had so added here and
taken away here and so forth, until it was so messed up till they trusted in their
church in the stead of the Word. And when they seen their
church anointed, then they thought something great was taking place.
But when they seen the Word anointed, then
they said, "That's fanaticism. This man is a devil, a
Beelzebub." 'Cause it was so contrary to their church creeds and what they had
done. And it was that way in
every coming of a prophet, the church would be so messed up.
You know we see that
same thin in politics every day, because that is what politics is all about.
The Democrats will condemn a republican for doing something that they refuse to
condemn their own people for. And that is not just politics my brothers and
sisters, that is the evil ways of humanity.
I've seen it right in
this Message, and even amongst our own groups within in this Message. I
remember years ago, preachers cutting down other preachers for doing something
very mundane, and yet when preachers in their own group did the same thing they
said nothing about it.
And I saw it with a
certain preachers wife who would wear clothing that was so shear you had to
turn your head and look away when that woman came into the room because you
could see right through her shear blouse. But would the preachers say a word of
correction to her husband? No way, and yet if a preacher from another camp
dressed that way, the criticisms never ended. And I thought to myself, this is
not right, someone should say something. It disgusted me, to see such
human-isms in the church of the living God.
And when I first saw
that the Holy Spirit quoted His scripture to me Romans 2:15 Which shew the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their
thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
Accusing those not in
their group while excusing those in it. That just told me they were just
respecters of persons. The
Apostle Paul rebuked the teachers of the law in his day as we see in Romans 2
because they would teach others one way while doing just the opposite of what
they taught.
Romans 2:17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and rest in
the law, and make thy boast of God, 18 And knowest his will, and approve the
things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; 19 And are confident that thou
thyself are a guide of the blind, a
light of them which are in darkness, 20 An instructor of the foolish,
a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the
law. 21 Thou
therefore which teach another, teach thou not thyself?
thou that preach a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 22 Thou that sayest a man should
not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhores idols, dost
thou commit sacrilege? 23 Thou
that make thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonour thou God? 24 For
the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. 25 For
circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made
uncircumcision. 26 Therefore
if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? 27 And shall not uncircumcision
which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the letter and
circumcision dost transgress the law? 28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:29 But
he is a
Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
we continue with what brother Branham was saying in his sermon Who do
you say this is? 64-1227 P:42 By the way, did you know the Word of God never did
come to a theologian? Find the Scriptures where It ever did. The Word don't come to theologians;
not at all. But, you see, if the Word
was made manifest today, the Word for our day, It would be in the taste of God's Word, not in the taste of
somebody's idea. God would
take His Word that He promised for this day, and anoint It, and It would happen.
That's all. There's no way to keep It from happening. It'll do it anyhow, no
matter what the church says and what the rest of them believes and it... God
will do it anyhow. There'll be just a very few
that'll ever know about it. That's right, just a very few. It's always was that way.
So you see, when God
says there will be sons of God who will manifest as sons of God, very few will
see that but there will be some who actually will manifest that. When God says
there will be sons of God who will come to adoption, very few will ever see
that and even fewer will manifest it, but that doesn't mean that it is wrong
doctrine. God interprets his word by bringing it to pass. When we read that God
will have sons who will conform to the image of the first born son, very few
will venture to believe it, but even fewer will hear it, recognize it and act
upon it by stepping into it.
But just because you
don't see it in your own life doesn't mean it is not happening in the world
right now somewhere.
Therefore, when we
speak of echoing God’s Word, there must
be an understanding of that Word for us to echo it or the echo will not give
that certain sound, but an uncertain sound.
So we are looking this
morning at something that God gives us by grace to know that know, to know we
are actually echoing the very life of the son of God and thus the life that was
manifested in the Son.
"These things have I written unto you
that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye “Echo Eternal life, and that ye may
believe on the name of the Son of God."
As I said earlier in knowing
that we echo we receive a certain peace
and rest from our own works, and enter into an assurance of Faith that brings
us into a peace that surpasses all understanding.
We find ourselves
saying the same thing as the prophet said, when we are confronted by the same
unbelief he was confronted with. I do
not know how many times this has happened to me when men will bring up a
question, or will challenge our understanding of the doctrine of Christ, and I
find words coming out of my mouth that I had not even thought about, but when I
check them out later, I find brother Branham had said those very same words and
so it brings comfort.
Remember, Jesus said, “He that will
confess me before men, I will confess before My Father which is in Heaven.” And
knowing the word confess was taken from the Greek
word Homo-logeo which means the "same
word". Homo meaning the same, and logeo meaning Word.
Therefore He that
says the same words about me, the son of God, I will say the same words about
them before my Father in heaven.
And what are those
same words we say about him, that he will say about us? "He is my brother."
And don't you find it comforting
when you find yourself saying the same words as the Son of God has said,
because those are the Words of Life that came forth from the Father. For Jesus
said, “My words
are spirit and they are life.”
Now, this rest that is
prophesied to take place in this hour, is called by the Greek Word parrhesia which means a certain
boldness to speak.
The word Parrhesia means Assurance,
Openly Confident, Absence
of fear in speaking.
This word Parrhesia is a Greek word used in scripture to
show assurance, open
confidence and an absence of fear.
This condition of assurance, confidence
and absence of fear are a direct result of the Parousia of Christ, and His manifesting in His true character and the fact
that when He openly reveals Who He is and Why
He's here, this brings the Elect into a place where they know and understand their
own position in Christ.
This gives us boldness, and allows us to be unashamed before Him. And so in examining this
word parrhesia and how it ties in with the
revelation of Christ in this hour.
In John
This shows plainly
that parrhesia has to do with having no fear and these people could not have
had parrhesia which is an absence
of fear and then have fear of the Jews
at the same time. They were too
concerned with what others thought, and not concerned enough with what God
Himself thought, so they did not have parrhesia.
This is where parrhesia comes. When we have become so filled
with a sense of honor to God that we have no other thoughts but His thoughts
that we are willing and wanting to express.
But not so when people
are looking for position with man, because then they will then trim their words
to please man. But those with parrhesia
are those who because they know
who they are and that He is here, they are willing to say only what He said,
and do only what He says do. They have placed the highest esteem in the
Vindicated Word of the hour, and no other words have value to them.
We also see this word
used in I John
So we see that having
parrhesia makes us to not be ashamed of Him. This lets you know that God's
Children are to come into this condition of Parrhesia
or this absence of fear when Christ's
great Presence and disclosure (His manifesting Himself in His True Character)
takes place. And this is ordained to happen in this hour.
Remember in 1 John 3:1-2
we are told that when he phaneroo’s
we too will phaneroo because we see his phaneroo.
1 John 3:1 Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him
not. 2 Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear (phaneroo) what we shall be:
but we know that, when he shall appear,
(phaneroo) we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
So in essence, we
begin to echo Him, and in echoing Him, we begin to manifest his Word to
the world, and thus as His true character is revealed or openly manifested to
us. We in turn begin to manifest openly our true character that was predestined
in us from before the foundations of the world, which is the Word coming into
manifestation again, which the word again means another echo off
from the original.
And we know that since
the Spoken Word is the Original Seed, then it is the original Life. And then
each time it manifests, it will echo forth from the original, again and again
and again.
Therefore at the time
we come into this condition of uninhibited
assurance and open confidence,
we know it is a result of His Appearing to us, because our manifesting is a
result of his manifesting. Our knowing
is result of his knowing. And we will know as we are known.
This condition is a
result of the unveiling of Christ. That is
why we are studying this sermon of Brother Branham's. He comes not only as
Husband, but as our Advocate and Judge. As Husband He does not have to testify
against us, and as our advocate He is our defense attorney, and as our Judge
the case is all sown up. We are predestined not to
fall. "He that has
begun the good work in you shall perform it". For "He is the Author and finisher of our faith."
after all, "it is God that is working in us both to will
and to do."
As Paul said in Galatians 2,
"we live by the faith of the Son of God."
Therefore it is His faith we are to live
by, and not our own.
Therefore, "whom the Son shall
make free is free indeed." What else could we ask for. This
brings confidence as never known before, when, "He
which gave the Word is here to confirm it."
As brother Branham
said in his sermon All things 62-1124E P:66
It's over. It's finished. The God that made
the promise is here to confirm the promise. Jesus said, "As the
Father sent Me, so send I you." An the God that sent Him was with Him and
in Him. He said, "If I don't do His works, don't believe Me." And if
I'm not telling you the truth, He won't back it up. But the God that sent forth
His disciples, has sent this move of God into the land. He's with it to prove
that He's with it. The very signs that was promised are vindicating His
Presence. We're in the Presence of Jesus Christ.
Again the Apostle John
uses this word parrhesia in I John
And how do you know
this? Because you are echoing what he said, and you are living what he lived.
Notice, there is that echo again. "As he
is so are we"…In the Day when the Judge is present,
which we find in James 5:8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for
the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be
condemned: behold, the judge standeth
before the door.
Revelations 3:20 Behold,
I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I
will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21 To him that overcometh will I
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down
with my Father in his throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
And John
So we see that Jesus
tells us that the words He speaks are only what God has already spoken, and
therefore His confidence is in knowing he is only saying what God has already
said. And that brings parrhesia,
which is an absence of fear. It also lets us
know that this parrhesia comes as a result of seeing
Him as He truly is. Because, "As He is so are we".
And thus we know that we echo eternal life.
So you can see this
statement alone ensures us of tremendous blessings and confidence or absence of
fear. How could God deny any part of Himself. He can't.
Then how could He deny
His own Seed? He can't. Then what have we to fear? He is here to ensure that we
do not fall this time.
As the Apostle Paul
tells us in Romans
8 right after telling us that we were predestined while yet in God
to become conformed to the image of the first born so For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did
predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified:
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? 32 He that spared not
his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. 35 Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed
all the day-long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, 39 Nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In Ephesians
Notice, this uninhibited confidence or this absence of fear comes by receiving His Faith.
It tells us that it
comes by the faith of Him. Therefore, it
is not our faith, but His faith that does this.
Jesus was the first
one to display this uninhibited boldness because He
knew who he was and he also knew Who sent Him as we find him in John
chapters 6,7,8,9,
and 10
where he was willing to take on the entire Pharisee organization by letting
into the Pharisees and religious leaders of His day, and letting them have it
with both barrels.
Again we find the
Apostle Paul speaking of this parrhesia
in Hebrews
God wants us to come
into His presence by revelation with a full assurance and He has assured us
that in so doing we shall receive not only His mercy but also His Grace that
will meet whatsoever requirements we might lack.
"He that cometh to
God must believe that He is and that He is a Rewarder of them who diligently
seek Him."
We must come in
confidence that He hears us.
The very fact that He
has come down in this hour and has unveiled Himself to His Seed and has let us
know Him as never before, and has established a relationship with us, lets us see how much He loves us and wants to
fellowship with us.
Then, seeing through
the revealed Word for this hour our place in Christ, and our relationship to
God as our Loving Father, we understand more fully our relationship that began
in Him before the foundations of the world, where we were in His thoughts and
made manifest finally in this hour. What confidence this should brings to us.
Again we find in Hebrews
He has already blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, but we fail
to receive what He has already assured us by promise. Therefore, Paul is
telling us here that we must first receive this Parrhesia
in order to receive every other predestined blessing; especially those promises
that have to do with our placement and inheritance.
And notice here that
he tells us that our, "parrhesia
has great recompense of reward."
Now, the word Recompense is an award given as
a form of retribution for hurt or damage. God knows that "all that live
Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
So He gives us a boldness
"to stand
when we have done all we can do to stand", and “through faith and
patience we shall inherit the promises."
We also see in 2 Thessalonians 1:4-
5 So that we ourselves glory in you in the
churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and
tribulations that ye endure:5 Which is a manifest token of
the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of
God, for which ye also suffer:
And again in 2 Thessalonians 1:7
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
And also we see in 2 Thessalonians 1:10-12
When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all
them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. 11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our
God would count you worthy of this calling, and
fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness,
and the work of faith with power: 12 That the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the
grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
That we receive a
manifest token of God's judging us worthy, and thus we receive His very
mindset, His Glory, His Doxa.
Notice that in John 16:25-29
"we find Jesus speaking to the disciples the following about this parrhesia..”These things have I spoken unto you in
proverbs: But the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs,
but I shall show you parrhesia
of the Father. At that day ye
shall ask in my name; and I shall say unto you, that I will pray the Father for
you: For the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have
believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come
into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples
said unto Him, lo, now speakest Thou parrhesia, and
speakest no proverb."
Jesus Himself was so full
of parrhesia and He says that in the day when He
discloses or unveils the Mighty God before us, that we will also come into this
same state of parrhesia and will not be
inhibited in our prayer to God, knowing our relationship with the Father is the
same as His was.
We will know the will of God and the mind of God. He will show parrhesia
to us. This lets you know that we get this parrhesia
from something that is shown us or disclosed to us. And thus echoed to us, and
we thus echo it back to God from whence it came originally.
From his
sermon The Spoken word is the original seed 62-0318E P:175
brother Branham said, "Notice, what harmony. Jesus never did anything until seen of the Father
or the Father showed Him first: (Harmony between God and Christ. See? John 5:19) So will the Bride,
and He shows Her His Word of Life (He shows Her), and she
receives It. She never doubts it. (as John says, we will know that we echo
His Word and His life). Nothing can harm Her, not even death; for if the Seed
be planted, the water will raise it up again. Amen. (Now, I got a great
big "Hallelujah.") Here is the secret: the Word is in the Bride
and the mind of Christ to know what He wants done with the Word,
and She does it in His Name. She has THUS SAITH THE LORD. Then
it is germitized; so the Holy Spirit waters it until it is grown and
serves its purpose. They do only His will. (Amen. I'll
believe that.) No one can persuade them different. They have THUS SAITH THE LORD, or
they keep still. Then they will do the works of God. For it
is Himself in them, continuing His Word to fulfill as He did complete
in His day. All things when He was here--He did not complete all when He was
here, for it was not time yet.
So we can see that it
is God working in us both to will and to do, and that gives us parrhesia, "we know that
we are echoing Life".
In our text we read of
the importance to know that we echo the Son of God.
And we found that it brings us into a rest
and an assurance of Faith.
In this next scripture
we will find the evidence of our parrhesia with God.
I John
The condition of our
heart is the only inhibiting force in our parrhesia
toward God. As we saw earlier, our parrhesia
comes by His faith. We are assured of
receiving His parrhesia if we receive His Faith, if we echo Him,
we echo the Father. And how could God condemn
you for echoing him? Every Father wants his child to echo himself, and His
Words.
In I John
In closing let's turn in our Bibles to 1 John
5:13 and read our text for this sermon once more, "These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye echo eternal life,
and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Let’s bow our heads
and our hearts in prayer.