Faith For The Purpose

Said he was glad when he went into the house of the Lord. And he said, Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. I want to read from chapter 3 in the book of Lamentations. Most of you understand the Word without me explaining, but when you say lamentations you're speaking of those that lamented. And when we say chronicles we're speaking of the order of the kings like the chronological order, and many other things that you know if we had time we would go into it and explain the books. Sometimes people don't understand even the titles of the books. But here as the prayer is going forth in a lamenting, a lot of times we find that in this book of Lamentations and the other books, it is the Spirit of God that is crying out from deep down from within the bosom of these people that are lamenting. You know Jesus prayed fervently for you and I. He prayed until the sweat became as great drops of blood. And the Bible says, because He offered up supplications, with strong crying He was heard. And the Bible says that we should pray diligently and we should be fervent in prayer. Such is the case chapter three as to the Spirit speaking from within this man as he prays. If you'll notice here when I read this, it is the Spirit that is groaning from within as concerning the sufferings of Jesus. This is the Spirit crying from within a human body as to the sufferings that is going through in Christ Jesus. See, because the sufferings that was in Christ Jesus, some of these things was in the prophets before Jesus came. And the sufferings that was in Christ Jesus severally divided up, as to numbers of things down through the years, was really God's suffering, because His creation had been cut off from Him, His people was cut off from Him. It was like His children were lost and gone, and He was wanting to get to them. And as a mother lamented or a father would for the children, so did the great, wonderful Spirit of our Heavenly Father. And here it is in the prophets before the coming of Jesus. And it's speaking of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. If you'll listen real close, it said, (Reads: Lamentations 3:1-4) "I AM the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath." (Speaking of God's rod) "He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light." (That is He was made sin, and the intellectual powers of darkness come upon him, because He had to die out of the presence of God, who is light, that He might pay for my sins.) "Surely against me is he turned;" (The Bible said, we esteemed him smitten of God). "He turneth his hand against me all the day." (The Bible said He cried, Lord, why, Father, why has thou forsaken me?) "My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones." (Here it says my flesh and my skin hath He made old, which indicates that He had to pay for all of the sins of them of the Old Testament, of the aged; and thou He was only a man of thirty-three years old when these things come upon him, yet He suffered that of those of aged people that would never go through what He had went through with, even just a little bit of it during a whole lifetime. But He was so old in appearance because of the affliction, that the Bible said, He had no beauty that anyone should esteem him or desire him.) And he said, (Reads: Lamentations 3:5-66) All right, so we see at the first of the third chapter the man is in derision, and at the end of it he speaks of his victory. David of old spoke of things like this, and Jeremiah, Isaiah, the prophets, many others, even Job was in such problems, Jonah in the belly of hell, as he said. But they called on the name of the Lord and they all were delivered. And you can see the severeness of what some of the men went through with. Because even though this is as of the Lord Jesus the prophecy, it is also sorrow of men that went through things when they forsook the Lord or the hand of the enemy was upon them. And it tells how that we learn obedience by the things that we suffer. And how that in bearing the yoke in our youth, it causes us to shut our mouth and not be so loud-mouthed and not so protruding. You know we feel strong and healthy. And we're so loud-mouthed and so protruding, and we say things and we do things, and we go forth and we gossip and we backbite, and we're so quick to draw our opinion because there's nothing wrong with us, you know. We just pass our opinion on people and say things, but after that you go through the torture and you go through the misery, and you go through the heartaches and you go through these horrible, hideous experiences, after that you'll shut your mouth. And when people say things, you won't be too quick to answer, and you won't be too quick to speak. And you'll take a whole of thought and thinking before you ever rise up to express your opinion or say things against others; and you'll be more diligent to feel the infirmities of others and share with others the problems of life when you experience these things. So then, God deals with us a children. We go through a lot of problems. And what we have to remember is that going through these problems, that it is not God that is causing the problem. We are the one that caused the problem. It is death that came by man, not by God. God does not subvert a man in His cause. He doesn't take no pleasure in the problems and in the heartaches of an individual, a man or a woman. He does not delight in your suffering. But you let the devil in. You do these things and you go contrary to the Word. And you eat and drink and buy and sell and you forget the poor and the needy, and you forget God. You get careless; and you feel like you're very religious and doing great things and going right along. And that you're all right and you just feel like you're head and shoulders above everybody. And then all of a sudden it hits you just like a ton of bricks as we say. And you're knocked to your knees and you say, My God! My God! I was so mistaken. You begin to take stock then and find out just how little and how small you really are. So then I say all these things that you might stop and think, consider and reason that if Jesus went through all of these tortures, all of these hideous problems, all of these things, then if He went through all of these things for you and I, we don't have to go through them if we will take heed to the Word, if we will keep His commandments. He said if you keep my statutes, if you keep my commandments, I will bring none of these things upon you that I brought upon the Egyptians as to the afflictions, as to all of these hideous, horrible experiences. So then when we say these things, we are trying to warn you that you can get out of the way of the judgments of the Lord. But many people will not do that. There's something about humanity that they absolutely will not listen. They absolutely will not pay attention. No matter what you say and what you do they're still going to do their way. They're still going to do their thing. And when these horrible, hideous things come they're going to run to you and ask for prayer. And they're going to get afraid. They're going to say, Pray for me. Oh my God! The devil's beating my brains out. Pray for me. And they get afraid when these things happen to them and when these things happen to their loved ones. And they get all nervous and they get tore up. And they'll try to go through life and they will live their life as a drunkard, as a harlot, as a whoremonger, as a thief, in covetousness, in the things of this life as to desire the things of the world, as to go right on just head over heels after everything in the world, until they get so old and decrepit that they feel like anytime that they might die and they can't take it any longer, and they get filled with fears and afflictions, and then you run to God and you say, I've changed my mind and I've decided that I want to serve the Lord. But see folks, that's not the way it works. The Bible said, Remember thy Creator in the days of your youth before the evil days draw nigh. That is the reaping, afflicting days when you'll look back and say that I was a fool, that I wasn't wise. I don't have any pleasure in my sowing, because my reaping is so bitter. See, but you won't do that. You won't listen. The Bible said, You having seen others punished because of their wrongs, you knowing the judgment that came upon others after that they were warned and they did not do right, said, nevertheless, you go ahead and do these things still, how can you escape the damnation of hell, when you had the warning and when you knew better, and you see all these other things? Whereas the Bible speaks of the Old Testament, saying and these things come upon those people as an example, an example unto you and I, which afterward should acknowledge these things, if we're going to live ungodly, he said, then you can look back and see what's going to happen to you, the same way it happened to those people. Because God is no respect of person. You know we somehow crudely get the erroneous idea that we are different, that we are such good folks, and that we live such good life, and God has such need of us, and we have such polished ethics. And there's just something about us, when we look in the mirror there's just something about us because our name is what it is, or our background is what it is, or whatever it might be, there's just us, the way we carry ourself, the way we present ourself, we look at us just who we are. We get the idea that there's something different about us and there's something special about us, and so we go on doing wrong. And we go on doing these things that God despises. And all of a sudden it happens to us, and it dawns on us that there's no difference. God is no respect of person. He doesn't care who you are, how much you got, what you look like, you are no different to God. God will bring the judgments on you so quick, faster than you could pop your finger like that. He has no respect of person. He doesn't judge according to appearance. He doesn't look on the outward appearance. The flesh profiteth nothing. To God all men are despised in His eyes as to their first birth. He said in the morning, I will despise your image. Not despise as to coming into the world, not despised as to the fall, because they didn't have any knowledge of it. They couldn't help it. Until they know to do good, He's very tender and merciful. The Bible said, Having loved us with such a great love, that He gave His Son to die for us, while we were yet in our sins to show us kindness, to give mercy to all, sending the rain upon the just and the unjust. But when the world comes to the understanding of God, and the religious condition that it's in today, knowing about God, that it's in the papers, it's on the tv, it's in the books, it's the testimonies on the corners. Whatever it is, then the whole world becomes abominable in the sight of God and becomes despised, because now this is the condemnation Jesus said, that has come into the world. That light has come into the world, that is to understand and to do right. And men will not come to the light, lest their deeds be made manifest. Because they love darkness, that is this intellectual, ungodly way of life. They love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. And this is the condemnation that you will be faced with in the day of the judgment that you saw light, you heard light, you knew life. The Bible said, And it shall come to pass in the evening time there shall be light. For light has sprang up as to the evening time, even beginning at Calvary. And great light has sprang up unto the people; and they that set in the regions of the shadow of death, as to say this shadow of that intellectual knowledge of death, or that word of death or that carnality of death. To be carnally minded is death, this shadow of the old tree of knowledge that got a hold of Eve, had fallen upon the people. And they that sat in the shadow of that tree of death, the Bible said, Great light, Jesus said, I am the light of the world. And now I go away, the church is the light of the world. And He said, the great light is sprang up to them that set in the regions of the shadow of death. See, this great light. And so then now we have the light, for He hath brought to light immortality, and He hath brought to light this wonderful salvation, and brought to light this knowledge of God. And Paul said, Now is made known to the church, because of the rending of the veil, now is made known to the church the manifold wisdom of Almighty God. And we now have this heavenly treasure as to this wisdom and knowledge and blessings in these earthen vessels, in that the kingdom of God is within you. All right, let's give Him a hand, can you? This is the great thing that God hath done for us. And as we travel on down this road and journey on down this road, we see these wonderful things like the song they sing: I can almost see the lights of the city. I can almost see the lights of home. So then we know that we are walking in the right way. For if we walk in the light as He is in the light, the Bible said, We  will have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all sin, if we walk in the light. That is if we walk in the knowledge of God, the understanding of God, then the Bible said we'll have fellowship with the members of the body. Not only that, but we'll have fellowship with the Eternal Spirit. So then we'll have fellowship one with another and God will have fellowship with us all. For as we walk in the light, God will be with us. And to acknowledge the Lord in all of our ways is to have him to direct our path. For as I said so many times, all of the paths of God are peace. And He that keepeth his mind stayed upon Christ Jesus shall have perfect peace. This is why the Bible said, Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. See, He was made in the form of God. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God as to the flesh and bone of God Almighty. But at the same time He made of himself no reputation. He didn't try to set Him up anything in this world to bring about a recognition of His person or individual being. So we see how wonderful it is here to know that Jesus has borne our iniquities and our sickness. I am the Lord God that healeth thee. If forgive all of your iniquities. And I heal all of your diseases. Now I will bring none of these things upon you if you will walk in my way. Why then is the world sick today? Why is it that we look at it as to say, Well, here is people sick, and they pray and they don't get healed, and they pray and they don't get healed? It's because the day is so dark with unbelief, and so dark and heavy with oppression, because there's so many people that are unbelievers in the world, and people that won't serve God. See, hundreds and millions of people across the world, they won't serve God. And it has brought upon them these destructive things, because they know to do good and won't do it. And that gives the devil his strength to come upon them. For the Bible said, If you've fallen from grace, then are you under the law. For if you're under the law then are you a sinner. If you then are a sinner, then that means that you're under the curse. And if you're under the curse, that means that you have all these hideous things to cope with, because God cannot protect you. It is impossible to please God without believing, because God is a God of believing. God is a God of faith. To get close to God, you got to believe yourself close to God. To draw nigh to God, then God can draw nigh to you. So when we understand that such Scripture that say, Can evil come to a city and I've not sent it, saith the Lord? It makes us wonder when things happen to us, we say, Well, God, we pray, and God we want you to help us. But Lord you said, Can evil come to a city and I've not sent it? Isn't it true God that you let the devil come down there and afflict Job when he was begging you to heal him? Doesn't all these things come from God? Doesn't God look down from heaven and work all things after the counsel of His own will? And then we say, Well God, we don't have a chance, how can we when we get up here just knock us back down? Every time we want to do something, you just slap us back down. But see, we've got to differentiate properly and understand that God does not subvert a man in his cause. And that God is not responsible for sicknesses and poverty and these kind of things. It's true that they cannot come unless God has sent them. Sent them here again is that God has allowed them. For as I said, I will bring upon you none of these things that I brought upon the Egyptians. And it is said as to the original rendering, I will allow none of these to come upon you. Because God doesn't do wrong. So then when we think of these things, we realize that when God says, Can evil come to a city and I've not sent it, saith the Lord? That He is speaking as to that that of those that are evil, those that are evil. They have done evil. And because they have done evil, God has had to step back. Because Satan has stepped forward and charged these people with wrong saying, God, you can't protect these people. If you protect these people, then are you an accessory after the fact, which God knows. See, to give Satan a chance to accuse God, God can't afford to do that. He has to step back. The only hope we have then is to look to the Lord Jesus through repentance that He might plead our case, and that God may see us as being justified through the blood. As I say as of today, these things we look at as to seeing the blood on the seat of atonement, giving everybody a chance, surely the goodness of God leadeth us to repentance. And as long as this blood is on the seat of atonement, everybody has this rain, even on the just and the unjust so it comes. But if the blessing comes on the just and the unjust, then we understand why that the righteous also suffers for the unjust. That is to say when God allows evil to come because of the unjust, we are present when the storm comes, and naturally we feel the sting of it. We are present when the poverty comes. That is to say if there's a famine in the land, we are present as Abraham was in that day. Though he was the father of the faithful, yet he was present in the famine. And the Lord had to take care of him and maneuver things around and guide him to a certain place. The Hebrew children were present down in Egypt when all of these things come, and God had to give them a special place as to protect them and cut off this thing over here in the land of Goshen, that they might not be afflicted. So then when these things come as we say, evil comes to the city, God has allowed it, it's because people have done evil, and because they have allowed for evil; and therefore God cannot stop the evil, because they willingly have done it. And yet the blood is on the seat of atonement in our day, that we might have a benefit, that we might have an opportunity, that the love of God might be made manifest, that we might have a chance to repentance. All right so then we see that God is not sending it upon the righteous. But rather He is sending a preacher to the righteous. And he is saying to the preacher, tell the people to be ye also ready. To be prepared because there's a tornado coming. There's a storm coming. Tell them to press in. Keep these words before their eyes and these words on their lip, and these words to their ears. And stay in the Word of God. And meditate in it day and night. And build their courage and be of good courage. Be not dismayed and don't doubt God. And fear not. And keep their faith fully alive and strong, that when these hideous things come, that they might not be afflicted with them, or they might not be damaged by these things. All right, so then the wicked gets the blessing, because Jesus has sent the blood to the atonement seat, that you and I might have the blessings, until the church can be perfected, to keep from destroying us in our weakness, in our stages of immaturity. But at the same time when the evil comes, then here we are in the storm just like everybody else. As it was when Frank and I were coming through New Mexico, you remember, Brother Taylor? We was coming through New Mexico, and I had this vision. And when I had this vision, you remember most of you as this great, terrible cloud came and everything got dark, and the tornadoes began to hit, the cyclones and whatever; and all of a sudden I heard a voice that just like scream out at me, said, Raise your hands! And I raised my hands. I didn't know what I was doing in the vision. But I raised my hands, and I was made to know that that was my protection. I would that men everywhere lift up holy hands without wrath and without doubting. Jesus saying, I've engraved thee in the palms of my hand as to the nails. I will not forget thee even in the time of trouble, and in the time of storm, I'll never leave thee nor forsake you. He's right there with us. And so I lifted up my hands, and when I lifted up my hands, I was made to know that this reminded Him of Calvary, and that the storm would pass over. And sure enough it just went right over. So then when I come back here, it was x amount of months later, and I was standing in here with the brethren. And all of a sudden, things begin to get dark as to what we could tell outside. We'd stepped down into the fellowship room. The door was open there, and I said, My lands, it's not suppose to be this dark in the middle of the day. I said, there's something terrible happening. And when we stepped outside everything was just clouded over. It was so dark that the time we stepped out, it was just that quick that these two end pillars out here on the porch they shot out like match stems. And I heard that voice say, Raise your hands! And my hands went up like that. And just that quick I said, Oh God! Have mercy. Lift this thing! And it lifted. And it went right over. And you remember how that it went over the church. It went right over and the man that was accusing us back here that had such a huge turkey farm with some of the most beautiful turkeys, just looked like thousands of them there. And he had been criticizing the church and making fun of the ministry. And all of a sudden it just set down and swept him clean. See, and you remember how the radios carried it. Even the radios carried it, that we lifted up our hands and the storm went over. People were killed. Even the man that worked up here at the Sears Store. We had talked to him about the Lord. He didn't accept the Lord as to our talking to him. And it just picked him up off the porch, picked him up, young man, took him out and threw him down into the water face down and drowned him. And many things happened. See, I said that to say this. Our faith needs to be adequate for the purpose. Look at the Hebrew children. Look at Daniel. When this decree came forth to kill all the wise men in the days of Daniel, Daniel was caught in it. Though the king loved Daniel, and Daniel was great. And the king wanted to keep Daniel, but because without realizing it the king just got so tore up because he saw the hypocrisy of these men, and he was so troubled over his dream, because he knew that it had to do something, had something to do with God. And he was just tore up. And God preparing his heart, he said, Just kill all the wise men. So see, that took in Daniel and the Hebrew children. There they were to be killed too with this thing. And Daniel had to have his faith right. And Daniel had to begin to make intercession and begin to call on God. And when Daniel got the blessing and he got the answer from God. God gave him the answer, he went to the king and said, Be not troubled. I'll tell you the dream and I'll give you the interpretation of it. See, but what we have to remember as it was, the wrath that is of Satan coming down that was going to kill the wise men and was going to kill Daniel, all of these things that was going to happen, Daniel was going to be killed because of this foolishness of the wise men so called. But when Daniel found the answer to the thing and Daniel corrected it, remember that when the blessing came down upon Daniel to spare Daniel, all of the wise men were spared. You understand what I said? Let's give the Lord a hand. So then I say these things that you might by way of remembrance give the more earnest heed to understand why that we get into these conditions and it's not God doing these things. The epidemics come through because people have given place to Satan and they have to be punished. And here we are in the human bodies. And though we walk in the flesh, yet we do not war after the flesh. For in all reality though we walk in the flesh as to a visual means, yet we are not in the flesh, for He's chosen us out of the flesh, and the body is dead in the sight of God, though it be visual to others, and it is not dead as to human visibility. So then we see that we are not in the flesh. So all these things that come upon us, we've got to have the faith to ward these things off. We've got to have the faith to get a miracle. Like for instance He sends His Word. He casts out the unclean spirit with His Word. He sent His Word and healed them. By His Word He worked the great miraculous. And by His Word as to spirit and life we escape death. See, because His Word is the same to a thousand generations. And we could go on and on saying wonderful things about God and about the Word. But just bringing these things to your remembrance tonight, in that faith cometh by the hearing of the Word. It's not us that speak, but God that's trying to bring you into the wonderful things of God, that you might be free from condemnation and free as to these things. When you stumble and stagger, keep your shield of faith up. Don't let it down. Because that's what Satan is bombarding you for is to get you discouraged, and get your faith down, so that he can come in on you like a roaring lion. If you stumble and stagger, you make a mistake, try to do your best. Try to be honest. Don't be in hypocrisy. God said, I'll meet you face to face as a bear that's robbed of her cubs if you live in hypocrisy, and I'll tear you into pieces. You may think I'm such a one as you, but you'll see that you're wrong. So do the best you can. And then when you do stumble, God will lift you up, and God will magnify you, and God will forgive you. But keep your faith up in God. God will help you, and God will strengthen you; and the devil can't torture you and torment you and take what you got. All right, so then we see that God is our friend. God is for us. God loves us. He wants to heal us. He wants to save us. He wants to help us. He wants to keep us from these things. But the only way that He can do it is through faith, through faith. Because the whole world is in sin and iniquity. And you shine in the midst of these people as a light. And God is looking for you to pray, to fast, to study, to forsake the world. Don't try to be half and half. Don't go out in the world partially and try to stay in this partially. That's the worse thing you can do. Being in hypocrisy, you stand at the door, and the ones that would come in to real Christianity and give themselves wholly to God, you hinder them by making them think that God is the kind of God that He wants them half out yonder and half over here. But God doesn't work that way. You altogether submit yourself. You altogether forsake the world. You altogether come out from among them. You altogether go after God to bring every thought into subjection to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Forget about the vanities of the world; and get in with God. Do the things of God. Forget about everything else in the world, so that you can be blessed of God in a great and a mighty way. And God will pour out his blessings upon you, make you to ride upon the high places of the earth. He will feed you with the heritage of Jacob. His blessing will make you rich and add no sorrow. Whatever you do will prosper. All right, so then we see that God is for us and God loves us. And what we have to do to please Him, to honor Him. For He will never leave us and He will never forsake us. Let's stand together. God won't leave you. God won't forsake you. He's for you. He wants to help you. And He will help you if you will allow Him. Now I know everybody's kind of sniffing and coughing and getting choked up during the winter and especially after the change of the weather. But this is the time to pray more. I've been praying for quite a number of days, even before winter approached, asking God to please keep my little babies, my little girls and boys, and not let them get all choked up. Asking God, concerned about them, and I don't like to see them sick, and I don't like to see them choked up. And I was asking to please, please do something. I was praying for Susanne this evening, Cindy's little daughter. Satan is trying to afflict her with the flu or whatever it is. And remember, when you don't live for God, you give place to these things. The Bible said, Not to give place to these evils that come upon you. His Word is sufficient. His Word by faith will heal you. His Word by faith will save you. His Word by faith will deliver you. His Word by faith will keep you. But if you do not listen, the Bible said, your calamity will come. And it will come at a time that you don't expect it. And your sufferings and heartaches will come. They will come. I give you my word that they will come. There is no possible way that you'll escape it. No living human being from the beginning of the world even until the end hath now or ever shall escape. He will visit you. And He will visit your iniquities upon your head. He will do it. So while you got a chance, remember your Creator. Love Him. Build a fortress against Satan. Fortify yourself against Satan. Love the Lord. Build your faith. Get acquainted with the Word. So you can be strong when these things start coming against you. Because when the winds blow your house is going to fall down. When these fears and frustrations and anxieties strike you, and you think you're going deaf all of a sudden, you're going to panic. Or you think you're going blind all of a sudden, you're going to panic. Or you think you're going to lose the members of your body, all of a sudden you're going to panic. And some of the people that have been through these things, they'll tell you. You think, No. It's not much to it. But you wait until that moment strikes you, and it will scare you so until you won't be able to believe, you won't be able to do anything. It will just scare the life out of you just about. And the same way. Maybe you're loved ones go to prison or there's a wreck, or you're laying there in your blood, you know, you're dying. Or something happens. Poverty strikes. You're losing all that you got. Your wife turns into a harlot or the husband turns into a whoremonger. Or something, whatever it might be. These things will befall you and you'll discover them. And you think, no, no. Not my companion. My companion is fine. And you think they're fine all the time. Just like they thought some of these preachers was just tops, but they found out that behind the scene when we had spoke of them, and spoke of the iniquity, even to the extent that our own families sometimes, sometimes your wife will get upset with you. Sometimes the husband will get upset with you. Sometimes friend will get upset with you. When you say things about these things. But yet it proved out that the iniquity was there and the evil was there. And the devils were there that was seducing, even your own family, as to your wife or your husband or your children or whatever. That they did not have understanding and could not know, and did not see, and that they were arrogant with with, and defended that which was wrong, until it was proven otherwise. The whole world falls into this snare. Because they will not listen. But folks, let's walk upright. Let's do the best we can. And then when these things come, God will give us grace. And God will stand by us. And God will help us, because all these things are coming down to your house. All these things are coming to visit with you. Somewhere down the line. All of a sudden you're walking along and that heart begins to fail. And you begin to scream out, Oh my God! Oh my God! And you think you're gone. Or all of a sudden you suddenly discover that you got cancer and only a few days to live. Or something because it's there. When you sin and you do wrong, it's just like the doctors tell you about smoking cigarettes. There's people that will go on smoking no matter what the doctors say. But I read a little article where hundreds and multiplied hundreds of doctors, when they discovered that cigarettes caused cancer they quit, hundreds and multiplied hundreds. But people they went right on smoking, went right on smoking. See, so these things are going to happen to you. And they've already happened to many of you. And they're already working on many of you. You don't know it yet, but you'll find out about it. And they're already in your homes and you don't know about it, but you'll find out about it to your hurt and to your sorrow. And you'll find out that you've lent on the arm of flesh, and that you cannot put confidence in your wife, you cannot put confidence in your husband, you cannot put confidence in your daughter or your son or your preacher. You cannot put confidence in your neighbor, in your mother and your dad or any other person. We are they that have no confidence in the flesh. And until a person is born again, until you know that a man is a true man of God, and you see Christ, then you don't follow them, and if you do see Christ and you know that it's Christ, and been proven to be Christ, then Paul said, Follow me as I follow Christ. Stay with me as I follow the Word. Watch your wife and trust her according to the Word degree that's in her life. You watch your husband and trust him according to the Word degree that's in your life. Because your husband will lead you astray, and your wife will lead you astray. And you'll find yourself getting bitter because you trusted in her. And you'll suddenly discover her heart is not true. For there's not a living man or woman in the world that has a true heart, your wife or my wife, or your husband or her husband. No living creature in the world that is straight, there is not one living creature that doeth good, no not one. We're all saved by the grace of God. But it is a true fact that when the Holy Spirit which is good, in that there's none good but God, the Eternal Spirit, when He comes into your heart as to the measure of that goodness that you allow to be into you, then are you that measure good: no more, no less, just as to that measure. And that measure beloved friend is by faith, as to your efforts your faith is shown by faith in God. You're saved by grace through faith, that not of yourselves, lest any man should boast, it is the gift of God. And that's what got the Jews in trouble. Ye have the law and none of you keep it, Paul said. None of you keep it. Though they profess to keep it, and they called the others dogs and swines, but Paul said, None of you keep it. They were all guilty before God. To transgress in one place means you're guilty before all. But if we judge that Christ fulfilled the law for all of us, then are you not under the law but under grace. If so we be under grace, then we're in the days of God's rest, and we no longer work as to the works of the law. For he that has entered into the rest of the Lord, has ceased from his own works as to perform the works of the law. This the Jews stumble at. Jesus, even the works of God, the stumbling stone of offense. So let us believe in the Lord. Let us praise the Lord. Let us lean upon the Lord. Let's look to the Lord and just help one another. Giving honor unto the woman as the weaker vessel, giving a little extra strength unto her, trying to help her because of her weakness and her temptations as to her spirit being weaker, so that she can blend in with you. Otherwise there would be trouble in the home all of your life. And when she gets a devil there is trouble in the home, because you could never control her. But otherwise she'll submit to you and work with you. And you if you don't get a devil to mislead her and subject her to things that's evil and ugly and horrible and disgusting in the sight of God, to lead her into your worldly practices, then everything will be all right. But some husbands, you know they want the wives to provide for them, and get them their little drink, and get them their cigarettes. And want them to go to places with them, wherever they go and watch movies with them, and read things and discuss things and get into their gossip and whatever. And it's a horrible situation to have a man like that. An old chain of gossip, whether a man or a woman, it's bad. It's a bad situation. But nevertheless, the poor wife sometimes is caught in this, but just be bold in the Lord and just get up and walk right out on him while he's talking, or reprove him in love right there while he's talking, or turn around away from him or tell him, No. Christ first. And as long as he walks in the Word and does whatever that he should as a normal husband or in the Word, then you honor him and obey him in all things. If he leaves that don't you honor him at all, obey him in nothing other than the fact that he is your husband. And don't act ugly toward him, you just don't take part in his evil. Let him do whatever he wants to do. I know a little about the Bible too. Somebody says, But the Bible says, I know what the Bible says. That's why I'm a minister. He told me what it said. The Bible says, Wives, honor your husbands. Obey them in all things. And if they be an unbeliever, if they be pleased to dwell with you, though you be a believer, then you don't leave them. That's right. But if they be pleased to dwell with you, they'll have a little common sense, and not try to subject you to a bunch of devils and devilish things. If they try to subject you to devilish things, they're not pleased to dwell with you. That's a devil. You leave it alone. Don't you mess with it. You're not obligated to live with him no more than he's obligated to live with you, though you can't go out and remarry. You have to be a lady or a man if you separate and leave, but you can remain unmarried until the other one goes out and commits adultery, and then you're free to do whatever. Free to marry only in the Lord. That is you should marry a Christian. For the Lord don't bind darkness to light, nor the temples of Belial don't have any fellowship as to the temples of God with the temples of Belial. Don't be ye unequally yoked together with the unbeliever. All right let's sing together. You love the Lord? The Bible said, Today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Let whosoever will come and partake of the waters of life freely. When we come to this part of the service the altars are always open. I a lot of times say the altars are open for your sake, but when we start singing the altars are always open and you should come. Because they're open for your cause. And this is the accepted time. (Sings: There's Room At The Cross For You) Can you sing it with me again? (Sings) (Sings: Come Into My Heart) Sing it again. (Sings: I Need Thee) Let's sing this little chorus. (Sings: They'll Come From the East and the West) Can you sing that one more time? Can you say, Praise the Lord? All right, let's sing this little chorus as we look for a place to end the service. (Sings: Are You Ready For the Bridegroom to Come?) Sing it. (Sings) One more time together. (Sings) Somebody say, Hallelujah! Let's lift our hands up and close our eyes. Another day is ended. We've talked about Jesus again. We should have grown more in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus. For as we grow in the knowledge as to believe, then we grow in the grace. For grace is give to us. We are saved by grace through faith as to the hearing of the Word. When you believe, then comes the grace. And we grow in the grace. So to grow in the knowledge is to grow in the grace. To grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ to the full measure of the full stature of the perfect man Christ Jesus. So we're going to sing this together. As we sing tonight, can you sing with us? (Sings: I Will Praise Him) Can you sing that with me? I'm going to ask Brother Vince to come up if he will and dismiss us. (Sings) Sing that with me now. (Sings) We're going to sing that one more time as our brother comes. (Sings)

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

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

Holiness Unto The Lord