The Faith By Which We Are Saved

Let's read from Ecclesiastes 11th chapter, and the first verse. This is the great man Solomon, the great man of wisdom. There never was one that lived with the wisdom of Solomon. Never was there to come a king after him ever so great as to his wisdom, and the only one that ever equalled him, and surpassed him, was the Lord Jesus. And of course, He was God, but as to just the average man, Solomon, whether it be kings or whatever, he was the wisest of them all, and the richest, among the richest of them all. He gathered gold; the Bible tells us he gathered gold like dust. Chapter 11. (Brother Pike reads chapters 11 and 12 of the book of Ecclesiastes.)

Well, there is one thing that Solomon clears here, and that is to remember the Creator in the days of the youth. That is, to get an early start in doing something for God, because you are going to sow some seed. And if you sow some seed, that means that you've got a harvest that you are going to reap. And when time for the reaping of that harvest comes, you are going to be sorry, because every seed that was placed in the ground you've got to reap it. There's not one thing that you have ever done throughout your life time, but what you're going to be confronted with it, and you're going to have to reap that. And inasmuch as you're going to have to reap that, then he says, as the song writer says, Sow the righteous seeds for the reaping, which is coming to each and every one. And then you'll rejoice on the day, when you'll hear Him say, Come ye blessed, a crown you have won. So, whatever you've done, you are going to reap it. It might be sorrow of heart. It might be broken bones. It can be through poverty. It can be through a broken home. It can be through the loss of health or loved one, but whatever it is, you are going to reap it. As to what ever measure you sowed, you are going to reap that. Though God will forgive your sins, and though God will take away your iniquities, God will give to you eternal life, but that does not dispel nor do away with your past. You must reap what you have sown. And of course, in as much as we know that we are partakers of the benefits of God, then we also know that we are partakers of the sufferings of God. Whereas Job said, Shall we reap good things at the hand of God, and not reap evil? Shall we not also reap evil, or that is, shall we not suffer with the Lord? The Bible said we should equip ourselves with a mind to suffer.

So then, knowing that when we suffer we are only suffering that that we are reaping, and yet because we are thankful for God's way of life and we are thankful that we have eternal life, then we turn all of this into something for Christ's sake, that through our suffering we might not complain of that which we are guilty of in the reaping, but that we might take the outlook that we love the Lord, and we're going to go through those problems by faith in God and master the situation and let everybody see the sufferings of Christ in our life. Turn it into something, as for the sufferings of Christ in our life. God does not delight in your suffering, nor in your afflictions. And the Bible teaches God does not pervert a man in his cause, and God doeth not tempt a man, neither can He be tempted of any. So then, when you are tempted, you are not to say that God has put me into this position, but rather yourself. You've given place to Satan, and he is to blame for it, and when you suffer, you are not to say that you are suffering because God has brought suffering upon you, because you have brought the suffering upon yourself. It is God's will that you prosper. That's God's desire. It is God's will that you prosper and be in health. And it is God's will that you have spiritual blessings, and prosperity, to strengthen you with the power and might of the inner man that you might be able to overcome every conflict of the outer man. And as it was with Moses, being of a great age, yet the eye sight had not waxed dim, the natural sources of his body wasn't abated. And as it was with Abraham and Sarah in their old age, they renewed their youth, and then Sarah brought forth a son, as to the promised son.

And as it was with Elijah, as it was with Enoch, as it was with many people that God blessed as with age, as with strength, even to the extent that He preserved life. Preserved life. He preserved the life of Moses. He preserved the life of Elijah. And Jesus that appeared in glory, found these people in a perfect state of preservation there in glory, and appeared in glory with these people as He stood upon the Mount of Transfiguration. So the same Jesus, the same God, can preserve your youth, preserve your life. But the way that He preserves it is that you have to give it to Him. You have to give yourself to God. Just like Elijah, he gave himself to God. Moses, he gave himself to God. They gave themselves to God in the time of their youth, so God preserved their youth. And see, everyday of your life that you fail to give to God that is a lost day. It will not be preserved in eternity. Everyday that you give to God He will preserve it. So if you start serving God at thirty, He will preserve from thirty. If you give to God your life from the time that you begin to understand right and wrong and begin to do like Jesus did, even at the age of twelve amazed the wise men. See, if you start at a real young age, then your life is preserved wholly. That is to say, God will preserve your whole entire life, all of it. But if you give Him a part of it, that's all that He can preserve.

You know, it's like putting money in the bank. If you put ten dollars in the bank, then that's all that they can preserve until you come and get it. And that is a reserve unto you. See, but if you put fifty dollars, if you put a hundred dollars, if you put ten thousand dollars, then they've got it there. It is for you. And whenever you call for it you can get it, whether it's periodically or whatever. See? And it's the same way with God. If you don't give Him your strength, if you don't give Him your youth, if you don't give Him your life, He doesn't have anything to preserve for you. It's like a little comical thing that I heard one time. A fellow was trying to illustrate and get something over about a fellow. He got to heaven and he found out he didn't have much up there. He had a little shack, which you know that can't be, but I thought it was a good illustration. And when he complained, the angel just gently replied, said, "This is all you sent to build with." And see, that is the way a lot of us are. We're going to have to send something up there to build with if we expect God to build us a place. And if we don't send anything up there to build with, then we're not going to have anything up there.

You know you can't go through life and do all the things of life, as to the gullible desires of life, and then go to heaven and find a mansion. You can't do that. There's no way. But if I give my body to God, and I say, "Lord, here's this body." You know, they have that song, This Old House. Have you ever heard that song, This Old house? Getting leaks through the roof, and whatever, and I'm going to move out. All I've got is just this body, you know, that came from Adam, and in Adam all die, and this thing is going to wear out, you know, but I'm going to give it to You, because I hear that You can redo it, and You can make it over new. You won't just preserve it as an antique, but You'll make it over new. And I'm going to give it to You. And then when you get up there, there will be that glorious body that's perfect and healthy and strong and youthful throughout eternity. Never be another blemish, never be another weakness, never be another problem, and there will be eternal riches to accomplish that and the glories of God that is so great that it will out shine the brightness of the noonday sun.

So then, if we give Him this body, whereas the Bible uses the terms that if you lose this body for His sake, then you shall gain it unto eternal life, but if you try to save this body, as to give it to Lucifer, or that is to say this life, then you lose this life. I want to give this life to God in every way that I possibly can. I say this so often, that I'm jealous even over my thoughts. I want to think every thought the way that will please Him. And I'm jealous over the intents of my heart and the reflex of my mind, because I want to give it all to God to where I can be perfect in His sight. The Bible said to be ye therefore perfect, in the sight of the Lord. He said, Abraham, I want to do great things for you. Get thee out of the land of thy kindred, and walk upright. Be perfect before Me, Abraham. Somebody would say, "Well, I think that's mighty cruel of God. You know, He just demands that we can't falter. We can't do anything wrong. He makes it so strict that life is miserable." That wasn't the reason why that He asked Abraham to be perfect. He wanted to give Abraham the best that heaven could afford, and the only way that He could do that is find a fellowship with Abraham as being His friend. And that He, being the best that heaven could afford, as to the Spirit and power and might and glory, then He could live in Abraham's heart and purify Abraham's heart and be with Abraham in every instance of life so that his cup would be filled up, running over. David said, And the Lord has filled my cup up and it runs over. And Jesus said, I've come that you might have that cup to drink from. I drank the bitter cup, when He said, Lord, if it be Thy will let this cup pass from Me. As if to say, that the Lord said, But Son, if You do, Brother Pike can't drink from the pleasant cup of life. And Jesus said, I've come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. And the word abundantly means filled up and over flowing. So then, my cup overflows. To remember the Creator in the days of thy youth before the evil days draw nigh when you look and say, I have no pleasure in it. Or that is before the reaping days come, and then you reap those seeds of sorrow that you've sown.

So we see what a great thing it is, that God wanted Abraham to be perfect. He tells you and I to go on to be perfect. Let us go on to perfection, not turning again to lay the foundation of repentance, as of dead works and dead faith toward God, but let us go on to be perfect in God. Let us lay the foundation and then build upon the foundation this wonderful, wonderful thing that God has for us. And the Bible said don't try to build hay and stubble on this foundation, he said, because the day will consume it as God the consuming fire. He said, So don't build with hay and stubble on this foundation. See, this is the rock, God. Who is a rock but God? And the wise man built upon the rock. And if you want that little house that you call a human body in which your angelic man lives, if you want it to last on and on and be eternal, then you're going to have to do something about it. I bring this out a lot of times as to the Old Testament and the houses there in which the Israelites lived, that these houses would get plagues, and the priest would have to go in to these little houses and they would have to examine the walls of these houses, just like a physician in the physical. He goes into your body with an x-ray and he examines the body to see if the plague is terminal as to cancer, or if there can be an eradication as with a laser, or whatever they may use. See? And they had to go into these little houses, and when they would go into these little houses they would have to examine these streaks and different things that run through the wall. And if these things were terminal, as to no remedy for them, then they had to burn the little house down, or tear the little house down. During the time of examination the people had to move out of this little house, and they could not return to this little house if it was to be burned down, if this thing was terminal, because it had to be destroyed. And they could not return to it.

And see, this is the way that it is with you and I. We are an angelic being living in this little house, and there are plagues that get into this little house. Demon spirits cause plagues, and these plagues get into this little house. And when these things come in, the Lord of heaven, He examines us, and He sends the priest, even Christ the high priest into our heart to examine this little house. And He is in there and He is examining the walls, the spiritual walls of this little house. As He examines it, He finds out whether or not this sin is unto death, or whether it is a sin that has remission. Therefore, if it is something that we have done that He can forgive us for, then they had certain things in the Old Testament, as to liquids, that they would apply to this plague and it would eradicate it. Then when the plague was gone, the people could move back into the little house. So when these things strike, even as to death, we lay down the little house. We move out of the little house. The Lord has gone into the little house. He is examining the little house to see if there will be a restoration. After everything is proven, and everything is brought to it's proper place, then the little house is picked back up and it stands before God, and then the judgment of God comes, as to whether it is unto life, that the little house is all right and the man that moved out can move back into there permanently, or whether it is a plague and this little house has to be cast into the lake of fire, has to be done away with.

So it behooves me and you that we should take these typical things, as the Old Testament, where God has given these things as a type and a shadow, or revelation of that which is to come. Or that is to say, to reveal this to us, as to what those things allegorically meant is the revelation. So in that God lets us know these things, it behooves you and I to observe those things with carefulness and incorporate this understanding within out daily life and put away all of the sin, and all of the malice, even to the thoughts. The Bible said casting down imagination and every high thing that exhalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Jesus Christ. So then we are trying to bring this body into subjection.

I say this so often to you so that you don't get confused, and that is: I am not saved by the putting away of the filth of the flesh. I'm not saved by that. This is what I try to get over to you. A lot of times, Pentecostals, especially, get into ritualistics as to putting away the filth of the flesh, as to believing that that is salvation. But that's not salvation. That's not the way you get salvation. That doesn't do you any good at all toward salvation because it has nothing to do with that. See? I tell you again, the two men that went up into the temple, and one got up in there and stood up and he said, I thank Thee, Lord, that I'm not like this publican. I fast maybe twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I possess. He boasted himself. He was putting away the filth of the flesh. He had his ritualistics, and the Lord wouldn't even look at him, but the other man that said, Look, I'm a sinner. I don't have anything to offer. I don't know what I'm going to do. God, have mercy on me! The Bible said that man went down to his house justified rather than the other. As it was with Esau and Jacob. The Bible said the children having done no good or evil that it might not stand by works, as to putting away the filth of the flesh, but that it would stand by election as to God who calleth, and not by someone that runneth. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle is not to the strong, but the battle is the Lord's. To acknowledge the Lord in all of your ways, and then He will direct your path. And all of the paths of God are peace. He's the one that will make all of your beds in the time of your sickness. It is His blessing that maketh rich and addeth no sorrow. He is the one that promised to make us to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed us with the heritage of Jacob, that if we would delight ourself in Christ He would give us the desires of our heart. See? He was the one that said we would be like a tree that is planted by the rivers of waters, we would bring forth our fruit in our season, and our leaves would not wither, and whatsoever we would do would prosper. He was the one that said if we confess our sins and forsake our sins whatever we do shall prosper, and if we cover our sins, He said, we cannot prosper. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper.

So then, we see the wonderful thing, the wonderful ways of God. We are not saved by the putting away of the filth of the flesh. We are saved by the answer of a good conscience toward God, and that by baptism, as Peter tells us. Peter said, For you are baptized for the dead. Paul said, You are baptized for the dead. That is, this body, the death of this body, I have to get rid of it. I am plagued with a plague, and it must be eradicated either one way or another. This little house must be burned up. This body must be done away with, or either the plague on the inside has to be eradicated, because I cannot live there to the extent that I am an angelic being of light, and life cannot be where there is contamination. For instance, if I have a cancer germ within my blood stream, then my life will be gone. The spirit of life cannot stay there. Soon my life will be gone. I have to have this thing eradicated. And I say this so often, I could go to the hospital and I could shake hands with every doctor in there, every physician. Now, the Bible said the sick need a physician. I could shake hands with everyone of them, I could speak to everyone of the nurses, we all could be friends, but if I had cancer as a germ in my system, I would still die. It wouldn't do me any good being friends with a doctor. He could give me all of the advice he wanted to give me, indoctrinate me thoroughly, but I still would die. There has got to be some kind of perfected serum, or something that can be injected within my blood, or go down in my body that will counteract that thing, or fight it off, and eradicate that plague if it's at all possible to do that. If it is something that cannot be eradicated, in that it is a terminal thing; when I say that, there wouldn't be nothing that you couldn't do away with; you know, anything on the inside of the body you could do away with it. Wouldn't be no cancer, no germ, on nothing else but what you could do away with it. They could put something in there, but the only thing is, what they put in there would not only do away with the life of that germ, as to the deadly germ, but it would do away with the life of that living germ. It would be something so powerful that it would kill you, or acid that it would eat you up. If it's going to be eradicated, it has to be within the means of something that would go in there that's powerful enough to kill the germ, and yet not injure the life on the inside.

So then, you see what I'm saying? If we are to live in this little body, we've got to get that thing out of there that is a cancerous thing. We've got to eradicate that, like the leprosy of the Old Testament, or it will devour our entire being. So the little house that you have, it must be cared for. You must keep communicating with the chief physician, whereas the Bible said and it shall be said unto Me, even in this proverb, Physician heal Thyself. So the chief physician, we have to listen to the prescription, understand the prescription, make the application. Just to talk with the Lord, to say "Lord, Lord," is not enough. For Him to give us advice is not enough. See? We've got to take on His blessings by receiving the Holy Spirit, which is His Spirit as the high priest, as He goes into our body to eradicate. And if He comes, as the Bible said, and some, they'll come and partake of the Holy Ghost, taste of the heavenly gift, and all these wonderful things, as to the power of the world to come. That is to say, by the blood being on the seat of atonement, they come into a created atmosphere of love and compassion, and the devils and demons are driven back because the anointing breaks the yoke. The rain being on the unjust. They come in and they even feel the presence of that rain, because the tare rejoices just as much as the wheat as to this water of life, because it lives by the same means. And when the saints create this atmosphere of the blood that's on the seat of atonement, then people that are out in the world come into this atmosphere and they even get healed when they are not Christians, that the mercies of God may be given to them to show them His love and compassion so that He can draw them with cords of love to Him in that, like Paul said, the love of God constraineth me, and He pours out His love on those people by the saints of God suffering, the just for the unjust, and by the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we have faith in God. We bring this wonderful blessing down by the blood atonement and they get bathed in this wonderful, wonderful water of life. But the only thing is, the Bible says that the sow, after that she has been washed, shall go back to her wallowing in the mire. Let it rain ever so much. I've seen this when I was a little boy out on the farm. We had a lot of pigs and hogs and that kind of thing, you know, animals, and I've seen it rain. My! It would rain. I'd go down to the hog pen to feed the old hog, and he would just be caked with mud. He would look like you had made mud pies and put on him, and you just couldn't scrape it off. It was just part of his hair and whatever. But it would rain, and it would rain, and it would rain, and then I'd go out there and he'd be just so clean and nice. But he'd grunt a few times and bubble in the slop and get it all over him and all the rest that was with him, and then he'd grunt and go lay down in the mud hole and just roll and wallow. In a little while the sun would come out and he'd be in the same shape that he was to start with. So a lot of people are like that, you know. The sow, after that she has been washed, she'll go back to her wallowing in the mire. And the dog, I've watched dogs. We used to have dogs, hunting dogs, there are all kind of dogs, you know, around on the farm. But I've seen the dogs get just a little bit sick, or choked on something, and out it would come. And you know, it's distasteful, so you walk off and you leave him, you know, but now to him, it didn't bother him at all. He'd start and lap it again, you know. He wasn't going to lose any of it.

I never will forget. I've told this a number of times. My grand daddy, he drank some. They used to get a hold of corn liquor and sometimes it didn't do them too good. But anyway, they'd talk about a man being able to handle his liquor, you know. If you talked out of the way to the ladies, or you got upset, they'd say you couldn't handle your liquor and they'd really have it out with you. But, nevertheless, my grand daddy, you know, I remember telling him one time, he got sick and I was around, just a boy, and I was telling him, "Grandpa, vomit that stuff up," or I'd say, "Puke it up." That's all I knew, and he'd say, "No!" Said, "I ain't going to puke up my liquor!" You know, that was his liquor. So, it's kind of like the dog with the vomit. They don't want to get rid of what they've got. You know, the world today, they love their liquors. And there's nothing wrong with liquor, as far as liquor, it depends on what kind of liquor it is. You know, like I've said before, I used to like the pot liquor when grandma would cook the collards. And the Bible says concerning the liquor, said, in the Old Testament you read it. Said you can have all the liquors you want to. Make all the liquor you want to. The word liquor coming from the word liquid, so you can have all kind of liquids, all kind of liquors, but certain liquids, as to liquors, represent bad spirits. Certain liquids, as to liquors, represent good spirits, so some that you drink are good for you and some that you drink are not good for you.

So then, all of these things being allegoric, all of these things being a type. See, these things we read, the Bible said, as to the Old Testament, we study these things for our admonition, we the people upon whom the ends of the world have come, and we acknowledge all of these things, but people who are not in the light, they do not see these things allegoric. It's just reading another book. It's just an intellectual conveyance, as from word from the book to their understanding, you know, as to their natural mind, as to their human senses, as to the concept of their five senses. So then, this thing of the Old Testament, the Bible said that the veil that was over the face of the people there still remains over the face of the people until this day. Paul said in his day, and I can say in my day, it's still there, in that many have never gone to Calvary. Many have bypassed Calvary, so the veil of death, as to the intellectual reasoning, as to the darkness of that mind of Satan that worked through the beast that got into Adam and Eve and their descendants, is still there today, because the generations come from, as we say, beyond Calvary, pass Calvary and continue on down in our day, and they never acknowledge the Lord. They've never found a Calvary, but we come, as from down here to Calvary, and by the way of the door between heaven and earth, we enter into that world, and we're no longer of this world. He said, You're no longer of this world, for I've chosen you out of this world. You are not in the flesh, for I've chosen you out of the flesh. Therefore, having been baptized into Christ, we put on Christ, or that is to say, as I said before, I don't get rid of my wrongs by my dos and don'ts. I don't get rid of my wrongs by restrictions or instructions. You don't get rid of cancer that way. See? But I get rid of my wrongs by doing away with the death of this body, because sin and corruption is in the flesh, and the only way that I can get rid of my sin and my corruption, I've got to do away with my body, and I've got to separate my spirit from my body, and preserve the life of my spirit while I do away with my body.

You know, it's like a tree. You've got a bad place on the limb, you have to cut the limb off, or that corruption in the tree will kill the life of that tree and the whole tree will die. Do you understand what I'm saying? The Bible speaks of the church the same way. If there be a wicked one among you that's doing things and you know that's willful, then the Bible said you are to pray that God will cut that limb off, and get that off, to take that person out of the church lest the life of the church withdraw; that is, Christ. One member suffer, they all suffer. He can't stay in there. You've got a cancerous arm, and that's all, you don't have a cancer anywhere else, just a cancerous arm, but you'll have to amputate, or you'll have to heal to kill that germ, or you'll have to die, because the poison just from that arm will go into all your body, get into your blood stream like a snake bite, and it'll kill you.

You can't fellowship wrong, folks. You can't walk with wrong people. The Bible says evil communications corrupt good manners. You can't go out there with the world. You can't watch television shows that are non-virtuous, and read things in the magazine and look at obscene pictures and communicate with jokes and frolics and have tempers, and fight and do all these things, be gullible in your heart for money and the things of the world. You can't do that and have God. There is no possible way that you can do that. Darkness and light don't mix, and you are taking thoughts into your mind that is intellectual darkness, and it will not mix with those thoughts of light, as to Christ. So you can't do that. You just can't do that. You can't play with devils and demons, and eat at the table of devils, the Bible said, and eat at the table of God. You can't play with snakes and not get bit. Like a little illustration that the wife spoke of the other day about the old story of the Indian braves. They had to do certain things to become braves, you know, whether to climb a mountain, or whatever. There's a little legend thing as to one having gone up on a mountain. There he met a snake. He talked to the snake, and the snake said, "I'm cold." Said, "Would you take me down to the valley where it's warm?" And the Indian brave said, "No." Said, "If I did that, you'd bite me." He said, "I promise I won't." So, as the little story went, he put the snake under his coat. He took him from the mountain top down to the warm valley, turned him loose in the grass and immediately the snake bit him. He said to the snake, he said, "You promised me you wouldn't do that." He said, "You knew I was a snake when you picked me up." So, see? That's the way it is.

You know those are devils to start with. How can you fellowship a devil? A devil will give you a promise that you will be the best kind of friends, and if there's anything good that he can do for you, he'll do it, knowing that there's nothing good about him. You know, and then you take him on, because what he wants to do sounds pretty good, you know. That sounds pretty good, and you think you're doing a good deed. But after while that thing strikes like an adder, and then it kills you. See? And here you are wondering why all this happened. But you knew he was a devil when you fellowshipped him. Somebody says, "Well, I think he is a nice fellow." Well, that all depends. Jesus looked at Peter and said, Satan, thou devil, get behind Me. So it all depends. He looked at Judas, and Judas seemed like a nice fellow. He obtained a part of that ministry. He went with them and he was doing all the things that they were doing, and even the seventy cast out devils in His name and came back rejoicing that they had cast out devils and said, The devils are subject unto us. Jesus said, in so many words, Is your name written in the lamb's book of life? Said, This is what you want to rejoice over. And sure enough, the whole seventy left Him. See? They were rejoicing over casting out devils when they should have been checking up to see if their name were written down in the lamb's book of life. Do you understand what I'm saying? And when the test come, they left Him. They apparently didn't have eternal life. The twelve, they had eternal life, because when the time come to leave He said, Will ye also leave? They said, Where shall we go? You alone have eternal life, as to the Words of eternal life. Do you understand what I'm saying?

So then, there was Judas among them, covered by the blood, having obtained the mercy of God through the blood covering, as to the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And here in our day, there are a lot of Judases in the world, a lot of Judases in the church, because, see, Judas was among them that were believers. And there are a lot of Judases in the church and they've obtained a part of this ministry, as to tasting of the wonderful heavenly gift and partakers of the Holy Ghost and of the powers of the world to come, and they even give in the offering. Judas even carried the offering. He was the treasurer, so when you think of all of this, you have to stop and think and say, "God, am I fellowshipping a devil?" See? Jesus knew. He said, I chose twelve of you, and one of you is a devil. He knew he was a devil and He knew that in the end he'd bite. He was that old serpent. He knew that, but like I say, the rain on the just and the unjust in the day that we're living in. God has to bring that down on the unjust and they get healing and the benefits of medical care and all these other things. Whereas, the Bible says in that day there will be no healing medicine. They'll gnaw their tongues for pain when the blood is taken off of the seat of atonement and grace is gone. So He knew that it was a devil. And in our day there are plenty of devils out there and you rub elbows with them, you know. Jesus ate with the sinners and the publicans. When He said, Come out from among them, He said, I know you can't come out of the world so far as your human body, but you can so far as your activities, so far as fellowshipping and talking with that which is evil, as to communications that will corrupt you. You can withdraw from those things and come out of the world and be a separate people. Touch not the unclean things and I will receive you, saith the Lord. But anyway, He knew that Judas was a devil. And He knew that he would strike in the end, but the disciples did not know that he was a devil. And even at the supper, they had not discovered it during the whole episode of Judases life. During the whole time that they walked together, Jesus did not pluck him up or He would have gotten some wheat. As to get the tare, He would have gotten some wheat because some of them had confidence in Judas. But at the table, there at the last supper when the time was at hand, when He knew that they that dipped in the dish was going to betray Him, then He said, He that dippeth in the dish with Me, the same shall betray Me. And all of them having a conscience, a good conscience and not understanding, and wanting to find out whether or not it was them, they said, Is it I, Lord? Is it I, Lord? And then John, the beloved, leaning over on His breast asked the question as to who, and He said as to whom I give this sop. And when He dipped it He gave the sop, and when He gave the sop, He gave it to Judas, and He said, What thou doest do quickly, and immediately Satan entered into him and he went out into the darkness.

See what I'm saying is, it does not mean that the devil is in you, you know. You can be protected by the blood, you can obtain part of the ministry, you can be a preacher, you can be a laity, you can have gifts, you can do all kind of things, prophesy with a gift, like Balaam did, see the Lord in a trance with your eyes open, and yet he loved the wages of unrighteousness and God had him killed after having rebuked him by the dumb ass because of his iniquity. So see? You can have all these things and still not be one of the elect, still not having the infilling of the Holy Ghost, but be partakers as to the rain on the unjust. The old saying I say so many times, "Rain, rain everywhere and not a drop to drink." So, you could be out in the middle of the ocean on a little float, and have salt water all around you and couldn't drink it, and rain coming from everywhere, and didn't have nothing to get anything in, you know, if your little float wouldn't cup the water. So then, that means that we are among devils and demons. And when the sons of God come to present themselves before God, then the sons of Satan come also. As in the days of Job when these sons of God came leaping for joy before God, the Lord saying, Job, where were you when the sons of God leaped for joy before the foundation of the world, see? And here comes Satan. And He said, From whence cometh thou? He said, From going to and from in the earth. Somebody said, "Well, he was in prison." It didn't say that. It said he was going to and fro in the earth. And as he was going to and fro in the earth, he had a mission, and his job was to devour everything that he could find. The Bible said be sober, be vigilant, thy adversary, the devil, goeth about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And he said, I've been going to and fro in the earth. Do you understand what I'm saying? The devil is among you. He was there.

When Judas was there, that was the devil in him. Sons of Satan come because of the grace, the blood that is on the seat of atonement, and they sit right next to you. Sometimes it can be your natural brother. Sometimes it can be your natural sister, even as Esau and Jacob, brothers. It can be sometimes your mother. It can be sometimes your dad. It could be sometimes a neighbor, or some relative that you're just carried away with because of the appearance of his face, or the appearance of her face, whatever it might be, or her form, or her prosperity, or her eloquence as being a polished scholar in speech, or whatever, fascinated by it, enticed by it, when the Bible said not to observe after that manner, not to look on the outward appearance. When Samuel anointed David, he didn't look on the outward appearance. But when Saul was anointed the people looked on the outward appearance. God told Samuel when he anointed David, said, Don't look on the outward appearance. Look on the heart. He's a man after My heart, because Saul was a great big fine looking guy, you know. According to the Bible, he was head and shoulders above all of them and Samuel, he thought, you know, Saul. They were friends, but that wasn't the way God wanted it. And when he prayed for Saul, when God rejected him, God said, Get up off of your face, Samuel. I've rejected him. I'm not going to have him any more. He's rejected My Word. I've rejected him. David, when he went after David, David wasn't a big husky fellow. He was rough, ruddy looking from being out on the hillside with the sheep, but he had a heart of courage. Saul was a big, no doubt, muscular type fellow, but he didn't have any courage in him. There was no courage in him. When he went to face the giant, he shook like a leaf in a wind storm, as we say, but when it come to David, though he was a little fellow, he had such a courage on the inside of him that when the lion roared, when the bear came, and they were determined that they were going to take his sheep, his love for his sheep and the courage in his heart was of such that he run right down with his little sling shot, faced them, and killed both of them and saved the flock. See? And when time come to face the giant, when Israel was over there, and the obstacle was so great that all of Israel was trembling, and this great nine footer, as we would say, stood out on the mountain side, when David saw him and he screamed out, I'll do this and I'll kill you, and whatever, you know, David said, You come to me in your strength and your power and whatever, he said, but I come to you in the name of the Lord. And he just kept flipping that little sling shot going across there, and after awhile, when he turned that thing loose and it hit its mark, and it was just like the angel of God came and struck him right there. Down he went, and with his own sword, David walked over and took that big huge sword out of the sheath and cut his head off with it.

You know, I said that to say this, it is Christ, like Samson. Here Samson is and all of a sudden here comes a lion, and this lion comes roaring out at Samson. A mountain lion! Can you imagine what you would do if a mountain lion came roaring out at you? I've been over there to where that thing come out from. I've stood there at the place where Samson was. And here comes that thing. You know, I just pictured in my mind what I would do, and here that lion comes roaring, and when it did all of a sudden, instead of getting afraid and running, Samson, something come over him and all of a sudden it just, all through him he was activated with some kind of a power and anointing and he just walked over, grabbed that thing, and you've seen a little goat. They call them kids. A little goat you can just break him all to pieces. He doesn't have any strength. And the Bible said when Samson reached and got that thing he rent it as though it had been a little kid. See? And tore him apart, and the bees came and made honey in his carcass, which is a great revelational thing. When a thousand men came out to get Samson, he reached down, didn't have a sword, picked up the jaw bone of an ass. God provided the jaw bone of an ass, left it laying there where the old ass had died and the sun had dried up the bone and he reached and got that bone and plowed into a thousand men, and God did that to confound the wise. And all of their swords were of no power as to avail, and Samson slew a thousand men, and when he finished slaying those men he was exhausted. And being exhausted he said, I have this great victory now I die for thirst, and God made water come out the jaw bone of an ass that he might drink for the purpose of letting all that would ever read, or know about that instance and letting Samson know that this was the act of God, that no man could take the glory for slaying a thousand men. And someone would say, "Well, that's Samson. It never happen before, but there is another reading where the Bible said a man with an ox goad went out and killed seven hundred. And there's another, where a man, when time for a battle came, he got his armor bearer and he said, The battle is not to the swift, or strong, as we would say. He said, It doesn't matter whether God saves by thousands or by one. He said, The battle is the Lord's, and he waded into them and defeated a whole army. Let's give the Lord a hand. See?

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Someone would say, "Well, Brother Pike, it's for sure that I couldn't handle a thousand men. That's for sure." Well, I'm glad that I can do better than that. I can put a thousand devils to flight. Let's give Him another hand. Somebody say I love You Jesus. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Any one of you can put a thousand to flight, and if two of you get together, you can defeat a whole army. You can put ten thousand to flight. So, as I said, the strength of God comes to us. It's a gift of God. God gives us strength as to preserve our strength and life. The Bible said some, three score and ten is promised to us as a life. Some shall live longer by reason of strength, even as Moses, many years and yet he was strong. Caleb, many years and yet he could fight a battle. Abraham, many years and he could fight a battle. So see? It depends on our strength. The joy of the Lord is our strength, and the Bible said they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, mount up with wings as eagles. They will run and not be weary, they will walk, they won't faint. So teach us, Lord. Teach us, Lord, to wait.

Let me clarify this and we're going to close. Now, you're not saved by the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but by the faith, which means the answer of a good conscience toward God. And Paul said, I strive always to keep my conscience void of offense toward man, and toward God. That is faith, works, and some have seared their conscience with a hot iron by doing all kind of things. They've gotten past feeling. They've made faith shipwreck and they believe that they can do anything and it will be all right. They just believe they can watch the dirty filthy movies, they feel like, they just say, "Well, they just don't bother me." Somebody said, "Don't you feel like that's wrong? Aren't you afraid that God will leave you?" "Oh, no," they said, "it don't bother me." I know it doesn't bother some people, you know. And I understand those little babes in Christ. "But I can just do anything, or watch anything. I can drink my whiskey. I can just do anything I want to." Say, "I just got so much faith, I just know God loves me," but I got some disappointing news for you. The Bible said He's angry with the wicked everyday, and He'll pursue the wicked until they perish from off of the face of the earth. And if you pray, the Bible said, your prayers are an abomination in His sight. And if you give, the Bible said, your offerings are an abomination in His sight. So you don't have any way in whatsoever, and you're climbing up another way as to a thief and a robber by trying to buy your way in, as it was when the man offered money to these people, saying, Give me this gift of the Holy Ghost. And the man of God said, You are in the galls of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity, and your heart is not right with God thinking that you can buy the gift of God. And many people in the world today, the preachers being the blind leading the blind, all of them will fall into the ditch because they are there for monetary values, for fame, popularity, and all these kind of things, prestige, they are there, and they have climbed up another way. That is, they have gotten into the grace of God by the blood, as to the seat of atonement, and they are in this and the devil is in them, and they are in there by another means rather than repentance, godly sorrow and coming through the door, Jesus Christ, even the Word, as to faith. John said, I saw a door open in heaven and a voice said, Come up hither.

So today there is a door open in heaven, and you can't get there by the putting away of the filth of the flesh. You can't get there by anything that you do. You've got to do like the man that went up into the temple that said, Have mercy on me, O Lord, and you've got to believe in Christ Jesus' righteousness. And you've got to remember, that when you do that, then God saw you before the foundation of the world, predestinated you unto good works in Christ Jesus, or that is He accepted Christ Jesus' good works in your behalf. And you believe in that, and because of that, your faith purifies your heart, and the Holy Spirit comes into your heart to give you eternal life. Someone would say, "Well now, this is the kind of preaching I like, Brother Pike, because that means I don't have to do nothing and I'm on way to heaven." I just got through telling you that you can't have your jolly good time, that you are a reprobate when you do that. A man that's got the Holy Spirit in him will walk right, talk right, do right. He can't do anything else because that's his nature. The apple nature will bring forth apples, the orange nature will bring forth oranges, and the lemon nature will bring forth the bitter. So then, I said that to say this, that the child is known according to his doings and you can tell a tree by the fruit it bears. That is, you can tell the nature of that tree.

Folks, when we have the Holy Spirit, we will live for God. We may stumble, we may stagger, depending on the measure of the Spirit, or how long we've been acquainted with the Word of God. We may not know as much as another, we may do things we shouldn't do, because we don't know, but as quick as we're tutored, as quick as we know, we will immediately change it and do right. We won't do wrong or contrary to Him after that. Sometimes we may get overpowered, we may get weary, we may get tired, and we may get offset a little bit in our mind and spirit and may be as Jesus. Jesus was angry. The Bible said be angry and sin not, not to fly into a frenzy, but we may get disturbed, you know. Now, if you just get disturbed and you fly up and you want to fight or get into a frenzy, that means you ain't got nothing. You know, you say, "I believe." You might be a believer, but so is the devil. The Bible said if you believe there is one God you do well. The devil believes and trembles. But that doesn't mean anything. Your faith without works is dead, and Christ is your works, and the only way that you can have Him is by conforming to His ways. And the Bible said John spake and said, If I clear my conscience, I do the things that please God. He said, Then I have a conscience of faith, that whatever I ask of Him I receive. So if I do the things that please Him, then ny conscience is clear, and having this conscience, as Paul said, clear, then faith works in my heart, and whatever I desire I get it of God, because I know He hears me in that we're His children what would He refuse us. Having given us Jesus Christ, the best, what else would He withhold from us?

So then, I said that to make you to understand that though you are saved by the grace of God, and by faith in the righteousness of Christ Jesus, this is the way you are saved as to your inner man being sealed to where you cannot sin, the evil one cannot touch him, yet you have a job as to surrender this body as to conform in this body as going on to perfection, as to a full surrender of this body to that great Christ as to whatever measure you have received on the inside. And whatever measure it is, that's what He'll reserve for you. And you can go on to the full measure of the full stature or the full reward of Christ Jesus by full surrender. It's entirely up to you as to what you do. So, I want to surrender this body, I want to use this body for the glory of God, and make manifest whatever He will put within my heart, as to that measure in my angelic being, to make manifest as to the life of Christ in my mortal genes.

Think of Moses: eighty day on the mountain with no food, nothing to eat or drink, and after eighty days he's looking good. He's strong. He's healthy. And if he can do that way back under the law, what can we do under grace? Oh my! I think of what it was said when the writer said, My heart is enlarged to you. I wish I could instill within you the many thousands of things, as to the revelation of Jesus Christ, that's been placed within my heart, Paul said, As to my much revelation, as to those many wonderful glorious things that tell you who you are and where you are, where you come from and where you are going, or where you are at as to this present moment. Somebody often questions me as to how can you be so enthusiastic every day over this thing. I don't see how you could be without enthusiasm. You know, a wine bibber that loves wine, and he can drink wine every day. The Bible said wine maketh the heart to be merry. He's going to have a merry heart all the time. How can he be anything but merry? He's full of wine. If I've drank of that new wine, and my cup is running over, and my presses are bursting out with the new wine, how could I be any other way? In seeing the things that I see, how could I be sad? How could I be sad? That's why He said rejoice forever more.

Someone would say, "Well then, Brother Pike, you don't really think that we ought to live holy, and we can still go to heaven and be perfect?" No that's not what I'm teaching. Someone would say, "Well then, you think that we can work our way unto perfection and be holy?" No. That's not what I'm teaching. I'm teaching that because you are perfect by His grace through faith, then you will commit yourself to holy works, and since you are partakers of the divine nature of Jesus Christ, there is nothing else that you can do but the holy works. Like the prophet said, I purposed in my heart I would not speak. He said, But it was like fire shut up in my bones. He couldn't help it. And I'm saying, because He has made you perfect, as to the inner man, that you cannot sin and the evil one cannot touch you because you are sealed with the Holy Spirit as to your inner man. Then you are obligated to God as toward the purchase possession, which is the body, by the earnestness of your inheritance, which is that within you, as to the kingdom of God, and your spirit in Christ's Spirit. Then you are obligated to subdue this body that you might harness this body for God and bring it to the place to where it lives holy, to be holy in body and spirit, to fast, to pray, to give yourself unto God wholly in your body that you might be holy. Holy. Completely holy as to godliness. You should give your body wholly and godly unto God which is your reasonable service, a living sacrifice, and that you should cast down every thought, as to the imagination, to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Jesus Christ. In that ye have been baptized into Christ, ye have put on Christ. He should therefore be manifested in your body. Having put on Christ, the body of sin and corruption, as to death in that sin is conceived as iniquity within the body, that body is now gone, and you are free as to the angelic, inner, perfect man which dwells in the perfect body, as to bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, and as to God, He sees that perfect body in which your perfect man dwells and thus are you perfect in His sight, even through the days of grace as the blood on the seat of atonement in your behalf until you can perfect that body. And once you perfect that body, it will come off of the atonement, as to the world, and then all of the wicked will have no more chance, because it's only on there as to a benefit for the wicked, as to their benefit, because it is for the body, and your body has not yet been changed, which will be changed in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. That is the purchase possession, and it isn't that God hasn't purchased it. He did by His blood. It isn't that it doesn't belong to Him and to you. It isn't that it isn't going to become perfect, or that it isn't going to be preserved, because it will. But it is at this present moment, it is unredeemed as to wit the redemption. Not unredeemed, as to the purchase. In God's mind it's already His property, and He would give you everything your heart could wish for, because you are already perfect in His sight. But He cannot do it because you still regard unbelief.

See, I could say you still regard the wall of iniquity that's between you and God, but you do not regard the wall of iniquity in that it is charged against you, because the Lord broke it down at Calvary when He rent the veil in two and He took that wall of iniquity out of the way. And as to the keeping of the ordinances and these kind of things, it's gone. But it is a true fact that He changed righteousness as from deeds into faith, and now you believe unto righteousness, and now He purifies the heart by faith, and righteousness is imputed unto you, or faith imputed unto you as righteousness. See? And you regard unbelief. And because you do not practice submission and conformity, as to surrender of this body and desire, then you are cut off from good things, and thine iniquities has held thee back from good things, because you still give place to the iniquity that's not even there, only by your unbelief, in that faith is your righteousness and unbelief is your iniquity. So then, the less you believe, the more the wrath of God abides upon you as an unbeliever, because that is iniquity, and it is a curse in the sight of God that you should not believe in His mercy and all that He did for you as to the blood atonement. And when you believe, then your heart is pure that the Holy Spirit can come in, and can administer through your spirit into your body, making this life of Jesus, as to this great health and happiness and power as a king manifest in your mortal genes.

So then, we are ordained to come to that full measure. He giveth the Spirit unto you by measure. He resurrected from the dead and gave gifts unto men, and He giveth the Spirit by measure, as unto you. So whatever your measure is, it should be made manifest in your mortal genes. Because of your laxity to do the things that please Him, to confident your heart as to the assurance in God, which is faith, then thine iniquities, even thine unbelief, has held thee back from good things. My hand is not short that I cannot reach you. My ear is not dull that I cannot hear you, for My ear is ever attended toward the cry of the righteous. My hands, as to a five-fold ministry, reaches out to perfect your believing. Paul said, We wish this, even your believing. And the little cloud like unto a man's hand is above to bring abundance of rain as it was in the days of Elijah, but unless you can believe, then you can't have it. Jesus' favorite saying was, If thou canst believe. Believe. Don't doubt. Don't fear. Fear is faith in reverse. This is why the Bible teaches that when you get all the things of the world, the rich answereth haughty. When you get over confident, as to knowing something, studying, schooling, diplomacies, knowledge puffeth up, all of these things is the old serpent, as to savor the things that be of the flesh. And you can't be tender and loving and sweet and submissive. And you get all these things of the world. The Bible said how hardly shall they that have riches inherit the kingdom? It is easier for the camel to go through the eye of the needle than for the rich man to inherit the kingdom.

And when we think about that, I say again, we think of men having millions and billions of dollars, but that isn't what He's saying. He's saying that the world in general is rich. You say, "Well, how can you prove that?" Because the Bible said the disciples marvelled and said, Who then can be saved? Knowing that people had riches, how hardly shall they that have riches? And then He had to try to explain because He saw they did not understand, for He was not speaking against the riches, for the Bible says the blessings of the Lord maketh rich and addeth no sorrow. But if you get riches deceitfully, you'll be cut off in the midst of your days and in the end you'll be a fool. But it is saying, How hardly shall they that trust in riches inherit the kingdom, and then again this is substantiated when Zacchaeus came down from the tree and said, Half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I've taken any thing from any man I'll restore it four-fold if I did that by any ill means or falsely in any way. And the Bible said salvation has come unto thy house, or that is to say, keeping half of his goods, or keeping all of his goods if he'd not taken anything falsely from anybody, but sharing with the poor. He had to share with the poor. And the Bible said give of that that you have and behold all things are clean unto you. If you rob Me, even Me, God, if you've robbed Me in your tithe and in your offerings, or not only that but in your prayers, and your efforts in calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus; Samuel said, God forbid that I should sin against God by not praying for the people. You are suppose to be praying, a royal priesthood, intercessors. In God's stead ye stand, beseeching that God should look upon man, and man should be reconciled unto God because you are the body of the Lord Jesus, members in particular.

So then, we find that it is unbelief. Unbelief. All of these riches bring unbelief. And the Bible says concerning these things, as to Joshua speaking, said, And when you go into Canaan, beware lest you forget God. You'll be fed to the full, and you'll say, Who is God that I should serve Him? See? When you have all of the comforts of life, you don't have any trials and tests so that you can put your faith to the exchangers that you might strengthen your faith, because you don't have any need. And that's why God has chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, because they always have to believe to survive. But He hath given to the rich all of these other things because that is their reward. That is the land of Esau, and that is all that they have through life, and He gives that to them. And not many mighty are called, though there are some that submit, there are some that conform, there are some that are great in understanding even as Paul. God called him.

There is a door open in heaven, as to a gate in the Spirit, the gates of heaven. And to be able to get through those gates of heaven, you've got to have joy unspeakable and full of glory. You enter into those gates by praising the Lord. Lift up your heads ye everlasting gates and the King of glory will come in. And you enter into those gates, into His presence, by praising your way. Through believing, you come into that spiritual place to be in the Spirit as it was with John, being in the Spirit on the Lord's day when he saw that door open it heaven.

You know, we live our life and then it's over. But it wasn't over with for the rich man, when the Bible said he lifted up his eyes in hell. It wasn't over with Lazarus, when the Bible said he looked down from Abraham's bosom. It wasn't over with Elijah, with Enoch, with Moses, when they appeared somewhere on the hilltops of glory. Folks, whether we like to believe it or not, life lives on, it goes on. The body doesn't always live. It will continue to exist, as to the torment, as to us treading the ashes of the wicked under our feet. And there's a world of difference in existence and living. The rich man is still existing in hell, tormented in the flames. Lazarus is still living, as we would say, in the bosom of Abraham. And we know that after Calvary, God changed that, as to take them from the glory, as to given to Abraham as to faith, as to the bosom, into the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that. But somewhere you're going to be living on, as we would use the terms in our human vocabulary, because we don't have any heavenly vocabulary to express anything beyond the grave. All spiritual understood by the natural, so we use human approach. As the Bible said, the measurement of man is the same as of the measurement of the angels, whether it be a comprehensional measurement, or a numerical thing.

I tell you again as I did at the first of the service. You can't begin to imagine what it's like to be a son of God. Someone would say, "Brother Pike, just what do you mean, being a son of God?" Well, being a son of God means you are a god, like when Jesus said, I'm the Son of God, and they said, You being a man make yourself God. Being a son of God means that you are a god. And the Bible substantiates that saying that you are gods but you still die like men, because you won't come and learn about your godship. You die from lack of God knowledge of who you are. Someone would say, "Well, you couldn't be a god, Brother Pike, and die. Not really. He that is born of God cannot die, you know. He's a god." But on the other hand, your body is still subject to vanity, as waiting for the redemption of the purchase possession. That is, for you to wit, to understand, to come to the knowledge that God has purchased at Calvary, to come to this revelation, to make this inner life of Christ manifested in your mortal genes. Coming to understand. Wonderful knowledge. Wonderful knowledge of Christ, to know who you are and what you are, come to understand. With wisdom, Solomon said, get understanding of this great wonderfulness of who you are, to know you can live forever, to get the revelational mind of Christ. For what does it mean to be a son of God? The Bible said to as many as believed to them gave He power, and this power was to become sons of God, even to as many as believed on His name.

So when you receive the Holy Ghost you receive power, because that power becomes a knowledge. He guides you into all truth and righteousness. And it becomes a knowledge of great revelational understanding and by this, the Word is so powerful, it cast out unclean spirits. It is so powerful that it defeated everything in the world and became King of kings and Lord of lords as it was made flesh. It is so powerful it was said, Let there be, and the heavens came into existence. And today that Word, the same, unaltered, the same to every generation, faith mixed with that Word and you receive eternal life and the desire of your heart. The Bible said the Jews, having the Word but no faith mixed with it, it did not profit them that heard it. So He gives you the power, the Spirit, to become the sons of God. Now, if you can, by that Spirit, overpower the beastly body in which you dwell as an angelic being, to subdue it to the Word and desires of Almighty God, then you have by that power become a son of God. Your body will be changed into the celestial bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, which you potentially are as to Spirit, until the day appointed of the Father, as to the Bar Mitzvah, the change. And though you differ nothing from a servant, as of now, yet all of this is given to you, even the desires of your heart. But your unbelief, as to keeping the wall of iniquity between you and your blessing has kept you from it. Whether it be your healing, whether it be your prosperity, whatever, He has given you all things that pertain unto life. Happiness, finance, whatever it might be, see? But if you cannot believe, if you do not accept the Spirit to let it subdue through your spirit your body, to make this life manifest in your mortal genes then you are a beast. He said be temperate in all things. To be a son of God, you must believe what the Word says, and you must put forth your spirit and strength, you must put forth your spirit and strength toward accomplishing that one thing in your body: moderation. Then you have put the gullible desire of the beast down as to the infiltration, as trying to work through your human senses, as to your five senses and in a sensual way, controlling your body. And whatever the Word says, as to your faith in it, as to your conformity to God's will, as to love not the things of the world, as to savor not the things that be of the flesh, as to give your body a living sacrifice unto God, as to cast down imagination and bring every thought into subjection, if you can do those things you have the power to over come Satan, for greater is He that is within you than he that is in the flesh, or in the world. And you have the power to overcome all of those thoughts of intellectual darkness, even the mind of death, of carnality. To be carnally minded is death. The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. You have the power to eradicate this infiltration, but if you refuse to do it and go into a state of laxity, then the Bible said woe unto them that are at ease in Zion, that desire the comforts and conveniences of life, that are not willing to sell out, to travail, to give forth their strength and life to bring forth Christ in their heart. Woe unto you! One woe cometh and then another woe.

So then, unless you can by the Spirit and strength of God, master the mind of beastly desire and the ravishing thoughts of Satan, as to his gullible desires, unless you can put those things out, then you cannot be a son of God. You are a beast. You act as a beast. You are known to be a beast by your doings, and you cannot conquer the flesh, thus are you a beast. But if you can, you have the power to overpower, to redeem that body, to move the infiltration out, and to eradicate the plague and to have that body forever, in that you've moved out of it by the death of the Lord Jesus, and you are hid with Christ in God. Someday, you're going to pick up that little body again and you're going to move into the little house again. And we conclude, Paul said, therefore by saying there will be a resurrection both of the just and unjust, that the bodies will be picked up. But only he that hath eradicated, as being the high priest within his house, as one with Christ, inviting Christ in, only he by the Spirit of the power of that eradication, through the blood that washes those little walls, though your sins be as scarlet yet ye shall be as white as snow, washed in the blood. By the washing of the water of regeneration, as to the new generation, even Adam, the second man, the quickening Spirit. See? If you can overcome, eradicate, then when you come back into this body, you'll have it forever, and it will be changed into the glorious likeness, bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh. Just think, Jesus has everything. He alone is heir to the glory of God, and God has given Him everything. Did you know there is not anything in heaven or earth, or beneath the earth but what He owns it? And did you know, according to the measure that you receive of Christ in your heart, as to what you will surrender to and conform to, so will be your treasure? For if you submit as to a third of what Christ Jesus is, then you shall have a third of His wealth, then you shall be heir and joint heir with Him as to a third of what He has got. But if you go on to a full measure of the full stature, or to the full reward then you will be one with Christ Jesus to have everything that He has, as heir and joint heir with Him, complete in Him. Because the more that you surrender, as trying in conforming to the Lord, the more your conscience is clear and the more you believe. And the more that you can believe, the more that great wonderful Spirit of eternal life, and power and magnificence possesses the reins of your heart, and your body to make you one with Him.

So you don't know what you are losing when you miss one day of worship and walking with Him. One moment of mediating in His laws, where it is said of Him, I do always the things that please My Father which is in heaven. Do you see why I am jealous of my thoughts, of the intents of my heart, of the reflex of my mind, why I want to be perfect even as my Father is perfect? The Bible said mark the perfect man among you. Job was a perfect man because he did all he knew, and God's grace made up for the rest. When you do your best, God's grace will make up for your shortcomings. As Abe Lincoln said, A chain is no stronger than it's weakest link, and when you do your best, your chain don't have any weak links, because Jesus is the missing link.

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

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

Holiness Unto The Lord