Ewald Frank

1985-06-30 14:00, Zurich, Switzerland

broadcasted on 2024-12-29

Subject: John 3:34: “For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God!”

Praise and thanks be to the Lord. What we have sung is true, and blessed is he who has experienced it. It is not only true, it must have come true in your life and in mine. If it is only true because it is written here or because we sing it, then it is not enough, but if it has come true in our lives, then we are grateful, because then we have experienced it personally.

May I ask, for whom has it come true? Let me see your hands.

Amen. Hallelujah. Praise be to God. How wonderful. How marvelous to be redeemed.

Someone said to me today, "Brother Frank, you are a miracle for us." And I didn't know which way to go with that. And I simply said, "All of us, as redeemed people, are a great miracle of God." Each of us is a miracle of God, a miracle of the grace of our God, hallelujah.

There are some who wonder, and there are others who are a wonder. Hallelujah. Praise be to God. What a grace. What a privilege to be redeemed.

A hymn writer sings, "Redeemed I am, I may well boast, Redeemed by the Saviour's blood."

Let me read before we pray from Psalm 66 from verse 16 to Psalm 67, verse 3. I would like to ask that we stand up for this. Psalm 66, from verse 16.

Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.

I cried unto Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us.

That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the great privilege of being gathered here on earth in your name, in your presence, under the sound of your word, under your divine influence.

Lord, together we thank you for the precious redemption through your holy blood that flowed on Calvary's cross. Together we thank you for your holy Word, which you have so wonderfully revealed to us.

Together we thank you for the Spirit of Truth who protects us from all error and guides us into all truth.

Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you have become our God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

You are no longer the stranger, the one who is far away, but the true God who has come to us. Faithful Lord, you came to us so that we could come to you.

We ask you together to take this meeting under the covering of your blood, O Lord.

Forgive all iniquity, all transgression, wash us whiter than freshly fallen snow, have mercy on us for your name's sake, O Lord.

We pray that you will give everyone what they need and ask of you today, be it in their soul, in their spirit, or in their body.

Lord, make this service a gathering like the one you had when you walked the earth, that people may touch you in faith, come to you, and experience anew that power comes from you. Save the lost, heal the sick, deliver all who are overcome by the enemy, may your spirit reign in our midst.

Come into your own, almighty God.

Bless and sanctify this hour, sanctify and anoint the lips that speak, sanctify and anoint the ears and hearts that hear. Give us understanding, divine understanding of your word.

O Lord, receive praise from us all, for you are worthy to receive praise and honor, glory and worship. You are reality, you are close to us, you are now in our midst. Hallelujah.

We thank you for this and ask you that power may now emanate from you through your word, through your blood and through your spirit.

Praise, honor and glory to your wonderful name.

Amen.

Now, before we move on to a short reflection on the word, I would like to ask Brother Russ, he must come to the front now. Come, oh yes.

Br. Russ:

And I'm grateful to God to see and greet everybody here again.

It may not be possible to shake hands with everyone, but in our hearts we are united and serve God as long as we are here on earth.

Dear brothers and sisters, we are indeed in the end times, and the enemy is not asleep. He is also awake and wants to bring God's people down. But we may say with a psalmist from Psalm 123, "Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens."

This is so wonderful that we not only believe this or know that it is written, but that we may indeed lift up our eyes to him who is in heaven. That's the thing.

Beloved, the enemy may rage and he may make us out to be hypocrites, but we as believing and born-again children of God know that we serve God.

We know it.

And our Lord was also spoken of in different ways, as perhaps were his people. But what difference does it make what people say?

The main thing is that we have the certainty in our hearts that we are joined with him.

We shouldn't care what people think we are.

And I would like to say that if we are born-again and true children of God, then we will not listen to the deception of the enemy who wants to separate us and bring us into the abyss and separate us from the love of God and from the fellowship with the saints.

We look up to our God.

Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, thou that dwellest in the heavens.

And this, dear brothers and sisters, may perhaps be a consolation for us in this hour, that we too, in every respect and in every situation we may find ourselves in, may not listen to the enemy's deception but to the living God who is enthroned in heaven.

He knows our hearts, he knows our eyes, he sees everything. And we would like, as it is written here, the psalmist says:

As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God.

Do we look up to Him, dear ones?

I believe that if we did not, we would have ceased to exist long ago.

But because we know who we have to cling to, because we know who we have to hold on to, because we know who we look up to, He always gives us new strength and new life.

And so we can go our way joyfully and serve God, despite all the struggle and strife.

We have already heard, "Soon it will be over," but we must push through, dear ones. It must be fought to the end, for we know that it is not the beginning that is crowned, but the end that is crowned.

And so may God grant you and all of us grace to persevere until the end, until we come from believing unto seeing.

Beloved, we always remember you in prayer, also in Krefeld. And it is my wish that you also remember us in your prayers, so that we remain united in God's love with each other and with Him.

God bless you is my prayer. Amen.

Br. Frank:

It reminded me of song number four. We are not going to sing it. I just want to read it.

To heaven I look up, where you are praised in the higher choir.

That's where the longing comes to me.

Lord, set me on higher ground.

Third stanza.

Be still my heart, and worship.

The work is already done for you.

On Golgotha, in the new covenant, you are set on higher ground.

O God, how blessed am I now.

I am transferred to the kingdom of heaven.

Yes, my spirit and soul are healthy.

You have placed me on higher ground.

What confidence! What certainty! And how wonderful to know: It is done. God has done it. The work is finished.

I read the fourth stanza.

Since I entered this sanctuary, every path has been a heavenly path.

Otherwise my foot was always weak and sore.

Now it walks on higher ground.

And one day at the end of my path, heaven will be opened to me.

Then I will see you in glory, on higher ground for all time.

We don't just sing this. We don't just preach it. It is a divine fact. And even if our paths, as one songwriter sings, "sometimes seem crooked and confused," God has his way with us in everything. He can raise the lowly, straighten the crooked. A child of God is on the path that leads to glory.

Never fear in a dark hour.

Never doubt God's Word.

What he says will be fulfilled.

Believe, believe, always.

… as the song goes.

What the enemy says through people is a lie. What God has said in his Word remains eternally true. And our faith is anchored in this.

We don't make efforts to believe, it is a gift from God. As with Abraham, who received the promise, and with the promise, the necessary faith, so that the promise could be fulfilled.

We have realized that we have become the seed of Abraham through Christ, on the basis of the divine promise, and therefore we believe the word of promise for this time.

That is the big difference.

I didn't want to refer to it, but today there are people who know a lot, and I was amazed. There are brothers, if you only saw them, and if you didn't know the holy scriptures, you would think they are as blessed as there has never been on earth before. They can tell others their telephone number, and everything else that goes with it, as if God is revealing something. But they don't even know what God has promised. They don't know what the holy scriptures say, but they do know who has to give thousand dollars, and who has to give ten thousand, and so on.

What a privilege, that we have the word by which we can test everything.

I have said it again and again, and I emphasize it: It is the grace of God, that we, perhaps, cannot yet fully appreciate at the moment, what it means to have been preserved from all shameful secrecy, and from all hypocrisy, and from all deceit, because the greatest deception happens in the kingdom of God. Nowhere is deception so decorated and so seductive as in the kingdom of God.

But thanks be to the Lord for the truthfulness of his Word, with which we may be imbued, and are always imbued anew.

The only thing that matters today is, that God comes into his own with us, and that his Word can be fulfilled. 

He does not want us to do anything of our own in his kingdom. As we have just read along with the psalmist, we look up to God "like the eyes of a maiden to her mistress." We look up to the Lord and want to be found in his will, because it is not about making a name for ourselves, but about honoring and glorifying the name of the Lord.

When people who have the most diverse revelations are confronted with the fact that they should be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, which they have so much in their mouths, then you suddenly notice how they resist. But it's not only that they resist. You should hear what comes out from these people who were previously so happy, so free, so spiritual, so blessed. Suddenly, a completely different nature is revealed. You no longer recognize these people.

They don't want to identify with this name. They want to use it to demonstrate power, but to identify with it, to side with God, would mean losing reputation, rank, and name. It would mean that the cash register would no longer be right and the big programs would no longer run.

From the beginning, we understood that God sent a man who did not put on a big program, but was an integral part of the divine program for these end times. And we, as the Church of the Living God, have only one desire, only one longing – to be in this program of God.

What people do will one day come to an end and the disappointment will not be long in coming.

Let's take a brief look at a few scriptures to show us how God sees us and what we actually are in our divine state.

Ephesians chapter 1 from verse 17, it says:

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 

and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, 

which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 

far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, 

and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 

which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

What a marvelous word!

Today the Lord wants to give us the clear lesson that we should no longer look at ourselves and circumstances and adversities, but that we should lift our eyes up to heaven.

As a song goes, "I look up to heaven, where you are praised in the higher choir."

If we look at ourselves, at others, at circumstances, then we lose sight of what is essential and we slip from faith into unbelief, from thanksgiving into lamentation, and suddenly peace and joy and everything that goes with it disappear.

When I read this Word this morning, I realized for the first time that God wants to demonstrate the power he has shown in Christ to us here and now, not only when we are transformed and taken up, but already now.

I would like to read verse 19 and verse 20 again:

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 

which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places…

The same power is to be demonstrated in us, the believers.

Not only at the return of the Lord, but today, today, under the sound of the word, today, when faith comes by hearing, and the Spirit of God makes the word alive and great for you and me, today the Lord wants to demonstrate the same power on us that he demonstrated when Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

What power was it? The power over Satan, over death, over hell, basically over everything!

When Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day, he was the living proof, the living testimony, that death, hell, and the devil had been overcome and defeated.

It was not only written, he had come back. He was the reality of what the prophets had prophesied and written about.

David proclaimed it in the psalm, "I will not suffer his body to see corruption, nor will I leave his soul in hell." [Ps 16:10] It happened on the third day that he came forth by the power of God as a victor, as an overcomer.

And listen: The same power that was manifested in Jesus Christ shall be manifested in you and in me! He the head, and we the members. He the bridegroom, and we the bride. He the redeemer, and we the redeemed.

It is not only at the hour of our death. 

No, it was at the hour of his death that we were redeemed. He disarmed all the power of Satan on the cross, and "made a show of it, and triumphed over it," and "descended into the lower parts of the earth", took away the power of death, and was later able to say to John on the isle of Patmos, "I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore and have the keys of hell and of death." [Rev 1:18]

He was able to say, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." [Mt 28:18]

Beloved, let us not wait for it to happen at the hour of the rapture. What is to happen at that time will still happen.

Today, on this day, in this place, the Lord wants to show you and me that what happened on Golgotha and what happened with the resurrection can and must be revealed in your life and in mine. For we have been crucified with Christ. We have been buried with him. We have been raised with him. [Col 2:12-13] So the Holy Scriptures teach.

And here the Apostle was able to tell the Church, led by the Spirit of God, I read it again:

(19) "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe…"

If we have become believers, it is not faith in ourselves or unbelief in our weakness, but faith in the living God, who has reconciled us to himself in Jesus Christ, he who tore up our letter of requirements, who took away the middle wall of partition, who shed the last drop of blood to obtain an eternal atonement for us, we may come to him in faith.

(19) And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe…

Is this just written here or is it supposed to come true?

How many would like it to come true, that what is written can become divine reality?!

The sermon should not fade away as theory in a vacuum, but should penetrate our hearts as the Word of God, so that we become aware of what God wants to do for us.

(19) And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe…

It occurs to me that we are living far below our level.

Earthly, we all have a good standard of living, and we are grateful to God for it.

But when it comes to the spiritual, we seem to live below our level, below the divine level.

He wants to put us on higher ground, give us certainty of faith, and put the conviction in our hearts that he has prepared everything and that it is just waiting to be received by us, that 

(19) his exceeding greatness of power is demonstrated on us, the believers, according to the working of his mighty power, 

(20) which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead.

Don't imagine things to be so easy. Death, the devil, everything still staked its claim. But here was one who had power over death, one who had indeed come in the flesh, but who was God in spirit.

He pulled out the sting of death and this power of God, which was revealed during the time of redemption, including the crucifixion, the descent into the lowest parts, the resurrection, and everything connected with it, the power of God, which was revealed in Jesus Christ, is now to be revealed in all who belong to him.

What a grace! What a privilege! What a divine offer!

And when we realize today that we are meant, that you are meant, that I am meant, and that God means what he says here, and we go within ourselves and say: "Lord, what happened on Golgotha, we take note of it, we believe it. Your resurrection, everything is precious to us. But now, let that which was revealed there by the power of God be revealed in our lives."

And you will see that in that moment we not only read what God said to others, we realize that he is saying it to you and me today.

Today.

Paul is not writing to the Ephesians, or to the Galatians, or to the Corinthians.

Today, the Spirit of God takes the written word and makes it alive to the church and lets the same inspiration of the Holy Spirit come and shows us: This has happened for all believers, not only at the beginning, but also now at the end.

(19) … the mighty power 

(20) which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead.

How hell and the devil must have felt then. All his power was gone. God revealed his power, spoke the word of power on the basis of the shed blood on the cross of Calvary.

Paul could already proclaim at that time, "Death, where is thy sting? Hell, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord." [1Cor 15:55]

There was a glorious resurrection. Jesus Christ is the living proof that death, the devil and hell have been defeated. He has risen and we have risen with him by grace to a new life.

But now the same power of God that was revealed in him as our Redeemer is to be revealed in us, the redeemed.

If we believe with one accord in the presence of God today and say, "Lord, you have spoken to us, we believe that you will make the same power that was revealed in you to be revealed in us, then it will have to happen.

Death and the devil have been conquered. Hell has been overcome, and that is why we can enter the presence of God with joy.

Verse 22 says:

(22) And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 

(23) which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

He the head, and we the members.

He the light, and we the ray. He the master, and we the brothers. He is ours, and we are his," 

…as the song goes. 

He as the head has redeemed all the members that belong to the body. He has overcome in order to take his place as head in the church.

As we have sometimes said: There are living members in the body of the Lord, permeated by the same divine life, Word from his Word, spirit from his spirit, we are the offspring of God.

Earthly, we still have a body that may be put into the ground, but the holy scriptures testify that we carry a precious "treasure in earthen vessels." [2Cor 4:7]

It is not the vessel that we should admire, however precious it may be, but what is in the vessel. And God is able to make us vessels for his glory.

As the hymn writer sings, "Only vessels, holy master, yet filled with thy power."

But one day, even the most precious vessel may be laid to rest, but the divine that was in that vessel can never be laid to rest. What is of divine origin also returns to God.

How often have we looked at the vessels and thought how wretched they are, and have forgotten that what matters is not what the vessel is made of, but what is in it.

What good is a golden vessel, a flawless vessel, if there is nothing divine in it?

Better, the most wretched vessel, something, as Paul says, "God chose what was nothing before men, and bring to nothing what is something, so that no flesh might boast before God." [1Cor 1:26-29] 

Earthen vessels, vessels of clay, not vessels of precious metals, vessels of clay.

But the content, hallelujah, the content, that's what matters. And that's what God has put in these earthen vessels. And for that, we are heartily thankful.

(22) … and gave him to be the head over all things to the church," [Eph 1:22]

Not head over anything, but over the church.

He wants to take his place as head in the church. And the church, it says here, "is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all."

Let's read from Ephesians chapter 3, from verse 14.

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

of whom every fatherhood in heaven and earth is named, 

that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, 

that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 

may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, 

and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.

What a marvelous word!

And I know that God wants to speak to us this afternoon in a very special way, so that we realize that we are meant, that these things are prepared for us. 

Not just for others, but for us, because, just as the Lord was in the beginning, so he must be in the end, and the same promises still apply today.

Paul prayed for the believers, that they would be equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit, not just once baptized in the Spirit or anointed with the Spirit, but equipped with the power from on high, so that the ministries could be made manifest in the body of Jesus Christ, and the manifold needs could be met.

If the Lord does something in our midst today, it will certainly be through his Word and his Spirit, and then, if it pleases him, he can bless one or the other brother to lay hands on him in faith, for so it is written, and God stands by his Word.

Today we should not leave here unless we have received what we have prayed for. God is faithful. We can rely on him and on his Word.

When we read in the Gospel of John, in chapter 3, verse 34, we are shown how precious the Word of God is, and all those whom God sends bear witness to the Word of God.

John 3, verse 34, here it says:

For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

He who is sent by God does not speak of himself; he has no trumpet of his own into which he blows; he prepares no way of his own; he has no programme of his own; he has only one longing: To bring people into contact with God.

And the word that has gone out from the throne and reaches us through the sermon should bring us back to the throne through our prayers, namely, that we believe what we have heard in the sermon and can thus take God at his Word.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 8, the Lord then addressed a word to us all, namely, verse 47:

He that is of God, heareth God's Words.

That is enough for me.

He that is of God, heareth God's Words.

He that is not of God listens to all kinds of things, he is torn to and fro until he has lost his own faith.

But he who listens to God's Word will be established, for so it is written, "that we may be established, which is by grace." [Hebr 13:9] Be established in God, in his Word, and believe what he has said.

He that is of God, heareth God's Words.

Are we of God today? Are we born of God? Do we have a connection to God? Then we listen to God's Word today. And today the Lord tells us through his Word, the same power that was revealed in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, shall be revealed in us, the redeemed. Today he tells us that he has conquered death, defeated hell, indeed that he has settled accounts with the devil once and for all.

We have been placed on the victorious ground of Golgotha.

In Gethsemane it was still a struggle, on Golgotha the struggle became a victory of God for all those who would be born of God and who would then be ready to hear the word of the cross.

The word of the cross is still today the power of God for those who believe in it. The word of the cross is not a theory. It includes everything, the suffering and death, the crucifixion, the burial, the resurrection.

The word of the cross is a word of victory, a word of redemption, a Word of God to lost humanity, a word of salvation, a word of reconciliation, a word of omnipotence that goes out to all of us who are prepared to believe God and hear what he has to say to us.

For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God. [Joh 3:34]

That was one verse. And the second:

He that is of God heareth God's Words. [Joh 8:47]

Hallelujah. Oh, that there could be an Amen in all our hearts, that we could say to the Lord: "Yes, Amen, I am born of God. I no longer listen to what man or the enemy through man says. I listen to God. I believe what he has said." 

This is also included, when he cried out on the cross, "It is finished." [Joh 19:30]

This is also included: I have redeemed you and called you by name. You are mine. [Isa 43:1]

I ask you, What has God forgotten? What has he left out?

Everything is included, we have a full gospel, a full salvation, a full reconciliation, a full forgiveness.

We have become "children of God through faith in Jesus Christ," the Son of God. [Gal 3:26] Let us hold fast to this state, for so John writes:

Now are we the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But when he shall appear, we shall be like him. [1Jo 3:2]

Who of us can grasp that? Such a miserable little heap of clay as we are here shall one day be like our Lord, to whom we have caused so much trouble. We shall be like him one day.

Beloved, we would love to turn our eyes to the dust from which we have been taken, but because he who had immortality came into mortal flesh and became like us and paid the price here, we can lift up our heads and know that our bodily redemption is drawing near, and we know that the hour will come "when the corruptible will put on incorruption and the mortal will put on immortality," and we will be taken up to meet the Lord and see him as he is.

Hallelujah!

This is God's Word, and whoever is of God hears and believes God's Word.

Can you believe that we are completely redeemed?

Can you believe that God has pardoned us?

Can you believe that we have become children of God?

Can you believe that the promises God has given us will be fulfilled from the first to the last?

"Since God could swear by no one else, he swore by himself," [Hebr 6:13] by his holiness, and he will not repent. Every Word of God is yes and is amen, and we may believe it from the heart.

In Colossians, chapter 2, there are some more marvellous verses. Colossians, chapter 2, from verse 9, here we read:

For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, 

and ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.

Earlier we read that he was made the supreme head of the church. He has conquered all powers. He has subordinated everything. He has the last word.

Here we are told that "all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily," and now we possess all the fullness in him.

Almost unbelievable and yet true. Hallelujah! We will believe even this Word if we are of God.

Let us take it to heart today: Those who are of God hear and believe God's Word, even against all odds, whatever our earthly eyes may see, as we have now laid our beloved brother to rest.

On the one hand it may look as if death has still exercised its power. On the other hand we know that all those who go home beforehand are already with the Lord.

And when the Lord returns, "those who have fallen asleep in Christ will rise first, and then we will be changed to be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the clouds, in the air," [1Th 4:16] – everything has its place.

I am not bothered by the graveyard. I am not bothered by death. I am not bothered by circumstances. I believe what God has said in His word, and in due time every Word of God will be fulfilled. We believe that with all our heart.

Look, the prophets and all the apostles have gone before us.

God has a plan, an overall plan with the church and a way with the individuals, and we believe that He will bring to fulfillment everything He has set out to do.

Let me read from Colossians 1, verses 25 and 26. Colossians 1, verses 25 and 26:

… in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the Word of God.

Up to here, this precious and holy Word of God.

Not only in part, but to "fulfill it perfectly" [german translation]. May tribulations, may sufferings, may misjudgments, even insults of every kind befall us.

There will be none who could be worse beaten than our Lord has been. As the prophet Isaiah said in chapter 53, "He hath no form, nor comeliness, no beauty that we should desire him." [Isa 53:2] No, people did to him what they would not have dared to do to any other person. He, the King of Kings, walked this shameful path. And when we look at Golgotha outwardly, it seemed like the greatest defeat that could have been, but in the midst of this apparent weakness or defeat, God revealed his power and his victory.

We are not dealing with the powers of flesh and blood, but with the defeated powers of darkness that still want to have their say, that would love to tear apart and destroy the body of the Lord. [Eph 6:12]

But the Lord, as the head of the body, joins his members together, and we come to this divine unity in the Spirit – Jesus Christ is the head, and we are joined together as members under this one head.

Let me read from John 17, verse 14, the well-known word. John 17, verse 14:

I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

My main point is, "I have given them thy word."

Whom God sends, speaks the words of God. [Joh 3:34]

He who is of God, heareth God's Words. [Joh 8:47]

I have given them thy word. [Joh 17:14]

We are so grateful to God for the end-time message. It was not interpretations. It was not exegesis. It was the "Thus saith the Lord," the unadulterated, pure, holy Word of God that we heard.

God sent his servant and prophet. He spoke the Word of God, and now there are people on earth who hear this Word of God, and after they have received it, they do not mix it again with any interpretations.

No. We have recognized what the interpretations have done, confusion and spiritual death and divisions.

The word that comes from God brings us together, brings us back to God, and we are united under one head.

If everyone had kept silent, and only heard and read the words of God as they were left to us in Brother Branham's sermons in connection with the Holy Scriptures, there would not be the slightest confusion today. There would only be one direction, and that would be the divine direction according to his precious and holy Word. Everything else would have had no chance at all.

Isn't that marvelous?

Whom God sends…

What do we read about John?

A man sent from God. [Joh 1:6]

He had the word of the hour, the word of the divine promise.

And we are not ashamed to say: Just as John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first coming of Christ, so brother Branham was sent to forerun the second coming of Christ with the Word of God.

And that reminds me of my last speech at an international conference. I had the pictures with me with a pillar of fire and a cloud and also the Science magazine and I walked quietly to the front with them. But I knew that this was my last chance to speak clearly about what God has done in our generation.

Whether they listen or not, I will no longer be responsible if they do not receive it.

Let's summarize.

Whom God sends… Yes, who does he send?

First of all, the word goes out to the one he wants to send. And that is the calling, a divine sending, a divine commission. And with a divine commission comes the Word of God, pure, clear and holy.

And then the spirit of God comes upon all those who are born of God. Through the spirit of God they have a connection to the Word of God. Everything else will bounce off like piece of a wall. There will be no connection.

I don't know about you, but I am not saying this to emphasize myself, but every time something comes from the Word of God, it becomes great to me. I move it in my heart. It becomes precious to me and I thank God for it.

Every time something is released that doesn't come from God, then nothing happens here inside. Then the shutter closes. There is no connection.

Oh, what we need is a clear connection to God through His spirit, through His word. That is the divine connection.

And I'll say something else: Those who are not of God will listen to everyone through whom God does not speak, for that is the other side of the coin.

Those whom God sends speak the Word of God. [Joh 3:34]

And he that is of God heareth God's words. [Joh 8:47]

Hallelujah! Amen! And it will remain so forever as it is written in the Bible.

But whoever does not listen to God's Word will listen to all the fables that have been beautifully decorated with the word.

But there is one more passage that I would like to read, and that is verse 26, because it belongs to it. Now I'll read them together. John 17, verse 14 and verse 26:

(14) I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Verse 26:

(26) And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Both "I have made your word known to them" and "I have revealed unto them thy name," to those whom you have given me out of the world.

They belong to you.

Sanctify them in thy truth; thy word is the truth. [Joh 17:17]

How marvellous! How glorious! We are at a loss for words, that God has thus pardoned us, and preserved us in the midst of all confusion, in his Word and in his grace.

May the blessing of Almighty God rest upon us all.

Let us accept it in faith today, that God still wants to reveal to us today the same power that was revealed in Christ when he rose from the dead.

Do not force yourself to do so.

Surrender to God.

And if unbelief stands in the way, simply say, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." Say it. Say it confidently.

And unbelief will fade to the right and to the left, and faith will "look up to Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of faith."

We hear God's Word today because we are of God, and because we believe it, God will fulfill it in us and confirm it to the glory and praise of his name. For thus he says through the prophet Isaiah, "My word will not return void, but will accomplish what I send it to do."

Can you personally believe that he will fulfill and confirm it in you, on you, and through you? Then let us say "Amen" together.

Amen. Hallelujah.