Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed Part 9 “What is the New Birth?”
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17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Introduction
Introduction
Communion Sunday night
Nicodemus
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
If you asked the average evangelical Christian “what must I do to be born again” most would (correctly) point you to:
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
He didn’t say “you are saved” he sad “you shall be saved”.
When they asked Peter the same question on the Day of Pentecost, he responded this way:
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Repentance is confession, baptism is a public show of your belief in the resurrection.
I believe the formula still works today.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Bro. Branham always deals with this as the beginning:
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
You believe that, son? You believe that, each one of you men? You women believe that? That’s all you could do.
Then what do you do? Accept. Nothing you can do. Say, “Lord,” in your heart, “I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I gladly accept what Jesus done for me. Tonight, from this hour on, I’m going to live for Him.
I’m going to accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour. I’m going to accept Christian baptism. I believe that You’ll fill me with the Holy Spirit. I want to live for You.”
Just a little while and you’ll find everything is changed, and you’re a new creature. The new life comes in, and you live from there on. 63-1103 - "Go, Wake Jesus"
With this in mind, lets look at this section of Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed and see what Bro. Branham identifies as the new birth:
233 Look, Christ in you makes Him the center of Life of the revelation. See? Christ’s Life in you makes Him the center of the revelation.
Christ, in the Bible, makes the Bible the complete revelation of Christ. Christ in you makes you the complete revelation of the whole thing, see, what God is trying to do.
234 What is the new Birth then? You’d say, “Well, Brother Branham, what is the new Birth?” It is the revelation of Jesus Christ personally to you. Amen!
It takes the Holy Spirit to be fully born again, because only the Spirit can reveal the Word (Christ) to you.
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
He is the only one who can reveal the things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
You cannot have a Word Birth without the Spirit. The Spirit and the Word are one.
Not you joined a church, you shook a hand, you done something different, you said a creed, you promised to live by a code of rules. But Christ, the Bible, He is the Word that was revealed to you.
And no matter what anybody says, what takes place, it’s Christ; pastor, priest, whatever it might be. It’s Christ in you, that is the revelation that the Church was built upon.
Christ in you, not just understanding the rules but manifesting the Word in your life.
We have rules for a reason, but I don’t want my children to just follow the rules, I want them to manifest Christ to their friends.
Without the new birth, rule followers become Pharisees. You don’t need to be told when to pray and when to have church, you need Jesus in your life. You don’t need a book of rules, you need the comforter to lead and guide you into all truth.
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Ways people try to get to heaven:
Now there is a way that people think that they just live a good life and can get to Heaven. But that’s an error. You do not get to Heaven by living a good life. The people under the Mosaic law lived a good life.
And then there is a way of church, that we try to go to Heaven by the way of the church. But the church, as good as it is…And I think that every person ought to belong to some church. But in the church, and as good as it is, it still is not the way.
The church can only point you to the Way. But Jesus is that Way. Some has perverted that way, to change it into learning your catechism, or saying creeds, or going by a book of rules.
All that may be ever so good, but that’s not the way. Jesus is the Way. He’s the only Way. “No man can come to the Father except by Me,” said Jesus. The only way to get to Heaven is through Jesus Christ. 60-0606 - "To Whom Would We Go?"
Jesus only asked the Father for one thing, your fellowship:
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
He asked for one thing, “That where I am, they may be also.” He asked for our fellowship. That’s the only thing He asked the Father in the prayer, your companionship forever.
Then how much should we desire Him? If He desire…
Now listen. If you really are born of the Spirit of God, that means everything to you. See? It ain’t some book of rules. You don’t live any laws and so forth. You live by the grace of God, the Spirit of God. 65-1205 - "Things That Are To Be"
Jesus never handed Peter a book of rules.
Peter had the revelation of who Christ was, but he fell. What he needed was the revelation of Christ in Peter.
You might have a revelation of who Christ is in the pastor or the evangelist, but who is He in you?
31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.
235 You say, “Well, I’m a Lutheran. I’m a Baptist. I’m Presbyterian.” That don’t mean one, don’t mean [Brother Branham snaps his finger—Ed.] that to God, not a thing, not a snap of your finger.
The Comforter had to come.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
236 What is it? It’s Christ being revealed, and He is the Word. And when the Word is revealed, It expresses Itself. See?
That’s God’s purpose for Jesus Christ, was to express Himself, to take His Own laws and live by His laws…and fulfill His law, by death.
And Christ, God, died in flesh, in order to condemn sin in the flesh, that He might bring to Himself a glorious Bride, redeemed back, that will believe only in the Word of God;
and not swap It, like Eve did, for intellectual conceptions of man. You see it? That’s Christ’s idea. That’s God’s idea. The new Birth reveals this.
On the day of Pentecost Peter got a revelation of who Christ was in the present day:
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
This is Peter’s two great statements “thou art the Christ” and “this is that”.
The Word which was revealed was expressing itself through Peter.
237 And if a man says he is born again, and try to place these promises of Christ, in this last days, to some other age, making Him Christ yesterday but not today, then that man or that person has been in a delusion by Satan.
He’s the same God or He isn’t any God.
Bro. Branham now gets very direct:
And if that man says that he believes That, and it doesn’t manifest itself through him?
238 Jesus said, in Mark 16, “These signs shall follow them that believe; into all the world, and to every age.” Casting out devils, and speaking with tongues, and all these great manifestations of gifts that would follow, that, “they shall!”
Not, “they may be; they ought to.” “They will!” And heavens and earth will pass away, but His Word won’t.
Many times we miss the manifestation of the Spirit because of the simplicity of it. We have several remarkable testimonies of healing just recently here at the church, but this Bride revival will not be a public show.
(Tent vision-Pillar of fire)
And It left me, and It went right down over the top of that audience, and went and stood over the top of that little building, then settled down on top of it.
And then, when It did, this One that was standing by me, behind me, the same Voice, the Angel’s Voice, He said, “I’ll meet you in there. And this is the Third Pull, but nobody will know nothing about it.”
And I said, “Well, I don’t understand. Why in there? Why there?” He said, “It will not be a public show, this time.” 56-0408A - "What Is A Vision?"
Questions and Answers on the Seals:
194. Would the Bride of Christ have…? Would the Bride of Christ have a ministry before the Rapture?
233 Sure. That’s what’s going on right now, see, the Bride of Christ. Certainly. It is the Message of the hour, see, the Bride of Christ. Sure.
She is consist of apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastors. Is that right? That’s the Bride of Christ. Sure. She’s got a ministry, great ministry, the ministry of the hour. It’ll be so humble.
234 Now remember. How many was here, at the first, when I…? Last Sunday, see, remember what I preached on? Humility. Oh, don’t forget that. I’m going to stop a minute, to warn that again.
Remember, when God predicts anything great to happen, the people are looking so far away, by their wisdom, till they miss what happens.
When God says anything is great, the world laughs at it. “That bunch of ignoramuses!” That’s right. 63-0324M - "Questions And Answers On The Seals"
Brother Branham explains this in great detail in Questions and Answers No. 3 (1964).
He basically say that a human being will do human being things. You won’t fly like a bird. You won’t crawl like a bug, you’ll walk like a human.
Among those human beings some will play piano, some will be scientific, some will be salesmen, some will be mechanics.
The gifts are in the body of humanity. The five ministry gifts and the nine spiritual gifts are in the body of the believers.
30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
The more excellent way was love.
47 And you, when you’re filled with the Spirit, here’s one of the best signs I know: you’re so in love with Christ and believe every Word that He says to be the Truth.
That’s the evidence that you have the Holy Spirit. And your life’s full of joy, and oh my, everything’s different (see?) than what it used to be. That’s the Holy Spirit. 64-0830M - "Questions And Answers #3"
It doesn’t even have to be in our church, but signs do follow the believers, and we have seen it among us. A living God today!
239 So it’s Christ expressing Himself in the individual, whether he’s intellectual or whether he don’t know his ABC’s. Half the apostles didn’t know it, that’s right, but they knowed Christ.
They never taken heed to Peter and John, knowing that they had been out of some seminary. They said, “They taken heed and noticed that they had been with Christ,” when they healed the lame man, see, at the gate. They knowed they had been with Christ.
They no longer acted like very other human being, they acted like Christ.
The New birth is the Spirit leading you to the Word, and quickening the seed within you. Making you know your spiritual parent is God.
But yet all at once I looked up, and I said, “I’m not the son of Charles and Ella Branham. There’s Something calling.” Like my little eagle, “I’m not a chicken.
There’s Something up yonder, somewhere. O Great Jehovah, Whoever You are, open up! I want to come home. There’s Something in me, calling.”
Then I was born again. That little Life was laying there, the life of water was poured upon It, then It begin to grow. Now, that old life was forgiven, put in the sea of God’s forgetfulness, to never be remembered against me no more.
Now we stand justified (as though we never had sinned) in the Presence of God. 65-1212 - "Communion"
What is the New Birth? It is the revelation of Jesus Christ personally to you.
I’m not the sum of my mistakes and shortcoming, by His death burial and resurrection, I am what the Word says I am.
I look in the mirror of the Word and say “Momma, that’s me”.
240 The new Birth is Christ, is a revelation. God has revealed to you this great mystery, and that’s a new Birth.
Now what are you going to do when you get all that group together?
Where the revelation is perfectly in harmony, and God expressing it through His Word by the same actions, the same things that He did, making the Word manifest.
Oh, if the Church only knew its position! It will, one day. Then, the Rapture will go when it knows what it is. 63-0728 - "Christ Is The Mystery Of God Revealed"
The Rapture will go.
I don’t think Bro. Branham misspoke here, I think “the Rapture will go”
If Christ is in you, the Rapture is in you.
Christ in You, the hope of glory, the Expectation of Rapture
All of the apples that will ever be in an apple tree are in the first sprout that comes from the ground.
A tree cannot produce apples on demand. All the tree must do to put out apples, is drink.
And that’s the way a Christian is. We are planted together in Christ Jesus, Who is the inexhaustible Fountain of Life.
We’re planted in Christ, and we just drink, and drink, and drink, and push out; and everything we have need of for the earthly journey:
Divine healing, the power of God, and all these other things is in every individual in here that’s received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, for you’re planted in Christ.
Hallelujah. The Holy Ghost baptism, yes, sir, and everything you have need of for this life’s journey, even the rapture is right in you then.
Don’t resent that? That’s the truth. The rapture is in us now. I will prove it by the Gospel.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Hallelujah. Then in heaven today we’re a glorified in the Presence of God right now. I’m just pushing out to it. 53-0907A - "Lord, Show Us The Father And It Sufficeth Us"
Conclusion
Conclusion
Has He been revealed to You? Who do you say He is? Is He altogether lovely?
I Feel Jesus in the Room