Masterpiece 49
Vindication proves the Doctrine is right with God
Pastor, Brian Kocourek
2. Now, after brother
Branham speaks of God perfecting His Son, in paragraph 71 brother Branham makes
a very non orthodox statement concerning the Son of God.
3. 71 THE MASTERPIECE 64-0705
71. So perfected a Redeemer of man, so perfect,
so godly (Yet there was no beauty we should desire Him.), when this virgin-born
Son of the living God become so perfect, and humble, and in the image of God,
until the great Master Who had brought His life up through the prophets (and He
was the fulfilling of all the prophets)... He was so perfect, until God seeing this, He smote Him and has cried out, "Speak!" as
Michelangelo did, "Speak!"
4. Now, before we go on to
paragraph 72, I want to bring up something he said in paragraph 71 concerning
the Son of God. He said, “So perfected, a Redeemer of man, so Godly, yet there was no beauty that we should desire him.”
5. Now, you can’t be
perfected if you were always that way. And as I said last week, if you
understand the Godhead correctly you will understand that there is only “One”
that is perfect and that is God. Therefore, this Son of God became perfect when
God entered into Him. For, He is our perfection.
6. Now, another thing he
said, in speaking of the Son of God brother Branham said he was, “So Godly”. Now, Godly means piety which is
characterized by a God-ward attitude, and is expressed in that the actions are
God centered and for the purpose of pleasing God.
7. Now, that describes
Jesus very well. He said, “My meat is to do the will of my Father. Now, If
Jesus and God were one like your finger is one as the Unitarians believe, then
this statement he made concerning the devout nature of the Son of God to God,
would not make any sense at all. But seeing that brother Branham said God and
Jesus were not one like your finger is one, then we
can understand that hr used this phrase when describing the Son of God’s
attitude towards His Father. Now God could not be Godly, because He is God. And
to be devout and God-ward speaks of another and not of God Himself. But Since
the Son of God was not God, then He could be Godly or God centered in His Life.
8. Now, in paragraph 72. brother Branham said, “You say, "Is
that so?" St. Mark 9:7, we find upon the Mount Transfiguration, when there
stood Moses, the law, there stood Elijah, the prophets. All the way back from
the patriarchs, the fathers, the law, the prophets, and all of them standing
there, we hear a Voice coming down from the cloud and said, "This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him." And if they're going to hear, He's got to speak. It
was just a few days before He was smitten. "This is My Son, Who I'm pleased to dwell in”. I have molded Him. I've been four thousand years bringing Him
to this. And now He is so perfect I've got to smite Him so He can speak.
"Hear
ye Him." He's the perfected One. He is
the Masterpiece."
9. Now, I would like to
stop here for a minute and examine something brother Branham said concerning
the relationship that God had with His son. Notice he quotes God as saying, "This is My Son, Who
I'm pleased to dwell in”. I have molded
Him. I've been four thousand years
bringing Him to this.”
10. Just think, here is a glimpse into the relationship between the Father
and the Son. He is telling us that God spent the past 4,000 years bringing him
to this? To what? To the place that
He would enter into his Son.
11. Now, that may seem like
heresy to many who believe Jesus and God were one like your finger is one, and
that may seem like heresy to those who believe God was a committee made up of One called the Father, another called the Son, and still
another called the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit.
But they wouldn’t know God if He met them in their porridge.
12. I saw a film the other
day called “God’s General William M.
Branham” and after showing many clips from the “Deep Calleth unto the Deep” and the “20th Century Prophet” the
that was going over the life of William Branham said, he was truly a prophet
but he went off when he forsook the gift that God gave Him and tried to be a
teacher.
13. It was very apparent
while watching this film that many people believed in the gift that Brother
Branham had while praying for the sick, but in that sense they are no different
from you and I in that they believed that Gift was from god and showed the
Presence of God in operation. But what sets us so different from them is that
although we loved the gift of God that was in the life of William Branham, we
do not look at that gift as the end-all, but rather that which got us to “sit
up and take note” that this man was very different from all others and
that God was definitely with Him, and if so, then we ought to shut up and hear
what he has to tell us.
14. But these men don’t want
to shut up and listen. They have an exalted opinion of themselves, and
completely miss God hiding Himself in simplicity. Brother Branham said,
15.
From his sermon called, Voice of the sign 64-0313 P:14 brother
Branham said, “Now, the sign has a voice. And now, every true God-sent sign
has a voice, and that voice must speak according to the Word that's given for
that day, just exactly. If the voice comes the same
old voice of the same old... You see a sign, rather, and the sign that the man's doing is the same old school of thought, then you can say right then that didn't come from God.
If it keeps identifying the same old school of thought, it never did, it never
has, it would be against God's program. It's got to be
something new. It's got to be something that the people don't understand; it's
got, or it wouldn't be sent. It don't need to
be sent, if it's the same old school of theology. It's got to be something
different, yet it's got to be identified in the Word that it is for that day
(See?), the positives of God's Word. It has to be that. There's
no slip-ups to it. It's got to be the truth, got to be vindicated by God the
truth. And the man who speaks it has to be vindicated of God to be a seer from
God, or it's wrong. They don't even--they don't even see it at all, don't even
believe it.
16.
I like especially what he said here
that what sense would it be for God to send a sign among the people and then
direct them into the same thing they already have been in. I remember what brother
Vayle said one time concerning this. He said,, could
you imagine sitting at the table eating your porridge and me bursting on the
scene telling you I had a message from the Lord for you, and you say, what is
this message, and I would say, “Thus saith the Lord, you
are eating porridge” Now, what kind of a message would that be?
17.
Frankly I do not understand that
mindset. When I came to the message it was not because of the miracles, it was
because of the doctrine. That is what attracted me was the doctrine. Look,
miracles are nice to talk about and even nicer to have in your life, but they
are not eternal. But the Word is eternal and the Life in that word is eternal,
and that is what we are feeding on.
18.
I believe in praying for the sick, and
I have seen many miracles in my own meetings, but God makes you better in this body, and your still in this body. The body is made well,
but the body is going to get sick again. But there is something about the
doctrine that takes you out of this body if at least for the moment and you
forsake all your troubles and you are lifted into the presence of the eternal
one and given a glimpse of Life to come.
19.
The doctrine brings you rest, it
settles your soul, it gives you peace, it stimulates your mind, and gives you a
for-taste of Glory divine. It places you, and let’s you see your status with
God and your state as a Son of God. But healings come and go. I’ve seen people
healed of cancer in the lungs just to die six months later from another kind of
cancer in the brain. But the word of the
Lord endures forever.
20.
Voice of the sign 64-0321E P:26
Every
true sign of God is followed by the voice of God. Now, if a man gives a sign in
the country or any time, and that voice that he speaks behind that isn't the
Word of God, then watch it. Don't believe it. If some old
school... If a man gets up and says, shows a sign from God, and then the man's teaching is the same old
theology you've had all these years, God never sent that sign. Look back in
the Scripture and see if it was. Search the Scripture. If a guy comes back and
says, "Now, we all want you to join this. It's been an old established
affair," don't you believe that. We're going to go in that just in a few
minutes. See? No, don't you believe that. God
always vindicates His signs. Sign
from God always speaks God's voice. And if it's the same old school you've had, why would He give a sign? You're already in it. He's trying to
get you to that corner. Stop sign, slow up, look where
you're going. You'll dump yourself off at the corner, if you don't watch.
There's a sharp curve. And it's always a sign there, before you make this
curve, to keep you from wrecking up. A good road builders
gives signs, and we're traveling the road to glory. And if the sign speaks of the same old thing, it wasn't from God. God gives signs to attract the attention of
His people. Signs are to attract the attention of God's people; God's signs is. God's signs is given to attract the attention of God's people.
21.
What is the purpose of a sign anyhow?
Signs are a way of bringing a message to people. Stop sign means that you have
to stop or you might wreck up. A sign that says slippery when wet means that
the road is slippery when wet. Look out for deer means look out for dear. But
the Pentecostal world just doesn’t understand this. They think stop means go,
and yield means full steam ahead, and slippery when
wet means good riding ahead. And they’re nuts. Just plain
stupid. That’s all. So self centered that they have left God out of the
message of Pentecost. He’s on the outside knocking trying to get in and they
won’t let the Word come in.
22.
From Voice
of the sign 64-0321E P:34 brother Branham
said, To the elected, they see it, like the
little woman with a pure heart in a defiled body, and the Pharisee with a pure
body and a defiled heart. It condemned one and saved the other one. And the
very judgment that saved Moses, condemned the world,
his preaching. It gets the elected ready.
What's the elected ready for? When they
see a God sent sign, they look back in the Scripture and see if that's supposed
to be there. "Yeah, here it is. What is it? Pending judgment." Then the elected listens to the voice.
But the unelected ignores and says,
"Nonsense. Go on. We'll take the same old school." That's the way
they did in the days of Luther. That's the way they did in the days of Wesley. That's the way they do now, way they've
always done. But it is a sign, and it
has a voice that follows the sign. And the voice is identified as a
Scriptural voice. Now, don't forget that. I keep that going in, because I may
never see you again. I wished I had a
way that I could come down here somewhere, and get all my brethren when they
had no revivals going on, put a tent up, and just set day after day, and teach
it till it really soaked in. But He
wouldn't permit that, I don't think. See, we're too close to the end. I
believe we're right now at the end.
23.
Again from Voice of the sign 64-0313 P:52 he
said, “When a man raises
up with a sign, the same old school of thought, there's something wrong. It
isn't coming from God. Oh, my. Make His path straight now. Do you believe it?
24.
And from his sermon, Man running from presence
65-0217 P:76 he said, If a Message goes forth, there's signs and
wonders, and you still see that same old
school of thought that you come up with, that didn't come from God. God
don't just have to do... And God is trying to get your attention attracted to
something. And then, when Jesus went down there, He started healing the sick
and doing great works and things. He always, He, Jesus did it. And Moses and Jesus done it, and the rest of them. And when He was here He
did it, and He's doing it, the same thing today. When He sends forth a meeting
like that revivals and starts a meeting in the earth, and starts a moving along
with these great signs and wonders, and then you see come back that same old
school of teaching, there's something wrong there somewhere. There's something
new coming forth.
25.
And from his sermon Trying to do God a service
65-1127B P:113 he said, We have
false impersonators rise up. What's that to do? To deceive. The Bible said they would. "As Jambres and Jannes withstood
Moses, so will these in the last days." See? They're the same thing, come right along impersonating it, just
exactly. See? Be careful. Watch the
doctrine of the Bible. Watch the
message that follows them signs. Still the same old school of message?
Forget it. God sent the miracles and signs to attract attention of His
people. When Jesus come just healing the sick and so forth, so did the
prophets. They thought, "Oh, glory, He's a-coming; He's going to be a
Pharisee.
He's going to be
a Sadducee." But He said, "You generation of serpents and
vipers." Said, "You're of your father the Devil; his works you
do." Said, "Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His
Blood, there's no Life in you." He
didn't explain It. He didn't have to explain It (Hallelujah.); that
was for another season. (uh-huh) He just said what
He had to say, "I always do that what's pleasing to the Father," and
that's keeping His Word. "If I don't, My life and My works don't compare
with His Word I'm supposed to do, then don't believe Me, I'm not Him; but if it
does, then believe the works if you can't believe Me."
26.
And from his sermon The Token 64-0308 P:30 he said, Now, when you see
signs going on, and no message behind it, just the same old school of theology
and on down, that wasn't from God. But where
there's a sign showed, a Message follows it.
30. Therefore when Brother Branham said in his sermon the Masterpiece,
"This is My Son, Who
I'm pleased to dwell in”. I have molded Him. I've been four thousand years bringing Him to this.” Then
we had better listen up because he is going to tell us something that we did
not know.
31. And so he continues, in
paragraph 73 Remember, He was
portrayed all times back through the Old Testament. We find Him being the Rock
in the wilderness, that was smitten Rock in the wilderness: "I am that
Rock that was in the wilderness." But that was a stone; that had not come
to its perfection yet. But in type form It followed
the Church to draw from It that, that He could draw, and give Life to those who
He could give Life to. But He was that
Rock in the wilderness. He had not
been made man yet; He was only in type.
32. PP. 74 Moses saw Him standing on this rock. He saw
Him pass by, and he said, "It's the back part of a man." You see, the Sculptor was presenting to
Moses which was a potential image of Christ, what the great Masterpiece would look like when It
was perfected. He passed His... He
projected to Moses the vision of what the Masterpiece was going to look like.
It was the back part of a man when It passed by in the
wilderness.
33. 75 Remember, 'Angelo could only cry out and
smite the image and say, "Speak!" But how different
it was to God, the Great Sculptor. When He made a man in His own image, so perfect that It
reflected Him, God spoke through the
image of man, showing what He would do. He spoke to the prophets as they
were in their potential image, as He was bringing it up to the Head. But when He come in
the Head, He was all the image of God. He
was portraying Himself. Then smitten for us... Now He is the Masterpiece to
us, the Gift of God, Jesus Christ, Eternal Life. I
hope we never forget that.
34. Let’s bow our hearts in
prayer.