The Brightness Of His Coming

Beginning at... I'll tell you what, it won't hurt us to read, let's start at the first chapter here, and read quite a bit of that. There's some things there that it wouldn't hurt if we could catalog in our mind. Hebrews, the first chapter. (Brother Pike reads scripture. Hebrew 1:1-5, chapters 2,3:1-5) Now if Brother Jim would give me just whatever he can on this mike quickly. I'm a little hoarse. I'm really too hoarse to preach. But a preacher just can't go by that. I've preached and it looked like my lungs would come out my mouth. You know, but nevertheless, God has a plan. Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, I'm speaking to you this morning. Here is something, pardon me, here is something that is so fantastically beautiful until there is no words of expression. There is no vocal expression for me or any other preacher, whereas he might be able to express the beauty of what I read this morning. There is just no utterance for it. It is so beautiful. It is so outstanding. And you know I make such a fuss over God's Word and I talk about it being so great and so marvelous and I, I pick up people's spirits occasionally and somebody will be sitting there to say, "My, he makes such a fuss over that. Why, it couldn't be all of that." But, oh beloved, let me tell you something, it is ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands times more than the fuss that I make over it. You are so in the dark. You just don't understand. But it is so beautiful as I look and as I see, as I look beyond the veil and I see beyond the veil what God is saying and understand what God has done. It is so beautiful! And what grieves God so much is the fact that God intends for you and I see it,to understand it, to know it, because this is the only way that we can be saved. This is the only way that we can escape the awfulness of death. And it grieves God to realize that we are perishing from the lack of understanding or the lack of the knowledge of God. From the lack of knowing what God said and understanding what God is trying to get over to us. You know, the devil, he's making havoc of the church. He's making havoc of the people. He's literally slaying people by the thousands. The Bible tells us that in the latter time, he'll go about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour because he knoweth he hath but a short time. I made the statement years ago, and I believe that they got it on tape, that in the latter days, I said, "Now watch and see if this happens. I said, In the latter times which is not too far away, I said you're going to see ministers that you never dreamed would fall, all of a sudden they're going to get mixed up in things and going to take a tumble. Because the Bible said they would do it. And the Bible didn't say that they all would be lost because they would do that but it said that even some of them that have knowledge, speaking of the great men, even some of them shall stumble, even some of them shall fall. It shall get to be such a hard case. It will get to be such a dark night that even some of the great men shall fall. And the Bible says,"This is for the purpose of purging them, to make them white, to get away the over-confidence that they have; to make them realize that their strength is in God and that they've got to depend on God, that they wash up, clean up and get out of those things and come front and center with God to do God's work and to do it the right way. Paul say here, he emphatically states that "We should give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard." He tells us in the Word, "Give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard." When we hear something, he said, "Give the more earnest heed to it." He said, "Lest you let it slip." And he speaks here in the Word, he speaks of the glory that is to be revealed within us and he associates us with the Lord Jesus Christ. He starts off here, "God who at sundry times and divers manners, speaking unto the prophets, he starts speaking about the Son of God and then if you'll notice as he begins to talk about the Son of God, the first thing he does, he begins to work it on over and then the next thing He's done, He's come up with the church and all of the good things that He has said about the Son of God and all of the blessed things that he has created toward the inheritance to the Son of God, we find him fitting the church right in there as memberships of the body and giving them the same privileges and the same thing. You know we think of Gabriel as being a great thing. And you better believe that he is. And we think of Michael as being a great thing and if either one of these appeared before us, it would just tear us up. Isn't that right? Because they're so great and so powerful and so mighty, and yet the Bible teaches that to the angels He hath never put the world to come in subjection to them, but to you and to I, these that are born of His Spirit and of His blood, them He hath put the world to come in subjection unto us. Unto what angel hath He at anytime said, "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee." Unto what angel has He ever said that, but yet unto the human person or the people of the earth, He hath spoken those words. He hath said, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." Paul said, "I have begotten thee in Christ Jesus." So then, we see that though Jesus was made a little lower than the angels, that is when you say a little lower than the angels, it's like when you speak of a woman. She's a little lower than a man. Now you say, "In what way is a woman a little lower than a man?" A woman is a weaker vessel. A woman or an ordinary woman wrestling with an ordinary man, well she wouldn't have the strength to prevail against that ordinary man, now would she? I know some big boisterous, bully type women, you know, they, they get to be like men. They get to be wrestlers, but I'm talking about a woman, not a devil incarnate. I'm talking about a woman. You take a woman and you put her out there and ah, if she's not a huffing and puffing on a cigarette, I'm talking about a woman the way God's made her; you know, she's not some masculine something that wants to put her fingers, we'd say, right in the face of her husband and tell him what to do. Not that type woman; I talking about one that is just an average woman, the way God made the woman. And a man that's the average man, not a little old feminine sissy sort of a man, you know, that his wife tells him everything to do and all he does is say, "Yes ma'am and no ma'am." I'm talking about a man, the way God made a man. The woman is the little lower than the man. Is that right? That is, she, she is not the lower as far as being something degraded, something that's cast down and he's some big something that's set up here on a, on a pinnacle you know, that he's some special somebody and she's some little old dog, you know, with a collar around her neck and he leads her along like a poodle dog. A woman is not that; God didn't make any difference in a man and a woman. The Bible said, "In the Spirit, there's neither male or female as far as God's feelings toward them." Now but when you say a little lower, you're talking about weaker. See, could you picture Jesus being a little lower than Gabriel in that God would make him inferior to Gabriel or Michael? No. But see, he was not as strong as an angel. He was made as a man. A man is not as strong as an angel.. An angel is powerful. They're great and mighty and powerful. A man is not like that. So then to die, he had to make them, he had to make them as as a man or Jesus as a man. Isn't that right? Now you say, "Well, why couldn't he just have made him like an angel? Let him die as an angel." Because the Bible refers to him like this, saying, "That in heaven, they're all as the angels. They do not die." Which means angels don't die. See, angels don't die. Isn't that right? Now somebody would say, "Well, I think they die just like everybody else." Well, how is it that Gabriel and all of those great mighty warriors of God appeared to Daniel thousands of years ago and today, they're still around today. Been many generations to die, but they're just like they've always been. They don't get old; they don't die. Somebody say, "I love Jesus." All right, so then to die, he had to make him like the seed of Abraham. He had to bring him down to a lower plane of living. He had to bring him down to a lower plane of life. See, God is life. God is life. Why, He can create something to where it will never die. He could have made you and I to where we would have never died. He didn't have to let us go through the GArden, you know, and die and fall and all this kind of thing. You know, we get the idea that God made him a creation. He put it out there and God was so pitiful that He couldn't take care of it and the devil come up and bullied him and took it away from him, and God's in such a fix that that the devils killing all of us and God just can't do nothing about it. Somebody say, "I love Jesus." That's the picture that people have of God! But God made the angels. God doesn't let the angels die. See, God has a plan. Now if I shout at you, I don't mean to holler at you. I'm just trying to tell you something. Now see, they don't have to die. Angels don't have to die. God, himself, made Lucifer which is Satan, He made him an angelic being. upright. He was an angel. That's why he can do the things that he does. See, angels don't die. So then, the devil, Lucifer, a fallen angel and a third part of heaven rebelling against God. They can go on from generation to generation. Why, they can move into one generation and they can satisfy their lust in that the devil savors the things that be of the flesh. You know, the spirit on the inside lives from inspiration, even Jesus Christ, even God the Holy Spirit came down in a human body that He might feel the infirmities of the flesh. He can feel our joy, he can feel our grief. Isn't that right? The devil, who is a spirit, can get into your body and he can enjoy the good things of life, the good things that God created, the sunshine, the rain, everything through your body, he can enjoy. He can enjoy the human senses, he can enjoy all of those things. Those feelings that you have, he can enjoy them through the flesh. You can always tell when a demon has got into a body. A demon gets into a body and that body becomes overcharged. See, that body becomes overcharged. It is not, it is not sufficed with just reasonable, reasonable living. A man and a wife is not sufficed with reasonable human relations. See, their bodies become overcharged. Begin to be burned in the lust of the spirit of Satan. A man isn't satisfied with his companion anymore. A woman isn't satisfied anymore. Why is that? Because there is a devil that gotten in there, because man wasn't made like that. See, a person that's got a devil, you can tell. They, they can't get enough to eat. If it's a gluttony devil, why they just want to eat all the time. They eat one thing and they want something else. And they get through with that, they want something else. If they drink something, then they want something else. You understand what I'm saying. See, it is a devil and they keep on till they kill themselves. You've got to get rid of those spirits if you're going to live a normal life. It's the same way. A man that's making money, he's got a devil. He can't get enough money. He just can't get enough money. He says, I'll make, I'll make a thousand dollars here, but I need two thousand. He makes tow thousand, I need ten thousand! He makes ten thousand and the Bible said, "Greedy dogs that never get enough" Always, it's a spirit driving. Always, they never get enough. How many of you understand what I'm saying? All right, so then the devils inhabit the body. Satan inhabits the body. The devil comes down, takes over the body. You got to get him out, so Christ can get into that body. Paul is trying to tell us something here in the book of Hebrews. He's trying to express something to us. The body is made for the Lord. It's made for the Lord. God's spirit wants to come down in it. SEe, why is Paul speaking of death? Why does he associate this thing with death that we read this morning, because death works in you when Satan is in you. Death is working in you. Death is working in you, those angels can use up one generation, another generation, but they just go on from generation to generation. It doesn't bother them because they're not going to die anyway. See, they use one generation after another. But God made the human body for He, Himself to dwell in. And that's the beauty of it. As long as God dwells in it, God also enjoys his act of creation through the human senses, through the nerve system. He made the body that He, God the Eternal Spirit, could have a human body to dwell in. You understand what I'm saying? As long as God's spirit dwells in my body, then I have life. I have abundance of living. It's filled up and overflowing as long as His spirit is in my body. Now, but if Satan comes into my body, I begin to die. I begin to die. Because the devils cannot keep my body alive. He can't keep it alive. Did you know that the devil would love to come into my body and keep my body alive? Did you know that he would love to come into your body and keep your body alive? Did you know that? Why, he would love to keep all of the generations alive. Every generation that's ever died, he'd love to keep them alive. Now,somebody would say, "Well now Brother Pike, I thought that he was the killer and he was trying to kill them all. Why, he would love to keep everyone of them alive. He'd love to turn them into beatniks and perverts and rock and rolls and everything that he could and keep all of them alive for his kingdom. He's just love to have a kingdom. a tremendous kingdom. But see, the reason man dies is because the devil can't keep man alive. When he gets into one of them, they die! Ever since he got ahold of Adam and Eve in the Garden, death set in. From the time that he got ahold of Adam and Eve in the Garden, death set in. From the time that he got ahold of them, they begin to die. And man has died ever since. Before they turned away from God, they could have lived. See, I'm trying to say something this morning. PERhaps you don't understand what I'm trying to say. We associate death with God, but death is not associated with God. Why is it that we want to associate death with God? The preachers of old did not associate with God. Paul didn't associate death with God. Neither did Peter associate death with God. The prophets of old did not associate death with God. Why then do we as a people want to associate death with God? We've got to where we act like the funeral home is some thing to look forward to. Come on. And we act like the funeral director is our right hand man. We ought to make friends with him. He's a nice fellow. You understand what I'm saying? I'm not criticizing the funeral director. But I'm trying to tell you something. Why is it we associate death with God. We are told in the scriptures that light and darkness has no fellowship. We cannot associate darkness with light. God emphatically states that we are not to associate darkness with light. That we are to draw a line between darkness and light. And the bible said, "God separated the darkness from the light." So then, we must put a wall or a line between death and life. Put a blood line between them. For death has nothing to do with the church. Death has nothing to do with God. Death is not part of God's program for the church. Death has nothing to with God. Death is not part of God's program for the church. Death is not associated with God. We're not to preach death to the people. We are not to console the people with the thought, just take courage and love the Lord and you're going to die but everything's going to be all right. God doesn't want that kind of preaching. God isn't a God of death. God doesn't have anything to do with death. The Bible said, "Death is God's enemy!" And the Bible said, "The last one of his enemies that we're going to get by the neck as we say, and conquer the thing." It's God enemy. We are God's people. We are God's Sons. Death is the enemy of God. Death is the enemy of God. Death is a cruel slayer. Death is the one that rides through the night. Death is the one that kills the little child and robs the mother. Death is the one that takes the loving dad. Death is the one that steals that breathe of life that's so sweet that God breathed into the nostrils of Adam. Death is that cruel one and he is God's enemy. And I don't like him and he don't like me. He's God's enemy. Death is God's enemy. The last one of the enemies that shall be conquered. He's God's enemy. Who are we? We're the Sons of God. We're the church. What are we suppose to do? We're suppose to conquer God's enemies. "Behold, I give unto you power over all the powers of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you." It is our job to conquer the enemy. It is our job to move forward in God. To conquer the enemies of God. We're suppose to conquer the evil spirits. The Bible teaches that Satan is the prince, the ruler of the powers that's out here in the air that's working in the minds of the children of disobedience. And they are taken into captivity at the will of Satan. That's why the Bible tells us that we should never lean to out own understanding. We should never do that. I don't get in trouble unless I faint in my mind. I don't get in trouble unless I lean to my own understanding. I don't lose the battle unless I faint in my mind. Isn't that right? As long as I don't faint in my mind, I haven't lost the battle. Come on now. Glory to God! I might get as I said the other night, if I'm working on a wall and I get to where I don't have the strength to lift the hammer and hit the nail or saw the board, but I'll tell you what, if in my mind, I say I can do it, I can do it. I might have to lay down there by the board until I can recuperate or I might have to sleep an hour or two but I'll still get up with that same perseverance, that same mind. I'll get the job done. The Bible said, "They built back the walls because they had a mind to work. Isn't that right? So then, beware lest you faint in your mind. Take the mind of Christ. That's where the Bible tells us that we should have the mind of Christ. See, the mind of Christ never fainted. As long as that mind was in that human body called Jesus, it walked this earth. It never fainted. Opposition came. It had to live in a cave. There was problems, there was heartaches. He was a man of sorrow, just many sorrows pressing that mind. Many heartaches pressing that mind. But that mind wouldn't yield. But that mind wouldn't yield. That mind wouldn't give. Though they smote him, though they plucked his beard, though they nailed the nails in his hands and nailed the nails in his feet, though they led him up to Calvary, though they beat His back with a whip. And the Bible said, "They plowed furrows in his back, yet His mind never fainted. HE had one goal. He had one thought. That was, I can and I will do it. And He done it. And He said, "Father, I've finished the work that you've given me to do." And they tried to give him something to eat. He said, "I don't have the time for that. I have meat that you don't know nothing about." He said, And my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me." All He had on his mind is, I must do it! I must do it! I must do it! I will do it! God is with me! I can do it! And Paul said,"Through Christ that strengthens me, I can do all things." So then we find that God, God giving Jesus the strength, by faith now. You know, we've got to get away from this idea that Jesus was some kind of supernatural being and He just come down here with all kind of supernatural powers and just poked the devil in the nose. We've got to get away from that. We'll never have any perseverance. We'll never be able to overcome. But brothers and sisters, we've got to see Jesus Christ as a man just like you or I as a human being, that come down here, that did not have any supernatural abilities invested in him except through faith in God. That everything that He done was by faith. That when they put nails in his hands, it hurt just like it does in your hands. When they plucked his beard, it hurt him, when they beat on his back, it hurt Jesus. I'm sure that tears streamed down his cheeks as they laid the cruel whip on his back, that bodily reaction automatically; those things happened to him. He was a man. He was a man just like you're a man, just like I'm a man. We've got to get away from this idea that He's some supernatural something that couldn't feel pain, that couldn't be touched. You know that He was that some great supernatural person that came into the world, you know, that he could just do anyway he wanted to. Brother and sisters, God, God blessed him. God gave him supernatural ability. God gave him the great spirit of power and deliverance. But He did it through faith. Jesus utilized his ability in faith. Jesus prayed. Jesus fasted. Jesus searched! Jesus walked holy. Jesus lived upright! And the Bible said, "Though He was a son, yet learned obedience by the things that He suffered, (tape turned over) and the obedience of God's spirit." You way, "But Brother Pike, He never did anything wrong. How could He learn obedience?" Obedience is that we are born into this world in a world of resistance, in a world of contrariness. A continual warfare between the body and the flesh, between the soul whereas Jesus did not have this complication in the way that you have it; yet He was tested in every way as the same as you are. The Bible said, "Tempted in every way. Tried in every way." And the outer powers of Satan, knowing that He was the Son of God, they came pressing against him day after day, harassing His mind and driving Him all the time continually, driving Him and pressing Him, but through faith he conquered it. Through faith He conquered it. Now look, He not only conquered Calvary, he not only conquered the whip, he not only conquered the mouths that spoke out contrary to God, He not only conquered that which seemed that man could not do when it come to living an overcoming life, but Jesus Christ conquered death. He conquered death. Christ Jesus conquered death. What is the ultimate of our determination? What is the ultimate of our perseverance and drive? |It is to conquer death. God will not rest until somebody in this world has conquered death. It is your job and my job. It should be your desire and my desire to conquer death. If we are doing anything less than that, friend, we are failing God. The last enemy is death. God is trying to conquer death through you and I. Notice here, He said,"Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds", and I want you to listen to this now, "who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person", Jesus being the brightness of His glory. Now look at Moses, there was a brightness about Moses insomuch that he was illuminated, but even Moses is not considered as the fullness of the brightness of God'sglory. But look. Here's Jesus! The very fullness of God. The very brightness of God. Somebody would say, "But, Brother Pike, I don't remember where Jesus went around like a light bulb, or all lit up like a candle. Brothers and sisters, that wasn't what he was speaking of. The brightness of God is the understanding of God! Paul said, "That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened." That God is the great light, "Paul, turn my people from darkness to light." Gross darkness to cover the people, the intellectual reasoning. To put them in a prison, to put them in a captivity. They could not withstand the wisdom by which Stephen spake, and they beheld his face as it had been that of an angel; the brightness, the brightness, whereof the Bible uses the terms that God the great Ancient of Days, sitting high and lifted up upon the Throne. that he with the Brightness of His coming shall destroy the image of perversion. He shall destroy the ones that has not called on the name Jesus. He shall destroy the person that lets Satan live inside of the body. I'll destroy the image of that evil one with the brightness of My coming. Did you know you can undermine a man's foundation? He can keep on living in his house and not know nothing's happening. Isn't that right? Undermining him with his wife. Undermining him with his children. You can undermine his natural house. Isn't that right? How many of you understand what I'm saying? God, God with the brightness of His coming, is going to destroy the image of Satan. How will He do it? By the words of His spirit. By the, by the spirit of His mouth, by the sharp two-edged sword, he will undermine his foundation. You know when you strike the foundation of a man's believing, he gets to where he can't think right anymore. He gets to where he's not sure anymore. He gets to where he's wandering. He gets to where he can't hold himself together anymore. He gets to where he don't have any confidence anymore. See and as the word of God comes and it magnifies the Sons of God and it tells the world who you are and what God's doing with you. As God does this thing, you're going to become greater and greater and greater and the world out yonder is going to slump away; become weaker as you're magnified, they'll become weaker, they'll become weaker. Already the world is beginning to tremble. They're beginning to try to fortify their kingdom now. They're doing everything they can because they see the rise of the Sons; of God coming in. And the hour of His manifestation of the brightness of His coming, for He was the express image of His person. The expressed image indicates the given image. The only given image of his person. And God shall suddenly return in His temple to be glorified in His saints, in the saints of God. What does that have to do with? Somebody would say, "But, Brother Pike, God's coming up yonder in the sky." Now let's be reasonable about the thing. Let's be reasonable. Let's look at the Word. You say, "But that's what the Word says." But the Bible says, "Line upon line, precept upon precept." Not just pick out something in the Word to establish something that you've got in your mind. What can God's coming in the sky do to my human person? The Bible says, "God will come on the inside of me. Come on the inside of you because it's God's brightness expressed from within, that destroys the evil one. That's what caused the Jews to miss the Kingdom of God. That was the thing that tore them up. They said, "Will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?" He told them it wasn't given unto them to know. "I'll restore it," He said. But they said, "But look, if you're the Messiah, we don't understand this. Are you listening? Why when Messiah comes, he's supposed to be on a big white horse. He's suppose to be our chief. He's suppose to be our leader. Why here you come, a contemptible sort of a person. Want to wash men's feet! What kind of king is that? And they were all confused. They couldn't understand it! But Jesus was saying, "Listen, that outer man must decrease. I must bring the outer man down to death. It's the brightness of God within me that's to be revealed. This is the brightness of His coming. People who teach salvation by faith and that there's nothing to do by works, they're blind as a bat. They don't know what they're doing. They're enemies of rightness, that's perverted the things of God. You say, "Brother Pike, the Bible said, "We're saved by faith without works." I know it does. It says that we're saved by faith, by the works of Jesus Christ, the greatest works there is. And I've said this a lot of times, God doesn't require anything for me to find salvation, friend. All I have to do is come to Him in my sins; call upon His name and His works, which works God requires, His works through Christ, that body of perfection has given me redemption without me doing anything but believing in the work of Calvary. But, oh my beloved, when Christ comes into your heart, then the spirit will do the same thing to your body that it done to Jesus' body, and we're killed all the day long. Having our fruit unto holiness, denying the outer man, denying self, for they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the lust and the affections thereof. So it is the works of God unto the redemption to kill death,to eradicate death. For where is the Kingdom of God? And they said, "Would you at this time restore the Kingdom? Jesus said to them in so many words, He said, "Look, you're carnal minded." Paul said, "I could speak unto you as spirituals but I can't, you're babes in Christ. He said, You're carnal minded." Oh, preacher! You're carnal minded. Nicodemus, you're carnal minded. If I talk to you about earthly things, you can't even understand them, how would you ever understand God, a spirit, speaking to you about spiritual things. You are carnal minded. And to be carnally minded is death because death is the carnal mid but to be Christ-minded, spiritually-minded, Christ-minded, in that mind if the faith that saves our soul. In that mind is the thoughts that produce the works that please God as though the flesh is no more. Are you understanding what I'm saying? Jesus said to them, He said, "Look, oh look, brethren". He was a man just like I'm a man. Reasoning with them. sometimes weary, sometimes he couldn't hardly hold up his head. Jesus said, "Listen brethren, God is a spirit." Read it in the book of John. God is a spirit. The woman at the well said, "Why, Jacob gave us this well. Jacob, our father, gave us this well. Oh and we worship God." He said, "Yonder in that mountain, woman, he said, BUt the hour is come, the time now is when the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth, for God is a spirit, and God seeketh such to worship Him". Paul said, "God sent a revelation. I would like to speak unto you as spirituals for you received me as the Lord Himself, and it pleased God that Christ should be revealed in my life. The spirit, he said, brethren, the kingdom of God don't come by observation." Why do you keep looking for it? Oh brethren, today, can't you hear the voice of God? Why do you as a church world keep violating God's Word and looking in the natural for the coming of the Kingdom of God? He said, The Kingdom of God cometh not by observation. Somebody said, "Well, he was talking to the Jews." Jesus said, "What I say to one, I say to all of you." Jesus was talking to the world. He told Pilate, he said, What's all this about, Pilate said. They want to crucify you. And he said, "Tell me something." Are you a king? Jesus said, For this cause I was born. For this cause came I into the world and to this end was I born to be a king". But He said, "My kingdom's not of this world." Said, "If it was, I'd organize me an army and we'd fight. I'd put some swords in their hands". Revelation 19 is coming. Watch and see. It's coming. Watch and see. It's coming. And the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our God. Something is taking place in this very camp meeting. But why do you look for the kingdom when God said, "It will never come by observation. You know it's the same old error that the people that teach three gods have, it's the same routine error. They can't get away from the sight of the eyes that they're going to see a natural God when the Bible says, "God is a spirit". And it says, "No man has seen God at anytime". They say, "Well, maybe that no man's ever seen him at anytime but it will come a time". The Bible said, "No man has seen God at anytime nor can see him". He is the great light unto which no man can approach. Jesus Christ alone dwelling in that light, being the brightness of His coming, the express image of His person. Dwells in that light. And he is making himself known to us. God, the Father, the eternal Spirit, through His Sonship, through Jesus, the Son of the living God. God the eternal Father is expressing Himself to us. Not only in His fullness, as God the eternal Father through Jesus, but in measure in the membership of His body, in you and I, that a measure may be in you and a measure in me and a measure in another brother and a measure in each one of the members of the church. That by that spirit of measure, we're bound together. Baptized by that spirit in measure by means of immersion into the spirit as members into the body of Christ Jesus. Can you give me just a few more minutes? And I'll hush. What then are you trying to say? He said, "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that He by the Grace of God, oh listen to that, hallelujah! That He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Somebody would say, Hallelujah! Glory to God! Jesus tasted death for me. You don't even know what you're saying. They shout it in the church. All the time they talk about it! They don't even know what they're talking about. They don't even know what they're saying! They don't even bother to find out what he meant by it. What good is it to stand and praise somebody that got shot for me if in five minutes they're going to turn and shoot me? Somebody say, "I love Jesus". I say, "Glory to Frank! Glory to Frank! I was going to get shot. They shot Frank! Glory to Frank! My turn's next." What's the need of glorifying Frank? He ain't done no more than I'm going to do. They got him first and I'm going to be second in line. Brother, when the Bible said that Jesus Christ tasted death for Brother Pike, he tasted death for every man. It means that you don't have to taste of death. You don't have to taste of death. If that isn't true, then Jesus Christ died in vain and God has done a foolish thing at sending His own Son for no reason - Now, I spoke of this the other night. Oh listen, brethren, Paul said, "After you have received the revelation". Christ Jesus tasted death for every man. He tasted death for me. He tasted death for you. He tasted death for that little darling baby that's in your arms. That mother, that daddy that;s so precious to you. He tasted death for him. Jesus tasted death. Now listen, listen, you say, "Brother Pike, I know that Jesus tasted death'> But od you really know that He tasted death? What good did it do for him to taste death for me if I've got to go die? What good is that? You say, "Well, I think you're just all mixed up, Brother Pike". No. I not as mixed up as you think I am. They said, "Paul, I think you're beside yourself. Too much learning's made you mad". No, that wasn't what it was. He had a revelation. The man didn't understand. See the Kingdom of God don't come by looking with your natural eye. Neither shall they say, "Over here, over yonder". It's not going to come like that. He said, "The kingdom of God is on the inside of you. It's down inside of you. The Kingdom of God's inside of you. There is something coming from within the bowels of the earth. The bowels of the earth has gone into travail. Gone into travail. And it's rolling! And as it did at Calvary when it went into a state of convulsion, up come Christ from the womb of the earth and the belly of the earth. Up come Christ, the man child to rule. The earth, it's rolling in travail. It's trying to bring forth. John saw this woman on the moon. She was in heavy travail trying to bring forth her child. Something was trying to happen, but the old red dragon, that old mind of reasoning, that old devil spirit that had got back there in the days of Eve, that got into the human body, that old mind, that old intellect, the seminary teachers that keep trying to pin it down to God coming by sight, that keeps bringing the church into the bondage of death. Trying to hold them so they can get into their pocketbooks. Make them prey to where they can bleed them of everything that they've got. Keep bringing that old intellectual thing into it. What you need to do, dear fellow, is to bring your son up to be a doctor. What you need to do, precious daughter, is to bring your little ones up to be nurses. And what you need to do is bring them up to have a career. You know why, so the devil can own them. That's why you need to do that. So the devil can own them. That's why the government is moving in and taking your children away from you and controlling your children. That's why they're doing it, because they belong to them. You gave them to them. That old blood life, the old red dragon. But I'm glad when the days of grace is over, when that angel walks up and takes that censor, he fills it with the coals from the altar, the little golden altar before the great Ark of God. I'm glad when he picks that up, in the book of Revelation and he slings it down to earth. Silence for thirty minutes. Oh, what is it? The blood coming off of the Mercy Seat. What do you mean, Brother Pike, that as long as the blood of Jesus remains on that Mercy Seat, that means that blood life can be in the presence of God, that blood life, the old red dragon can have a Day of Grace. But, of beloved friend, when he reaches, takes that blood off of the Mercy Seat, all the days of grace is over, the red dragon gone out of heaven. You say, Brother Pike, you don't believe the blood of Jesus was the red dragon? I certainly don't. It's the only precious thing that can redeem you and I. It had to be clean and pure. But it had to go there to give those that John called a generation of vipers, the old red dragon, the old blood life, that give them a change to be in the presence of God. That's why Satan could come in the days of Job. right into the presence of God. That's why the sons of the devil can come into the presence of God; but when that blood comes off of the Mercy Seat, the blood life is over. Oh, people are going to go stark raving mad! Because there won't be any grace. There won't be any mercy. The days of the Gentiles will be over! Because he will have moved blood life from His presence. He'll never look at blood life again. It'll be over. It'll be over. He that was made sin won't be there anymore, to allow for them that are sinful, but He'll return not in this body that is made sin, whereas I was born into sin. Not the church that is the atonement. Not the church that is in a body of sin, whereas you are in a body of sin now. Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed by the body of Jesus Christ through the sufferings of Calvary and alive unto God through the inner man. See, not that lamb, that righteous church, that righteous person without spot, blemish. Not that lamb laying on that evening sacrifice altar of Calvary, and God still looking at the church laying there. Not that which the Jew represents in his body, that's been driven out, that's been out of the presence of God that's been bruised and mistreated as the bodily part of the sacrifice. Not that, but all of a sudden, we'll become the glorified image of God. That brightness of His coming. And there won't be any atonement anymore. There won't be that moon between heaven and earth against that blast/black? That will be gone. It'll turn into blood. And shuuuah! You know something happened the other night. I wished I had time to preach to you. I always wished I had time to preach to you when I get started. But the other night when Billy was preaching and things was happening. I marvelled at my congregation. I got up behind the preacher when he finished the service, just a night or two before, I had told you, I had talked to you. The lights had gone out. I've explained to you, but when it happened, you didn't understand it. You didn't see it. And Billy was as much amazed as anybody. Brother Peterson was as much amazed. A few days back, they'd come with their preaching, come with their guitars, but they didn't get a stir among the people. But we preached on Ezekiel, the glory of God coming, filling the temple, coming through the eastern gate, and that night (I wish we had time to explain). I know that some of you just can't wait and listen. I wished we had time to do ti and people that could listen. I just have to compact it, say a little bit and cram it in, you know and go on. But anyway, I watched it. The birth of the man child, the coming forth, the travail, the strain and there it was. The hour or it. But I watched. It went out like I told you the night or two before, the star, our sunlight,oh, I wish we had time to go into it. The sunlight, scientists say, "Become sevenfold!" And then turn red like blood. That's the birth. You know the woman on the moon with her feet on the moon. Can you listen just a few minutes? You know a lot of people just got to go feed that belly. The Bible said, "They make their belly their God." That big old coil down in there is all coiled up with his mouth open, waiting for you to feed him. Isn't that right? When that woman had the foot on the moon there. Look at it. It shows the blood birth. The first thing that went out, what was it? There was blood. The red dragon, see the birth and a birth, the water, the blood, the spirit. The man child went up which was the spiritual part of it, that shows the life. The red dragon went out which was the blood part of it. And the Bible say, "The red dragon cast out a flood after the woman, which was the water part of it, which was the birth. See, something was taking place. Something was happening. How many of you understand what I'm saying? The other night, something was taking place and it went way up like this. And when I got up behind the man to say something to you, hoping that you saw it, having explained it to you. I saw that you done like scientists said the star would do. The sunlight of the earth. What is it? The rapture of the church, sevenfold. His Spirit coming in. All seven church age messengers. You blew up this way. When that spirit began to move that night, you swelled up! You got real religious, real spiritual. Because of the feeling of the flesh, but when I got up behind it, I marveled because you went out like a light. Like a dwarfed star, moved off into the distance. I know that God did it. You know, to show what we was talking about, but I marvelled, I went home to my wife,and I marvelled and I said, "Can't hardly believe it, Betty. I know there's just a few that see, there's a few that understand. My, my, can't we understand? Can't we see? Can't we be spiritual? Realizing the time. The brother preached the day of your visitation. He preached it to you. The day of your visitation. Said, "You've missed the day of your visitation and your houses are left unto you desolate." The closing, I know you say, Brother Pike, that doesn't phase me. God bless your heart. You're one of them that's in such a fix that it won't be long before God will turn you inside out. Your overconfident way of doing and mouth of deception. Causing much of the problem here and there and everywhere. But listen, Satan did that. I'm trying to close right hurriedly now. I really am, bear with me, I'm going to try to close. But listen, there's just so much here that we can't, we just have to crowd it in. We have to do the best we can. Death has to be conquered. I've tried to preach it to you that the hour is here. The hour is here. The hour is here. Somebody had a dream the other night that there was so many people that was coming to this church that cars was lined up everywhere, all up and down the highway, that it caused the traffic jam and the law had to come out and try to stop it and they couldn't find one person that was out of harmony with it. All of them wanted it to go on, and the law had to leave it alone. Now, I don't know whether that's literally. Whether God is speaking literally or what, I think I understand it. But there's one thing about it. This thing is getting out of the veil through the T.V., through the radio, through all of these things and the cars are lining up and the ministers are coming to search it out, but they can't find anything wrong with it because the people are in agreement with it. A man come to me yesterday. He said, "I have had a vision." I said, "What kind of vision?" He said, "Brother Pike, I had a vision". And said, "Thousands of people was lined up and down these highways and around here. Trying to get to what you're saying. He said, "I judge it to be at least ten thousand people." You know what it is? God is letting us know everybody can't come to Bethlehem. But there is something that is taking place at Little Bethlehem. Something is transpiring here. Like Brother Hollis's daughter, the other night that had the dream that the ark of the covenant was in our house. Something is taking place. Death has to be conquered. I hope that I can get this over to you in these next few words. Death must be conquered. It is the redemption of the body. Not the old mind of holiness, of running and jumping and hollering, whipping the organ up. Not the kind of services where you sit like you're dead with no emotion and feeling. But the divine moderation of God to where you receive the inner indwelling of the spirit. The mind and soberness of Christ.Giving the more earnest heed. Filled with the Spirit, the glory of God filling the temple. And then coming out into works of holiness. Beautiful works of perfection, having your fruits unto holiness and the end thereof eternal life. Brethren, you can't believe in something that you haven;t heard. There is a message in the land as I said last night. There is a message for glorification. You say, "Well, Brother Pike, I'm trying my best to be glorified." Don't you know that I can't work my way to glorification and you can't work you way to glorification. Justification is a work of grace. Any Bible scholar ought to know that. Sanctification is a work of faith. It's God's work of grace. Glorification is a work of grace that God has done. And the only way justification could come in that God has already done it through Calvary, is for you to find out the knowledge about this. Be preached to and believe it, and then righteousness is imputed unto you through faith and the only way you can get to sanctification of the soul, the faith by which you're sanctified, even the faith of Jesus Christ is by believing. And it brings us sanctification. And the only way that you can get to glorification is there must be a message preached that shows death is over and death is finished and abolished and it's God's enemy. The last one to be conquered! And that we're moving in, we're moving in now to destroy him. I preached that it was finished. He closed the books. It was sealed. Now the seals are loosed. Something has to happen. Death must be finished. Remember, now I'll say it just as hurriedly as I can for the impatient ones of you, but listen, I say again,when death is conquered, we must accept the fact that the second death is over and gone. That the lake of fire is no more for you and I. The Bible said, "The second death." We have passed from death unto life. The second death. The death of the soul. It is no more. A person that truly is a Christian, don't you ever fear about going to hell. Don't you ever even think about going to hell. There is no way you can go to hell. You are born of God. You can' sin. You've never sinned one sin in your entire life. Oh, you say, "But, Brother Pike, God saved me from my sin when I was a sinner." God saved you from your sins before you were ever born into the world. By the foreknowledge of God. The writer said, "Elect according to foreknowledge." And He slew the lamb in the foundation of the world and sealed you into with His blood and in the latter times, sent the ministry to call you, the voice of God to call you to your salvation. You never was with a spot or blemish. You was that lamb that was slain back there. You was bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. You was that lamb that was slain back there. The church is without spot. He's coming back after a church without spot, without blemish. Oh, don't you know, we've got to get away from that, that foolish idea that we've worked our way unto perfection. You know the past church of yesteryear, they struggled and they struggled. Oh, they struggled and they finally got some of it. And glory to God, and another come along and they'd struggle and struggle, they got another little bit of it done. And here we are languished, and we're struggling, but Lord, you stay with us. We're going to get that perfection worked out yet. Oh, how foolish! Ever since God spoke from the foundation of it, from the foundation of the world, the church has been perfect. There's never been one spot. Never been a blemish. The elect of God never sinned. But justification of Jesus Christ was so that she would never be sinners. Say, "Well, how did He save me from my sins?" By foreknowledge. Seeing what you was born into. Seeing what you would be at your birth. Seeing what you are without His foreknowledge. Seeing what you are in your present condition, if you don't have Him. He saved you from all of it, before Satan could ever put one spot or wrinkle on you, and you're sealed and you've passed from death unto life. "He that heareth my words," Jesus said, "He's passed from death unto life." What, what are you talking about, Jesus, you're a man. You're walking around here talking like, what do you mean? But the Word of God was way back yonder in the beginning of the world, and Enoch was translated by faith that he should not see death. And here it is, Jesus ain't walking around as a man as you would say, and yet the same Word is. Hear My words. Spirit, light, I'm telling you what God done for you.. That's what the words are. Words of enlightenment unto life. Words that tell you that you are alive forever more, eternal. Sister Dale said, "This is what happened to her the other morning." Said, "That thing hit her." Said, "It got ahold of me! I never seen it before, she said, but it got ahold of me, and said "It hit me on the inside." I said, "Oh, my! I am eternal." She said, "I can't express what it done to me. Said, "Ever since then, I can't do nothing but be happy. But I find myself just happy and crying." Said, "I can't do nothing else." And said, "Whereas before, it didn't matter if I done little things." She said, "I think of it like this now, said, I don't know whether that's right, I don't know whether that's wrong, but I don't want to take a chance. I don't want to take a chance on losing this precious thing. I'll just leave it off anyway." You love Jesus? So then the last enemy to be conquered is death. Believe. When you believe, it's the fruit of your eternal seal. It is the proof of your election. It is a proof that God had you in His foreknowledge before the world ever was. How many of you understand what I'm saying? Oh, glory to God, I feel the spirit of God. We've passed the second death. We don't have to die. It's over. It's finished for us. We don't have to die. You're soul can never die. But friend, listen. The message that we're preaching at this moment is the message that will cause your body not ot have to die. Jesus died in his body so that your body wouldn't have to die. Jesus died in his body so that your body wouldn't have to die. He died in His soul, for the Bible said, "The fire is the second death, not he first one, which is the body but the second one, for there's body, soul, spirit; one, two three, but that one which he went into the fire to do away with. For God suffered not His Holy One to see corruption, nor His soul to remain in hell. His soul died that your soul wouldn't have to die. You follow me? His spirit. God paid the price of death as a human spirit. When He said, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" That your spirit might not have to be out of the presence of God. For to be out of the presence of God is death. But, oh beloved friend, this commandment he had of God, that I lay down my life. No man taketh it from me, I have the commandment of God, I can lift it up again. Listen. If you're Him tonight and He's you, and you're one in Him, you've bypassed the grave. It's bodily redemption. Paul said, "The mystery that we not all sleep. Lazarus sleepeth, I go to awake him. Ye shall not all sleep." You don't have to sleep. Having your fruits unto holiness. Get this body redeemed. Get in there and believe. Believe that God has done it. That it's over! That it's finished. That He's chosen us out of this world. His us with Christ with God whom the heavens have received. That we are with Him. That we have conquered the enemy death. By faith, we must conquer everything. The church must conquer everything. The Bible said, "Jesus shall reign until all things are out under His feet. And it accounts for it at the end of the millenium when the graves shall deliver up their dead and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire. The Bible said, "And this is the last enemy." Are you listening? Seeing hell delivered up its dead. Hell's not eternal, no, it goes into the lake of fire. You know that lake of fire is a different situation. Are you listening? Eternal flames burn there. Are you listening? Here it comes up. There is something that's happening. That is where the second death is conquered. That is where death is no more. That is where death is at an end. And the first death is at an end. But, oh, listen, you don't have to wait for that. We don't have to wait for that! Paul said, "Behold I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep!" There's going to be something before that time for the saints of God. We've come into something else. We've come into something else. Enoch come to something else. What was it? TRanslation by faith that he should not see death. And I say this in closing, because we don't have time to explain it all this morning. But I say this in closing. Remember one thing, there's a generation that's got to have it. There's a generation that's got to be preached to. There's a generation to receive it. There's a generation at the closing out of the church ages that's going to have it. And the church is going to receive the translation. And what is the translation? That spirit on the inside, that kingdom of God coming into the outside, and (thruuuuu..)..... Somebody said, "And away we go." In the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the glorious trump will sound, but listen, I tell you in Jesus name, from glory to glory, from faith to faith, there is a schooling to go through and it starts with the first grade and goes on through and they that have went through is going to get their diploma at the end, because the ultimate change is a result of the change from glory to glory. You better understand what I'm saying. And now you say, "Brother Pike, what do you mean by that? I mean it's going to take the fullness of the mind of Christ to translate the church. It's going to take the seven-fold light. Back through the years, they've had to die because they didn't have it. They had it in part, but brethren, we've got it today and we can receive it today and incorporate it into our lives and utilize that ability with God and bypass the grave. There's going to be people that will do it in the day that we're living in. The hour is here. I want you to stand with me. I'm sorry as far as the natural, taking so long. I don't mean to take so long. I really don't I'd rather in the natural preach to a few minutes and let you go. But I don't know how to do it. Even now, we just have to chop it up in pieces. Any man that preaches revelation will tell you that you can't preach revelation like you can in an evangelistic message. There just ain't no way. An evangelistic message you just preach with a few illustrations and that's it. Tell about going hunting or going fishing, or somebody that died, or something that happened to you of he had a vision or whatever but when you preach the Mind of God, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, you don't just cut it on and cut it off like a radio, you just can't do it. Now I appreciate you. Folks, something happened the other night. I can tell even after preaching today, some of you still didn't understand. But I wish you could. I know some of you are getting your eyes open. I know some of you are getting your eyes open. But it's a serious time. It's a serious time. So serious. I've been tore up for many, many months. I've been tore up day and night. I roll on the bed, get up, go to my chair to pray, come back and lay down, and I lay down, roll on my bed, get up, go to my chair to pray. Tore up, God, just keep me tossed, tossed. I'll be hard and fast asleep and all of a sudden, just wide awake as I can be. I say, "Lord, what's the matter with me?" And He'll say, "Get up and go pray. Get up and go pray." See, it's a serious time. PRay ye one for another. The writer, I believe it was Samuel said, God forbid that I should sin against God by not praying for you. I want you to make it. Every shepherd that's got a shepherd's heart, he wants his people to make it. They're dear to him. Not only that, but everybody's dear to me. People, human beings, they're dear to me. I know it's not me. I know it's God that possesses the reigns of my heart that has made people dear to me because people are dear to God. It is His creation. I realize that, but nevertheless, under those circumstances, He has taken it, so people are dear to me. And I want to help them. I want to help you. I want to dwell together as Brother Walker said, in unity. I want to dwell together in unity. I want to be a Son of God. Let's do something for Jesus. Let's conquer death......Let's conquer it. We can do it. You love Jesus? We can do it. I'm going to say this and then I'm going to close. If the bones of a man were so powerfully anointed that it had the power over the enemy dead, that when those bones touched a man, he hopped up out of that grave. And old Brother Peter was so anointed that his faith had power over death, the experience that he could walk up and raise Dorcas up just like Jesus did when he raised up the little child. If they could do that, then why can't the church world today manifest that in their mortal bodies? Why can't they completely do as Jesus? The Bible said he has abolished death in his body. He done away with it at Calvary. It is finished. He destroyed him that hath power over death, so the only conquering of death to you and I is to grasp faith, that the enemy of God is defeated through the finished works of CAlvary. Why can't we do that? Why can't we do that? We should do it. We will do it. We will do it. Let's believe. We believe for our health. You said, "But people will think I'm foolish, if I believe that I'm going to live on and on." People believe that you're foolish when you believe that you're healed, but the ones that believe that you were foolish, that is the foolish virgins, that made fun of them with the oil. They're beginning to find out that that was right. And holiness is right. And they're all running for the oil and trying to speak in tongues and everything else. Is that right? They know the midnight hour is here and they don't know what to do. They can't settle their problems anymore. Even the President can't do it. The darkness is so great. They run to the church. Believe. You believe you're healed. You may die with cancer. But you don't stop believing. Say, "Well, they think I'm foolish when I die." What difference does it make, you're dead. You won't know nothing about it. Said, "Well, they think I'm foolish while I'm living." Well, what difference does that make? They can't prove it cause you're still alive. You love Jesus? We got them anyway they go. The Lord tied the devil into a knot and he can't get out of it. Praise God! Let's sing a little chorus, can we? Brother Pike sings chorus (I need Thee.) Oh, hallelujah! You know, while we sing it like this, (Don't turn Him away) while we sing it like that, I want you to think, "Lord is everything right with me? Help me to believe. Don't it make you feel good when you think that health is just a faith away. From glory to glory, from faith to faith. That health is just a faith away. That success is just faith away, that the heart's desire is just a faith away. Of being a victorian in Christ, from now throughout eternity is just a faith away. To stand like a man, not faint in your mind, but believe. It's just a faith away. To believe, to believe, to become a mighty conqueror, more than conquerors through Christ. To be able to believe in health and happiness and joy and peace, and not be hampered down all day with defeat and worry and whatever is dear to your heart. If it's your wife that you're at odds with. If it's the husband that you're a distance between you, if it's the children, if it's the finance, it don't make no difference what it is, you just turn around and say "God, it's mine." Jesus said, "It's mine!" There's no way it can resist. It's mine. I claim it! I believe it! As long as you believe the other way, it's going to get more distance. As long as you believe the other way, as long as Satan tampers with your mind, that's harlotry in the sight of God. You're allowing him to do it. And you're going to believe the other way. Going to believe the other way, and you're going to find everything that you ever wanted slipping out of your hands, but you've got to believe that it's yours. That God give it to you. It belongs to you. Don't think any other way. Think that it's yours and God will make it be yours. He'll work it out. He'll work it out. Let's just lift our hands up and love the Lord for a few minutes, can we?

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

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

Holiness Unto The Lord