They Rose Up To Play

...read beginning at the first verse and see if the Lord will give us a thought tonight. (Reads Exodus 32:1-9)...and just be patient with me and I'll try not to hold you long because I know it's hot. And I want you to see something here tonight. I'd like to take my time for just a few minutes and I want you to get a thought here and see the condition of the day in which we live. Now then Paul tells us in his writings that the things that happened to Israel in the Old Testament was only a type and a shadow of what the church was to do in the day that we're living in. Everything that happened in the Old Testament, remember that, God is no respect of person. He doesn't have respect of person. And because God has no respect of person then the thing that happened in the Old Testament was only typical or an example of what's happening to us. Now I'd like for you to see this if you can. The Bible said that Israel was the chosen people of God, the chosen people of God. That doesn't mean that God is a respect of person because they were the chosen people of God, but it means that God chose them to lay down a type and a shadow with just like I'd chose a baseball team. That's the only way they were chosen. God is no respect of person. And Paul come to correct the error that they had got within their mind over there when Paul the Apostle come he told Israel the error that had taken hold of them. And as he talked with them over there he told them, he said, God is no respect of person and he explained why God had called them a chosen people. Now then I'd like for you to notice this that whatever they did was only a symbol or a type and a shadow of the very thing that we're going to do in the day that we're living in or the thing that we are doing in the day that we're living in. And here Moses said that while he was up on the mountain, up looking for God and seeking God and trying to get the revelation of his day, that he might be able to have the voice of the Lord and have what we would call Thus Saith the Lord for the hour of his generation, it was at the same time that down in the valley that Aaron had gotten beside himself and the people had pressed him so much that he couldn't take it any longer and he finally had to do something about it. And did you know that it's the same way in the day that we're living in. While God has called the true ministry away to be able to talk with them and to tell them the revelation of the Lord Jesus, that the ministry that's down in the valley that's down in the world, that's never entered up into the mount of Christ, this ministry has been pressed so much by the people, until they feel that they've had to do something to save face. This is the reason why that Aaron had made his golden calf is because he did not know anything else to do. He did not have the revelation of God to give to them. He did not have the thing that God meant for Israel to have. He did not have the message that was wrought within the stone tablets that Moses was to bring down to the children of Israel. He did not have it. And I tell you this, this might sound a little bit out of sorts with you, but the ministry of today that's preaching to the world that's never been away with God they do not have the revelation of Christ, and today they're preaching ideology and heresies and all of these other things that's misleading the people. Moses up on the mountain talking with God, Moses was fasting, he was praying. He was asking God to forgive the sins of the people. And at that very time God looked down into the valley. And I want you to get a picture of this tonight. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Here on the mountain the loving God that we know, the sweet, kind, humble God that we understand, the God of mercy that's coming back after us one day, He said, Moses, He said, those people that belong to you that's down there in the valley, He said, they're sinning against God. He did not call them His people. He did not recognize them as His people. He said, Moses, the people that you brought out of the land of Egypt are down in the valley and they're playing the harlot on God and they're worshipping a golden calf. You say, was that the same God of love that John spoke about over in the writings of his epistles and over in the book of revelation? This is the same Jesus Christ, the same God. This is the same one that plundered. This is the same one that made the mountain burn with fire. This is the same God that spoke face to face with Moses. This is the same Holy Ghost God that you feel within your heart. This is the same Holy Ghost God that's speaking to you tonight from the ministry or wherever the people of God gather together. It's the same Holy Ghost God. God said, Moses, the people down in the valley are sinning. He said, The people down in the valley have disobeyed My voice and they've not followed after My commandment. He said, Moses, he said, Get out of My way. Can you imagine God speaking like that? God standing on the mountain, God standing there. And God said, Moses, get out of the way! And here stands Moses before God. And God just as if I would walk back and forth here on this platform God could have been doing the same thing. I don't know but He kept saying to Moses, He said, Moses, get out of the way! But you know what? Moses was about thirty or forty days in a fast and He was in the way of God. When God looked over here He'd see ten days of fasting. He looked over here and seen another twenty days of fasting. He looked over here and He tried to get around Moses to get to them people to destroy them. When He did He saw the found the obedience of Moses. And everywhere He looked Moses was in the way. And finally God said, Moses, get out of the way. And Moses looked back up at Him and said, Nay! I tell you something, folks, when you're on speaking terms with God, when you've obeyed God you can talk to them then. The Bible said, Come boldly before the throne of grace that you might receive help in the time of need. And so then Moses looked up to God and Moses said, God, he said, Don't destroy those people. Can you imagine a man, a man just like I'm a man, a man just like Brother Taylor's a man, can you imagine a man standing in the presence of God and looking at Almighty God and saying, God, repent of your evil? Who every heard of such a thing? Whoever heard of such a thing? Who out in the audience tonight will stand up and tell God to repent of His evil? Whose got boldness enough to go to God and say, God, repent of your evil? Will you do it, Brother Taylor? Will I do it? Will anybody in the audience do it? Moses said, God, repent of your evil. God stepped back and looked at Moses. And I want you to know something, friend, when He looked at Moses I believe God's heart swelled way out, that's a real God man. Hallelujah! Somebody that believes in the blood of the redemption of Jesus Christ. Moses stood there and He looked at God and God looked back at Him. God said, Get out of the way, Moses! And Moses said, God, repent of your evil. Hallelujah! They talked face to face. Praise the Lord! Moses wouldn't get out of the way. Finally God said, All right, Moses. All right. Hallelujah! How many of you remember when Jacob got over there and he bagan to wrestle with God? The angel said, Get out of the way, Jacob. I got to go! Daylight's coming! And Jacob just kept ringing the prayer bells of glory, kept pulling on the heart strings of God. And God said, Get out of the way, Jacob! I got to go! The daylight's coming! Jacob just kept ringing the prayer bells of heaven. And after a while the angel said, What in the world do you want? He said, Bless me. He said, If you'll let me go you can be a prince. Hallelujah! Praise God! I'll tell you something. You can take the Word of the Lord and you can call God down to His Word and you can say, Lord, it's written. You promised it. God, you promised it to me. And I'll tell you what. He'll come to the rescue. Hallelujah! When David sinned against God over there and He done wrong in the sight of God, looked up to heaven and God said, David, said, I told you not to commit the evil. David said, Lord, I'm guilty. God said, David, chose three things you want me to do to you. And He named three of them. He said, Either one of them you can have them. And one of them He named was the wrath of God. David looked up at God and he said, I'll take the wrath of God. And everybody thought David was crazy no doubt. Out of all the things that he chose, he chose the wrath of God. And somebody said, David so to speak, what's the matter with you choosing the wrath of God when they come and ask him questions? He said, Well, he said, If I'd chose those other two things I know that they would have come to pass because it was the divine ordination of God. He said, But when God said I could have His wrath, said, I know that He's a God of mercy, and said, I'll play on His heart strings. And He started pulling on His heart strings. And God had to, and God began to pour out His wrath, and David began to pull on His heartstrings; and after a while God looked down and he just stood back and stopped His wrath. He couldn't do it no longer. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I'll tell you right now. God is wonderful! God is wonderful! You can travail before God. The prayer of a righteous man availeth much. When God looked down at David and David down there fasting and praying, calling on God! And when he said, God, hear me. Lord, don't destroy these people. Oh God! Be merciful. God said to the angel. Stop the judgment. Hallelujah! Now I'll tell you something tonight. If you've strayed out of the way with God, if you've done wrong before God, just go to the closet somewhere and pull on the heart strings of Jesus and keep calling and keep calling. And the Bible says a broken and a contrite spirit God shall in no wise refuse. Just keep pulling on his heartstrings, pulling on His heart strings; and after a while you'll feel something come over you and He'll say, All right, all right. Jesus gave us an example one time over there where He was speaking to them. He said, There was a judge in the land that didn't fear God nor man. But said, There was a little widow. And said somebody had mistreated her and said the little widow went over and said, Judge, said, Avenge me of my adversary. Somebody's been mean to me. The old judge he just shook it off and went on. In a little while the widow come back and said, Judge, what can you do for me? He shook it off and she went away and then she come back. And she come back and she said, Judge, can you help me? And shook it off and after a while she come back. And she said, Judge, what are you going to do for me? And the judge said, I'll tell you, said, I don't fear God and I'm not afraid of man, but you're going to drive me crazy if I don't do something for you. And he said, If the unjust judge will hear the voice of the little widow, how much more will God hear the voice of them that cry to Him day and night? Cry to Him day and night. They use to sing a song, I remember little Betty Nichols use to real, innocent, young girl, just a little old toddler. She use to sing that song when I first come to this area and she'd sing that song and it said, You can't hurry God. Why don't you wait my brother? You can't hurry God. Why don't you wait my brother? Why don't you wait my brother and someday or another He will come and He will answer your prayer. And I use to just cry, just break my heart. You can't hurry God but if you'll just keep waiting on God, someday God will come and He'll answer your prayer. He'll answer your prayer. Oh I've cried so many times, so many times I've cried. Someday or another, hallelujah! He will come and He will answer your prayer. Praise God! And so it was they pulled on the heart strings of God. Here Moses on the mountain, he looked at God and he said, God, repent of your evil. The evil that you sought to do to Israel, he said, Repent over it, Lord. And he said if you're going to blot Israel's name out, said, just blot my name out. But God said, Moses, whoever does evil, said, that's the one I'll punish. I'm not going to punish somebody for somebody else. What He said, the man that does evil shall bear his own punishment. And so then God said to Moses, Get out of the way, Moses. And Moses said, Lord, you got to do something for me. You got to do something for me. And this same tender, sweet, loving God that we know stood there on the mountain and looked down. And His anger began to wax hot against Aaron. Here Aaron was a minister. Here he was that went into the Holies of Holies. Here he was God had committed a great thing into his hand, but what did he do? He played the harlot on God. Had all of Israel down there, had got them to strip off their clothes. They were down there naked and dancing and shouting and hollering and going on and they thought God was going to bless them in it. I'm going to tell you, folks, you can shout, you can holler, you can dance, you can scream, you can run, you can jump, you can do what you want too, but the Bible said, the love of God is to keep His commandments. You can stand up there and preach that God is love until your eyeballs falls out of your head, But when you get through God's going to say the love of God is to keep my commandments. And so then we might as well to realize that this same loving God is a God of judgement. He's a God of mercy. He's a God of healing. He's a God of understanding. But He said, Beware ye that forget God, lest I tear you into pieces. And so then here on the mountain He looked down upon them, and Moses looked down into the valley and here Aaron was, he had made them a calf, made them a calf. And over here they were dancing over the golden calf, dancing over the golden calf. And did you know I've said it many times and I say it again today, if you take the big offerings out from under the tent, if you take the organ out from under the tent, if you take all of those things out from under the tent that pertains to the natural, I promise you that you won't be able to get a shout out of those people. Why? Because they're not shouting over the Word of God. How many of you know that we ought to shout over the Word of God? Somebody said, But they're casting out devils, Brother Pike. The Bible said, Don't rejoice because devils are subject to you. Just because a man comes to town and starts casting out devils, that ain't no reason to dance. That ain't no reason to dance. Don't dance because devils are subject to you. Don't shout because devils are subject to you. Don't shout because of these things, but rejoice over the Word of God that says your names are written in heaven in the Lamb's book of life. This is what our rejoicing is for. So then they went down in the valley. The Bible said they sat down to eat drink and they rose up to play. If I've ever in my life seen a church that sat down to eat and to drink they've risen and rose up to play they've risen up to play in the day that we're living in. People are playing church. People don't believe in the church men of God. People don't believe in the delivering power of the Lord anymore. People don't believe that God can meet your needs. I hear men tell you that they're living by faith, but you know what they do? They go from one to another and they tell them just exactly their financial condition that they're in. They'll go to this brother and they'll tell this brother the financial condition they're in. They'll go to another brother and they'll tell another brother the financial condition they're in, and then when the brothers respond they'll say, Hallelujah! I'm living by faith. But I want you to know that ain't the way it goes. That ain't the way it goes. Was on the field one time out in my early ministry and I just had learned to use my faith and I was so glad that I could use it. Set up the tent, had the tent there and had a few young people that was working with me, I say young people. One of them was well seasoned in the gospel. And I said, Well, folks, we're living by faith. And so when dinner come, there wasn't anything to eat. When suppertime come there wasn't anything to eat. And the brethren decided that if they was going to live by faith we was going to have to do something. So they went down to the store that was nearby and they got them a trading place and they bought some groceries. And they come back up there to my little old trailer. And they brought me and my wife and my children some groceries. They knew we was hungary. Hadn't had anything to eat. Brought it up there and I looked at them and they just about floored me. I looked at them and I said, Oh my Lord, I said, what in the world have you brethren done? Oh Brother Pike, we've solved everything. Everything's going to be all right. You know some people when they got their bellies full, they feel like everything's going to be all right. That's right. You say, You sure do use some crude words. Well, the Bible says your bellies that they made their belly their God. I think it's all right. And so then they said everything's going to be all right. Said, We got groceries. We got a trading place. We don't have to worry no more. As long as we're here we can eat. I said, Oh my! Oh my! How are we going to get up under the tent and preach to the people to live by faith and we go down here and we get a trading place and we buy all of our grocery and we get everything out here and we set up here and eat and we get up and preach faith. I said, No, you just take your groceries and go on down the road with them. Oh, they were cut to their hearts. They were hurting so bad. They thought I was one of the worst fellows I guess in the world. After they had been so merciful to me and I wouldn't take their groceries. I said, No. That's not living by faith. And I began to pray and I began to talk to God. And would you believe it wasn't long before God moved on somebody across the way. And here they come with groceries and all kind of things and everything I needed and spreaded it out before me and my wife. And we didn't have to get a trading place. We didn't have to buy anything. And I preached under the tent living by faith. Hallelujah! Praise God! It's real! You don't have to tell anybody. You don't have to ask anybody. All you've got to do is just be honest and sincere with God and you can live by faith. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! So then they sat down to eat and to drink and they rose up to play. I'll tell you folks, the shout that's in the camp today is over the gold and the silver. And Peter and the apostolic church said, Gold and silver have I none. Gold and silver have I none. They sat down to eat and to drink and they rose up to play. Moses said, That's not a shout of victory. That's not a shout of victory. You say, What is a shout of victory? The Bible said, This is the victory that overcometh the world even your faith. He said, That's not a shout over the Word. Faith by the hearing of the Word. That's not a shout over the Word. It's not a shout of victory. He said, That's not a shout of people that's overcome. He said, But those people are shouting over a golden calf. Naked, stripped off their clothes. You say, Is that Bible, Brother Pike? Jesus looked down at this last Laodicean age in the church, and He said, You say that you're full and you have need of nothing. But know ye not that you're wretched and you're naked and you're blind. And I tell you God's found them naked. And the church world today can shout all they want too, but I'll tell you when the trying hour comes, when the testing time comes he said, Not everyone that saith, Lord, Lord shall inherit the kingdom of God. But he that doeth the Word which is the will of my Father which is in heaven. We sing the song, Each day I'll do a golden deed by helping those who are in need. And then he said my evening sun is sinking away and I go to meet the deeds that I have done. I go to meet the deeds that I have done. Folks, I wonder what you've done for God. I really do. I wonder what you've done for God. These people sat down to eat and to drink and they rose up to play. And I tell you when the trying and testing hour comes you can't shout in the face of the devil and have the victory. When the trying hour comes you can't look at the devil and just shout it off because he'll shout right with you. Yes sir. You can shout all the want too, he'll shout right with you, but when you get through he'll devour you. But I'll tell you what you can do. You can turn and point your finger at him and say, Satan, get thee hence for thus it is written. And thy faith will quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and he can't get to you. He can't get to you. Hallelujah! Let's stand together. Going to close here. And the Lord said unto Moses, this is a stiff-necked people. And my anger has waxed hot against these people. But Moses pulled on the heart strings of God. There he kept ringing the prayer bells of glory and pulling on the heart strings of God. He wasn't playing. Moses wasn't playing. The people down in the valley was playing. But not Moses, Moses wasn't playing. He was talking to God. And He kept pulling on the heart strings of God. And after awhile God said, All right, Moses. He told him to begin he said, Get out of my way. I'll destroy everyone of these people. You say, Brother Pike, God wouldn't destroy all of the people. Oh yes He would. He said, Moses, I'll destroy everyone of them but you. And I'll take you as one single individual and I'll make a great nation out of you. Moses said, Lord, What was it Jesus said, Father, wherever I am, let these be with me also beholding my glory. That's what causes to make it in. He whispered to the Father, Father, wherever I'm at let these be there and behold my glory. Hallelujah! What would a world be like if we had to live in it by ourselves? So then folks, it's no time to play. It's time to be serious with God. Bow your heads with me. It's time to be serious with the Lord. (Sings)

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

Founder and first President of Jesus Christ’s Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc.

Holiness Unto The Lord