The Almost Christian
[ Acts 26: 27-29] King Agrippa, believest thou the
prophets? I know that Thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, almost thou
persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God, that not only
thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such
as I am, except these bonds." Let's pray.....
I would that all who hear my voice would be as I am
except without these bonds. Oh, what
a declaration. Oh, what desire fills the
soul of those who love God. Wednesday
Evening, we read from pp. 273 where Brother Branham taught us
that it is more than just water Baptism that you need to enter God's Only
Provided Place of Worship. You must be baptized by the Spirit of God! In PP.
273 He said, "You want to see who the door is? Where did God put His Name? In Jesus. How do you get in His Name? How
do you get in there? By being baptized in there! How? By water? By Spirit! "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." That's Holy Ghost
baptism. "The water baptism
just put you in fellowship with the people, that you recognized that you
have accepted Christ. "That's the Truth. But it's Spirit baptism." I can call the Name of Jesus over you and
baptize you, that doesn't make it so. ]
But when once that Holy Spirit really...
genuine Word comes into you (the Word, Jesus), then, brother, the Message is no secret to you then; you
know It, brother, It's all lit up
before you.
So we see here that Brother Branham is telling us that
the difference between being baptized in water verses being baptized by the
Spirit of God is that when you are baptized by water that just opens up a
fellowship among the believers, but when you are Baptized by the Spirit of God
which is the Genuine Word of God, coming
into you and taking over your life. The Spirit of God by His Word quickens you
to the age which you live and the Message s no longer a secret, but it becomes
all lit up before your very eyes. W e know according to [ 1 Peter 1: 23] that we are born again by the Word of God which is
an incorruptible Seed. The new birth
then is not just some religious experience, but it is the Word of God coming
into your life and quickening you to The Message for the day which you live.
Not just to a message, but the Message of
this hour happens to be God Himself has come down and is in the midst of His
People and He's here, getting His People ready for a Rapture. And if you are
not quickened to that, you are still living in your sins.
Now there are many who have heard the midnight cry to get
ready. Both the Wise and foolish virgins heard the midnight Cry that went
forth, "Behold the bridegroom." But I want you to see that One was prepared
and the other was not. So let's turn to [Matthew
25] and read.
[ Matthew 25: 1-13]
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be
likened unto ten virgins, which took
their lamps, and went forth to meet
the bridegroom. Now to this point we do not see yet a distinction between
any of these virgins. They are all considered virgins which means they have not
been with men, and have not been pregnated by mans dogmas and creeds. Now we
know according to [Mark 4: 14 and 1 Peter 1:23] that a seed is used as a
type for Word which is also called a seed because it contains life . God has a
Word which is His seed and the Devil has his word which is also a seed. And
since these women are called virgins, they are a type of the church who have
not been tainted by mans creeds and dogmas.
So then, these ten virgins which are virgins in deed,
have not been corrupted by man's seed or man's doctrine. And also I want you to
notice that all ten have lamps. Now in [ Psalm
119:105] we read, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a
light unto my path," So we see that the ten virgins are Bible
toting Virgins. Now remember, a woman in the Bible always types a church. So we
see that these ten virgins represent the
Now this word "wise" that Jesus uses
here is a Greek word Phronimos
which means to be prudent or sensible in a practical sense. We see Him use the same word in [ Matthew 7:24-27] Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them,( in other words,
puts them into practice) I
will liken him unto a wise man, which
built his house upon a rock: And the
rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house; and it fell not: for it was founded ( it's foundation ) was upon
a rock.( and we know that this rock
is Revelation, and Paul told us that no other foundation can be laid than what
is already laid and that is Christ.)
And so we read on,
And every one that heareth these sayings of
mine, and doeth them not,( does not put them into practice) shall
be likened unto a foolish man, which
built his house upon the sand: (
You'll notice here that he has no foundation) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and
beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
In this parable we see that the Wise are those who not only hear but put into action what they hear.
This is considered the prudent or sensible thing to do. And of course we see the foolish are those who also hear, but they do not do, and
because they do not put into action what
they hear, they are not considered wise or prudent, but foolish, because
they could have taken action and saved their home, but they did not, and
therefore their homes were destroyed. Oh, how many believers today are watching
their own children going down the wrong road and are headed for destruction
only because they did not apply the Token. Brother Branham said it
won't do you any good unless you apply it, it must be applied!, and
that means it has got to be put into use
or it won't do you any good. Now the only difference between the Wise and
Foolish is that One had their foundation built on The Revelation of Jesus
Christ, while the other didn't. The same winds of doctrine blew down upon them
both, they were both subjected to the same
rain and wind and flooding which [ Isaiah 59: 19 ] warns us that "when the enemy comes in
like a flood the Spirit of the Lord
shall lift up a standard against him". But the thing I want you to notice is that
the same trials will come upon both the wise and foolish alike, but the wise won't
falter during this testing time because they have a foundation built upon
Revelation. The Catholic church and the
government can take your material possessions, they can take your home and your
cars and your books and your belongings, but no one can ever take this
Revelation of Jesus Christ from you. It's sealed into you by the Holy Ghost
Himself.
[ Luke 22: 34]
Be careful, or your hearts will be
weighed down with spending too much time and energy on indulging yourself with
pleasure, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life which is (worry and apprehension about what may
happen), and that day will close on
you unexpectedly like a trap or snare. For
it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be
always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about
to happen, and that you may be able to stand in the Presence of the Son of
Now, the rich young ruler did all the commandments of God
yet when it came time to surrender all that he had in a final gesture of total commitment to Christ, he could not
depart from his material possessions. He
almost made it. Almost, but one word off is Satan's kingdom. The Bible even
tells us that Jesus loved him much, but later Jesus tells us the story of how
this rich young ruler had died and was burning up in hell, and asked Abraham to
send the beggar Lazarus with a drop of
water to quench his thirst. And looking up from hell he pleaded with Abraham to
send some one to warn his brothers, But Abraham said, "Though one be raised from
the dead they won't believe Him!" And I tell you this morning,
that One has Raised from the dead and is standing in your very midst today and
yet you believe him not!
It was King Agrippa who said to Paul, "You
almost persuaded me to be a Christian." How many almost Christians
will there be in that day. How many almost Christians do we have hanging around
the Message. How many almost Christians will go through the Tribulation because
they were almost Christians. They were almost there, but they didn't quite make
the roster. How many here this morning and those who are not here this morning
who fit into this category of Almost
Christians. Almost won't count when the Rapture takes place and the Fully
committed and fully Revelated Christian are taken out of this pest house. "Thou
almost persuaded me", they'll say. "Thou almost persuaded
me." And what good will Agrippa's words be when he lifts up his
eyes from hell and his words echo over and over in his ears , "Paul,
Thou almost persuadest me to be a Christian."
And yet we must ask ourselves, "What is an Almost Christian?" And if I were to tell you the
answer many of you would fall to your knees in shear horror because even we who
claim to believe this Message with all of our minds would seem to come up so
short if we were to know what an almost Christian is. Jesus defined an almost Christians
when he asked the Rich young ruler if he obeyed the Ten Commandments and he
replied that he believed and practiced them all. An Almost Christian Believes in One God and
has nothing in his life, no idols, or toys that he worships, nothing but that
One True God. Secondly the Almost Christian
Honors God by honoring His Sabbath. He doesn't work on the Sabbath. He
honors God's day. The Almost Christian
will not worship any graven image nor does he speak God's name in a vain and
useless fashion, He honors his father and mother, and he does not lie, nor does
he steal, nor does he kill, nor does he commit adultery, or bear false witness
against his neighbor, nor does he covet what his neighbor has.
Paul tell's us more about this Almost Christian, he says
that he has a form of godliness. John Wesley said, "The Almost Christian does nothing which the Gospel forbids. He
taketh not the name of God in vain; he blesses and curses not; he swareth not
at all, but his communication is, yea, yea; nay,nay. He profanes not the day of
the Lord, nor suffers it to be profaned, even by the stranger that is within
his gates. He not only avoids all adultery and fornication and uncleanness, but
every word, or look, that either directly or indirectly tends thereto such as
movies and television. Even all idle words are watched and he abstains from
backbiting, tale-bearing, evil speaking, and from all foolish talking and
jesting and from all conversation that is not "good to the edifying"
and that consequently grieves the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed
until the day of redemption."
"The almost
Christian abstains from strong drink, from revellings and gluttony. He avoids
as much as in him lies, all strife and contention, continually endeavoring to
live peaceably with all men. If he suffers wrong, he avengeth not himself,
neither returns evil for evil. He is no railer, no brawler, no scoffer, either
at the faults or infirmities of his neighbor. He will not willingly wrong,
hurt, or grieve any man: but in all things acts and speaks by the Golden rule,
" Whatsoever thou wouldest not he should do unto thee, that thou doest to
another." And in doing good, he
does not confine himself to cheap and easy offers of kindness, but actually
labours and suffers for the profit of many, that by all means he may help some.
In Spite of toil and pain,
"whatsoever his hand findeth to do, he doeth it with all his might." Whether it be for his friends or his enemies,
for the evil or for the good. He is not slothful in this or any business, as he "hath opportunity"
he doeth all manner of good, to all men."
He reproves the ignorant, comforts the afflicted, labours to awaken
those who sleep, and he constantly frequents the house of God, as well as stirs up those who are saved
through faith. And when he approaches the table of the Lord it is not with
lightheartedness, nor is it with a careless behaviour, but with an air, gesture
and deportment which speaks nothing else but "God be merciful to me a
sinner."
"And to
this add family devotions, and prayer and a setting apart time to worship God
as a family. Now with all these things
we have spoken which are the attributes of an Almost Christian we have but one
more and that is sincerity. By Sincerity I mean a real, inward principle of
religion from whence these outward actions flow. And indeed, if we have not this we have not
even a heathen honesty. For even the most wretched heathen will abstain from
doing evil in order to avoid punishment. If
then a man does all these things to avoid punishment or to avoid loss of friends, or his
reputation or even his gain, and if you do ever so much good and show ever so
much Grace to others, and yet we could not say this man is never so much as an
almost Christian if his motive if his motives are thus. Sincerity therefore, is
necessarily implied in being almost a Christian; a real design to serve God, a
hearty desire to do His Will. A desire to please God in all things; in all his
conversation; in al his actions; in all he does; or leaves undone. This design
if any man be almost a Christian, runs
through the tenor of his life. This is the moving principle, both in his doing,
his abstaining from evil, and his using the ordinances of God."
"Yet you
might ask, How could it be possible that any man living could go this far and
nevertheless be considered by Jesus Christ, as Only Almost a Christian? What
more than this can be implied in being a Christian altogether? And I answer,
yes, it is possible to go this far and remain almost a Christian."
You ask the question,
" What more than all this is implied in being altogether a Christian? And
I answer, First, The Love of God. For thus Saith His Word, " Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind, and with all thy strength." Such a love as this engrosses the
whole heart, and takes up all the affection, and fills the entire capacity of
the soul, and employs the utmost extent of all it's faculties. He that thus
Loves the Lord His God, his spirit continually rejoices in the God of His
Salvation. His heart is ever crying out,
" Whom have I in heaven but Thee?” And
“There is none upon the earth that I desire beside
Thee!" And indeed what
can the altogether Christian desire beside God? Nothing of this world or the
things of this world, for we are crucified to the world, and the world is
crucified to me.
The Second thing implied in being altogether a Christian,
is the love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy ghost. True
Christian Love which knows no boundaries.
For Jesus told us, "Thou
shalt love thy neighbor even as thyself." And if any ask who is your
neighbor? We reply, Every man in the world; every child of His Who is the Father
of the spirits of all flesh. And this even implies our enemies, for Jesus Said,
we must Love those who despitefully use us.
And thirdly we
can not leave out Faith which is
Revelation. For without it no man can know the Lord, and thus without Revelation
we would be only an almost Christian, no better than the kind old priest or the
liberal bleeding hearts. For Revelation is what separates the sheep from the
goats and the wise Virgins from the foolish. Revelation is the key that was
given Peter, and that which can only come from God through His Prophets. And
Once it has been revealed to us we become sole possessors of it. The transfer
of title takes place and we possess what has been revealed and it belongs to us
and our children forever.
Now in getting back to our study of the Wise and foolish,
we find in [Matthew 10: 16 ] Jesus
warning us that of the importance He places on
being wise in a prudent and sensible form of the word. He says, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the
midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as
doves. He wants us to be wise.
Not wise in our own way, or as Paul says, " Be not wise in your own
conceit." In other words,
we are not talking about wisdom for wisdom's sake, but being wise in a
practical sense. In a way that will do you some good.
Again in [ Matthew
24: 41 - 51] we see Jesus use this
word "wise"
in another parable in which He is trying to get us to see the importance of
applying what we know to our benefit in a spiritual sense of the word. [42] Watch
therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
[43] But know this, that if the Goodman of the
house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be
broken up. [44] Therefore
be ye also ready: for in such an
hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. [45] Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? [46]
Blessed
[is] that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. [47]
Verily I say unto you, That he
shall make him ruler over all his goods.
[48] But and
if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; [49]
And shall begin to smite [his] fellowservants,
and to eat and drink with the drunken; [50]
The lord of that servant shall
come in a day when he looketh not for
[him], and in an hour that he is not
aware of, [51] And
shall cut him asunder, and appoint [him]
his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth. Now it is very apparent by
this parable that Jesus is letting us know
through illustration that He expects us to be busy applying what we know
rather than being lax, uncaring, unsuspecting and like fools, not ready when He
comes. He says, those that are not ready when I come will be placed outside
with the hypocrites where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth
which we know is tribulation. We find that right after Jesus tells us this
parable, He then tells the parable of the five wise Virgins and the Five who
are foolish.
And so we pick up
this parable of the wise and foolish virgins at verse 3... [3] They that [were] foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
Now what good does a lamp do without any oil to light up the darkness with. A
lamp without Oil in it is useless. In [ Exodus 29:7 ] we see that Oil is a type
of The Spirit or anointing of God. Then
shalt thou take the anointing oil and pour it upon his head, and anoint
him Again we see the oil is
used for anointing in [ Leviticus 8:
10,12] And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the Tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified
them. And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the
altar and all his vessels, both laver and his foot, to sanctify them. And he
poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify
him. Since we know that Oil represents the
Anointing of God's Spirit in Scripture, we can then see that the Lamp (representing) the Word of God,
is without any anointing of God's Spirit
upon it.
So let's get back to the condition of the church here in
[Matthew 25] and let's pick up again
at verse [4] But the wise took oil in
their vessels with their lamps. ( In other words, the Word was anointed to
them which makes all the difference in the world, because to those whom the
Word is anointed, it is a living Word, whereas to the others it is not a living
Word, but a set of rules and regulations in which they must follow.) In [
Isaiah 28: 9-13] NIV we see what
happens to them who hear this Message but understand it not. Who is He trying to teach? To whom is He
explaining His Message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken
from the breast? For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a
little here, a little there. Very well then, with foreign lips and strange
tongues God will speak to this people, to whom He said, "This is the
resting place, let the weary rest" ; and "This is the place of
repose"- but they would not listen. So then, the Word of the Lord to them
will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; as little here,
and a little there- so then they will go and fall backward, be injured and
snared and captured." And so we
see the foolish virgin whom did not have the anointed Word of God when they
realized how late it was they went to those who did understand the Midnight
shout and they began to seek this anointing but it was too late. And so when
they realized they did not have it they went into a works program and tried
everything they could to work themselves up into a condition of anointing but
it was to no avail. So let's read on and see what happens to them.
[Matthew 25: 5] While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.[6]
And at midnight there was a cry made,
Behold, the bridegroom; come out to meet him.( now I know your King James version says, Behold the Bridegroom
cometh, go out to meet Him, but this is a mis-translation. The original says, "Behold the Bridegroom, come out to meet
Him). You see, the Message is always
come out, not go out, for the one declaring the message is not inside with you,
but is on the outside saying come out from among them as we see in [Rev 3: 20
James 5: 9, 2 Cor 6: 17 Rev 18:4 etc.
Now
lets continue Jesus parable of the virgins with verse [7] Then all those virgins
arose, and trimmed their lamps. ( Now
I want you to notice, they all heard the midnight cry, right? So it had to be
pretty loud, right? And this word cry here means to speak very loud or with a
loud voice, which is called a shout right? So we can say that all the virgins
both wise and foolish heard this Midnight Shout? And what was the Shout? "Behold," which
means "Look and See, The Bridegroom is standing here knocking!"
"Behold I stand at the door and knock," "Behold the Judge standeth at the
door." [8] And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us
of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. ( Give us of your understanding,
because we do not understand what this Shout is all about?)
[9] But the wise answered, saying, [Not so]; lest
there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy
for yourselves. [10] And while
they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with
him to the marriage: and the door was shut. ( Now, I want you to notice
something here. While the others who were considered foolish went out looking
to try and find some anointing in order
to understand this Midnight Shout, the others went into the Marriage in the
Presence of the Bridegroom as it says, They went in with Him.) [11] Afterward came also the other virgins,
saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. ( Afterwards, the other realized who it was
that was knocking and who it was that was Present, but it was too late then,
they missed Him because they had not been ready. The Word had not been anointed
to them and they missed the Revelation of Jesus Christ. They were left behind
for the tribulation period.) [12]
But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. This word know here is a Greek word which means
to fully know but in the context
that Jesus is using it, it would suggest that He's saying, "I never really had a
consummate relationship with you" and therefore, (as Doctor Hoyer from Wheaton Illinois who was
at one time considered the greatest U.S. student of the Greek said, "this
should be translated as " I used to
know you as my wife, but I do not know you as my wife any longer. "In
other words, we never consummated our relationship together and therefore I
really never knew you in a conjugal sense of the word. Finally we here
Jesus speak forth words of warning concerning this parable and what it means in
verse [13] Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein
the Son of man cometh. And of course this word watch means to ever be
keeping a vigilant eye, or spiritual alertness for the Parousia of the Son of
Man.
And remember, as we spoke last Sunday, if this Midnight
Cry or Shout is still a secret to you then it has not been revealed to you, and
as long as it has not been revealed to you then it does not yet belong to you.
For we read in [Deuteronomy 29:29] ]
The
secret [things belong] unto the LORD our God: but those [things which are] revealed [belong] unto us and to our children for ever, that [we] may do all the words of this law".
Notice, Brother Branham said, "when you have been truly baptized by
the Holy Spirit, then the Message is no longer a mystery to you, it is no
longer a secret to you, you know it!" "It's all lit up
before you" I don't
think you'll need to have someone take you aside and tell you about tithing, or
the need to be in church, you'll just
automatically be there when those doors open, because it's real to you, and
because you Love Him so much that you can't get enough of Him. And because it
is real, you'll hunger and thirst for as much of Him as you can get. You won't
need someone to hold your hand and baby you through, because you're ready to
Live, or Die, Sink or drown, or whatever is
necessary for His Word's sake. You see, that is what the New Birth is
all about. It's not just coming to a fellowship. It's about being born again as
a new individual, a new Creation in Christ Jesus. Old things are done away and all things have become new. You don't
live for your job, you don't live for your vacation, you don't live for your
new car like the rest of the world does. You
live because Christ lives in you. You have no taste buds for the things of
the world. I'm not saying that some of those things aren't nice to have, but they can't really satisfy.
And there is only one thing that can satisfy, and that is to know Him.
In closing let me teach you a song about this hungering
and thirsting for Him. I sang I to you on Wednesday night, but let's sing it
together this morning.
Just the time I
feel that I've been caught in the mire of self. Just the time I feel my minds
been bought by worldly wealth. That's when the breeze begins to blow, I know the
spirit's call, and all my worldly wanderings just melt into His Love. Lord, I
want to know you more, deep within my soul I want to know you , Lord, I want to
know you . To feel you heart and know your Mind, to look into your Word stirs
up within me, cries that say I want to know you, Lord, I want to know you more.
When - my daily needs - ordinarily - lose life and
song. - - - And when my heart bleeds - of sensitivity- to Him is gone. - - - I've run the race - but
I've set my pace - and face a shattered soul, One look to His Word takes over my heart and my hunger to be whole. Lord, I want to know
you more, deep within my soul I want to know you, Lord, I want to know you; and
I would give my final breath to know you in your death and resurrection, Lord,
I want to know you more, Lord I want to know you more.
Oh, brothers and sisters, to only know Him in the power
of His resurrection, that He is alive today, and He is the same as He was
yesterday, so is He today and forever.
Jesus Christ, the Lover of our souls.
And to just enter into fellowship will never do. We must come into the
Door and Christ is that door, and He is the Word for the Hour. Come into Him.
Empty yourself of all that you long to be and become what He wants you to
be.
"My beloved
is mine and I am His, His banner over me is Love, My beloved is mine and I am
His, His banner over me is Love, My Beloved is mine and I am His, His banner
over me is Love, His banner over me is Love.
"He brought me to the banqueting house, His banner over me is Love.
He brought me to the banqueting house, His banner over me is love. He brought
me to the banqueting house, His banner over me is love, His banner over me is
love.
And what is the evidence that He has filled you with His
Spirit, that you have been baptized in the Spirit of the Living God? , "when you have been truly baptized by
the Holy Spirit, then the Message is no longer a mystery to you, it is no
longer a secret to you, you know it!" "It's all lit up
before you". And if it
is no longer a mystery to you, then it has been revealed to you. And if
revealed to you then it belongs to you. You are a possessor of it as we read in [Deuteronomy
29:29] ] The secret [things belong]
unto the LORD our God: but those [things
which are] revealed [belong] unto us and to our children for ever, that [we] may do all the words
of this law".
Just the time I
feel that I've been caught in the mire of self. Just the time I feel my minds
been bought by worldly wealth. That's when the breeze begins to blow, I know
the spirit's call, and all my worldly wanderings just melt into His Love. Lord,
I want to know you more, deep within my soul I want to know you , Lord, I want
to know you . To feel you heart and know your Mind, to look into your Word
stirs up within me, cries that say I want to know you, Lord, I want to know you more. …….. When - my daily needs - ordinarily - lose life and
song. - - - And when my heart bleeds - of sensitivity- to Him is gone. - - - I've run the race - but
I've set my pace - and face a shattered soul, One look to His Word takes over my heart and my hunger to be whole. Lord, I want to know
you more, deep within my soul I want to know you, Lord, I want to know you; and
I would give my final breath to know you in your death and resurrection, Lord,
I want to know you more, Lord I want to know you more.