Who Is This Melchisedec #12
Discipline; Working Out A Glory#6088
Shall we pray:
Gracious heavenly Father we want to thank You again for Your goodness and mercy to us Lord, Your wonderful Presence. We know You’re here; though we cannot see You it’s been witness to us camera caught it, the prophet identified all these things Lord, make us to know the truth of your wonderful Presence. You’re here in a way You had not been here for two thousand years since the time of the apostle Paul.
So we pray Lord that You’ll help us in the study of Your Word that You gave in the shout Father in the message that’s come forth. The message that foreruns the second coming. We just ask you to help us now. Teach us Your Word Lord, and may we understand, and we’ll give You the praise in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Now, I believe we’re on number twelve of Who is this Melchisedec? and we’re at page 15. I think right around 15, yes, in this subject.
And at this point that we’ve been studying, Brother Branham has pointed out that, “We as sons of God did not come exactly the same way into human existence as did Jesus. For He was given a Word Body or Spirit Body previously before He came in flesh. Whereas we by-passed the Word Body to come directly to a flesh body for the purpose of being tested and tempted by sin.”
Now that’s a very arbitrary statement and it’s very arbitrary on the part of God and of course people might misunderstand it, simply that we had to come and get tested by sin and temptation, and it doesn’t sound very thrilling or very conducive to a person to want to believe the gospel. But however, you’ll find here that the Bible speaks of God having a purpose, and Ephesians 1:11 says.
Ephesians 1:11
(11) In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
And then in Romans we also find some Scripture mentioning the purpose of God, and the 11th verse of Romans 9.
(11) For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;
And we know the eventual purpose of God is to bring many sons into glory just exactly as the Scripture shows us in the book of Hebrews and we read it many, many times.
Now, the thought of the testing that we are here for that particular purpose, we’ll look at some Scripture, will be a little devotional at this point, in the book of Deuteronomy, beginning at the 1st verse and reading to about verse 10.
(01) All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that you may live,
Now that’s a reiteration of what happened in the Garden of Eden when God spoke to Adam particularly, that he must listen to the Word, and of course Eve got from behind it and she fell and thereby brought the whole human race into sin because Adam followed right in behind her. Now he said,
(01) …to command thee this day to observe and to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.
(02) And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
(03) And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
(04) Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
(05) Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.
(06) Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
(07) For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
(08) A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil, and honey;
(09) And land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
(10) When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
Of course we’re looking at that in the sense of pointing down to the Millennium, when people get there. But you notice in here particularly that God has predestinated a people to a predestinated Word, and they have the opportunity of living with the Word by first of all accepting it, then accepting the strengths that God gives, whereby they might live the Word, and then also whether they will acquiesce to the Word so that the strength that God gives them, they’ll be able to live in and obey the Word.
Now, according to what you see here you are not looking at God deliberately leading you to the place where He wants to deal with you harshly. That is not so. What He does is put the Word before us and as we walk in the Word then He takes us a step further to walk in more Word and always there is a blessing which goes with that Word, so that a child coming up in complete obedience under its parents, and then under its parent God could absolutely walk in a life and the light that is absolutely blessed and very wonderful of the Lord.
Now, in the meantime you’ll notice here, that these people being away from God for a long, long time and God bringing them back under Moses, they lived in a place of indecision as to whether they’d really serve the Lord or not.
Now they saw His power and they saw His might as He moved them out of Egypt preparatory to moving them into the promised land but you notice in the meantime, in spite of all the miracles, in spite of everything that they had given manifestly from God so that they would know better, there was nothing inside to respond to the evidence that God gave of Himself whereby they would walk in the Word and they made themselves golden calves, and licentious living and everything else, they went right into it.
Of course then God just absolutely had to destroy them because they positively would not go in the way of the Lord.
Now those people are a lot like they are in America today. Let me read you something to get you the mentality of America and what you’ve got in the Senate, and this is a democrat by the way.
And I’m not a republican per se, but I would never vote democrat. I wouldn’t even vote with the man I don’t think. I don’t know, maybe I would under certain conditions. I’d be more apt to vote a man than I would a party. I don’t vote.
The house voted 299 to 111 on Thursday for an administration backed amendment to an anonymous drug bill that calls for a federal death penalty for persons who kill in the course of drug related felonies. Opponents of the Senate had said they may stage a filibuster if a similar amendment is proposed.
Now representative William Clay, democrat of Missouri, who opposed the death penalty asked, Now listen. If you’ve ever heard such unmitigated, asinine corruption in your life, listen now. “How can you kill people who kill people to teach people who kill people that killing people is wrong.” You don’t. They already know better. They’ve already been taught.
Why do you give parking tickets to people who know better than to park in a certain place? Why give speeding tickets to people who know better than to drive fast? This man destroys the whole law. And you know what? The clown will be voted in again because there’s a lot of clowns voting for clowns. Didn’t the song recently, a song that’s very popular, ‘Where are the clowns, bring on the clowns.’ Well let’s go to Washington.
Why have laws? You don’t teach people who kill you annihilate them. They’ve had their chance.
You say, “Well Brother Branham didn’t believe.”
Now just a minute, Brother Branham never said he didn’t believe in it, he was opposed on the grounds that the rich man and the white man got off and the black man didn’t and the poor man didn’t: but William Branham, being a prophet, cannot go against Genesis 9:6 that says categorically,“Whosoever shed the blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” He never said that.
Somebody also said, “Brother Branham said, Well God didn’t kill Cain.”
He couldn’t, the serpent seed would have been gone.
Say, “Well Brother Vayle, I don’t believe in killing.”
Then put them away for life and then don’t do what they did to Ferrari’s son, give him a fifteen hundred dollars a week, or month apartment, with maid service, beer service, wine service, and I suppose also a whore service if he wanted it, at government expense.
Now I’m talking about the Bible this morning, what God does. He passed His Word and His law and He wants obedience or you get clobbered.
And if you refuse to line up He cleans you up and takes you out. Now there’s a purpose beyond the simple fact that God puts His Word in front of you to see what you’ll do about it.
Now let’s go to the book of Hebrews the 12th chapter and we’ll read 1 verse there, 11, just to start with.
(11) Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous,
Now why do you chasten somebody? I suppose mother says, “Now honey,” you’ve got a nice little twelve year old girl, and she says, “Now honey I want you to bring the milk, and the butter, and the eggs, and the flour,” and step by step she’ll make a cake, and the cake is wonderful. Then mother goes, whack, whack, whack, for doing a good job?
Ah, come on. She says, “Honey, beautiful. That’s the loveliest cake I’ve ever seen or anybody’s ever seen. It’s a masterpiece. We put it on the table, we enjoy it. In fact, I’m going to give you a little special treat.
You’ve been wanting that nice silk yellow dress for a long time, I’m going to buy it for you because you’ve been a good girl.” Now do you think God’s any different? What is this all about?
(11) No chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Now it tells you right here, that people who learn discipline, who learn conduct according to the laws of Almighty God are a happy, blessed people and they’re peaceful and they’re fruitful. The person that won’t listen to the Word is unfruitful.
Let’s start at the very beginning of the chapter.
(01) Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
(02) Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;
Now faith is the thing that must be tested. See? Absolutely. In your soul you’ve got the privilege of doubting or believing and if you believe you’ll go with it. In other words, you’ll walk.
(02) …who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
That was a discipline. Now that was written for Jesus Christ, not for you and me. He went to the cross and died for you and me that was a discipline. And notice what it says here, it said, “For the joy that was set before Him.” There was something set before Him. And that’s what God does, He uses the principle of setting something before you.
“Choose you this day whom you’ll serve.” Blessing or cursing. Now you can never find a blessing in cursing, and you can’t find a cursing in blessing. They don’t mix you have one or the other. And when you have the one, and you follow God, you can depend on the blessing. Now that’s something we just don’t understand enough of. We’ve got to get to understanding it.
(03) For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.
Now where does the trouble come in? It comes in with these sinners and the mess that’s in the world here. Now what is our attitude toward it? How do we meet it? How do we live in it? If you live with the Word of God they’ll be no trouble at all.
Now it says,
(04) You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
(05) Have you forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the [training,] the chastening, [Or the training. In other words, the correcting. God forming and molding you.] nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him:
In other words, when you’ve failed He’s got to say, “Stop right there.” That’s what’s wrong with our school system. First of all the parents formed the Parent Association, Parent Teacher Association or the teachers did with the parents, they thought they’d get some of the load off themselves, but they didn’t do it.
The teachers found that the parents throws more, and more, and more of a load upon the teachers. So the teachers were in a bind because the parents will not really co-operate. Now the parents have turned on the teachers because they don’t want any discipline.
Now you’ve got, what, twenty-three million illiterates in America. What’s it, twenty-three million or worse? And the last figure twenty-three million. Every now and then the Reader’s Digest runs an article of somebody that went all the way through school.
I won’t mention his name, but I understand there’s a very fine boy, everybody loves him, and he would love his father and mother, believed the message, and he can hardly read.
“Are you going to go to college son?”
“No,” he said, “I can’t read.”
Where’s the taxpayer’s money gone? Now the teacher can’t bump heads anymore and say, “Look, you will learn this or whap, whap.” Now she’s not going to knock his brains out. It wouldn’t hurt maybe knock some brains in.
Look, I went through the old school. Well I want to tell you, you look cross-eyed at your teacher, she’d call you up there and she’d raise blisters on your hand, you had it swelled an inch and a half thick. And no principal, or nobody ever dared say one word and that kid did not get into the crap and mischief they get into today.
Now I’m not saying you’re going to beat their heads off to make it work, but I’m telling you something here, there of necessity must be a discipline concerning that which is law and there’s a discipline concerning God’s law but God doesn’t whap anybody around if he’s doing a good job.
But He will increasingly put the Word out before the person so there’s deeper depths and higher heights and he pays a price for it. I’ve come to certain places in my life and I’ve paid a price for it and the price was just one thing discipline.
And the discipline of the mind comes a million times ahead of anything else and it’s the mind that receives the Word of God. That’s the greatest battle right there.
Now it tells you right here, that even Jesus Christ, and He had the same Life that you and I had but He was the fullness of the attributes of God manifested and we are just one little attribute.
Each one of you is a very special member of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ and a very special attribute and a very special little part of God’s life.
Now, God being the Great Mind in the universe, (Universe, He’s the omniscient One, Spirit.) He wants us to walk in His Word.
Now, it says here,
(07) If you endure correction, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father doesn’t train, and chasten? [Correct.]
That’s the idea. In fact there’s a Greek word for it. You cannot learn without suffering, and that is true, because every child likes to fool around, skip rope, just run around and mess with the flowers, or just mess with anything; but get right down and study, a child doesn’t like it, there are not too many. But when you get that child to really understand certain rudiments, then he appreciates it.
Old Doctor Luggs, now he wasn’t Doctor Luggs, he was a master of science, MA., Master of Arts, but he wasn’t a doctor.
He said, “My father did the right thing by us as children. When he saw us begin to reach for the little two bit paper backs,” (and believe me they were like Jack and the Bean Stalk to what you’re reading now, you reach for a paper back it’s the most horrendous filth in the world. Why it would corrupt a goat let alone a child.)
Why he said, “When he saw us reading those westerns.” he said, “He hitched up the old horse one day to the buckboard.” and he said, “He went in there and he brought back a whole library of good books and he put them on the shelf and he didn’t say a word.” And he said, “From that day on we read nothing but literature.”
And I want to tell you, that old boy, when he taught us, and he recited the Ancient Mariner, and he read the Bible, or he read anything, he spoke just like a Charles Laughton, he was the most beautiful speaker I ever heard in my life outside of Charles Laughton, or would be the Lord Jesus Christ would be only rank above those fellows.
Why? Because their minds were trained and they went into those things that fed them and fed them good. And the feeding of the mind by the Word of God is what counts, and when people do not do it then God has got to correct it.
You see? God wants to bring them to this place over here in Hebrews the 2nd chapter, we spoke of the other day. He said in here on verse 12.
(12) Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Christ associated with every single son of God and praising God. Why? Because God has brought forth this beautiful Bride that’s in the image of Jesus Christ. And the Bible… we’ll read a little further, I’m going to give you some more verses of Scriptures on it. Now it says,
(08) But if you are without chastisement, [Without training, without being hauled up short, without being corrected, without being literally forced into certain areas and patterns, he said,] you’re nothing but an illegitimate, you’re not sons.
(09) Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us,
Today you can’t get it. A woman just phoned me the other day, and she said;
“My husband will not correct the kids.” So she’s got a ten year old sassing her back all the time.
And she said, “Look, you can’t be in that skirt the way you are,” (like those old… those tight fitting skirts, you need a pleat at the back where… all the way up to your, middle of your back. What do woman want to wear them for anyway? Put a pleat in the thing. It’s wrong. And here this girl dressing like a little snip right now, running out, staying over night. The mother said,) “No, don’t stay over night.”
So she phoned her dad. “Oh it’s okay.” See? “It’s all right.”
He believes in that. Then if she doesn’t phone the dad she stays anyway. So this little snip told… her mother said;
“Now take that skirt off.”
“Well,” she said, “then I’ll just wear my slacks.”
She knows she’s not supposed to wear slacks. That kid’s as illegitimate as all get out unless that mother… unless there’s something down the road for her. You think you can let kids get away with things when it’s against the Word of God you are insane this morning, spiritually insane you women, and you men. Listen, the chips will soon be down, then don’t come screaming to me. I might as well tell you some more stories.
Went down and visited in Port Arthur many, many years ago. There’s this fellow, he was formerly a Church of Christ, I think he said he’s Pentecost now, believe the message. And you know, I’ve got a very flip tongue and I shouldn’t flip it so often, and I don’t know what possessed me that day, his name was Simons, and I just blurted out, “Which Simon are you?
Simon Peter or Simon the Sorcerer?” I don’t say it was of God but it sure wasn’t of the Devil. It was of God in this respect, he proved to be Simon the Sorcerer. He had a beautiful wife and a beautiful young girl. She was as lovely a creature you’ll ever see in your life.
But I knew the way the mother was going right now that that girl would end up pregnant and a mess and she did. The mother died of cancer and the girl threw away her life. Why? Because her mother would not instruct her and see that she did right.
Now you mothers, I’m going to tell you flat, don’t come to me when it’s too late because God laughs in your face and I might do worse than that because I’m not God, I’m not nice.
But discipline is necessary and discipline consists of having a moral principle and that moral principle is always defined by words. So God lays down Word and He lays down law.
(11) Now no chastening for this time being seems joyous,
I don’t like to be curbed, you don’t want to be curbed, kids don’t want to be curbed but I’m going to tell you something, there’s something about a yoke that is very wonderful, and that is; if you’re yoked to something or somebody that really knows what he or she is really doing and can lead the way, it is marvellous that you’ll come out exactly right. And Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me.” In other words, get with the Word of God because I am the Word of God manifested in flesh.
Now this film by Scorcese wants to make Jesus a very immoral man. Of course they had to do it by saying He’s hallucinating now because He’s under drugs, or something, on the cross.
There’s no place in hell hot enough for that bunch to burn and I’m going to stand back and watch them as far as I am concerned because they know better. Now brother/sister, let’s get this flat, people know better.
Children know better, I know better, you know better, every one of us knows better than to do the things we’re doing. Don’t kid ourselves for one minute. Even simple things aren’t being done. Now it says here.
(11) …it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
In other words, there can come a time under the discipline of Almighty God that you’ll automatically walk in the Word because you have become trained to it. Look how easy it is to turn into your own house. Let’s say like, maybe next month you move three doors down.
You find yourself moving in just with automatically trying to turn in the gate because you’re used to going there. See? You don’t break old habits you build new ones. But after you’ve gone down the road enough times to know exactly where your new gate is, you’ll keep turning in there.
See? Takes awhile to learn. And then you say, “Well look it, I’m doing the right thing now.”
Hebrews 12:12
(12) Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
Now a lot of people don’t want to be corrected. “If your eye offend you, pluck it out. If your hand offends you, cut it off. If your foot offends you, cut it off.”
He’s telling you here, how you cut it off. You let people help you. And I don’t mean some nosy big mouth guy that’s not living the life himself, running around causing problems. “You that are spiritual restore such a one.” You that have gone down the road. That’s why I can talk to certain people along certain lines and I cannot talk along certain other lines.
There’s no use. I can tell you many things, where I’ve been, and how I’ve overcome, what God has done, and you live in that atmosphere. I can tell you those things because I can comfort you with the comfort where I was comforted of God when I went through my problems. Well if you haven’t been through it you can’t tell anybody anything.
Now here’s Jesus, He didn’t have to go through but He did go through. Now why did He go through? Because He’s the high priest to help you and me.
“I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.”
And Paul finally said, “I can do all things by the Christ who lives within me.”
I’m a master of circumstances. I can go down that road and I can live that life and it can be lived, brother/sister, that is the whole thing it can be lived. Now I’m not going to get to this part of the sermon I don’t suppose. I’m going to take my time on this and if I get to it I’ll get to it; but in the meantime, now watch.
(13) Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Now it says right here, “Look, you the people that have trouble, you know, maybe you’re a little bit weak in a certain area,” and you know people when they’re weak in a certain area what they do, they gravitate toward the very thing. Look at Jimmy Swaggard, standing in the pulpit, big Holy Ghost man, Hallelujah, Bakker the same way, listen, they were tempted within that very pattern and they gravitated toward it and they got sucked into it.
That’s right. Bakker says his wife didn’t satisfy him because she was running off with somebody else. Then the logical thing to do was to have the thing out, and if necessary divorce her, and if you’re that kind of a man, you can’t live without a woman, then leave the ministry and go with your wife. But no, they’ve got to put a big show on.
Now where are they? And it’s White Throne now, brother/sister. Don’t you understand we’re getting big examples out here in the world of White Throne?
I don’t have to worry about one thousand years down the road if I am preaching you the truth this morning, it is White Throne now, I am already judged because the Judge is here; and I’ve said before, there He is right there, right above the prophet because God’s the Judge of all the earth, the righteous Judge here in a flame of fire to lead us to the Millennium. Absolutely.
As I’ve already told you, you look up the word ‘God’ in the Greek and Hebrew, and every single instance, the major root is magistrate, which means the Judge; and a magistrate is usually somebody picked from among the people and Christ was picked from among the people. He’s one of us. Yes sir, the Judge.
(14) Follow peace with…
Now it says here,
(13) Make straight paths [Get away from the things that have your weakness.]
And the book of James tells us, “Confess your faults,” and people think confessing your faults means to tell what you did. No. Now they want Swaggard to go to a psychiatrist. The Assemblies of God want him to go to a psychiatrist. Why don’t they go to the Bible?
Why was Swaggard so dumb? When he had the problem he should have talked to his wife and then taken a real man of God and he should have prayed, because don’t ever spill your guts to anybody they’ll cut your throat and throw you guts all around the yard. They’ll do it.
I don’t even need to spill mine they’ll tell lies about me, like the guy north of here, spread all around the country that Brother Branham was supposed to look into my soul was black as night. So I phoned and said, “Where did you get it.”
And I traced it down, it wasn’t said about me at all. I’m looking at you because I think you might know the person. I don’t pull my punches here, this is our church and I’ve got the biggest stake in it too. Yes, I won’t mention the figure but I’ve got the biggest stake in it.
All right, I preach what I want here because I want to preach the Word of Almighty God. We are disciples of Christ, and learners, and we are under the yoke, we are under the rod, there is a Word to be obeyed can’t even get people to obey the Word.
It says, “So much the more as you see the day approach the Rapture come together more and more.”
Don’t ever give up your Friday night services; once in a while is okay. But you get together with that Word and you talk it because that’s your life.
If you’ve got a ball game, or some woman’s club, or some kid’s club you want to run to, you don’t really belong here. Oh, stick around if you want but you ain’t part of the game. Let’s understand this, the church comes first.
I’ve tried to make an example of that. Except the time I’m desperately sick, I’ve been right here and I’ve been desperately sick in this pulpit. Where I got sick four years ago, I’ll never forget the day young Peter came in and I knew Peter needed the Word of God, a new convert amongst us, I stood there so desperately sick but I preached hanging onto the pulpit. I’ve sat down on a chair to do it.
Why? Because it’s life and I sure am no example of nothing; but to lead you astray no way.
(14) Follow peace with all men, and holiness,
In other words, you get your own life lined up in this thing, get those things out of the way that you’ve got a fault, talking about in James, you’ve got a fault confess it. It doesn’t mean personal, individual sins; it means where you’ve got a problem.
And everybody knows my problem I pop off. I can get mad in a hurry and just hurry cool down. Will I ever lick it? Stick around and find out. It’s getting better all the time but not the way it should be. Want your money, hate you this and that; never, you can’t pin that on me. Let you down. You can’t pin it on me. You can’t do it. No siree, brother/sister.
When you’re honest before God and honest with your fellow men, you’re on the right track. Don’t let that thing go by the board and think you won’t pay a price, it’ll get you every single time. It’ll keep coming back at you, and back at you. Like Israel wandered around the mountain forty solid years on merely eleven miles to go, they wandered forty years.
My, Lord, I think I could walk eleven miles in one day if I took a breather. Couldn’t get in. They had to make straight paths. They hadn’t got things out of their lives. Hadn’t lined up with the Lord Jesus Christ with the Word of God. Then it says, when you’re dealing with yourself, deal with your fellow man.
Hebrews 12:14
(14) Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Now he doesn’t say, “Look it here, I’m going to tell you people something, if you don’t live a certain kind of a life, you ain’t going to make it.”
It doesn’t say that. It tells you flat that the certain kind of people live a certain kind of life, and they do get to see the Lord and they get in there. You bet they do. Another thing too, if you do these things here… if you don’t do them, you’ll never see the Lord.
You’ll never understand what God’s doing. You can’t do it. See? You’ve got to stand with that Word, you’ve got to believe that Word, then you’ve got to let that Word begin to work in your life because it’s the conduit for the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Ghost begins to work, you confess your faults, confess your sins, make things right within yourself and with God, with your fellow man you watch how God becomes more and more visible.
How is God going to get visible out here in a disobedient world? Wherein some Pentecostal church is all hip hurrah and you hip hurrah your sins away? Remember years ago Horace King was an Oxford group movement, Buckmen, Buckmenite.
And so there’s a good Nazarene fellow, friend of mine named Tom Stewart, these men are all dead likely by now, I know Tom Stewart is. He was a nice fellow.
He was Nazarene. One day he finally realized that the Baptism with the Holy Ghost was real and he got filled with the Holy Ghost and he spoke with tongues.
Which was fine, he didn’t’ have to. He stood in the meeting one morning, in the Pentecostal church, and he said, “I owe you people an apology. I’ve slandered you for forty solid years.” Just told them what it was.
Now he got Horace King coming. Horace is a very fine guy, business man. But you know, with a Buckmenite, you start by having a group of people like this in your homes and you get up and you say, “You know I want to tell you folks something, I’ve met Jesus Christ and I’m glad I did because,” as Tom used to say, “look as a young kid,” he said, “I stole cigarette papers and made cigarettes but as I got older I could lift heavier things.”
And he let you know… and he would spill his guts and everything, and tell you every single sin he did and say, “Look it, Jesus made me free.” He said, “You’re longing for this same kind of freedom. Why don’t you get your life to Jesus?” And he had a good sweeping revival. He had some fine, fine, Christians who really lived the life.
Like the old [Inaudible] conference, the old Puritans, you know, the bottle full of stones, pour in the water. “Now I’ve got a jar that’s full of water.” Oh no you ain’t. You keep taking out the stones until it’s full of water.
So the Holy Ghost helps us with our wills to take these things out as Brother Branham taught, then you’re really full of the Holy Ghost, and you’re really sealed by God, you’re really walking. “As a living statue,” he called it. I think that’s wonderful.
He’s referring to the heathen religion where they believe that the spirit can come into even a statue and that statue could actually move, and then the spirit of God, the spirit of the gods, like they practice in Haiti and places, can come into you and you’ll come into rule like in a dazed condition and they say, “The spirit of God is in him,” and they watch the man move and anything he touches is sanctified, anything is holy, eat any food, do anything, “That’s God.”
Well Brother Branham was telling you the truth of it.
In Him we live and move and have our being, and He lives and moves in us and has His being. “We and the Father are one through the work of the Son.”
But anyway, they were good people. And so I remember Horace King, we took him to a Pentecostal camp meeting. He looked us all over, and he didn’t sneer but he was a little ironical, not sarcastic, he said, “I recognized, there’s sin in your camp and they’re covering it up by shouting.” Now how could he know that and the rest of the Pentecostals didn’t? You know why?
Because they’re happy to cover up their sins with their shouting. They were already on the verge of the anointing and they were already getting the anointing though they themselves were phonies. That’s what that… isn’t that right brother? That brother mentioned last night, went back to Pentecostalism, Charismatic.
Brother here I met here years ago from the west, he visits today, Brother Bailey, he knew, he knew the cover up. You know, Christianity, so called, and churchianity, whether it’s a shout or not, can be a very great cover up and it’s nothing but hypocrisy.
I would sooner see people who just let go what they are than to pretend because one day you’re going to let go anyway, because there’s nobody that wonderful that can keep himself in check and not spill the beans some way.
It’s just like I told you, the poor Roman Catholics, they decided they’re going to make the Bible fit their own understanding, purgatory, this and that, but you know something?
They’re so many thousands of verses in that Bible, there is no concordant version of Protestant, there is no Roman Catholic, there’s no Greek Catholic, there is no Anglican, there is no nobody who can make the Bible say exactly what they want it to say because there’s too many thousand verses in it; and God will see that they leave in some of the best verses.
So matter if you read the Douay version, or the Diaglot, or what you read, you will still get the Word of God somehow, some will reach through to you.
So I say, you and I could have a 100,000 rouses, and a 100,000 cover-ups, it’s not going to be the answer. We’ve got to have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Peace with God by virtue of the fact we are walking in the light and peace with God by virtue of the fact we’re walking with each other; and then we are to the place where John says, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing.”
Now brother/sister we can have that kind of a church and to have anything less is ridiculous. And I will keep hammering.
I don’t care if I hurt your feelings; I hurt my own feelings talking this way because if I point one finger at you, I’ve got at least three turned backwards. So that’s three out of five against me and you’re not half bad off at that rate.
Now it says here,
(15) Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
(16) Lest there be any fornicator,
Now they can understand what that means. It says, “You go this way, you’re going to have a bitter church that’s full of trouble and defilement.”
You have got to walk this way, and listen brother/sister, if this… this is where we are today, tested and tried by sin, and tempted, and everything else; and I haven’t got to the main point yet. We’re just telling you that these things have got to be. And he said;
(16) Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
(17) For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Now you know that’s Hebrews 6. You can seek repentance until the Seventh Church age, and after the Seventh Church age Message, there is no more repentance; either you go this way or you’re finished because there’s no more Word.
No more place to change your mind. How people can say, “Joseph is here with a message.” I like what the kid said, he says every single time, “Brother Branham said it all.” If Joe Branham’s got something to say, he better quote his dad and he does. He’s a good boy. I wish it weren’t so hard on him but the kid’s got a terrible, terrible time with people trying to force him into everything.
Now let’s go to the book of Romans the 5th chapter. If you want to pray for somebody, you pray for that boy. He’s basically a very, very, very fine boy. Now, in Romans the 5th chapter, here’s where you’re getting… here’s what you’re looking at.
(01) Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
God is at perfect peace with us. Do we have perfect peace with Him? No, when we disbelieve His Word or flout it. Now read on.
(02) By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, [That’s your standing, you stand, absolutely. What is your condition? However you believe God and make it.] and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Now, we’re looking down the end of the trail when we’re born again, we’re looking down the end of the trail for the glory that shall be revealed in us; the same glory that Christ had.
(03) And not only so, but we glory in tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Or trials works patience, and patience character, not experience. Character, and character brings us to an earnest expectation, “Yes, in His glory I’m going to shine because I’m identified with Him.” In my peregrinations or my travels in this earth. And then it says.
(05) Hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
And it tells you right here, going through this experience, time after time, after time, after time, getting rid of this, getting rid of that, standing the ground, brings us to the place where the love of God, is sealed into us, and the whole life becomes one of appreciation and love because it works: but not enough people stand steady to make it work.
Even simple thoughts I give you on giving. And you know I don’t preach here to get anybody to give anything. I’ll give it all back. You can get a check right now if you think you put money in this church go ahead.
I’m trying to teach you something. God knows my heart if you don’t know my heart. I care less, it’s White Throne. I went through certain courses, those courses work and you’ll sit here and you’ll do nothing.
And if you can’t even get that little stupid financial thing worked out in your life, you’ll get nothing else working off in your life because the Bible said so. Say, “Brother Vayle, I’m spiritual.” You are spiritual like fun! You’ve been deceived by the Devil already.
Now I’m not bashing, you understand this, I challenge anybody this morning, say, “Brother Vayle, you do want our money.” Come up here right now. Here it is, open, it’s on tape, it’s on a film. I challenge you. God’s my judge, I might like money like anybody else, but in this church you never here me say those things.
No. In fact, I’m scared for you people. Now it’s not that I don’t love you and have confidence, I do, but I know people, I know the way the Devil gets in. If we had depression tomorrow, the money that’s owed on this building would drive some of you people away because you would say right now, “Oh I’m not going to give, I can’t afford it.” You’d be scared to death.
Let me tell you something, before too long I’ll have enough bonds to take the interest and pay the whole church off, $50,000 to go out of 200 and some $1000. I’ll stand in the gap. You know why? Not to be proud. Not to say this is my church and everything else; but I don’t want to see people hurt in division!
I’ve been through it! I’ve seen how people can cut and tear a minister, and ruin a ministry when they said, “They stand behind him,” and a buck got in the way. And some of you sitting here, you’ll give everything you’ve got, and I’ve seen you do it. No, I don’t want to see you do it. The rest just sit here and grab everything you can get.
I’m not taking your [Inaudible] I’m just telling you some truth this morning. I’m not trying to hurt anybody, maybe you won’t come back Wednesday. Well? So you won’t have it too bad. Sunday, we won’t have it too bad Lloyd, nobody here.
When I get here, back on the following Sunday, I’ll have it better than anybody because I want to retire anyway. I’m not kidding, I make it a little facetious to break your tension maybe; God is the Judge up here, I preach these things. Listen.
All right, we read it. Now, let’s go to 1 Corinthians. We’ll get out of here just in nice time so I can get out of here with you. 1 Corinthians 6:20.
(20) For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Now brother, why am I reading this? Because Brother Branham said, We were sent down here in a body of flesh in order to withstand temptation. And notice what it says, “Glorify Him in your spirit and in your bodies.” In other words, you have the revealed truth and you try to live it. Not just say this and that but live it. See?
Now let’s go a little further. We want to go to John 17 now. Now we’re told to glorify Him. Now let’s get something really pretty here, really beautiful. John 17:4-5.
(04) I have glorified thee on the earth:
What did He do? He lived that Word though it caused him his death. Paul lived that Word it caused his death. Daniel lived that Word it almost caused his death. The Hebrew children lived the Word almost caused their death. Everybody doesn’t die.
Polycarp died but John the Revelator did not die. They tried to boil him in oil, it wouldn’t work so they banished the guy. They said, “Get him out of here, he’s too tough for us.” Polycarp was put to the stake, the flames bent all around him, they wouldn’t come near him and a fellow took a long sword and hit his side, the water rushed out of his side.
What did it do? It put the flame out. But a dove came down, in the form of the dove.
Okay, let me read the next verse.
(04) …I have finished the work which you gave me to do.
You notice something, God will clean a man up and he’ll never finish the work God gave him to do; and some people won’t go so far where God has to clean them up and take them so they bumble, mumble, mumble and finally die and they never finish the work.
How do you like it if your hand does not do the work your body wants it to do? How do I like it this morning, this miserable, stupid, arthritis in this joint, hardly reach, or that’s too bad it should be my right hand I can’t get my wallet that way, hardly get to my handkerchief in the back pocket, or take and scrub my back in the shower, reach down and pick up something, how does my body like it? It’s not doing the work it’s supposed to do. Well you’re hindered.
What about the body of Christ, or a body of church believers? You say, “Give me a task to do.” I’m won’t give you any task this is spiritual I’m talking this morning. Every-body’s got something to do. Everyone’s got a little gift, maybe just being cheerful, being kind to somebody, extra nice smile, extra good handshake, I don’t know.
I don’t know what you’ve got, what your here but everybody’s got some kind of gift from God and your very nature’s in it. And you and I know when our nature’s not right. We should have it tuned up.
Okay, listen, let’s keep going.
(04) I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
(05) And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Well I don’t have my board here. I don’t need it here but I’m going to tell you something, we were just as much in God as Jesus Christ was. Are we going to get back there?
Absolutely. We’re going to get back there in a glorified form and we’re going to get that back there according to our status; and remember the Bible speaking of the resurrection, it says;“There’s one glory of the stars, there’s one of the moon, there’s one of the suns,” so is the resurrection you and I come up in a various state, a various glory according to not only our placing but I believe according to how we lived.
Because it said, “Let no man beguile you of your rewards and let no man take your crown.” See? Kind of an odd sermon I’ve preached this morning, isn’t it? Yes, odd sermon. I don’t care about it… I don’t mind odd sermons, just a little devotional.
Now, see? Now look it, let’s go back to 1 Peter now, the 5th chapter so we can sort of run this through. 1 Peter 5:1.
(01) The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
What did he mean by that? He said, “Look, I’ve learned to suffer with Him and I’m going to get the same glory, it’s already mine.”
You talk about White Throne judgement, he already had it back there.
He said, “Look, I know what’s in my hand, I’ve got it.”
Brother/sister this morning, do you realize under this message we can follow Brother Branham, that great and wonderful servant of God, and we can know that already, and we have passed the White Throne judgement as far as, “Depart from me,” and so on; the Bride has been pronounced, “You are the righteous, sinless virgin Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, you didn’t even do it not guilty.”
Do you know right now we can know if we are laying up treasure in Heaven? We might not know how much but we can know because the Bible says so.
Now I’m not fussing at you people as though you haven’t been doing it. As I’ve said many, many times, “I would never trade this congregation for anybody in the world. I don’t believe there’s a group of people got a… as a cross section have a finer spirit and dig in as you people do. I don’t believe there’s anybody.” There’s great big churches, I wouldn’t trade it for four hundred, and five… you couldn’t give them to me.
First of all they wouldn’t want me because I preach too straight and I don’t whomp you up. You want to get whomped up, go out there and get whomped up. Here’s where you can learn things. You don’t have a little kid running around in church say, “Chichichichoo.” Shut-up kid, sit down and listen. That’s the way this church is.
You think other churches want the way we preach? Ha. That’s why they come once and never come back. Doesn’t bother me; as far as I’m concerned they oughten to come in the first place. If they want to sit and listen and learn something fine.
I’m going to tell you something, something is going on, brother/sister, because of this Word and I’m not so old I don’t know it because I do know it. Never stood here and told you a lie and I’m not about to tell you a lie, or try to jazz you up, no way.
Now let’s go to Romans the 8th chapter because here’s what we’re looking at, and remember this is the inscrutable wisdom of God which He already tells us is what? “Foolishness to man.”
“Now if I were God, or if I could predestinate, I would certainly have every girl in my house born to us, and my wife wouldn’t have any pain whatsoever with childbirth, and the child would come perfectly normal and beautiful, and it would have lovely, lovely, features, and lovely, lovely figures, and my sons you ought to see what my sons would be.” In other words, if you could do it, you’d do it. Then why deny God?
Well they say, “Well I believe in free moral agency.” I want you to find that word in the Bible free, moral and agency, I’m with Doctor Pink on that. Say, “Well Brother Branham used it.” Yes, but listen how he used it. He didn’t use them like the world out here uses it.
There’s a freedom of choice and you can make a moral choice or a wrong choice. I’d like to find the word in the Bible, agency. I can’t find it except through Jesus Christ, “God created all things through the agency of Jesus Christ.” If you use that word you’ve got to use it very carefully.
All right, let’s go here. Romans the 8th chapter, get the picture, 14-18.
(14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
(15) For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
In other words, there’s a place in God through the baptism with the Holy Ghost where the sunlight is bright and the path is clear and the way is known. We don’t have to be bogged down. You can come to the place where you know exactly who you are and what you’re to do.
Now I’m 74 within the next couple of weeks. What’s the date? Eleventh today, okay seventeen days to go, I will have lived 74 complete years, long, long, time ago now, long, long time ago I knew my calling. Before that I knew it and I hated it. I dickered with God but He wouldn’t dicker. God does not play poker with anything but a stacked deck of cards. He’ll lick you every time.
It’s already written in the Book, I showed you, on the record up there, on the blackboard, the white board, call it what you want.
Okay, let’s go over it again; now listen.
(16) The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Now listen, that is the primary lesson that should be learned through the baptism with the Holy Ghost and it’s never been learned because of legalism. How many of us here this morning recognize that we are seed period?
Now you say, “Well sure I’m seed. I could be good seed or bad seed.”
I’m not talking of that. I’m not addressing serpent seed this morning; I’m addressing God’s seed. That’s why I’m a little bit tough. If it was serpent seed I’d say, “Well, I’ll tell you what, I can give you some good books to help you to get worse.”
To get you out of here because that’s what you want anyway if you’re sitting here. But if you want something different and we’re going to go to the difference. See?
(17) [And the Spirit now] And if children, then heirs. [Now watch, it says] then heirs: heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Now, what you’re looking at is this, we came from the intrinsic glory we’re going to go back to the intrinsic glory; but that glory is all God’s glory which always was. But when you’re a child of God that comes under obedience to the world, you then make your own glory. Jesus said, “I’ve glorified you on earth.”
He didn’t say, “Father you’ve made Me glorify you.”
He didn’t say, “Father you glorify,”
He said, “Father I’ve glorified You on earth.” Now if you and I want to glorify God, is to obey the Word of Almighty God.
You say, “Well just a minute, you mean if I give a glass of cold water?”
Yes, you’ve glorified God. “You mean if I pay tithes?” Now look it, that’s just the truth, sure I have, pay them all the time you glorify God. “Well there’s somebody needs help, so I give them some money.” You glorified God. You found a child doing a wrong thing, you corrected the child you glorified God. You found a sick person, you prayed you glorified God.
Someone in prison, you went and saw him you glorified God. You witness to the Lord Jesus Christ you glorified God. Husbands love your wives you glorified God. Wives obey your husbands you glorified God.
What are you looking for? Build some great big mammoth stadium and invite Billy Graham in? Hogwash. That’s about the last way to do it. He ain’t going to preach the truth. He already told the Catholics they preach the same gospel.
They made him a doctor. Now if it’s only… if Billy Graham is fair, he better bring one of the priests in, or cardinals and make him a doctor and you know. I think Billy Graham’s kind of a chicken giver. He ain’t fair at all to the Catholics. They’ve glorified him and done a good job, Spellman his good buddy, and Cushing. What has he done for him?
Well I will admit the Catholics did say a very true thing. They said, “You go to Billy Graham and get converted you make a better convert for us than ever.” I think I’d kind of look that one over.
Could you believe for one minute that they’d say that about Brother Branham? Why we’re the off-scouring of the earth. Now they’ve got me putting words in Brother Branham’s mouth but I didn’t. I don’t know who lied about that one but I can tell you exactly what they said and they lied because I didn’t. They don’t know the English language and I do.
They don’t know the Word but I do. Too bad for them, just too bad because I’ve got to meet them pretty soon down the road, the day after tomorrow I’ll be facing them. Yes, day after tomorrow. Twenty-four hours, God’s time. I’m not afraid. I know exactly what was said and why it was said.
Now listen.
(17) Glorified if you suffer.
(18) For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
It’s going on now but up there, you watch it break forth like the light of the sun. Okay, let’s go a little further.
Let’s go to 2 Corinthians, then I’m going to get back to Brother Branham’s message for just a few minutes, or we’ll just quit right now, come back to it later on. It’s the 3rd chapter, and Paul here says; “Where the Spirit of God is the veil is taken away and you’ve got a liberty. A liberty to serve God because the power of God is in you by the Word.”
We have the Word of God in us today if it’s a truly the right Word which we believe it is, it all depends if we’re the right people and got the right Word. I mean understand it, taking the right understanding of It.
Then that’s the conduit of the Holy Ghost and it will bring forth a people of this hour, which is a super, super race approaching unto Jesus Christ. They’ll have the Word and know what to do with it.
How do you get that by running around just be happy, happy, happy as though that’s it? Anything goes? Pulpit filled with preachers all the time and everybody contradicting each other. Preacher says he’s a pastor and he’s running around the country, ain’t half the time home.
I’m not even a legitimate pastor but I can pastor, I’m allowed to. It’s part of the five fold gifts. I’m a teacher. How come I’m not running, running, running, running, running?
How do you get that by running around just be happy, happy, happy as though that’s it? Anything goes? Pulpit filled with preachers all the time and everybody contradicting each other. Preacher says he’s a pastor and he’s running around the country, ain’t half the time home.
I’m not even a legitimate pastor but I can pastor, I’m allowed to. It’s part of the five fold gifts. I’m a teacher. How come I’m not running, running, running, running, running?
You know why? Brother Branham himself said, “I’ve been across America, he said, I think for the last time.” He said, “Fifty souls came in, who knows if they got saved.”
It’s all seined out, it’s all fished out. I stick with you people because you’re wonderful people. I believe you’re the choicest in the world, the people of Almighty God. Now I’m rough at times, and I’m rough on myself because this Word must be understood, obeyed, and lived regardless; and there’s no big sneer, and there’s no big joke, and there’s no big excuse, we’re stuck. We’re stuck brother/sister, I don’t care what anybody says.
You know why? Brother Branham himself said, “I’ve been across America, he said, I think for the last time.” He said, “Fifty souls came in, who knows if they got saved.”
It’s all seined out, it’s all fished out. I stick with you people because you’re wonderful people. I believe you’re the choicest in the world, the people of Almighty God.
Now I’m rough at times, and I’m rough on myself because this Word must be understood, obeyed, and lived regardless; and there’s no big sneer, and there’s no big joke, and there’s no big excuse, we’re stuck. We’re stuck brother/sister, I don’t care what anybody says.
Now listen,
(18) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the [Lord.]
Now how are you getting that glory?
You are getting that glory by the outworking of the Word of God in you and me as we become submissive to the Word against our own thinking and against our own will as human beings: but because of the Christ in us and the mind of Christ, and fully revealed today, we can positively be in this people and be this people, and it’s an increasing glory, and this is the last age it’s going to be in, and we’re the last people are going to have an opportunity except for the 144,000 Jews.
Now Paul says.
(01) Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
(02) But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, [and so on.]
(03) But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
(04) The gods of this world hath blinded their eyes. [Then we go on right up to the 16th verse.]
(16) For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
Brother Branham had a supernatural picture of that very thing happening. You know the picture with the flames of fire up front and the big exaggerated lilies, and the death’s head behind him, and Brother Branham standing up front?
The Word of the Lord came and said, He said, “The picture at the back of you is the old man dying, it’s vanishing, it’s wasting away, but the other is of the inner man being renewed.” And that’s what’s happening right today under this Message.
If you and I are truly born again and the Word of immortality, because this is the hour for it, is in us, our very atoms are going through some kind of a change now.
In other words the full potential for the sudden blast when it sweeps over us. But I’m going to tell you, nothings going to sweep over anybody that hasn’t got the Word. Isn’t going to do it, isn’t going to. Something’s got to happen to make something else happen.
Brother Branham threw up the rock and we didn’t know until just recently the delicate falling of a rock can bring on a tornado. I was so surprised and thrilled to hear it.
Who brought me that article? Where’d that come from? Brian or somebody? Somebody brought the article, it was given to me.
And a scientist that knows all these things, and he didn’t know about Brother Branham throwing a rock up, he said, “Just the slightest move can upset that balance that’s up there and whoom, cuts it and she’s gone.”
Yes sir, you’ve got to do something to make something happen. Before that sweep comes over anybody, we have got to believe the Word and that Word’s got to be in us. The channels of our mind must be clogged up.
You know, if we could come to church every single day and esteem it more than our necessary food or meat, which means above our labors, than anything else we do, now I’m not saying quit your job and come here, I’m just telling you the premium God puts on it. Why? Because this is eternal.
People sing the song, “And in His glory I’ll shine, I shall be like Him, wonders are like Him, Jesus my Saviour divine,” and they know no more about Him than nothing because the revelation lies in that Word. The only begotten hath drawn him forth.
Now it says,
(16) We faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
(17) For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, [Now notice.] our light affliction, [Our testing that God sent us down here in the human body.] which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
In other words, no matter what we achieve on earth here it is nothing. Like Brother Branham brought up that cute little saying, like the fellow said;
“Hey,” he said, “I understand this fellow, so and so, billionaire died. How much did he leave?”
“Well,” he said, “He left it all.”
You take your glory with you. Why? Because it’s character. You see what you’re looking at?
How can you put people in authority without character? That’s a pharaoh. What if Moses had of been the authority in his day? And he was. Oh my, they’re going right straight to the promise land. What if William Branham had of been in the White House instead of Kennedy?
Well he never would have got there unless, but we’re looking at it from the picture. Where’s the great men in America spiritual minded?
They’re all gone. And everybody that runs a great big companies, all he can do is secure, try to secure his job and he never even invented his job, or worked for it, he just got put in. So now they buy out big company and put other people out of work. And we eulogize some big shot I can’t understand, but I do.
Now listen, “These afflictions are working out character and working out a glory, and exceeding (listen) and eternal.” Now watch this. As a far more exceeding and eternal.
Now Brother Branham said, “In the Bible here, when the word eternal is used it’s an everlasting, it means it never had a beginning.”
So the very… and it’s Bible, the very grace and glory of God rests upon us. Well how you going to get it? I just read it to you. You say you want grace and glory? You want to bring it into your life like gold that’s stored up? “I challenge you,” He said, “buy of Me gold tried in the fire.”
Right here is the picture of it. Get chunks of it, great big nuggets. Now don’t go out there and lie in the street and say, “A truck’s going to run over me, I’m going to be some kind of a fool so they’ll throw rotten eggs at me.” Come on listen, that… O God have pity.
Jesus said, “If they persecute you don’t say, ‘here am I, come and shoot me, here am I, come and shoot me.’” He said, “Flee to the next city if you can get away.” Now He said, “If you can’t get away and you’re to die, you’re supposed to die.”
You’re like the guy that fled from the lion and got caught by a bear. What’s the difference? You’re just as dead. Don’t be a nut we’re not nuts. See? We’re not fools.
Now look it here, if a great… Oh listen, we’re dealing in eternal things, brother/sister, we don’t even know it. Baptism with the Holy Ghost is just a catch phrase. “Have you been filled with the Holy Ghost since you believed?” “Oh that’s a wonderful thing, a nice experience.”
It isn’t It’s a person, It’s a life. You know something, I know one thing, Brother Branham was the most sincere, honest, person I have met in my life. He was so sincere, now get this flat, I’m telling you, he was so sincere he appeared to be almost like a ham actor, as though it was put on, it was that thick.
But when you knew the man, it was a hundred percent gold. That’s the difference, brother/sister, we’re not ham actors. God help us not to be little William Branhams’ but to be like William Branham through the image of Jesus Christ.
Now listen here, we’re laying up that exceeding weight of glory. The very eternal things we’re talking about, there’s an eternal body waiting out there for us because that word ‘eternal’ means no beginning and end, and if that came out of God the same as Jesus’ body did, you know what I’m talking about the theophonic form, then ours does too. Say, “My mind bogs down.” So does mine but Hallelujah, I’m getting an eternal body. Now I’ve got eternal glory in chunks if I want it. How?
(18) While we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things which are not seen:
Endured the cross, despising the shame because He saw He was going to get what you and I don’t remember. What changed Brother Branham’s life? Beyond the curtain of time he saw… I don’t think he saw his theophany, I don’t believe that, but he saw the other’s theophanys and they said;
“Oh Brother Branham, we’re glad you’re here,”
And the voice said, “you’re a leader of people, you were born to be.”
“You mean I lead these people?”
“Yes sir, you lead them.”
“Well I only preached what Paul preached.”
They said, “We’re resting on that.”
You wouldn’t come back and be a changed person? You see what I’m driving at this morning, brother/sister? We think we know but we really don’t know, we know at, but we don’t know because it’s not that vitality in it only God can do that, but listen, God does it to His saints.
We count ourselves that here this morning, brother/sister, not something else, we count ourselves that. No flim flam, no hogwash, no put on, no siree, no put on, no way, shape and form.
All right, we’ve looked at the picture. Now I read to you my little notes here, page 15.
At this point Brother Branham is pointed out that we as sons of God did not come exactly the same way into human existence as did Jesus, for He was given a Word or a theophonic, or spirit-body before He came in flesh, whereas we bypassed the Word-body to come directly to the flesh-body for the purpose of being tested in order to develop character where the grace and glory of God would be outworked in our lives and manifested whereby we lay up treasure in Heaven, so we can shine with Him on that day and even Jesus couldn’t shine with what all He had until He suffered.
It’s suffering. Most of us suffer in vain, step on a nail, get a heart attack, eat too much greasy food get a stomach-ache, drink too much pop get an ulcer, eat too much junk get tumors, cancers, everything else, drink too much coffee get rid of all the good bacteria and all the bad stuff comes in, you ask for it. What about this? See?
All right, however God compensated our weakness for and… God compensated our weakness for a propensity to sin. We’ve got a weakness and a propensity sin in the mind and flesh by sending the Holy Spirit to empower us to overcome. Can’t do it without the Holy Ghost.
We were reading that in the last sentence of paragraph seventy. Up here, Brother Branham mentioned on page 15.
[70] …We have not yet the Word bodies. But look, when this body receives the Spirit of God, the Immortal Life inside of you, it throws this body in subjection to God.
Now I explained that to you and showed you, that look it, if you are a part of God you are that part of God in your soul that’s eternal. So the Holy Spirit doesn’t make it eternal, it’s already eternal.
It doesn’t make it immortal, there’s only one part of you can be immortal, that’s not death doomed, that is, talking about seed now, not the serpent seed with his soul talking about, which is the physical body, so the Holy Ghost coming into you is deliberately for your body so it can be called forth from the grave as it says in Romans the 8th chapter.
I’ll read it to you quick as I can turn to it, and it’s the 10th verse I think, yes.
Let’s read it and 11th
(10) And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; [You’re going to die even though you’re full of the Holy Ghost.] but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
(11) But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.
The very little modicum, the little teensy weensy bit of Spirit in you that’s in your body, is the same Spirit that God is entirely made of and God has promised, because that Spirit’s in your flesh to raise you immortal. You are already immortal potentially.
So the Holy Ghost comes in to verify it, that you’re one of the sons that’s going to make it. Yet then that same thing throws the body into subjection to God. And when it does, notice.
[71] …”He that is born of God does not commit sin;”
Certainly right. That that issues forth from God. Your body never issued forth from God, your body was allowed. That’s why He said, “You didn’t do it all.”
Romans 8:
(01) Therefore there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Now it tells you right here, look, if you are in Christ Jesus, you are now empowered to walk in the Spirit, not just live in It. Over here in, look… I haven’t got time to read it all.
So I really should quit now and call it a day. But if you want to read this when you go home, because we’ll just quit right here and we’ll just… no notes when I get back, just one little sentence and we’ll go into it.
[71] “He that’s born of God does not commit sin, for he cannot sin. There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
That is absolutely John 3:8-21, where He said;
“Look, a man’s got to be born again.”
“Can I go to my mother’s womb?”
He said, “No way, shape and form. When you’re born of the Spirit of the living God,” then it goes on to say;
(16) For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, whosoever shall believe on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. [See?]
(18) Not come into condemnation.
And then it says;
(19) This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men don’t believe it.
So what you’re looking at right here, is the fact, that you start out as a born again believer and you will receive the Word of Almighty God and thereby, and only thereby, will you be walking in the Light.
And so therefore, if you’re not walking in that Light, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, you’re only doing it after the flesh and not the Spirit.
So look at this man, he goes to church and he’s a fine good man, but he laughs at the baptism with the Holy Ghost, but I’ll tell you what, you’ll never see a cleaner, finer man living it’s all in the flesh because there’s no Light there.
Now, whatever manifest makes manifest is Light. William Branham, there’s the picture, that’s manifest, that’s Light. William Branham with the miracle ministry, made manifest that was Light, and the people ran to the light.
And they said, “What’s with this man?” What ever speaks to me said, “That’s the man you should hear if you hear anybody.”
Tommy Osborne heard a voice saying, “That’s Bible, you could do what he did.”
God never told me that, whatever’s talking to me maybe I just talk to myself. I talk to myself a lot, sometimes I answer myself the answers aren’t too good, better answer the Bible. Sure, see? Anything made manifest. God manifested Himself, that was Light. God in nature, manifest, that’s Light.
How can you look at nature and say there’s no God? How can you? A billion bugs out there different from every other billion bugs, flowers, nature, animals, and no God? You know why they don’t want to believe in God? Because their minds are so thin, and so sticky, and so pukey, and so stupid, they don’t want to believe in a mind that could take it all in.
Hallelujah, I’m going back to where Adam was with God. How about you? If you want to trail along, good. I love nature. I’m with God, going to destroy those that destroy the earth.
You say, “You don’t mean it.”
I’m coming with Him if I’m one of them. I’m going to be there for Armageddon you bet. You say, “I don’t think I could stand the sight of blood.” Then you better not make the Rapture honey. I’m not gory up here, I’m just telling you the truth. Well people don’t want to hear the truth.
“Tell us something nice and something I can run up and down the aisles about.”
Well I’ll tell you what you can run up the aisles about, there’s a free lunch out there down the road start running. I hope you caught my sarcasm. We’re not interested in the play of emotions and this, and that, and the other thing. We’re interested in the Word of Almighty God here, see what really counts.
Now, with that we’re going to read Galatians and I’ll start back on this when we come back. Look at Galatians 5:25.
(05) If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
In other words, there is no such thing… now listen, that can go negative. I don’t mean it negative but it can go negative this way, “Well now, if I’m in the Spirit I would positively be walking in the Spirit and everything about me then would be one hundred percent perfect, I wouldn’t make mistakes, I’d be just every this way, and every that way, I’d be a hundred percent.”
That’s not necessarily true because it isn’t true. There’s no perfection this side of the Resurrection. But look at it this way, if we live in the Spirit then it stands to reason we can walk in the Spirit. If we let the Holy Ghost come in, can’t we let Him direct our lives? Well He will according to revealed Word.
Let me tell you people something, we stand on this major premise, this Message we take for our healing, this Message we take for our life, we take it for everything and if the power of God is not in this Word, and if it isn’t, nothing’s going to happen; but if it is in this Word, and it’s going to come to life in these vessels. You tell me how else it’s going to be. Can’t do it, can’t do it.
Now don’t just pretend you know this Message, don’t pretend you believe it. You better be sold and your selling is one thing only, sink or swim, live or die, because I just might and without hope and without God even, for what I believe. But this is it.
You say, “Brother Vayle, that’s an awful thing for Brother Branham to bring to us.” That’s what he said, “Live or die, sink or swim.”
Listen kid, let me tell you something, let me ask you a question, can you tell me any other age where that wasn’t the truth? What about Paul the apostle? What about Irenaeus? What about Columba, Martin, Luther, Wesley, William Branham, Jesus Christ, Moses?
There’s no difference. You tell me God ever changed anything? God never changed anything, even law. Law did not obviate grace. Law demanded that God give grace because no body could live it. But the law in itself wasn’t grace.
Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ and the law was given by Moses, a man that saw conditions and said; “Well we’ll try to work conditions out by the law.”
And nobody could work anything else and Moses himself fell flat and even died, couldn’t go in. But old David under law said, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity. Blessed is the man whose sins are covered.”
God I’ve broken your law a thousand times a day. But He said, “Sacrifice the animal,” looking down the road when grace comes walking in a man and you see God manifested and that One was the Light. And let me suggest carefully, that William Branham was the light like John the Baptist.
He was not the Light but he was a light like John the Baptist and pointed to the Light and there it is, the Light above his head and the Light pointed to the little light. And don’t feel bad about that because the Pillar of Fire, God Himself, on the day of Pentecost broke off little pieces and went into each one.
Well we could talk hours; let’s just rise at this point, then we’ll sit down again.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the privilege of being in the house of the Lord together with Your people and I pray, Lord God in Heaven, as we found in the message here Brother Branham’s point to talk about walk, to talk about trials, we didn’t get into persecutions, tribulations, we know there’s a squeeze coming, we know all these things, Lord, but we know this; if we are positively inured to the understanding, we’re conditioned right down to believe and do believe, in this Word, O God, it’s live or die, sink or swim, that this is it and not to take offence from it, or to take offence by it, or take offence with it, but just look to You Lord, and to live it as calm, sweet people, standing in the grace of God; we know that the Life of this Word will be more than enough to take us through whatever we have to be taken through and we appreciate it so much.
And Father, I pray this morning that hearts have been stirred to a good cause and we’re looking not at each other, but we’re looking at ourselves, to know Lord exactly how to live these lives and You’ve given us, not just indications, you’ve given us many, many words and dictates, and principles in Your Word where we can start from foundational things and just begin to grow up into these things, Lord, which are more delicately balanced, which take more of an understanding of the things of God, just way to go because we know Lord that every body could say, “Well I’m going to pray for this man and wish him the best,” and Your own Word has said, “Don’t you dare wish him God’s speed unless you know what you’re doing.”
So Lord, there’s a delicate balance in some places and some places there’s a wall but we know, Father, it takes experience, it takes a growing up to that place where we need to grow up to.
Then Lord, You said, at the last day when it came time for the adoption, for the manifestation as the prophet told us, the name of the son was just as good as the name of the father on the cheque. God help us to realize that Brother Branham was talking about himself and about us too, we believe that, in a measure, that our word Lord, and our name, is just the same as Yours because it is, and we recognize it, there’s that unity, that union which seems at this point to be so incomprehensible and so far fetched and so far away that we wonder if that’s true, and we know it is true, Lord.
The fullness is going on right now and comes right to the fullness in the resurrection. It’s coming on, always has been coming on and we saw it right here in a first-fruit ministry and a first-fruit Light. We saw that, we saw that very life, Lord, and You said, “You speak it.”
You told the prophet, “You speak it. You speak the words.” And he spoke the words. Just like his name on the cheque, Father, not taking… we know not taking Your name off, no, but indicating he was one with you Lord. Help us to be one with You today.
Give us, everyone of us, strength Father, to just look at life and say, it’s time to get right down to steadiness, it’s time to steady down, it’s time to just begin to do what’s right, what’s required of us, we know what’s required of us, it’s in the Word Lord.
Help us to be just honourable men and woman, citizens in Your kingdom, not trying to be big shots, being this that and the other thing, but just be what you want us to be. Now Father, we commend ourselves to You knowing that You have the answers to every prayer, You have the answer to our heart, You are the answer Lord and You’re here to help every single one of us.
In Jesus’ Name we ask.
Amen.
Lord Bless you…