Unveiling of God no 95
Two Vines - Shared attributes "Both do works"
"By their Fruits you shall know them"
May 12, 2019
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
This morning we will examine the sixth
shared attribute that both the true Vine and False Vine share, and that is they
both do works to please God, and it is their fruits that tells them apart.
Let's turn in our Bibles to Matthew
chapter 7
to take our reading of our text this morning.
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets,
(False
Vine Teachers) which
come to you in sheep's clothing, (which comes to you in a non
threatening way, looking the part of a Christian) but inwardly
they are ravening wolves.
That means
inwardly they are rapacious, given to seizing for plunder
or the satisfaction of greed.
And by this it means
they are "inordinately greedy; predatory; extortionate:"
And then
he tells us 16 You shall know them by their fruits.
Now, he
does not stop here but actually goes on to paint a mental picture so you can
not miss what he is driving at. He goes
on by saying, "Do men gather grapes off of
thorns, or figs out of thistles?
In other
words, their fruit comes with a penalty, your blood. Grapes in a thorn bush
would be hazardous to your health, and figs out from a thistle bush would not
be worth the effort to get to them. Now, the fact is that grapes do not come on
a thorn bush, nor do figs come on with thistles. So if it looks like it has
(Fruit) (fig or Grape) but that fruit comes at a high price because they offer
it to you but strip you of everything you have in the process, then know one
thing for sure, it is not a True Vine, but a false Vine.
And then
he tells us how to compare the true vine with the false vine. 17 Even so every
good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree (a rotten, worthless, hurtful and morally
corrupt) tree
bringeth forth evil (rotten, worthless, hurtful and morally
corrupt) fruit.
And
rotten fruit is the fruit that is form another day. That is why it is rotten,
because it is over ripe. It was ripe at one time but is not ripe any longer. So
this speaks of not only morally corrupt in character, and reflected in their
actions, but also in their speaking.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil (or
rotten) fruit, neither
can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit.
Therefore
here is the key to understanding which is a true Vine and which is a false
Vine. A true vine will bring forth fruit in its season, and will be morally
good. But a False Vine will not bring forth its fruit in its season.
This is
what we are told by David in Psalm 1 where he likens men to trees.
Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
standeth in the way of sinners, nor
sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is
in the teachings of the LORD; and in his teachings does he meditate day and
night. 3 And he
shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth
forth his fruit in his season; his leaf
also shall not wither; and whatsoever
he doeth shall prosper.
Notice that the man who is righteous and
true vine is likened to a tree. Notice the three things mentioned of him.
Number one it speaks of his fruit. His fruit will be
brought forth in the right season, and then it says his leaf shall not wither. Now the leaf
represents the condition of the life that is in the man.
Br.
Branham speaks of this in his sermon Countdown the
62-1125E P:17 where he says "A tree hangs its leaf. And the first thing you know, that leaf
begins to color when life leaves it. What happens? It... The life in
the leaf goes back to the root of the tree where it come from, only to
come back again in the springtime to bring another leaf. And we are on a
Tree of Life when we're born again. And when life leaves this, the life
goes back to the God that give it, to come again in the millennium with a leaf
that can't drop off the tree. Amen. There you are, eternal. That's perpetual
life; we have Eternal Life. See? They fall, come forth. What is it? Natural
typing the spiritual.
So David tells us that this righteous man not only
brings forth his fruit in the right season, but his leaf, which represents his life,
it never withers, signifying the life in him is eternal life. And the last
thing he says is "and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
so there's no death and decay here. There is no turning back here.
Now, contrast that to the False Vine
which he calls the ungodly, they are also likened to trees.
And he says of them, 4 The ungodly are
not so: (they are not
like the True Vine who brings forth his fruit in his season, and they are not like
the true vine whose life ever shows eternal life, and they are not like the
true vine who prosper. Therefore if they are not these things, they are the
opposite of these things. And then he tells us what they are.) but they are like the chaff
which the wind driveth away.
And what is chaff? It is the dried out
portion of the plant that dries out at the time of harvest.
Br.Branham
said of the chaff... Three kinds of believers
63-1124E P:19 the crowds was
separating between the believers, and unbelievers, and make-believers. There
was all three of them standing right there in that one company of people:
believers, make-believers, and unbelievers, right found in this chapter right
here. And because that Jesus had spoke the Words the way He had, it
separated His congregation, but it must be done. He was a
great Man as long as He healed the sick, but when it come down to the doctrine and the
prophecy, that's what separated the chaff from the wheat. See?
The chaff only wraps around the wheat; it's not the wheat; it cannot be
used. There's nothing in it, no life in it. It's
the husk, and it cannot stay with the wheat. It won't be heir with the
wheat.
David continues in verse 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
In
other words, the chaff which the wind drives away
is that group of people who hang around the Wheat but the wind which Paul tells
us types the doctrine, Remember, he said "every
wind of doctrine" is to come into the church to drive away
those who do not have eternal life. So the wind or doctrine drives away the
chaff because it has no life in it. and so they cannot stand with nor set with
the righteous, because the righteous are full of eternal life and the chaff is
dead on the vine and has no life in it.
5. but they
are like the chaff
which the wind (Doctrine)
driveth away.
6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the
righteous: (now
this word knoweth is from the Hebrew word "yada"
meaning "to know by watching over with an active
participation"). but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Now, this word perish was translated from the
Hebrew word "abad" and means to be
left to oneself so that one will walk away and perish. so there is no
active watching over with an active participation for the false vine, they are
left to themselves as they perish.
Now, in
getting back to what Jesus said in Matthew 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by
their fruits ye shall know them.
So it all
comes down to the fruits, and by their fruits you will know them, whether they
are true vine or false vine. And then he tells us it is not what they do. It is
not their actions, nor their works for they both have works, but they both do
not have the same fruit.
21 ¶ Not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven.
Notice by
using the words, Not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, he is telling us that both true and false
vine will both call God their Lord.
And then
in the next verse he says, 22 Many will say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name? (have we not preached in your name?) and in thy name
have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew
you: (I never ginosko'd you, I never knew you with an intimate
relationship) depart from me, ye that work iniquity. And we all
know that iniquity is to know to do and you don't do it. So these were doers,
and workers, but they had no intimate relationship with the Lord yet they
called out to the Lord, and prayed in the name of the Lord, and even pre4ached
in the name of the Lord, and done supernatural works in the name of the
Lord.
Therefore,
notice that Jesus describes the False Vine as "workers",
and that they will go to great lengths to show the work that they do for the
Lord. But he also told us that a corrupt tree (which is the False Vine) it can
only bring forth corrupt or evil fruit. The fruit of another season. He said, "a corrupt tree bringeth
forth evil fruit.
And then
he said, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil
fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
So even
though they work,
work, work, yet there is a difference between the fruit of the
righteous tree and the fruit of the false Vine. And therefore this morning we
will examine this difference because it is this difference that will declare
whether the Vine is a True Vine or a False Vine.
Verse 18 A good tree cannot
bring forth evil fruit, neither
can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Now, this
is the key to understanding true and false vine.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their
fruits ye shall know them.
Therefore,
although both the True Vine and the False Vine produce fruit, yet it is the
fruit itself that will declare whether the Vine is True or False.
From
his sermon Ephesians
Parallels Joshua 60-0515E 72 But there's one thing they can do; they're good workers. Oh, they just work, work, work, work.
That puts me in the mind of a bunch of these Armenians that's always trying to work their way into heaven (That's
right.), a mule. Oh, the
Ladies Aid Society, and the chicken supper, for they pay the preacher,
"And we got to have this dance, and this social." It's just work,
work, work, work, work, work, work. And, they... What are they working for? Ask them, "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you
believed?" They stick out
their ears, and don't know where they belong; "What do you mean? What about this? What
do you mean, the Holy Ghost? I've never heard nothing about It. Oh, you must be
some kind of fanatic."
See, they don't know who papa was, or who mama was, either. And you have to
beat them on everything you do, beat here and beat there, and beat here and
beat there. That's right, an old mule.
And
from his sermon The Ephesian
Church Age 60-1205 140 brother Branham said, " If God had that against this church, He's
got it against that one too. "Because you left your first love, I've got it against you. I have something against you;
that's My complaint. You once had a
great time, but you let the world begin to creep in, and you got to
acting a little formal. You still holding My Name, and you're still doing the
things that's right, and you got a lot of patience and so forth, and you labor,
and you're like a mule, you just labor
and work." My, my, my. See, you've
left grace and faith and power to swap it for labor and works.
Now so far we have seen many
characteristics they both share, and after all they have the same mother. They
have the same church, they share the same birth at the same revival. And
remember, every revival of God came when God sent doctrine for that age and
backed it up with a supernatural demonstration. Therefore it is only to be expected
that both will be believers, and both will be religious. Because after all they
were both given birth at the same revival. So if you are expecting your
religion to save you, you are in for a rude awakening. So if it is the fruits that declares
them, then we must look at the fruits, for in the declaration of their fruits
produced by their works we will know them, which one is True and which one is False.
And yet being they both are birthed
at the same time, and both have the same mother, the same revival, the same
doctrinal conception, it should be easily understood how they both are
believers in God, and therefore both are religious, and both do sacrifice to
the same God, and both sing from the same song book, and both may even be in
the same pew. Then it would also be understandable that both would do works to
please God, but the fruits of those works is how we can identify the True from
the False.
Therefore, we shall examine this next shared attribute
this morning showing how that both vines do works
to please God but that the only way we can tell them apart is by
the very fruit of the work that they
do. After all, did not Jesus Tell us that by their fruits you
will know them?
Let's just
read again what Jesus said in Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them (how?) by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of
thistles? 17 Even so every
good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil
fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good
fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21 ¶ Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and
in thy name done many wonderful works? 23
And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
So
there is one thing for certain about what Jesus is teaching us here, and that
is there are fruits that are considered good and there are fruits that are considered
evil. Therefore, the fruit itself gives you a clue to which is True Vine vs.
the False Vine.
I
have pointed this out to individuals for years and have told them that William
Branham prophet of God said any man who teaches a trinity is a false prophet.
Some of those people accept that because they believe in vindication, while others
think they know better and call it being judgmental. Well, let me tell you one
thing for certain. Unless you have the Holy Ghost you are going to be deceived.
And that is all there is too it.
Now,
saying that, I am not saying if you don't have the Holy Ghost you are a bad
person, I am just saying if you do not have the Holy Ghost you are going to be
a deceived person. Or a person who can be deceived. That is not judgmental my
brothers and sisters, that is Bible fact.
And
that is exactly what the Apostle Paul taught us in 1 Corinthians 2 which I have read to
you and gone over it perhaps more than any other Scripture, because it is
crucial for you to know and understand. So let's read it one more time.
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 Paul just told us that what you do is
dependent upon what you know. They crucified the Lord of Glory because they did
not know him. That is fact. They did not know and therefore they crucified the
Lord of Glory. "By their fruits you shall know them."
Now, let's read on because this gets
even more definitive here.
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor
ear has heard, neither has
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for
them that love him.
Ok, so here he states emphatically that
men can hear but they do not hear and they can see but they cannot see because
what they see and hear they do not understand.
That is the same thing Jesus warned us
about in Matthew
13:10 And the disciples
came, and said unto him, Why speakest
thou unto them in parables?
Notice the
language here is very specific. Most people just read right over what was said
here without examining what is going on. The apostles specifically asked Jesus
why he spoke to them, meaning
the people on the outside by using
parables when he spake. And this is confirmed in the Book of Mark the
4th
chapter as we shall read it for your benefit.
Mark
4:10 And
when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve
asked of him the parable. 11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but (on
the other hand) unto them that are without, (on the
outside) all these things are done in
parables:
So
Jesus is making a distinction between them
that are on the inside vs. them
which are on the outside. That is why I harp constantly that you should not be
listening to men who are on the outside of the Message that God came down with
in this hour, because they have no clue to what the Word of God is. Oh, they
may claim to be a Jew, so what. The Jews killed Messiah, so what do they know
about the Word of God. And the greater a rabbi the greater the deception. And
then we have in this day former Jews, so they claim, who have become
Christians, so called. Yet all of them that I know of that have crossed over to
become so called Christians have actually become Trinitarians. And if you know anything about Trinitarianism
and it's roots in the Babylonian Mysteries, to be a Trinitarian is anti-Christ,
so these So called messianic Jews show what they really are. They are despisers of the Word of God and they are
nothing short of being pagans themselves. And they have no clue what they are
talking about.
A
real Jew would never believe in a Triune God, where three persons make up a One
God system? That's insanity to believe such tummy rot as that. And that ought
to make you flee from what they teach, because they don't even know God. And if
they do not even know God then how are they going to teach you anything
correct? If they knew God they would not teach a Catholic doctrine which comes
right out of the Babylonian Mysteries.
No
real Jew would ever accept a Three person Godhead. The first commandment says,
"The Lord thy God is ONE LORD, and thou shalt worship
no OTHER God". And if they do, then "By their fruits you shall know them." And
this in itself begins to tell you what the fruits are. But we will save that
for later.
So Jesus continues about these that are
on the outside when he says in verse 12 "That seeing they may see, and not perceive;"
So
what good then is it to see something if you have no perception of what you are
seeing? And then he adds, "and hearing they may hear, and not understand;
And
what good is it to hear something if you have no understanding of what it is
that you are hearing. That is why the Apostle Paul warned us not to speak in
unknown tongues in the congregation, because people coming in would think you
are mad.
That's
why I don't go to conventions overseas to preach where others also preach.
Because Although I might be able to read some in French and Spanish, yet I
cannot understand what other preachers might be saying and so it is totally a
waste of time to go and just set there.
The
Apostle Paul told us this in 1 Corinthians 14:2 For he that speaketh in an unknown
tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him;
howbeit in the spirit he speaketh
mysteries. 3 But he
that prophesieth (preaches)
speaketh unto men
to edification,
and exhortation, and comfort. 4 He that speaketh in an unknown
tongue edifieth himself; but he that
prophesieth (he that preaches) edifieth the church. 5 I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied (preach): for greater is he that prophesieth (preaches) than he that
speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive
edifying. 6 Now, brethren, if I
come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by
revelation, or by knowledge, or
by prophesying (preaching), or by doctrine? 7 And even things without life giving sound,
whether pipe or harp, except they give a
distinction in the sounds, how
shall it be known what is piped or harped? 8 For if the trumpet
give an uncertain sound, who shall
prepare himself to the battle? 9 So likewise ye, except ye utter by
the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be
known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. 10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices
in the world, and none of them is without
signification. 11 Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall
be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.
But
the Gospel has been presented to the world in such a way that no man can
understand it unless the Spirit of the Composer is in them. God has written His
Word in such a way that unless you are on the inside (or His Spirit is inside
you) you will never perceive nor will you understand what The Word of God is
all about.
So
I don't care how much you can speak Hebrew or Greek, it won't do you any good.
Not a lick, Oh the simple minded people hear someone say a Hebrew word or a
Greek word and they think, "O my, he must know because he says it so
convincingly."
Well,
let me just say this. God did not come in this hour speaking Hebrew or Greek.
He came speaking an English Language that is Eastern Kentuckian version of the
English Language that is so base that it completely confounded the wise and
prudent.
In 1 Corinthians 1:27 the Apostle Paul said, "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the
things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the
world, and things which are
despised, hath God chosen,
yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought (to bring to
nothing) things
that are:
And
what was God's purpose in doing that? Jesus continued by saying, 12 That seeing
they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be
forgiven them. 13 And he
said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables? 14 The sower soweth the Word.
Notice he
concludes by saying, "If you don't know this parable, how will you know any other
thing that I have spoken."
So in getting
back to Matthew
13 we hear Jesus tell us that unless you are on the inside, you will
hear but you will not understand, and you may even see but you will never be
able to perceive what it is that you are seeing.
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given
unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
In plain English
he is telling us that some are ordained and predestinated to know while others
on the outside, no matter how much they see and hear they will never be able to
put it all together.
Now, remember,
God interprets His own Word by bringing it pass. So he is saying in effect, even if you hear what God says, and you see
it come to pass, you will never have a clue, unless you were ordained to hear
and understand what you hear, and see and perceive what it is that you are
seeing.
So those on the
outside he is letting us know they are those who are outside of God, and not
part of the election. Because if you were not in him before the foundations of
the world, you will never come into him, and you will always be an outsider.
Then
he says these most beautiful words, 12 "For whosoever hath,"
(Whosoever is
made in such a way as to echo
what I've said,) "to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance"
And why will you
have more abundance? Because an echo
is not a single repeat but a continuous giving back what you hear) "but whosoever hath not," (Whosoever
is not made in such a way as to be able to echo back) "from him shall be taken away even that
he" (thinks that he) "hath." (or echoes).
Listen,
the Greek word "ηχώ" is pronounce eek-ho and it mean "sound, to resonate, to resound, to
reverberate, to echo". And that is what
the English word "echo"
means as well, and so does the French word écho
and the Spanish word eco.
and they were all translated from the same original Greek word.
So
in getting back to what Jesus is telling us here in Matthew 13, he says, 13 Therefore speak I to them
in parables: because they
seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they
understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By
hearing ye shall hear, and shall not
understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of
hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted,
and I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have
not seen them; and to hear those
things which ye hear, and
have not heard them.
Therefore, it matters not who you claim
to be, or what your background is. Unless you have the Spirit of Christ in you,
you will never be able to understand the things of God as the apostle Paul
makes it very clear in 1 Corinthians 2.
Now, remember we have already read verse
9
where he says, 9 But as it is
written, (and it was written by Isaiah. So as Isaiah wrote) "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."
And why is that? Because Paul tells us in the very next verse... 1 Corinthians 2:10 But God
hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit:
for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God.
So, unless God has revealed them unto
you by His Spirit you will never know the things of God. It all comes down to revelation and whether you have the Spirit of God in you to receive the revelation of God or not.
And of course Paul makes this very plain
when he adds, 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man,
save the spirit of man which is in him? even so (or in the same
manner) the things of God knoweth no man,
but the Spirit of God knows.
Therefore in the same way that a knot on
a tree could never understand the ways of men, neither could any man that's not
filled with the Spirit of God could ever understand the things of God. If you
have not the spirit of God there is no way for you to ever know the things of
God. It matters not if you were born and raised a Jew or not. If you want to
understand the things of a Jew then be Jewish. But that has not one thing to do
with God. He came to the Jews and most of them rejected Him when God came down
into his son Jesus.
And then Paul says, 12 "Now we have received," (ok, Paul so what have we
received?) "not
the spirit of the world," (ok, thank you Paul for telling us
what we have not received, but what is it that we received in order to
understand the things of God. And he says but we have received,) "the spirit which is of God; in order that we might know the things that are
freely given to us of God."
So you see He is telling us that the
very reason we are given Holy Spirit baptism is to be able to understand the
things of God. So there goes your Jews and Rabbi's and any other preacher on
the outside of this Word for the hour my brothers and sisters.
They don't have it because they were not
meant to have it, so why would you waste one minute of your time listening to
what they have to say. It's a total waste and all it can do to you is deceive
you into thinking they have something when they have absolutely nothing for
this hour. And notice Paul says, it doesn't come from man's wisdom anyway, it comes by the Holy Ghost teaching you, and when
it comes to you, it is the inside teacher who brings it, not the outside
teacher who is teaching you.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's
wisdom teacheth, but which the
Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.
From his sermon Hear ye
Him 58-0209A P:24 Brother Branham said, "The Holy Spirit is the Teacher of the Church. How
many knows that? Sure, the
Holy Spirit's a Teacher. But we've adopted popes, and bishops, and
everything instead. But the Holy Spirit is the Tutor, and the Raiser, and the Teacher of the
Body of Christ. "Those who
are led by the Spirit have no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
that walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.".
And from the Church Age
Book Chapter 4 - The Smyrnaean Church
Age P:109 Now when God is silent we had better be silent. But where
He has spoken we had better speak, too, and say what He has already said.
He told us the evidence, or what would happen after being baptized with the
Holy Ghost was that we would have the Teacher
come and teach all truth. But that Teacher was an INSIDE
teacher, not an outside teacher. If the Spirit wasn't
inside, you wouldn't hear the truth and receive it by revelation if you heard
it every moment of the day. That was the sign of the indwelling Spirit
in the days of Paul. Those
who were filled with the Holy Ghost heard the Word, received it and lived by it.
Those who did not have the Spirit heard it only as carnal men, put a
wrong interpretation on it and went into sin.
So if God has a Word for this hour, and
men try to teach other than what was brought by God Himself who came down with
a Shout which is the Message, then anything outside of what God brought down is
mans teaching and not Gods teaching. Try to tell them they're wrong and they
rile up and say you're judgmental. Well, my brother I am judgmental because the
Apostle Paul says in the very next line of Scripture that if I am spiritual I
am to supposed to judge.
15 But he
that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no
man.
And if you are not spiritual then you
cannot judge all things, because we judge as Jesus did before us, judge all
things by the Word of God.
Jesus said in John 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that
judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last
day. 49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say,
and what I should speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the
Father said unto me, so I speak.
And to judge by the Word shows there is
a level of discernment involved, and we are supposed to discern what is actually
of God and what is not of God.
So Paul concludes 1 Corinthians 2 by saying in verse 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord,
that he may instruct him? But we have
the mind of Christ.
1 John
4:1 Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits (test the
Spirit, examine it and discern it, then judge it) whether they are of God: because many false
prophets (preachers and teachers) are gone out into the world.
So
this morning we are looking at the fact that both the true vine and false vine
will bear fruit, which is the manifestation of their works. But the fruit
itself will declare which one is true and which one is false.
Therefore
in his sermon Anointed
Ones at the End Time 65-0725M 59 brother Branham tells us what the fruit is when he says, "Notice.
But it's what they produce that tells
you the difference. "By their fruit," Jesus said, "you
shall know them." Man does not
gather grapes off of a thistle even though the thistle be right in the
grapevine. That could be possible, but the fruit will tell it. What
is the fruit? The Word for
the, the fruit for the season; that's what it is, their
teaching. The teaching of
what? The
teaching of the seasons, what time it is, man's doctrine, (which is) denominational
doctrine, or God's Word for the season.
And we are
told in Proverbs 23:7 For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he:
And we
also hear Jesus say in Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?(remember the rotten tree, which
is the false vine cannot bring forth good fruit) for
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35 A good man
out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure
bringeth forth evil things. 36 But I say unto you,
That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in
the day of judgment. 37 For by
thy words thou shalt be justified, and by
thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Therefore
if the fruit is the teaching of the season, then their fruit is what they teach
as God's word for the season they live in. For out of the abundance of the heart, (the understanding,) the mouth speaketh.
And if you are Spirit filled then you will know and recognize the Word for the
day you are living, and if you are not spirit filled you will speak words, but
only that which comes from your own heart or understanding.
Years
ago I preached a sermon on the words that Jesus spoken in Luke 8:18
when he said, "Take heed therefore how ye hear: for
whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall
be taken even that which he seemeth to have."
And
also from Mark 4:24And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be
measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.
And
remember to hear is to understand, that is what Brother Branham taught us.
So with what measuring instrument
you hear with, that is the measure you will receive. If you use a vindicated
Word to hear and understand with then you will receive more of that vindicated
Word. But if you use a Baptist filter, or a Pentecostal filter or even a Jewish
Rabbi filter, that is all you will come to understand.
Now, to illustrate this I placed a
little stuffed lamb doll under a blanket and then I asked the congregation to
identify any attributes that they could see. Some people said, they saw a lump
under the blanket, and others said they saw a bump, but that is all they could
come up with. So I split the church up into several groups and told them I was
going to give them some attributes of what was under that blanket. Then I gave
one group a note that said, "every
time you hear an attribute mentioned, think of a "Puppy dog", And
I gave another note to a different group in another corner of the church a note
that said, "every time you hear an
attribute mentioned - think "bunny rabbit". But to a third group
of believers I gave a note to that said, "do not make up your mind until you have heard all the attributes."
Then I proceeded to give out several
attributes, to the entire church and with each attribute given those who were
thinking puppy dog and those who were thinking bunny rabbit, when they heard
the attributes spoken and written down on a chart, it just clinched the nail on
what they thought was under the blanket.
I gave attributes like, "It
has four legs and is very timid". Then I would look at the two
groups that were told what to think and said "Is that correct,"
and they said "yes." Then I said, "It has an outer coat that is very
soft." Then I would look at
the two groups again that were told what to think and I said "Is
that correct", and they said "yes." And then I
said, "Sometimes it has color in its outer coat." Then I would
look at the two groups that were told what to think and said "Is
that correct," and they said "yes." Then I
said, "It is gentle in nature. It will
even jump small fences." Then I would look at the two groups that
were told what to think and said "Is that correct," and they said
"yes."
Now, with each attribute that I gave
spoken, the ones who had the note that said "think puppy dog" or
the note that said "think bunny rabbit", the naming
of the attribute seemed to clinch their understanding even more with each
attribute spoken. But then I added a last attribute to see what these people
would do and I said, "It is self sacrificial in nature."
Well, when I said that the puppy dog people said, "yes"
and even the bunny rabbit people said "yes".
And when I finally asked the church to
guess what was under the blanket, only those who waited to hear all the
attributes got it right, the others because they were leaning in a certain
direction, got carried away with their dissimulation and got it wrong. And boy
were some of them angry. And I told them I purposely gave you the note to fix
in your mind what you thought it was so that your mind was made up.
I said you may be angry at me for
leading you on with that note but I did that so you will never fall for a
preachers false doctrine that they reinforce with a few patched up quotes and
Scriptures. I said, "don't you ever make your mind up with only half the
facts again. Too many people fall for the preachers brainwashing them into some
false doctrine and when they are given scriptures or Quotes that contradict
that doctrine they don't know what to do with it so they reject the quotes and
scriptures.
Galatians 1:6 ¶ I
marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would
pervert the gospel of Christ.
The
Apostle Paul definitely saw this false representation of the Gospel coming into
the church in the first church age as we have seen in Galatians chapter 1 and in
chapter 2
he tells us it was because of false brethren that came in among the brethren.
We
also see this same warning in II Corinthians 11:1 ¶ Would to God ye could bear with me a little
in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2 For I am jealous
over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I
may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve
through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. 4 For if he that
cometh preacheth another Jesus, (now the word another here was
translated from the Greek word allos
which means a different one altogether) whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit,(But
this word another that Paul speaks of another spirit was translated from the
Greek word heteros which means of another
nature) which ye
have not received, or another gospel, (and again he uses the same
word in speaking of the Gospel. they receive is also of a different nature) which ye have not
accepted, ye might well bear with [him].
Now, what Paul is saying here is
that these men have come in among us and they have taught the
Message in such a way as to change the nature of the Message and
with the people who listen to such receive a spirit of another nature than the
Holy Spirit, and they end up teaching a different Jesus altogether. One that is
both Father and Son, who is One like you finger is one, and who
is capable of being killed but is also somehow mysteriously able and raise
himself from the dead.
Now, when you believe that you
believe a different Jesus than the one who laid down His own life knowing the
Father would raise Him up. Instead of a Father and Son working out a
relationship for all to behold, you have a Father Who gives birth to Himself,
and Who can die and you end up with such a polluted concept of God that it all
becomes very mysterious, and the more you look into the Godhead the more
mysterious it seems to become. Because once you start with a lie, it will never
end, and that is the deceitful thing that satan brought into the garden. One
lie breeds another, and another until you begin to stumble over just what lie
to tell next.
Irenaeus saw what had taken place
in the first age and in his book against the heresies he wrote, Their manner of acting is just as if one, when a beautiful image of a
king has been constructed by some skillful artist out of precious jewels,
should then take this likeness of the man all to pieces, should rearrange the
gems, and so fit them together as to make them into the form of a dog or of a fox, and even that but poorly executed; and
should then maintain and declare that this was the beautiful image of the king
which the skillful artist constructed, pointing to the jewels which had been
admirably fitted together by the first artist to form the image of the king,
but have been with bad effect transferred by the latter one to the shape of a
dog, and by thus exhibiting the jewels, should deceive the ignorant who had no
conception what a king's form was like, and persuade them that that miserable
likeness of the fox was, in fact, the beautiful image of the king.
Now, notice today we have The
Masterpiece which is King of Glory Himself presented to the people by the Words
of a Vindicated Prophet, and he crafted His words so carefully and in such a
way, as to present to us what He saw, when he said, "My
ministry is to declare Him, that He is here." And "He is the Supreme Deity" who has come
down in our midst. And in doing so revealed and unveiled "the Mighty God Unveiled" to us, but
since that prophet is no longer on the scene to protect the image of this
Masterpiece, others have come along, and have taken his quotes that presented
to us the Mighty King of Glory, those jewels that Irenaeus spoke of, and they
have disassembled the Message into sound bites, and quick quotes, and have
reassembled them or rearranged them into the image of a dog or a fox and they
have canvassed the world presenting their own opinions as the Image of
"The King".
And
Irenaeus continued, "In like manner do these persons
patch together old wives' fables, and then endeavor, by violently drawing away
from their proper connection, words, expressions, and parables whenever found,
to adapt the oracles of God to their baseless fictions. We have already stated
how far they proceed in this way with respect to the Fullness."
Brother
Branham said in his sermon Trying to do God a
service 65-1127B P:89 Now, notice in this now. David thought he had everything in
order. And he was inspired. See how the Holy Spirit can anoint a man?
But it's got to be in the order of the anointing. The outside spirit can be
anointed with the Holy Ghost and the soul as dark as pitch. The
cocklebur grows on the same water that builds, puts life into the wheat, puts
life into the cocklebur; but at the bottom of the cocklebur, it's a
cocklebur life. It's rejoicing, and blooming, and got life, and doing
everything that the wheat does, but the soul of it is cocklebur. See? False
teachers can rise, teaching all kind of trinitarianism and
everything else, and be anointed with the Holy Ghost, and perform just as many
miracles as the true Gospel can. But by the Word here, that's
what does it. See what I mean?
Power
of transformation 65-1031M P:109 But every one of them rottened in the wilderness and
perished. Their souls are dead and gone. And they are right in the
path of duty, going to church and the very things that God ordained them to do,
but accepted a false teacher, who wasn't vindicated by the
Word to be proven to be right. Yet, he was the doctor of divinity, and
what evermore you want to call about a real prophet, but wasn't proved
spiritually by the Word and by the signs of God. And they perished in
the wilderness; righteous, honorable, religious people, died, and will never be
in heaven.
Anointed
ones at end time 65-0725M P:185 Let's go now, close. Anointed ones,
christs in the last days, but the false teachers as false prophets...
Notice how striking. Now, I want you to compare this (We haven't got time to
read it out.), Matthew
24:24 with II Timothy 3:8. Matthew
24:24 said in the last days (See?) there'll come false christs, false
anointed ones, false prophets, and shall show
signs and wonders exactly like the real one, and shall, and shall almost
deceive the very elected.
Anointed
ones at end time 65-0725M P:50 Oh, you false teachers, listen at
these tapes all these years and seen God confirm exactly what He said, and you
set in your study and know it's the Truth, and because of your denominational
differences, you dispute them and tell your people they're not so.
Woe unto you. Your time is close at hand.
Anointed
ones at end time 65-0725M P:43 But you might see that the anointing gets on
the unjust, the false teachers, and causes them to do exactly
what God told them not to do; but they'll do it anyhow. Why? They
cannot help it. How can a thistle be anything else but a thistle? No
matter how much good rain's sprinkled on it, it's got to be a thistle.
That's the reason Jesus said they'll be so close it would deceive the very
elected (which is in the roots), if it were possible. But it ain't possible. A
wheat can do nothing but bear wheat; that's all it can bear.
Anointed
ones at end time 65-0725M P:31 Notice. The same anointing water brings forth the
wheat, brings forth the weed. The same Holy Spirit that anoints the church,
that gives them desire to save souls, that gives them power to perform
miracles, It falls on the unjust the same as the just: the very same Spirit.
Now, you can't make it another way and understand Matthew 24:24. He said,
"There shall rise false christs," false anointed ones,
anointed with the genuine thing, but be false prophets of it, false
teachers of it. What would make a man want to be a false teacher
of something that's Truth? Now, and we'll get down to the mark of
the beast in a few minutes, you'll see it's denomination. See, see? False
teachers, false anointed, anointed christs, but false teachers. It's
the only way you can see it.
Anointed
ones at end time 65-0725M P:15 Now, anointed one is "one with a
message." And the only way the message can be brought out is by one
that's anointed; and that would be a prophet, anointed. "There shall rise false anointed teachers." A
prophet teaches what his message is: anointed teachers, but anointed
people with false teaching, anointed ones: christs, plural; prophets,
plural. And if there is such a thing as a Christ, singular, then these
would have to be anointed ones that their prophecy of what they were teaching
would be the difference, because they are anointed ones,
anointed.
You
must be born again 61-1231M P:92 Now, false teachers will bring false births.
True prophets will bring the Word, the birth of the Word, Christ. False
prophets will bring false birth, the birth of churches, the birth of
creeds, the birth of denominations. And here you are, Pentecostal brother,
false sensations, and tell a man he's got the Holy Ghost 'cause he speaks with
tongues. I've seen devils speak with tongues, pencils lay down and write in
unknown tongues. That don't mean a thing. See, it's got to be a life:
by their fruit you shall know them. "Brother Branham, do you
believe in speaking in tongues?" Yes, sir. "You believe in
shouting?" Yes, sir. To be a Christian, I believe that. I believe God's
Word. But if the life isn't there to back it up...
Baptism
of the holy spirit 58-0928M P:110 Apostles, prophets, teachers,
evangelists, pastors. That's what the Body consists of. In that local
body then there's nine spiritual gifts: One of them is wisdom, knowledge,
Divine healing, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, all these
different gifts that's in the local body. And these apostles, pastors,
teachers, and evangelists are all here to be sure that in these gifts these
things are working right. If they find something false raising up, quickly they condemn it,
'cause it's not according to the Scripture. Let somebody walk up
here and say, "Bless God, I got oil in my hands; looky here. You know, I
believe I got the Holy Ghost; I got oil in my hand."You'll hear somebody
say, "That's not Scriptural." That's right. "Let's
take and go here in the room; let's search the Scriptures through. Show me in
the Scriptures where that's the evidence of the Holy Ghost."
Baptism
of the holy spirit 58-0928M P:78 Remember this, I said in the beginning... Now, if
I hurt you, I don't mean to. This is for the church. If you're setting
along, we like to have you here, but this is what we stand for and why we're
not a denomination. Now, the denomination is to begin with, is false and false
teachers. And I said it would hurt, and I want it to hurt. They
are absolutely false teachers. Any man that knows those things and will
stand and compromise for the Baptist, Methodist Lutheran, or Pentecostal, knowing
that the Bible teaches different, he's a false prophet: no sticking around
it. That's exactly. That's why I didn't join the Assemblies. That's why I
didn't join the oneness. That's the reason I didn't join the Baptist, the
Methodist, or Presbyterian, because they're false. I don't mean
their people's false; I mean their theology's false, because
it don't compare with God's Word.
Baptism
of the holy spirit 58-0928M P:54 There's not one speck of Scripture in the Bible
where anybody was ever immersed in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
And ever who teaches it is a false teacher.
And Peter
warned us this would happen right in the Message of the hour in the end times.
2
Peter 2:1 But as
there were false prophets among the people so shall there be false teachers
among you, who privily shall bring in alongside of true doctrine destructive heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift
destruction.
Anyone who bypasses a Messenger
of God for the age and comes with another word, is a false teacher. I'm surprised people claiming to believe this
Message still set and listen to Trinitarian preachers and think they might be
right and William Branham wrong. excuse me? Whose vindicated? Don't come to me
with questions if you choose to listen to those false teachers out there. I
take what the prophet taught and bring it right back to what the apostle Paul
taught, so If you still choose to listen to these false teachers out there,
then your blood is off my hands. Be Careful who, Be
careful what and be careful how you hear...
Let us pray