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Introduction
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Justified By FaithThe mind of faith is when you do believe God's Word. The Bible speaks of the mystery of the faith. There's a great mystery about faith and understanding the details of it, as to the functioning of it, and there are many things that you need to know about faith. But in all reality, faith itself is a very, very simple thing. Faith is that He hath said it and you believe it and that settles it. That's what faith is. It is He said it and you believe it and that's the way it is. If a man tells me something, I don't have to wrestle with it. If a man is telling me to do something, the devil isn't going to wrestle against what the man said. I'm not going to have a problem with it. But if God tells me something, then I'm going to have a constant war, a constant battle, a constant fight on my hands, because there is a power that's going to war in my mind against that voice that spoke to me from God. And the reason that it's going to do that is not necessarily because the devil feels that he can take that away from me, or keep me from believing that, but because he can cause me to be so broken up, as to my wavering in faith, that it will never benefit me; that he can cause me to believe a little and then doubt a little and believe a little and doubt a little to where it will never be any benefit to me. So I have to ask in faith, nothing wavering. I have to be able to believe and not doubt. And of course, if I can do this, then I can have whatever I want. Whatever I want, whatever I say, then I can have it. And to me, that thrills me. I just love that. That thrills me. That's a great challenge to my faith: to believe. Man lives so far beneath his privilege. I find myself all during my lifetime believing. All my lifetime I've been able to believe. And God has done great, marvelous, mighty things for me because I've been able to believe. And because of this, I love to exercise my faith in God. No matter what my problems might be, I like to believe God. Let's read from chapter four in the book of Romans. It has to do with the very thing that we're speaking of. Romans, chapter 4: What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Romans, chapter 5: Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now you know, in the fourth chapter of the book of Romans, there is enough here that you could preach on for weeks. But having spoken to you as many times as I have about the different things concerning Paul, the apostle to the Gentile church, who is our overseer, I'm almost of a certainty that you understand many things that we are saying. One thing that I really like to impress upon you is what it says here in Romans chapter four, verse five: "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works." So then, the question arises, is there such a thing? Is there really such a thing, that in the world somewhere today that there is a human being, or there is a man, that God would give righteousness to without him doing any works? Is there such a thing in the world today, that there is a human being somewhere in the world today, that God actually would give righteousness to him without doing any works? Is there such a being in the world today? Obviously there must be. Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying blessed are they. So when he uses the terms "they", it must mean more than one. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. We use the terms that there are people in the world today that cannot sin, and a lot of people dispute that. When I say something about people being in the world today that cannot sin, there are, of course, people that dispute that. There are preachers that dispute that. There are people even at Bethlehem, though they don't come right out and have a contest with me over it, but in their spirit they still have their traditional way of life. And they come to church and they go along with the Bethlehemites and they're a part of us, but really down in their heart, their conviction is the same as before I ever preached to them and told them these things. They still have the same old indoctrination that they've always had. See, and so far as what I've taught them or what I've tried to preach to them, they really haven't received that nor placed confidence in that. And so then, they're the same old individual they've always been. But nevertheless, to those that are of this message and are of this word and are of this covenant that God has brought forth, as to blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered, there are people that have their iniquities forgiven. God has actually forgiven their iniquities. And God, by His blood, has covered their sins. And the Bible says they are blessed because God will not impute sin unto them. Blessed is the man unto whom God will not impute sin. Blessed is the individual unto whom God will not impute sin. So there are people in the world today that God will not impute sin unto. It doesn't matter how much they stumble. It doesn't matter how many mistakes they make. It doesn't matter how long they live in the world. God will never at any time during their life span impute sin unto them one time. They will never at any time, in the whole episode of the entirety of their life, never one time will sin ever cross their path or be imputed unto them. They will be without sin during their entire lifetime. So then when I preach this, that the Bible says that the seed of God remaineth in you and you cannot sin because you are born of God, then I'm not just carrying out a saying. I'm not just reading something to you in the Bible that doesn't have any meaning or any significance. I'm telling you a profound truth. I'm preaching to you the Word of God, and from that Word comes a conviction of heart through hearing as to faith, and faith in what I said will save your soul from death. So then, blessed is the man that cannot sin. Blessed is the man. He is saying blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin. What he is saying is blessed is the man that cannot sin, because he is born of God. The man that's in the earth today to whom God will not impute sin is the man that's been born again. The man that is the son of God, the men or women that are the sons and daughters of God, these are they unto whom God will not impute sin. God will not impute sin unto His sons and daughters, because His sons and daughters are sinless. Blessed are the sons and daughters of God, for they are without sin. And God will not impute sin unto them, because they cannot sin, in that they are born of God. In that they cannot sin, then the devil has no advantage over them whatsoever. So we should never give place to the devil. It doesn't matter what happens to us. It doesn't matter how much the devil's right on our trail to pursue us, to oppress us, to say things or to cause hindrance. Paul said, "I would have come unto you, but the devil hindered me." It doesn't matter how much the devil tries to hinder you, you stand right steadfast in the Word, and realize that the devil can never touch you at anytime, that you belong to God, that you cannot sin, that you are born of God, that you are delivered from the powers of Satan, and that you have all power over the powers of the enemy. All right, now somebody said, "Well, praise God. That means that I'll never have another problem." No. That means that you're having strong delusions. Now, that's just like going through a briar patch, saying you're never going to get a scratch on you. But there's one thing about it, just because you're in a briar patch, you don't have to become a rabbit and live there. So it is said here, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven." So we ask the question tonight, "Do we have anybody here at all whose iniquities are forgiven?" I see some hands. We have some people whose iniquities are forgiven. How do you know that they are forgiven? Can anybody tell me how that you know that they're forgiven? How do I know that my iniquities are forgiven? I know it because God said so. If God said so, then that settles it. If God said so, I know that they are forgiven. So then, that means that I know that they are forgiven by faith. I believe what He says. So in that I believe what He says, then my iniquities are forgiven. Now, in that He will not impute iniquity unto me, then what will He do to me? The Bible says, "... and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. And being fully persuaded that, what God had promised, He was able to perform. Abraham being fully persuaded that what God had promised He was able to perform." The Bible says that Abraham's faith was imputed unto him for righteousness, for the Bible said, "God purifies our heart by faith." The heart is desperately wicked. It's deceitful and wicked above all things, who can know it? But yet the Bible says that if I believe in what Christ did in my behalf, then the Spirit of Almighty God will come down into my heart, wash it, clean it, sanctify it and fill it with His presence to where it will never be wicked again. So I find that God has not only taken my iniquities away, not only has He made me to where He will not impute iniquity unto me, but He has imputed righteousness unto me. He hath given me righteousness. For what is righteousness? Somebody said, "Fast ten days." What's fasting ten days got to do with as to righteousness? I don't know of anything fasting has got to do with other than making you hungry. You go without food ten days, you know, and you're ten days hungry. I don't know of any righteousness to it. Somebody said, "Well, if you pray all night." I don't know of any righteousness of sitting up all night other than getting tired eyes and a tired, miserable body, and nerves all pulled down and getting your knees sore, and getting up the next day having been up all night. I don't know of any righteousness about it. I've done that and I don't know of any righteousness about it. So then, what does righteousness have to do with? God is the Spirit of righteousness. He is the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of cleanliness, the Spirit of godliness, and righteousness is of God. And if I believe in what God did while He lived in the human body of Jesus Christ, in that He did that for me, and I am now dead to sin by the body of His efforts, and I am now dead to the world by the body of His gift, I am now dead to sin, and I am now dead, as far as death and sorrow and heartaches and the wrath of God, then am I alive unto the resurrection of Jesus Christ to all the blessings of God, in that He was delivered for my offenses. I esteemed Him smitten of God in my behalf, and He was raised again in a new form for my justification. I am now therefore justified by faith in what He did for me. And now my heart is filled with His Spirit. I have been baptized in His name, for the Bible says remission of sin shall be preached in His name. Because my sins are remitted, which means taken away by the fact that I've acknowledged that He died in my place, and that was me that God smote, and that when they put me down under the water, that buried the body that God smote, and that body is forever gone. He smote the image of sin. It was born into the world. It was named George Pike. And it's dead. It's gone. And then, when that body came up on the other side as the Lord Jesus Christ, today I am that body. I am bone of His bone and I am flesh of His flesh, and I am members in particular. The body of death is gone. The vile, wretched body is gone, and God never sees that bastard child image again, that body of flesh again, that body of fault and failures again. But He sees me as the glorified, spotless image of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that the Lord is coming back after a church without spot, without wrinkle, and without blemish. And when the Lord breaks forth from the heavens, as it says in Thessalonians, when He comes back in the clouds of heaven, I, all of a sudden, as He appears in the heavens, will be changed into the glorified image of the Son of God. When He looks down at that glorified image, before it ever leaves the ground, I will be a church without spot, without wrinkle, without blemish. I will be His perfect likeness. I will be His perfect righteousness. I will be His perfect bone. I will be His perfect flesh. I will be the perfect, spotless church that He came back after, before I ever lift a foot off of the ground, because I have been changed. And all of this righteousness of God, as to Christ on the inside, has been made manifest, as to this life of Christ within me, has been made manifest in the mortal genes of my natural body. So then, God imputes righteousness unto me without works. Someone would say, "Well, Brother Pike, I like that." So then, by one man Adam, all of us were born unto sin and death, but God did not require it of men until the law came. When the law came, sin was revealed to us by the knowledge of the law, and then we knew about transgression. When we came to know about transgression, that became sin, for the Bible said transgression of the law is sin, for to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, it is sin. So we came to know what was good and what was bad, and it became sin and it became death. And so then, we are born unto death until the seed, even Christ to whom the promise was made, until that seed came, and when that seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, came at Calvary, then death was abolished within that body and sin was gone, for He made in Himself twain. He made in Himself one man, as to putting away the man Adam that had sinned against God, in making an end of that generation, and the old tree of knowledge, in that the Bible says cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree, doing away with the tree of knowledge. And then made in Himself the second, as to twain, as to say the resurrected one appearing in a new form, as to the tree of life, that it might be the very body of Almighty God, sown in weakness, raised in power, sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body, sown a terrestrial and raised a celestial. So today, we are completely free, and by one man righteousness unto life has come upon all of us. So then we are free from death by the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. God does not see us as sinners anymore. But He sees us as His dear children, which means we are heirs and joint-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are free from sin and death, and we are fortunate people because we are come to know the truth. Many people throughout the world today, religious people, Pentecostal people, Catholic people, Baptist people, don't understand these kind of things that we understand. But we are fortunate because God has made us to understand these things. So someone would say, "Well, this is wonderful. That means that we can go our way and do what we want to do." And that is true. We can now go our way and do what we want to do. If you want to go to the horse races, you can now go to the horse races. If you want to go to the car races, you can go to the car races. If you want to go to the wrestling, you can go to the wrestling. If you want to go to the ball games, you can go to the ball games. If you want to rob a bank or kill somebody or take another man's wife or take another woman's husband or whatever you would like to do, you can just go and do it now. See, because everything is all fixed and you can go do what you want to. And if you want to go do holy and godly and pure and be pure and godly and holy and win souls and feed the needy and help the poor and to watch after those that need help and win the lost and evangelize the world, you can do that, too. See, whatever you would like to do. You can go do it now, because God has made it possible for you just to go do whatever you want to do now, and you don't have to worry about it anymore. Somebody said, "Well, what will happen to me if I do that?" Well, the blood is on the seat of atonement, and the rain is on the unjust just like it's on the just. And you can go out there and the goodness and the blessings of the Lord will still be just falling all around, because He cannot see your wrong because He's looking at you through the blood. See, but after a little while, the blood will be taken off of the seat of atonement, and the Lord will put you in hell for your evil doings. But you that had the 'want to' of righteousness, it will be a positive proof that you was born again because you had the right 'want to', and God will bless you with eternal life, and when the blood is taken off of the seat of atonement, your blessings will continue and your cup will continue to overflow, and rivers of living waters shall flow out of your innermost being, and throughout eternity, you will enjoy eternal life and the wonderful, eternal wealth of God. So then, God has fixed it. He has fixed it. There's a little song they sing: "Let Jesus Fix it for You." So then, Jesus has fixed it. So we see how that God has so fixed it to where we can do what we want to do. He has given us our freedom and given us our sovereignty to where we can do what we want to do. So it's so wonderful to know that you can believe the right thing. And then of course, there is the danger of believing a lie and being damned, God sending you strong delusions, causing you to believe a lie because you have not a love for the truth. So we see that you are free from death. Therefore, being justified by works, ye should strive always, with all of your ritualistics, that you might scarcely make it in, if there's any hope for you. That doesn't sound right, does it? That's because it isn't right. Therefore, being justified by faith, not of works lest any man should boast; therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with our heavenly Father, through the grace that He has given us by the finished works of the Lord Jesus Christ. So therefore, having faith in God, we have peace with God through what the Lord has done for us. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe on His righteousness. I've been filled with His Spirit by believing in the righteousness of the Son of God. And today I have His Spirit, which is called the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost, living on the inside of me, because I believe in the finished works of His atonement. I try to do works of righteousness. The Bible says that he that nameth the name of the Lord Jesus, let him depart from iniquity. Let him maintain good works. It's not because he is working so he can get to heaven. Like I said, you don't work except to try to make a living. You're not working to sustain your life, spiritually. You are doing the things that your nature calls for. Your nature is the Christ nature. Your nature is Christ on the inside. And it's always been the nature of Christ to do the things of Christ. It is the nature of God to do God things. It is the nature of Brother Pike to do Brother Pike things. When I died, Brother Pike died. When I became God in the flesh, as to my measure, as to my birth, as to my membership, then it was my nature to do God's thing, because it was not me living but Him. Then whatever I do, Paul said, I do it as unto the Lord, and the things I say as unto the Lord, it's not me speaking unto you but as the Lord. I speak as the oracles of Christ. So it is not I that liveth but Christ that liveth within me. So the body is now the Lord's. And I strive to submit my thoughts, to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, that it might be Christ in His fullness, living in me, that I can say with Paul, "It's not I that liveth, but it's Christ that liveth within me, and the life I now live, I live by the Son of God." So then, I do what comes spiritually in my life. That's to be like Christ. Because that's my life. That's my nature. That's my desire. And the apple tree doesn't have any problem bearing apples. It doesn't make any special effort to bear apples. It doesn't have to toil to bear apples. It just stands out there in all its brilliance, and the rain and the sunlight come. It just produces these beautiful apples because that's its nature to present luscious, juicy apples. And if you have the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will just be your nature to produce the lovely fruits of the Spirit. And your branches will be filled with the lovely, luscious fruits of the Spirit, until your tree will just be loaded down with the loveliness of the fruits of Almighty God. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The law then was added because of transgression. Why did the law then come? It come because of transgression. The law was added because of transgression. Why did the Lord give the law? He gave it 430 years after He gave the plan of salvation to Abraham by faith. Why did He give it? It was added because man was transgressing the way of the Lord, and God wanted to reveal to man that he was contrary to the ways of righteousness. So it was added because of transgression, until the seed, Christ Jesus, unto whom the promise was made should come. Once the seed came, then the law was folded up and laid away, because there was no need for the law. Jesus fulfilled every jot and tittle. And once He came, the law was then taken away, because righteousness was then upon all mankind, and the law is taken away now. So we don't have to serve the law. "Wherefore serve the law?" Paul asks. "Do you desire to be under bondage to days and those kind of things?" He said, "I'm afraid of you." Let's abide within this wonderful Word of God to continue in the lovely laws of the freedom of Almighty God, rejoicing in the wonderfulness of our Savior. By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr. |
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