The Parables of Christ no.
31
The Suffering of
Christ
“How should
we contemplate the suffering of Christ?”
Easter
Rev. Brian
Kocourek
This morning I feel led
to examine the Passion of Christ and His sufferings in the light of what God
said about it. It seems to me that since there are three kinds of believers in
the churches, then we will have three views as to what the suffering of Christ
or what we call His passion is all about. Therefore if we have three kinds of
Believers who profess Christianity, then there must be three views concerning
the suffering or passion of Christ.
As you know brother
Branham in describing these three kinds of believers, called them Believers,
make believers and unbelievers. He said the Believer simply believes. He may not
be able to explain it, but by Faith He can see and thus He believes. On the
other hand he said the unbeliever just looks at the Word that is manifesting
Itself and says, there is nothing to it, and thus walks away quickly. But the
make believer is the one to watch out for, because he is the one that is hanging
around and is just looking to find some fault.
BALM.IN
Now, remember, last
Friday we showed you that the attitude is what God looks at in the servant, and
the attitude is what distinguishes what kind of believer you are.
WHAT WENT YE OUT TO SEE 59-1001 E-18 But those who knew John,
those who believed him, they went out to see something that was real. There
divides today, as it was then, in three different classes: the world, the
church, and the real true believer. That's the way the world stands today: The
world, the unbeliever; the church, the lukewarm member; and then the real true
believer. Some people go out into churches to find fault with that
church. And some people go out to be a social standing, or what they would think
a better class, or a get-together. Others go out to find peace, go to find God
and something real. That's the one that gets the benefit of the meeting.
I've always said that the Gospel produces three types of people: the
unbeliever, the make-believer, and a believer. And it's always been that way.
It just depends on what you go for, the attitude that you
have.
Then if we have three kinds of believers, then
there must be three different views concerning the suffering and passion of
Christ. And if this is so, then there must be a true belief or a true view
concerning his suffering, because we have true believers who have received the
mind of God. Then there must also be make belief view which is a view that will
try to find fault with something, and finally there must be a complete unbelief
view which Brother Branham said is a social view. Brother Branham called the
unbelievers, social believers.
I heard such a view from
a woman recently who said, “I can not believe a Loving Father would allow His
son to suffer like Mel Gibson’s movie showed Jesus suffering.” But this woman
who has apparently not read her Bible failed to understand that in Isaiah
53 we are told that It pleased the Father to crush His son.
Now, if there are three
kinds of believers and therefore three views concerning the suffering and
passion of Christ, then that means
that two of those views will be false views, and only one view will be the
correct view.
THE FALSE VIEWS OF CHRIST'S
SUFFERINGS
The recent movie on the Passion of Christ has brought
these false views into the public limelight more than any other event in history
of man. The only problem concerning al the hoopla that this movie brought forth
is the fact the true view concerning the suffering of Christ is no where to be
seen or discussed in public today.
And why is it that the true view concerning the
suffering of Christ is no where to be seen today? Because none in the media know
the true view concerning the suffering of Christ, nor do the modern day clergy
teach the True View, because they do not know it, and neither are they capable
of understanding the true View of the suffering of Christ because they are not
ordained to know it nor are they ordained to understand it.
Therefore, the debate has come and went with two side
of the issue being spoken and yet the third view which is the Perfect View,
because it is God’s View has not even been presented.
So we must ask, what are these false views concerning
the sufferings of Christ?
Well, the make believer become angry at someone. And
that is because their nature is to find fault. Therefore, some get angry at the
Jews. Those who hate the Jew already look upon the passion as all the fault of
the Jew while others who look to justify their own selves, will use any
scapegoat they can find to render themselves guiltless concerning the passion
and suffering of Christ. Others will want to blame you and me and everyone that
is alive or has ever been alive for what was done to the body of Christ.
Others who are make-believers, may not blame the Jew,
but since the nature of the make-believer is to find fault, they will look for
someone else to blame. Others looking for something to blame will look to the
church leaders and cast all the blame upon them. Or those siding with the church
leaders will cast all the blame on some individual like Judas so they can cast
all their contempt and anger upon them. And still others will look at the
politicians like Pontus Pilot and place the blame on government. And yet the
Word of God has been crucified afresh in our day, and we see the same scene
acted out and the same Make-believer is still finding others to blame and so
they will blame government, or the church, or an individual, or even a race of
people, and they have missed the point all together. Such mental contortions that are being
done to justify self, and find another to blame may be looked upon as a
meditation by them who do so, but you can not honestly say they are meditating
on the suffering of Christ, but rather their meditation is more upon the
wickedness of Judas, or the Jews, or the wickedness of government, or even the
wickedness of the church. And thus
they have missed the mark altogether concerning the right view concerning the
suffering of Christ..
Concerning the unbelievers view which we know to be
the social view, they look to the social benefits and fruits that spring forth
from identifying with the Passion of Christ. And so they talk about it as though
by doing so they are understanding it, or they try to do things such as some
sort of penance, as though their own superficial views and deeds will somehow isolate them from
the true suffering of Christ. For they seek in their own actions, and in their
own talk only their selfish interest. Therefore they load themselves up with
pictures, and artifacts, and mementoes, and other such paraphernalia, and they
think is they can be identified with the books, or tapes, or some piece of his
clothing or possess one of the nails, they thus imagine these things somehow
will protect them from peril, and suffering, and rejection. And in this way, the
suffering of Christ is to work in them an absence of suffering, which is
contrary to its nature and character.
These are they who so sympathize with Christ that
they weep and lament for him because he was so innocent. I have heard this
comment the most from those who have seen the Passion.
They all look with the wrong view, and come out
weeping, and they are no different than the women who followed Christ from
LUKE
Such are they who come out as Christians during the
midst of the Passion season, and come forth on Easter to show the world that
they too believe, and yet after it is over they never get any farther into a
relationship with Christ. For what help is it to you, that God is God, if he is
not God to you? What benefit is it to you if eating and drinking are in
themselves healthful and good, if they are not healthful for you, and what good
will it do for you to have a view concerning the passion and suffering of Christ
if your view is the wrong view. Therefore we should fear that we shall never
grow better by reason of our many Sunday visits to church, if we fail to seek
the truth when we go?
Romans
10:
verses 9-11 the following words,
"9 That if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
Now, if we examine these words, especially in verse 9
Paul is telling us that there is a certain belief that must be believed and
there is a certain confession that must be said in order for you to be saved. We
can not just take any view concerning the suffering of Christ and be saved. We
can not believe just anything and we can not just confess anything we want. For
there is but one view that is True, and all others will not bring forth
salvation, though they sound good.
He said, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and
shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved.
Therefore we see the
importance of having the right confession. He said you've got to believe that
God raised Jesus from the dead. He did not raise Himself, but God raised him up.
There are a dozen and a half
Scriptures which tell us that God raised Jesus from the dead. Therefore,
we must know what God said about His Suffering, and we must know what God said
about His resurrection, if we are to have the right view, because the right view
is God’s own view.
II. THE TRUE VIEW OF CHRIST'S
SUFFERINGS.
We can not know, nor can we understand, nor can we
possess the True View of the
Suffering and the Passion of Christ without knowing, understanding, and thus
possessing what God’s thoughts are concerning the suffering and passion of His
Only begotten Son. For God has
said,
ISAIAH 55:6 ¶
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is
near: 7 Let the wicked
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto
the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will
abundantly pardon. 8
For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the LORD. 9 For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow
from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it
bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper
[in the thing] whereto I sent it.
Therefore we must have the mind of God. That is we
must know what is that God thinks about the suffering of Christ in order to know
and understand the right view of this passion.
In ISAIAH 53:1 we read, ¶ Who hath believed The Message?
And that is the question God is still asking mankind. Who has believed The Message and to whom has the
arm of the LORD been revealed?
Now, brother Branham read
this scripture in his sermon God in simplicity, and said, In other words, if
you have believed our report, then the arm of the Lord has been revealed.
See?
Now, notice how God describes
his Son in the following way,
2 He
(The son of
God) shall grow
up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.
(Now, what is a root out of dry ground? It’s all shriveled up and
deformed looking. God’s own Word
speaks of His Own son brought forth in His exact Image with these words..) He had no beauty
or majesty to be attracted to him,
nothing in his appearance that one should desire him. 3 He was despised and
rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.(Now,
if you are familiar with something you know it well. And God tells us of His Son
that he is familiar with suffering.) Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and
we esteemed him not. Like one whom men hide their faces from. That
means they loathed him so bad they could hardly stand to look at him. Now, I
know what it is to be that way. I saw a woman in the restaurant one day, that
was so disfigured from a fire that they had reconstructed her face in such a
way, that I could hardly look at her. Not that I wanted to despise her, but she
was so disfigured, that it was only a natural reaction to do so. And I felt so
sorry for her, I wanted to cry within. And a few months later I saw this woman
on a billboard against drunk driving, and she had been such a beautiful young
woman at one time, but was hit by a drunk driver and her car burst into flames
and disfigured her face so bad you could not have recognized that this was once
a beautiful person.
And God says, that His Only
begotten Son is looked upon with the same disgust and He is despised, and that means,
and that is not a pleasant thing to
go through.
The word despised means: 1. To regard with contempt or scorn: 2. To
dislike intensely; to loathe: 3. To regard as unworthy of one's interest
or concern: despised any thought of their. And not only was He despised but
we esteemed Him not. We did not value him. He was considered worthless to us.
That is the condemnation that is upon mankind. And yet God tells us, he was
disfigured not for nay reason of his own choosing. Nor was it because he was at
fault. But He was disfigured for our sake.
4 Surely he took
up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by
God, smitten by him, and afflicted. We thought surely this one
that God is allowing to be beaten so badly and to be whipped so much with such
cruel scourging, using whips that had balls and hooks in them so when they hit
his body they would grind his flesh to a pulp, and when they pulled back the
whip it would tear out great chunks of His flesh, until we turned as it were our
faces from him. We could look on no longer for the scene was so bloody, and
cruel that we could not watch whether we wanted to or not.
5 But he was
pierced for our transgressions, Thos whips cut deep into his
flesh, and those thorns sank deep within his head until they can out into the
eye socket. And Isaiah continues to tell us, he was crushed for our
iniquities; He was CRUSHED… the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
The PUINISHMENT THAT BROUGHT US PEACE…WAS UPON HIM…He paid the price,
not for anything he had done, but for what you and I have done… and by his wounds we
are healed. Let me
repeat that… by
his wounds we are healed.
Therefore, every time you have a need for healing, I want you to
think about those beatings he took, and the crushing of every blow to his body
that he took, and then think about your healing, and don’t ever forget it was
made possible by his suffering.
6 We all, like
sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity
of us all.
I will never forget as long
as I live, when I was a child if one of my brothers did something wrong, we all
got it unless the one who did wrong came forth to confess his wrong. I will
never forget, how many times I took the lash of the belt because of one of my
brothers did something and didn’t have the guts to step forward and tell the
truth. And I will never forget that on several occasions I stepped forward to
take the belt because I did not want my brothers to get it, even though I knew
one of them had done the act but was too afraid to fess up. But that was just a belt, but Jesus took
the whip with bones, and sharps and balls in it that not only tore his flesh,
but crushed it to ground meat.
7 He was oppressed
and afflicted, (That means hw was not only
beaten and crushed but when he was stripped of his clothing, he was humiliated
in every way man can humiliate.) yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his
mouth. Oh, my and when someone just says a mere word about you, you
get all upset and start talking bad about them.
8 By oppression
and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was
cut off from the land of the living; for
the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave
with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though
he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his
mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and
It was the Lord’s will cause him to
suffer, (Did not Jesus ask God to
take this cup away from Him? Did not he plea with God to spare him from having
to go through this? And yet He finally came to a resolve, and said, “Father not
my will but thy will be done…” ) and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will
see his offspring and prolong his days, and (notice now) the will of the
LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After the
suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will
justify many, and he will bear their
iniquities. Not his own but ours… RISING OF THE SUN
65-0418M 34-5 When God looked down upon the body...
(The Spirit left Him in the
12 Therefore I will
give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the
strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the
transgressors. For he bore the sin of
many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
If we are to have the
right view concerning the suffering of
Christ we must say what God said. It pleased God to crush Him. Why? For
your sake and mine…
And what else did God say
about it? ROMANS 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved.
ACTS 2:23
Him, being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands
have crucified and slain: 24 Whom
God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not
possible that he
ACTS 3:14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just,
and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;15 And killed the Prince of life,
whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are
witnesses.
ACTS 3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up his
Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his
iniquities.
ACTS 4:10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the
people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye
crucified, whom God raised from the dead, [even] by him doth this man stand here
before you whole.
ACTS 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus,
whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. 31 Him hath God exalted with
his right hand [to be] a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to
ACTS
ACTS 13:29 And when they had fulfilled all that was
written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a
sepulchre 30 But God raised him
from the dead: 31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from
Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. 32 And we declare unto you glad tidings,
how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, 33 God hath fulfilled the
same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is
also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee.
ACTS 13:37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no
corruption.
I CORINTHIANS
GALATIANS 1:1 ¶
Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and
God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
COLOSSIANS 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also
ye are risen with [him] through the faith of the operation of God, who hath
raised him from the dead.
I PETER
ACTS 2:30
Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to
him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up
Christ to sit on his throne;
31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his
soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32 This Jesus
hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33 Therefore being by the
right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the
Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and
hear.
HEBREWS 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried,
offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only
begotten [son], 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be
called: 19 Accounting that God
[was] able to raise [him] up, even from the dead; from whence also he received
him in a figure.
Now, Paul said,
"if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. And if you do not believe that, you are
lost. Now, that may seem like a rather bold statement to make, especially in
this hour where the people are so morally bankrupt, and so afraid to speak up
for the Word of God sake, but that does not change the facts
any.
That is a very important
statement to make, and seems awful harsh,
but, it is perfectly in line with other statements which Paul has
made.
In GALATIANS 1:6 Paul said,
¶ I marvel that ye are so soon removed
( or fallen
away) from him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another(heteros) gospel: 7 Which is not
another(allos); but there be some that trouble you, and
would pervert ( turn
backwards) the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I
now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have
received, let him be accursed.
The Wuest translation
says, "In fact, even
if we or a messenger from heaven should preach a Gospel to you which would go
beyond that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. Even as we have said
on a previous occasion, indeed, now
again I am saying, If as is the case, anyone preaches a Gospel to you which goes
beyond that which you took so eagerly,
and hospitably to your hearts, let him be accursed."
We find John say the
same thing in 2 John 9 "every one who goes beyond the limits of
ture doctrine and does not remain in the aforementioned teaching with reference
to the Christ, does not possess God. The one who remains in the aforementioned
teaching, this one possess both the father and the Son. "
NIV 2 JOHN 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not
continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the
teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you
and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome
him. 11 Anyone who
welcomes him shares in his wicked work.
Weymouth 1:6 I marvel that you are so readily
leaving Him who called you by the grace of Christ, and are adhering to a
different Good News. 1:7 For other “Good News” there is none; but there are some
persons who are troubling you, and are seeking to distort the Good News
concerning Christ. 1:8 But if even we or an angel from Heaven should bring you a
Good News different from that which we have already brought you, let him be
accursed. 1:9 What I have just said I repeat — if any one is preaching to you a
Good News other than that which you originally received, let him be
accursed.
KJV
10
¶ For do I now persuade men,
or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be
the servant of Christ. 11
But I certify you brethren
( or make
you brethren to understand) that the gospel which was preached of me
is not after man. 12 For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught [it], but by the revelation (apocalypses)
of Jesus Christ.
And if it took the
Pillar of fire and an apocalypses then to understand the Gospel, it will take
the same thing today. Alpha has got to repeat in Omega.
Now,
let's read again from Romans 10:
verses 9-11 to see if we have a better appreciation of these words Paul is
speaking to us here. "9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved.
10
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. 11
For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed."
Then Paul tells us, we not only have to believe it in our
hearts, but we must confess it with our mouth. Because if we just believe it and do not
confess it we really don't believe it.
For Jesus said, "for out of
the Abundance of the heart the mouth will speak." Therefore, if you truly
believe it, it will swell up within your heart to the place that you can't hold
your peace. Maybe I can say it a
little plainer.
If you really believe it,
you can't wait for the opportunity to speak it. But if you are not sure you believe it,
then you don't have it yet. Because the Word of God is a fountain that runneth
over. It is not still water, but a living water than keeps coming forth and
renewing itself and ever increasing within you and you can't help but to open
your mouth and speak his Word and identify with what He is and what He is doing.
Romans
Now, here's the key, He says, "For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved.
In verse 9 & 10 he said, you've got to believe first in your heart
that God raised up Jesus from the dead and then you've got to confess it. And
now he says, For whosoever shall call upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved.
Therefore, this believing
and confessing is your calling upon the Lord. AT
THY WORD LORD 54-1207 E-48 Only
by your confession can you be saved. That's the most powerful weapon that
God put in the hand of man, is a committal and a confession. It'll do it every
time, if you'll believe it, accept it on those basis, and believe it and stay
with it. Keep confessing it. When you confess
it...
But what if you are not
sure of what you believe? Can you be saved?
CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH 55-0220E E-66 Jesus said, "Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the Kingdom." You can't understand it. It's a
mystic, mythical thing until you're born again. There the very Life of
God comes in you. Everlasting, Eternal Life, Zoe, God's own Life comes in you,
and then you're a part of God. You're a Son of God or a daughter of God.
And then you see as God sees. You believe as God
believes.
This is the real issue
then. How do you really know you are calling upon the right Lord? The Word Lord
simply means master, Jesus used the
same word Kurios when he said MATTHEW
Therefore, how will we
know which Lord, Which Master to call upon? Paul answers this question as we shall
see in the next few verses.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom
they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not
heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher (Even though they say they hear, thy boast
in vain, unless they hear true preachers; for to hear false prophets means as
much as not to hear. They hear and they do not hear; They have ears, but do not
hear, nor do they preach the Word of God. ?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be
sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! ? This is
directed against all conceited teachers and arrogant instructors .
If you will notice in verse 14-15 there are four
statements that Paul makes that of which follow together in such a way that one
leads to the other, but so that the last forms the foundation on which the
others rest. Thus we see from what Paul said, that it is impossible that those
preach who are not sent, It then is impossible for those to hear who are without
a preacher, and it is impossible for them to believe who do not hear, and thus
it would be impossible for them to call upon the name of the Lord who do not
believe. And thus it would be impossible for them who do not call upon the name
of the Lord to be saved.
So then, the entire source and origin of salvation
rests on this, that God sends out someone, ( A true minister of the Word).
1.
If He does not send out any, then they who
preach, preach falsely, and
their preaching is no preaching at all. In fact, it would be better for them not
to preach.
2.
Then also they who hear, hear error, and it
would be better for them not to hear.
3.
Then also they who believe, would believe
false doctrine, and it would be better for them not to
believe.
4.
Then also they who call upon Him would call
falsely (upon a false Lord),
and it would be better for them not to call.
1
For such preachers do not preach,
2
such
hearers do not hear;
3
such
believers do not believe;
4
such callers do not call;
5
they will be damned because they would be saved by
falsehood.
Then we would see what is spoken of in Proverbs
16 But they
have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our
report? 17 So
then faith [cometh] by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. The
true, revealed, and vindicated Word of God.
Then can you see the importance this morning of
receiving a vindicated Ministry? Because if it is not vindicated, then how do
you know what you are hearing is not error? And if it is error, then you would
be believing error, and if you believe error, then you would be calling out to a
wrong God, and if you call out to a wrong God, then how could you be saved? Therefore, God has come down to vouch
safe His own Presence among us. We know that we are the elect of God because He
said so. It is not just something we have read in a book, but God Himself has
come down and has spoken through the lips of His Prophet whom He has vindicated
and that is what I am standing on this morning.
Can you imagine the mess the Mess-Age would be in if
all of God's True Five fold ministry were to be called off the scene? It is
going to happen one of these days, and when it does, you talk about a famine.
UNCERTAIN SOUND 61-0429E E-51 One
day God said, "Now, you prophesied enough against them, come on out of the
field, and I'm going to let the judgments of your prophecy rain down on them."
So Elijah went up on top the mountain, up there for three and half years, or
three years when they was all 'bout gnawing their tongues for pain, but he was
setting by a little brook. Little spring, had the spiritual revelation all the
time, waters of life pouring up.
The rest of them... And listen, brother, sister, let me tell you. One of
these days when God is, just get
enough of this around here, and He will take all the true off the field and
then you'll want a revival. It has to come to pass. The prophet said there
would be a time in the last days, when there would not be a famine only for
bread and water, but for hearing of the Word of God. And the true servants
will be taken off. And there'll be a famine in the last days. It sure will
be.
II. THE TRUE VIEW OF CHRIST'S
SUFFERINGS.
We can not know, nor can we understand, nor can we
possess the True View of the
Suffering and the Passion of Christ without knowing, understanding, and thus
possessing what God’s thoughts are concerning the suffering and passion of His
Only begotten Son. For God has
said,
ISAIAH 55:6 ¶
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is
near: 7 Let the wicked
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto
the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will
abundantly pardon. 8
For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the LORD. 9 For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow
from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it
bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper
[in the thing] whereto I sent it.
Therefore we must have the mind of God. That is we
must know what is that God thinks about the suffering of Christ in order to know
and understand the right view of this passion.
We must have the right view which is God’s View or
else we have but a satanic View.
MATTHEW 16:21¶
From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto
his disciples, how that he must go unto
You must never think for one minute that if you were
there in that day that you would have done everything in your power to stop what
God had ordained. For all that Jesus went through was not for his benefit, but
for yours and mine.
Let us
pray…