The Kingdom Cometh Not By Observation

Tonight Wednesday? Coat from off that chair. Well, we are here again tonight to talk about Jesus. You know as I consider my life and think about the time that I've had to travel around the world, communicate with people, preach the Gospel, all that I've had a chance to do as to talk about the Lord, or to try to live for the Lord, whatever, it seems like so little that we've done, and so little time we've spent, and yet there's no regrets. There's always a wonderful feeling that we were able to do a little something for the Lord. Having got acquainted with God at a young age, in my teens, having come to God in my teens, I knew somewhat of God before then, and thought about the Lord and had experiences with the Lord in unusual way. I didn't really understand. I didn't even understand when I was so very small that it was even the Lord. But I look back now and I realize that it was the Lord. And having tried during my lifetime as what we've spent here to do whatever I could for God, it makes me very sad to think that I could have done a whole lot more for God and I didn't. And that I should have accomplished a lot more for God, but I didn't. And I find myself today living with whatever I've accomplished. You know that's all I have to offer when I stand before God, and it's just my little bit. But I'm glad that I did spend that time. And of course since Betty and I have been together, we have spent the, our life together. And we've spent it for God. We have tried to do something for the Lord, and faltered, wavered, stumbled, staggered, and had a lot of intermissions. But still God knew our hearts; and He knew that we wanted to serve Him and love Him. And so He helped us. And then even now, as I look you know, and I realize that one of these days you and I are going to stand before God. We're going to be there at the judgment. Every one of us the Bible says, shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ, every one of us. We'll be there before the judgment seat of God, and we will have to give an account to God for every deed. That this spiritual inner, angelic being called the inner man, give an account for every deed that he's done while he tabernacled in this body. And I know that I'll be there. I know that you'll be there. And I know that in that day God will judge the secrets of your heart, all that you've ever hid, all that you've ever surmised, all that you've ever thought, whether good or bad, He will judge the very secrets of your heart by this Gospel that I'm preaching. And every man will be rewarded according to the deeds that his inner angelic man done while tabernacling in this body. And I think of that. I think that someday every thought I ever thought, every reflect of my mind, every intent of my heart, one day will be brought out, and God will look at it, and God will see it, and there it will be. And when I think about that you know I think, oh God, how I wish that from the day that I first breathed a breathe in this world, that I had have breathed a breathe saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. But it doesn't work like that. But when we do come to the knowledge of the truth, whatever the age might be, young or old or aged, or whatever it might be, when we do come to the knowledge of the truth, from that time on it's required of us, as to what we say, as to what we do, as to what we think. And from that time on, if we will at that point accept the Lord Jesus Christ, turn away from sin, corruption, have nothing to do with it, be it once and for all as we say, for the Lord and toward the Lord, then we are born again, and we are then a little babe, and we're just breathing our first breathe saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. And that's the only satisfaction I have. In that the natural life as to that extent is lost with people, then the only hope we have of having a full life is when we are born again. You know you really need to hold to your crown. Don't let anybody take your crown from you. We had a brother that came up the other night that set back here on my left back there, and he's been here a good little bit; and he really needs help bad. But he was telling Jonathan if I got the report right, Jonathan Whitlow, that he did not have the Holy Spirit. That he didn't have the Holy Ghost. And that it didn't matter what Brother Pike said about it, he didn't have the Holy Ghost. He was telling him. Said, You've not spoken in tongues. You say, and you don't have the Holy Ghost. Well that's wonderful you know. I don't fall out with them because people are taught that. That's their teachings down through the years, and I really don't fall out with them. Because there's people that sincerely in their God conviction believes that, and they don't know any different. And they've been taught that, to train up the child in the way that it should go. When it's old, it will not depart from it. Or if you don't train it up in the way that it should go as the Bible says, then you'll train it up in the way that you want it to go. And sometimes your want to might not be in harmony with God. So anyway, the only thing is, this particular individual really doesn't have any right to be telling Jonathan that, because I know for sure that he doesn't have the Holy Ghost. He might have spoke in tongues, but discernment shows that his spirit is not at all in the Holy Ghost. As a matter of fact it shows that he has the spirit of error. And so you really need to be careful how you talk because you, the God that I serve might turn the spotlight over in your direction. And when it's turned in his direction, he doesn't have the Holy Ghost. So Jonathan, you don't have to worry. You just be thankful that you got the Holy Ghost. That's the main thing, and you go on with the Lord, and you serve the Lord. That's the main thing. All right so we're here to serve the Lord. And we're here to talk about Jesus. We're here to share this enthusiasm with you of the wonderful things of God. And even from your youth as Jonathan and some of the others coming up, don't be discouraged, and don't be weary in well doing. The Bible says, In due season you'll reap if you faint not. And don't be troubled by people that tell you things. Don't let time and pressures upset you. Because if you stumble and stagger, God's greater than your heart. If your heart condemn you, He knows that you're His. By election before the world ever was before you was ever born into the world, He called you. Maybe two in the family, one of them will miss it, the other one will get it; two in the bed, one taken and one left; two in the field, one taken and one left; two at the mill grinding, one taken and one left. So if you've got something, you hold on to it, and don't let times and seasons bother you. Like the song we wrote, there is a reason for every time and season. So don't let anything bother you. There'll be seasons of refreshing. There'll be seasons of oppression and depression. There'll be seasons of flourishing. There'll be seasons of poverty. But Paul said, I'm instructed as how to both abound and to be abased, to suffer need and to be full. So then don't let anybody bother you, because if you stumble and stagger, though you're young, God, He has grace that is sufficient. The Bible says that my grace is sufficient. And where sin doth abound, grace doth much more abound. So when the devil climbs up even as he has in the past to the high places, and sin comes in at a high tide, the Bible says, When the enemy comes in like a flood, I will lift up a standard against him. And the standard that God lifts up against him is the standards of righteousness that He wrought in Jesus Christ, when He nailed Him to Calvary and raised Him up to set Him at His own right hand. You're then without spot, without wrinkle, without blemish. And the Bible says that no one can lay anything to the charge of God's elect, no one. It doesn't matter what anybody says, they don't have any right to judge you, for the Bible says that we have no right to judge another man's servant. To God he standeth or falleth. So even though the man says that he is a minister, he really needs a good born again experience with God. And you just hold to what you got; and as I say, when you stumble, God's able to bring you from that youth all the way unto the end of your life. And the Bible says, He'll bring you to the end of your life in a full shock. You won't have to die a premature death, if you'll just trust in the Lord. I am the Lord God that healeth all of thy diseases, that forgiveth all of thine iniquities. And He tells us that He will fulfill the number of our years. You don't have to fret. Every time you have a little something wrong with you, that you're going to die. Maybe you will, maybe you won't, if you want to look at it on those basis. But you don't have to fret every time you have a little problem. Just keep believing God. Keep going right on and the Lord will not fail you. I'll not fail you. I'll not alter the thing that's gone out of My mouth, neither will I change it. I will hasten to perform it. I will watch over My Word to perform it. He sent His Word to heal us. Faith in the Word cast out the unclean spirits and it heals us. And He gives His angels charge concerning us, that they should bear us up in all of our ways, lest at anytime we should dash our foot against a stone. Even the devil knew that when he quoted it to Jesus. So then we've got as the songwriter says, Angels watching over me, my Lord. Angels watches over me. Well we're here again tonight as I said to read a little bit from the book tonight of Saint Luke, I believe it is. And I want to read just a little bit and comment on it. In chapter 17 the 20th verse, (Reads: St. Luke 17:20-37) "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation." Okay now when you say Pharisees, you're talking about those that believed in the resurrection. When you say Sadducees, they are they that did not believe in the resurrection. "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And he said unto the disciples. The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together." 

Well it looks like that we read again from what the Spirit was saying to us, not knowing. All right so then the Spirit and the Word agrees. He tells us that the kingdom of God is within us. Now things are happening. Here Jesus said as to the Jews, as to the natural conveyance of the Word, that if they're on the housetop, and this thing happens, don't try to take the time to go back into the house to get that which is in there. He said just flee for your life. Which means that things are close by. I noticed the paper over in the late evening that was carrying an article of the middle east. And it was that Hussein is speaking of surrendering to the extent of letting Kuwait go, and going back to his place providing that they will give him a certain part of Kuwait as to the oil, which he says has to do with some disputed boundary I suppose of the past, as to him feeling that it belonged to Iraq. But anyway, whatever it is, I felt like that he'd take the outlook to try to save face either one way or another, and he's done about everything he could. He's brought up all kind of things of how that he would yield his forces, if we as the American people or they as the United Nations would do as he asked. And it's just a way to try to have some hobby horse of excuse to back off, because he knows the whole world is closing in on him. But nevertheless, we know that the end of the world is here. We know that. Today I believe ended the day of the prediction concerning the earthquake over in Tennessee. I think it was suppose to, wasn't today the last day? It was suppose to strike, the man predicted it, and he has hit those things a number of times. Whereas I guess everybody's pretty much at rest now. Because thus far it hasn't struck so far as we know. But that doesn't mean it can't strike. It could have struck before. It could have struck at that time. It could strike afterwards. And then it might not strike at all. But there's one thing about it, they're coming. The Bible says there'll be earthquakes in divers places. So they're coming. They're coming to the state of Georgia. They're coming to the state of Mississippi. They're coming to the state of Tennessee. They're coming to the states all across the United States. And they're coming to the different parts of the world. But we want to do what we can for God while we can. While we have the opportunity let us do something. Let us work while it is day. That is to say while the blood is still on the seat of atonement and there is mercy. For soon the night cometh, that is to say when God moves the blood off the seat of atonement, the light of grace will be gone. The night cometh when no man can work. That is as long as we have the mind of Christ, we have light. He gives us understanding. But if God takes the church out, then the light of the world is gone. The mind of understanding is gone. And then after that then it will be the mind of Lucifer as to the old tree of knowledge, intellectual darkness. And in that then that means that man cannot work, because Antichrist and the people of this world will not allow it. The Bible says, Gross darkness shall cover the people; and it's on its way. And the king of the north is on his way. We've seen that. But reading tonight from the book of Saint Luke chapter 17, we find that Jesus is saying to the Pharisees. Now notice this, the Pharisees, the Scribes, the Sadducees, the different ones, they want to know when the kingdom of God is coming. That sounds like a familiar thing there, because in our day you would like to know when the kingdom of God is coming. The people of the world would like to know when the kingdom of God is coming. It's like that earthquake, they'd like to make preparations. They'd like to be ready. They made great preparations for that earthquake. See, and so in our day we're finding that many people are predicting the end time and the coming of the kingdom of God. As a matter of fact, one fellow predicted it, and you know how he stirred the whole countryside. And then when it didn't happen, he said that he was off base a little bit. He admitted it when it didn't happen. Whereas we said it wouldn't happen, you remember and it didn't happen. And he said he was a little off base, because before the end comes you know there has to be the shout. And so he predicted it again and he gave the shouts, but consequently it still didn't come. And I don't know what he decided after that. It kind of reminds me of the boy I told you about down in Macon, Georgia that had a little problem with his mental capacity; when he got up one morning and he predicted that the great tornado was going to sweep through that place you know. And everybody listened and he told them what was going to happen. And he's very religious. And anyway when time come for it to happen, it didn't happen. And some of them that was setting at the table with him, his name was Donald. Said, Donald, said, what is this? You said this was going to happen and it didn't happen? He said, Well, it just goes to show you, you don't need to mess with God's things you know. And that's the way it is you know. When you go to predicting the end of the world and it don't happen, you need to remember you don't need to mess with God's things. And that fellow I think he might have took the idea whether he said it not, that he didn't need to mess with God's things. A great Bible scholar no doubt, and many things that he had in line, no doubt. But when the Bible says, that no one shall know the day nor the hour of His coming, then that's what you need to observe. And that's what you need to believe is that when He said, No one, then on one. And you don't have to be soon shaken by anything that anybody says. Though as to the times and the seasons, the Bible says, God has set them within His own power. As I said a few nights ago, so that you wouldn't know and I wouldn't know and they wouldn't know, and we wouldn't know; so that we couldn't tell our sons, and we couldn't tell our daughters, so that we couldn't tell our mothers, or they couldn't tell us. God doesn't want anybody to know that day nor the hour that we should then not be able to warn anyone. See, I don't know so I can't warn anyone, and you don't know so you can't warn anyone. Therefore we all have to wait and see and try to be ready at that particular time. If I don't know, then I'll try to live every day so that I'll be ready on that particular day. But if I did know, if I was a renegade, I could be a renegade right on till that last day, and do all of my repenting and praying on that last day you know. And God don't intend to have to face anybody that does it that way. There might be some people that repents on that last day, not knowing. And it could be that God will be gracious to them, because He's very merciful to the unlearned and them that don't know. For where sin is not made known then death, punishment is not imposed upon people. So we know that He's coming. This we do know. Now my opinion is this, they have a word they call rascal. To me if there's any such thing, whereas there is an animal that's called a rascal, but if you could look at somebody and call him a rascal like Jesus, when he looked at a man and called him a fox, because he was so cunning; I would say it would take a rascal to try to do the things that he wants to do or she wants to do all their lives. And then on the last day run and try to get into heaven. To me that would be a rascal. And I think that what we ought to do is to remember that the Pharisees did not know when the kingdom was coming; and when they asked Jesus, Jesus could have said to them, No man knoweth, no not even the Son, but the Father only. But inasmuch as Jesus wanted to reprove them, He said the kingdom of God cometh not by observation. He confounded them because they had been told of Moses that somebody the Messiah would come. And they kept looking for Him to come as a great king on a white horse. And they thought for sure that some day that Messiah would come. Even the woman at the well, when the woman at the well was talking with Jesus, and there as they was having their conversation, Jesus talked about spiritual things. And she referred him back to a mountain of worship saying, Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. Jesus said, But the time comes and now is when ye shall neither in that mountain nor at Jerusalem worship the Lord, for ye know not what you worship, Samaritans. Said, We know what we worship. That he said, He was saying: I am a Jew, as to her way of thinking. Said, For salvation is of the Jews, in that Jesus was born among the Jews. Said, you don't know what you worship. And then this really shook the woman up, as He began to talk to her like that, saying, call your companion. And she said, I don't have one. And there's a good possibility is what she meant was, I'm over here with a young Jew. I'll just flirt with you, because she apparently was an adulterer, because she had been married numbers of times. He brought that to her remembrance. And that shook her up so bad, until she went about the city saying, Hey, come and see a man that told me all that I ever did. Isn't this the Messiah? Or she said to Him before she left the well. She said, I know Messiah cometh and He'll tell us all things. Jesus said, I that speak unto thee am He. And with this she went her way. And she told them. And then they came and they heard him and they said, We believe. We believe now not because of what you said as to your words, but we have seen for ourselves. All right so then here is the Pharisees. And the Pharisees said, Tell us. When is the kingdom of God coming? When is the kingdom of God coming? Now if you're the Messiah and you're the great one and all of these things, you must have a time when you going to set up the kingdom. You should tell us something about this. You know we're Moses' followers. We understand all these great things as to Biblical approach. And we understand that the Messiah is coming, the kingdom has to be set up. Now when will the kingdom of God come, they demanded of Jesus? When will this kingdom come? And Jesus just as always every time He ever answered them, He literally confounded them. And He said to them, He said, The kingdom doesn't even come in a way that you can see it. Now don't you know they were shocked? Don't you know that they were astounded? Here He was looking at the greatest Bible scholars in the world. And looking at the men that were the very leaders saying, If the blind lead the blind they all fall into the ditch. And say unto them, how could you say that you are a master of Israel and know not these things? He said. And as a young boy literally confounding that. And He turned and said, No need to look for it. You're not going to see it. It don't come by observation. It don't come by observation. Or He could have said as He said in other places and people, as it was said as to some of the writers, that if this gospel be hid, it be hid to the blind. In that the blind lead the blind and they all fall into the ditch. Or if it be hid, it be hid to them that are lost. Who having eyes cannot see and having ears they cannot hear. And these people they will not see when good cometh. For Satan, Lucifer, even the god of this world hath blinded their eyes that they should not see when good cometh. And so then He said, No need to look for it. You're not going to see it. You're not going to see it, because the kingdom of God doesn't come by observation. And you know that really was a confounding statement, because here people were going to and fro everywhere. And they kept saying one to another, is not this the Messiah? When the Messiah comes, will He be greater than this man? Isn't this the Messiah? And some would say, read the Scriptures. You know nothing good can come out of Nazareth. No prophets come from there. So then they were the more confounded. So out of Galilee, they said, Search the Scriptures for yourself. See. And then all of a sudden here is a man that's suppose to be the Messiah. And he's doing great and mighty things. His words are with power. And they know from whence He came that He is the son of Joseph and they are confounded. Because they thought that this man was raising himself up, making himself a king. And the Bible says the things that He did was so great and so mighty, that even when He multiplied the fishes and the loaves, that they would have come by force and … (Tape ends) … and Jesus rebuked them and reproved them even on that occasion saying, You're not following me because of the miracles that you saw. He said, You fed from the fishes and the loaves and you were filled up, and this is why you're following me. See, the world follows after the fishes and the loaves. These Pharisees were not following God. They wasn't interested in the kingdom of God. They had been following after the belly. Upon the belly they had went, and they had followed after the things of the world and prestige. And even Jesus told them said, You love the salutations in the marketplaces. And you love to go in the long robes; and you love to be called of men rabbi, rabbi. And then He told them, He said, you're not going to see the kingdom of God. Or He could have said, You're blind. How could you ever see the kingdom of God? But see they thought this man was making himself something, was going to set himself on a throne. And here He was. He was He was troubling the kingdom. He was troubling the government. He was troubling everybody. And all of a sudden about the time they thought He was ready to set Himself on a throne, because He had built great following. He just up and said, why, the kingdom of God doesn't even come by sight. And they were so confounded they didn't know what to do. No matter what they said to Him, no matter how they approached Him, He always confounded them. Even when they sent the officers to take Him, and when the authorities and powers came out to take Him, they listened to Him, and then they turned and walked off and wouldn't touch Him. And they went back to their leaders, and they said, Well, where is He at? And they said, Never a man spake like this man. They said, Are you deceived also? They said, But you don't understand. Said, But we never heard anyone ever speak like this man. Never. See, but Jesus confounded them the more. They never knew how to deal with Him. And it wasn't until He stood before the high priest and made His confession as to the Son of God, that they were able to do anything. He always spoke in parables. And the Bible says, Without a parable spake He not unto the people. That is to conceal His identity, so that they wouldn't come upon Him and take Him; or so that He could get by with the things He was saying and doing as to their laws. He spoke parabolically so that He could stay among the people, because He couldn't even walk in Jewry, because He'd do great miracles and great things, and the crowds would follow him so much that they would throng Him. And He'd say, Don't tell anybody, so that He could stay among the people and work, and the great multitudes wouldn't throng Him. So here Jesus, He tells them that the kingdom of God comes not by observation. He said to the woman, I am He, when she said Messiah. But see it was different when He went talking to the Jews. Because those people wasn't wanting to kill Him. But the Jews wanted to kill Him. Because they said, Being a man, you make yourself God, in that you say that you are Son of God. Now folks, in the day we're living in, it's not strange for me to say I am a Son of God. It's not strange in America or any place in the world for you to say that you are a son of God, because that is accepted. Because we have the understanding of God today to the extent, that we know that there are sons of God in the earth. In that we have the Bible; and the Bible says, Now beloved are ye the Sons of God. Even though it's still strange as to say that you are a Son of God as of now, because the way that you have to present it is that you are a potential son of God; that someday you know you're going to be if you keep on. But when we emphasis the fact that we already are, we run into problems now. And they said, you say that you are a son of God. If you say that you are a son of God, then you make yourself equal with God; because the son of anything is equal with whatever it is. So He said you say that you are a son of God, so they wanted to kill Him. They wanted to kill Him. Now Jesus wouldn't let them know anything. They said, Tell us plainly if you be the Messiah. Tell us plainly if you are you know the coming one that Moses spoke of. But He always spoke parabolically. But when He got ready to pay the price for sin, he stood before the high priest and they said, I adjure thee by God, you tell me, are you the Messiah? Are you? He said, I am. He finally told them. He knew that they was going to kill Him anyway. His time had come. And He set everything just right to bring His death. Because He knew that that would be blasphemy in their ears, because they were blinded in part. Couldn't understand, and the only one that they knew was Moses and what Moses had said. And they could not understand as was the case with Paul, who did understand, as to the moving of the veil or the rent veil or the revelation that brought in the church of today. So they, the high priest rent the clothes. And said, You heard with your own ears, He's blasphemed. What do you think? They said, He's worthy of death. And so they took Him and they crucified Him. But here is this wonderful Jesus before the crucifixion. And He is saying to them, the kingdom of God cometh not by observation. That is you Jews are natural minded. You're natural people. You've got a natural way of worshipping God. But God is a Spirit, He said. Even to the woman at the well. And they that worship God must worship God in Spirit. Now He wasn't saying it to them. But He did say that to the woman at the well. Why? Because the new church was coming in. A new age was coming in. A new people was coming in. The Gentile people were fixing to come into the kingdom. And God wanted that side of it to know He was a spirit. See, this was Jesus that had come to the Jews as a natural Jew, so was a natural leader there for them to accept. As a natural ordinance they should have accepted a natural leader, but they didn't do it. And the reason they didn't do it was because He did not come as a king. I say this to you again. If Jesus had have come upon a white horse in a king, priestly sort of a manner, and with wealth, He would have utilized His ability, demonstrated His power, and all of the world would have went after Him. And the Jews would have enthroned Him and raised Him up, and would have been right there to praise and give Him the glory as the Lord of lords and the King of kings. But see He didn't do that. He confounded them by coming in a manger, by being born in a stable as we say. He confounded them. And humbling Himself to make sure His friend, He went forth as a poor man, having nothing, but He still demonstrated the great, wonderful Messiah power that was said of Him before He ever came. He fulfilled every jot and tittle of those things that was said of Him, and the prophetical utterance of the prophets and of the Scriptures. And He told the Jews He said, Search the Scriptures for in them you think you think you have eternal life. They are they that testify of me that these Scriptures as to the Torah are that of the old prophetical utterance doth not offer you eternal life. It speaks of me and I am the giver of eternal life. He said you say that bread came down from heaven and Moses brought you bread. He said, Moses didn't give you that bread. I gave you that bread. I am the bread. My heavenly Father gave it to you. And I am the bread of life that come down from heaven. Lest you eat my flesh and lest you drink my blood, you don't have any life in you. And so then we see He confounded them over and over. They could not understand His words. And finally many of them left and went away. And they said, How can we eat this man's flesh? How can we drink this man's blood? And Jesus said unto them, the words that I speak unto you are spirit and they are life. And so then here He comes bringing in a church, and He wanted them to be spiritual. Paul said, I would that you be spiritual. He wanted them to be spiritual. He wanted to make them to understand, that the words that He was speaking unto them was not of Himself, but of the Father. And these words had been given him of God. And they were spiritual and they were spirit and they were life. And so then Jesus again confounded them. Here they are. They don't understand at all. What kind of person is this? Never a man spake like this man. We can't understand what you say, they said. So then, Jesus said, The kingdom of God cometh by observation. Woman, the time is come, now is that we shall worship God in spirit, for God is a spirit. And they that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And folks, you know it's bad, but even at Little Bethlehem, it's the same problem of today. You know we're so eager to serve God, whether we fast, whether we pray or whatever we do. Study, talk, know, preach, whatever, coming to church, but we're always offering the natural ritualistics of life, and we never really always learning, we never really come to the knowledge of the truth. We never really get spiritual. We never get our spirit into it. We never clean up our hearts and let God purify our spirits and our hearts. So then we find ourselves going through these natural ritualistics. As trying to pray or trying to fast or trying to testify or trying to do something that's natural altogether. And these things have a sure wisdom. And when we consider these things, we think we've done something for God. But in all reality when we really get down to basics and principles, we find out that it was will worship. That it was the old way of ritualistics as to the ritualistic way of life. So then we realize that God being a spirit, He is looking for somebody that will worship Him in spirit and in truth. That is to say if the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Truth, then you're going to have to have a spirit that will surrender and conform to the Spirit of Truth. And you're spirit is going to have to be truthful. It's going to be truthful when you deal with your fellow man as to the creditors. It's going to have to be truthful when you deal with your fellow man as brothers in Christ. It's going to have to be truthful when you acknowledge the Word of God as to one another's companions, or one another's households, or as to one another's goods as to covet anything that is thy neighbor. It's going to have to be a Spirit of Truth. And you know the reason that we don't have more healings, and the reason that we don't have more deliverance, the reason that we don't have more people filled with the Holy Ghost, and the Spirit of God literally poured out upon us, is because we don't have enough truth. We don't have enough virtue. See, Paul said, Make straight paths for yourself, lest that which is lame be turned aside. But rather let it be healed. Or that is He said as Jesus when Jesus was walking along, Jesus, this woman that had this trouble with her body, had spent all of her living on the physicians was none the better, but rather grew worse. A lot of people in our day they spend all the money that they have on hospitals and on physicians. They're none the better. They're even worse. Even though a medicine doeth good you know like a merry heart, and the Bible says, the sick need a physician. And many times the physician can help, but as it was said of Asa, He was smitten in the feet and he had done wrong. And the Bible says because he sought the physicians rather than God he died. So then that is to say, God has the answer. God has the remedy. We can do what we will, but we need to have our faith in God. So when we come to this, we realize that as this woman came up behind Jesus, that she had not found any healing medicines. She had not found any physicians that had helped her, but had only tormented her and wrecked her, and she was worse than she ever was. And when she came to Jesus she purposed in her heart, being unclean as the crowd would say, having no right to even be there, slipping in, and then getting close, thinking: if I could but touch Him. I've seen these wonderful things. I've heard of this great reputation. No man ever spake like this man. I've heard His words, and if I can but get close enough to Him that I but touch the hem of His garment, I just know I'll be healed. So she pressed in and after a while she touched Him. And when she touched Him all of a sudden she knew that she was healed. She was made whole. And Jesus stopped as to turn around and He said, Who touched me? And they said to Him, as you and I would say, what do you mean, Master, who touched you? There's people around you everywhere. That is, they are no doubt bumping into Jesus you know, and they're touching Jesus. He said, No. No, that's not the kind of touch He could have said that I'm speaking of. Said, Somebody touched me. I know that they touched me, said because I felt virtue go out of my body. Said, this was a different kind of touch. See, that is to say, it wasn't the woman as to her natural hand touching a natural man. For the Bible speaks of it to begin with saying, it's good for a man not to touch woman, because of the created sensations of life. So then it wasn't that. But what had happened is her spirit had made contact with the Spirit of God that was in Jesus' body. And Jesus having the Spirit on the inside had no control over it other than to release it, in that He was completely surrendered to the will of God. So then being in the will of God, being in the Word of God, being the manifestation of God, being the expressed image of God, when she touched Him, the Bible says, And He that cometh unto me I shall in no wise refuse. And if you have faith, you can have the desire of your heart. When the woman touched Jesus, all of a sudden this virtue went out of Jesus. And it went into this woman and she felt it and she was made whole. See, the Bible says if anything hath any virtue in them, think on these. This is where the church is missing out. Think of it now. Here the Bible says to you and I that when the Holy Ghost is come upon you, ye shall receive power. Or the King James rendering afterwards. The original, when. So I say to you, I say the Spirit of Christ Jesus is power. And it has power over all the powers of the enemy, because it is the Spirit of Christ that conquered the enemy; and that Jesus was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil. And He went about doing good. Healing all that was oppressed with the devil, for God was with Him. And to wit that God the great, eternal Spirit was in Christ Jesus; whereas the Bible says, And God giveth not the spirit unto Him by measure. And He was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world back to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. If I am going to do anything for God, I must stand in His stead. As in this day beseeching the world to be reconciled back to God as a human body. See and if it is God on the inside of me drawing people to himself, then it will be again the body of Jesus as to the measure that I have, and as to my submission and conformity. It will be Jesus alive again. As Paul said, Not me living but Christ living. In that I'm dead by the body of the Lord Jesus my body of death is gone. And by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I am alive again. And we're standing in Christ's stead beseeching the world to be reconciled unto God, and we're praying God grant repentance unto these people unto life. So then if I am to do anything for God, there must be that God on the inside of me. I must be filled with the Spirit. And that God must emanate from my person, my human person through the genes of my body to the people, and by the oral expressions of my lips to the people, that they might receive that. And during that time they might receive a word of consolation, and a word of strength, and a word that will cast out the unclean spirits, and a word that will take away their oppression, and a word that will bring them divine deliverance and healing. As this compassion of God comes forth from my being, emanating from me to them, and they receive this, and they become recipients of this, God is drawing then the world to Himself. And in doing that then they see Christ. And then they repent and come to God. But if it isn't God on the inside of me, then I'm just full of religious ambition, then I'll set myself up a kingdom, I'll get all the money that I can, I'll preach the sermons just like Satan quoted it to Jesus. And I'll tell all about these things, and my zip and my zeal to manifest myself, and to have preeminence and lord over God's people, then I will completely, continually, over and over offer myself, offer my exuberance and my zeal in life. And find myself building a great kingdom as to the flesh, then at the end to only learn it was the devil himself working through me, or they will find it was the devil himself working through them. But if I witness of Him that sent me, then my witness is true. If that which emanates from me as a minister is to you to consolation and strength and to magnify Him, and to reveal the invisible God, then He hath drawn you to Himself, that He might strengthen, that He might pour Himself into you, and that He might cause you to enlarge upon His Word, that you may be filled with life and strength and power and healing; and you may see the love of God, and see your God and your King and be drawn to your King, as He establishes His kingdom in the earth. This is something that the Pharisees could not see. All they knew was the long robes and the salutations in the marketplace and be called of men rabbi. It was the flesh. That's what it was. That's why that the law can get its strength from God and be holy and righteous, but sin can turn and then get strength from the law and bring us under condemnation. Is because they that are under the law have no knowledge of the spiritual righteousness of the law. For we are carnal and sold unto sin, for that which we would do, we do not. That that we would not do, that we do, and that which we do, we allow not for. And we find a law that when we would do good evil is present with me. Oh wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death, and the law that was ordained unto life? As that which I thought to be my way out of this problem proved to be death. For that which I thought to be life wrought all kind of concupiscence within me, as to bringing my sins to condemnation to my mind, killing my faith as to the only relation between me and God and left me helpless, barren and empty. As it was said to the Jews, and your houses were left unto you desolate until the day that you said, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. All right so then going on with our little lesson tonight, we see then that when you receive the infilling of the Spirit, you have power. Let's look at Jesus just for a few minutes now. Here is the Lord Jesus. He's born of the Spirit, divine conception. It is the Holy Ghost Himself that hath begot this Son, meaning that the Holy Ghost is God, because He was the Son of God. Now, so then here He is. And He is the Spirit or the Word made manifest in the flesh. But what does He do? To be our example, he has to start from a childhood, grow in the grace and knowledge, grow in favor with man and God, and continue day after day to grow into the full measure of the stature of manhood. While He's doing this to be our example, the innermost God that knows all things, that are all things, is releasing Himself to Jesus to manifest Himself fully, the Bible says, and He that knew no sin was made my sin, that I might be made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And He grew in knowledge. He grew in manhood. And this same God as to the Holy Spirit, manifesting Himself in this body, making Himself flesh, this Jesus growing right up to a full measure of the full stature of God Almighty, having the fullness of God. The Bible says, Therefore being made perfect, learning obedience by the things He suffered, that is to say, not to learn obedience in that He was disobedient. But to learn obedience as obedience is revealed as to mankind, as to His growth from childhood to accept obedience that is brought to Him as He suffers as an example to us, to let us know that we can only receive this wonderful obedience by the suffering. I hope you understand what we say tonight. I don't have time to enlarge on that. But anyway here He is being made what God wanted me to be. Even the perfect one. So I am God's workmanship in Christ, made unto perfection. When we say perfection, we consider perfection like this. What is perfection? What is that which is perfect? For the Bible says, When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. What is that that is perfect? I said the other night to you that if a king sets up a kingdom, perfection is whatever he ordains. Perfection is His discipline. Perfection is his way of life. And when you are thoroughly perfected in His ordinances, as his desire to his own way of life, to his own happiness and satisfaction, then are you perfect in His sight. So then that's the way it is. This is God's kingdom. He has set up this kingdom. He's set the rules and the regulations. And whatever His desire is, that's the way it's to be. The Bible says, All things were made by Him and for Him and without Him nothing was made that was made. So then perfection is being exactly what He says about it, what He thinks about it, what He desires about it, the rules and regulations He's set up. See, we would say, perfection, that man is a perfectionists. That woman fixes her hair to perfection. She paints her face to perfection. This man wears clothes. He dresses to perfection. When this fellow builds a house, he builds it to perfection. This automobile is made to perfection. Whatever the object is, whatever the thing is, perfection is determined according to the object or whatever the goal is. See whatever you determine. Now scientist have learned that with all of their perfections as to what they designate for mankind and what they call perfect, that they cannot really be satisfied that anything is perfect. Because they feel the imperfectness of their heart. Searching for perfection of spirit and life, they feel imperfect, therefore they feel that everything that they do is full of fault and that they cannot perfect anything. So then I'm saying that when you say perfection, though God is as any other king, yet it is a true fact that real, genuine perfection is found in God. It's not just set rules and regulations as some blood thirsty king might do as to the perfection of his way of life. But this is actually perfection. You can analyze it, you can think it out, you can apply it to yourself, and you won't find any fault in any place. You won't find anything imperfect. The Bible says the Word of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. And so then this thing is so perfect. I've sought it out for many years, and though a man might call this perfect, as scientists falsely so called, or a king might set this up as his kingdom as perfection, I can find fault with any of it I read about, or any of it that I hear about, because it is somewhere found as to an injustice toward humanity, or it is not just and right as to adequacy or purpose for that man's life, like it is for that one which is gullible and greedy that set it in force. But when I studied the Word of God with all truth from the bottom of my soul, without any fear toward God as to saying that I say this because I fear God, though I do fear God, I don't say this because I don't fear God, I say this because this is an absolutely a proven fact, as just from study and observation, that every detail that I have ever found, everything that I have ever known, every scrutinizing that I have ever done, finds everything that He offers through His Word and way of life to be ultimately perfect. So truly this is the great finally of all living. This is the great finals as we say. And we're coming to that which is not by observation. God has so set the kingdom that it is not by observation. But it is within a man. This spiritual kingdom is within a man. It is not by observation. It is something that you have to comprehend as to the heights, to the depths, to the widths, to the length. So then we find that the kingdom of God has been here every since Calvary. When shall the kingdom of God come? the Pharisees demanded. When shall it come? It was already there. Christ within the body of Jesus, Christ is the Kingdom of God. That was the fullness of God in Jesus. See, the kingdom of God is Christ, because all of the wealth of God, all of the greatness of God, all of the powers of God, all of the treasures of God are hid in Christ. He is God's treasure chest. He is the kingdom. Or that is to say the body of Jesus enveloped the treasures. And when the veil was rent in twain, as to take away that which was disfigured before God, then the great proper configuration of righteousness came forth as raised again for the justification of mankind, that we might have peace on earth and good will from God, as being justified by believing in His righteousness and what He's done for us. So then the kingdom of God was there. And they demanded as to say, when shall it come? Jesus could have said, You're blind and you don't see anything. Blind Pharisees, He said at one time. See, there stood the fullness of God. There stood the kingdom of God. There stood the Word as in the beginning, God Himself being made flesh, and God being in the world and they knew Him not. So then by the foolishness of preaching it pleased God that man should be saved. See, so the kingdom of God tonight, and I would love to go on into some more things that are spiritual, but I felt as you begin to you know; and I purposed in my heart that when you begin to do that we just, we have to cut off. So we find the kingdom of God then is a spiritual thing. And they that worship God cannot do as many of you people that are listening to me or looking at me, and be carnal and be resentful and be haughty and be jealous. As I said to some brethren today, telling them these things today as to some things concerning faith and exhorting them about the spiritual attitudes of their life, you can't belong to God and resent and be jealous and haughty and temperamental and be covetous, and gullible toward the things of the world. If the love of the world is in you, the love of the Father isn't there. It is utterly impossible for you to be a Christian and be like that and think like that. There is no way that you could be a Christian. It is as Jesus said when you are filled with those things, you are of your Father the devil. That's his will and you will do his will, because you are born of the flesh. For that which is born of the flesh is flesh. But that which is born of the Spirit is filled with the fruits of the Spirit of meekness and kindness and love and gentleness and patience and goodness and longsuffering. All of these kind of things against which there is no law. So then when you make your election and calling sure as to find out if this kind of nature is in you, and that you are partakers of the divine nature, when you find that this is in you, then are you children of God. You will not resent the minister, nor will you resent your brother, nor will you be temperamental, nor will you be always going after the gullible desires of the world as to the lust of the flesh, the pride of life and the lust of the eyes. Neither will your meditation and mind be upon the natural vanes or vanities of the world. It won't be that way. You'll meditate in His laws day and night. You're love will be for Him. You're desire will be to win souls. You're desire will be to eat and to drink of His body and of His blood. And your desire will be to go to the ends of the world, to preach the gospel or send the gospel or to deny yourself on the home front, even to that of that which is necessitated toward life, you'll be willing to give it up, lay it aside and not spend it on the flesh and on the leaches and on the lust of your own gullible desires. You'll be willing to conform in every way, in every deed, every thought, until you bring down every imagination, and bring every thought into subjection to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the kingdom of God on the inside of you. Even the Spirit of Christ that while it tabernacled in the body of Jesus, done always the things that pleased the heavenly Father; and never at any time done his will. Even as Enoch the Bible says, And His testimony was that He pleased God. And the testimony was, I do always the things that please my Father. So then where My servant is, there shall I be, to bless Him, to lead Him, to guide Him, to give Him the fullness of life. And wherever I go He will follow Me and My sheep will follow M;, and they will be there with Me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish; and no man shall pluck them out of my Father's hand or Me, out of My hand. That is, My Father and I are one. They'll not pluck them out of my Father's hand, for He is greater than I. Every plant that My Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked up. But every plant that I planted, it shall continue in life, Jesus said. And all of these that My Heavenly Father has given Me, I have not lost a one of them, saving for the son of perdition who was predestinated as from the beginning as to a devil that I had chosen. All right let's stand together. So then when shall the kingdom of God come? someone says. Tell me. When will the Lord be back? Tell me. And Jesus said, If the blind lead the blind, they all fall into the ditch. This thing be hid to them that are lost. He shall never see when good cometh. So then as to the kingdom of God within you, then as the kingdom of God cometh, it is Christ within you, the hope of that eternal power of riches and splendor, magnificence and glory. So the kingdom of God is within a man. The Bible says the kingdom of God hath been since Calvary, and men pressed their way into it. That is to say your inner spiritual being presses against the outer infiltration of the mind of Lucifer, and presses against your gullible, fleshly desires as to your worldly infatuations, and it presses over that to come into that wonderful, spiritual awakening of God Almighty, of God Almighty, to make manifest His will and His desire in your life, in that it's not you living but Him. So then it is a little one as to a babe growing up into the full measure of the Lord Jesus Christ. And your reward is according to the measure that you allow to develop in your lifetime. Folks, and when we consider it, we have to admit as a whole we as people have certainly had a small measure. We hardly find enough measure to make manifest within our mortal genes to live an overcoming life. When Jesus was driven into the wilderness, already being led up of the Spirit, He went there not because He needed the Spirit, nor to find the Spirit. He went there for one reason, and that was to submit the outer man as to the inner, that through praying the spiritual inner man might make more contact with God as to the fullness of His inspiration, and that at the same time fasting, it might break down the walls of resistance as to the exuberance of the flesh, that He might be activated with the Spirit of God as to releasing that innermost life, as the Bible says, to make it manifest in the mortal genes, that the Word, that the flesh might become the Word, as to no resistance between that inner God and that patient or that subject, that came to Him for healing or deliverance. So then all infiltration was gone. The carnal reasoning of resistance was gone. And when He released that Spirit into that body it became virtue. I might give this little illustration as we have in the past in closing, and that is though you might have a battery of power, a nice strong heavy duty battery; and it may have its water cells, its mechanisms as to the circumference, or as to the walls that surround these little water pots or wells, but the power of charge that can't just be inside of the innermost battery. It must be released into the outer cells as to the charge, and then it's turned into power. He shall receive power after that the Spirit of God has come upon you, or when you start submitting self as going on to perfection. When you say, going on to perfection, I remind you again, not going on to be a good boy or a good girl. There's none good but Him. As to have salvation, you don't go on to be good. But going on to perfection because that which is perfect is on the inside of you. And the going on is that you submit the outer to the inner to keep under the body. So then as the outer submits to the inner, you're going on to make manifest as to measure to measure, from glory to glory as to make manifest that inner spirit of power into your genes, into those that might have need. So then when you move out the infiltration and you make sure that you've been with God in solitude, fasting and praying, and then you're body is literally charged with the virtue. Because when the Spirit goes into your body, thus it is virtue. And that's why the Bible uses the terms, and there were ten virgins. Five were wise and five were foolish. The virtue of God is upon all flesh; but all flesh has not received of the oil of the Spirit, as to the lamp being filled as to release that into their blood genetics, so they can say that I'm Holy in body and in Spirit. So then in body and in Spirit, when you become holy in body, Paul said, Not to let Satan reign in your mortal genes, not go give place to Him for a moment. When you release this into your body, then the gossiping is gone, the backbiting is gone. You drive out the darkness because light and darkness will not mix. And the more light that you release into your body as to your human conformity toward God, then the less Satan has of your natural man. And all of the imagination and the faults and thoughts of evil and gullible desires and adulterous thoughts of blasphemy, and whatever they might be are gone. So then the life is made manifest in your mortal genes, that means there's virtue. And when you pray people are going to be like the little woman, when they make contact with you, they're going to get healed, they're going to get saved, they're going to get delivered, they're going to hear the words of the wisdom of God. But as long as you're hungry for money, and I know we have many people, numbers of people even at Bethlehem, say, Well Brother Pike, we've got to make this money because somebody's got to pay their way. I know that somebody's got to pay their way, but you making your money didn't help the cause, because you used your money for your own cause, and you're always using what you get for your own cause. And your substance you used for your own cause. And all of that you have is made manifest as to your own desire and your own way of life. Whereas if you serve God, He gives you all these things anyway. He adds all these things anyway to make you rich and add no sorrow. But I'm just saying that all of this is just an excuse you use, and your bodies are literally slaves as to tribute, and you'll never have anything but your carnal, human reasoning, your fleshly infatuations, and your gullible desires as to passions and as to self esteem and whatever it might come too. But the great, loving, Holy Spirit could never manifest Himself, as to come from an inner man should He be in there, through the walls of resistance that you have as to darkness, in that light and darkness hath no fellowship. And you're sovereignty allows the darkness to reside within the walls. He could never, never pass through there or store up virtue, as the little bees does the honey within the hive. So I'm only saying that you could never have the righteousness of God. And as I said the other day to those that were there and I've said to you here at times as the little house, and the priests would go into it, as to the walls of the plague, as to the hyssop and the mixtures of eradication, whatever it might be, as in that day when the priest went in, when he found this in the little house, he had to do something about it. If that which he had could eradicate as to say the Spirit of God coming in, as to your sovereignty, if he could eradicate, then that meant that it wasn't within the walls as to the plague to stay. It was eradicated. And as we say the little house was made holy. Moses said, Holy ground. We say, the body being holy. Because as to cancer if there is no roots, if it is not as to a terminal thing, then that means that the walls aren't contaminated. And if the application of the inmost dwelling of the Spirit and the baptism of the fire and the cleansing and the purging as to the purification by faith, the little house as to the walls are clean; and so the little house as to the walls are eternally preserved. And as I said the other night the man that moved out and went to sleep, whether in the body was laid in the grave, or whether at death the Spirit went back to God who gave it, to reckon yourselves to be dead by the body of the Lord Jesus, in that you are dead today to sin. And your spirit moved out and went back to God Who gave it. Either way, one way or another as to this, when you come back, you can return into that little body, that spirit that is a bodiless spirit and dwells in the spirit world. It will look for a body. The dispute is over the body, as to Satan that hath no body, and God the great Eternal Spirit Who made Himself a body, even the body of the Lord Jesus, members in particular. Of course you being the body as to His bride, see the dispute is over that body, and Satan wants that bride to defile it. He wants that body to make himself manifest, that he might enjoy these things that emanated from God, which today is but lying vanities as to you and I. But are eternal as to the way that God has made them, and will be as when He purges all things by fire. So then if the plague can be taken out, then the Spirit can return back, and you can have the blessings of that body. And that's why Paul said, I seek to present you blameless, body, soul and spirit, because there are in heaven spirits that have no bodies. There are as to the soulish realm and there is to the bodily realm, as to even the thousand years millennium, and as to the coming of the new earth. And so then as to cherubs that are in glory, or as to saints that are hid with Christ in God, or as to angels that have no bodies, that are ministering spirits to them that are heirs of salvation; whatever it might be, I as Paul by this word seek to present you blameless, body, soul and spirit; so I trust that you'll not take the outlook that we're just to be Christians by confession. But that remember that we have to put away the filth of the flesh; and we have to conform to the Word of God. And that every one that names the name of Christ Jesus must depart from iniquity. Let's sing together, can we? (Sings: I'm On My Way) Sing that again with me. (Sings) One more time. (Sings) Let's give Him a hand. I'm on my way to Canaan's land. You love the Lord? Let's sing another little chorus. Let's sing the song we sing so often: I Love Him. (Sings) Let's sing another little chorus, and the altars are open as we sing this chorus. (Sings: Sweep Over My Soul) Can you sing that with me? (Sings: The Haven of Rest) (Sings: Bringing In the Sheaves) You love the Lord? We sing this little chorus. Will you sing this with me? (Sings: Precious Years of Memory) Precious years of memory, oh what joy they bring to me. I remember some little country churches where I come to the Lord where I was brought up also. Churches that I preached at, little country churches, people gathering around the altar. Precious years of memory. (Sings) Can you sing it one more time? (Sings) Can we lift our hands up together? (Sings: Time Shall Be No More) Sing it with me now. (Sings: I Will Praise Him) One more time. (Sings) I'd like to get Brother Ron Clyde to come up and dismiss us. One more time together now. (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
