It is written that God does not lay anything to the charge of His Elect.
(Rom. DEWITT TABERNACLE TEACHING SERIES
“IT
IS WRITTEN”
By C.W. Wood December/January 2004-2005
For our starting text, we
will turn to a scripture in Isaiah 1:20, “The Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” What we see here is that
what the Prophet Isaiah said was first spoken by Jehovah. It was heard as the
voice of a man, but in actual fact it was the Voice of God, Himself! The lips
that spoke the Words on Earth were those of Isaiah, but in all truth, it was “The
Mouth of the Lord” that had spoken it. All Scripture was inspired by the
Holy Ghost, and therefore was spoken by the Mouth of the Lord. The Bible is His
words impressed on paper and preserved!
In the Earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus on Earth, we see how He
reverenced what was written in the Old Testament Scrolls. He continually quoted
the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. His testimony was that “The Scripture cannot be broken.” We see the same reverence for
the written word in the Apostles. They never questioned the inspired Old
Testament Scriptures. They were, in their minds, the supreme authority. They
were the wall that every argument crashed into and was destroyed. However this
sacred Book is treated in these modern times, it was not treated negligently nor
questioningly by the Lord Jesus and His disciples. This should be the guidelines
for the Bride in this last hour. Let us never question the fact that, “The
Mouth of the Lord has spoken all that is written.” As for us and our house
this Book of the Lord shall be the basis of our Faith. What is written is being
considered as from the Mouth of the Lord, and cannot be stopped or changed! It
stops every mouth and stills every critic.
Let the world and Church Natural serve whatever Gods they choose, and
follow whatever authorities they will, but as for God’s Chosen Bride, we will
follow God’s Word as spoken by the mouth of our modern day Prophet, Brother
William Branham. We do know that no Prophet, in whatever age, can speak
differently than what has already been spoken and written. Therefore, we have a
standard by which to judge what our Prophet has said. We preach what the Prophet
taught because, “The Mouth of the Lord
has spoken it.”
We preach this End-Time
Message with fear and trembling, because “The
Mouth of the Lord has spoken it.” Woe
unto us if we do not preach it with our whole heart! Because it is the Word of
the Lord, we are bound to speak it. Our responsibility is great and the burden
is heavy, our souls can know no ease unless we are doing all to warn them that
are about to perish. If the Watchman warns them not, they shall perish, but
their blood will He require at the Watchman’s hands. We who preach this
End-Time Message live under intense pressure, for the Words of God’s Mouth to
the mouth of our Prophet, must not be changed as it comes from our mouth or pen.
It is not for us to change the Divine revelation, but only to echo it. The Words
of the Lord that came from the mouth of His Prophet are not to be toned down to
fit the trends of this modern day. The words of Holiness that were spoken over
50 years ago are still binding today. Woe to the Minister today that does not
hold up that same standard! Man of God, add not to His Words, lest He add to you
the plagues, and take not from them lest He take thy name out of the Book of
Life.
Going back to our sermon title, I wonder if we are sufficiently impressed
with those three words. “It is
written.” They are the three words that were used by our Lord Jesus to
silence all the batteries of Satan’s guns. They also bring to naught every
thought of man that is contrary to what is written. To quote what is written
removes any ground for controversy; there is no more room for argument. We are
to tell it boldly in every place, tell it to every creature, for the Mouth of
the Lord has spoken it.
We need to tell it in the ear of the sick, preach it in the face of the
lost, and testify to it in the streets of our cities! How great a thing that the
Lord has consented to write down His Word in black and white, in a language we
can understand, and it can be translated into all languages, so that we can all
read for ourselves what the Lord has spoken to us. The great God of Heaven, the
Creator, the King of all Kings, the Sustainer, and the Redeemer has chosen to
speak to you and me in His Book. Do we dare neglect to hear Him? Should we not
forsake all to find what He has spoken?
Our soul’s destiny hangs on what He has said. Our life and peace here
now revolves around what He has said. To ignore something He has said brings us
to misery, how unwise and foolish we are to turn away our ear. We must put all
else aside and listen to Him. We have listened to the voices of others for too
long. It is like trying to grasp a handful of fog, there is nothing to it. But,
God’s Word is substance, though Heaven and Earth should pass away, not one jot
or tittle of what God has spoken shall fail. Let man or devil come forward and
prove a failure!
The Rock of God’s Word does not shift as does the quicksand of modern
theology. Shall we adjust our preaching to fit the progress of Science? The only
thing that is certain about modern false Science is that it will soon change!
They constantly disprove their last theories. Even in one short lifetime, of
almost eighty years, I have seen the thoughts of wise men rise, and then fall
time after time. We cannot tie our beliefs to those things which are more
changeable than the weather.
We have been taught to trust with our whole being the Lord Jesus, who is
the same yesterday, today and forever, and it is He that is in “It is written.” Let whosoever will try and disprove it. They
will only be ground to powder as it falls upon them. Far better is it to fall
upon the Stone and be broken. We as His Bride hope to be together forever before
too long, and when we are in His presence, we will not be ashamed that we have
stayed on His Word and fed upon it while in our flesh.
Where God’s Word is, there is Power because God is, Himself, in His
Word. It is God’s Word preached, as it came forth from His Mouth, that saves
souls, heals the sick, and delivers those in torment. When God’s Word is
brought forth in its simplicity, no devil can stand against it, they must fall
before it as straw withers in the fire. We pray for the wisdom and the ability
to keep closer and closer to what the Mouth of the Lord has spoken. The penalty
for refusing the Word and rebelling is to “be
devoured with the sword, for the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (Isa.
1:20)
In the wilderness experience, where our Lord was tempted for forty days
and nights, He defeated every devise of Satan with “It is written.” We have only three instances where He used
these three words against him, but we can know that these were not the only
temptations He experienced during those long days and nights. However, they do
serve as our example for the many other times our Lord must have used this
Sword, the Word.
There was one thing that was greatly in the favor of the Lord Jesus
concerning these trials, He was aware of the fact that Satan believed the Word!
In our day, we have Scripture that reveals this to us also. James 2:19, “Thou
believest there is one God; thou doest well; the devils also believe and
tremble.” Neither the Lord, nor we, have to convince the enemy that
whatever is written shall come to pass. We know that he has had thousands of
years experiencing just that. His first experience must have been in Heaven,
where the Lord told him unless he repented, he would be cast out. He repented
not, and what was spoken became his lot, he was cast down to Earth!
Through the centuries, he has watched every prophesy be fulfilled in its
proper time and place. He knew the Old Testament Scriptures, but try as he
might; he was not able to stop one jot or tittle of God’s spoken word. Satan
knows that God has never yet spoken a word that has fallen to the ground. When
He told Noah He would cover the mountains with water, He did it. Satan watched
it happen. When He told Pharaoh what He would do, He did it; the plagues came
exactly as He had said. Satan watched it happen.
In every case that God announced judgment on a person or a nation, He
carried out those judgments. Where He made a promise, He brought it to pass. He
promised that a Virgin would conceive and she did. He promised that her Son
would defeat Satan, and He did. He promised that He would be killed and raised
on the third day, and He was. He promised that He would go back to be with the
Father and Satan saw Him go up from the
Is it not the weapon that we are to use against him in our personal
warfare? Does it not build your faith to a high pitch to understand that Satan
trembles when the weakest Saint takes a grip on “It
is written” and demands that he obey it?
I am so glad that our Father has proven His Word to our enemy, and then
gave us the authority to quote it and hold Satan to it. Satan fears and trembles
before any saint who states what is written and then refuses to be moved from
it.
By speaking what the Mouth of the Lord has already spoken, we plant His
Word Seeds, and God will not fail to water His Word-Seed crop. There will be a
harvest! One of God’s Divine Laws is to be found in the following Scripture. “A
man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the
increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the
tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” (Prov. 18:
20-21) How all powerful it is to open our mouth and quote what God caused to be
written! A promise of God is just as good as if it had already been brought to
pass. Our Prophet explained that a man with the money in his pocket to buy a
loaf of bread, and who was on his way to the store to buy the same, was as if he
already had the bread. If God has promised us something, and we hold His
Word-promise in our heart, and quote it to the evil one each time he brings
doubts, do we not understand that Satan is powerless to stop it? It is as though
we already had the answer. His Word will create the substance.
The Mouth of Jesus, the Man, was the Mouth of God speaking on Earth. The
mouth of the Bride in this hour should also be the Mouth of God, still speaking
on Earth. How are we using our mouth? Who is using our mouth? Are we letting the
Lord use our mouth by saying what He has already said? It will still defeat
Satan at every corner, just as when the God-Man spoke it! If He needed to quote
the Scripture to keep the victory, don’t we need to keep it the same way? He
said the Scripture cannot be broken, and then if Scripture is always in our
mouth, we cannot be moved, or broken!
We put God’s Word to work by quoting it, witnessing about it, and
writing it in books and newspapers. How can something that God said ever fail?
Every promise in the Bible, the Mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The Bride of
Christ is now receiving the revelation that Satan has known would come before
the final curtain goes down. Yes, he is still given permission to try to talk us
out of it, but God’s Elect treasures it more than life itself! All Hell is
against what God has said, but what does that matter? In his own evil heart,
Satan knows he has lost the war. As it is written, he believes and trembles!
Some have preached that Satan still has hopes of overcoming the Lord;
therefore he still wages war against Him. This does not fit the Scripture, which
says, “Have you come to torment us
BEFORE THE TIME?” (Matt. 8:28-29) He knows he has no power against his
Creator; there are no doubts in his mind concerning that! He is given the
opportunity to see who he can turn aside from the Word, but his war against his
Creator has ended. He was defeated in Heaven, then on Earth by the God-Man in
the wilderness. The victory at the Cross was God’s victory over him for you
and me. We have no ground to try and
take, it has all been taken for us, and we hold it with the Words “It is written.” God knows His Word is true, Satan knows its
true, now how about you and I? We must come to the place of knowing that what is
written is the final say. It is the final say of the Supreme Court of Heaven,
ruled over by the Judge who rules over all other judges.
We are to believe His “It is
written” above all circumstances that may rise to prove it wrong. When
friends forsake us because of it, we are to testify the more to its certainty.
When our own spirit is cast down and our emotions cry against the truth we hold,
we are to know that this has in no way changed what is written. In our despair
we still have the blessed privilege of holding to “It
is written.” When we pass through the deep waters, “It is written” changes not. Even when our heart fails us for
fear, this does not change “It is
written.” David said, “In the
times when I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.” (Ps. 56:3)
“It is written” will stand
fast unless God is defeated! Know then that we stand on firm ground, for there
is no chance of the Creator being overcome by one of His beings. What if men
fail, and devils attack? Let them hear “It
is written.” The voices of Earth are full of error, but the Words of the
Lord are as pure gold and silver. Though a thousand should stand in its way, it
moves on and cannot be stopped.
The Holy Ghost uses the Word of God. It is His battering ram with which
He casts down all the strongholds of Satan, but is must be found in our mouths.
In the mind first, then the heart, then spoken with the mouth. The worst forms
of depression are cured when we take “It
is written” in our mouths and believe what we are speaking. We may be in
distress for a season, but nothing can stand before the One who spoke the world
into existence.
The Devil cannot bring a temptation that is not covered by “It is written.” If all devils of Hell and all bad men on Earth
should gather together against one of the Lord’s Children, they will fall
before his testimony of “It is
written.”
I have failed badly in trying to express what I have in my heart about
“What is written.” Yet I will still write more in an effort to bring forth
its life-giving importance. We must strive toward the place where we will never
let man or devil move us from the solid ground of the Word of God. We must look
at Jesus, who is the Word. To look at self is to fail, to judge the strength of
the Word by what we see in ourselves (flesh) is to be plunged into despair. The
reason we are to believe every word that is written lies in Jesus, not in
ourselves! Do not say, “I believe the Word because I feel so good about it,”
because in a short time you may feel miserable. Do not say, “I believe the
Word because it looks reasonable to me,” because Satan knows more about
reasoning than we do. Brother Branham said, “Do not reason with the Devil, it
will be an unequal contest, he will defeat you in the way of reasoning.” Satan
has studied mankind and knows all our weak points, but when we wave the Word
that is written in his face, he cannot stand before it. It is death to every lie
he has ever told! So long as God’s Word is true, we Believers are safe. If the
Word is overthrown, we are lost, but not until then. Stay behind the fort of
that Word, Bride of Christ! That is the way, and the only way to overcome the
enemy.
Nothing makes a person so calm and collected, and equal to every
emergency, as falling back on the Words written in the Book of Books. Our Lord
taught us that it is the use of the Scripture that drives the enemy away. He
said to the evil one, “Go, for it is
written.” He will flee from us the same when we use “It
is written,” because it is not the man, but what is written that he must
bow to. Christ, as a man, felt a great awe for the written Word, and so must we
reverence it and give it its place above every other thought or word. God alone
is God, and His Word alone takes first place and last place.
Remember this also, Message Believers, Jesus was filled with the Holy
Ghost Spirit, being baptized at the River Jordan. Then, being filled with the
Spirit, He went into the wilderness to be tempted. The Word of God, not
quickened by the Spirit of God, will do us no good. The Word must be anointed by
that Spirit of Christ that is in us. This is the dividing line between Church
Natural and Church Spiritual. One has the Oil and the other does not. Both are
religious, but one has the victory and the other is always seeking it. They both
quote the Word, but Satan reasons one group away from it, while the other trusts
in what is written ahead of all that is reasonable.
To press home the urgent need for the Token, as the Prophet called the
Spirit, it needs to be said that the natural mind will fail us because of the
hard trials that Father is causing His Bride to pass through. There will be
times when we will have to have the Mind of Christ, which only comes through
being baptized with His Spirit. Without His Mind revealing the need for these
trials to us, we will become too discouraged to go on. The way will seem too
hard.
In these last hours just before the catching away, the furnace is being
heated seven times hotter than ever before. Reason, which Satan teaches, will
tell us that Father is angry with us and we are being punished for our many
failures. Reason will say that our loving God would not sit in Heaven and watch
His Children go through the terrible trials that are now befalling them. Reason
will say that His Chosen should be receiving blessings rather than the furnace.
We will have to hold to “It is
written” in order to stand, for there will be times when that is all we
have!
It is written that God does not lay anything to the charge of His Elect.
(Rom.
QUOTE: POSSESING THE ENEMIES GATES, PAGE 6, “…It was only a
few years later when the trials come, and the church got all shook up, as is so
easy for a congregation of people to do when something just don’t seem to
happen the way that is supposed to be. (In our mind) GOD MAKES IT THAT WAY. GOD
BRINGS TENSIONS IN TO THE CHURCH, FOR EVERY SON THAT COMETH TO GOD MUST BE TRIED
AND PROVEN, AND TESTED. He lets sickness strike you. He lets diseases come on
you, to test you and to prove you, to show the world that you’re truly the
Seed of Abraham. He permits it by His own will. He permits disaster; He
permits friends to turn against you. He permits all these things and turns
the devil loose to tempt you, and he’ll do all but take your life. He
could throw you on a bed of affliction, he could turn your neighbors against
you, he could turn the church against you. He can do most anything and it’s
God’s will for him to do it. We are taught that it is more precious than
gold to us.” (End quote)
I Peter 4:19,
“Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit
the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”
By holding to “It is written,” giant despair will not defeat us. Amen!