Masterpiece 58
The Chinese
laundry ticket
Pastor, Brian Kocourek
2. 81 God, down through the age, hewing away by
the patriarchs, and made His platform, and brought them up from the different
things that He'd lay this foundation upon. Upon this He begin to build His Word
(the prophets), and then finally come out to the perfect Prophet, the perfect
Foundation, the perfect vision God had. 82 And now, in order for this to speak
(He is the Word.)(now, remember he is talking
about God here.)--and
for the Word to speak He (GOD) must come into
the Image. And then for the image to
speak, it's got to be smitten. He
comes into the Image. And then in order to speak, the perfect
Redeemer... All the types of the Old Testament was met
in Him. 83 As I said the other day, Jehovah of the Old
Testament is Jesus of the New. Yes! 84 Like many of you men, women my age, we used to have around
the country a lot of Chinese laundries. When the Chinese first started in, they
come from the west coast, moving eastward, coming over from the eastern
country, moving this way. And as they did, they were people who were not
acquainted with our language and our ways, but they were fine laundryman. And
they couldn't write the ticket so you could get your right laundry back. But
the Chinaman, he got himself a bunch of little cards with nothing on it at all.
So when you come for your laundry, he would take this card
and tear it in a certain way and hand you one piece, and he kept the other
piece. And now, it's a little better than what we have now, because when
you come back to claim what was your own, those
two pieces must dovetail. You couldn't impersonate it if you had to.
There's no way of doing it. You could make copies of letters, but you can't impersonate that tear. It's got to fit exactly with the other
piece. Therefore, your dirty clothes that you brought in, you could redeem
them by this ticket, because it matched the ticket that was turned in. 85 And when God, by the prophets and under
the law, condemned us to sin... And the law has no grace; it only tells you that
you are a sinner. But when Jesus came on the scene, He was the fulfillment. He was the fulfillment of everything God
had promised. He was the perfect, identical image of the promise.
Therefore, all promises of the Old
Testament was met in Jesus Christ. It couldn't be
met in Moses. It couldn't be met in any of the prophets, but it was met in the Masterpiece.
It matched all that It said It was going to be. So will the Church have to be a match to
everything God has promised.
It must be that piece that's smitten off
of It. So
if the original is the Word, so will the subjects that's
been taken from It be the Word to match Its side. 86 Therefore, the
Chinaman... You could claim... Where the law condemns you and said you were
dirty, and you were guilty, and could put you in the prison; but when He came,
He was the Match piece for it that could take you out, and bring you back too,
to be the complete ticket: the redemption that God had promised back in the
garden of Eden: "Thy Seed shall bruise the serpent's head, but His heel
shall bruise its head."
4. Some teach that this Chinese laundry ticket
illustration was meant to tell us that God split himself in two pieces. A masculine
part which was the part that remained in God and a feminine part of God that
became the Bride. But to do this, they then begin to identify these two parts
of God as two spirits, not one spirit, and thus they sway from Truth.
5. Let me quote what is taught by some concerning this
illustration that brother Branham used to illustrate here. This is an actual
quote from one of the brethren who have taken the illustration of the Chinese
laundry ticket and have made it not one ticket representing one spirit but they
have made it two spirits. ”the TWO spirits
were in Adam, the first Bridegroom in Genesis One until God separated them in
Genesis Two. These TWO spirits were also in the second Adam, and He too was a
Bride Groom.”
6. Now we know that Adam did not have two spirits in
Him and neither did God. If God did, then which One is the Holy Spirit and what
is the name of the other spirit? What Those who teach
this way do not understand is that “God is Spirit (Singular) and they that worship HIM must worship HIM in
Spirit and Truth!” The
scripture tells us, “by
7. In fact in the following quote brother Branham
tells us that there was but one spirit. Therefore in effect we are dealing with
Life. The Life of the male human is no different than the life in the female
human. It is human life. Bovine Life is the same life whether in the cow or in
the bull, it is Bovine life. Hog life is hog life whether in the sow or the
bore.
8. From the message [Ye
must be Born again, 58-06-19] Brother Branham said, "Where Adam is more the burly type, for he was the man, the
masculine type. The woman was feminish, but it's
the same Spirit, for He took her from Adam.
9. Therefore it is not another spirit but the same
spirit. But to teach that there are two spirits these men are venturing without
authority. They are only presuming to have truth when in reality their so
called truth is only error.
10. The illustration that brother Branham was using concerning
the Chinese laundry ticket is that our spirit must match perfectly God’ Spirit
if we are truly born again of the Spirit of God, because “By One Spirit we are all baptized into one
Body”, and that body is speaking of the body of Christ.
11. In 1 Peter
12. And then in John 3:3 Jesus
answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the
13. And we know that to see the
14. It shall be even as it was told me 50-0818 P:23 Anyhow, "to see" doesn't mean "to look
at." The word "see" means "to understand." Jesus
said, "Except a man be born of water and Spirit,
he cannot see the
15. Questions and answers
16. We see from these quote that Brother Branham
is showing us that when a person is born again something enters into that
person, the very Life of God comes into them and they begin to see what others
can not see. In John
1:12 we are told, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name:
17. Now, the word
power was translated from the Greek word Exousia which means “an ability, power or ability to become or manifest oneself”
And we see what that manifestation is to entail. We are to come into
manifestation as Sons of God. This does not read “as many as received him to
them gave he the ability to change from what they are not to what they would
like to be.” But it reads, “as many as were of such a nature as to be able to
receive Him and hold onto Him who is the Word, the same gave He an innate
ability or authority to exercise what they were ordained to be, and that is
sons of God. That is why this same apostle later wrote, “Beloved, You are already
sons but you just don’t see it manifested in yourselves that you are sons, but
when He shall Appear, then you will see Him as He truly is, and when you see
Him as He truly is, then you too will manifest what you truly are.” So we are
dealing with something that is in your nature deep in the recesses of your soul
to begin with. What Paul calls the inner man.
18. Brother Branham also said from his sermon called, Mary's belief 61-0121 P:30 "Except
a man be born again he cannot even see the
19. Notice that Brother Branham said there are a lot of people who
believe they are born again when they are not, and that is what I want to
address this morning.
20. Brother Branham in talking about this predestinated germ of Life in
you used a story of the eagle in the chicken yard to describe how it works. In
speaking of this predestinated germ of Life he said in his sermon, INVISIBLE UNION OF THE BRIDE 65-1125 33-4 "The anointed Word of God being
vindicated before any man that's born to be a son of God with the predestinated
germ into him for this hour, he'll see God's message as sure as there's
a God in heaven.
21. But, what if he doesn’t really see the Message of
God? I mean what if he only thinks that he sees it but in fact doesn’t really
understand the Message as it was meant to be understood? Brother Branham said, those
two pieces must dovetail. You couldn't impersonate it if you had
to. There's no way of doing it. You could make copies of letters, but you can't impersonate that tear. It's got to fit exactly with
the other piece.
22. Now, the reason that the two pieces must
dovetail is because they came from one piece. By One Spirit we are all baptized
into One Body. Therefore the two pieces
came from one piece because the one piece was torn free from the original piece
and the tear or the suffering had to match up to the original. 2 Timothy 3: 12 Yea, and all that will live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And again we see in 2
Timothy 2: 12 If we suffer, we
shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
23. And here is the key. The tear in the paper must
dovetail with each other. The two pieces must be so much alike that they fit
perfectly when brought together, because they both came from the same piece. By
24. And again he said, 1
John 3: 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as
he is.
25. So we are speaking of knowing verses presuming that we are born
again.
26. And as brother Branham said, INVISIBLE
UNION OF THE BRIDE 65-1125 33-4 "The
anointed Word of God being vindicated before any man that's born to be a son of
God with the predestinated germ into him for this hour, he'll see God's
message as sure as there's a God in heaven. The word sure means to be certain. It means without
wavering or doubt, without question. But
what if they don’t see it for what it is?
27. But so many people have no scriptural foundation
for their belief that they are born again. They believe they are born again because
someone told them they are. I don’t want to know because someone told me so, I
want to know because I have scriptural proof that I am. Why take anyone’s word
for it when we can have God’s word for it. And to hang your salvation on a
false presumption is spiritually fatal.
28. From the message Presuming
62-0117 P:29 Brother Branham said, Someone
said, "Just let your mind go blank now. Just look right straight up
towards the skies. Let your mind go blank; you'll get an experience." And
no doubt but what you do. That's right. But you get an experience, but what an
experience. You see, when you do that, you just open your soul to Satan. He'll
give you something; that's true. But I
think a person coming to Christ should come with all the intelligence they've
got, and quoting in their mind when
they come to Him every promise in the Scripture. Keep your mind alert when you come to Christ. Don't let it go
blank. The devil will make you do anything. See? They'll give you a sensation.
He can do that too. But you want an experience, something that the Bible
teaches, something that's real.
29. You know most of the world believes they are saved. And most of those
who follow the Message believe they are in the Election, and will make the Rapture. But
there will be very few in that Rapture, and like salvation many think they have
it when in fact they are only presuming to have it.
30. SALVATION in fact, like the Message, may be
viewed or even contemplated from many different points of view, but from
whatever side we look at it we must always remember that "Salvation is
of the Lord." Salvation was
planned by the Father for His elect before the foundation of the world. It
was purchased for them by the holy life and vicarious death of His incarnate
Son. It is applied to and wrought in them by God’s Holy Spirit. It is known and enjoyed through the study
of the Scriptures, through the
exercise of faith, and through communion with the Spirit of God living in
the individual.
31. Most of the multitudes who
profess Christianity sincerely believe that they are among the saved,
yet they are total strangers to a work of God’s grace in their hearts.
·
It
is one thing to have a clear intellectual conceptions
of God's truth, it is quite another matter to have a personal, real heart acquaintance
with it.
·
It
is one thing to believe that sin is the awful thing that the Bible says it is,
but it is quite another matter to have a holy horror and hatred of it in your
soul.
·
It
is one thing to know that God requires repentance, it is quite another matter
to change the way you think, to change your mind, and to admit you were wrong
in the way you believed.
·
It
is one thing to believe that Christ is the only Savior,
it is quite another matter to really trust Him from the heart for your
salvation.
·
It
is one thing to believe that God is the only sovereign King, it is quite
another matter to LOVE HIM above all others.
·
It
is one thing to believe that God is the great and holy One,
it is quite another matter to truly reverence and fear Him.
·
It
is one thing to believe that salvation is of the Lord, it is quite another
matter to become an actual partaker of it through His gracious working in your
own soul.
32. While it is true that Holy
Scripture is firm concerning man's responsibility for his own sin, and all
through the scriptures God deals with the sinner as an some one who is
accountable for their own actions; yet it is also true that the Bible plainly
and constantly shows that no son of Adam has ever measured up to his
responsibility, that every one has miserably failed to set himself free from
his accountability. Remember, a pardon is only a pardon if it is accepted as a
pardon. But if you do not believe that you are guilty then you do not believe
you should have to accept a pardon. And if you say you have no sin, you are
deceiving only yourself. But, It is this
need to acknowledge God’s pardon allows God’s word to work in your sinful soul, and to do
for you what you are unable to do for yourself. The Bile tells us that it is God working in you to do and to will.
33. But for you to be able to work
out God’s will on your own it is impossible. "They that are in the
flesh cannot please God" (Rom 8:8). The sinner is "without strength" (Rom 5:6). Apart from the Lord, we "can do nothing" (John 15:5).
While it is true that the Gospel
issues a call and a command to all who hear it, it is also true
that ALL disregard that call and disobey that command - "They all with
one consent began to make excuse" (Luke 14:18). This is where the sinner
commits his greatest sin and most manifests his awful enmity against God and
His Christ: that when a Savior, suited to his needs, is presented to him, he
"despises and rejects" Him (Isa 53:3).
34. Now this bestowal of
salvation is far more than a mere proclamation that salvation is to be found in
the Lord Jesus: it is very much more than an invitation for sinners to receive
Christ as their Savior. It is God actually saving His people. It is His own sovereignty and all-powerful work of grace toward
and in those who are entirely destitute of merit, and who are so depraved in
themselves that they will not and cannot take one step to the obtaining of salvation.
Those who have been actually saved owe far more to divine grace than most of
them realize. It is not only that Christ died to put away their sins, but also
the Holy Spirit has wrought a work in them - a work which applies
to them the virtues of Christ's atoning death.
35. It is just at this point that so
many preachers fail in their exposition of the Truth. While many of them affirm
that Christ is the only Savior for sinners, they also teach that He actually
became ours only by our consent. While they allow that conviction of sin
is the Holy Spirit's work and that He alone shows us our lost condition and
need of Christ, yet they also insist that the decisive factor in salvation is
man's own will. But the Holy Scriptures teach that "salvation is of the
LORD" (Jonah 2:9), and that nothing of the creature enters into it at any
point. Only that can satisfy God which has been produced by God Himself. Though
it be true that salvation does not become personal to the sinner until he has, from the heart, believed
in the Lord Jesus Christ, yet that very BELIEVING is worked into the sinner by
the Holy Spirit: "By grace are ye saved through faith, and that NOT OF
YOURSELVES; it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8).
36. It is sad to say that there is a "believing"
in Christ by the natural man, which is NOT a believing unto salvation. Just
as the Buddists believe in Budda,
so in Christendom there are multitudes who believe in Christ. And this
"believing" is something more than an intellectual one. Often there
is emotion and feelings connected with wrong belief systems as we see very
readily with the believers in Islam who kill in the name of their prophet. And
yes, to do so they are very emotionally tied to their belief, yet though they
trust in the Words of their Koran, yet they kill and commit
offenses contrary to God’s Holy Word. As brother Branham said about those who
sacrifice their children to false god’s, “They may be sincere, but they are
sincerely wrong.”
37. Christ taught in the Parable of
the Sower that there is a class of people who hear the Word and with joy
receive it, yet have they no root in themselves (Matt 13:20,21). This is
fearfully solemn, for it still occurs daily in this hour. Scripture also tells
us that Herod heard John "gladly " Thus, the mere fact that the
reader of these pages enjoys listening to some sound gospel preacher is
no proof at all that he is born again. The Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees
concerning John the Baptist, "Ye were willing for a season to rejoice in
his light," yet the sequel shows clearly that no real work of grace had
been wrought in them. And these things are recorded in Scripture as solemn
warnings!
38. Then what would make this hour
any different when God came down and worked through the man William Branham and
many followed because of what they saw, but there is no real change in their
nature even though they claim to be followers of his Message. In Mark 6:20: we read "For Herod
feared John (not 'God'!), knowing that he as a just man and an holy, and
observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and
heard him gladly." It was the personality of John which attracted
Herod, just as it was the personality and obedient nature of William Branham
that has attracted so many to the Message of the hour.
39. And we find the same true with
any minister used by God who has a strong personality and ministry. People are
charmed by the personality of the preacher: they are carried away by his style
and won by his earnestness for souls. But if there is nothing more than this,
there will one day be a rude awakening for them. That which is vital is a
"love for the truth," not for the one who presents it.
This is what distinguishes the true people of God from the "mixed
multitude" who ever associate with them.
40.
Paul said, “because
they loved no the truth God will turn them over to believe the lie, and they
will be damned by it.” So you
have got to live the Truth. Our
salvation is based on our love for the truth, not our love for those who
present the truth.
41.
2 Thessalonians
42. So in John 5:35 Christ said to
the Pharisees concerning His forerunner: "Ye were willing for a season to
rejoice in his light,"
not "in the light"!
In like manner, there are many today who listen to one whom God enables to open
up some of the mysteries and wonders of His Word and they rejoice "in his light" while in the dark
themselves.
43. These have never personally
received "an unction from the Holy One” themselves. Those who do "love the truth" are they in whom a divine work of grace has been wrought. They
have something more than a clear, intellectual understanding of the Scripture:
it is the food of their souls, the joy of their hearts (Jer
44. "LORD, Thou wilt ordain
peace for us: for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us" (Isa 26:12). Here is the heart and unqualified confession of
the true people of God. Note the preposition: "Thou also hast wrought all
our works in us." This speaks of a divine work of grace wrought in the
heart of the saint. Nor is this text alone. Weigh carefully the following:
"It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by
His grace, to reveal His Son in me" (Gal
45. "Unto Him that is able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power
that worketh in us" (Eph 3:20). "Being confident of this very thing,
that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it" (Phil 1:6).
"It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
pleasure" (Phil
46. "LORD, Thou wilt ordain
peace for us: for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us" (Isa 26:12). Is there an echoing response in our heart to
this, my reader? Is your repentance something deeper than the remorse and tears
of the natural man? Does it have its root in a divine work of grace which the
Holy Spirit hath wrought in your soul? Is your believing in Christ something
more than an intellectual one? Is your relation to Him something more vital
than what some act of yours has brought about, having been made one with Him by
the power and operation of the Spirit? Is your love for Christ something more
than a pious sentiment, like that of the Romanist who sings of the
"gentle" and "sweet" Jesus? Does your love for Him proceed
from an altogether new nature, that God has created
within you? Can you really say with the Psalmist:
48. "Whom
have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside
Thee." Is your profession accompanied by true meekness and lowliness of
heart? It is easy to call yourself names, and say, "I am an unworthy and
unprofitable creature." But do you realize yourself to be such? Do
you feel yourself to be "less than the least of all saints?" Paul
did! If you do not; if instead, you deem yourself superior to the rank and file
of Christians, who bemoan their failures, confess their weakness, and cry,
"O wretched man that I am!" - there is grave
reason to conclude you are a stranger to God!
49. That which distinguishes genuine
godliness from human religiousness is this: the one is external, the
other internal. Christ complained of the Pharisees, "Ye make clean
the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of
extortion and excess" (Matt
50. "Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace
for us: for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us." How humbling is
this to the pride of man! It makes everything of God and nothing of the
creature! The tendency of human nature the world over,
is to be self-sufficient and self-satisfied; to say with the Laodiceans, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and
have need of nothing" (
51. And who are the ones in whom God
thus works? From the divine side; His favored, chosen, redeemed people. From
the human side: those who, in themselves have no claim whatever on His notice;
who are destitute of any merit; who have everything in them to provoke His holy
wrath; those who are miserable failures in their lives, and utterly depraved
and corrupt in their persons. But where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound, and did for them and in them what they would not and could not do
for themselves.
52. And what is it God
"works" in His people? - All their works. First, He quickens
them: "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing"
(John 6:63). "Of His own will begat He us with the word
of truth" (James
53. Why has God thus "wrought
all our works in us?" First, because unless He had done
so, all had eternally perished (Rom
54. But how may I be sure that my
works have been "wrought in me" by God? Mainly by
their effects. If you have been born again, you have a new
nature within. This new nature is spiritual and contrary to the flesh - contrary
in its desires and aspirations. Because the old and new natures are contrary to
each other, there is a continual war between them. Are you conscious of this
inward conflict?
55. If your repentance be a
God-wrought one, then you abhor yourself If your repentance
be a genuine and spiritual one, then you marvel that God did not long ago cast
you into hell. If your repentance be the gift of Christ, then you daily mourn
the wretched return which you make to God's wondrous grace; you hate sin, you
sorrow in secret before God for your manifold transgressions. Not simply do you
do so at conversion, but daily do so now.
56. If your faith be a
God-communicated one, it is evidenced by your turning away from all creature
confidences, by a renunciation of your own self-righteousness, by a repudiation
of all your own works. If your faith be "the faith of God's elect"
(Titus 1:1), then you are resting alone on Christ as the ground of your
acceptance before God. If your faith be the result of "the operation of
God," then you implicitly believe His Word, you receive it with meekness,
you crucify reason, and accept all He has said with childlike simplicity.
57. If your love for Christ be the
fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:25), then it evidences
itself by constantly seeking to please Him, and by abstaining from what you
know is displeasing to Him: in a word, by an obedient walk. If your love for
Christ be the love of "the new man," then you pant after Him, you
yearn for communion with Him above everything else. If your love for Christ be
the same in kind (though not in degree) as His love for you, then you are
eagerly looking forward to His glorious appearing, when He shall come again to
receive His people unto Himself, that they maybe forever with the Lord. May the
grace of spiritual discernment be given the reader to see whether his Christian
profession be real or a sham whether his hope is built
upon the Rock of Ages or the quick sand of human resolutions, efforts,
decisions, or feelings; whether, in short, his salvation is "OF THE
LORD" or the vain imagination of his own deceitful heart.