God's Exposé Of Sin

But, though I thought about getting into some of them tonight, I felt like it wasn't just right for me to do that tonight, and we'd have some singing and maybe over the weekend there's some things I've got on my heart. Maybe we'll get into those things. You know the judgments of God are severe. I think most of us realize that without the preacher having to tell us. We've been preached to so much, and we've been told these things, we've been warned, and in spite of all the warnings that God has given us men still continue to do evil and to be wicked, and women still continue to do evil and to be wicked. So, God again reminds us, and again He reminds us, and then He tells us in His Word, He says, Because thou hast been often reproved, and you harden your heart, you stiffen your neck, and I'll destroy you without remedy. He says, Beware ye that forget God lest I tear you into pieces. We like to blame the devil with every thing that takes place. You know, we love to do that, and of course he's the blame. The Bible says in the millennium when Satan is taken out of the way he'll be bound for a thousand years, and then nothing shall harm in all my holy Mountain, saith the Lord. So, truly he's to blame. But as I said the other night, he can't do anything unless we give place to him. Especially a Christian. The Bible teaches that we have all power over the powers of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt us. So, we have to give place to him, and then when we give place to him he's only doing his job. That is his job. You know, whether we understand or not, that is his job. Somebody would say, Well, he got here and he got pass God, and he's causing God a lot of problems. It is simply his job. The Bible said that God has created the waster to destroy. He made him to do that. God created him. God's got all power over him, and God created the waster. He created him to destroy. That's why God made him. He's only doing his job. When Eve gave place to him in the garden that was Eve's fault. Satan just took full advantage, and deprived men of his right as down through the generation to come, or that is he took away Adam's right, took away Eve's right, and Adam's right through the weakness of the woman. And then he became the prince of the world, whereas Adam was the prince that was over the world, and ruled the world and had all control of the world. But he gave it into the hands of Lucifer through the weakness of the woman, the woman representing the flesh so that after that God refers to the world as a woman, and he refers to the church as a woman, and he uses a woman as the feminine gender. He uses her in her weakness in that she is weaker than the male, to represent. He uses her to represent the weakness of mankind, and he refers to the flesh as the great whore when they reject God. So, you have to give place to the devil. And the Bible says don't give place to the devil. Draw nigh unto God, then resist the devil and he'll flee from you. You have the power to resist him when you draw nigh unto God. Why does God say draw nigh to him before we try to resist the devil? Because we don't have any power over the devil. As an individual we have no power over the devil. The Bible teaches that man is made a little lower that the angels. So he doesn't have any power over the devil, because the devil is a fallen angel. But when we draw nigh to God, and we become a Christian and we fill our heart with faith, then the Bible says, Behold, I have given unto you power over all the powers of the devil, over all the powers of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. You just draw nigh to me. You've got the power to resist him, and he'll flee from you. Jesus would say, Get thee hence, Satan, for thou art an offense unto me, and Satan had to do it. Or he would say, Get thee behind me, Satan. And Satan had to do it. So, it is because we give place to Satan. People, they just don't seem to understand. People seem to be the hardest thing that there is to understand, and to be understood. There is not anything that God ever made, seemingly, that is so hard to understand as mankind and to get to understand. That is to say to get them to understand God's ways and spiritual things. God has created all things for a purpose. The little ants that crawl around that's such a nuisance, we get upset with them because we think, you know, them little ants they're just a problem. Every where you go, there's ants in the sugar. There's ants in the bread. There's ants over here. I've been in places like that. But in all reality they're just doing their job, you know. They're there to clean up your mess, and if you wouldn't leave all the crumbs around and cause all the problems out on the ground those little fellows wouldn't be around, that is cleaning up the mess you made. Same way with the vultures. The vultures fly around, and you think about that old vulture, you know. But if you killed out all of the vultures, and there wasn't a vulture to do his job it would be a bad situation, folks. We'd have a smelly world. And it's the same way in the spirit. There are spiritual vultures. There are spiritual buzzards, as we say. And they're here to clean up. That's why they are so gullible for the things of the world. That's why they dope up, and that's why they do the way they do. They are vultures. You say, those ol' folks out there doing those kind of things. I know they're out there doing those kind of things, but you've got to remember they are spiritual vultures. They're out there. That's the only appetite they've got. That's the only thing they know. They're out there for that purpose. They're out there to clean up. A lot of times to clean up your mess. So, we have a hard time understanding sometimes, because we don't apply ourselves to the things of God. But if we would apply ourselves to the things of God, then we wouldn't have that kind of problem. Let's just stand together as we read the Word of the Lord tonight. I want to read just a little bit, and I'll try not to hold you long, because like I say, we've taken a good bit of the time for singing, so I'll try to exhort you a little and let you go. Reading from the book of Ezekiel it says, the twenty-eight verse. (Brother Pike reads chapter sixteen beginning at verse twenty-eight through verse two of chapter seventeen.) I want to comment just a little bit here. You know we speak of Jerusalem as being the great city. We speak of the people of Jerusalem as being the people of God, and as I said the other night, we talk about these things, and we think as toward them that that is a great people, that that is a great city, and all of these things that we think in our mind are contrary to God. I told you that when I was in Jerusalem standing out of the little veranda, it was over in the night, the wife was asleep, I'd been praying. I walked out and looked over the city of Jerusalem. As I looked over the city of Jerusalem I heard something very plainly say, Sodom and Gomorrah. I'll lay it even with the ground. And I said, Oh, my God! This is Jerusalem. This is the great city. This is the city of the great king, even David that established the city. And I said this is the great city, and then God reminded me of the Scripture in the book of Revelation where it spoke of Jesus and how that He died, and it spoke of Sodom, that this happened, that it had to do with Sodom referring to Jerusalem, that it had been turned into Sodom there in that city. And I thought, Lord, this just-, I can't hardly get ahold of this because I had stepped out there in the night, gotten up from my prayer, and I was standing out there in great admiration of the city, and I could see the Dome, the Mosque of Omar, and I could see over into the city from the high plains and the levels where I was standing at the Palace Hotel. And I was looking over in there, and I could see just about the area of Golgotha where Jesus died. I could see toward that area. And then I heard the Lord dealing with me. It said, And Sodom, where the Lord died. And I thought, Lord that's Jerusalem. So then, I realized that a lot of times we don't understand. I said the other night there is no such thing as a Jew. Paul said there is no such thing as a Jew outwardly, but he inwardly that is born of God is a Jew, and a true Jew. So then, I learned that there is no such thing as a nationality of Jews. They're not reckoned as nationality. They're just another people. Just like you are a people they are a people, and God doesn't have any respect for them anymore than He does you. He is no respecter of persons. Though they have all the ordinances of Moses, and the commandments, and those things that were under the law, though they have them they were only symbolic and typical of that which was to come. Even their covenants under the law was only a symbol of the everlasting covenant that He says here that He will make with the people of Israel. I brought it out the other night that when the Bible speaks of the deliverer coming out of Zion. The Bible says, And out of Zion shall come forth the deliverer, and He shall turn ungodliness away from Jacob. And when I spoke of that I explained the other night how that the hundred and forty and four thousand that was sealed in Revelation seven, how that these are the children of Israel, and these are accounted for as the whole house of Israel. A hundred and forty-four thousand. Twelve thousand to each son, or the replacement of the sons, and that is the whole house of Israel, or Jacob whose name was changed to Israel in that he wrestled with the angel and prevailed as a prince. So then Paul said, I proved that all are under sin, that God is no respecter of persons, that they have their blood upon their heads, and when God speaks of them here He says Sodom done bad. He said, Sodom and Gomorrah. He said Samaria. He said these done bad. He said, But you've done worse than any of them. When we speak of the great city, and the great people, and we speak of the horrible, hideous situation of Sodom, then we raise one people up here and we put another people down here. But when God looks at them He judges them all as nothing. He said all of the nations are as nothing before me, are as nothing. So then, Sodom and Gomorrah, you're like the Jews, as we call them. You're like those people that are over in Palestine, or over in the Holy Land. See, you are the same. All of them are the same. There is no difference in them. All of them have done wickedly, and Paul spoke of the people that we refer to as Jews, spoke of how hard they was. Said, you've killed every prophet God ever sent. Even Sodom and Gomorrah didn't do that, but said, You've killed the prophets, every wise man that was ever sent. And Paul said, I've got one thing to say to you. You've persecuted me. You've stoned me. You've done all of these things to me, and then you've killed out the Apostles. You've killed the prophets, and he said, I've got one thing to say to you, and that is that the wrath of God has come upon you to the uttermost. And folks, that's exactly what happened. From Calvary all down through the dark age the blood was upon them and they've been through the holocaust, and children have been killed. The people have been mutilated, and now we that are Gentile people look back. We see those things. We have the history of those things, and then we turn and do just as bad or worse. So then, God said you are worse. Over here you hear the Jews saying, Dogs, swine. Looking back at the Samaritans, looking back at the others, even the Samaritan woman. The Jews have no dealing with the Samaritans, but here he is communing. The Master, Himself, here He is in a communication with them that are suppose to be dogs, saying to Israel, I will provoke you to jealousy by a people that's no people at all. I will go to get me a bride out of the Gentiles, and so here He is communicating with them that they call dogs. He said to Israel, He said, I'll stop your mouth from being more holier than thou. I'll put a stop to that, and in that day when you see your lewdness, and I reveal your nakedness, He said, you won't have anything else to say about Sodom and Gomorrah. You won't have anything else to say about the rest of the world. You'll just be grateful that you've got grace. He said, for I say unto you that I'm going to leave your houses desolate until the day that you will say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. You won't stone a prophet. You won't kill a wise man. Every one that comes to you, you'll say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. If anybody comes to you in the name of the Lord you'll say, Blessed is he. You'll never stone anybody else. You'll never do the things that you've done. You'll never rise up against them and call them lewd when you've done worse than they have done. And folks, that's the way it is with the Pentecostal world today. God seemingly had a chosen people. Had a godly people, a holy people. A people that we felt like would follow after God, whereas it is true that He did have, and then all of a sudden they died out, or was killed out, or was driven out, and this Charismatic thing set into where people won't live for God. They won't fast. They won't pray. They won't live holy. They won't do right before God, yet they shout, they sing, they do all kind of things and it is coming to a place of corruption to where they know nothing about godliness, and nothing about holiness, and all of their teachings is that they are going to be saved, and everything's going to be all right. And somebody would say, Well, Brother Pike, I know that that's the charismatic world. That's the Pentecostal world. Let's give the Lord a hand. I said, That's the Pentecostal world. That's where the charismatics came from. Just on and on getting to a place to where-. Long hair to begin with. That was the ritualistics, then long dresses and they got into ritualistics like the Jews. Not holiness of heart. Not godliness of heart, but into their Pentecostal ritualistics. And soon that faded away and they found out that salvation wasn't in that, and then they begin to cut the hair off. They begin to bring the ball games in. They begin to bring the movies in from the T.V.'s, and they begin to bring their worldly frolics in. All of their gullible desires for the flesh, and it wasn't long before they lost out with God and today they're in the same identical place that all of the rest of the world is in. So long they hammered on the Baptist, and hammered on the Methodist. Not realizing that John Wesley, and some of the great men of God came with the Word of the Lord as to what they understood and knew, and established those orders, not understanding that they were great men of God as to what they knew. And so then, they mocked them, but look at them today. God said, I'll make you naked. I'll strip you down, and I'll let all of them see your nakedness. When the devil comes, the thing he comes for is to strip down the harlot and to show the nakedness. I'll make you naked. I'll let them see your nakedness. Because the daughters of Zion walk haughty, mincing with their feet as they go, I will make you naked, and strip you down bare before your lover. You love the ball games, and you love the frolics and you love the ways of the world. Spiritually speaking I'll strip you down until you are naked. You one time had the garment of God, but now you cover with a covering that's not of me, God said. You've got a covering all right, but you've went out in the world, and you've got with your lovers, and you've doted about out there, and they've given you the things of the world. He said, Now go to your lovers. Don't come to me anymore. Don't stand before me and tell me that you are a godly people, that you're my people, that you're my wife, that you belong to me. Don't do that anymore. He said, You go out there to your lovers and let them take care of you. You go out there and let them provide for you. That is to say when your belly is rotting out with cancer go out there with your lovers and let your lovers take care of it. When you are going insane and you can't keep your mind anymore, you've doted about with the lovers go out there and let them give you consolation. When you've got problems and the heart is skipping a little bit and you're afraid it's going to stop, He said go out there and get your consolation. You wanted that, Don't come to me, God said. And He said don't bring me the halt, the lame and the blind. I'm a great God. He said, Take it to your governors and see if they'll receive it of you. So then, He says, I will strip you bare. The first thing that Satan did to Eve was to strip her down until when God came the first things he ask was, Who told thee that thou wast naked? See, the first thing that happens when you get out in the world, you become a harlot, and when you become a whore, as the Bible refers to it, then that means that Satan has stripped you down. You don't have any godliness anymore, you don't have any holiness anymore. You don't have anything that reflects God anymore. You are a harlot. You've played the harlot. You've done away with all of your goods. Like the prodigal, you've squandered all of your benefits. All of your goods are gone. You're out there in the mire with the swine. So then, we see here that God looks on one people just like He does another people. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and God is expecting you and I to preach the gospel, or to testify of the gospel, or to live the gospel just exactly the way that Christ did to the best of our ability, going on to be holy. Going on to be perfect. The Bible says to be ye therefore perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect. Religion that is taught simply by believing is not the right kind of religion, for the Bible said if you believe you do well. If you believe there's one God, the devils believe and they tremble. But know oh vain man that faith without works is dead? Isn't it a true fact that Abraham was justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the alter, and isn't it a true fact that Rahab, the harlot was justified by works when she protected the spies from the enemy? And isn't it a true fact that Noah was justified by works when he built the ark according to the Word of God? And on and on as we see these things. Isn't it a true fact that these things that we read about proves that it was a justification by works? And we see the writer said how that works wrought with faith by this that faith is made perfect, for the writer said show me your faith without your works and I'll show you my faith by my works. That is to say, when they marched around the walls of Jericho wasn't it because of the works that the wall fell? The Word of the Lord came to them and said march around the walls of Jericho. Go around seven times and then give the shout, all the shout together, and the walls shall fall and faith in God's Word took them to Jericho, caused them to be obedient. (Begin side two of tape no. one.)... works that was mixed with their faith caused the walls, or the middle wall of partition to fall and they took the city and defeated their enemy. It was because they honored the Word of God. They obeyed the Word of God. Whatever God's Word said they put it into action. Like the Bible speaks of the acts of the Apostles. It doesn't say the faith of the Apostles. It says the actions of the Apostles. It was what the Apostles did. You've got to do something. You may believe. That's good, but you've got to do something. You're going to have to live holy and you're going to have to be godly. And you can't go around the ladies wearing the long dresses, just wearing the long dresses and thinking that we're holy. More holier than somebody else, or that we've got God. That isn't any good with God. The Bible said God looketh on the heart, for out of the heart comes forth evil thoughts of adultery and fornication. And out of the heart comes forth thoughts of blasphemy and jealousy and iniquity and all of these things. And the Bible said that is what defiles a man. God is looking on your heart. If you've got the right thing in your heart then the outside is going to conform to it. If you'll clean the platter, or the vessel on the inside, then the outside it will conform to it. That's why I made the statement earlier. If I have somebody at the musical instrument I can tell what they are. After awhile I'll hear a certain sound coming from the organ, or I'll hear a certain sound coming from the piano, or I'll hear a certain sound coming from the guitar, and immediately the discernment of God, the mind of Christ will say, That's Satan. That's Satan. Somebody would say, On, no, Brother Pike. On, yes it is. It's Satan. It's just exactly like Jesus heard a certain sound when Peter said, Nay, Lord. Be it far from thee. We're not going to let anybody hurt you. Jesus said, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savorest the things that be of the flesh, and not the things that be of God. He knew that He come to die for sin. He knew that He come to give His life. He didn't want to feel melancholy. He didn't want any thought coming into His mind to try to convince Him that He should not go to Calvary. He didn't want anybody standing in His defense as the middle wall of partition to keep Him from doing what His Father had appointed Him to do. He came to do the works of God. He came to finish the works of God. Daniel spoke of it in the Old Testament. He came to make an end of sin. I brought that out the other night. Daniel's seventy weeks. And He said that He shall come and make an end of sin, and when Jesus came to Calvary He made an end of sin. He took away sin. There is no more sin. Sin is forever gone, and we that are born of God can never sin. It's not possible for a man of God, or a woman of God to sin for the Bible said they keep themselves and the evil one toucheth them not. And the Bible said, He that sinneth is of the devil, because the devil sinned in the beginning. And by this, the Bible said, We know the difference between the children of God and the children of the devil, because he that is born of God cannot sin, and he that is not born of God he cannot do righteously. So we can see that it takes works. God desires works. He wants us to do something. That's why I said what I did the other night in preaching the sermon on bodily redemption. How does bodily redemption come? It comes by works. There's no way to redeem the body unless you do it by works. I'm saved by the grace of God. I'm saved by the faith of Jesus Christ. And we've preached this and tried to explain it in the past, that there is a difference between human faith and between the faith of sanctification and salvation that needeth no works, even the faith of the Lord Jesus that has saved us. The faith that He tells us we are sanctified by. There is a difference between that faith that needs no works, in that the works was finished from the foundation of the world as to the faith of Jesus Christ by which we are sanctified once and for all by the offering up of the body of the Lord Jesus. There is a difference between that faith and my faith by which I'm daily sanctified to the extent of putting works with my faith that I might be daily sanctified, which means set apart. Not as unto salvation, but as unto the works of Christ and being fit and being clean as to the bodily efforts that I make toward Christ. The Bible said, He that beareth the vessel of the Lord let Him be clean. Let him be holy. You know, a lot of people they like to feel like they are holy, and they say, Well, this thing is a thing of the spirit, Brother Pike. But the Bible said be holy in body and in spirit. I'm commanded to be holy in body and in spirit. Someone would say, Well, nobody's perfect. We go back to this so many times. The Bible says to the contrary that Job was a perfect man. And the Bible said, Mark the perfect man among you. And the Bible said, Let us go on unto perfection. And the Bible said, As many as be perfect let them be thus minded. And the Bible said, If ye be perfect then ye shall be as your master. So then we see that people who use the theme of a hobby horse of an excuse that they are wrong. We can be holy. We can be godly. Paul said on one occasion, he said, While I dwelt in your midst and I preached to you my hands labored. They ministered unto me that I might not be chargeable to any man. I've not coveted any man's goods. I've not spoke in respect of want. He said, And you know how godly and holy, or justly I behaved myself while I was in your presence. And folks, the Bible said let your light so shine that men may see your good works and glorify, our Father, which is in heaven. The light which shines to the end of the Earth. That is, let your light so shine that men may see your good works, and glorify, it didn't say your faith. It said your good works, and glorify the Father which is in heaven. And when Jesus looked at Peter after that Peter had cursed. Peter had cursed and denied that he ever knew God. The Lord didn't say anything to Peter concerning his works. On the contrary he said, Your faith, Peter. For Peter's works had failed, and now we see a different kind of faith. We see the faith of Christ Jesus which needed no works. Peter's works had failed. Here he was sinking, as we would say. He had failed in his works, and was cursing, and then the Lord immediately brought in a new kind of faith, saying, My faith. I prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not. Because his works had already failed. But when it come to the redemption of the body, then Peter had to get rid of all of his unrighteousness. He had to conform to the way of God. He had to fast. He had to pray, and then bring his faith to the place to where he had works with his faith, because it was only the faith of Christ that kept Peter from completely being doomed and damned. It was the love of God. It was the predestination of God. It was the foreknowledge of God, because God saw Peter's weakness. And a lot of times, you know, we use those things for an excuse. We say, Well, Brother Pike, there you are right there. And I brought this out the other night. There you are. When we speak of David of old, there you are. Look at the hideous crime that David committed. Look at the things that David committed. Whereas David said, My deeds, my ways, they don't please God, but my heart is perfect before him. Praying seven times a day, but the hideous things that David did. Somebody would say, See, there is the love of God, and there is the grace of God. And that is true. That is true, but I say again that David didn't have the Holy Ghost. David did not have the infilling of the Holy Ghost. He did not have Christ's Spirit on the inside of him. He had Christ's Spirit with him. But not on the inside of him. We've got Christ's Spirit on the inside of us. We're born of the Spirit of God. David only had the overshadowing of the Spirit of God, in that the Holy Ghost was with them. But, the Bible said, He shall be in you. Even before Calvary the Holy Ghost, you could be filled with the Holy Ghost, but you couldn't be filled with the Holy Ghost to the extent of having the gift of the Holy Ghost. It would go through you just like wind would blow through this building. So you couldn't have the infilling of the Holy Ghost as to the gift of the Holy Ghost. You couldn't have that Christ Spirit that gives you the power to overcome the devil. I have power over the devil. You have power over the devil if you are born of God, and if you don't have power over the devil then you are not born of God. You may be in the presence of the Spirit as to the blood on the seat of atonement. You might have faith. That is to say, as the devil believed. Not really faith, but a believing in that the devils believed. But, I say again, there is a difference between believing and faith. Faith cometh by the hearing of the Word of God, and the Bible said, In the later days many shall depart from the faith. That is, they'll get away from the doctrine of Christ, and they'll get away from the Word of God. Many people will do that. But millions of people will continue to believe. But that doesn't mean that they are saved. So then, faith is when you hear the Word of God, and when you practice the Word of God. When you do what the Word of God says then you bring the body into a state of redemption. See, if the Jewish people had of had the infilling of the Spirit of God with all of the ritualistics that they did, there would not have been a nation in the world that could have defeated them. But they had their ritualistics without the Spirit of God. As long as Moses was with them they were all right. But when Moses left them they left the things of God, and when Jesus came they had gotten into a formality to the extent that all that they were doing was keeping the tradition of the elders. They wasn't keeping the Word of God. They had gotten away from the Word of God. But folks, listen. Though in this day many are turning away from the faith, because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold, but at the same time, in this day there is a people a little flock. There are those that are drawing closer to God, and closer to God, because they are the Bride of Christ, and they are going to be translated and they are going to be transfigured, and like I said the other night. You can't branch and you can't run off out here and you can't get you a little group off over here, and you can't go over yonder and start you a church. You can't do that and go to heaven. I said, You can't do it. I don't care who tells you you can do it. God is one church. God is one body. God is one people. And everybody that cuts themselves off from that is doomed and damned. I don't care how religious they are. I don't care what they do, and I don't care what they say. They are doomed and damned, because He has one church. He has one program. There is one God. There is one faith. There is one message, and every group of people that are with God are one body in the Lord Jesus Christ. All right. So, then, we see that it is going to take works, and this work has to be mixed with our faith, and in this faith is made perfect. God said go march around the walls of Jericho and do the thing that I tell you, and by faith the walls of Jericho fell down. So then, we go march around the walls of Jericho, as we say. They went. They marched. They honored. They obeyed. What was that? That was faith in the Word of God. That was the acts. That was action. That was doing the Word of God. Being a doer of the Word, and not just a hearer only deceiving ourselves. So then, when God said, Noah, build an ark. Noah believed God. He did what God said, which proved he believed in God, and his faith was manifested as to the saving of his household and bringing in a new world because he did what God told him to do. But, folks, I'm going to tell you again as I preached the other night, it's not following God when we start building buildings and building houses, and planting vineyards, and getting land, and doing these things that is not God. And supposing that worldly gain is godliness. The Bible said, from such turn away, because you brought nothing into this world, and it's for sure that you're going to take nothing out of it. It's no time to do that. If you're going to build a building, build a building for God. If you're going to build a building, build it for God, and if you're going to plant vineyards, plant vineyards for God, and if you're going to do anything, do it for God, and all things as unto the Lord that you might be received of God and that God might bless you. Otherwise you are on your way to hell. You're gullible of the flesh. You're doing the things of the flesh. You're following after the flesh. You are making it convenient for the flesh, and doing the things that please man, and that pleases Satan because he savors the things that be of the flesh. I say this a lot of time. You men that go out to make your family a living, that's a good trait of life. And you should. You shouldn't expect anybody else to take care of your family. That's just manhood. But taking care of your family does not give you one bit of virtue from God. You don't have any virtue for taking care of your family. That's your job. That's your responsibility. You don't have any reward from God for doing that. Your reward is to do what the Father says. And a lot of times that calls for forsaking your family. Whereas Peter said, We forsook all. What will we have? He said, A throne. When I sit on My throne you will sit on one, too. So then, he that forsaketh houses and lands and wives, and children and all these other things, the Bible says as it was with Abraham, to get thee out of the land of thy kindred. I'll make a great nation of you. You do all these things, he said, and you'll receive a hundred fold from God. All these things, and then you'll receive eternal life. So, we get in a rut. We don't understand God. We get off somewhere in the darkness of the intellectual reasoning, we say, I have a business. God has blessed me. I have this income and God is pouring out His blessings on me. But a lot of times you can be further from God at that time than any other time. So then, what am I to do? What He tells me to do. As it was at the supper as to the changing of the water to wine, and when the woman said, Whatever He tells you that's what you should do. Whatever He tells you. We should acknowledge the Lord in all of our ways, and let God direct our paths. We should go to God for counsel, who giveth to all men freely. We should realize that God is one God, that He is one body. He is one Lord. We are one body of members of flesh and bone. And any time there is a division, and anytime there is a separation we are walking in darkness. That is what we have to remember. We are walking in darkness anytime that there is a division. The Bible says mark them that cause division among you for this is one of the things that God hated. And we are walking in darkness when we separate ourself from the Brotherhood. We are in darkness which means our intellectual wilderness wandering of our own intents and desires, our own gullible desires, for the Bible said, If you walk in the light as He is in the light, which means if you walk in the mind of Christ. If you walk in the light as he is in the light you'll have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse you from all sin. If you don't have any fellowship with your brother, if you don't have any fellowship with the body of the Lord Jesus then you are in trouble. And you know what? I'll tell you what. You think about this while I'm saying it. Watch anybody that does that in dividing themselves, or cutting themselves off, or getting by themselves away from the brotherhood, man, woman, boy, girl, group, whatever it might be, and you'll find out that those people get in error. The Bible said, Because you don't have a love for the truth, God will send you strong delusions, cause you to believe a lie and be damned. He will turn you over to a reprobate mind. We have to pray, Father, lead us not into temptation, but Father, lead us, deliver us from evil. I have to pray. You have to pray that God will deliver us from evil, because He could lead us into temptation. See, and you'll find out that people that do that always go into error. They get into a cult. They get into some kind of a gossip, a gossip circle. They get into a thing of jealousy of gossip, of evil, of filth, of fornication, of lying, of cheating, of gullible desire of longing, and going after the things of the world. They get into that kind of condition. And if you'll watch them they will be evasive, and they'll stay away from a group of people, or groups of people that are walking in the light, and when they go to visit with people, or go to fellowship they'll go to the same cult. They'll go do the same thing. They'll go to people that are out of balance with God, and out of stride with God. And you'll find out that their fellowship is not with the Father and the Son. It's not with the Word. It's with people that are in error. I've seen that many times in my life. So then, let me walk in the light as He is in the light that I may have fellowship with my brother and with my sister. Another thing. I'm going to say this. You know, we, a lot of times in bringing our offerings to God, I was talking with someone today that ask me some questions about this. In bringing our offering to God we're not accepted of God. A lot of times we come, we're not accepted of God because our heart isn't clean. The Bible teaches that when you bring your offering, whether it's a natural offering, whether it's a physical offering, or whatever it is, It said if you have a problem with your brother, go to your brother. Be reconciled to your brother, and then bring your offering and then God will receive you. As it was with Cain. Cain brought his offering just like Abel did, but God didn't receive it. You know, the evangelist might receive it. Now, the evangelist might take it, but not God. When you bring your offering to God it's got to be without spot, without wrinkle, without blemish. He said in the Old Testament. Don't pick out your old lame sheep and bring him to me. Don't bring me a halt, lame offering. That is, when you come to God you must come to God this way. The Bible said God loveth a cheerful giver. You must give of your time cheerfully. To come to church, to work, to do whatever you do for God. You must give cheerfully of your substance. When you go to give to God you give cheerfully to God. You're glad to do it. You're just overflowing with joy to do it. Somebody said, Not me. Well, you're left out. You don't get blessed. Somebody said, Oh, yes. I get blessed. God will give you a return on whatever you do. Even a cup of water, but Brother, Sister, you won't get any blessing from God as to spiritual blessings. He will not give it to you. It must be in harmony with His Word. So then, you give your offering unto God whether it's financial of whatever it is, you give it with joy. You give of your time with joy. And not only that. It must be without spot. It must be without wrinkle. It must be without blemish. It can't be halt. It can't be lame. It can't be blind. You can't hold back a part of the price. When you come to God, not only do you have it without being lame or halt, but it has to be the first fruits of your increase. If it's to be an offering, it's got to be the first fruits. There's no need of paying your bills, and providing for your family, and doing those things, and then coming and giving God an offering, because He will not have it. Now, the evangelist will take it no doubt, but God won't have it. Because God doesn't need your money. He doesn't need my money. He doesn't need our substance. He owns the cattle of a thousand hills. All the gold is His, and all the silver is His. And He said, If I was hungry I wouldn't ask you to feed me. Does God have to ask people to take care of his ministry? To take care of His word? Do we have to go out here into the world and take that abominable thing out in the world, out there to please God? God doesn't want that. God can make His own way. See? So, when we come to God, God wants us to recognize Him as number one. I am God, and before me there is none other. So then, recognize Me first. Come to Me first. I don't care about your offering. What I want is you and your acknowledgment that I am God, and I'm the most important thing of all, and when you go out here, you pay your bills and do all these other things and then you come to give to God, it's a positive proof that you don't have faith in God. God said get thee out of the land of thy kindred, Abraham. You go by faith. And He said to the ministry, you go you don't take two pairs of shoes. You don't take anything with you and whatever city you go to I want them to provide for you that when you come into that place I can bless them, and if they don't provide for you, you shake the dust off of your feet and go your way. Because they didn't receive you it will be more tolerable in the day of the judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah, or for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that person, or for that city. Now, let's look at it for just a minute. What can I then do? I must come to God first. I must come to God first. See? God said, Get thee out of Egypt, Moses. Go out of here. Wasn't a matter of having money. It wasn't a matter of having somebody taking care of them. You have faith in Me. Abraham sojourned in a country, a strange land. He didn't know where he was going. Didn't know what he was doing. He just went by faith. But all of these other things that you make, where you make provisions, and you do this for the flesh, and you do that for the flesh, you are not living by faith. You haven't given anything to God. You haven't done anything for God. Somebody say, Hallelujah. I said you haven't done anything for God. Somebody said, But, Brother Pike, I gave to God. But you didn't give your living like the little widow did. You didn't give all. Somebody said, Well, I had to have something, Brother Pike. I know. But when you held back a part of the price you became like Ananias and Sapphire. That's why they died. That's why you die. Spiritually or whatever. That's what God told Eve. In the day that you do that, the day that you do that you shall surely die. See? You're listening to another voice. A stranger came to David, as we say, and the Bible said, My sheep won't follow a stranger. When you are filled with the Holy Ghost you don't follow strangers. You don't follow devils and demons. I say again, those that went out from them, somebody said, They're good Christians. They got lost, Brother Pike. Someday they'll come back. If they were true Christians they may stumble and stagger around. They will come back, but they won't go back out in the world sinning. When a person goes back out in the world and they turn away from God, the Bible said, If they had been of us they no doubt would have continued with us. But they went out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not of us. So then, this little group, this little caravan keeps on moving along. Give unto the God of heaven your time. Give unto the God of heaven with joy, and give unto the God of heaven the first fruits of your substance. That is to say, when you come to God, and you trust God, and you say, God here I am. Lord, I'm not going to try to provide here, or provide there or whatever. Somebody says, Can God provide a table in the wilderness? And the Bible said God got angry. Can God provide a table? God made the wilderness. God made the heavens. Can He provide? And the Bible said God was angry because of their unbelief, and opened up the Earth, let them go down into the Earth because of their murmuring. Went down to the pit quickly, and then the Bible said God opened the windows of heaven. He rained manna down out of heaven. He brought quail in. The wind blew quail in so much that they could wade in the quail. Meat. He fed them meat. And then He got angry, and the Bible said he slayed the fattest among them. Unbelief. He slayed the fattest among them. Those that ate the best He killed, the quickest. So then, we need to realize how to serve God. We need to understand how to make our offering to God. We need to know what God requires. If we intend to get blessed them we have to do this. When we do this the Bible said God will make us to ride upon the high places of the earth, feed us with the heritage of Jacob, make all of our beds in the time of our sickness. The Bible said we'll be like the tree that's planted by the water. Our leaves shall not wither. Whatsoever we do shall prosper. We'll bring forth our fruit in the season. God will make us rich. His blessing will make us rich and add no sorrow. He'll make all of our beds in the time of our sickness. That is to say, God will look after us. But when you do something else first, then God doesn't want you. Somebody said, How close is this thing, Brother Pike? I've said it so many times. The Bible said to the casting down of imagination, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ every thought. David said as to the intent of the heart, to the very motivation of the mind, as to the reflects of the body, whatever it might be, you should say, It's not I that liveth, but Christ that liveth within me. And the life that I now live I live by the Son of God, who gave Himself for it. So then, Israel played the harlot. Satan stripped them down, and today they are a wondering nation, and the Gentiles, who were considered to be dogs, out of them God found a bride. Somebody says, Well, God preferred the Gentiles over the Jews. No He did not. He said to begin with they are no people. You are a people, as to the Israelites, in that I've chosen you through Moses as to natural ordinances. Not that I'm a respecter of persons. I don't care any more for you than I do anybody else, only in the sense that you've done many things down through the years, you and your children, as to coming after me, as to your ritualistics. And Paul said all of these things belong to Israel. But so far as the Gentiles, He doesn't prefer the Gentiles over them. He said they're no people. But out among the Gentiles was an elect, was a predestinated folks. Not the Gentiles, it was the church. It was the bride of Christ, and out of that bunch of dogs, as we say, came a bride. Came a bride. So then, God is expecting us to be holy, to be godly, not to play the harlot, not to go out and have our locks cut off as Samson. I'm going to say a few more things, and I'm going to close. One other example, and I'm going to make an application in this so don't get offended. What is it? Of the evangelist of today, does God need our gold? Does God need our silver? What is it of the evangelist of today? Why are they playing the harlot? Why are they becoming whore mongers? And why are they doing the things that they are doing? Why is the church in the condition it's in? It's the old Saul spirit. The world has the Saul spirit. The true children of God has the David spirit, and there is a war between the two, and though Saul is on the throne at this time, and though they have the gullible things of the world, as to the Satanic forces, in that Satan is the prince of this world. Yet God's David is somewhere. Out on the hillside God's David is somewhere, as the shepherd body. God's David are those that are pushed down, that are accused, that everything is said against. They mocked David. They said, Who do you think you are? You know, coming here, and we have all of our armor, and we have all of our defense, and look at our churches. The Bible said, Having a name that you live and yet you're dead. Look at the great churches we have. Look at the great finance. Look at the great number of people. But see? David didn't need that. David didn't need that because David had God. That little sling of faith and that little stone of the Word of God, that's all he needed, and if it strikes in the right place, that is to say, strike the mind of the devil, or in the head of the powers of opposition, down it goes. So then, Saul did one thing that he shouldn't have done, and that's disobey the Word of God. And Samuel said, Because thou has rejected the Word of God then God hath rejected thee. And out in the church world of today they've rejected the Word of God. They have subsidized and substituted. They've done all kind of things. They're supposing that prosperity is godliness, or worldly gain is godliness, and they've got away from the Word of God, and they're not conforming to the Word of God. They're not honoring the Word of God. They're not giving the more heed to the things of God. They're not incorporating these things into their life style and making this a life. It's just kind of a hobby with them, or a side line, or something that they do after that they've done all the other things that they want to do. That is, after they go after their careers, after they go after all of the things that they gullibly desire, after they do all the things that they want to do, then they bring God into the picture. Like the writer said, the program that's so well planned that it's left out God's part. So then, what did Saul do? Let me say this hurriedly, (Begin tape no. two, side one.) and close. What did Saul do? Samuel said thus saith the Lord, Go, Saul, do thus and thus. Fight the battle and God shall be with thee, and God shall give thine enemies into thine hand, but Saul, kill them all. Do away with all of them. Don't bring any of them back. You do away with them. And the cattle, and the sheep. All of it. Destroy it. So, Samuel comes for a report. Saul's back. Great victory. The enemy is dead, and Samuel said, Saul, did you do what God told you to do? He said, I done exactly what He told me. Samuel said, If that's true what is the lowing that I hear as of the cattle? What is the bleating of the sheep out here? What is this that I hear that's coming from out here? What is that if you've honored God? And Saul said, Well, you know, we would say, that's beside the point. He said, Those things? I'm going to offer them as a sacrifice to God. But, folks, let me tell you? Is God so gullible that He needs the abominable things of the world? Do I have to get up as an evangelist, or somebody else as to plead for money, and try to get money so that I can get money from the wicked when the Bible said the offering of the wicked is an abomination in the sight of God? Am I to get up on radio, or television, or any other place, and start pleading for money, and all of these kind of things? Can't God provide for His through the Saints? Do I have to go out here and sell some kind of jars, or some kind of pottery, or sell peanut brittle? Or do I have to turn the House of God into a place of merchandise to be able to do something? What does God want with that? There's billionaires that build all kind of buildings. What does God want with that? How does that honor God? God is a spirit. God is an invisible force. God is something that can't be seen. And the only thing that can honor God is faith, because it makes God manifest, and people see an invisible force that's not there. They see it through the eyes of their understanding. The Bible said, Comprehending the heights, the depth, the width, and the length. They're comprehending the power of God, and bringing the invisible God into view. By faith they do something, and God honors it. So, the Bible said the elders obtained a good report by faith. By faith all of these great things happen, and by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death. So then, Saul, what have you done? Saul. Going to be a great king. You know, I'm going to offer a sacrifice greater than any other king. Thousands and thousands of sheep and cattle and people from every where will say, the great, mighty Saul. A sacrifice like no man has offered. Look at his power and his riches in glory. But see, God wasn't satisfied. Samuel said, Oh, Lord. Spare him. You know, he's my friend. God said, Samuel, get up off of your face. I'm through with Saul. God's through with the world, and God's through with the religious world. We're rich and have need of nothing. God is through with them. God is through with the Gentile people. God is through with corruption. God is bringing forth the David of God. Like in the vision when I heard a voice say, I want a David. I need a David. I said, God, I'll be your David. Folks, everyone that loves God has God's heart. He has a heart after God. He's God's David. He's not a Saul. He's God's David. He's filled with the Spirit of God. And he has the ability to rule and reign. The Bible said, He that over cometh I will give him to eat of the hidden manna, which is the Revelation of the Son of God, the revealed Word of God, and He said, I will cause him to rule with a rod of iron over the nations to break them as one would break pottery. So, what do we do? Do we go out like the rest of the preachers and the rest of the evangelists and do these things? Let me say this. Do you know what they've done? They've brought the abominable thing as Akin did, as to the wedge that's come between them and God. They've brought those things in, and now they are committing fornication. They're committing harlotry. Why? Because that's the condition that they've been in. See? They went after those things, and all of a sudden God is making them naked, and showing that they don't have any spiritual covering at all. Like we preached on the covering of God. You cover with a covering but it's not of me. We're not going to get into that. Got a sermon on it, but here's the thing. Stripped down. Stripped down. Bare. No covering. There is no covering any more. There is no covering. The veil has been rent. All has been brought into light. The Bible said there is nothing that's done in the dark. That is in your intellectual doings, that won't be brought to light. That is to say, to the mind of Christ to be brought out that everybody may see and know the kind of person you are. So then, what are they doing? It's like the man that committed harlotry just recently. Great, mighty television artist. You know if the man had been caught in a trap it would have been different even at that. And then God's grace is sufficient, but a man that can ride across town, all the way across town, from a godly operation over to a harlot's house, you tell me that he don't have any time to think. You tell me that from over here to over there he didn't have any time to think? Don't you know that's wretched and damnable. That's evil. That's ugly. You can pass it off any way you want to, but it's ungodly. And down through the days and the months, not having any time to think, to withdraw from that, and then the worst part about it is to go on telling others. See? I am saying as God said unto Israel. You come against Sodom, and you come against Samaria. Said, They're nothing but your sisters. Like that man that stood up against the PTL Club, and called it a cancerous sore, and brought the judgments so hard down upon them. Saying, Thou art Sodom and Gomorrah. And all the time the rotteness and the corruption was there at the door. At the door. And he said, Thy sins are twice as bad. For me to condemn another of the evils and the wretchedness of those kind of things and I go out and practice the same thing and continue to preach to somebody, I'm twice as bad. That's why I said what I did the other night. I don't know anything worse that a devil than somebody that knows the devil, and knows his evil, and knows righteousness and will go give themselves to the devil. That's right. That's right. That's why God said, Judas, it'd have been better if you'd never been born into the world. Such a wretched thing. Obtaining part of this ministry, and knowing this, and going out. I'm going to close right here. Let me tell you. I know the devil is the ultimate of evil, but you have to give place to him to do his wrongs, and that makes you, not that you could be worse than the devil, but makes you twice as bad in the sense that you know the good and had the chance for salvation, and threw it down, as we say. Selling your birth right as did Esau, for a morsel of bread. So that's corruptible. Said you're twice as bad as Sodom, as Samaria, those places, because you had the godly ordinances of God. So then, the church world today is twice as bad, because they knew better. In coming to a place to close, saying this tonight, that this is why that we're going to have to live holy, and be holy in body and in spirit. We're going to have to be clean. There is grace, abundant grace. Grace plentiful for every person that errs, every person that stumbles, every person that staggers, when you are trying to do your very best and be honest and straight to the bottom of your heart and soul, and you stumble and stagger, there is grace aplenty for you, but beloved friend, let me tell you something. When you know God's way, and you know the right way, and you won't pray. The Bible said, Pray. Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. When you won't watch and pray, and you've got that old stubborn streak in you to rebel against the Word of God in your thoughts to scrutinize the man of God, or the church of the living God, or the people, you're not fit for the kingdom of God. When you're going to gossip and back-bite and have your old temper, and find fault and be melancholy and get down just with the dogs, and the pigs in the mire, you're not fit for the kingdom of God. If you've been brought out of the world and the things of the world, and you find yourself looking back into Egypt, as to your friends, or relatives, or neighbors, having come out of your homeland of the flesh, that is, getting out of the flesh into the spirit, and then you look back into Egypt, you're not fit for the kingdom of God. The Bible said, Having put your hands to the plow, looking back you're not fit for the kingdom of God. So then, this is where we are at today. A lukewarm, Laodicean people of a church that says, we're rich, have need of nothing. Knowing not that they are in a lukewarm condition to be spewed out of the mouth of God, to be vomit on His table. All of His tables filled with vomit, and to find yourself cut off from God where the Bible says you're naked, you're wretched, and you're blind. You're blind. Who is blind? The Bible said, Satan, having blinded their eyes, they shall not see when good cometh. If this salvation be hid, it be hid from them that are lost, whose eyes Satan has blinded, even the eyes of their understanding, as we would say, that they cannot comprehend, in that the light shined in darkness but they could not comprehend it. Pray that God will grant unto you the spirit of revelation that you might be able to comprehend the height, the depth, the length, and width, because the days are getting more evil and darker all the time. All right. Let's stand together. It's been a privilege to talk with you tonight. I didn't intend to talk that long to you, but you listened real good, and counted yourselves worthy to hear a little bit of the gospel tonight. If you walk in the light as He is in the light; you are not going to become a little sect off to yourself, and cut yourselves off. You won't do that. See? You'll get into a rut and you'll find yourself blind. You'll find yourself doing your own natural thinking and your own thing, and all of your works will be unto the convenience of your own life and flesh. And you won't be doing nothing for God. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this; that you visit the widows and the orphans in their afflictions, and keep yourselves unspotted from the world. What does God desire of you? The Bible said that He desires of you, mercy. He desires of you, justice. He desires of you that you should walk humbly before your God. So, if we be merciful, if we be just in our decisions as to our thoughts, as to our fellow man, if we do this and if we walk humbly before God, then He'll be well pleased with us. So, if you walk in the light as He is in the light you'll be a Brotherhood throughout the entire world with your brother, with your sister. You'll love one another and you'll fellowship. God will heal you. You can pray for one another. You can confess your faults one to another, pray for one another and God will heal you, and you'll find yourself having a good time in the Lord, and find yourself doing something for Christ. All right. Let's sing a little chorus together. Let's sing, I Love Him. I always say, If you love me, Jesus said, then you will keep my commandments. (Brother Pike leads in singing.) Can you sing it with me? (Continues singing.) Sing it again. (Continues singing.) The alters are open, and you're welcome to come as we sing this. Let's sing it again. (Sings Every Promise In The Book Is Mine.) Let's sing it like this now. (Sings, Sweep Over My Soul and I've Anchored My Soul In God's Heaven Of Rest.) Can you sing it with me? (Continues.) Sing it one more time. (Continues.) You love Him? You love Jesus? Let's sing this little chorus. (Sing, After All This Life Is Over.) One more time. (Continues.) Can you sing it with me. (Continues, and sings, Water That Was Not From The Well.) Just one more time. (Continues.) Sing it with me again, now. (Continues, and sings, I'll Be Ready When The Bridegroom Comes.) Sing it with me, now. (Continues.) Can you sing it with me? (Continues.) One more time. (Continues, and sings, Time Shall Be No More.) Can you sing it with me? (Continues.) Do you believe that? If you really believe it sing with me. (Continues.) (Begin side two tape two) One more time. (Continues singing.) Can you sing it just one more time. (Continues singing.) Let's give Him a hand. The Bible said, And in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, made of a woman. Made under the law to redeem them that was under the law for He looked down from heaven, He heard the groaning of the prisoners, He loosed them that were appointed unto death, and in a day accepted succor us, and that unto salvation knowing that we have come to the fullness of time. Daniel's prophesy has been fulfilled in that He hath done away with sin, and we are free people. We are now those that dwell not in the flesh, nor do we live in the low places of the world, but He hath chosen us out of the world, having hid us with Christ in God whom the heavens have received until the restoring of all things. Now we are setting together in heavenly places, and the Bible said, Rejoice. Rejoice, ye that dwell in heaven. So then, we know where we are at, and we know what we're doing. We're going to sing this little chorus together and we're going to close in a few minutes. Let's sing this little chorus. (Sings, I've Found A New Place in the Heavenlies.) Can you sing it again. (Continues.) Let's sing this little chorus, This Is Like Heaven To Me. Give another key, Frank. (Leads singing again.) Let's sing this little chorus and we're going to try to close. (Sings Cross Over To The Other Side of Jordan.) Sing it with me. (Continues.) One more time. (Continues.) One more time. (Continues.) One more time. (Continues.) Sing it again with me. (Continues.) Let's give Him a hand, can we? All right. Let's lift our hands together, close our eyes tonight. It's good to be here. I'm glad to see you come out and worship with us. Just a little bit of singing, a little of praising the Lord. A little bit of the Word of God. As the Prophet said, A little bit here, and a little bit there. Line upon line. Precept upon precept. And the plume is laid to the line, and the water gets deeper, and then we launch out into the deep to let down our nets, and then our nets get go full that they break, and then our cups run over, for, as David said the Lord is my Shepherd. I don't have any wants. Let's give Him another hand. Hallelujah! Somebody say, Glory to God! I said I don't have any want's. My cup runs over. For the Lord is my Shepherd. Hallelujah! I shall not want. Hallelujah! Praise God. Let's close our eyes, lift our hands. Ask Brother Hollis to come and pray with us. As Brother Hollis comes to pray tonight let's worship the Lord. Can you worship the Lord tonight. Jesus loves you. You don't know how much He loves you, but He loves you. He loves you. Hallelujah!

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

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

Holiness Unto The Lord