WHY JUDAS FELL SHORT
OF PENTECOST
CHAPTER EIGHT
<Then Judas, which had
betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought
again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent
blood. And they said, What [is that] to us? see thou [to that].
And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and
departed, and went and hanged himself.
And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because
it is the price of blood.
And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's
field, to bury strangers in.
Wherefore that field was called, The
field of blood, unto this day.
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the
prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of
silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel
did value;
And gave them for the potter's field, as
the Lord appointed me.> (Matthew 27: 3-10).
May
the Lord add a blessing to the reading of his Holy Words.
This is quite a picture, one like the scene of Esau, another scene of
disappointment! Disappointment is a terrible thing in this life. The world is
full of much disappointments, every day people face
disappointments, but the disappointment, at the Judgement is a horrible thing.
We can have disappointments in
this life, but then we overcome them; there could be victory tomorrow, and
things can brighten up for us, but friends, when you come to a place, like
Judas came, lost beyond hope, you are talking about disappointment. The prophet of God
preached a message called ÒDisappointments at the Judgement.Ó And there is no word to
describe it. Just to think of such disappointment is bad enough. He said, ÒThe sinner would
not be disappointed, but the man who thinks that he is saved.Ó
Quote W.M.B.: E-13 What a disappointment it's going to be at the
judgment, when men who's thought that they were all right, because they had
faith to heal the sick, they had faith to operate a gift, and had great
meetings, great evangelistic services, and won souls. Jesus has forewarned us
of those things: "Many will come to Me in that day and say, 'Lord, have
not I cast out devils in Your Name, and in Your Name done many mighty
works.'" Then He said He would confess to them, "Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity; I never knew you." (Queen Of Sheba 59-0405e).
Many through
organization, through religion, and now under the message, who sat under good
solid truth. But when that man
comes to the judgement, with all hope that he is saved, and then he hears the
voice of the Lord say,
Matthew 7:23 <I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work iniquity.>
Matthew 25:41 <ÉDepart from me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fireÉ>
Now thatÕs a terrible, terrible disappointment!
We have another scene here,
like unto Esau, and this even increased in despising the birthright by Judas.
And many around the world, think that Judas was saved, because Ôhe could not
help himself and because the Lord placed him there to be the betrayer of
Christ, to bring the world to salvationÕ; but I donÕt think that they read the
Word carefully, to see that this man had equal opportunity and he could have
done the right thing. Just like the Lord told Cain,
Genesis 4:7 <If thou doest well,
shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not
well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt
rule over him.>
God could not be God, cause a
man to be like a robot, cause him do something according to his predestinated
will and plan, and turn around and dump that man in hell. He would not be God.
That would not be righteous; it would not be fair in the sight of men, much
more to God. And in the case of Esau God was justified, when he said that He
hated Esau and loved Jacob. That was justified in the scripture, and what justified God
is his foreknowledge. He knew the life of Esau from the beginning to the end;
he knew the heart of the man before he was born, his purpose, his doings, what
the man will do and how he will reject the birthright. It is the same thing
with Judas. But the Lord used these vessels of dishonour, for His purpose, and
to perfect His plan. If there was not a Judas, then
God would find another betrayer and put him there, that the Messiah could be
betrayed, and He would go to the cross and shed His blood to save you and I. So
even though these vessels are vessels of dishonor, predestinated unto
condemnation before the foundation of the world; they are used by God.
Over in the book of Jude it
says, that Òcertain men were ordained unto condemnation;Ó so it was not only
Esau that God hated, but there are many, even from Genesis, that God hated,
even because he had known their purpose, their motives, their objectives, and what they
would do even before they were born. Likewise, He knew each one of us before we
were born. He knew that we would be seated here today with love in our hearts
for the truth. He looked upon you in love and pity.
The same thing that God said of Esau, before he was born, I
guess itÕs the same thing he said of Cain, knowing what an evil man that was
going to be. The progenitor of generations of the seeds of the serpent; rebellious
enough to kill and destroy the children of God, from Genesis, right down to the
end time, even by the billions! Though it is not stated in the scripture who
God hates by name when a man meets the same condition like Esau, then God hates
him. But we are not a hated people tonight, but a people beloved of God, even
because we contend for his promise.
This
here is a disappointing scene, and one like unto EsauÕs. Now we donÕt want to
name our children ÔJudasÕ, but ÔJudasÕ is not a bad name. There was another
Judas amongst the twelve. And the word Judas and Judah, is the very same word;
and there was a tribe of Judah, that was actually Judas.
The man did not even have a
bad name, that he had to live out or plan his life accordingly but this man
done a terrible thing. From the face value, we could say that Judas was lost
because he betrayed Jesus, but that is not altogether so. There is a deeper
side of the story. The betrayal of our Lord Jesus is the end result of a certain attitude, so
this man did not go to hell because he betrayed the Lord. That is the general
picture because we could read that in the scripture, and see how deceitful he
was, and how he betrayed the Lord.
The general understanding is
that Judas betrayed Jesus, and as a result of that he went to hell. That is only the end
result. That was the final manifestation of what was in Judas.
We will speak on ÒWhy Judas
fell short of Pentecost.Ó There is a reason why Judas fell short of Pentecost.
He had the golden opportunity, like all the other apostles, the hundred and twenty
and the three thousand after the Holy Ghost fell at Pentecost. He had the
golden opportunity just like those in the house of Cornelius, even in Acts 8
amongst the Samarians, and those in Acts 19. He had the same opportunity to
make it up to Pentecost. He had all the mechanics. Why did he not go up for the
dynamics?
The mechanics is the Word, the
plan to get there, and the dynamics is actually the Holy Spirit, the Power that
falls upon you. The prophet of God typed that out to an automobile. He said, ÒYou
have all the mechanics, everything right in place, you have steering, you have
wheels, you have an engine, you have everything, but that is only the
mechanics, that is only the Word that is in place. But you have got to get fire power, you
have got to put the gasoline in it, and if you donÕt put the gasoline in it,
you have no dynamics.
We could have all the Word of
God and we could have every thing in place, but if you do not have the fire
power, the vehicle cannot move. And that is what has happened to the followers
of Malachi 4. They have all the mechanics of the message on tapes but they
cannot produce what Brother Branham produced, even because they lack the fire
power that he had. He said:
Quote W.M.B.: 213 There you are; that's oneness with God. When that
power works in me, works in you, we are one. Amen. Brother Kidd, when the power
of the Holy Ghost in me works in you, there's no disagreement, the Word's
there. It works. Amen. It makes It what It is: God
made flesh in you by His Word, the Word made power among you, every Word. (Oneness 62-0211).
We want that same power that
worked in Brother Branham. Although we have the Holy Spirit amongst us in a measure,
that is not felt in many parts of the world, yet we want more of it.
Judas had the Holy Spirit, and the apostles had the Holy Spirit, but they had
to go to the upper room for a greater and a deeper anointing, but Judas never
made it up to Pentecost.
Then brother, we look at this
scene, and it is a pathetic sight and it makes you feel sorry for a human being
that done wrong, and all that Judas done, yet, when we read the scripture, we
have to think that there are many millions of people that will come to that
place, make a mistake in life, reject what the Lord offers to them, and come
right down to that same place.
Now it makes me wonder if
Judas had a wife, if he had children. Of course he had a mother, a father,
brethren, and he had brethren amongst the apostles who loved him. The
personality of Judas was a very wonderful one. Jesus called him ÒFriend.Ó
Psalm 41:9 <Yea, mine own familiar
friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his
heel against me.>
At the time of the betrayal, he said ÒFriend, betrayest thou
the Son of Man with a kiss?Ó (Matthew 26:50, Luke 22:48).
Judas was a man of a wonderful
personality.
I guess that the apostles loved him, and also the disciples. I believe he had
relatives, and they had a certain feeling for Judas, and in this case he made
one of the most horrible mistakes in his life. And when he heard that they
condemned Jesus to die, he brought back the money; his conscience was so
troubled and condemned. He threw down the money and confessed that he betrayed
the innocent blood.
Judas repented, and made his
confession, and he went out and hung himself. He could not live with that
guilty conscience. No! He hung himself. Now thatÕs quite a scene. ThatÕs a
terrible way to end, after that a man sat and heard the gospel and all that the
Lord done for him. But, why should this man, who was a preacher, and knowing
the scriptures, make such a mistake?
Did he not read over in the Bible concerning
Esau, what happened to him and how he sold his birthright? I believe that he
was familiar with that scripture; I believe that he was familiar with the story
of Ishmael; I believe that he was familiar with the story of Korah, Abiram and Dathan? How then did
this man make such a mistake, and reject the greatest blessing that was going
to come upon the earth? Again, we come back to the answer: his heart was
not right in him; like the sorcerer; like Esau! His Heart was not right in him!
This man walked in the footsteps of Esau; he had a greater opportunity. Esau
looked for the great kingdom of David way back in previous years, the Kingdom
of the Messiah, way down there would have been very cloudy, because of a lack
of understanding and revelation.
But in the case of Judas it
was a different
picture, and this man done exactly what Esau done. Came right up to the
birthright and sold it for thirty pieces of silver. Esau was a type of Judas.
DonÕt forget that this plan of God, was the same plan of God that He had in His
mind before the foundation of the world, traveled up from Abraham, and Isaac
and Jacob, it came through Israel and now the plan unfolded a little more.
Israel produced the Messiah. After Israel produced the Messiah the kingdom was
nearer than in the time of Esau. Judas was given a place right next to the
Messiah; what a golden opportunity! What a golden Opportunity! People, as much
as they have heard and as much as they have read in the Bible, they become unmoved and
are set in their ways, set in their thinking, set in their ambition, set in
their pride, set in their self exaltation. They always have an excuse to do
what they want to. Now thatÕs the worst attitude that anybody could maintain.
Brethren when we come to the
word of God, we should be seeking to do GodÕs will only, and put aside our
wills. This is the case here of Judas. Judas was given an opportunity! Far
greater, than Esau! Much greater, than Esau, and he neglected that opportunity.
Now, as GodÕs plan unfolds, it gets greater and greater and we come closer and
closer to the perfection of his plan.
Now, how much closer Judas was
than Esau? LetÕs say two thousand years. We look back at Judas and see how much
closer he came to the perfection of GodÕs plan, but we are right at the door. We
have come right up to the place, to step out into the Millennium, and that is
because God sent Malachi 4:5-6. It is written,
Malachi 4:3 <And ye shall tread down
the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day
that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.>
Now,
how much closer is this generation to the fulfillment of GodÕs plan and how
much sorer punishment
that man is going to receive today, for interfering with GodÕs plan and
program, because of his self and all that goes with it. We are right at the
door. This generation must account to God as none other generation; six billion
people are now upon the face of the earth. God sent the greatest prophet, with
the greatest signs, wonders and miracles. He sent him to even open the Seals
today by the Lamb. He opened up the entire plan of God, that
He had hidden in His mind before the foundation of the world. Men and women sat
and heard the truth declared to them. The Pentecostal world with all the great
men, like Oral Roberts, Billy Graham and T. L. Osborne etc., they shared in that
ministry, just like Judas.
Now friends, I am telling you
that Judas will have a far greater place, and will be more excusable than all the preachers that
sat under Brother Branham and heard the revealing of the mysteries. The
ministers that carry this message today are inexcusable. They will account to
God for rejecting the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They will have to answer to God,
ÒWhy did you reject the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit presented to you, by
William Marion Branham?Ó
If Esau had to answer
because he sold his birthright, and Judas went to hell because he despised the
birthright, then this generation cannot get away with it. They are without
excuse. The opportunity that people have who claim to follow the message and
also preach the message, they will have to give account for it more than any
other generation. You are aware of the scripture that says,
Luke 12:48 <For unto whomsoever much
is given, of him shall be much requiredÉ>
And the
requirement of this generation is very great. You will have to give an account
for the things that you heard, and you will have to tell the Lord what you did
with them. We are expecting a good report to the Lord: ÒI obeyed the Word of
God, I was happy that I heard the Word of God, I cherished it, I cherished the
promise of God, and Lord, here I am; I made it, and I am an eternal creature.Ó
ÒEnter into the joys of life, thou blessed of the Lord.Ó
Now you see brethren, you have
a free will to do what you want with what you have heard. Judas shook hands,
Jesus washed his feet; he partook of Communion. He was an ordinary brother. He
probably came from no where; he came from a sinful life or a religious life and
followed Jesus. Now, look at the opportunity that God gave to this man: called
him as a sinner, he heard the gospel, maybe he was just a young man, yet the
Lord called him and he accepted the gospel. He no doubt wept for his sins, he
was admitted amongst the apostles and disciples; they shook his hands; they
were happy and hugged him, ÒYes Brother Judas, we are so happy that the Lord
called you.Ó It was a golden opportunity, he was numbered with the apostles,
everybody loved Judas and he became a familiar friend with our Lord; God hidden in
human flesh.
IsnÕt that a wonderful
opportunity? Yes, a friend of a prophet, and not only a prophet, a friend of
God the Prophet. There is a great difference between a prophet and God the
Prophet. That is when God became a Prophet, and was revealed as the Son of Man.
Yes, not just a prophet of God, but God the Prophet, because the Word was made
flesh and dwelt amongst us. That was God, Emanuel hiding in a Prophet, and he
referred to himself as the Son of Man. He said,
Matthew 16:13 < Whom do men say that
I the Son of man am?>
Son of Man in the first coming
of the Lord was God the Prophet.
John 1:14 <And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.>
Judas was so close to the
Messiah, until the Messiah went over one day and said, ÒI trust you with the
money bag, you would take up the offering and put it in the offering bag and
you would hold that until we need something to give to the poor, or if the
brethren want something. We want to live off this money.Ó Judas had the money
bag.
DonÕt you think he had him as
some exceptional something. Many artists painted pictures of the last supper,
and they placed Judas as a man just behind the apostles looking suspiciously.
If it was so, the apostles would have picked him out.
But Judas was such a cunning
man, such a personality and a friend to Jesus, that none of them suspected him.
He had a wonderful personality. You know, the devil is a nice man, IÕm telling
you. You watch the Pope and you are going to know how cunning the devil is,
that you cannot pick him out just by his personality. The devil is a nice man;
the Pope is
a nice
man; and
Judas was a real nice fellow. The Scripture called him Òa familiar friendÓ,
and said, that familiar friend has lifted up his heel
against Him. That relates to the Garden of Eden and the two seeds: the seed of
the woman and the seed of the serpent, and it said that it shall bruise His
heel. (Genesis
3:15-16).
The
opportunity that this man had to be numbered amongst GodÕs children and the
apostles, to become the treasurer of our Lord and be a familiar friend to Him,
every one of us would have liked that opportunity. Many of us long to have had
it. We would have loved to walk with the Messiah; be His friend and sit there
and hear Him speak the Beatitudes, or sit down in His house and hear Him unfold
the parables.
Judas had that great
opportunity. Esau only heard of a Messiah, way down there, to come, but Judas
came right up and sat in the presence of the Messiah. And he had knowledge of whose company he
sat. He admitted that afterward when, he said, ÒI have betrayed the innocent
blood.Ó
Now, he knew that Jesus was
born to be the Sacrifice to save mankind. And that is why he came back at the
end, and said that he betrayed the innocent blood. He knew that man was the
sinless Son of God. He had no revelation on the Son of Man, though he knew that
he was the sinless Son of God.
What
could cause a man, a friend, after having such a golden opportunity as a great
apostle and was given a genuine ministry of apostleship, to be a deceiver?
People do not understand that very well about JudasÕ ministry. But although
Judas was the betrayer, he was given a genuine ministry from heaven, of apostleship.
Acts 1:16-17 <Men and brethren, this
scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of
David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.
For he was numbered with us, and had
obtained part of this ministry.>
He obtained part of that
ministry. There is only one ministry and that is the ministry of Christ. That is what the
ministers are identified with, we have a part of that
ministry. ItÕs the ministry of the Bridegroom and we are sharing this ministry
in part and Judas was given that ministry in part, not some counterfeit
ministry. It was a genuine ministry. He knew what he was doing was wrong. That was
the scene when he hung himself.
Acts 1:18-20 <Now this man purchased
a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in
the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the
dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue,
Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.
For it is written in the book of Psalms,
Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let
another take.>
It was a genuine gift,
insomuch that it was given to another. JudasÕ bishoprick
was his office. The birthright that Esau rejected was not a counterfeit. He was
heir to the promise of God, real genuine inheritance, both naturally and
spiritually.
The inheritance that the Lord
gave to Abraham was both natural and spiritual. It was a natural inheritance of
a land, He promised him Canaan land. He promised him a City. But then, He
promised him also a seed that will bless the world. Now that blessing when it travelled down from Abraham and came down to Isaac, it was
a two fold blessing of a natural and a spiritual birthright. It was supposed to
be transferred over to Esau but he became profane, he was not interested
in the spiritual part of it. My! My! My! What an evil deed!
He was interested in the
natural part of it, because he became profane. But Jacob was interested in both
parts, and being interested in both parts of the blessing it traveled down to
him. Jacob became Israel and the nation of Israel was born. The nation of
Israel looked for the Messiah, that was the spiritual
part of it. The natural part was to come in the Millennium, which is the
Kingdom of David and the great City that Abraham looked for, a little later.
Judas was called into the fold to share a part of this spiritual blessing of
Abraham. He stood right there and he was in lineup for that birthright, the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This man had such a ministry, that his ministry
was going to be one of the greatest amongst the apostles. But the man was dissatisfied.
With all that God gave to that
man Judas, he was dissatisfied, because he was a greedy man and his appetite
was not satisfied, with all that God planned for him. You say, ÒBrother Bruce,
how are you going to prove that Judas was going to get one of the greatest
ministries?Ó I recently answered this question for a brother from Africa, he was
so puzzled. He said ÔI donÕt understand who got JudasÕ ministry.Ó
If you want to find out about
the ministry that Judas was given, look at the ministry of Apostle Paul.
Acts 1:20 <For it is written in the
book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein:
and his bishoprick let another take.>
Now according to scripture and
Brother Branham, the ministry was so genuine, that the apostleship of Judas was
to go to another man, but they did not know who that man was. In their own understanding
they took two men, they cast lots and it fell upon Matthias, but we never heard
anything about Matthias. No, you see, this apostleship was not given by lots. Lots is for gambling. They used lots to gamble for JesusÕ
coat. They brought some gambling articles into the upper room and the thing
fell upon Matthias and they said ÒIn the name of Jesus we give you that
ministry.Ó It never stuck.
The prophet clarified that the
ministry did not go over to Matthias. God met a man on the road to Damascus, and
that was GodÕs choice. The same way that Jesus chose the apostles that is the
same way He chose Paul, and He bestowed that apostleship of Judas upon Paul.
I am saying, friends, that
Judas was to write the New Testament Epistles. Judas was to be the light to the
gentiles; Judas was to sit at one of the gates of Jerusalem. That is the great
blessing this man forfeited. Heretics will fall short of the Outpouring because
of lust, greed, pride and ambition.
Judas fell short of Pentecost. What caused this man to fall
short of Pentecost, is what I am saying here. The Lord
had all the blessing planned for him but never told him. Brethren, you donÕt
know what God has planned for you. You may think that you are a little brother
or sister in church and say, ÒI donÕt know if God even thinks of me. I donÕt
know if my pastor even thinks of me or if he even prays for me, or what are his
thoughts concerning me.Ó DonÕt bother about that, the Lord has a
predestinated plan for you. He has a predestinated gift.
God called Judas to
apostleship; He anointed Judas with signs and wonders and miracles; He sent him
out to preach the gospel but there was an evil thing in Judas. His heart was not right in him.
Now this thing that Judas had
down inside of him, if he was not going to clean that up, it was going to
destroy him at the end of the road. Judas was not possessed of the devil all
the time. He was under the ministry of Jesus: he was an apostle; he had a
genuine apostolic ministry. The man had the genuine Holy Ghost; the man was a
brother in the church. The only time that the devil entered Judas was at the
supper table. The Bible said,
<Then entered Satan into Judas
surnamed IscariotÉ SimonÕs Son.> (Luke 22:3, John 13:2, 27).
Now we could go along, my
brothers and sisters, and refuse to purge out, give up, or surrender certain things in our lives
but that will later cause us to be demon possessed.
This is the lesson I want to bring out, that we
could overlook such and just think that they are casual and by-and-by it will
go away. But such things could cause us to sell our birthright, just like Esau.
There are certain things that caused him to sell his birthright. He never put
his appetite under control, and one day it came face-to-face between his
appetite and his birthright, and he chose the bowl of soup. He said, ÒMan look, give
me the soup instead of the birthright; what is the use of this Outpouring? What
is the use of this church that I am going to? What is the use of this message
that they are talking about? What is the use of Branham they are talking
about?Ó ThatÕs the allegory, thatÕs the comparison. ÒI am tired of hearing
about a promise of God. I am tired of hearing about an Outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. Man! I want some pleasure in this world. What is this message going to
do for me? What is this Token going to do for me?Ó People rise up and talk just
like that.
What was the matter with Judas that he had to
betray the Lord, and brought himself such punishment, and to fall short of
Pentecost? What was the matter with this fellowÕs soul? Again, it boils right
down to the fact that he had an uncontrolled appetite. He had an appetite of
ambition. He had an appetite of pride. He had an appetite of self which brought
him an appetite of jealousy. And after that came upon him, it brought him an
appetite of strife and contention, that led him to an
appetite of hate. After hate, it brought a spirit of murder! Do you see,
friends? If you study your Bible you will see that ambition is linked to pride.
Pride is linked to jealousy. Jealousy is linked to contentions.
Think of Moses, and Abiram and Korah. What I am
telling you now, you can check it out from Genesis to
Revelation. Also from heaven right down to the lake of fire.
All those evil qualities are going to be burnt in the lake of fire with all
evil doers. They would not co-exist with the saints of God; because that is
what started it. What started SatanÕs problem? Was it not, ambition? [Congregation says,
ÒYes!Ó] And then followed pride; and the Lord told him that, ÒHe was okay
until pride entered into his heart.Ó
AMBITION, PRIDE - JEALOUSY
Now
you see ambition and pride work together, because you imagined yourself in such a high
and exalted position. You lust for that certain position. If you see a man
coming into that position, then automatically jealousy and envy will come into
your heart. Even because youÕre lusting for that position, or
you are over protective of that position. You do not want anyone to take
it. If a man seems to be coming into that position, then what happens? That
jealousy arises, and when that jealousy arises, then you are going to start
having strifes and contentions. Then a man finds
himself fighting against God. If the Lord is using someone, like in the case of
David and King Saul. Oh, donÕt you see it in heaven? [Congregation says, ÒAmen!Ó] Ambition and pride in heaven, strife
and contention started, and it broke out a war in heaven.
Now thatÕs the same thing in every church.
Listen to this, brethren, that is in every church, every kingdom; it
happened in heaven. This is the opening of the Seals that I am preaching to
you. This is the revelation of the opening of the Seals, from the white horse
rider to the red horse rider, unto the black and pale horse rider.
That quality was inside of Lucifer. He had
ambition, and that ambition led him to pride; they worked together. After that
it led him to jealousy and envy, then it led to strife. He caused strife
amongst the angels. And after that strife started, war broke out. ItÕs the
exact thing that was in the heart of Judas.
That went on in JudasÕ life and that man was
self-exalted. Although God gave him that position, he was not satisfied with
it, no, he had the ambitions of Cain, he had the ambitions of
Lucifer, the Devil. And, he went on with that and tried to bring that against
Jesus. Now, look at how far jealousy could carry you: jealousy could cause you
to be jealous
of God Himself. Do not underestimate that statement: Satan was jealous over
God, jealous over Michael; and that same attitude came down to Judas. Judas was
jealous of Jesus.
When you are jealous, friend, you are going to
start to make contentions, that is the manifestation
of jealousy. Jealousy is a hidden quality inside of people. They could come to
church with it, they could sit with it, and cherish
it. If you even accuse them of jealousy they could deny it. Because it is a sin
of the heart: lust is a sin of the heart. Envy: a sin of the heart. Pride is a
sin of the heart. Jealousy is a sin of the heart. Now these sins of the heart, a
man could hide, for a long time in so many ways. But it is going to manifest in
certain ways too, and only when it is manifested, then you can pin the man
down. He may admit it, if he is a child of God.
A person could sit there with all of that and
preach the gospel, sit down there very pious and formal, even get in the Spirit
like Judas: work signs and wonders like Judas, and still be jealous. Now it
takes an honest heart to admit that I have some jealousy in me, because you have no proof
that this man is being jealous. He was just settling a dispute with a brother
or sister. But what is the motivating factor of that dispute? Many times the motivating
factor of that dispute is jealousy and hatred.
Judas had this down inside of him and when he
thought he had an opportunity to bring down the person, Jesus, that he was
jealous of, he manifested that jealousy. You know what I am talking about. He
looked for that opportunity because daily, he was following the Lord Jesus, and
because of this jealousy, ambition, pride, self-centeredness, he was laughing but
grinding. When he seen the signs and wonders, he was not
rejoicing: he was grinding because he thought that he was the one that should
really be doing that. And when the people said, ÒPraise the Lord for the Lord
JesusÓ, he thought that he should be in that position to receive that glory. These things went on in
the manÕs life. The man seen the signs, the wonders,
the miracles. Instead of seeing how great Jesus was and that he should humble
himself, every time that those things went on, the manÕs inside got more bitter,
because he was jealous. He was envious. He wanted that position.
So now, when the opportunity arose after three
and a half years, there came up a little incident and he thought that he could
have really pinned down Jesus and discredit him with
it.
Now, jealousy will always try to discredit a
man, and that is the problem with the preachers, they are full of jealousy
around the world, insomuch that they discredited Brother Branham. This is the
quality that was in Judas. It was a hidden quality. Everybody understands the
betrayal, but it was not really the betrayal only: thatÕs the end result. But
it was jealousy in the man.
In St. John 12, there came a prostitute and
anointed the feet of Jesus with an expensive box of ointment. Judas, became
self righteous immediately, lifted up his chest and embraced the chance to show
that Jesus was not righteous, as he was righteous. He started to murmur.
Jealousy will cause you to murmur. It will cause you to grumble. It will cause
you to strive. And he said,
Matthew 26:8-9 <ÉTo what purpose is this waste? For this
ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.>
In other words, ÒLook at the waste! Look at the
waste!Ó The Bible said,
St. John 12: 6 <Énot that he cared for the poor; but
because he was a thiefÉ>
Now
that was a vent for his jealousy! He got a chance to show his jealousy! His
envy! His bitterness, and that was going to grow. Every time the Word comes
down upon your ambition and you donÕt give it up, but you still want to hold
unto that great university ambition; you want to be a big something in the
world; you want to be a big educated genius; you want to learn a manÕs work
as a woman; you want to go and pack your head with an extravagant amount of
knowledge, you are going to get into the wrong environment! You are going to meet
whoremongers out there, sodomites, and because of your great ambition, itÕs
going to lead you astray! Such things work together with pride. Ambition and
pride works together.
Proverbs
16:18 <Pride goeth before destruction, and an
haughty spirit before a fall.>
People
who are after a big part of this world are filled with ambition and pride, and
they have jealousy in them: jealous of the neighbour! Jealous of the
schoolmate! Jealous of this, jealous of that; because they
want to achieve.
I Timothy
6:7-8 <For we brought nothing into this world,
and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us
be therewith content.>
Everything in Sodom will
remain here. Everything natural in this world will remain here. Yes, having
food and raiment let us be contented therewith. And godliness with contentment
is great gain.
Judas was not contented, and
because he was not contented, he sat in church with that ambition. He was jealous over
all the apostles. He was jealous when the Keys were given to Peter for the
Kingdom of God. And he thought, no doubt, that he should have gotten those
keys. Maybe that stirred up his anger against Jesus, because his betrayal
followed soon after. He, no doubt, thought that he should have had the position
of Peter, the man with the keys to the Kingdom. He spoke evil of Jesus to the
people and ran down his name:
That
jealousy down in Judas led to strife and contention! It led him to hate! And
after hate, it led him to a murderous spirit!
Friends, if there are
ambitions in us, that are contrary to GodÕs Word, give them up,
otherwise they will disqualify you from receiving the Outpouring. I am saying
that ambition caused Judas to fall short of Pentecost. Pride caused Judas to
fall short of Pentecost. Jealousy caused him to fall short of Pentecost. Strife
caused him to fall short of Pentecost; such led him to hate. If you hate your
brother, you do not have Eternal Life dwelling in you; and he had not Eternal
Life dwelling in him. It led right to that murderous spirit. He went out there
and plotted to
kill Jesus. He knew exactly what the Pharisees were planning. They offered him
thirty pieces of silver to betray the Lord, that they
might be able to kill him, and he accepted it.
This plan was in his mind when
he sat at the supper table, he had already finalized it in his mind; nobody
forced him into it. He had already finalized in his mind, that he was not going
to come back to church. ÒI donÕt want to hear anything about any Kingdom,
again. I am finished with this. These fellows do not know that, but I am
finished with this church affair. I am going out and I am going to get this
money. I have a certain plan: IÕm going to buy certain things that I always
desired. I am going to live it up. I am going to give my daughter so much, and
my wife so much, and my son so much.Ó It purchased a whole field. It was a good
sum of money. The Bible said that is how much they valued him.
Matthew 27: 6 <And the chief priests
took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the
treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's
field, to bury strangers in.
Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. Then was fulfilled that
which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And
they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom
they of the children of Israel did value. >
Why Judas fell short of
Pentecost? Because he did not put the proper evaluation to the birthright, just like
Esau, he did not put the proper evaluation to his birthright. Judas considered
the whole plan of God, the Messiah, the Outpouring and all that Jesus was
trying to achieve, as nothing! To him it only valued thirty pieces of silver.
When you break down the plan of God into dollars and cents, you are in trouble.
I hope I could get that
anchored in your minds. When you interfere with the gospel, you are interfering
with the heartthrob
of Almighty God and His plan and program that He had in His mind before the
foundation of the world. God is desperately trying, to achieve a certain goal,
to produce a world of sons and daughters of God. When you interfere with that
plan, immediately you become an enemy of God! Because you are working in
SatanÕs plan. Before
Esau interfered with GodÕs plan, God hated him before the foundation of the
world. And I am sure that God hated Judas before the foundation of the world,
because GodÕs plan unfolded right up to the Messiah, and he became a betrayer,
trying to interrupt the plan of God.
If Jesus could have looked
around to Peter and said,
Mark 8:33 <Get thee behind me, SatanÉ> , to the man with the Keys to the Kingdom of God, He
had to respond to Judas in a greater way. No wonder why Judas was lost. The
man interfered with the plan and program of God, because of his jealousy.
God forbid, but we could sit
with certain things in our hearts, that we fail to purge out. Enmity! Disunity!
Offences!
Grudge! Jealousy! Hatred or Murder! If we donÕt hate those things and give them
up in our hearts, we will surely fall short of Pentecost.
Now that is what happened to
many preachers around the message and around the world today. They donÕt want
to give up, although they see that they are wrong! They donÕt want to climb down
from their lofty positions: they donÕt want to lose the tithes from the people,
no, they donÕt want to loose their popularity, even though those E.O.D.H. books
have gone out, challenged
their doctrines, challenged their heresies, and they know that they are
wrong, they donÕt want to come down!
They want to gather in
conferences of fifty ministers, a hundred ministers; take the books and put
them on the table and say, ÒHow are we going to treat that?Ó And one minister
came up with a suggestion, ÒWe just cannot reject all of it, we got to take
some of it. To hold the people together, we must take some of these things and
preach them.Ó Hell is too good for you heretics. Hell is too good for a man who
would treat the Word of God like Esau and Judas.
Judas IscariotÕs problem was
a deeper problem than the betrayal! He was to be given PaulÕs ministry. When he
came to that place of hate burning in him, and jealousy, thinking of himself
higher than he ought to think, he lost all those things. If God wants to exalt
you, He will exalt you. If He wants to give you a position, He will give you a
position.
Jealousy could be such a
terrible thing, that you are jealous over a minister, jealous over a deaconÕs
position, jealous over a brother who is exalted into a position. You start
thinking that you should have that position! When you start getting jealous
like that, you will start condemning the man. You will start calling him all
kinds of different names! Instead of respecting his office, you will start making fun
of it. Beloved, thatÕs a bad spirit. ThatÕs a terrible thing. If that man is
preaching, you donÕt like to hear it. If that man pulls you into the office to
correct you, because of that jealous spirit on you, you cannot hear him! Your
ears are being bored every day! You cannot come into unity with that man,
because you are jealous. You want that position and think that he is trying to
take your position!
That is a terrible spirit of Judas.
That was the condition of
JudasÕs heart! Jealousy! Do you understand why he could not make it up to
Pentecost? Do you see why we try to purge out these things, for all these
years?
God could bring you to such a
place of grace that you are jealous of no man, that you envy no man and that
you hate no man. And if you have that kind of a heart, you are going up to
Pentecost. You are a candidate for that Outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Peter was not jealous. James
was not jealous. None of the other apostles was jealous; hear the humility in
the other apostles when the Lord said, that the betrayer is one among them.Ó They said, ÒIs it I, Lord?
Is it I? Is it I, Lord? Is it I? Is it I?Ó Judas for conscience sake said, ÒIs it I?Ó
Jesus took a sup, and said,
John 13:26 <ÉHe it is, to whom I
shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he
gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop Satan entered
into him.>
We
should be a rejoicing people today after sitting under the Word of God for many
decades, trying to get rid of offences, envy, jealousy, and hatred. The bulk of
sin is right in the heart! And when you see two people start having offences,
and contentions and those offences cannot be settled, there is one of those elements
down in the heart!
Preacher, when you are dealing
with certain strifes and contentions in church, ask
the Lord for discernment. You might be dealing with offences, and brethren say,
ÒHe said this, and the next one said that. The next one pinched me. The next
one mashed my toe.Ó But the deeper problem, many times, is that down inside is
some jealousy that is not going to come up under discussion. They will have you
on another case again! ItÕs a manifestation of jealousy! Manifestation of hate!
After they settle a matter, a next matter will come up, but the root of the
thing is jealousy! ThatÕs where the root is laying.
If you are not wise enough to get down to the root of that
matter, find out that there are some offences that happened between those two
people, two years ago, and some jealousy, and hatred exists, you as a pastor will kill yourself
settling disputes every week, and that is not going to solve the problem!
Because this Judas spirit is
always picking on Jesus, to see that he gets something on Him. When he finds
the alabaster box of ointment, he is going to bring that as evidence! But the
root of the matter is in the heart, and the soul! Now this is going to help
preachers, ministers and deacons to handle matters wisely.
It takes a certain amount of
discernment to handle matters. Handling matters is not like they do in the
courthouses. But with discernment, while people speak, you read between the
lines, and try to discern their hearts and spirits. You discern what is pushing
out those words, what is pushing out that offence. And once you catch that,
then you could solve the problem, and help both parties to go up to Pentecost. That is what we
are doing, we are trying to purge out these things. There should not be one speck of jealously
in you, one speck of hatred, one speck of offence. There should not be any kind
of lust down in you for something big in this world, some great ambition. If we
know that those things are in us they are going to stop us from receiving the
Outpouring. That is why it is taking so long. God is holding it back. The Lord is
trying to purge out our hearts, by the Word of God. He does it sometimes by
trials, sufferings and chastisements.
Jealously is a terrible thing, envy is a horrible thing, IÕm telling
you. God has granted me that grace, that even when I was an unsaved man, I
never was overcomed by jealousy. I thank God for His
grace. There was once or twice, that jealously ever entered my mind, before I
was saved, and immediately I recognized that jealously, and I put it down right
away. When I became a Christian, I did not care who owned what in this world,
thatÕs their business. This has continued until now.
I was never jealous of another preacher or a deacon or anybody in my lifetime, that God was using. I believe our ministers can
testify the same for themselves. Unless you humble yourself the Lord would not
exalt you, and any man that is jealous is exalting himself. I never became
jealous over my assistant pastor or the ministers here or anywhere. I do not get
scared in some way, that they might be preaching better than me, get more
anointed than me, and take my position one day, so I better set them down, and
psychologically try to put them down a little bit.
Have you ever seen that here? [Congregation says,
ÒNo!Ó]. No, even because I know what I know. I am what I am, by the grace of God.
The ministers are what they are, by the grace of God. Song leaders are what
they are by the grace of God. Deacons are what they are, by the grace of God.
What benefit is it going to be to me, to be jealous over Sam Jones? I am
not fit to live! You mean to say eat and drink with Brother Sam, and we go
fishing together and be jealous over Brother Sam? Can I be thinking, that I cannot
put him on the pulpit because the people really go wild supporting the Word,
when they hear him preach, and I may not have the support in another few years
because I am getting old?
The song says, ÒIÕm so tired and so weary but I must go on.Ó I rejoice
when the Lord anoints the men of God. It rejoices my heart to see the Lord use
the brothers. Yes, I wish the Lord could use every man in here, yes, and make
him a preacher of righteousness. ThatÕs the way that I think, and I want to
tell you that the Lord blessed me for that attitude. The Lord just blessed me
in several ways.
When I come up here, I do not want to show that I am the greatest
preacher or that I could preach a better message than somebody. No sir! I come
up here, preach a message as unto the Lord. Yes, I give Him the glory, I feel
so helpless, and I say, ÒLord, if you do not help me I cannot bring another
message today.Ó Then He comes by and He brings the Word of God.
Brethren, let us be contented. Let us be contented in this life if you
have food, shelter and raiment. If you are doing something for the Lord, do it
as unto the Lord, and the Lord will exalt you. He is going to bless you
eventually. If you do not have a position He will give you a position. If you
would pray for the other brothers who are being used of the Lord and just forget about
yourself and keep on praying, God will use you.
Now, this man Judas went to hell because he was ambitious, proud,
jealous, hateful and contentious. That led him to a murderous spirit, and that
murderous spirit was so great that he betrayed Christ. His jealousy and hatred
was so great that he was even jealous of God in human flesh.
Do you see where it can carry a man? Lucifer in heaven was jealous
over Michael. Jealous over the Lord: Judas finally decided to deny his
birthright. He sold his birthright for thirty pieces of silver; just like Esau
for a bowl of soup. Judas got thirty pieces of silver: a bowl of silver. Esau
got a bowl of soup; Judas got a bowl of silver, and they did the very same
thing. ÒWhat shall this gospel and the Messiah do for me? I will betray Him:
just give me thirty pieces of silver.Ó
But look at his end.
He was a human being like anyone else, and the poor fellow regretted what he done. He came under
condemnation, he realized that he blasphemed his way, came, brought back the
money and tried to reconcile, but it was too late. There are people who are coming
back for this Outpouring of the Holy Ghost, because they know what this Gift is
and will return, and just like Esau came back for the blessings, after selling
it. The time came that the man returned for the blessing; and there are
backsliders by the hundreds and the thousands outside who know about this
revelation, and the Promise that we are expecting. When it comes they are going
to return.
The prophet of God said that they will return when the evening shadows
fall. They went out to eat biscuits. They will beg for that gift of God, but
they will be like Judas, already crossed the line, no more hope, no more repentance, and some of them
will go and hang
themselves. Some of them will shoot their brains out.
Listen to Brother Bruce, what IÕm telling you: there are men who will
return for this Outpouring that I am preaching about and will blow their brains
out, when they find out how rejected and lost they are. Good brothers and
sisters that left the Word and turned away from the promise of God will blow
their heads out with shotguns.
IÕm telling you that others
will be chasing after you to kill you. ÒBrother Bruce, how do you know that?Ó
When Esau did
not get the blessing it was time for Jacob to run. DonÕt you think that
when that Outpouring comes, that we would not have wars. We are going to have
Esau chasing after us but I have news for you. This time, we are not going to
run down to Laban into Syria, but we are going in the Rapture and we will have
enough power, that men will fall dead before us. They
are bouncing into a hot wire this time. This time this Bride would not be shut
up. She will be taken up.
Quote
W.M.B.: 88-1 That's why the devil is howling, these great organizations
set up something to close her up. They'll never do it. She'll be taken up, not closed
up. (Christ
Is The Mystery 63-0728).