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THE THINGS OF CHRIST
MARCH
1974
INTRODUCTION
WHAT
WERE THE THINGS OF CHRIST WHICH WERE FIRST IN GOD AND LATER PLACED
BY THE SPIRIT INTO CHRIST’S MYSTICAL BODY ENABLING THEM TO
DO GREATER WORKS THAN CHRIST IN HIS EARTHLY MINISTRY?
PART
1 - NEW HOLY GHOST OFFICE
We
are approaching a subject which we entitle “THE
THINGS OF CHRIST.” Our scripture setting is found in
John 16 and deals exclusively with Christ’s final teaching
session only hours before His crucifixion. Perhaps no other teaching
session in all His ministry will prove as enlightening and invaluable
to the disciples as this final one (John, chapter 14-16) which deals
strictly with the office work of the Holy Ghost in that of the believer,
a lesson which transpired sometime after the Last Supper and before
the arrest in Gethsemane.
Note
carefully, the Truth revealed especially in John 16:12-15 concerning
the Holy Ghost or Comforter who is to be sent
in Jesus’ name (John 14:26), and how this Spirit referred
to as the Spirit of Truth or Father is shortly to take the THINGS
OF CHRIST and show them unto the disciples. Matthew, you recall,
was the first writer to openly declare
the Holy Ghost to be Father of Christ! (Matthew 1:18-25)
John 16:12, Jesus in His final teaching session, after Judas had
left the fellowship, (John 13:30) informed His disciples He yet
had many things to say unto them, however, they couldn’t possibly
bear them now. Howbeit (however) when He the Spirit of Truth is
come, He will guide you into all
the Truth.
TWO
THINGS HOLY GHOST DOES
Notice
especially two statements found in Part B of John 16:13 declaring
what the Holy Ghost will do once He is in His office. (1) He
will not speak of Himself but shall speak of only that which
He shall hear, (2) And He shall
show you things to come! Jesus, referring to the Holy Ghost
Father God - says when He is come into His new office work He
will never speak of Himself. Why, Beloved, will He never
speak of Himself? Once the Spirit of God enters His new office work
(the 3rd) He will never speak in any respect to draw
attention away from the man Christ, as though giving you the impression
there is still yet another Spirit or Person to be glorified, but
instead will seek to devote or draw all your attention to the fleshly
man Christ, His only begotten Son
born of a virgin womb from the seed of God, (Galations 4:4).
The Holy Ghost’s attention is forever centered around this
man Christ, the only Person of God of whom the gospel story itself
is centered around, (I Corinthians 15:1-4).
CHRIST
IN SPIRIT FORM
Therefore
beloved, the only way possible for Christ to ever be seen in the
life of believers must come through
that of the Spirit (of Christ) - else how could Colossians 1:27
be correct in declaring, Christ
in you, your hope of glory. Seeing the impossibility of an
embodied, fleshly man called Christ dwelling in you, the only other
alternative for Christ to personally dwell in you would be through
His Holy Spirit!
The
Bible declares each believer, baptized by the Holy Ghost into this
one mystical body of Christ on earth has within them the Father,
Son and Holy Ghost through this One
Eternal Spirit. If I were trinitarian minded and said I believe
what the Bible taught, when various verses indicate the Father is
in us, the Son Christ is in us and the Holy Ghost is in us as believers,
I would have to interpret that to
be three different and distinct persons in the believer.
FATHER,
SON & HOLY GHOST IN ONE SPIRIT
However,
I am convinced God is not three
separate and distinct persons but instead is only one inseparable
Spirit who fulfills three
office works of God, and once that inseparable Holy Spirit
comes into our life John 16:13-15 declares He will: (1) show
you things to come, (2) glorify
Jesus the Christ only. Beloved, it is only through this Holy
Spirit taking the THINGS OF CHRIST and placing them in the believers
life are we allowed to see Jesus Christ living in the midst of His
people for whom He came to save and redeem, (Matthew 1:21).
SHOWING
GODLY CHARACTERISTICS
No
Sir, not until the departure of Judas Iscariot into the night to
betray Christ does Christ, now having only His true devoted disciples
alone, present to them His final
teaching session on the Holy Ghost as we hear Him declare
that the express purpose of the Holy Spirit working in a believer’s
life would be for none other purpose than to draw our fullest attention
to the very Godly character of Christ Himself. The Spirit which
was in Christ (II Corinthians 5:19) will draw our attention to the
godly characteristics, traits and attributes of Christ, those godly
attributes which portrayed within Him the nature of Deity or ability
to be godlike and secondly, the Spirit when He is come into that
new office work will show to the revelated believer the power of
Christ, that power which demonstrated the works of Christ.
PURE
& GODLY LIFE MAKES HIM DIFFERENT
John
16:14 - (14) “He shall glorify
Me for He shall receive of Mine and show it unto you. (15) All things
that the Father hath are Mine therefore He will take the things
of Mine (THINGS OF CHRIST)
and show it unto you.” The Holy Spirit, whom we know
to be none other than the Spirit which dwelt in Christ (Romans 8:9-11)
as well as the Father, when that one Spirit is come into His new
office work He shall take those certain things which were invested
in the man Christ and present them unto the Church,
His mystical body. The Spirit will take those things which made
Christ stand out or be set apart from all other mankind things which
made Him to be the God man or godly man He is, and present these
things to the revealed Church in order that they one day might become
the same as He. Remember THE THINGS OF CHRIST which made
Him different or stand out were
not found in some particular outward mode of dress or appearance.
No, because John 4:9 declares the woman of Samaria recognized Jesus
as a Jew apparently from His appearance and dress. By no means did
His outward appearance make Him different from others. Dress wise
He looked as any other man of that hour. Hence, Christ was no oddball
or hippie in His society as some think, yet what made Him different
from others was in the pure life He lived and godly nature while
here. Jesus who was declared both Lord and Christ was the Son of
God, born of woman into a
pure sinless body of flesh in which the Eternal Spirit chose to
dwell and manifest His Eternal attributes through in order to draw
mankind’s attention unto the only route mankind could return
to God, I Corinthians 5:19.
Hence,
it is important to recognize, first of all, that the Spirit of Truth
called God the Father was in this godly fleshly man on earth! Once
the Sonship role was finished, Jesus declares that the Spirit of
Truth (another Comforter) would come into that third office work
of God and now take those things which had made Christ different and make them known unto
the revelated believers. I repeat, these things to be shown of THE
THINGS OF CHRIST unto the believer was
not found on the outside of the man Christ but instead was
inside! For without these THINGS OF CHRIST being in the mystical
body of Christ which the Spirit is going to take and show unto every
revelated believer, you simply wouldn’t have the Spirit of
Christ in the believer at all but would be some other Spirit instead.
Moreover in order for that same identical Christ to live in the
mystical body of Christ through the Eternal Spirit, would require
those same attributes or characteristics which were first placed
in Christ to now be placed in the revelated church.
ATTRIBUTES
OF FATHER IN CHRIST
Verse
15 declares, “All these things
that the Father hath are Mine and the Spirit will show them (all
these things) unto you.”
Let us examine this statement. (1) Whatever the Eternal Spirit,
God the Father is in all His Eternal attributes characteristics
or makeup has now (every bit) been placed in the Son, Jesus the
Christ, born of woman. Therefore, whatever Christ is in His makeup,
attributes, characteristics or traits which He received from the
Father will all be taken by the Holy Ghost (the one Eternal Father,
Matthew 23:9, in this new office work and emptied into His mystical
body left here upon earth to carry out His divine will and purpose.
Moreover beloved, when that happened you can’t help but see
God in the midst of His true revelated church, those people whom
God the Spirit has placed the THINGS OF CHRIST within in order they
might be reconciled back to Himself, making them also the sons of
God, even as God was in Christ on earth. The objective of God, in
order for you to become a son of God and have a hope of glory through
the Eternal Holy Spirit, is that Christ (your only hope of glory)
in Spirit form might dwell in you. A work accomplished only through
the office work of the Holy Ghost as He convicts you of your sins
and makes a true revelated believer out of you. Beloved, you can
by no means split up the THINGS OF CHRIST into certain sections
or parts declaring that part which you have chosen in Christ. The
THINGS OF CHRIST which you may have chosen can well be a part of
Christ, although by no means is it Christ in the fullness of God
As He has purposed to be in us, the Church!
PART
2
FULLNESS
OF GODHEAD - WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
Turn
to Colossians 2:9, which declares all the fullness of the Godhead
dwelt bodily in Christ. What did Paul mean by “all
the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ?” Simply
this, everything God the Father is, was placed in the man Christ
here upon earth. No, not in His
bulk Spirit form which fills all space, but in every attribute
or characteristic that God the Father is, that attribute in its
fullness was placed in Christ, the Son. Hence, Christ could honestly
declare, all things (attributes or characteristics) the Father hath
are mine. True, else how beloved could Christ remark to Philip in
that final teaching session, he that hath seen Me hath seen the
Father, John 14:16:11.
How
could this be? Remember first off, the Father is not a person having
hands, feet, etc., as Christ, who was a man, has. Furthermore the
man Christ was not Eternal, seeing
He had a beginning but the Father Spirit, which is this one
Eternal life giving Spirit is Eternal
whose shape no one has ever seen, who fills all space and heaven
is declared to be His throne while earth is His footstool.
NOT
JESUS ONLY
Therefore
in Christ what do we see, some second person? GOD FORBID! We see
in Christ everything that the Eternal Father ever was, in all His
Eternal attributes. An attribute is defined as a characteristic
of a person or thing. God, who is made up of many attributes, invested
them all in this earthly sonship office of God which originated
here on earth through Jesus the Christ who was born of woman. Attributes
might be a difficult word for some to grasp, but remember an attribute
is a characteristic of a person or thing. Just as you were nothing
but attributes once, laying there in the loins of your father before
being transferred from your father’s loins unto the womb of
your mother, where approximately nine months later you were introduced
unto your earthly father as a person! No, the Eternal Spirit in
His bulk Spirit form was not in Christ, that would make Him Jesus
Only. Instead the Father God being in Christ was there in
every Eternal attribute or characteristic which Father God is, else
how could Paul declare, it pleased the Father (Spirit) that in Him
(Christ) should all the fullness of the Godhead dwell bodily? (Colossians
1:19, 2:9) For the fullness of the Godhead to be bodily in Christ
did not require the heavens to drain nor empty themselves of the
Spirit and presence of God, thus requiring His entire bulk Spirit
form to be placed into a mere body of flesh, called the Christ!
Only those Eternal attributes or characteristics which
God is, was there in that man.
GOD
NEVER SEEN
The
Eternal Spirit called God, in all His entirety of attributes or
characteristics had never been seen by man at any time, John 1:18.
In other words, no man had ever seen God’s eternal abode.
Israel had often been privileged to see various manifestations of
Him, Hebrews 1:1. They had witnessed the mountain vehemtly shaking
at His presence; they knew He was there but could not see Him. They
even saw the Red Sea split and felt the sensation of the wind blowing
all night. Truly Israel had seen all these manifestations of God
although again I repeat, they were never privileged to see His Eternal
being. Moses saw his hinder parts, and Abraham had lunch with Him
as he entertained three angels, one of the three was the Lord in
an visible manifestation to appear unto Abraham. Yet no one had
ever seen God in His Eternal being of attributes or makeup. Israel
could not possibly perceive what this omnipotent
(all powerful), omniscient
(all knowing), omnipresent
(present everywhere), Spirit called God was actually like! No beloved,
not until the fullness of the Godhead (everything God ever was)
appeared bodily one day in this one man called the Lord Jesus Christ.
ATTRIBUTES
OF GOD IN CHRIST
This
life-giving, invisible Spirit called God the Father in every attribute
that He is was now in Christ on earth. Every attribute the Father
is in LOVE, POWER, TRUTH and everything else you could think God
to be is all there in Christ! That is why Christ could declare to
Phillip after 3½ years, have you been so long time with Me
Phillip and still don’t know who the Father is? He that hath
(truly) seen me (through revelation of the Holy Spirit), to know
I am truly the Lord, hath seen past this vail of blood, and flesh,
seen past this earthly role of sonship into the Eternal realm of
those godly, divine life-giving attributes, within my own life and
makeup, if you have seen past all that Phillip you have seen the
eternal Father. No, not until Jesus who was made both Lord and Christ
was born from that pure, perfect seed of God as well as the pure
created egg of the virgin womb which God borrowed to form that perfect,
sinless little body of flesh which would hold all these Eternal
attributes that God is, would grow into manhood and walk this earth.
No, not until this event had Israel ever seen God. If you can’t
see Him through the revelation of the Spirit in Jesus Christ, you
will never see Him. Eternal life of God with naked eyes, their hands
were also privileged to handle Him, I John 1:1-2. This life-giving
Holy Spirit. God the Father Himself, who is made up of all these
divine attributes and characteristics, chose one day to walk among
men in order that mankind could see God the Father living and ministering
through a perfect sinless obedient vessel of clay and it was this
vessel of clay, heard to speak to mortal men saying, he that hath
seen me hath seen the Father! Why then say show us the Father and
it will satisfy us, John 14:9? And then declare in John 16:15 shortly
before the cross that all things the Father hath are mine and get
this, all things will the Spirit take and give unto you! Therefore,
all that mankind could every hope or conceive in HIS THOUGHTS CONCERNING
God the Father’s love, power, etc., every characteristic and
attribute of God the Father was all in Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Everything concerning the expression of God in power to meet every
need of mankind; every attribute of God or characteristic of God
was found in that one fleshly, perfect, sinless man, Jesus who was
both Lord (God) and Christ (anointed one).
CHARACTER
GOD DESIRES IN CHRIST
For
what purpose, that God now as a man, could illustrate to fallen
mankind exactly what kind of character or nature that He, as God
desires sinful fallen mankind to be. Christ the perfect man, was
the very fullness of the Godhead bodily, that is, in every attribute
dwelling in Him, to demonstrate
to mankind, exactly how God had always wanted mankind to live, since
the first Adam was placed on earth.
That exampleship God desired had been lived and portrayed in a perfect
man called Jesus, the anointed one (Christ), who is standing here
declaring unto His chosen disciples, all that the Father hath are
mine and these things that are mine will soon be taken by the (Holy)
Spirit in His new office work and shown or distributed unto you!
FURTHER
ILLUSTRATION
It
could be illustrated further in this manner, the Eternal Spirit
says to fallen mankind, LOOK, you have never seen what I expected
from mankind. How could you seeing
the first Adam (your daddy) fell
and by taking on a sinful nature of unbelief and death was only
able to father into this planet a fallen human race of disobedient
humanity of flesh filled with death!! However, you watch
this man I sent, the second Adam who was born of a pure seed of
God, who is My Son and is also a new order or new breed of mankind,
not like others that are filled with death, instead he is full of
ZOE (God’s Eternal Life)! Take a good look at this man’s
life, see His loyalty and obedience to do the perfect will of the
Father. Look at His exampleship in life and you will see what order
of man I desire you to be like. Therefore, unto the revelated mystical
body of Christ, the Church, I will give you all these things that
made Him what He was as a perfect, obedient Son, full of Eternal
Life. I will empty Him and present all the THINGS OF CHRIST unto
you, that you in turn one day shall be like Him at the end of the
age.
CHRIST
OUR OLDER BROTHER
Remember
in order to be Christ-like
doesn’t mean we run a race with Him, oh no, that kind of Spirit
would destroy the very objective we were seeking. Isn’t it
strange how some people simply can’t bear for anyone to get
ahead of them. Nevertheless, I am
glad in the family of God we do have an older brother, the second
Adam, who was our example, yet strange to say in natural
families one thing that irked the other children was to have an
older brother. For some reason they seem jealous of him. In
God’s family, as God the Spirit presented Himself in
the office of His sonship, the man
Christ Jesus was born of the seed of the Holy Ghost, His
Father, must in a family relationship be recognized as your
older brother, our example. Yet, as very
God He is the manifestation of your Saviour and Redeemer
in order to reconcile you back to that great Eternal Holy Spirit
called Father. The Holy Spirit, who is not some third person but
is very God Himself in His future
work, is using that supreme sacrifice of the Lamb to regenerate
mankind or shall we say, renew, quicken or restore mankind back
unto Himself.
CHRIST,
HIGH PRIEST
Hence,
once Christ became the resurrected
Christ, He commissioned His disciples with the great commission
and ascended into glory to accept His new office work of High Priest
before the mercy seat (Hebrews 9:8-15), while the Holy Ghost would
take the things that were in this man Christ, things that
made Him what He was, and manifest these great characteristics
or attributes unto the Church which is seeking to return
to God.
GREATER
IN WHAT CAPACITY?
Approaching
that statement in John 16:15, the things of Mine (Christ),
did Christ mean to imply when He said, “these things (or signs)
shall follow them that believe”, Mark 16:17-18, that future
Christians would be in some way different than He Himself had been
- CERTAINLY NOT! How could you be Christlike or have the Spirit
of Christ within you and be different? Moreover when Christ in Mark
16 stated, “These signs shall
follow them that believe”, He was linking that statement
up with another previous statement He made when He said,
“These things (deeds) that
I do, ye shall do also and greater works than these, shall you do.”
(John 14:12) How could they do greater works than Christ? Greater
works than these in the respect that Christ was speaking in reference
to His many membered mystical body
on earth, which even at that hour the statement was made, already
potentially stood before Him a plurality
of disciples. Later as the THINGS OF CHRIST was taken by
the Spirit and distributed into the mystical body of Christ as He
saw fit or as it pleased Him, watch those works of that first generation
after Pentecost, 40 years or so, as those disciples allowed the
Holy Ghost to work through them in whatever capacity the Spirit
so chose as He had distributed all these THINGS OF CHRIST within
the body that all could see Christ in the mystical body continuing
on with His work! Therefore, as a many membered body of Christ now
scattered over a larger area, the body would do far more deeds than
Christ did in the sense they would now have His attributes (gifts)
within them as they could cover a far wider area than the one man
Christ could possibly cover! GREATER
IN THAT SENSE ONLY!
PART
3 - WHAT ARE THE THINGS OF CHRIST?
With
these thoughts in mind concerning THE THINGS OF CHRIST, how the
Spirit is to place these things in the body of Christ, let us find
out what these THINGS OF CHRIST are, because whatever these THINGS
OF CHRIST are will produce a character of Christ-likeness in the
revealed Church.
SIGNS
FOLLOWED COMMISSION
The
THINGS OF CHRIST to be distributed to the Church are better known
as the nine gifts of the Spirit recorded in I Corinthians
12:1-31, a period of time which is well covered within the Book
of Acts, a book which we must accept to be the history that covered
roughly the first 45 years of the early church, and that entire
book is a confirmation of what Mark declared in Mark 16:16-18 concerning
signs following believers. Mark declares through verse 20 that after
the day of Pentecost the disciples went everywhere preaching, not
signs but the gospel of Christ which was the death, burial and resurrection
of Christ thus baptizing converts in the name of Jesus Christ in
order to identify them with the death, burial and resurrection of
the one who died, was buried and rose again! No, they didn’t
preach signs, they preached Christ who was the Truth; they preached
the Great Commission, and they preached the Great Commission in
exactness of revelation and understanding as Jesus had declared
after His resurrection. Because of their loyalty to the Commission,
to cherish it so obediently in their hearts, God
worked with the revealed Church in signs and gifts of the Holy Ghost.
(Hebrews 2:4)
CARNAL
ATMOSPHERE IN HUMAN THINKING
I
Corinthians 11:1-31 was a portion of a letter written by Paul in
answer to certain timely questions which were disturbing an established
church at Corinth, Greece, a church Paul established on his second
missionary journey. Since the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost had
been distributing the THINGS OF CHRIST unto the body of believers.
Thus, the gifts of the Spirit to the Church was not only in the
church at Corinth, but were in all the established churches of the
First Age in this truth. Paul, in his letter, is by no means writing
to undo any of the virtues or THINGS OF CHRIST as some without the
Spirit have taught. Instead Paul’s interest was only to correct
the error, the mis-practice or the ignorance upon the part of the
church, ignorance which was keeping them from fully or truthfully
understanding the true objective and usage of these THINGS OF CHRIST.
However, probably within the little young church a spirit of spiritual
competition had developed. The abundance of the grace and power
of God being poured out on the Corinthian people, shall we say,
had developed a carnal atmosphere
of human thinking which was trying to blend itself into the
grace of God. This carnal spirit resting on many of those precious
saints causes them to sort of run a spiritual race of competition.
In other words, I have more gifts
or THINGS OF CHRIST than you do. Some people not even in
the family of God wants no one else to get ahead of them, no, not
even in spiritual matters. Such carnality should never be entertained
in Christians.
Imagine
believers running a rat race against each other in the things of
spirituality, treating the THINGS OF CHRIST as though it is something
you gamble with, something you compete against or play with. No
beloved, these things of Christ are
to be lived in, walked in! In order to walk closely in the
family of God every child must recognize what he is supposed to
be and do; recognize what, he, through the Spirit, has been given,
the potential opportunity or ability to do and do that beloved and
no more! Simply being willing to walk with God. Once people reach
the place they are just as happy, contented and thrilled to see
God using or blessing another believer as they are to see that blessing
resting upon themselves, will we then begin to see a people actually
showing a Christlikeness in every
respect.
The
first three verses of Chapter 12 Paul uses to exhort the Corinthian
Christians to be thankful for that which the Word of God had accomplished
in their lives, seeing how in times past they had been so superstitious
(or religious) being led away after
all these useless, vain dumb idols by so-called gifted priests or
teachers who were supposed to have various gifts from the (planetary)
gods. To understand such a statement one would have to be aware
of the idolatry which existed in the city of Corinth before Paul
came, and see the numerous heathen temples of planetary gods built
to Apollos, Venus, Jupiter, etc.. Signs of such idol worship are
still visible today. Paul informs the Corinthians no man under the
influence of the true Spirit can ever say Jesus is accursed, neither
can any one declare Jesus is the Lord, but in the Old Testament
is Jehovah God and Paul taught in Ephesians 4:4 there is only ONE
LORD!
3
OUTSTANDING WORDS
While
studying this chapter on gifts three
words used by Paul in verses 4-6 to express certain thoughts
seemed to jump up before me. The three words are
SPIRIT, LORD AND GOD. Why would Paul choose these three separate
words (SPIRIT, LORD, GOD) to express the officework of the Holy
Spirit in the distribution of the
THINGS OF CHRIST! Paul is dead, yet his revelation of truth
lives on, therefore let us consult that revelation in order to see
what Paul had in mind when he penned these three separate words,
SPIRIT, LORD AND GOD.
To
Paul they are not three separate persons. Paul, even in his Jewish
religion, believed only in one Eternal
God and that truth did not have to change once he came over
to Christianity. In the faith he learned the
redemptive name of his Lord God (Acts 9:5) was
JESUS.
DIFFERENCES
IN THE NINE GIFTS
In
Verse 4, Paul is ready to show the Corinthians various things concerning
the true gifts as he first
declares there are diversities of
gifts or (THINGS OF CHRIST). True, there are nine
different gifts and we desire
to study each of them at least enough that we may recognize their
various functions within the body of Christ. Paul declares there
are diversities of gifts which simply means all different, not one
of the nine gifts are alike. For example, tongues is not like prophecy,
yet both gifts originate and operate,
by one and the selfsame SPIRIT. Wonder why Paul didn’t
stick with this word SAME SPIRIT in his next two verses as he does
in verse 4?
LORD
OF EACH OPERATION
Verse
5, Paul refers to the differences in the administrations or functions
of each separate gift and says it was accomplished by the same LORD,
not SPIRIT. The reason Paul uses LORD here is because the word SPIRIT
itself doesn’t signify that the SPIRIT is LORD or master of
every operation of the gifts. In other words, you don’t do
what you want to with the gifts, since
He is LORD and master of each operation, He operates the gift whenever,
wherever and however it pleases Him! Different administrations
or functions show that in each person a gift operates through can
operate in a number of different ways, therefore, you can’t
have a certain rule how it is to function, it simply functions as
He wants it, He is the LORD of each operation! It is the Holy Ghost’s
administration throughout this one grace age. As a matter of fact,
He is the only one who will have an administration in the true body
of Christ. We think of presidents in America who have had various
administrations in running the country, we refer to Nixon’s
presidency as the Nixon Administration. Therefore, in God’s
kingdom it is the Holy Ghost’s Administration!
CLIMAX
OF GIFT - GOD IS PRAISED
In
verse 6, Paul refers to the different operations of the gifts but
it is the same GOD who works all in all. Paul uses the word GOD
here because God is the highest word that could be used to show
the SPIRIT is God, and God means an object of worship. Therefore
it is the Spirit as God who deserves the highest admiration and
praise for what these gifts have accomplished through their different
operations once the gift has reached its fullness or climax. Then
in verses 7-28 where ever Paul mentions these gifts or THINGS OF
CHRIST he returns to his former expression of THE SAME SPIRIT distributing
them throughout the body of Christ as He sees fit! In order for
people to catch his meaning in different expressions of the Spirit
concerning these gifts he had to use the word LORD and GOD as well
as the same SPIRIT showing
this one Eternal Spirit was LORD and GOD. Don’t forget, according
to verse 3, an entire verse which deals with Jesus, says no
man calls Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost!
SPIRIT
WON’T LEAVE YOU IGNORANT
Therefore,
we know in John 16:14, when Jesus told His disciples when He the
Spirit of Truth is come He would be the one who is giving out these
gifts. Furthermore, He is also to be Lord over them, and thirdly
He is God seeing He is the one to be praised for them; His name
is Jesus, He shall take the things
of mine and show them unto you. He will never speak of Himself
but of Me; He will glorify only
Me. Isn’t that what the Spirit is doing here in I Corinthians
12? It is the same Spirit of God who is Lord working in the new
office work, distributing the THINGS OF CHRIST after that He, the
Spirit of Christ, (the father) in His new office work has first
wooed and convicted you of your sin of unbelief, John 16;8-9, bringing
you to a realization that you should accept Jesus Christ as your
Lord and Saviour. It is this Spirit of God who is Lord that baptizes
you into the mystical body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:13) and beloved,
that Spirit of Truth will not leave you ignorant as to the objective
of God in your life. Recall that objective of God is that you be
conformed to the image of His dear Son (Romans 8:29). However, if
you don’t know that His dear Son was Lord
God Almighty in flesh and that
the Spirit now in you is not some third person but is the very Spirit
of Christ who distributes all things of Christ into the mystical
body, then all you would know is, there is a Spirit in me,
I don’t know where it came from or what it is doing! All I
now is I feel it about me. HOGWASH! When the Spirit of Truth is
come, He testifies of Christ,
telling you all about Christ. He doesn’t leave you in ignorance
as to who Christ is, (John 15:25, John 16:13-14). And through a
demonstration of these nine gifts, the Spirit distributes throughout
the mystical body you see a demonstration of Christ in the earth
throughout the Book of Acts.
EVERY
BELIEVER GIVEN SOMETHING
Leaving
verse 6, Paul now drops his Holy Ghost thought down on to the level
of the individual through which the gift will operate. No longer
does Paul use the phrase Lord or
God to carry over a certain emphasis. Instead he returns
to his original phrase, the same
Spirit. Once these nine gifts of the Spirit or THINGS OF
CHRIST have equally been distributed
throughout the entire body of Christ, verse 7 declares, and
please remember this following statement
in verse 7 can only be applied to a setting similar to Paul’s
day in the first church age, the spiritual manifestations
of the Spirit is given to every believer (Paul says) to profit withal.
Note that, given to every believer, not to profit the individual
the gift operates through, but instead is to profit everyone is
the body of Christ, according to the Apostle Paul.
EARLY
CHURCH CONSISTED OF TRUE BELIEVERS
What
a truth is concealed in this small verse! However, in order to grasp
such a statement one must recall fully the setting of that early church in Paul’s hour, some 30 years
after Pentecost. Here Paul teaches two facts: (1) All
believers of that hour had been baptized into the mystical body
of Christ, not by water baptism but by the baptism of the Spirit.
True, once the early church believer had embraced the gospel of
God as taught by the apostles this
one Spirit of God baptized every believer into the body of Christ.
(2) Every believer once baptized
into the mystical body by the same Spirit was also given, along
with his portion of the Holy Ghost, a gift or his portion of the
THINGS OF CHRIST!
HAD
GOSPEL NOT GOTTEN OFF COURSE
However,
remember this can only apply to the revelated born again Holy Ghost
filled believers who made up this mystical body of Christ on earth
in Paul’s day! Had the gospel
of Christ not gotten off course after the first century, this setting
could still continually have been applied! The same Spirit
of Christ which ascended on high, returning ten days later to take
up His permanent abode in the church, which at that hour consisted
of only 120 believers, however, before the day was finished, according
to Acts 2:37-42, 3000 more precious souls were added to that mystical
body. Several days later 5000 more Jews we know were added (Acts
4:4) making at least a grand total of 8120 souls filled with the
Holy Ghost as the gifts of the Spirit
are distributed equally among the body. And get this, not
a tare nor unbeliever was in the midst! And so, on down through
the centuries of time as people have been truly converted to truth,
the same Spirit has given to each his
portion of the THINGS OF CHRIST as
He baptizes them into the body. For what purpose, that this
mystical body, made up strictly of Holy Ghost filled revelated believers
might live Christ, teach Christ and demonstrate Christ on the earth.
(John 14:12-16, 14-15)
However,
one must not forget, according to the revealed scriptures and history
itself, everything did not remain
under the beautiful leadership of that same Spirit of Christ as
was in that first generation of the grace age! No, another
Spirit took over to guide the church! By the time the true church
had passed out of the Apostolic Age, which overlapped well into
the second Century, the church was slowly losing her ability to
carry the true Word seed or revelated knowledge of the Word of God
as they had so beautifully accomplished within the first generation,
that Jesus was truly the Old Testament
God in the flesh! Nevertheless, by the time the church reaches
325 A.D., and that man-made Nicean church council called by the
Roman Emperor Constantine, the church was now no longer the kind
of spiritual church she was when
Paul was writing to the Corinthian church during that first age
when she was fed by the early five-fold ministry. Instead the church
in the 3rd Century was
rapidly being filled with carnal, unconverted pagans who
had left their religion within the Roman Empire and had come over
to Christianity since Constantine had made Christianity a state
religion.
The
Bible declares in Matthew 13:24-30, that even as early as the 2nd
Century, after the death of those first apostles and five-fold ministry,
Satan had succeeded in sowing false
doctrinal seed among the mystical body and had already begun
to implant certain personalities who
continued to sow false doctrine. Naturally once such teaching
began to take hold of the people’s minds, this
automatically wrecked the framework of true revelation as
taught in the early church and slowly began brainwashing the minds
of the 2nd Century saints causing them to lose that fervency
for revelatory knowledge, and the power of God was also beginning
to diminish from their midst. Why? Because God will not confirm
error! God confirms only the truth as shown in Mark 16:20; Hebrews
2:3-4. Sure, for a while no doubt these believers within the 2nd
Century continued to live and exemplify Christ in that of Christian
character, rejoicing over the fact they are saved from their sins.
Nevertheless, once the devil was permitted to enter into the midst
of believers sowing his false doctrine, doctrine which many saints
in the 1st Age had already been battling according to
the scriptures. Satan, finally entering their midst, led to the
warping of their spiritual revelation, the framework of their thinking
concerning the fact God is One.
Instead Satan slowly now implants into their minds that God is 3
persons. Note, as long as the church was made up of true born again
believers, as they were in the days of Paul, Satan
could not penetrate the church. Not until 325 A.D., was Satan
successful in turning his theory into a creed or church doctrine.
Once this promoting of a teaching began what do we see, the diminishing
of the power of God as it
leaves their midst, for the setting is now no longer as it was in
the day of Paul, when He wrote I Corinthians 12:7.
The
true revelation of Christ now seems to slowly deteriorate and with
it also deteriorates the power of God, because the power of Christ
or THINGS OF CHRIST must feed into the framework of the true revelation.
God’s presence leaves what is called the church of that hour.
Why? Because God cannot confirm
error. On and on this deterioration of Truth continued until
you reached about 500 A.D., and the church which is now scattered
over Europe filled mostly with unbelievers is approaching the threshold
of the dreaded 1000 years of Dark Ages or Satan’s Millennium.
Christianity, as known during the first age when Paul addressed
the Corinthian church in chapter 12, simply did not exist! Therefore,
I Corinthians 12:7 could not apply to this type of people. No beloved,
THE THINGS OF CHRIST Paul spoke of concerning how the Holy Ghost
operated these gifts in the body and further said every man was
given a gift of the Spirit could now no longer be applied to such
a church.
GIFTS
DEMONSTRATED IN DARK AGES
Nevertheless,
here and there during that Dark period, God by His grace would raise
up certain men who possessed only a dim vision of what little spiritual
light was available in that hour and God would be seen to confirm
and bless that, through certain gifts and demonstrations of His
power. No, by no means, was God confirming this well organized belief
of God in three persons of a trinity or any other carnal church
doctrine. God merely confirmed their spirit of love to detest this
evil corruption within a blinded religious system! No where did
God ever confirm with signs following the doctrine of the Catholic
church!
That
beloved is the position the church world lay in once the first dawning
light of Protestantism, around 1500, broke over the horizon and
slowly through time God began to restore certain basic doctrinal
apostolic truths to the church. However, around the opening of the
20th Century the believers are brought back unto a Holy
Ghost experience wherein once again in great measure do we see the
gifts of God begin to automatically function wherein the gift might
once again profit withal, according to I Corinthians 12:7, and on
the end of that final gentile Laodicean church age came a gentile
church age messenger to restore within Laodicea all Truth which
had been embraced by the apostles, but lost through these various
church ages. Yet God returned this Truth to restore a potential
bride of this hour shortly before Christ returns. Through
this God-sent messenger the believers could now make a full return
to the teachings of that first church age or first generation after
Pentecost and experience, once again, that same Pentecostal new
birth experience thereby embracing the one Spirit who distributes
al these THINGS OF CHRIST into the mystical body, whereby the body
might demonstrate Christ once again in the earth as Paul had taught.
However
isn’t it strange, now that God has given us this restoring
message to place us back whereby I Corinthians 12:7 might operate
in our lives as effectively as it did in the first age, that now
we have people who declare they are a part of this message, who
when they were out there in some Pentecostal church, they fully
believed in these THINGS OF CHRIST! And no doubt occasionally, or
quite often, God may have used them in different operation of these
gifts to a certain measure. However, it seems as if the very moment
they stepped outside the doors of that carnal organizational system
and stepped over into this glorious revelated message of apostolic
truth, which places us in perfect alignment with I Corinthians 12,
suddenly it seems all their electrical wires from glory have been
cut lose and everything spiritual in the way of gifts suddenly stopped!
Beloved, it should not be that way! Nevertheless such a condition
does exist, although I am sure somewhere God will change the situation
even if He has to use a world condition to do so.
NOT
BELIEVERS AND TARES
During
that early hour the church, or mystical body which had a setting
such as I Corinthians 12, was not filled with tares and true believers
as you see once the church approaches the 2nd Century.
And in the hour of I Corinthians 12:7, everyone who was being added
to the church by the Spirit not only was baptized with the Holy
Ghost, but it was this baptism of the Holy Ghost which placed revelated
believers in the mystical body of Christ, thus completing the New
Birth. Hence the baptism of the Holy Ghost is not something optional,
IT IS A MUST!
HAVE
I A GIFT?
Does
that mean, someone in the body of Christ may ask - that I have a
gift in my life? Certainly! Isn’t that what Paul said! Now
I remind you the setting, gospel-wise, must be the same as in Paul’s
day to make this scripture, I Corinthians 12:7, apply in your life.
Remember, when the Holy Ghost baptizes you into His mystical body,
He is already fully aware of your
capacity as you dedicate your life obediently unto His will.
That Spirit of Grace within you called the Father, called the Spirit
of Christ, called the Holy Ghost, knows the ability you possess
in allowing the Spirit of God to work His will and purpose in your
life. Therefore, according to Paul’s teaching there is the
potential of some gift lying in every Holy Ghost filled child of
God (though bear in mind the setting of I Corinthians 12:7 was within
that first generation of saints in the grace who embraces all the
truth to their bosom, in an hour when a congregation lived holy
and clean, not resembling the man of the world whatsoever.)
PAUL
NOT ILLUSTRATING HOW TO GET GIFTS
Note
these nine gifts, even though the church did not fully understand
their spiritual operation, they were nonetheless already operating
in their full capacity within the body of Christ on each during
that first church age as Christ had promised in John 16:13-15 that
they would be! Christ had kept His promise! The evidence was most
visible among the body of Christ!
Isn’t
this beautiful, Paul isn’t writing to the Corinthians church
as well as the other churches who would read this letter also, explaining
unto them anything about how or what to do in order to get the gifts
started to operating in their life. No, they needed only an understanding
of the gifts which were already operating. They needed to know how
to treat and respect these things of Christ now operating in His
body. It wasn’t a question of how many of these things they
could have, provided they could pray and fast, because Paul tells
them the gifts were distributed by the same SPIRIT, as He saw fit,
NOT ACCORDING TO WHAT THEY WANTED! As the person was baptized into
the body of Christ by this one Spirit, that potential, or THING
OF CHRIST, came with the believers portion of Christ! And Paul declares
to one is given one thing and to another is given something else.
Paul is showing the church they must not get in the way of these
gifts with carnal ideas toward them, because they are only the vessel
through which the gift operates. The
Holy Ghost, who is Lord of the operation of the gift, will operate
it whenever He Himself so chooses! It can not ever be operated wherever
or whenever we choose, says Paul.
PART
4 - RECOGNIZING THE 9 GIFTS
Having
informed the Corinthian church, everyone in that church age up to
the hour within the first generation of believers had already received
the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal. Paul begins with
verse 8 to name the various, different nine gifts of the Spirit.
Beloved, these THINGS OF CHRIST are given by that Spirit who will
never speak of Himself, but seeks only to glorify and exemplify
Christ through these nine gifts. Therefore, to make a foolish statement
as some are doing today, saying there is no gift of the Spirit within
the true mystical body of Christ today, is the same as to say, there
is no Christ in the body of true revelated believers as was found
in the first generation of the revelated saints! A statement of
such caliber is to further admit that as a people of the end time
you have never even been returned through the message of the prophet
to the true apostolic teachings of the apostles, for the teaching
here according to the Apostle Paul is, that once the Holy Ghost
placed you into the body of Christ He gave to each believer a certain
potential of the THINGS OF CHRIST, else how will Christ be lived
and exemplified to this age!
NO.
1 - WORD OF WISDOM
Having
clearly stated in verse 7 everyone in the body of Christ (up to
that hour) had received something in the way of the manifestation
of the Spirit, Paul begins by saying in verse 8, “for
to one person in that body is given the WORD OF WISDOM.”
Notice, the Spirit did not give to everyone the Word of Wisdom because
Paul further states, to another He gave the Word of Knowledge to
another something else, etc. This thing of wisdom is seen continually
in Christ’s ministry. Read especially Matthew 21:23-27. Wisdom
kept Him out of many traps set by religious leaders. Wisdom gave
Him the correct answer. Read Matthew 22:15-46. This wisdom was one
of the THINGS OF CHRIST to be placed in the body!
WHAT
IS IT?
What
is wisdom? There is only one book on earth that can show
us what Holy Ghost wisdom is like and that is the Bible. In this
book we have a beautiful account which portrayed what wisdom is
or the manifestations of what wisdom is. The Bible speaks of Solomon,
who in his day did not desire silver and gold, instead asked for
the wisdom of God in order to know how to lead his people in Israel.
Jesus himself referred to the wisdom
of Solomon declaring how the Queen of Sheba came to hear
and see the wisdom of Solomon (Matthew 12:42) and Jesus said, “Behold
a greater than Solomon is here!” Two women appeared before
Solomon. (I Kings 3:16-28). Both had given birth to children and
even shared the same bed. One woman apparently had smothered her
baby and out of her grief for a live child stole the other woman’s
baby. An argument arose which brought in the elders of the city,
who after examining the situation, declared it was one which required
Solomon’s wisdom to unravel. Listening to both women’s
stories, Solomon drew his sword to divide the living child in half.
Watch the wisdom of God in operation. Wisdom can be cruel, yet it
never fails to get the job done. Solomon knew the real mother would
give up the child rather than see it killed. One woman cried out
to spare the baby’s life and give it to the other woman, thus
Solomon knew who the real mother was.
Sometimes
the wisdom of God may not appear ethical and at times appears quite
crude, nevertheless, it is always effective in assisting you to
make the right decision or judgment. Your case in needing wisdom
may never be like that of Solomon’s, yet you may have a decision
which you cannot possibly know what to do or what decision to make
without God’s wisdom to assist you. What then is the operation
of this gift of the word of wisdom? It is the impartation of Godly
wisdom that God Himself imparts to you through His Spirit, which
is already in you if you are a member of the true revelated body
of Christ. Wisdom often serves as guidance! Suddenly you are faced
with an important decision, you need an answer pondering the situation
which confronts you, it appears through one line of thought the
thing could go one way while looking at it from another angle it
appears it would go another way. Sooner or later it is something
you must face and when you do it will require action on your part
in making a decision. It may be a decision of such nature there
is no book you can consult, not even the Bible for an answer. Recall,
the Bible records only the action of wisdom portrayed in others
of by-gone days as situations and conditions affected their individual
lives. There might be a similarity to fit your need, then again
there might not. Remember, there is not a situation which God cannot
handle.
A
LITTLE WISDOM IMPARTED
God
is unlimited in wisdom, therefore, the Word of Wisdom referred to
by Paul as a gift given by this same spirit who is also God and
Lord does by no means imply that God gives to the believer of this
particular gift all the wisdom which God possesses. No! It is only
a Word of Wisdom. Sometime in your life a condition arises where
it appears Satan has you hemmed in, nevertheless, if you walk humbly
before God, He won’t allow that situation to last forever
without revealing to you what to do.
Seeing
that this godly wisdom which was first
in Christ is now in the mystical body of Christ, God may
choose to give you the answer you need personally, or on the other
hand, He may give your answer through
another believer, and that Word of Wisdom pertaining to the
certain situation you are in will show you exactly what to do. The
answer is the imparted Word of Wisdom needed to meet that particular
situation. Remember in our study of the gifts or the THINGS
OF CHRIST we are only seeking to identify the gifts that are definitely
within the true body of Christ in order that we may recognize their
function. Our purpose is
not to show how they operate within a believer, they will operate
however the Holy Ghost wants them to operate.
Wisdom
may appear simple, nevertheless it works. Was it quite simple in
Solomon’s case, he simply picked up a sword to divide a living
child. It doesn’t even have to be a huge task in order for
that gift, the Word of Wisdom, to manifest itself. The situation
at hand may be very small and requires only a small word or deed
to work out this problem, nevertheless, whether large or small whatever
the answer comes be sure to give God glory. If you can’t thank
Him for the small things, you will never recognize Him in the large
things. Paul teaches in I Corinthians 14:1, that we should desire
the cultivation of the spiritual gifts in our life. If we desire
this gift of the Word of Wisdom of this God who is unlimited in
wisdom, then beware we be not a person prone to much gossip. Gossip
and the Word of Wisdom would surely somewhere take our lives off
balance.
NO.
2 - THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE
The
second gift or THING OF CHRIST mentioned by Paul, also recorded
in verse 8, presented to (still) another person in the body of Christ
by the same Spirit (which never spoke of Himself) is the Word
of Knowledge. Yes, definitely within the body of Christ some
(not all) whosoever the Spirit chooses to receive this gift are
given the Word of Knowledge. The Word of Knowledge was seen in Christ’s
ministry in John 1:47-51 and Matthew 17:27. How do we recognize
the Word of Knowledge in operation? Again when the hour arrives
that you are confronted with something, shall we say a situation
develops and you need to know what course to take, you are faced
with two lines of thought. Seeing God’s knowledge of everything
including the future is unlimited and shall we say, somewhere in
the future unbeknown to you, you are about to be involved in a car
accident. Through this Word of Knowledge God may speak and warn
you as a believer concerning this accident. With the Word of Knowledge
there is a good chance you can avoid this accident, provided you
heed what you are shown concerning the accident. Either God Himself,
who is on the inside of you, may choose to show you personally through
your own fleshly vessel what will happen if you do a certain thing,
or He may choose to use another believer to warn you concerning
the wreck.
LEVELS
OF OPERATION
Recall
in verse 5-6, Paul declared there were differences of administrations
concerning the gifts as well as different functions or operations
of the gifts, nevertheless, it was the same LORD controlling it
all. There are differences in the operations of these gifts. The
Word of Knowledge can appear on 3 levels: (1)
VISIONS - which is the highest
order of the Word of Knowledge. Many people observed Bro.
Branham under the anointing of the Holy Ghost as he would inform
people of the secrets of their hearts and people thought this was
a gift of discernment in operation. No, that particular part operating
in the prophet was not discernment, or as Paul said, the gift of
discernment of spirits. No beloved, that working within the prophet
to inform him of the secrets of people’s hearts was none other
than the operation of the Word of Knowledge! You will see the difference
between the two gifts once we study the discernment of spirits.
When Bro. Branham looked upon a person and told them their names
and such, that wasn’t discernment, that was Knowledge! God
who has all knowledge knew all of that, didn’t He? Therefore,
when the prophet told people all these things to build their faith,
that was a Gift of Knowledge drawing
off the past tense. When he said I see through the vision
that you are up for an operation, that is knowledge drawing
on the future tense. And remember beloved, as we stated,
visions are the highest manifestations of the Word of Knowledge.
Knowledge is that gift which you always read about being in the
lives of the prophets. (2) DREAMS
- is the secondary level of Knowledge while (3) IMPRESSIONS
- is the third level of Knowledge. God may choose to simply impress
upon you something so heavy that you literally, without a vision
or dream, feel it in your soul so strongly this is what will happen
if you pursue the plan you have in mind. In a prophet’s life,
such as Bro. Branham’s, the gift of Knowledge was continually
working on one of the three levels - through visions, dreams or
impressions.
IMPRESSION
THE 3RD
Back
to the car wreck, say you’re planning to do a certain thing
in the future, for instance take a trip and the very moment plans
are made, suddenly inside of you have that feeling or impression,
no, it’s not a dream and it’s not a vision, it’s
the 3rd level of operation and God is going to permit
you to draw off of His unlimited knowledge of the future,
and concerning that trip you have an impression that if it is carried
out something is going to happen. That something inside of you is
the Holy Spirit operating through the WORD OF KNOWLEDGE, because
He possesses all knowledge of all things and it is through this
gift that God imparts knowledge, either by vision, dream or impression,
and here by the 3rd level of the operation of the gift,
an impression, you have received warning if you take that trip something
will happen. You see, God knows that and He further knows how to
press this upon your Spirit. What is it all about? God the Spirit
is merely allowing you, through this gift, the ability to have just
a little foresight into what He already knows. He does that to equip
you with a little understanding whereby we may prepare ourselves
to either avoid, in this case, the accident or once it happens whatever
the situation may be you will have prepared yourself for nothing
drastic to come out of it. Irregardless to which of the three levels;
visions, dream or impression, it is the Spirit of God through this
gift seeking to guide His children, because as we saw in verse 7,
the manifestation of the Spirit (in some manner) is given to every
true believer to profit withal.
EXAMPLES
OF KNOWLEDGE OPERATING
Several
examples of the gift of the WORD OF KNOWLEDGE I would like to mention.
First that great 2nd Century martyr Polycarp, John the
Beloved’s loyal student who lived among the 2nd
Century disciples, in an hour when the truth was deteriorating away
from the right revelated, apostolic standard as it was in the first
age, was shown in advance concerning the martyr’s death he
would die. Peter the apostle also testifies how he could see himself
leaving the scene of life, and Paul, did not he also declare how
he knew his own departure was getting close. It is because they
lived so sensitive to the Spirit of God, the people allowed the
Holy Ghost to guide their lives. Returning from Asia Minor to Jerusalem,
Paul testifies how he would go to Jerusalem bound in the Spirit.
Paul had that feeling in his soul how he would meet trouble in Jerusalem.
Paul declared how the Holy Ghost bore that same witness in every
city that bonds and afflictions awaited him in Jerusalem. (Acts
20:23)
NO.
3 - REVEALED FAITH VS. PRESUMPTUOUS FAITH
The
third thing of Christ Paul mentioned is referred to as THE GIFT
OF FAITH. Note if you will how Paul groups these 9 gifts in groups
of threes. WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE
and now FAITH makes up what is referred to as the thought
(or mind) gifts. Out of all
9 gifts FAITH is the one gift which truly affects us more perhaps
than the others, because of the necessity of FAITH even for conversion
and the new birth. I sincerely believe this gift of FAITH, though
on different levels, absolutely lays in each believer’s life
and no doubt when conditions are perfect, if we walk with God as
we should, we will see the gift of FAITH more in operation to produce
the purpose in which it was placed with the body of Christ to accomplish.
What
is scriptural FAITH and what does it feed from? In short, scriptural
FAITH (though it appears on different levels) is a revelatory faith
or is something you can believe in because it is something that
has previously been revealed unto you by the Spirit to do, then
BY FAITH you do it! It is a promise of God whereby you may link
your FAITH up to. Hence, revelatory faith is something far more
than merely blind belief. It is not having faith in something when
there is no assurance that something will happen once you have believed.
REVEALED FAITH is not blind reaching out in the unknown, hoping
you made the right decision or choice!
By
examining Hebrews 11, we will better understand what scriptural
revealed FAITH is. By the way, Hebrews 11:6 declares without
this kind of faith it is impossible to please God! Verse
1 declares, “Faith is the
substance (or the assurance) of
things hoped for, the evidence (or the conviction) of
things not seen.” Then we are presented with a list
of Old Testament saints showing how their lives had all been motivated
through revelatory faith where both conviction and assurance played
a great part in their faith. In verse 1, the original word for substance
means assurance, hence revealed
faith is an assurance of the thing hoped for and it is the conviction
of things not seen. Inside every believer is that certain
feeling which produces certain convictions. Therefore, revealed
faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things
not seen. Throughout that 11th chapter of Hebrews, we
are confronted with patriarchs the writer uses to exemplify that
kind of revealed faith.
As
we have often stated, not one of these men mentioned here who walked
by faith, from Abel on down, suddenly came up with some wild notion
or idea (which they called faith) that they wanted to travel or
journey the route they embarked upon. No, not one of them one day
suddenly had a wild notion, strike them to do what they did and
call that action on their part faith! If they themselves or some
other human prompted them to believe what they did, then where did
that particular desire originate?
In
each case God spoke before they acted - AND HERE IS FAITH IN ACTION!
Once God had spoken to their inner being, that planted within them
an assurance and a conviction
needed to move out in the direction they were told. Faith on their
part was merely obeying the voice and holding on until what was
supposed to happen, did happen. It was by no means a presumptuous
faith on their part. In each case God had spoken!
REVEALED
FAITH IN NOAH
Watch
the scripture portraying this revealed faith in Noah and others.
And remember, without this faith
it is impossible to please God! This faith that pleased God
is not a presumptuous faith. Verse 7 declares
by faith Noah built an Ark! Beloved, this doesn’t mean
Noah was sitting around one day watching the growing evil of the
hour and suddenly decided it would be wisdom on his part to build
a boat, seeing that when it rained a flood would come and all would
be drowned if he didn’t! Yet that is about the idea of our
modern teaching of faith, simply take it by faith, move out by faith
and God will honor etc.... He honored Noah, Abraham and others because
they moved by faith. Beloved, a revealed Bible faith does not work
that way. Suppose Noah had taken it all by presumptuous faith, that
God was going to destroy the world by water and he built himself
a boat without having previously heard one word from God concerning
a flood? No, God never told Noah, you simply take it by faith! God
told Noah what to do! Noah’s test of faith was this, how
do I know or what proof do I have it is going to rain? The
assurance and conviction in him that a flood was coming was in the
fact God had spoken and said it will (and God can’t lie).
Noah
had never seen rain nor a boat that large, nevertheless, Noah’s
test of faith came over whether to build such a thing, seeing there
wasn’t that much water around to float it. But
by faith Noah built an ark! If a voice speaks to you which
you are convinced is the voice of God to do something which you
have never previously thought of doing, and secondly you recognize
the natural impossibility of the thing ever happening, would that
not be a test to you to do it? What assurance would you have the
thing would ever happen? Yet if you are positive the voice which
spoke was God’s voice (As Noah was) and you act by faith upon
what that voice said, then you are
acting upon revealed faith and not presumptuous faith or
as we hear of today, simply take it by faith. Your very action in
doing what the voice has commanded you becomes the expression of
assurance and conviction inside you that once you perform this deed
which you were instructed to do (irregardless to how the voice came)
it is because your convictions which motivate you to do this, acting
on this revealed faith means you are just as positive what
you are doing once it is finished or promised, that is acting on
faith (revealed faith)! And remember, it is the only kind of faith
that can please God! Noah wasn’t a man who looked upon the
evil of the day and knew what to do. Oh, no, he did not know what
to do until God spoke to him! Recall, Genesis 6 declares after God
looked upon the evil situation He then saw Noah, a just and perfect
man in his generation. However, now until the Eternal Spirit approached
Noah did he know what to do. Yet Hebrews 11:7 declares, by faith
he built a boat to save his household. Building a boat so long and
so high wasn’t something Noah had thought about. I repeat,
what Noah did was not presumptuous thinking and then moving out
on his own thoughts saying, I will do it by faith, God will honor
it. Noah acted on the only kind of faith that pleases God - REVEALED
FAITH!
ABRAHAM
- BY FAITH
Another
example of a man acting on the only kind of faith that can please
God was ABRAHAM. In verses 8-10, Abraham wasn’t sitting outside
his tent one day when suddenly he got the thought or notion in his
mind he would, by faith,
move to a strange land, therefore, he would simply move out by
faith and God would honor his move. No, God
spoke to Abraham and told him to move! Verse 8 declares by
faith Abraham sojourned in a strange land. Where then does Abraham’s
faith enter into the picture? How do I know as I move out this is
a move in the right direction, what assurance do I have this new
land will be a good land? How do I know the outcome? The Bible declares
Abraham believed God and staggered not at the promises, yet by no
means was the move one of presumptuous faith. He acted on revealed
faith - the only kind that can please God! Even though he was tested
every step of the journey, it was still revelatory faith, God spoke
to Abraham to make the move! Abraham, like Noah, was guided by that
assurance and conviction he felt inside his bosom. His testing along
the way was to build within him that type of spiritual character
God desired to instill in Abraham, seeing he was to become the
father of faithful. Father of all those who through the centuries
would also walk by revealed faith, in other words, acting upon what
God told them to do.
Speaking
of presumptuous faith of which we hear so much about today, just
move out by faith and God will honor you, I am ruling out the fact
God, often in His mercy, does honor what we do through a mere presumptuous
faith, yet remember, that is not walking by revelatory faith, the
only kind of faith that pleases God and without it it is impossible
to please Him! God is not obligated to honor presumptuous faith
as He is revealed faith.
SAVING
FAITH - WHAT IS IT?
Seeing
the scriptures boldly declare in order to be in the kingdom of God
we must first be saved by that kind of faith that pleases God, that
revelated faith - without it it is impossible to please God, don’t
you think we should establish just what saving faith is and what
God expects from it! Remember it is not the gift of faith spoken
of in I Corinthians 12:9. Why did Jesus declare, no man comes to
me except the father draw him (John 6:44)? No, you cannot be saved
whenever you choose, there must first be that convicting or drawing
power of the Spirit called Father. Jesus, referring to Isaiah, declared
all that should come to me will be learned of the Father. Therefore,
before you can ever know God in revelatory truth as to who He is,
it is going to require revelatory faith of the Spirit to be imparted
to you as it was in Hebrews 11. After God has convicted you of your
sins, it will require a revelatory faith to start you out walking
in faith with God.
THE
GIFT OF FAITH - WHAT IS IT?
Having
briefly explored several aspects of the revealed faith, along with
presumptuous faith, let us now examine the gift of faith in I Corinthians
12:9. This gift of faith is not that tried and tested faith of which
we spoke. No, instead it is that special anointing or operation
of the body of Christ. The gift of faith is the anointing or the
demonstration of that imparted faith to be exercised only in an
hour when it is needed, mainly to minister to someone standing in
need of prayer or simply a word wisely spoken through that particular
anointing of faith. Regardless to whatever manner that gift of faith
in the believer operates, it will always accomplish God’s
purpose. Remember in the discussion of these 9 gifts it is not my
intention to tell you how they operate, seeing the scriptures declare
there are diversities (differences) of operation. Our desire only
is to show their identity as they have been scripturally placed
in the body of Christ. The point is, irregardless to public opinion
concerning these THINGS OF CHRIST, if He placed one gift in the
body He wouldn’t stop until He placed all the gifts in the
body! And once that hour arrives for the body of Christ to actually
take on the full measure of the stature of Christ, as recorded in
Ephesians 4:12-16, I assure you it won’t only be in the stature
of the revelatory part of Christ, it will also be in the expression
of portraying or showing forth the THINGS OF CHRIST! After all beloved,
wasn’t that God’s entire objective of having a mystical
body in the earth to begin with, to represent Jesus Christ here
on earth!
The
gift of faith is something you have not worked for, had you done
so it would not be a gift! It is that special anointing which rests
upon us that when we look at a situation which often seems hopeless,
we nonetheless have that unshakable assurance inside of us that
everything is going to be all right. (Luke 8:49-50 is one example
where the gift of faith operated in Christ’s ministry.) There
have been many men of faith in this century greatly anointed of
God to pray for afflictions of divers kinds of diseases. No, it
wasn’t the gift of the WORD OF KNOWLEDGE that assures them
everything will be all right; it wasn’t being able to tell
the sick who they were, what city and state they were from, their
house number etc., no, none of that! Nevertheless something inside
these men God was using, when they came in contact with such an
afflicted person, it is that special gift of faith that rose upward
and assured the man of God as he lay hands on that incurable disease
that every thing would turn out all right.
Let
us bring this gift of faith down to your level. Say we are faced
with a situation or circumstance which seemingly there is no way
out. If God has not, through the gift of knowledge, already fore
shown us the way out then once you are under this kind of pressure
it is then this gift of faith will shine. Whether it would simply
be God anointing or inspiring you to give you that needed assurance
that everything will be all right, although in that hour things
couldn’t look darker, or whether God might simply impress
upon another believer, operating through the gift of faith to say
unto you - the Lord impresses me
to tell you not to worry over this situation because everything
will be all right. Don’t you think for a moment, beloved,
that somewhere out there in front of us there is not going to be
all kind of room for this gift of faith to operate!
NO.
4 - GIFTS OF HEALING
Verse
9, Paul mentions another gift, only here he refers to it in the
plurality - the GIFTS OF HEALING
- not the gift of healing.
Yes, there are many (kinds) of gifts of healing placed throughout
the true body of Christ. Remember we are not discussing how any
of these gifts operate, we are not even identifying the effects
of them upon individuals through which they operate, we are seeking
only to identify them in their operation. The gift of healing is
that special anointing of God placed inside a vessel of clay which
may or may not be accompanied with outward physical manifestations.
Concerning
this endtime message of revelated truth, we witnessed a man who
possessed a gift in his life which I seriously doubt such a gift
has ever been seen in all church history, including the Book of
Acts outside the life of Christ. However, don’t you try to
compare other gifts on the same level with the gift in this man!
That attitude does the program of God injustice! Maybe by illustrating
with a quarter I could better show you what I mean. A quarter is
equivalent to 25 pennies, isn’t it? Yet you wouldn’t
belittle the penny simply because it wasn’t a quarter, would
you? I grant you, a penny won’t buy much, yet you can get
a penny’s worth and if you had 25 pennies you would buy the
same thing you could with a quarter, wouldn’t you? Therefore,
never belittle God’s spiritual monetary program. True, He
does have certain gifts within the 9 which stand out far above and
beyond the others, even as you have certain organs within the human
body that also stand out far above other organs, yet you don’t
belittle uncomely organs simply because certain ones are not a noticeable
as others.
Keep
in mind, when Christ placed Himself in the New Testament church
He distributed Himself by His Spirit whereby there is going to be
different levels of His representation, characteristics, demonstrations
illustrated throughout His mystical body. And certainly it would
be wrong to pick one gift above the other. Yet sorry to say, this
is what we find today. Back in the 50's we had a true deliverance
move of God. God anointed men with faith and through them He also
places the gift of healing, because it was God’s hour to present
to the world a demonstration of His goodness and mercy through that
of healing, etc. Men who knew little of the Truth of this hour,
yet out of a simple prayer of faith prayed for multitudes of sick
and God honored their prayers. Bear in mind we are not discussing
the disobedience of any individuals who fail to walk further along
in Truth, we are only discussing these gifts and how you can’t
pivot one against the other because each one has a particular purpose
and objective given by the Spirit to produce a certain ultimate
goal or objective which the Master and Lord placed in His mystical
body.
OUTWARD
MANIFESTATION
Concerning
the gifts of healing, they can be manifested through that of some
kind of physical sign to the individual they operate through. Outward
physical sensation can even accompany the gift whereby the individual
may know their vessel is being anointed for that particular gift
of healing to operate, since I don’t possess the other person’s
anointing or sensation I cannot possibly explain the operation of
the gift in someone else’s life, only that individual through
which the gift operated would know that. Our purpose is to examine
strictly from the point of identification. The individuals themselves
will recognize their own anointing. How could a person declare God
had given them a gift of tongues if they never heard themselves
in another language, the same would be true with the gift of divine
healing.
FALSE
IDEA
Beloved,
here is the sad, pathetic attitude or feeling among many who declare
they follow this true revelated message, and until God creates some
world shaking event to shake such people into a different frame
of thinking they, no doubt, will continue on in this frame of mind.
That lopsided thinking concerns the gift God placed in Bro. Branham’s
life, and no doubt what God did through that man’s life He
will never repeat in that measure again. Nevertheless, we must realize
many men prayed for the sick with great results years prior to any
of Bro. Branham’s meetings. Therefore, don’t think for
a moment as some do, that there wasn’t divine healing before
the prophet came to the age! To those with that kind of attitude
I would have to ask, where on earth have you been? In early Pentecost
there were such men as Wigglesworth, Charles Price or Bosworth,
etc. True, these men in their respective hour did not see the truth
revelatory wise that many of our readers are walking in, and I would
have to say that you wouldn’t be seeing any more truth today
than what they saw had it not been for a church age prophet messenger
who was sent to the age! Nevertheless, chapters could be written
concerning the early years those men ministered to the sick and
God confirmed their action by healing the sick. True, their healings
were not on an outstanding world-wide scale, national or city scale
later demonstrated throughout those years of 50's. However, healing
was evident in those early Pentecostal years leading into the late
40's and 50's.
GIFT
IN PROPHET
My
personal feeling why God placed such an outstanding gift in this
one man’s life we call Bro. Branham, the messenger to Laodicea,
was because there was a message he had to preach and the gift in
his life was truly a higher anointing to draw special attention
to the vessel of clay who was going to declare that message. Believe
me, the demonstration of that gift in his life wasn’t to declare
to the world; Look, you have never seen healing until this hour!
It is sad when people look at it that way and furthermore will go
off and declare nobody even had the Holy Ghost until Bro. Branham
brought the teaching to the age! God forbid such silly teaching
of carnality! Beloved, when God declared to another He gave the
gifts of healing, you will have to accept it whether you want to
or not, because He, by His Spirit, distributed plurality gifts of
healing throughout the body and you can’t interpret it on
the basis of what you heard and saw demonstrated in the prophet’s
life. That great anointing was strictly a vindication of a message
as well as a messenger. And no doubt you will never see it again
performed in that fashion. It was not even in the Book of Acts,
which portrayed the life of the apostles and early church as well,
but only in the life of Christ.
Yet at no time in the apostles’ lives did anyone ever line
up people in prayer lines and one by one they were told their names,
addresses, illnesses, etc. True, the gift of knowledge operated
throughout Peter marvelously when he told Annanias and Sapphira
what they did and God vindicated it with death. A similarity is
seen in the Apostle Paul’s ministry when he spoke to a man
who was trying to lead astray his converts, God rebuke you, be blind
for so many days and unable to see, declared Paul! No one speaks
in that manner unless first he knows in advance that individual
is going to be struck with blindness, yet no where in the Book of
Acts or in church history do we see those men forming prayer lines
and telling one after the other their names, addresses, etc. Most
of the miracles recorded were performed through the prayer
of faith or the gift of healing.
Even
the gift of miracles lay in the lives of those men, yet no where
on record did the gift of the word of knowledge ever operate in
any believer as it operated in the life of Bro. Branham. However,
don’t belittle God’s gifts as some have because you
don’t see them operate in others in this fashion!
SPECIAL
ANOINTING
Bro.
Branham had a special anointing upon him which worked through his
hand against diseases and afflictions unto such a point if he did
not remove his wrist watch the power of God was known to have shattered
his unbreakable watch crystal. Remember beloved, the gifts of healing
can either be accomplished by physical manifestation or certain
other sensations which only that individual through whom the gift
operates will know and understand.
To
another, God says, the gifts of healing - And how would any man
know that these gifts lay there in his life, placed by this same
Spirit, unless somewhere they are evident through certain sensational
healings! Only the person in whom the gift operates will know the
anointing of God as the gift itself is being stimulated in behalf
of someone who is to receive the benefits of the gift. Don’t
misunderstand, I am not telling you how to operate the gift, we
seek only to identify it and remind you that somewhere either some
physical or emotional sensation would accompany the gift, however,
it is up to the person alone who possesses the gift to become acquainted
enough with the operation of the gift itself to know its operation.
NO.
5 - GIFT OF MIRACLES
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