Adoption #4.

William Branham.

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Adoption.

Now he said, “He made known to us the mystery.” Get the Holy Spirit on you sometime, and start running that, and just watch how it goes. This afternoon I had, oh, about thirty minutes to study, just to look the lesson over. Maybe not. I'll say half of that, fifteen minutes between the times. And I got to running, and I thought, “The mystery— how mysterious!” And the scripture packed me back into the Old Testament, then back over into the New Testament; tied something together to see the mystery of his coming, the mystery of his will, the mystery of us sitting together. Remember, it cannot be taught in any seminary. It's a mystery. You cannot know it by education, by theology. It's a mystery that's been hidden since the foundation of the world, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Tell me, my brother, tell me, my sister, when was the time that the sons of God was ever to be manifested outside of this time now? When was there ever a time in the history ... manifest the time to deliver all nature? Nature, the nature itself, is groaning, waiting for the time of the manifestation. Why, before the atonement was made, before the Holy Ghost was ever poured out, before all the Old Testament, on down there, there couldn't have been manifestation. It had to wait till this time. Now all things has been brought, coming, shaping up to a headstone, to the manifestation of sons of God, coming back; and the Spirit of God coming into these men so perfectly until their ministry will be so close like Christ's till it will join Him and his church together.

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If you were predestinated to eternal life, God will call you someway, somehow, some way or other. He sure will. “All the Father has given me will come to me.” No matter what church you belong to, that has nothing to do with it. But the denomination will never do one thing to you, but might hinder you a lot from going on with God, but it'll never do nothing else. Congregate you together with a bunch of believers and unbelievers. Of course you hit that everywhere you go, and they even had that in heaven, so.... It's all right, but you're looking to your denomination. Look to Jesus. He's the One to look to.

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Now, notice, then the coming of the Lord Jesus is so close at hand until the Spirit... from way down in here (just barely justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Spirit), and now right into the time of the coming of the headstone. The church has got to be so perfectly like Christ until Christ and the church can unite together, the same Spirit. And if the Spirit of Christ is in you, it makes you live the life of Christ, act the life of Christ, do the works of Christ. “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.” Jesus said that, see. Now we're going to have... we got a ministry coming that's just exactly like the life of Christ. What does that ministry identify? The coming of the Lord.

Look at it in the world today and watch what Khrushchev's saying, all these other great things, and great world-wide conflicts right at hand. At any time could go to powder, at any second. That's right. And we know that that's close. Any sensible person can read in the newspaper or listen to a radio will know that that is close. Well, remember, Christ comes for his church before that happens. So how close is the coming of the Lord Jesus? Maybe before this meeting ends tonight. We are at the end time. Certainly true.

Watch the church as it's come, as it moves. Just take it in your own mind, you historians that studies history. Look at the Lutheran church under justification, coming just so freshly from Catholicism. Look at it moving. Then look at Wesley coming a little closer, into sanctification, weaving into the Scriptures. Look right in between, the Wesley. Then the next thing come in was the Pentecostal age— and the Pentecostal age with the restoration of the gifts, the spiritual gifts. Now, look at the age coming now right up to the headstone. See what I mean? The coming of the Lord, the making known. God and all creations is waiting for the church to positionally find its place.

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After the church takes its position, we're called to the adoption of sons by the Holy Spirit. And when each man takes his position (what God has called him to do), and stand to the end of the road, going after the lost....

First, Paul takes all the scare out of it, said, “Now, if you're called— if you're not just worked up in your mind by some kind of theology— if you're really born of the Spirit, then God predestinated you before the foundation of the world, put your name on the Lamb's book of life, and now we come together to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. A holy people, a holy nation, a peculiar people, royal priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices unto God, that is, the fruits of our lips giving praise to his name.” People come in and say, “Them people are crazy.” Sure they are. The wisdom of God is foolish to man, and the wisdom of man is foolish to God. They're contrary, one to the other.

But a real Spirit-filled church, full of the power of God, sitting together in heavenly places, offering spiritual sacrifices, praises of God, the Holy Spirit moving among them, discerning sin and calling out the things that's among them that's wrong, straightened out and making the place level.... Because why? Always in the presence of God is that bloody sacrifice.

Now remember (we went through it this morning), you wasn't saved by the blood; you're kept saved by the blood. But you were saved by grace through faith, believing it. God knocked at your heart because He predestinated you. You looked up and believed it, accepted it. Now the blood makes an atonement for your sins. Remember, I said God does not condemn a sinner for sinning. He's a sinner to begin with. He condemns a Christian for sinning. And then, because He has condemned him, Christ took our condemnation. So “there's no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

And if you do anything wrong, it isn't willfully. You don't sin willfully. A man that sins willfully, goes out and willfully sins, never come into that body yet. But a man that's once in there, he's dead, and his life is hid in God, through Christ, sealed by the Holy Ghost; and the devil can't even find him, he's so far back in there. He'll have to come out of there before the devil can ever get him. For you are dead.

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And remember that, we just passed over it. Ephesians, first chapter, tenth verse.
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times....
Now, we learned that the fulness of time is waiting for what? The fullness of all time, the time that when sin will cease, the time when death will cease, the time when sickness will cease, the time when sin will cease, the time when all the perversions and perverted things, that the devil has perverted, will cease— when time itself shall cease. Watch.

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times that he might gather... in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on the earth; even in him;

“Gather all things through Christ.” As I said this morning, all the little nuggets that we find, these great little things, you can polish them in Genesis, you can polish them in Exodus, you can polish them in Leviticus, and bring them through, and in Revelation they'll end up being Jesus. You take Joseph, you take Abraham, you take Isaac, you take Jacob, you take David— you take any of those nuggets, those men of God— and see if you don't see Jesus Christ displayed in each one of them. “That He might gather all things into one, Christ Jesus.”

Now, a little farther now. Now that eleventh verse:
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance....
Oh, an inheritance. Somebody has to leave you something to inherit it. Is that right? An inheritance—what inheritance do we have? What inheritance did I have? I didn't have any. But God left me an inheritance, when He put my name on the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world.

Oh, you say, “Now, wait a minute, brother. Jesus did that when He died for you.” No, He never. Jesus come to purchase that inheritance for me. Read the very next line:
In whom we also have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own good will:

God, before the foundation of the world, as we've took it down through the lesson, you people.... How we seen God was self-existent: how that in Him was love, in Him was to be God (there was nothing to worship Him); in Him was to be a father (He was by Himself); in Him was to be a saviour (nothing lost); in Him was to be a healer.... That's the attributes of Him. There was nothing there, so his own self, his own good counsel produced these things, that He might through this one man, Christ Jesus, gather it all together again. Oh, eye has not seen, ear.... No wonder it's a mysterious thing.

Look... has predestinated us unto this inheritance. If I'm a right inheritance of something, if God is knocking at my heart and saying, “William Branham, I called you a long time ago, before the foundation of the world, to preach the gospel,” I have an inheritance— an inheritance of eternal life. Now, God sent Jesus to make that inheritance real to me, because there was nothing I could do to inherit it. It was blank. It was valid. There was nothing I could do. But in the fullness of time God sent— in his own good time— Jesus the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. His blood was shed that I might go to my inheritance. To be what? What inheritance? The sonship, to be a son of God.

And now this may just choke you to death, but did you know that men that are sons of God are amateur gods? How many ever knowed that? How many knows that Jesus said so? The Bible, Jesus, said, “Did not your law say itself that you are gods? And if you call them gods...?” Which, God said in Genesis 2 that they were gods, because they had full domain over the dominion of the world. He gave him dominion over all things. And he lost his godship, he lost his sonship, he lost his domain, and Satan took it over.

But, brother, we are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God who will come back and take it over again. Waiting for the fullness of time, when the pyramid gets up to the top, when the full sons of God will be manifested, when the power of God will walk out (Hallelujah!) and will take every power that Satan's got, away from him. Yes, sir, it belongs to him.

He's the Logos that went out of God. That is true. That was the Son of God. Then He made man that little god. And He said, “If they call those who the Word of God came to (the prophets), if they call them gods who the Word of God came to....” And God said so, Himself, that they were gods. He told Moses, “I made you a god, and made Aaron your prophet.” Amen. Whew! I may act like a religious crank, but I'm not. Oh, when your eyes can come open and see those things! All right.

He made man a god, a god in his domain. And his domain goes from sea to sea, from shore to shore. He has the control of it. And when Jesus came, being the one God, without sin, He proved it. When the winds blowed, He said, “Peace, be still!” Amen. And when the tree... He said, “No man eat from thee....” Verily, I say unto you [you, that's little gods], if you'll say to this mountain 'Be moved,' and don't doubt in your heart, but believe that what you've said will come to pass, you can have what you've said.

Read the full account in...
Adoption.

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Romans 8:15-17