The Masterpiece 94

Conditions

November 5th, 2006

Rev. Brian Kocourek

This morning we will examine paragraph 174 from The Masterpiece The great masterpiece of a family, the Second Adam and the Second Eve now ready for the garden, the millennium (Amen.) back on the earth. Hallelujah. The Great Sculptor didn't leave them lay there. He took time as He did through the millions of years molding the first perfect couple. And they fell. Now it's been through thousands of years; He's molded again; and now, here they are ready. 175 The Masterpiece was come and struck down. From His side come forth the helpmate. And she's brought up in the same process. Now, here she is back again with all nature, the Bible, and everything else showing here we are. Nations are breaking; Israel's awak'ning, The signs that the Bible foretold; Gentile days numbered, (Look at this bunch of trash we got.) With horrors encumbered, Return, O dispersed, to your own. (That's right. You better get in there quick if you're going.) I'm fixing to close just in about five minutes or ten.

176 Notice the great masterpiece of the family. The husband and wife cannot be truly a family unless they're one. They have to be. If they're not, they're not a good family. Wife pulling one way and the husband another, that'll make an awful family. But in agreement with love one to the other, that's a family. And now, that was God's masterpiece; and all the true family here portrays that. See? And now, the masterpiece family has come again: Christ and His Bride ready to come. The Second Adam, Second Eve, ready now to return back to their home. The whole picture's been redemption, from where it was, bringing it back (See?), just exactly, bringing it back again.

These are some very tremendous thoughts that Brother Branham is expressing here. And we could take several sermons because there are several topics that are being brought forth.

Number One, he talks of The great masterpiece of a family, and he speaks of this masterpiece of a family in both paragraph 174 and 176.

Number Two, he defines what makes this family the great masterpiece of a family when he says, The husband and wife cannot be truly a family unless they're one.

So we will take a look at these two points this morning and we will see how there is a certain thread that ties them both together. Therefore, let’s begin by looking at point number One, This great Masterpiece of a Family.

Now, that should tell us that the Masterpiece is not just about Christ Jesus God’s great Masterpiece, but the reason Christ Jesus did what he did was for a higher purpose than just showing his obedience to the father.

Now, that is not to say that His obedience was not a great thing. Because it was, and it defined his sonship. And Being a Son, He learned obedience by the things that he suffered. And that should define our sonship as well. It is defined by our obedience to God.

We read in 1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of rams.

Now the opposite of obedience is rebellion. And Samuel said to Saul, 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

Now, God had commanded King Saul to go up and slay all the inhabitants of Amalek. 1 Samuel 15: 1 Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.

Notice that the anointing was given based on a condition, and that condition was that Saul would “hearken to the Voice of the Lord God.” In his sermon called Investments 1-26-1963 pp 8, brother Branham said “the promises of God are based upon a condition.”Elisha was promised a double portion of the same spirit that was upon Elijah, but that promise was based upon a condition, he had to be with Elijah when he was taken up.

Second handed robe 56-1206 P:40 And Elijah turned around. The only thing that he wanted to know was, he could ever get that promise. That's all he wanted. And he said, "Now, I'm going to ask you what--tell you what my desire is. I want a double portion of your Spirit to come upon me. What are you going to say?" Elijah, the anointed prophet, turned around and said, "Thou hast asked a hard thing, but this will be given to you on a condition." So is the Holy Ghost given to you on a condition. See? "On conditions, if you can meet the condition; that is, if you can see me while I go away, you'll have what you ask for." That's all Elisha wanted was the promise. If he knowed the promise and the conditions of the promise, then he kept his eye right on Elijah.

Jacob wanted the birthright, but he knew it did not belong to him, but he knew that the he could receive the blessing of his Father if he could present himself as the first born. You see there was a condition to be met in order to receive the blessing of the Father. He had to put on the first born. So Jacob dressed like Easu, and had to feel like Esau, and he had to sound like Esau. And he had to smell like Esau, and he had conformed to the Image of the firstborn so much, that there was only one thing he had left to do, and that was to take on the name of the first born son.

Then after all that he could freely come into the presence of His father and he was assured of receiving the Father’s blessing.

And the apostle Paul said in Romans 13: 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. And again he said in Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

And again we read in Romans 8: 29 where the apostle Paul said we are to be conformed to the image of God’s eldest son. 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.

And in Romans 12 we see that in order to be conformed to the image of God’s eldest son we must be able to think the same thoughts as the son of God thought.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

And again in Philippians 2:5 Paul said, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: And that is why Jesus said in, John 17:22 And the glory (that is the doxa, the opinion, the assessment, the judgment) which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

And so we are looking at the promises of God are based on conditions. Even the blessings of the first born from the Father have conditions, as well as our receiving the Holy Ghost is a promise from God based on a condition being met. “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 2:38.

Notice the conditions Repent which is a change of the mind. God requires that we are willing to change our way of thinking, and then when we are, then we must be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and then we shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Look, even the blessings from God and the cursing from God are based on conditions.

In Deuteronomy 28 we read, Deuteronomy 28:1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee,(you won’t even se them coming) if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. And then notice in Deuteronomy 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: And you won’t even see them coming either.

So God’s blessings and cursing is based on conditions.

Well, you say, then what about salvation? I thought it is a free gift, for by Grace are we saved. Well, it may be true that we are saved by Grace but that grace is conditional as well. Either we were ordained to it from the beginning or we weren’t. Therefore by election are we saved. And the condition there is that we had to be a part of God’s thinking in the first place, because if we did not have representation back before the foundations of the world, then we most certainly do not have it now, and never will have it. So all the blessings and promises of God are based on conditions.

Now in getting back to our story about the anointing to be King, we se that he was told as long as he would hearken to the Voice of the Lord God he would remain King. And so we see what took place and why he was rejected as king.

1 Samuel 15: 1 Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD. 2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. 4 And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley. 6  And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9  But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. 10  Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, 11  It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night. 12  And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. 13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. 14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. 16 Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. 17 And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? 18  And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. 19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD? 20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21  But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal. 22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of rams. 23. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. 24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD. 26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. 27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. 28 And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. 29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. 30 Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God. 31 So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD. 32 Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. 33 And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal. 34 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

So we see how upset Samuel was because this man who was king did not hearken to the voice of the Lord God. And he said to not hearken might as well be called rebellion and is a s bad as witchcraft.

So we see that all the promises of God are based on conditions, and that leads us up to the second thought where brother Branham was talking about the great masterpiece of the family, and he said, “Notice the great masterpiece of the family. The husband and wife cannot be truly a family unless they're one. They have to be. If they're not, they're not a good family. Wife pulling one way and the husband another, that'll make an awful family. But in agreement with love one to the other, that's a family. And now, that was God's masterpiece; and all the true family here portrays that.”

So we see the condition for the Bride and Groom to be united together as One is that they must both have the same mind and the same purpose. The husband and wife cannot be truly a family unless they're one. And he said, If they're not, they're not a good family. Wife pulling one way and the husband another, that'll make an awful family. But in agreement with love one to the other, that's a family.

So we see the condition to be Husband a wife, Bride and Groom is that there must be one purpose and one mind. Tat is why in the natural setting thee can only be one head in the home, and let me clue you in here in this Laodicean age, the head can not be the woman. The head is the man. He is the head of the house. And I know women today like to say they are the head, but they are only fooling themselves, and you can not fool yourself unless you are a fool.

And just in case some of the sisters might have forgotten, let me read what the Apostle Paul said about this in, 1 Corinthians 11: 3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Ephesians 5: 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.

So we see that this is the conditions God has placed upon us that if we are to be united with Christ, we must be united with and to the Word of God for God is the Word. Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. And He is our head, and as the head we must then let him do our thinking for us.

Philippians 3:16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.